Evening Star Newspaper, December 30, 1931, Page 8

" A=8 THE EVENING STAR Edition. With Sunday Morning WASHINGTON, D. C. WEDNESDAY, December 30, 183 THEODORE W. NOYES....Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company 11t 8t e Fensayivanta Ave New York Offce: 110 East {and &t icaso Office: Lake Michigan Building. Shropean Office) 14 Regent ., Londoa, England. Rate by Carrier Within the City. The Evening Star.............45¢ per month The Evening and Sunday Stsr (when 4 Sundays) .. 60c per month une Evening and Sund (when dfl usndnym 65¢ per mnné); e 8 tar . e per <o T otlection made at the end of each month Orders may be sent in by mail or telephone NAtional 5000, Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. <. 177, $10.00: 1 mo., ally Snfy Sunder-:- 135 1680 § Mo Bae Bunday only 33, §400: 1 mo. 40 All Other States and Canada. fly and Sunday...1yr.$12.00: 1 mo. $1.00 aily only .1y, 3800 nda; i 1mo., i8¢ y only J1yrl $500: 1mo.. Member of the Associated Press. The Associated Press is exclusively ertitled o the use for republication of all news dis- atches credited fo it or not otherwise cred- ted in this paper and also the local news Fublished herein. All rights of publication of pezial dispatches herein are ulso reserved. =— Observing Earope. It has just become known what the | United States’ attitude will be toward the impending conference of European governments on debts and reparations. We shall be represented there by an ob- server. He will stop, look and listen, but abstain from participating in dis- cussions or taking part in decisions. The United States is to know at first hand what is going on, while refraining from contributing in any way to the progress of proceedings. Visits to the State Department yes- " terday by the German Ambassador and the French charge d’affaires are reputed to have been concerned with the finan- cial conference soon to assemble either in Holland or Switzerland. If their purpose was to make Secretary Stim- son see the wisdom of America's play- dng an active instead of a merely ob- servant role, their efforts were ap- parently in vain. We seem determined to cut the figure of a merely interested bystander. President Hoover has hardly sny . ‘other alternative after the manner in which Congress recently went on record toward “abroad.” The adoption by both House and Senate of a rider to the .. moratorium resolution, declaring against any further reduction ar cancellation of war debts, was warning enough to the administration of the congressional mood. The failure of either branch of Congress, too, to pay any attention to the President's recommendation that the World War Debt Commission be re- created, to examine anew our debtors’ capacity to pay, is an equally significant indication of the temper of Congress. Mr. Hoover is incontrovertibly in ad- “<xance of congressional thought in rec- ognizing that the American people can- not blind themselves to “obvious facts” —namely, the inability of many Euro- pean countries which owe us huge sums to. meet their contractual obligations without further leniency. When he in- «stituted the moratorium, the President, by a stroke, banished for all time the , theory that reparations are one thing end war debts another. The former Ameriean conoeption that they were to- tally unrelated was there and then scrapped. It can hardly ever again be set up. Meantime organs of public opinion in Europe, like the Beaverbrook Press in Great Britain, are doing the cause of American-European economic concilia- tion and co-operation no good by their truculent demands for repudiation and by reviving the figure of Uncle S8am in ZBShylockian garb. The time may come when a sweeping review of the whole complex intergovernmental debt propo- , Bition may be unavoidable—when even *“the Congress of the United States may - be brought to reconsider it in the light +\.0of stern and irremediable conditions. The _*#peeding of that hour is not going to be | facilitated by billingsgate across the At- Ln.l"fllc. —_—— e A New York society leader, a grand- mother, who has taken up vnintmxl within the year, is to have a “ome- woman show.” “It all appeared so mysterious at first,” she explains, “but it isn't mysterious at all. Al you need is some paint and something to put it on.” A kindly and wealthy husband does not hurt any, either, — et Wheat made world history in 1931 by a price collapse that broke records running back 300 years to Elizabethan 7. _nmea. Yes, and it was time, not Eliza- ~ beth and her ministers, that adjusted “""the matter satisfactorily. ——r—e——————— Administrative Consolidation. President Hoover, in his proposal for , the consolidation of Government bu- reaus engaged in similar or related ac- » «tivities, has tapped a fruitful source of o'governmental saving. The consolida- %.Mon of these Government agencies is wmeg2I0t & W Dlan, but its revival is ex- ceedingly timely, with the Government | facing o huge deficit. A decade 8go, | when the Harding administration was getting under way, the problem of the reconstruction of the Government de- partments so as to prevent overlapping of work and to save expenditure of money was tackled by & commission headed by a representative of the Presi- dent and having members of Congress in its makeup. But little came of it, beyond a report. There was no Treas- ury deficit then, nothing to drive the ®—=Government forward to & solution of the consolidation problem. The situa- tion today is different. The American people are beginning to think that their Government is cost- ing too much. They feel the pinch of taxation, Federal, State, county and municipal. They are beginning to rebel against the burden. In several sections faass meetings have been held to put the officials on record that the tax- payers will not stand for further expan- sion of their local governments at this time. The same sentiment is growing with regard to the Federal Government. ‘The old maxim that the people which is _least governed is best governed is tak- 41ig on & new significance for Americans. Undoubtedly there will be opposition from some of the executive officials of the Government to proposed consolida- tions. There will be fear of loss of SEIessrIRNABRRESIROIN prestige, perhaps loss of office’ itself.