Evening Star Newspaper, January 5, 1933, Page 8

" A-8 THE EVENING STAR __ With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. THURSDAY.....January 5, 1933 THEODORE W. NOYES....Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company Business Office: St ‘and Pennsylvanis Ave, New York Office; 110 famase £ London, Chicago an o ichigs D uen%m 8t., Englan Carrier Within the City. % iidas star 4% °F ot 80c per month | ords NAtional 5300. Rate by Mall—Payable in Advance. land and Virginia. 1yr., $10.00; 1 mo., 85c » $6.00: 1 mo.. 50¢ All Other States and oconr‘ud.n. = uo‘ E 0.0 Daily and Sunday...1yr. $12.00: 1 mo. $1.00 aily only 5 ! junday only 35,00 1mo. 50c | Member of the Associated Press. e Associated Press is exclusively entitled to e ‘ukedor repubiication of ail news dis- tehes credited to it or not otherwise cred- n this paper and slso the local news published herein. All rights of publication of special dispatches herein ere also reserved 1y The Farm Bill. The emergency farm relief bill, which eomes up in the House for considera- tion today under privileged status con- ferred by the Rules Committee, is in part the much discussed domestic al- | lotment plan and embodies some, but not all, of the specifications for farm | relief outlined by President-elect Roose- wvelt in his Des Moines campaign speech. But it has discarded some of the cardinal features of both. It comes to the House as a brand-new scheme. If the domestic ellotment plan repre- sented the most radical farm rellef theory ever discussed, this bill goes the domestic allotment plan one better and is even more radical. A minority of the House Agricultural Committee be- lleves it will not work because of obvi- ous and practical difficulties in its ad- ministration and does not believe even the theory will be accepted by the courts. But an even more interesting fleld for speculation is presented in the possibility that it will work. Briefly, the bill conceives the “pre- ‘war” price as the correct price for four Basic farm commodities—wheat, cotton, tobacco and hogs. If the farmers will reduce their acreage for wheat, cotton and tobacco by twenty per cent and their hog tonnage twenty per cent for the year 1933, they will receive, upon marketing their products, “adjustment certificates” from the Secretary of Agriculture, these certificates represent- ing the difference between prevailing domestic prices and the pre-war prices, thus restoring to the farmer his pur- chasing power of pre-war days. The certificates will be redeemable within thirty and within sixty days after their issuance and accepted for redemption by the Treasury. The Secretary of Agriculture, however, will issue certifi- cates to cover only that part of the total domestic crop that he finds will be required for domestic consumption, and the certificates will be issued to farmers in proportion to the amount of their crop thus needed for domestc consumption. Now, what will this cost the Govern- ment? Not one red cent! “An impor- tant feature of the measure,” says the committee report, “is that it is self- .” From the value of the certificates there will be deducted two and & half per cent to pay the cost of administration. The processor, and mot the Government, will pay the cost of the certificates in the form of a tax levied on the processing. This tax, of course, will be passed on to the con- sumer. In the case of bread it has been estimated by the committee that the price would be increased by s “maximum tax” less than a cent a loaf. The simplicity of the thing is too beau- tiful for words. Unfortunately, the minority report resorts to a number of words to inter- pose ugly doubt. A heavy tax on the commodities treated in the bill, 1t is believed, will mean that consumers will resort to substitutes rather than pay the tax. If the consumers do not pay the tax, the processors are not going to pay it unless they collect it from the farmer. Thus the minority believes the whole price-fixing scheme will, in the end, injure the farmer and help nobody. ‘The bill 1s an experiment. Its pro- visions would last for only a year, unless extended by presidential proclamation. But if it seemed to promise success and the proclamation were issued by the President, then, at the end of the sec- ond year Congress would have authority to extend the bill's application. By that time, of course, Congress would be under pressure to increase not only the bounties to the farmers but to en- large the scope of commodities to be included. Two North Carolinians asked the committee yesterday to include pea- nuts. And why not? If the Western ‘wheat farmer is to have his purchas- ing power of pre-war days restored, at the expense of consumers of wheat products, why not the peanut farmer, the dairy farmer, the poultry farmer? ¥ this bill works, tariff log-rolling enter the country regardless of any obligations to the steamship lines. He declares that he did not come in by way of the port of New York, but came across the border from Canada. Ap- parently that makes but little difference with the hard-hearted immigration people, who, quite unappreciative of the talents of their guest, have been digging up his records and have found that he is not even an American citizen, but a native of Russia and was a perennial cause of trouble in his youth. Gergu- son may bécome a man without a coun- try. Europe does not want him, and America is trying to get rid of him. with probable success. Yet he still has friends and his detention room at Ellis THE EVENING STAR, “/ASHINGTON. Nor do the Cosgrave moderates belleve the land annulties are sacrosanct. While the Republicans would wipe them out altogether, the moderates favor their substantial revision downward. Hitherto it has been a hostile bal- ance of power in the Free State Senate that has prevented adoption of the De Valera prog am for cutting off Ireland from emp're entanglements without much fuzcher ado. That body so far has refused to approve the bill can- celing the oath, which the Dail Eireann passed. But if Mr. de Valera’s appeal to the country at the end of the month is successful his government will pos- sess ftself of something