Evening Star Newspaper, December 13, 1931, Page 38

& s HE SUNDAY STAR. WASHINGTON, —-——————'——'———-—————-—————“__“——____—h‘*— fl-HE EVENING ST AR [Was attributed by transit and economic | Government department ‘or bureau Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. With Sunday Morning ‘experts to the business depression and the unemployment situation. In New York the individual transport, without being forced to turn to the section “United States Government.” It is true that the telephone company, BUNDAY.....December 13, 1031 : ;:(:ur car, is not & material factor [ by careful cross-indexing, has reduced THEODORE W. NOYES The Evening Star Newspaper Company Business Office and Penpsylvania Ave e otk SHfor 1O Ea apd e ghicusn Sgar Take Michtean Bulidibe u ropean joe 14 Re&em &, London, England. Rate by Carrier Within the City. . ening Star 45¢ per month ren) ind Sunday Star (when (mnfll'l? 80c per month he Evening and Sunday Star 1« >hen 5 Sundays) . 65¢ per month The Sunday Star 8¢ Ler copy Collec\'on made at the end of each month. Orders msv be sent in by mall or telephone atlonal "Sove Rate by Mail—Fzyable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. 1y and Sunday.....1yr ily enly 1y unday only . All Other States and Casada. s lv and Sunday $12.00: 1 mo aily only §§00. 1 mo. hinday only $5.00 imo. Member of the Associated Press. ¥ ectitled news d's- .Editor 11tp St 1yr. $4.00; I mo iyr $1.00 750 s0c 1£is paper and gl d herein. All righ spaiches herein a Quack Remedies. The opening week of the present ses- sion of Congress has produced two of the anticipated moves in the direction of slashing Federal employes' salaries s proposal that such a policy would in some un- 50 the t of pu re accountable way help the business situ- | fon One proposal is for a blanket salary reduction of ten per cent, applying to all who are not protected by statutory law against immediate reductions in pay. ‘The other is for a graded reduction, be- ginning at twenty-five per cent and de- creasing with the lower salaries, some ©of the salaries, at the bottom» of the list, escaping untouched Everybody has recognized as one of the inconsistencies of the present de- pression the fact that while a revival of business generally depends in large measure upon an increased ability to buy, the buying power has been hit by wage reductions and lay-offs. One of the important policies advocated by the administration has been to protect ‘wages and salaries in order to prevent | further inroads on this buying power. In his message to Congress the Presi- dent mentioned as one of the few en- couraging factors in connection with the depression that “a large ma- jority (of our industries) have main- tained wages at as high levels as the safe conduct of their business would permit. This course has saved us from industrial conflict and disorder which have characterized all previous depres- sions.” It is impossible to estimate the un- fortunate effect on business throughout the country by adoption, on the part of | the Nation's largest employer, of a pol-! icy of wage reductions. The effect, of course, would not be confined to “the favored class,” so characterized by the suthor of cne of the salary-reduction bills. It would be felt in every industry in the land. This “favored class” is made up of the army of Federal work- ers, many of whom now enjoy barely a living wage, whose slight increases in salary have been won by a long, tedious and uphill fight. Some of them may now enjoy & salary that is relatively high. Many of them are in an admit- tedly better condition, because of the comparative security of their positions, than some of their fellow citizens in private émployment. But this is true for the moment only. Unless one is willing to accept the view that the country has gone permanently to the dogs and there is no hope for a revival of business, the Federal employes will, within the course of a short time, re- turn to a status that is proportionately low in the general salary scale. That was their status during the peak years of fat prosperity. No effort was made then to raise their pay to the standards that national afiuence might have demanded. To reduce salaries now would be as unfalr as it would be disastrous In Washington, according to one re- cent estimate, there are 79,137 employes on the rolls of the Federal Government drawing a total annual salary of $174.- 835,000. The average salary in the classi- fled service is $2,103. Forty-six thousand, | six hundred and sixty ofthese workers, or more than half, are dependent upon sal aries of less than $2,000 a year. Those who draw more than $3,000 number less than twelve thousand, and included in this group are the members of Congress, the members of the cabinet, high ran ing officers of the Army and Navy and based on some inane idea | !establishments are too extensive, | smaller case. The personal vehicle car- ries only a small percentage of the people who move about daily in going to and from places of occupation. The taxicab, likewise, plays but a small part in the equation, save for the short hauls. The condition of the streets is such that the underground service bears the heaviest share of the burden of transportation. The loss of 52,600,000 fares in this service during the year is therefore to be attributed to a less- ening of the number of people who have been going daily to and from work or business The fare on the New York rapid transit lines is five cents. Tt is not be- | lleved that it will be changed, regard- | less of the depletion of revenue inci- dent to the loss of patronage. to raise the rate have always met with | stout resistance and retention of the | five-cent fare has been one of the cor- ! ner-stone principles of the local litical organizations. Lessening of service as a measure of economy would be likewise combated, inasmuch even with a depletion of patronage the cars are, at rush hours, heavily crowded, and a shortening of the service would cause highly dangerous congestion. So the situation is difficult for the trans- portation management, and the solution of the financial problem involved ap- | pears to be remote ———— {Where Did They Get Their Guns?