Evening Star Newspaper, April 26, 1932, Page 8

THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. TUESDAY.. THEODORE W. NOYES. ...Editor The Evening Star N ” Bus) ice: 1! A xS P e, %0 ke Michigan Bunlding £l Bt W Lo yndon. Rate by Carrier Within e Bty St (when 4 fla!u - Thy mln! an unday n 5 Sundays) 3 T%. inday Star Al g:tlm.ul bA Rate by Mafl—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. | 0c nday only * $4.00: 1 mo.. 40c | En he City. Sc ver month 'i"m per month r “"85¢ per month ? et copy of each month mall or telephone | 1yr. All Other States and Canada. iy and Sunday...]yr.$1200 1mo.$1.00! aily only 1 = day only Il yr. $8.00: 1 780 | 1yr. $5.00: 1\* 80c | T W Member of the Associated Pre.s. ‘The associoted Preas is exclusively entitled to the use for republication of all news dis- atches credited to it or not othervise cred- in this paper and also the local news | published herein. Al richts of publication cf special dispatches herein sre also reserved —_— . Hodge-Podge Economy. The much-discussed omnibus econ- omy bill, to be taken up tomorrow under an iron-bound gag rule designed to stifle opposition and send it rough-shod through the House, is a bitter disap- pointment to those who from the begin- ning of this dismal pericd of depression have hoped for sound legisiative pro- posals for the elimination of waste in the Federal establishment and resultant saving of money to the taxpayers. It is a keen disappointment because of the confusion and haste that has marked its drafting by an overworked committee of the House. It is a keen disappointment because of the undue emphasis it places upon cutting ex- penses by taking away much from those who have little, thrusting the lion’s share of the burden we all must bear upon the “little fellows” who make up the vast majority of Government per- scnnel. It is 2 keen disappointment beczuse of its many inconsistencies in- voked in the name of economy. It is | a keen disappointment because of the | lack of co-crdination between its harsh | provisions and the equally harsh pro- visions of other measures that have been taken through other legislation under the guise of saving money. And it is keen disappointment because of the suspicion of insincerity that it in- vites. It is no sccret in the House that the bill may be jammed through the | lower chamber in the knowledge and | expectation that the Senate, through more leisurely consideration, may rectify some of the wrongs that it proposes. Under the rule that has been drafted as a fit companion for this bill the like- lhood of serious and careful analysis of its measures by the House is dimmed to & minimum. If provisions of the bill are defeated; if the measure as a whole is emasculated beyond recognition, it will be through such revolutionary tactics as showed themselves in defeat of the sales tax. One may well hope, for the sake ©f the hundreds of thousands of low- salaried employes in the Federal estab- Yishment and for the sake of the mil- lions of low-paid wage earners in private employment who will be affected, that there will be a revolt in the House, and that those parts of the bill aimed at soaking the defenseless Government worker, and through him millions of others, will be smothered under a rising tide of indignant opposition. No more difficult task was ever as- signed a committee of Congress than that which was delegated to the Econo- my Committee of the House, Its duty has been to withdraw patronage and favors, not to award them. It has been charged with the onerous respon- sibility of drafting into legislative form provisions that confer no tangible bene- fits on anybody, but which withdraw from thousands such tangible benefits as bread and meat. It might have ex- pected little sympathy at the outset, and its members are not surprised at the lack of sympathy with its finished work. But such lack of sympathy results from something more than mere sel- fishness or concern for special groups. There can be little sympathy with a bill that so plainly denotes hysteria and shortsightedness or which so plainly in- dicates the lack of cool, consistent courage expected of those in authority. The bill is a hodge-podge, and there is little merit in it. r——— After examining Great Britain's bud- get and noting omission of reference to obligations to the U, 8. A, the young gentleman who likes his Kipling may, after reciting “Gunga Din,” present “'E's an Absent-Minded Beggar” as an encore. —r———————— The present year will be especially | hoteworthy In history as one that brought the 1932 heroes of both na- tional parties and George Washington tnto brilliant grouping. Shadow Boxing. The “tariff” items in the revenue, bill Jevying import taxes on coal and oll are to remain in the bill if the Senate Finance Committee has its way. Furthermore, the committee approved a plan to place In the revenue measure an import tax on copper. These “tar- if” items were placed originally in the revenue bill by the Democratic House. It appears likely that they will stay in the bill during its consideration in the Senate through the aid of Demo- cratic senatorial votes. In the light of such a record, the shadow boxing of the Democrats against the Republican protective tariff be- comes once more visible to the public eye. The injustice, the iniquities and the outrages of the Republican pio- tective tariff system have been themes for millions and billions of Democratic words of denunciation. The Democrats plan this year to make the tariff a major engagement in the coming na- tional campaign. Their speakers, their candidates for the presidential nomi- nation and the Publicity Bureau of the Democratic National Committee have Joined in an ever-swelling chorus of at- tack on the Smoot-Hawley tariff act. And yet when the Democrats have & chance to hit at this tariff system what | tariff, which, he insisted, has worked hesses of the Smoot-Hawley act would be forthcoming and would be put through the House. What actually oc- curred? The House Ways and Means Committee and the House itself, Demo- ! pessed a “tariff bill” that changed not a single rate of duty in the existing Republican Jaw. The bill sought to take from the President his authority to change tariff duties under the flexible provisions of the law and to bring about an intenational conference on tariffs. That, in effect, is all. Gov. Pranklin D. Roosevelt of New York, leading Democratic candidate for the presidential nomination, and Alfred E. Smith, the outstanding Democrat in | the fight today to defeat Roosevelt for the