Evening Star Newspaper, May 30, 1931, Page 6

THE EVENING STAR ‘With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. BATURDAY.......May 80, 1931 THEODORE W. NOYES....Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company !IIIAII 2ss Office: 11th St. & nnsy] 1a_Ave. New Tl ice: l“ ifl 42nd 8t. Chicago u*! ichif ‘Bullding. European 1 | l!{!nl London, Englan Rate by Carrier Within the City. 'he Evening Star.. ......45¢ per month ‘he t\'enlna and Sunday Star (when 4| undays) . 60c per month unday Biar Collection ml;! a ach mon! Orders may be sent in by mail or teleph NAtional 5000. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. A i Ium{n only 1 mo., 40c Al Other Sfates and Canada. aily and Sunday... ., $12.00: 1 i lIlJ only .. yr., 88 1 me inday only yr. 85, Member of the Assoclated Press. The Associated Press is exclusively entitled to the use i\o!g&!r\lbllclllon of all news rllchel credite 0 it or not otherwise ere: ited l‘: Jhl aper and ‘5"“ he local ne publishe: ) 5 11 right apecial dispatches herein a =t Another Valley Forge. “The American people are going through another Valley Forge at this time,” said President Hoover this morn- ing, as he stood on the hallowed ground in Pennsylvania where Washington's starving, half-clad patriots suffered and survived the privations that were to assure the success of the Revolution. Seldom during his two years of “fever and tumult” in the White House, as he described them in Philadelphia last night, has Mr. Hoover spoken move felicitously or more happily exploited a theme and an occasion. Valley Forge personifies for the American people the will and the power to endure. It in- carnates steadfastness. It typifies de- termination amid adversity. It breathes the spirit of unwillingness to succumb. Had Gen. Washington and his troops in the devastating Winter of 1777-1778 not been fired with all these spartan virtues, American history would have been written in vastly different terms. President Hoover's Memorial day ut- terance deserves to be graven in the Na- tion’s memory “as the Valley Forge Ad- dress,” just as Lincoln’s immortal words, at the height of another crisis in the Union’s history, are cherished as the Gettysburg Address. Like Washington at Valley Forge, Lincoln in 1863 confronted difficulties of immeasurable magnitude. It was the faith and fortitude that sustained both when the hour glowered the dark- est. ‘The Valley Forge address envisions the business depression as a national plight comparable to those which Wash- ington and Lincoln overcame. “To each and every one of us,” the Presi- dent says, “it is an hour of unusual stress and trial.” But he bids his countrymen to toke heart from the lessons which Valley Forge teaches— to observe that tenacity of purpose which alone enabled the Revolutionary patriots to triumph over heartbreaking vicissitudes. America’s economic vicissi- tudes, Mr. Hoover is persuaded, are but “témporary reverses in the march of progress.” Invoking the spirit of Val- ley Forge, he registers the confidence that they will prove “a passing trial.” ‘Washington and his men; Mr. Hoover reminds us, met their challenge “in tithes and terms of war.” The test now trying the American soul comes in times and terms of peace. In words which bristle with high inspiration the Presi- dent says: It is the same test of steadfastness of will, of clarity of thought, of reso- Jutton of character, of fixity of purpose, of loyalty to ideals and of unshaken cohviction that they will prevail. We are enduring sufferings and we are assailed by temptations. We, too, are writing a new chapter in American his- tory. 1f we weaken, as Washington did not, we shall be writing the introduc- tion to the decline of American charac- ter and the fall of American institutions. 1f we are firm and far-sighted, as were ‘Washington and his men, we shall be writing the introduction to a yet more glorious epoch in our Nation's progress. There will be those who would have wished for more practical, concrete things at an hour like this, than the admonition to invoke the Washington spirlt cf never-say-die. Some would have preferred prophecy as to when we may expect the economic sun to shine again, Mr. Hoover rightly eschews material considerations and attunes the Nation's thoughts to the deeper lessons which we must learn from our current tribulations. He could not possibly have harped on a more useful chord than the one in which he pitches the Valley Forge address. If the American people have 2 spark of the reverence they profess to own for the epic Gen. Washing- ton and his men wrote in blocd and tears, they will heed gratefully the counsel which this day fell from the President’s lips. Faith in the future, no matter how bleak the present, must govern out thoughts and our actions, as it governed those of our patriol army. As it suffered and won, 8> must we, or be recreant to the imperishable traditions Valley Forge bequeathed us. — e The gastronomic aspects of famous | air flights differ tremendously. Capt. Hawks recently ate breakfast in London, luncheon in Berlin and dinner in Paris, all within eight hours. He must have brought in & fine assorted cargo of tea and toast, “poulet rot!” and “ebswurst mit kartoffeln.” Lindbergh, on a longer journey, got by with two ham sand- ‘wiches. R Short Shrift for Gunmen. Yesterday at Mineola, N. Y., a jury, after a very brief consultaticy, gonvicted Francis Crowley of first degree mur- der and he will on Monday e sen- un of | or “moral infa: - | written law” has been broadened to in- not a particularly juvenile gesture. The convietion was inescapable. The expedition with which this case has been handled is highly meritorious. The killer has been given the shortest possible shrift, and probably will very soon go to his fate. Would that every gangster and gunman and thug who takes life, whatever his age and what- ever the specific circumstances of his crime, were given the same treatment, in all jurisdictions. It would be con- ducive to greater public security. It would be effectively discouraging to those who think to play with life, to set themselves up as bandits and “bad men,” relying upon the ineffectiveness of the law for théir security and pres- ervation. The rejection of the “mental incom- petence” plea for this killer is likewise helpful. The “insanity plea” has served too well for the protection of the in- curably vicious, dangerous enemies of