Evening Star Newspaper, June 10, 1931, Page 8

A—S8 THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. WEDNESDAY.....June 10, 1931 _— THEODORE W. NOYES....Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company Business Office: ok 6‘&?:;"'1‘}'3’{".‘:’2"::&‘5"5« New Yor) 3 . icago Office: Lake MICMI“- lding. anulh Ofltel,l‘lfl‘n ni 5 Rate by Carrier Within the City. The Evening S .45¢ per month s B Sinday Bt onth S 65¢ per month Btar .. rer co T learion made at the end af ear month: Orders may be sent in by mail ¢ selephone National 5000, Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. ily and Sunda; yr., $10.00; 1 mo., 8¢ + $36:00: 1 mo., aday ony " 135 308 1 men 8 All Other States and Canada. - 1mo.. $1.00 13551000 1 me Yise Bunday only 15yr,, $5.00; 1mo, 50c Member of the Associated Press. e Ascoclated Press is exclusively entitled to B RS T Fepusiication of il mews dis: atches credited o it or not otherwise cred- d in this paper and also the local news published herein. All rights of publication of pecial dispatches herein are also reserved. — Why the Secrecy? The Mapes Subcommittee on Fiscal Relations has met to receive from its ex- pert, George Lord, a report on his find- Ings with reference to taxation in the Dis- trict of Columbia and in comparable cities of the Nation. As an expert, Mr. Lord may also interpret his findings and make suggestions. In due time, of course, his report, and possibly his sug- gestions, will be spread on the records and made public. But in the meantime the committee's decision to question Mr. Lord in secret and to receive his report in secret, with the taxpayers most affected figuratively cooling their heels outside the commit- tee room, becomes a depressing com- mentary on the whole business. Mr. Lord is being paid out of public funds to which the taxpayers of the District have contributed, There is nothing in his findings, or in the way he reports them, that should be consid- ered confidential. There is no reason why the committee itself should mnot hold all its meetings in public, except, perhaps, those few meetings required| for the committee actually to work on the preparation of whatever report it intends to make. Other experts called upon by the committee for informiation, including the Bureau of Efficiency, were placed on the stand and permitted to state the facts, after which they were subjected to open examination by the committee. In the case of the Bureau of Efficiency, it will be recalled that several hours of examination by members of the com- mittee followed presentation of the re- port, and the bureau officials found themselves defending their statements under a cross-fire from the examiners that might have wilted any one less adequately prepared. The reptre- sentatives of the District taxpayers who appeared before the committee were also subjected to cross-examination, con- ducted in public. And everybody knows that the cross-examination is an essen- tlal part of any testimony. ‘Why the resort to star chamber pro- ceedings in the case of Mr. Lord? Why, when the committee reassembles, have not the doors been opened and Mr. Lord, armed with the data accumulated during several months of hard work, invited to take the stand? Why has Mr. Lord not been permitted to state the results of his own inquiry in his own way, and then been subjected to the same examination, conducted in the open, that his predecessors have met? Is there something sacrosanct about Mr. Lord's figures and findings, requiring that they be enshrouded in mystery until such time as the committee goes over them, one by one, and chooses to make them known in part or in whole? L While the taxpayers of the District have no control over how or how much they are taxed, or in what manner their taxes are spent, courtesy, if nothing else, should invite them to a seat in the arena to witness all the steps in the operation now being per- formed, the results of which mean more to them than anybody else. e ——r———— There ought to be some sort of a hook-up arranged between Eugene O'Nelll, who writes those plays that take three straight evenings to per- form, and the local colored minister who recently preached twelve hours without a pause. = ————————— Chequers, and After. It is, of course, too early to gauge the effects of the visit of Chancellor Bruening and Foreign Minister Curtius to England. That they laid before Prlmel Minister MacDonald and Foreign Sec- retary Henderson something akin to a flat-footed German demand for revision of reparations is not to be doubted, despite the uninformative communique Assued at the conclusion of the Chequers week end. To what extent Great Britain is committed to support the Germans’ program remains as obscure as before the Berlin official tourists embarked upon their cross-Channel travels. Cuw result of the German protesta- tions has promptly manifested itself. ‘Yesterday in the French Chamber M. Briand bluntly proclaimed French op- position to any revision of the Young plan. Specifically referring to the Anglo- ‘ that are looking forward to con- Becretary Stimson and Mellon” in Burope this Sum- German statesmen are filled “with renewed conviction of the im- portant part American public opinion will play in any attempt to reshuffie the reparations and war debts prob- lems.” The German chancellor and his foreign minister subtly suggest that in due course the United States may be found marching shoulder to shoulder with Great Britain and Germany for “International collaboration in the eco- nomic crisis.” Pending categorical information on this score in London, and, most of all, in Washington, it would be well to look upon these hopeful German observa- tions for the most part as great expec- tations. They are manifestly designed for home consumption at a critical hour. Messrs. Bruening and Curtius return to & Germany seething with bitter de- mands for an extra session of the Reichstag by those who are aching for a chance to attack the government's new emergency tax decrees. As yet, only the Hitlerites, the Communists and the Nationalists are agitating for a spe- clal session. If the Soclal Democrats, the government's indispensable bulwark, Join in the clamor for it, Herr Bruening would hardly be able to resist the pres- sure. Whether he would survive an extracrdinary Reichstag slege, con- vened under such ecircumstances, is even more problematical. Meantime all the good news the chancellor can develop, presaging the eventual realization of reparations re- vision