| Where did they get their guns? That ! question remains to be answered in ex- planation of the escape of & group of long-term prisoners from Leavenworth Penitentiary Priday. Inquiry is in progress, of course, but thus far it is not effective. The natural assumption is that the weapons were smuggled into the prison. It is reported that the wife of one of the convicts had information in advance that the break would be attempted. This indicates an organized outside plot of jail delivery. Yet only 2 small number of the prisoners made the attempt, showing that a selected few were involved. There was no gen- eral rush, as was the case at the State prison at Canyon City, Colo, a little more than two years ago, when thirteen were killed and great damage was done to the institution. With the utmost rigidity of discipline in an establishment of the size of Leavenworth Penitentiary, there is al- ways the possibility of some loophole | of escape, some breach in the wall of restraint which is designed to prevent the supply of weapons and other means of breaking forth. In modern prison administration the inmates have the privilege of contact with friends and relatives. It requires incessant watch- fulpess to prevent the passing in of | small arms, saws and other imple- ments. But in this case at Leaven- worth the fleeing convicts were armed with shotguns, which could have been smuggled to them only through con- nivance or through gross carelessness on the part of the guards. In the past twenty-eight months there have been eleven major prison breaks in the United States, beginning July 28, 1929, at Auburn, N. Y. In that year also occurred the break at Canyon City, and one at Leavenwprth, and another at Auburn, N. Y. In 1930 there were breaks at the Rhode Island State prison and at Clinton prison, N. Y. During this current year there have been four preceding the latest Leavenworth tragedy, these being two at Joliet, Il, and one each at Mar- quette, Mich., and Trenton, N. J. In| the ten preceding escapes thirty-eight | lives were lost and prison property to | the value of upward of a million dol- lars was destroyed Some of these prison revolts and breaks have been due to the overcrowd- ing of the institutions, the lack of factli- tes for housing the inmates, the de- terioration of discipline incident to congestion. Prison reform has been carried to the point where laxity of watchfulness and the grant of a dan- gerous degree of liberty to convicts has weakened safeguards. The plain fact is that the prisons of the country, both State and Federal institutions, are inadequate in size and equipment and ineflective in restraint. The larger The | ones are too small. The, prison problem” is still to be solved. N —— Wholesale commodity prices in Ger- many are sald to be almost back to| those of 1913. Well, we won the war, | posals on | po- the | as | anyhow. ——— et — 1t is not yet too late for Mr. (for- over nine thousand others whose pay ranges between three and five thousand | dollars a year. A cut of ten per cent in | &1 selaries of all Government employes | in Washington could | not be done immediately because of lin itations imposed by the Constitution as well as by law something year sometk that would effect a saving of of $17,000,000 a And this saving would be viewed in relation to a budget calling for the expenditure of $3942.754,614 for 1933 It is not worth it. The present situ tion demands the careful thought of statesmen and action based on mature deliberation. Quack remedies are to be shunned. The patient should be cured not killed in excess Dino Grandi took home three thou- \Mnfl press clippings, but not a single safety razor blade - ———— New York's Transportation Losses. Depletion venues of s railway companies, of which the Di lines are complaining, appears to ! been felt by other systems than those of the Capital. The depression in busi- ness, or perhaps some other cause, has been possibly the occasion. Maybe there are other reasons. The fact stands forth that reports of rapid transit patronage in centers of population in- dicate thut large numbers of people have been either traveling by other means or have not been traveling at all. One of these reports comes from Greater New York, showing that during the fiscal year ending June 30, last, the number of passengers carried on the rapid transit, street surface and bus lines was 111,300,000 less than in the year preceding. The total traffic for the year was 3,131,800,000, or 3.4 per cent less than in 1930. For the rapid transit—which means the underground ~lines and surface lines combined the decrease was an average -of 328,000 “nf‘lu. nuh-umnra the r merly Prince) Nicholas of Rumania to come over here and get a job as a store or street Santa Claus. - - 3 Much is written of this or that party being in the congressional “saddle.” It is taken for granted that the Progres- sives ‘are the burrs thereunder. e A Book Review. The telephone company's new di- rectory for the Winter and Spring of 1931-32 is & sight for sore eyes. Scme genius who, one wagers, will make his mark in this world has arranged the | book’s printing in a style thét makes | 1t readable and® clear, thus bringing hearty cheers from muititudes who in the past have looked and looked and l"oked for names and numbers in the twilight of some stuffy bLooth, The | Breatest advance has been made by ! printing the book in three columns t the page instead of four. thus adding space to relieve a ographieal con- gestion that hes been crying for rem- The company is to be con- gratulated The succeeding issues cf telephone directories are interesting markers of the growth of & community and the advances of sclence. FEach year it gains in thickness, new frontiers are pushed forward. The preceding directory contained the rates for long-distance calls to such points as Batavia, Java; Canary Islands; Riga, Latvia, and Syd- ney, Australia. The new directory just as prosaically lists the rates on calls to the §. S. Belgenland, the Homerle the Leviathan, the Majestic, the Olympic and the Empress of Britain the price of such calls from Washing- ton to any of these vessels at any stage of their transatlantic voyages re- maining the same. And with such progress, one hopes that the day will yet come when in- vention or discovery will evolve & method of fpding the number of a difficulties. It is probably true, as claimed, that the directory’s method of listing is of great help to the visitor from out of town by putting the whole list of governmental establishments be- fore him and letting him proceed, by the process of elimination, to conduct a systematic search. But it is also true that there is something exasperating 'and galling to the soul of man in turning the pages of the telephone book in search of, say, the Internal Revenue Bureau, only to be told to “See United States Government.” Some- thing, some day, ought to be done. R— Spain’s First President. Our ties with Spain, entwined as they are with the memory and achievement | of Christopher Columbus and with the | origin of Latin America, cause the Gov- | ment and people of the United States to welcome with no perfunctory warmth the accession to office of the first President