Evening Star Newspaper, February 3, 1933, Page 8

{THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. FRIDAY. February 38, 1933 THEODORE W. NOYES....Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company Business Office: 11th_St. and Pennsylvania Ave. New York Office: 110 East 42nd St hicago Office: Lake Michigan Building. uropean Office: 14 Regent 8t. London ngla Rate by Carrier Within the City. i 45¢ per month | days) . . . . . .60c per month The Evening and Sunday Star (when 5 Sunda: The C s 65¢ per month Sundav Star.. ;-5¢ per copy lection made et the end of each month s gn;\“vuge sent in by mail or telephone | Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. Daily and Sunday....1yr. $10.00; 1mo.. 85¢ Daily only 1yr, $6:00: 1 mo., 50c Bunday only 1yr. $4.00; 1mo.. 40c All Other States and Canada. Datly and Sunday...1yr. $12.00; 1 mo.. $1.00 | Iy ".........1yr. $800: Imo. 75 | Daily oniy Buncay only ... yr., $5.00; 1mo. 50c Member of the Associated Press. The Associated Press is exclusively entitled to the use for republication of all news dis- tches credited to it or not otherwise cred- Ried i’ this paver and siso the local news published herein. All rights of publication of special dispatches herein wre also reserved. = — == The Tennessee Basin. President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt bas outlined a huge program of de- velopment in the Tcmmessee River Basin which he plans to start to work on as soon as he goes into the White House. If it be a dream, as some of | his critics are likely to suggest, at least it is a magnificent dream. It is| the kind of dream that has so often in the history of America led to great | achievement. As a matter of hard fact, the Roosevelt project for the develop- ment of this great river basin is on & solid foundation. The natural re- sources are there, including cheap power when developed, cheap trans- portation, great supplies of coal and other minerals. Already a comprehen- sive report on the possible development of the Tennessee River Valley has been prepared by the Engineer Corps of the‘ Army and has been submitted to the Congress. The Government already has gone into the Tenessee River Valley with an expenditure of approximately $165- | 000,000 and has built the huge power plant at Muscle Shoals. Today the | plant supplies such power as the Ala- bama Power Company may care to take from it—far less than the huge plant can produce. But Mr. Roose- | velt's vision of the future of the Ten- nessee River Basin goes far beyond the | Muscle Shoffls development. It looks to | reforestation, to establishment of great | indusiries in country that is now little | more than a waste in many sections. | And if the experiment in the Tennes- see River Valley proves a success, there are other great rivers and valleys in | reformers. | others fixed by law—amount to $233,- is made the retention of the The defects of the present calendar are summarised under six heads. The basic fault, of course, is tliat of the disagreement between the astronomical year and all human effort to measure time by practical theory. A period of 365.2422 days simply cannot be equi- tably organised into usable integrals. It is conceded, therefore, that no utterly ideal calendar ever can be designed. An approximation is all that may be hoped for. The twelve-month scheme certainly has obvious advan- tages over the thirteen-month arrange- ment proposed by another group of To the average citizen the whole subject of calendar correction may appear to be academic. It will be scientists, statisticians, economists and research workers who will look with favor upon any sensible plan for sim- plitying their labors. To most of these no argument in behalf of the general idea 1is necessary. [Every man or woman, dealing with comparative figures, must have longed for an im- provement of thé kind indicated. Life grows increasingly complicated, and any endeavor to oppose that tendency deserves support. The goal of progress is not chaos, but rather a more pervasive order. A better calen- dar would help. More Blind “Economy.” ‘The annual appropriation for veter- ans’ administration, totaling $966,- 838,634—an increase of $18,000,000 over the current appropriation—was approved by the House yesterday with virtually no debate and escaped the economy barrage that has shattered so many other smaller and less important Items of Government expenditure. The Senate, meanwhile, occupied it- self chiefly with discussion of two amendments to the Treasury-Post Office bill, both of which it approved. One of these authorizes heads of de- partments to save five per cent of the total appropriations, while the other amendment provides that in making the savings “no wage cuts or furloughs | other than those heretofore in effect or | by this act proyided shall be ordered.” | If five per cent were cut from the Post Office appropriation, the net sav- ing would be $35,851,666 in a bill which ‘ totals about $717,033,378. s For several reasons the five per cent cut plan promises to create confusion worse confounded in the Government establishment. In the Post Office Do- partment appropriation, for instance, fixed charges from which no deduc- | tions can be made—as these charges represent contract obligations and 343,000. That leaves $483,690.378 to! which the five per cent cut may be applied, and of this amount, $435872,- 981 is necessary for salaries. The actual amount, after deducting fixed charges | this country which may be developed in similar fashion. The President-elect sees 200,000 men put to work almost immediately in | carrying out this Tennessee River project. That in itself would be & great accomplishment. But the remi- | fications may well lead to the employ- | ment of other hundreds of thousands, many of them far removed from the | Tennessee River. It is clear that Mr. | Roosevelt expects the Government to | give the project the initial shove re- quired, but that in the future the varied ramifications, power, reforestation, navigation, flood control, mey well pay for themselves and many times over. The success of the project will depend, of course, not alone upon the Federal Government., but also upon the co- | operation which private enterprise and industry may bring to play in the Tennessee River Valley. Nor does Mr. Roosevelt's vision run merely to the activittes of the Government in that great valley. The extent of the Tennessee River Basin is great. The