Evening Star Newspaper, September 13, 1931, Page 87

/ e THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, SEPTEMBER 13, 1931. & 7ure Bripge Forum * The Vacant C’/mir Teachers of the Game Will Hear the New Our foursome has a vacant chair; We think of.him who once sat there; Although we know he’s gone away, We can’t believe he’s gone to stay. Without him things won’t be the same Because he always played the game,; We'll try, of course, to fill his place, But know we’ll miss his kindly face. We'll miss his crafty skill and guile, ‘We’ll miss his laugh, we’ll miss his smile, And through the years that come and go I know we’ll always miss him so. ‘We hope you’ll never have to bear The sadness of a vacant chair. Rich mgn, poor man, beggar man, thief, Doctor, lawyer, merchant chief. OST of us can remember that couplet of our childhood days. And most of us can now name a good many other professions in this ever - more - complex world. Perhaps the newest form of activity which has risen to the dig- nity of a real profession is that of bridge teacher. In every sizable city of the country several can be found—in the larger cities a considerable number of them, in even the ccuntry sections usually one convenient enough for those who would become pupils. From a few dozen of them 10 years ago, the total has grown to approximately two thousand. Several hundreds of these have gained prominence outside of their immediate localities. Some of them are known nationally, in real “bridge circles.” In their own com- munities, practically every one is a prominent citizen who is quoted by dozens of people as authority for information concerning auction or contract bridge. Each wields a potent in- fluence with his or her followers and those with whom the followers have contact. The first general convention of these bridge teachers ever held will open in the Hotel Roosevelt in New York tomorrow. Here- tofore there have been assemblages of some of them to hear the theories of one or two na- tional leaders, with sometimes a number of talks by other invited ones. This time they have come together to participate in a five- day program which features no one man, but will present more than a dozen of the out- standing bridge figures, all on an equal footing. Mrs. Madeleine Kerwin, Charles True Adams, Capt. Frederick G. French, Henry P, Jaeger, Sidney 8. Lenz, Comdr. Winfield Liggett, jr.; George Reith, R. R. Richards, E. V. Shep- ard, Vjctor R. Smith, Edward C. Wolfe, Milton C. Work, Walter F. Wyman and the conductor of the Bridge Forum will deal with different phases of the situation with which the teach- ers are vitally concerned. They are all mem- bers of the Advisory Council of Bridge Head- quarters, Inc., which brought them all into agreement upon the new “official system” of contract bidding, and which is sponsoring the convention. The. teachers at the meeting will hear the new methods discussed in detail, so that they can go back to their homes in all parts of the country at the end of this week to acquaint others with the measures upon which all these people have joined after years of varying tac- tics. There will be present also some dyed-in- the-wool enthusiasts who are not teachers, but who want to be intimately familiar witb what- ever is going on in bridge, It is recognized by all of the national lead- ers that the teachers are the great mission- aries of the game, who now are more impor- tant than ever, for today so many people are bent upon manufacturing their own entertain- ment instead of paying somebody else to fur- nish it. One who can show people how to make their own happiness is assuredly ren- dering a worth-while service in the world. Problems of Play I1f your partner bid ome cludb in the North, East passed end you called one mno trump 4n the South to upset the opponenis, the latier passing it all earound and leading the king of diamonds, how would you play the jollowing hand to keep your losses as low as possible? 473 V964 @ A852 4AQJI2 NORTH eKQ i HEKI8T43 S8OUTH A AJIBE3 WA103 ®EQJI10 &5 A10964 YK382 ¢0643 »106 West's failure to bid or double was of course unpardonable; he was expecting to lle in wait and do something later in the bidding— usually very unwise tactics. This time they cost his side an easy game, but incidentally gave Mrs. Olga Hilliard in the South a chance to exhibit her playing skill. Giving her op- “Official System’ Discussed New Problems of Play and a New Law. BY SHEPARD BARCLAY. the queen with dummy’s ace, East disearding a club. A spade to East's queen brought re- turn of a small club. East explained later that he hoped eventually to take a trick with his fifth club. South got this with the ten and led another club for the losing finesse to the king, West discarding a heart. Now East did what should have been done earlier—led a heart—but, alas, the queen. South let it win and likewise passed the jack, which West had to overtake with the ace, due to the early discard on the second club. After taking in two diamonds, West now showed his ability do err by returning a small spade. East couldn't help winning this. With no spade to return, anything he led would give Mrs. Hilliard the last three tricks, for a total of five. A Law a IWeek 1t declarer, playing a grand slam contract, takes all the tricks, but while he is doing so one of the adversaries revokes, how is that re- voke scored? How is it scored if the bid has been doubled or redoubled? In t/zé Frozen South Continued from Fourteenth Page food depot it is doubtful whether even his in- domitable pluck would have carried him through, for there is a limit to the powers of endurance of even the most hardened explorer, and Mawson had reached it—had passed it. He rested by the depot and with plenty of food soon found fitness returning. He started out on the last lap of his journey, but soon found that his trials were not ended, for being without crampons he could not stand up in the wind on the slippery ice slopes. This caused more delay, but necessity is the mother of invention; he cut up the theodolite box, struck in some ice nails and with these improvised crampons he struggled on for 6 miles. Then the crampons broke down and he had one more narrow escape down a crevasse. But luck