hopes, serves the purpose of pre- venting the spread of the fires of Ger- man discontent. To extinguish them will sooner or later call for something more than vague international gestures ‘lllke those now being made in various capitals, including our own. itions with tary “they ‘The versal Becref “wil it The Upward Climb. The climb out of the abyss of busi- ness depression can be materially aided by manufacturers if they will put trade and production practices & the best of order, Dr. Jullus Klein, Assistant Secretary of Commerce, told the Radio Trade Show in Chicago last night. It is sound advice from an official who has given years of study to the busi- ness structure of this country. The Assistant Secretary of Commerce spoke not only hopefully but with great posi- tiveness that the decling in business in this country has reached an end and that the upward trend is on the way and may be in full swing by Mid- summer, Such prediction falls kindly on the ear, particularly when it is backed up with facts based on a close study of the conditions which have prevailed. In the opinion of Dr. Kiein, the bottom of the depression was reached last January and the country has been drag- ging along the valley for several months in the so-called “leveling-out” process. “If history repeats itself,” Dr. Klein asserted, “this means that in July up ‘we go.” ‘This prophet of good omen takes the position, too, that since the decline of business in this country has been long and gradual, the ascent will prob- ably ‘be sharply accelerated. There has been no industrial disorder; the busi- ness structure has held together and is now on a solid foundation. Under such circumstances, the recovery of business may be much more quickly ac- complished than if conditions had been chaotic. The fact of the matter appears to be that the country has been catching up with itself in the matter of con- sumption, both of production and of credit. Overproduced and oversold was the situation of American business generally when the slump began in 1929. The production has been curtailed, stocks in the hands of the producers, the merchants and the consuming pub- lic itself have been more and more depleted. The time has come for an advance again. Prices are low for many commodities, it is true. But the buy- ing capacity of the people is low, gen- erally speaking. The volume of buy- ing is increasing rapidly, however, and it is that volume which calls for in- creased production, and with increased production and greater business come more employment, more wages and finally the capacity to buy mnot only in greater quantity, but at higher prices. Dr. Klein' has done well to advise against unwise expensions and over- production in this period of readjust- ment, and to urge producers first of all to know their markets. It was a total | overproduction which knew no limits that aided if it did not cause in large part the present depression. The time has arrived, it appears, to start build- ing, but the building must be soundly | done. ——ee— A young Philadelphia minister, blind | since birth, has had his sight restored. | If he lives to be a hundred and travels jall over this globe he will never see any sight more beautiful than the first . glimpse of the wife who, up to the . present, has served as his eyes. | ———re—s. | The Manhattan Problem. Perhaps if the early settlers who established themselves on the tip of Manhattan Island and thus founded | the community that was to grow into | the American metropolis could have looked into the future and seen the congestion that was to result they would 'not have chosen that particular spot, {but would have gone eisewhere, to a | disregard of market capacity and an! German conversations, the Parisian for-. oo of proader shore expanse. But it eign minister, dgclared to & cheering yo; 5 good place for them, &nd for Chamber that France would remain Vig- g ccessive generations for a couple of ilantly on guard against any .mmpt;mme& It was & good place indeed to lead her into an international con- ., niy ghout seventy-five years ago, when ference for reconsideration of repara-i¢ne population actually outgrew the ticns. M. Briand reaffirmed his “PeAce yqany and spread over the waters to policy” toward Germany, but under|in, jongs peyond. That made trans- hot fire from his Nationalist critics W88 Lorovion problems that have become compelled to concede that such warlike .\ . onq more difficult with the demonstrations as the German ‘steel gecages Not even the upward growth helmets,” recently held at Breslau, 8d- |, moans of skyscrapers has lessened jacent to the Polish frontier, make it/ pe qimculty through avoiding long- extremely difficult to carry on & Pro- | gistance transport. Indeed the vertical gram of conciliation. | extension of the city has added to While the Chamber of Deputies Was rainer than abated this trouble because ringing with Briand's medley of WATD-| o¢ the concentration of an immense ing and smity, Messrs. Bruening and | pusiness population in a relatively small Curtius were on their way home from | greq that must be borne to and fro England. On their ship they encoun-| twice dafly over long spaces. tered Mr. Sackett, American Amhuu-i New York is constantly in™w of dor to Germany, en route to his post more bridges, more subways, i8¢ of following a leave in the United States.|everything in the way of transit facil- Apparently under the mellifluous in-|ities, It is now fairly well honey- fluence of the former Senator from|combed beneath the surface with travel Kentucky, the German statesmen gave|ducts. Several bridges and tubes span vent to some exceedingly rosy hopes. the East River to link Manhattan with ‘They, permitted an Associated Press Long Island. One vehicu'ar red two -~ ‘*ondem aboard ship to pmem rapid transit (ubes join igai.a THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, Jersey City, and a great bridge is just approaching completion to add to the flow of traffic across the Hudson. Recently & proposal was made for a second bridge over the North River, at 57th street, at the expenditure of an enormous sum of money. Two years ago the War Department, which has jurisdiction, rejected the plan on the score of interference with river traffic. The case was reopened and modified plans were prepared, but again the Army Engineers have rendered an adverse ruling, setting up requirements for river clearance that would add at least $20,000,000 to the cost of con- struction, chiefly in approaches. So it is not