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m_EVENlNG STAR WASHINGTON, D. C. . SATURDAY.....August 29, 1031 s <o e A S R THEODORE W. NOYES....Editor All Other States and Canada. E.{’ and Bunday...1 yr. 313.00: § mo. $1,00 iy only . i 1 mo. 80c Member of the Associated Press. o7, Akt S n s et tches credited to it or not otherwise cred- BaaRed e Rt2eT SN of Funtication of Special alspatches herein are &iso reserved. -— — - The Natural Gas “Contract.” The statement by Mr. A. E. Peirce relating to various and sundry matters concerning ownership of the local gas companies throws an interesting light on the nature of the agreement by which the Washington companies buy their natural gas, As far as there is evidence to the contrary, this agreement must have been one of those informal understand- ings that are not put in writing and which are possible only because of the implicit trust and confidence that pub- lic utility companies Tepose in each bther, It is a fine example of the purity and honesty of big business and should serve as & lesson to all. For some time the Public Utilities Commission has been interested in ob- taining a copy of the contract or agree- ment by which the Washington com- panies buy their natural gas. But so definite natural gas contract has not been worked out for the Washington barreled one. The States are o pro- hibit planting, and hence no cotton will be grown in 1932. The market must be supplied for two years out of this year's crop. The Government's asu-( mate of the 1931 crop is 15,584,000 bales. It was this estimate that sent the price of “futures” tobogganing and threatened the South with 5-cent cot- ton. If the Caraway resolution, adopt- ed yesterday, is effective, the Farm Board will buy approximately half of this season's crop and put it away, to be distributed to the farmers in propor- tion to their usual yield of cotton. No mention is made of the matter of pay- ment. Who is to provide the cash for this purchase? Nor is any mention made of the price, if any, at which the farm- ers are to get their allocations from the board, to replace next year's un- grown crop. No cotton grown at all in 1932. Half of the cotton grown in 1931 to be impounded by the Federal Government and distributed pro rata later. That is the American one-year plan for the fixing of the price, of cotton, and it is dollars to doughnuts that it will not work, | took place in which six persons lost Civil War in America. China and Cuba are not the only countries in which civil war is raging. Internecine strife prevails in the United States as well, and moreover, it s not confined to a narrow area, but extends over a large portion of the land. Just now it is most active in the City of New York, the scene of the liveliest hostilities in succession to Chicago, which for some time was the main fleld of operations. Yesterday a battle their lives and twelve were injured. ‘There is no complete account of the casualties of the year 1931, as far as it has run, but in that city alone they undoubtedly run into scores of dead and wounded. Yesterday's battle was the flercest that has been fought in the war be- treen law and crime. Three bandits police guard who was riding -in the machine, took the pay roll and fled. ing constructive action in warning ! hotels that if they advertise free park- ing space for tourists they must; actually provide such space. In circulars dis- tributed to motorists on the outskirts of the city certain hotels have in- cluded parking for guest cars in their attractions. A quiet investigation by officials of the bureau diclosed that in most cases it was street space that ‘was meant and that no other facilities were provided. . ‘The hostelries which have indulged in this practice should speedily re- move the advertisement from their circulars or else actually make avail- able a restricted free parking space for their guests. A second warning should not be needed. Washington, particularly in the Summer, is & mecca for tourists, and deservedly 0, but 1f the tourist finds that he is getting “gypped” he will probably not return, apd after all it is to him that the hotels must look for their business. ——————— So many men of distinction have been interesting themselves in the lighter forms of musical composition that Gov. Roosevell would not sur- | prise admirers if he were to rearrange that touching old-time ballad, “The Letter That He Longed for Never Came.” ————— Germany suspects France of trying to put eighteen-year-old Otto on the throne of Hungary, adding snother to the list of historic youths compelled to study abstruse diplomatic documents when they ought to have been playing foot ball, ——————— It is not unreasomable to assume that Capone might have retired years ago with a comfortable fortune. The gangster, gambler with life and liberty, lke many another rash speculator, meets disaster by staying in the game too long. * ————— China is in line with the latest sys- tems in high-pressure finance and * | wants to buy wheat on the installment At the end of the was and they were shot " fusillade that sprayed the - | plan. It may be doubted whether Uncle Sam will ever get around to & plain cash-and-carry method. ———at——————— Edison’s physician is again