Evening Star Newspaper, December 3, 1931, Page 8

A8 THE EVENING STAR With Sundsy Merning Edition. WABHINGTON, D. C. THURSDAY....December 3, 1831 THEODORE W. NOYES . Editor Bulldine. .. London, nglan Rate by Carrler Within the City. Foe Evenine Star_ ... 45cper month ay Bar eon 4 Bundarer " ™ goc per month ne Even 4 Bunday Siar end Sunday Ten s Bupdare "2 4T ese per month ¢ Sunday Star S¢ per copy Torfection made at the end of each mont 'ders may be sent in by mail or telephone [Ational 5000. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. g {ly and Sunday.. ..1yr.$10.00: 1 mo ily only 1y unday only < 40c 16.00: 1 mo $4.00: 1 mo All Other States and Canada. gl Sunday...] yr..$12.00° 1 m aily o nday only 1yr’ $8.00: 1 mo. 1yr. $5.00; 1 mo. Member of the Associated Press. Tre Associated is exclust to the use for re tion of all atches credited t re ted in this paper and aiso she local news published herein Al rights of publication of #pecin. cispatches herein are also reserved 1.0 5 50 0 3 = Trees and Jurisdictions. Inclusion of the office of the Architect of the Capitol in the co-ordinating com- mittee of the National Capital Park and Planning Commission following the de- | | | est degree at the London Naval Con- ference. It is not his fault that no single rivet has so far been driven to give effect to the “treaty Navy" for which he and his American colleagues at London successfully contended. Since the Pive-Power Limitation Con- ference the Secretary of State, through his travels in Europe last Summer, has immensely fortified himself in those qualifications so essential in a modera minister for foreign affairs—personal acquaintance with the statesmen who are directing the external relations of States today no man with such “con- many. Japanese Prime Minister Wakatsuki and Poreign Minister Shidehara. The | American delegation at Geneva will be | | incomplete without Col. Stimson as its | ; chief. President Hoover is experiencing dif- ficulty in persuading members of the | Senate to serve as delegates at the dis- armament conference. If the exigencies of politics in the chamber, due to the slender margin dividing the parties there, are the controlling factor in Sen- | ators' reluctance to go to Geneva, they should remember that the pairing sys- tem still prevails, If a Democrat, like | Senator Robinson or Senator Swanson, | and a Republican, like Senator Boran | or Senator Moses, were on the American delegation the senatorial balance of power in their absence would not be disturbed. The fleld of delegate choice struction of elms on East Capitol street the placing there of a | with Tespect to this needless of van- | dalism somewhat in the nature of lock- | ing the stable the horse L<i stolen. It seems never to have oceurred | | | ar act door after to any one until this happening that the jurisdiction” over the Capitol grounds, with all its foliage growth, should be included in the general supervisory control of the agency which is charged with the making and in some measure the execution of plans for the park de- velopment of Washingtan. Mr. Prederic A. Delano, chairman of the Park and Planning Commission, | notes that there is great need of co- | ordination “and yet it is exceedingly difficult to bring it about in a Gov- ernment where there are so many com- missions.” The Co-ordinating Commit- tee is merely an advisory body which sits with members of the Park and Planning Commission staff to consicer mportant projects before they sie adopted. It comprises representatives of the office of the District Engineer Commissioner, representing the highway department, the sewer and water de- partments and others. Whenever any- thing is proposed these representatives are consulted and operations are plan- ned and in great measure co-ordinated Now that the architect of the Capitol is to be included there will probably be no more tree destruction in antici- pation of street widening near the Capitol that is still to be authorized This extension of the Co-ordinating Committee, however, does not positively assure consistency in the treatment of the parks and the streets in respect to the naturel growths of which W/ hing- | ton is proud and which constilde one of its greatest attractions. There is lacking a definite authority that is still needed, a “jurisdiction” which controls the specific planning and care of the natural elements, even as the Commis- slon of Fine Arts in its advisory ca- pacity controls architectural designs and in some measure their emplace- ments. The neecless, unwarranted and de- | ploreble destruction of the elms on East Capltol street should lead to the crea- tion by act of Congress, if that is neces- sary, of a supervisory authority which has control over landscape planning and maintenance in the District diction over the parks and the streets. The care of the trees and the streets 15 left to the District Commissioners. The care of the parks is within the Jurisdiction of the Director of Public Buildings and Public Parks. The care of the Capitol Grounds is in the hands of the architect. Co-ordination of all of these agencies in conjunction with the National Capital Park and Planning Commission will perhaps prevent need- less destructions, but will not provide for a systematic and uniform care of the trees snd other natural growths that are the crowning glory of the Capital. An authority of this character extending to the boundaries of the Dis- trict and inclusive of all spaces within them is required P —— Messrs. Culbertson and Lenz are said to have gone into strict and secluded training for their forthcoming contract bridge battle. Items in the programs include mathematical exercises, con- centration on the Einstein theory, etc Unless they have a non-scouting agree- ment, why not a little “kibitzing” around good players using the other fellow’s syste America at Geneva Announcem at Great Britai will be represen at the Geneva T srmament Conference in February by Prime Minister Ramsay MacD-nald Foreign Secretary Sir John Simon and four other cabinet min and that France is sending Premier Laval, will immediately revive interest in the per- sonnel of the American delegation. In addition to the formal British and French announcements, Foreign Minis- ter Grandi recently confided in Wash- ington ths 1d undoubtedly head the Italian mission in Geneva Thus far President H over has inti- mated that he had decided upon the selection of only one American repre- sentative, Henry P. Fletcher of Pennsyl- vania. All along it was understood that because of preoccupations at the State Department Secretary Stimson