scefety. In zot one out of a thousand cases in wifch it has been invoked in American courts has there been war- rant for its consideration. Yet many a murderer has gone free on the score of “emotional insarity,” or “brain storm,” " The so-called “un- clude the condonement of crimes of re- venge and hatred for which there is not the slightest justification from the viewpoint of the public security. Quicker, surer trials and convictions and punishments will be the most effec- tive deterrent to the gunman, bandit or “playboy” whese toy is a pistol and whose victim is an unoffending citizen or policeman. oo Man's Conquest of the Air. Al sorts of fantistic schemes for pen- etrating the ether are brought to mind by the remarkable balloon ascension of Piccard and Kipfer of Germany which carried them to within a short margin of ten miles above the surface. Rocket plans for planetary flight, propounded in the past and revived in recent times, are brought anew to attention. Jules Verne’s romance comes to immediate memory, with its projectile visit to the moon. Even before the daring German sclentists returned safely to earth new projects for stellar adventures were bruited. The fact is that ever since man began to look above him to the heavens he has been hoping to investi- gate that vast void. It was, however, in no spirit of ro- mance that the German ptysicist and his assistant sealed themselves into an air-tight aluminum globe and let go the holding lines that freed a great gas bag for its flight into the stratosphere. They were after certain indefinite—or perhaps definite—data concerning the character of the tenuous atmosphere that lies above the denser stratum known as “air,” which is the life giver to man. Prof. Piccard had an idea that he might find up there something that would prcnise future sources of power for the use of humanity. Whether he has found it remains to be disclosed when he has figured out his notes and computations. Does it sound irrational to suggest that there may be measureless reser- voirs or currents of force ten or so miles above the earth's surface? Did it not sound irrational a few decades ago to suggest that there were forces in the atmosphere that would transmit sound without wires? And even a little while ago, just a very few years, it sounded absurd to propose that those forces or currents or vibrations could, if har- nessed and directed, transmit vision over virtually limitless distances? Radio and television are here today. It is unwise to ridicule the sugg:stion of Pic- card that the stratosphere may be tapped for man’s working force. It was only thirty years ago that the proposition that man could fly with the aid of fixed wings and a driving motor was considered to be the dream of the| impractical. Today there are flying over the City of Washington some seven hundred airplenes, in a massed for- mation, flying without mishap, after many days of maneuvers over other cities. People look at them with pride but without estonishment. There is a thrill in the great number present on the same occasion, but ncne in the fact that man has mastered the atmosphere for transportation. That is definitely accepted. Whether higher ascents than ten miles can be achieved is not so important as whether there is anything to be gained | from greater penetration into the upper atmosphere. Mere mutiplication does not signify anything save spectacle, and there 1s little lasting value in mere spec- tacle. If Piccard, or 2nother, goes twelve miles high and gets something definits in the way of technical ad- vancement it will be worth all it costs in preparatory expense and even in the sacrifice of life. The world at large is paying no pa: ticular attention to the seven hundred planes that are darkening the skies of the American Capital today. It is keenly atientive to the balloon that has point of ascent known in human his- tory. ————— Compared with where they had been, that glacier on which they landed in the Swiss Alps must have seemed very cozy to Profs. Piccard and Kipfer, ] The Incinerator Sites. By reason of a ruling from the con. troller general’s office, the Commis- sioners have rejected eleven bids for the erection of two trash incinerators and the shortness of time betwcen now and |.the beginning of the next fiscal year, when the appropriation of $341,000 will lapse, means that the projects are probably doomed for the time being. There has never been any clear ex- planation of the trouble with the bids or the nature of the controller general's téenced to death. This lad, only nineteen years of age, recently slew a policeman who accosted him in his car on the roadside. He shortly afterward put up # desperate fight to prevent capture in an apartment in Manhattan, with an- other desperado and a young girl. There was no question of his guilt, as a mat- ter of fact. But a defense of mental in- competence was set up and was in some measure sustained by the testimony of a peychiatrist, who averred that while Crowley was not fnsene he was in- capable of premeditating at the time of the killing. Defense coumsel advanced the Argument that the killer had a “mental age” cf only ten years. It was, however, shown that he had bought two pistols with the boast that hewould ';noo?n out with the police,” c?,lnly ruling. The bids apparently failed to meet the specifications. From the time of the original an- nouncement that land at Thirty-first and, K streets, Georgetown, had been purchased for the erection of one of the incinerators, residents of the vicin- ity have protested. Most of the pro- tests have been lodged on the ground that such a plant would become a nui. sance because of the resulting smoke and odor, but these fears have been somewhat allayed by assurances from the authorities that an up-to-date in- cinerator emits neither smoke nor smell and is one of man's great blessings. But there is another objection in the matter of the architectural appearance of an incinerator. Buch plants have smokestacks that are far from orna- just carrifed two men to the highast| THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C., SATURDAY, MAY 30, 1931 THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. mental. With strenuous efforts by the Zoriing Commission and other interested bodies to protect Washington's skyline, there is obvious inconsistency in per- mitting the erection of an incinerator with a tall smokestack in a neighbor- hood