Evening Star Newspaper, December 19, 1931, Page 6

T A8 together with a statement of “the THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C., SATURDAY, DE('EMBER;IIQ, 1931. 1932, just as the Republicans will en- THE EVEN Iile STAR |ed from taxation in the various cities, [hope to “sell” the Democratic party in | 2 5 With Sunday Morhing Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. SATURDAY...December 19, 1831 THEODORE W. NOYES....Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company 8 Buaén;!l Oflllt‘r. faoA : syivania Ave, 'vil“ nr‘k (‘)fir! ’;‘{‘Dy!nl 42nd 8t. icago Office: Lake Michigan Building. Juropean omcetx IRE ent M., London. niand. Rate by Carrier Within the City. e Evening Star . .45¢ per month v Btar ays) . . .60c per month and Sunduy Star undays) .. [ y Star i Collection made at the end of Orders may be sent in by mail NAtional 5000. Fate by Mail—Payablc in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. Dally and Bund; aily only inda: y only [l All Other States and Cakada, Dafly and Sunday. $1200: 1 mo., $1.00 Daily only $800: 1 mo. 78c Bunday only $5.00 1 mo.. S0c Member of the Associated Press. ciated Press is exclusively ertitled for republication of ali news d:s- atches eredited 10 it or not otherwise cred- ted in this paper and also the local news published herein. All rights of publication of #pecial dispatches herein are also reserved. each mont or telephone Produce the Evidence. ‘The printed and bound report of the Mapes Committee permits thorough study of the evidence, much of it in the form of tabular statistics, upon which that “jury” reached its verdict that the District is rclatively undertaxed. Such an important verdict should contain all of the evidence. Unfortunately, the reader of the Mapes brief is astonished at the nature of the evidence omitted. ‘The committee report states that data relating to taxation in other cities were obtained by means of a questionnaire and “valuable information was obtain- ed from consultations with noted au- thorities on taxation and finance.” Who are they? The report mentions none of them. Is this not important evidence? The committee report states that “while it is difficult to determine the relation of assessed values to actual values, the committee belisves that the ratios as they appear in the rtatistical tables, attached hereto, are &s accurate as it is possible to obtain.” But where are the ratios? It is found that the assessed valuation of Cleve- land, for instance, is $1,383,145,000 and that the “full value" of Cleveland is $1,627,220.412, and from these figures one may compute for one's self a ratio of assessed to full value amounting to 85 per cent. But nowhere in the report or in the tables is one able to find any evidence that Cleveland assesses prop- erty for taxation at only 85 per cent of its full value. Is this not important evidence? The committee said that it obtaine the ratios from “the administrative off cers of municipal governments, who actually make the assessments, and from such organizations as real estate boards, chambers of commerce and in- dividual citizens familiar with property values. These administrative officer organizations and citizens, being fa- millar with property values in their re- spective communities, are more compe- tent to determine the actual ratio of assessed valuations to actual value than anybody else, and, therefore, the in- formation they furnished the commit- tee is the most reliable that could be obtained for adjusting tax rates.” Well, what information ¢id they fur- nish? Where is it? Does the commit- tee mean that “the administrative offi- ocers” of Cleveland, the trade and civic associations and the citizens “familiar with property values” actually agreed that Cleveland is assessed at 85 per cent of full value? If they is not the proof of such an agreement a bit of | evidence that should be included in the committee’s brief against the District? Committee brief indeed! Such evidence should be included among the wonders of the world For how did these officials and resi- dents of Cleveland reach their agree- | ment of what the ratio was? The com- mittee says that the method of com- puting such ratios by comparing as- sessed value to sales value is all wrong. | ‘What method was used? Is there, after all, some way to determine what is real value? Bhould that not be included in the evidence? One looks for it in vain, and in great disappointment. If the committee found what constitutes true or full value without taking into con- sideration sales value, it has accom- plished something that would make Einstein himself drop his considerations of relativity and come post haste to Washington. Yet, after saying that it has, from correspondence with various persons, determined what the “full value” of property in 23 cities is, the committee declares that “there are so many fac- tors to be considered in arriving at the valuation of property, such as the usz, income, location, construction costs, re- production costs, depreciation, etc., that no two minds will get to a very near approach to uniformity in determining such valuation.” The committee, how- ever, was not only able to get two minds to artive at uniformity, vut the minds of its members, the mind of its expert, the minds of the chambers of com- merce, organizations and citizens fa- miliar with property values in 23 cities. Evidence of the uniformity of such minds should not be omitted from the committee’s brief. It is highly impor- tant. The conmittee finds that Minneapolis assesses property at 38 per cent of full value, Other ratios, for the same city, have in the past been-found as fol- lows: Census Bureau, 40 per cent; De- troit Bureau of Municipal Research, 34 per cent; District tax assessor, 30 per cent. Who is right? Where is the evi- dence that the committee is right? The evidence is most necessary if the committee’s findings as to Wash- ington’s taxes are to be accepted. For the whole process of comparing Wash- ington’s taxes with the taxes of other cities, as followed by the committee’s expert, depends upon establishing an acceptable ratio of assessed valuation to true valuation. Evidence that such a ratio was really established ls mys- teriously lacking from the committee report. But possibly the committee has con- cluded that when it says that such and such a thing is true the evidence is thereby furnished. That is the only way to gccount, for instance, for the fact that in another table in Mr. Mapes' interasting booklet one