tantamount to authority to clear the decks with all Island is lively with flowers sent by‘ erstwhile believers in his Romanof! title | and well wishers in his present plight. | | Perhaps if he were released and allowed to sojourn in this land he could make | a very good living on the lecture plat- | form or in vaudeville telling the story | of how he fooled a lot of American peo- | | ple into accepting him as a relic of Russian royalty. i ———— The Revolt in New York. The revolt against Tammany Hall’s | control of Greater New York, which| was manifested at the election in No- | vember by the casting of over 200,000 votes for Acting Mayor McKee, has| taken form with the holding of a mass| mceting under the auspices of the City Affafrs Committee, headed by John Haynes Holmes. That meeting was held last might, attended by about 2,000 persons, and addressed by Samuel Sea- bury, the counsel of the Legislative Investigating Committee which dis- clos>d the questionable practices of the ‘Walker regime at City Hall; by Charles H. Tuttle, former United States district attorney and Republican candidate for Governor in 1930; by Norman Thomas, leader of the Socialist party and its candidate for President in 1932, and by Prof. Jcseph McGoldrick of Columbia University. The combination of a Democrat, a Republican and a' Socialist on the speakers’ platform at this meeting is significant of the scope of the move- ment to effect a reform not merely in the methcds of administration, but in the structure of city government. Theim- mediate purpose of this citizens® revolt is to secure the amendment of the city charter which will permit the consoli- dation of the boroughs and the elimi- nation of the waste which now depletes the municipal treasury and Jhas brought the city to the verge of bankruptcy, with enormous additions to the tax burden Testing upon the people. A significant feature of the meeting last night was a direct appeal by Judge Seabury in his speech to Gov. Lehman to aid in securing from the Legislature at this present session an enactment which will enable the people of Greater New York to amend their charter in the direction of reform. If the Governor responds he will be placing himself in direct opposition to Tammany, which Tesists all charter revision plans. An- other factor of interest and fmportance was the statement by Mr. Tuttle that “the disintegration of the Republican party in this city can be traced directly to the inescapable fact that public opin- lon regards the works of some of its leaders as those of an ally rather than an opponent of Tammany Hall.” It has long been recognized that the Republican organization in New York City has not seriously undertaken the defeat of Tammany in municipal elec- tlons and that there has been a work- ing arrangement of spoils distribution to keep the leaders of that party in harmony with the Tiger. A successful revolt must come from the Democrats rather than from the Republicans of the five boroughs. Tammany is only & minority faction of the Democratic party in the greater city. Its allies in Brooklyn and the other boroughs out- side of Manhattan are its reliance in elections. In prosperous times the party habit of the voters has given Tammany & sufficlent strength to hold its power. But now the people are hard hit by a combination of falling incomes and rising taxes. The Seabury inquiry disclosed the fact that the city government has been costing enor- mously in excess of real need and that the mounting tax burden is due to graft and corruption and political place-making, for all of which the peo- ple pay. ——————————— It is announced that Secretary Stimson will resume the practice of law when his term of office ends, with a prominence that assures him patronage in spite of the fact that comparatively few citizens expect to have money enough to indulge in the luxury of litigation. —————— The Irish Election. In the Irish Free State there opened today, as the result of a sudden deci- sion by President Eamon de Valera, a parliamentary campaign destined to be of far-reaching consequences for the future relationship of Ireland to the British Empire. If the surprise election to be held on January 24 results in maintalning the present government in | power with a working majority of its will be supplanted by ferm trust log- | rolling, the farm trus be supported by a sales tax collected on the basic essentials of life, the Secretary of Agri- | culture will be the most powerful figure | in the cabinet, and the consumers— | but why worry about the consumers? The consumers can probably hire them- | selves out to the farmers. | - - Japanese and Chinese are perhaps to be commended for keeping possibility of any so-called yellow peril to their own side of the Pacific. —————— The Prince of Pants Pressers. ‘These are evil days for Harry Ger- guson, one time pants presser in Brook- Iyn and for & number of years a social favorite in the guise of a scion of Rus- sian royalty. He is now in the deten- tion quarters at Ellis Island awaiting action by the immigration authorities, who caught him the other day in New York shortly after he had landed ir- regularly on one of the larger transat- lantic liners, without & passport and, indeed, without' a transportation ticket. He has discarded the role of Russian prince and his title of “Dmitrl Michael Obolenski-Romanoff,” which gained him entrance into exclusive circles and ‘was for a number of seasons his meal own in the Dail Eireann, the advocates of a fully independent Irish repub- lic will have advanced a long way toward their goal of severance of all | constitutional and political ties with | Great Britain. Secession will be all but accomplished ‘That has been the avowed objective of Mr. de Valera’s Fianna Dail party | ever since it took the helm at Dublin last year. program of denying the legitimacy ol the land annuities for which the Free State is pledged to Britain under the |treaty of union and demanded the abolition of the oath of allegiance. President de Valera’s supporters have not budged from their position even | under pressure of the tariff war de- clared against the Free State by the “mother country” as