could not be spared from his desk to head the American delegation. Incalculable events in the Far East, presumably, were the matters that made the Presi- dent loath to dispense with the services of his cabinet premier for so long & period as Geneva will entail. Now that Great Britain and France have designated the chiefs of their re- spective governments as their disarma- ment spokesmen, and Italy is dispatch- re he wou ing her foreign minister to the confer- ence, it is much to be desired that Sec- retary Stimson may find it possible to g0 to Switzerland at the head of our delegation. way of comp:sing their differences. in €0 far as these ever will be reconciled. Col.4ftimson acquitted himself*in full- | States would be admirably represented | United States, too. The | National Capital Park and Planning | Commission has no maintenance juris- | Japan and China are nv] outside of official life is wide. The United by men of the caliber of Nicholas Mur- | ray Butler, George W. Wickersham Elihu Root, John W. Davis, Owen D. Young and Newton D. Baker. Europe and Asia expect Uncle Sam, most ardent of disarmament proponents, to speak at Geneva through delegates whose eminence, prestige and authority will bulwark American hopes that the conference shall get somewhere. That is, of course, the expectation here in the — o The Home Ownership Conference. The first problem confronting the { man who wants to buy a home is to| | get the necessary amount of cash. Un- less he has the cash, or can get it “on terms that dignify the same credit and | | not upon terms and risks comparable | to the credit extended by a pawnbroker” | the bales of mimeographed matter con- taining the speeches, the reports and | recommendations of the hundreds of | men and women who are in Washing- | ton this week attending the President's | Conference on Home Building and | Home Ownership will, for him, be | | total loss. One must, therefore, look | | far beyond the conference itself for | the ultimate results that it hopes to achieve. | “Like the solution of all practical | problems,” President Hoover told the conferees in welcoming them here last | evening, “the facts first must be discov- ere; they must be assembled in their true perspective, and the conclusions to be drawn from them must be the inexor- able march of logic. This conference | has not been called primarily on legis- | lative questions. Its major purpose is | to stimulate individual action. It seeks | & better planned use of our Nation's | energles and resources, especially those | that are rooted in neighborliness and mutual help. * The conference | | represents & place in our mastery of the forces that modern science and | modern technology place at our dis- | posal. 1t is not to set up government | in the building of homes, but to stimu- | late individual endeavor and make com- | munity conditions propitious. The basis of its action s to collate the whole of our experience to date, to establish standards, to advance thought«to a new plane from which we may secure a re- vitalized start upon national progress in the bullding and owning of homes.” The conference now meeting was | conceived in the belief that “it should | be possible in our country for any per- | son of sound character and industrious habits to provide himself with ade- | {quate and suitable housing and pref- erably to own his own home” and in | | other countries. There is in the United | British capital at this season of the tacts” as Secretary Stimson enioys in i in his scanty costume, and this is the Great Britain, France, Italy and Ger- | result. His comradeships extend to the | his native dress while in attendance at Far East, too, because he is a friend of [ the Indian round table conference has | conference. | magnificent, but it is surely not common | Afty per cent of the facts they learn | Old-fashioned | preparation for this meeting the Presi- | dent more than a year ago set up a | Planning Committee, which, in turn, directed the creation of a number of |fact-finding and correlating commit- | | tees now assembled here for report and |discussion. The work has been pri- ! | vately financed and the results are re. flected in & program that is bewildering | |in the number and the diversity of the | | subjects studied. Every phase of home building and planning and ownership | has been considered by men and wom- en whose experience qualifies them as ! authorities. The proceedings of the | conference will fill a large volume. | The value of such discussions will be found in centering public thought upon a national problem. The nub of that problem is how to develop home owner- | ghum. ship through the extension of credit | there gets to be some pretty sharp com- facilities to the millions of worthy in-, Petition and all I want is to know that dividuals who find them, under pres-| My assistant lsn't going to take advan- ent conditions, beyond their reach. This does not mean the mere broaden | You're kind of sorry for the boys ! And wears a smile of scorn because | | ing of financial terms under which a' home is purchased, but the studied ap- | plication of scientific discoveries that | tend to reduce and simplify the cost and nature of home construction. ———— The nerve of that Southern foz. to keep C. A. Lindbergh himself from go- ing just when and where he wanted to! 4 ————— Snapshotting the Anatomy. Every camerist krows that in order to take “still” photcgraphs of moving | | The poet says “the world'’s a stage,” objects it % necessary to use a speedy | shutter, with a g: plate. Many cameras are equipped for 3 lens and a “fast” | exposure of cnly one-thousandth of a' second, which is indeed a bare flash of time. But for the best effects of these shots high illumination of the subject is neceseary Anatomival research by X-ray is ebout to be brought to the same degree cf speed of phot graphy. M'n av 2t the convention of the Radio- means of logical So-iety of North America exhi- bition wos made of & new tube that will perm!t phot-graphy of the crgans of the body cesnite the movements that ave const*nt within the human tissue. This new tub>, equipped with three e'ec- troZes nstead of the usual two, effects a cemm'ng cf the electric current to the point at whi*h upon di--harge of | the sperk a flach tensity s t> peneirate t record conditions with clcarness definition hitherto unatt:inable. ‘This idea of snapshotting the human system on the thousandth-second basis ccurs of such in- and body and | THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C., THURS3XY, DECEMBER 3, 1888, THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. is typical of the advance that has been made in recent years and is still in progress in the application of physical sclence to physiological research. It is believed that by means of this remark- able apparatus the study of disease will be promoted, with the prospect of even greater success in treatment and eure than has hitherto been possible. 