Evening Star Newspaper, April 2, 1933, Page 22

P e 2 THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D.: G, : APREL, 2, THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. BUNDAY..........April 2, 1833 THEODORE W. NOYES....Editor - Yhie Evening Star Newspaper Company Business Office: . and Pennsylvania Ave. New York Office: 110 East 42nd 8t. Chicago Office: Lake Michigan Bullding. European Office: 14 Regent St.. London. Englana. [y Rate by Carrier Within the City. % 45c per month 60c per month 65¢ per month 5c per copy each month. i telephone Star and 8i day: y BEAE. oo Collection made at the en Orders may be sent in by mail NAtional 5000. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. Daily and Sunda: yr., $10.00: 1 mo., 88c Daily only . y $6.00: 1 mo.. 50¢ Sunday only . 0 All Other States and Canada. 00; 1 mo.. $1.00 00: 1mo., isc Daily only .. = o Sunday only Member of the Associated Press. The Associated Press is exclusively entitled to the use for republication of all news dis- patches credited to it or not otherwise cred- fted in this paper and also the local news published herein. All rights of publication of Evecial dispatches herein sre also reserved. | — Congress and the District Bill. Influential members of Congress have interpreted the Budget Bureau's drastic proposals to curtail local expenditures as presenting them with an opportunity to reduce the District's tax burden. Tax reduction is desirable and, in the light of the decreased earning power of taxpayers, even necessary. The first duty of Congress, in con- sidering the budget estimates, however, is to prevent the hardships that will result from a horizontal percentage cut in local expenditures that cannot con- celvably be offset in its entirety by tax reduction. Elsewhere in The Star's columns to- day there appears a special article ex- plaining in detail the nature of some of the special funds and expenditures with which the House must deal in considering the appropriation bill. These points are to be borne i mind: campaign on the university campus is & Communist-inspired plot. The editors of the campus peper, Maxwell G. Hoberman of Toms River, N. J, and Harold Seidman of Brooklyn, announce that 300 Brown students have already answered the plea not to shoul- der arms unless American continental ing feet. The editors also allege that 1 three other college journals, the Colum- bia Spectator, the Daily Princetonian and the Bucknellian at Bucknell Uni- versity, have joined in the campaign. In reporting the situation to the United States District Attorney at Providence, Mr. Needham urged grand jury action against the Brown Daily Herald, hold- ing that the drive, being of Communist origin, constitutes disloyalty and “per- haps treason” to the United States. The movement against military training in American schools, colleges and universities is not new, and is in more or less constant progress. A cru- sade to pledge college men not to take up arms except under certain condi- tions denotes a new phase, as the “Ox- ford movement” itself does. Radical- ism in various guises is no noveity on university campuses. Sometimes it takes the relatively mild form of So- clalism of the Norman Thomas brand; often it is “parlor bolshevism,” and now and then % is outright, militant Communism, Antipathy £ “militarism” in any form is & cotnmon manifestation of all these different isms. It, of course, dis- torts national defense into “militar- ism.” In so far as the “Oxford move- ment,” or anything resembling it, seeks to undermine in American youth the spirit of obligation to serve the Re- public in the hour of need, it deserves to be opposed and suppressed. The chances are that at Brown. or any- where else anti-patriotism raises its head the “movement” can safely be left for the proper attention to the larger number of college men who hold less spineless views of thelr duty to their country. An Army of Tree Planters. President Roosevelt having signed the bill passed at his suggestion for the emergency employment of a quarter of 1. The water tax fund, made up ex- clusively from the water taxes (water rents) paid by local property owners, should be restored at least to the level agreed upon by the conferees, cr else there should be a minimum eut of twenty-five per cent in water rates. ‘Water rates could be cut fifty per cent, and still the budget recommendations would yield & surplus of revenues. Such 2 surplus only means greater unem- ployment—the hoarding of money by taking it out of useful circulation, de- priving it of the opportunity to benefit either national or local taxpayers. 