Evening Star Newspaper, March 18, 1933, Page 6

THE EVENING STAR ‘With Sunday Morni: tion. WASHINGTON, D. C. SATURDAY......March 18, 1833 &HEOMBE 'W. NOYES....Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company Business Office: 11th_St. .and Pennsylvania Ave. o iemeo Ses Kokke. Mickiean Buiidine Chicago 5 z Firopean Office: 14 Regent St. London: England. Jargler Within the City. m‘;\‘:n'::c Cacsler WiHhin B e montn | The Evening and Sundey'Star | Len #5¢ per month The Sunday Star c_per ¢ made at the end of each month. | aore ‘may be sent in by mail of telephons Rational 3o0: Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. 1yr,$10.00; 1 mo., 85¢ 1yr., $6.00; 1 mo., 50c . 1yr. $4.00; 1 mo.. 40c I Other States and Canada. Datty O Stndar 1ot £12.00: 1 mo. $100 | Datly only . 1yr. $800; 1mo. s Bunday only . 1yr, $5.00; 1mo. ber of the Associated Press. T)?:e.:“lsorml!d Press is exclusively entitled | to the use for republication of all news dis- | patcbes credited to it or not otherwise cred- ited in this paper and also the local news published herein. All rights of vuhh(lrlon% speciel dispatches herein are also reserved. i | i tired officers available for active duty a storm of protest confirmed him in his place. He was employed in train- ing units for the Thirty-second Divi- sion. Altogether, he won the right to wear five campaign Ladges. But meanwhile he was wielding the pen with as much talent as the sword. Beginning about 1876, he produced, one after another, a steady stream of novels, all based on military experience and careful study of Army records. As Cap- tain Charles King, a total of sixty vol- umes came from the press bearing his name, and each was as fresh and vital in plot and style as though it repre- sented the full limit of its maker's genius. He had the most amazing power to repeat the technique of suc- cessful writing. Again and again he proved that in his case at least there was no such diminution of power as critics expect in any author's effort. His histories also were vigorously con- celved and vividly executed. He was a born_ journalist, apparently, innately competent to find the news in human existence and to present it attractively. Perhaps the gift was an inheritance, for his father, ifl his later years, was editor of the Milwaukee Sentinel and enjoyed a wide reputation as a publicist. His grandfather, it may be noted, once was president of Columbia University. Speeding the Program. | President Roosevelt’s determination, King will be remembered. Hundreds ss on the job until his | 0f men still in active service had the o kecp jQoke e | pleasure of knowing him personally and legiclative program shall have been en- acted, without the contemplated recess, is encouraging. Not in vears has a | Congress shown such a willing spirit as the Seventy-third Congress, since it be- gan its first session little more ihan a | week ago. It should be possible for the President to get through his program, which, though important, may be con- | tained in a few measurcs, before the close of the month of May. P‘mher-‘ more, prompt action on railroad and | transportation legislation, banking legis- | lation and power legislation will be cal- | culated to speed recovery. of receiving from him the inspiration of the old days and the old manners. He was an institution, and his juniors took pride in endeavoring to emulate him. A famous soldier, he was no less honored for his character as a citizen, a neighbor and a fellow-pilgrim on the highway of the world. People admired him, trusted nim and loved him. ————— The Five-Cent Fare Proposal. The street car companies may be jus- | tified in postponing any action on the Balto and Collins, used and cast aside, had s common value to ‘the press agents. And now the dog has followed the man into the valley of shadows. He was » prince among oanines; well worthy of remembrance. In Alaska they speak of him as he was, not as he was supposed to be—a veteran toller of the frozen trail, who did his work and at last has for a brave husky. Anglo-Russian Acerbities. Trade and diplomatic relations be- tween Great Britain and Soviet Russia hage been a succession of breaks, recon- ciliations and new breaks. Late news from London and Moscow indicates that commercial intercourse, which has been tion of both governments since 1929, is once again threatened, with the British ters have been brought to the boiling which M. Litvinoff is hurling at Acting Prime Minister Baldwin. Last week end the Rusian secret po- lice, Ogpu, caused the arrest of thirty- five or forty employes of the British Metropolitan-Vickers Company, which operates a plant in Moscow. The men taken into custody included six English- men, two of whom have since been re- leased. The others were Russians. The accused were charged with hatching anti-Soviet plots and conspiring to ob- tain and smuggle out of Russia certain secret information, Great Britain promptly and force- fully demanded the release of her sub- jects who were still held, asserting thelr innocence. The Soviet govern- ment replied that this would have be proved at a formal trial, whic) would ‘take place in due course. Later M. Litvinoff in tart terms informed Downing Street that no amount of threats or pressure could or would be | Public Utilitles Commission’s informal | permitted to intimidate the Russian Up to the present time the President | suggestion for an experiment in five-cent | legal suthorities from proceeding in has sent to the Congress one measure fares until the merger has taken effect | the regular and routine fashion for at a time, and the Congress has con-/and the new compeny takes over opera- | such cases provided. fined its efforts to that particular bill tion of the consolidated lines. The ne-‘\ ‘Theugh not yet officially promulgated, until it was disposed of. Because of gotiations and bargaining over the mer- | London looks momentarily for the an- the disposition of the members to give quick consideration to the bills his pro- | gram of emergency legislation has moved with unprecedented speed. The President in his messages to the Con- gress, brief and to the point, has dealc‘ with single subjects. The effect has| been to center the attention of the country first upon the banking emer- | gency legislation, then upon economy legislation, next upon the beer revenue bil and finally upon the farm relief bill. The first of these three measures ger arrangements are keeping the com- pany executives busy these