of the Spanish Republic. Senor Don Niceto Alcala Zamora was elected on December 10 tq that exalted office by the Cortes- at Madrid under the recently proclaimed constitution, He recelved 362 votes out of a possible 466 and will serve for six years—an eloquent tribute to the white-haired statesman who made the acquaintance of & “traitor's” cell during the fight for the republic, which ended with the dethronement of Alfonso XIII last April, Foremost in the Spaniards’ struggle for a constitutional democracy to replace the discredited Bourbon dynasty, it was in full accord with the eternal fitness of things that Senor Zamora should be the first to occupy the presidential office. Spain starts out, at least, with & negation of the theory that republics are ungrateful, President Zamora takes office con- scious that the Spanish skies are not by any means cloudless and that a high degree of skill is required on the bridge to keep the new republic off the rocks. Perhaps with a glance into the possibly near future, he is thinking of the methods to which the President of the German Republic has just had to resort when he says, “I will try not to be a dictator during my tenure” Senor Zamora brings to his arduous task the priceless asset of middle age, having Just turned fifty-four. America salutes “the father of the Spanish Republic” and wishes him and his country tran- quillity, happiness and prosperity during its maiden presidency RSN Twenty thousand persons watched Knox County, Tenn., farm women in a parade “depicting attractions of rural life” It must have passed a given point almost instantly. SETE R A newcomer to the Seventy-second Congmess is said to have a ranch bigger than the State of Rhode Island. But has he any Senators? N, Unemployed in and sround Denver | were given a feast of jack rabbits. Now who is going to pay for the neces- | sary denta! work? el A SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOFNSON, Present and Past. Among the shadows strange that come Our smiles to overcast, The one which brings a mood most glum Is thinking on the past. For instance, if you say “I bring,” You later say “I brought.” But if perchance you try to sing You cannot say “I sought.” No matter where a man may go, You tell us that “he went.” But if the gardener should hoe You never say “he hent.” It on an airship you should fiy You write us that “you flew.” But’if some time again you try, Don't tell us that “you trew.” And if & huntsman goes to shoot You say next day “he shot.” But if a bugle he should toot You'd never say “he tot." And so perplexities 1 find Where pleasures should be found, Because my verbs I cannot mind Just as they should be mound. Not Expecting Too Much. “I suppose your remarks in Congress wil be listened to with great interest?" “My friend,” said 'Senator Sorghum, “in Congress a man is lucky to get & chance to mgke a speech without ex- pecting people to listen to it.” A Crude Critic. “What is the plot of that play?” “The only plot I could discover,” an- swered Mr. Lobrow, “is a conspiracy to get money at the box office.” The Canvas Back Clond. If there were clouds like painters make, So woolly, round and small, How useful they would be to break An aviator's fall! A Not Infrequent Occurrence. “As a witness I was required to | promise that I would tell the whole truth!” sald the indignant citizen as | he was leaving the court house. “Of course.” “And every time I started to tell it | the lawyers on the other side proved | that such a procedure would be entirely | | improper!” A Modern Youngster. Willie's lifting up his voice, ‘Cause he's all alone. None, except the neighbors, Hears his mournful tone. Father's at a card game, Many blocks away; Mother's studying high art At the matinee. Brother's playing foot ball; Sister has a tea; ‘The nurse is entertaining; It's “her afternoon,” you see. Poor little Willie boy— Could his fate b2 worse? He only meets the ashman When he wishes to converse! Wouldn't you feel fretful, With troubles of your own, If this great world left you, Like Willie, all alone? “8Sharp words," sald Uncle Eben, “is like reasers, useful now an' then, but danj'ous playthings.” ™ | pire. D. C., DECEMBER a Iy 1 1931—PART TWO. LIFE’S INTERLUDES BY THE RIGHT REV. JAMES E. FREEMAN, D. D, LL. D, Bishop of Washington. Text: “The spirit driveth Him into l the widerness.’—St. Mark, 1.12. Great careers begin in the silences. | Great thoughts, great deeds and great works grow out of periods of long- continued reflection. The harassing cares and distractions of an over- occupied life furnish little opportunity | for contemplation or for the considera- tion of life’s highest designs and pur-‘ Doses. Tt is hard to recognize the value of life's finer ideals or to develop our | souls in the crowded streets of our city | life, or in places where the air is full | of sound. It is equally hard to be con- | sclous of the world's real beauty or un- | derstand the deeper spiritual values of | life where material things crowd upon us. One of the conspicuous reasons why there is less of genius in the world today, fewer of those things that repre- sent culture at its best, is the pace at which we live. We are too hurried to think and think deeply about lfe's highest values. Dante, Milton, Bunyan, Hugo, Tenpyson, Francis of Assisi, St Paul and Christ all came to their great tasks after a wilderness experience. It was detachment from the world, a long period of reflection and contemplation that impelled them to their great work Some one speaks of “the self-sufficing wer of solitude.” It may not be popu- ar to urge the importance of the wil- derness side of life in a day where the whole drift is in the direction of crowd- ed citles and crowded occupations. On | the other hand, there is abundant evi- dence, especially ifl these critical days, | that much of our misfortune grows out | of our incapacity to think and think| deeply about those mighty issues that concern our happiness and our peace It may seem irreconcilable that the great Master out of a brief ministr gave himself to a long period of de tachment in his wilderness vigil. It hardly seems reasonable that such a life should need such a period for prepa- ration, and yet it marked the beginning of His great ministry. It followed hard upon one of those events in His life that was characterized by a disclosure of His divine nature. It was a moment of supreme exaltation when at His bap- Y tism he received the Eternal Father's word of recognition. The language that the Evangelist uses is striking and sig- nificant, “The spirit driveth Him into the wilderness,” the implication being that the wilderness interlude was an essential part of the divine plan. To one