Evening Star Newspaper, February 18, 1933, Page 6

¥ ASHE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Edition. WABHINGTON, D. C. BATURDAY...February 18, 1033 THEODORE W. NOYES....Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company Business O\ 11th Pennsylvanis, Ave, o rar Sffee oae Office: Lake Michigan Building. juropean :‘l,‘lm nt St., don, o™ e Rate by Carrier Within the City. Evening Star. 45c per month Evening and (vhen 4 Bundayp) ... ......00¢ per month nday’ Star Bon"5. “Sundavs) 65¢ per month da; _5c per copy of i ection -flr.. ‘at the end each month. 1 or telephone fi ‘may be sent in by mai Ational 5000. - Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. 1yr., $10.00: 1 mo.. 85¢ ., $10. g5 0c Other States and C: All ‘anada. 1yr. 31200 1 mo. E}. and Sunday... only .. y only Member of the Associated Press. Assoctated Press is exclusively ent Yo the ‘iee ToF - wibiication of all news dis: tches credited .0 it or not otherwise cred- In this paper and also the local new: published herein. All rights of publication cf Specisl dispatches herein are also resrved. — = Geneva Takes Its Stand. By means of a monum 1tz broadcast from its own radio station outside of Geneva, the League of Nations yester- day sent spinning around the globe its message of condemnation of Japan's sggression in China. Transmitted to all parts of the United States, this ‘historic innovation in international rela- tions consumed the entire day, from early forenoon until late at night. Intended to have precisely thc’ effect, the message partook of an indictment of Japan before a jury which com- prehended the width of the werld. The broadcast recited in extenso the previously known findings of the Com- mittee of Nineteen, which now lie before the League for adoption by the Assembly. The Assembly will convene next Tuesday. Its adoption of the committee's report is a foregone con- clusion. Under the League’s rules, three months are allowed for acceptance or Tejection by the 4nterested powers—in this case, China and Japan. The Chi- nese, of course, will welcome the cen- sure of their foe. The Japanese, ac- cording to every indication, will resent the verdict of guilt about to be passed upon them, with eventual withdrawal from the League as the immediate token of their disapproval. Final de- cision on this score rests with the coun- cil of elder statesmen, to which Tokio has had recourse in an emergency ad- mitted to mark a turning point in the destinies of the island empire. Of most pertinent interest to the United States in the Committee of Nineteen's report is the plan to invite this country and Soviet Russia to join League powers as referees and umpires in proposed direct negotiations between China and Japan for settlement of the Manchurian controversy. Whese two non-League states would so participase only in the event that both the Chi- nese and Japanese assented to thelr co- operation. Tokio has indicated that Japan has no enthusiasm for this sug- gestion. As things stand today, American pub- lic opinion is strongly opposed to in- volvement of the United States in the Far Eastern imbroglio. There is cer- tainly little sentiment, at Washington or in the country at large, in favor of American adhesion to any scheme for exercising forcible pressure on Japen. Her conduct in Manchuria has been a grievous disappointment to her friends here. They believe it merits the re- buke about to be administered at Geneva. They will continue to hope, to the last, that even the Japanese mili- tarists will recognize that discretion is the better part of valor, and that wise Japanese statesmanship will yet find a way of averting international isolation for the great people which so speedily won its spurs in the family of Hations, Japan cannot afford to use those spurs as her war lords would have her do. They will inevitably be the in- struments of riding her to' a disrepute in the world, which she does not de- serve and which she should avert while shere is still time. ‘While the world is conscienticusly ‘working over problems involving bil- lions, an eight-dollar pistol in the hands of a valueless man suffices to create a general social panic. Education for Leisure. Prof. Robert M. Maclver of Barnard | Qollege, New_York, says that the ideal college for women should educate and prepare its students for a life of leisure as well as a business or professional life. Obviously, he means constructive leisure, leisure well employed, not vi-| carlous or arbitrary leisure. He goes on to explain that he is interested in | the art of living and not solely in the | art of making a living, and sums up in the suggestion that “the looming leisure of the future makes it highly needful to educate the young for life | and leisure no less than for the work- | Possibly he merely skims the surface of his subject, but, even so, Prof. Mac- Iver does well to bring the subject to public attention. It seems likely that in the many and far-reaching changes which are being effected in the indus- try and the economy of the world people will have more time to them- selves, more time for play. Men, as well as women, are apt to be “at busi- ness” during & smaller proportion of their average day in the future than in the past. There is nothing new in this. The tendency has been mani- fest for generations. Within the mem- ory of living persons it was customary for the mill hands of New England to labor from dawn until dark. Work- ing hours have been shortened, and it seems that they will be abbreviated still further. It follows that people will be left to their own devices, their non-commercial engagements, during many, rather than few hours. The natural question is: What will they do with their leisure? Prof. MacIver offers “the eternal sclences” and the humanities for the study of college women. Schooled in mathematics, the arts, philosophies, re- liglons and soclal systems of mankind, he presumes that they will have a cul- tural background for the wise use of unmarketed time. There can no question about the sanity of his The old maxim that the suiteble employment for idle hands is predicated on the notion that people in general are unprepared for lelsure, Prof. MacIver would prepare them. During the depression it has been noticed that thousands of men and women have taken advantage of the! services of free schools and librarles and that other thousands have de- veloped to & remarkable degree artis- tic, scientific and literary talents pre-| viously, neglected. Unemployed in | their customary fleld of effort, they have made the most of their oppor- tunity to improve their condition by study and by practice in departments of endeavor from which ordinarily they have been shut out. The habits thus formed will not be abandoned in days to come. But Prof. Maclver realizes that not all have spent their spare time wisely. He knows that much leisure has been | wasted. It is for that reason that he| calls upon his_ scholastic brethren to| consider the problem of the leisure of the young women, and, by inference, the young men in the colleges of the land. Without advocating “a leisure | class,” monopolizing the pleasures and | pastimes of life, he assumes a brief for lelsure sensibly spent. Existence in the world in our time is not all | labor. 