days. If they are completed within six months, the beginning of the new regime and anticipated improvement in local street car service would furnish the opportune time for launching the five-cent fare experiment. But it is reasonable to believe that the experiment must be eventually un- dertaken. It should be undertaken by the street car companies in self-de- fense—if for no other reason. The pop- nouncement that Great Britain, in pro- test against the detention of the four British artisans and engineers, will |acnul the agreement under which | Anglo-Russian trade is now conducted. Feeling runs high in London, where the | treatment meted out to the Englishmen is branded as an outrage. Resentment |1s the greater because Moscow has de- {clined to supply any detalls of the | alleged proofs of gullt it holds against | tn=Jmiled men. Ordingyily international relations are is a law, the second awaits only the ular belief regarding the cause for de- not seriously disturbed by incidents of signature of the President, and the:ciinlng street car patronage and reve- | this sort.. But in the present state of third is in the conference stage and |nues—and this belief is to some extent | European nerves may become Jaw by Monday night. Had shared by those who should be compe- ! the Anglo-Russian | imbroglio may assume the menacing 1t not been for the desire of the Sen-|tent to judge—is that the cost for a character of a first-class affair. ate to take a recess from Thursday Street car ride is too high, in relation | until Monday, both the econcmy bill and the beer bill could have become and that if the cost if lowered and the | law by tonight. The farm bill has been reported to the House and will come up for consideration in that body Monday. ! It seems clear there is a disposition to avold the delays of interminable hearings before the congressional com- mittees. Those interested in legislation | are entitled to their day in court, but | crease their revenues they would be! not to months. The new administra- | tion is not tackling at this session & revision of the tariff or a general re-| vision of the revenue laws. If it had those problems on its list of legislative recommendations the Summer and Fall would see the Congress still toiling away in Washington, in all probability. The country is particularly waiting for the bank reform legislation. It awaits, too, legislation designed to strengthen | the railroad systems of the coun!ryA‘ These and farm legislation are the| major subjects which the administra- tion proposes to deal with now. Ii also has uncmployment relief on the list. ‘Unemployment, however, will be relieved far more effectively through the estab- lishment of confidence in the business world and a recovery of business and | agriculture than in any other; way. It has been reported that the President has turned from a $500.000,000 bond issue a this time for public improvements, de- | signed to give relief to unemployment, believing that such a move would de- | stroy the accomplishments of his ccon- omy program. Instead, there is to be & more definite relief system ad-gted, with an administrator of relief ap- pointed, and the President hopes to find sufficient money from unexpended bal- | ances of Government appropriations to | give perhaps 200,000, men work with tttle delay. —.—————— The stock market | will scarcely be | regarded as realizing the term “nor- malcy” so aptly inveated by the late Warren G. Harding until it records sharp advances at close intervals with corre- sponding recessions due to “profit tak- | ing.” Habitual speculators may as well | reconcile thems:lves to a prospect of its being as hard to guess as ever. B | Senator Sheppard and Senator Borah | prot-st carnestly against any possible | return of the old-fashioned saloon as well as the newer fashioned speakeasy. Of | one thing they may be sure—unless the American people want them, which is | not likely, there is little prcbability of a | return. ——— A Famous Soldier. News comes of the death of Brig. @en. Charles King, soldier, teacher, novelist, historian and one of the monumentally notable American gen: tleman of his time. He was eighty-eight years of age and active to the last. An accidental fall, not a tedious ill- ness, terminated his great and vastly useful career. . Washington has particular interest in his story, for it was here at the Cepital that he got his start. He served as a messenger between the camp commanded by his father. Brig. Gen. Rufus King, and the White House in 1861 end 1862. President Linccln| appointed him to West Point when hc; was but seventeen. | He was in the celebrated Fifth Cav-| alry under Custer in the Indian wars and was seriously wounded in the Apache campaign of 1874. While re- | cuperating he was an instructor of the‘ ‘Wisconsin National Guard and lnl:r‘ adjutant general of the State. At thz| outbreak of the Spanish-American War | he took command of & Wisconsin bri- gade of volunteers, and led thzmi through the Philippine lnsurrectlan.; He was theoretically superannuated nt’ the beginning of the World War, but, nfon it was cuggected ‘hatghis nome | diphtheria, and to wish to visit the | politics and de white be removed from the of Te- cave in which & man had perished. git into soclety.” to the sort of service given in return, margin between street car fares and taxi fates is widened, the street car companies will be in a better_ poeition to | compete for favor with the public. The street car executives, of course, must be given the benefit of the knowledge that if they believed a lower fare would increase patronage and in- more heartily in favor of it than any- body else. But they have been dis-| trustful of lower fares from the begin- ning. More than twice as many patrons jat five cents as there are now at ten cents would be necessary before the | companies began to make ricaey at a lower rate, and the additioal patrons would have to be weaned from the cheap taxi cabs. It is to be doubted that they will leave the taxi cabs until taxi fares are raised. The experiment proposed by the Pub- lic Utilities Commission should, how- ever, be undertaken by the companies in the spirit in which the proposal has been made. It should not requirc a great deal of time to determine whether, with lower fares and better service, the companies are in position again to compete for public patronage. They will not be placed on an even ooting with the taxicab companies, of course, until the taxicabs