that, reserved though it may be for industrial development, is in rela- Several tive proximity to the Lincoln Memotial, T and the Memorial Bridge and will be di- rectly across the river from the beautiful future development of the Virginia bridge approaches, Analostan Island, br etc. The inconsistency is more apparent, ‘when one finds on one page of the an- nual report of the Park and Planning Commission the recommendations that “The Zoning Commission shall in every practical way restrict the construction of buildings higher than the width of the street,” ahd that “The District Commissioners shall discourage appli- catlons for the privilege to put towers, pent houses, water tanks, etc.,” above the maximum limit,” and on another page the announcement that “Because incinerators are a special kind of land use that seriously affects zoning and the city's development in their vi- cinity, the act . providing for two incinerators for disposal of trash by the District of Columbla included a provision requiring that the commission approve sites for the proposed plants. The commission has accordingly ap- proved one site in Square S 744 South- east Washington and one site in square 1189, in Georgetown.” ‘While the sites have been purchased, the fact that the incinerator appropria- tions may lapse should prasent an op- portunity for reccnsideration of loca- tions, provided the Georgetown site can be disposed of or used for some other purpose. If that cannot be done, then architectural ingenuity should be taxed to the limits for a design that, how- ever unorthodox for an incinerator, will be appropriate for the location. e A curfous angle of the case in which a feminine worker clad in modish lounging pajamas was sent home by her superiors to don “proper clothes” is this: Subsequent to the change, the visibility of shapely ankles would be noticeably increased rather than dim.nished. ——— e Findings of the student body of this country on the liquor situation are expected to be even more conclusive than those of the Wickersham Com- mission—whatever that means. With- out question, the findings of said body just prior to a big foot ball game or hop are astounding. — One by one Queen Helen's preroga- tives and perquisites are being taken away from her. The latest is her spe- cial trafic privilege as a member of the royal familv. But she will not really have touched bottom until those frontier customs guards begin to dig into her trunks. R Eugene O'Nelll, already famed for one overtime show, has now written a play which will require three performances on three successive nights. “If you are not doing anything next week, how about going to the theater with us?” peiihiies v Will Rogers, again hurled from his polo pony, may out to equal the Prince of Wales' record. But he has a long way to go yet and the prince is a younger man, with years of falls yet before him. e e Add to the remarkable examination replies given by American children: “Merlin was a New York first baseman who forgot to touch second.” = S e e ‘Washingtonians may not all be air- minded, but they are all air-eared today. —— b SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. The Impossible Ideal That fellow in the picture ad He causes me regret. It often leaves me strangely sad That we have ever met. A stunning sult of clothes he wears, He shaves himself with glee, No matter where I look, he stares Contentedly at me. He eats all kinds of breakfast food, He smokes all kinds of weed, He strikes a graceful attitude, And bids us pause and read. That picture fellow haunts me still, And leaves me fecling grim, For, buy and struggle as I will, I cannot look like him! A Character Reader. “How do you know that man is & statesman?” “Because,” replied Senator Sorghum, “he can wear a silk hat and a frock coat without looking as if he were go- ing to a wedding.” Jud Tunkins says reform agitation | frequently gets no further than to com- pel some system of graft to disguise I“SElf with a new vocabulary. Patriotism. Finest country 'neath the sun— ‘That’s the way to view it; Lots o' labor to be done An’ lots o' men to do it. The Motive. “Did she marry him for love or money?” “Neither,” replied Miss Cayenne. “He was merely an excuse for bringing in a lot of wedding presents.” Let us not make fun of the June graduation essay. public concern and does not abuse any- body. Overenthusiastic. The trout beheld the shining fly. He leaped for it as first it fell. And on the hook he murmured, “I ‘Swatted’ not wisely, but too well!” “Even ef de er git de bes’ ob t'ings,” said Uncle Eben, “his disposi- tion am such as ter pervent his really injyin’ ‘em.” — e Surely Not “Sizzers.” Ffom the Seattle Daily Times. Chicago plans to put on a big fire- works show. Just what, may we ask, has the city been doing for the last few years? P ] Cutting the Throat Surer. From the Chatlotte News. Comes & medical man who says crav- ing for liquor can be cured By an oge.n- tion. By sewing up the b, perhaps. 1t sticks to topics of | “Angel Pavement,” by J. B. and “The Square Circle,” by Denis Mackail. ‘These four novels have two distin- guishing features in common. They are all by Englishmen, and each one is |cngel: than the general run of modern novels, The English are taking the novel- writing crown away from America, which is more or less as it should be, some of us think, for the English are the English, after all. Our language, in other words, origl- nated with them, and somehow they seem to know how to use it just & little bit better than their cousins across Atlantic, * % %% ‘We hope nobody will think this is ken "lfln'\e Americans or things American, including novels, ‘The truth is, as we see it—and no one can see truth in any other way— that a booklover cannot find today four as good novels from the pens of Ameri- cans. Only one of these books is new, in the sense of book newness, “The !