Evening Star Newspaper, January 25, 1933, Page 8

THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. WEDNESDAY. .January 25, 1933 THEODORE W. NOYES....Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company usiness Office: : 1 Mice: Lake Mich! 3 Biropes oolcl!uf Nenég:nl El.. London, England. by Carrier Within the City. . 45¢ per month 60c per month Collection mac Orders may be NAtional 5000. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. Daily and Sunday. 1yr., $10.00: 1 mo.. 85¢c Daily only .. 1yr., $6.00; 1mo.. 50c Bunday only 1yr, $4.00; 1mo.. 40c All Other States and Canada. ~1yr., $12.00; 1 mo.. $1.00 .. 1yr, $8.00; 1mo.. 75c | ...1yr, $5.00; 1mo. 50c Bunday only ... Member of the Associated Press. The Associated Press is exclusively entitled 0 the use for republication of all news dis- patches credited to it or not otherwise cred- Dublished herein. All Tights of publication of Bpecial dispatches herein are also reserved. A Blow at Inflation. ‘The Senate had a showdown last night on proposals to inflate the cur- rency of the United States. By a vote of 56 to 18 it turned its back on such Inflation. The country will breathe the easier. In recent weeks there has been more and more talk, mostly loose talk, about the probabilities of currency m-; flation through action of the Congress. | ‘The Senate has clearly indicated that it has no intention of creating a dis- astrous situation through that kind of | step. Twelve Democrats and six Re- publicans were all the supporters the ‘Wheeler 16-to-1 and free-silver pro- posal and the Long silver-purchase pro- posal could command in the upper house. These - proposals, offered as amendments to the Glass bank reform bill, were laid on the table after a day of debate, in which the question of currency inflation was discussed from | many angles. They were tabled onmotion of Senator Glass himself, who has been more frequently mentioned for the office of Secretary of the Treasury in the| Roosevelt cabinet than any other man. ‘The failure of the Democrats to rally to the cause of currency inflation and| free silver-is particularly significant and particularly encouraging in view of the | fact that within a few short weeks the | whole structure of the Govemmem,} executive and legislative, is to be turned | over to the Democrats. Only three Senators from Eastern States voted for the silver proposals, Reynolds of North Carolina, Russell of Georgia and Smith of South Carolina. ‘Their colleagues, Bailey of North Caro- lina, George of Georgia and Byrnes of South Carolina, voted with Senator Glass. The other supporters of free! silver were from the West and some of | them from States in which silver mining | has been a big industry. It is quite likely that some of the Western Sena- tors who yesterday voted with Senator | Glass might support & silver-purchase proposal at some later date. But the lkelihood that the Democrats intend to commit themselves to any serious pro- posal to inflate the currency at the out- set of their party’s first administration in twelve years is slim. The President- elect. Mr. Roosevelt, in a speech in the West, declared himself for “sound money,” which means to the average American really sound money, not a monetary system that has been blown up to huge proportions either by the use of printing presses or by the valu- ation of silver at fictitious rates. ‘The action taken in the Senate yes- terday should be as reassuring to the American people as was the action of the upper House last Summer when it resisted by an overwhelming vote the clamor for immediate payment of the soldiers’ bonus—also through an inflationary process. The policy of currency inflation, supported by those who believe that the actual printing or coining of more money will improve the condition of the people is short sighted indeed. Nor does it commend itself to Americans generally. It was advanced in 18968 following another period of distress in this country. The country turned it down then, and the country would turn it down again today despite the Longs and the ‘Wheelers. ——— Hyattsville is having a quarrel with its volunteer fire department; which calls for more careful instruction than ever to the public in “what to do in case of fire.” The Deficiency Veto. The danger and sometimes the iniquity of legislation by riders on ap- propriation bills have never been more dramatically illustrated than by the President’s veto of the deficiency bill, carrying $625,000 for emergency relief to the unemployed and suffering of the . District of Columbia. The President's veto was, in effect, dictated by necessity. ‘The Attorney General pointed out that the proposed McKellar amendment, at- tached to the bill as a rider and seeking to give Congress power to dis- approve refunds of tax payments by the ‘Treasury, was both unconstitutional and llogical—illogical in that it would serve practically to invalidate by Congress appropriations already made for & specific purpose by Congress. Yet the wveto of this one small item in an ap- propriation bill totaling some $31,000,000 automatically kills the whole bill. The President was left without re- course in the matter. It has been pro- posed from time to time that the Presi- dent be given authority to veto a part of a bill without affecting the bill as a whole, but this proposal has never got anywhere. Other Presidents have been forced to take the course pursued by President Hoover yesterday and, in ob- Jecting to one section of & bill, killed & measure in its entirety. Such dan- gers are always threatened by the ques- tionable effort to legislate through ‘ap- propriation bills. ‘The refusal by the House yesterday to override the veto now places Congress under necessity of acting quickly to re- enact the measure. There are many mportant deficiency items in this bill, but it is difficult to conceive any more pressing than the local relief fund. The municipal officials have a problem of no small proportions on their hands, but in this paper and also the local news | about $9,757 available, will have to meet & pay roll of between twenty-two and twenty-three thousand dollars, the | money to go to about 3,300 men and women now employed on “made work” projects. In addition, money is needed to pay for food and fuel for other de- pendents unable to work. The Commis- sioners may be able to meet the emer- gency for a week by borrowing from private sources. This may have to be 'ommissioners cannot hope for more than temporary relief. In a session of Congress so marked by long delays and false moves, imme- diate action on the deficiency bill would be refreshing. Such action need not consume more than a day or so, if the leaders are willing to make the neces- sary effort. Debtors’ Days in Court. As was to be anticipated with fair certainty when President Hoover and President-elect Roosevelt agreed be- tween them to invite Great Britain to confer on her war debt some time after March 4, other debtor nations, too, are now to be given their respective days in court at Washington. As might also have been foreseen, only those will be summoned who have squared their ac- counts with the United States Treasury. Countries that became in arrears after December 15, 1932, will have to take | themselves out of the defaulting class before they can avail themselves of the opportunities about to be offered to Great Britain, Italy, Czechoslovakia, Lithuania, Finland and Latvia. A'ready, it is indicated, necessary steps to that end are under consideration in France. Doubtless her allies, Poland and Bel- gium, which aligned themselves with the French in letting last month's pay- ment remain in delinquency, will follow their lead, if a restored Herriot gov- ernment or the existing Paul-Boncour cabinet decides to redeem France's good name and signature at Wash- ington. Apart from the basic fact that debt reconsideration is on the way, the American people will derive their great- est satisfaction from the circumstance that the outgoing and incoming ad- ministrations have buried the debt hatchet. Accord that seemed remote two months ago is today an accom- plished fact. Perhaps a complete prec- edent is now being established by the conduct, through a Republican and re- President who will not be in office for another five or six weeks. Common political partisanship. The country should be clear on one point—that the reconsideration of the war debts now assured does not neces- sarily mean that they are to be revised downward. It is, of course, the debtors’ undisguised hope that semi-cancellation will in fact be the result of the forth- coming conferences in Washington, else they would not have been sought. Great Britain's expectations were fully exposed by Chancellor of the Exchequer Cham- berlain last night. She will specify that the Washington settlement, besides being final, will be for a sum so small that it will not necessitate reclamation of German reparations. Nor should sight be lost of the fact, either in Eu- rope or here at home, that Congress in the last analysis is the final arbiter of the debts. The Roosevelt administra- tion may negotiate and even reach con- clusions. But these will be void until ratified by House and Senate. The prospect of ratification will be immensely enhanced if it can be shown that any concessions to our debtors are matched by definitely tangible benefits to the United States. The State De- partment yesterday, in announcing that it is authorized, on Gov. Roosevelt's be- half, to say that debtor nations’ repre- sentatives will be received at Washing- ton, emphasizes that conversations with them in every case “must be concur- rent with and conditioned upon discus- sion of world economic problems.” It will be noted that this carefully selected phraseology deletes all refer- ences to the old “capacity to pay” for- mula, under which in the past Amer- ican-European debt negotiations have proceeded. Instead, though the State Department does not say 5o in so many words, Uncle Sam will take his stand on the “quid pro quo” basis, the give- and-take system from which, when fair-minded men get together, there emerges neither victor nor vanquished. Congress, acting for the country, will have to be shown that not all of the giving, and none of the taking, is on America’s part-before House and Senate can be expected to approve such agree- ments as may be effected at Washing- ton. The European debtors will be re- celved “separately” and not together. That disposes at once, and effectually, of the “united front” bogey with which some fearsome American souls have been terrifying themselves and the country at large. Japan sustains a reputation for ver- satility by being polite in diplomacy, but flerce in warfare. Gustave Dore. Monday was the fiftieth anniver- sary of the death of Gustave Dore, the celebrated French artist whose work had a curious but magnetic attraction for the present generation of men and women in the years when they were young. One of the most richly talented draughtsmen of the period, Dore drew with amazing rapidity. Pictures sim- ply flowed from his hands. In America he was particularly famous for his illus- trations for ponderous editions of the Bible, Dante’s “Inferno,” Milton’s “Paradise Lost,” Cervantes’ “Don Quixote,” and La Fontaine's “Fables.” These were costly books, but their cir- culation was wide; they were sold from door to door on the “installment plan,” and thus came into literally thousands of homes. But long before his work began to cross the Atlantic, Dore was popular on the Continent and in Great Britain. He was a native of Strasbourg, the son of a civil engineer. Born on January 6, 1832, he migrated to Paris when but sixteen, and while still but & lad won for hithself a three-year ‘contract with the “Journal Pour Rire.” From that moment until the hour of his death, January 23, 1883, he was busy at his dgawing table. Occasionally he painted on canvas and tried sculpture with some satisfaction. But it was as a designer of wood engravings and lithographs done. But it is poor pract'ce, and the; C tiring Secretary of State, of diplomatic | negotiations on behalf of & Democratic |that the procession of March 4 will| sense has won a notable victory over | THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, Wk