river itsell runs for 652 miles, first southwest through Tennessee and Alabama, then west, and next northwest, to flow again into Tennessce, Kentucky, and finally into the Ohio River. The drainage basin has an area of 640,000 square miles with a population about 2,000,000 in number. Doubtless the new administration will | not enter olindly into-the project now advanced by Mr. Roosevelt. He will| have the advice of engineers, of in- dustrialists and of financiers. The en- | couraging factor is the will to start something new; the courage to ad- vance with a project which unfortu- nately has been absent in American | industry too largely In recent years. | ———————— | “gwap” is rather a rough word as' apriied to debts and teriffs; but it is & more dignified word than “swipe.” — —————— | Calendar Reform. | Presumably calendar reform is as old @s the calendar itself. Even the earliest of attempts to measure the months and days must have had its critics. Cer-; tainly, the Gregorian scheme has been the object of almost continuous agita- tion. Tho literature on the subject is both ponderous and varfous. Literally hundreds of persons have indicted its, faults. The difficulty has bcen that most of the plans of correction have been complicated and confusing, con- tradictory in character, unscientific in detall if not as a whole. | The World Calendar Association, New ‘York, recently has published an a tractive pamphlet on the subject. Brief | essays by Rear Admiral Frank B. Up-| ‘ham, Rear Admiral W. A. Moffett, Gov. A. Barry Moore, Henry W. Bearce and Herbert H. Rapp are included in the contents. Each of these writers aitacks the problem from a different angle, Bu!‘ all seem to agree in advocating the adoption of a world calendar in which January, April, July and October would have thirty-one da;s €; months thirty days, and a so-called Year day follow the thirtieth of Decem- ber, with a Leap day after the thirtieth of June in Leap year. This scheme, they say, “is balanced in structure, perpetual in form.” The first of January, New Year day, under its provisions, always would fall on a Sunday, 2nd each month would have twenty-six week days. The whole year would be subject to equitable division into four quarters of thirteen weeks, or ninety-one days. The spon- sors declare: The revised twelve-month year in its even quarters conforms to the seasons, recognizing natural laws. Comparisons are easily obtained; changes involved require & minimum of adjustment; ex- are not incressed for business | gard to civil service status, which they | (head to do the ugly job. h, all the other| f,; and salaries, on which the five per cent cut may be made is $47.817,397, while five per cent of the total appropriation is $35,851.656. The five per cent cut on the appro- priation bill means, therefore, that an unestimated number of employes must be arbitrarily discharged without re- | lose. As the figures quoted above show, the whole amount spent by the Post Office outside of salaries and non-re- ducible fixed charges, barely exceeds five per cent of the total appropria- tion. And when five per cent of the | total appropriation 1is sought from items other than fixed charges, more than seven per cent must be cut from these other items. | Yet it is to be remembered that the | Post Office appropriation bill as recom- | mended by the Budget Bureau repre-} sented a minimum of need; that it was | still further examined by the House | and by the Senate Committee. What | | the Senate is actually doing is to order, five per cent cut from an irreducible minimum, and, unable to show where it can be cut, ordering the department Senator Costigan's amendment, which stipulates that salaries cannot be reduced or furloughs ordered, while proposed as a | safeguard to employes, has an ironical | ring to it. ‘The pay of workers clnnm‘» be cut, but the employes can and must | be discharged. | What Is true of the Post Office De- partment is true of other departments. | For the Department of Labor, for| instance, there is proposed to be ap-| propriated $734,865. Of this amount | $660,225 goes for salaries. | There is the additional uncertainty now as to whether Senator Bratton’s five per cent cut amendment will ap- | ply equally to all departments, or, | as in the case of the McKellar ten per cent cut last year, it will ap- ply only to some of them. If it applies to some of them, there is added to | other 1nequities the obvious evils of unjust discriminatien. The applica- tion of the five per cent cut in general will be decided when the Senate acts| on the so-called economy sections of | the Treasury-Post Office bill, contain- ing the administrative furlough and the | cight and two-thirds salary cut, plus the proposed additional salary cut of one and two-thirds per cent. If this section is re-enacted, as proposed, the Costigan amendment, providing that “no wage cuts or furloughs other than those heretofore in effeet or by this act provided shall be ordered,” will deny to employes even the small ben- efit of being placed on indefinite leave of absence. The employe, instead, will be dismissed outright. Congress is again showing its ina- bility to cut anything but the jobs and the salaries of its own employes, al- ready reduced. The chief evil of the Bratton amendment is that it will force department heads to make re- ductions which Congress has, in effect, und it either impossible or inad- | visable to make. The Senate is order- ing a five per cent 'cut in a total before even declding what that total will be. Hitler on the Job. Chancellor Hitler is no slacker. He has been on the job only four days, but has already dissolved the Reichstag, decreed new elections for March 5, ordered the Communist party to desist from public meetings and put a curb |on Social Democratic manifestations. In one of his spare moments the new | chancellor broadcast to the nation a | denunciation of the revolution which | dethroned the Hohenzollerns and es- | tablished the republic in 1918. “More and the consumer; rel and secu- holidays are stal and the i _finm‘m from the old to th@new order than fourteen years have passed,” the Nazi chieftain thundered, “since the unhallowed dsy when, dassled by prom- ises at home and abroad, the German people forgot the most precious heritage of its past—its honor and its freedom— and thus lost all. Since that day the Lord has withheld His blessings from our people, and discord and hatred have entered among