Evening Star Newspaper, October 7, 1931, Page 8

A—8 THE EVENING STAR With Sunda; M.m‘",,l)_‘!"_?' ;HINGTON. D. C. . .October 7, 1831 ] | WA WEDNESDAY . THEODORE W. NOYES. .. .Editor; ing Star Newspaper Company i ¢ Bt O e enis 1 New Work Sffice. 110 East 42nd 8t cmicaso Ofce: Lake Michigan Bulding. European Ofice; 14 Regent .. London, Rate by Carrier Within the City. The Evening Star.. .. 45c per month Sunday Star T hen 4 u;‘n":nsl e apa.80¢ per month tning and: Sun Thhen s Bundays) - 65¢ per month Star .. c_per copy T eation, made at tiie end of ench month. Orders may be sent in by mail or telephone NAtional 5000. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. . + $10.00: 1 mo., 85¢ Baily and, Sundax.. 1ye: tiR 00 1 mon 3ac Sinday oniy 400; 1 mo., 0¢ All Other States and Canada. Daily and Sunda: Daily only Hinda y only Ir. Member of the Associated Press. The Associated Press is exclusiv. to the use for republication of all 1 1 atches credited to it or not otherwise cred fied in this paper end also the local n published herein. Al richts of publicat special dispatches I also reser Rallying Constructive Forces. President Herbert Hoover has pre- sented a carefully prepared and at the | same time a bold plan for unified action | to preserve the banks and restore con- fidence throughout the country. His plan calls both for action by the bank- ers themselves and for legislation by the Federal Congress. Today, with the concurrence in his proposals of bank- | ers and congressional leaders, the pros- | pect of translating the plan intb action | appears bright in the extreme. Lack of confidence, brought about by continued assaults during the last two years upon the securities markets and upon American financial institu- tions, has spread until valuable assets | running into the hundreds of millions { of dollars, held by banking houses throughout the country, have become | “frozen.” As President Hoover has| pointed out, “destructive forces” have been at work, and at a time when be- cause of world conditions the field has been open to them. The need is for & marshaling of constructive forces, for & unified front within this country. The President has assumed leadership in the | effort to bring about such a marshaling of constructive forces. The fight against depression and its consequent unem- ployment and want is neither Repub- lican nor Democratic. It s non-parti- | san. The President is acting not as the | head of the Repubiican party in this| matter, but as the President of the United States. His hands should be up- held. | The President at a meeting with thirty-two members of Congress last night laid down the specific proposals | he has worked out after many confer- | ences with leading financiers, with rep- resentatives of many other groups and | with his own official advisers. He proposes that the banks themselves with their huge resources set up and administer a revolving fund of $500.- 000,000 for the purpose of rediscount- ing banking assets not eligible for re- discount under the Federal Reserve system, “in order to assure our banks, being sound, that they may attain liqui- dity in case of necessity and thereby en- able them to continue their business without the restriction of credits or the sacrifice of their assets.” The President made it known also that he has called upon the governors of the Federal Reserve banks to obtain the co-operation of the member banks in their districts to make some advances on the assets of closed banks, so that business organizations and individuals, harmfully affected by the closing of the banks, might have relief as soon as possible. Three legislative proposals advanced by the President call for liberalization | of the eligibility of paper for redis- count under the Federal Reserve Sys- tem; the furnishing of additional capi- tal by the Government to Federal land banks, and the setting up, if necessary, of an organization similar to the War Finance Corporation to reinforce the half-billion-dollar revolving fund of | banks. | The President’s plan, if it is earnest- | 1y supported by the bankers and car- | ried out in its legislative details by Congress, will have far-reaching effects It should be a powerful factor in the | renewal of confidence sadly needed in this country. This lack of confidence has been demonstrated in many ways, but no more strikingly than in the | withdrawal of approximately $800,000.- 000 of currency from commercial ac- | tivities and its hording by its owners. | The return of such a vast sum to the banks and to commercial uses would | be of great value. | The President realizes, as does the rest of the country, that the solution of the present depression in the United States is bound up in a measure With the world-wide economic problem. At his conference with the members of Congress last night, Mr. Hoover made known his intention of discussing with Premier Laval of France the question of such further arrangements as are necessary during the period of depres- sion respecting the payment of inter- governmental obligations. He did not ask the approval by the legislators of this course, believing that it is a matter of internaticnal negotiation in the first instance. It has been obvious for some time that if the depression which has gripped Europe is not lightened within the period of the year's moratorium al- ready arranged under the leadership of the United States, further steps may be imperative in connection with the in-' tergovernmental debts. The gcountry will watch with interest the course which Mr. Hoover's discussions with the French prime minister will take. i Glasgow is preparsd to remind the world that Scotland is famous for poli- ticlans as welt as for its poets. s | Germany's Cabinet Crisis. Germany's more pressing internal economic and financial difficulties hav- ing been tided over by international action, she is now plunged into the complished through erators and pedestrians alike must be- ! Monotony I never know come accident conscious, and be con- | stantly aware of the dangers that are incident to increased use of automobiles petitioned for his retirement, and, on account of the circumstances which precipitated his action, he will be al- lowed to depart. Curtius is a victim of the flerce criticlsm aroused by the ignominious faflure of Anschluss—the German-Austrian tariffl merger scheme, which was tossed into the discard by the recent adverse opinion of the World Court., Chancellor Bruening is bent upon forming a new government designed particularly to fortify itself against impending onslaughts from the Hitler- ites, the Communists and other foes of the policy the German government has recently pursued, both at home and abroad. It