nomination, both have recently made addresses assailing the Republi- can tariff. Gov. Roosevelt, like other Democrats, attributed many of the ills of the country to the high protective evil for the American farmers. But outside of those words of attack, the New York Governor offered little. Mr. Smith went back to his old formula of the 1928 campaign. He proposed the appointment of a “non-partisan” tariff commission and that the tariff should “be taken out of politics.” If Mr. Smith does not realize the impossibility of his proposa!, at least his Democratic friends in Congress realize it. One of the most | idle dreams indulged in by those who should know better is a tariff system devoid of politics, or vice versa. Like prohibition, the tariff is fre- quently a “local issue,” but it promises to remain an issue in politics. Demo- crats from Texas and Oklahoma in the Senate Finance Committee were found voting for the “tariff” taxes on oll and coal, while Republicans from the At- lantic seaboard, ancd particularly New England, were recorded in opposition to these taxes. The Democrats from the oil fields were voting in the interest, as they saw it, of their constituents who produce oil. The New Englanders, on the other hand, were voting the de- mands of their constituents, who do not produce oil or coal but must buy it as cheaply as possible, A Fillip for Geneva. Geneva, it is sad to reflect, is steadily | degenerating into a community where there is conference but no disarmament. The perspicacious premier of Italy, Signor Mussolini, from his close point of observation, discerns the doldrums into which the conference has drifted— the French elections and the approach- ing Whitsuntide hcliday are about to bring another period of idleness—and | seeks to pump life Into a semi-moribund | situation. To thet end Il Duce has| ordered the Italian navy department to present no construction program to Par- lament for the fiscal year beginning July 1. His action is in line with the cne-year bullding holiday first proposed by Signor | Grandi, the Italian foreign minister, | and adhered to by the other principal naval powers, whereby they agreed to | lay no new keels during the year end- ing November 1, 1932. Signor Musso- lini seeks to prolong the “psychclogical atmosphere” in which Geneva is labo- riously deliberating, although it can hardly be maintained that this original purpose of the Grandi holiday has been crowned by any visible results. In announcing the premier's order in the Chamber of Deputies, at Rome, Sig- nor Sirianni, minister of marine, ex- plained that “if Italy today presented a program to be carried out in future years it could be interpreted as mean- ing that we were losing faith in the conference of nations now meeting at Geneva.” There is commendable con- sistency in Mussolini’s plan to practice continued naval self-restraint while the arms conference is groping and milling, world without end. From the outset at Geneva, Italy has indicated a readiness to go to extremes to relieve the world of excessive armament burdens. Barring Soviet Russia’s impractical demand for “total, general and immediate disarma- ment,” the Italians’ program for sweep- ing abolition of offensive land and sea weapons goes further than any scheme thus far laid before the conference. With bafiing political problems star- ing Europe in the face, in whichever direction that distracted continent to- day looks, it seems almost hopeless to | expect that Geneva is going to get any- where. But Signor Mussolini has at least made a gesture which is helpful and given the conference a sorely needed fillip. Whether it can counter- balance the new Eurcpean fears en- gendered by Hitler's successes in Ger- many is, unfortunately, seriously to be doubted. ———— With 80 many important matters to figure on, daylight saving time may be regarded by the public as strictly a minor perplexity. e ———— Shakespeare is deeply admired in| Europe as in America, even if he did | say, “Neither a borrower nor a lender The Flying Plague. “Countless billions of locusts," says & dispatch from Cape Town, are moving inexorably forward at the rate of 100 miles & day laying waste great areas |in West Africa and adjoining parts of the Union of South Africa. In some places the insects move in cloud form- ation five hundred miles wide. They outdistance pursuers in motor trucks | and even airplanes are used against them without effect. American farmers of the middle West | know what this sort of thing meam.{ | They have suffered bitterly from what | are in this region known as flying plagues, which have swept the plains ! country of every blade of growing crops, | of the very grass itself. But the Amer-| ican locust swarms are not as great or | as devastating as those of Africa, which | has been for numberless centuries the scene of such visitations. \ According to the Old Testament the | locusts formed the eighth of the ten plagues that were visited upon the land | of the Pharaohs to compel the tgyp-; tians to emancipate the Israelites from bondage and allow them to leave the country. The seventh plague was a violent storm accompanied by hail, which caused great destruction. Then came the locusts to eat what the hail had not ruined. This latest visitation in the southern part of the continent is of that same nature. ‘The migratory locust, which is the do they do? In this Congress the Democrats took control of the House. ‘When it became apparent that they ‘were to have a majority of that body ‘were made by party leaders il bill showing up thefeveak- species most prevalent in Africa, breeds {wice each year and thus is a perpetual menace. The eggs are laid deeply in ground and are difficult of eradica- tion. The areas in that part of the Mmummuy THE EVENING STAR, WASHIT tion of the germinating generation of inzects is a task of enormous difficulty. 