held, and on February 1 he reached the Aladdin's Cave depot safely and found inside luxuries which had been brought from the ship and which he would not have exchanged for their weight in gold at that moment. He had, it proved, only just reached safety in time, for the very evening he arrived a bliz- zard began which raged with unabated fury for over a week, reaching hurricane force. In that depot it only nreant lying low—but out there on the ice slopes it would have meant death. At last came the lull in the storm, and he set out for the Winter quarters of the expedition. In two hours he sighted it. Figures loomed up in the distance—the first human beings he had seen for weeks. Then over the hill came six men, running, breathless. The sole survivor of that journey was helped along to the hut, where preparations were being made to spend another Winter ashore. And even as he arrived Mawson saw the Aurora sailing away to the west to pick up eight men who had been landed 15 miles along the coast, to return the following Spring. Thus ended one of the greatest feats of en- durance and courage in the history of Antarctic exploration. Who will grudge their niche in the temple of fame to heroes who face such condi- tions, Jured on by a passion for adventure and ennobled by self-sacrificing devotion to their comrades and the great causes that they serve? (Copyright, 1931.) U.S. Customs Inspectors Continued from Third Page up the returned tourist became quite genial. “I don’t suppose this great Government is going to make me pay duty on the paste I use in brushing my teeth,” he cried. “No,” laughed the inspector, “our motto here is: “Save the surface and you save every- thing.’ " But even while he was engaging in this banter he was examining the two tubes. He pressed them with his fingers, and instead of vielding, as is usually the case with such a soft substance, he felt something hard and rigid. He found the rare emeralds in one tube and the valuable diamonds in the other. It was so unique that they let the man go free after paying double duty on the gems. NE of the handicaps under which the in- spectors work is the difficulty in proving smuggling. Dulles trial and dragged along for years, going from one court to-another. In the end they were awarded to their owner on the ground that there had been no actual smuggling. The Judges decreed that the act of smuggling could not be considered completed until the goods had really been taken from the wharf and away from the jurisdiction of the authorities. The days of false bottoms in trunks seem to have passed away. And there is more fiction than truth in the tales of travelers who bring in diamonds concealed in the hollow part of rubber heels. Yet one chap had the nerve to dig out the inside pages of a Bible to hide a big pearl. But more than one potential smuggler has been tripped up through the work of informers. It is a rare collector of customs who does not from time to time receive anonymous letters telling of persons who have cheated or who in- tend to cheat Uncle Sam out of his just dues. These letters are usually the result of jealousy and spitework and have to be investigated with extreme care. The great mass of travelers are honest, many of them scrupulously so, but the ex- ceptions are numerous enough to make it necessary for the Government to take extreme means 0 prevent smuggling. (Copyright, 1981.) In auction, revoke penalties are paid entirely with tricks; if the 1evokirg side takes no tricks, it has none with which to pay a penalty and hence there is no penalty. In contract, when .a side has no tricks with which to pay a revoke penalty, it must pay a penalty of 100 points for each revoke, which amount is not changed by doubling or redoubling. What occurs in this case? In condract, Neorth and South bid and make a heart game. South, the only player keeping score, neglects te record it. On the next hand, East and West make a partial score of 60. South records it. On the third deal Norih and South bid four spades and make them. Now, when South ane nounces that this completes a rubber, record- ing the first game at the same time as this last one, East pleads that he had looked at the score and saw mothing but his side’s partial score there; if he had real zed this game would give opponents the rubber, he would have made a sacrifice bid of five diamonds. i A Great Game of Cards During an evening of play at the home of a red-hot bridge fan in New Jersey recently, eight hends bobbed up which were strong enough to justify use of the artificial two club bid to proclaim game strength. When asked what was at stake, he answered: “Doggone the luck, nothing.” Timely Warning “It might not be a good thing to suggest in any way a law regulating the bidding in order to prevent psychics,” urges Y. O. Y. “Some of our eighteenth amendment friends are likely to relish it and get it across. Not that I don’t think it might be better for the game, for I'm afraid psychic bidding will hurt it just as nullos ruined five hundred. Lots of people arcund here make psychic bids all the time, but seem to come out badly when up against people who can count their hands correcdy and bid according to authoritative rules.” The New I )I'Oélfl.fl < South having bid four hearts, which West doubled, how would you play the jollowing hand against an opening lead of the nine of trumps? @AQJI643 H1094 A 106548 VK¢ ¢ 1082 &T83 4.K8 YAQJ10634 Contract Bi{l’ding‘ What would you bid on the following Resd, as fourth hand after three passes, both sides being vulnerable? 4KJS WA 010 HAKQI09865 ‘This hand came at the fag end of an even- ing of duplicate cortract. Capt, K. Woolfe, who held it, and his partner, Her- bert D. Lent, did not have what they con- sidered a particularly good score. They feit that their sole chance to win lay in getting some unnaturally good score on one of the last few deals: with ordinary results they So instead of bidding clubs—some number them from one up to five, depending on system in use, as was done at every other board and top score At all other tables a club game final bid and only four odd could be made. you bid the following hand, South ' with neither side vulnerable? . = AAK9S vQs ¢Js63 $Q73 @J1053 WAS52 ¢ None $A106853