will be a pity, from the standpoint of world understanding and world economics, if anything happens to upset Chancellor Bruening himself. He has earned a high reputation for steering the German ship of state ably through exceedingly tempestuous seas. His place on the bridge would be hard to fill. - The Gas Suit. The recently concluded hearings be- fore the Public Utilities Commission into the ownership of the local gas companies were undertaken primarily to test the groundwork which might support later legal action. Having care- fully prepared himself in advance by diligent investigation, William A, Roberts, assistant corporation counsel, was able to establish certain facts through examination of witnesses that left no doubt in anybody's mind con- cerning the dictatorship over the local gas companies exercised from Chicage by the officers of the Central Public Service Corporation. And if it is true, as contended, that the ownership of the companies is in reality vested in the Westfield Trust, it is also true that the virtual ownership of the Westfield ‘Trust lies with the Central Public Serv- ice Corporation. The facts developed in the hearings are suflicient in full to warrant another legal test of the prohibitions set up under the sc-called La Follette anti- merger act. Such a test is to all intents and purposes now assured through the recommendation of the Public Utilities Commission to the Commissioners that a suit be instituted, charging the Central Public Service Corporaticn with viola- tion of the La Follette act. Action by the Commissioners to direct the insti- tution of such proceedings may be taken for granted. ‘The success of the proposed litigation is another matter. The District may not succced in proving illegal acts by the Central Public Service Corporation, thus re-establishing local control of the gas companies. But the hearings have already shown the ease with which the purposes cf the La Follette act may be frustrated as a practical matter, and if they can be shown to have been evaded without actually running afoul of the law, legislative remedies are necessaty end there will be cause in plenty to de- mand them. In the meantime the Public Utilities Commission has been able to stop cer- tain leaks and has been forewarned against others that might drain the revenues of the local companies. And the commission has taken the proper step in ordering a revaluation of the properties that untimately will serve as the basis for a re-examination and revision of the rate structure. Mr. Roberts and the commission have done a good job. Their coming court fight is by no means to be regarded as an idle gesture. Whistlers and Morons. Prof. Charles Gray Shaw of New York University has apparently plunged Into hot water with his diatribe against those who are prone to indulge in what has generally been considered the harmless pastime of whistling. In the first interview which the learned professor delivered for Nation-wide con- sumption he described all whistlers as morons and it might have been gath- ered from the professor's remarks that that was quite & mild term for them since he went into great detail to ex- plain his distate for this breed of man- kind. Later in another interview which was as eagerly seized upon as the first the professor indulged in a little back- tracking, modifying his statement to the effect that those who whistle to make music were not so bad, but those who whistle for fun or to keep up their | courage on lonely roads at night or for any other “illegitimate” purpose were stll morons and probably always would be. It seems a pity that Prof. Shaw has sought to take whistling away from the populace, because certainly no one is going to indulge in whistling any more and immediately be classed as a moron. It is too bad the professor could not or Cid not offer a substitute. What is a 12llow to do when his best girl tells him she loves him and scts the wedding date for only a, short time ahead? What is he to do if he adds a few dol- lars to his slender bank account on | the stock market in these days of de- pression? And what is he going to do when he gets up in the morning with that “peppy” fecling and feels that he | is right with the world? These questions should be answered. | The professor should not keep an ex- pectant nation in suspense. ———— e An experience common to humanity is met by the Lindberghs. Those who are generous in aiding the unfortunate are, them, not themselves exempted from the deepest sorrows. i becass koo SRR Courtesy in Driving. Chief of Police August Vollmer of Berkeley, Calif,, hits®the nail on the head in his statement just issued by the National Conference on Street and | they affect the automobile fatality und'My Radi Highway Safcty In regard to courtesy, consideration and common sense as accident toll. wisdom and should be heeded by every one, motorist or pedestrian, who uses Here is what Chief Vollmer has to sa; Reduction in accidents must be ac- education. midst of an internal political crisis. on streets and highways. The Bruening-Curtius cabinet, of | "with a definite percentage of inat- which the world has heard so much [ tentive, careless, selfish or discourteous during the past few merths, Is to dis- appear by resignation. Chancellor Bruening will head the government that takes its place. but Dr. Curtius will be missirg from the W cabinet. The fereion r =i~ hag operators using the streets, the law of averages exacts a definite fixed toll. The road hog, the zig-zagger, the in- considerate and the stupid driver all come under the category outlined by the Berkeley prlice chief. They are the in spite of all the world owes | Op- | My Radio! breeders of accidents and the careful driver is never safe from becoming in- volved with one of them. Every motor- ist has probably had the experience of trylng to overtake a slow-moving cen- ter-of-the-street driver who immediately on hearing the horn of the car behind increases his pace, which in effect traps the driver who is seeking to pass him. Every motorist has likewise had the experience in a tight traffic jam of having the car beside him weave in and out with no regard for marked lanes of travel or common sense. . And the accident breeders develop many other practices which delay traffic and cause congestion. If they wish to make a left turn at an’in- tersection they nlmost invarizbly find themselves on the far right-hand side of the street and in the maneuver they cut off straight-through travel. In waiting for a red light to change, they seem to lose all interest in the mat- ter and for precious seconds will delay their start to hold up those behind them. The right-of-way grabbers are especially prevalent, and