Evening Star Newspaper, January 29, 1932, Page 8

THE EVENING STAR. WASHINGTON, THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. FRIDAY January 29, 1932 THEODORE W. NOYES. .. Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company Business Cffice 1ith St And. Pennsyivar New York Ofice 110 Chicago Office. Lake Mic Eiropean Ofice 14" Recent Ave 42nd 8t an Bullding .. London, Rate by Carrier Within the City. ne Evel 45¢ per month he Evenin Uenen 4 Bund The Frenjfg and 8 8 Sundeys _60c per montn 65 per mon'1 ¢ per cop e end of each month y mail or telephone Rate by Mail—Payzble in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. aily and Sunday £10.00: 1 mo.. 85 | aily onlv £6.00. 1 mo . 50c | unday only $4.00 1 mo.. 40c ! 1yr 151 cap'tal. Neither side went to Chicagc in the spirit of “fighting it out.” The outcome represents the conside view of the ccnferees that what ha been decided upon is the best solution for the time being, of & question thai had to be answered. No one can become enthuslasti. about a reduction of wages on any body’s part. The fact that there wil be such a reduction is a bitter pill for it denoies more than the actual losc of ten per cent in wage scales that for the most part merely provided the means of sub: It ns that there wil ~tions in other wage that naver reached even the relstize height of ratlroad pay. Bt it alco signals the fact that one of the Nation's greatest industries is facing, with a minimum of emotional resenument or display, what many re- gard as the inevitable consequence of the deflation and what many believe All Other States and Canada. { nday £12.00° 1 mo.. $1.00 18.00. 1 mo. 73c i $5.00: Lmo’l 60| inday only 1 3 Member of the Associated Press. |! ted P repu this paper and ed herein. All rh I cispatches herei s exclusively on of all The Assoct use {o: biication of J that | when slight | With the ma wift procedu M:nchutia 1y as cause me ara of an| <t the Chi-| thrce Eastern d st Shang- that have ge of demands in t! 1 has mo series of actions outstripped the ex and concessions. Evidently it is the purpose of the Tokio government to force China into agreements quite be- yond the original requirements respect- ing the boycott. Seizure of territory. with bombing and uncounted slaying. followed the climax of Wednes day, when apparently all the demands of Japan had been met. Shanghai i¢ now in a state of The gover ment at Nanking has become demoral- zed as yet war the position 1°s a4 mat- It is clearly ir nment will enter tion of nounced with the U definitiol power v stationed in ment, as are British there for mi will is to whic Amy troc the Internitional fcrces. They are | ance of order they be augmented strength? This cannot be of a positive entry of this country into the embrogio. There is no public for participation in the Far East, beyond the matic protest. T United States in that area are ial. If Japan's protection to those interests have been given. are not to be trusted must be made respecting th ¥ of the Government of this the premises. The decision be hastily reached, certainly | not consideration of the | responsibility thet will be entailed by | & conclusion to participate in force. Is the Monroe Doctrine involved ir | this Far Eastern situation? It is diffi-| cult to see wherein it is in any manner or degree affected by the effort of Japan to secure guarantees of rights from China, sssuming that such 35 the single purpose of this present | m nt enterprise. Participation United States in the maintenance the International Settlement at in no sense ekin to the | by this Government of | the right of protection of the States of | South and Central America aga foreign ag fon, In this crisis the League of Nations | #s evidently not effective, even as it | failed to be effective in the Manchurian | situation. Japan is proceeding with its program regardless of that body of in- ternational sentiment. which is the ut- | most that the League can be styled in| view of its inability to compel orderly | procedure and to preserve the peace. Japan’s assurances that all American rights will be protected and preserved may not be rejected without giving af- front to the government at Tokio. Are Great Britain and the United States, alone of the powers signatory to the treaties for the renunciation of war, to assume the burden of enforcement? That question is paramount in this present gravely critical situation. Again §t is to be stressed that American pub- Yic opinion will not justify the assump- tion of the role of intervener in force, either jointly with Great Britain or | alone, to compel—if compulsion should be possible—Japan to respect the for- | mula of procedure laid down in those/ treaties, to which it has subscribed The United States has been stead- fastly the friend of China in her| troubles during a long period of years It is the advocate of the “open-door” | policy in that land. It is today the | friend of China, but it cannot be brought into this present quarrel, how- ever the weight of justice may rest in the scales, without doing infinitely more harm to its own welfare than good to the unfortunate land that is now beset by a militant neighbor, evidently bent upon taking advantage of China’s weak- ness to fmpose its will upon it. rican to war done st feeling in America ub'es in the point of diplo- of the ! entirel ances which | rests on must not trade of maintenance Here is a headline of which Amer eans ought never become wearied “Forest Firebug Gets Heavy Sentence.” The Railroad Wage Agreement. of the Chirago agree- raflroad management and railroad labor, represented by twenty unions, are of minor impor- tance when considered in relation to the fact that there has been an agree- ment. For the mere act of agree- ment is & thing of great significance. | Twenty years ago it would have been | out of the question. Today it is| marked by & voluntary acceptance on the part of railroad labor of & wage reduction of ten per cent, without some of the partially compensatory features sought by labor. Yet the employers of rallroad labor will not regard the| outcome of the negotiations as a vic- tory on their part any more than the Jabor interests will upon the sgreement as their defeat. The Chi- eago proceedings of the last two weeks have been marked throughout by high- 1y intelligent approach to a problem i eqmmon alike o lsbor snd %o 4 to The details went between look { eolested ;153\!