Evening Star Newspaper, May 29, 1931, Page 8

A—S8 THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Edition. WASBHINGTON, D. C. FRIDAY..........May 20, 1831 THEODORE W. NOYES. .. .Editor ‘The Evening Star Newspaper Company Business Ofce: 11th St. and Pennsylvi New York Office: 110 Ea : Lake Michiy : 14 Regent England. Rate by Carrier Within the City. 45c per month ay ‘Siar 60¢ per month 65 per month 5¢ Ler copy eh month, 3 B8 Gerk in by mall oF telepnons NAtional 5000. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. : 88 ally and S aily only Bunday only All Other States and Canada. Datly and Sunday...1yr., $12.00: 1 mo., $1. Daily only .. 1yr, $8.00; 1 mo., 8 funday only i 50c Member of the Associated Press. The Assoclated Press is exclusively entitled to the ‘use for republication of all news dis- patches credited fo it or not otherwise cred- published Deretn. All izt special dispatches herein a: s also reserved. Mr. Lord's Tax Views. No one can argue with the general principles that Mr. Lord believes should govern equitable taxation of the people of the District of Columbia. It is true that there should be Tigid economy in expenditures. It is true that the em- phasis should be placed on equalizing the burden of taxation rather than a mere hunt for new sources which, tap- ped, will serve to increase the general tax burden. It is true that there are merits in the proposed income tax as against a tax on intangibles and if the District has becoms the haven for in- heritance tax dodgers that Mr. Lord intimates it has, despite the existence of the Federal tax, that condition should be rectified by the body which has ex- clusive power here to levy taxes. These, it is repeated, are generaliza- tions that can provoke little debate. 'The people of the District have never opposed bearing a fair share of the bur- den of taxation, and they have borne it cheerfully. ‘The difference of opinion between House and Senate which provoked this new inquiry into fiscal relations, how- ever, was not rooted in any contention that the District of Columbia has been escaping its fair share of the burden of building the Capital. The trouble has been that the Federal Government, binding itself by law to a certain finan- cial responsibility, has shifted that re- sponsibility by legislative evasions, and the repeated and annual shirking of this responsibility finally reached the point that demanded some careful de- termination, anew, of the Federal Gov- ernment’s obligations. Mr. Lord’s views, which are fairly and intelligently expressed, indicate nevertheless the course that the House inquiry has followed. All the emphasis has been placed upon taxation of the District and the business of how to. get ing to gain access to Mussolinl's pres- ence in the Palazso Chigl through a ruse. The moral of the affair Mes in the fresh proof it provides that the Fascist regime tolerates no nonsense. It is additional evidence that in a very literal sense Benito Mussolini is Fas- cismo. Threaten his life, the Schirru verdict and execution say to all whom it may concern, and you threaten the life of the Fascist state itself. They are one and inseparable. They rise and fall together. Fascismo is approaching the tenth anniversary of its existence. The Black Shirt march on Rome took place in October, 1922. The shots that so ignominiously ended the life of Michele Schirru in the Roman dawn of this day were meant to ring around the whole Italian world. Thd} were a salvo of warning that no mercy awaits him or | them who would depose the mighty monarch atop the Fascist throne. The Billion-Dollar Deficit. in this lne. In all likelihood at this moment ambitious adventurers are thinking of breaking the Piccard record by ascending to eleven iniles or twelve into the stratosphere. It is quite beside the mark to suggest that they wait until Prof. Piccard and his companion, Kipfer, elaborate their observations and present their sclentific conclusions. The | seckers after height records care little ror nothing about the conductivity of gases in the cosmic rays, for the meas- urement of which Piccard and Kipfer made their great experiment. More lasting fame is assured to these coura- geous scientists than can possibly be gained by any who come after and make greater helshts mevely for the sake of that achievement, The Indianapolis Race. i ‘Tomorrow is the great day for motor- }dom. For 1t is the annual running of the five-hundred-mile Indianapolis race. From all over the country people are journeying to watch this classic contest, which will be fought out by For the first time in the history of | thirty-odd drivers over the two-and- the country the Treasury deficit stands one-half-mile circular. bumipy brick in days of peace above a billion dollars. | course before & crowd of more than Fortunately the credit of the Govern-|one hundred and fifty thcusand per- ment is sound, backed as it is by the sons. Nation, Secretary Mellon has already | The perfection of the automobile declared the purpose of th: Treasury | today is almost directly traceable to De t to meet the deficit through | the race track, where cars are sub- borrowing. But he has added that bor- | jected to_ . unbelievable punishment. rowing is merely a temporary expe- | Tires, engine and chassis must stand dlent. There must be some other solu- |up under the sizzling pace of running tion of the Government's difficulties.