likely that for ten years to come, when, it is estimated, the traffic will reach the point imperatively to demand an additional span over the Hudson, this project will be revived. Just as the bridge plan was being rejected for the second time a project was being lald before city officials for the development of Second avenue as & two-level boulevard highway from Manhattan Bridge to the Harlem River. In point of fact, the plan for a con- siderable portion would be for a three- level street with rapid transit lines on the lowest and the center levels, truck driveways on the center and light trafic on the surface. The plan also involves setting back the sidewalks beneath an arcade within the building line so as to afford more street room. This plan, which would involve an eventual ex- penditure of several hundred million dollars, is being seriously pressed and may be adopted for fairly early execu- tion. The solution of transit problems in New York is particularly difficult be- cause of the fact that with each new facility of travel the congestion in- creases. The configuration of Manhat- tan Island, which is the center of all business activities, is such as to create a dilemma which would have appalled those early settlers who pitched their shelters on the tip of the island sev- eral centuries ago had they been gifted with prevision, e oo The word “Infantry” it seems, is traced back to the term given the page of a knight in medieval times. This news will possibly add to the superiority complex of the cavalry, whose title is closely associated with the horse-borne knights themselves. The revenge of the former, however, lies in the fact that it looks as though cavalry would shortly disappear, . while the infantry, “with dirt behind their ears,” will undoubt- edly stick around a long while yet. ) If the Abilene, Tex., man who has set out to walk around the world backward gets to Europe and is re- ceived by royalty, he certainly will be | in perfect practice to maks a swell exit. It is too bad St. Simeon Stylites, of fifteen hundred years ago, was never able to strut his bowing technique be- fore some ancient Emperor. e Y — | “Economic indigestion” is blamed by | Senator Davis of Pennsylvania as one !of the main contributing causes of the present state of business. A few quack remedies possibly had something to do with it, too. ——— An Oregon “thumber” was politely picked up and later forcibly disembarked without his satchel. This was pretty hard on him, but fedt of such perform- ances would tend seriously to hamper the widespread hitch-hiking pest. —————— The Treasury reports that the per capita circulation of money increased thirty-five cents in May over April Most folks can remember spending that extra thirty-five, but how many can recall getting t? —————— Col. Lindbergh, it is said, is not beset by doubts as to his reception, no matter where he may land in the Far East. “Where Charlie Chaplin can go, I guess I can,” seems to be the coionel's motto. ————— Another Chinese wat looms and the cry from the capital to foreigners again is, “All ashore that's going ashore!” ————— SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. The Mistakeless Man. Here's to the man who never makes The things we mortals call mistakes! The man whose soul and brains and heart Are of this common clay no part! No Duty chides him for neglect. His reasoning is all correct And no emotions intervene To make his beauty less serene. He bullds no structures such as rise ‘Through vigils long with weary eyes. He never ventures, truth to tell, Save on a path he knows full well. He needs no monument of stone To share the praise that is his own. No other statue serves his pride, He is perfection petrified. Policles, “Have you outlined your policy to your corestituents?” “No,” replied Senator Sorghum; “I am still looking over the policies my consfituents have outlined to me, trying to d®cide on which I had better select.” Jud Tunkins says the man who wants all the best of every bargain cheats himself of future opportunities. They Won't Do It. Again the city gardener grieves And makes his sorrow known; ‘Why don't the bugs eat onion And let the spuds alone? A Philosopher's Purpose. “I am looking for an honest said Diogenes. “What do you want with one?” “Oh, nothing in particular. My real philanthropic purpose is to show the world how to conduct a long and result- Jless investigation with as little expense as possible.” “Hope,” sald Hi Ho, the sage of Chinatown, “is the irresponsible ad- vance agent of many a poor per- formance given by Experience.” ¥ Satisfied. “Is it hot enough for you?” Echoing from the lustrous blue Comes a chorus vast and gay— “Wish that it 'ud stay this way.” leaves man,” “It doan allus pay to put on too much style,” said Uncle Eben; “de dog dat has & blue ribbon ’roun’ his neck is de one det's mos’ likely to git stole in de hope of & re'mfi WEDNESDAY, THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. Now come days meant for serious Te: . ‘There is & prevalent impression among some rs that light reading, whatever that is, is the proper thing for Summer. Just the o] ite is true, we believe. The Mttepfw':n day the heavier the k. Such is the unwritten law of the astute reader who has found out what is what about books and who knows his own mind and does not mind letting others know it. ‘What, after all, do the terms “light reading” and “heavy” or “serious read- ing” mean? ‘The truth is they mean little or nothing from a general standpoint. All that they can mean is personal, * ok ok % ‘What may be heavy to you is light to me. ‘What you regard as light reading to me is an intensely uninteresting and therefore dull book. In this matter, as in many others, j.very person must be his own judge and ury. And this despite the easily accepted belief of thousands that just the oppo- .