‘ | coming. | American business to be the most important single essen- tial clement to recovery. The conse- quence of the deflation, or depression, | or whatever one chooses to call it, is e widened gap between cost of pro- duction and profit. The essential thing ery is to close that gap, to re- | on a new level; in other words | balance the budget and start out again. The readjustment process has been going on. The rallroad agreement will hasten it. If the wage reduction is the last resort, confidence should pring from the fact that it has been iniellecnily and courageously Lenefit of the wege re- ard balancing of budgets is on in operating costs to the of appreximately $230,000,000. approved by the Commerce Commission on commodities, and effective | until March, 1932, are expected to vield from $100.000,000 to $150,000,000. The total can be viewed in relation to the approximately $400,000,000 which the railroads expected might be the yield of a blanket fifteen per cent increase in freight rates and which was then considered as essentlal to rallroad re- covery, but which was refused by the | Interstate Commerce Commissicn 3 ——— | adopi The pr luction tor a redu rail The Interstete increased rat The Tax Decision. The decision of the Democratic mem- bers of the House Ways snd Means Committce not to impose retroactive taxes in the measure which they are about to draft will be pleasirg to the individual taxpayer and business generally. Poseibly not to increase the tax levics on incomes and business con- | ducted in 1931, upon which taxes ar pald in 1932, may be temporizing with the situation and merely postponing the evil day. But whether such be the e most of the taxpayers will sigh v ief, believing that the tax | rates on incom> and business in the last year will not be boosted. The nd-! ministration, in its program for tax revision to meet the growing govern- mental deficit, had recommended that the tax increases b> made retroactive. | Tiere is pressing need for increased | governmental revenue. The Treasury to e or not | deficit is growing and necessarily so Ycu merely say, “Some guest, no doubt, because the of government | keep right on while revenues fall off Just how far into the future the Gov- | ernment can project the dey of reckon- ing remiins to be seen. In some quar- | expenses | ters the opinion is held that the time The grafter great, the pilferer small, to act is now, and that it is foolish weak and shortsighted to postpone the increase of tax levies. On the | other hand, the argument is advanced | that business is struggling to get on | its feet and that to increase the Fed- | eral tax burden on the people and on business, #s applied to incomes and | bY | business of last year, would be a severs|ator Sorghum. “He doesn't look well |in & frock coat and a high hat” blow. No one wishes to retard the re- turn of business. But for the iast five or six months it hes been evident that | increased Federal tax levies would be needed to meet the deficit in part at that such increases were surely It is idle to contend that and the American people did not have some forewarning of what was coming and that they had that warning during the last year. The American Government today has huge fixed charges growing out of the bonded indebtedness of the country and | out of the necessity of providing for war veterans and their dependents. There is no way of curtailing these fixed charges. Other expenses of the Government may be cut, perhaps many millions of dollars. But such cuts are, after all, a drop in the bucket when it | comes to meeting a $2,000,000,000 deficit. | The country will have to face the need of increased taxes. | The Democrats of the House Ways and Means Committee are not unmind- ful of the situation and the necessity of meeting it. But they have ranged themselves on the side of those who believe that with a little more breathing space business will revive, and with the revival of business will come & new flow | of revenue into the Pederal Treasury. Their decision not to make the tax in- creases retroactive may stick, especially if the tax bill passes the House, as it is expected to do, with the retroactive provision stricken out. g ————— A California gunner killed a teal duck and, on cleaning it, discovered no fewer than seven gold pieces. That must be the species involved in the old adage about “making ducks and drakes of one’s money."” — e The “Dance” Marathon. Washington's most disgracefil “sport” spectacle has reached its inglorious con- clusion. For nearly fifty-five days the “dance battle of the century,” as its pro- moters so elegantly termed a most sordid event, went on. Who won? Who cares? No credit is due to any one. The sooner the whole affair is forgotten the better. It was a blot on the Capital City to per- mit such an exhibition. Boys and girls, some of them in their teens, dragged themselves around an arena while morbid-minded “customers’ shouted their conception of raucous glee, Little children of two, three and four skipped over circus seats in the spectators’ gal- Jery while their mothers gazed popeyed at the so-called dancers. Nickels, dimes and quarters were cossed to the con- testants who particularly pleased the fancy of the crowd and & wild scramble ensued for the elusive easins, which under the rules of the contest was “con- tinuous motion.” Money money, money was the slogan of this sad, sad commentary on civili- zation. The promoters wanted it, and the contestants wanted it. The dancer who was so exhausted while the music was going on that he had to be carried, or apparentiy so, by his pariner ¥n & Dlimit in providin’ moet undignified position suddenly re- turned to alert activity as soon s the vorfod for hawking his photographs hrough the crowd was announced. The way these people could reach and stretch to grasp the coin of the realm was wonderful. “Come on down to the Auditorium. It does not seem possible (hat this greatest battle of the century can last beyond tonght,” shouted the promoters over the radio two weeks be- | fore the thing was through. And ‘come on down” they did, flocks of them, to watch the unhappy-looking “dancers” struggle through the endless hours. Ot course, it was “enterlainment” | galore. Two women could be admitted o 'see the fun for the price of one| before tour o'clock in the afternoon There was & marriage, a tooth-pulling | and public treatment for injuries suf-} fered by the contestanis. The man-| agement went even further with its de- site to please. It transferred the; “training quarters” to the dance floor, | and those fortunate enough to be on hand at the time could—think of it!— gaze upon the recumbent figures on | white cots while they took their allot- | ted sleeping period. 