5 i Gandhi's Scanty Costume. Mahatma Gandhi is in bed in London with a heavy cold. Regardless of the chill and damp and fog prevalent in the year, he has been going about freely The Mahatma's insistence upon | in it a touch of the fanaticism that manifests itself conspicuously in India. Gandhi did not need to do this in order | to hold the center of the stage at the His personality would have commanded universal attention if he had adopted the conventional garb, which is worn by a great many of his fellow countrymen, and which he wore for many years and discarced only when he mssumed the role of leader of Hindu nationalists. His fantastic ap- pearance won no sympathy for his cause. It did not affect the judgment of those sitting in consultation. In its | insistence upon primitive principles, in- deed, it was a handicap rather than an aid. Now the Mahatma is paying the penalty in an fllness which may possibly have grave results. Should death ensue Gandhi will have been a martyr to his cause. That has been his role for a long time, and it is quite certain that he will | - not change it for considerations of per- sonal safety or comfort. It may be sense. e e The chairman of the board of the National City Bank of New York con- tends, and justly so, that fluctuations in business are, always have been and always will be inevitable. The trouble with us is that when business booms we refuse to recognize that as a fuctua- | tion. We stick firmly to the widespread but erroneous American creed of “What goes up must stay there.” It 1s too bad some sentimental genius | does not equip the new mechanical cotton-picker, slated to replace four- fifths of the persons now engaged in that semi-skilled labor, with a loud- speaker capable of pouring forth “spirit- | uals” and other choral effects. | - ——— | According to a Minnesota educatioral authority college students forget nearly | | within nine months. But how those stick which they assimilate in the first few months following graduation! ——o— The purpose of the trip of Signor Grandi to these shores is said to have | been regrettably obscured by the Man- churian crisis. The purpose of M. Laval's visit was not so easily obscured ‘r 1 “A pint’s & pound the world around.” | This old adage is doubly true just now in this country, with the pound ster- ling at its present “low,” and if one | buys really first-class stuff. P VS S — If the hiccoughs just had to attack some one, it is too bad flagpole sitters | or marathon dancers could not have been selected. | e Charity is the beneficent hypodermic | which is now keeping life flickering in the 1931 foot ball season. e - The Japanese people are multiply- ing rapidly. They are also, it would ap- pear, pretty fair adders. e E Si{OOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNBON. Sympathy. You're kind of sorry for the boys ‘Who won't get fancy Christmas toys, ‘Who live in humble homes and hear tales of Christmas cheer; Who hang their stockings up with care On Christmas eve. When day dawns fair, A happiness complete they find In homely gifts by love refined. Who have to laugh and make a noise, To help along the Christmas cheer— And yet you're sorrier still to hear From that small lad who finds with ease The means to gain whate'er may please | He knows there is no S8anta Claus. His Requirements. | “I can recommend him as a man who never took an unfair advantage of anybody.” “I don't know as I can find employ- | ment for him,” answered Senator Sor- | “You see, every now and then The rest of the world is tage of me. at his dicposal.” Good Reasons. “What opera do you enjoy most?” “'Faust,” replied Mr. Cumrox, promptl. 1 “And why do you say ‘Faust'?" | “Because its name is about the shortest and easiest to remember of them all.” Would Be on Hand. i ‘Tis a misapprehensicn great, For if it were the financiers Would sell us tickets at the gate Obliging Disposition. “Do you believe in frec trade?" “No," replied the slow-speaking man; “but not havin’ any business of my own to be affected, I'm willin' to be broad minded an’ give most anything a trial | | | Indications. i “T shouldn't be surprised if Josh was goin’ to be a great inventor or some- thin’” sald Farmer Corntossel. | “Whet signs has he shown?" inquired his wife. “I had a long talk with him last nigkt. That boy kin make you believe more things that ain't so than anyb I ever saw.” The Great Test. Oh, great musician! Who can show A doubt as to your fame, Since none there is who seems to know How you pronounce your name? “Patience,” sald Uncle Eben, “is whut some of us thinks we's gpé When we's Jes' loadw',” | city. Moonlight in the suburbs! ‘After you have been living out in the less weil lighted communities for a year or so you suddenly wake up, some moonlight ‘evening, to the fact that this is something new. Why, this light is moonlight! In the city one never sees the light of the moon in its sheer beauty. In town the street lights are so well | placed that the rays of the moon al- ways have competition. Moonshine is diffused by electric and gas light. It comes to earth through a blanket of artificlal rays, and is never seen there in its pure form. Ordinarily the city dweller does not stop to realize this. He, too, sees the great round moon riding high in the sky. “It’s phantly PO But he simply doesn't know what moonlight s, until he moves out to the suburbs, where street lights are fewer and farther apart and individ- | ually do not possess so much candle power. Then, one evening, he will wake up to real moonshine, the sort the ancients knew, the kind spoken about in “The Merchant of Venice.” “How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank! Here we will sit and let the sounds of music Creep in our ears: soft stillness and the night Become t touches of sweet har- mon; Happy Jessica and Torenzo! Wert thou alive at this hour, methinks those fair lines would have to be revised, in this wise: How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank! Here we will sit and let the sounds of radio Blare in our ears: loud noises and the night Become the touches of jazz music.” * % ok o Happily for the suburban world, the full moons of Autumn and Winter look down upon streets, lanes and avenues of closed houses, each