Evening Star Newspaper, February 1, 1933, Page 8

THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. O. ‘WEDNESDAY. . . February 1, 193: THEODORE W. NOYES....Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company 11th_St. anis Ave. Y 42nd 8t. in’ Bullding. 8t.. London, Rate by Carrier Within the City. ¢ Evening Star. iS¢ per month e Evening and Sunday Star undays) -80¢ per month T ach month. Orders may be sent in by mail or telephone NAtional 5000. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. Daily and Sunday. Daily only . Sunday only All Other States and Canada. Baily and Sunday...1yr. $12.00: 1 mo., $1.00 Daily only .. 1yr., $800: 1mo. 75¢ Sunday only 1yr, $5.005 1mo. S0c Member of the Associated Press. The Associated Press {s exclusively entitled o the use for republication of all news dis- Ppatches credited to it or not otherwise cred- ited in this paper and also the local news published her»in. All rights of publication o special dispatches herein 0 Japan and the League. After sixteen weary months, the Deague of Nations' toyings with the Far Eastern crisis are approaching finality, and a decision is imminent which will bring them to a‘climax. Japan's case for her conduct in Manchuria since BSeptember 18, 1931, seems to have gone against her. While there is no proposal to invoke League sanctions, the upshot of impending action at Geneva is con- demnation of the Japanese. That it is 8o considered is evident from Tokio dispatches foreshadowing Japan's with- drawal from the League in protest. ‘The Sino-Japanese controversy was brought to this end by the League's Committee of Nineteen, which was charged with the task of formulating findings based on the Lytton Commis- slon's investigation of the Manchurian episode. Appointed as & committee of “conciliation,” it sought to evolve a settlement satisfactory to both contest- ants and to the League as well. proved impossible. The Japanese re- peatedly let it be known that anything savoring of censure of their action in Manchuria and its results would be un- acceptable. Japan’s attitude found influential sup- port at Geneva, reputedly and primarilly at the hands of Great Britain and France, but China's position was even more stubbornly bulwarked by the smaller powers, led by Sweden and Swit- zerland. It is thcy who have finally prevalled. Twelve finc.iugs abou. i ve promulgated by the Committee of Nine- teen sustain the Chinese in all essen- tials—(1) that Japan's action at Muk- den on September 18, 1931, was not an act of self-defense; (2) that her subse- quent military measures cannot be ac- cepted or approved as measures of self- defense; (3) that Manchuria is an in- tegral part of China's territory; (4) that the creation of the State of Man- chukuo is not to be considered as the free and independent act of its Chi- nese inhabitants, and (5) that China's boycott of Japanese trade is a reprisal Justified by Japan's military action. Most arresting of all these findings is the justification of the Chinese boycott. The British opposed it to the end, fearful that it might later become & precedent to be used against their own trade in China. But the small powers, insistent from the outset that Japan be put on the spot if the League were to be worth its salt to weaker states in danger of aggression, stood fast for the righteousness 6f the Chi- nese boycott. The minor countries bluntly argue that it is impossible for the League to evade the boycott issue or to disapprove such a blaodleui weapon against those resorting to| force, particularly since League mem- bers themselves might need to use it some day against s violator of the| covenant. There is a bit of irony in the revela- | tion that while the big, powerful League of Nations could not summon the will | or the courage to boycott Japan on its own account, it 18 perfectly willing that weak, defenseless China should enact the role of Jack the Giant-Killer. Perhaps in the long run it will be just a8 effective. ———————— Appointment of Hitler was one of Hindenburg's easiest tasks. Hitler needed no persuasion. —————— February. An old French proverb refers to February as “the worst month of all,” and doubtless that view is amply justi- fled. But, according to a folk notion ages old, it is right and good that the shortest of the twelve subdivisions of the annual calendar should be a hard time. Popular wisdom, on occasion scientifically correct, holds that a tem- perate February is unseasonable, and that a late Spring may be expected to result. “The Welshman,” a British axiom testifies, “had rather see his dam on the Lier, than to see a fair Februeer,” and “The shepherd,” a Ger- man aphorism, records, “would rather see the wolf in his stable at Candlemas than the sun.” There must have been many generations of experience behind conceptions as dramatic, as positive as these. 8hakespeare reflected the accepted portrait of the month when, in “Much Ado About Nothing,” he wrote of: Such a February face, S0 full of frost, of storm, of cloudiness. And Bryant, representing an Ameri- can attitude, was faithful to his theme when, in his “Winter Piece,” he noted: ‘The rains Have glazd the snow and clothed the Jo the ‘jant sun of Pebrun s Trio® the owers " flood - of g, Approach! ‘The incrusted surface shall upbear thy steps And the broad, arching portals of the grove Welcome thy entering. But William Morris was aware of & gradual amelioration in the character of the month He spoke of: Late February days; and now, at las! Might you have thought that Win woe was past, 8o fair the sky was and so soft the air However, snow, ice, cold blasts from | the frozen zone, sudden and drastic changes from bad to worse comprise the standard of February weather. Probably the best that may be said of 1% a8 & whole is that it mlrka‘l certain ’ toward sunnier dayal |1 Nevertheless, it is worth repeating are largely what mankind them. The robust spirit of a race which has refused to be discourage: has nothing to fear from even the, cruelest of February storms. Local Money for Local Relief. The House Subcommittee on District Appropriations cannot in equity or fair- ness to the unrepresented citizens of this community seriously consider the proposal to increase the local tax bur- den for the alleged purpose of making sure that no Federal dollars will be