1f there is no law at present in the District to prevent a repetition of such an affalr, there should be, and it is distinctly up to the Commissioners to take action before some enterprising promoters decide that this city of “cul- ture” is an easy mark for further in- human and disgraceful exhibitions. oo Cregon desires to have a better ave- nue in the Na'lonal Capital named in | her honor than the narrow, two-blocks- long east-and-west thoroughfare situ- ated a little north of Dupont Circle. No one blames her. If the change is made, and the street referred to needs & new title, “Federal Contribution Street” | 1s respectfully suggested. ———— | “The genesis of war,” it is profoundly stated by one philosopher, “is shown to ' be not in the disorders due to an un- controllable momentum, but in avoidable disturbances of the mechanism of prog- ress.” In other words, the well known monkey-wrench. I s It seems that once, in the pre-radio days, Floyd Gibbons, in company with | a single camel, was isolated in the | Mongolian desert two hundred m|les; from anywhere. Ones heart goes out to that camel ‘There are said to be “seven (winn"l smong 150 pupils in a Lancashire, Eng- | 'and, school. Wait & minute—there | must be one set of triplets to make it | come out seven, . ——— SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON Our Softening Speech. “Twas “kleptomania” that of yore Oceasioned much dis~css, But now we speak with even more Restraint and tenderness When something that you left about Quite strangely disappears Was hunting souvenirs.” They do not look on your display With avaricious eyes; They merely want to take away 8Some token they can prize. Keep getting through the years A lot they'll never need at all— They're hunting souvenirs. Distinguishing Marks. “Do you think that man is & natural born orator?” “I am sure he is not,” answered Sen- Using Up Material. “Why is not your nation more musi- cal?”® “Well” answered the American, “we undoubtedly have good voices. But I suppose we use most of them up cheer- ing at pase ball games.” Compensation. Compensation’s a law under which, ‘twill befall, Things average up right and proper. The fish that he got was exceedingly small, But the story he told was a whopper. At Crimson Gulch. “Don't you think you ought to im- prove your city by putting up some big public buildings?” “We're afrald to,” answered Three- Finger Sam. “You see, we've gone the a punishment fur hoss stealin’. We couldn't find nothin" to fit graft.” The Quest. We are looking around for a capable man With principles stalwart and hearty ‘Who is sure to endeavor the best that he can To come to the aid of his party. He needn't have cash. He may wear a | mustache, Though whiskers would probably fret him, This much we can promise without being rash— He is sure to be great when we get him. We're taking no chances. Determined are we On finding & prize and a treasure. On specifications and plans we'll agree For a candidate made up to measure. There's many a man of inferior skill Who would gladly rush in if we'd let him, But we're waiting for 6ne who will just fill the bill— And he’s sure to be great when we get him. “Sometimes,” said Uncle Eben, “a man t'inXs he's got a clear conscience when he’s only got a careless mem'ry.” And Tt Rhymes With Bock. From the Omaka World-Herald. Representative Baldrige wants to per- mit the sale of beer to turn the Amer- jeans from hard liquor and make us like the Germans. From hic to hoch. S CF. Legal Digest. From the Ashiand Dally Independent. However, the laws should not have teeth enough to bite off more than they can chew. ———— Frozen too Long. |be present. From ths Arkansas Gazetie (Little Rock). Investigators find that milk can be kept in cold storage indefinitely. That's the way a lot of the milk of human Iindness 18 Reoph THIS Washing the hands Is such & prosaic | task that few give it any thought. | Yet it is one of the biggest little| jobs of the average day. Like most ordinary actions, be_overdone and underdone. Those who wash their hands too| often, in a given time, come under the classification of medical cases | Those who do not use soap and water enough In this respect are not as clean as they ovght to be, both for their own good and that of olhers. We speak not here of those whose work calls for grease and grime. They | might as well let their hands go until | they eat. For them there are any| number of special cleansing prepara- tions. There are hundreds of people, how- ever, who handle papers, typewriter carbons, etc., etc, whose hands be- come quite solled during the day. The habit of frequent hand lavings will redound to their physicel and mental credit and most of them have found this out | Hence the toll of towels. Papers smeared with fingerprints are neither necessary nor desirable. It is best to wash the hand L | This simple act is both practical and symbolical. both physical and intel- lectual. It even has spiritual rami- fications. ~ Since the earliest times i has had a special significance As the hands are, so is the state of mind, or the heart, as the ancients suid. Almost all races have held the rite show cleanness of mind and heart. We use the expression, “caught red-handed.” to mean apprehended in the act When someone come: into a cas® “with clean hands” it does not mean that he hes used soap and water, Hu that he brings no hidden guile with him For average daily use one may dis- pense with the inner meanings of this | yite and stick to the plain, evident facts. But in passing it may be worth | while to look into the condition of the person whose hand washings become & mania. This is a form of psychic disease well known to medical men. The word “psyche,” or soul, is used very Joosely in this construction. The psychologists and psychiatrists really | mean the mental aspects when they talk learnedly about the “psyche.” It is evident that there may be a transference of the idea of physical uncleanliness to the mind and that this in turn may induce the victim to wash his hands whether they need it or_not Tie tcst, then, of the need for such procedure 18 whether the hands really are soiled. This is wherc no second nerson cen enter. The feel of the hands is even of more importance than the visual aspects Not all types of soil leave smudges Olls and the like are peculiarly objec- tlonabl: fo persons whom their more stolid brethren are likely to call “fin- icky €1ght traces of stickinese, as most apt to be left on the fingcrs after eating candy, no matter how careullv handled are more unpleasant to many people than ink blobs It will be