one with radio bellowing, no doubt, but its sounds confined to its own four walls, Thus moonlight in the suburbs be- comes the same moonshine which pretty Jessica knew in Venice. It is verily the .ame as Shakespeare Lim- self saw as he leaned from his window in Stratford. These few street lights here have thelr advantages. One, and no doubt the greatest, is this primitive night, which clasps these homes as with wooly velvet. Night in the city more nearly de- serves the rating given by the bard in another connection “This night, methinks, is but the daylight sick: It looks a little paler: ‘tis a day o Such as the day is when the sun is id.” in the suburbs, however, where we now h the happiness to restde, moonlight is an_all-enveloping, noble luminosity, uiterly undeserving of the crass superstition” which once wttached to it This glow is no reflection of the sun, but a light in its own right. Nor is it pale. Every shrub in yonder bor- der stands out as under the glow of man'’s lotest form of mercury tube. There is no touch of madness in this light; it is as sure and steady as any, possessed of a certain luminous quality all its own. * ok ox % This is the real moonlight, dear moonlight,” he says trium- | | reader, the sort one never finds in the | city, with its rows of street lights, its | flaring automobiles, its houses closely | set. ‘This is the moonlight Adam and Eve saw when they walked in the garden | of Eden. | Socrates in Athens knew it. | Seneca saw it at Rome, and Napo- leon in Egypt. It was—and is—the moonlight un- | adulterated by too many of man's | lights, marvelous though these inven- | tions "are. Viewed from the stars, no doubt our brightest glares seem vastly insignifi | cant. Street lamps, as seen from in- | comprehensive heights, undoubtedly | would impress the eagle-eyed observer as sad affairs. They would appear, in the glow of moonlight, as do those automobile | lights, so powerful in the dark, in the | clear light of the morning traffic, when some careless motorist has forgotten to | switch them off. * * ok ok | Not a rabhit could stir. in this light, | without every hair on its little body being outlined This is no night for rabbits And yet they come out, for they must_eat Bright eyes gleam, intent upon them, Rabbits, beware! The old conflict is at hand, which Nature put into the world at the beginning, and seems to [ show no slgns of taking out of it. Thing eats thing life Out of the death of one comes life for another. It is Nature's sad law. | Can it be that Nature puts no such stock in life as living things do? Maybe to her, stern mother, life is no better than death, but only different. ki ko How the city man changes the course of his life, without realizing it! | Rain no longer makes him wet; he comes and goes in automobiles, some called taxicabs, and steps out beneath a covered immovable awning of fused | glass and steel. 4 |~ Cold does not cool him, because he possesses & neat hot-water heater in | his car, which throws beams as warm as_sunlight upon him. The night means nothing to him— his street lights are many and large, | and together they make a new light in | the world, a continuous night light, not | splotched "here and there, as in cities | of old, and suburbs of now but one | continuous, intermingling street of light, subdued in spots, but still ap- parent, Men and women who are brought up to these things scarcely know that any- thing else exists. Only now and then & rebel buys himself a great island, and banishes electric lights from it, goes back to “coal oil” lamps, revels in the primitive, life depends upon kA | | One must be a millionaire to pur- chase an island, banish electric lights, g0 back to kerosene lamps Back to the suburbs, however, is easy enough, and there you have sunshine that is sunshine, moonlight that is moonlight, fresh alr that is fresh and sleep that is sleep. | Moonlight in the suburbs—that light | which Archimedes saw in the days | when all land was suburb because | street lights had not been invented. | Tt was the light which lit the an- cient world, which gave point to the stories of the great god Pan, and the satyrs and the nympths | “That same moon rises now, in its | season, round, luminous, beautiful | only one must'go to the suburbs and | the country to see it. Highlights on the Wide World Excerpts From Newspapers of Other Lands ONOLULU ADVERTISER.— With the dedication of the men’s industrial center of the | Salvation Army another val- uable service agency is launched in Honolulu. It was most appropriate that the governor, the mayor and Wal- ter F. Dillingham should have joincd with distinguished officers of the army in the exercises which marked the launching of this noble effort The Salvation Army s always effec- tive just as it is always theroughly con- secrated o the service of God and mankind. This new center will fill a great need here, particularly during seasons of unemploymen:. It will pro- vide a home for men in financial straits who will defray their living expenses by donating their work mn the various shops that are included in the plant. They will turn shoemakers, tailors, ircn- workers et cetera and in return will be provided lodging and food under the | most favorable conditions. It is a rehabilitation ptant in every sense of the word and deserves the gratitude and interest of the whole * x Danzig Residents Oppose Annexation by Poland. Cologne Gazette—Despite the visions established a; League of Nations (Voelkerbund). Po- land is eager to annex to the regions under her jurisdiction the Free City of Danzig, now a municipal district under the control of the League in all matters nationalistic. Whether or not the proposition is agreeable to the majority of the Danzigers does not scem to conw cern the Polish government, which evidently trying to advance the ec nomic status of the country in ev way possible. Danzig has aiways bet at least until the universal depre:sion. a busy and prosperous city, and the economic condition of Poland weuld un- doubtedly be improved were all the trade of Danzig to flow through nomi- nally Polish channels. However, most of the Danzig merchants are Germans, either in origin or sympathy, and arbi- trary realignment in the matters of Polish preferential trade policies is not a project which appeals to them strongly. Just what action, if any, Geneva will take regarding Poland’s overtures, is varlously predicted. Danzgers, how- ever, feel that they have troub'e enough, Just now, of thelr own, without taking over any of Poland's difficulties. Lile every other country, Poland has a seri- ous epidemic