Evening Star Newspaper, May 25, 1931, Page 8

"~ A-8 THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, MONDAY, THE EVENING STAR With Sanday Morning Editien. WASHINGTON, D. C. MONDAY.........May 25, 1931 THEODORE W. NOYES. ...Editor ness Office: 11 . ag0 Office: Lake Michisan Bullding. Engla; Rate by Carrier Within the City. ening Star.. 45¢ per month ening d Sunday Star !g:mn 4 Bundays) ~; ..o 60c per month ng and i RGeS B ! Toilection made st % it in by mall or telephone Qrders ms, sen y mal Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. and Sunday. only .. All Other States and Canada. a gr.$12.00: 1mo. 81, "\ £8.00: 1 mo. + $5.00i 1mo.. 50c Member of the Associated Press. Associated Press is exclusively entitled e use for republication of all news dis- patehes credited to it or not etnerwlse cred: s hetee” o s D ] By EPecial dispatches hercin are aiso reserved. - Tightening the Belt. The Government of the United States, with an unbalanced budget, is | tackling the problem from several differ- ent angles in an effort to get back to a “pay-as-you-go” plan. President Hoover, with the aid of the heads of the various executive departments, is laying plans to pare down expenditures in those de- partments by many millions. Already, following conferences at the camp of the President on the Rapidan, have come announcements that the expendi- tures of the War Department, the Interior Department and the postal service will be reduced. While these proposed etonomies are under con- sideration by the Chief Executive and his aldes, Secretary Mellon of the ‘Treasury has prepared & borrowing program to meet the deficit of more than $800,000,000 which the Govern- it faces at the close of the fiscal year. And at the same time from the Secretary of the Treasury a clear ‘warning has come that borrowing alone cannot solve the problem; that at best it is only a temporary expedient. There must, in the opinion of Mr. Melion, be & revision of the tax system which will make it possible for the Government to continue to receive a more even flow of Tevenue. It is gratifying to realize that the Government of the United States, in the present emergency, is in a position | to borrow huge sums of money at an exceedingly low rate of interest. It is ice and such improvement has meant additjonal expense. The President has been amply justified tn his repeated wamings to Congress that it should not initiate new projects requiring heavy governmental expenditures at this time. No money may be expended ‘without the authority of Congress, and Congress cannot dodge the responsibil- ity that rests upon it in this matter. So far there has been no direct rec- ommendation from administration sources for a change in the tax laws which would bring into the Treasury additional revenue. But the implication is quite clear. If the orgy of apprcpria- tion and of expenditure is to continue, the taxes must be increased. Mr. Mel- Jon holds that the income tax, as at present imposed, is no better than a class tax, with the burden resting upon @ small percentage of the whole pecple. It is true thst the burden rests upon those best able to pay the taxes. But in times of depression, when incomes of the wealthy are curtailed, this tax fails to bring the revenue that is needed. And therein lies the principal criticism of the tax. More than anything else it appears that this country needs to relesrn the need of economy in times of stress. The executive departments, the Con- gress, the people themselves need to re- | learn this lesson. The Congress cannot continue to heap appropriation upon eppropriation, no matter how beneficial the purpose. The threat of added taza- tion upon the people may have an effect | upon the National Legislature which has been too prone in recent years to yisld to the demands of,groups of citi- zens for money and more money. The Congress, when it meets, will be faced with a resl problem in this financial situation in which the Government finds itself. And the eye of the country will be upon it. ————————— More than a hundred local boys re- ocently enrolled in the Izaak Walton League, thereby pledging themselves to aid in the preservation of “woods, wa- ters and wild life” Such a member- ship ought always to accompany every first gun, fishing rod or trap. ———etea ik, Mr. Hartman's Reappointment. Mr. Harleigh H. Hartman's work as & Public Utllities Commissioner during his first two-year term has been of such & nature that his reappointment ‘was taken for granted. The President’s action in naming him for another two years is therefore received with general satisfaction. With Gen. Patrick, chair- man of the commission and serving a three-year term, and Mr. Hartman as Ter ct et month | period notable for the development of intricate problems relatively new in the fleld of regulating public utilities. It is well that the commission will con- | tinue with unchanged personnel, util- izing the experience and kncwledge already gained by Mr. Hartman's thorough study of local conditions. The developments in the last few years, wherein ownership and control of the principal utilities serving Washing- ton have changed from a group of local men, identified with and responsive to the local community, to outside inter- ests, whose chief aim is to justify the wisdom of their investment by large returns, indicates the necessity for the maintcnance of an alert and vigorous i Public Utilities Commission. The de- sirable aims of the La Follette anti- Y merger act have been frustrated by the utility interests, whose maneuvers with holding companies of one sort or an- other enable them to get around the law’s provisions without great difficulty. 