us.” Evidently expecting that his first public pronouncement as chancellor would elucidate a Hitler program, Ger- man disappointment is manifest over the political emptiness of his speech. It is apparently well stigmatized by the Liberal Berliner Tageblatt, which says: “In its wealth of verblage and poverty of ideas and practical proposals the address constitutes the most convinc- ing evidence of the character of this | f5h government.” Enough has already happened to jus- tify the opinion which found general utterance, both in Germany and abroad, when Herr Hitler took office, namely, | that he would turn out to be a tamed and | chastened Hitler. He is that by com- pulsion, rather than choice, no doubt. Berlin dispatches speak of the “checks and balances” system which President von Hindenburg meant to institute when he appointed Col. von Papen as vice chancellor. Occasions may be ex- pected to be many when Hitler will propose, but Von Papen oppose—and dispose. Symptomatic of that prospect is the rejoinder just made in the chancellor’s name as to whether Herr Hitler pur- poses enforcing some of ‘the drastic anti-Semitic regulations about which in firresponsible days he was wont to rant. “The present government,” it is announced, “does not intend to| make any unreasonable experiments of | an economic, financial or social order. It is dedicated to the preservation of internal peace and work, and will guar- antee the personal protection of all classes.” It was added that the gov- ernment is concerned, for the time being, with more urgent matters than redeeming “agitatory Herr Hitler has rushed pellmell into another Reichstag campaign on the theory that, flushed with victory as typified by his occupancy of the chan- cellorship, the National Socialists on | March 5 can achieve the goal, until now denied them, of a positive majority in | the Relchstag. Last November their popular vote dropped 2,000,000 below the total scored in April. Hitler dis- solved the present Parliament on the ground that the Catholic Centrists and | Bavarian People's Party declined to| join in a “government of concentration” | Reichstag coslition. The Centrists and | Hitler did not exhaust the possibilities of negotiation with them. - With Communists, Social Democrats, | in a common front against the Nazis, assured of realization. The chancellor s going to the country with the slogan, | “With Hirler and Hindenburg for Ger- many” In imperial days the German reactionaries’ slogan was “With God\ and Kaiser for the Empire.” Herr Hit- ler has improved on that. A good many | | people think, if he cares for alliterative T | slogans, that his battle cry henceforward | chance. might not inappropriately read, “With Hitler, Hindenburg and the Hohenzol- | lerns for the Old Empire.” B — In appealing to the people Hitler does not neglect religion, thus proving himself a preacher as well as a poli- tician. He is called a dictator, which | in its ultimate definition means a man | bold enough to undertake full personal | responsibility for all that hxppen.s.. .o It was a long., hard campaign and ! the grandstand carpenters are joining | the lame ducks in trying to prolong eccnomic dispute till the last moment. — e Foreclosure of farm mortgages is reprehended. In addition to being ir- ritating, the transaction just now is | unprofitable. ———— SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. In the Shadow of the Ground Hog. The ground hog saw his shadow clear. They say, in accents glum, This tells of weather quite severe For several weeks to ccme. Friend ground hog I am rather glad. | Sunshine is sweet, I vow, So I am thankful we have had A little, anyhow. A prophecy is often wrong. At passing joy we'll glance. We'll greet it with a grateful song And take another chance. Determination. “Of course you know & lot of unkind things are being said about you.” “Yes,” said Senator Sorghum, “and, considering the source, I shall go on doing my best to deserve them.” Jud Tunkins says politics is like a poker game; you never can be sure whether a winner was smart or only| lucky. ; Tower of Babel. The Tower of Babel seems to rise anew, | 87 And many a language we must listen to. There’s German and there’s Prench resounding loud With many a dialect amid the crowd That makes the world uneasy while 1t waits To hear at last some plain United States. Selective Fame. “Would you care to have your picture in the paper?” said the reporter. “It all depends,” said Miss Cayenne, “I should not object if it's to illustrate a wedding, but I'd hate to be one of these prominent soclety women who is to testify in a homicide case.” “The printing press,” said Hi Ho, the sage of Chinatown, “preserves knowledge, but in doing so it hands down quarrels from one generation to the next.” Trade Metals. Pinance is kind o’ funny, As we're trying to do biz. ‘We know there must be money, But we-can't tell where it is. We will have o go on groping For what time may yet reveal, Still for gold and silver hoping; Never trusting lead and steel. “We's had ground hog day,” sald Uncle Eben, “an’ we's gineter have THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. ‘The important role which water sur- face plays in the successful of aquarium fishes in the home has persons, however, have worked the matter out in actual practice to nu&'nned“wtl't“n coepul:mdmm a 3 that the amount of water in a given tank is not as important as the number of square inches of water surface per therein. gallons may A large number of not as contented and heal keep unlnurmmbermmmv‘:lww ized that more surface per fish. It is generally recogni oxf'mhnqumdtorlheoldmd :o!flah, in any of its variations, than for the so-called tropjicals. How many home aquarists, however, have gone to the trouble of keeping records in this matter, so that they are able to tell definitely, with some right, just how many fish to put into a given aquarium? No question is asked oftenef by the newcomer to this hobby than “how many tropical fishes he can put in a tank of so many gallons.” Usually the advice he is offered is of the hemming and hawing variety, 50 that in the end he knows no more than he did before. After 10 months of investigation along these lines, we are able to go the books and the one better, and announce definitely that, according to our findings, t. al fishes need in the neighborhood 10 to 12 square inches of water surface tg:r animal. It is generally conceded it goldfishes need about 32 square