1t the “breeding grounds” can be iden- tified, which is difficult in itself, pro- tective measures may be applied, though <. April 26, 1932 | cratically controlled, brought out and . at the cost of great labor and funds. In this sorrowful experience of the African farmers, which reacts upon vir- tually the entire population of South Africa, they have the warmest sym- pathy of the American cultivators of the sofl. The American agriculturists are in difficulties enough without the addition of locusts, or “grasshoppers” as they are chiefly known here. The corn borer has been fought to a standstill in most of the areas which it has infested and other blights and pests have been scientifically combated with great suc- cess. The flying evil that strips the ground of every shred of green and de- vours millions of values in a single day will in its turn be mastered, but the prayer of all today is that it may not develop in this year of general difficulty. Sl s i b A Good-Bye to the Police Bicycle. Gone are the Summer days of 1912 in Washington with the twelve-mile speed | limit and panting and overheated bicycle policemen catching their breath after overhauling a motorist for the “reckless” speed of fourteen miles an hour before #sking him for his permit and writing out the ticket for an appearance in court. They are no more. And now in the year 1932, with a speed limit of twenty-two miles an hour, the Police Department has reached the conclu- {sion that its roster possesses no mem- bers capable of entering the six-day bicycle races in New York, and conse- | quently twenty-five men-—all that re- main of the squad of bygone days—will be relieved of their mounts the first of July, probably to pound the hot Sum- mer pavement, with many a longing look at their more fortunate brothers who whiz by on modern motor cycles or in the agile police scouting cars. It is a tough life, unquestionably, but even the former wheelers must realize, as they put the old bikes lovingly in cellars or attics for their last resting places, that, in 5o far as traffic Tegu- latlon is concerned, they have become obsolete. Whether some of them can boast of speed pedaling honors and say triumphantly to their comrades, “I got one at twenty-one miles an hour, twenty years ago come next Thursday,” is be- side the point. Twenty miles an hour today is strictly legal, and what is the sense, anyway, of any policeman imag- Ining himself a bicycle racer? So on the first of July the old bicycle will be gone forever from the Metropoli- tan Police Department It is a sad parting, but a necessary one. Times have changed, and so must equipment. Like the old fire horse, bicycles are relegated to the limbo of forgotten things. —————— It has been impossible to preserve ab- solute secrecy concerning certain moves in kidnaping cases. Modern business prevents secrecy. A complicated system renders it almost impossible to make a communication so confidential that it may not be inadvertently betrayed by those who work in office routine, ——————— That vigorous old man Hindenburg must at least admit that Hitler is an | exceedingly industrious and energetic chap, who, with better training, might have gone far in political life. ———— Wall Street is not large; nevertheless it has offered the United States Senate one of the largest jobs of street im- Provement ever undertaken. ———— America rejoices in honoring the genius of Shakespeare, even if it did provide the basis of a political sneer at the United States as Uncle Shylock. e SHOOTING STARS. e BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Explanation. When Silas Brown had been to town He said, “This world is upside down And folks in offices and schools Pay no attention to the rules. Tl find this man they call ‘Perfess’ And he will put me right, I guess.” “You're quite correct,” Perfess replied. “The fact by no one is denied. But out in space the world rides fast All kinds of ways in circles vast. Through days and months and years it's found Forever going round and round. Sometimes it turns from bad to worse; It makes no effort to reverse. And mathematics make it plain It must come right side up again.” “Oh, thanks, Perfess,” good Silas said. “It’s slowly gettin’ through my head, Your explanation is as clear As most of those which now I hear.” Steering. “Have you ever been a member of a steering committee?” asked the lady with a notebook. “Oh, yes,” replied Senator Sorghum. “The responsibility must be very great.” “Well, the steering isn't so hard. But you do have to be careful not to rock the boat.” Jud Tunkins says smart as Shake- speare was, you can't belleve all he says. He lets one actor make a good speech and the next minute puts another up to contradict him. The Conclusion. It came to pass, once on a time, A young man led a life of crime. Then came the consequences grim: The life of crime at last led him. Pursuit of Rest. “What's your idea of a night club?” “A place for tired business men.” “Tired of what?" “Of resting in armchalrs at a day club.” “To show publicly all that is in your mind,” said Hi Ho, the sage of China- town, “proves that you have nothing that you value sufficiently to reserve it for conversation with a close friend.” Banquet Photographs. At every banquet there must be An artist present. And this, perhaps, is why you see All “Jooking pleasant.” ‘When each unto a statesman harks With perseverance, ‘We seem to note not his remarks, But his appearance. “You's lucky,” said Uncle Eben, “if you never gits de habit of foolin’ your- self any mo’ dan you does wif daylight saving time.” Q,\ THIS AN BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. 1t is never well to accept the thoughts, even of the wisest men, without apply- ing to them one's own knowledge. Even if one’s ideas happen to be wrong, as viewed hrgéy from the standpoint of all knowledge, still this will be better than accepting without question the thoughts of others. ‘This is being critical to some purpose, for it prevents that wholesale accept-| ance of the work of others, which is at once such a temptation but also such| a danger. Suppose one happens to run across, | for instance, a line by the wise Emerson, | that one can learn more by being llone‘ by himself than by reading all the books in the world. It is a neat statement, to be sure, one which might with propriety be used to clinch many an argument, to discomfit an adversary upon occasion, to round NGTON, D. C., TUESDAY, D THAT sense. His great teaching was that all of us should stand on our own mental feet. This was the gist of his mental life. This will mean that none of us, however much cause we may have st times to doubt our own mental equip- ment, must hesitate to apply the tests of such reason as we have to the ideas of others, whether in books or conver- sation. Unhappily, many who unconsciously happen to act upon this good plan | seem to think it necessary to openly criticize (as they call being rude) the thoughts of others. Failure to take direct open issue with another human | being is often essential, if ordinary {and his wife Mary. | good manners are to be observed. Not one man in a thousand possesses the ability—it might well be termed sheer out a speech or article. Yet it must be taken with a grain of