a reprisal for cessation of the annuities, though the exclusion of Irish produce from the British market is spreading progressive economic ruin throughout the Emerald Isle. The Republicans declare they have no intention of withdrawing forthwith from the empire, because the Fianna Dail party has as yet no mandate for such action. But victory on January 24 would drive almost the last nail in the coffin. The oath of allegiance is already practically dead. Even the opposition, led by former President Cos- grave, with its program of negotiations | They are fightin’ ag'in! It obtained office on the | possible dispatch. Quite evidently the Republicans, mean to make haste slowly. They think vie- tory at the impending election will assure them an unmolested Mease of off - ‘or at least five years. Within that peod they project a nationml policy | which is designed drastically to make over Ireland’s economic life to meet the conditions she faces in the world, especially the embargo which the United States, Canada and Australia now place on immigration. The Free State’s annual population increase of 200,000 has become a grave problem. Mr. de Valera’s ideal is the conversion of an essentially rural Ireland, while cerefully nourlshing its food-growing possibilities, into a country like Prance, which maintains a true balance between industry and agriculture, That ideal attained, a bill of divorce- ment between John Bull and his other island is not likely to be postponed very long. ————————— A German boat saved many lives when a French liner burned off the Chonnel Islands; calling attention to the fact that men, being notoriously peculiar, will, as circumstances shift, be eager to rescue the same people they once stood ready to shoot down. While awaiting the 4th of March, members of the Democratic party who rank high in responsibility may find helpful occupation in reading voluminous reports of investigations in the hope of ascertaining what has been going on. Trotsky might command a livelier in- terest on the part of Russlan rulers if he would take his typewriter over to the Chinese coast and turn out some brisk enlightenment as a war corre- spondent. ————— Spoils gatherers may be obliged to devote a little study to a merger of departmental services, if it is to be managed so as to avold a reduction of available appointments. ————— shot three painters seems the more reprehensible because the victims were honest, hard-working house painters and not futurists or cubists. As an editor Al Smith s claiming approval for lack of sensationalism. His publication prints no pictures which could cause exclusion from the mails. FEL T Even when a budget is balanced, such is the uncertainty of human affairs that it may be found difficult to compel it to remain that way. ot SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Starting Over. We said Happy New Year with honest intent. . In just a few days we are asked what we meant. And the message is brought through a terrible din, “They are fightin' ag’in! fightin’ ag'in!” ‘The arguments carefully worded pro- gressed, We thought that the facts were so clearly expressed ‘That only the truth and the right stood to win— They are fightin’ ag'in! fightin’ ag’in!” We thought that King Alcohol's gang was subdued, And that neighbors in Asla had ended their feud; That virtue triumphant had ended all sin, They are They are They are fightin’ ag'in!” Serenade. “What is that crowd under the win- dow?” “A group of serenaders,” Senator Sorghum. “What is the song?” “I don't recognize the tune. But I take it for granted the meaning is something like ‘Oh, Promise Me.'” answered Jud Tunking says he can't help wishin’ & few of these radio enter- tainers could get to be good enough to lose their amateur standing. Ancient Conferences. The farmer sat before the fire Down in the village store And told of what he'd most desire. He's doing so no more. The store is chilly since the cost Of fuel makes us fret, And sociability is lost ‘Where every one’s in debt. Irritation, “What do you think of prohibition?” “I favor it,” answered Uncle Bill Bot- | tletop. “T'd rather forget a thirst en- tirely than keep forever talkim’ about (A ~Our ancestors,” said Hi Ho the sage of Chinatown, “were wise when they flew kites for pleasure instead of load- ing fiylng gasoline dragons with bombs.” Capital Punishment for Readers. We're weary of the killing And welcome the debate By orators so willing Upon affairs of state. The news is too much suited ‘To fill our hearts with care "Bout folks electrocuted Or dangled in the air. “Pride,” said Uncle Eben, “is some- thin’ like a bellows dat puts on airs an’ den goes flat.” ————— Superfluous. From the Columbia (5. C.) Record. | they are all business. | before he takes their food away. | approach their faces to their platters Conduct of Chicago gun men who | thing THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. ‘The idea of “eat, drink and be merry” has come down through the ages, chiefly because it is a striking we_belleve, The truth is that with all animals, and with millions of human beings, the daily food taking is a very serious business. One has but to watch a dog feed to know at once that there is no merri- ment whatever in the process. Dogs often frisk, seem to smile, over things which appeal to their canine sense of fun, a very well developed sense with them. When it comes to eating, however, And a cat, as befits an eminently sensible animal, refrains from mixing laughter with its meals, on purely prac- tical grounds. It takes too much time. Speed is the essence of enough! Eat before some one can take it away from you, | _All other creatures, except man, eat in much the same manner, with one eye on the food, and another on the rest of the world. Man alone manages to mix smiles with his dinner, if he has a dinner. He does this, first, because it is the custom; second, because it helps diges- tion; third, because it is fun. and fourth, because it stretches out the pleasant process to its ultimate length. | The knowledge of the food scientist, | so called, is on his side. Merriment at | meals, we have been told a thousand times, aids digestion, whets