| ernment at Nanking since the collapse | said Uncle Eben, “De clals have been potent in the past § eir opposition to the consolida~ ng vemgnt. But there are possible consolidations in the Government serv- ice that cry out for action. The Presi- dent has called attention to the fact that there has been a material saving, 1 perhaps $15,000,000 & year, through a|He was minister of rallways in the consolidation of the administration of veterans’ affairs. This is just a sample of what may be done, ‘The consolidation proposal has struck an answering chord in Congress. Mem- bers of House and Senate are harassed today by the need of increasing taxes and issuing bonds to help meet the Treasury deficit. It looks as though the President’s recommendations for de- partmental consolidations will receive earnest consideration on Capitol Hill as soon as his special message dealing with the subject is transmitted to Congress. e e Another Great Plan. ‘Washingtonians wdose recollection of the old railroad tracks in the Mall and of the sprawling, ugly passenger term- inals is still fresh will note with interest the unfolding of another great plan by the Park and Planning Commission, under which the railroads and the. city would benefit. Its annual report broaches for the first time the suggestion that the time has come when serious consid- eration must be given to development of a new and adequate freight terminal, together with the removal of the layout of trackage along Maryland and Vir-. ginia avenues and in the vicinity of the Bureau of Engraving. As they now exist, the tracks leading from the tun- nel under the Capitol to the Potomac bridge stand in the way of future de- velopment of that section of the city in accordance with the Washington plan. In addition, the steel bridge is considered inadequate and its enlarge- ment or replacement must eventually become necessary. Why not give serious | study now to an entirely new arrange- ment? ‘The Park and Planning Commission’s | suggestion is for the development of a new railroad freight terminal at North Carolina avenue and First street south- east, in the area set aside for industrial development, and the construction of a tunnel from a point just north of | the Army War College, under the river to the Potomac Yards, near Four-Mile | Run. The whole scheme, says the commission, might well be considered by the Pennsylvania Ralilroad in con- nection with its electrification program, and the railroad leadership taken by the Pennsylvania in the movement that resulted in the present Washington ter- minal is mentioned as one reason why the same railroad could appropriately undertake the same sort of leadership toward solution of the present problem. The commission does not attempt to discuss the economic phase of the pro- posed reconstruction program, content- ing itself with a mere outline of the problem that will be raised when the Government building program extends to a portion of the city now relatively | untouched. But its introduction of the subject is plain enotigh indication that the movement for a rearrangement of tracks and railroad facilities in this part of town has begun and will con- tinue for many years until the proper solution is reached. H The commission points out the present | arrangement of railroad tracks “is dis- tinctly detrimental to the monumental development of public buildings in ad- joining areas, either for the section north of Maryland Avenue or for that Iying between Virginia avenue and Maryland avenue,” and in addition, “the raflroad now interferes with two of the principal avenues and vistas in the city. * * * Maryland avenue, which was laid out originally as a direct connection between the Capitol and Virginia * * * is interrupted by the railroad tracks at Seventh street. Virginia avenue is the only principal artery pointing directly to the Washington Monument, and that vista is now broken by the railroad tracks.” In addition, the commission might have correctly designated the present embankment running from the bridge to the Bureau of Engraving as the chief handicap to a full realization of the beauty that lies in plans for the adequate treatment of East and West | Potomac Parks. It is encouraging to note that the Pennsylvania Railroad already has the scheme under study and is ready to co-operate with the Federal Govern- ment to the fullest extent in reaching a practical solution of difficulties that, if not apparent now, will become acute in the course of a few years, —_— rwe—— Speed in the Air. Nineteen hundred and thirty-two is evidently to be a vear of speed in the sky both for passengers and mail. Coinci- dent with the announcement of the Ludington Line that a new fleet of eighty-minute ships to New York will be put into service during the early part | of the year comes the statement that be- ginning January 1 twenty—four-houri air mail service across the country will} be started by ships of the Transconti-| nental-Western Afr, Inc. Business men and business will benefit from the new speed services. Thou- sands of dollars’ worth of interest on money will be saved by the quick trans- continental transportation. T'hf)u&flndi‘ of dollars’ worth of valuable time ill be saved by persons who use the airway | between New York and Washington. | Speed and more speed is the slogan of | the day, and the air services are quick to respond to public demand. ———— | Education now ranks as one of the great industries of the United States, standing sixth in point of funds in- vested. Nor is its output subject to the hazards of overproduction, lack of transportation, lack of demand or undue campetition. Its dividends, also, are never passed. e China’s New Government. Reorganization of the government of China has been effected without con- | fiict. The Cantonese secessionists have succeeded in ousting from power at Nanking the so-called Soong dynasty, headed by Chiang Kal Shek, who has retired to private life, save for an w.- defined status as a member of a “stand- ing committee” The readjustment came at a critical time and is the more notable for the fact that the Manchurian disturbance tended to weaken China, both at home and in the three eastern provinces, which Japan is proceeding to ocfupy despite the pro- tests of the League of Nations. Lin Sen, veteran statesman, who has | backwoods constituents of mine that THE somewhat honorary post. The real head of the government is Sun Fo, son of the late Sun Yat Sen, revolutionary leader and founder of the Kuomintang. ] Chiang Kal Shek government until his defection to join the Canton movement. He now becomes “premier,” or chief of the responsible administration. Eugene Chen is minister of foreign affairs. The other members of the new organization | are mostly of the Canton faction. A small sprinkling of former holders of posts under the old government is evi- dently a compromise to hold the Kuo- mintang, or people’s party, in line with the reorganized administration. One of the most interesting selections is that of Feng Yu-hsiang, the so- called “Christian general” as one of the thirty-three members of the Na- tional government council. Feng has been & thorn in the