salt, indeed, and should have applied | to it. in any particular case, the very man himself. Generalizations often fall before the application of the personal. Not every wise saying is so chock full of genius that it can meet the test of numbers. What is true for one man will not be | ballyhoo, so_true of another. | Even a genius must look at the world through his own eyes. He necessarily sees life as he lives it. If he writes, he never has but one subject, himself. All these thousands of words which he has spun out for these many years, what are they about, after all, but their author? | Those who think, sometimes, that they see themselves in what he writes | are very much mistaken. It is true, of course, that he is human, and his life coincides with the lives of many other sons. His life impinges upon other lives, so that when he writes of himself he nec- essarily writes something about them, too; but there is nothing personal in it. he turns them into abstractions, into types and classes, in whom it Is essen- tially ill bred for others to recognize themselves. All is grist that comes to his mill; the spinning wheel of fancy turns, and draws up the waters of life and lets them down again. If any one sees his own «picture in that shining mirror, he should not accept it as his, | but merely as an image of what he might have been—for usually it will be better than he is. A genius such as Emerson found that | he could learn more by going into the | solitude with his own soul, than by | reading all the books in the world. But | that would not necessarily be true for | all of us. It is significant that the sage did not give up his books in the least. He loved books more thsn most men, even more than most booklovers, but he applied to them the tests of his own| sanity. | He was a gifted man, an exceptionally gifted one, despite his firm belief that all men had the possibilities of a like genius if they could put themselves in the proper receptive mood. Most_men could not do this, there- fore most men could not approach his peculiar combination of conservatism and radicalism, of belief in nature and in nature’s God, of doubt and faith, of reality and dreams. He once said that he would hate to be in the position which would force him to look upon a man as an animal. He wanted to look upon man as a man! Such views as these, although from the mind of a man with an utterly fresh viewpoint on life, partake of the nature of that individual beholder, and can no more be disassociated from him than the stripes of the tiger from the creature. They were his thoughts, not mine, and why should I, or you, dear reader, receive them implicitly? Emerson did not know us. He might not have liked us, if he had, and we, in our turn, might have thought him pedantic, or high-brow, or worse. His thoughts are his thoughts and cur thoughts are our thoughts, and we shall honor him, as well as our- selves, If we are no more ashamed of our ideas than he was of his. He was the last man to want to form an insti- genius—to dispute another to his face gracefully. The 999 others ought to reserve their differences for the arena of their own | minds. Tt takes most of us half a life- time, at least, to realize that the essen- tia! thing i to know, not to speak out |in meeting. If we are not fooled by | hypocrisy and expediency and plain it makes little difference, after all, whether we tell the world of our cleverness, Often the remedy for things one can't help is & secret con- tempt. i The questioning and weighing with the mind is the important thing, not the display of the results to & world which is mostly too busy to heed any but famous names, and them only until another famous name ousts them from the limelight. There are thousands of human be- ings whose very nature precludes them from being alone with themselves, as it |1s called. Many of them will be able to get more real help from books than in any other way. Indeed, they might | seclude themselves in solitudes for half a century and come out no wiser than they went in, but shut them up in a library for a year, with nothing else to do but read, they would display that ordinary human optimism which con- sists in making the best of a situation by turning it to human advantage. They would emerge, in all likelihood, well read men and women, in posses- sion of a fund of knowledge which would come back to them in the most unexpected ways and stand them in good stead over a lifetime. To be well read—a happy phrase—is the best sub- stitute in this life for that genius which is the portion of but few. It means that a mental osmosis has gone on, that much wisdom has trickled through from one mind to another, being absorbed | through the very tissues, as it were, without forcing or cramming or & con- scious effort to memorize, all of which processes tend to destroy the precious light of interest and intelligence. It is common knowledge that schoolboys who cram for “exams” forget all they have learned when the necessity for retention has vanished. If one will keep his knowledge to himself, except when it is called for, he will find that the conscious scrutiny of | other men’s wisdom, either in books, magazines, newspapers or daily speech, is much easier and more effective than if he were required to justify himself at every step to an angry opponent. Man is an animal, and an angry ani- mal, despite Emerson’s ideas to the contrary, and his anger is a proof of his relationship. What shames him is not his ancestry and its necessary physical anger, a device for self-pro- tection, nature's first law, but the mental ire which is so easily aroused through false pride. This is what hurts the spirit of man and makes the sage hang his head in the face of the gravity of animals, and their splendid eyes. If a man, wise or trying to be wise, would avold the anger which hurts, let him refrain from tell- ing everything he thinks. The think- ing itself is the essential thing, not the telling thereof. He must test the thoughts of others by his own mental yardsticks, and if he does so he will find that few statements are entirely true except in relation to their context, and then often only for the man who made them. Highlights on the Wide World Excerpts From Newsp VENING TIMES, old silver spoon which belonged to Prince Charlie and which was | found in a bog along with four silver soup plates bearing his arms at Bunroy, Lochaber, featured among other pleces at the sale of the late xgfll’ol’l Abinger of Inverlochy’s es- | tate at the Belgrave Rooms in Kent | road, Glasgow, today. ‘The