the appe- tite, makes the saliva flow, stirs up the secretion of certain juices essential to proper handling of the foods consumed. Yet for all that and all that, there are thousands, no doubt millions, of persons who eat as if the very devil| were after them. and they must hurry Often enough this is an inheritance, | if not purely, then as a result of hay- | ing been brought up in a household | where others hurried at meals. The | scientists have a fussy habit of dis- claiming inheritance of such things, but if the results are just the same, why quibble over it? Many persons eat 5o fast that they become all out of breath. And we do not refer to those gross feeders one sees occasionally in restaurants, who as to a trough, but only to many very proper diners who nevertheless eat in a tremendous hurry. Those who happen to fall into this category know that the habit of quick eating is a very difficult one to break. Try as they may, a full dinner never takes more than 20 minutes with them, even when they willingly would stretch it out to an hour or an hour and a half. Those delightful persons who man- %e to talk and laugh, and, incident- ally, eat, for a full two hours or more at table, as some of them do, are re- garded with wonder, astonishment and some envy by speedy consumers of foodstuffs. No doubt they talk more than they eat and laugh more than they talk. Yet, looking at them fairly, they seem no more healthy than any one else. Health is, after all, a t deal more than a matter of how fast or slow one eats, although that may have some- to do with it. Fast eating, as we have sald, is a hard habit to break, even by those who know better. Often a stay of several months in bed, when one is fed through a tube, will not suffice to break the habit of a lifetime. Such a person will find that there is a medium, however, between what is | really fast and what is, at least for him, much too slow. Having determined upon this proper eating pace, he will make up his mind to_follow it. Here, again, human beings are | sharply divided into classes, and, as in all such groups, one group never seems to understand the other, nor to want to understand the other. The slow eater wonders how any one can possibly “get away” with an entire dinner in D. C, THURSDAY, JANUARY 5, 1983 l TRACEWELL. half an hour. The fast eater, even though he may envy the other, finds time tc e fun at him for his dila- tory metl of consumption. Can anything particular be argued from these differences in disposition? Perhaps not. The man who “wolfs” his food is not necessarily a brute, nor the fellow who eats slowly a paragon of moderation. The former may eat far less than the latter in the long run. Nor is it possible to argue that the swift consumer 15 not acquainted with the niceties of the table. He may even be & sort of philosopher, who resents the amount of time which he must give to food. Perhaps he may even go to the ex- tent of believing that a human being should not have to eat at all. This is a feciing far more commonly held than is generally realized. One of the dreams of the very race, indeed, is that man some day will have neither to eat nor to sleep, even if he has to go to heaven for it. That either alm will ever be real- ized is far from probable, and man; will feel that there is no need for their attainment, after all. Just as every individual must take himself as he is after a certain age, so the race must accept itself. To refuse to do so is not 5o much idealism as poking one's head into the sand (which, we have been told, ostriches never do). On the other hand, it will not do for the person who takes little time at the table to felicitate himself on being im- mune to the delights of the table. No one knows better than himself. He may have inherited (we insist upon it!) a tendency to streak through a meal ithout benefit of conversation and laughter. Even when he realizes the importance of these ingredients to a civilized dinner, he still may find it impossible for him to attend to them properly. He eats swiftly, sometimes finds him- self all out of breath, without in the least wishing to eat speedily or get himself winded in the process. ‘What can be done about such a sad case? Nothing but a violent effort of the will, and will power, despite the proclamations of many self-appointed experts, is not as easily handled as they would lead us to suppose. The man who hurries through his meals is in all Jikelihood one who should eat more times a day than American custom calls for and ordi- nary household routine permits. In Europe, we understand, they have these things arranged better. There are really two breakfasts, with a mid- afternoon meal, call it tea, or other- wise, dinner, and a late supper before going to bed, There are ‘literally thousands upon thousands of persans in the United States who would be benefited by some such system of eating more frequently, but eating less per meal. Thus they ‘would not be tempted to eat so fast, no matter what might be the underly- ing cause of their impetuosity. Monkeys, fish and other animals eat continuously if they have the oppor- tunity. Usually for their salvation this eating is partly an attempt to" wrest nourishment from a difficult environ- ment; thus they are saved from over- eating. Any one who has attempted to raise tropical fishes in the home aqua- rium knows the seeming inadequacy of the absurdly tiny trifles permitted them by the day. Only in a state of nature, where foods are never concentrated, | are they permitted to eat all the time. Continuous eating, however, if not abused, is not as wrong perhaps as some would have us believe. While most human beings have more to.do than simply eat, some will be henefited the human substitution for con- tinuous eating—more frequent meals. It this is combined with common sense and smaller portions, the only added relish necessary is a little laughter and talk if one can manage it. High Lights on the Wide World Excerpts From Newspapers of Other Lands GYPTIAN GAZETTE, Cairo.