0 But the comforting fact remains that utilities Jocated within the District must be amenable to the regulations for their conduct as laid down by Congress and enforced Iy the commission. There have been sev--al instances lately where the Public Utilitles Commission has demonstrated the temper of its back- bone. There will be other occasions in the future when the possession of an unylelding spine will be more than ever | essential. The Young National Orators. ‘The eighth National Oratorical Con- | test, the finals of which were held on iSaturdiy night in this city, has proved anew the educational value of this competition among the high school students of the United States. The seven young people who met for the last round of the competition, representing as many national areas, set & new Istandard of eloguence, of studious i preparation and of ability of expres- sion. Those who heard the proceed- iings Saturday night and have been | present at the earlier contests noted a i considerable advance in both the mat- ter and the manner of the speeches de- livered over the preceding occasions. | It follows logically that there has been & corresponding advance in the work of the thousands who engaged in the preliminaries in their respective schools and subdivisions and finally areas. A striking feature of this competition. now is the introduction of the extem- poraneous talk. This carries through- out the National Contest. It is a test of the reading and the memory and the logic of the student. Saturday night the seven contestants each re- ceived on completion of the set oration a sealed envelope containing a topic generally related to the subject of the Constitution. Each had approximately half an hour in which to consider the subject thus suddenly propounded and to formulate a discourse of four min- utes. The study required to enable the contestant thus quickly to prepare for his final appearance on the platform is in itself a valuable training in Ameri- can history. For the range is wide in point of the time covered by the events and topics that may be pro- pounded, & range, in the case of the subjects given to the seven speakers Saturday night, stretching over a period of more than a century. It was thrilling the other evening to hear these young people, thus suddenly faced with an assignment, speak clearly, effective- ly and with specific knowledge on themes which were far beyond the powers of the great majority in the audience. All the preparatory work leading to the national finals in this contest is valuable. Every hour that is spent by the muititude of competitors in reading and training is an investment in sound understanding of the principles of the American Government, the history of its formation and maintenance, the per- sonalities and characters of the men who have participated in its creation and development. All this is of perma- nent value. And for eight years it has been going on, so that those who took part in the first contest are now engaged in adult occupations as voting citizens of the country, much sounder in their citizenship for this training and special study. Only seven of the many thousands who enter the lists of the Winter in their towns and cities reach the final platform. These seven not only stand for a few hours in the center of na- tional attention, but later they go ! abroad on a tour of foreign lands, which i 1s in itself of high educational value. { The Star is proud of the privilege of participating in this great work |of education in American history and Xcfl.iz:enahlp. R SPS, | The government of Newfoundland, |in extreme financial straits, is said to bs contemplating the sale of Labrador to certain unnamesd “European inter- ests” for $100,000,000. This suggests thet Uncle Sam may regard some of his detached possessions as marketable assets for use in an emergency. | B s T ‘The economy weék ends on the Rapi- dan are perhaps not as agreeable to the heads of the departments as pub- lished expressions may seem to indi- | cate. e Washington bate ball enthusiasts are hoping that the thirteen straight vic- tories of the Athletics will prove to be the traditional hoodoo. Sy Los Angeles in France. Hurrah for Los Angeles, and for its spotiess suburb, Hollywood, too! His ‘honor, the mayor of the metropolis of | the movies, spurns the wine of France even when asked to partake of it in a | patriotic toast to the President of the republic and to “hizzoner's” fellow Cali- | fornian, who holds down a similarly | exalted job in these dry United States. | Let lips that will be sullled by cham- pagne, but not those of John C. Por- ter, Esquire, native son of the golden | West, whose surplus grapes even now | are being turned, by the grace of Moth- er Nature and the Federal Farm Board, | into wine of our fair and law-abiding land. Last Pridsy the port of Havre ex- tended characteristic welcome to eight- een arriving American mayors, Paris- bound with a memorial bust of lament- ed Ambassador Myron T. Herrick. At the City Hall, Havre's mayor, M. Leon wm-merem—nvmmc-.w.oflmmmlm side the municipal government, the vin d'honneur to the visiting Yankee present commission has been careful municipal 10 guard the public’s interest