inches per inch of fish, exclusive of the head and tail, It will be noticed that we have made no mention of the size of the tropicals. Our figures have been worked out for what may be called average sized trop- icals—that is, about an inch long. De- spite the amazing difference in the shape, construction, kness, and so on, of these most interesting creatures, they reduce am: ly well to a stand- ard, any one in a tank making up in one direction what another lacks, so that an inch, as the average, is about right for the amateur, who prohably will not have very large-sized mature fishes in his home tanks. The right ides, as it works out in actual practice, is one inch of goldfish per lon of water, but with the square inches of water surface as indicated above, which is considerably more’than the average person gives these much abused creatures. Nothing is com- moner than to see half & dozen of them, and of good size, too, attempting to live in a tiny bowl, whose surface presented to the air is woefully in- adequate. It can be done only by a constant change of water, which is a great nuisance, and harmful to the fishes. It will be noticed that we say nothing of artificial aeration, as but | the Bavarians deny this, alleging that ; few amateurs indulge in this, and we believe it entirely unnecessary, if the “balance” which is talked about so much, but which, alas, attsined, is actually secured, whether | Centrists and Bavarians now marshaled | iR & two-quart guppy jar or in & 10 or 12 gallon tank. Granting that the average tropical | Hitler's hope of a Reichstag in which | fish, as kept in the home aquarium, is | he will be all supreme is by no means | 2bout an inch long, exclusive of his tail (his head, as such, -usually is not very long, and need mot be counted), we have come to the safe and sane iclusion, as we believe, that the right number will be two fishes per gallon of water. Thus a 6-gallon tank will accom- modate a dozen average tropical fishes. Any more is crowding them; they may | get by all rules, since there are exceptions to but the owner is taking a WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS BY FREDERIC Although the guessing odds continue strongly in favor of Senator Cordell Hull's appointment as Secretary of State, some close friends of the Ten- nessean, who communed with him on the eve of his trip to Warm Springs this week, are convinced that the wise- acres are all wrong. It’s their firm be- lief, based on alleged confidences of the | Senator himself, that at no time has there been any question of his entering the cabinet. He is said to have been summoned by President-elect Roosevelt exclusively to discuss tariff and tax- ation matters, which soon will clamor for attention at Washington. Intimates of Hull quote him as feeling, moreover, that his place is in the Senate, where he believes he can be of far more serv- ice. Like all Hull's colleagues in Con- gress, Gov. Roosevelt recognizes in him its foremost authority on tariffs and taxation. He was the author of the 1913 income tax system and of the re- vised act of 1916, as well as of the Federal estate or inheritance tax law of the same year. Although Senator Hull | is no stranger to foreign affairs, they've never bulked conspicuously in his offi- cial career. Studious, modest and soft- spoken, the Southern statesman has | spent some 14 years in Congress, 12 of them in the House. He was a Ten- nessee circuit judge ?rElour yesrs.o u::ll: and Mrs. Hull toured Europe a cf of years ago. They live Txlcr.ly ina downtown Washington hotel. * x x % Here’s an authenticated tale of 2 green Representative-elect who was fooled into getting busy at Washington before taking his oath of office. Locally known as a bit of a boob, some home- town practical jokers induced him, evidently after some necessary collusion down here, to make a special trip for the purpose of securing an R. F. C. loan for & small college in his district. At the R. F. C., which doesn’t lend to colleges, the budding statesman was told to come back in a week, after the neces- investigation of his application was concluded. “Well,” he was then formed, “we find that. your eouu'e has only one semester. Moreover, it's got a curriculum. And, worst of all. we discover that every boy Agm'fire enrolled there is a matriculant. m(ormmo':’ :,medu :;) knack Oil;e %Z an- west, for, = ifted, he retired mayed and 5 from fhe ‘scene, sorrowtully conceding that under all the circumstances he himself | o didn't belleve the college was entitled to help! * Xk X X In n}e collection %’y sth:mre ‘works formerly possessed and now housed in the Folger Sha speare Library at Washington is & well- thumbed book contributed by former Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes. He has inscribed it: “This is the only volume of Shakespeare I ever remember seeing in my boyhood home; it belonged to my father.” "The volume once the of the “Autocrat of the Bry last Table” now has a place alongside simi- lar works at one time in the respective libraries of Presidents George Washing- ton, John Adams and Abraham Lin coln. x x k% Our public men seem to be running to musical composition. There was Gen. Charles G. Dawes and now comes William H. Woodin of New York, per- sistently mentioned as a Roosevelt can- ineteer, either for the p of \YE. - | poy for rehearsals. the 3 and “Journey’s End,” of motifs. Roosevelt, ki sPrlnn mnm?dln’uon for the Treatment Infantile Paralysis. Valentine’s day, an’ it ‘pears to me like | /= dars "bout as much ammse o cne a8 dar is to de other.” f | number which the newcom is so seldom | has - | limit. The case around which the de- .1 Boston serial number of counterfeit ‘This is so many fewer fishe “Six gallons,” plied. “How many have you got in it?” " slightly hesitatingly, “I only “Well, I have four weather fishes.” (These are small stone loaches, eel-like in appearance, but true fishes, often ‘used in aquariums as scavengers. Usu- llll! ';hl! are about three or four inches ong. ‘Thus the gentleman had about 40 inches of fish, in all probability, where he should have had but a dozen or so in about that number of separate fish parcels. How do we get these figures? How are we 80 sure they are right? ‘The best way in the world—by actual experience. ‘We, too, crowded 'em in—and had the g:or creatures die at the rate of one & Y. Pish keeping was not as easy as it looked, we concluded. There was no use blaming God Almighty or the deal- ers who