flesh of the Chiang Kai Shek government, almost period- ically taking the fleld with his own army to wage war against the Nanking organization, most recently in co-oper- ation with Yen Hsi Shan, the “model governor” of Shensi. It remains to be seen how far Feng will co-operate in the new administration. It also re- mains to be seen how well the new gov- ernment can harmonize with the mili- tarists, who demand a “positive” policy toward Japan., a policy which the new government may find it impossible to adopt and prosecute. A significant disclosure of the trend of the combination just formed at Nan- king is afforded by the announcement of the indefinite postponement of the projected abolition of extraterritorial rights of foreigners in China, which had been fixed for January 1. It is evident that the government of Lin Sen is not going to antagonize the western powers that retain these rights. This is a wise decision and may indi- cate the maintenance of a policy of co-operation for the sake of substantial assistance to China on the part of the other nations. The new government faces & most difficult task, of administrative recon- struction, of harmonizing antagonistic forces, of economic reform, of the es- tablishment of a higher standard of official integrity, and particularly of combating the communistic elements that are ready to make war in the name of a perversion of the principles of government laid down by Sun Yat Sen. ——————————— Among royal expatriates in Paris it is the fashion to design the bed- chamber so that it is reminiscent of the forsaken home land. If the House of Windsor ever has’'to make the city on the Seine its headquarters the prob- lem will be simple—just a few leaky pipes in the ceiling. —————— Now we begin to get the real slant on the “bridgers” and their intricate and sure-fire systems. We knew it was coming. As it was in the begin- ning, is now, and ever shall be, one side has announced that “far inferior cards” account for its deficit. ——— It is exceedingly difficult for a cer- tain mental make-up, and that a very common one, to draw the line between statistics and static. o SHOOTING STARS. ‘ BY PHILANDER JOENSON. s Shifting Standards. In days gone by a citizen of prominence once said He hoped that we would all be law- abiding, And never have an impulse, when a copper showed his head, To get up speed and maybe go in hiding. He vowed a worthy record, based on conduct all exact, With acturacy always could be tested. Your high position was secure if you could show the fact That you as yet had never been ar- rested. But in the course of time that citizen advanced in wealth, In high finance continually striving. He rode out in & motor car to benefit | his health, And often was detained for rapid driving. Indictments, too, were found because of deals that he had made. By legal minions he was much mo- lested. And then he said, “A man is poor and lowly, I'm afraid, Unless he's very frequently arrested.” Desperate Steps. “Why do you insist on staying at a hotel where they have no electric lights?” “Well,” replied Senator Sorghum, “I've got to convince some of those I am still a plain, unsophisticated fel- low citizen, unused to habits of luxury. 1f necessary I'm going to leave a call with the clerk for a quarter to twelve and blow out the gas at eleven-thirty.” Greatness. “What is your idea of & great author?” “A great author,” replied Miss Cay- enne, “is one whose works you have to pretend you have read, whether they bore you or not.” Success. We always envy, more of less, The thin, ‘hat people call success; And that is why, it may be stated, It always gets investigated. Driven From Home. “I don't see why Charley spends his evenings at the club,” sald young Mrs. Torkins. “It's your fault,” replied her mother. “You will insist on buying him gor- geous-colored smoking jackets and neck- ties and then inviting the neighbors around in the evening to see how funny he looks.” Indications. “Bliggins says his youngest boy is going to make a diplomrat.” “What makes him think so?™ “He asks all kinds of questions, but never undertakes to answer any.” Pleasure. Oh, pleasure may itself refute As for its gifts we call; We work £0 hard in its pursuit We have no fun at all. been acting head of the nominal gov- of the tion a fort; man” of Kal Shek administra- t ago, is to be the “chair- »National government, & “Dar is boun’ to be dissatisfaction,” rain dat makes de crops grow foh one set @' people is purty sure to spoil som else’s picnic,” -~ EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, 1 w0 WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1931. THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. Chancing to see a photograph of a Catifornia garden, hemmed in by a high wall, behind which loomed moun- talus at a great distance, we were struck more than ever by the necessity for a background for every garden. The lure of this particular picture came from the white stucco wall, not from the mountains, nor yet from the beautiful garden itself. It was the wall which made the pic- ture, which completed the garden, which even made the mountains seem grander. And all this came about because the wall, although mostly hidden by bloom- ing things and queer narrow ever- greens, nevertheless concealed what lay directly behind it. . ‘The wall gave an element of mystery, of suspense, which is the essential ele- ment, either in a garden or in a book, and maybe in a human being. Are there not some people who are as easily read as a sentence, at a glance, and from whom one neither expects any- thing nor can hope for anything? Perhaps eight-tenths of American gardens are that way. Lacking bound- aries of any sort, either fence or hedge or wall, they reveal all they possess 0 the first inquiring glance, and also offer 1o obstruction to glances cast at neigh- boring yards. Such’ gardens have no background. Now background is as important to a garden as it is to a human being. Think of all these people running around, utterly lacking in background of any sort! If they had roots they would “stay put” more, to their own bet:'-rment, and that of their city and and. They need walls; their gardens need walls. But walls are very expensive, as any one knows who has ever investi- gated the subject. Stone walls, brick walls, stucco walls—they cost money, more money than most people seem to have for such purposes, evidently. But how much they add to a garden! Their cost is greater because they must be high. A low wall has its place, in cer- tain situations, but the real garden wall preferably i a comparatively high af- fair, high énough to cut off all beyond it, in order that all in front of it may stand out and become a little world