speon realized the sum of 6s. while a silver mug and spoon formerly the property of Napoleon I, the mug | carrying the initial “N.” surmounted by a crown, was sold for 65s. Another chased silver mug which also at one time belonged to Napoleon, met its ‘Waterloo when it was sold for 20s. Two coronets which at one time may have graced the heads of nobility were sold for 36s. and 20s., respectively. A gold George IV coronation medal was finally bought at 87s. 6d., after keen bidding, while a silver Victorian com= memoration medal and two agricultural medals realized only 8s. Two prize cups, one for rowing and the other for plow- ing, obtained 1€s. and Ss. each. The highest price or the sale was given for a massive triumphal arch with fluted pillars standing about 2!, feet high, weighing in all 567 ounces. Rapid bidding put the =gure up to £89, and at this price it was eventually sold. The sum of £31 was given for a set of four massive entree dishes with ivory handles, while a fluted coifee urn with dolphin supports, and dating from 1728, | was purchased at £32. A complete library of books was dis- posed of in the afternoon, including a | 1774 edition of Voltaire’s works, and 1782 publication of KRousseau’s works from Geneva. Several thousands books in 142 lots were sold. % ok ox % Transvaal Writer Says Tariff Hurts U. S. Rand Daily Mail, Johannesburg.— America’s position today may be judged roughly by the amount of unemploy- ment in the country, but as no insur- ance figures exist, this can only be a matter of rather vague estimate. There are probably about 7,000,000 to 8,000,- 000 people totally unemployed at the moment in the United States; maybe & million more or a million less. In any case, it would belufe to say that nb::t 20,000,000 people, including depend- ents, are directly affected by the de- pression. More significant still are the foreign trade figures. In the calendar year just ended the United States suffered a loss of £477,000,000 in foreign trade. The value of exports fell by more than 50 per cent. e foreign trade of the United States amounts to between 10 and 12 per cent of the total trade of the country. The results of its diminu- tion are being seriously felt. They are not, of course, confined to the direct loss of profits from international trade, for these have an additional effect on domestic trade, which has diminished, if not to the same extent as interna- tional trade, at least in step with it. That fall by June, 1931, was reckoned to be 19 per cent. One more indication of importance may be given. In the year 1930-31 cotton exports declined by less Bt e Tetl By 4 ot oot e y 000, lue. These fgures, "kmto" )5 Whole, offer Glasgow.—An primary pro- ducers of that country, for to it more than to any other factor must be attributed the fall the price of such commodities as cotton. It s almost unnecessary by now to apers of Other Lands point out that this flow of gold is in very large part due to the American system of prohibitive tariffs, which prevents other nations from paying for the goods they buy from America by sending her goods in their turn. The Hawley-Smoot tariffs give practical recognition of the thesis that pros- perity consists in selling to all and buying from none. Senator Smoot and the Republican 'y, Inclug even Mr. Hoover, still apparently believe that this can be done. At any rate, they will have no interference with the tariffs. The Democrats, on the other hand, appear to favor a downward revision and may have their say after the next election, for Republican stock is low at the moment. Meanwhile, the great majority of American politicians of all parties are insisting on the resumption of war- debt payments—in gold—after next June. There is still some gold left in the rest of the world and, if these political leaders interpret the views of their constituents rightly, America wants that as well. The bankers and Mr. Hoover have only laid themselves open to bitter attack by pointing out that the country will be worse instead of better off if she obtains this re- mainder. Nevertheless, there are signs, if only in the Democratic political campaign, of a first dim comprehension in political circles of the fact that gold is a medium of exchange and not a form of wealth. ow; it may even grow quickly enough to be useful. .- Protests Cutting the Pay Of Government Workers To the Editor of The Star: First and foremost I want to say that I am a native of the District of Co- lumbia. My forefathers have been tax- payers in the District of Columbia since 1817, but not one of them has ever re- celved Government pay, unless you call the answer to arms when the country needed protection Government employ- ment. e “powers that be” are try- ing to balance the budget by reducing poor Government cierks who have never recelved what they ought. Why not cut off the mileage privilege of members of .Congress, also the franking privilege, #s I understand the Post Office for years has had & deficit. The Federal Gov- ernment has taken many, many city blocks that were tax-paying properties, and now Congress is not willing to even grant the 60-40 amount to District maintenance. Why is it that the min- ute we Americans get any really worth- while buildings. well built and of his- torical value, they must be torn down and have all new buildings alike? We old Washingtonians regret very much to see that none of the old landmarks 1s left. KATE DEAN OWEN. B — A Plea to the Motorists To Safeguard Children To the Editor of The Star: Would it not be a wise thing to conduct a newspaper or radio cam- paign appealing to motorists to be more careful of children playing on the streets? No cam| dividend, for the streets are crowded with chi APRIL could pay a greater | operated 26, 1932. Tllusion,” etc. New York: Harper & Brothers. ” ‘War is the subject of this discussion. Norman Angell has no other theme. War, its causes, its effects, its futility, the necessity for its abolition if the world is to survive. Such the body of this man's concern, no matter from how remote an angle of approach he may present it, nor from what varied lines of argument he may support and maintain it. The apart from the half-dozen others that have preceded it is to simplify its con- tent to the practical uses of John Smith It is to liberate war from the involutions of statecraft, from the cryptic terms of diplomacy, from the generally bewildering per- formances of international conclaves. It is to strip it to the bare bones of | fact, to turn it out upon the street for the common man to examine in