%eln Circle,” which preferably had en entitled “Tiverton Square,” as it prob- ably was in the English edition. Newness or oldness has nothing to do with a good book, or, rather, with the enjovment of a booklover. A good book is timeless and is just as good next year as zhlp—u‘yo:l l:nv:n‘t read it. ‘This quartet of novels is plotless, in the old-fashioned definition of plot as_a necessary ingredient in fiction writing. Emile Zola began the fashion half a century ago, with books almost totally plotless. % Charles Dickens' “Nicholas Nickleby’ and William Thackeray’s “Vanity Fair” had plot, and plenty of it. Pefrhlg the reader can recall how the “English teacher” in high school explained all about the “threads of the narrative” and so on. You will find precious few threads of plot in the four novels recommended here. Plot, in the mechanistic sense, has given place to plot, in the life sense. In other words, these writers, as so many modern novelists, have let living be its own plot. EEEE It is not exactly a mew conception, but always it strikes the reader with the force of a discovery, when he wakes up to the fact that the book which he has enjoyed so much in the reading is practically devoid of the old-time ne- cessity, a formal and authoritative plot. Life, after all, is the great plot, and each and every reader recoghizes as much, in his saner moments, or just after he has finished such a splendid iece of writing as “The Square Circle,” or_instance, There is a plot written into every group of human beings by the Master Writer of the Universe. The writer who sees this plot best is he who photo- graphs it with words. ‘Words are his camera—or should it be cameras, ye critically minded>—and with it (or them) he takes the most telling pictures of all. * x X % Let no misguided geuun, ‘however, imagine that all one has to do to set up as a novelist is to tell what happens to some imaginary person (usually him- self) and other imaginary persons (cften his friends). H hfl;‘!“ p.:lt k) b.‘ th ive years or so the have been loaded down with books written entirely on this A Ninety per cent of such novels are failures, and deserve the oblivion which they overtake. (We will not say oblivion overtakes them.) ‘There is a great deal more to It than this. If a writer is to substitute life for plot, evidently, he must know his life, as the saying goes, and n ability at writing greater n that the aver: A “plot,” in the ordinary sense, the old-time sense, means to have expected and unexpected entrances and exits. nse, we were told, was to be se- cured through such maneuvers. reader could never be sure who was to come through the doors, and es- lally if }': could not ?mm wh‘e]n ey were to appear ane ppear, he would be numbered among those kindly critics who Ifiter would say, in all solemnity, “This is a book you cannot the | put down once you have picked it up,” ete. " x X ‘The am thing is that & novel whose plot is life can be so ug! satisfying to a generation of readers which were brought up, by and large, on the superplotted stories of Charles Reade and Wilkie Collins, to name but two of them. Or we might say Scott and Dumas. The only explanation is that life is interesting. What is more interesting, after all? If a novelist will give us life, as it is lived, and as we know it livec—and that is important—we | smith shop, the tavern, the few high- {the United States. will thank him with open hearts and minds and ready pocketbooks. One might think most people would | disappeared. The traffic cop did not | name?—W. M. get enough of life as they live it, but human beings are greedy, in this respect, as in most others. They want life with something added, and that is what this type of novelist—not & new type, exactly, and yet amazingly new, in some way—gives the reader who is willing to forget the rules of the past. * ok ok X Life with something added—what is this something? Surely it is not the “kick” about which so much has been written. No, it is merely the glamour which we all know to be in life, but which somehow so many miss. The commonplaces of life obscure the gleam. The everyday replaces the glctureuque. ‘The fairy tales of child- ood become the harsh realities of middle and old age. The real novelist, as in the case of young Denis Mackail, is he who per- mits us to see, if for only a few hours, the beauty and gleam, the glamour of life, as we know it to be, but so often lose. He may be either a “romanticist,” or a “realist.” or not exactly either. He may write of solemn, terrible things, or of nothing more hectic than a quarrel. ‘There is not in the whole 500 pages of “The Square Circle,” for instance, an aspect of harshness deeper than the death of a cat, yet the reader will find himself seeing the gleam..of life all over again. - He will realize, perhaps with a start, that this is the life of everyday, the life which is interesting despite the lack of wars, blaring bands and decorations, if only one has some one to stand at elbow, as a good novelist does, and prod one into the realization before it is too late. It is with a bow, at once of pride and humility, that this column pre- sents this quartet of good English novels. They contain life, as it Is; and this does not mean nastily is, but decently is. And they hold the gleam. Supreme Court “Red-F lag” Decision Generally Approved| THE LIBRARY TABLE By the Booklover ‘What is progress? Has our country been progressing since 1783, or has it been undergoing & process of steady degeneration? What is Puritanism? ‘Were our Colonial forefathers “‘rmm tanical than we are today? ur Train, author, sitting in a New York apartment, 30 stories above the traffic, watched the night mail for Chicago “droning west” 3,000 leet above his head. He turned on the radio and heard a volce from Washington sey: “Beyond question the world has made greater progress in the last 75 years than dur- ing the entire span of human life be- fore the Civil War. * * * Imagine how surprised one of the old Puritans would be if he * * *” His friend shut off the tal reactions of the old Puritans. But Arthur Train called: “Hold on! * * ¢ T'd have liked to heer what that chae was going to say. I'm not sure, when ou come right down to it, whether all ‘hm things are so conclusive as to progress.” A line of questioning was started. The next day, Sunday, he motored to Framingham, Mass,, wnd the “white, wooden, ‘Wrenn’ meeting house with narrow green blinds and tall thin spire, set in the grove of maples, where his grandfather had preached more ‘th-‘n r c‘em.uq ago.” ‘This visit was the beginning of Train's book, “Puritan’s Progress.” did not find the old meeting house too easily. There were too many garages, gas stations, lunch counters and movie palaces for him to be able to identify {any of the old landmarks. The black- stooped stores, the brick bank and the green common of his childhood hed all know where the old Baptist meeting house was. But finally he found it, lonely on its