used in the emergency relief appropria- tions for the District of Columbia. It has been reported that some mem- bers of this subcommittee have pro- posed increasing either the rate on real estate or the rate on intangibles, the proceeds from such an increase being in theory utilized for local relief alone, thus escaping any possible confusion as to the use of Federal money for Dis- trict of Columbia relief purposes. Such & proposal is not only mani- festly illogical, but grossly unfair. When the question was raised last year | whether local tax revenues appropri- | ated for local relief would not con- tain a proportion of Federal dollars | from the Federal lump sum Auditor | Donovan was quick to point out that the matter could be clarified by insert- ing a clause in the appropriation bill | to the effect that money appropriated | for local relief is “to be paid wholly out of the revenues of the District of Columbia.” Such = clause has safe- guarded the appropriation of local tax revenues for extension of streets and avenues, Mr. Donovan pointed out, for more than twenty years and no ques- tion has ever been raised as to the use of Federal funds for this purpose. “We will find a way to pay the amount exclusively from the revenues of the | District of Columbia,” said Mr. Dono- | van, “so as to remove any objection on the theory that the United States would be contributing a part of the ap- propriation.” | As a matter of fact, there is less chance of confusing Federal a!d with | the appropriation of local revenues for | local relief than of confusing Federal aid with emergency loans to the States, | which are permitted to borrow money | from the Reconstruction Finance Cor- poration. At present the Diswrict does not share in that privilege. But the States which borrow money for emer- | gency relief are permiited to repay ~h 1ot out of {u‘nre Federal road- &id app: [ nal In c'her words, in 1935, when the amortization of these | | loans 1s to begin, the States may either deduct their repayments from thelr regular apportionments of Federal aid funds or make other arrangements. The deduction from Federal aid allot- | ments will be mace automatically if the | States should default on thelr loans. | Thus emergency aid to the States, through the R. F. C. loans, clearly con- templates the use of Federal money collected in taxes from the citizens of the District as well as from the citizens | in the States. | Other cities have been forced to the appropriation of public funds for relief | purposes, but by drastic economies in |other expenditures are seeking to | escape increased tax burdens. Drastic | economies have likewise been effected | in the local budget, but the only | benefits have gone to the Federal Gov- ernment, which has reduced its contri- bution. It is unthinkable that sorely pressed local taxpayers are to be penal- | ized further by being plastered with an increase in their tax burden in order to make 2 bookkeeping entry that is as unnecessary as it is illogical. An additional objection to the tax-in- crease proposition is that in the District the increase of a tax rate to meet a temporary emergency like the present becomes a permanent tax rate unless and until it is further increased. It is far more difficult to secure from Con- gress the decreaze of a District tax rate than its increase. The gravity rule that “what goes up must come down” does not apply to a District tax rate. Rather it is true in this connection that “what once goes up never comes down.” ‘The present era of depression, during which rents of real estate are reduced and market values of real property are cut down without a corresponding cut in assessments, is no time to increase the real estate tax rate. The present bur- den is already unbearable. There should be no increase of the real estate tax for any purpose. On the contrary, there is urgent need of a decrease either of Tate or of assessment. Additional spe- cial taxes like the ever-increasing gaso- line tax should work such decrease in- stead of merely decreasing in effect the national contribution. Injury is threatened also by an in- crease of the intangibles tax rate. The greatest revenue from the low-rate classified tax on intangibles is derived when that rate is fixed at a figure which holds upon the tax list a maximum of intangibles to be taxed and which does not drive the intangibles to other juris- dictions or itto hiding from taxation anywhere. The owners of intangibles who have seen their holdings lose in many cases nearly all and in some cases all of their value should not, un- less it is absolutely unavoidable, suffer additional losses by increase of the tax rate upon their intangibles which still retain some value. Happily, however, in the present case it is unnecessary to increase specifically | the tax rate upon any particular form of taxables. China has at least one slight advan- | tage over Japan with reference to en- durance. It has been more accustomed to all kinds of trouble. Debt Negotiations, The President-elect's attention doubt- less will be called to the Senzte debate of yesterday in which criticism was made by Senator James Hamilton Lewis of Illinois of any course which led to direct and personal negotation on the part of the President-elect, now or here- ofter, with the rcp-erentatives of for- cizn natfons owing d-bts to the Uni'ed States. The Illinois Senaior, a Demo- crat and a supporter of Mr. R-osevelt, drew a parallel between the pitfalls which might confront the President- elect if such a course were followed snd those into which the late President ‘Woolrow Wilson actually fell when he went personally to Europe to deal with THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. @€, the peace negotiators at the close of the World War. ‘When a President of the United States himself undertakes to be a ne- gotiator of important settlements be- tween thls and other governments experience has taught this country that he loses a certain advantage which he might otherwise retain through nego- tiations conducted by representatives of ihis Government. Obviously these Tepresentatives In a sense must for the President. But with them in the, fleld of negotiation, the President retains at once a personal aloofness and a lJeeway that is naturally of great value. A President of the