|for five hours at more than one hun- The recovery of business, with a corre- | dred miles an hour. It is a dangerous sponding flow of revenue from the Fed- | spert, but it is one from which the eral income taxes, might turn the trick. | world benefits, Added Federal taxation and drastic —————t—ee. economy in governmental expenditures| If enterprising Edward A. Armstrong are other measures which may be |should install that series of seadromes adopted to meet the situation. spaced across the Atlantic, on which The Congress already has authorized both gaming and imbibing are to be expenditures and made appropriations | permitted, will he follow the old West- for the fiscal year that ends June 30, |ern custom and double-label the one 1932, The only possible economies in|nearest these shores “First Chance” that period are those which may be made by the executive departments of the Government. But another Con- gress meets next December, and upon that Congress will devolve the duty of making the appropriations for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1933. Perhaps the new Congress will heed the warn- ing constantly impressed upon the old Congress both by President Hoover and by Secretary Mellon. The old Congress, however, gayly went its gait when it came to authorizing the soldlers’ bonus law, which required the Federal Gov- ernment to find another billion and more dollars to put out at this time. There have been demands from con- gressional quarters now for a special session of Congress, to be called im- mediately, so that there may be addi- tional expenditures authorized for huge Government construction programs and for a Federal.dole. .If these demands are an indication of the temper of the majority of the new Congress, it does not augur well for what may be ex- pected when under the law the Congress assembles in December of this year. However, the people themselves may have taken cognizance of the situation more mcney from the District. The amount that the Federal Government, ®s a result of its lawful and moral obligations, should contribute has been for the most part relegated to minor consideration. It is an obvious fact that the Federal Bureau of Efficiency’s yeport on District finances was re- pudiated by the committee of inquiry not because it showed by fair compari- #on that the tax burden in the District was adequate, but because it showed that the Federal Government was an- nually escaping obligations that, aside from those imposed by & law of its own making, were due on account of the extraordinary factors that must be considered when studying the unique position of the Federal City among all the other cities of the Nation, and per- haps the world. It is most important, Mr. Lord be- Meves, to hold expenses within income, and the people “should get in public works only what they can afford.” frhat, of course, is another generaliza- tion that is perfectly true. It in- wolves, however, one of the chief points ©of consideration in any investigation of the Capital's financial system, where generalizations no longer apply. The people of the District, for instance, could not “afford” such a great public Wwork as the Municipal Center Develop- ment. They could not afford the broad #nd expansive park development system that has become one of the attractive Features of the American Capital. They Mould not undertake, by themselves, to build the Capital of the United States s it is being bullt today. The com- tunity's tax burden should be measured by what the people of the city can afford to pay. What we have in Washington, #s a Capital City, will depend upon what the American people as a whole can afford to pay. When these two ideas are confused, the result is another fiscal inquiry, with most of the stress Said on ways and means to increase the Jocal revenue sources. oot It was parental pocketbook, not pacl- st, pressure that resulted in the elim- :—.ufim of the lie-down-and-crawl ma- euvers from the annual High School :ndct drill, —_————————— Fascist Justice. The mills of the gods, it is said, grind slowly. Apparently the same tannot be sald of those which grind out justice in Fascist Italy, where they §>om to move exceeding fast. Yester- day a naturalized American eitizen of Htalian origin, named Michele Schirru, was placed on trial in Rome. The icase went to the jury during the eve- ming. Fifty-seven minutes later Schirru MWas found guilty of plotting against phe life of Benito Mussolini. At 4:27 p'clock this morning, after being con- fiemned to death, he was shot in the back by a Fascist firing squad. Italy has had a grim object lesson of what §t means merely to harbor the thought Pt doing away with I1 Duce: Schirru's fate was determined before gthe special tribunal “for defense of the state.” This is a court established by the Fascist governmenmt ‘for the pur- pose of dealing summarily with offénd- ers against Fascist ideals and institu- tions. Among those ideals and insti- tutions, of course, is the person of Mussolini himself. Of Schirru's guilt, mccording to the evidence introduced wgainst him, there was apparently no oubt. He was charged with posses- lon of powerful bombs, with shooting ee police officers, with carrying 'weapons and with being an anarchist. PmbAY WAS Gl accuicd of by that time and have a calming in- fluence upon the National Legislature.. The deficit which now confronts the Government differs from the public debt, although it adds to that debt. The deficit arises” from the fact that the budget is unbalanced, with the ex- penditures exceeding by more than a billion dollars the receipts of the Gov- ernment. With the governmental ex- penditures ranging around $4,500,00¢ 000 a year, will any one have the te- merity to suggest that they are too small? The country is gradually readjust- ing itself to the conditions which have arisen, due to overproduction and to an orgy of speculation. There is reason to believe, according to high officials of the Government, who have made a study of the situation, that the read- justment is more nearly completed than had been supposed. The prospects are for excellent crops and, even though prices for agricultural