are subjected to the same sort of strict regulation that applies to the car lines. — v A litile supervision of the Treasury ystems will enable Secretary Woodin to follow the fashion of paraphrasing | Richelieu and declare, “In the bright lexicon of American banking, there's no such word as fail!” e European critics may again find rea- scn to congratulate the U. S. A. on pos- sescing in so large a degree what they i would probably regard as an unemo- tional public. N Balto. Balto, the Alaskan husky, was one of the most widely celebrated animals of modern times. He was considered | the best lead dog in the Peftinsula. He won the Moose race of 1915, and car- ried Raoul Amundsen into the North | in 1923. For these achievemcnts, how- ever, he received little notice. It was not until 1925 that fame came to him, and then it was tainted, unfortinately, with the commercial significance of a publicity enterprise of uncxampled prorortions. An outbreak of diphtheria had oc- urred at Nome. Twenty-three persons in the town were {ll with the dread disease. Local physicians sent out a all for antitoxin. Taking their cue from a similaf stunt in 1920, the press representatives of the pharmaceutical laboratory from which the serum was ordered grasped the opportunity to se- cure “a hundred million dollars’ worth of free wdvertising.” Balto was the figure about which they centered their ballyhoo. As the leader of the team which made the last dash from Bluft to Ncme, a distance of 60 miles, he was the most readily available hero of the made-to-order drama they con- cocted. The pcor beast, powerless to protest, was touted like a movie actor or “a Sultan of Swat.” His exploiters put his name on the front page of every newspaper in the United States. His proprietor, Gunnar Kasson, sold his story to a syndicate, and it was broadcast to the uttermost ends of the carth. At the same time another group of publicity experts was making the most of the entrapment of Floyd' Collins in a Kentucky cavern. The two campaigns ran neck to neck for weeks. In the end the public had been edu- cated to want antitoxin serum for —_— e | It is asserted that a number of per- scnages have known for a long time | What ought to be done about finance. | The trouble seems to have been a dis- position on the part of business doctors to prolong the consultations. | ——r—— | Democrats boast of being able to put legislation through the United States Senate. The situation does not quite | prompt the question | who else2” R It is not always made clear in Europe | whether one of the great questions is | what Hitler is going to do with Ger- | many or what Germany is going to do i with Hitler. —— | dry oratory has worked like a pretzel | and served mainly to increase the thirst. o People abroad are at present looking for reduced navies and hoping they will | have little need of those. ———or—s SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. As Time Passes. I know that over yonder, jes' beyond the cloud so gray, A bird is sweetly singin’ of the April an’ the May, With the rainbow lightly playin’ when * the siiver showers drop— | Keep a tickin’, Mr. Clock—an’ don't you dare to stop! I know that over yonder, jes’ beyond the leafless tree, A garden filled with blossoms tempts the butterfly and bee, { With the perfume of the moonflow'r breathin’ out a silent song— Keep a tickin, Mr. Clock. The jour- ney’s not so long. Dominant Policy. “I can't quite decide whether our distinguished colleague is for protec- tion or free trade.” stituency,” replied Senator Sorghum. “The only policy on which he is ab- solutely consistent is self-preserva- tion.” Comfort. “You children would rather go to a moving picture than to Sunday school?” “Yes,” answered the small girl. “It's darker in the picture theater and we don’t have to have our faces washed.” The Finish. He who fights and runs away, Exhausting all his strength and breath, May keep on running, so they say, Until he runs himself to death! Source of Pleasure. “Bliggins entertains a good opinion of “No,” replied Miss Cajenne; “his good opinion of himself entertains Mr. Bliggins.” Social Progress. “Has your boy Josh made any dis- tinguished acquaintarzes since he went to the city?” “Well,” replied Farmer Corntossel, “he knows all the big movie actors by name, though I don't know whether he’s acquainted with any of them per- sonally.”” Land and Water. Soon will the season come to terms With all that heart could wish. The ground is full o' fishin’ worms; The river’s full o' fish, de white gemmen is anxious to git into in uninterrupted progress under sanc- | S taking the initiative to that end. Mat- s | It is beginning to be feared that much | “He is still sounding out his con- | “Dar ain’ gwinter be much peace o’ | eral mind,” said Uncle Eben, “so long as | broken. ATURDAY. BY CHARLES E, TRACEWELL. the | Here are names does one sigh for it, ure- the down town of a great city, many countless persons come there, and enjoys the of walking freely among the ‘The hurly-burly of the crowd is gone. It affects one here only as a deep murmur in the ce. Here is quiet, and the calm musty privilege point by the truculent communications | stacks. be called calm, when it arises from bound volumes in their neat rows, row after row, stretching away as far as the eye can see. There is somet.hlng soothing about the very smell of them, a fragrance which can be duplicated no place else in the world. It is old leather, old boards, old pa- per, glue long become dry, and dust, | mingling in an aroma dear to the heart of every one who loves books. One must love them as things, as well as books, however, to get the full | benefit of their retreat here. Te i3 & difference—a book a6 & is just an article, and not so much a book. The writing within is dary, when one looks at a book 'H?:::‘ the viewpoint of en interesting piece of handicraft. Then come to mind | all the glorious ones of printing history. | those famous men of old who worked the first crude presses and brought forth from them magnificent work. There are two books, therefore, for every book, first the book that the con- tents make it, and, second, the material volume which the printers turned out. There will always be a difference be- tween the two, although to him who finds books unlike anything else on | indistinguishable. 