bred and sold fishes. Maybe we didn't know enough. Ah! when & human being makes that mo- mentous admission, no matter in what line, he is on the highroad to success. Ignorance is not only the mother of evil, but also the cause of the death of thousands, and perhaps millions, of beautiful and interesting little fish creatures every year the wide world around. You can cram ‘em in, of course, but you can’t keep 'em that way. We lost theg, and we know. There is no con- ceit”in that, but just some experience. Since we began to take them out of the tank, one by one, until we got the num- ber down, we have been rewarded with active, healthy fishes, which make the aquarium the beautiful picture and the delightful study which it ought to be. A six-gallon tank has three angelfish, two red moons, two pearl danios, one | three-spot i and four tadpoles. | Four small zebrafish and a gourami are | in a two-gallon tank. Four gupples share a twmfl rectangular jar. Four med: occupy a similar jar. Two small shubunkins (calicofish) live contentedly in one gallon (with a full 64 square inches of water surface). It will be seen that these 27 creatures are living happily in a total of 10 g loris of water. They would be too many, however (to say nothing of being too diversified), for & normal tank of that | size, which would have a total air sur- face area of about 200 square inches. Through their occupation of five | tanks of various sizes, with air surfaces of 128 square inches, 84 square inches, | 30 square inches, 30 square inches and | 64 square inches, they possess a total of 336 square inches of water surface, almost twice what they would get in an average 10-gallon aquarium. If the total of 336 is divided by 27, the number of animals, it comes to 12.44, the number of square inches of | surface per fish, each fish being ap- proximately an inch long. One need not be overprecise in these matters. The | point to keep in mind is that you can- not crowd small tropical fishes any more than you can goldfish. There is one other essential rule for the happy keeping of fishes in the | home aquarium, and we hope to discuss it in this column shortly. WILLIAM WILE. | liam Conley of West Virginia. The del- | egates consist for the most pars of members of State Legislatures, and their purpose in convening at the National | Capital is to evolve ways and means | for avoiding “conflicting taxation” by | the Federal and State Governments. | The prime mover in the conference, | called by the Amesican Legislators’ As- sociation, is its founder, former State Senator Henry W. Toll of Colorado. Gov. Roosevelt has given the confer- ence his formal blessing. * k * x Pacifism and militarism are repre- sented in at least one American family. Miss Dorothy Detzer, live-wire moving spirit of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, at ‘Washington, which would scrap all armies and navies, has a brother who is an officer in the United States Navy. * x ¥ % Perhaps when President Hoover de- | livers his “‘valedictory” before the Na- | tional Republican Club of New York | on Lincoln’s birthday anniversary, to be | celebrated this year on February 13, | the retiring Chief Executive will learn of a movement, originating in Manh: | tan, to adopt & national “Hoover day.” | The suggestion emanates from G. O. P. | admirers of the President in New York and is being propagandized by the chief administration organ, the New York York Herald Tribune. Among the various ideas projected is that Mr. Hoover's birthday, August 10, be made the day to be celebrated in his honor. Another thought is that March 3, “the last full day on which Herbert Hoover will serve our country during the present administration,” would be ap- propriate. L Mrs. ret , invincible chairman of National Committee on Prcbeni o s Just-digh Bant on.ihe or & = on e ::veme:tl behalf. Leaders rejoice that their bill has now scored the far- thest tive advance yet made—the fact that 1t has reached the Senate Judiciary Committee. for a vote. Mrs. Sanger’s exaltation is tempered by the fact that of the two members of the subcommittee reporting out the bill one was for it and one against. The birth controllers are bent upon getting Sen- ator Norris’ full Judiciary Committee to consider the measure before the expi- e for the favorable re- W] is the result of hearings on he bill last May. * x % ¥ “Eddie” Toland, brilliant young mem- ber of the District of Columbia Bar and law partner of “Bill” Leahy, who has just won an epoch-i prohi- bition case befors the U: States Court, may not know his Hel classios, but he ought to realize now that there’s. something in a name. ‘The Supreme Court, through a majority opinion rendered by Justice Brandeis, practically wiped out the 12-mile (Copyright, 1933.) ——— » Roosevelt’s Shortened Term. From the Boston Globe. Under the twentieth amendment t-to-be 1t will Jose Rooseve! perhaps, inasmuch as he isn't getting A Cario. From the Detroit News. have broadcast the & now vailing wun.mnnu'n-mue & $20 bL Legislative Acrobatics. Zoo Ground Hog Not ; A True Forecaster ‘To the Editor of The Star: Please do not try to “run in on us” lZoormundholunmtherem het. & e‘r,.‘h:hhmnl 1il ither people are wondering whether Mr. Woodchuck will storm and splutter for the next six weeks or spring gentle g upon us before Winter has wandered on its way. No, sir!l To get s genuine weather prediction you must go out in the country and find a free and independ- ent ground hog—one as unconfined in mwl:yluddalnunflwbkda of alr, But you can not get a weather pre- diction from a ground hog this year. No, sir! On account of the depres- slon, the grcund hog is so thin that it ukest.vooltmummnuwcutn w! Yes, sir! JOSEPH W. CHEYNEY. ——————————— The. Children’s Hour of Horror From the Chicago Daily News. Parental complaint is heard against & surfeit of blood and thunder in com- mercial radio programs designed espe- cially to intrigue juvenile interest. Many letters on the subject have reached the Dally News from disturbed mothers, Parent-teacher associations are discus- sing the effect of that sort of mental | diet on child minds. An adult revolt seems to be brewing. It is alleged that at the twilight hour, when 8-year-old Jimmy tunes in, the | serenity of the home is assalled by raucous growls of desperate hoodlums, shrill screams of terrified victims, rattle of gunfire and groans of the dying. In an atmosphere shivery with steaithy | vlotting and sanguinary with