produce be low, big crops sre expected to add much to the farmers’ buying power, since at the same time the prices of the materials which the farmer must purchase are, in many cases, correspondingly low. No one doubts that if the Treasury De- partment puts out a large bond issue at low rates of interest, it will be snapped up in a hurry, indicating that there is today plenty of money in the country still seeking a profitable outlet. The curtailment of business has brought about a greatly curtailed production of all kinds of commodities. The pros- pects ere for an increased demand within & comparatively short period, which should bring with it increased production and a resumption of full- time work in the industries of the country. —r—————— ‘The prophecy is made over in New York that Jimmy Walker will one day enter the United States Senate. If that time should come, only the re-election of Magnus Johnson could hold the sar- torial effulgence of this august body down to a normal average. Into the Stratosphere. ‘While the sclentific value of the Plecard balloon flight from Augsburg to the Gurgl glacler remains to be de- termined in the development of ob- servations made, the flight itself stands as an astounding achievement. That the two observers returned alive and unharmed from the greatest height ever known to have been reached by man above the surface of the earth, a dis- tarice of nearly ten miles, is itself re- markable. Their success in this respect was due to the most careful, thorough, scientific planning. Every detail was worked out with precision. Every safe- guard against disaster was provided per- fectly. There seems to have been but one slip in the mechanical arrange- ments, and that, as yet unexplained, prevented the opening of the gas valve to permit descent in daylight within a few- hours after the take-off. In one vther respect there appears to have been a slight divergence from schedule. The balloon rose, Prof. Piccard says, so rap- idly that there was no time to take observations during the early stages. It ascended, he says, much more swiftly than had been anticipated, reaching the altitude of 9.315 miles in the astonish- ingly short time of twenty-five minutes, during which time they were absorbed in the mechanical problem of handling the balloon. ‘This successful fiight—it should really be called an ascent, for there was no guldance along & determined course— k- peobelly, will Jesd 1@ Austher eOdEAVORS ieRgies dak WAL” and “Last Chance”? —— . A Baltimore fan, handy with his fists, incensed at the actions of a wres- tler, leaps into the ring and knocks him cold with ene punch. Many spectators at boxing matches have sincerely wished some good wrestler would leap the ropes and throw both the contestants out. ———————————— ‘The American mayors touring France | entertained their official hosts with renditions of favorite songs, including “Sweet Adeline.” Could it be possible that just before that number they had harmonized in “How Dry I Am!"? —_——.——————— An Oriental who claims he is the Emir of Kurdistan and who has been frequently deported from the United States also declares that he is a direct descendant of Haroun el Raschid. Sind- | bad the Sailor would have been a more logical choice of ancestor. —_———————— It has been decided in high circles that, owing to its costliness, there will be no “chilled air” at the White House this Summer. Yet certain callers will be able to swear they can feel it, and not on the very hottest days, either, —r—————————— “Too many students get carried away with the sideshow of college life,” de- clares the dean of women at Boston University. Yes, and she might have added that modern faculties are prac- tically freakless, He who predicts the renewal of clvil ‘war in China takes a stand about as precarious as that assumed by the man who, when asked if he thought the weather would clear up, replied coura- geously, “It always has.” — e If the grape growers do not get that $14,000,000 loan quickly, they may soon be adorning strategic stréet corners with “unemployed grapes.” ——or—- SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. The Troubled Spirit. Of the wonderful men on this wonder- ful earth 4 ‘There’s one we most marvel to see. When_ we're sad his performance will move us to mirth; When we're glad he will temper our glee. He sings in the choir off the key, very loud; p He spoils the good cheer when you sup. He is sure to break into the happlest crowd, < ! The fellow who musses things upl His yearnings are constant. His moods are so strange That to guess them you struggle in vain; When he gets his own way, his ideas will change < And he wants it all over again. Yet for power he longs. He will eagerly claim Ambition’s intoxicant cup— And we hail him a man well entitled to fame 7 Por his genius for mussing things up! In the O1d Days. “You got your start in politics by ‘burning midnight ofl?” £ #Yes,” replied Senator Sorghum. “I was one of the busiest boys you ever saw in & torchlight procession.” On the Farm. “Do you have.any trouble in keeping your boys on the farm?” “No,” replied Farmer Corntossel. “They're willin’ to stay. The only dif- ficulty is that they all want to act like Summer boarders.” : Blessings Fled: ‘The sun ere long ‘Will shine full strong. ‘We'll sigh amid the sultry glow, “Turn back, turn back, i My almanac, To the prediction, ‘frost and snow.!” Varying the Monotony. N “My doctor says T ought to ride a|DT5,Of the horse,” sald the indolent man. “What for?” “I don’t know. Maybe he's tired of | 4, treating me for dyspepsia and wants a bfken collarbone for a change.” ' 1 iy Common Complaint. ©Oh, life is a perpetual fret! Its program in the main Consists in strugglin’ out o’ debt An’ slidin’ in sgain. “It’s 80 easy to find fault,” sald