his own. His style was fanciful and free. Each picture was & drama, pas- sionately intense in its character of truthfulness, not necessarily to nature, but to the vision of the author of the text it was intended to represent. When he drew Lucifer falling from Heaven, there was no room for any doubt about what was happening to the exiled angel, and when he depicted the Flood, the rush of the waters and the screams of the lost were all but heard. However, not all of Dore’s work was theatrical. Much of it had a peculiar grandeur and dignity. He excelled in portraying masses of men on the march, groups of people in action, and the life- likeness of the figures filling the plate physical hand. His conception of his- toric events was convincing in the high- est degree. It seemed reasonable to suppose that they were indeed as nobly impressive as he imagined them. And when he abandoned the commonplace and let his creative genius run wild, as |he did in his illustrations for Mon- taigne, Balzac and Rabelais, the results were bizarre in the extreme, but they | never were unkind. He had abundant humor, and loved fun. He made the most of Pantagruel and Sancho Panza. Probably Dore never has been ex- celled. While he lived he was by gen- eral consent the dean of his profes- sion. Since his death he has not lost ground. He still is used. His pictures are reprinted everywhere; they are part | of the stock in trace of the compilers of school books, popular histories and pres- entation “clessics.” Thousands admire his work who never have bothered to notice his name. | | o The Inauguration Parade. Plans for the inauguration parade, March 4, provide for a procession of but ten thousand marchers, and it is esti- mated that not more than two hours ‘will be required for the line to pass any given point. Those who remember much longer parades on other inaugu- ration days will rejoice in the moder- ation of the managers of the coming | spectacle. Many of the parades of the past were tedious in the extreme to | marchers and spectators alike. Especially | on those occasions when the weather was ipclement it was felt that shorter processions would have served the pur- pose just as well, if not better. The inauguration parade is an in- stitution, and all good citizens will agree |be worth seeing. There is no doubt that |1t wilk be. Ten thousand marchers, well drilled, handsomely uniformed, moving to the rhythm of martial music, will constitute a sight eminently satisfying to all beholders, and presumably to the paraders themselves. If selected to rep- resent the entire populace, the partici- pants will be quite as competent to per- sonify democratic ideals as twice or thrice their number would be. Much will depend upon how the spectacle is managed. The impresario, Rear Ad- miral Grayson, and his aides are per- sons of judgment and good taste, and they may be trusted to see to it that the procession is a work of art. They deserve the co-operation of the people of Washington. — e Science has achieved marvels in pro- tecting humanity from germs but has made no progress whatever in pratect- ing us from motors and machine guns. e S — The cash register was supposed to keep everybody perfectly honest, but it proves valueless where really large sums are involved. ————— ‘There is one very slight advantage in unemployment. It lessens the num- ber of men who are unwilling to serve on a jury. SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Birds, The early robin is & bird Whose song brings gentle glee When in the Springtime it is heard Melodious and free. But each fourth year we watch again ‘The way that Congress creeps And hail the joyous tidings when ‘The lame ducks quit for keeps. We'll bid a fond farewell to you, Although your ways were rough. We'll hope that canvasback is due, ‘Which isn’t quite so tough. A feather still may form a pen Your heart throbs to portray. We'll read—and yet be happer when ‘The lame ducks quit to stay. Basic Solidity. “The Constitution of the United States is a noble document.” “The Constitution is all rignt,” answered Senator Sorghum. “But the amendments do give us a lot of trouble.” Jud Tunkins says a politician is like & lighting calculator. He shows wonder- ful speed, but. he sponges the figures out before you can tell whether he has the right answer or not. The Debunko Game. ‘When heroes are being debunked With idols of yore growing punker Our hopes will be wholly defunct ‘When some one debunks the debunker. Considerate Hospitality. “Is it considerate for a lgdy who has sent out invitations to remain absent from her.own reception?” “Perfectly proper,” answered Miss Cayenne. “It prevents any embarrass- ment if the guests feel like criticizing the furniture and the housekeeping.” “My neighbors at home,” said Hi Ho, the sage of Chinatown, “are being paci- fied, but with no kind words available until they are in readiness for epi- taphs.” Somewhere all that money must be; it seems funny T must grope for $2 in cash. Like planets up yonder, film stars make us wonder As through glittering figures they dash. Einstein calculation might show their relation ‘To my longed-for $2 in cash. “When dey puts de inauguration up there are several thousand families faced | that he achieved his most noteworthy |to January first” said Uncle Eben, victories. 