during s y ’ executives, coupling the names of President Hoover and Presi- v dent Doumergue as he asked his guests to ralse their glasses to the respective presidential healths. The mayor of Los Angeles objected. So did the lady mayoress from the citadel of climate. Thereupon in righteous indignation | they Dolted from the room. “We be- leve in following the American Con- stitution, even when on foreign soil” they explained, after escaping the vinous deluge in Havre's hotel de ville and keeping the Volsteadian faith. Bo official Los Angeles files a de- murrer to the time-honored rule that in Rome we shculd do as the Romans do. One wonders how Mayor Porter, if Marshzal Foch had decorated him on the field of battle, would have comported himself as Foch proceeded to plant & Gallic kiss on the jowl of the Angelenos’ chief magistrate. Would “hizzoner” have broken frcm the clinch and proudly proclaimed that petting, even on the battlefield, is taboo in the region where rain is most unusual, and tourists al- ways welcome? Has Mayor Porter pondered the pos- sible ccnsequences of his refusal to slake the thirst in accord with revered French custom? Supposing the mayor of Havre were to be extended the free- dom, of Los Angeles. What an embar- rassing moment it would be if he were to let the French rocster crow and ob- serve that good Frenchmen have an un- conquerable objection to talkies, to real estate developments, to oll wells, to mammoth cafeterias, to eternal sun- shine and the other show-pieces Los Angeles likes o trot out for the edifica- | tion of distinguished strangers? And, then, to add insult to injury, Havre were to demand of the mayor of | Los Angeles a time-tahle giving the next and fastest train to San Francisco? To refuse & Frenchman's proffered quafl of grape is almost as unkind a cut. Mayor Porter has gloriously vindicated his country's respect for the eighteenth amendment, but it js much to be feared that he has set a dangerous precedent. Inhibitions are a game at which two can play. “Jimmie” Walker may dis- cover, for instance, that the next time Manhattan receives a foreign nabob, the eminent alien may instantly reboard his steamer at the Battery, because ticker- tap> snowstorms, as tckens of welcome, are taboo in his country, and that he will have none of them. The annual expenditure for furniture by the people of the United States is $2,000,000,000, it is declared. Now divide that by twelve and you can get an idea of the activities of the installment men. People may spend that much, but they do not obtain or consume that much ‘money's worth of household fixings. ———— Mahatma Gandhi is getting so many letters of sympathy and advice from America that he has to hire additional secretaries to reply to them. Which is a good investment in case the scantily clad one contemplates a lecture tour of this country. ————————— New York has solved the -Vivian Gordon murder case. Now perhaps the Mary Baker and Beulah Limerick cases of local mystery may be brought to the point of at least approximate public understanding. e All those who sincerely thought Mrs. Nixon-Nirdlinger would be found guilty must still read and believe the yarns of the Brothers Grimm. The pith of the éase lay just about in those stirring words of her lawyer, “She is too beauti- ful to be bad.” —e—— An inquirer writes w ask how the expression “My hat is in the ring” originated. There is probably more than one! logical explanation. But we all know how it ended. SHOOTING STARS. | BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. ‘The Value of Advertising. He didn’t do much and his tboughts, it is plain, ‘Were borrowed from various sources. He looked upon toil with an eye of disdein . As a waste of supcrior forces. But somehow he kept getting further ahead. Fate ne'er seemed unkindly to caper, For all that he did and whatever he sald He carefully put in the paper. If he made & small speech, or was 1l with a cold, | He sent for & journalist quickly. | TH1l the people would anxiously wait to be told 1t his status was robust or sickly. And at last the community looked upon him As a power; a destiny-shaper, ‘While the worker remained in obscurity dim, ‘Cause his name didn't get in the paper. ¥ Possible Perfection. “What is your idea of a perfect gov- ernment?” asked the interviewer. “One,” replied Senator Sorghum, “which finds a perfect population to be governed.” Sweet Innocence. “Don’t you know there is a rumor that the racing in which your husband is interested is crooked?” “Not a bit of truth in it,” sald young Mrs. Torkins. “They can't be crooked. Charley showed me the track and it's a perfect oval.” The Censor. The man who goes ahead and tries To do his level best, Has little time to criticize The failures of the rest. 1t is the wight who doth delight To idle all the day ‘Who, when things are not all aright, ‘Wil have the most to say. A Dissimilarity. “Love,” said the readymade philos- opher, “is a lottery.” “1 ¢an't see it that way,” commented Miss Cayenne. “A lottery never leaves 50 many people in doubt as to whether they have won or lost.”