Uncle How much happier human beings are when the necessary tasks are the in- teresting tasks! ‘There is nothing: more delightful, for instance, than mowing a lawn.when one happens to like the exercise; and, on the other hand, there are few things more distasteful if the householder does not like it. If it is possible for any one who has anything to do to enter into the spirit of the doing, and get some pleasure as well as profit from it, he is in a much ‘better shape and state of mind than if he begrudges every minute he ‘puts on the work. A ‘This applies with peculiar force to 1l domesticalities, as some one has alled the necessary chores around a ouse. Even in this so-called' machine age-there remain many jobs which are best done by hand. Cooking, and washing, and sweeping off the front walk, and mowing the grass, trimming the borders, washing windows—these are a few of the more toilsome domesticalities. No woman is to be pitied more, cer- tainly, than the city girl who has never been taught to cook, yet who upon mar- is pitchforked, as it were, into the position of chief ccok and bottle washer. Here is a genuine grouch. Happily, she often works herself into a true in- terest and pleasure in these necessities, so that when the time comes when she may have & paid cook and maid, she refuses to Flve up what has become a real part of her life. : ‘There are such people, but no onme |, who has not gone through a similar experience will be able to credit them. Alfeknow)cdqe, in the last analysis, is self-knowledge, else it is theory, pure and simple. : * kX * Mowing the lawn is best approached as a duty. This attitude will keep one in the right mood when suffering from a headache, or inclined to shirk the job on accaunt of ‘a good book, or something on the radio one particularly desires to hear. ‘The time element bulks large in duties. A duty is something to be done or said which may not be put off until another time. ~ Its call is imperative. In the case of a lawn, time is the es- sence of duty. It is the passage of time which has conspired with the growing elements in the grass, with the sunshine and the rain, and the warmth of the days, to call the blades into superactivity. Now they have grown so big, and the practiced eye of the householder says too big, so that there is nothing for him to do, if he values the external appearance of his home, but buckle down to the lJawnmower. Some people, of course, are fussier about lawns than others. There seems to be a largs group of law-abiding, God-fearing persons, the members of which do not mind mud and weeds at all. Most do, however; and for them there is nothing quite so good as green grass and plenty of it. All this takes time and work, and sometimes money. To get good , in most instances, means constant reseeding, plenty of fertilizer, watering and cutting. Some ardent lawn enthusiasts insist that the grass should be raked every time it is cut. The other group declare that the clippings should be, left on, to form a mulch to protect the grass roots from the heat of the sun. . As far as we can see, there is little choice between these methods. Long grass, of course, may be taken off, else it will wither on top of the green and present a white appearance in the sun- shine. The rest will do no harm, and may do some good. WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS BY FREDERIC WILLIAM WILE. ‘When President Hoover is at Valley Forge tomorrow, to deliver his Memorial | day nddress, it wouldn't be strange if his thoughts hark back to the role which Congress plays “in the times that try men’s souls,” as Paine described Gen, Washington’s six months of. crit- | ical vicissitudes. “The poor soldiers,” | a popular history of Valley Forge nar- rates, ‘“were the helpless victims of a meddling Congress and an_incompe- tent commissary department. While the whole country was fairly prosperous, the men at Valley Forge starved.” If is estimated that 3,000 soldiers perished at Valley Forge during the six months of the encampment, while in the 26 principal engagements of the Revolu- tion the number of killed and wounded did not greatly exceed 9,000. “The weakest point was Congress,” the his- torian continues. “Its best men were in the Army or at home busily engaged in an effort to establish State govern- ments. A mere handful of men gath- ered in York, often not enough for a | quorum. These had little power and | often less judgment. They could only | advise the States and their advice was | not much heeded. -There was in fact | no central Government.” EEEE I Possibly this additional bit of re- corded Valley Forge history ‘may have a certain up-to-date analogy for Mr. Hoover: “As the silly intrigues against | ‘Washington recolled upon their authors, men began to realize that it was far more upon his consummate sagacity and unselfish patriotism, than upon anything that Congress could do, that country rested its hopes of success in the great enterprise which it had undertaken. As the nullity of Congress made it ever more apparent that the country as a whole was without a gov- ernment, Washington stood forth more and more conspicuously as the living symbol of the union of the States. In him and his work were centered the common hopes and the common in- terests of all the American people.” * K k% Chief Justice Hughes reveals in his arduous work the Supreme Court a buoyancy and verve that are the ad- miration and envy of all who come in contact ‘with them. A day or two after the recent decision concerning citizenshi] Holmes, deis and Stone dissenting —a friend sald to the Chief Justice that it was nlllm!:f to see him blossoming out as a liberal. “I've been bl ing for a long ti a characteristic chuckle, “but the trou- ble was, it dldn't*be:r :rult." * ‘This is the season