5 Dore had & poetical imagination all “Happy New Year sure is one holiday dat's gineter be overburadlibas grasped the spectator's mind like af THIS AND THAT Our apologies are due to’the many persons who have called up on the telephone to ask the dates of the two recent articles in this column on the books of Jane Austen. and 9. Our error in bookkeeping was due to the difficulty of making a flaw- less index, an almost impossible task, s any one knows who has ever tried it. Indexing is not a business which comes natural to every one, either. It is, in fact, such a difficylt task that one seldom runs onto even an ap- proximation of a perfect indicator of the position of information on any glven subject in a book. An index is such a common thing today that a reader seldom sto} realize that what he accepts without question was once not & part of books. ‘Today “index” means alphabetical list, as given above, but it may mean, as it sometimes does, a chronological list, or a classified list. The many good points of the plain alphabetical list led to its adoption around the world. until today there are tooks written about the scienge and art of indexing. Many a good book has a poor index. Indeed, upon occasion one is tempted to feel that a book invariably is better than its index. This comes about, the amateur may feel, solely because the man who was making the index—often a separate job—was either too familiar with his material or not close enough to it. He falled to put himself into the shoes of the average reacder of the work, that reader who would come to it as a complete stranger, and who mi,ghc want to look up something or other. There are, of course, certain natural ways of indexing, but, in addition, there should be enough cross-indexing to make certain that even the most un- skilled reader will be able to find what he wants without waste of time. Otherwise, an index might as well be left out. While a certain amount of intelligence must be granted the ordi- nary reader, he does not in any sense set himself up as an expert on the siib- Ject of a given book. is the precise reason, in most instances, why he reads a certain volume. If writer and publisher wish to make to this, their unknown reader, it is their duty to provide some sort of index of the contents. | What we call the “table of contents” | was all the index provided in the books | of centuries ago. The great Marcus | Tullius Cicero called his tables of con- tents “indexes.” During the #Middle Ages the Index Librorfum Prohibitorium became fa- mous. In this usage the word means a list of books. down, for the average reader, is in the common failure to list a desired subject under more than one heading. Another failure, often met, is incom- plete indexing. In such a case the gen- tleman who did the work was not fa- | miliar enough with the book before him. Under the first heading, the indexer is to be excused for not seeing all the unintentional ignorance of the reader. He is to be excused, undoubtedly— but he should make an attempt to un- derstand it, after all, because the reader is the one for whom the book is printed and published and indexed. It seems to us that this plain fact is too often forgotten. % The reader is “it” in the last an- alysis, and everything that is done is done for his approval. BY FREDERIC Behind the scenes of current events, the approaching contest over the Speakership of the House casts a big shadow. So far it is anybody's victory, but Democratic Majority Leader Rainey is still out in front. Sectional lines probably will decide the issue. A count of noses in the new House indicates that there is a majority of 112 Bemo- crats from Northern and Western States over and above those from Southern States, even allotting border States to the South. Representative Rainey, as the only formidable candi- date from the northern side of Mason and Dixon’s line, is expected to marshal pretty solidly the votes from that region as against the three Dixie candidates— McDuffie of Alabama, Byrns of Tennes- see and Rankin of Mississippi. Repre- sentatives O’Connor of New York and Crosser of Ohio, are in the dark horse class. What will count heavily in Mr. Rainey’s favor, apart from his other claims to the Speaker's chair, is that practically all the important House committee chairmanships are in South- ern hands. The argument in the Illi- noisan’s case is that Dixie can hardly expect the speakership in addition to the great basket of committee plums now and to remain in its posses- sion. Speakership events will come to a head at inauguration time, though Democrats in the impending House may not formally caucus until the eve of the special session in mid-April. * % k % ‘There’s no more burning curiosity on any subject in Washington these days than the extent to which the Repub- lican progressive tail is going to suc- ceed in wagging the Roosevelt dog. The acid test will be concerned not so much with the inclusion of a pro- gressive like Senator Cutting in the cabinet, as with the expulsion from it of Democrats cursed with progressive disapproval. Owen D. Young and New- ton D. Baker are the principal Demo- cratic cabin®t possibilities who make the Norris group see red. Some au- thorities believe that the Nebraskan and his followers would not hesitate to oppose Senate confirmation of any ap- pointees like Young or Baker, who carry the “power” taint. The attorney generalship is the portfolio which the progressives are eyeing sleeplessly. Senator Walsh of Montana, Senator Wheeler of the same State or Donald R. Richberg of Illinois would be ‘ac- ceptable to them. A quiet but persisent drive for Richberg's appointment is under way. He was active in the Roosevelt - for - President progressive movement last year. * Kk % may seem to be uppermost in Gov. Roosevelt’s mind at Warm Springs these days, but when he is in Georgia is nothing, as a matter of fact, that engrosses more of his thought than the llin?plkd antile welfare of the “polios”—the sel nickname of sufferers from paralysis. The name comes from the medical term for the malady, which is poliomyelitis. In the “founder’s num- ber” of Polio_Chronicle,” recently dedicated the President-elect, Gov. Roosevelt sald over his own signature: “We have a gospel to preach. We need to make America ‘polio conscious’ *to the end that the inexcusable case of tirely elim- but The correct dates are. January 7| often t0 | amazed to Because he seeks knowledge, indeed, | the use of it as pleasant as they may | Where the average book index falls | WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS Politics, from the news dispatches,|to BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. The fact that an index is provided at all shows that both author and publish- er had in mind the idea of being help- ful to him. I¢ is unfortunate, therefore, that so this help is sketchy, when it might, with just a bit more work, deq adequate, No matter how closely one reads, one is