. Discour: Unto the foreign news I turn, Sad stories telling, ‘With names of which I ne'er shall learn The proper spelling. “You can't judge de importance of SVeTY what people does by de noise dey ‘makes,” said Uncle Eben. “A goose egg is mo’' dan twice as big as a hen egg an’ is lald wifout no cacklin' what- somever.” b | imagine the situation if the mayor of | THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. ‘There should be some law to prevent any one from tellng a funny story more than once in the presence of the same auditor. You hear a story. It is a good story, and you laugh. Even if it is the type in which the point is & bit far-fetched, still you laugh, sometimes the heartier the worse the story. In any case, you laugh. “:erhtps you do it for politeness’ e. ‘The gentleman evidently thought the joke good, else he would not have told it, in the first place. * K k% It is up to you, therefore, to laugh ha-ha, and maybe haw-haw. ‘You begin to work up a smile at the second word of the tale, and build it up gradually, as befits the ecircum- stances, as the narrator proceeds. Is it not a funny story, even if you see the “point” from the very first word? Indeed, this sort is often the best sort. The listener enters into the spirit better, in such a case, and in a sense works with the teller to make the story good. He helps the other “put it over,” in other words. * ok kX One hearing of the same story, how- ever, from the same narrator, is quite enough. story as many times as he can get other men to listen to him, but a law lines suggested. on each teller of jokes to hand-pick his audience each time, to make sure that no previous auditor were present. Even if he were faced with six new pairs of ears, the presence of a prior | listener automatically would prevent him from retelling his story. Perhaps every hearer of stories does not feel exactly this way about it. No doubt, there is a wight here and there who takes a pleasure in hearing a good story, the more times the better. Probably eight out of ten men, how- ever, feel the other way about the twice-told tale. Once is enough. * k x % A practical way to solve this prob- lem is to seize some pretext for leaving the gathering when the second or third or_fourth telling begins. Eyes glisten. A story! Menkind loves & story, no matter where, when or how. If you come across a knot of people, on a corner, or in a corner of a room, or down a | hall, all of the male sex, with a pe- culiar gleam of the eyes about them, you may be sure that one of the gath- ering is regaling the rest with an anec- dote. of a man listening to a story, a facial expression which is never there under any other circumstances. Perhaps expectation is the keynote of it, but one cannot be sure. The depths of psychology involved are very deep, and would take a Preud to unravel, and, as far as we know, even he has never made the attempt. Story telling is that deep. * K K K ‘Well, you see & group huddled around one man. Buddenly the gathering seems to break apart with a great guffaw ol laughter. Iflufi'& the “point,” of course. Every man has the right to tell a| might be enacted with profit along the This law would make it mandatory | There is a peculiar look on the face | they have heard this back your head, in a ner, hold the letter rather high in the left hand, but not too high, and then walk rapidly from the room. Every one present will think you have an important conference somewhere. and no one will wonder at your rapid exit. Perhaps the story teller will have a vague recollection that you have rossed with the retelling that he will florget you the moment you are gone. This is the best way to handle a deli- caté situation, for it never does to need- lessly offended men if you can help it. Sometimes you can’t. The joke of 1t is that men are most often offended over nothing at all, or next to at all. On the great matters of life men are very good sports, hklxthhem by and large, but on the small, unimportant things they are forever looking for an insult, " * ok k% ‘The techniquz of story telling is & curious one, We have never heard a story teller begin in any other way but ask his auditors if they had heard it. And, if they say yes, we have never heard a teller say anything else but that he wili not tell it, then. Then we have never known one but to begin to tell it. ‘There are as many kinds of story tellers as there are men, but only a few really have any right to tell 'em. ‘These are those gifted with the gift, as it were, and those Who also possess a certain intangible quality hard to de- but a part of every successful raconteur. * ook % One man may get ovsr every word of a story, without blundering anywhere, yet the tale will fall flat. will be a few snickers, but the astute audi- tor will realize that thcy are mostly for politeness’ sake. | So will the teller. This type does not | possess the gift. There are other men who can take the most. unprnmlslnf ma- terial, and simply by their way of tell- ing make it a joy forever. The indefinable quality seems to be | based on an inner conviction, on the | part of the story telier,.that every one is going to listen to him. He has no fear, in other words, that his listeners will be moving away from him. He is “sold” on his own story, | and has no idea in the world that cthers will not be, too. to give up the practice. Once you come to the conclusion that you are not good at story telling, you ought never to at- e aare.tales 40 the ve tales artists. They are theirs by right. But if you h.lyk at hearing the same one half & dcz<n times —and really good ones seem to run in flocks—use strategy in getting out of its way. There are only a few stories in every generation worth hearing more than once, WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS BY FREDERIC With wage cuts mounting to the emi- nence of a national issue, more than passing interest is taken at Washington in the outcome of a labor dispute on the Loulsiana & Arkansas Railroad, & minor ny employing a couple of thou- sand men. Several wzeks ago the road made a 10 per cent reduction in wages. ‘The employes objected and a strike was | threatcned. Efforts of the United States | Radio Board of Mediation having failed to set- tle the dispute, President Hoover, under provisions of the rallway labor act of 1926, appointed an emergency board of The latter has completed its ings and formulated its report, but the President, a firm believer in arbitra- tion, d<sires to exhaust every possibility of an amicable settlement. To that end, the manager: of the railroad are coming to Washington and make one more at- tempt to iron out the controversy. If a peaceful adjudication proves impossi- ble, the White House indicates that the emergency board’s report wifl be made public. Only a couple of hundred L. & A. workers ar: involved, but the ad- ministration is so deeply committed to little Southwestern railroad has a cer- tain symbolical importance. * ok ok % Gen. Saltzman, chairman of the Fed- eral Radio Commission, and his fellow arbiters of the air are awaiting with lively interest the impending visit of Sir John Reith, director ;general of the British Broadcasting rporation, who has just arrived in this country. When Bir John comes to Washington, the Cap- ital will make the acquaintance of one of the sturdiest figures now adorning Brit- ish public life. An immensely tall Scotsman, alongside whom cven Sec- retary Ray Lyman Wilbur will look short, Reith’ wields almost autocratic power over British “wireless,” as they still call ragio over there. He is 42 years old and spent two y<ars in college in this country, at Swarthmore, Pa. Later he got a master of sciences degree from Lafayette. Reith is an engin-er by profession. seriously wounded while on active serv- ice with the Royal Engine:rs in France, and wears an honorably conspicuous facial scar s the badge of his gallantry under fire. Sir John is an ardent apostle of complete government regulation of radio. H: uncompromisingly opposes the commercialization of the art, h he freely admits that America’s great ]brgudmfln‘ chains have done “a fine job.” * ok ok ok Advocates of American entry into the World Court rejoice in the conversion of Senator David A. Reed, Republican, of Pennsylvania to their cause. In a speech at Pittsburgh last week Reed predicted that the United States would Join the court within a year and pro- claimed his readiness to co-operate to that end. He is nt member of the Senate Forel tions Commit- tee. Reed thinks little further clarification of the language of one of but declares that otherwise under the Root formula, safeguarding American rights, Uncle Sam can ’o to the Per- manent Court without fear of having his clothes stolen while swimming in international waters. A national cam- paign to bring about Senate action on the World Court protocol by February 1, 1932, will be launched during the Summer by the American League of Nations Association. DR Senator “Bob” La Follette didn’t suc- ceed in getting President Hoover to swal- low the meresalve speclal-session bait, but the militant Wisconsin Republican did promptly smoke out ‘White House on the subject. That i itself is a feather in “Young Bob's” cap, for Presidents aren’t accustomed to taking notice of nobodies. La Follette con- tinues to be the Peter Pan of National litics. h he's in the midst of s seventh year in the Sen: nd was 36 years old last February, he remains invincibly boyish ing wnd_magu grow mal |-muty. always first-class, | proves, and he fis a daily 'mznu%‘ reputation for sound judg- ment. e older heads on both sides of the Senate aisle have come to ac- knowledge an abiding respect for La i the policy of wage maintenance during | the depression that the squabble on the | Early in the war he was | the reservations” may be necessary, | WILLIAM WILE. Follette’s political skill. Some of them see in him, perhaps a decade hence, or sooner, Pm(rea:lv: x:lrestldmusl timber. Lawyers aren't the only trust busters. Here comes Oswald F. Schuette, news- paper man by profession, wearing such laurels, incidental to the United States SBupreme Court decision declaring the Corporation of America in effect a violator of the anti-monopoly laws. Since leaving Washington newspaper work three or four years ago, Schuette has been the spearhead of the “Radio Protective _Association of America.” From its offices in the Capital, he has maintained a ceaseless and merciless fire on the “radio trust.” Successive Department of Justice investigations and complaints, aimed at the “trust,” ‘were virtually all launched at Schuette’s instigation. The Supreme- Court’s re- ecnt decree has resulted in the filing of nearly a score of triple damage suits under the now famous “tube clause” of the court’s findings against the dragon which 8t. George Schuette seems to have killed. Schuette, whose name is appropriately pronounced for a trust- buster (Shooty), is a Chicagoan, was once president of the National Press Club and saw war-correspondent’s serv- ice in Europe. * x ok % Somebody asked at the State Depart- ment what's bringing Ambassador “Charlie” Dawes home from London at this time. The answer was that he needs a vacation after surviving the season’s onslaught of