of the year when Senator Borah annually flirts with the idea of a trip to Europe, but never gets any further than that. The Senate Foreign Relations chairman, who has never been abroad, hesitates to emulate the Marines and see the world mainly because he thinks he wouldn't be able to do what he pleased when. he gets there. ‘The sun nowadays never sets on his reputation, However much Borah might want to see for himself, the chances are that he'd be taken and kept officlally in hand from morning till night “over there.” That isn’t the Idahoan’s idea of & voyage of discovery. * Xk kX One wonders if at least three mem- ¢ Court aren’t bound or & were all associated, ‘way. or another, with the man and matters at issue. Hughes sat in the cabi- net with Fall, Stone went into the ntwrngytgoexnsnhhl‘mp“w purge the De- ent usf “Daughertyism,” ndals. Roberts won +but it becomes somewhat tiresome to | will be rewarded in a hundred ways. ‘Ryan.” and arms-bearing—Hughes, | 5, ,” sald Hughes, with (. Eben, “dat & man who is sure enough’ smart ought to be ashamed to waste his One of the best to keep cutt! a.pleasure, and not a mi is to determine just about how mus :{mmehnmmnmdnltm e. . ‘This of spending all afternoon upon the lawns around & home may do very well for the hired man, who is used to it and paid mto the bargain, the average home owner. e this gentleman farmer Ic own mind just what| portion of the whole he’ desires to do at one time; and to resist the tempta- tion to do more, once he has completed the allotment. . C Heaven will not- fall if the lawns to the rear of the home are not done on the same day that the ‘front grass is completed. While there_is -something picturesque and trim about a newly mowed lawn, few grass plots are 50} good ‘that they do not’ gain by the length of the blades. Usually it-takes two or three days of gowth, after a mowing, to put the wn back. into as good an appearance as it had before the cutting. would not'be the case, of course, if every man had perfect .turf, but how many do? It is-well for the home owner if he gently gives up the idea of perfection in so far. as grass is concerned. There are few matters over which he will worry so much, if once he gets the “bug.” There are few which are worth pother and this is not one of them. “Grass like a "—why should grass be like a cafpet? Rather, it should be like grass. Go into the finest natural meadows, where cows love to browse and dream, and there you will find no perfection. 2 Looked at with critical eyes, the best meadows are far from perfect, but the creatures love them, and surely they make fine pictures. * R EE] It is Better to cut grass slowly, and thoroughly, than to slop through an en- yard at a standing, leaving borders ;Jntrlmmed and tufts of long grass-stick- ng up. 3 The . advantage of the plecemeal method advocated here lies not only in the lessened physical labor, but in, the greater amount of neatness which one may achieve.. If the grass itself is not to be perfect, the work done fn tn may be, to a great extent, at east. What if it has to Be done all over! again next week? Think of the house- wife, who no soonmer gets her dishes sparkling than.they must be washed and dried again. These repetitions .are a part of life, 3o trind whs woud Serp Aogsting, on o who would keep ting on the duliness of thelr Inevitabiity. = . | ‘We should be glad for the job which has to be done over, for it proves that we have lived long enough to see its need again. Ours not the static per- fection of angels in paintings, forever flying with unwearied but never m&:nbfu.n ineh on space; ours is the mu ity of imperfect human beings, who had to wait thousands of years for wings, and then were afraid to use them at last, 5o many of us. A lawn is an’ever-old, ever-new prob- lem. The cause of yonder bare spot | may be debated as seripusly as the cause of any war, and perhaps with far surer and more satisfactory results, for we: may do something about the spot, but nothing about the war. Make the lawn problem a play prob- lem, if you can; at least make it 'in- teresting work, not drudgery, and you shine man. He is headed for Geneva as a member of the Eastman Calendar Reform Committee and’ will lend his influence toward convincing Europeans of the virtues of a 13-month year. Marvin has a wide reputation in Europe as a meteorologist. He was the first secretary of th2 International Geo- physical Union, or at Brussels in '1919. Dr. Marvin was a calendar crusader long before the kodak king set out to reform Father Tirhe. - He is the author of a plan to improve the Gre- gorian rule for leap years by omitting four leap years.in 500 years, which will keep the reckoning’ accurate for more than 10,000 years—if you know what that means. *x k% Out at the Catholic University of America, in Washington's classic suburb of Brookland, a grave Irish complication has arisen. It concerns the Ryans. The faculty contains three members of the ancient family, which proudly traces its origin back to' County Tipperary. There_is the rector of the university, Mgr. James H. Ryan; there is the pro- fessor of moral theoloiy, Dr. John A. Ryan, and there is the professor of English literature, Dr. Edwin Ryan. As all three are priests, they’ve jointly and severally come to be known as “Father ‘Theé resultant mix-up now and then leads to tragi-comic episodes and strange interludes. 