finds a compari- amount of contribution, from any source, because of such exemption for 1930"—and for Washington, one finds | that the amount of contribution “be- cause of such exemption™ is $9,500,000. Has anybody yet maintained that the Federal Government contributes $9,500,000 to Washington because of the exemption from the tax lists of some $589,000,000 (according to the commit- tee figures) worth of property on which no taxes are paid? ‘Will the committee kindly present the evidence upon which it based this state- ment? Will the committec please re- quest the person or persons who state that the Federal contribution to Wash- ington is based on $589,000,000 worth of tax-exempt property to come for- ward, raise their right hinds, and swear that what they say is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? R Commendable Promptnes: Not only the country, but the world, will feel like saying, “Bravo, well done to the House of Representatives today for enacting last night after a lorig session the measure approving the one- year intergovernmental debt mora- torium. President Hoover is entitled to view with special satisfaction the vote by which the resolution was passed—317 to 100. Considering the partisanship which the moratorium has engendered, a three-to-one adoption of the President’s plan represents a sub- stantial victory for him and for it. At the White House the vote should be regarded as a complete repudiation of the disgraceful charges leveled against the Chief Executive by a Pennsylvania Republican. Congressional immunity has its uses, but they were never intended to serve the purpose of members who, ut- terly proofiess, accuse the President of the United States of “selling out his country” to a foreign power. Not the least gratifying aspect of moratorium ratification by the House is the fact that the demand for it was led by the new Democratic chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, Representative Collier of Mississippi. has revealed little or no evidence of its belief in the efficacy of a political truce, with another national campaign beckoning temptingly just over the horizon. The words of Chairman Col- lier are, therefore, the more welcome. “This is no partisan measure.” he said, in asking House approval of the moratorfum. “It took no committee to determine that. It is a measure that was primarily designed to relicve a de- pression which exists in this country and which exists to a much greater degree in other countries, a depression which was primarily the outcome of the greatest war in history—a war in which it is conservatively estimated that over {two-thirds of the world's wealth and resources were wasted." The House reacted promptly and de- cisively to the statesmanlike argument of the Mississippi Representative. By doing so it has taken a definitely con- structive step along the stony path the world is treading in its anxious march toward rehabilitation. It would have been incredible that the American Con- gress by an adverse vote should seek to undo the curative work instigated by President Hoover last June. The re- sultant branding of our European war debtors as defaulters on payments due December 15 would have been a mere technicality, leaving no tarnish on their credit escutcheons. What would have been an irretrievable blemish would be the repudiation of the United States’ plighted word on the moratorium, with the even graver consequence of re- tarding the desperate efforts now in progress to enable Europe and Amer- | ica to grope their way out of economic | darkness. The Senate, it is safe to predict, will concur in last night's action by the House without undue delay. The new year should dawn with the United States’ slate on the intergovernmental out entangling further commitments. e “Block that trick!" is the war cry now. resounding around the embattled bridge jousters. ———— The Sensitive Democrats. No Republican may praise the Presi- dent, while every Democrat is at liberty .iM throw mud at him. This is the burden of the songs of Senators | Robinson of Arkansas and Harrison of | Mississippi, who arose in the Senate Wecnesday and attacked Secretary Hur- [ 1ey because of an address which he made at a political gathering of Republicans, the meeting of the Republican National Committee. But it was not, in all | probability, so much because Mr. Hurley praised President Hoover in his speech as because he threw several barbed harpoons into the Democrats that these champions of democracy made reply, with the Senate as their forum. ‘What Mr. Hurley told his Republican brethren was that the Democrats had no program, despite the fact that they attacked a very sound program worked out by President Hoover and submitted to Congress. The Democrats have for months been promising to produce a program. Mr. Hurley was quite right when he said it had not been presented. A “policy committee” representing the Democrats of the House and of the Senate 1s now working on a program. But when that committee will report— and, indeed, whether it will report—are matters for the future to disclose. The Democrats have now virtual control of the Congress—in the House by reason of an actual majority and in the Senate by means of a coalition with Repub- lican insurgents who are antagonistic to the administration. The Democrats may not desire to share responsibility with the Chief Executive, but, because of the situation in Congress, they can- not avoid it. If there is delay on legis- lation of importance, if there is re- fusal to act on remedial measures, the Democratic leaders will have to bear whatever blame the country may be disposed to lay upon those responsible for national procedure. Senator Robinson pointed out that ' partisan Democratic measures cannot prevail under the conditions that exist, with the President having a veto power and the Republicans in control of the Senate. He is correct about the veto power of the President, but his sug- gestion that the Republicans control the Senate is humorous, though it is not intended to be so. The situation, Y however, does not relieve tht Demo- crats from the necessity of showing Thus far the Seventy-second Congress | debt issue clean, while leaving us with- | deavor to “sell” Mr. Hoover. Benator Robinson also complained be- cause the President is seeking non- partisan action on his program, while his Secretary of War is seeking to make party capital out of that program. The President offered a program to the last Congress on which he sought, it may be