fond American papas and mammas in quest of presen- tations at Buckingham Palace either for the mammas themselves or their daughters, or both. President Hoover and Secretary Stimson, at the outset of this administration, decided to pass the court presentation buck, at all capi- tals whers monarchy still exists, to our envoys on the spot. The public has no conception of the pull, push and pres- sure exerted to get Yankee malds and matrons the privilegs of curtseying be- fore crowned heads. The Court of St. James is the favorite, but almost any old court will do. * ok ok President Hoover is putting the fin- ishing touches to his Memorial day ad- dress at Valley Forge next Saturday. The tip is going around that he may have something pretty arresting to say on the subject of the soldiers’ bonus. The figures recently given by Gen. Hines, head of the Veterans' A tration, that by 1950 Uncle Sam will have paid to soldiers or their depend- ents more billions than our entire ex- pense in the World War ($26,000,000,- 000) made a deep impression at the ‘White House. (Copyright. 1931.) Let New York Be Itself. rom the Kansas City Times. i The New York Board of Trade has decided the throwing of ticker tape from windows is not a fitting expres- sion of the joy of the metropolis over the arrival of a visiting celebrity. It thinks a “more suitable and dignified welcome should be substituted. Too late, probably. Dignified or not, a ticker tape shower is what visiting celebrities now expect when they ride up Broadway to the city hall. It may not be the most suitable welcome, but it is a New York welcome, and that is what celebrities want. They can get ment scrolls attesting the) ceived the freedom of the city. only in New York can a traveler see his fame reflected of torn-up paper thrown into the air a populace which may have only vaguest idea of the real nature his contribution to humanity. There is one thing New Y does well: it has plenty of ticker tape and gmcy of tall buildings from which throw it. Why, then, should it aban- don ism a this for form that not express itself? New is | York can’t be European. It can't even be . It can only be New York. It's because it is New York that heard the story, but he will be so en- | box Those who fail as story tellers ought |, d |js in its coffers. N 11 has ! o wonder hel MAY 25, 1931. Evil Influence of Gangster Pictures To the Editor of The Btar: Dbegin to go badly for the little seal-haired, im- maculately groomed gangster hero, as portrayed by Mr. Barthelmess and oth- ers of his ilk. Not 'that the actors should be too much blamed, for, after all, they are compelled to assume the roles assigned to them by the producers, who are interested in only one thing— office receipts, I have in mind one particularly of- fensive gangster picture of several months ago, “Weary River.” The hero after being sent to the penitentiary composes the song, “Weary River,” and while incarcerated becomes famous for his rendition of it over the radio. This song, sung in a crooning whisky tenor in & maudlin, sentimental key that is supposed by the icers to be very touching, rails plaintively at his fate. In other words, as long as this little rat was living in his luxurious apart- ment everything was fine, but when a miracle happened and he was sent to prison he sings, “Fate has been a very generous giver to most every one but me.” And there were actually grown people in the audience sniveling and blubbering over his “hard luck.” What effect must it have on the kids? ‘Why should the children of the land be subjected to this sort of corruption Just because a few greasy vultures who control the moving picture industry want to pile up enormots fortunes and bulld bigger, if not better, palaces in Hollywood? Finally, why gangster pic- tures at all? S. H. MUMFORD. —————— Dr. Alderman Lauded For His Public Spirit Prom the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin. As a conspicuous example of the type of educator who believes it is the duty of a president of a university to take an active and forceful interest in the affairs of the world in which he lives, rather than to withdraw into the academic seclusion of the college hall, Dr. Edwin Anderson Alderman, the head of the University of Virginia, had come to occupy an influential place in American life. He ranked in the pub- lic mind with such men as Butler of Columbia, Hibben of Princeton, Eliot and Lewell of Harvard, Rowe of Penn- sylvania, Garfield of Williams and Hadley and Angell of Yale, as men who, in the present or recent past, ave constantly endeavored to assist in the formation of an intelligently edu- cated public opinion on the civic and governmental problems of the day. The Virginia Institute of Public Affairs, often referred to as the South- ern Willlamstown, which dealt par- ticularly with the problems of the South, although by no means confini itself entirely to that section, was, to a large degree, his concept. The Uni- versity of Virginia, where the insti- tute met, knew Dr. Alderman as an able administrator and as a man of winning personality and eloquent ad- dredss. who did much for its progress an 3 Although refraining from seeking office and uce‘fiflnl such public honors as might readily have been his, Dr. Alderman alway manifested a keen in- terest in the politics and diplomacies of his day. It was, as he once said, the duty of a university to have an answer on any and every question touching