United States may, it is true, issue an ulti- matum with considerable force, as did the late President Roosevelt when he fent word to the Moroccans in terse language: “Perdicaris alive or Raisuli dead.” The warning from the Senate may have reached the President-elect in Uime. So far Mr. Roosevelt has ap- parently done nothing beyond agreeing that this Government would receive Tepresentatives of the debtor nations and learn their proposals with regard to the debts. He has not indicated that he himself would deal with these foreign negotiators, although that has been the implication in & number of dispatches Trecelved from Warm Springs, where the President-elect is now visiting. Back of the Senate warning to Mr. Roosevelt tbat it would be inadvisable for him to conduct debt negotiations personally lay a plain statement that | o intention of laying aside its ultimate | | authority in the matter of the debts. | 1wn11e the executive branch of the Gov- i | ernment, headed by the President, may | negotlate & debt settlement, it may not | finally conclude the settlement. That is a power reserved to Congress. The unfortunate part of the matter, how- ever, lles in the fact that if the Pres- ident of the United States, after March 4, should indicate to the debtor nations that they would not be expected to settle their debts but might in some | ! degree avold them, the peoples of the | | forelgn nations would no longer regard these debts as a moral obligation to the United States, The countries of Europe learned, it |is true, that the Chief Executive of | | the United States cannot always speak | | for the Government of this country when the Senate rejected the Versailles | peace treaty and the League of Nations | | covenant. But in the case of these debts, | | which some of the nations seem to | have even now determined not to pay, the attitude of a President of the United | States would be seized upon avidly as | an excuse for failing to jnake any fur- ther payment to this country. As Sena- | tor Lewis, and also Senator David A. | Reed of Pennsylvania, have pointed out. | | the situation now disclosed with regard | to the forelgn debts due Ameriea is one in which the President-elect must of necessity watch his step. e However ruthless the so-called King- | | fish may be in seizing prominence in | the public eye, it needs no caricaturist | to dash any latent hope of his ever taking a prize in a beauty contest. oo One of the distinctions enjoyed by Adolf Hitler is his histore demonstra- | tion that a man may wear a Charley | | Chaplin mustache and still be most serious. The unemployment situation is being | closely studied by Henry Ford. Unem- | ployment is & poor salesman for auto- mobiles as for other articles of com- merce. T SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Unheeded Instruction. We hop or we hobble. The world seems to wobble Through dates that distinguish the bygone from now. They're trying to fix it by bold ipse dixit, And dear Uncle Jim, he keeps tellin’ ‘em how. With epithets hectic and methods eclec- tic ‘They keep on debating and raising a Tow. Though plainly they need to, they never give heed to My wise Uncle Jim, who keeps tellin’ ‘em how. The problems are painful. We can't be disdainful Of those who show power in frequent pow-wow. And the job that seems easy and simple and breezy Is Uncle Jim’s, when he keeps tellin’ ‘em how. i Comforting Assurance. “Anyhow,” said Senator Sorghum, | “recent legislation has made the fuiure | seem a little more comfortable to me.” “Are you having things your own way?” “Not altogether.. But I'm at least as- sured that there is no chance of my having to suffer the embarrassment of figuring as a lame duck.” Jud Tunkins says playin' politics is like playin’ the piano. Your audience walks out if you keep hammerin’ out the same old tunes, Talking on Overhead. The farmer's land was sold for taxes. Says he “Now bring your plows and axes. You've got the job. You cannot ahirk it. Pay me for showin’ how to work it.” ‘Transaction. “So you bought back your farm for a nickel!” said the sheriff, “Yes,” answered Farmer Corntossel. “I'm just goin’ up to pay my money. “Limme see the nickel.” “Here it is.” “Well, I won't say anything about it this time, but dont let it happen again. | T ought to arTest you for passin’ coun- | terfeit money.” ¢ “To leave a heritage of implacable dissension to posterity,” said Hi Ho, the sage of Chinatown. “Through war we may sentence them to fine and impris- onment and even capital punishment.” . Modern Monte Cristo. The aviator’s bold design Defles the passing breezes. He simply says “The world is mine,” And drops down where he pleases. “I envies dat old mule gf mine,” said Uncle Eben. “He to be fed, whether I is or not.” THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. Common sense is mostly caution, isn't it? The dictionary calls it “good, prac- tical sense in every-day affairs.” “Normal " is another definition. Allof these boil down to caution, or discretion, or tact, or whatever one wants to call it. in dispositi xml: lons wi begins and where it ly fair way to find this place is to look closely at the caution dis- played in any given case. It will not amount to cowardice, Nor will it appeal to any observer as “flaming.” Most people would just call it com- mon sense, and they would be right; for if one has a proper amount of cau- tion in his disposition he will auto- matically have common sense. will apply to all the walks of life, not just in relation to money mat- ters or personal affairs where one runs & danger of fisticuffs if he speaks too frankly. The man of common sense is cautious. He runs no unnecessary danger, not because he is more afraid than the uncautious individual, but mostly because he has a sense of humor and decency. Common sense is basically just what the dictionary says it is—good, prac- tical, and in every-day usage. Caution itself is no obscure thing. It simply involves thinking ahead. Thus If the man possessed of com- the Senate, as part of the Congress ‘mon sense does even so small a thing | which must deal with the debts, has as go down the bascment stairs he gives | fome thought to the matter before he | goes down. Perhaps there is one step shorter | than the others. Even those who have been using the flight for years