'A recent p grew out of an address in New York by Dr. Edwin Ryan, who specializes in Latin American affairs. An interna- tional incident was almost created by a Manhattan foreign language paper, which through misinformation attrib- uted to Dr. John Ryan certain views ex- pressed by Dr. Edwin Ryan. L O John Calder, late director of indus- trial relations courses at the Interna- tional Y. M. C. A. College, Springfield, Mass,, has just been made chief ad- viser to the Soviet government's De- partment of Construction. For the past three years he has been in charge of automobile and tractor plant building in Russia. A native of Scotland and grad- uate of one of its leading technical col- leges, he became & naturalized Ameri- can n:ni1 wog‘ {‘eonown_rin the field of personnel T ns. Ten years ago Calder was of industrial rela- tions for the t packers, wift & Co., and accomplished there a plece of work that attracted national attention. Later he was attached to a ?nmmn:\fmn‘ p-.eitu' ider 1s said co1 capacity. sal ‘cozaadmkedlndh'utcdbytmnua- ians more than any other American now in their service, exception of Hugh L. draulic_engineer, who has had charge of hydroelectric developments on the Dnieper. g * (Copyright, 1931.) R The Plots Are Hard-Worked. From the Buffaly Evening News. Investment Training Course Is Suggested ‘To the Ediwr of The Star: /Anent the ‘figure about taxes being ‘drummed into us by print and radio and | Did you ever write a letter to Fred- jon | €Tic J. Haskin? You can ask him any question of fact and get the in letter. taxes,. ess of situation must surely be brought to _every one. 8o I as incomes were good our ali-wise could squeeze a lot out of the very rich and, those of us who took this more or less as a joke on the other fellow—it was not our.ox that Wi as went Congress; if they could collect all home | & 1d—American newspaper read- ers. It is a part of that best purpose of & newspaper—service. There is no charge except 2 cents in coirr or stamps for return . Address Frederic J. Haskin, director, The Evening Star In- formation Bureau, Washington, D. C. Q. How many times has a favorite won the Kentucky Derby?—M. M. A. Out of the 57 Derby races, 28 post- time favorites have won. Q. At what season of the year do children of grammar school age grow the most?—P. E. B. ' A. The Public Health Service says that the greatest increase in height oc- curs in the Spring and Summer. ‘ Q. Was theAwgm'lel family related to the Astors?—A. D. E. A. The first member of the Wendel money they wanted to spend, it was us. with us and must be met. Obviously the cancentration of wealth in so few ds is wrong in principle and practice. There seem to be only two groups who get any fun out of it, those who own it n.m} Congress who gets & great kick out of ralding it. , since history began these th and. power the same course—endj in revolution and the temporary T ribution of wealth. To force the Fedistribution by orderl; means appears to be the object of muc] of the world’s legislation today; how successful this will be and whether at the expense of all ‘personal initiative time alone will tell. "The point is why does this concentration seem to have to take place sooner or later? It would seem that after all there are comparatively few.persons who are capable of retaining wealth even after it is acquired. . What is the trouble? Bonding companies, better business bureaus and other organizations have made estimates of the amount of money filched from the” American . public Knr}y and they run into many, indeed undreds of millions. A truly stupen- dous sum! ‘This is made up very largely of the actual savings of those who can least afford to lose it and which if kept under the ownership of those who saved it would in itself greatly retard, if not entirely prevent, dangerous con- centrations of wealth, yet without in- terfering with the concentration of capital necessary to the larger under- family in America was John Gottlieb Matthias Wendel, who came to the Unifed States from Germany in 1798. The following year he married Miss Elizabeth Astor, sister of the first John Jacob Astor. His son was John Daniel Wendel, who was the father of the Ella Wendel who recently Q. How much does it cost the Gov- sm’mgllét to make a paper dollar?— A. The value. of the materials in a paper dollar and the cost of labor in making it are not equal to much more than 1 cent, as it is merely a printing operation. Q. When & white substance gathers upon the outside of a jar of pickles, have the pickles spoiled? . R. A. The substance that sometimes seeps out of jars of home-canned pickles is one of the salts which are used in pickling. ‘This condition does not in- dicate spoilage and does not injure’ the pickles. It indicates that the rubber ring is leaking. Q. Is jade of particular significance | to the Chinese and Japanese?—A. W. A. The Chinese ue jade above all precious stones, as i3 indicated by the following quotation from T'ang Jung- tso in a discourse on jade: “The magic powers of heaven and earth are ever combined to form perfect results; so the purse essences of hill and water be- come solidified into precious jade.” The Chinese word “yu” and the Japanese equivalents represent not only jade and gems in Tal, but signify the five cardinal les—charity, modesty, cour- age, justice and wisdom. Q. Is base ball popular in Austra- la?—B. F. A. It'is well liked and bids fair to become a very popular sport. Q. What will prevent cottonwood trees from shedding cotton?