said, non-partisan action. He did not get it, from either the Democrats or the insurgent Republicans. He had the support of a strongly Republican House at that time, which proved too much for the Senate to overcome. But now the case has changed. The Demo- crats have control in Congress. They cannot afford merely to be obstruc- tionists and the situation is galling them a bit. Senator Robinson very properly said that it was the purpose and policy of the Democrats to make every improve- ment possible in the measures brought forward on recommendation of the President. He added: “This does not mean that we shall become non-parti- san or that we shall fail to take fair advantage of the mistakes of our ad- versaries. It does mean that we recog- nize the perils which threaten our peo- ple, perils which if not brought about by Republican measures and policies the Republican party has been in com- plete control.” ‘Why, if the Democrats are not to be- come non-partisan, should the Repub- licans be non-partisan? This is a mys- tery which the Democrats have yet to explain. The Democrats probably do not like Secretary Hurley to call atten- tion to the fact that the billions of dol- lars loaned the foreign nations by this Government, over the repayment of which there is now bitter controversy, were loaned by a Democratic adminis- tration. But that is the fact, never- theless. R The librarian of the Weather Bureau is at work on an encyclopedic weather dictionary which will contain about 15000 terms applied to throughout the world. Washingtonians have used easily that many in the last { two years. Gen— T The fact that no fewer than ten out of the eleven men composing the first all-America foot ball team, that of 1889, are still alive and well, astonishing | though it is, has no bearing on the fact {that some thirty-odd players of 1931 {are not now alive. ey It appears now that no one “stole” | the six brick houses, after all. Just a ibunch of helpful persons doing the {work of a wrecking company for noth- ing—at least, nothing for the wrecking company. — Trinidad has voted to help out Great Britain by donating $125.000 to the | royal exchequer in the present crisis. | Why does not Yap do something hand- | some for Uncle Sam's home folks? — e A Lorain, Ohio, woman, who has just lost her twelfth husband, is to be “ques- | tioned” by authorities. How swift to suspicion those Midwesterners are! i Among other outdoor sports which | display & slow but steady loss in popu- larity is that of press photographer beating. »—ons SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. “It Can't Be Done.” ‘The man who misses all the fun Is he who says “It can't be done!” In solemn pride he stands aloof And greets each venture with reproof. Had he the power, he'd efface The history of the human race; | We'd have no steam nor trolley cars, No streets lit by electric stars; No telegraph nor telephone. We'd linger in the age of stone, Of life's conditions dared complain, And planned a wheel on which to roll The load his arms could not control, Sneers rose from all the mighty crew That ever scoffs at what is new. The world would sleep if things were run Voice Encouragement. “Your investigation has not resulted | in punishing anybody.” “I hadn't any confident expectations that it would,” replied Senator Sor- ghum. “Ordinarily an investigation is merely an effort to equip the small voice of conscience with a megaphone.” A man often thinks he is speaking his mind when he is merely too ex- cited to mind his speaking. Christmas Trees. Full many a tree grows stout and free. Dame Nature will donate them. It's merely up to you and me To duly decorate them. Appreciating a Holiday. “I suppose you are going to have a quiet, restful holiday?” replied the man who tries to permit himself no illusions. “What I appreciate about g holiday is the way it makes me appretiate the quiet, rest- ful time I ordinarily have working at the office.” Jud Tunkins says people like con- trast. One minute they're reading the joke page and next the murder news. Candid Preference. “80 you approve of dancing?” “Thoroughly,” replied Miss Cayenne. “In many instances it's much better to keep step to the music of a song than to listen to the words of it.” A Tribute. Ah, “busy bee,” how oft they quote Your conduct as a sample; And I, for one, with sanction note At present your example. Within your darkened home so warm, You wait, in blissful quiet, Regardless of the sleety storm And of the snowdrift’s riot. The breakfast bells unheeded chime ‘Their warnings shrill and painful, You sleep, despite the flight of time, Contented and disdainful. “I don't mind meetin' a man dat thinks well of hisse'f,” said Uncle Eben. “What I don't like is to meet one dat tries to make me think he's & picture card when he knows as well #s anybody * =om of the amounts of property exempt- their wares to the people to whom they dat he's only a deuce.” have certainly come into existence while | | enact, weather | THIS AND THAT An instructor at Cornell University has proposed a new auxiliary tongue, called basic English, to consist of 850 words. English s already an international language, it is pointed out, but the more than 400,000 words in the dic- tionaries make it unwieldy. Since there is undoubtedly much merit in the plan, the working out will be watched with interest by those who use and admire our mother tongue. In the meantime, those of us who | speak and write in this always interest- ing language need not fear that our be- loved speech is being attacked in any way. And especially we need not feel that | we arc in danger of losing our inter- esting Latin derivatives. Some persons have a particular spleen against them, of course. “Give me strong Anglo-Saxon words,” such a man will say, with a certain| smugness. Now one may admire vigorous Anglo- Saxonisms to the hilt, without abating one jot his love for the resounding. good words which come to us from the Latin and the Greek. Rome and Greece played a tremen- dous part in the lives of every one of us. One subjected us physically, cen- | turies ago, and later made us its spirit- | ual heir. The other guided our in- tellectual life. BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. willingly do without this famous pair: Mitto, missum? Think of all the fine words which come from mitto and missum. You cannot miss 'em. Admit, commit, permit, submit, remit, intermit, surmise, premise, promise, re- mission, intermission, emission, permis- sion, commission, admission, missive, missile, missionary. Pono, positum—there