tree-covered knoll, with the ancient horse sheds still standing in the background. In his early chapters Mr. Train reconstructs the environ- ments of his great-great-grandfather, his great-grandfather and his grand- |~ father, all Massachusetts men. The great-grandfather, Samuel Train, jr., was a “Minute man” in 1775. Though obviously proud of his ancestor, Mf. Train wonders about his real life and thoughts. “I wonder how much my great-grandfather Samuel, when he marched to Lexington, knew, what it was all about. How far he thought of himself as striking a blow for' liberty rather than as grabbing the chance to take a pot shot with his squirrel rifle at a red coat. 1 wonder if his con- science smote him when from bchind the security of a stone wall he plugged one of the retreating Britishers in the back. I wonder if he had a conscience, I wonder if he really knew or cared anything about taxation without repre- sew.tation, or merely tock things as they came and asked the squire or the min- ister how he should vote.” Samuel Train, sr., the great-great-grandfather, was a politiclan and perpetual office- holder in the town of Weston, 12 miles from Boston. “As an officeholder Samuel Train, sr., seems to have been a sort of hardy perenntial, for he was in turn surveyor, fence viewer, ‘wardin,’ constable and selectman, and as soon as one term ended he started in on an- other. His favorite office was that of constable, but although his salary as such amounted to only 20 shillings per annum, he made a fairly good thing out of his perquisites and fees for ‘warning | town mectings’ at 4 shillings each, ‘making rates’ (usually spelled ‘rats’) and ‘carrying’ paupers ‘out of town.'” He held three salaried offices at once and managed to make the taxpayers pay for a private path leading from the highway to his house in the woods. In other words, he was rather a modern man, Puritan though he technically was. Mr. Train’s grandfather, Charles Train, was born in 1783. When he was three days old he was “taken out of bed, bundled up and carried half a mile to the unheated meeting house, where, after the Rev. Kendall had cracked the ice in the font, he was duly baptized.” Mr. Train does not attempt to dispute progress in the care of children since 1783, but eomments that “any baby The press applauds the decision of | flag with the intention of urging their | who escaped the dangers of sepsis at the Supreme Court of the United States that California's “red-flag law” is un- constitutional and interprets it as an assurance to the pecple of the right of free speech and free political discus- sion while letting down no bars to the use of force or violence. The decision is seen to have far more significance than the freeing of Yetta Stromberg, whose conviction it set aside. The San Francisco Chronicle out- lines the defective clause as follows: “This California law, under which the Yetta Stromberg case has attracted so much attention throuahaut the Nation, makes it a felony to display a red fln§ (1) ‘as a a‘mbol o{medmp‘l:m;l:er:’f sition organ! " c:gl)w“ an lnvlu‘l:on or stimulus to anarchistic actions, (3) as an aid to propaganda,’ ” and explains that “the first was held by the Supreme Court to be too broad a_description and in- valid, since it makes no exoeytlon of legal fcrms of oppositiol The Chronicle further remarks: “The red- flag law itself is quite likely a plece of overanxiety on the part of its ‘makers. It lends an undue importance to a few wild-eyed radicals, who are reall: too few in this country to count. An it does nothing to stop_the propaganda at which it is aimed. Withcut the use of a flag—red, yellow or purple—Yetta Stromberg or any one else could in- struct children in Communist doc- trines.” uoting Chief Justice Hughes as hlsmg sgid in his decision that “the maintenance of an opportunity Kc{ free political discussion to the end tha Government may be responsive to the will of the people and that changes may be obtained by lawful imeans, an opportunity essential to the security oF the republic, is & fundamental prin: ciple of our constitutional eystem. The Youngstown Vindicator this pronouncement and sayi always been a principle of our Govo ernment that the people have a rlaw to change it if they desifed, and, keep it responsive to their will, free discussion 1§ essential.” * ok ok * « [ utterly abhor what you say,’ Vol- mrex once wrote to Helvetius, whose opinions were about to cause him to go to jail, ‘but I shall defend to the death your right to say it,’” quotes the Chat- tanooga News, following with the re- mark, “A salutary attitude for Ameri- cans to take” &nd contending “the Communist menace cannot be combat- ed by depriving those few American citizens wgc have a leaning toward the plans of Soviet Russia of their freedom of speech, a right guaranteed them by our Constitution. e decision of the Nation's high tribunal in the California case is further assurance that speech remains free.” As the Lincoln State Journal puts if, “The Supreme Court holds the law de- fective in that it interferes with free political thought and discussion. Per- haps the ideas do not corre d with those held by the majority of the citi- zens of the United States. That does not make it illegal to hold such thoughts. The Constitution was de- signed to protect this minotity.” "mmwmmmmct:g:mr:\ :x ':te gov.- ernment woul nd, pro more serlous threat to American free- dom than to pérmit discussion and de- nunciation,” declares the Omaha World- Herald, which considers that “if there is not to be freedom of speech in the United States, then democracy is fail- ing.” The Cleveland News says: “As far as America has been lm:yto o?mrmme. shoul hts of the people to criticize their g‘ovemment freely, to debate public af- fairs, to nm:fly -:tm in an:“onnm- 0 rru) . msn'l"fls nmhawdeemm. intes for the bepefit of laymen, is said to mean that Californians who aisplay the red | fellow citizens to voie for a Communist President, Congressman, mayor or con- stable, have a right to do so. But if they wave the flag to urge the destruc- tion of the Government by violence, or | as & means of spreading propaganda to the latter end, they may be jailed,” as- serts the Charlotte Observer. “For one can oppose a government with no design whatever to overthrow it by violence,” remarks the Springfield (Mass.) Republican, which notes that “the Supreme Court gives no encourage- ment to the use of force or