“‘i(h the truth. o 1is you were ten overmuch to these praters of half-baked truths, you would imagine that books were graded as music is, from No. 1, very easy, to No. 6, very difficult, and that somehow the temperature of the air made the reading ‘gnbllc unable to stand anything exoept the kindergarten grade. * k% X No idea could be sillier. Some find out of their own experi- ence that the hotter the day the better book they can read. We use the term “better” simply as the best that can be secured to dis- tinguish some of the more profound productions of the human mind, which by no stretch of the imagination could be called “light.” One that comes to mind immediately is the monumental history of “The De- cline and Fall of the Roman Empire,” written by Edward Gibbon. Its most usual form today is in six fat volumes. Its very bulk titles it to be called “heav, stately flow of its English is another point in favor of the adjective used. Gibbon’s masterpiece is not the sort of thing that one would pick for a frivolous afternoon in a hammock. * K K K By the way, do people read in ham- mocks any more? Are there any more hammocks? ‘Those who bave not read in ham- mocks have missed some of the greatest reading in the world. ‘The writer here would not willingly part with the memory of hours spent as a child in a hammock on & porch at Ocean City, Md. Perhaps his physical being would have benefited more from the same number of hours spent on the beach, but this seemed to be a better division of the time. Even a child becomes tired of inces- sant hours on the sand, or bathing in the surf, or boating in the bay. Those long, cool afternoons in a ham mock with Rider Haggard's “Swallow,” ,and Olive Schreiner's “Story cf an | African Farm.” and Rostand’s “Cyrano de Bergerac,” and Alexandre Dumas’ “War of the Women"—those are hours not to be duplicated in this mortal life, |and are accordingly treasured in the memory. * ok ok w The great point about hammock read- ing as distinguished from any other reading, while supine, is that it must BY FREDERIC In a sort of way, President Hoover's | speech at Indianapolis next Monday | night will be the opening of his cam- paign for re-election. It will be de- livered to a sympathetic audience—the Indiana Republican Editorial Associa- tion—and bfore a mammoth crowd of 5,000 chicken-dinner eaters assembled on the State Fair Grounds. Many of the administration’s frienas are hopeful that Hoover will strike a real keynote on outstanding _issues—depression, tariff, prohibition, foreign affairs and some of the other sore-thumb questions the G. O. P. will face a year hence. The President, when he talks on Hoosier soll, will be holding forth in a State always doubtful in a presidential elec- tion, but more so than ever just now. Republican majorities all over Indiana were smashed to pleces last November, The delegation in the next House of Representatives will be overwhelmingly Democratic. Senator “Jim” Watson, who 1s up for re-election in ’'32, un- doubtedly confronts the political battle of his life. If Mr. Hoover can pump some hope and optimism into Indiana repub- licanism on June 15, it will be a con- summation that is devoutly wished for on the banks of the Wabash and all points north and south. %4 Washington's Summertime _literary sensation is likely to be a book called “Washington, The Merry Go-Round,” scheduled for publication on June 30. Advance copies received in the Capital supply prima facie evidence that celeb- rities of all hues and both sexes are handled without gloves and with daring detail. In a series of chapter-mono- graphs on individual personages in ex- ecutive and Iegisl.ltlve life, their weak- nesses and folbles—frequently bolstered by alleged correspondence which fell into the anonymous author's hands— are exposed in hammer-and-tongs fash- jon. Many notables at whom barbs are almed are described only under nick- names—"“Egg Charley,” “Wrong Horse Harry,” “Bi Bill,” “The Countess,” “Alice,” et al. Even the House and Sen- ate, as bodies, are the targets of ruthless shafts. Specuiation will run riot as to the compiler of the volume, but those who have glancew through its piquant | pages say it would justify him (or her) in using the subtitle “One Who Knows.’ | * ok kK Congress is scattered to the four winds, but America's only railroad over | which you can still ride on a pass— ithe subway express between the Capi- ,tol and the Bennle Omtg B%l:dln"gh— continues to jog along. One day week a stately solon rode back to his office from the Capitol with a constitu- ent. The latter, who evidently comes from a pay-as-you-leave town, slipped a dime into the palm of the shuttle op- erator. That doesn't happen very often, and the congressional trainman was in a quandary what to do with back- sheesh. e Senator gave him a know- ing wink, and the insult was swallowed. * kX X Another Northampton, Mass, man has come into the administration at Wi n. He's Frederick M. Feiker, just sppointed chief of the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce at | the Department of Commerce. Secre- | tary Lamont drafted him from a far more lucrative post—that of vice presi- dent of the McGraw-Hill Co, publish- ers of 16 industrial and technical jour- nals, For more than 10 years Mr. Feiker has been in inma:rt:“ :gnmm the department head of the Journal Editors. Once upon a time he was a special assistant to Secre! of Commerce Hoover. Probably Feiker’s chief quali- fication for his new post is the service he rendered in connection with the 1930 census of distribution—first of its kind ever made by Uncle Sam. of the Ad Com- mittee on that ccommodi rokers “ap noses, Mr. er’'s ap- Roting e myhesis . the im- empha: - mediate future is to be laid on do- mestic commerce development. In re- cent years foreign trade hes been loud- pedaled at the Commerce Department. WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS is | Roosevelt machinations ascribe He |and f¢ be done in the daytime. One may read in bed, of course, but then the tendency is to sleepy. In & hammock, swinging in & neat breeze on & hot day, the physical senses are alert, and this makes for mental nlmm‘ One does not find cne’s self on the left side, with the book propped up with the right hand, and then— oblivion, In the proper sort of hammock, on the right sort of porch, with the roar- ing music of the surf thundering pleas- antly in the ears, a reader may go through the heaviest of works, such as Spinoza’s “Ethics,” for instance, with- out a mental qualm. He who has not known this sort of reading has missed something out of his life. * ok ok Every one has a score or more books which he has been promising himself to read since le got out of school. Let this present Summer see a few of them read. Perhaps it would be better not to tackle the entire score! z Leave some for other Summers. If one of them should happen to be the Gibbon work, for instance, it will be enough. The man who gets through the last three volumes of “The Decline and Fall” will have earned the reader's medal, first class, with decoration. * ok ko ‘The first three volumes of the usual six will be easy enough. ‘The grand flow of Gibbon's