1 Roaming down the alsles one is struck by the dissimilarity here. Positively no two books are alike, in physical appear- ance, although many of them sre of | similar dimensions, except as to width. Perhaps few books exactly tally in thickness from back to front cover. A careful measurement would find a six- teenth of an inch or so difference, un- doubtedly, in all of them. This would merely indicate the really vast differ- ence which exists between them in ap- pearance, as a whole. |~ No matter how long one looks, at| | how many volumes. no two of them | give exactly the same impression to the eye. One will strike it as heavy, another as light. The very covers of | this book will give an impression of | solidity which this other, perhaps with | an even thicker cover, cannot give the spectator. And these impressions come merely in the looking, they have nothing to | do with what is inside. If the stroller | stops to take down a book, he does | something else—he walks right into the heart of the volume, literally. Even one unversed in library science | is intrigued by the classification. As he goes along he attempts to pi- ire| to himself the various real men and | women who have worked at placing these books in these positions. ‘Time and chance—and the printing presses—had a great deal to do with it, evidently. smell of books. For surely an odor can |the | earth, the two sorts will be more or less | the “A” suthors, whose last with that initial letter. Somehow one of “the” Jane Austen here. This is the very place her books should be, in this half light, in this fine booky tm atmosphere. Few readers of today ever heard of Jane R. Austin. Many, alas, never heard of England’s Jane Austen, either. Whether it makes any difference about the former the pedestrian along this way does not know, as he has never read s book of hers. He does know, however, that any one who appreciates s story told with humor and in- t is missing a great deal if he does not know the one and only Jane. Just how many persons there are who are missing this treat he has no way of knowing, t he suspects that there must thousands of them. In the first place, many readers labor under lelusion that there is something particularly “modern,” whatever that may be, about the very latest book which somehow makes it better than one published 10 years ago, or 50 years ago, or two centuries ago. These stacked shelves, rising quietly good all around one, say different. A book is always a good book, no matter when published, because it was written by a human mind, and must be‘read by the same. If it was ever good. the chances are very large that it will still be good. But since thinking work of minds is intangible, no man has yet devised & sure test for literary greatness. So many thousands of words ednlhud one after the other on paper do not make greatness, neomn,rxy.n Nor does age detract from, but it rather adds to, essential worth. Many a reader, too, has not taken the “time" out to make & careful, mature in- vestigation of much of what he was supposed to have “learned” in his school days. If he ever “took” th> his- tory of English literature, in any form, he no doubt read about Jane Austen. and was supposed to have waded through “Pride and Prejudice,” at the least. Because it was a task, he hated it; because he was not old enough, and did not have enough experience, he did not appreciate it of himself, but only because of the professor's insistence. Here on the shelves are many names, | not only of authors really forgotten, but of titles even more thoroughly gone the | way of forgetfulness. The old standbys | of the centuries loom like lighthouses, | by comparison. The gold of the letter- | ing may be tarnished, but still gleams | bright enough in the dimness of the one | light, which the stroller pulls on by means of a great long cord. ‘The light cuts a swath through the darkness, revealing the long rows, to the ceiling. the track of the ladder, and that necessary vehicle itself, on its small wheels, ready to be run along the shelves, 50 that the seeker after enter- tainment, wisdom and all the other fine things one gets from books may lose no time in finding the very volume he wants. Height, physically, lures him on. What is that queer little volume up there in the eaves, at the very top of all, in its strange colored binding, with its curious form? ‘The booklover never finds out, because suddenly he realizes that it is time to g0. he has”stayed too long already in this fascinating place, with its furni- ture made up of the minds and hearf beats of humanity. He must go now. He turns out the which he is glad to escape at last, into the hurly-burly, from dust to gasoline in a moment. Stirs Debate Varying opinions are voiced as tc the | effect of the new orders given by the Prohibition Bureau, leaving raids on speakeasies to the State, suspending purchase of liquor for evidence, and | banishing methods of the wire-tapping agents. There is discussion of the efficiency of State enforcement, and as !to ihe wisdom of confining the work | of the prohibition enforcers to the larger sources of supply. “The first definite retreat of the Fed- eral Government since the national prohibition law went into effect,” is seen by the Indianapolis News, which holds that “the principal result is a definite withdrawal of the bureau irom | the field of small sales to consumers.” The News concedes that “it means the end of unsavory methods.” and advises ‘that “if the bureau confines its efforts to stopping the c and transportation of quantities ol i@ toxicants it mey find that it can do | much more toward suppression than it ever supposed.” “This passing |opinion of the Springfield (Mass.) prohibition enforcement.” The Union | offers the conclusions as to the effect of the new order: “Director Woodcock hopes to make the work of his bureau more effective than it has been. Even he, however, szems to be a bit dubious | about the results that may come from turning over to the State the problem of dealing with the speakeasies and bootleggers in their midst. ‘If the local authorities care to assume their share of the responsibility,’ he says, ‘it would seem that the restrictions Congress has, | in its wisdom, placed in the law will effect a fairer distribution of responsi- | bility than has been possible under | mere administrative action’ That qualifying ‘i’ is significant, and probably is based on Mr. Woodcock's knowledge of the growing disposition on the part of local authorities and | various communities to wash their | hands of prohibition enforcement and |1t the Federal authorities atend to