tend to forget this simple difference, but the gentleman possessing common sense does not forget it. Every time he starts to go down he recalls that different tread and makes up his mind to provide for it by short- ening his step in proportion. His recollection may not be exactly conscious—that is, he will not give him- self a lecture on steps and their fail- ings—but somehow he will keep the defect in mind and thus be in a posi- tion to make up for it. A lot of trouble to himself? So the mountain boy said to the overnight visitor after watching him make his toilet: “Yure a lot o' trouble to yerself, ain't you, mister?” he asked. It all depended on what one called trouble, of course. The person lacking the spirit of cau- tion, as exemplified in ordinary com- mon sense, might well tend to think that the man who possessed it was a ot of trouble to himself.” “He worries,” might be the accusa- tion mede against him. It would all depend on one's defini- | tion of “worry.” What is man's worry is merely another’s normal thought. There is no need to worry about that. Positively there is no worry to the cautious person in taking thought be- forehand as well as he can. There will be many situations in which he will make wrong decisions or come to the wrong conclusions: nobody knows that better than himself. Upon occasion he will be inclined to feel that he never makes a right deci- sion. Then he will look around him, observe others carefully and decide that they, too, no more make perfect decisions than he. Upon occasion he will be inclined to feel that whole communities, entire nations even, make wrong decisions upon very important matters, compared with the importance of which his little decisions in the matters of the every- “’fb”&k:‘&%tmt'mw 01 ore] pro- vide for contingencies as well ,as one can, is common sense i a . It means that one is not satisfied with keeping intelligence for the class room or the lil bring it out into the market Deraons d this very ing, expecialy ta persons very thing, es) ly trade relations, is against it, but rather in lg favor. :::hl:mt:lm:h.t common sense is & very in the lives of all of us; it sometimes shows called “intellectuals” who may think to peer down at humanity from their “livory towers.” Too often their sneer gives them away. ; Common sense knows little of sneer- Ing. It is too busy with its own, not in a selfish way, but solely because there is & plain situation to be met, however small, which must be faced with calm understanding. e The smaller the affair may be, the more need for common sense perhaps. The greatest lack of this good caution is to believe that trivialities in them- selves are unworthy the attention of a person. Thus one continuously sees men and women who have mistakenly given over to others the smaller joys and disap- pointments of life, while they them- selves are attempting to get along like fairy princes and princesses in a world of their own attempted making which simply doesn’t exist. The real world is real enough for all | practical purposes. | . If one is in danger of bumping one’s head every time one goes down a flight of steps, it is common sense or ele- mentary caution to remember the pos- sibility and slightly lower the hecad. Put on all the airs in the world, picture one's self king without regular the more severe the bump which it will receive. Consider this bus with a low door and 80 marked. Perhaps the plate with the lettering on it has been permitted to grow dull, so that the letters no longer shine, but that should not keep the person with common sense from using his head as he gets off. Yet nothing is more common on that line than for passengers to whack their heads on those low dcors, solely through their lack of caution, which is just an- | other way, at least according to our | story, of saying that they lack in some cegree plain old common sense. Each one knows the doorway is‘un- | commonly low, that one must duck one’s head somewhat or ram one’s hat into | the lintel or whatever the crossbar | above a bus door is called. Each one knows it, but very often seems to feel that forethought in re- | gard to this trivial matter is far, far oeneath them. | " To look, to think, to think to look— to do all his, would it not permit some one that one never saw before perhaps, and probably never will see again, to think that one is not engaged with very | important matters? How desirous the modern human be- ing is of being thought to be forever engaged with “very important matters”! He would be better off himself, and only a few of the plain saps would think any the less of him for it if he | would be just a little more human. | To be human is a very great privi- | lege. after all: and there is nothing a | human being appreciates more than the trivial. Our daily amusements end occupations prove it. Many of them are only elaborated trivialities. If we | used the same common sense with re- | gard to all our daily affairs that we so | often use in relation to our amuse- | ments, we would no doubt be on the | highroad to a better and a saner world. WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS BY FREDERIC WILLIAM WILE. If anybody ever had the idea that Congress can't laugh at itself, it would be dispelled by the joyous fun which members of both houses are getting this week out of “Of Thee I Sing.” Every performence is packed with Represent- atives and Senators and no one rocks with mere merriment than the political entry so mercilessly lampooned by the Kaufman-Ryskind-Gershwin master- plece. Monday evening was a gala night because of the presence of Speak- er Garner as host at a box party. Every time the wretched and desols “Vice President” Alexander Throttie: bottom was on the stage, plunzing everybody in the theater into paroxysms, “Jack’s” sides shook, as the whole house looked in his direction to see how he was taking it. Senator Carter Glass, in another box, enjoyed no less keenly the screaming satire the plece pokes at the Senate and the Supreme Court. Among the many congressional folk present on the same occasion were Senator Tom Connally and Representatives Rodgers, Kahn Kelley, Hogg, Mead, Milligan, Rayburn, Nolan, Goss, Warren, Swank, Wood- rum, Prall, Vinson and Martin. The diplomatic corps was represented by the QGreek Minister and Mrs. Simopoulos, who