of "unemployment, and lately the government has evolved a x o pro- nd ratified by the new scheme to make diminished re- | ceipts balance with necessary expendi- tures. Under this plan taxpayers un- able to meet their obugations to the government in cash can contribute in- | stead the products of labor. Those owning mines can pay in iron or coal. Those with farms can pay with potatoes, wieat, barley and other agricultural products. So com- modities, instead of cash, will flow into the Polish treasury, and fuel and food- stuffs will then in turn be dispensed to the destitute and jobless in place of money. Inasmuch as those who have raised these products are without a profitable market for them, they can turn the situation to some advantage by paying their taxes with vegetables, which in turn will reduce the expense of the government in taking care of the 300,000 unemployed during the coming Winter * ok % x their land or Holds Australia Should Turn Navy Over to England. Bulletin, Sydney, N. 8. W.—Th: Scullin government has admittedl; tuined the R. A. N. as a fleet unit. It couldn’t go into acticn against any imaginable enemy squadron now. that isn't to sa; - » that “Australia and hand the ships over to England.” The commonwealth has an overseas trade wo and our two cruisers are particularly sulted to the job, provided the next war is anvthing like the last. Among thelr qualifications for Emdening, or orth $1,000,000.000 to protect | free-lancing, are speed and the capac- ity to travel immense distances without refueling. They could journey from | Sydney to London, for example, after a fill-up at Garden Island, without taking in more oil on the way. Assum- ing the next war is in European waters —and all the signs and symptoms point that way—Britain mightn't be able to detach ships to guard our Pacific trade. In that case, the formidable R. A. N. cruisers would be worth whatever might have been spent on them many times over. 1 * ok % Ecuador to Profit By Demand for Rice. El Telegrafo, Guayaquil.—Regardless of what extraneous disposition there inay be for some of our other products, rice certainly is in demand, and those with supplies of this cereal on hand may very easily show a profit on the vear's transactions. Argentina contin- Ues our best customer in the rice mar- ket and the superiority of the Ecu dorean crop this year has created & more persistent demand than ever from that country. * ok ox ox | Middle Class Hit By High Rents in Dublin, Irish Independent, Dublin—With re- gard to housing and rents, there is no one worse off than the middle-class man with a moderate salary, writes an Irish Indepcndent representative. Such a citizen, and there are thou- sands of them in Dublin, is forced by convention to keep up, a certain stand- rd of living. He must live in a good- class house in a good-class neighbor- hood, and for that he must pay a rent altogether beyond his means. House rents for premises where the rents are not statute-controlled—i. houses with a valuation of £30 or over —have doubled and trebled themselves since the war.. Such houses, which could be rented for £45 per year in 1914, are now rented at £90, £100, £110, and even as high as £120, The tenant has no redress in these cases, the rent restrictions act does not extend to him, and in the majority of cases he considers himself lucky to be able to get the house at all. The large number of houses built by private speulators in the city and sub- urbs in ths past 10 years has had no appreciable effect on "the rent ramp The reason is that the population of Dublin has increased by leaps and bounds since 1926, so that just as fast as the houses wers built” they wers snapped up again at any rent the land- lord cared to ask Transpacific Phone Soon to Materialize From the Oakland Tribune. Before long, if we are worrled as to the meaning of Orlental news, we may take down a tolephone receiver and talk across the Facific to the Hawailan Islands, Japan and the Philippines. Transpacific_telephone conversations are coming. They will make use of a modern racio station, and with a 20,000~ watt equipment and new type of trans- mitting antenna will “bounce” electric waves against the surface of an upper atmosphere said by scientists to exist some 200 miles above the surface of the h “thheomuLnlly the feasibility of the plan has been demonstrated. In a short | time, says the Bell Tel2phone Systom, which is -investing in the innovation, men in this country may talk across the | Pacific by a telephone which has radio assistance. r——— O’Neil for Long Plays. b2 the Port Wayne News-Sentinel. "Bugene O'Nefll probably wouldn't be interested in 30-minute foot ball games, charity or no charity. —r—————— Innocent Bystanders. From the Hamilton (Ohio) Evening Journal. Folks who go Witl the crowd are al- ways just part of crowd. The Political Mill By G. Gould Lincoln. On the eve of their assuming con-' trol of the House of Representatives the Democrats have shown an unusual spirit of harmony. In the first place, no other Democrat has come forward to dispute seriously the claim of Rep- | resentative “Jack” Garner of Texas to the party nomination for Speaker. Secondly, there has been a gradual but certain crystallization of sentiment in favor of giving the Democratic floor leadership to Representative Henry T. Rainey of Tilinois, veteran Democrat | of progressive tendencies. Other pos- sible contenders for the floor leader- ship have withdrawn from the race, one by one, leaving the field to Mr. Rainey. The only real threat of trou- ble in the Democratic caucus, which is to be held Saturday night, seems to lle in a proposal that a “steering com- mittee,” composed of 11 members, be appointed to pass on the legislative program. Neither Mr. Garnper, the prospective Speaker, nor Mr Rainey, who is to become floor leader, like: the idea, although it is advanced by such infiuential members as Byrns, Tennes- see; Crisp. Georgia, and Ayres of Kan- sas, who have been reported as favor- ing it. The Democrats so far, too, have been hesitant to discuss changes in the rules of the House, although while they were out of power and the Repub- licans were in control many Democratic volces were raised in a demand for “liberalization” of those rules. ‘They may be again, K oK K K But if there has been considerable harmony among the Democrats regard- ing the organization of the new House, the dove of peace has been singularly lacking on the Republican side. The Republican House members have been split into two camps—the camp of Repre- sentative John Q. Tilson and the cam of Representative Bertrand H. Snelfi | Mr. Snell's campaign fcr the Republi- can speakership nomination began almost, immediately after the death of the late Speaker Nicholas Longworth and was vigorously resisted by Tilson and his friends. The Snell campaign, however, was effective, and Snell won the speakership nomination after a heated debate in the Republican caucus 8 few days ago. He insists that the party leadership goes with this victory | and that he will be named the floor leader of the party after a Speaker of the House sRall have been chosen. It is expected tRat his adherents will stick to him and elect him leader. This row among the Republicans, however, has not served to cement the party in the House. Tilson was chosen floor leader at a party caucus months 8go, and the fact that he is now to be denied the leadership is not calculated | to make the situation any better for the | Republicans. Tilson, however, is a! strong party man. He is not of the insurgent type and it may be ex- pected that he will “go along” with the Republican organization of the House, e e The willingness, now advanced, of congressional leaders to permit a vote | on th: wet and dry question in both | Senate and House seems to assure some kind of a division before the session is over on prohibition. Such a vote might cut both ways. In the first place, there are plenty of drys in Congress who believe that the showing made would be 50 overwhelmingly against the wets that the drys could well afford to have the vote taken and that it would react strongly against the wets. On the other hand the wets say that such a vote would show a great increase in the wet sentiment in Congress and would be a demonstration which would ald their cause and give the voters back home a chance to check up on their representatives in Congress. Leaders in both the Democratic and the Republican parties have urged that to the people themselves be allowed. Chairman Raskob of the Democratic National Committee is strongly in favor of such a proposition, and former Sena- tor Wadsworth of New York has urged Chairman Fess of the Republican Na- tional Committee to have a referendum plan favored by the G. O. P. natlonal organization and convention. A vote in Congress within the next few months might give both parties a clue as to what they should do when it comes to framing their national platforms next Summer. * ok ok X Just what form the referendum prop- osition submitted to Congress shall take, however, is a puzzle. There are those who wish to have Congress submit to the States, to be passed upon by popu- lar vote, a moot question, “Does the Nation wish a continuance of National prohibition?” There is no provision in the Constitution for such a refer- endum even if Congress put through a resolution for such a purpose. States would be at entire liberty to ignore the whole matter if they wished to, or be- lieved that the expense of such a refer- endum, which after all would be in no way binding, was not warranted. Oth- er members of Congress, like' Senator Bingham of Connecticut, would like to place before the House and Senate a resolution resubmitting the eighteenth amendment by calling for its repeal. That is a constitutional proposal. It would take a two-third vote of hotn Houses for adoption, however, and un- doubtedly would be strongly resisted by the drys, who have no desire to repeal the eighteenth amendment. There is more uncertainty today Te- | garding the strength of the drys and the | tegal, | a “referendum” of the liquor question ! ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC ]. HASKIN. What is your question? Whatever may be, unless it be a request for medical or financial advice, 1t will be answered without cost to you, and you will receive in reply a personal letter. Write your question clearly and | briefly, inclose 2-cent stamp for return | postage and address The Evening Star | Information Bureau, Frederic J.. Has- | kin, Director, Washington, D. C. Q. Can a player who has been sent out in a foot ball game réturn in the same halt>—D., L. | A. He may return only once and not | in the half during which he was with- drawn. | Q. When was the maximum member- | ship of the G. A. R. attained?—W, H. A. It was largest in 1890, when it | reached 409,489. | Q. What is the length of the United | Stafes shore line on the Great Lakes?— | B it ATt amounts to 3,774 miles. Q. What is the cost of production of 2-cent stamps?—H. H. A. The approximate cost of the| stamps per 1,000 is 61; cents, Q. If chains touching the ground are used on gasoline and oil trucks to pre. vent fires caused by staiic electricity, why do so many new trucks lack this chain?—A. R. A. A dr-qzlng chain accomplishes | this effectively and thns avoids a pos- sibility of a static spark irom the tank truck to an object connected to the ground that might be brought near it. Such a spark cannot start a fire unless it happens to pass through an atmos- phere that is an explosive mixture of | flammable vapors and air. If the oll truck is transporting ofl that does not give off explosive vapors at ordinary | air temperatures a static spark from it | 1s not likely to start a fire. If the trusk | is transportating 3 volatile fammable | liquid such as gasoline, spilled liquid | may be ignited by a static spark. This hazard may be avoided by maintaining | the tanks tightly closed except flame- arresting vents, to prevent spilled liquid and by grounding the tank before any liquid 1s allowed to flow out and keep- ing the ground connection while liquid is flowing. Q. What does the name Honolulu mean?—C. 8. A. Hono means harbog; lulu, smoosh or quiet. Q. Which State received the greatest variety of early immigrants?—W. K. A. No other colony had so many im- migrants of different races and re- | ligions as Pennsylvania. There were | Dutch, Swedes, English, Germans, Welsh and Irish; Quakers, Presby- terians, Catholics, Lutherans, Men- nonites and Moravians. Q. Is rice paper made from rice?— N. D. A Rice paper is made from the pith | of & small tree, known botanically as | Aralia papyrifera. Q. Are there any private holdings in | Yellowstone National Park?—E. P. W. A. Yellowstone and Hot Springs were set aside as Government reservations before any private claims were made on the land. Practically all other national arks contiin some private land. This and 15 being acquired by the Govern- | ment when satisfactory arrangements | can be made. | Q. Is there any difference in appear- | ance between an American-cut diamond | and a Eurcpean cut diamond of the | same size?