violent deeds, the temperature of Jimmy's im- agination rises to fever heat. Later he kicks off the bedclothes and arouses | his slumb"lng parents with yells of nightmare *panic. | Girls of tender years, no less than | boys, have developed a taste for the ! radio successor of the dime novel. They | listen with gasps of creepy fascination | to blood-curdling drama that, by vocal | and imitative sound, carries intenser | n“;'ll]il and horror than does the printed word. Theorists will differ as to the harm- ful effect such entertainment may have on the immature, beyond a temporary overstimulation and & crowding out of | better provender for thought and | emotion. It is certain, however, that, | although it may profit the sponsors of ! the programs, it contributes nothing | desirable to the mental equipment of | the child; and if it alienates adult ap- proval obviously it will not long profit the sponsors. It is to be regretted that material of so dublous a sort should be used when there is so vast a reservoir of heroic deed and stirring adventure, of whim- sical fancy and magic wonder, on which to draw for children’s programs. | In days when crime is a social problem of first magnitude, feeding crime thrills as leisure time enjoyment to infant minds is surely to be deprecated, and good homes are justified in resenting | an invasion of the undesirable, so easily | made and so difficult to prevent. More- over, to provoke such resentment scarcely can be wise business policy. Interstate Tax Conference. Prom the New Orleans Times-Picayune. | The first interstate conference on taxation will be held in Washington | next Friday and Saturday, under the auspices of the American Legislators' Association. Its primary purpose is the study of ways and means to reorganize taxation in the United States on a sounder, fairer and more bearable basis. | It will consider. among other things, | the always troublesome and now men- | acing problem of double taxation. We discussed the association’s plans for this conference in December, when they | were outlined in its official publication, | State Government. Its Organization | Committee received indorsements of the project from many State executives, | including the then Governor of New | York. who enters the White House next | March. The call for the m:eting next week fcllowed their approval and as- surances of hearty co-operation. ‘The Senates and Houses of Repre- | sentatives of all the States have been asked to name delegates ‘from their own respective memberships. Each Governor is asked to send as his repre- sentative one or more of the “principal | fiscal officers” of his State. The con- | ference and its leaders will be in close | touch with representatives of the Fed- | eral Congress. There will grow out of the meeting, it is hoped, a permanent organization to carry on the fight for an equitable and bearable tax system, with Federal. State and local levies properly co-ordinated. ‘The movement is admirably timed. A subcommittee of the Federal House has just submitted its report on the evils of double taxation. The American peo- ple are “tax conscious” as never before and militant in their protests against tax excesses, oppressions and abuses. The incoming President openly advo- cates “a better synchronized Federal, State and local taxing system.” If a constructive and equitable plan of solu- tion can be worked out and agreed upon now, while public opinion is alert and there is vigorous Nation-wide demand therefor, it mav win much soveedier | adoption by National and State legisla- tors than it advocates have darcd until recently to hope for, or even dream of. ——— A North American Alliance! | Prom the New York Sun. Although there are obvious obstacles to the formation of a continental union | consisting of Canada, Mexico and the United States, which is suggested by J. A. Velenzuela, the Mexican consul in Pittsburgh, the thought behind the sug- gestion is interesting, and its mere dis- cussion would have the advantage of bringing into stronger relief the practi- cability of self-sustenance by the north- ern subdivision of the American conti- nent. The three nations are capable of producing practically everything that is required to supply the necessaries and luxuries of life. Their disclosed natural resources would make them in- dependent of other lands if the energy of their peoples were directed to at- tainment of this end: what lies beneath the soil within their unexplored or superficially explored areas under their Jurisdiction no man can guess. It has long been the policy of the United States to encourage the purpose «af Bolivar looking toward hemispherical co-operation. Since Blaine made his distinguished contribution to this object the Pan-American Union has been an ly potent factor in the elimi- nation of misunderstandings and the propagation of good will. Canada, as a dominion of a foreign power, was and is ineligible to membership in the union, which is composed of the republics of the three Americas; what its develop- ment as a member of the newly ordered British political establishment may bring about is a question not now to be answered. Outside of the Pan-American Union, there have been several associations of American republics, an example of which is that formed the Central American nations, which, selves not to recognize within their jurisdiction governments set up by revo- lution or unconstitutional methods. maintained this attitude consistently for years, until the unrest of the Jruent | disturbed times has led some of them to move to end it. It is easy to say that, because of the present movement to terminate this compact, it has failed, but this judgment should not be ac- cepted offhand, for the good the treaty has done must not be overlooked. It was a bold experiment, and from lb': i fish, meats, soups and various specialties. |tween the years 1884 and 1888 all ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN. special department devoted to ng of inquiries. You have &t your di: an extensive organiza- tion in Washington to serve you in any capacity that relates to information. Write your question, your name and ‘your address clearly and inclose 3 cents in coin or stamps for reply. Do not use post cards. d to The Evening Star Information u, Frederic J. , Director, Wi , D. C. Q. How many employes and execu- tives are employed in the Empire State Building in New York City?