2. The gasoline tax fund should be Testored to the level agreed upon by the conferees on the last District bill, permitting useful employment on neces- sary street work, or else the gasoline tax should be cut by at least one-half. The Federal Government makes no contribution to the gasoline tax. Sav- ing it as & surplus benefits nobody and deprives men of work at a time when hundreds of millions are being spent to give men work. 3. The tax rates on intangibles should be reduced, and the Commissioners should have restored to them the power to reduce the real estate tax rate to yield only that amount of revenue that Congress chooses to appropriate. But wise consideration of the items agreed upon by the conferees in their consideration of the last District bill— the lump sum, and not these items, having accounted for the bill's failure— will restore them to the District bill. Even if restored in whole, the resulting surplus will permit of tax reduction. If they are not restored, there will be additional destitution and suffering by men and women who have the right to earn an honest living. The city's nor- mal functions as & municipality will be seriously impaired. And nothing of benefit will have been accomplished for anybody. * In relief from the burden of local real estate taxation, it is to be remem- bered that Washington's relatively low tax rate is coupled with an assessment standard that probably remains the only one in the Nation that has not been reduced during this period of fall- ing prices. It is a rigorous standard, preserved at unnecessarily heavy cost to the taxpayers. Other cities are re- ducing their tax rates or their assess- ments or both. In Washington neither assessment standard nor tax rate has been diminished. In this connection it would be more practical for Congress to leave the mat- ter of tax rate reduction to the Com- missioners, who must act at the end of the fiscal year on the basis both of the appropriation demands and on last- minute estimates of anticipated revenue availability. But Congress might ap- propriately direct that the tax rate shall be so fixed that no unnecessary surplus of local revenues from general taxation will be collected. —r—e— Intimations are not wanting that the administration will in the course of time lose influence with Congress. How- ever, it cannot be denied that so far there have been a remarkable number of prominent predictions that did not come true. — ———— The “Oxford Movement.” During the European war scare a few weeks ago, English university students identified themselves in large numbers with a movement which had its in- ception at Oxford. and took its name thercfrom, and which pledged its ad- herents never again to fight for their country. than the familiar “conscientious ob- jector” cult or even sterotyped pacifies hostility to so-called militarism. There are sigre ¢hat the “Oxford movement” has now spread to this country and some of its manifestations are already the object of official at- tention. The Rhode Island House of Representatives on March 29 ordered & committee of six members to investi- gate the activities of the Brown Daily Herald, undergraduste publica- tion of Brown University—Chief Jus- tice Hughes' famous alma mater. The newspaper is accused of seceking to pledge Brown students not to bear arms On its face, it went further | a million of now idle men in a nation- al reforestation project, preparations are getting under way to put it into effect quickly. The details of the plan have not been announced, if indeed they have been fully developed. It is indicated, however, that employment will be on the basis of State quotas, the Department of Labor being in charge of the enrollment in co-operation with welfare organizations, supplemented by Army recruiting stations, Those chosen for this servfte will be transported by Army trucks to the national forest re- serves, The actual work will be under the direction of the chief forester. The workers will live in tents in camps of about one hundred, subsistence being supplied by the Government. The bill as submitted to Congress by the Pres- ident fixes the rate of pay at one dollar & day, but as it was passed it authorized the President to decide the rate of pay as well as the term of the enlistment of the temporary foresters. ‘This employment emergency measure is not to be confused with the Presi- dent's plan for the development of the Tennessee Valley project, which he outlined before he assumed office, That plan involves a co-ordinated program of reforestation, including the aban- donment of marginal lands now under unprofiteble cultivation and navigation and power improvements centering on Muscle Shoals. This is an extensive undertaking, involving & broad, con- structive engineering scheme requiring more time than has thus far been per- mitted for its development. It is pos- sible that some part of the work of re- forestation about to be begun under the emergency employment act will be performed within the general area of the Tennessee project. ‘The immediate purpose of the or- ganization of the “civilian conservation corps” under the act just approved is to provide sustenance for a fraction of the now large army of unemployed. The quarter million, if that number is enrolled, will be withdrawn from the labor market, thus lessening competi- tion for available jobs. The low rate of pay proposed cannot be regarded as setting ¢ standard of wages in any sense. On the contrary, if the full number now tentatively assigned to re- forestation duty is enlisted the effect is likely to be helpful rather than harmful to the wage rates in general. This is an interesting experiment for the success of which as an emergency measure of relief all will hope. There must be some measure of benefit in the planting of millions of trees and there will assuredly be a guaranty of sub- sistence to a quarter of a million men for several months. Those two factors alone mark the enterprise as worthy, even though it is only a partial relief of the present conditions. ———r————————— A definite