seldom able to master a book, even a book of fiction, at the first reading. Reading is like listening, in that re- Even the best intentioned opera lover hxmum.mngotmflnmwao( o e A wearing. - ceore on 3 On sul t attendance he 1is ver that he really did not “get” them at the e 2 that they are now emerging as totally new things to him. There is both chagrin and elation in this normal discovery. If he goes to the same opera as many as a dozen times he will find something new at each hearing. ‘There is no particular dumbness, therefore, in being. unable to grasp every single facet of a good book upon e first reading. Especially is this true of works of information and what may be termed semi-information. Months, gfi"m y:‘;rl, of effort went into ir preparation. It is not to be wondered at that the reader is unable to know the book page by page and not likely to be able to re- member_the place of even the good things he does comprehend. This is where the index comes in. There may be some thought, above all, which tantalizes the inquirer, which is, to him, scarcely more than a thought. He ought to be able to find it. ‘The maker of the index ought to at- tempt to put himself into the inquiring reader's shoes, as he makes the list- ings, and regard his work from every possible angle, in addition to the plain one of alphabetical sequence of words. An index, from the reader stand- point, should not be a perfunctory work, but an integral part of the book itself. No doubt the author himself would be the best man to do the work, provided he could be induced to take it on. No one could blame him for shrink- |ing from it, but he is ideally fitted, since he is saturated with his subject. The only danger he would run, of course, would be that of being sur- feited ' with it, perhaps. This might tend to make him callous to the plain demands of the reader. He would know so much more than the latter that his mind would not be able to tie itself down to the painful details which the reader demands in his search for knowledge. This is where the outsider, skilled in his work, comes in. He is able, or at least ought to be able, to combine something of the writer's thorough understanding with the reader's com- | | | be | nevertheless. Members | dog and bay at the moon than longer | plete lack of understanding. Hence the index such an index maker compiles ought to be, although it sel- dom is, complete with a completeness fwhich covers every subject in every pos- | sible way. Such an index would be the ideal, | | and it is admitted that it is seldom at- | tained in any work we have ever seen. | With the best will in the world th!‘i | man familiar with a subject tends to | forget the perplexities of the man new | to it, the ordinary reader who needs help as he goes along, who ought to b> able to find any subject, thought or |idea in a work without having to read | the entire book over again. WILLIAM WILE. | posed of women in official life. Having | been_incorporated by act of Congress |in 1908, the club rates a place in the | Congressional Directory in the chapter ! | devoted to independent offices an | establishments. 2 * x * % Anybody who thinks that radio lis- teners don't write letters to broadcast- ers are referred to an astounding state- ment in the Senate the other day by Senator Thomas of Oklahoma. He pro- duced a telegram from the secretary of Father Coughlin, the Detroit priest Who broadcasts over a national network Sundays, stating that after a couple ol recent talks on the money questio: Father Coughlin received 725,000 let- | ters. The message added that *less than 1-33 of 1 per cent of them” took | exception to the views advocated by the priest, who left no doubt that he looks upon the Glass banking bill as a work of iniquity. * x % % Franklin D. Roosevelt will make his first public appearance following his inauguration as President on Saturday evening, March 11, when he will be guest of honor at the annual dinner of the White House Correspondents’ Association in the Willard Hotel. His co-guests will be the members of the Roosevelt cabinet. The Columbia Broadcasting System is sending down a carload of its most famed radio talent to supply the entertainment. Paul R. Mallon, president of the Correspondents’ Association, will preside at the dinner. * %k k% Three new books of special interest to Washington are about to leave the press. One is entitled “Gabriel Over the White House,” with the sub-title of “A Sensational Novel of the Presi- dency.” Another is called “My Boy Franklin,” the story of F. D. R.'s life as told by his mother to a couple of woman writers. The third is “The Making of Nicholas Longworth,” by Comtesse de Chambrun, sister of the late Speaker of the House. * % % % In Washington Democratic circles, where both were well known and high- ly re ted, comment is heard on the coincidence that the two most prominent Democratic woman politicians of New York, Belle Moskowitz and Eliza- beth Marbury, passed on within a month of each other. Mrs. Moskowitz was Al Smith's “right-hand man” for 20 years and Mrs. Marbury was Demo- cratic national committeewoman for the | To the Editor of be Star: |and blizzards do not last indefinitely, | | and this thing, called for short de- Empire State ever since her - mitted to that body. fEemsad * K kX Senator Neely of West Virginia likes recall an introduction he once re- ceived in his own State from a flowe: chairman, when Neely was a membg there (of the House of Representatives. He represented the first congressional dis- trict of the State, there beingmnx gi‘:- tricts altogether. The chairman of the meeting didn't think “first district” sounded imposing enough, so he intro- duced the congressman as the repre- sentative of the eighty-ninth district West Virginia. Y < (Copyright. 