and all of us there come pe- riods in life, periods that we do not in- vite, in which we are compelled to think soberly and deeply upon life's meaning. These interludes in the course of our occupation and our ac- tivities we reluctantly accept, but where they are properly recognized they constitute periods that mark our highest development. Reverses and misfortunes are hard to bear, but where we glean from them the lessons they are designed to teach we emerge from them the better and the stronger. Even our enforcéd idleness through | sickness makes us consider as never be- fore the walue of health and the means to its proper maintenance. Said one whose life had been intensely active, but who was afficted with a grave malady: “I am sorry to be sick, but it has its compensations, for it has given me time to think.” Even those more somber misfortunes that come to us, where heavy shadows fall across our hearthstones, may prove of infinite val- ue to us, if only they compel us to re- flect, not only upon the s| uncertainty of human life, but upon the claims which a right conception of | immortality lays upon us. from another angle, we stand seriously in need of these periods of sober re- flection and never more so than now. We shall not restore order and quiet in the world by making supreme efforts to have “business as usual.”” The pres- ent interruption in the orderly course of our life must have other designs and purposes. We have been com- lled to the wilderness to think and mlnk more deeply about those values that constitute the sure groundwork of our happiness and our prosperity, In our thinking we may not neglect, ex- cept to our hurt, those deeper and finer prfnclplel that concern life in all its aspects as given to mankind by Jesus Christ. Great thoughts are born in the silences. U. S. Relations With Russia Involved In Geneva Disarmament Conference BY WILLIAM HARD. ‘The United States is going to be fi up against the problem of the rem.-f nition of Russia at the World Disarma- ment Conference at Geneva month | after next, if it wants the conference | to be & success. | Our State Department has long aban- doned the idea that our delegates at the conference will be asked to discuss only armies and navies and air forces. It has long perceived that they will be asked to discuss also every political maladjustment on the face of Europe. The prospective welcoming speech of Europe to our delegates at the confer- ence might be paraphrased as follows: “You are here because you want di armament. What prevents disarm ment? Quarrels. So we will now first discuss the quarrels.” That is why the principal European governments are renting whole hotels at Geneva for the conference, and it is why even the remote Japanese are pre- | paring to occupy 120 hotel rooms while the conference attempts to change all the world’s quarrels into accommoda- tions and understandings. In the course of this process the abiding quarrel between Prance and Germany will rise to the top first, but it now seems extremely likely that the unsettled relations between Russia and the countries along its western boun- dary in Europe will for the United States occupy a position of final and supreme difficulty ik ay The roots of the difficulty are these 1. Germany has plainly intimated that it will come to the end of its par- ticipation in disarmament projects and | perhaps to the end of its participation in the whole “organization of peace” unless a genuine and substantial re- duction of armaments is accomplished for all its neighbors, including Poland. 2. Poland, before accepting such a reduction, demands & better “under- standing” not only between Russia and itself, but also between Russia and all the other neighbors of Russia on Rus- tia’s western boundary—Finland, Es- thonia, Latvia, Rumania. 3. Rumania, for its part, feels that such an “understanding” should in- clude a definite rednquishment by Rus- sia of its claims upon the Rumanian province of Bessarabia. tionally declares that meanwhile, “in view of its geographical situation,” it is actually already recuced below the level of “the armaments necessary for its security” 4. The United States, by one of the queerest quirks in its diplomatic history, has never technically recognized the re-annexation of Bessarabia from Rus- sia to Rumania and even today main- tains for Bessarabia a separate “immi- gration quota” from the one which it maintains for Rumania. * ok ok % Thus, In the Bessarablan quarrel, the United States Government, oddly enough, is, In & sense, on the side of Russla. A decade ago our Secretary of State, Bainbridge Colby, in a large out- burst of anti-Bolshevik energy, de- clared that the Soviet government of Russia could not allenate any of the territories of the ancient Russian em- The Bolsheviks, according to Mr. Colby, were misrepresentative of Rug- sla and could not lawfully dismember Russia. Thus we acquired the policy of “the territorial integrity of Russia." Since that time we have receded from that policy in several instances along the Baltic, but not, apparently, in the instance of Bessarabia. We still in our “immigration quota” regard Bessarabia as somehow vaguely different from the rest of Rumania. The Russians strongly concur. They annexed Bessarabia by war in 1813, They declined to accept its re-annexa- tion to Rumania in 1918 and 1920, though that re-annexation to Rumania Wwas at Bessarabia's own request. They declare that they will not fight to re- gain Bessarabia, but they refuse to sur- render their political clatm upon it In the disarmament conference at Geneva, accdrdingly, the chief Russian | delegate, Mr. Litvinov, and the chief American de e. whoever he may be, will seemingly have one point in cam- mon. That point will be the most quarrelsome armaments point in Eu- rope's entire eastern region: TI utle to Bessarabia, | o e legel ok ok % It would seem to follow that the chief American delegate and the chief Rus- sian delegate will have some cozy con- versations. Wholly seriously, there is not the slightest doubt in the world that conversations and negotiations be- tween our delegates and the Russian delegates at Geneva will proceed privately with just as much fullness and intimacy as if Russia were publicly recognized by us in Washington, ‘The outcome of those negotiations can be readily forecast. The chief Ameri- can delegate—let us say, Mr. Fletcher— will in the chief Polish delegate, Mr. Zaleski, and the chief Rumanian delegate, Mr. Titulescu, and the follow- Ing exchange of ideas may ensue: o ox X Mr. Fletcher: Gentlemen, Mr. Hoo- ver expects me to disarm you all. I now address myself to the Polish and Rumanian delegates. I have the honor to inform