rnecessary. then, for such persons to exercise their great Ameri- can privilege of frecdcm and to wash their hands upon such occasions. Rightly done, the rit: takes only a few minutes. It is somewhat surpris- ing to note now many persons there are who fail to realize that this simple procedure requires a certain amount of skill. Hasty hand washing mav do as- tonishingly little to remove dirt, and it can 1 to | he possesses. D, ERIDAY AND THAT . TRACEWELL. leave the hands In worse condition than before. Most of this is due to carelessness, combined with the queer state of mind which tells its possessor that il simple acts are above the use of the brain. But there are few things a human being does in the daily round which he may not do better by using such mind as The mam sin. in this common faflure, is the belief that small things are trivial things, and therefore utterly unworthy of tne attention of the mature mind. * X X * The seeds of the greatest plants are small things, yet from them come glants. Acorns are small, but mon- strous oaks grow from them. The idas of all inventions are little, in themselves, but what mighty things spring from them! Milifons of men are given jobs from & tiny idea which once sprang into being in & single hu- man being’s brain. In the daily life it is the small acls, called for by the mcment, which per- ‘haps play the largest part in making life what it ought to be and what it is if their importance is not forgotten. God save us from these beings who deal only in “important” mattersl Are they not bores of the first water, most of these “single-tracked” men and| women who have no time left for the happy, innocent small things of life? e One may be an artist in washing the | hands s well as in applying thick | paincs to thicker canvas. | It requircs an appreciation by the mind of the lathering qualities of soap. | It necessitates an uncerstanding, to| some extent, at least, of the chemistr! of soap making. A recourse to an en- cyclopedia may seem a strange prelude to the wash basin, but it is a sensible one, for, once done, it is done forever. | It need not be a daily practice. Reserve | that for the towel. To know something of the history and chemistry of soap making is to under- stand better what soap does and how it does it. And, since understanding helps | appreciation, in any line, this knowl-| edge means that the washer of hands | sees more in & cake of soap than most folks | To the unstudied wight, a piece of | soap is a plece of soap, but to the | man who knows the difference between | bars made by one process and those | made by another it may spell a great business remance PR | The practical side of the matter calls for a thorough lathering, and an even | more thorough rinsing, and a still greater drying Many sre extremely careless about the latter process. They grab a towel, | and give the hands a few rubs. whereas what s needed is a close application of the cloth until all, not some, of the moisture is absorbed. This meins a few more seconds of time. To hear some pople talk about | wasting time one would think time were | 4 comm.dity measured out by a| meter. While & pretty thesis may be built up on that theme (and was. by the late Arnold Bennett) it is a bit of sophistry. after all. What we call time—and this is a secret—is something which does not exist at all, as a matter of fact. There | isn't any such thing. Time past is gone, | and time futvre is not here. All that is | here is now—and it immediately dis- appears into nothingness. Time. the | process, is non-existent. So, take what | does not exist if vyou please, to help | you wash your hands ing, and gain much. You waste noth- | WASHINGTO Senator “Jim" Davis of Pennsylvania back this week from a trip ®iwough bis State, appeared quite unruffied by all the commotion over his position on the prohibition issue and specters of opposition in the Republican senatorial primary. He seemed to have no wor- ries on that score. He was still chuc- kling over incidents of the recent inv sion of Washington by an unzmployed army from Pittsburgh and how he paid for '30.000 gallons of gasoline to help move the army back to Pennsylvanii while “Uncle Andy” Mellon paid for a | special train for the same worthy caus2. The Davis gasoline was bought from a Mellon Guif Oil station, tco, Friends of Senator Davis insist that there is no ambiguity or uncertainty | about his stand with respect to prohi- bition and never has been. As a mem ber of the Harding-Coolidge-Hoover cabinet he had no option in the matter. He stood upon the Republican platform and on the Hoover declaration of the “noble experiment,” though by nature a liberal. Davis declared, too, in his campaign two years ago that he would stand squarely behind the Wickersham Commission investigation and report. Seven of th: eleven members of the commission declered without reserva- tions against national prohibition. Mr. Hoover in effect rejected this adverse verdict, but Davis, according to his friends, is prepared to accept that ver- dict of the majority of the Wicker- shamers. A stitement from the Sen- ator setting at rest all present uncer- tainties on this score is expected soon. *0k ko It is wont to be said in jest that members of the Supreme Court seldom | die and never resign. Be that as it may, into the discussion of the succes- sor to Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes has crept considerable speculation re- garding other future vacancies in the court. The possibility of the retire- | ment of Justice George Sutherland has been mentioned on account of his ealth. There is no present basis for any such report, according to his friends. The justice will pass his seventieth birthday on March 25, but it will be October before he has completed 10 years' service on the court. The privilege of retirement on full pay | accrues after reaching age 70 and after | 10 years' service, but both factors must | Justice Brandeis has been | eligible for retirement for the past 5 vears and Justice Van Devanter for the past 2 vears. Justice McReynolds. | who has been in the court for nearly 18 years, will reach age 70. within a few days. EREIE | Senator Claude A. Swanson, only congressional member of the American delegation to the Geneva Disarmament Conference, will be on the air at 6 p.m. Eastern standard time, next Wednesda: February 3, speaking from Geneva, and his address broadcast throughout the United States over the Columbia net- work. The Virginia Democrat will give a personal picture of the opening of the conference. Senator Swanson is the ranking Democratic member of both the Foreign Relations and the Naval Affairs Committee of the Senate and will be chairman of the Foreign Rela- tions Committee, succeeding Senator Wwilliam E. Borah, if, as now appears probable, the Democrats organize the| next Senate. Xk The feminine invasion of the State | Department Foreign Service has failed | to measure up to expectations. When | Miss Lucille Atcheson won an appoint- ment in the Foreign Service in 1924, the first member of her sex to be so honored, the feminists envisioned the dawn of the day when women and men would carry on diplomacy hand in hand in equal rank and in equal numbers. 