— agreed, in principle, to partici- pate in the International Fair to be held at Chicago in 1933. ‘The department of commerce and industry has sent a note to the minis- try of finance suggesting the delega- tion of three officials from the depart- ment to represent Egypt at the fair. ‘The note adds that correspondence ex- changed between the department and the Egyptian Legation in Washington shows that the necessary expenditure required for construction of the Egyp- tian section in the fair is estimated at $35,000. The department proposed that the building should be constructed in the Pharaonic style and should be made of ‘wood, worked in Cairo industrial schools or the E. 5. R. workshops. * oK ok X Imaginary Bazaar Helps Raise Funds. London Star—The Vicar of Groom- bridge, in Sussex, has solved the bazaar problem. He is going to hold an im- | aginary bazaar, for, he says, “Bazaars | are better imagined than endured.” He suggests to all who are spared attending & bazaar that they shall as- sess themselves under the following | headings: Bus fare or petrol to and from Groombridge . Entrance to bazaar that migh have bee! Wear and tear of clothes and shoe leather, nerves and temper ... Afternoon tea. . Sideshows (unvisited)..../ Articles (unsent, unbought and unwanted) ... Thank offering a¢ ‘Total oo coo 2loo omm 38 And, of course, the vicar adds, the total should be sent toward the funds in aid of which the bazaar would have been held. ® Pk Champion Arises For British Family. Daily Telegraph, London.—This is a great moment for the British family. Through 50 years everybody who wished to rank with the intellectuals has been abusing family life and domestic bliss. For the last 25 of those years the fa- vorite theme of earnest fiction and the terious stage has been a demonstra- tion of what frightful things the Brit- ish parent and the British home used to be till the rising generation broke loose in a grand revolution. Now Sir Willlam Beveridge has come into print to announce with the au- thority of social science that it is all a mistake. There has been ‘“no revolutionary change,” no very great changes of any kind, and what there are are rather formal than real, and ordinary people still “find family life interesting as well as happy.” This is very disheartening. Here was Mr. Berrord Shaw telling the world, as Sir "/iliam Beveridge insists on remincing us, that family life “is no more natural to us than a cage is to a cockatoo,” which must be one of the most irrelevant analogies ever composed. All the higher thought that our country had hardly been saved from marital tyrannies and parental our ting sons and ughters bursting forth to live an un- attached or semi-detached life of free- dom. Sir William Beveridge has proved it by sociology. { the rule. | idge’s evidence acknowledges “a loos- of them were awkward. Sir William, as an expert, pronounces that the form could be filled up in two hours. It may be so. But you could also go on an- swering some of the questions for two weeks or two months. However, hav- ing sent out 50,000 forms to people who asked for them, he has had 8,000 filled up. The number gratifies him. But as there are some 8,000,000 or 9,000,000 familles in Great Britain, the evidence of 8,000 people might be thought in- adequate to establish general rules about family life. Sir William scoffs at such a doubt, It is apparently to social science a “fantastic” suggestion that 8,000 peo- ple selected for their readiness to fill istic "ghould 10k ‘be Tely repeeserts: ould nof resenta- tive of 8,000,000. i If families were uniform as the ob- Jects of study in physical science and ruled as those are, only by physical causes, then a general principle might be deduced from observation of a small number of examples. But when we are dealing with human affairs nothing can be more unscientific than to infer from a few examples the common condition. It is the philosophy of the lad who thinks himself & man of the world. Look back at the Victorian pictures of family life in biography and novel. Most of them, from the palace to the cottage, show the family as governed 0 by absolute authority—not nececsarily the father’s,. In Dickens and Thacke- ray, for instance, the mother or even the grandmother may be the autocrat. But discipline and subordination were Some of Sir William Bever- ening of family ties and authority,” but the change is surely much more than that—it is a change of system. The modern family, for better or worse, relies on freedom instead of order. Whether that makes for a larger amount of happiness in the world or more efficient people does not seem as clear as we could wish, But the change is vast. Scholarship’s Foe. From the Birmingham Age-Herald. In his latest annual report President Nicholas Murray Butler of Columbia University has the following to say about academic specialization: “The most active foe of scholarship and its most deadly enemy is early and undue specialization of study ahd inter- est. Scholarship is full ard accurate knowledge in its historica! and philo- sophic_setting. Specialization, on the other hand, knows neither history nor philosophy, and will have none of them. Its aim, too often exclusively gain- seeking, is constantly described as ex- cessively practical, which is one of the ways of asserting that it is at war with the reflective life of man. There is and can be no such thing as vocational education if the term education be cor- rectly used. Education knows no voca- tion. It underlies them all and is supe- rior to them all. Vocational instruc- tions or vocational preparation there may and should be, but vocational edu- cation is a contradiction of terms.” This is wisdom itself. As Dr. Butler puts it, the specialist should be not & narrow person, but a “broad man sharp- ened to a point.” But there is very little breadth perceptible in most coi- lege graduates who have been too avid of vocational knowledge. They began too soon to confine their interest to utilitarian . Th;fc failed to lay the foundation upon which alone can be erected with safety the structure of Y | party. The Politieal Mil) By G. Gould Lincoln. The Democratic farm bill—the so- called domestic allotment plan with variations—is up for cemsideration in the House today. Three Republican members of the House