issuing unfavorsble bulletins. When an 84- year-old pstient is under econsideration a doctor is naturally inclined to pessi- BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. It is good to have interests that stretch into the past, that is why browsing among old books is & whole- some pastime. ‘ ‘Too many people live entirely in the present. ‘They know no need that of the hour, and, as they not for- ward to tomorrow, have forgotten the past already. But every intelligent man should be in the o the lack many. v % ':l hot men has an imposing record which any one may experience through no more trouble than s visit to_an old book store. Books are men and women, after all. ‘Take this y of Michelet's “History of Martin Luf " as translated and amplified by William Hazlitt. ‘Those are mighty names, one a Frenchman, the next a German, the last an lishman. ‘The French historian throws light on the reformer by the expedient, since adopted for Napol and other great men, of permitting him to tell his own swqdlbllrum-lhle.mhum words. In this old volume, with the name of a previous owner written small on the fln;’guc, lie old sores of natons, t erences of past ages, the roic deeds of men'in days when men held out against torture and death for the sake of an opinion. i doctrines. The city was taken at last, and John | a1 and two of his discipl tied to stakes, | and pleces of their Mesh pulled out red-hot pincers for the space of o Fedrsecth § g e é § I j i5 ; sk H § % dix. torical writers, of course, have al- & note at the foot of works, that often the 1 E .. 3 3 i i !iz i T il #ls i i i gt 13-4 iy i i i i it i EE . i by fal i il e i } ol §.2%% §a§?§§§g el i i £E 25, g £ B i iy i éE 2e8 ik g Eidx gg 8 ] b I H Egs B legal tender is necessary, A check is not legal tender. They lrl,' er, by banks, which keep them in their vaults as reserve, Q. How much paint does it take to paint_the dome of the Capitol?—8, T. chiefly used, howev. A. Tt takes about 2,000 gallons. rather 3 Beptember, 1868, the of Harvard Col- | A lege became vacant. The method of election of a president was complicated. Q. What was the purpose of an ] it £l ii {1 EES” k ' 1 ] | | [ 5 3 g i o gp ] ‘ i iig 4 i i §§P i SE il 3 y : i f i i i f. i o g% £ i | 8, 3% i i A i ¥ i i £s § i ®2E i %fi 1 f & ] T ° §> ?, 1 i TR ;gl?f? s;E' Egiszg :§E§§§ H LR { ¢ | § I : ?és B L |2 ™ 5' i i i | g igigi H i i : : é BE >3_© ? ’ % £8 §s ‘ i i i All three of. the : mistic opinion, realizing that eventually killed, and the pay Toll | o) men must pass on. was Tecovered. e e——e—. spectacularly sen- Reports were circulated from time to shooting in New York Within |iime that the Cuban rebellion had been ount vites _plight of the American fiyers s crushed. The great difficulty appears | Pangborn and Hgmaunlna-pun.vb’:r‘: mm‘zfinh ] 28 i i & that agreement, and have nothing to | peared. The gangsters accepted the show for the agreement in writing? of the items for which local consumers are being charged in their gas bills? Mr. Peirce, president of the Central| Co. iies,” tells the Washington public that for the purposes of “effecting econ- omies in operation” the Washington Gas Light Co. has “avalled itself” of the services of various experts in the employ of the Central Public Service Corporation, ang these experts have been paid for such services, turning over “the sums so received to the Cen- tral Public Service Corporation as re- fmbursement for their time which was devoted to Washington matters.” Which so aroused the community that po- licemen were specially instructed to shoot to kill whenever lawbreakers ap- challenge and on several subsequent occasions have been quicker on the trigger than the police, yesterday's Aroused by the battle of the Brenx, the State adjutant commander of the American Legion of New York an- nounces renewal of an offer previously made to place 30,000 Legiohnaires on the streets of the metropolis to act as vigilantes. This offer can hardly be accepted, without special provision for | the pay of the men thus engaged and for their Insurance against death or| injury suffered in line of duty. If a| larger police force, which is to say a larger army, s needed to wage this | campaign against the gangs in the countsy's chief city, it must be pro-| vided by the State. The Legislature i | about to meet in extra session-to con- | sider certain matters pertaining to the | inquiry into Manhattan graft now in | progress. The Governor might well recommend that it consider also ways | and means of aligning hgainst the forces of crime a superior and effective | body of men capable of bringing this | would cost the gas consumers more— | conflict 1o approximate success. the fallure of the gas company to ef- fect economies in operation or the hire of the experts who effect them”? What have been these “economies in opera- tion"” effected by the expensive experts, and have they been made to reduce gas bllls or to give the experts the jobs for which the Central Public Service Corporation is paid? How many other such costs are the gas consumers of ‘Washington taxed Is¢ in their gas bills? If the gas company can pay for effect- ing these economies, What does the Public Utilities Commission propose to make it pay for violation