1In the six years that have since elapsed there has been a grand total of six ;guns women to gain entrance to the reign Service. The maximum in the service at any one time has been four, and of the six there are now only two survivors. They are Miss Frances E. Willis, appointed in 1927, and now the third secretary in the American lega- tion at Stockholm, Sweden, and Miss | Constance R. Harvey, now vice consul | at Milan, Italy, who was appointed in 1930. * ok ox % Sir Wilmott Lewis, Washington cor- respondent of the London Times and beloved and honored member of the Capital's journalistic corps, who was & year or 0 ago in recogni- OBSERVATIONS || | escapable | tion of his outstanding attainments and achievements, will be the principal speaker at the Jchns Hopkins Univer- sity Commemoration day exercises at | Baltimore next month. = The celebra tion of the fifty-sixth anniversary of | the university's founding will take place on February 22. The exercises will be held in Peabody Conservatory. Portraits of several of Johns Hopkins | notables will be unveiled. Sir Wil- | mott’s rare giits us a raconteur and | his happy felicity in public address are widely appreciated in Washington. but his platform appearances have been | infrequent. A rare treat is in store for the Johns Hopkins celebrants. ok Speaker of the House Garner and Mrs. Jack Garner, honest Texans both, | whose distaste for pomp and ceremony, social affectations, swallow tails and satin trains is mutual and deep seated, were among the notable absentees at this week's White House reception to the members of the House. Repre- sentative Oscar De Priest of Chicago, only colored member of Congress, and Mrs. De Priest, whose diamond brooch lent an added touch of brilliance, were among those present. They passed down the receiving line early, and after greet- ings by the President and Mrs. Hoover they tarried in the east room, where the crowd converged and where music and dancing were in order. If the Garner presidential boom keeps up its present pace, the Texan may live to see the time when a top hat by day and a boiled shirt by night will be in- and when White House soirees will be one of his regular chores. FRa i Mrs. Dolly Gann is indefatigable in her speech-making activities on behalf of Mr. Hoover. She is a loyal and sturdy campaigner. At Omaha, Nebr., one night this week she is reported to have fairly swept her audienc off their feet with her panegyric of fhe Presi- dent. “As a result of constructive measures President Hoover has taken, she said, “the great masses of the peo- ple have never discovered that they were in hard times and have gone about their mirths and their employments without ever having found it necessary to limit in any degree their standards of living. To see his strong. inspiring and steadying influence withdrawn from international councils would be an im- measurable calamity, not only for our country, but to the whole world.” (Copyright, 1932) e Hoover Economy Plea Is Held Jeffersonian From the Spokane Spokesman-Review. When President Hoover ued his earnest appéal & few weeks ago for economy and retrenchment and declared that “we cannot squander ourselves into prosperity,” had he psychic means of divining that a few hours later the gentleman that he defeated in the presidential race in 1928 would be ad- vocating, at a keynote banquet of the Democratic party, a huge Federal bond issue for public improvements to spread jobs, declaring that it would loosen money “now cared for in sugar bowls, between mattresses and in safety de- posit boxes and restore purchasing power, to benefit all along the line” With all due respect to ex-Gov. Smith and the other speakers at the Jackson day banquet, we yet believe that President Hoover is a better ex- ponent than they of some principles of Jefferson, Jackson and Cleveland. How little those great leaders knew, when they were inveighing against extrava- gance in Government, what would be coming down the century, and its cul- mination in 1932, in widely concerted raids on the Federal Treasury for un-; told billions! Jefferson and Jackson thought in terms of thousands, or at most hu dreds of thousands. The word “billions was not in their vocabulary. A - “Babe” Gets Plent From (he Dayton Daily News. Bankers urge people not to trust their money to the old sock, but look what Babe Ruth gets out of his. S Boys Will Be Boys. Prom the Ashland (Ky.) Daily Independent. ‘The thing that eventually killed Me- thuselah, no-doubt, was worrying about. the 226th young Change in Attitude Toward Crime Urged To the Editor of The Star: Policy holders of banditry insurance in the District recently paid the under- world gangster & $14,000 tribute when four machine-gun bandits took that sum from a Washington bank. The in- surance companies do not and should not lose. Their losses are prorated among policy holders. Watch for a premium increase for this type of in- surance, The personnel in the average bank has strict instructions to offer no re- sistance during a hold-up. The gang- ster knows this and carries his ma- chine gun to overcome resistance from outside and unexpected sourced over which the bank has no control. This policy of non-resistance and absolute relience on insurance replacing money losses has made bank banditry easy, While insurance costs are mounting higher and higher. On January 11, 1932, the premium rate for rural com- munities in nine Middle Western States went to §10 per $1,000 of msur;nce. This is all charged to the cost ol do- ing business in that community. Collectively business s to be con- demned for this policy, which con- | tributes to such a large degree to the $2.000.000,000 crime bill the country pays annuslly. Unless this attitude changes the cost of conducting legiti- mate business will be prohibitive. insurance mania has brought us to the place where the prosecution of & cap- tured bandit often fals because of the apathy in the testimony of his victim, | if it 