—C. G. A. A local jeweler says that the cut | of diamonds is standardized and there | should be no difference in appearance | between an American-cut and European- cut dlamond of the same type and size, Regulations for a good diamond cut are one-third above the girdle (edge of stone) and two-thirds below. Q Why are motion pictures given different endings- in America and in Europe?—B. V., A. English-speaking peoples prefer happy endlnfs; Germans like unhaopy endings; while Latins want logical end- ings, however unpleasant they may be. Films are often changed for export | trade with these facts in mind. Q. Who was called “The more of the Wabash?"—C. A. This name was given to the late Daniel Voorhees, Senator from Indiana, owing to his great height and erect bearing. Tall Syca- w. Q Why was the lighting of city streets at night a relatively modern development?—B. C. A. Although gas illumination was | known many years before the first street {llumination, the improvement was opposed on the ground that such | & practice would be plasphemous, God having divinely divided light and dark- ness, and also that people would be in- duced to stay out at night and catch cold and fall prey to robbers. Q. What does Kipling mean when he says “the dawn comes up like thunder outer China ’‘crost the bay”?—D. 8. A. The phrase is a geographical lib- erty which Kipling took in writing his famous poem. If you have watched for the sunrise across a broad stretch of water you know how suddenly the sun bursts above the horizon line. It comes with the suddenness of thunder. This is an example of how impossible it is always to take literally a figure of speech found in a poem. Q. Are the prisoners in our institu- tions, for the most part, first offenders? —G.'A A. A number of institutions do not make a report of this nature, but among those which do it is found that more than half are repeaters or recidi- vists. Q. How long have the records been kept of births in the District of Co= He is now 85 years taught Latin at Colby for lumbia?—R. M. A. They began regularly with Au- gust 1, 1874, . Who is the dean of American college professors?—M. H. A. Dr. Julian D. Taylor of College, and has .’: years. Q. Why is the trail at Grand Canyon called Bright Angel Trail?— E. R. N. A. When the Geological Survey was making observations of the district in which the Grand Canyon is located it came to a dirty, unsavory-looking stream which was called the Dirty Devil. Some weeks later the party came to a clear, beautiful stream running down a gorgeous canyon, and to express their relief this was called the Bright Angel Creek. The trail is | named for this. Q. Can a cow swim?—B. G. R. A. Cattle, like most hoofed animals, are good swimmers, and have . often been known to swim several hundred yards. The distance would depend somewhat on the current or roughness of the water. Q. What is the derivation of the word gas?—G. M. A. This term was invented by the chemist Van Helmont of Brussels, who died in 1644. He applied it to & sup- posed vapor produced from water by cold. Its form was suggested to him by the Greek word chaos. Muscle Shoals Controversy Revived by Off Fireworks in Congress are expected over the report recently submitted by the commission appointed by President Hoover some months ago to study the question of ownership and operation of Muscle Shoals. Differences of opinion are as emphatic as ever, and it is be- lieved likely that the varying views will be st ly advanced during the session. As to political of the mat- ter, the Yakima Morning Herald says: “Despite the recommendation of the civil commission that the Government lease Muscle Choals a private cor- poration, Senator Norris and his follow- ers in houses of Congress intend to press their demands again that the Government take over and run the and the creation of electrical energ; Expressing its own viewpoint, this paper continues: “The people and the Gov- ernment would be well rid of the project if it were given outright to some private corporation, or if it were sold at a ridic- uously low price. As long as the Gov- ernment Tetains ownership Muscle Shoals will be a drain on the Treasury.” The Wheeling Intelligencer, on the other hand, argues for public operation, stating: “As long as this plant is pub- lic property it should be operated for the public benefit. * If it is to be oper- ated for the public benefit, it must be under public control. If there is to be wets than there has been for a long time. A proposal to bring about a vote | on prohibition in Congress, in referen- | | dum form. might be embarrassing to | some of the members who hail from | States and_districts where feeling has | run high on this prohibitiorr issue, with | | an election in the offing. * % ok ¥ publicans took & bump in the Jersey congressfonal district | Yy, Where they lost a House e Democrats. Representative dof Indiana, chairman of the an Congressional Committee, statement comparing the re- | he election to the results in | | the gubernatorial election in the fifth | New Jersey district on November 3 last. In | | the gubernatorial election the Democrats | carried the district by 11,000 votes, and | in the congressional election Stewart's plurality was only 1.902 votes, and an | independent ~ Republican polled 2,469 | votes, which, if added to the vote of | the regular party nominee, would have overcome the Democratic leader. Mr. | Wood takes some satistaction out of this | ! analysis of the election. But the fact remains that this district in November, | 1930, was carried b, 2 b | | 31,000 votes, and Y & Republican by | | privately the result of | last Tuesday has heen discouraging to | many of the Republicans here. ol i . T | Another test of party strength fs coming on January 3 - the B New | Hampskire ~ district, where a House | vacancy is to be filled. The Demo- jcrats in party convention yesterday nominated former Representative Wil- |liam N. Rogers, who represented the district in the House for one term ten | years ago. The Republicans are to | nominate tomorrow, with several can- | didates in the field, among them for- mer Gov. John H.' Bartlett. Bartlett | has roused the resentment of leaders | of both the conservative factfon and | the progressive faction among the Re- | publicans by simply driving ahead with his candidacy without consulting the | organization ‘leaders of either group If he is the nominee, as some of the | observers believe, he may have a hard | time in the election, with a good bit | of lukewarmness making th ard | for him. peiogdingh The Re | Afth New {ion” Tuesda; | seat to th | Will Woo | Republics | issued a | sults of t | —r——— Must Be Wrong Man. Prom