life in the fleld and factory, in munici- 1 and national affairs, and in keep- and meaning to the institution over which he presided. Business Forecasting From the Baltimore Sun. With the Federal Treasury certain to close the year's operations on June 30 with the largest deficit in the history of the country, and another large deficit for the following year rather clearly forcshadowed, it is certainly appropriate for Federal officials to in- ::rest themselves in what is done about to meet until December, and with ac- tion by Congress essential to any change in the scheme of taxation, it seems reckless for national political leaders to bs unburdening themselves of rather categorical statements on how the deficit difficulty should be handled. In & country that in eighteen months went from & “new economic era,” which many of our most esteemed statesmen assured & much - belleving populace meant permanent prosperity, to a de- pression where the Census Bureau found about 8,000,000 people without jobs, it should b2 fairly obvious that business forecasting is a very precari- ous occupation. And deciding at this juncture the proper course to be fol- lowed in dealing with Treasury deficits is, in a very large measure, a matter of business forecasting. Between now and the first oppor- tunity that Congress will have to deal with the question of taxation an enor- mous variety of things can happen, any one of which may make taxation formulas announced today seem ridic- ulous. The most desirable of these would be an upsurge of economic ac- tivity that would clearly dictate the wisdom of handling the deficit by short-term borrowings to be retired quickly from the greatly increased yield of Federal taxes on account of pros- perity. Or it might come to pass that the Federal Treasury would be sub- jected to great requirements for relief of one kind or another that would make essential a revision of the sch:me of Federal taxation, regardless of the desire of G. O. P. leaders not to in- crease taxation just before the national campalgn. In view of the uncertainty about the Federal fiscal situation Congress will face in December, it would seem that shrewd political lcaders would hesitate a long time before unburdening them- selves of positive statements in this fleld, either promising no increase in taxation or advocating increasss, and particular kinds of increases. It would seem that they would want to avoid the chance of having events, still to be disclosed, force them to swallow their words. If they do not choose to b so sensibly cautious, however, the public should discount their statements very liberally, for, in the nature of the case, they cannot know very well what they are talking about. s o Where Is Thy Sting? From the Yakima Dally Republic. A supposedly well-informed English- man says that America is going h hell because most of the worl old lost its influence as a threat to man- | kind. Out of Work. Prom the Ann Arbor Daily News. By the way, has anybody seen a first class drought nnd‘elgn( irmmd ook~ ing for a job? ng with that view he gave new tone | Is Precarious Occupation |» But with Congress not_scheduled | 1P ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN. P, A. As of June 30, 1930, there were cartoon. In 1909 first one, “Little Nemo.” Q. How many former Presidents the United States have widows still liv- Ing?—R. W. 8. A. The widows of Presidents Cleve- land, Harrison, Roosevelt, Taft and ‘Wilson are living. Mrs. Cleveland is now Mrs. Thomas Preston. The only former President living is Calvin Oool- idge. His wife is also living. Q. If the air is called atmosphere and the waters called hydrosphere, what similar word denotes the landed portion of the globe?>—N. C. T. A. The solid portion is called litho- sphere. Q. When did the Tory party go out of existence in England?—M. S. A. In 1830, the name Conservative was as a substitute for Tory and has been generally used since 1832, Q. What State in this country has the lowest average altitude?—M. C. A. A. Delaware has the lowest average elevation. If leveled, it would be only 60 jfeet above sea level. Colorado would, under these conditions, be the It would be 6,800 feet above sea level. Q. Is dollar bird a slang name for the American eagle?—D. A. A. While the term mmy be used in this sense in America, the dollar bird is an Australian roller, prevailing blue and black in plumage. It is #o called from the large roundish spot of white on its wings, shown in flight. Q. I have heard that the principal building of Lhasa in Tibet is T than the United States Capitol. Is true?—F. M. ' A. The Capitol is 746 feet long 270 feet wide. The palace of the Lama at Lhasa is 1,000 feet long, f stories in height, surmounted by & dome covered with 28 are also the peristyle pillars in front. It contains l:umi,l rooms and l’“c’adw‘ ‘The ding was comment years ago and the most recent addition is 200 10 | years old. A lamaserie nearby shelters 7,500 lJamas. . Potters at Staffordshire in the seventeenth How old 1a the nude cult of Ger- A." It started about 1900. Most of the citles have groups, Berlin ha: 20. ‘The movement bas approximately 25,000 ‘members. Q. What is the difference between in- ct and intui:ion?—P. C. Ing iing beforehand, wheth- er it be mystical, intellectual or moral. . What is the most famous dance known?—N. R K. A. The walt: is sald to be the most Q. Are duels still fought in England and Germany?