of its own. It is because the average gardenis not a little world of its own, but plain- ly joins onto the garden to the right and to the garden to the left and to an- other garden in the rear, or maybe several gardens in that direction, that it lacks a considerable part of that charm which Old World gardens have | and which such gardens as the Cali- fornia treasure spot in the photograph plainly possess. Our word garden means “inclosed spot,” but most gardens, alas, are not inclosed. A fence is better than noth- | ing, a hedge is better, a wall is best of all. Let us consider them briefly in reverse order, for the clarification of our garden views. January and Febru- ary are home-staying months, when there is plenty of fireside time for the homelover to think of many things, notably gardens and gardeners and flowers and Spring. “Fireside gardening,” have more immediate consideration than think at such times. The open, “park- like” treatment of a community has certain good points, but they are neglig- ible, after all, compared with the re- sult which may be secured by the proper use of walls, hedges and fences. The greatest of these gains is back- | ground, and a certain sense of privacy These two are immediate. But there are many others. a mirror, a wall reflects everything in the garden, causing each flower to take on added beauty, each shrub to stand out, to become something more than one. Certain plants grow best in the pro- tection afforded by walls, or even WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS BY FREDERIC In appointing Norman H. Davis an American delegate to the Geneva Dis- armament Conference, President Hoo- ver names a second Democrat as a col- league of Senator Swanson of Virginia. Davis, t00, is ohe of the Woodrow Wil- son Old Guard. Although he is a New York banker and has a Summer home in the Berkshires of Massachusetts, Mr. Davis is a Southerner, hailing from Tennessee. His brother, Representa- tive Ewin L. Davis of that State, has just become 'chairman of the House Committee on Merchant Marine. The former Undersecretary of State, who is to go to Geneva, has a long and meri- torious record in international affairs. After serving as-financial adviser to President Wilson at the Paris Peace Conference, Mr. Davis was on the rep- arations commission and later, as Assis- tant Secretary of the Treasury, was in charge of foreign loans. His knowl- edge of the problems now perturbing Europe is unrivaled. Before he left Federal office at Washington in 1921, the League of Nations made him chair- | man of its commission to determine the status of Memel. Davis was last at Geneva in 1927 as an American dele- gate to the International Econom'c Conference. Incidentally — perh~ 5 that's the feather that has just turned the Hoover scales in his direction— Davis is an alumnus of Stanford Uni- versity. * ok ok % Richard V. Oulahan, dean of the corps of Washington correspondents, is seriously il with pneumonia at his home, in Georgetown. He was stricken | just before Christmas in the midst of | good health. Oulahan is not only the | dean of Capital newspaper men, but ranks as the Adonis among them, his tall, erect figure wholly belying his 64 years. A native of the District of Co- lumbia, he began journalistic work in Washington 45 years ago and has served here practically uninterruptedly since 1912. For a few {eau preceding his appointment as chief correspondent of the New York Times in that year, “Dick,” a5 he is known from one end of the country to the other, was European correspondent of the old New York Sun. All the honors of Wash- ington journalism have been his. The fraternity contains no more beloved or vivid personality. * K K K Many of Representative Louis T. McFadden's colleagues in the House | keep on believing that he is the spokesman of some -important group interested in getting before Congress and the country the exireme views re- cently uttered by the Pennsylvanian in his vitriolic atteek on President Hoover. A House member tells this ob- server of an episode - that attracted at- tention in one of McFadden's speeches a year or so ago. - As delivered, the Representative in question says, Mc- Fadden’s remarks. mentioned “your Secretary of State,” as if somebody not an American were. the author of the phrase. In next day’s Congressional Record it was noticed.that the passage was published as “our Secretary of State.” A * ok kK Not since Gilbert and Sullivan wrote “Pinafore” and “Iolanthe,” satirizing the British Navy ahd ‘the British Par- liament, has anything been produced in this country which poons the ship of state as “Of Thee I ®ing” just opened in New York, makes merry with politics, parties and thre: Governmrent at: Washington. George S. Kaufman, librettist, and George Gershwin, com: poser, of “Rhapsody in Blue” fame, have evolved a masterpiece of topical wit and lyrical beauty. What they do to our cherished conceptions of the presidency, particularly the vice presidency, and to the Senate and Supreme Court is a caution. will say about the poke the piece takes at France and her war debt to Uncle Sam is worth waiting to hear. Chief Justice Hughes is the only contemporary burlesqued recognizably as he cavorts at head of & bench of all-whiskers jus- some call it.| The boundary for the garden ought to | it normally is given, one may | Almost as if it were | ‘What 50,000,000 Frenchmen | hedges, if they are thick enough. The tall wall, either of unpainted or painted brick, provides the finest setting in tre world for the display of such things |as dahlias, as they nod their great heads over them, seeming for all the world to be looking over the wall into the world beyond. | A variety of rock garden plants may be grown in the crannies of stone walls, or even on brick walls. Then there are | certain lichens, moss and the like, | which love no place quite so well as a wall. These considerations are minor, however, in comparison with the two essentials of background and privacy. A five or six foot wall, suitably thick, maybe strewed with glass set in mor- tar along the top, will make a back- | ground for a tiny garden or for an estate. Let no one shy at the glass atop | the wall. No one has any business on the top of a wall, be sure of that, and |if he mounts there the glass serves | him right. One will admit, however, | that the glass is a barbaric survival, |and fortunately is not needed very | much. The tall wall will be enough for all practical purposes of plant pro- tection. But it must be tall, high enough to block out the surrounding | gardens, no matter how beautiful these latter may be. He who does not un- derstand this need has not grasped the philosophy of the wall or, better, the | philosophy