1933.) —————— A Virtuous Negative. From the Columbia (5. C.) State. ‘Another good way to preserve your faith in man is to nypno whl stranger offers you a good investment. Revision and Elimination. From the Pasadens Post. Chicago police have revised the’list of Profitable Swap Proposed. From the Milwaukee Sentinel. JANUARY 25, 1933. Does Co Correctly Represent the Country? To the Editor of The Star: In a review of political matters in your issue of January 19 Mr. G. Gould , your able 1 writer, quotes as Lincoln, special l.n “veteran Democratic Senator” “This is a presidential country. The people look to the President for leade: - ship and for action, not to Congress. This may be all wrong, but it is a fact, of Congress are not nationally-minded; they cannot afford to be. Any member of the Senate or the House who gives his attention to national affairs and gives them precedence over the pesticular Tes! distris life.” ‘The Senator very correctly describes ‘the condition in Congress which the people at large have long recognized, but it is astonishing that so frank a con- fession is made by & member of our highest legislative body. It is more than astonishing, however, when he avers that congressmen ‘“cannot afford to be” nationally-minded. Many of us outside the halls of Congress have fondly clung to the hope and the belief that our representatives in both the Senate and the House of Represent- atives were elected to conserve the interests of the Nation at large; that they were supposed to possess minds which could envision an entire country and not be restricted to the limited view of local sections. If the Senator is right in his asser- tion, the question arices, Why a Con- gress? Is this Republic—this Govern- ment of, for and by the people—to be destroyed by personal ambiticn con- trolled by political cowardice? Is it true that our Concressmen may not reason- ably be exp-#:d to advocate or oppose any legislatcn unless such advocacy or opposition solidifies their hold upon their seats and their salaries as Sena- tors and Representatives? ‘The Senator is quoted further: “Unless the Presddent of the United | States is a real leader and is able to take Congress by the throat and make it do what he considers wise for the whole country there will be chaos here in Washington.” ‘That is a sad and most distressing conclusion, and yet it does appear to be true. Have we come to the time when a dictatorship in our Government is indicated? Or should we elect Con- gressmen who have the ability, the courage and the integrity to trample upon their cwn individual selfishness and serve the people as statesmen and not as cheap politicians? ‘There are many Senators and Repre- sentatives whose hcnor, ability and character are above reproach. Long may they remain in the ceats they adorn! But un'ess we get rid of the cther class the chaos predicted will cer- tainly come. Indeed, from recent events, it seems to have already arrived. No wonder the late John Sharp Williams told the Senate he would rather be a remain a member of that body. No wender Senator Tydings, within the last few days, has threatened to resign, overcome by di‘gust with actions discreditable and repugnant to the dig- nity and reasoned procedure which should mark the Senate. No wonder Senator Glass denounces the disseminators equally guilty as the originatcrs of lies. 1f all Congressmen were of the same caliber, the reme high-mindedness as Williams, Tydings, Glass and some others that might be named, it would not bz necessary for the Precident to “take Congress by the throat” and make it act wisely and patriotically for the Nation. JOHN A. PHILLIPS. A Technocrat Expresses | Thoughts of the Future, First they were told it was overpro- duction, then they were told it was un-| derconsumption, then it was maldistri- bution; thereafter various external and internal causes were given as the ex- planation of the decaying economic condition of the country. There was & certain amount of truth in every such statement. At first, they—the public— | accepted everything good-naturedly as somethirg unavoidable, like a thunder- storm or a blizzard; but thunderstorms | pression, seemed to have become a per- manent resident of this country. People began to wonder if there is any remedy for the situation. Any ways and means to get rid of this undesirable alien and | to deport him from this country? There were several remedies offered, and even applied, but none of them was effective. People began to lose their good-natured disposition, but kept their upper lips: stiff. This orderly patience could be explained by the fact that this country still is Anglo-Saxon pyschologically. Some time ago a man named Howard Scott unexpectedly told the world some- thing that made everybody stop and think. The success of his statement de- pended largely upon the fact that his ideas covered and summarized, in one newly coined word, all previous state- ments, causes and remedies concerning fhe depression: it was “technocracy,” the energy survey which gives such amazing results and predicts perhaps a sad future, to say the least, if the pres- ent economic structure remains un- changed. The public gave a skeptical recep- tion to technocracy. It must be mitted that its ideas are revolutionary. Although its relation to the radical teachings of socialism is quite distant, technocracy overlaps socialism in at least one instance—that is, a more equal distribution of wealth. Socialism does it by means of violence, nationalization of wealth; technocracy does it in a peaceful manner by substituting a new unit in our present monetary system—a unit of energy. This is one of the main objections that the public has in regard to tech- nocracy. There are other objections, but every new and unusual idea is con- fronted with severe criticlsm of the conservatives and those benefited by the present social system. Because of its close connection with the technological and economic sciences, technocracy is difficult to explain to the masses of people and therefore it is not popular. It is quite possible that it will be forgotten in a few months from now, but in the writer's mind there is no room for any doubt that the ideas of technocracy will be put in operation in the future, under some different name, and that it will benefit the world with its millions of wondering and suf- fering inhabitants. * JAMES S. SWEET. Insull in Greece. Prom the Pasadens Post. The fact that the citizens of Greece hail the Insull ce as a’ boon, shows that if he is broke the natives have not become aware of it. Watchful Waiting. Prom the Boston Transcript. Both parties in Ccngress are having a hard time finding out what the other party doesn’t want. Queen of the Home.. From the Nashville Banner. Lady out in Oklahoma City recent ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN. must be soaked in water after - tact with the substance, or uhv?'::?g be worn, because of the 1 effect of formaldel.yde ¢n the human skin, This| Small fish may simply be ‘ashington newspaper employs Mr. Haskin to act as an agent for its readers. He will take your matter to the proper author- ity. State your inquiry briefly, write clearly, and inclose 3-cent stamp for & personal letter in r;g’!:. Do not use post _cards. Address Information Bureau, Frederic J. Has- kin, Director, Washington, D. C. Q. Is basket ball played outside the United States?