many a seri- ous accident has been caused by those who willy-nilly try to crash through moving lines of traffic, This is especially true in the National Capital with the return to the normal left-hand turn. Some of the violations of the right-of-way rule seen daily on the streets of Washington can probably be traced to ignorance of the new regu- lation, but in a few weeks there will be no excuse for lack of knowledge as to right of way in this respect, The careful and skillful driver is never “out of position.” In other words, if a left turn is contemplated he sees to it that he is In the lane nearest the center of the street long before he reaches the intersection. The same ap- plies to a right turn. He must get himself into position before he intends to leave the street on which he has been traveling. It is all a matter of common sense and those who cannot apply this attribute to their daily driv- ing habits should be ruled off the high- ways until they can. o A President of the United States is expected to show a fellow feeling with the base-ball-loving multitude and main- tain a lively interest in the game even though much more serious world con- tests are putting in claims to the most attentive consideration. Demands by the Pope for more charity and for less for battle prepara- tion are timely and co-ordinate. No one denies that the sufferings of war should not be added to the distress which mankind is now enduring. B An adjustment of the relations of the dollar to the market basket is con- fidently expected that will permit the restoration of “the full dinner pail” to its old status as & campaign slogan. e and two city governments. While econ- omists recognize government as a good thing, they are generally agreed that there may be too much of it. : - e Radlo customs have extended to the utterances of conservative statesmanship of which the thoughts and worcs may be reproduced only with “permission of the copyright owners.” oo His admirers will continue .to sing “Sidewalks of New York" regardless of the fact that Al Smith has found for { himself a handsome proprietary loca- tion in a big office bullding. v The gallant Lipton saw to it by his will that even his departure from this life would show that where his one great ambition was concerned, he was {no quitter. ———— SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. The Color Organ. A color organ has been made By Greatest Genius to be plaed. It calls the rainbow from the sky To gladden the attentive eye. Eternal Genius! Now we pause As Harmony asserts her laws Where Forest Foliage has revealed The silent song so long concealed. They bring, these tones of tint and hue, The Autumn Symphony anew, Which, as its glorious strains expand, ‘Help us to hope and understand. Near-Oratory. “You spoke for half an hour and said nothing,” said the confidential friend. “You mean,” replied Senator Sor- ghum, “that my speech lacked what ! folks call a ‘kick'?" “Yes. The first copy you showed me was full of high-power fluency.” “It's what I should call near-oratory. The origifal idea has an abundance of kick. Then, in order to satisfy a pru- | dent constituency, you have to use a great deal of time and trouble in ex- tracting all but a very small percentage of stimulation.” “exclusive” and have folks notice you only from a distance. Yet he doesn't know of anybody who seems to have | less fun than a lighthouse keeper. Comical Clean-Up. As quip and innuendo fly To tell what soap and toothpaste mean, ‘We'll renovate and also try To keep our sense of humor clean. Courage of Opinions. “Have you the courage of your opinions?"” “No,” declared Mr. Dustin Stax. “I honestly believe I know as much as any one about the stock market, but I haven't an opinion left on which I would bet as much as a two-dollar bill.” Breath-Taking Radio, o! My Radio! | 1 His words are full of,your tune and jest all gayly flow, the streets of American cities wdny4§ And then you tell in words exaet Of powers that mankind has lacked To regulate our moral fate And keep this old world going straight. Guadalajara is found with two state| . | bgneficiaries. Jud Tunkins says it's elegant to be | THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C., WEDNESDAY, THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. The value of the open mind is no- where more manifested than in the field of good books. He who cuts himself off from a book through & prior disiike is making & mistake. Yet it is a very common thing to hear some one reply, when a friend recommends a book: “Oh, I don't like that We had this experience recently in pointing out the sheer entertainment value of Roark Bradford's ‘“John Henry." ‘The woman to whom we were speak- ing said, in the loftiest tone, “Oh, I don’t like Negro stories.” And yet no doubt she would go to see the play, “The Green Pastures,” and revel in it, gloriously unconscious of the fact that Mr. Bradford's “Ol' Man |Adlm and His Chillen” furnished the solid basis for the play. * ok ok % One may feel sorry for those who like to read, yet who at the same time voluntarily restrict their choice by pre- conceived notlons of what they like and what they do not iike. Of course, one must like and dislike. The point is not that one should not yield to his tastes, but that he should not prevent his tastes from operating. It is impossible to be fair to one’s self if one is not fair to works of art, to the extent of at least giving them a fair hearing. A book closed about the most inert thing in the world. Not even a phonograph record on a shelf is more mute than a book which one has not read. One may click witch on & radio set, and music may—we say may— come in. A book, however, handle. To “get” it you have to read it. i A bock, especially an imaginative work, is incomplete by itself. There is an author in it, but reader. It is only when a book comes into the hands of a reader that it becomes a whole book On a shelf, it is half a book, scarcely more. But it must not be thought that a book, even though inert, is quite life- less No, & good book possesses a quality, even In repose, which speaks for itse It is not the quality of the cover nor the make-up of the pages which makes a book a good book. but rather the real worth of the book. Thus one gets back to the culmi- native judgment of booklovers. And right here one must face squarely the place which the so-called “best seller” has in the estimation of those Who' read books. * x %k It is ungquestionably true that few really fine books blush unseen. The world finds them out, sooner or later, and mostly soon. Cervantes, an old man, and utterly without fame, did not have to wait many months to find his “Don Quixote” on the tongue of readers