—T. W. A.. A 2 per cent sulphuric acid solu- tion meets the situation. Twenty-four hours after spraying, the blooms of the" cottonwood are wilted and practi- cally killed. The spraying should be done between the time that the catkins appear and the time that the ledves are unfolding—a period of about -three takings of today. e These millions are lost in speculation, in unsound ventures honestly conceived, in._thievery, and the- picture, unfortu- nately, has for some years been get- ting steadily worse, ‘Thrift has been preached wholesale, the Postal Savings and others show how successful this has been, so that in these less prosperous times such sav- ings have been of wonderful help. But there is little to indicate that the pub- lic is any wiser or has invested such savings to any great advantage. “Investigate before you invest” is & splendid slogan, but like much good advice that costs nothing falls on deaf ears—the person who is old enough to have saved something to invest is al- most always so sure of his own per- spicacity as to want no advice. Why not start at a time when we can reach the next generation before they get to this it frankly that all is not well with the world, there are still crooks, confidence men and thieves—and show them how to guard whatever they may inherit or acquire nfter years? - ‘We admit that there ‘is_sickness in the world and spend much time and money showing youth how to protect itself; why not the same with the next most important matter, financial inde- pendence? It would not be a one-hour lecture but a true course given to every high school boy and girl and be a substan- Q. !‘sugeflrm:n'yo‘l ’-mheble trade bal- ance en! T reparati obligations?—R. Tp;’y R A. In 1930 for the first time since the war the excess of Germany's ex- ports over her imports was about suffi- tial part of their study. Not a course | clent to meet her annual reparation ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FR‘EDERIC J. HASKIN. payments. This favorable trade bale ance was slightly over $400,000,000. Q. Were there any great Negro lead- _ A. Dingiswayo, Chako, Dingaan and Cetawayo were full-blooded zfl-: chiefs who, by the strategic administration of their forces, their bravery and undoubt- ed capacity for leadership, prevented for a long time the settlement by the- Dutch and later the English of the ter- ritory of Zululand, now a part of the Union of South Africa. Cetawayo, par- ticularly, caused grave concern to the British government, defeating a large contingent of picked British troops. Q. Are theré any locomotives with more than 20 drive wheels?—B, 8. A. One of the three largest locomo- tives in the world, which is owned by the Erie Railroad, has 24 drive wheels. Q. When and where’ was Jefferson Davis buried in Richmond?—J. A. W. A. Jefferson Davis died December 6, 1889, and was buried at New Orleans. On May 27, 1893, his body was removed from the tomb where it had remained since his death to Memorial Hall in the City of New Orleans, where it lay in state until the next day. It was then taken to Richmond, reaching that city on Wednesday morning, May 31. The body was taken to the Capitol, where it lay in statée through the day, and in the evening was interred with im- pressive ceremonies in Hollywood Ceme- the | €8 in Africa>—T. A. Q. When was nitrogen —an rogen discovered? A. Nitrogen was first_ret ized as a distinct substance by Dlnffl{nkuth!rv ford of the University of Edinburgh in 1772. His demonstration ‘ consisted in showing that when a small animal breathes the air in an inclosed space fcr a while and the carbon dioxide pro- duced is removed by absorption, there still remains a gas that is incapable of supporting respiration. Q. What legal stcp must a person take in order fo write under an assamed name?—L. C. T. A. A writer who wishes to use a pseudonym goes through no process’ of Q. Can you give me the name of a prominent authority on religious edu- cation?—H. D. A. Dr. Walter 8. Atheardi, former dean of Boston. University, is one of the foremost authorities on this sub- Ject. He is the author of 28 books, 4 of which have been written in Washing- ton during the past few years, Q. Are the diamonds found in Arkansas as good as South African o s hrka 4 ansas diamond mine in Pike County has produced several thou- sand diamonds equal in color to the best produced in other parts of the world and- 1 per cent harder than the hardest from other parts of the world. In the Arkansas diamond mines the gems have been found “in place” as the geologists put it, and nowhete else on m 1lu;mkphere have they been so Q. Is it possible to get coins made in specified years from the Departe meAnt ‘I’t’ ;he Tteasury?—G. R. 5 loes not keep coins segregat according to years. s i Q. Why is a form of corn calAled l,||)1-m§|y cake?—D. A. Wi n colontal times, such bread w: called journey cake or cakes, and :i: g:l;blb{.yhcook!g fg; on a jour- . le WO s ey it Jost its significance. e i on how to make money but how to keep . Not a courseNon how to “avoid buying a gold brick but one on the basic principles of keeping what you have inherited or saved. : If average results are attained nof only will many individuals pass their latter years in peace and independence, but that bugaboo of concentrated wealth will fade, our tax problems become simplified and the feeling that each of us had a stake in national mhunyl would pass to millions who now have, nothing to lose, no matter what happens. It is true that no formula can be devised that will protect the fool from loss nor have we devised working rules of hyglene that will always protect | agal disease, but great strides have been made in the latter and can be made in the former. CHARLES MORGAN. R ) Movie Producers Hit For Glorifying Gangs| i To the Editor of The Star: Parents may not ease too much blame off their own shoulders on those of the moving pictures. They have the power to keep their children away from gangster pictures. But the producers are not to be excused. Their arguments that “the gangster. hero is either killed or reformed in the end are pretty weak,” as Mr. Mumford says in your issue of May 25, 1931. That the hero is killed means noth- ing. Heroes are killed on the field of battle, yet one would not say that this deters boys from aspiring to be soldiers in time of war. And to sow your wild oats and then reform, what is discour- aging to a young boy about that? The producers perhaps never were real boys, or they are as ignorant