1s at all possible to get a plaintiff nto court Our ancestors cared a whole lot more about hanging horse thieves their horse beck. , Two remedies are suggested. fist is a standing reward i every community that is large enough to entice bandits and their confederates to :queal on each other. ‘The trickery, and soon no four would trust each other enough to work together. Add to the reward certain parole privileges and organized crime |as it now functions would be dealt a | terrific blow. The second is tear gas. the outstanding crime-prevention engi- neers in the country, including tne protective division of the American Bankers' Association and the National Board of Surety and Casualty Under- writers, have stated that tear gas is the greatest single step that has ever been taken for the protection of banks and business concerns 8gainst ban- di'ry. Guns and police have had to be abandoned as protective measures, for they simply Invite gunplay at the cost of innocent lives. The killer type bandit has shown his utter disregard for gun protection, for he enters the premises to be robbed without warn- ing, gets the drop with @ superior weapon, and is willing to shoot it out either with guards or the police re- sponding to a central alarm. If the lady depositor who walked into the Washington bank the other day while the hold-up was In progress had been a uniformed policeman, off duty mak- ing a pay-day deposit. the sight of his uniform would have been the signal for a gun battle, with no telling how many lives lost _ Statistics show that bandits never knowingly attack @ bank equipped with tear gas, for they cannot fight it. The gas blinds them and renders their guns | useless. It has often bandits being captured. The tear gas is utterly harmless, as evidenced by the action of the accident insurance people resulted in the existing policies. and it persists on the premises for not more utes. It is modern and efficient pro. tection and it is bound to become uni. versally used. When it does a bank as it is now at night. Above all, we need more backbone and a change of attitude toward such crimes. Business needs to care more about bringing the criminal to justice and protecting human lives than it does about getting checks from indemnity Wsurance. ROBERT F. JONES, —— Suggests Bantam Autos Parked in Double Decks | | To the Editor of The Star A Government employe goes to his office in one of three ways—he walks, or rides in street cars, or drives his au- tomobile. When he walks he monopo- lizes about three or four feet of public highway; when he rides in a street car he monopolizes much less space if he has to stand up or is fortunate enough to get a seat. In either of these two ways, his monopoly of public space has ended when he arrives at his destina- tion. When he rides in his own car, the size of which is not less than 6 feet wide to 13 feet long and more, he mo- nopolizes anywhere around 80 to 100 square feet of public space, and not only for the few minutes it takes him to go to work, but for eight consecutive hours while he parks his car in the street. For the Government to try to solve the problem of parking these cars by | building huge garages seems a waste of money and of precious ground space. Why does a man monopolize such an amount of public space? Simply be- cause a car bullt to take along the whole family is wastefully used to carry one single person. Count them —six cars out of seven have only one pas- senger. The size of parking places cannot be increased at will. The size of cars can and should be considerably reduced. Let American ingenuity devise & small four-wheeled seat with a motor under the seat, the whole of which would not cover more than 18 square | feet of ground space by measuring not more than 3 feet wide to 6 feet long and about 5 feet high. Then it would be the easiest thing to line up such tiny cars in small spaces and even have | platforms 6 feet high as double-decker arrangement. With the much smaller space required to maneuver such cars into place, eight to ten times as many cars could be parked in the space re- quired now. Of course. no private enterprise would dare go against the weakness of Ameri- can people for bigger and bigger cars. ‘The Government, which does so much to help the public in general problems of one kind or another, should go ahead | and offer a substantial money prize for | the best designed individual inclosed motor seat, comfortable, inexpensive and of a simple mechanism, with & speed of about 35 miles an hour. It would pay the Government in Wash- | ington to contract for many thousands, of these cars, turn them over to its em- ployes at cost plus, then furnish park- ing space for only that size of cars, l Our than they did about getting | This would | | #ppeal to their inherent cowardice and | bandits i Some of | than 30 min-, | agement understan ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN. When troublesome questions arise| avail yourself of the service of this de- | E-n.ment. It costs you nothing—you | ave oniy to send 2 cents for postage | on the personal letter you will receive in | {reply. Any question on any subject, pro- | vided it does not ask for legal, medical o financial advice, will be answered. Ad- | |dress your leiter of inquiry to The | Washington Star, Information Bureau, Frederic J. Haskin, Director, Washing- ton, D. C. Q Has a camera been invented which will take pictures in total dark- ness?—M. R. B. A. None will take pictures in total darkness, but a camera has been made which will take pictures at night with the use of highly sensitized plates. | . What per cent of the people of |the United States have a college edu- | | cation”—H. R. A. A. The Office of Education says that |1 person in 72 of the total population | for 1930 has been graduated from a ! college. One person in 16 of the total | population has been graduated from high school and not from college. | Q. How many is & pair of twins, two { or four?—M. R. | A It is two. Twin is defined as one of two persons or things closely related by ties of birth or resemblance. | Q. What is a kibitzer>—J. W. R, | A. Kibitzer is,a Yiddish slang term | for one who meddles with others' af- fairs. In playing bridge it is specifi- cally a person who, although not a | player, makes suggestions and gives un- | asked advice to the player, Q. Is it possible to impeach a justice of the Supreme Court?—L. E. J. A. It is possible to impeach or accuse | a justice of the United States Supreme | Court_or any other national official The Constitution makes provision as to the bringing of the impeachment by & member of the House and the trial of | the accused by the Senate, sitting as a ! court. Q In what cites has the largest amount per capita been spent for relief work?