of gas-pres- sure regulations? ‘Thus far it seems to have been the only one to escape a penalty. i S e Performers who revived pictures of adventure in the Wild West found them- | selves on a railway siding instead of | a trail through the plaths. A day| coach is ordinarily easy riding, but| men who know about eir lines and | other incidental machinery demonstrate | that & locomotive may be made to| buck the same as a bronco. ! RS A, The Pedestrian and the Motorist. | In fining a motorist seventy-five dol- | lars for refusing to give right of way 10 & pedestrian, Judge McMahon took | eminently the correct action and the | heavy penalty should serve as a warn- ing to other drivers who appear to be- they have been fined for to lie in the fact that so many of the | {he b m‘flt rebels did not hear the news. - SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Life’s Contrasts. Sometimes luck go dis-a-way; Sometimes luck go dat. Maybe we’s all here today; Tomorrow, whar's ‘we at? Can't all hold a leadin" pace In dis strugglin’ ‘host. Some is winners in de race An’ some's lef” at de post. Some steps up to speechify Dat’s certain to be heard, An’ some has gotter des’ sit by An’ never say a word. Some to pje is drawin' near ‘Wit glorious victory won, An’ all dat other folks may hear Is, “Take yoh med'cine, son!” Looking Forward. “I hope to see the time when there is no money in politics” said the ardent youth. “Well,” answered Senator Sorghum, gravely, “when that time comes we'll simply have to go into some other busi- Limited Appreciation. “That prima donns must love music thoroughly.” “Oh, T don’t know,” replied the man- ager. “She doesn’t seem to get a bit of pleasure out of hearing anybody else sing well.” Dissatisfaction. Men used to rafl and break the peace When paying for what women wore; But now they're calling the police And asking them to put on more. “And what is the plot of your play?” asked the stage manager. ~ “Oh, we haven't a plot yet," replied the author. “We've been t0o busy. But we have a lovely list of patronesses.” Interest. “I may as well confess that I am not | as picturesque and prominent a figure as I expected to become when I amass- ed great wealth,” said Mr. Dustin Stax. air, has been American press. Placing in the statements of the pair, here is that their violation of inter- national ethics was unintentignal, but is none the less deemed regrettable. “Gentlemen in afrplanes should be careful where and how often they aim their cameras,” comments Oakland ‘Tribune, which notes that “after having been the center of attention as partici- treatment of Panghorn American doned their attempted round-the-world flight,” as presenting “a sharp contrast to the festive welcomes usually accorded gallant adventurers the world over,” and this paper avers that “the incident oc- casions surprise and some indignation in this country. It a) to the average American that the Tokio authorities are making a mountain out of a mole-hill, and maliciously affronting two of our fellow citizens whose worst crime was | thoughtlessness,” thinks that fib&{’m | On the other hand the Philadel Evening says: Japanese 1in their plane, or, being here by courtesy, were to secure a plane and hover over | our coast fortifications, and later were to be found in possession of exception- | of important it prejudice %lnn these friends across the Pacific, who, according to diligent wmndl. are accused of being| g, jealous, if not actually in enmity?” Answ its own question, this paper that “the chances are that American public opinion would have | ;00 to make quite as much fuss sbout the incident as is being made in Japan.” A “The trouble which has befallen Baltimore 3 siders that “at the same time it may serve to remind the great public which has no direct contact with military mat- ters or. with aerial travel that both the of military secrecy and the af- pts to invade it are trifting and naive idiocles which sensible people should have no traffic.” It must be acknowledged, according to the Cincin- nati Times-Star, that “governments as a Tule take the activities of alien planes very seriously. The airplane is the best Biclafsto %é i S i 82 structive to offer. * ok ok Andre Siegfried, Frenchman with a German name, hes constituted himself the critic of Ame'h?u and Great Luxemburger Wort. — Though ne up e Srour | financial and. industrial situatio She a old-tash- in practically all insists upon Te- industrial methods the n is P — | lteve that no one has any right on the | =, " been ised for the A Governor gains popularity in some | ut, themselves, In- this par-| ‘1 have no doubt” replied Miss|vellch (R} has boe cevised for, the degree by raising the price of ofl, only Cayenne, “that many are surprised to work of = d ticular case the pedestrian was badly g y quick over a fortified area an to lose it later when consumers inquire see how much easier it is to make | gviator can strip a fortress of its secrets a5 to the cause of conditions which | dollars draw interest than to make | and undo the work of millions spent for make fuel expensive. |them create interest.” defense. That is why ts make — gl The One-Year Plan for Cotton, gsgséggfi‘ lation. Nevertheless, the ers must labor to W i i ! 1 Eigs