1In large part—in increasingly | large part—it is amenable to personal | control. Prof. MacIver believes that knowledge is power in play as in work. He is right, and his conception of the functions of the ideal college is worthy of thoughtful consideration. ————. When an 0x Is Gored. On varicus occasions in recent times | British shipping magnates have taken flings at the American practice, rela- tively obsolete since the World War, | of subsidizing shipbuilding and accused | the United States of principal respon- sibility for glutting the seas with sur- plus merchant tonnage. The other day | | in London, by way of adding insult to | injury, Mr. Walter Runciman, presi- dent of the Board of Trade—the British ministry of commerce—de- livered a gibe at the American mer-| chant marine by suggesting that al- though it is three times as large as it was in 1913, two-thirds of the ships | are “unfit for trade.” None of Mr. Runciman’s statements competely co- incides with the facts. It is everybody's secret that our Brit- ish cousins are constitutionally unable to generate enthusiasm over the pros- pect that the United States some day might construct and maintain a mer-| cantile marine worthy of its wealth and | commercial requirements. Long accus- | tomed to being the truckman of the seas, as well as “the shopkeeper of 'hei world,” John Bull looks askance at| Uncle Sam’s effort to become a trans- oceanic carrier on the British scale. Even today, despite our prodigious ship- building effort during the war, America is carrying only one-third of its foreign trade in American-flag ships. Great Britain carries sixty per cent of “her own foreign trade in British Empire- flag ships and is still transporting forty-five per cent-of the total foreign trade of the entire world. Biltish tonnage in vessels of two thousand gross tons and over as of September 30, 1932, totaled 17,878,682, whereas total American tonnage at the same date was 8,211,942 of ships in the same category. But American vessels in regular service on foreign and non- contigucus trade routes amount only to 3,490,603 tons, the large balance of the total being engaged in coastwise and-configuous trade. Thus something less than 3,500,000 tons are left as the American competitive fleet in interna- tional commerce properly so called. Lamenting the plight of world ship- ping and charging it to the existence of overbuilt and now unemployed tonnage, Mr. Runciman believes “that muth of the misfortune which has befallen the cargo fleefs of the world can be laid at the feet of those nations which went | the farthest and have thereby done the most harm.” He follows this thrust at the United States by asking “How can | these nations continue subsidies on the | present scale?” | In a recent address before the Sixth | Annual Conference on the Merchant | Marine at the Chamber of Commerce | of the United States-the Rev. Edmund A. Walsh, regent of the School of For- eign Service at Georgetown University, divulged some striking figures. From 1922 to the present day, he said, the | total number of ships built by Great | | Britain, France, Italy, Japan and Ger- | many reached 2,100 vessels, aggregating | 14,000,000 tons. America’'s contribution | to that alleged surplus was 96 ships aggregating only 840,000 tons. On a parity basis, we might justly have built over 2,000,000 tons. ‘The British minister of commerce might not improperly have reminded the London Chamber of Shipping that, at Britain's definite and specific behest, this country’s principal contribution to | the World War, in the months before America’s military effort attained its mighty momentum, was ships. “Ships, | ships and more ships!” was the agonized cry of Mr. Lloyd George in answer to Washington'’s request for information as to the most effective form in which American aid to the allied cause might immediately be made. Surely, the “bridge of ships” built in response to that appeal has not faded from Brit- ish memory. | For a variety of reasons the United | Btates’ record in establishing & merchant | marine commensurate with its possibil- | ities is not a brilliant one. In more re- cent years this country has been con- | tent to see the Atlantic dotted with such | vessels as the Europa and the Bremen, | the Rex and, soon, the Normandie, with |only an occasional Manhattan and a | Leviathan, which no longer has youth |in its favor. But the ambition and | the determination of the American peo- | ple one day to possess the kind of a | merchant fleet to which they are en- | titled are enduring. Gibes from foreign rivals will whet rather than dampen that desire. | } R Staying Up All Night. | At least once in every twenty years !a man should have the experience of | staying up all pight, of remaining awake . while most of the rest of mankind is | sleeping. Creation wears a different aspect in the dark hours between the midwatch and the dawn. There is a strange slowing of the earth's pulse of life, a diminuendo which, euriously, it 1s possible to feel, to reproduce in one’s own body and one’s own soul. Tension vanishes, strained nerves re- 1ax, peace quiets the troubled spirit, and the minutes fall like delcate, | quainted with the pageant, the splendor restful notes of music from an unseen celestial harp, slowly, slowly. Perhaps part of this gentle healing is the work of the medicine of beauty, for the night is glorious. A thousand poets have tried to sing its charms. Byron, it seems, was more successful thag his brother bards. He wrote: The stars are forth, the moon above o the tops the snow-shining mountains— Beautiful! I linger yet with nature, for the night