sentences will carry him well through the chap- ters on Christianity, which stirred up such a row in their day. He will make the midsection of this history with ease. He will be enthralled with the crusades, 2 :d the pictures of early monastic life, 7nd the rise and spri™y of the Moham- medan religion, 4 After that he will vegin to find the regular chronology of the Middle Ages somewhat wearing, as Emperor aft:r Emperor, lacking the picturesque quali- ties of the earlier Caesars, follows Em- peror after Emperor. It is a distressing tale, but gives, as | perhaps few other works do, the huge, | gigantic tal> of the years, impressing the reader with what the flight of the centuries, as it is sometimes called, really means. | By the time he is through the sixth | volume he will b2 willing to belleve that a century 1s 100 yeers, pressed down and | running ‘over with Time. * xR Instead of broiling around all over the landscape this Summer, running the risk of having an automebile knock one { for what is euphzmisticzlly called a , “goal,” let the booklover sit at home (in | & hammock, if possible, although gliders | seem to have put them out of business), | With no more danger than that an air- | plane may drop down through the roof. | With a minimum of clothing, a tall, cool drink and a good book, he will | pass the time much more satisfactorily ‘Lhun inymany other ways: and he will be all the more pleased with himself if | he have the courage to pick up what he | and his friends tend. to regard as a | heavy book, a weighty work, of the sort | | frivolous perscns will not even lock at. Think of some of those old ones | which you were supposed to have read |as “required reading”—unfortunate | term—in high school. Get one out one {of these coming hot days and settle down to it. The chances are very de- cided that you will find yourself pleased with your own growth in mind and | character. Why, this old thing which | one formerly thought dull is a great book, after all! This is a great dis- covery, particularly for a hot day. WILLIAM WILE. “Martha Washington's Receipts™— recipes were cailed receipts in those days—are to be published in book form | as & George Washington Bicentennial | contribution. It will be an appetizing collection of the concoctions that made | Colonial cookery the peer of anything | these United States have ever known | since Revolutionary days. While many | of the recipes which'll enrich the | volume are authentic Martha Washing- ton “receipts,” Dolly Madison, Molly Pitcher, Elizabeth Jefferson and other women' who were part of the spirit of 1776 appear as culinary authoresses, too. * % ® The “low down" on America’s eco- nomic situation is going to bes revealed to a large, but private, company of dinner guests in London on the eve- ning of June 16. The host will be H. Gordon Selfridge, England's American merchant prince. The beans on what depression has done to the U. S. A. are |to be spilled by a first-ratz authority, | Prof. O. M. W. Sprague, economic ad- viser to the Bank of England and for- mer professor of economics at Harvard. Dr. Sprague recently revisited tMis country, and has promised to talk to Mr. Selfridge’s guests “intimately about international and economic af- fairs.” * ok kX Secretary Stimson did something in Washington yesterday that may have far-reaching effects upon college com- menccments and degree - conferrin Pennsylvania Military College, at Ches- ter, had invited Col. Stimson to accept a degree and pay the usual price for it —an address to the faculty and student body. Our minister of foreign affairs has other things on his chest nowadays, and agreed to speak to the college, but not at it. He avalled himself of the radio for the purpose, and was heard at Chester through a receiving set and amplifying apparatus. Chalk up still another and hitherto unwitnessed tri- umph for the microphone. * K kK Democratic chieftains in Washington, outside the National Committee organi- zation, are hearing that Gov. Franklin D. Roosevelt accomplished one definite purpose while in the Middle West ear- lier in the month. He is said to have satisfied himself that the alleged Ras- kob “plot” to bring about the nomina- , tion of either Al Smith or Owen D. Young has few supporters between the Alleghenies ll’;d the Mlssh‘fgdpl. "‘I_“ae N chairman’s rep! * national Ao HER the plan of hrlnTns out the largast possible field of favorite sons as one means of heading off the Roosevelt % (Copyright, 1931.) Frontier Hangovers. From the St. Paul Ploneer Press. ) ‘There are at least two conspicuous places in the United States today which repeat the conditions of earlier fron- tiers and call for two differing types of ioneer. poscc ‘Wilbur has recently as- sumed the role of Horace Greeley, but with Alaska and not the West the ob- jective, “Go North, young man, and grow up with the country.” The kind of pioneer the Interior chief advises for this northern possession is the settler type with sufficient capital and supplies to tide him over until the country begins to pay. It is largely a virgin tory wit !a'tguy rolls to rely on. He who enters there will be entirely on his own. Of such stuff are commonwealths made. In contrast is the desert town which has 5] up near the Hoover Dam and it attracts. The mush- room buil , swarms of job hunters ine seekers, and general bo- nanza af here is reminiscent of an- other aspect of the American frontier. —_— e Stale Stuff. From the Toledo Blade. An_uninteresting thing to read is a play-by-play of the game lost by the hmm G JUNE 10, 1931 Forced Reductions In Land Prices Urged To the Editor of The Star: “Great estates ate out the heart of Rome!"” said the conservative historian Gibbon. History has repeated itself, and n;nu estates have eaten out the heart of modern civilization. The economic failure of Germany, England, Italy—every great modern state, and gflfllflfllfly the United States—is due asically to the fact that landlordism and lend speculators have taken from capital and labor toc large a part of the produce, and thus reduced the pur- chasing power of all and checked pro- duction, by means of extortionate rent and extortionate price of land. There should be no war between labor and capital, but there should be war by labor and cltvllxl against the holding of land out of use—unceasing war until the practice is stopped, as that is their only hope. The easy way to restore peace and prosperity—and the only Wway—is to make it impossible for land- lords and land speculators to