it | as best they may.” | “The Federal Government,” according to the New York Times, “for a long time has recognized the futility-of at- tempting to police the whole country | with a staff of agents wholly inade- quate for that purpose.” The Scranton ‘Times explains the situation by pointing to the fact that the appropriation “has been cut about 25 per cent,” and that “this will result in a reduction of the number of agents,” while they are “for- bidden to use funds for the purchase of intoxicating liquor which is con- sumed by the investigator.” The Cin- cinnati Times-Star offers judgment: “The consequences of Commissioner ‘Woodcock’s announcement will vary with different sections of the country. In New York City, for example, it amounts to the end of prohibition en- forcement, as far as the average citizen is concerned. When the Empire State | prohibition law was repealed, some years ago, the burden of raiding ihe city's innumerable speakeasies fell upon the Fcderal dry agents. They will now bend their energies to damming up the larger sources of supply. But with | streams of supply so numerous, and en- | forcement funds o meager, their task will be something like bailing out the Atlantic with a sieve.” The new orders are criticised by the Lincoln State Journal on the groun that they are “hardly in keeping with the supposed hostility of the Democratic platform toward the saloon,” for “local authorities have exercised local option when it was left to them to act.” The Charleston (8. C.) Evening Post is of that “the policy to which addressing itself | class heretofore employed by Federal |of prohibition violations. illicit manufacture | “of_the buck,” in the | Union, “does not seem to bode well for | d | thousan " " Modified Dry Enforcement on Local Duty consume. The Rockford Register-Re- public comments: “It has been a matter |of concern among those interested in |law_observance that the Federal Gov- | ernment should openly sanction lawless | metheds in seeking to obtain evidence Such pro- | cedure placed the Governmen: in the wholly untenable position of itself vio- lating the law in an effort to ensnare jother violators. Two wrongs seldom make a right. * * * As for the traffic with paid informers. Mr. Wocodcock probably could explain, if he would, | that information obtained from such a | source is in itself of little value in | liquor casc prosecutions. The average | juror’s reaction to a stool-pigeon’s testi- | mony is exactly that of every other per- son who has an abhorrence of birds of | prey. The unsupported statement of a | paid informer is of little value in court. | The character of such witnesses more | ofter than not discredits whatever testi- | mony they give. Certainly the Prohi- | bition Bureau is not paying itself the compliment of much self-regard when it deals with them.” | ."“The orders,” advises the Forth Worth Star-Telegram. “will meet with the hearty approval of the great majority | of State, county and city law enforce- ment agencies. In the light of the submission of a repeal amendment pro- posal by Congress the act will serve to | separate the operations of the local and Pederal authorities—a cause for most of the interminable ‘rattle’ that has existed around the enforcement of the eighteenth amendment since its adoption. The new order intends for Federal agents to concentrate on manu- facturers and distributors and the polic- ing of retail dealers will be left to the smaller government units.” ——oe—s Pistol Toting. From the Milwaukee Sentinel. Just before sentencing Gluseppe Zan- gara, assassin of Mayor Cermak, to the electric chair Circuit Judge Thomp- son, at Miami, said: “* * * Jrhe Congress of the United States should pass legislation for the confiscation® of all firearms illegally owned. Assassins. roeming at will through the land—and they have killed three of our Presidents —are permitted to have pistols. And a pistol in the hands of an ordinary per- son is a most useless weapon of de- fense.” The strongest lesson of the tragic epi- sode which, by the barest chance, failed in its purpose to destro; President-elect, and which caused the death of Chicago’s mayor, is that cited by_Judge Thompson. Irresponsible cranks, fanatics, men- tally unbalanced persons, we shall al- ways have with us. And among them will always be those who fancy that in some way the murder of some one high in official place will benefit them or the people. When such folk can do as Zangara did—walk into a hardware store and buy & pistol and ammunition with as little difficulty as, would be experienced In buying a cake of soap—such events as the Miami tragedy are inescapable. The only wonder is that there are not more of them. Drastic Federal statutes and laws in every State barring the purchase of pistols should be enacted and enforced. That, however, would not touch the ds of weapons mow in posses- sion of individuals in the United States. A law providing for their con- fiscation would do much toward rid- ding the Nation of a constant menac-, not only to high officials now in cc —_———— Homeward Punches. From the Toledo Blade. You mever appreciate the people’s love of home o emphatically as when a thousand . 'in the ribs. light. and finds himself in a cave, from | p, y the | ions. MARCH 18. 1933. THE LIBRARY TABLE BY SARAH G. BOWERMAN. — THE RISE OF THE CITY. 1878-1898. and did not live to know that his ideal Was man’s occupation and life close to the soll, with wide, open spaces for every one, was the only life productive of iness and i lhl;;y in our cities began levelop, on the coast where there were good har- bors and on rivers at junction points with other rivers or with Indian and ploneer trails. This volume, which is volume X of the “History of American Life” series, does not go back to the periods of colonization and early inde- lent government in the United tes. It begins with the post-Civil ‘War period, when city industries began to replace agriculture with what was perhaps dangerous rapidity, Dr. Schles- inger, who is professor of history in Harvard University, says: “American | civilization in 1878 was, in one essential | respect, like that of earlier times; it rested upon the farms and country towns of the Nation. * * * Of the 50,- 000,000 people counted in the census of 1880, three-fourths, or nearly 40,- 000,000, lived on the open land or in | villages of less than 4,000 inhabitants.” | Especialiy were Southerners farmers. | The chapter, “The New South,” de- scribes