throughout the world. Printing had just “come in,” in those days, and there was, of course, no inter- national copyright, but “Don Quixote” ‘was so natural, as contrasted with the romances of his time. that the world of readers, such as it was, lost no time in selecting a good thing. It has been so with the huge bulk of the great books of literature. No reader need worry that he is missing master- pleces hidden in the secret rivers of time. Out of the great flow of books there 1 too few masterpieces for the | are al BY FREDERIC Nothing intentionally political will be read into President Hoover's plan to rescue the oanking situation, but his program is bound to react to his polit- !ical advantage. It will have that result if it merely robs the Democratic op- | position of the argument that the a | ministration has done nothing to relieve asm over the moratorium died down last Summer, &nd the Democrats had recovered from the shock it dealt their 1932 hopes, they taunted the President with lying awake nights “helping Eu- rope” without moving a finger to help the United States. Last night's mo- mentous events at the White House take a good deal of the wind out of those particular Democratic sails. Town and country are comprehended by the Hoover scheme to ease the plight of the ibanks. Merchant. manufacturer, farmer, workingman—everybody Wwho owes a bank money, or wants to, or already |has money on deposit in a bank— comes within its scope. Banks them- selves are the immediate and principal Nobody will ever know |how many- of"them might have failed |to open their doors this week except for |the history made at No. 1600 Pennsyl- vania avenue on the hot night of Oc- | tober 7, A. D. * X % % ‘Washington had to hark back to war- to the dramatic scenes around the Ex- ecutive Mansion between 9 o'clock and ‘niidrtight.’ Throughout the intervening | hours it was besfeged by an army of | newspaper men and news photographers. The air was electric with expectancy of nistoric developments. Mystery was heightened by the request at the mid- day press conference that for once the correspondents should forget they are reporters and remember they are citi- zens. They were urged to desist from buttonholing the congressional leaders as they emerged from the conference and wait patiently—until this morning for an official statement of what hap- pened. Time and morning papers wait for no man, not even the President of the United States, so the news sleuths assembled en masse, determined to pry | loose from Mr. Hoover's visitors what- ! ever could be extorted. | * ok Kk | Senator Tom Walsh, Democrat, of Montana was the first one out, as the dusky-hued ¢uardinn|s old the Wgnlli‘ House portal swung it wide open jus! before {l’?e stroke of 12, indicating that the great council of war was over. The news pack closed in on Walsh like a foot ball team in a huddle. It was he who firet made known that, con- trary to earlier announcement, the President would issue a statement at once, instead of this morning. Pending its appearance, quoth Walsh, h%%' say nothing. Then, in pairs, o by one, other conferees appeared— Watson of Indiana, Robinson of Ar- kansas, Borah of Idaho, Vandenberg of Michigan, Harrison of Mississippi, Glass of Virginia, House Leader Tilson of Connecticut Minority Leader ind | Garner of Texas, Treadway of Massa- chusetts and -Bacharach of New Jersey (who may succeed Morrow in the Senate) and the rest of them. As they filed out camera flashlights exploded like bombs. It wasn't until Senator Bob Wagner, Democrat, of New York turned up that the news-hungry scribes learned what it was all about. In half & dozen clear-cut sentences Wagner summarized th: v‘m‘lz 'plebure. My Radio! So long as you in health delight |An'd all your tubes are working right. With laughs you make me hold my breath, Or else you scare me most to death! “Don't imagine you ain’t useful,” said Uncle Eben, “because you don't allus happen to be out in front. De hind legs is what a mule mosly depends on foh businesa™ Two correspondents who kept the nocturnal vigil at the White House were Paul Scheffer of the Berliner Tageblatt and Kurt Sell cf the official Wolff Ger- man news bureau. Al h President Hoover had said that ly d 4 affairs would be talked about at the conference, everybody was sure that the roratorium, in” one form or ancther, would be discusced. And so it was. From the standpoint of Herren Scheffer and Sell, the high spot of the night was the disclosure that Mr. Hcover will take up with Premier Laval “such further arrangements as are imperative during the pericd of the depression in respect and on a table is| has no knob or| no | WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS the depression. As soon as the enthusi- | | time, 13 and 14 years ago, for a parallel | 1world to let any of them go unrec- ognized. * ok k% ‘This recognition, a reader may think with lp'rldz. is the work, not of the so-called experts and critics, but almost entirely of the mass of readers. Whether one believes in numbers or not, the truth is that all great books have had the seal of approval placed on _them by thousands of readers. term ‘“best seller” is~ partly hckum, but theze is in it, too, a recog- nition of the power of numbers in & world such as curs. ‘The honest booklover will go slow in pitting his ;udcment against that of the mass of the people. The books which sell well must possess certain qualities, else the people would not con- tinue to recognize them. Certainly there are fads. There are authors who loom up, go “big” for a time and then fade away. Later one asks himself why the biographies of this man, rather than those of another, sold so largely to the American public. Go back to the one or two best of them, however, and read them over again and be forced to admit that they possess a certain vigor which their con- temporaries lacked. * kK % Let no one sneer at the opinion of the people. It must be recognized that the book- lovers of this or any nation are, in a | sense, the exceptional people of the | land. | Thieir opinions as book readers are the opinions of the people as book- lovers. “The volce of the people is the voice of God” So went the old saying, in | which there was a modicum of trut: ‘The judgment of this people, the booklovers, is a great deal more critical than many might at first realize, All one has to do is to consider the huge number of volumes published every year and then the comparatively small number of these which achieve any- thing like a real distribution among the mass of readers. We were reminded of this the other day in seeing two novels by an English writer going begging on a book counter for 25 cents aplece. One was pub- lished