Hath been to me a more familiar face Than that of man; and in her starry shade Of dim and solitary lovcliness I learn'd the language of another world. But that, of course, was night in| Switzerland. Southey aspired to pic- ture night as it was to him in England: How beautiful is night! A dewy freshness fills the silent air; No mist obscures, nor cloud, nor speck, nor stain Breaks the serene heaven. In full-orb'd glory yonder moon divine Rolls thgough the dark blue depths. Beneath her steady ray The desert circle spreads, Like the round ocean, girdled with the sky. How beautiful is night! And Longfellow, presumably, hoped to represent America in the choir of praise: ©O holy night, ffom thee I learn to bear ‘What man has bo- before! Thou layest thy fager on the lips of are, And they complain no more. But every man should be his own poet, celebrating his own perceptions, his own comprehension. That is an additional reason for becoming ac- and the soothing harmony of night. The day may be commonplace, repe- titious, a matter of routine. But stay- ing up all night is an adventure into “another world,” as Byron knew, and into serenity, as Southey understood, and into sanctuary, as Longfellow per- ceived. The experience is worth having, worth remembering. e The assassin’s hand strikes at the happiness of the world. Lindbergh, an inspiration to enthusiasm, has been al- lowed to turn to sorrowing seclusion, and even so great an event as the in- auguration of a Prestdent of the United States is a reminder 6f recent tragedy. Fortunately, the temper of the Amer- ican people is that of determination to seek correction and not to submit to discouragement. r——— When George Bernard Shaw refers te his age and talks about dying, the world for once at least takes him most | seriously and hopes his momentary mel- ancholy may be relieved by recalling the old cynicism, “Cheer up! The worst is yet to come.” It is to be said in favor of the rail- roads that they were a better moral influence than motor vehicles or air- planes. In watching crooks, going or coming, it was only necessary to keep a close watch on the old depot. The word “dictator” is essentially re- pugnant to American thought. An ad- vocate of so extraordinary an officer should at least have the kindness to secure a book of synonyms and look up a milder title. —————————— Events have shown that no further investigation is needed to disclose the fact that crime exists in amazing de- gree. What to do about it becomes the question that demands a punctual and lucid answer. The only indication of insanity on the part of Zangara is his refusal to | accept his only chance by cultivating an impression that he is a proper sub- Jject for a psychoanalyst. — rae——— Turbulent demonstrations cause re- gretful remembrance of the days when high finance ‘was expected to preserve at least the appearance of being strictly a gentlemen’s game. King George enjoys skating and | shows good sporting sense in sharing the ordinary risk of momentary loss of dignity incidental to invigorating out- door pastime. SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. John Barleycorn, Politician. John Barleycorn has ever had A temperamental way. Sometimes we think he'll make us glad And next he brings dismay. Sometimes we say he is no good, We bid him up and pack. And later on we think we should Politely call him back John Barleycorn, four many tricks Have brought unbounded care. You've aiways been in politics And always will be there. Collisions. “Have you what is referred to as a single-track mind?” asked the inquisitor. | “I'm afraid I have,” answered Sen- | ator Sorghum. “If I had more trackage maybe my trains of thought wouldn't be getting into so many collisions.” Jud Tunkins says he believes in| payin’ as you go, but what's the use when there’s no place to go and you haven't any money. Fishing. Since politics is never mild, It makes me shudder some To gaze upon the waters wild In our aquarium. Said Simple Simon, “I should try Some fishing, if I dared, But if T caught a ‘Kingfish' I Should certainly be scared!” Extinctions. “I believe grandmother is right,” said Miss Cayenne, thoughtfully, “when she says there are two things that can never come back. “And what are they?” “The rough old-fashioned saloon and the polite old-fashioned salon.” “You are wise in putting the portraits of your great men on your money,” said Hl Ho, the sage of Chinatown. “It| assures them some measure of modem! respect.” Curiosity. ‘Technocracy has come to view; T don’t know where to buy it. But, as it's something rather new, T'd rather like to try it. “De truth,” sald Uncle Eben, “is hard THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. “I don't care for the sea,” he said. His companion said nothing. How it was possible for any one not to admire and love the greatest of waters he could not comprehend. He could not, that is, until he stop- ped to realize that all men are different. The likes of one are the dislikes of another, or, what is nearer the average facts, the preferences of one are the indifferences of the other. Yet the sea is so majestic, so filled with mystery and other picturesque qualities, that it makes an appeal all its own to its admirers. Even a simple beach, low lying, stretched out right and left, to the hor zon, exercises the same fascination over the sea lover as a mighty storm. Everything about the ocean makes the same appeal. The water, the sky, the sun and moon, the ships and the men who man them, the gulls, the sound of breakers, the swish of waves— These combine with the cool winds, the hurrying winds, to weave a_spell second to none on the round of this flying earth. The fascination of the sea has been felt since mankind first saw it with seeing eyes. No doubt in the book of history before human history began there was much looking without seeing. Seeing things as they are, in the human sense, 1s comparatively new in a world where millions upon millions_of living, breathing things still look at life with unseeing eyes. The fishes see, but they do not sce. The dogs sec, and they see a little. The cats could see & great deal, and do, when they want to. Man alone sees with understanding, or at least some partial understanding. He sees enough to know his ignorance, and his lack of real understanding. Since his emergence into manhood, in the larger sense, he has felt the fascination of the sea. One of the great Psalms deals with the life of the