one has another great duo. A few of their words are compose, depose, interpose, oppose, dis- pose, expose, repose, transpose, propose, suppose, component, deponent, oppon- ent, exponent, imposition, composition, juxtaposition, disposition, preposition, proposition, postpone, composure. Pono means to lay, put or place. Post- pone, for insiance, a word which every | one uses almost every day, means to put after, or off, to delay. One instance of the debt we owe to Greece in the matter of our “English” words will suffice. Every one of us knows thermometer, chronometer, diameter, photometer, hydrometer. The root is “meter,” from the Greek metron, a measure. S0 we get the measure of heat, the measure of time, the measure of through (dia), the measure of light and the measure of water. These instances, for which we are indebted to Prof. Willlam Swinton's “‘Word Analysis,” published by the Amer- Between Latin and Greek, with | dash of French, mixed with all the | other languages of the earth, the Eng- | lish tongue stands today as the great | assimilator of the good words of all| races. | What would we do without act, action, active, actor, agent, agile, cogent, transact? Could we get along without agitate, actual, actuate, count- eract, exact, exigency: or without ami- le, amity, amicable, inimical, ama- teur? Where would English be, as a mod- ern, living language, if it ‘had to dis- pense with core, cordial, concord, dis- cord. record. courage: if it were forced to give up civic, civil, civilizo, civiliza- tion, civilan, to say nothing of capital, precipice, precipitate? We might get along with just Anglo- Saxon words, but it would be rather | hard, after we have been brought up on corporal, corporate, incorporate, cor- roration, corpulent, ‘corpuscle, corps; | on creed, credible, credit, credulous, dis- credit; on crime, criminal, recriminate. All of these words are good English, too Where when some keen barbaric brain | Why should any one give them up? | Those terrible, terrible roots! Con- |sider the Latin roots, fact—feot ficient |mak~, we can do a great deal, indecd We benefactor, male- fator. act.on. affect, eflect, defect, infect, perfect, effici-nt, defici*nt pro- ficient —good words one and all, and no more difficult to handle than good Anglo-Saxon words. Consider lego, lectum, how they give us collect. clect, intellect, recollect, select. The root means to gather or choose. Intellect, then, means that which chooses between things; not a bad sort of definition, after all Consider, again, ludo, lusum, to play. There are pictures here: Allude, to play to. hint at; delude, to play off, deceive: clude, to play out, escape: prelude, that which comes before the play. The interlude is that which comes between: an allusion is the act of allud- ing. or playing to, hinting at playfully a delusion is the act of delusion, playing off, deceiving, deception. %y glish-speaking world * Would the En With facio, factum, to do or |, ican Book Co., are sufficient to show the tremendous debt which we owe to Latin and Greek. They might be mul- tiplied thousands of times. ‘The interesting thing, it seems to us, is rot so much the derivations them- selves, although they are extremely so, but rather the fact that all English- speaking peoples use these words naturally, without thinking a thing about them. One may not know that they come from Latin, for instance. and yet be able to use them perfectly, and with a proper understanding of their con- | notations. It would be a sorry thing indeed, in the use of a language, if every speaker and writer were halted at every word by some professor who |demanded to know the derivation and the precise meaning of the word used. There is no man who speaks Eng- lish who does not use the word ‘sin- cere” many times a week, if be is given to writing letters. “Sincerely yours,’ he signs himscq: but does he know Jjust what the word means? According to Swinton, it comes from sine, without, and cera, wax, and liter- ally means without wax, as applied to pure honey, hence its derivative mean- ing_of pure. unadulterated, true. Try signing your next letter: “Yours without wax,” etc. Ty one knows that the word ary” comes from the Latin sal, or salt. The salary was the Roman sol- dier's allowance of salt. A soldier who was “not worth his salt” was a poor fellow, indeed. The derivation which always pleased us the most is that of the word ~capricious,” meaning fickle, uncertain. It comes from the Latin capra, a goat. And there you have it, literally apring- ing from one thing to another like the leaps of a goat. Once you get that idea {; your head, the word “capri- clous” will always have a bit of extra meaning for you, wherever you see it, or whenever you hear it. We have gone a good way from the plan for a basic English of 800 words, but not as far as it seems. language of a few words may meet special needs, but the old, large tongue of 400,000 words is still glorious. Let us be proud of our Latin and Greek | heritage, as well as of our Anglo- Saxon. Un('ertainty as Compromises are generally expected 8s a result of the budget message of President Hoover, supplemented by sug- gestlons from the Treasury by Secretary Mellon. It is believed that the increases in taxation for a limited period of two vears are wise. while the suggestion is made that widening tho tax basis will bring home to the people the certainty that any extravagance in Congress must be paid for by all citizens. It is believed that the Democratic House will offer a substitute measure as a basis for compromise. "When matters _come to a vote,” thinks the Buffalo Evening News (inde pendert Republican). “the probability is that some in both parties will be } found standing tog=ther for the support of the country substantially on the lines which the administration has laid |down.” Observing that the President urges “the revenue measure of 1924 as a guide in revising the tax schedules,” the New York Herald Tribune (Repub- lican) comments: “This law did. to b2 sure, put a romewhat greater burden on the class that now almost entirely | supports the Government. but at the |same time it tapped a multitude of in- direct sources of taxation. providing a | much broader and more stable base for the tax structure, and in today's cir- cumstances it would undoubt=dly vield a much handsomer return than is at | present available.” “The budget message shows the Na- tion fortunate in being able to meet the situation with a