of the boundary. The boundary is basic, even more so than the soil. Perhaps as much so would be a fairer way to put it. Then all these gardens one sees everywhere, without fence, hedge or wall—are they not gardens, too? The answer to that must be: “From the standpoint of what a real garden may be they are not gardens at all.” Gardens without boundaries are simply spots of brightness in the gen- eral countryside. If one rides across a great field and suddenly comes on a patch of flowers he does not call the colony a “garden.” No more are most of our “gardens.” They are always interesting. and sometimes beautiful plantings which have given their own- | ers much pleasure, and for that reason | are to be commended. Even the most | conceited home owner} however, scarce- |1y would assert that they are com- parable to the place which is laid out from the beginning with the ideas of background, perspective, and so on, well held in mind or in several minds. Most home gardens “just grow,” here a little, there a little. And since Na- ture can do surprising things with little if she is given a chance, it is not to be wondered at that many small home ‘gardens” are pleasing to the eye as well as to the vanity of the owner. How much more pleasing, how much more beautiful they would be if they had proper backgrounds, either wall, hedge or fence. Something for beauty to grow in front of, something behind which o grow mystery. The unseen thus becomes an integral part of the real garden. The wall says, the thick | hedge says, the fence over which luxu- rious vines grow says, they all say, “This far, and no farther, shall your eyes stray.” They also say, “But if you are of the inquiring mind I will let you mmi a secret: Behind me there are things | of loveliness as yet unrevealed! To conceal them is one of my purposes. There is nothing to stop you, however, |if you choose to walk around. Stand on’tip toe, if you wish, and maybe you can see the violets mestling down by my other side. For every wall has two sides. That is why I am a wall.” The invitation of the boundary is as old as mankind. If walls are to| keep out, they are to be climbed, too. If they hide from one view, they hide from the other, too. If they keep beauty closed in on one side, they may hide mystery on the other. WILLIAM WILE. tices. The Senate scene is a riot in a 1 greater principles and of the threaten- 0Odd and Even License Parking Plan Offered To the Editor of The Star: Traffic experts continue to wrangle with the problem of congestion in the so-called downtown sections of big cities. Various regulations, ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous, are tried out, but the situation gets worse instead better. ‘There one fact that may as well be recognized and a start made from that point. You cannot put 5 gal- lons in a 1-gallon container, and there is not the surface area in the down- town section to accommodate as many as one-third of the cars seeking access to that area. The average city block, 500 feet square, will park about 100 cars paral- lel to the curb. In Washington the downtown section, in general, com- prises about 20 blocks from east fb west and about 20 from north to south. This is about 400 city blocks. Tre curb space in this section will park about 40,000 cars. Actually less than half that num- ber can be parked in the true center of town. As the plan I propose would take years to accomplish, it is suggested that, pending its accomplishment, a simple but obviously fair method of cutting this congastion in half would be to pro- hibit cars having an even license num- ber from using curb space for parking on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, while cars with odd numbers would be denied the priviledge on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. This sugges- tion may bring a smile, but on analysis you will find it is practicable and could be_enforced. In the permanent plan there is one, and only one, method that can be worked. A city block 500 feet square, devoted exclusively to automobile park- inz, would accommodate about 3,000 cars double decked. This would clear the cars from 30 city squares of park- ing parallel to the curb. The systematic acquisition of an en- tire city block of existing property at appropriate intervals, its condemna- tion and conversion into parking facili- ties would soon solve the parking prob- lem. The cost would be insignificant compared to the economic savings. These blocks could be so arranged that parking within a maximum of three blocks of a specific destination could be accomplished. It is believed that gas and oil concessions alone would pay the overhead on the opera- tion of this system. Add to this plan a system of arterial highways radiating from the center of the city which would be capable of emptying the downtown area in a few minutes and owning and operating a car would be a pleasure and a profit instead of a nuisance. ROBERT F. JONES. U. S. Apathy Toward Far East Deplored To the Editor of The Star: Have been watching with much pleas- ure your splendid editorial comments on the Far East. But they are too few and far apart, and the American peo- ple seem under the influence of an| opiate in this connection. Everybody is so preoccupied, it seems, with the financial and other troubles that now affect us that he has lost sight of ing clouds that are gradually being formed on the horizons of the future. America and the whole’ world are being shamelessly flouted by Japan, and we cower. There is an air in the world, and in this country especially, of a sort of generalized neurasthenic condition. Moral principles, solemn treaties, in- ternational trust seem no more to mat- ter, to arouse when violated but a feeble impotent reaction. National pride. bravery, moral sense, justice, na- tiongl future interests even, are being sacrificed to the earthen idol of the mess of porridge. The virility of the American people has been duiled, and | there are no Andrew Jacksons, no Roosevelts to arouse it. The leopard scattered cheap gifts—lid-closing gifts- and made a pet of itself until the world forgot it was a leopard. Does no one notice the disgraceful affronts to the League of Nations which are only too llable to lead to the loss of its influence and its destruction— and what then? Does no one feel the innate fanaticism in every overt action of “the leopard”? And does no one debate on a proposal to pension Paul Revere's horse, after measures for eco- | nomic recovery have been ruled out of | order. The big scream is “Alexander | Throttlebottom,” nominated and elected | Vice President unbeknown to himself | and to the country and who threads | through the play as a useless and un- | honored