violence.” ‘The Richmond News Leader considers that the decision “vindicates American sanity, and in calm words expresses its support of the common sense doctrine that free speech and free assembly are worth all the strife they may promote.” * X X % ‘The California statute made display of the red flag, ‘as a symbol of opposi- tion to organized government’ a felony,” remarks the Baltimore Sun, “but every realist knows that organized govern- ment—any organized government— whatever it may be in theory, in prac- tice is the politicians who are at the moment in power. Let it once be estab- lished,” argues the Sun, “that opposi- tion to organized government is a crime and we should not be far from the doc- trine that opposition to the party in power is a crime; for as long as it is in power, it is the government. The theory that it is a felony to be a Demo- crat when the Reépublicans are in power, or vice versa, is preposterous, of course, but some things hardly less preposter- ous have been gravely accepted in re- cent years, so perhaps we should give thanks for this decision, mild as it is.” ‘While advocating freedom of speech, he Buffalo Evening News comments: “They must, of course, be made to understand that there is a diference between liberty and license—that the right of free speech does hot permit utterances encouraging disturbance of public peace, inciting to crime or threatening overthrow of organized government by unlawful means.” The Ann Arbor Daily News makes a suggestion that the Stromberg case might be logically approached from “another angle,” saying: “It would ap- pear that the woman forfeited her American citizenship if she, like the children, has sworn allegiance to the Soviet, and, therefore, it might be sug- gested that her residence in Moscow would not be looked upon with dis- favor by Uncle Sam. There is no legiti- mate reason for compelling any per- son preferring the red ensign to dwell beneath the folds of the Stars and Stripes.” Discussing the share that Chief Jus- tice Hughes had in this decicion, the 8t. Louis Post-Dispatch offers the judg- ment: “He has an opportunity, the greatness of which is indicated by the lengths to which we have departed from the dreams of the founders. If he chooses to do so, he can rededicate the Nation to its ideals and in so doing making himself, as the founders are, flustrious.” Help Yourself. From the Detroit Fres Press. Over the wire comes Gen, Smedley Butler h: But we are going to let you make your own joke about that. et How About His Soul? From the Florence (Alabama) Herald. An old-time shoemaker complains that hides are not these . But his loss is little Wil- Two Is a Crowd There! Prom the Cleveland News. One thing Dr. Eckener and Sir Hu- properly tanned | regulai birth from the dirty fingers of the sage femme, or of pneumonia at the hands of the clergyman the Sunday T, had a fair chance to survive the epidemics | that inevitably followed.” The infant | Charles Train survived all of these, be- czme the Baptist minister whose church stood ameng the maples and elms of Framingham. and lived to the age of 36. He became temporarily unpopular with his constitueney (he was also a member of the State Legislature) because of two vehement temperance sermons which he preached. Mr. Train wonders “what his attitude toward prohibition would be were he still alive.” A Conclusions, especially if they have eny quality of soundness, ar: more difficult to achieve than a series of in- teresting comparative pictures of man- ners and customs. Throughout “Puri- tan's Progress” Mr. Train is alert for comparisons between the lives led by his ancestors of three generations and the ife of himself and his children today. He is continually asking the questions: our life in essentials so different from theirs?” “Were the Puritans really very Puritanical?” “Are we not just as | Puritanical as they were?” “Is it not | possible to match all the shocking ilhmgs in present-day life with things | equally shocking in the periods of my three ancestors?” And finally, “Has | there been progress in essentials—that 15, has the sum total of human happi- ness been increased?” or, on the other hand, “Has there been retrogression?” Mr. Train's opinion seems decidedly to be that there has been progress, that he would himself prefer to live in the world of today rather than in the world of any one of his three ancestors. He says, “At the risk of the charge of light-mindedness I give it as my opin- ion that the features of early Puritan life and character most detrimental to human happiness were the conscious- ness of sin, absence of divorce, impris- onment for debt, and indigestion. * * * The irritation of the Puritan gastro-in= testinal tract by unwholesome, poorly cocked, insufficient and ' inadequately masticated food might account for many thirgs, such as lack of tenderness toward children, hershness toward evil- doers, and an acid outlook on life. Especially would it tend to accentuate an individual ense of sin.” Mr. Train's concluding sentence is, “Say not thou, What is the cause that the former days were better than these? For thou cost not inquire wisely concerning this.” B * ok ok X ‘The Soviet government has decided to tell its own story of the five-year plan, perhaps because the story as told by many visitors to Russia and many non- visiting economists is never twice alike. “New Russia’s Primer,” put out as com- pulsory reading for the Russian people, outlines the huge plan for the industrial ization of a nation almost overnight. America, obviously, furnishes the in- spiration for this industrial revolution. The author of the primer is M. Ilin and the translators are George S. Counts and Nucia P. Lodge. * ok ok ok Mme. G tte Le Blanc, ex-wife of Maurice tlinck, has written some reminiscences in which she indicates why she was disappointed in her literary husband. 8he evideatly expected to Ty ¢ | find in him a poetic being who could live up to the level of “The Biue Bird,” “The Death of Tintaglles” and “Pelleas and Melisande,” and she found instead a very methodical author, who lived in his dream world when he was writing and the rest of the time was a realistic human being. Maeterlinck worked rly mornings and when at work demanded quiet and seclusion. He did not loaf and await inspiration. * x k% Emil Lud ew mann: The 'was written from mann’s own Writings, in is request of Schliemann’s widow. is the thirteenth volume of Ludwig's published in England and the United “Are we s0 different from them?” “Is | ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN. Pew American realize how mlr Government does for them. of ‘The Star can draw on all Gov- efnment ivities through our formation, service. ‘The world’s libraries, iaboratories, and stations are at their any question answered, free, by Inclose 2-cent ulng!!w and address The mation Bureau, Frederick J. Haskin, director, Washington, D. C. ental Ask . Can a man run as fast as a per- son can skate on ice?