occan, the ships, ihe men who go down to it in ships and the | creatures which live in the waters. Here is life in abundance, both below and above, a life different from ours, but one to which we are no strangers, thanks to our vessels. Man has hewn himself larger and larger ships, as the centuries rolled, but he still may go to sea in an absurdly small one. He even may stand on thé shore, not set his foot in the waters, and yet be entirely sensible of the spell of wind and wave. ; Indecd, every river, every lake, every pond, every small pool, even a rainfal: in the city, may serve to remind him, and forcibly, of the mighty sheets of water where salt winds blow. Elemental in the best sense, the hest for human beings— Such is the charm of the sea. Civilization tends to make us forget the elemental, or, if we remember it, we stubbornly recall the inimical, the harsh, the cruel elements. The wide-flung ocean is one of the elemental things of this globe. It is elemental in its stark simplicity. The two men mentioned above were locking 2t a small painting in a dealer’s | window, showing a section, just a few | feet, of a sandy beach. Breakers, sand, ocean, sky, hoflzgn—- these were the only elements incorpo- rated. “But what grand elements to be put into a picture! A gull was the ony living thing ap- parent in the painting, but the man who loved the sea knew that beneath those painted waves there must be painted living creatures as well. This liking, then, is a fundamental liking, not just something stuck on from the outside. No amount of association with water will bring it about, if the inner prefer- ence is not there in the first place. | One might travel across the ocean | time and time again and yet regard it in the end simply as an unusual sort of Toad. He who never made a trip might| stand speechless before a simple paint- in, g. | 1t is true that the latter might have | experienced fascinating days at the sea- shore as a child, when impressions are | really made. More than this would be required, one may feel sure, to bring about the endless _fascination which makes the eye light up at the mere mention of ship and sea. To such a man, deprived by affairs | from intimate contact with the ocean, | the sea becomes a sort of hobby. | This is the best he can do. | He finds solace in his separation from | the great waters, in looking at pictures | of ships, in collecting odds and ends of | | & seafaring life, in reading stories of | | grand adventure on the seven seas. Nothing with a boat on it, or in it, or | | related to it, escapes his attention, his | friends declare. He can see a painting of a clipper ship & block away; he has been known to get off his bus on the way home to look at one in a window. | His home is likely to display nautical paintings, books, examples of binnacle lights, barometers and bells. In extreme cases this ocean hobbyist incorporates a steering wheel into the | decoration of some room in his home, | preferably the so-called sun porch. | There can be little doubt that the| aguarium hobby is manned and car- | ried on mainly by persons who have in | their system a deep longing for the sea, Many of them would not recognize | this, some might even dispute it, but the | fact would remain just the same that, in their little section of water, filled | with plants and small fishes, they seem | to be getting a bit nearer, in their way, to the great sea itself. It is scarcely possible, in any other hobby, to bring an ocean into the living room. It is feasible in this one, how- ever. A well managed aquarium, with its tropical fishes, plants and sand, and, above all, its water, gives a rather per- fect little imitation of the true mother of waters. ‘The glamour is gone, the scale is ab- surdly reduced, but, after all, water is water, and fishes are fishes. Even the ripples may be retained, in a vastly smaller way, if several lively varieties are kept along with more sedate fishes. | Is it too much to see the ocean in a guppy bowl? Perhaps. But before one feels that this is stretching the thing a bit too far, let | him recall the mind of the sea lover, who is able to see much in little, and, above all, who is willing to see it there. The willingness to see is what makes the seeing, at all times and places. Federal Business Activities Debated as ‘The report of a committee of Con- gress, headed by Representative Shan- non, showing the extent to which the Government, through its activities, has been brought into competition with pri- vate business, is receiving the attention of the country. It is held to point to the necessity for a definite policy setting the bcunds to such competition. The committee finds “at least 232 items of trade, industry and personal and pro- fessional service affected by govern- mental competition for which redress is sought.” L “To get the Government cut of busi- ness wouid be a ‘new deal’ worth while, indeed,” in the opinion of the Charles- ton (8. C.) Evening Post, which believes | that “it would restore the initiative to the individual, give incentive to effort, compel or attract the use of private capital and make an end to the mendi- cency into which the people are falling, looking dumbly toward Washington to help them out of their difficulties.” The Abilene Reporter feels that “there is justice in the claims of private mer- chants, manufacturers and professional men” and advices that “the argument that the Government saves money by such preactices will not stand up, for the simple reason that the Government gets dts sustenance from taxes levied upon private and ccrporate enterprise”; that “it i killing the goose that lays the golden eggs.” * k% x “Government competition, instead of supplementing_industry,” according to | the San Jose Mercury-Herald, “impairs its capacity to give service That paper views its existence as “econcmic war, just as harmful as destructive com- petition between or within industries.” The Mercury-Herald difects attention to “an important question presented by | the report which should be considered | and decided on its merits,” and ex- plains: “The paradex of hunger and want with overabundance of fcod and goods has sharply challengsd attention to the fact that we have serious defects in our system which must be overcome. Intelligent cpinion is agreed that the only remedy is better control through planning. Private industries and Gov- ernment departments have engaged in enterprices, giving no thought