you, sirs, that Russis, again ogeu,d umm the past it has repeatedly offered, completely. Wha @0 you say? 3 Wil Russis wndertake It then addi- | the obligations of the covenant of the League of Nations? Mr. Fletcher: pathize. Mr. Titulescu: Bessarabla? Mr. Fletcher: No. And neither do our immigration authorities. Mr. Zaleski and Mr. Titulescu: | we_do not trust Russia Mr. Fletcher How absurd! We |have Russia’s word. Russla gives us | its word that it will disarm and be | peaceful. What more could we want? | Have trust in Russial Mr. Zaleski and Mr. Titulescu: Have |trust in Russia? Then let us ask you | one question. When are you going to recognize Russia? When are you your- selves going to trust in Russia? Mr. Fletcher: Let us meet again to- morrow morning. | S In other words, Mr. Fletcher will be essaying an impossibie He will be trying to persuade Poland and Ru- mania to display confidence in & coun- try in which we ourselves display so little confidence that we will not even allow it to send us an Ambassador. Obviously our only chance of mediating successfully between Russia and its neighbors would lie in the complete prior diplomatic acceptance of the ex- istence of Moscow. ‘These prospective and inescapable de- tails of the conference at Geneva have | confirmed Senator Borah in his pro- found belief in his generalization: “No Russian recognition, no world disarmament.” Naturally, it does not follow that we shall recognize Russia. We may pre- | fer to see the world continue armed. We may prefer an armed world to a bolshevik “Ambassador and bolshevik propaganda at Washington. On that | point Senator Borah rejoins: “We now in the matter of Russia |do two things. “First, we deprive ourselves of the world benefits of Russian recognition, “Becond, we get bolshevik propaganda at Washington just the same. * ok ok % “The recent ‘hunger marchers’ who assembled on the east gllll of the | Capitol grounds in Washington were sent there by Communist organizers They displayed bolshevik placards. They | shouted “bolshevik arguments. ~They did these things under the eyes and within the hearing of the Congress itself. They could not have done them more outrightly or with more pub- leity if a bolshevik Ambessador had been resident in the city. “The idea that we can escape bolshe- vik propaganda by non-recognition of Russia is a demonstrated fallacy. “The idea that we can escape con- versing with bolshevik diplomats will become a demonstrated fallacy in the disarmament conference.” Most,_of Washington is against Sen- ator Borah on Russian recognition Most of it nevertheless tends to agree with him on the embarrassing effect that non-recognition of Russia will have upon the proceedings of the dis- armament conference. (Copyrixht, 1931) ———————————y No. And I sym- ‘Will Russia renounce Then | Good Prospect for the Christmas Tree Trade BY HARDEN COLFAX. Every third or fourth family in the United States is expected to buy a Christmas tree this year, lccord}ng to the Department of Agriculture, which estimates that between 5 and 10 million trees will be purchased for private homes or apartments, to say nothing of those used for community and organi- zation celebrations. Thus the prospects for the Christmas tree business, something of a barometer of holiday trade generally, are rated as ood, although perhaps not quite up to he standard for normal times. The trees are on their way or already in the hands of dealers, great quantities being cut locally where they are avail- able. Select specimens for a large part of the Eastern United States come from Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, the Berkshire Hills of Massachusetts and | the Adirondacks and Catskills of New York. Ak PR A wide range of prices is reported, varying from 25 cents to $35 or more a tree. There is a pretty wide spread between the price the land owner re- ceives and that at which the tree is re- tailed, From its Northwestern observers the Department of Agriculture learns that the farmers in increasing numbers are selling their trees direct to their customers. This partly solves the prob- lem of & glutted, overproduced Christ- mas tree market and helps to_sustain rices. The farmers in New England ave attacked the problem in another way by organizing for co-operative sales, Experts of the department note with interest an increasing demand for “table” trees for use in apartments. They say there will be more stocky trees from 1 to 3 feet high this year than ever before. XA t artment of Commerce re- DO?(A !lt:': ?o.rgln in which indicate that expectations of brisk Christmas buying are being realized. Already, it is said, business is comparing favorably with that of last year, thanks largely to toys. These reports tell of many new and in- teresting playthings embodying ingenius features. ‘This season's toys, more than ever, are miniature duplicates of auto- mobiles, airplanes, trains and the countless other things that DPart in the grown-up wgeld. The Capital Sidelights BY WILL P. KENNEDY. Across the aisle that separates the Republicans and the Democrats in the House, the rival leaders forensically square off at one another—Represent- ative Henry T. Rainey, Democrat, Ambherst, 1883, and Representative Bertrand H. Snell, Republican, Am- herst, 1894. On the opening day of Congress former Senator and Speaker Frederick H. Gillett, Amherst, 1874, and Representative Allen T. Treadway, an- other Amherst alumnus, applauded the elevation of their fellow alumni, , Amherst's most {llustrious son, Calyin Coolidge, in retiring from official executive life in Washington has left national legislative affairs in good Am- herst alumni hands with Associate Jus- tice Harlan P. Stone, Amherst, 1894, helping to keep the judiciary end of the Government functioning. Lessons of attack and defense learned in the boxing rings of college athletics will serve House Leader Rainey in good stead during the politically pugilistic session just started antecedent to the big national election next year. The veteran Illinois legislator, who tosses his silvery Jocks in the heat of party conflict on the floor of the House, is almost as proud to this day of his achlevements as a college athlete as of any other mileposts in his career, not excepting his recent run and friendly contest for House leader. Only three members now serving with Rainey were in the House when he came in as a ‘“rookie”—Representative Gilbert N. Haugen, Republican, Iowa; Representative “Happy Jack” Garner, now Speaker, and Representative Ed- ward W. Pou of North Carolina, chair- man of the Committee on Rules. Tall and vigorous, with heavy-built athletic frame, and a generous growth of wavy white hair, Representative Rainey