registred nothing but mirth dur- ing the French Ambassador episode. Quoth “Vice President” Throttlebot- tom during the priceless Senate scene, in a timely aside obviously interpolated for loeal consumption: “This sounds to me like hooey. Have they had this hooey long?” * k% * Perhaps if the late Sir Willlam Osler were alive he'd feel that his theory of men'’s uselessness from 40 onward had recelved a rude jolt, seeing as how President-elect Roosevelt is about to select the two oldest members of the United States Senate for his cabinet. Carter Glass, designated for the secre- teryship of the Treasury, is the father of the Senate, aged 75, and Thomas J. Walsh, slated to be Attorney General, will be 74 in June. No men in Ameri- can public life today outstrip these vet- eran Democrats in intellectual vigor. Evidently F. D. R. is by way of setting up & Yankee edition of the celebrated Genro, or body of elder statesmen, who since time immemorial have been the wers behind the throne of imperial apan. Incidentally, he seems to e rejected Col. House's advice not to ap- point “old dodos,” but confine. himself to flaming youth. * ok ok % Frederick Van Nuys, who on March 4 will succeed Jim Watson as United States Senator from Indiana/ was in ‘Washington the other day, acquainting himself with what will soon be his new surroundings. Emerging from some farm relief hearings in the Senate Com- mittee on Agriculture, Van Nuys was moved to spin a yarn apropos rural distress in the Midwest. “A farmer came into my law office the other day,” #aid the Hoosler Senator-elect, “to have me look over a document concerning a trade he was about to make with a neghbor. He told me he'd agreed to ge twanl‘cr':e of land {o{ 8 le.a“l:o After inspec paper, urne my client and said: ‘Silas, I'm glad you showed me this, because I think I've saved you a lot. You're giving that fellow 250 acres for his mule, not 2 acres’ Replied Silas: ‘I know it, but he can’t read, and I mm‘m Ird slip something over on o R Rear Admiral Cary T. Grayson, gen- eral chairman of the velt In- a al Committee, ccmes rather hon- by that job, considering th-t it was the other President Rcofevelt under whom he firrt entered public service. The late Surg. Gen. Rixey of the Navy wa:. White House physician at the time, t00 burdensome for | later, drew | while Big Bill was War Secretary, re- | tained him as cne of the White House | | physicians. A fortuitous circumstance on Woodrow Wilson’s very first day in office, March 4, 1913, brought Grayson, | who then had the rank of lleutenant | commander in the Navy Medical C:rps, to the Democratic President's atten- tion. Thereupon began their long and affectionate friendship. * Kk x % An impression is crystallizing that Anna Eleanor Roosevelt is going to be the most active First Lady the land has known for many an administration, if not for all time. She herself has just an- nounced that, far from confining her- self to housewifely and social duties, she is going to fill a definite, self-appointed political role. Mrs. Roosevelt is going to be her presidential husband's listen- ing post. She has established, she ex- | plains, & Nation-wide chain of “key” sources of information, both men and women, with whom she purposes keep- ing In regular touch, with a view to let- ting Mr. Roosevelt time how Vox Populi is reacting to cur- rent public issues. To what extent the dynamic future mistress of the White House intends to continue her writing, teaching, speaking and broadcasting ac- tivities has nct yet been revealed. Mrs. Roosevelt will have opportunity, at a dinner in Washington late in March, to disclose, if she cares to, what her plans | in this direction are. x ok ok K Apparently the next duel between capital and labor is going to be fought at Washingtcn if and when the time comes—and some authorities say it is | imminent—to tackle tNe question of recognizing Soviet Russia. Capital, | represented by the great manufactur- |ing and industrial interests cf the country, along with important banking groups, is widely favorable to establish- ing official relations with the Moszow government. Labor, represented by the American Federation of Labor, has just announced through its principal spokes- man, President Willlam Green, that it Is bitterly opposed to recognition, on the ground that Russian forced labor would be brought into direct ccmpetition with American free labor if a regular flow of trade intercourse between the two countries is encouraged. * kX % On what is called the legal battle of the century, just waged in the United States Court at Alexandria, across the Potomac from Washington, may de- pend, it's said, the failure or success of the whole Roosevelt power program. The litigants are the Appalachian Elec- tric Power Co., which controls vast hydroelectric resources in Virginia and West Virginia, and the Federal Power Commission. The company is repre- sented in the contest by Newton D. Baker, at the head of a score of law- yers, while Huston Thompson, another Democrat and one-time Assistant At- torney General in the Wilson adminis- tration, is counsel for the power com- mission. If through an order of the court the present power act, as applied in ‘the Appalachian case, is declared unconstitutional, \and the company can shake loose from a license, which the power commission is demanding from it, then the power interests of the United States may be freed from Fed- eral control in cases where hydroelectric energy is developed from non-navigable waterways. Mr. Baker argues that reg- ulation and recapture without due pay- ment is unconstitutional. zon chides the former Secretary of War with having framed the water power now challenging. * ok ok % | news that Sir John Broderick, for so many years commercial adviser the pretension of those so- |the troubles, the higher the head is held | know from time to | Mr. Thomp- | ‘lct which, as a power lawyer, he is| ‘Washington is much interesied in late | / ‘WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 1933. Too Much Paroling Of Law Breakers To the Bditor of The Star: The press, and your paper particu- If a taxpayer is afraid to home for a drive through fearing some prowler will rob his during his absence, just why do need more parks and why cannot some | ot the money be spent on additional