to the effect of them on industry as a whole. The result is unbalance. The need is stabilization, fcr there can be no stable employment without stable industries.” “The cost of much of this Govern- ment activity,” declares the Indianapo- lis News, “is far above what the ex- pense would be if advantage were taken of the offerings of private busi- ness.” Recalling that the practice “began in a small way and for good reason, and has extended until it is the subject of vigorous agitation in an effort to correct an evil,” that paper is convinced that the committee rec- ommendations “should form the basis of a law for the immediate correction of obviously wasteful competition and recognition of the rights of private business.” The Columbia (Mo.) Daily Tribune adds its condemnation of “the unwarranted wholesale expansion in business by the Government against private initiative,” and would add strength “to the arm of a committee in the House of Representatives to deal with the subject.” * ok % * Nation-wide approval of the com- mittee report is predicted by the New- ark Evenl News, which holds that “the principle involved is unassaile®le” and points out that “it has een voiced by the United States Chamber of Commerce and innumerable other bodies.” The Evening News concludes that “we are on the threshhold, appar- ently, of a colossal adventure into Federal power development,” and adds: “Mr. Harding in 1920 promised less government in business. In the years since we have multiplied Government business activities beyond calculation.” The San Francisco Chronicle upholds the attack on “wastefulness, injustice and short-sightedness involved in Government competition with private business,” and offers the estimate of the congressional investigation: “The committee seems to have done a con- +| scientious job of investigation. Though it applies the principle rigidly, it by no means bases its recommendations on the mere theory that government has no business in ess. Some of to find out, an’ when dey gets it, few people know what to ge wif it.” its recommendations are based on sav- ing money for- the Government, others, Report Is Made notably that on arms and munitions | manufacture, on the policy of keeping private manufacturers equipped to take up the burden in emergency. Our Government arsel could not take care of more than 20 minutes of a real war. Other recommendations are founded on the injustice of Govern- ment competition in the cases where it obtains no advantage, but succeeds in doing mdurs; to private enterprise.” * K % “It is possible,” suggests the New York Sun, “to hear the tramp, tramp, tramp of forces rallying to fight to the death against the Shannon program.” That paper, however, feels that “the chief value of the rt is that it focuses public attention on a matter of great concern to private business.” The Sun points to culties involved, with the statement: “Where the Shannon program is likely to come a cropper is in its obvious declaration of a legis- lative policy on the part of Congress that the Federal Government abstain from any form of business which can be handled to advantage by private concerns, That is the policy Congress ought to declare; it is one to which members of both houses may be ex- pected to give lip service. But Con- gress will adopt it only over the dead political bodies of the Government ownership group, which.shows no in- dication of impending demise. If this were the declared policy of Congress, what would become of Boulder Dam? Of Mr. Roosevelt's Muscle Shoals de- velopment? Of the St. Lawrence sea- way? Of the Columbia River Basin project? All of these propose more ex- tensive Federal invasions of the domain of gmme business than any hitherto made.” ‘The Oshkosh Daily Northwestern ad- vises: “To what extent the sugges- tions for correcting the conditions should be put into practice is a mat- ter for further development.” The Lincoln State Journal offers the com- ment: “Maybe scme day the Govern- ment in business will become an issue baramount to many that are now up- permost. If that day comes the people can express themselves and perhaps re- move a perplexing problem, for the time at least.” The Chicago Daily News states: “In no case, apparently, has the committee attempted to study the costs involved in the changes rec- ommended. The Shannon committee’s report as a whole appears merely to gl;g::stsh;th; ‘ldews of individuals and 1 lesire to acquire profits Government waste.” 3% 2 e The suggestions of the commit: called . “refreshing” by the Ct::c:gr: Journal of Commerce, which compares them with the spirit of “the vast amount of money paid out in Govern- ment for services,” and the fact that :1:;1;1 "ulue “goes down the rathole of R — “Slave” Production. Prom the Boise Idaho Statesman, The Soviet government calls it “con- scription,” but it is hardly more than slavery—the system under which a vast campaign to speed up production of lumber will be carried out in the north- ern reglon of Russia. ‘Work of the villages will be carried on by women and children; the men will be hustled off to the lumber camps. If they refuse they will be treated as traitors and shot. The area in which the logging operations are to be carried out embraces 1,119,000 square kilo- meters. The peasants must Supply their own horses. The order announcing the plan, we are informed, made no mention of pay for the workers, but provision will be made for feeding them. The Associated Press correspondent in Archangel relates that the north region is 50 per cent forest land and has a population of 2!; million. 1n 1932 Soviet Russia exported 5,559, 821 tois of lumber, In 1933 this may be doubled—or trebled. One wonders what effect it will have on the already demoral lumber markets of the world. One wonders also whether our Government will permit importation of this lumber into the United States. mportation of producis poduced by i 3 produced |4 invoked in this | hills, open fields and woods, the canal |made its way, and along its edges | childhood, His judgment and taste in BY SARAH G. BOWERMAN. The first novel of Walter D. Edmonds, a young man born in 1903, was “Rome Haul,” a story of the Erle Canal in the 1850's, during the period of its commercial importance, before it began to be called “the old Erie | Canal. Two weeks ago another novel of | Walter D. Edmonds about the Erie Canal appeared, “Erie Water” (an At-| lantic Monthly Press publication, is- | sued by Little, Brown & Co., Boston). This is & romance of the digging and building of the “Canawl,” the big ditch which “brought into existence many towns in Central New York and created a boom for the State which lasted many years. The story opens in 1817, | when men “of all sorts” were moving | singly and in groups toward the Capitol | at Albany, for “the Senate was going back inio session on the canal bill.’ And men on the streets were saying that the canal was the only thing to save New York, with population drop- ping and lands falling off in price. < * X k% At this critical juncture in the his- tory of the State, the homespun hero, | Jerry Fowler, a young carpenter, | stepped from the Greenbush Ferry to the dock at Albany, with all his be- longings and $90 in cash wrapped up in a rough bundle. He was headed for the Holland purchase, in Western New York, to take up some land, and he| had just enough money to make a down' payment on 50 acres and to buy | his farming implements. All would | have been well and before night he | would have begun his lcng tramp west- ward, along the Mohawk River pike, had not a sloop been tied up to the | dock when the ferry boat arrived and | had not the sloop contained a load of redemptioners, to be indentured to any who could meet the price of their passage. Among the redemptioners wes 2 girl with coppery hair. So romance intervened and spoiled Jerry's thrifty | plans. But the canal brought him opportunity and his fortunes followed those of the canal. > * X ¥ *x Though Jerry is the human hero of | “Erie Water,” there is a bigg.r hero— | the canal its:lf. Mr. Edmonds has done | something similar to what Ernest Poole | did in his novel “The Harbor,” in which | New York harbor is the hero. Through lowlands and highlands, swamps and shanties sprang up to house the work- men, of all sorts, from bcg Irish to Southern blacks. The canal had also its taverns, its industries, its religions, its amusements. Into the story ere in- troduced many characters representing American types of the period: Shaker revivalist, Issacher Bennet; Henry Fearon, moster of the sloop carrying the redemptioners; fat, motherly Ma Halleck, managing and feeding her own family, but always having management and food to spare for friends and neighbors; gatekeepers, engineers, farmers, innkeepers, women of light character and women of solid qualities. Mr. Edmonds lives in the State he ,writes about, in the town where he was born, Boonville, north of Utica, on the Black River Canal Capals have enchanted him since his choosing to write of the events which have as background his own familiar surroundings, taken with his detailed and accurate knowledge of those events, and, of course, his ability as a writer, have enabled him to produce an ex- cellent historical novel and a_contribu- tion to the social history of New York State. * ok ok % George Saintsbury, one of three great English writers of the older generation to die in 1933, was 87 years old and had enjoyed nearly 60 years of writing. Any one who scans the record of his life and knows his works is sure that he did enjoy his writing. Many a mid- dle-ageq person looks upon Saintsbury as a friend of college days, one always ready tarough his books to furnish critical estimates of authors in the flelds of English and European literatures or to discuss the principles of criticism or prosody. Saintsbury was professor of rhetoric and English literature at Edin- burgh University, 1895-1915, and was the author of many books. Some of the most_important are “A Short History of English Literature,” “Elizabethan Literature,” “Nineteenth Century Lit- erature,” “A History of Criticism,” *“ History of English Prosody,” Short History of French Literature,” “A His- | (o % e oo Al e A e tory g " Very recently the Oxford Press published his book, “A Consideration of Thackeray.” For recreation Saintsbury was a con- noisseur of wines. * K K K Capt. Felix Riesenberg, at one time commanding officer of the schoolship Newport, nautical training vesseel, has sailed and steamed the seven seas and knows vast stories of fact and fiction about_everything connected with the sea. His book, “Log of the Sea” (New York: Harcourt, Brace & Co.) has a comprehensive title which allows him to tell everything he of his sea experiences and sea lore. The chapter “Sea Lingo” may be frequently consulted by those who know the sea only from big ocean liners, but it must be ‘added that the book is free from all but the necessary technical ex- pressions. It is a good book to dip into, at any place among the pages, and during any leisure time, preferably gerhaps while a northeast storm is owling about one side 6f your house and rattling your windows. Capt. Riesenberg's first nautical venture was on the training ship St. Mary's, bullt in 1844, and in the 90s used to dem- onstrate to aspiring commanders how to use the canvas and spars for which they would probably have no occasion, in ihe age of steam. His first voyage was around the Horn and the mists cleared for his benefit, so that, as look- out, he sighted “a faint blue streak near the horizon,” across a sparkling sea. Impressionistic biographies or companions on_his voyages furnish the characters for his many stories. There are the Finnish sailor, Dreilick; the American Line captains, Randall, Jami- son and Passow, and Old Strom of the St. Louis, which went to the rescue of the Dutch liner Veendam, when it went on the rocks off the Scilly Isles, in February, 1898. Capt, Randall was in command of the St. Louis at the time and had just sailed from South- ampton. He heard the rocket bembs from the Veendam (it was before the days of wireless) and reached her when her stern was under water and her bow high, Volunteers manned the life- boats of the Bt. Louis and every per- son on board the Veendam was saved. Wrecks and rescues are the thrilling material of the book. There are lighter parts, describing amu-ng episodes of ship life and experiences ashore. At one time on the schoolship St. Mary's fifty Bibles were thrown overboard, to clear space for some eatables, but were afterward observed floating on the har- bor waters, in mute reproach, instead of having compliantly sunk as expected. Capt. Riesen! is the author also of “Under Sail,” published some years ago. : " L KK k% The American Library Association has just fssued the A. L. A. catalog, 1926-1981, a list of 3,000 books selected and recommended for public libraries from among published during the past five years. A decline in rmmmmun’onlu’ 0:‘ noticeable. similar of fiction ited 16 per cent of the whole, mm list 11 per cent and in the present list 9 per cent. There has been an increase in books of philosophy, sociology, useful arts lndl tecgng:g:y. ; well as in books of trayel an raphy. These trends indicate. changing but perhaps even more, as the Ameri- can Library Association head: puts it, “a wider realization on of librarians that the function of demands of readers, | in! BY FREDERIC J. HASK troublesome questions arise | .