of boyhood as they are knowing in regard to box offize receipts, “Treasure Island” is overrun with pirates, yet it can't be said that Ste- venson, turned boys into pirates. R.L.S. did not make the mistake of making villains heroic. Hé made them villain- ous. Possibly if the moving picture pro- ducers were artists as well as money- getters they might divest themselves of some* isy. Maintaining that their pictures are uplifting, when in fact they ding, is merely whitewashing sepulchers, o producer is going to release pic- tures that are not attractive. It there- fore stands to reason that they are not ?omz into the business of pictures that eave the gangsters alive, unreformed, successful and prosperous. Doubtless they would consider that too revolting to be attractive. Yet if it is revolting, then surely that is just the picture they should produce, according to their own Passing Although the Government states that ) the of the Cavalry through the use of motors is to be on a very limited scale, civilian comment en- vislons a time when armies will be | gencies, but others, however, forecast continued use of the horse. Mounted troops are recognized as a part of the romance of war. “Though the Cavalry will be reduced and_im e, the g horse may be in pictures of Cavalry disaj ice was clearly in thé World War.” Cavalry of other years earned a glory all its own,” declares the Chat- tancoga Times, “and won a place in the hearts of the public that it has -Eg : ‘These forecasts are not entirely con- vincing to the San Antonio Express, which takes note of the fact that “since the World War the mounted arm has increased its fire power,” and adds as to the future: “Commanders still must depend upon the mounted arm for such missions as conducting dmnt Tecon- establishing contact with an enemy and pursuing a retreat- ing foe. In this work the Cavalry now co-operates with the air forces, whose advance information gives effective di- rection to its tering units. Planes also are depended upon to pro- tect Cavalry and other ground troops the| from hostile aircraft. As yet mo ef- clency keep its job would only make that a type with the gangster triumphant, unregenerate and prosperous, would be so repugnant to the moral sense as to put across & wholesome lesson? - At any rate, we must agree that until the producers show some honest hu- mility instead of investing themselves in holy apparel, we shall find the hero Maybe the movie stars must diet t0 | hind stay thin, but the plots' seem to stay that way without effort. We Can’t Worry. Prom the Cleveland News. more often upon the screen than be- it. EWART W. HOBBS. Abolishing Chain Stores law Will Injure Everybody of War Horse Viewed With Mixed Emotions fective substitute for Cavalry has been found when troops are required to seize important strategic objectives—such as bridgeheads and river lines—before the main forces arrive. The mounted arm is indispensable also for operating in rugged regions where wheeled transport cannot be employed.” “Why wasn't it done long ago?"” asks the New York Evening Post, expressing the hope that “one of the Cavalry regi- ments, even if rearmed; never has to charge the tanks, armor, machine guns ::dtumuery of a mechanized regle ent.” The Rockford Morning Star com- ments: “The Army must yield its tradi- tions .to & new kind of world, just as surely as the rest of the worid has yielded u&‘tmmions. The amazing thing is that Army tradition has kept the horse as long as it has in the face of the obvious fact that motors are quicker, less likely to damage and capable of carrying more firing power and that the use of the airplane has practically wiped out the service of the Cavalry for reconnaissance.” “Methods of warfare,” declares the Charleston (W. Va) Daily Malil, change with invention and progress. The old Grecian phalanx, so potent under Philip of Macedon and Alexan- der, went down before the. Roman legions, while the armament of the in- vincible legions would avail naught against the modern rifle and artillery. Hannibal's elephants, once-so effective, S ‘were discounted by the tactics of Scipio. The chariots of the ancient Egyptians and Assyrians are only broken relics in museums and scarce at that. The German needle gun in 1870 simply massacred the French cavalry. What the next war will see in the way of new inventions retiring the old is a of speculation. Mankind has ever been fertile in the discovery and application of new and more terrible weapons of destruction, while it has been as industrious, if not as efficient, in devising protective measures.” * ok ok X “It is too bad that mankind cannot be as fortunate as the horse and be free for all time from the call of the bugle and the horror of war,” thinks the Albany Evening News, while the Providence Journal sees man * ming incongruous in warfare, which appears to be approaching the fantastic state ‘whereih mechanisms will perform every function but the ™ Port Huron Times Herald ts ., “with all the romance taken out of the business of fighting, it may be thal nien will decide they can find some better way of settling their differences.” “A mechanized army in a machine age will retain the horse” avers the Jersey City Journal, quoting Washing- ton authorities, and concluding: “We all hope there will never be another war. But if there should be there is. no proof it would be fought on flat plains. It might be waged in such terrain as would again bring horses, and men trained to handle them, into need. And—war or no war—if we are going to have an Army, let's have Cavalry. News feels that “the chances are a lot of yet-to-be-written history N i g3 ] 55l E Ei bt i 5 i E {5 i : 3 g L will tell of the feats of ca n " ‘The Cine! ’I:' ) i {4 £ { i B 3 el ig Bl l’% i ¢ i g § i 53 i § sl 38 H :fi i i #i | i