the simple terms of his own part in it The part of John Smith and Mary, his wife. For, after all, it is John who does the dying when war comes, Mary who does the true sorrowing. Straight talking and no embroidered pretenses are to be allowed here. Mr. Angell says, without the least fear of dispute, that history, economics, psy- chology, philosophy, and the rest of learning, have become so tied up In thetr own abstruce and complicated P as to be of no use, save only to the deeply erudite. A mystifi- cation to the commonalty and, in effect, no concern to the average. Yet, this business of going to war is every man's concern. Most of all that of the common man. And so, this book is a reach toward the street level from which the ranks are drawn when the call comes. Now war is one of the great co- operative enterprises. this truth, or half-truth, Mr. Angell's mind turns to the modern triumph of heaith over disease, of science over superstition. IHere he sees an 1lluminating analogy. Here gives sharp reminder that not till | the people themselves began, even dimly, to know the nature of disease, to know that cleanliness and certain preventive habits against it were the only safeguards to health and life, only then when the people joined practice and habit to such knowledge were the achievements of modern science for the health of the people of their present force and their promise for the years to_come. In the early days, before science in- tervened, every min might be a carrier of pestilence. Only when he learned the truth of this and trained himsel! in accordance with that fact of intelli- ;en:!hunlm for thek suhfetg of all did ealth begin to make headway against disease. e~ Mr. Angell transfers this notion of immediate contacts to the farthest reach, to the growing understanding and solidarity of peoples against the deadly disease of war. Neighborhoods unite in all sorts of measures for the common weal. Counties and States combine in equal and measure. The Federal Union is but a larger unit in the generasl concord of enlightened l:ll beneficent government. The first real menace to such common equif design is when the o neien of “nationalism” comes to the front. Under the specious name of “patriot- ism” international rivalries arise, ha- treds grow, and, in sovereign States, War becomes a common means of. tem- porary settlement. They know the amities of nei, life, of State S unity, of national well- being. And yet, when the borders be- gln_to enlarge to a consideration, soy of Europe, as a union of states, a fed- eration of industrial effort, of reason- able trade relations, of common enjoy- ment of the great achievements of each in science, art, literature—why, then, even John and Mary Smith begin to ble, & little, about the Hun or the 0 or Froggy or imperfous John Bull. When, as & matter of fact, an ac- quaintance with any and all of these Teveals nothing more dangerous than the friend across the lawn or the neigh- bor over the way. John Smith and Mary are not wholly free, not yet, from the influence of Jingolsm. And it is exciting to feel that their country could lick the world. But why should the world be licked! Why should people in high places, though still ignorant de- spite the lift of them, why should they Quote, and misquote, wornout wisdom of other days! For example, why distort :l;e:‘nmgg b;g-lns!th “entangling alli~ made by Washington for an un- :v-.l: ;uler of :hlen‘ ldgonmon u air warn then when the nies, loose and not of one mind, n?l‘:g; easily have been “entangled” past the hope of a United States. And there are many of these sinister activities against the understanding and good name of John Smith and Mary Smith. And these perverters of straight thinking are among the arch encmies of the country and of the world. Since, after all, it is John Smith who bulks tremendously here. sort of reference |, Here, the sketchiest | to this man of great political Wwisdom, ess. It seems to of Lr:e world-mindedn me, however, that Mr. Angell's this point is to set out, pfilmnn?;fn n:: basic social rules, principles if you Please, that direct and control com- munitles toward peaceful and decent and productive living. Then to expand this set of principles to larger units State, Federal commonweaith, the countries of Europe. All, eue'tmnlly and at bottom, the same. 'All destined for the same issue. Therefore, why not reach the inevitable outcome through the orderly progression of life, without atavistic recourse to international con- flict! Why not choose life rather than to decide for world destruction| * * x x LEE OF VIJEGgHA: A William E. Brooks. Illu - dianapolis: ~ The Bohbufg:!’m'l & REVIEWED BY W. G. HANFORD, In this most impersonal biogra; B{rcflk: praleel;ls ‘ttl;nle military explgm o couj wi fect of the various Infhers o, and ef- brought to bear upon the man an campaigns. Little space is devot:dnv: m;; c}vuimnnd p;rwnal life. t is impossible for a bi Lee to follow his umpfirg;‘:m:"?l: candor and accuracy without bringing to light the faults and blunders of the great legder. Brooks does not spare his subject in this respect. In fairness, however, he looks beyond these mis- takes and shortcomings to seek the underlying causes for them. At no period of the war did Lee port of Jefferson Davis. Thus we find that in moments of great stress on the fleld Lee was often given to indecision and uncertainty of movement. It must be conceded that, had Lee the tenacity and iron-willed stul ess of a Grant, he would have insisted on a policy of non-interference from Rich- mond. But this quality was lac] 3 Brooks insists, however, that 's shortcomings were more than out- weighed by his inherent ability and magnetism as a leader of men, months _after the Northern blockade starved the Confederacy to the limit of human its ranks of gray, the men of the South continued in the service of Lee with a quality of devotion that has never been surpassed. One cannot lay this excellent book aside without a deeper appreciation of the tragedy and futility of the task that was Lee's. . indeed, were his opportunities for success and when they came he was forced to see them fade as either one influence or another him. Thus we see it would have brought about a most important Con- federate victory. Again, at Gettysburg, we find him lnb,hh m?e: of romise failed by Longstreet and others fim ‘whom he depended. Continually harassed by unsympa- prime purpose of this study as solidarity for health, spreading from . long-fostered notion 1 ‘There is no trouble at lll- for John ! and Mary Smith to understand, so far. | today? Tt | Blography. By influences that were | enjoy the complete confidence and sup- ! nile endurance and its guns had decimated | h ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC ]. HASKIN. Any reader D. C. 