the economic revolution which | turned the South into an important | industrial section of the country and developed the cities of New Orleans, | | Louisville, Atlanta, Memphis, Chatta- | nooga, Birmingham and others. The growth of cities in the West is| also traced, with the significant changes which they brought. The influence of | inventions, foremost among them the | telephone and the various manifesta- tions of electricity, upon the shifting of Population frcm country to city was marked from the beginning and has steadily become more powerful. In the cities, as they multiplied and grew more and more inflated, many advantages for the inhabitants became obvious—public hygiene, education, recreation, easy transportation, more abundant human associations. The disadvantages were | almost as soon discovered—"crime, vice |and graft. deeply rooted in the sium ' | and the saloon.” " Populations increased | too fast for human ingenuity to handle the problems which they brought—tra sit, lighting, sewage disposal, water sup. ply. fire protection, general sanitation. | | The effect of city lif> upon American | women and their status in society is an interesting subject, in the discussion of | | Which fact and theory are mingled. The | welfare of the child, religious observ- ance, art, literature, science and poli- | tics, all in their relation to the city, are | factors in this, one of the most vital of | soctological problems. ~Whatever may {be said by “the heirs of the older American tradition,” who believe with Jefferson that cities are “ulcers on the body politic,” the city has probably come to stay and man must increasingly struggle with the evils it has brought, such as an upward leaping divcrce rate and ever augmented numbers in fnsti- | tutions for the insane. This is an ex- | | ample of excellent analytical social his- tory. which gives material for thought on ‘every page. * ok ok % JOHN MASEFIELD. By Gilbert Thom- as, New York: The Macmillan Co. An English journalist and critic has here given in” the compass of a not very large book a satisfactory bio- | graphi sketch of the British poet laurcate, who recently visited this coun- try, critical estimate of his lyries, | ballads, narrative poems, plays, and and an excellent bibliography. Mr. Thomas begins by saying that | Robert Bridges, late poet laureate, and Masefleld represent antithetical schools ' of poetry—the one a worshiper of | “pure beauty in the abstract” and the | other sceking *“the ftful flashes of | beauty in every-day life.” When Mase- field was appointed laureate by the | Labour government, the partisans of | the purely esthetic school disapproved. 12\'5!’1 the admirers of poetic realism were divided in their opinion. “Is he a | genuine prephet, pointing poetry to a | new Promised Land? Or is he a false leader. beckoning it to destruction?” Mr. Thomas himself offers a balanced | judgment. He believes that Masefield’s | {work is spontaneous, free from self- | | consciousness, and perhaps too free: from self-criticism. His sincerity and | independence have caused him to go s own way, “undisturbed by the | {storms he has aroused.” His very | popularity has caused him to be scorned | by the superior critics, who are inclined | to look askance at a poet who achieves popular success in his own lifetime His “vigorous narrative gift” has brought him this success. With other | critics his religious emotion dicqualifies | him as a poet in this sketptical age. ! That he often mingles coarseness, | pathos and triviality with beauty and | sublimity s perhaps the most serious| | charge against him. But “while others, upon excuse or example, may rake in| human cesspools for the sake of their filth, Masefield rakes in them only for the hidden beauty which life has re- vealed to him there” * * * I may | finally repeat that it is neither the {beauty nor the dirt which Masefield wishes to exhibit so much as the mira- | cle that the one may be found in the other.” * K k% | THE MIDDLE GENERATION. By J. D. Beresford. New York: E.P.Dut- ton & Co. ‘The Hillington family. whose history was begun in Mr. Beresford's earlier novel, “The Old People.” is here safely brought into the twentieth century. A third novel is to show the family in a present day setting. Owen Hillington is the center of interest in “The Mid- dle Generation.” The second son of old | Miles Hillington, he has left Middle- therpe and come to London to be arti- cied to his uncle, Neil Gordon, an elec- trical engineer. It is a bit dmwolnt-‘ ing to find in the first pages that the atmosphere of this central volume is to be that of London and an engineer’s office, but before the end the scenc shifts back to Middlethorpe. Owen's London experiences are probably helped in the telling by autobiographical re- miniscence, for Mr. Beresford himself, at the age of 18, Owen’s age, went to London and was articled to an archi- tect. At the end we leave Owen hap- ily married to his second wife and Eoth of them puzzling over modern problems of education, votes for women, | labor governments and other questions which are breaking up their fixed opin- . Mr. Beresford is one of the Eng- lish novelists of the general school of Arnold Bennett, Galsworthy, and Hugh Walpole. His earlier work was much better than his novels of the past 10 or 15 years. His Jacob Stahl trilogy, “The House in Demetrius Road,” and especially “These Lynnekers,” which in its analysis of the relations of a cler- gyman’s family where older and younger generations are in conflict is similar to Butler’s “Way of All Flesh,” placed him among the best, but he has not main- tained his position. x k% % Fact and lmnflmuon are blended, brilliantly but without undue considera- tion for stern evidence, in the biograph- ical study “William the Conqueror,” by Lucie Delarue-Mardrus. The interesting conversations which are recorded are to be found in no authentic documents, but are true enough in spirit. William the Conquergr might have taken a part in them, t! h he undoubtedly did not. Some of the descriptions are equally imaginative. Willlam's marriage to the ! Countess Mathilde and his building of | the two famous churches in Caen, the | Abbaye aux Hommes and the Abbaye aux Dames, as memorials to himself and his Queen, and finally his death | when his horse plunged into s mass of hot f.m all furnish dramatic jpa- * % % In his book, “Habits: Their Maki rather i g theory the way to become & vanishing one. For | T8V of the sofl ing | opathy. Bad habits are, however, some- ed | binding the ends of & rope, or for opens cents in coin or stamps for reply. Do not use post cards. Send your question to The Evening Star Information Bu- reau, Prederic J. Haskin, Director, ‘Washington, D. C. . How is the name of the new Sec- retgry of the Interior, Harold L. Ickes, | T | pronounced in two syl- lables, with short “1” and short “e.” Q. Did Red Grange include Nagurski in his all-star foot ball teams?