gives credit to his athletic training during college days for both physical and mental vigor still unim- paired, despite his 71 years of age. EX- ercises begun in those youthful years —almost half a century ago—consti- tute the daily routine of the Ilinoisan, &nd to them he attributes his remark- able record of never having had a day {of sickness. He is a product of the early pioneer days, his grandfather having moved from Kentucky to Illinols in 1804, fought Indians and established the first homestead in Greene County. Although the original home farm long since has been converted into town sites, Carroll- ton has remained his home and he has been elected to Congress 14 times from that district. He came out of the West to Amherst about the same time the Garfield boys did, because he hoped to broaden his views of life and his knowledge of his fellow men through intimate association in a small Eastern college. Among his lose assoclates were “Sandy” Noyes, financial writer for the New York Times, and Judge Arthur Rugg, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts. He proudly boasts that his class at Am- herst produced three college presidents. At college Rainey was popular with his fellows and was familiarly known as “Pete.” He did the 100-yard dash in 10! seccnds, was champion heavy- weight boxer and played on the foot ball and base ball teams. All his life he has been a farmer at heart as well as a legislator. He owns and operates a 500-acre farm, one of the best in Illinois, and a show place, which he has turned over to the use of the public—with wading pools for children and swimming pools 200 yards long into which they graduate, with dressing rooms on one end for boys and on the other end for girls. He has an artificial lake stocked with fish where the public is®free to go fishing. He has a club house in the woods which Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts and other out-of-door clubs are free to use. He operates a dairy and hog farm, with a herd of pure-bred Holstel Friesian cattle which he claims is “the best in the country.” ' He ships four carloads of Hampshire hogs annually He is the only farmer he knows of who also raises deer. He sold a carload of deer last year—the largest shipment ever made in the United States. The United States flag flles from a flagpole 80 feet high in front of his farm home. It is a sign that either he or his wife is at home and expects their friends to take dinner with them. ‘The house nas 24 rooms and is stocked with antique furniture, which is a fad of Mrs. Rainey. They claim the larg- est collection of Currier and Ives prints 1in the United States. There are many nleces of furniture in the Rainey home that are historic, including a chair and desk used by Jefferson Davis when. he was in the United States Senate. There are several pieces of furniture from the home of Gen. Francis Marion, “the swamp fox” of the Revolution, and at least one well authenticated plece that was in the Washington family. * % % % Minority Leader “Bert” Snell, who assumed his party's leadership on his sixty-first birthday, went to Ambherst College after working as a lumberjack. His father was foreman of a lumber camp in the Adirondacks, and he died when Bert was 20 years of age. And Bert went back to the lumber camp after graduating from collefe. He was a bookkeeper in a pulp mill at $70 a month. He bought forest stands and logs that had been cut, and knows the business all the way from the dense forests to newsprint. He rode the drive down the river in the Spring freshet and helped te break up the log jam. At Ambherst College he was known among his intimates as “Babe.” He proved to be an all-around-good-fellow and took part in all college activities. He was captain of his freshman base ball team and started in to play foot ball, but was driven off by a bad knee. He was elected assistant manager of the athletic association and later presi- dent of the association and manager of the track team. He was also man- | ager of senior dramatics in his last year. He was active in all organiza- tions and helped to do things. Alfred E. = Stearns, principal of | | Andover Academy, sat next to Snell in | college class rooms and they main- talned the closest possible friendship. Luther Smith, a famous lawyer in St Louls, who is a member of the George Rogers Clark Memorial Association, was also one of Representative Snell's college pals. He was in college at the same time with former President Coolidge and a vear ahead of him—8nell was '94 and Coolidge '95. The new Republican leader's special recreation is hunting and fishing. He is considered an excellent hunter. He is proud of the fact that he has made his own way since his freshman Vear in college and has always worked hard and taken his knocks ‘on the chin.” He is unusually youthful-look- ing and spry of action for a man who is " over the threescore-year mark— | still going strong. —_— i dren demand this “reality” about their | playthings. Several of the district offices of the Department of Commerce report spe- clal campalgns at selling trees and toys, one of them reporting that ‘the local merchants’ association has stated that its effort is “designed to stress the appeal of making this Christmas one of the happlest, gayest and most cheerful that we have ever had and is not & :\ezzl-gw campaign or any similar ap- * kX ¥ One business house in the Middle West reports the best season in its his- tory. This is nothing lets than a toy hospital which reconditions worn piar things to be given to needy children st Christmas. While under the supervi- sion of professional craftsmen, most of the work at this toy hospital is being done by volunteers. The Chamber of Commerce of a Southwestern city is sponsoring a cam- for local communities to use in stimulating Christmas buying, particu- larly gifts for children. A campaign of newspaper has been on from last until th November e day ACooyrinnt, 1834 3 'sna Christmas. Money From Home—Reversed BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN. The most effective single measure | Government positions, it is difficult o undertaken by the Federal Government | :Ifld a ;m ;n m va’:l which s nob to relieve the stress of unemployment | “frerhied 'n the ’m""h o and hard times has been the passive family will obtain a job in Washing- one of maintaining intact the salary |ton. The folks stay back home. in scale of its employes. Not a wage or | hard times, when conditions back home salary has been cut and no one has | grow pinched, these folks look to the been thrown out of a job because of | one member of the family who has & overproduction. There 'has been but | steady job in Washington. 