take more than normal rent and normal land price, and thus increase the purchasing power of all and revive production. The simplest way to do that would be to impose an adequate penalty on land held out of use. That will never be done until enough of the people demand it. And enough will never demand it until through public discussion they are taught the facts and realize the neces- sity. If there are never enough who are not too ignorant or too stupld to demand it, the existing revolt resulting from unemployment that manifests itself in increase of crime will grow worse and worse until civilization falls. Therefore it is up to the leaders—the business men, the manufacturers, the labor heads, the organized farmers, the political economists, the statesmen, the editors—as vell as all tenants, all would-be homeowners, all who have suffered from depression, and all intel- ligent people, to cease the silly and in- effectual chatter they have been making and unite in the demand for such a law, and see that the demand is given the widest publicity possible. We have been on the brink of a cataclysm for over a year and a half and nothing feasible has yet been done and nothing but economic quackery proposed by our wiseacres. Shall we allow inaction to destroy us? Any city, any county, any State, any country, can put a stop to unemployment immediate- ly and bring about such prosperity as was never known before by simply mak- ing_possible access to idle land, espe- clally in cities, to idle capital and idle men and women by bringinz about a sufficlent reduction of rent «and price of land) by imposing an adequate penalty on land held out of use by high rent or high price. Many billions of dollars of capital are now ‘ready for investment in any- thing that will pay; but the owners wiil 10t put the money into any enterprise so long as it is certain ‘hat high rent will take so much of the p.oduce that little or no net profit will be left. C. B. HEMINGWAY, ————— ‘rnit Grower Opposes Higher Freight Rates ‘To the Editor of The Star: It's the proverbial “last straw” that breaks the camel’s back. Bugs, blights, blizzards and bankrupt banks have ready so exhausted the farmer's stock of patience and perseverance that his utmost efforts at self-help seem futile. Now comes the proposal to raise rail- road freight rates on his products 10 or 15 per cent. How will that work? Take an example! A well known local orchardist last year shipped 14,- 000 boxes of Winter pears of the best known varieties and brand. After pay- ing all costs of cultivation, plowing, pruning, picking, packing. rent, etc., and adding thereto commission, cold- storage and freight charges, barely enough balance was left to cover the cost of the chemicals used in spraying the trees half a dozen times to destroy mildews, blights and bugs. Add 10 or 15 per cent to the raflroad {reight rates and shipments will neces- sarily stop, with further loss instead of more gain, to the railroads. If these companies must increase dividends let them cut some of the $50.- 000 salaries of the higher-ups, presi- dents and such. Moreover, the raising of freight rates might tend to further decrease their receipts by driving shippers to employ carriers on State highways: while lower rates might induce 1nore shipments of such produce as dc-s not now pay tol ship because of rates already pro- hibitive. EDWARD BERWICK. Toronto Star Assails Treatment of Aliens From the Toronto Daily Star. There must be a multitude of people who share with us the feeling that, in one respect at least, Canada has al- lowed herself to become altogether too imitative of the United States. We refer to the stupid, fantastic and often needlessly cruel way in which extreme immigration regulations are enforced along the border and 2t ports of entry, deporting some persons and denying admittance to others. 1t is only of recent years that Canada has won an_ evil eminence in this re- spect. ‘The United States has long had it. Even before the war a titled Rus- sian lady, after visiting the United States, wrote bitingly of her experi- ences on entering that country within sight of the Statue of Liberty. She de- scribed all that had happened and challenged anybody to show that un- der the so-cailed tyranny of the Czar |is anything as mortiiying would have to be endured on entering Russia or traveling across Siberia. Since the Great War Canada has become relent- less in the enforcement of regulations. ‘The officials on the job evidently are allowed no discretion whatever—the rules must be observed to the letter, re- gardless of circumstances. James Squires went to the United States from Newfoundland to enlist in the War with Spain. He has lived in Massachusetts since. He enlisted again in the Great War. Recently he went on a visit to his old home in Newfound- land and on coming hwx was denied admittance to the country in which he had lived 37 years and for which he had carried arms in two wars. A Montreal woman went to New York last Autumn and while there gave birth to a child. On her return to Canada she was admitted, but our au- thorities at the border refused to ad- mit the baby. The United States au- thorities had the child on their hands, but refused to allow the mother to re- turn and remain with it. So two great | Roc! nations enforced strict regulations, with the result that the mother is in Montreal and the baby is in an or- phanage in New York State. One feels compelled to say of this and similar cases that Canada secms determined to show that she can be just as autocratic and unreasonable as the United States. It may be that of- ficials on our side of the bordef like to show that they can be as powerful as those on the other side of it. They may wish to show that they can be just as extreme and foolish as any other offi- cials. If the country next door is go- ing to deport people, this country will deport them, too. If that country will not let people in, this country will not let them in. is sort of rivalry in ar- rogance and this efficiency in stupid enforcement of red tape is surely a kind of competition that will not have the approval of Canadian fl:’,‘,’c opin- E ordinary igraf officer cannot be empowered to use dis- crimination in his enforcement of regulations, ~there surely should be within easy reagh some lug:nnr ofti- clal to whom the case referred and who mm possess :xnt:oflw 10 ex- ercise a common prac- tice a little common humanity in the enforcement of tions. Wisecracks in Gotham. From the Toledo nl-:-i.” T the time <l - mfii« in the ":ucn" reaches Broad- way it scems brighter, possibly from having been polished by weak ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN. This great service is maintained by The Evening Star for the benefit of y use it every day with- lves. All they have for any m(mdonw ‘desired and they receive DI answers by mail. Questions must be clearly written and stated as briefly as possi- ble. Inclose 2-cent stamp for re- turn postage and address Evening Star Information Bureau, Frederic J. Haskin, director, Washington, D. C. | . What was the name of the horse whnun beat Man o' War in the only race he ever lost?