—J. 8. C. A. The number of employes and offi- ;lllsh in the Empire State Building is Q. Who originated the lines, “That's | ;}'l g\erne is—there isn't any more?"— ‘This is a the han A They were spoken by Ethel Barrymore in a play called “Sunday,” in which Miss Barrymore appeared in 1906. Since then she has used them as & final line for a curtain or after- | dinner speech, until they are identified | with her. “Sunday” was written by | Horace Hodges and T. Wygney Percy- | ;’;‘l).4 and produced first in London in Q. When was the Government Print- ing Office founded?—M. B. R. A. The act of Congress authorizing the Government Printing Office was passed in 1860, but the actual establish- ment took place March 4, 1861. Q. Give some particulars about the | perfume industry in Bermuda.—J. E. D. | A. About five years ago Herbert Scott, a young English chemist, con- ceived the idea of salvaging the scent of the lily blossoms, which are thrown away because the bulbs are considered more valuable. He worked at research and experimentation for four years, and finally solved the problem by employ- | ing the enfleurage method of extrac- tion. The extraction plant has become a popular place for tourists. Q. What mark do pennies bear which are struck at the Philadelphia mint?>—J. G. R. . They bear no mint mark. Those | struck in the Denver mint are marked “D” and those struck in San Fran- cisco are marked “S.” Q. Why are the priests who call peo- ple to prayer for the minarets usually blind?—J. "B. A. The minaret is a prayer tower. It was first built in the eighth century. There is at least one minaret to every mosque. In an interesting new book by a distinguished English etcher the comment is made that in Persia many of the muezzins who sound the call to prayer from the minarets are blind. The blind are chosen in that thef may not overlook the family life as| it is lived on the flat roofs of nearby homes. : Q. ‘How many Presidents of the United States are buried in Arlington | National Cemetery?—M. K. | A. William Howard Taft is the only | President of the United States buried in this cemetery. Q. How many kinds of food are| canned commercially?—C. S. A. Dr. Marion Pfund of Cornell University says that about 244 are now canned commercially, These foods in- clude vegetables, fruits, fish and shell Q. Please explain the ground rent system in Baltimore, Md.—A. H. B. A In the State of Maryland, and particularly in Baltimore City, the owner of real property can lease his property, and if such a lease is for more than 15 years, the rent that he reserves is called a ground rent. Ground rents created prior to the year 1884 were generally irredeemable. Be- ground rents became redeemable at the | cow?- | two minutes was option of the leasehold owner, at the capitalization of from 4 to 6 per cent, according to the terms in the lease. Since 1888 all ground rents are made redeemable at the capitalization of 6 per cent. It might, therefore, be sald that the only difference between the present ground rent system and & mortgage, is that a mortgage becomes due at a specific time, and must either be paid or renewed, at the option of the mortgagee, while a ground rent may be continued forever, and becomes redeem- able only at the option of the leasehold owner. Under the present ground rent law the leasehold owner has this op- |tion at the end of five years from the date of the lease, and need only to give 30 days’ notice to the owner of the rent. Q. How many members compose a school board?—L. T. A. In rural districts 80 per cent of the school boards are composed of three members. Cities show a preference for boards of 3, 5, 6 or 7 members. Q. How many funds are administered by the New York Community Trust?— M. B. S. A. Since its organization, nine years 8go, it has received 33 trust funds. One of these has been completely disbursed, leaving 32 under administration. They are of varying size, with a total value of about $7,321,000. Hqfi Is English spelling changing?— A. Changes in accepted spellings are constantly in process, as English is not 8 dead language. V. Sackville-West, an acknowledged master of English, spells the word “that” in two different ways. Used as a conjuction she spells it “that” but as an_adjective “thatt.” Stephen McKenna has a number of departures. Havelock Ellis says spelling is of no importance and people should be free to shape their words as they choose. Q. What Is the population of Mos- A. N. A In 1932 the population wes 2,900,000, It has almost doubled in five years, since in 1927 the population was 1,614,000, Q. How often and when does the board of Army officers meet which grants awards of the Distinguished Service Cross_and other medals and decorations?—L. R. M. A. There are no special times Lo meeting. A meeting is called whenever there is sufficient business to warrant one. Q. How far did a Pony Express rider ride each horse?—O. L. A. At first the stations were 25 miles apart. Each rider covered 3 stations, or KE] _ was sometimes d, owing to unf In changing t cumstanc St ‘The dles were not chai keeper was requ ready, bridled s hour before the ex] wed for the cha Q. Was more live stock slaughtered in the United States in 1932 for focd pur- { poses than in 1931?—A. N. A. In Federally inspected plants | there was an increase of 3.7 per cent in 1932 over the number of live stock handled in 1931. Q. Pleace state the Morgenthau, jr-——R. A M. A. Mr. Morgenthau is a Jew. ion of Hi Q. Did other candidates receive votes for the presidency cf the Confederate States when Jefferson Davis was elected?