Agricultural Committee voted for the,bill in com- mittee, among them for Chairman Haugen of Iowa, whose name was at- tached to the old *“equalization fee” Elln of farm rellef. B'i>resu|mbly the il will receive support from Western Republicans in the House, and its sup- porters insist that it will pass when the vote comes. That the bill can become law at the present session of the Con- gress seems entirely improbable. In the first place, the measure will have a hard row to plough in the Senate, where a vote might easily be prevented, and in the second, it seems entirely unlikely that President Hoover, whose record against half-baked panaceas in the past has been 100 per cent, is ex to veto the bill if it be sent to him. * ok k% The Democratic farm bill is a strang: affair to come f-om the Democrati~ However, many of the Demo- crats favored the equealization fee and more recently the ‘debenture plan of alding the farmers, But the domestic allotment plan, as worked out by the Democrats in the committee with some aid from the Rigubflcm members, is more fantastic zn its predecessors. Its virtue, if it has one, lies in the fact that it is intended to curtail production of the four crops mentioned in the bill, including wheat and cotton, by offering a bounty to those farmers who agree to curtail their crops by 20 per cent dur- ing the year. This bounty comes from the whole people. As the New York Times says editorially: “It will clarify matters to recognize at the outset that the scheme proposes to tax the whole p;.lbllc for the direct benefit of part of it.” It is perhaps not to be expected that the Democrats of the East, where in- dustrial workers are plentiful and the farmers less plentiful, will throw up their hats over the new farm bill. In- deed, some of the Democrats from the Eastern States, if they vote for the measure, will do so only by holding the nose. * k% % ‘That President Hoovar has considered the domestic allotment plan unsound and unworkable is no secret. There is nothing to indicate that he has changed his mind, certainly with re- | gard to this new version of the plan. If he should have the bill sent to him for approval and should veto the meas- ure, there would be little chafce that it could pass over the veto by the neces- sary two-thirds vote in both houses. For months it has been rumored that the President-elect, Franklin D. Roose- velt, looked with favor on the domestic allotment plan. Well, tonight he has the chance, if he wishes, to put his seal of approval on what his Democrats in the House have now brought forward in the way of an agricultural bill. At a conference with a dozen Democratic congressional leaders in New York to- night Mr. Roosevelt is expected to go into the program: for the present con- gressional session, and #o give the Demo- crats an inkling of What he belleves should be done to balance the budget. He has not included in his list of visitors tonight the men most interestes in the new farm bill, it is true, but un- less he is willing to keep the country still longer in the dark about his ideas of farm relief legislation, he may be expected to let the leaders kriow what he has in mind with regard to it. If the plan contained in the bill does not work satisfactorily, it will cost the American people a amount of money, its operation will be costly from a governmental standpoint, and the economy for which the Democrats, along with the Republic have been clamoring will receive ler setback. * kK k ‘The Democratic leaders of the Senate and House who this afternoon will Jjourney to New York to confer with the President-elect at his invitation, have sought to iron out their own ideas re- garding the legislative situation in the present Congress and the legislative program before meef Mr. Roosevelt. While they have withheld the details of their conference and it has been said they reached no definite conclusions, there is one bellef that is seemingly firmly in the minds of most, if not all of them. That is a special session of the newly elected Congress will be necessary; that it cannot be avoided, no matter what the Democratic ad- ministration may wish. If Mr. Roose- velt is equally convinced of that fact, and believes that no really important legislation can be put through at the “lame duck” session of Congress, he may conceivably withhold his own pro- gram of legislation until he has the new Congress on his hands in Washington, or at least until he makes his in- naugural address. The hope, however, of some of the Democratic leaders at least, is that the President-elect will make {zlxm:und ;I‘u}:' to them on 1?1- portanf es which are pressing for consideration without further delay. * kK % Mr. Roosevelt has been represented as anxious to have legislation put through the old Congress to balance the budget. That means cuts in governmental ex- penditures and increases in taxation, in the opinion of the legislators. If he maintains his attitude against the en- actment of a manufacturers’ excise or sales tax, the Democrats are wondering Jjust where he will get the money needed to balance the budget. It been sug- gested that a tax be levied against in. terstate business of the big corpora- tions, chains, etc. That would appear to be just a sales tax with another name. Anything, however, to avold the name “sales tax” is seemingly the de- sire of many of the political leaders, especially the Democrats. The fact that Canada has adopted a sales tax which has met with success and has not riled the people to an uprising means noth- ing to them. They have been told that a sales tax would ruin them with the rank and flle of the people, and they believe it. That's enough. ® X X ¥ It may be that the President-elect at his conference with the Democratic leaders will seek to keep the discussion merely on the budget-balancing ques- ticn. However, there are among the guests who will go to the Roosevelt home tonight several who are anxious to know what the President-elect has in mind regarding the farm bill, what he thinks about cutting down the aid extended now to veterans of the wars, and what he proposes to do to aid the railroads. Mr. Roosevelt has said in New York that