'informa- | bureau cannot give advice | on legal, and financial matters. | It does not attempt to settle domestic | troubles or undertake exhaustive re- | search on any subject. Write your | question plainly and briefly. Give full name and address and inclose 2 cents | in coln or stamps for return The reply is sent direct to the inquirer Address The Evening Star Information Bureau, Prederic J. ) Washington, D. C. | Q. Will Twenty Grand be raced this | B, [ this year about midseason, it is sald. Q. In what national park is a tunnel | under construction?—G. H. T. A. A tunnel is being constructed in Yosemite National Park. It is for a roadway which is being built through the cliff, | e | Q. How many Jawyers belong to the American Bar Association?—R. D. G. A. The American Bar Association | says that between 20 and 25 per cent of the lawyers of America are mem- | bers of the American Bar Association. | They have between 26,000 and 27,000 members in good standing, and there | are approximately 130,000 lawyers, | Q. How was the Imperial Guard of | Napoleon built up?—A. M. | A. The Imperial Guard of Napoleon had its beginnings in an escort squad- | ron called the corps of guides, which ac- | companied him in the Italian campaign of 1796-97 and In Egypt. On becoming first consul in 1799 he buiit up out of | this and of the guard of the directory a small corps of horse and foot, called the Consular Guard, and this, which | was more of a fighting unit than a personal guard, took part in the battle | of Marengo. The Imperial Guard, into | which it was converted on the estab- | lishment of the empire, was at first of | about the strength of a division. As such it took part in the Austerlitz and Jena campaigns, but after the conquest | of Prussia Napolecn augmented it and divided it into the Old Guard and the Young Guard. Q. When was the first depression in the United States?—M. E. A. The first so-called depression in ‘he United States was the one of 1785 1o 1789. The date of the next panic was in 1814, Q. Was Theodore Rcosevelt in Wash- ington when President McKinley was | shot?—G. H. i A. Roesevelt was delivering an ad- | dress at Isle la Motte, near Burlington, Vt. He went at once to Buffalo. Q. What is the gum which is used 'éo 5«2 mayonnaise from separating?— | A. Tragacanth is the gum generally | used in mayonnaise to keep it from | separating, the quantity depending upon | the quality of the dressing. Q. Please give a brief history of the essay—S. J. H. A. In 1580 a retired French lawyer, | Michel de Montaigne, published two volumes of short prose compositions about his own reactions to the world he lived in. Montaigne <alled his two volumes Essais, and the great body of literature for which they were the chief inspiration we know as essays. He the first writer to adopt the easy, in- formal style of chatting about himself. Although Bacon's first 12 essays were published in 1597, a few years before Montaigne's Essais were translated into | | English, there is no doubt of the in- | fluence of Montaigne upon him. . What snake is the most poison- oue'!—HA A B isonous snake in the conceded to be the (king cobra of India, naja hamadryas. s | ite. | This snake has its evil reputation not |only on account of the extreme viru- icious aggressive ‘wv which make it doubly dangerous. Q. How many toilet brushes are made annually in this country?—R. G. A. About 50 factories make annually over $10,000.000 worth of tooth, hand and other bristle toilet brushes. Q. What is rhyolite?—E. J. H. A It is a highly siliceous compaet or porphyritic variously colored volcanic rock; the extrusive equivalent of grar- This rock is found in Arizona Idaho, Maine, Nevada and Wisconsin, Q When one is awarded s Nobel Prize, is there a medal attached to the A. At the meeting of the committee. which takes place on the anniversary of the donor’s death (December 10), the recipients, to each of whom they must hand a check for the value of the prize, as well as a diploma and a gold medai bearing the effigy of the domor with | an appropriate inscription. Q. Please give some information in regard to the memorial arch to the war correspondents in the Civil War.— O.A P A. The War Correspondents’ Arch was erected by Mr. G Townsend on his mountain estate, Gap- land, Md., in 1896. The inscription reads: To the Army Correspondents and Artists, 1861-65, whose tolls cheered the camps, thrilled the fireside, educated the provinces of rustics into a bright Nation of readers, and gave incentive to narrate distant wars and explore dark lands. Erected by subscription 1896. Q What does the word, Hawaii, mean?—L. V. K. A. Abraham Fornander writes: “The word is manifestly a compound word. Hawa plus i or iki. Whether the ii or the iki is accepted as meaning ‘little, ‘small,’ the apparent sense of the New Zealand. Rarotongan and South Mar- quesan form of the word, or North Mar- quesan form, and which has its analogy in the Tahitian and Hawailan, it is evidently an epithet, a dist mark of that particular Hawa from any other. Hawa is the Polynesian name of an ancient place of residence.” Q. How many people visit the Cor- coran Art Gallery in Washington each year?—G. C. A. It has about 160,000 visitors an- nually. Q. Why was Dartmouth College given this name?—N. B. A. Dartmouth College, at Hanover, N. H, was the outgrowth of Joshua Moor's Indian Cherity School opened by Rev. Eleazer Wheelock at Lebanon, Conn., in 1754. A sum of £10,000 was collected in Great Britain and placed in trust. With the endowment Dr. Wheelock decided to extend the sphere of his work and to admit English students. The in- stitution was moved to Hanover in 1785. In the charter the name of Dartmouth College was adopted as a compliment to Lord Dartmouth, who was head of the board of trustees in England, and took & great interest in the institution. Q. Are cigarettes issued to our salors as part of their rations?>—C. M. R. A. The Department of the Navy says that cigarettes are not issued free. Cigarettes must be purchased by the men themselves. Q. What is mesnt by Roosevell's River of Doubt?