—K. C. E. A. Red Grange selected only two all- | star teams of players whom he had op- | posed during his college and profes- | sional career. Later he selected a team | icked from these two groups, and g: neither one did the name of Nagur- ski appear, inasmuch as he had nevey opposed Grange on the gridiron either in col or professi Since en- tering ti fessional game they have both been g;zoctlud with the Chicago ing or separating a rope in splicing. Qé :h:t was pemmican made of?— A. This American Indlan food was made of lean meat, fat and sometimes fruit; it was often dried, pounded and pressed into cakes. ) Q. What kind of gas does a small tungsten electric bulb contain?—J. L. A. The Bureau of Standdrds says that small tungsten lamps of the ordinary styles are called vacuum lamps, the bulbs being exhausted to a high vacuum and then refilled with a mixture of argon and nitrogen in different prepor- tions. Q. How many States have ratified the child labor amendment?—C. O'N. A. Six—Arizona, Arkansas, Califor- nia, Colorado, Montana and Wisconsin, Q. When did Copernicus live?—C. R. A. This Polish astronmer was born in 1473 and died in 1543. It was Coper- nicus who reversed the universal belief that the earth had no motion. Through observations that took a lifetime, he reached the conclusion that the earth rotatoes upon its axis and with the other planets revolves around the sun. Q. When s formula for whitewash Bears. However, Grange says that he | cojis for casein, can mik be substis considers Nagurski one of the outstand- ing players of all time. — | Q. What are the three E's of public safety programs?—M. T. A. Education, Engineering and En- forcement. — | Q. How much honey does a swarm of | bees make?—H. W. M. | A. The average bee hive ylelds about 17 pounds of honey yearly. Q. How much of the earth's surface | is covered with water’—M. G. L. | A. Seventy-one per cent of the earth’s surface is covered with water. Q. How old is Pope Pius XI?—J. K. A. He will be 76 years old on the 31st of March. He succeeded Benedict XV as Pope in 1922. Q. What was the incepiion of the American Philosophical Society?>—R. S. A. This society, which still continues to conduct sessions in the hall it has occupied since 1787, was formed at the | suggestion of Benjamin Franklin. Shortly after coming to Philadelphia Franklin formed the famous Junto, whose members met veekly, as he said, “to improve our understandings.” That was in 1727. Wn 1743 Franklin, to in- crease the range of discussion, proposed the formation of a larger society that would correspond with the learned so- cieties of Europe. On that suggestion the American Philosophical Soclety was formed. Q. Should cream be served with after-dinner coffee’—N. R. A. A hostess may do as she chooses. It seems more hospitable to offer cream and loaf sugar after the coffee is served, since some people find black coffee un- palatable, Q. When was an Episcopalian Presi- dent last in the White House>—E. C. S. A. Before the incumbent, Presi- dent Chester A. Arthur was the most recent. Other Episcopalians who have been President are Washington, Madison, Monroe, Gen. W. H. Harrison, Tyler, Taylor and Pierce. Q. What is a marline spike used for? -—C. W. A. 1t is a picce of iron tapering to a point, used as a lever in marling or | tuted>—T. B. | A. Skimmed milk may be used ine stead of casein and water. It is not as effective, but produces a better result than a whitewash with no subsiitute for the casein. Q. What was Woodrow Wilson's defi- nition of the qualities needed for & ruler?—P. L. A. He once said that the e!ght horses that draw the (riumphal chariot of every ruler and leader of free men are force of character, readiness of re- sources, clearness of vision, grasp of in= tellect, courage of conviction. earnest- ness of purpose, instinct and capacity for leadership. Q_Why is a barcarole so called’— G. A. Barcaruolo is Italian. mean'ng & boatman. Barcarole is a song sung by Venetian boatmen as they row their gondolas. Q. What are the Hoodoos in Western Carada’—S. H. L A. Neer the little mining town of Canmore, Alberta, are the queer eroded pillars carved in the glacial silt called the Hoodoos. These natural monu- ments, ten times the height of a man, are of strange shapes and suggest the crude attcmpt of some savage artist to represent is primitive gods. Within a few miles of Banfl. near Anthracite, the Bow River flows through deep beds of glacial silt and there more Hoodoos may be seen. Q. What part of the United States has the most fog?—M. C. A. Maine has the most fog. ‘Tre record is held by®Seguin, Me.. where ihere were 2,734 hours of fog in 1907. Q. If all the ice on Greenland and Antarctica wers to meit how much higher would the ocean be?—L. L. A. Encugh water would be added to ;he ocean to raise its level about 150 eet. Q. How far is it from 2mi,_Fla. by water?— A. The distance is 985 nautical mileg and the average is three days. Q When did Lytton Strachey die?— ‘A He dicd January 21, 1932, New York to D. H > High Lights on the Wide World 1 Excerpts From Newspapers of Other Lands HE Evening Post. Wellington— It is over 60 years since Mr. C. | B. Dunn of Awanui was born on the Dunn farm between Kaitaia and Awanui (states a Kaitaia | correspondent). His grandfather, the lite Rev. Joseph Matthews, one of the missionary pioneers, journeyed to see his daughter, and desiring to make her 2 little present, probably to assist in the purchase of baby clothes, he offered her a £1 note. Mrs. Dunn suggested that he should deposit it in the savings bank, and this was duly carried out. With the passing of ye:rs the transaction was completely forgotien and it was only recently that the postal authorities in- timated that a sum of money lay in the bank. The pound had increased, by the accumulation of interest. to £3 10 shill- | ings. In the interval that has elapeed | Mrs. Dunn has died. | « % % % Arabs Pull Up Trees Planted by Jews. Palestine Post, Jerusalem—Ten thou- sand saplings were pulled up by Arabs in the wood planted near Kfar Malul by the people of Nahalal on behalf of the Jewish National Fund. Viclence to the trees was committed in front of the Jewish planters, the Arabs having arrived in numbers far| cutnumbering the farmers, who were powerless. Police were summoned, but the re- venge the Arabs threatened to wreak | for being, as they claim, deprived of | their grazing because of the planting of the wood, was accomplished before they could be stopped. | Thirteen intruders were arrested after | the police ordered them off, ordering the kphnters at the same time to cease | work. | Today work was resumed peacefully, | the peggle of Nahalal turning out to fill up the places left empty by the up- | * ok o* % Economic Independence Favored for Chile. | El Mercurio, Santiago.