plece of Federal furniture. | “President John P. Wintergreen” es- | capes impeachment for breach of prom- | ise by announcing that he is an “ex- | pectant father,” while the Senate jazzes, “Prosperity is just around the corner.” * ok ok % From some one who apparently fol- lows these observations of the Washing- ton scene comes the following contribu- | | tion: “The other day a clerk in the | office of a Kansas Representative called | the Census Bureau and asked for the | figures on illiteracy in Kansas. On ac- | count of a poor telephone connection, the Census clerk did not get the inquiry clearly, and said: ‘Did you say illiteracy in Congress?” " * ook % Washington is host during the last week of the year to the annual meet- ings of a large number of national learned societies. It 1s said that as many as 3,000 men and women from all | parts of the country are in attendance. The landscape in a long time has not | been dotted with so many brains. The | societies, which are responsible for the promotion of most or the country's scientific, philosophical and cultural thought, choose the days between | Christmas and New Year for their coun- | cils of war, because most of their mem- bers, being attached to coilege and uni- versity faculties, are on leave. Another reason is that with Congress away the | Cupl},a.l atmosphere is more placid than | usual. % kX ‘The President’s Committee on Un- | employment Relief notes with satisfac- | tion that communities in various parts |of the Union are patterning after the | |example of the city of Rochester and Monroe County, N. Y., in coping with | jobless problems. City and county be- tween them have pledged the sum of | $6,000,000, to be spent within the next three months, for improvements to homes and factories and in the purchase of commodities, thus stimulating trade and industry. Eleven thousand citizens and corporations in the Rochester area have agreed each to expend from $1 to $125,000. Gov. Roosevelt has been asked to use his influence to induce other New York communities to adopt the Roches- ter plan. Indiana has just taken it up in broad outline. Tlinois is considering doing likewise, and so is the Chicago Assoclation of Commerce. * kK X In the Seventy-second Congress sits a record number of members of the American Legion—99 altogether in House and Senate. (Copyright, 1931 e Process Repeated. From the Christian Sclence Monitor. Pencil manufacturers, it is reported, consume 30,092,000 board feet of lumber every year. And then the pencil users have to do it all over again. ——o—t———— Save the Wardens. From the Dayton Daily News. _ Before long some reformer Will sug- gest that criminals be made to sign an agreement that they will not kidnap the warden or else be barred from prisons. | | ————————— Pretty Paradoxes. Prom the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. _ Another one of the pretty paradoxes is that of trafic officers breaking the speed laws to catch speeders—two others being buying drinks to catch bootleggers and. letting down the bars 0 witnesses Lo get evidence. consider that a 30,000,000 accretion to this most egotistic of powers will mean such a strengthening that America may soon be faced with equality of num- bers? Equipotence with the States, monopoly of all commerce and jndus- try in Eastern Asia, with the debauch and exploitation of China—these are the motives behind Korea first, now Manchuria, tomorrow inner Mongolia, then Chihli and whatever else may be required. And who will gainsay once they have Manchuria? Very truly, C. KLEARER. o Double Shifts Held Unemployment Cure To the Editqr of The Star: I believe that I have discovered a partial solution of the unemployment crisis. Wren the workers quit for the day (those who are building new build: ings, etc.) have night shifts of unem- ployed to take their places and work at night. This would put thousands of disemployed men throughout the Na- tion to work and place more money in circulation, which would soon start fac- tories employing more people. All that would be necessary to gut men to work at night would be big arc-lights such as the U. S| Army pos- sesses (to search for airplanes, etc.), and the money which taxpayers now pay for the transportation of detectives from city to city to watch unemploy- ment demonstrations and for extra po- lice protection, use of tear gas bombs, etc, would more than help to cover the expense. The entire cost would be far less than that of a battleship, and by putting myriad wheels of industry back into motion, would eventually pay every taxpayer a profit. Another nice feature of this program is that European countries might be influenced to follow the example set by us and alleviate their own unem- ployment woes, and still another fine thing about it is that every one can grasp this plan. It is not complicated | like Coin Harvey's ‘“free silver” plan or Gen. Coxey's “non-interest bearing bonds.” Our economic troubles are caused by us not adjusting ourselves quickly enough. to the revolutionary tempo of machine industry. Yet, Thomas Edison solved the problem when he invented the electric light. Henceforth man- kind must work all night as well as all day (in shifts of course) to avoid the eventual starvation of millions. ED. JAS. TRVINE. ————— Stricter Observance Of Traffic Laws Urged To the Editor of The Star: ' ‘Washington highways can be made safer ‘for motorists and pedestrians. The deaths, personal injuries and prop- erty damages occasioned by traffic acci- dents will be decreased substantially when right-of-way rules’ become better known and observed. We stand on the threshold of a new ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN. This great service i3 maintalned by The Evening Star for the benefit of its readers, who may use it every day without cost to themselves. All they have to do is ask for any information desired and they will receive prompt answers by mall. Questions must be clearly written and stated as briefly as possible. Inclose 2-cent stamp for return postage, and address The Evening Star Information Bureau, Frederic J. Haskin, Director, Washington, D. C. Q. What is the value f the invest- ments of motion picture stars in real property?—L. L A. Los Angeles statisticians figure that film stars’ investments in real property total about $20,000,000. Q. Does the bank have a duplicate key to all the lock boxes?—E. H. A. In most banks there are two keys to the safety deposit box. The depositor has one key and the bank the other. Neither key can open the box alone. Q. Is John Eliot’s Bible translated into an Indian language still in existence?—A. R. A. One of the copies of the first edition of John Eliot’s Bible is in the was published at Cambridge, Mass., in 1663. Q. How many musicians are there in the Marine Band?