the conference is “just to talk things over,” leaving the idea that no attempt will be made to formu- late a definite program of legislation, He is dealing, however, with the mem- bers of his party who must handle leg- islation in a very definite way. The time has about come, in the opinion of some of them, when the President-elect should let them know what he has in his mind on the question of legislation. Up to this time, it is believed, they have had nothing concrete from Mr. Roose- velt himself. * ok ok ok The Congress which met here a month ago today has put through a bill granting independence to the Philippine Islands after unusual for a President able to muster more than ial ent. The universities m:mu;;n ?fi‘u have lent themselves ANSWERS TO ‘This great service is maintained by The Evening Star for the benefit of its readers, who may use it ever; day with- out cost to themselves. All they have to do is ask for any infornation de- sired and they will receive prompt an- swers by mail. Questions must be clearly written and stated as brifly as possible. Inclose 3-cent stamp for xe-l turn postage. Do not use post cards. Address The Evening Star Information Bureau, Prederic J. Haskin, Director, Washington, D. C. Q. Is television patented?—F. B. A. There are a number of companies which hold valuable patents on tele- vision. The use of the meon tube and scanning disc is not patented. This part of the art of television was laid down as far back as 1896, Q. When was the first national tour- nament of the Chicago Fly Casting Club held?—S. K. A. The first national movement for developing skill and accuracy in fly casting developed in Chicago about 1893 with the formation of the Chicago Fly Casting Club, which held the first national tournament at the World Fair in that year. Q. What was the tax on beer before prohibition?—V. T. A. It was §5 a barrel until 1918, | when the tax was raised to $6 a barrel. Q. What constitutes & “museum plece”?—A. B. F. A. Any quality which makes a mu- seum a more appropriate place for an article would constitute it a museum plece. Exceptional beauty, rarity ori age are three such qualifications. Q. How many of the people living in Weshington, D. C, were bomn there?— | o V. A. About 40 per cent are native- born. Q. What occupations have Greek immigrants generally entered?—A. N. A. Most Greek immigrants when coming to the United States have started selling candy, fruits and flowers from baskets on the streets. Later they acquire pushcarts, and still later candy or confectionery stores, Eventually many become merchants. Thousands of Greek immigrants have worked as mill and foundry hands, on railroad construction and as laborers. They also engage in shoe shining establish- ments. The tendency is to branch out into the following lines: Restaurants, wholesale grocers, cigarette manufac- turers and tobacco merchants, steam- ship companies, banking, moving pic- ture theaters. Q. Who was the musher who drove the dog team into Nome with the diphtheria serum?—G. M. M. A. Gunnar Kasson was the owner of the team of nine dogs, led by Balto, Which carried the diphtheria anti-toxin to Nome, Alaska, In February, 1925, Q. When was the English colony es- tablished on Roanoke Island?—R. A. A. The first English colony in North America was established there August 17, 1585. It is within a few miles of Kill Devil Hill, marked by a monu- ment commemorating the Wright broth- ers’ first flight in an airplane. Q. What is the average weight of a family’s washing?—R. A. W. 5 va:'k. The average is about 30 pounds a Q. What are the duties of a floor leader?>—H. I. J. A. A floor leader is a member desig- nated by his party caucus to have charge of the in the he is a member. He follows the proceedings QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN. has the duty of arrangin which other members of speak on a given measure, Q. How much does public ed: the order in party may ’ ucation cost each person in the United States?— S. G. A. The entire bill for public educa- tion amounts to 10 cents a day for each persop over 21 years old. Q. When was the last issue of gold dollars?>—H. A. F. A. Gold pleces in the denomination of $1 were last coined in 1922. ‘These were the Grant ‘memorial coins. Q. Must a woman wear black when attending a funeral>—R. D. A. In ordinary circumstances s woman no longer finds it necessary to wear black unless she is to be seated with the family. Dark clothes should, however, he wo! value than that between the United States and either Alaska or Puerto Rico?—C. W. N. A. The value of exports to Hawall is greater than to either Alaska or Puerto Rico. In 1929 and 1931 the value of jmports from Hawali was greatest, but in 1930 those from Puerto Rico siightly exceeded those from Hawali. Q. What is maizolith?—M. M. A. Maizolith is a name for artificial wood. It is derived from “stone made from corn.” Q. When did hosiery become a fac- Iu?ryyprodunb in the United States?— A. Although a stocking loom had been imported into Pennsylvania by John Camm about 1723 and several others were introduced during the Revolutionary War, the business did not expand rapidly until 1831, when the power loom came into use, Q When did Lucrezia Borl begin her musical education?—N. A. A. The Etude says that she sang from earliest childhood. She sang in public for the first time when she was 5 years old. Q. Is it true that the United States consumes about 90 per cent of all its products?—E. C. C. A. This is substantially true. In most normal years the percentage would be even higher. This refers to an average. LQ. What is Sallors’ Snug Harbor?— D. A. Capt. Robert Richard established Sailors’ Snug for worn-out sailors. It was opened Au- gust 1, 1833, and today is one of the richest foundations in the United States. Its holdings are said to be valued at more than $30,000,000. An ’ 8o Harbor must be an aged, decrepit m‘s worn-out seafaring man, with his application satisfactory of service on seagoing vessels sailing under the United States flag and let- ters of recommendation as to his good character. ‘The only home of similar character in the United States is the Sailors’ Home, Quincy, Mass. Q. How many votes were cast for President Hoover in the last election, and how many for Gov. Roosevelt?