minimum of bur- dens,” says the Oakland Tribune (Re- publican), while the Rock Island Argus (independent), feels that “the chances jare that the President has arrived at the most satisfactory conclusion after considering all angles.” and the Asbury Park Press (independent Democratic), points out that objections to the pro- gram “arise from diametrically opposed quarters,” and “indicate that the Presi- dent has charted a middle course that promises more than many of the more radical substitute programs that have been suggested.” The Des Moines Trib- une (independent Republican), ad- vises: “Even though there be some shock at first, the public will be the gainer by having its real program put up before it as this tax program does it.” The Cleveland News (Republican), sees as “the cheering point in the tax emergency measures are to run but two recuperative powers of this country, chared equally by Government and in- dustry.” “What better time than during a situation such as the present political and the recent industrial one,” asks the Fort Worth Star-Telegram (independ- ent Democratic), “could be found for going back to the elementals of de- mocracy and building a system of tax- ation that will fit the theory of po- litical equality? * * ¢ The income tax has been a happy arrangement for most of the years of its existence, be- ceuse the place where it begins is above the heads of the larger portion of the populace. Now that the au- thorities purpose lowering it about half way to the bottom, there will be fists shaken in the air, thunders of vituperation and verbal barrages with- out end. And all because they never have been taxed as citizens of a di mocracy to support their Governmen As the Dayton Daily News (independent Democratic) suggests, “It reminds us that there is a Federal Government in whose efficiency and economy we have a vital money interest”” The Omaha ‘World-Herald (independent), remarks: “It is a conclusive lesson on the neces- sity for thrift and economy in Govern- ment, and one that must be studied and applied in every school district, city and town, county and State.” The San Antonio Evening News (independent) observes ‘“general agreement that ex: emption: will be lowered so that every- body will pay some taxes.” “Both the administration and the op- position in the House,” according to the Charleston (S. C.) Evening Post (Democratic), “are really searching for a painless method of extracting money from the individual and the corporation to pay for the Government. program” the fact that “the proposed { years,” since “it indicates a faith in the | to Taxation Continues Despite Message | There is no such method known to man. The new taxation will hurt more than the old, but the old hurts, too. If you have income. prepare to share it now generously with the Na- tional Government.” The Charlotte News (Democratic) believes Congress has “the most aggravating problem of the sort that it has faced in half a century. “The Mellon method. however pain- ful.” in the judgment of the New York Sun (independent), “seems as scientific as circumstances permit. If there is a basic fault in it. it is that of not | collecting from a greater number of persons. Nothing would be better than to have every earner in the United States realize the condition to which his or her Government has been brought by extravagance. In the period | of false values a relative few paid the cost of running the country; the others did not care what the bill was. But, even if the low brackets are not very | low, the nuisance taxes should remind the people that the fiddling must be settled for. Bureaucracy and bonuses piled up the bills to the point where the Government could not pay them from current revenue. Let this be re- membered if the Mellon medicine has | a bitter taste.” The revenue measure, in the opinion of the Portland Oregon Journal (inde- | pendent), “reveals the President's | aloofness from actualities.” Attacking the increased taxation &s proposed, the Atlanta Journal (Democratic) advises | that “the Democratic and liberal forces |of Congress will doubtless find some- | thing better to propose.” The Daven- port Democrat (Democratic) contends | that “it is now up to Congress to find |a sane and economical, sound way out |of the difficulties,” and the Pasadena | Star-News (Republican) stresses “the need of systematic, scientific study of | public finances, of taxation systems |and of governmental budgets.” The | Milwaukee Sentinel (Republican) warns: “There should be no rushing through of great tax increases that may defeat their own purpose and impede the normal recovery of business, which in the last analysis is the only real and permanent unemployment relief.” The Morgantown Dominion-News (Demo- cratic) suggests that “a combination |of the administration and House pro- posals may lead to the adoption of a comprehensive program of real benefit.” This thought also comes from the Salt Lake Deseret News (independent), while the Charlotte Observer (indepen- dent Democrat) thinks that “the coun- try will give the Democrats encourage- ment to dig into the situation, and wish them Godspeed in shaping up ‘something better’ than the adminis- tration program.” Economy as the best means of fight- ing the deficit is the remedy indorsed by the Chicago Tribune (indepedent Republican), the Oklahoma City Times (independent), the Baltimore Evening Sun (independent Democrat) and the Providence Journal (independent). +aor—s Something He Missed. From the New London Day. Reinald Werrenrath, noted baritone, says that Americans are losing their interest in music because good beer is rarely obtainable. He wouldn't think 50 if he could hear some of the quar- tets inspired by poor beer. ——e—s Considerate. From the Fort Wayne N]:n-mlnul. “ An Towa girl travels 1, miles take lessons on the harp. Thoughtful of the neighbors! Said Too Much. From the Salt Lake Deseret News. ‘The lover who sent his sweetheart 28 roses on her birthday got in bad. He said too much with flowers. — e Warmth Most Important. From the Meridian Star. A $3 slicker i3 » whole lot warmer than the ticket 10r & IACC00D COMy P A little | THE LIBRARY TABLE By the Booklover ‘The setting of Galsworthy's play, “Tha Roof,” is a ramshackle French hotel, famous for its cuisine. The first six scenes are partly comedy; the last is tragedy. The personages are all Eng- lish except the waiter, Gustave, aged 60, the key character, and an Ameri- canized Jugoslavian violinist. The first six scenes are in various parts