—E. C. T. A. While basket ball was invented in ing increasingly of a hypodermic syringe, nln;y if this precaution is not taken the interior of the fish will deteriorate before the pre- servative can the skin, Bull Q. What s the origin of J s a nickname for England?—M. ¥, A. In 1712 Dr. John Arbuthnot & political satire tn which he Q. Did any of the ancient elvilisa- | dured. tions levy sales taxes?—J. H. A. Athens laid various taxes on the sales of commodities in the markets. The taxation of specific commodities like salt was common in Egypt, China and other ancient states. A general sales tax amounting to as much as 10 per cent was imposed by the Romans upon Egypt at one time, but the best known general sales tax of antiquity was probably that collected in the days of Augustus by Rome. A general sales tax was employed by Spain after the beginning of the fourteenth century. Q. Do fig trees have blossoms?—T. C. A. Because of the peculiar structure of the fig fruit, the flowers being borne, as it were, on the inside of the recep- tacle, the blossoms are not visible. The fig tree does bloom. Q. How far is a camel supposed to carry a load on a desert without water to drink?—G. F. s A. When crossing the 'desert, camels are expected to carry their loads 25 miles a day for three days without drinking. The fleeter breeds carry their rider and a bag of water 50 miles a day for five days without drinking. Q. How many patients are there at St. Elizabeth’s—the Government hos- pital for the insane?—A. G. A. There are 5037 patients—3,473 men and 1,564 women. Q. How did the superstition originate concerning seven years' bad luck when a mirror is broken?—L. B. U. A. This superstition originated with the ancient Romans during the first | century of the Christian era. The Ro- mans believed that the health of a per- son changed every seven years, an the mirror reflected the health and ap- pearance of the person, to break it meant to break the health for a period of seven years. Hence the belief seven years’ bad luck. Q. How much has the gross income from farms fallen off since the World War?—G. T. A. In 1919 the gross farm income was $16,935,000,000. In 1932 it was $5,200,000,000. Q. What are the best piano keys made of?—A. A. A. Ivory is used for the white keys. The black keys are made from the hard, heavy heartwood of the ebony tree. Its natural color is black, so stain is not necessary. Q. How should fish be preserved for study purposes’—W. S. M. A. The Bureau of Fisheries says that either 75 per cent grain alcohol or a 5 | per cent solution of formaldehyde may be used in preserving fish for laboratory and study Eurpuses. ‘The formaldehyde is much cheaper, but it is, of course, harder to handle, since either the fish Q. What is a design patentt—E&. A. A design patent is given one w] has invented a new, original and orna- mental design for an article of manu- facture, such as an ornamental design on wall paper, rugs, or furniture, Q. What were the Lancastrian schools? —S. M. 8. A. Not until the nineteenth century was well advanced was there any public school system in the United States. In 1798, in England, Joseph Lancaster es- tablished at Southwark a free school for the poor. De Witt Clinton became in- terested in public education in New York and instigated the Public School Society. The Lancastrian system by that time was known in America and was adopted. The principle on which it operated provided for a teacher aided by monitors selected from the puplls as they advanced. As many as 1,000 pupils were instructed by one teacher and these assistants. Q. Under what authority has the number of immigrants permitted to come to the United States been so stringently limited since 1930?—C. E. A. The American consuls abroad, on account of the existing shortage of jobs, have enforced that provision of the im- migration act of 1917 which calls for exclusion of aliens who are likely to be- come public charges. The application of this policy to the quota countries of Europe was announced by the President on September 8, 1930. Q. What depth of water is necessary for a_35-foot dive?>—F. R. A. The Amateur Athletic Union says thai its high dive is from a maximum of 35 feet and 15 feet of water is re- 85 [ quired for a dive from this height. Q. Has “The Legend of Sleepy Hol- low" ever been made into a motion pic- mllm’e?—M P.H A. A film based on “The Legend of | Sleepy Hollow” was made into a motion | picture entitled “The Headless Horse= | man,” starring Will Rogers, and was re- | leased in 1922. | Q_Who is the presiden ing Tree Golf Club?>—D. | "A."Judge John Barton Payne. chair- {man of the American Red Cross, is resident of the Burning Tree Club. Q What was the origin of the ex- pression “blue blood"?>—F. W. A. A. The expression is from the Span- |ish “sangre azul.” The nobles of Castile claimed to be free from all admixture with darker blood, a proof being supposed to lie in the blue veins that showed in their fairer skins. Q. When was the White House fire in which the executive offices were damaged?