—S. B. A. Man Au' ‘War lv;u lh:l-nhnb“ scn; toga on August 13, , by Upse which was owned by H. P. Whitney and ridden by W. Knapp. Man o' War ‘was ridden by J. Loftus. ia 10005 31 A irplanST—G. O 1 outside n an ne' . O. H. A. Tex Rankin, Portland, Oreg., holds a new world record, having completed 8 consecutive outside Jloops in 88 min- utes. Q. How large are billlard balls?>— R. 8. A. They vary in size from 25-16 to 27-16 inches in diameter. Q. What attracts the birds to th lighted dome of the United States Cap- itol>—A. A. B. A. The Geological Survey says that the birds that fly in flocks around the lighted dome of the Capitol are chimney swifts. They are attracted there by the insects which tracted there by the lights. Q. What is “cap rock”?—D. A. R. A. The Bureau of Mines says that cap rock is an impervious stratum which overlies an oil or gas deposit. The cap rock prevents the gas and light frac- tions of ofl from seeping through to the surface and escaping. Q. What is a “seminar"?—N. T. A. 1t is a group of students engaged under an instructor in original researc! in a particular line and in exposition of the results by theses and lectures. out to-do Q “tariff” taken?—G. R. A. It was taken from Tarifa, Spain. This port, near Gibraltar, was named for & Moorish raider. levied on all merchandise in ships pass- ing through the Strait of Gibraltar. Hence the use of the word “tariff” for duty assessed. Q. How many Northern veterans of the Civil War are still living?—N. E. B. A. The only check is the number on the pension rolls. On April 30, 1931, there were 40,927. Q. How are very high temperatures and low ones measured?—J. T. that high temperatures are measured by means of thermocouples, optical py- rometers, pyrometric cones, etc., and that temperatures below the freezing point of liquids are measured by the gas thermometer. Q. How many pieces of motor appa- ratus are in use in the fire departments !in the United States?—QG. F. C. A. It is estimated that there were service in the United States in 1930. Q. Do all members of the cat family purr?—H. B. A. They do not. The cheetah and tiger purr and the puma. or cougar, its | following members From what city was the word | Duties were here | A. Tne Bureau of Standards says | 7,500 pleces of motor apparatus in | makes & nolse similar to a purr. The of the cat family do mot purr: Leopard, lion, lioness, ocelot, serval and caracal Q. Where is there a remote group of i) some of which are uninhabited? A. Tristen da Cunha, in the South Atlantic, is one of a group of three small ds, two of which are unin- habited. This group is believed to be the most isolated uninhabited group on earth. The two uninhabited islands are named Nightingale and Inaccessible. ‘The Cocos, or Keeling, in the Indian Ocean, includes 20 islands, some of which have no inhabitants. Q. How are the mysterious pools | known as “dew ponds” filled and fed?— W. R. D. A. There is nothing very mysterious about their construction, as’ they are now known to be fed by fog from the ocean, caught by the shrubs and grasses around their borders. Although there is some difference of opinion in the matter, it seems necessary for a new dew pond to be filled artificially first, as it will not function by a natural ac- cumulation of water in the impervious basin. These dew ponds are mostly found on the upper levels of the chalk downs in the south of England as a water supply for cattle. Q. Please give a short biography o Edwin Booth.—J. W. % A. Edwin Booth was one of our most distinguished American actors. He was born at Belair, Md., November 13, 1833, and brought up to have a dramatic career by his father. He made his debut in Boston in 1849, and in 1851 took his father's place as Richard III at the Chatham Square Theater, New York City. His productions of “Hamlet” and other Shakespearean plays were suce cessful, and he is generally regarded as the leading Amcrican tragedian. He died June 7, 1893. Q. Please explain how the rocket car driven by Pritz Opel in Germany func- tions.—A. J. W. A. The rear projects large tubes, from which exploding gases emerge. The principle depends upon Newton's third law, which states that to every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. As each rocket explodes it propels the car forward, the faster the escape of the gas from the rocket the more rese- tion, or kick, it gets. hat TR Q. When was an American flag ing 26 stars in the field made?—A. A. It must have been made at some time between 1837, the date of admission into the Union of Michigan, the twenty- sixth State, and 1845, when Florida, the twenty-seventh State, was admitted. Q. What did the land cost which the Empire State Building lm in New York City?—A. C. A. A. The price of the land was $16,- 000,000. Q. How did the dollar become the unit of American coinage?—C. H. A. The dollar was introduced into America by the West India trade befors the Revolution. The coinage act of April 2, 1792, legalized it and estab- lished it as a unit of American currency. The inconvenience of the English sys- tem of money led Congress in 1781 to instruct Robert Morris to devise a sys- tem of national coinage. His sugges- tions were not adopted, but those pro- posed by Jefferson were approved. He proposed the dollar as a unit to be equivalent to 100 cents. Much commendation is given to President Hoover for the quality of his speech at Valley Forge, in which he d:clared that the Nation’s current prob- lems should be handled with the spirit of the Nation’s founders. Attention is given to his attack on what is de- scribed as governmental paternalism, some papers with approval of his stand. others with doubt as to the correctness of his position or of his analysis of the cause and solution of the depression affecting the United States. “A note of humility” in the speech is praised by the Baltimore Sun, with the further