of the hotel; the last is on the roof. Down in the restaurant two drunken English- men are making young Reggie Fanning, abroad with a “bear leader,” a little more drunk than he is already and tormenting Gustave, who reproves them for the corruption of Reggic. In retalia- tion, Brice sets a train from a bottle of paraffin to Gustave's hat in the waiter's room, just off the restaurant, and then goes off drunkenly and for- gets it. On this practical joke of a drunken man_hinges the action of the; whole play. From the paraffin train a fire starts, which rapidly spreads through the old hotel. Gustave sends for the; firemen (pompiers) and then goes from room to room warning the guests and herding them to the roof. * K K % Scenes 3-6 of *The Roof” are in the| various bed rooms. The elderly Beetons | |are in their twin beds, mildly quarreling, | while Mrs. Beeton reads and Mr. Beeton | at her behest gets up at intervals to kill mosquitoes. At the alarm they gather up their belongings, including tooth brushes and sponges, and mount to the roof. The Lennox family are in two rooms; the two children, Diana and Byrn, in one, having a pillow fight; their father, a novelist, in the other, obviously dying of heart trouble, while a nurse attends him and his wife tries unsuccessfully to conceal her terrible anxiety. At the alarm the nurse and | Gustave attempt to help Lennox to the roof, but he slumps down, dead, as they | enter the corridor. In another room are | a young woman and her lover, debating | whether they shall make their adven- |ture permanent, which will involve much trouble, as the young woman is mar- ried. They reach the roof quickly, hardly taking the fire seriously at first. Also Brice and Baker, now beginning to be sober; Reggie Fanning and his “'bear leader,” Maj. Moulteney, and Froba, the violinist, meet on the Toof. Assembled there, all behave as their characters make inevitable, but it is only slowly | that they all begin to realize that the | situation is serious and every moment | growing more so. * o ox % ‘The last scene of “The Roof” displays all the characters under stress. The flames spread and can be wen issuing from the windows below. Smoks pours from the trapdoor to the 1oof, which has been left open. Still the firrmen do not arrive on the roof chutes for rescue. Faced with t ger of death, th= two Jovers de 1f they escape they will go thr: trouble to marry. The Beeto: their own danger in trying to comfort Mrs. Lennox and her children. Froba plays his muted violin. Suddenly is | discovered that Gustave is missing. He | | has gone back after the body of Lennosx. because Mrs. Lennox hysterically re- fuses to stay on the roof, deserting her dead husband. There is a tense mo- ment while the men volunteer to go back for Gustave. Then Brice, who has | started the fire, pushes the others aside {and says: “To hell with you! This is my shoot,” and disappears headlong | down the trap. The firemen at last arrive and, one by one, all are taken down from the roof in the chutes. Be- fore the last men leave they debate the chance of saving Gustave and Brice, down below where the flames are seeth- ing. Then the smoke clears from the open trap for a moment and Brico thrusts Gustave, limp and in a fa up through the op>ning. He is grasp by the firemen and in the fame insta Brice reels and slips back down the trap steps. The firemen look down the trap but are driven back by a rush of | flames and smoke. As they go dovn the chute, the last to lave, the flames burst out and envelop the roof. Brice stae- gers from the trap and climbs to the parapet, erving: “Christ! I'm done tor! Up-up-up!” then falls down into the drifting smoke. The keynote of the play seems to be found in the words of the nurse to Froba in the restaurant. in the first scene: “You never know, Froba. The soul has a way of coming out under pressure.” * ok o ok As “Tidewater Virginia” served as a pleasant book comp>nion on motor trips through the Virginia at our doors, s> may “Tidewater Maryland” answer a similar_need for neighborhing Mary- land. Paul Wilstach has performed task which must have been pleasa himself and certainly gives delig many lovers of the whole tidewater sec- tion in writing these two books. The tidewater country of Maryland is usually understood to ‘include "all the land drained by rivers emptying into the Chesapeake—that is, as far as the first falls of the rivers, for so far usually go the tides. Tidewater Maryland is the Lord Baltimore country. Here ex- tensive lands were bestowed by King Charles I upon the first Lord Baltimore and in 1634 his first colonists. under Leonard Calvert, sailed up the Potomac and settled at St. Mary's, which tod: looks as quiet and sleepy as it probably did in 1634. Many old manor houses are described in “Tidewater Maryland.” some of them within easy reach of ‘Washington and open to visit-rs during a garden week in the Spring. The| cities of Baltimore and Annanolis, cen- ters of business and social life in colo- nial days, are given much attention in the descriptions. “The impulses which created Baltimore were fundamentally moral and physical—toleration and to- | bacco. The forces which thrust her forward (leaving Annapolis in a pleas- ant backwater and the older capital. St Mary's, declining toward the extinction which was her fate) were wheat and iron from the fast developing hinterland, which found their outlet to the sea through her gates, by the prosperity thrust upon her during the Revolution when the war had crippled her rival and by the selzure of the sea trade by her peerless clippers.” * ok ok x “You have preferred to devote your life and the treasures of your mind and affection to one who is my_superior, jand. far from blaming you. I approve your action from every point of view | and admit you are perfectly right.” So wrote Hans von Bulow to his wife when he discovered her relations with Rich- ard Wagner. Whatever acuteness of misery or philosophy of indifference ]l"l"kbtd gehlnd these words, thehig}url\;d usband agreed to divorce and wife became Prau Cosima Wagner. This story, as well as that of Wagner's first wife, Minna Planer, who was also sacri- ficed, is told in “The Women in Wag- ner's Life,” by Julius Kapp. * ok k% “Perhaps Women,” by Sherwood An- derson, is a rather despairing cry to women to save the world from the crushing tyranny of the machine. For men, he believes, it is impossible, be- cause they are such complete wor- shipers of the machine that they have lost spiritual energy. He visited