police? The writer has had his home Tobbed several times, twite in the eve- ning and once in broad daylight. In the latter instance the thief has been caught by the police and admitted the burglary. It appears he was serving @ 10-year term for housebreaking and was paroled at the end of 3 years. Upon his release he went right back to thieving, having admitted a num- berbol cases. & citizen and taxpayer, what I would like to know is just why these people are being pardoned or paroled to begin again where they left off, giving the police the job of catching them again, if possible, and the courts the | trouble and expense of another trial. {'fhen, too, many instances occur in which several sentences are meted out of one or more years for each case, but | with the judge permitting the sentences to run concurrently instead of con- secutively. Sentences are supposed to be a deterrent to others, but if they are to be light and prisoners paroled after a short time, what is to deter the | criminal from a career of crime? In a recent case of bank robbery here it developed the robbers were out on bail following a_previous robbery in another State. If their bail had been made 5o high they could not have fur- nished it, they would have been pre- vented from running loose and robbing the bank here. Another matter that our legislators could help would be the enactment of a proper vagrant law and one under which a “fence” who re- celves stolen goods could be convicted. | As the law stands now, a receiver of | stolen goods goes free, unless it can be | proven he or she knew the goods pur- | chased were stolen. To prove this is| practically impossible, hence the buyer | wal out of court free, when, in fact, the receiver, or buyer, of such goods s practically as guilty as the thief in many insiances. Now, mercy is all right when justified, but there is such a thing as overdoing it and letting mawkish sentiment run away with those who evidence too much sympathy for the evildoer. How | are we to deter and stop crime if we | give way to the habitual thief or other | criminal, letting them off with slight or no punishment? What we need, and | must have if our police force is to ac- complish n;tmlsson. is to support them, cards. Address The Information _Bureau, Haskin, Director, Washing- Q. On what date is Ash Wednes- day this year?—T. C. A. Ash Wednesday falls on March H 1 and Easter on April 16. A, Are there any States which do not provide for probation for offenders against the law?—H. J. A. The National Probation Associ- ation says that 15 States are without laws for adult probation, and two' States without lJaws for juvenile courts. Q. When was the gold rush in the Black Hills>—T. S. H. A. In 1874, Gen. Custer in going through the Black Hills reported the discovery of gold. Two years later this report was confirmed, and there was an immediate rush of gold seekers. Q What kings and queens have visited the United States?—A. T. A. Among the kings who have visited America may be mentioned Albert of Belgium; Don Pedro II, Emperor of Brazil, who attended the Centennial Expositicn in Philadelphia in 1876; Edward VII of England, who came to this country while Prince of Wales in 1860; Queen Marie of Rumania, who toured the United States in Oc- tober and November, 1926, and the King and Queen of Siam in 1931. Q. When did President Lincoln first propose to emancipate slaves, paying iheir owners for them?—J. G. W. A. As early as March 6, 1862, Lin- coln urged Congress in a special mes- sage to co-operate with any State for the gradual emancipation of its slaves, with compensation from the Govern- ment. Q. What is Bishop’s ring?—D. G. A. It is a meteorological phenomenon appearing in the sky following great volcanic eruptions. It was named for the Rev. Sereno Bishop of Honolulu, who was first to describe the appearance following the eruption at Krakatoa in 1883. The ring resembles the rings in thin clouds about the sun and moon and is caused by diffraction of the sun's rays by fine volcanic dust in the strato- sphere. The ring has just been re- ported from South America, having been caused by the eruption at Quizapu in the Andes last year, and from Aus- tralia. Presence of volcanic dust in the stratosphere veils the sun to some ex- tent and affects the weather. Q. Where did the great fire of Lon- don start>—C. O. V. A. 1t staried in a wooden house on Pudding lane cn September 2, 1666. Q. What were the musical instru. ments of the ancient Egyptians an Creeks’—E. G. H. give them the men required to polics the city properly, and when a man is | caught and prcved guilty, put him {away where you and I will ro. be en-| | dangered of our lives or property. With the “depression. the criminal activies |are_on the increase and something | must be done. OVERTON C. LUXFORD. Plan Proposed to Stop A. The flute, the harp, the pipe, the guitar, the trumpst and the drum were d by the ancient Egyptians. The the flute, the trumpet, or horn, the cithara were used by the e, What is the meaning of the terms infiation, deflation and reflation?— E. N. B A. Gold standard couriries must maintain a minimum percentage of Foreclosures on Farms To the Editor of The Star: | When credit is denied to an indi- vidval, economic disaster overtakes' him. A general stoppage of credit speils national discster. This is the irue cause cf our present situation Prosperity cannot be restored until | crecit again flows freely. ! In this country there are farm mort- | gages ageregating $10,000,000,000, Per- | haps 75 per cent of the debtors need | assistance. principally because of (1) failure to pay | taxes and (2) failure to pay interest. | Farmers can’t pay because their source of credit has dried up. The creditor feels forced to foreclose because each | year cf forbearance means to him an increase in these charges. If not paid, | the creditor suffers further interest loss and risk of security through tax sales. He must protect himself, so Icrecloses promptly upon default. If Congress will devise a plan to ad- vance to farmers merely the interest payments on the first mortgege, and if the individual States will abolish de- linquent tax pe les and extend the time limit on tax sales, these farms can be saved. Creditors do not want farms; they merely want their interest, and their principal safeguarded. If