‘;‘3’ ;nmelt of the service of this de- | partment. It costs you nothing—you have only to send 3 cents for postage on the personal letter you will receive | in reply. Do not use post cards. Any question on any subject of fact will be | answered. Address your letter of in- | quiry to The Star Information Bureau, Frederic J. Haskin, Director, Washing- ton, D. C. | = | Q. What is the significance of the | figure of an angel on the medal which | is to be struck for this inaugura-| tion?—S. N. | A. The figure is not an angel. It is a woman with wings. The central de- ! sign is taken from an old print of the Constitution, the ship in full sail, and the winged woman was added to sym- | bolize flight through air, the motif be- ing Progress. Q. Have the reindeer which were purchased in Alaska several years ago | ever reached their destination in North- | ern Canada?—F. C. | A. Some time in the latter part of | March or early April of 1933, the herd | of 2,300 reinceer bought in 1929 by the | government of Canada from an Ameri- | can corporation in Alaska, will arrive | at the Winter grazing range which is | to the east of the delta of the Mac- | kenzie River, Northwest Territories. | This herd of reindeer, bought to form | the nucleus of a meat and hide supply | fors the Eskimos of the far northerly | area$ of Canada, began the 1,000-mile | journey from Napaktoolek in Western Alaska to the Mackenzie River delta in | December, 1929. | g. What is meant by a “wet moon"? R Fhe ‘wet moon 15 the new moon, which has one horn much lower than | the other, thus resembling a tilted bowl. It is erroneously believed to be | a sign of wet weather. | Q. Why is a depression in a road | called a “Thank you, Mam”?—H. O. S. | A. It is so cailed from the sudden | bowing of the person riding, as if ac- | kncwledging an act of courtesy. | Q. What causes the delicate political situation in India?—N. M. 8. | A. It is complicated by the number of different interests involved. There | is intense antagonism between the Hindu and Moslem population, and the | British government, largely with the | help of the native princes, is endeavor- | ing to establish a liberal form of gov- | ernment with a large degree of self- govermment in India in the face of the several warring factions. The situation is complicated by the vast number of “untouchables,” who up to the present have had no political recognition and | practically no privileges whatever, Q. Does it ever snow in Yuma, Ariz.? | —S. W. A. In December, there was a snow- fall of 1.5 inches—the only appreciable snow seen in Yuma in the 62 years that records have been kept. Q. What does the word ‘“beestings” mean?—H. A. A. It is the first milk of a cow after calving. . Q. Were George Washington and Thomas Jefferson scientific farmers?— E. R. A. Washington did not have scien- tific training in agriculture so far as college instruction is concerned, but he was fundamentally the scientific farmer as a result of his own experi- ence. So also was Thomas Jefferson. Q. What city is the capital of China? —P. H. A. Nanking is the present capital. Q. What is a Scarborough warning? —T. OR. A. A warning given too late. In 1557 | & wamned when it was too late for them to be of assistance. Q. When was Pratt Institute estab- lished? Does it give degrees to its graduates>—J. P. H, A. Pratt Institute, a polytechnic school in Brooklyn, N. Y., was estab- lishad in 1887 by Charles Pratt. Its aim is to promote manual and in- dustrial education as well as cultiva- tion in literature, science and art. The institute confers no degrees, but grants ciplomas for the completion of any of the normal courses, and gives certifi- cates attesting the completion of the full-time day courses. Q. What does the scotus stand for?—J. K. A. It stands for Supreme Court of the United States. Q. How long is Browning's “The Ring and the Book?"—N. N. A. It contains 20,934 lines. It i5 the story of a famous Italian murder case, told 12 times, from different points of view. abbreviation poem, N. Q. Why do hunters wear red coats? G A. Red is the color of the royal lv- ery. It is believed that it was adopted by huntsmen because fox hunting was declared a royal sport by Henry IL Q. What is ths connection between John of Plano Carpini and the dis- covery of America by Columbus?—L. A. Johannes de Plano Carpini was the first noteworthy European explorer f the Mongol Empire. He died Au- gust 1, 1252, after having traversed the country of the Tatars and Mongols in company with other explorers an missipnaries. They suffered unbeliey= able \hardships and on his retyrn Johanpes was honored by the P and pablished the results of his travels. It is said to have been these accoun which largely influenced the mind ol Christopher Columbus in seeking the New World. Q. What percentage of the su)nl’ used in the United States is grown in this country?—A. S. N. A. About 25 per cemt. About 12, 500,000,000 pounds of sugar are used yearly, and over 9,000,000 pounds are imported. Q. Why co women's coats button from right to left, while men's coats fasten from left to right>—K. R. M. A. In former times when men wore swords on all occasions the weapon was invariably fastened at the left so that it could be drawn from its scabbard with quick dispatch. It was frequently necessary to be quick on the draw, and such emergencies made it necessery to place the coat buttons at the right. As the left hand reached to the right to unbutton the coat covering the sword, the right hand Went to the left to Graw the weapon. [t is an old practice for a woman to Hold a baby in the hollow of her lefy arm. This action engages both the left arm and the hand, so if the right hand is to be free in unbuttoning the woman’s gar- ments withcut disturbing the position of the child, the garment must be but- toned from right to left. Q. When will the Charleston, 8. C., Magnolia Gardens be in bloom?