—“La vuelta al | cimpo” (the return to the land). in the opinion of President Alessandri, is| the solution of all the troubles of Chile, | both present and future. Our country | produces everything that is needful for its happy sand prosperous existence without depending on foreign nations for supplementary and, in some cases, | grossly cxcessive impartations. It is true that we are as yet greatly deficient in manufacture, “but this is a2 weakness which with due effort and application can eventually be removed. For the time being it is beneficial enough that increasing numbers of our people are voluntarily returnipg to agri- | cultural and pastoral purswits which, at the very outset, will afford them an abundance of food and other comforts | and later on, when a better species of international economy has been estab- lished, a more equitable return for our | exportations. But in these ventures we must all become united, without discriminations of class or creed, co-operating first for our internal rehabilitation and then, | when that labor has been accomplished, for the building up-again of those ex- | ternal activities from which we once | derived a substantial and ready profit. | This return to the farms, mines, plan- | tations and all other forms of indus- | try and agriculture, the importance of which to relieve the overburdened and | overpopulated citles Dr. Alessandri so | constantly stresses, should include noti only those accustomed in former days | to make their living upon the ranges or | in the mountains, but individuals of every caste and qualification. Many & man, once employed in office, shop or factory, will Aihd new freedom, bet- ter health and better remuneration for his work. Indeed, in the rural districts depres- stons should be unknown, since there is to practice it conscientiously and voluntarily. He cites stammering as an example. If the stammerer is encow: aged to stammer according to his ust long he is able to stammering. This sounds like home- times only symptoms of deeper trouble, mental ladjustment, as sneezing is s 'of & cold, not the cold itself. | | sweat of their brows. nature rewards spontaneously effort of the husbandman and = herd, and one's reward is measured ¢ by the exertions one is willing to ; forth. The opportunity for labc: always there, and each turnover o spade or plow, every blade of : upon the verdant plain is prolifi profit for those who obey the bibli. . injunction to earn their bread in How much more preferable are the fruits of this deter- mination to the meager opportunities for subsistence, at their very best, af- forded in the dreary confinement and raucous clamor of the urban centers ‘The program under consideration, and which is to be inaugurated with vigor in June, will nevertheless be an clastic one and suited to local condi- tions in the various sectors take into account the varying adapt- ability of the Chilean pecple for rural PurSuts. cspite the cptimism which prevails regarding th~ plan, it would be a little too much to expect success in the case, for instance, of a fiszal worker or office | factotum, were such an individual to be plunged condignly into some virgin wilderness on the theory that he could, from the beginning, mak= his own way without assistance. All such will be initiated into their new careers in a series of progressive experiences de- signed to make him as adept in his new profession as those indigenous to the soil. Remembering that more than haif of the national territory has never been favored with even rudimentary agricultural improvement, it is ridic- ulous to assume that the procedures which have continued up to recent times of importing wheat and other products were ever nccessary in Chile, considering the wonderful fertility of our soil and our marvelcus climate. ) The Cloud at Geneva. From the Nashville Banner. The cloud overhanging the Geneva Disarmament Conference has been un- deniably made more serious by the re- sult of the German election. Previous to Hitler's practical enthronement as the dictator concitions were concededly disturbing, so much so, in fact, that the failure of Prime Minister Mac- Donald td’ attend in person the Wash- Ington conference with President Roose- velt in regard to war debts was ascribed to a conviction that his presence at the Geneva conference was more important, and it is announced that he and Sir John Simon will soon again be on the scene. The fear is now expressed that Hitler will make guarantee of equality of armament a condition precedent upon Germany's remaining in the conference. Such & demand in itself would threaten | an end to the Geneva parleys. As the Courier-Journal notes, how- ever, “Germany is not the only factor that is making for confusion and collapse. Italy is showing a contemptu- ous attitude toward the discussions. Also the little entente nations, fearing that the territory they gained from the %ar is in danger, are putting up a united front and an opposition to disarmament and to milder treatment of Germany. The big powers, as well, are far apart in the matter of any ap- proach toward the general problem. “The hope of saving the conference lies in teamwork, and it is this that Britain has sought to gain by concili ing Germany on the one hand and France on the other. This, however, is made more difficult by the threat of Hitlerism. As the situation stands, the most that can be expected for the time being is to hold the commission in ses- sion and wait for a clearing of the menacing clouds that are hovering over Europe.” Lucky Lorenzo. Prom the Springfield (Mass) Republican. “How sweet the moonlight sleepd upon this bank!" exclaimed Loren; but he “e--" been iryns te z-t em money out of i.