—B. T. A. The highest rates are shown in cities of New England and the North | Atlantic States. Rochester leads with 1856 per capita; San Antonio is last | with but 15 cents per capita. This | survey was for the first nine months of 11931, Q. What is the liquid used to imitate | beer, champagne and whisky in the { movies or on the stage?—J. C | A. Usually near beer is used for beer | ginger ale for champagne, and cold tea | for whisky. Q. How many miles of telegraph wire ! are there in Canada’—C. T. {"'A. There are 372,000 miles of wire In 1930 about 17,500,000 messages were transmitted. Q. Please give a bjography of John Garner, Speaker of the House of Rep- resentatives—E. S. | "A. John Garner was born in Red River County, Tex., November 22, 1869 His education was limited. On Novem- ber 25, 1895, he married Ettie Rheiner Five years before he had been admitted to the bar and he became a member of |in automatically including its use in|the Texas House of Representatives In 1898. He served in that body until 1902 and since 1903 he has served as a Democrat in Congress ftom Texas, { from the fifteenth congressional dis- trict. He has been a delegite to sev- | will be as impregnable in the daytime | eral of the Democratic national con- ventlons. | libraries Q When were s. G A Stilts were originally designed for use in crossing rivers and marshes. As & means of amusement stilts have been used by all peoples in all ages, as well as by the inhabitants of marshy or flooded districts. The city of Namur, In Belgium, wuich formerly ==<cred from the overflowing of the Rivers Sambre and Meuse, has been celebrated for its stilt-walkers for many centuries. Not stilts first used?— | only the townspeople, but also the sol- diers used stilts. The home of stilt- walking at the present day is the de- partment of Landes, in Gascony, where, owing to the impermeability of the subsoll, all low-lying districts are converted into marshes. Q. Which is hotter, red hot or white hot?—D. 8. A. The Bureau of Standards says | that the phrase red hot is used popt Iarly to designate any temperature be- tween about 700 degrees C. and 1,000 degrees C. Above 1,000 degrees C. the phrase employed to describe an object would usually be white hot, although the color would still be primarily red or reddish yello Q. How did the town of Santa Claus, Ind., get its name?—E. S A Early settlers selected the name of Sinta Fe, which was rejected by the Post Office Department because there was another Indiana town so called. A compromise was made whereby Santa was_retained and Claus substituted for Fe. Q. What classical authors have used the theme of Electra?—W. L A. The story of Electra has been told by Home! ylus, Sophocles and Euripices. Q. Is the barometer high or low at the approach of a storm’—W. E A. In general, it is the that fall- ing barometer indicates rising tempera- ture and the probability of precipit tion, whereas rising barometer usually indicates clear weather with lowering temperature. Q. Is a foreigner residing in the United States for 20 years entitled to vote?—C. C. A. He must become a citizen before he can vote. Q. How long have they had public licraries in England?—H. G. A. The first act of Parliament au- thorizing the establishment of public was obtained by William Ewart in 1850 Q How many regiments were ther in the famous “Light Brigade" C.D. R A Five—the 4th. 8th, 11th and 13th Hussars and the 17th Lancers Q ote the novel “The Way of All \"?—S. E. A. The English writer Samuel But- 18; Q. What is a_comr E day covers of the mew Geor ington Bicentennial stamps F. A A There is no established price. It would depend primarily on how anx- ious the buyer was to secure the set Q Didn't the Indians have another name for their pipe of peace?—N. B A. The pipe of peace was also known as the calumet. Q. What is the difference between sweet_oil and olive oil>—L. V. N A. There is no difference. The term sweet oil is often used when the oil is used for medicinal purposes, while in cookery it is called olive oil. { In the negotiations between railroad | ! owners and rail unions on the subject | of wages, the public has observed on | the part of both sides a new tendency to approach the subject with a friendly | spirit. This is seen as a new factor in capital-labor disputes and one which | promises beneficial results. having de- | veloped from a recognition by both parties that the good of the railways | and _the unions are interdependent. | “Outstanding in the conference are | the spirit of conciliation on both sides, and the anxiety of the labor executives to spread the available work for the benefit of as many employes as pos- sible,” says the Salt Lake Desert News, and the Cincinnati Times-Star com- ments: “There is & far more reasonable and friendly feeling than in the earlier crisis. There is general recognition of | the obvious fact that the railroads and their employes are facing the same problem. 1If the railroads cannot earn fixed charges, there will be receiver- ships. That will mean less employment, less wages and less safety for the men. So there has been neither arbitrary action nor ill-feeling on either side.’ “Both sides realize, perhaps.” accord- ing to the Columbus (Ohio) State Jour- nal. “that their methods have exercised & beneficent effect upon the morale of the Nation.” As an example of “the new spirit,” that paper states: “Even the suggestion of a reduction of vages to railroad men was put off until the last by the railroad owners. And when the suggestion was put, the men listened to the proposal with a reasonable ear. | They did not arbitrarily refuse to enter- tain it. As a result a condition which could easily have worked adversely to both has apparently been avoided.” | “Offers of the railway unions to trade | a 10 per cent reduction in pay for a similar increase in employment indi- cates unselfishness and a humanitarian " thinks the Ann Arbor Daily vhile the New York Herald Trib- une agrees that “labor as well as man- ds the nature of the emergency.” The Connellsville Daily Courier quotes President Willard, speak- | ing for the railroad presidents, as “ex pressing the view that he and his asso- ciates regarded the union program as ‘clear and constructive’ indicating & willingness on the part of the employes | to give very earnest consideration to its features.” | Under proposed conditions, in the opinion of the Lexington Leader, “it