—J. K. A. The Magnolia and Middleton | Place Gardens are now open to the public and the Camellia Japonicas are in full bloom. They remain in great beauty until the end of February. Th2 azaleas reach their peak of bloom be- tween March 1 and April 15. Q. Where is the Wayside Inn?>—L. E. A T is located a¢ Sudbury, Mas. It was a {amous tavern of the Colonir i days. The inn was purchased in 192} | by Henry Ford as a memorial to Henr/ | Thomas Stafford seized upon Scarbor- ough Castle, the townsmen being N DAILY NEWS, Colombo. —There is a decrease of 23 per cent in the number of candi- dates who have entered for the final examination in medicine, which is now going on, but in the case of the apothecaries and midwives, there is a corresponding lncrleyue of 45 and 33 cent, respectively. mp:rre are 9 candidates for the medi- cal finals this year, as compared with 12 last year; 11 would-be apothecaries, while there were only 5 the previous year, and 24 midwifery students in place of 18 last year. Seven students are sit- ting to the apprentice pharmacists’ ex- amination, which is being held for the first time. * kX X Deaf Person Immune To Seasickness. Morning Post, London.—To the Edi- tor: “I was much interested in an article on “Seasickness and Its Causes” Post and should much like to know if deaf people ever suffer from that com- plaint, as I have been told they do not, and in my own case it is certainly true. dozens of times when the gales were frightful, but only once have I been sick, and even then it was only after I landed that I experienced any dis- comfort. On the other hand, I was never able became deal, guite ill. It would be interesting to hear from other deaf people on the subject. C.B. G. La Vanguardia, Barcelona.—A decree of the Argentine government prohibits immigration to that country from Jan- uary 1 unless the prospective resident has either a definite contract, backed by & rigid guarantee, for the employ- ment of his labor or services, or a suffi- cient sum of money in hard, cold cash to tide him over what remains of the depression. Without taking time to examine into the mysterious formula by which such a conjectural sum might be confidently established, we merely e that measures similar to those adopted by Argentina to protect the opportunities of her citizenry have already been adopted, or soon will be, by many other countries. The United States, with three times the area and 12 times the population of the Argentine Republic, has reduced, during the last few years, what was once a perfect torrent of immigration to a mere trickle, subject to drastic stipulations most inexorably enforced. It is authentically reported that there are nearly 11,000,000 idle workers in the United States today. Europe there are many more them t, not only of idle hands, but likewise of idle brains. And the reason for this deplorable situ- ation, well universal, is, in the opinion rapidly d nt, thai there are too many people in the world. An Englishman, Robert Malthus, more than a century ago developed the same criteria. He foretold the time would come when the earth would no ionggf be able to support its popula- wdnalmo;:rol book t‘renda. 'lhlcla“h teresting rom many - it approaches. * ok kX In “Diogenes Discovers Us,” Joun Terence well known advo- cate of amat tells of the careers of & number of men and women whose influence has been strong sportsmanship. %«o.m,mmw.n- lormuullhflnl.mw&! gwmuon f*&v‘?fl & his- ~ which appeared in Tuesday's Morning | jn I have made the Channel crossing |yural la Wadsworth Longfellow. In the Waysid: | Inn is an intcresting collection of Co- | lonial furniture and prints. High Lights on the Wide World Excerpts From Newspapers of Other Lands tion. Humanity, he said, would con=- tinue to increase at a ratio far in exe cess to that of the means of subsistence, This tenet was con and ridi- culed by theologians and economists, who declared in rebuttal that the first and principal of the divine injunctions to the race, was to “increase and mul- tiply.” It was preposterous, they in- sisted, to assert that the Creator of the perfect harmony we see about us, in every phase of nature, could err in the and its necessities. It was contended by all orthodox Christians, Catholic and alike, that it was far more that the tragic dispari in struggle for existence inated much from mistaken mangdates Bible as from his failure or re: obey them. And as times goes on we deed, conclude that the error our own calculations, and that divine ordinances are in no way sponsible for the misery we see on e hand about us. For no one is born without the permission of God, and nat- ws regulate the fecundity of the human les in accordance with His plans and purpose. For this reason the theories of Malthus, which re for their evolution unnatural and un- christian practices, were justly anathe- matized by the Catholic church. to improve and augment their tion. A multitude many times that ex- isting in the world today would still be unable to consume all that can with facility be grown or manufactured. Argentina, the land which trembles at the very thought of further foreign influx, is inhabited in no greater den- sity than five persons to the square kilometer. More Reople would raise and consume more wheat, more cattle and would use more manufactured articles, both of native and alien origin. The defect in Argentina's system is that because she has embraced the same ar- bitrary and capricious determinations which now obsess all the other nations, she can no longer exchange the excess of what she produces for their goods and merchandise, desired the more be- cause locally unobtainable. On every side we see. not too maj people and not any deficiency of f comforts, or conveniences, but only & lacuna in our process of distribution. When this break in our economic struc- ture is found and repaired, then we shall see abolished the vast and ridic ulous anomaly of people actually starv- ing and atrophying in the midst of & plenty in aliments and a prolixity n pleasures and_opportunities unprece- dented in the history of the world. roduc- Land Reclamation. From the Bloux Falls Daily Argus-Leader. Surely the Senators and Representa- tives from the great agricultural areas of the Middle West cannot favor the land reclamation plan advanced President-elect Roosevelt. The pi reasing the competit faced by those who depénd for a livelihood. How would Mflumnnm dell, Elizabeth Mills Reid, Sir *?"..".;n"‘“fim