—E. B. A. This depends upon conditions and length of race. The 100-yard skat record Is 925 seconds, and the rec If the | radio, not being interested in the men- | for the 100-yard dash is the same. Over a longer course the skater makes the bettes r time. Q. Did Bobby Jones serve in the ‘World War?—C. H. A. He did not. He was a lad of 15 ‘when America entered the war, Q. What per cent of the automobiles now made are closed cars?—D. K. A. The percentage is now 90.3. Eleven years ago closed cars were only 10.3 per cent of the output. ‘When people talk aloud to them- selves is it s s of mental unsound ATthUT | ness?—N. A A. The Public Health Service says that it is no indication that a person is mentally unsound. Some tg:nmm have deveioped the trait of king aloud. This is particularly truz among the colored race in the southern part of Q. How aid the Junkers get their A. Junkers were members of the reactionary aristocratic party in the old German Empire. A Junker wes originally a young German noble—jung, young, and herr, sir. Q. How many people live in Hondo? A. Hondo, or Honshu, is the main- land or largest island of Japan, having an area of 88,879 square miles, and over 40,000,000 people. Q. How many wives do Mohamme- . Mohammedan laws permif to have four wives. o Q. Should one say “Two and two is our” or “T'wo and two are four”?—H. B. A. As an abstract statement, the verb “is” should be used. When two mfl:lflc things are added to two others, e verb must be plural. mche;‘t are there in Q. How many the Unfted Staver—H, . In there ‘was a total of 1,010,232 teachers in the United States. Q. Has a woman ever held tI o ticn of city manager?—I. L. b A. Vivian I Miner has been city manager of Kinsley, Kans., and s said to be the only woman who has held such a position. Q. Is paper money washed and re- turned to circulation?—B. 8. A. The Division of Loans and Cur- rency of the Department of the Treas- ury says that at one time the De- partment of the Treasury did launder money and return it to ecirculation. | This practice was continued for a few | years, but was discontinued before the | World War and has not been prac- ticed since. Q. Why experiments J. K. are guinea pige wsed for in medical laboratories?— A" Guinea plgs are used in Mbora- | Excerpts From Newsp L ‘YTEMPO, Bogota.—During the| European War the Germans, de- prived of all exterlor sources of supply, inasmuch as they were | i driven from the seas, were soon | | confronted with the impossibility of re- plenishing the necessities of life with the original materials. They saw them- | selves, therefore, required to invent all {kinds of substitutes for these things. | The “ersazt”—that is to say, the imi- tation—was the rule. ‘They had bread, but it was not the | usual sort of bread; it was nothing but a chemical counterpart, or imitation. Meat, 2lso, became a synthetic viand, | and manufactured peas and beans were | | the order of the day. They drew salt- peter from the air, and made rubber out of laboratory by-products. And the remarkable thing about all these substitutions was that the imitations were better than the genuine article, Emulating the interesting example of the Germans, the assembly of the State of Cundinamarca announces the discovery of a compatt ration which contains in one small cube everything inecessary to sustain life. Experiment- jers in the government laboratorics, after patient research, have invented a substitute for the full meal, which does net have any of its inconveniences in “cust, purveying or preparation. Jt 13 s1id to taste exactly like meat, pota- | toes and gravy, only much better. | ~We doubt very much the efficacy of this substitute. A meal without bulk, withcus ceremony, without dirt, ane yes, as the originators assure us, Wi out microbes—could hardly be very ap- petizing. This new subsistence would certainly do awzy with the enjoyment of our repasts—all the Flmure many of us have, regardless of what advan- ugs Are latent in the reduction of labor for the digestive tract, * x x % | Nicaragua Gives U. S, Guns of Colonial Days. LA NOTICIA, Managua.—We, too, have been prone at times to join in the universal lament — “Everything is for the United States!” But just now we are particularly willing to give them anything they want—whether because we are glad their armed forces are leav- ing our shores, or out of gratitude for the services, is not quite certain. It is certain, however, that we are letting them take as souvenirs some old cannon from the fort of San Carlos which ac- tually fought for them in the American War of Independence. When smn allied herself with the New England colonies in 1779, these same guns, then part of the armament of the Castillo de la_Concepcion, were fired inst Lord Horatio Nelson, and drove off the English fleet on a number of occasions. Now these ancient thunderers of our Colonial epoch dre departing to become helped to save. If not revered as they should be in that strange land, they should be returned to us, for they are ours, end bound up ip our history of independence, too. ere we would continually revere and cherish them, and distinguish with & legend such as this: “With these guns did NMicaragua as- sist, in the years from 1762 to 1780, the efforts of the North American colonies to obtain their freedom. They were fired ul one ion by our patriot and heroine, Rafaela Herrara, and with them was defeated Horatio Nelson in the !Jv:r ‘sn: Juan.” Has Any One Ever Seen Clean Cows? THE EVENING H bers. of the Lecds, Lune Club by Lerd ‘Moyninan, the famous surgeon. Heteriing to o recent speech in the then o m'm'cflhahma? mm%nmmmwnem made in that chamber. It had been suggested that he had ——— e —————— during the past all of them were lished in Germany period. six years. first written over & much States, in translation, ub‘ Practicall, P B free in- | can honored relics in the country they] 13 that they are ny of the diseases of are small animals and tories due to the fact lulwpiblehmho 2180 1 handled and are not man. Th be' castly Please set me straight about the “If a man write a better ‘Was it Elbert Hubbard or ge Emerson?