in 1929 and the other in 1930. Both had the benefit of good reviews. Each was published to sell at $2.50 a copy. And here were half a dozen copies of each kicking around at 25 cents aplece! What could be plainer? of the public had been thumbs down. Toese books simply lacked the better qualities of their more successful com- petitors of those years. Neither one {can hold a candle to such stories as Maugham's “Cakes and Ale,”” or Her- bert’s “Water Gypsles,” or Priestley's “Angel Pavement.” The public taste was correct. ~ % x o x When some reader with a flair for books hands you a copy of Bradford's John Henry, lieve him. i Do not deprive yourself of a good thing by saying in your most offhand way, b, I hate Negro stories.” No <ne 'who likes to read could possibly dis- like “Uncle Remus” or “Joan Henry. For a work of art is a work of art, no matter in what form it is cast. The variety fn form which literature achleves is amazing. astounding. There is no similarity between a play of Shakespeare and “The Green Pas- tures,” but each will be great in its way. Never cut yourself off from some- thing good by pesitive opinions, hold your judgment open, ready to re- ceive a gocd thing when it comes along. Otherwise you may show your ignor- ance, as the publisher's who turned down “Datid Harum.” WILLIAM WILE. | English, that means that if Laval savs an_ extension of the moratorium is necessary, Hoover will move to bring it sbout. That is front-page news for Germany. It was flashed acrcss the | ocean to Berlin in time for breakfast extras on Unter den Linden. * ok ok ok Uncle Sam’'s money men—whose names with alliterative appropriateness all begin with M—were the only non- congressional personages Wwho pow- wowed with the President—Mellon, Mills and Meyer. It goes without say- ing that the Hoover $500,000.000 bank- credit plan was worked out thoroughly |in advance with the Secretary of the | Treasury, the governor of the Federal | Reserve System and the Undersecretary of the Treagury. If it becomes neces- sary to revive the War Finance Cor- poration, or something similar to it, as Mr. Hoover hints, Gov. Meyer is at hand to furnish the plans and specifi- cations. President Wilson appointed him director of the War Finance Cor- poration in 1918, and Meyer was re- appointed successively by Presidents ! Harding and Coolidge. If Mr. Hoover's | recommendations for furnishing fur- | ther capital to the Federal Land Banks are carried out. Meyer will b8 able to |lend expert aid, too. He was made | “farm loan commissioner” by Mr. Cool- idge in 1927, **ww | _One person, not a newspaper man, was in the thick of things in front of the White House last night. He | was an out-of-town stock broker, who heard what was going on and decided |to be on the spot. Wedging himself into the reportorial huddle that sur- rounded Senator Wagner, nobody fired | more questions than the broker. Pre- sumably he intended to possess himself | of first-hand “low down” for use when | | the markets opened this morning. * * % % If Senator Dwight Morrow had passed away a couple of days sooner the Democrats are confident that the special election, which would then have been necessary (on account of New | Jersey’s 30-day rule), would have re- sulted in the victory of a Democrat, | overturn of the present line-up in the Senate and transfer of control to the | Democrats in December. As it is. they | think it's only a case of hope deferred. | Jersey, in the opinion of Shouse & Co., is surefire Democratic in 1932. * ok x % Lord Fiennes Stanley Wykeham | Cornwzllis, descendant of the British general who made American history at Yorktown in 1781, will not attend | the celebration there on October 19. He will be in the United States at that time, but will visit Yorktown three days in advance of the surrender anni- versary. On October 16, as the guest of Virginia, and not of the United | States—as has tactfully been ar- ranged—Lord Cornwallis will unveil a tablet affixed to the Nelson house, Gen. Cornwallis’ battle - headquarters. The tablet bears the inscription: “From the people of the: Commonwealth of Vir- ginia, as a token of affection for the Mother Country.” Lord Cornwallis’ presence in America at this time, it appears, is in connection with I.MH- sonic bicentenary in Pennsylvania! He is a distinguished English Mason. ———————— A Settlement. Prom the Columbus Ohio State Journal. Possibly that recent Ohio earthquake was caused by farms settling under the combined weight of surplus wheat and mortgages. oy E—— t the Tariffs Get the Blame. From the Goshen Daily News-Times. It's a funny world, this! In this country hard times are blamed on the tariffs. In England, the lack of them. S s S Too Cold to Wear Furs. Prom the Springfield (Mass.) Unfon. The weather has been so cold ll:é some of the girls have had to take of intergovernmental debts.” In plain |their The verdict | with the plain state- | ment that it is exceptionally good, be- | but | NEW BOOKS AT RANDOM L G-M. PASSAGES FROM ARABIA DESERTA. By Charles M. Doughty. Selected by Edward Garnett. New York: Horace Liveright. A generation gone, and more since Charles Montague Doughty left England for Northern Arabia. Some linguistic quest, it seems, set him on the trail over zumre into Syria and Palestine, and finally brought him to Arabia, where for two years, more or less, he lived among the Arabs. In such close daily association there gradually fil- tered into his own eyes and heart and mind a store of fact and impression concerning these people—facts of his- toric source, enduring from age to age to create a definite racial outlook, to settle habits into custom, custom into character and temperament. Coming out from an adventure of such novelty and excitement, packed as well with so much of research and fresh knowledge, this man of Cam- bridge, and literary besides, had noth- ing left for himself to do save to write a book. In connection with this plan his old grievance stepped to the fore— the one for which, in fact, he had gone a-roaming. His long contention at home had been against the weakening and softening of Chaucer’'s English, of Spenser’s, of the best of Shakespeare. So he went away to look into the ways of other countries, with their parts of speech, to find out how these had pre- served the virgin chastity of their earli- est and best adventures with words. Then he found Arabia and the north- ern tribesmen. Partaking in so much of gusto with the new people and the new ways, his own particular verbal grief seemed to die out. Not so at all. Seated to tell his tale of “Arabia De- serta,” he swore—one takes it that he swore—by all the gods of English, pure and undefiled, that he would follow the high priests of