statement that “the President's concessions to the realities of the situ- ation and his rejection of formulas for finding a way out were all to the good.” The Sun declares that “much of it is decidedly to the point at this time.” ‘The Scranton Times feels that it “car- ried & message well worth pondering.” while the Youngstown Vindicator, quot- ing his words, “the wisdom of the few instead of the many fails to build an enduring government or an enduring people,” declares that is “sound American doctrine.” ‘The address is described by the Al- toona Mirror s a “patriotic appeal” and by the Rock Island Argus as “timely and very much to the point,” while the Flint Journal declares that it “was full of the high purpose, idealism, patient courage and constructiveness which characterize the President’s per- sonality.” The 8t. Joseph Gazette lauds ‘en impressive note of leadership, founded on the soundest kind of com- mon sense.” The Kansas City Star also emphasizes “an impressive note of lead- ership” and an “address of lofty ideal- m “His optimism,” in the opinion of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, “seems en- tirely justified, as is his determination not to call a special session of Congress to attempt to remedy business condi- tions by legislation. The upturn this year in the business activity index has proceeded steadily, with no signs other than for a continuation of the march back to mormal” The Duluth Herald echces the President’s thought with the comment, “Any of us in our Valley Forge, whatever its cause, may well think back to the example of our fathers, and, ke them, endure to win, as they did, a glorious victory.” The Fort Wayne News-Sentinel agrees, “Just as the men of the Revolutionary Army met the challenge to steadfastness in times and terms of war, so do their descendants rest under heavy moral ob- ligation to meet this new, present-day challenge in times and terms of peace.” * ok ok ¥ In harmony with the President’s plea regarding the duty of the people, the hester Times-Union advises that “the people and what we vaguely refer to as ‘business and industry’ must rescue lvee.” The Port Huron Times- He is convinced that “the future of man is very definitely in the hands of the . "The New London Day avers that “the things of life are at hand for all who will fight to get what is wanted.” The South Bend Tribune re- calls that “after each of the previous depressions the United States progressed more than ever before,” and adds, “Now the Nation is fundamentally stronger in d;mmpmlon(m:az it w;a in the o or 50 years m Detroit Free Press states, “A Nation of 123,000,000 le ought to be able to summon to its aid as much self-reliance and intelligent confidence in the future as a Nation of less than 4,000,000 people did a century and a half ago.” !nddrlem::{uthl uml v‘by m;: against pater m given Hartford Times, the Newark Evening News, the Philadelphia Even! the Star and the Sentinel. Loulsville mal holds that, “vigorously opposing ternalism, Hoover has demon- strated that, in this at least, he is more a Jeffersonian ocrat than a Hamiltonian o ‘Doubtless President Hoover knew,” 1 pwuhrmerg:e;‘thv' or ‘Winter at Vi quite as much with the hington as it did in of the troops who froze that the ideal for which lwaukee -Jour- pa- Presiden—t at Valley Forge Wins Applause, Stirs Debate they fought might be realized. The President has been doing his full part. But he has been receiving very lame support from some who would be most benefited by a turn of the tide toward greater confidence in govetnment and stability of prosperity.” The Chatta- nooga Times suggests, “Would it not be a fine thing if he were to undertake to answer his prayer ‘that we may prove worthy’ by making a determined effort to relieve the baleful influence of the deadening hand of Government by re- moving at least its two fingers for | which his administration is responsible —the tariff and the farm relief act?" * o % X “Every. historian,” asserts the Dayton Daily News, “tells us that the misery at | Valley Forge was due to the failure of the Continental Congress to act. Valley Forge, with its suffering, was not an act. of nature. It was a failure of govern- ment. Now, again, from the mouth of the Government itself, this other Valley Forge, this other refusal of Government to act.” The Chattanooga News com- ments: “It was unfortunate to link Valley Forge in the public mind with the present depression. They are so much alike.” The Ogden Standard- Examiner protests: “If the Govern- ment is done with farm relief and public of other President. should tell us why the change. If | that is not the meaning he intended to convey, to what extent will the Gov- ernment continue to labor to save the situation? If not at all, and if solution rests onm the working of the economic law, then the President should have a fair idea of the time that will be required and the severity of the or- deal to be met, and he should state his views in clean-cut language, that hope may not be dimmed by his present uteevl;tnce." “We cannot concede,” argues the St. Louls Times, “that the dark days of the infant republic in that terrible Winter in the Pennsylvan's hills is comparable, even for purposes of imagery, to this bright Summer of 1931, when a million flelds are smiling on a people that have surpassed any other in achievement of “There is no analogy,” maintains th Akron swon—JoummMWMn this Na! tion today and the plight of the colonies in the days of Valley Forge, and whether here "' no” doust that presperiy” | no_ doubt_that ity s going to be re-established in this ogun- try. It may be slow and very gradual in coming, and it may not be that of the last 10 years, but its return is as | certain as the rising of the sun to- | morrow. r——— Merited Honor. From the Rockford Morning Star. The degree of doctor of letters has | been conferred by Oglethorpe Univer- | sity, down in Georgia, on Mrs. Eliza- beth Meriwether Gilmer, otherwise Dorothy Dix, for dists hed servi to_American l.l!lfltllrel.n‘“’. i Here is recognition for the boys and flfln down in the trenches of journal- sm—a belated recognition, true enough, for Dorothy Dix began work on the old New Orleans Picayune back in 1896, but 1t 1s recognition, and ordinarily the boys and girls in the trenches have to climb out and retreat to the general staff headquarters of edito; and the like before such honors are made avail- able. Dix is still plugging away at her typewriter, a woman of 6! Bulletin, | to succeeding