safe- guarded, they will gladly grant ex- tensicns of their mortgage. Such extensicns ‘will restore confi- dence in the rural sections. The farmer, banker and individual creditors will all be given a needed breathing spell, I suggest this method for what it is | worth. Let Congress establish a farm | mortgage corporation. Advance now, cn seccnd mortgage with low interesi raie. sufficient to pay the back interest | on the first mortgage and agree to pay | future interest, annually as due, for five | years. provided that the first-mortgage creditor grants an extension of the mortgage for the same ' period; this fund to be available only to residents of those States which abolish accrued tax Penaities and tax intcrest, and which will extend the time limit on tax sales. At the end cf five years payment of the first and second mortgages can be ex- tended if necessary under the same conditions. The small amounts loaned on these second mortgages will be a lien against the farmer’s equity and the aggregate of such equities might well support a scund Government bond is- sue attractive to investors, thus saving an immediate drain on the Treasury. In any event, such a plan would be vastly superior to the past and present commodity stabilization plans, which are hopeless in the face of the law of supply and demand. I wish astute business men like Sen- ator Ccuzens and Senator Smoot would turn this plan over in their minds. Guarantee the interest payments and the farms can be saved. CHARLES W. JONES. oo Senator Black’s Statement On Communists Corrected To the Editor of The Star: I noticed in The Star of Sunday s statement of Senator Black of Alabama to the effect that only two witnesses had appeared agains this 6-hour day and 30-hour week bill before the Senate Judiciery Subcommittee. Says Mr. Black: “One was a Com- munist who wants to destroy the cap- Italist system and the other a repre- sentative of the manufacturers’ assccia- tion, which wants to dominate the labor demand.” This is a deliberate misstatement against the Socialist Labor party. Two Communist representatives appeared ing a short day ments in the bill. . The man who op- Vi te;mmwt? dhdkmm ‘erne 'ynolds, and he represen the Socialist Labor and not the Communists. Mr. K 3 should rectify his mistake. HOMER WELLS. it will not be surprising if he is assigned to Washington bitween posts to take an tiations. were Capital sociely knew his Sir John and Lady Bre ick members of ever onions | local gold rescrve to redeem paper money. I: the amount of pape- m issued without limit cxceeds gold reserves, in- h | flation means ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN. flation exists. Controlled inflation pro= in | vides for additional currency up to the limit, but not beyond. Deflation means rapid retirement of paper money, de- o u";he llmumutl outstanding ;:d ra. reserve in proportion. Re- restoration to a greater volume after deflation has contracted money too much. Q. May a relative act as witness for one sec citizenship papers?—B. C. A on the court. Wit~ nesses must be ble to the court where application for citizenship pa- pers is made. Q. How many States have State birds?—D. H. A. Forty-three States and the Dis- | trict of Columbia have adopted State | birds. | Q. Which are the English cathedrals of the “Old Poundation”?—G. T. A. York, London, Lincoln, Lichfield, Hereford, Exeter, Salisbury, Wells and Chichester. Q. What is the origin of the expres- slen, “It would take a Philadelpha law= yer to straighten it out”?>—R. M. P. A. There appear to be many different opinions as to its origin. John Peter Zenger, proprietor of a newspaper of Albany, was indicted for criminal libel and was successfully defended by An- drew Hamilton, a Philadelphia lawyer, in 1735. The case was epoch-making, as Hamilton established for all timi the principles of free and free speech, to which the law of libel should be forever subservient. The New Eng- land folks have a saying: “Three Phil- adelphia lawyers are a match for the ery devil himself.” This is taken ’irat;tzx the Salem Observer of March 13, Q. May a tariff measure originate in the Senate?—P. M. A. Since the tariff is classed as & revenue measure, it must, under the provisions of the Constitution, orige inate in the House of Representatives. Q. What was the average attendance at the stadium events of the Olympis Games in Los Angeles”’—S. K. A. The average attendance was 50,- 000 a day, but the record attendance was 150,000 present for the opening and | closing ceremonies. | Q Where are the most books pub- lished in the English language?—F. G. | A. In England. Last year English publishers brought out 13,938 new books, comparcd with 9.035 in the United States. In 1931 England published 14,688 new | volumes, compared with 10,307 in the United States. It is estimated that, through use of libraries and purchased books, the English people, although numbering only one-third &s many as the Americans. read 50,000,000 bocks a year. Circulating libraries are popular. The figures do not include the English= | lergueg> books published jn Canads, Australia and other parts of ‘the British | Empire. | @ How old was Judge Lindsey when he became head of the Juvenile Court of Denver, Colo.>—C. E. H. A. Benjamin Barr Lindsey was born |in Jackson, Tenn. November 25, 1869. | His eppointment to head the Juvenile Court, of Denver was made in 1900, and he was elected,in 1901. He was | then 22. . Q. Did Rome have more than one Forum?