—M. C. A. There are 76. Q. What is known of the early life of Julius Caesar?—S. H. A. Little is known definitely con- cerning his childhood. It is said of his mother that she formed her son for the duties of a soldier and statesman. The tutor of Julius Caesar was M. An- tonius Gripho. When only 16 Caesar assumed the toga virilis, a token of manhood. Q. What Is the northernmost point in the United States?>—T. M. A. It is the Lake of the Woods sec- tion, in the State of Minnesota. Q. What material are African cape gloves made of?—J. S. R. A. Originally the leather was made from the hides of a species of South African wild pig. This is now a trade name applied to any pigskin gloves. Q. How early were people known in America who suffered from haemo- philia?>—H. M. C. A. An article on the subject was published by J. C. Otto in 1803. Oli- ver Appleton, who lived in Upswick, Mass., in the early part of the eight- person suffering from haemophilia of whom there is any record in the Unit- ed States. From this man there is a record of 15 of his descendants being bleeders. The direct transmission of the disease from parent to child is unusual. In the majority of cases it skips a generation. Q. Do member of Congress have free unlimited use of the mails?>—C. R. N. The Post Office Department says that free use of the mails by Congress- men must be for official business. Q. Are Indian students admitted free to Dartmouth College?—E. H. A. Boys of predominantly Indian blood who have succeeded in meeting the entrance requirements and have been selected for admission to Dart- mouth College are given free tuition. Q. What are the length and width of the Panama Canal?—E. P. A. The Panama Canal is 40.27 statute miles in length from shore line to shore line and 50.72 miles from deep water to deep water. The width of the canal is 500 feet in the sea level sec- tions, from 500 to 1,000 feet in Gatun Lake and not less than 300 feet in the Cut. Library of Congress. The first edition | eenth century, was the first bleeder or | Q. What are deductive and inductive logic?—W. P. H. The deductive method in logic iy the method of sclentific reasoning by which from assumed or established gen- eral principles concrete applications or consequences are deduced. Inductive logic is the act or process of reasoning | from a part to a whole, from particulars to generals, or from the individual to the universal. Q. What is Kaffir corn?—W. C. 8. A. Tt is a variety of Indian millet, Andropogon sorghum, cultivated | South” Africa. | —— Q. When was Wallace's “Ben Mur" | published?—L. I. R. A. In 1880. Q. To whom do the big falls of the | Parana_River belong?—A. B. A. The Pan-American Union says that they belong to Paraguay and Brazil, the middle of Altho Parana being the boundary. Q. How many pounds of milk are there in a gallon?—M. P. A. Milk averages 8 6-10 pounds to | the gallon. Q. Where was the Richardson Spite House?—M. E. A. The Richardson Spite House was located on the northwest corner of Eighty-second street and Lexington avenue. It was erected about 1885 by | Joseph Richardson on a plot 5 feet | by 102 after a quarrel with the ad- | jacent owner, who offered $1,000, while Richardson held out for $5,000. It {was demolished in 1915. | Q What kind of grass is planted around the Pan-American Building |that is growing so green this time of the year—C. W. M. | "A.The Pan-American Union says | thet the lawn in the grounds of that building is seeded with Italian rye and red top. The lawn is carefully kept and watered. . Who was the subject for Rey- nolds' painting called “The Age of Innocence”?—A. M. A. The picture is a_portrait of the painter's grandniece, Theophila Gwat- | kin, aged 6. Q. What is meant a foct ball game?—E. A. Clipping is throwing the body érr])m :)ghul:d across the leg or legs elow the knees of a player not carry- | ing the ball. 7 | by clipping in McC. Q. Why do airplane motors operate more efficiently early in the morning |than at any other time?—S. K. A. This is one of the mysteries of | mechanics which automotive enginee.s have vainly tried to solve. It is an | established fact that for a period slight- | ly before dawn at the earth’s surface | to an hour afterward an airplane motox operates at its highest efficiency. A | similar although modified effect is notevl for a like period immediately afte® sunset. Automobile motors on the | ground are affected, but in a lesser de- | gree. Q. Who_determines whether a poet | shall be buried in Westminster Ab- bey?—J. 8. C. A. There will be no more burials in ‘Westminster Abbey. The dean and the chapter have been the ones to de- termine who should or who should not be buried there. | — | Q. What was the origin of travelers’ | checks?—G. O. 8. . A In 1423, the Giro, a sort of clear- | ing house established in connection with | the Venetian banking system, operated | & system of credits entered on its books. | The owner of such a credit received a bill or check, which was. valueless in the hands of any but-the true owner. No robber or finder could cash it. For Its Suce Generous tribute is paid to Mil- waukee, whose financial condition is be- ing compared by the country with those of Philadelphia and Chicago, where city credit is so damaged by misman- aged finances that pay rolls have been affected and the meeting of other ob- ligations is a tragic problem. “Good government is Milwaukee's answer—efficient and economical gov- ernment,” declares the Buffalo Evening News, with the suggestion that the “lesson that Milwaukee has to offer should make a deep impression on cit- izens elsewhere.” The Evening News points out that while “some may at- tribute the fine showing of the Mil- waukee government to curtailment of service, the government there gives more service than is usually provided by American municipalities,” including “a Police Department which won the admiration of the Wickersham Commis- sion.” “As cities sow, so must they reap,” declares the Newark Evening News, with the explanation: “Philadelphia’s unpaid, high-grade Finance Commis- sion recommended, aff investigation, a city-county consolidation plan with a program of other reforms. The plan went to Harrisburg and was stepped on—principally, it is charged, by the city's delegation, under the orders cof the local political machine. That in- spired the local lack of confidence re- flected by the banks' objection to the city's borrowing habit and by the tax- payers’ march on the City Hall. Chaos is accumulating.” “Extravagance and waste” are charg- ed to the Philadelphia government by the Charleston (W. Va.) Daily Mail, with the conclusion that, “after all has been said and done, there