—T. P.DH A. The lawr lg\mt duell ceedingly strict in Engl Germany. Q. What is the association which is of “all men called?—8. G. A. Tt is called the National Soclety of Long Fellows It was o in the Spring of 1907, for the purpose of giv- ing publicity to‘the needs of excep! - nwunomflemthenyolspecm are ex- and and accomme of cremating EE 2 E‘!!L Esf H i " £ 2 B g ' 43 s g 111 gig i With some few exceptions, the press 1of “the country the action of Yale University, conservative educa- tional institution, in offering the bache- lor of arts degree without the - ment of Greek and Latin. The - ford Time “grave cause for regret es sees W.W i the rattle of th uis “Well, let them ‘The cinna a literary diploma.” ‘The Fort Wa News-Sentinel m- mnegu should *“ self-reliance, ;’nd “euncludum.“‘:. h.“: no objection colleges a Iversit admitting the rank and flle of idlers for a good time under the elms, m- vided the public doesn’t pay the . But these should be given some kind of a special, second-rate -with the A. B. reserved for those who really have made something of an art of learning.”" “It is significant of new trends in higher education,” in the impartial judgment of the Pasadena Star-News, while the Roanoke Times is convinced that “it is futile to resist the modern tendency to put the emphasis upon the immediately practical,” but the - sas City Times draws the indictment: “Explanations of Yale's action in elim- inating the requirements of Latin Greek for any undergraduate degree seem to us to be inadequate. The real reason the classic languages are dis- appearing from the plan of study in American universities is that they never in American politics. in politics , which why almost has ceased to serve in that art except money. There was a time, as late as the last century, when a member of the British House of Com- mons, hesitating over a word in a classical quotation, underwent the hu- miliating experience of having the whole House rise to give it to him. We suppose the delinquent member was de?en'-ed at the next election. But if any member of the American Congress has any Latin or Greek he is careful to conceal the fact.” * ok kK . “Our universitie: asserts ‘Youngstown Vindic: , “are admitting £0 many young people who have no in- terest in learning that they must lower their requirements, with the result that even the more earnest students do not recelve the education and traini which were formerly the mark of a college man.” The New York Evening Post comments: “To fill void, they are going to let the student take mod- ern languages. What will French, Spanish or Italian be to him without a knowledge of their basic root, Latin? But, as we say, there is little use heap- ing up words. The thing is done and faculties are the least changeable of human institutions. "Tis a pity, though, Yale couldn’t have given classical cul- everythin, the useful to Babbitt, 193: during his active career ( which everything must be D, but after he has made his pile and is setf down to collect libraries or buy ; not, of course, o grows more complex, says the Hartford Courant, “it may be- come necessary for the boundaries of learning to close in. It is hard to see such restriction, however, a5 a cause for rejoicing. The student who does not master Latin or Greek can find equivalent in mental training and in first-hand knowledge of a_ culture not hk‘:l :nvm only in Chinese, San- sl or Economy. From the Dayton Dally News, i e theaters using_the igns. In addition, think :}“fl:& ’3’:‘? signs. 3 save on costumes! ture just one small break. It might be affiicts the Press Condemns Collegiate Rejection of Classical Basis i T Latin disappen in most Ameri- ing of it ceased, at least can’ schools, although they retained the study. It was the experience of most students to apportion many hours of several years to languages and have no proficiency in any of them, but to let go of Latin and Greek seemed to be cutting adrift from a culture which had dominated intellectual life and had been its essence. The direct benefits derived from the study of the anclents could not be shown.” “The strictly cultural studies,” in the Judgment of the Toledo Blade, “always should be available, but not compul- sory, for yourg men and women who 80 to college to learn how to live and earn a living.” The St. Paul Pioneer Press argues: “Yale only follows, at some distance, the example of Ameri- can universities in general. Even the classicist himself, concerned with jus- tifying Greek and Latin by the prevail- ing standards, must admit that he has not made out a case. It is often urged bg the splendid old guard of culture that the classics are the really useful studies, that they contribute to clear thought and expression, and also to real knowledge, as nothing else can. There are few who continue to believe. The real enemy of the classics is the utilitarian spirit of the age, which turns its back uj & vast ure of beauty, and moral phi- losophy. Not Quiite: the S Prom the Goshen Daily News-Tim It develops that, after all, or chewing isn't so chmfl':'i to ioans as a real 3 Misfits. From the Albany Evening News. Someone has sald that the trouble with the inferiority complex is that it lict wrong kind of folks, and same is true of the superiority complex, too. Each at a Loss. From the Meridan Star. Americans never can understand wi Americans Central are fighting But " Strong Arm in Fact. Such simi o ture Which into Uous ai din -M"lnm or Eur a s of its htm of in the h