the milis of the South, under the guidance of & woman, and came away horrified Wwith the spectacle of the dehumanizing of humanity by the machine. But just how women are to accomplish this new industrial revolution, the abolition of the machine, Mr. Anderson does not tell us. After all, he is a poet and literary artist, not an or seer. * ok k x Of great importance to France, though not of as great international reputation as Foch and Joffre, Marshal Lyautey has for 30 years been the chief of the empire builders of France. As soldier, diplomat, administrator, he has organized French rule in Indo-China, | burcau, in her current report says ‘There is no other agency in the world | that can answer as many legitimate questions as our free information bureau in Washington, D. C. This highly or- ganized institution has been buiit up and is under the personal direction of Frederic J. Haskin. By keeping in | constant touch with federal bureaus and other educational enterprises it is in a position to pass on to you authoritative information of the highest order. Sub- mit your queries to the staff of experts whose services are put at your free dis- | posal. There is no charge except 2 cents | in coin or stamps for return postage. Address The Evening Star Information Bureau, Prederic J. Haskin, Director ‘Washington, D, C Q. What are the latest figures on the number of golf clubs and the number | of golf players in the United Statesz— | 0. G. M. A The latest data of the United States Golf Association, reported under date of December 7, 1931, were that there are 5856 golf Clubs and 2,500,000 | players in this country. | Q. How many rounds was Dempsey given the decision in his two fights with Tunney?—F. H. A. Dempsey was given two rounds in | the first fight with Tunney and two rounds and one even in the second fight, according to the editor of the Everlast Sports Publishing Co. Q. What does it cost to raise pota- toes?—W. R. F. A. Jt costs about $120 to grow an acre of potatoes under modern condi- tions. | Q. Can you tell me the origin of the well known saying to the effect that it is better for 10 guilty to escape t! for one innocent to suffer unjust F.R.E. A. A definite source for the quota- tion to which you refer can not be located. It is known as “an old Ger- man proverb.” Q. Who decides where national po- litical conventions are held>—D. §. A A. The National Committees of each party. Q. Do flavoring extracts have any food or medicinal value?>—B. G. A. They have little food value and no medicinal value, according to the Fed- eral Food and Drug Administration. Q. Can the white race ever be com- pletely acclimated in the tropics?—F, . C. A. The white man can live there, ac- cording to a scientist who made a studv of the question for the Smithsonian Institution. but he needs intelligence and a rigid discipline in order to do so successfully. Life in the tropics will certainly become more comfortable a$ well as safer for the white race, says this authority, but acclimatization in its full and literal sense is and will re- main impossible, How much American money is invested in Chile?—A. S. A. The Chilean government makes an official estimate of $700,000,000. Q. Just what does the Children's Bureau do S. K | A. Miss ce Abbott, chief of the “The work of the Children's Bureau has in- cluded rescarch in the fields of child health, child labor, recrcation, depend- ency and delinquency and the prepara- ticn and distribution of popular and scientific bulletins. The bureau has expanded its co-operation with State and local agencies in connection with the assembling of current statistics relating especially to child labor, delin- quency. dependency and health services for children.” Q. How does Goethe rank as & lyric poet?>—I. B. A. John George Robertscn, professor of German language and literature of L UNIVERSAL, Mexico, D. F— Useful recipes published in the papers are very popular, espe- clally with the ladies, who are always eager for novelties, whether it be in dishes, in perfumes or i However, of all the com- h have been submitted to urpose of satisfying some requirement or demand, the most bizarre is a formula for the manufacture and use of a “Powder to Kill Lions.” We give this amazing discovery to the worid for what it is worth. “On estates, particularly in the coun- try districts, there abound lions which roam around during the night, destroy- ing gardens, molesting flocks and frightening people. Against these bold and dangerous marauders we recom- mend the following method of action Take a stone terminating in a sharp point, and place it, sharp end up, in suitable spot. Drape a nice fresh steak over the point. Besides the stone make a little mound composed of the follow- ing_ingredients: “Rappee snuff. Powdered soap . «..1 part “Pfeiffer's bacteria . ..1 part “The lion arrives and, perceiving the steak, launches himself upon it. There is nothing lions like better than fresh meat. But while he is devouring it, with all avidity, the odor of the snuff and soap and the scampering of the bacilli tickle his nostrils until he has to pause in his gobbling to indulge in a stupen- dous sneeze. The impetuosity of this act will invariably cause the lion to strike his head with violence upon the sharp point of the rock and so commit unintentional suicide. The animal will expire immediately.” Or at least, if the discoverer of this method was guilty of any mental res- ervation, sustain a slight wound in his scalp! The dissemination of such in-| fcrmation is what makes the papers so indispensable today! We hope to have | an equally valuable suggestion at an! early date. «.1 part | * X % X Urges Tariff on Foreign Manufactured Clothing. Irish Independent, Dublin.