is evident but one effective remedy, and this is an overhauling of administrative methods, the cutting out of wu,te and the institution of rigid economy.” Hold- ing that “what is happening in Chi- cago and Philadelphia is only an ex- aggerated picture of imminent condi- tions in scores of other cities,” and that “the two cases are similar in that both I are essentially the creation of extrava- gant, wasteful and inefficient methods, the Providence Journal declares, “If ever there has been a time of impres- rigorous economy in city government, it is now.” ERE Widening the comparisons, the Sa- vannah Morning News states: “Coming closer home, in South Georgia, Albany, with 15,000 people, reported itself in as good shape as Milwaukee—in fact, bet- ter, for it has per capita a bigger cash balance, after everything is paid, than Milwaukee. The hard times can't be charged with both sets of conditions. Something else factored and featured. In Atlanta, it may be remembered, no telling how many city officlals were tried and some of them sentenced for grafting and corruption. Philadelphia has been notoriously a city of waste, ex- travagance. crooked politics, and no doubt graft and corruption—under a system in which the people allowed a bunch of selfish ‘politicians’ to run things their own way. In Chicago year, one in which local highways will be saturated with vehicles due to the presence of many visitors. Accordingly, a suggested New Year resolution is the following: I resolve to study and observe the right-of-way rules, always ylelding the right of way to whoever may be en- titled thereto. Traffic accidents do not merely hap- pen. They are the effects of certain causes—usually faulty operation, oc- casionally mechanical defects. Hence we would do well to concern ourselves with the causes. A prolific cause of trafic accidents is failure to conform to right-of-way rules. To Tace into an intersection and through a stream of traffic or to disregard a stop sign or a red traffic light is to be unfair, in addition to creating hazards for self and others. EDWIN 8. HEGE, Chairman Special Committee on Trafic, Eederation of Cilzens’ ASCIaGRs, there has been the wide-open revela- tion of the iniquitous Thompson regime that so sapped the city that desperate property owners by hundreds of thou- sands struck and refused to m‘my taxes to the city at all—dec! to see their own money further wasted, stolen, handed over to the gang.” “There are men,” comments the Santa Monica Evening Outlook, “who make the running of a city their only business. Either they are in office habitually, or they are pulling wires to fill the offices with those they know will take orders from them. Often the administration is so weak that it is not the real administration at all. The real government is unseen and perhaps unknown. It is not pleasing to know that Philadelphia has been added to Chicago as a financial blunderer. It causes some wonder as to the situation sive need for honesty, efficiency and | in other cities and at the fact tha} citi- | kns Temain quisscent fhotr mie, Tribute Paid to Milwaukee essful Financing stance goes to fatten cunning and un- productive broods that have no interest in the public welfare.” “Milwaukee shows that an American city, with honest administration, can keep costs down and efficlency up,” says the Walla Walla Dally Bulletin, observing that it “boasts of having all its bills paid, $4,000,000 in the bank, and looking for a means of reducing the taxes of its people, while it has spent, this year, hundreds of thousands in unemployment relief and has car- ried on public works as usual” The New York Herald Tribune offers the explanation: “The exhaustion of Phila delphia’s credit and her consequent in- ability to meet her public pay roll are the outcome of a condition which in its major aspects is common to all our cor- ruptly governed and wasteful citles. | Her tax receipts have fallen far below their figure for more prosperous years. Her budget, meanwhile, has shown no such drop. Ruled by a predatory ma- chine, with little sense of responsibility to the taxpaying constituency, she has gone on spending money as if the de- pression were non-existent. * * * How= ever, the day of reckoning that has come to the City of Brotherly Love may | prove a blessing in disguise to her and possibly to us. It may cause the fact to dawn on the public mind that the kind of government which our big cities put up with is an extravagance no longer to be endured and lead to ® housecleaning long overdue.” A N “Philadelphia should consider the di- vergent examples of Milwaukee and Chi- cago and make a choice,” thinks the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin. “Chicago exemplifies the condition this cit; been heading for. Its degradation is almost complete. Its tax system has broken down as a result of political manipulation. It has no money and no credit. Its school teachers have long been paid in depreciated scrip when paid at all. Now its mayor announces that the only means left to avoid de- fault on the city’s bonds is to cut off the salaries of municipal employes and | defer payments due on other obliga- . * * * The revenues of this city | are inadequate to support such expen- ditures as political profligacy proposes, | but they are sufficient, if wisely used, | to maintain efficient government. Phil- adelphia need fear the future only if it refuses to mend its ways. The tax- | payers favor—indeed, they demand— | such amendment. They are sick not only of malfeasance, but of incompe- | tence in office. A new executive dea’ is coming, but there must be better legislative playing. The alternative is not a slump to Chicago's status, bu attainment of something like Milwau * kee's standards through a municipa : revolution.” “It is at the polls,” in the judgmen of the Chicago Daily News, “that Mil waukee seems to have it over Chicago When Milwaukeeans go to the poil they elect officials who can be trustec to spend the city's money as they would spend their own. For over 15 year Milwaukee's affairs have been adminis tered by competent officlals—the mayor ! ]bemg & Socialist and the city control- {er An anti-Socialist—who handle city unds on a business basis. In three years they expect to have every city de- It present policies are main- tained, the city will from debt in :wy yelu."”e S e ———— Will Forego Campaign. From the South Bend Tribune. A Kentuckian was injured when a locomotive frightened his horse. The horse owners, however, are no longer SO numerous as to conduct a successful campatgn for abolition of locomotives. 2 AR Reciprocity Plus. Prom the Fort Wl‘;ne Ntv):—!ntm:l, Reciprocity is nowhere so familiarly exchange of greeting oWn a8 in the