>—R. McC. A. The River of Doubt is correctly designated as the Rio Teodore. It is the largest affluent of the Madeira and is nearly 1,000 miles long. The lower course of the river had long been known to rubber men. When the Roosevelt- Rondon expedition was starting on its trip into Brazil in 1914 Col. Roosevelt was asked to undertake the exploration of the River of Doubt, of whose source nothing was known. He established the course and identity of the new river. Tributes to Miss Lathrop Death of Miss Julia Lathrop, who built the Children's Bureau of the Fed- eral Government to a high point of ef- ficiency, is made the occasion for public recognition of her capacity and her leadership in public service. Her asso- clation with Jane Addams and her ability to lay the foundations for use- ful tion are e&mchlly lauded. “Her mission in ,” declares the | Indianapolis News, “was to direct the -warn-heartedness and charitable im- | pulses of thousands of women, who de- | vote part of their time to social service | through church and other organiza- | tions, into the most useful channels. | Her surveys provided the scientific | background for laws and general pol- | icies. The experience of successful projects in this fleld was made known toroughout the country as a pattern | and inspiration to other groups. She was an evangel of the new charity, which assumes that the American peo- ple wish to foster by every reasonable means an equality of opportunity among all children.” “She was the first of her sex to hold the rank of Federal bureau chief,” says the Baltimore Sun, recalling that “dur- | ing her nine years as chief she trans- formed the bureau into a major agency in the realm of infant and maternal care, and thus inevitably projected it into the storm centers of political con- troversy.” The Sun holds that she gave “an inspiring example of selfless devotion to the common welfare.” The Cleveland News states that ‘“her sex may well be proud of Miss Lathrop’s ex- ample, as her country is,” while “the many honcrs paid her memory may help to inspire others to give their lives to welfare work.” The News recalls | that, “long identified with Hull House, in Chicago, she won international rec- ognition as a practical philanthropist.” * X * ¥ “The country owes much to her for the welfare of its people,” declares the Springfield (Mass.) Republican, with recognition that “Miss Addams’ tribute | to her as one of the ‘most useful wom- en in the whole country' was spoken | with authority,” The Republican offers the review of her useful career: “As a member of the Illinois State Board of | Charities, 1893-1909, she hid been in- strumental in putting upon the statute books the State's progressive laws abol- ishing child labor and providing for factory inspection, control of tenement house conditions, establ t of juve- courts and reform of the manage- ment of State and county charitable institutions. * * * In association with Jane Addams she made special studies, during her residence, of such problems as the care of the insane, the care of children and juvenile delinquency, sup- plementing her studies in this country with personal investigation of condi- | tions and methods in Europe and the | Orient.” “This Nation's most valuable re-| source,” in the opinion of the Dayton | Dally News, “is its youth. The fact| ihat the Children’s Bureau s now only | two decades old indicates that we did not always cultivate and safeguard this uman wealth. Much has been done since this agency came into being. | Much remains to be done. The recent ‘White House conference on child health | and protection is an auspicious effort along the line of Miss Lathrop's two- fold policy, first to assemble the knowl- edge, and then distribute it. Her suc- ! cess is an encouragement.” | . Reviewing the associations of Miss Lathrop and Miss Addams, the Hart- ford Dally Times affirms that the for- by the loss of nis two Jackson and Stuart, we e closing llhefic forces at Richmond and handi- mm in th houno:‘the war car- % was tragic, Recognize Debt of Nation mer “was recognized throughout the Nation and even the civilized world as an authority in her chosen inter- ests,” and says that she not only a gifted mind and an almost boundlessly warm heart, but also an ability to express herself in phic and felicitous style, which greatly added to her influence as a leader in & neglected field.” That paper concludes that “the two women were to be of as & pair of so]chl ‘workers lnt‘; u.sl;: 'b: were peerless in a type of public worl for which women are fitted,” 2 ‘The Roekford r-Republic, speaking for the local interest in the career which had “formed one of the brightest stories in the achievements of American women,” declares that “her life has been a source of pride to this community, in which she was born,” and recalls that “she could have lived a life of ease, indifferent to the problems of society, indulging herself in a placid and aimless existence, but her cultured mind and high spirit dictated & vastly different career.” The Rock- ford paper adds: “Of rare intellectual gifts, she bore herself with the unpre- tentiousness that is so real in the truly accomplished. She had a happy wit and gayety of spirit and her friends loved her greatly for her personal charms."” “Jf the little children her work has helped could join in & might choir, her requiem would be unprecedented,” avers the Milwaukee Journal, while the Chi- cago Daily News pays the tribute of local interest: “Her idmirable work in Illinois in connection with State char- itable and correctional institutions and as a resident of Hull House and inti- mate friend and assoclate of Miss Jane Addams had fitted her exceptionally well for the pioneer activities of the Children’s Bureau, The League of Na- tions later recognized Miss Lathrop's services by appointing her to a on its important Child Welfare m- mittee. In all her official positions Miss Lathrop insisted upon keerlnx patron- age dispensers at arm’s length. She was fearless and uncompromising in Eer independence, but she had tact and rere diplomatic skill. Her methods were adroitly conciliatory. She was a stanoh advocate of merit in places of public employment and her humani- tarianism was thoroughly practical.” B Assails Holbrook’s Charge Of Department Idleness To the Editor of The Star: I should like to make a few com- ments on A. J. Holbrook's letter in | Priday's Star. He says many Govern- ment emploves do not have enough to do. That may be true in some depart- ments, but in our entire division of Treasury we are busy 95 per cent of the day the year around. Our busiest season is during the hottest months of the year. Mr. Holbrook says living ex- penses are much lower. That may be true outside of Washington, but is not entirely true here. I am a single man