8o it is that one reduction in force to amount to|after every Government pay day thé anything, and that had nothing to do | Outgoing mail from Washington carries with the depression. The Bureau of | literally thousands of checks and money the Census had taken on some hun- | Orders and cash to the folks back home. dreds of temporary clerks to assist in | Many Washington families have a the compiling of the fifteenth census | F®glar budget in times like these. The data. As their work was completed | check for Aunt Minnie and the check they were relieved, but they knew their | for Uncle Horace's boy to keep him in jobs were of comparatively short dura- | the engineering school and the check tion when they took them. to pay Cousin Mehitable’s rent in that The largest concentration of Govern- | far-off country town must be taken ment employes is at Washington. More | CUt of the mc hly budget with as con- than 60,000 residents of the Capital Sistent regui as the check for the City are on the Government pay roll. |T€nt, for the gus bill, the milk bill, and This means at least one for every fam- | (€ electric light. They have become ily in the city's population. fixed charges. Every month the Treasury is de- One Long Drive. Lyt hd "?&E“"f“wyk“s'om'oo" 22| All this came to light incident to the pay ese eral workers. Govern- ment pay days occur twice a month, on “"'"llploymem drive campaign, when it the 1st and 15th. Salaries are on an | WAS learned that a great many workers, annual basis. This means that every | 110 m;mm'lhov willing, had not an ex- tWo weeks $7500.000 of crisp new |ira dime left over afier meeting their money is handed out to the Govern. | 0T unemployment rellef budgets 2o ment employes. It is as regular and m‘:; . ”immu"cemhf'. been rum: e vie three dave dependable as ihe sunrise. This situation has placed Washington | ;’:; ‘“‘z'fi‘.‘}’; ‘;’uggfl"‘m‘ i in an enviable position during the period of 'depression. The stores continue to | hinly veiling an ghed. Viaaat. et enjoy a substantial trade and therefore | Promotion would be slow to those who are able to retain their employes. All | 4id Dot respond. This, togsther with down the line this bi-monthly shower | the fact already these employes have of menby. roaches. been stretching their generosity to the In spite of this situation, Washington | Iit. came to the attention of higher has not escaped the effects of the de- |Officials and word has gone out that pression. It has not become an island | QUress must not be apphed. of prosperity in a sea of hard times. This steady outflow of money from Indeed, ' critical examination of the | Washington has been going on so quiet- position of Washingtonians reveals that | IY With no one saying anything about the city has become, in one sense, de- | it that its existence was unknown until pression headquarters. Such a_critical | the unemployment fund drive brought examination has been made. In con-|the knowledge to the surface. Then nection with a drive to raise funds for | !t Was made plain that what the Gov= the unemployed, the suggestion was put | €rnment workers have been doing is forward that every Government worker 10U merely responding to a momentary contribute three days pay to the gen-|drive to be over in a week or two. They enuund. President Hoover and the | ?o.r"n b:rell} m;’:‘ to one long drive entire White House staff set the ex- o Ao £ Amrls by deducting the amount from | The fact that Washington's chief in- their salary checks. Thousands of other | dustry, Government, goes on in good officials, clerks and other types of em- | times and bad, has attracted many per- ployes have done likewise. sons to the Capital. These have cre~ ated an unemployment problem of seri- Clerks Are Sharing Liberally. | ous proportions, but there is little like- ‘The drive served to bring out the|l!ihood that the newcomers will find * manner in which this Government pay | Work. The city has few industries out- roll at the National Capital is serving |side the Government doors and they are to relieve depression, not only in Wash- | all filled with workers not likely to be ington, but throughout the length and | displaced in favor of newcomers. Nor- breadth of the land. In conversations | mally, a new session of Congress means with their subordinates, bureau chiefs| an increase in local employment. This discovered that there is scarcely a Gov- year is a conspicuous exception. Many ernment employe in Washington who | first-term Congressmen are here, who, was not already sharing liberally with | in ordinary times, would recruit their others before the unemployment fund |stenographic and secretarial staff from drive was thought of. Not only are among Washingtonians. Not so now. they sharing now, but have been for | With depression in their home districts, many, many months. While many Government workers were born in Washington, the Capital, to a greater extent than probably any other city of comparable size, has re- cruited its working ff from without. Because Congressmen come to Wash- ington from every State and, over the years, from practically every county in the United States, and because they ex- ercise some influence in the filling of | they are bringing their help with them, | Scarcely a single job will be added to those avallable to people already im Washington. Many who have come have been bit~ terly disappointed in their hope of find- ing work. This was emphatically shown when, for an examination for a few hundred stenographers held mulfla the Civil Service Commission, 50, applicants appeared. Britain Is Shocked by BY A. G. GARDINER. LONDON, December 12.—1If Britain had lost a great battle in a war, the public could hardly have been more shocked than by the news this week that the Cunard Line was suddenly suspending construction on the giant liner at Glasgow which was designed to recover supremacy of the Atlantic for British shipping. approaching & panic. Parliament, which was on the point of adjourning for Christmas, listened in gloomy silence to the declaration of Walter | Runciman, president of the Board of intervene. Work on the ship, which was estimated to cost £6,000,000 is far advanced and astonishment is still being expressed at the suddenness of the decision to suspend an enterprise of such vastness. The company attributes its decision to the disquieting fact of an adverse trade balance for the current year, to the effects of the international crisis and to the decline of North Atlantic traffic, which, in its own words, seems to have no limits. * ok ox x These_considerations are not entirely new. It is notorious that strong dcubts were expressed in shipping cir- cles when the enterprise was initiated at the wisdom