—W. E. W. A. Elbert Hubbard said “If a man can write a better book, preach a better sermon or make a better mouse- Roycrofters said Mr. Hubbard had in mind the following lines from Emerson, but, having no copy of Emerson handy at the time, he quoted as above: “If 8 men has g corn, or wood, or boards, or pigs to sell, or can make better c! or knives, crucioles or ins then anybody else, you will find a broad, hard-beaten road to this house, though it be in the woods.” Q. How does the Catalan language differ from Spanish?—P. C. A. It is generally assumed that Catalan was imported from Roussilon into Spain during Carolingian times, but there is a con! view that it was originally devel in Spain and introduced into Roussillon by Catelan ts. It is a Romance language, an offshoot of Provencal. Philological- ly Catalan differs from Spanish in t it lacks the characteristic diph- thongs. One of its distinctive features is its tendency to suppress many of the consonants and unaccented vowel endirgs so common in Spanish. Q. Will hard rubber last longer than soft rubber if exposed to the weather?>—H. A. A. Hard rubber will last in the weather much longer than soft rubber. If hard rubber is not placed in the sun or where the sun can reach it, it will last indefinitely. If it is placed where the direct rays of the sun will reach it, it will last from 5 to 10 years. Q. How did the dandelion get its name?—R. G. L. A. Bailey's Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture says that the word “dande- lion” comes from the French “dent de lon,” meaning lion's tooth, which re- fers to the teeth on the leaves of the dandelion plant. Q. How does a bee find its way home?—S. L. L. A. The bee finds its way home by its sense of direction. When it leaves the hive it circles around and then flies off. Each hive has its own odor, which helps the b:e to identify its hive. . How high are the mountains on Majorca?—J. M. A. The highest peak rises to a height of 4,800 feet. Q. What proportion of Canada’s fur crop comes from fur farms>—Y. G. A. In the fiscal year ending June 20, 1930, the total value of pelts taken was $12,208,547. Of this, approximately 19 Per cent was revenue from fur farms. Q. Where is Velasquez's picture, “The Surrend:r of Breda"?—C. B. A. Tt is in the Prado Museum in Madrid. It is also known as “Las Lan- zas,” because of the renks of lances in the background of the picture. It rep- resents Justin of Nessau with his Dutch troops tendering to his conqueror the k°ys to the town of Breda, which the victor magnanimously refuses to accept. Q. Is it hot in the Canal Zone?— PP A. The climate of the Canal Zone is like most tropical climates—hot most of the year, with & very rainly season in what corresponds to our Winter. Highlights on the Wide World apers of Other Lands overstated the case. On the contrary, if there was cn® fault with that ad- dress, it was that he had understated it. “Has any one ever seen a clean cow?” he_asked. People professed to be shocked at the fact that we had lost 1,000,000 men in the Great War, but seemed not at all disturbed that 15,000,000 men had died of cancer in the present century, that 50,000 deaths were occurring from this disease every year, and that 100 people per day were dying from tuberculosis. t was an astounding fact that we had in this country 100,000 farms, and of these only 400 produced Grade “A” tubercle-free milk. There were only 152 licenses in this country for the sale of certified milk and 188 for the sale of Grade “A” tubercle-free milk. Forty per cent of the cows of the country were suffering from tubercu- losis, and that was a minimum estimate. * % x % Higher Entrance Requirements Cuts Students. El Dictamen, Vera Cruz.—Matricula- tion figures for the Naticnal University in Mexico Ciiy show a total enrollment of atout 8,000, instead cf the 9,600 at- tending classes last yeer. This reduc- tion is due to the seiting of higher en- trance requirements. Last year the facilities of the university were over- crowded and the Pm(essors were unzble to give indivicual attention to all the students requiring it. It is thought that such & subsiantial reduction in the ate tendance will make for a higher grade of scholarsiip on the part of those re- celving instruction under the various faculties. * k% % Business and Credits at Low Level in Bulgaria. Bulgarian British Review, Sofla— Alter two yeass of credit restriction and allaround curtaiiment of trede commit- ments, the volume of business and credits in Bulgaria has been reduced to very low levels. As a result. consid- erable amounts of liquid money are being held unemployed by banks and keen tompetition in undertaking rates and business conditions to good firms has caused a widespread fall in the price of money. The National Bank took advantage of this situation in re- ducing the official bank rate from 10 to 9 per cent with further diminution in . Deposit rates have followed prospec suit with a reduction of 1 to 1!2 per cent. Although money has become cheap- er, there are no signs of increased ac- tivity in trade and industry as yet, but the general tion is undoubtedly growing sounder. Sales on credit are restricted to a minimum; substantial rebates are granted to purchasers on a cash basis. The rcadjustment to more reasonable conditions of trade is be- coming a general feature of the trade Pposition. The application of the grain purchas- ing act is already giving results. Ac- cording to official information, 22,000 tons of grain have been purchased by the new office and will be sold for ex- port. Prices of cereals in the country are now firmer and peasants are ob- taining munz for meeting their most &r;-m rieeds of manufactured goods. jere is a revival of hopes for better trade in the coming Spring and it may ?;nmnmbl IS:‘lfined t.h-; nr%:‘l; m): expand, althoug only ually and in & cautious way. racemn Probably Were Bored. From the Toledo Blade. “An English lecturer says Americans have a bored look.” He should have seen them the morning after the lec- ture, Plenty of Sulphur. Prom the Newark Evening News. Bdison predicts oil and sulphur in Florida. Well, John D. represents the ol and golfers in traps will furnish the sulphur.