—The min- ister for finance has, the political cor- | respondent of the Irish Independent| states, referred to the Tariff Commis-| sion for examination an application by | the Clothing Manufacturers’ Association | for a “prohibitive tarifi” on foreign-| manufactured clothing, which has late- | ly begun to arrive in the Saorstat from | Poland for sale at prices with which the | home manufacturers say they cannot| possibly compete. Men'’s suits, it is stated, have been of- fered for sale in this country at from| 155 to 25s each, or, roughly, at half the | price at which they could be produced here. | When the commission comes to take evidence some highly interesting revela- tions are expected regarding the condi- tions surrounding working conditions in Poland. On September 21 there were approxi- mately 9.157,000 insured persons aged | from 16 to 64 in employment in Great | Britain, states the ministry of labor. ‘This was 38,800 less than a month be- fore and 489,000 less than & year before. On September 28 the number of per- sons on the registers of employment exchanges were 2,080,659 wholly unem- | ployed, 631,947 temporarily stopped and | 113,166 normally in casual employment, | | acter analysis is followed as in the other biographies of Maurois, LR Clara Clemens, in her biography of | her father, “My Father, Mark Twain,” | says: “Father was always ready to make jokes at the breakfast table. Everybody was present at the breakfast Madagascar, Algeria and Morocco. He has been called a “French Cecil Rhodes.” Andre Maurols, biographer of Shelley and Disraeli, has chosen for his latest subject his own countryman, this great colonialist, in his bi table at 8 o'clock, but I don't think anybody wished to be. I would say that my father was the only one present 5t the table who found any real joy in life so early in the morning, oourse, he didn't find it; he crested it | ple are mentally, morally and manu , and, of | & living, & hold-up is a very unsatis< S | tactory collection methiod, ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC ]. HASKIN. the University of London, says that “as a lyric poet Goethe's supremacy is least likely to be challenged. He has given his nation, whose highest literary ex- pression has in all ages been essentially lyric, its greatest songs. No other Ger- man pret has succeeded in attuning feeling, sentiment and thought so per- fectly to the music of words as he; none has expressed so fully that subtle spirituality in which the strength of German lyrism lies.” Q. How many shots a minute have mrx‘, fired from any kind of a gun?— A. The most rapid-firing gun is the modern aircraft machine gun, which fires about 1,200 to 1,500 rounds per minute. Q. Is the testimeny o ness accepted in all cov witness admits to being an agnostic’—W. R. H A. Whether or not the testimony of an atheist or agnostic shall be accepted rests with the court and is based upon other factors than his religious or non- religicus views. worn wite ts when that an atheist or Q. Why is it that a convex mirror shows a large area, but the images are small and erect?—J. F. A. The reflected rays of light must e prolonged behind the mirror before meet, hence the image is a virtual , also upright and smaller than the chject, Q. Where can a list be obtained of the names and addresses of all owners of private raiiroad cars>—G. B. L A. Such a list is contained in the “Official Railway Equipment Register,” published by the Railway Equipment & Publication Co. 424 West Thirty-third street, New Yo City Do the people of the United States the English that was in use in E nd in the time of King George III?—P. McC. A. Modern English differs considere from the English of the eighteenth century. Further, there is a difference the language as spoken in the United States and in England. There is a dif- ference in the pronunciation of certain words and even in the significance of certain terms. There are a number of words and phrases peculiar to this country that have been coined at various periods and are known as Americanisms, Q. At what gambling most money lost?—D P A Profesei game is the S nal gam! as been hlers say that ost at roulette but it is ime find any sta- hoes often coma exnlosion he shoes e feet t ed off pressur of the air Q. What is the nat nut?’—J. R A Itisal several The to fo! and large hill; re of the pinon ge edible seed of any of it pines. I°2ves in one r leay globose cones seeds. are f is given by Haec Highlights on the Wide World Excerpts From Newspapers of Other Lands making a total of 2825.772. This was 14.157 more than a week before and 664,083 more than a year before. Xowie & Teachers Protest Reduction in Number. Berliner Tageb! ments of the go emoluments_and of protest both f will lose their positio reduced pay and n a the population. High s actory, that efforts should first of all be made | to advance the standards of learning, rather than to militate against them. Ignorance in economic. social and aca- demic matters is bas the cause of the depression in every country When greater proportions of the peo- al- Iy better qualified, industrial and fi cial collapse will be impossible. x % % x Chinese Atrocities Blamed For Manchurian Trouble. ‘The Japan Tames. Tokio —Japan has acted as the guardian of peace in the Far East for the last half century. She risked her very tence in two fore eign wars, one against Russia and the other against China, in fulfillment of her guardianship. She fought the first war in order to place Korea out of the reach of foreign intrigues. She fought the second in order to make Man- churia a safe abode for Orientals. Korea today enjoys peace, security and but Manchuria is placed in situation chiefly because of refusal to live up to her inter- national obligations. Japan has borne with patience Chi- nese injustice and atrocities as no na= tion has ever done under similar cire cumstances. But even Japan has no eternal patience. She now asks China to stop her unbridled audacity so that peace may be preserved in Manchuria, * o Woman Detective Force Employed in Uruguay. Imparcial, Montevideo—The Police Department of Buenos Aires has or- ganized & special group of woman de- tectives under the control of Inspeetor Miguel A. Viancarlos. This brigade of feminine police has gained experience n its duties, until now, in other func- | tions of the municipal safety organi- zation, and will henceforth be used to protect stores, fashion shops, markets and similar places where women mostly congregate. and where the women can exercise their vigilance with less con- spicuousness than men. Thus protec- tion will be afforded many establish= | ments deaiing in valuable merchandise | which evidenc> no visible sign of this surveillance. We believe such a sys- tem adopted in Montevideo would prove a helptul factor in preventing thefts and other crimes and misdemeanors. D Men May Seek Rights. From the Cleveland News Ruling that California statutes don’t allow a man to collect alimony from his wife may help to start a movement for equal rights for men. s Question of Position. From the Butte Montana Standard. China is fighting with her back to the wall and Japan wants her to get on the other side. R Hold-Up Method Is Poor. From the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel. Even if the world does owe every man b