— A B. T A. The official count gives President Hoover 15,759,266 votes and President- elect Roosevelt 22,813,786. Q. May one use a handkerchie! at table?—G. T. A. If it is necessary, one' use a carefully and accurately, in order to may But® it should as polnzle. handkerchief at table. be used as unobtrusively speak effectively when necessary. He - Declared of ‘There is a lack of sympathy for Samuel Insull, whose extradition from Greece was refused by a court of that country and who becomes an exile from his own country. Public sentiment up- holds the view that he should have presented in the United States and be- fore the Illinois courts his defense to charges of violation of the law in con- nection with the operation of the utili- ties group of which he was the head. It is felt that his future movements will be greatly restricted. according to the Chicago Daily News, “may or may not be seriously defective. The' result of the Insull proceedings may suggest important changes in the instrument, with a view to averting in the future what Americans regard as miscarriages of justice. No country extradites or will agree to extradite persons for offenses not covered by its own code, but that principle should not lead to unnecessary misunderstandings, conflicts of definitions and vague and loose phraseology in extradition plead- ings.” Of the opinion that “the pros- pects are he will always be an exile” and that “he may not have to go to prison, but he cannot come back to the United States without facing that pros- pect,” the Port Huron Times-Herald thinks “that may be punishment enough,” and that “it has been suffi- clent to send many a man back to ‘take his medicine’” The Goshen News-Times feels that “no sorrier end- ing for his tragic career could have been written.” * ¥ k% “Insull’s attorney declared before the Greek court,” says the Asbury Park | Evening Press, “that the former utilities magnate opposed extradition to vindi- | cate himself, but in this he has failed. | * * * From this country’s point of view Insull is a fugitive from justice.” The Indianapolis News recalls: “The Greek court did go so far as to hold that in the transactions alleged by the State of Illinois to be contrary to law the element of intent was lacking, and that they were carried through in the interest of the business involved rather than for the personal gain of the ac- cused person. But the declaration of the Insull attorneys that there was an element of political persecution involved in the case probably had its effect. The inference was that the alleged aid ex- tended by the Insull organization to political might be brought into a trial to the political advantage of men representing the State in the role of ecutors. . It is a fair presumption | phasis placed on this prob- ability was not without its effect on the court. Significant also is the popular- ity of the verdict with the Greek peo- ple. Evidently it strengthened their faith in Greek justice,” Denial that he went to Athens “as a political refugee” is made by the Min- neapolis Journal, with the assertion’that he went “in hot haste, with the sheriff at his heels,” and the advice that “other fugitive Americans have learned to their sorrow that a foreign land which they dare not leave is a prison in fact, if not in name.” The Lincoln State court ruled that the acts for which he criminal unde are.” This thought is inspired by the fact that “whether or not it hy(!l- that the pression | name. Freeing of Insull by Greece Doubtful Value can festify that the tug of war which is understood to result when Greek meets Greek is not a circumstance to what happens when magnate meet mag- nate. If the Greeks are their old cagey selves, their motto will be Et timeo Samuel et dona ferentem.’ Let Mr, Insull be added to ‘the mingled beau- ties of exultant Greece,’ but let her keep her distance when he trots out any crinkly papers about eight inches by six, printed bank note style, with pictures of Ceres and the Goddess of Electrical Energy for decoration.” L “He emerged from the court room a popular hero,” says the Springfield (Mass.) Union, which concludes that future proceedings would be fruitless, While the Akron Beacon-Jourral agrees that he is “safely established in Greece unless a Senate investigation manages to kick’ up such a disturbance that to silence the clamor the diplomacy of both nations will get busy and find a way to bring the fugitive home.” The Cincinnati Times-Star sees “his finan- cial collapse” as “perhaps 10 times as costly to investors as that of Kreuger,” and adgds: “One might wreak all this havoc and yet by establishing innocence of wrong intent save something of his But not when he refuses to answer charges legally preferred against him; not when his sense of values is so | warped that he can look upon a legal dodge as a moral victory.” His loneliness Ibl’mq is emphasized by the Altoona Mirror and the Scranton Times, while the Meridian (Miss.) Star feels that “thousands of investors may doubt the right of Greece to defeat the cause of justice,’ while the Cleveland News avers that “it may occur to some that it would have been well if he had gone there earlier.” The Lowell Eve- ning Leader suggests sympathy, based on his desire “to spend his remaining days in classic scrroundings,” and the Oklahoma City Oklahoman concludes: “He now has reason to admire ‘the glory that was Greece’ His sojourn in the land of Demosthenes and the Spar- tan should be highly enjoyable, for the time being at least. On every hand he can behold the most magnificent ruins his eyes have fallen upon since they g‘!‘tilnt‘:sed the ruins of the great Western utilities.” “Renovise” Campaign. Prom the Scrunton Times. Philadelphia is about to launch what is termed “a renovise campaign,” where property owners or householders are Journal points out that “the Greek | within In Rochester, $6,000,000 in new work or purchases was p) ‘Committ or small groups vass Philadelphia in an effort Dpledges of improvements, ete., made within the next six months. mfl is to be eollected or a N Y.