these; that he would not desert old Chaucer, would not pass by Spenser, singing in the ancient num- bers. Well, he did not and he did. But that is unimportant right here. The important point is that he told the story of his great adventure in a way of words that no Englishman of eien the latest generation can resist. Fine, fresh, robust, thing-and-word, as close knit as finger and palm or any other inseparable ‘unfon of parts; beautiful and desirable for all readers. But, like many another possessed of ardors, Charles Doughty got started and couldn't stop. No place to leave | off in this enrapturing review of a | adventure of resurrecting the beloted | old English. And 0, very naturally, he | wrote a book of quite inordinate length. | Between the strange manner and tbe | long, long story the critics were not ! kind and the price of the volume was orious adventure in the even greater+ BY FREDERI What do you need to know? there sgme point about your busin or personal life that puzzles you? Is there something you want to know without delay? Submit your question to Frederic J. Haskin, director of our Washington Information Bureau. He is employed to help you. Address your inquiry to The Washington Star Infor- mation Bureau, Frederic J. Haskin, Director, Washington, D. C., and in- close 2 cents in coin or stamps for return postage. Q. Can a person swim more easily in Is ess deep water than in shall vater?— | Y e oy ow water?— | A. Experts have decided tnat the cepth of the water makes no difference, | Q. Who coined the phrase, “Inferi- | ority complex”?—N. F. A. It was colned by Freud. Q. Which came fi or Buster Brown?- | A. The Yellow Kid. They werc both Yy Richard P. Outcault, who is called the Father of the Comic Strip. His first attempt was Hogan's Alley from that picture grew the Yellow Kid, which ultimately was Buster Brown. ¥ S cre | Q. How many people in the Unit States belong o Christian churchess E E. O. i A. About 5 4900,000, or a little Jess | tl_mn one-half of the total populalians. These are actual church members and | many millions more are moral or finan- cial ipporters of the church. It s lc;:xmdt;dnl.hat nearly 90 per cent of 16 adul Population 'S Christian religion, N Q. What were the nati grains in Louisiana ?—] o e‘nau\'e fruits loneers included the foflowing . mos; Important ones: Native pecan. wi grape, native persimmon, several va. rieties of native plu r Indian corn T e ve fruits and B found by the Q. How old 15 Ma Does he believe in cotesn ) | A. Mahatma Gandhi was horn in Probandar, 1Indis, October 2, 1869 Gandhi is by birth a high-caste Hinau We do not find that he advocates the ccmplete abolishment of caste, but he does try in every way to alleviate the hardships imposed by the caste sys. tem, particularly upon ths untouch. ables or no-caste people, Q. When did this y e ith O M country first trade A. The first' ship mad China in 1784. As our colcnies be. came prosperous, Chinese (eas, silke d cottons were in demand, =~ - Q Who was T a Gandhi? W. W. e the trip to Oliver Optic equally forbidding. _And so the “De- serta” fell away. But in these later | years it has been brought out by some | benefactor of the reading tribe. It has | n cut to sizable measure; it has | been reduced to an acceptable price. | And in consequence we—almost any of us—find ourselves approaching the open | | door of what English writers-and critics | call the greatest travel book ever writ- | | ten. Edward Garnett has done a mas | terly job. Selections from a larger | | work are hard to make and still re- | main characteristic and illuminating. { With a thread, a connecting line estab- lished, Mr. Garnett has strung upon | this innumerable scenes, episodes, im- i pressions, reflections, concerning the | Arabs of North Arabia that provide a ! joy of information to all readers who | are curious, deeply curious, about the | other folks—thtse on the cther sice of | & quite ctherwise world than their own, an our own. Listen just a second to | Tomlinson, to the one and only H. M. Tomlinson: “Once I was lost every night for months with Doughty in ‘Arabia Deserta’ He is a craggy author.” The usual facile stuff of current writ- ing “sends one thoughtless and head- long among the bitter herbs and stark boulders of Doughty's burning and spa- clous expanse, only to gep bewildered and the shins broken. and a great fatigue at first in a strange land of fierce sun, hunger. glittering spar, ancient plutenic rock and very Acam himself. ~But once jou are acclimated | and know the language"—and so on in | Tomlinsonian eloquence of appraisal and appreciation. This is but a slim little book beside the great “Arabia Deserta,” but, you know, half a loaf is indeed better than | no bread at all. Read it. s ALARMS AND EXCURSIONS IN ARABIA. By Bertram _ Thomas Preface by Sir Arnold T. Wilson. Tllustrated. Indianapolis: Bobbs- Merrill Co. “‘Alarms and Excursions in Arabia’ | goes on the shelf which hold Doughty's immortal masterpiece,” according to the London Morning Post. And that, in fact, stands as about the highest com- mendation that can be looked for from | an English standpoint. Here is the account of a quite modern adventure in Southern ~Arabia, as against the northern region described | by Charles Doughty. The situation is | different, the tempo highly speeded up, the record itself dircct, snappy, shift- ing from point to point at a rate of | prompt efficlency in keeping with the advance of affairs and movement all the world over since the big war. | To us, the average, Arabia is but a | patch on the map, vellow or red or | green: not a great stretch, hardly | capable,. it seems to us, of holding up | | to the near-now a great unexpored re- gion. But it is true that down in the southern part of that country there is ! the “Rub ‘al Khali," a vast desert, which | just now, so to speak, Bertram Thomas has succeeded in crossing. And this book is the story of that achievement, a success halled by geographers as one of the triumphs of modern explorers, Not a new thing for this young man, since he has mace many a trial trip in Southern Arabia and has otherwise | prepared himself for this crowning camel trek by becoming familiar with the language in its many variants, such | as he would need to know for a prac- | | tical carrying out of the expedition. | Having held positions of responsibility and technical demand in the East, hav- ing the surpassing gift besides of mak- ing friends along the ways of his life journey, Bertram Thomas contended that he could turn this masterly trick |of outwitting the “Rub 'al Khali” in' its age-old hiding if only he were given | 4is own way of doing the thing in abso- | lute secrecy and with no unnecessary