the Philadelohia Evening Bulletin. Arrest of hold-up man traced by & noisy car convinces a lot of us that ‘we must have had nar from | kgl TOW escapes — e Phone va. Radio. From the Toledo Blade, 4 It ::.II. t;:e.ltl))ad.:n entertaining radio ogT: . are t the &lflnhml will ring, Sitois e | Baltimore public control, why not take tke frank and direct method of public operation?” This paper also indicts those who have handled the matter, stating: “A Gov- ernment which is incapable of settling an issue of this kind In 12 yesrs is in- competent. The waste and obstruction, the flagrant disregard of public welfare which marked the whole course of this Muscle Shoals fiasco would be tolerated in no ether country on earth.” * K % % Answering the suggestion that the President’s commission was “packed,” the Manchester Union points out that it was “composed of one representative of organized agriculture, two members of the War Department, end three mem- | bers eich appointed by the Governots | and Legislatures of Alabama and Ten- | nessee,” contends that “a fairer choice could not have been made,” and voices its belief that “obviously Alabama and | T2nnessee should have a preferred voice | in the matter, and there is no reason why an organization of farmers should not be able to provide expert manage- ment for the enterprise.” This last reference is to the sugges- tion by the commission that the dam and nitrate plants be leased preferably to “a corporation exclusively owned and controlled by organizations of farmers, operated without profit.” To this the Sun answers: ‘Pity farmer! The news that he, at las$, is to be the goat in the Muscle Shoals problem must arouse pity if anything ever does. It is an enious notion, but a cruel one, from the farmers’ stand- point.” about half-way between public and pri- vate control” the Sioux Falls Daily Argus-Leader thinks that “the sensible solutin of the Muscle Shoals business is the sale of the pflEECt to the highest bidder, with proper Testrictions to pro- tect the Government in time of war,” and contends that “if President Hoover drummed up enough courage to advo- cate such a plan he would win consid- erable commendation and at the same time be doing a real service to the great Nation which he heads.” The New York Herald Tribune de- scribes the “Government ownership lads” as having already “started beatin the tom-toms and crying that the peo- ple’s property is about to be given to the ‘power trust.’ There are moments,” confesses the Tribune, “when one could only wish that it would be, for if Muscle Shoals were only tied into a public utility system somebody, at any rate, would get some real and economic use out of it—a consummation vien would appear to be improbable under any other arrangemrent.” *xox 2 Pointing out that “it is Senator Nor- ris’ contention that the commission has oduced a ‘power trust’ plan,” the St. the | Holding the idea “in theory | cial Report it is clear that the commission’s attempted compromise is not accepte able to the congressional bloc which sponsored the Muscle Shoals bill vetoed by President Hoover. The end of the controversy is not yet in sight.” The Newark Evening News sees “the cham- plon white elephant” as having become “mare gigaptic as a result of this four months’ udy,” and declares that “Muscle Shoals retains its headache character.” Declaring stoutly for private owner- ship, even against the recommended farmer ownership, the New York Sun argues: “There is not the slightest ground for supposing that any cumber- | scme, top-heavy aggregation of farmers | can be expected to run the plants at Muscle Shoals as economically and efficiently as they could be operated by a first-rate industrial corporation. * * * If such an organization’as the commis- sion favors can be formed; if it can take over the property without calling on the Government for subsidies, it should be favored only in the event that no competing industrial organization offers better terms.” The Sun also ex- presses the belief that “tenuous as are public hopes that the United States may be about to get rid of this white elephant, those hopes are at least the stronger because of the commission's findings.” The Lowell Evening Leader, noting that, “in order to put its recom- mendations into effect, the President must have the authority of Congress,” affirms that “the committee's report does not settle the matter,” and sug- gests that, as to the outccme, “much may depend on the influence which the Republican insurgent wing is able to exert,” while the “advocates of public ownership and operation will use every means in their power to advance their ideas.” Air ~’I'Ta:r;l Cr(;ws As Rail Lines Decline From the Schenectady Gazette. It may be surprising to some who know of the plight of the railroads, due to decreasing patronage, to learn that our air lines are showing a contrary condition. The latter are not merely ho‘lding their own—they are showing a gain. | Statistics compiled by the Aeronau- | tical Chamber of Commerce of the | United States show, for the first nine months of the year, an increase in passengers carried of over 6 per cent compared with the same period of 1930. ‘The figures are 348,507, against 327,211, Steamship records show a loss of pas- | sengers of 43 per cent in westbound traffic and of 18 per cent for those east- bound, and over 11 per cent on raflroads for the first seven months. Further, mileage flown this year | shows a gain of 47 per cent, with well over 31,000,000 miles. Airmail gained 13.2 per cent, with 6,983,000 pounds. And air express showed the most notable increase 212 per cent, with 683,000 pounds. Without doubt this competition has | hurt the railroads little and there is ample reason for it. Where time is the greatest essential, there is a natural re- sort to air lines on the part of merchants who want speedy delfvery at a distant point. Fast as trains may be, there is no comparison with airplanes in time necessary for transportation between New York and Chicago, for in- stance, or between the former and the West or Gulf Coasts. The fact there is any gain whatsoever in aerial transportation should be taken as a promising sign. ‘It is an indica- tion of what to expect with the return of real prosperity. And as a supple- ment to land and water systems, airship transportation is destined to play an important part in the development of commerce in the future, ———r——— 400,000,000 Can’t Be Wrong. Prom the Toledo Blade. Ernul Pioneer Press asscrts: “Whatcver merit thereiJs in Senator Norris' clsims, Despite ficods and war, China seems to Rave 400,000,000 Deople,