of the action during a period of depression. The ports were filled with laid-up ships and great liners like the Homeric were reduced to the expedient of organizing week end sea trips or hollday cruises. Luxury travel had been almost obliterated by devastations on both sides of the At- lantic among the millionaire class that made it possible. With no visible early revival in that class and with ordinary Atlantic traffic in an extreme condition, it seemed unwarrantable to intensify competition for a trade which largely had ceased to exist. But these considerations were over- borne by regard for the prestige of British shipping. The blue ribbon of the Atlantic had been held for nearly a quarter of a century by the liner Mauretania, and the transfer of the honor to Gérmany's Bremen and Europa seemed & challenge impossible to dis- regard without serious prejudice to the credit of one of the greatest of British industries. B The disposition to take up the chal- lenge was strengthened by the fact that America, France and Italy all decided to enter the new struggle for Atlantic supremacy, while Britain, apart from the Mauretania, had only big ships of pre-war German design, which -are enormously costly to run. In a spirit of patriotic duty, the Cunard Line launched on construction of the biggest and fastest ship ever designed and had completed nine of its projected eleven decks when the startling decision to suspend work was reached. nected with repercussions of the catas- trophe of the Royal Mail Steamship Line. in connesction with which Lord Kyisant is now in prison. The Royal Mai! owned the White Star Line. which, as a consequence of the failure of | Royal Mail, had been offered for sale. The Cunard Line entered into nego- tiations for the Waite Star, which came to nothing, whereupon the government gave support designed to keep the White Star Line in being. * o ox x The Cunard Line resents the govern- ment support afforded to its rival com- pany. It says it is accustomed to fight against forelgn subsidized companies, but should not have to compete with home companies having government support. The chairman of the Cunard Line relates the difficulty of arranging financing for the construction of the shig to frozen bank credits in Germany consequences cf the international eco- nemic crisis. He insists on the cer- tainty of construction being resumed immediately upon the government giv- ing the company help or when the ordinary financial machinery of the city is put in motion again by a solu- tion of the reparations and war debts problems. Meanwhile it is estimated that 10,- 000 workmen, directly or ind . be put out of oul grmuuu ¢ shadow 18 @ the most Cunard Curtailment In Glasgow the news fell like a boltz out of the biue and created something | Trade, on the government's inability to This fact was not uncon- | And elsewhere and to the calamitous | journment of will ! confident the deficiency. Fifty Years Ago In The Star Guiteau's defense in his trial for the murder of President Garfleld was thst : of insanity. Numerous ex- Insanity perts were called to tre Defense. stand, both in his behalf and by the prosecution. | The Star of December 5, 1881, says: “James G. Kieman, first witness, was then called to the stand and sworn. first expert witness, was then called to the stand and sworn. “‘Before any expert testimany b2- gins,' Guiteau exclaimed, ‘I desire to make a short speech. The very point which I want the experts to pass upon is this. T have stal it repeatedly and I will do it again. When a man claims |that he is impelled to do an 1 act from a power behind him, which he cannot recall, when his moral agency is dominated; I want these experts to say whether that is sanity or in- sanity.” “Dr. Kieman was continuing with his testimony and, bel examined with reference to original insanity, men- tioned among other evidences a de- formity of e head, one-half being larger than the other. ““That hits me exactly, said the prisoner. ‘One side of my head is smaller than the other. The doctors were examining me the other night.’ “When Mr. Corkhill, who h: been examining the witnesses, concluded. the prisoner spoke up and asked: ‘When Hereditity numbus exists in a man, doesn't that have to show itself sooner or later?” “The court permitted the witness to reply, he said: ‘Yes sir. It has to show itself sooner or later’ ‘That's all,’ said the prisoner, waving his hand with an imperious air. Then speaking to the court, the prisoner said: ‘If the political situation hadn’t existed last Spring thére would have been no oc- casion for this inspiration.’” “The witness was then submitted to a long examination by Mr. Scoville to cases which have come under observation. When a man undertook to feign insanity, the witness said, he generally first lald stress on a lack of | memory; then he claimed lack of | knowledge of ordinary events, and then assumed incoherency in speech and | thought. The line between sanity and ;1n.:.néty is not always so easily deter- nel | "My memory’ sald the prisoner, ‘is remarkably good, doctor. There is no | simulation about me. I go straight al- ways.' “The witness said it was easier to determine whether a man was simulat- ing insanity than to determine whether he was insane. The witness having said that out of 25 persons there are 5 who are not sane, and would sooner or later be fit subjects for an insane asylum, Mr. Davidge remarked: ‘.} most encouraging prospect for all of us.’ “‘They will take you, judge’ said the prisoner with a laugh, addressing Mr. Davidge, “‘Two of the jurors are doomed,' said Mr. Davidge. ‘' ‘Perhaps the lawyers will take their | places,’ said Mr, Scoville,’ " | _ Later in the same day Col. Richard J. Hinton, editor of the Sunday Gazette | |of Washington, testified that he had | seen the prisoner around the Republi- ican headquarters in New York in the campaign of 1880 and had formed the opinion that he was a decidedly ill- |balanced, cranky egotist. The witness |being asked whet he thought of the prisoner's speech, “Garfield Hancock,” said that he lhou.hm.-‘ divul%tfi t's false!’ yelled the Y and, turning to Mr. !eovflle.ml‘lu: JIf you are trying to make me out a fool, stop. I don't take any stoek in your line of defense that I am a foel, and I have told you so 20 times in Phe witn fy— “The witness then eon marking that Guiteau was a hm:'. | stock about the committee rooms. “‘That's false!' yelled the I don't know anything abo , Turning to Mr, Scoville: ‘If you put any more such cranky fellows on the stand I'll blow you up again.'" Christmas experienced by Britain since the war. One ray of cheerfulness is the statement of Chancellor Chamber- lain of the exechequer, on the liament,