is the general belief that, in another year or two at the most, conditions will have changed so much for the better that, | automatically, the old wage scale would be restored.” Showing the limited ap- either free or at a _nominal sum, and forbid all-day parking in the parks and around Government buildings. The general public has not enough vision— | it must be educated. Individual transportation used to be the vogue at the time of horseback rid- ing and the bicycle. Let us revive it again In & motorized way for the sake of saving space in the center of cities. | Large family cars have their places in the residential zones, but if their own- ers want to park them in the business section, they should pay an extra tax according to their ground coverage.' Then you would see in downtown Wash- ington public garages spring up and pay a falr return, FELIAN GARZIA. ——— They'd Be Great Dressed That Way. From the Indianapolis News. ‘That Gandhi gets pretty good results from a day of silence each week has not impressed some of the Congressmen. The Closed Open Spaces. Prom the Christian Science Monitor (Boston). Another motor car saccessory that would prove a boon to the motorist who wishes to enjoy the scenery is a ladder to climb the billboards. e | other factors: “Most officials’ salaries | | management in 1920. On July 1, 1921, plication of the current proceedings, | | the South Bend Tribune points out that they “pertain only to unionized em- ployes,” and the Tribune observes as to have been reduced. Carpenters ma- chinists, botlermakers and others in unions not participating in the Chicago negotiations must be dealt with sepa- | rately by the railroad operators. Non- union employes presumably have expe- rienced wage reductions within the last 12 months. The 10 per cent reduction | involved in the Chicago conference | prabably would not save the roads more | than $150,000,000. That would be only | 5 per cent of the estimated rulrgad operating costs in the current year.” | Reviewing the history of railroad | wages in a period of 12 years, the Fort | ‘Wayne News-Sentinel record: t may | be recalled that wages were increased | during Federal control of the railroads | in World War days—48 per cent above the level prevailing just prior to the institution of Federal control. Increases eraging 22 per cent were granted by the Railroad Labor Board soon after the roads were returned to private Jn the basis of a decline in living costs, | railroad wages were reduced about 12 per cent. On July 1, 1922, there was a | further reduction in wages of mainte- | nance-of-way workers, shopmen, and | station and clerical employes. But in[ December, 1924, engine, train and yard | Wasn't Thinking. From the Oklahoma ity Daily Oklahoman. The college head who denies that foot ball was ov in 1931 e ‘oL Prinevion, service workers obtained a 5 per cent increase, and in 1927 and 1028 the train service employes obtained in- creases of about 7 per cent, which re- the tely to the | son bridge match is now & thing of Qe %ed gmw k-.. : Vew Spirit S;:en infi Effort i To Settle Rail Wage Scale Studying the estimated 5 per cent re- cuction in operating expenses, the Boise Idaho Statesman holds that “when one considers the present financial condi- tion of the roads, it is not difficult to see what such a saving would mean Considering the financial requ ments, the Philadelphia Evening letin advises that ‘railrcad shar n the benefits of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation is access to an anodyne,” but adds: “When Uncle Sam lends to the carriers he will merely al- leviate their pain. The cure must be attempted by other means. The rails are not victims solely of depression. They are sufferers also from the oper- aticn of laws conceived in economic fal- lacy. Congress intended in 1920 to al- >m to earn a fair living. Realizing e standards sufficient in some cases for this purpose would result in overfeeding in others, it incorporated in the transportation act the recapture clause providing for a sharing of ex- cessive earnings with the Government, the proceeds to be used by Uncle Sam in strengthening the weak roads. The reasons why recapture has not worked are well understood after 11 years of experience. But it took an industrial calamity to demonstrate that the prin- ciple is wrong.” “Another long jump away from de- pression” is suggested by the Charlotte Observer, which sees “the country's bond and stock markets all expectancy.” The Hartford Times maintains: “Un- less the ratio between income and fixed charges can be made more favorable | the depreciation of railroad bonds will have a very injurious effect on many institutions, es well as mean bankruptcy for the roads.” Nation Rediscovers Genius of Franklin From the Asbury Park Evening Press. ‘The 226th anniversary of the birth of Benjamin Franklin came at a time when there is a marked revival of in- terest in this genius of Revolutionary America. His country is rediscovering him The passing of generations has not | dwarfed him. He seems to tower more and more over his contemporaries as the perspective of history lengthens. This is hardly because Franklin brought the lightning down from the sky, or because he collected data on waterspouts and earthquakes, or de- vised a remedy for smoking chimneys, or invented bifocal spectacles, or made & clock, or had more than an average knowledge of medicine. Nor is it due to his political serv- ices, great as they were: nor to his publishing and printing activities; nor to his having signed .the Decleration of Independence He was the first “civilized” public man in America. That accounts for his ever-growing fame. It was the many-sidedness of Frank- lin, along with his humanity ard his magnetism, that has projected the greatness of him down to the present time. In his era the man was a mod- ernist. There was nothing reactionary in his make-up and yet he was never & radical Benjamin Franklin's enduring fame rests upon the fact that he was far in advance of his day and generation. He would not be lost in this modern world, nor be bewildered by it. It is in the many ways in which he differed | from his contemporaries rather than in his kinship with them that he stands out from his time. oo Ask Briand, He Knows. From the Nashville Banner. France has apparently gone back to the old collapsible type of cabinet that it had so much experience With just after the war. e A Sign of the Times. From the Roanoke Times. : Already there are signs of definife im- provement in the general situation in 1932, For one thing, the Lenz-Culbert- bl WS