—J. P. A. Rome had many. The one most familiar today is the Forum Romani | but several of the other great Fora of Rome were those of Caesar, Augustus, |Nerva, Trajan, Vespasian and the | Forum of Appii, which was largely as a stopping place for or Jjourneying to Rome. Burden of Double Taxation Leads to National Protest ‘The preliminary report of a commit- the United States is mace the basis for many protests against the existing con- great that relief is believed to be neces- sary. Co-operation among the taxing agencies is held to be the cnly means of reducing the burden. : “There is probably a saturation point,” according to the New York Times, “at which tax rates reach their highest efficiency and beyond which, thanks to the readily available oppor- tunities for investment in non-taxable securities, they enter a sphere of dimin- ishing returns. That this noint has been passed in certain cases is sug- gested by the report of the House spe- cial Committee on Double Taxation. It shows that 23 States and Territories have invaded the income tax ficld, originally occupied solely by the Fed- eral Government. With a maximum rate of 63 per cent fixed in the new PFederal revenue act and a maximum of 10 to 15 per cent imposed in som2 of | the States. about three-quarters of the net income in the highest bracket will now flow into Federal or State treas- uries in certain cases.” “The States have the power,” suggests the Lincoln State Journal, “to tax every- thing except_goocs and wares entering the country, while the only limitation on the Federal Government is that it cannot levy a real estate tax. It does not need to, since it can get at indi- vidual incomes in other ways. Not all of the States have sales, inheritance or income taxes, but the number is increasing steadily. The Federal Gov: ernment levies taxes on all three, and may have to widen its sales tax. Not long ago it reached out and taxed every user of gasoline a cent a gallon, and practically every State has a gasoline lax.” “PFor some of these duclicating levies,” comments the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, “there is justification. ~The citizen who earns an income benefits from services rendered by both PFederal and State governments. It is quite in order that both administrations should derive part of their upkeep from levies on in- comes. But in multiple taxation of commodities, such as gasoline and to- bacco, the result is an overloading of one item, placing a handicap upon busi- ness and the consuming public. About half the retail cost of gasoline in St. Louls now represents taxes, and more than half of the cost of cigarettes in States that levy a tax on them. Nine | States now have general sales taxes of various forms, and this fact should be an | added deterrent to the move for a Fed- eral levy of this nature. The army of tax collectors and the necessity of making several tax returns figure largely in the economic waste of our tax sys- tem. * * * One method that has been suggested for cutting out this waste is to have jolat collection of taxes, as at present employed by coun- tes in apportioning & share of their re- ceipts to municipalities, school districts, townships, drainage districts and other tax-supported functions. In the same fashion, by co-operation between the Federal Government and States, only and spoke before that committee, favor- | shares bes short week, g that “we have enough forms of taxation,” the Boise Idaho States- and | active part in next month’s debtflo' the other each $20, the $16, the county $8, the city $25, Elmnlmdlvflm $10 Tk 945" the taxpayer must see that economy Farm loans are foreclosed | tee of Congress on double taxation in begins at home. 1If he lives in a city or town, the municipal budget demands his | attention first. He should study local | ditions, because the total burden is so | fiscal problems carefully to determine where the money s; to be able to decice intelligently which services can be dispensed with and which can be | reduced. Having thus informed him- self, the citizen should exert his influ- ence through his taxpayers’ league or other civic organization.” “It is our conviction and that of scientific economists,” states the Chi- cago Daily News, “that the remedy for | tax duplication is to be sought in cefi- | nite separation of the sources of revenue !and radical reconstruction of the tax | system. What one Government taxes, | cthers should let severely alone. For | example, income taxes and death dutles, | so called, should be levied by the States, | not by the National Government, while internal revenue taxes, like customs | duties, should be the recognized pre- serve of the Federal Government. Such definite classification would make for justice, simplicity and administrative | »Mciency and for genuine economy. The | present confusion in taxation is one of | the most formidable obstacles to econ- |omy. Co-operation between the State and Federal governments is esseniial to a comprehensive soluticn of the prob- |lem, and the education of lawmakers i.g one of the prerequisites of co-opera- | tion.” > | " “In some States,” records the Hazleton | Standard-Sentinel, “as many as four | distinct units of government are filling | their coffers from the sale of gasoline. ‘The levies total as much as 10 cents a | gallon in some sections, with the Fed- | eral, State, city and county governments | all sharing in the spoils. Both State | and Federal governments are collecting income taxes, the combined levies total- | ing as much’as 75 per cent of the in- | come in the higher brackets. Inheri- | tance and estate taxes are collected by | both the States and Washington, the | former taking enough to permit sharing ;an of the proceeds, with the county ice aiding in their collection.” a o | |Gargantuan Bureaucracy Cause of Drain on People To the Editor of The Star: Referring to your recent editorial on “Unified Control,” the tempered sug- gestion of advantages in Government ownership as against “control” of pri- vate management seems eminently fair to these imminent issues. That a news- paper as influential in conservative cir- cles as The Star has been should come to recognize that Government “regula- tion” of the corporation system of finance may be fundamentally wrong as a means to social control of mechanized industry is an enlightening commentary on the tax-eating bureaucracy which the theory of “regulation” has made inevitable. s Government ownership would not only eliminate all this cumbersome, expen- sive, inefficient, ineffective and essen- lly irresponsible organization, which invites corruption and favoritism and breathes the very spirit of racketeering into our whole industrial fabric, but it also, at one stroke, could eliminate the speculative element that is directly and wholly ble for those reactions upon currency values which we euphe- mistically term “depressions.” Not all fluctuation in values can be prevented —nor should be. But speculation can and should be reduced to a scale that currency supply by has long since attempted to establ stability in prlL;.e l'"ul,'.'g = L May we not e Star follow up this eqdp.lehrh