obstacles interposed, either through ex- cessive caution or through an exercise of the universal passion for meddling. And so he set out on the back of his favorite camel, Khuwara. You'll like the picture of this pair—a frontispiece. Competent, both of them: understand- ing each other, pretty sure that they can pull off the great enterprise to- | gether. And from the picture you are | set to the enjoyment of reading how | it fvas done. Difficulties innumerable, | some of these sourced in the desert itself, in the tribes, in the demancs of daily refreshment and care; some of them deliberate in hostile intent of the natives. “One of the most talented of the younger political officers in Mesopota- | mia during and after the war,” says | Sir A. T. Wilson of Bertram Thomas. And the man himself contributes valid evidence that he is certainly a compe- tent man of action, and that besides he has the gift of speech. For the story | is a great one, half record of official | exactness and brevity and half the gorgeous adventure of one man—and his camel—meeting difffeulties of many sorts and conquering these by sheer Juck and alert minds driving action fi;m lusty outcome. The book separates into parts of military cast, looking after restless or mutinous tribes, of trouble- some bebaviors, and then later an ac- count of similar character in the capacity of head officer when an insur- rection broke out in the Mesopotamian quarter. But best of all will the aver- age reader like the “Caniel Journeys” around the Sultanate of Oman and the latter pages from Thomas' d on the South Arabian adventure. illus- | | | | | | | ments: | Manchuria is a headache for China and w. A. This was the pseudo; o liam Tay Adams 11522-1897f “HE~ thor and editor. Under this name he became a oluminous and popular writer of fiction for the youug"rlzcn- eration. His writings embraced travel and adventure, notably Youn: Ameri- ca Abroad, and Starry Flag Serie Q. What do the Englis s | el Vhat do the English call cheese- A. Their name L for it is butter- Q. What arcLitect planned Independ- ence Hall in Philadeiphias ot o A. There were no profession-i archi- tects in those cavs, and the plans for Independence Hall, 'or the State House, it was then called, were drawn up by Fdmond Woolley, a master ouilder of e time, and subn ed to the com- mittee appointed by the Assembly, viz Andrew Hamilton. John Kearsicy ard William Webb. The plan approved of by Andrew Hamilton was the one ac- ‘While there are some newspapers which feel that the League of Nations should adopt a more vigorous policy in relation to the conflict between Chinese | and Japanese in Manchuria. there is a strong tendency to seek further ligiht before forming a judgment as to the international requirements. It is recog- nized thai factional differences in China are involved, but it is also point- =d out that Russian influence is hostile 10 both nations. “One thing is certain.” advises the Atlanta Journal. “Manchuria’s comnli- cated affairs cannot be clarified within | a month. or a vear, or even a genera- tion With this fact recognized. it seems the course of logic o exert only a moderate pressure until such time as a more heroic and effective remedy can be devised” As to outside action. the Journal contends: “If the League took steps against Japanese aggression. it would be bound to guarantee against Chinese aggression. In the present dis- turbed conditions of world affairs. the wisest policy which the League has been able to determine, a policy followed by the United States. is that of gentl pressure against further outbreaks.” Declaring that there is still “danger of a general conflict.” the Springfield (Mass.) Urion suggests that “the cau- tious manner in which the League has proceeded indicates a belief that the two nations themselves should under- take a settlement of their differences without intervention from other coun- tries,” and expresses the belief that this view has been ‘“the result of the various conflicting factors disclosed.” The Newark Evening News refers to re- ports of “three separate regional in- dependence movements,” and com- “With such divided sentiment. a temptation to Japan. The Japanese replv to Secretary Stimson’s note, that Japan is resolved to live up to all its treaty obligations, is reassuring. Chi nese national scntiment is entitled to time to develop without interference. and the Manchus, jostled out of their old ruts by rapid recent developments in their territory, ought to be allowed to settle their own status.” % iw ey “Even the State Department and European chanceleries are baffled by lack of knowledge about conditions at Tokio,” says the Louisville Courier- Journal, pointing out that “Japan still wants Manchuria as much as ever,” and concluding: “The effect of the present coup and occupation of railheads has been to throw a Japanese army between Chang and Gen. Hsi Sia's revolt. If Japan doesn't feel that its responsibil- | ity for civil order in the seized territory includes maintaining the status quo until it restores control to China and won't permit Chang to send an army against the rebels, the ‘provisional gov ernment’ will have everything its own way. Once it was established, naturally Japan could not afforg to allow com- bating armies to overrun a region in which it has so much property and so large investments.” “What should the American attitude be toward the Manchurian question?™ asks the Providence Journal, with the comment: “The Washington Govern- ment has taken a friendly and prudent position in urging both Tokio and Nan- king to settle their differences short of war, and the replies of the two Ori- ental governments are encouragingly mild. It is by no means easy to detise a formula for the settlement 6f the dispute from any source, but at least | we can recognize the existence in Japan and also in China of factions with leaves any reader almost helpless. For a good glossary you may have to slip over into Doughty's “Arabia Deserta,” which contains one of great excellence in both and clarity. Just a little thing, hardly to bfinmflm&d in so en- grossing and brillidnt a story of sheer | adventure, all in the line of duty, as isy his' personal record by Bertram | Thomas. Another point, that must not | bs ignored—tomorrow some one will fly this route or will travel it by motor. ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS C J. HASKIN. |cepted by the Assembly, and Hamilton | was instructed to superintend the build- iing of the new State House, and was | appointed its first superintendent. | ..Q. How did Pennsylvania get the ad- |ditional frontage on Lake Erie?