—C. C. A. Jefferson Davis and Alexander H. Stephens had been appointed Pro= visional President and Vice President and when elected to office received all the votes of the 11 States that voted. Schools Must Be Efficient, Declares Press Of Country ‘With the survey of school facilities, | ccnducted under the direction of Con- | gress, revealing that large numbers of children lack proper elementary educa- | tion, national attention is directed to the question of the relation of schools | to governmental economies. Coupled with the recognition of the fact that expenditures for educaton can and should be cut without reducing the sys- | tem'’s efficiency is a widespread demand that proper facilities be provided for the preparation of the country's youth for | future citizenship. That a serious prob- lem is presented, especially with regard to State and local finances, is generally agreed. o “The schools are legitimately subject to retrenchment,” in the opinion of the San Prancisco Chronicle, “but not to | crippling. Other expenditures can be | postponed with no permanent injury to any one. The children’s schooling can- | not be postponed. If they do not get it at the age for it they do not get it at | all. ‘Their childhood and youth cannot be postponed to a later date. If the | schools should be crippled the loss | would be permanent to this generation of children. At the same time there can be a large amount of retrenchment | in the schools. New building can be | stopped. It has been already. There are plenty of school activities that can | be curtailed for the time being. But | not the fundamentals of schooling. They are the irreducible minimum. Teachers’ salaries in _most places have already | been cut. Teachers, like all the rest of | us, have to find their due place in a | world of narrowed income. Yet this does not mean that teachers should be slashed out of proportion. That would be. not to put them on a like footing | with the rest of us, but to make them the victims of the rest of us. Teachers. | generally speaking, have not been paid | too much to recompense them for their labor and for the expensive preparation we have come to require of them.” * X x % “No adult who appreciates the brief span of a generation,” according to the | Louisville Courier-Journal, “will deny that the preparation of future citizens is at least as important as the improve- ment of economic conditions. The World War was but yvesterday and the boys who were in it are middle-aged. Europe is passing into the hands of a genera- tion with only childhood recollections of pre-war days. In 20 years American thought and action will be dominated by those to whom the stock market | boom of the 1920's will be a second- | hand tale. ' The report, however, as it | was intended to be, is constructive. It | does not call for more taxes, but more equitable distribution and economy in expenditure. The commission believes | that the State must assume the burden | of mggonlnl the schools. Perhaps so; | but t economies must be introduced. | If it is fair that the entire wealth of a | State should offer equality of oppor- tunity everywhere, it is only fair that | should be made as light as * X ok % “We of today are accustomed to schools,” says the Sioux Falls Daily Argus-Leader. “We accept them and | are not able to realize their full worth because we have never been without them. The situation is the same as | that of electric fllumination. The young | generation of this age does not quite ught upon educational costs. It has been discovered that schools take d : ‘There is & great cry for economy and the ax, we are told, must fall where it will be eftcctive. But let us use this ax with understanding and caution. There should be wise &nd sensible economy in the schools. There are some extracurricular services that can be eliminated. Some duced. The times, can be re- wequire such retrench- ment as we can - p with oter | Baltimore Sun, extravagances and dollars have not al- w been compelled to render full serv As the economies are effected, how we must not lose sight of the basic value of education, its absolute necessity if we are to advance and progress. Some frills may go and costs may be pared, but the fundamentals of our educational system must remain.” * ok ox ok obser the San Antonio Express, “now points to grave risks of retrogression. That body found ‘areas where schools are dis- tinctly inferior and other areas where schools are ceasing to exist’ To be sure, in many parts—and particularly in much of the back country—the school system never has been up to standard Even during prosperous years ‘equality of educational opportun: was a live issue in most States. As the experts assert. no State has provided such equality; but some have progressed notably toward the goal. ‘A funda- mental change required today.’ says the survey report, ‘is the transfer of the burden from the local communities to the entire State’ North Carolina did that in large measure two years ago, in Teorganizing its whole system of State and county government. The new school law there provides for State support, ‘at State standards of costs,’ of the con- stitutional six months’ term in_ every district. The school fund is to be de- rived from sources other than a tax on land. In practice, the new method of financing the school has resulted in lower operating costs and has decreased both State and local property taxes. More efficient organization and more equitable distribution of the available school fund brought about the improve- ment. Any State well might follow that example.” * k% % “In Maryland.” as reported by the ‘we have granted that the abolition of downright illiteracy is a necessary measure of social sanita- tion, and if any local community is too poor to provice that minimum of educa- tion the State steps in and supplies the lack. But how much further is the State to go? On the decision of this | question may depend the solvency or bankruptcy of the State. If it is left to the political pedagogues to define ‘ade- | quate’ education, they will ruthlessly strip the State of its last dollar, for they have never yet had enouch. As Presi- dent Ames of the Johns Hopkins Uni- versity recently pointed out, almost anything can be called education, for a wise man learns from everything he sees, hears and feels, and even fools can learn in the costly school of experi- ence. And if thé definition of ‘ade- quate’ education is left to the political pedagogues they will come very near including everything.” “The boy and girl,” says the Port- land Oregon Journal, “are more precious than timber, more precious than profits, more precious than mortgages, more precious than city blocks. When you pull down your educational system you strike a blow at your own children and your children’s children, their future, their happiness and their destiny.” The Miami Daily News concludes: “It will be well to remember that public school education in 1914 eost four times as much as in 1880, yet less than one- fourth as much as it does today in the United States. The taxpayer still may be excused for asking, ‘Am I getting my money’s worth?’” —_— et Off the Deep End. Prom the Sen Diego Union. Just when we were beginning to un- derstand technocracy, somel asked Prof. Einstein to discuss it. e Growth. From the Greensboro (N. C.) make. In com: facilities, the ratinis hage, 8o 4veloped some