—T. C. A. It was the evening of December 24, 1929. t of the Burn- D. | And Hu Viewing the filibuster in -the United States Senate against the Glass bank- ing measure, the country declares that |is it is humiliated. It deplores the ex- istence of the Senate rules which per- mitted Senator Huey Long of Louisiana and others representing a minority to hold up public business. The cost of such proceedings is empl 5 “The blind adherence of a group of mature men to set of rules which are ridiculous,” in the opinion of the Mor- gantown Dominion-News, “brought matters to a point where the Nation hangs its head in shame for its most important governing body.” The Rock: ford Register-Republic calls it “dis- graceful buffoonery,” and declares that “to the average American taxpayer the spectacle was both disheartening and disgusting, a wanton waste of public funds,” adding the judgment that it was “one of the most flagrant breaches of public trust in recent history.” The Port Huron Times Herald holds that it was “far from something to edify or even entertain the Nation,” while the Santa Monica Outlook sees in its foun- dations “the worst evil and the greatest danger to American institutions.” The Uniontown Herald condemns an “as- inine performance.” * kX % It was “an outrageous and disrepu- table situation,” in the opinion of the Rutland Herald, which also declares that “unlimited debate in the Senate has cost the taxpayers of the Nation millions_of dollars.” The Asbury Park Evening Press voices the judgment: “The filibuster is but the outward sign of an unhealthy condition prevailing in Con- gress. Were the loquacious Huey alone in his mockery of the duties of Nation'’s chief legislative body, there would be little cause for worry. But now that it is clear that all Congress is wandering in & fog without leadership the gravity of the situation becomes obvious. Only the fact that this is a short session, the swan song of the ‘many lame ducks defeated in November, and that more definite action may be expected with the inauguration of Pres- ident-elect Roosevelt relieves the fears of the Nation.” “The ‘Kingfish’ Senator,” according to the Rock Island Argus, “is adver- tising to the Nation at large the im- potence ~of the Senate of the United States by defying it to stop his ava- lanche of words in the conduct of his filibuster against the Glass bill. By the Senate's own rules of procedure it created a system which makes it prac- tically powerless to stop the mouthings R “The remarkably unusual spectacle has been staged,” says the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, “of a Senate per- disgusted with itself.” : “It is idealistically 'Filibuster Scored as Waste miliating to Country the Dayton Daily News analyzes the situation: “The problem of democracy to find the proper mean between the talk that breaks down efficiency and the centered power which ends in tyranny. For years the American Con- gress has represented both extremes. ‘The House has run all to hierarchical power. The Senate has gone to the opposite extreme. We have seen the House go wrong from too little freedom of debate, as when one man, the Speaker, had the power for years to reject the lame duck amendment. We have seen the Senate futile in the grip | of one reckless man, as in the filibuster now belatedly at nn*en;i." x | ‘While referring to the proceedings as “asininity to the nth degree” the | Yakima Daily Republic advises that “the country is benefited to the extent that nothing is done.” The Youngs- town Vindicator feels that among the Senators who voted for cloture were “practically all of the substantial and constructive members of the Senate.” The Danbury Evening News avers that “certainly there is nothing in Washing- ton nowadays to inspire the Nation with either confidence or pride in many Americans who are in high places.” ‘The Jersey City Journal points out that “the kind of legislation that is sube jected to filibustering is usually of ex- traordinary importance.” The Scrane ton Times recognizes value in “focuse ing the attengion of the country on the unbusinesslike method of Senate pro- cedure.” The New York Times con= cludes: “The exhibition given by Long and his little troupe is sickening te the sober part of the community. It will the | have its value if it rubs into the popular mind the folly and the danger of fili- bustering and the folly of the Senate in not making a common-sense rule to choke the unlimited flow of speech.” D. C. and Maryland Car Owners and Gas Tax To the Editor of 'vhe Star: Granting, for the purposes of argu- ment, that the proposed gas tax is un- fair, as is stated in the editorial in The Star of January 19; also granting that the Borland law is inequitable, there still remain unsolved problems. The State Road Commission of Mary= land builds roads in the State with funds obtained exclusively from owners of motor vehicles operated on the roads of the State. District of Columbia car owners who ride on Maryland roads buy little gas in Maryland because of lower tax and more competition in the Dis- trict. Thus it happens that those car owners of Maryland who stay in the State pay a disproportionate share for the building of roads, while whatever is paid by District of Columbia users of Maryland roads goes to the District road fund. This discrepancy is bad enough, but there is more injustice. District of Columbia land owners re- ceive more rent or selling price for land because Maryland good roads are avail- able to tenants and purchasers of land. | This annual payment to District of + | Columbia land owners is a goodly sum, perhaps an amount equal to one-third of the annual cost of Maryland roads; this enormous amount goes into the pockets of District of Columbia land- owners for service they have not per- formed, while the majority of Maryland car owners pay for service they do not receive. The District of Columbia car owners, under this peculiar local ar- rangement, do not fare so badly as the Maryland car owners, but District of Columbia car owners pay extra rent to District of Columbia land owners for available local roads, although the car owners have built the roads with their own money. If the proposed gas tax is unfair, and if the Maryland law is inequitable, just Corner Looking. Prom the Phoenix Arizons Republic. Which to Jook for prosperity,