—M. 8. | _A. Pennsylvania had at first but four | miles of territory on Lake Erie, This was at the western end of the county | and adjoined the State of Ohio. There | was much trouble concerning that por- | tion of Erie County known as the tri- {angle, until finally the claims of the Six Nations, Massachusetts and New ork became merged in the United States. In March, 1792, Pernsylvania bought the triangle for about $150,000. This gave her nearly 50 miles of front- age on the lake and more than 200,000 acres of additional land. Q. When attendi leave a card?—L. A. When a guest at a tea one leaves a visiting card on the tray held by the servant who opens the door or lays the card on a table in the hall, Q. When will the stamps be on sale?—L, I. A. They will be on sale 1o the public cn January 2, 1932. Collectors and others interested may obtain them on January 1, at the Post Office in Wash- ington,” D. C. and at the Philatelic Agency, Post Office Department. The series’ 'will be in 12 denominations, from 3; cent to 10 cents, inclusive. Q. What is mean! in immigraticn? ng a tea, should one B. Bicentennial K. t by natlonal origing 1. T. A. It refers to the national origins plan of prorating immigrants. A basic quota arbitrarily fixed at 150,000 is prorated to the various countries in the proportions which inhabitants of the United States having those na- tional originsbore to the whole popu- lation of the United States in 1920. If those of a given national origin con- tributed 20 per cent, for instance, to the 1920 population, they would be al- lotted 20 per cent of the total annual quota. Q. Is there more n one stock ex- change in New York Ci A. A. There are two, Stock Exchange and Curb Exchange. the New York the New York Q. At what depth do sponges grow? Are they found in beds?—J. S. A. They are found at all depths, the deeper water vielding sponges of better texture and longer wear. They are not found in beds. Divers walk aleng the bottom cf the sea, tearing the spongos from the rocks or coral to which they cling. Sponges are one of the lowest forms of animal life, Q. What was the first American newspaper printed in a foreign lan- guagd’—B. B, A. The Philadelphia Zeitung. Ben- jamin Franklin established it in 1732, Q. What is the meaning of the Japa- nese word geisha? I know it is ap- plied to_dancers, but what does it mean?—T. F. R m:a,mG!‘Khn i a Sino-Japanese word ng “person of pleasi - plishmente.* S Q. Why the godfatk E. R W. S, s President von Hindenburg her of 50 many children?— vs an old custom of the n kings and stands as gode father for each seventh child in a Gera man family. He is said to be godfather to more than 14,000 dren. Q. What kind of t v i - nd of tree grows the fast. A. The balsa. Tt reaches a d of 15 inches in five years an very fast height growt sttt — iameter d has s Opinions on League Differ As China and ] apan Clash which the best-intentioned govi Would find it hard to deal. Foreign Minister Shidehara has a rampant mil= y old within bounds the undergradunte ascauit on serong Minister Wang by to the exist on the west side “Japan has the Toronto D: of according to o police the railway in Manc T im- portant rights in that The Chinese have been crowding in, and making it t for Japan to exer- cise her rights. so Japan struck out right and left (o obtain a greater meas- ure of freedo r herself.” The Star concedes tk haps she has done wrong."” b: out that, “as a mat- ter of f. Council of : is still of the League g with the Manchurian question.” " The Columbia (S. C.) State argues: “Had not the friendship and splendid military and naval equipment of Japan been such outstanding facts and possibilities in the Pacific, there is no telling into what parcels and scraps the great powers of the West would have backe a long before this." But the Charleston (8. C) Evening i‘ofl\‘( ‘;;mmds‘ ‘Whatover adjustment v made, it is a SS Japan will be e und to have lost noth- in the course of i antage in Manc the question comes 1 by the Japanese.” * x % % m“"n‘xye government at v:\: apan cannot afford to ignory pledges to the world,” ' avers Etg‘: Youngstown Vindicator, but the Chi- cago Daily News maintains that the League of Nations “sadly needs to evince more courage and less disposi- tion to play the old diplomatic game of favoring the stronger and more bel- ligerent party to anv pending quarrel.” The Lexington Leader feels that “Japan has no more moral right in Manchuria under the conditions prevailing than the United States would have in Mex- ico.” The San Prancisco Chronicle re- marks that China and Japan “seem to in of a position of uria. Each time P, a little is gained Tokio knows have fold the League conflicting sto- ries.” and adds: “Whether Manchuria is now the theater of a war or the scene of profound peace enforced by Japanese military power is something the world is inteTested in, but the final decision waits on time and events.” Suspicion that the League “is impo- tent in any real cris is voiced by the Wheeling Intelligencer, and the Minne- apolis Star concludes that “the treaties aren’t doing China a bit of good.” The Chicago Tribune declares: “The League of Nations still represents the ideas to which the American Government, ap- parently is determined to trust the fu- ture of the United States in foreign re- lations. One worthless peace pact will be followed by another, one foolish agreement by another, one futile con- ference by another.” __“The curious silence of Soviet Russia” is noted by the Cincinnati Times-Star and that paper observes that “one rea- son for this restraint is doubtless Rus- sia’s moral and physical unpreparedness for a conflict with Japan.” ~The Times- Star concludes: “The largest obstacle to Russia's mixing in Manchuria is the new nationalism in China. That spirit has grown enormously since 1915, when Japan exacted the famous ‘21 demands.” and it undoubtedly helped bring on the crisis at Mukden. But while the na- | tionalists resent Japanese penetration, they oppose no less the ambitions of the Russian Soviet. No one can pre- dict how much ground China will have to concede to Japan, armed with treaty guarantees and with the power to secure them. But it is safe to say that young China does not want Russia for an ally.” PR e » Spare Part Handy. From the Duluth Herald. Dora says, with his wife along, Lind- bergh has access to a hairpin if the plane needs fixing. Brighter Outlook. e trations are good and highly valuable | Different entirely. So, while we may.|From the Yakima Dails Republic. hose knowledge of the re- t:fi’;u’d:r:“‘;’n or nil. And the maps help, since a travel book without maps let us_treasure tram Thomas this great trek by Ber- d his friend, the camel Khuwara, Things are getting brighter; exports of lhut‘a'o polmg: are larger this year than last.