assumption by Hitler of credit for having settled an old question of school debate is indicated by his un- compromising reliance on the proposi- tion that fear of punishment is a more powerful influence than love of reward. — e Self-Education. One of the results of the depression, observers say, is a new development of that phase of culture which is known as self-education. Thousands of young men and women, lacking means to purchase educational advantages in the usual way and from the usual insti- tutions, are trying to teach themselves and, to & certain degree, to teach each | other, The public libraries swarm with | self-directed seekers of knowledge; | people stand in line for an opportunity to occupy & reader's desk in the Li- | brary of Congress; public lectures, offered gratis, are crowded to the doors; | Government departments and bureaus are besieged for free literature on all sorts of subjects; the newspapers are called upon for information on every concelvable theme; the quest for the fundamentals of learning has become, to & degree never approximated before, a passion in the heart of multitudes. Professional pedagogues, naturally, approved as trained to merit the title. If their policy resulted in the creation of & privileged caste of “high brows,” that was but the negative aspect of condition the positive values of which were undeniably great. They produced specialists, and each specialist knew all there was to know about his specialty. territory has felt the tread of invad-| Had the tendency continued without interruption, education might have been entirely divorced from the masses of the people, but it wouid have been exact, competent, fixed, rellable and socially useful. The world-wide slump has turned the tide the other way. Education now becomes an amateur affair. The pedagogues regret the acci- dent which has interfered with their program. But perhaps they are unduly alarmed. It may be conceded that there is no special virtue in amateurism as such. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing, and there are too many individuals in the world who are inadequately trained for the work they are attempting to do. Self-taught performers are apt to be inaccurate, limited in view and faulty in method and technique. An amateur pianist, for example, is by general agree- ment a nuisance and an aggravation, and an amateur surgeon or pharracist might be a positive danger. In fine, it would be impossible to defend the no- tion that self-education is to be pre- ferred to the more formal and more rigorously controlled alternative offered by academic foundations. It is bromidic to say that an educated person must be self-taught. Of course, he must be self- disciplined, but the two phrases do not mean the same thing. The net gain from the present diffi- culty may be that the thousands who today are striving to improve their cul- tural equipment by the exercise of their own unaided talents may derive from their experience a new perception of the larger values of the sciences and the arts in which they are interested, a refined and cultivated appreciation of the values they are glimpsing but which they cannot grasp without professional help, If the depression should result in s more general comprehension of the growing need for particular knowl- edge, for special training, the current fears of the pedagogues would be shown to be baseless. There are many in- dications that this, indeed, may be the outcome. Self-education may serve to raise the whole cultural level of the Nation, and the universities and col- Jeges in that event would be benefited rather than injured by the desire for further training which the people had | developed for themselves. —e— A visit to Hollywood cast G. Bernard Shaw in a new role when he was seated at luncheon with a group of movie players and expected to admire the extroardinary cleverness of their conversation, \ ‘The open door in Manchuria is ap- parently to become as much a thing of the past as the Great Wall of China. Treaties and physical barriers are being candidly superseded by a line of soldlers. e ———————— It is always easy to think of new measures of safety that are needed as civilization advances. One of them is a more thorough system of inspection of airships before each trip. r——————— The present consideration most prominent is that of giving employ- ment to those who need it. Discrimi- nating comparisons as to meritorious service will come later. o A familiar experiment was conducted by the Reconstruction Pinance Corpora- tion in trying to run a business with all expenditures and no receipts. e SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Mr. Book Agent. My dear Mr. Book Agent, as you present New works for my mental improve- ment. I wish in your kindness that you would consent bad To a new intellectual movement, You've handed us Shakespeare in gen- erous style And others with genius prodigious ‘Who gently draw near with a tear or & smile Or perhaps with reminders religious. As your subjects you choose from the turbulent news While we're striving to live and to learn, oh, More sweet Pollyanna I wish you could choose. And not so much Dante’s Inferno, Just as Good. “Have you any new facts about eco- nomic conditions?” “No,” answered Senator Sorghum. “But I've got what's just as good for magazine purposes—a new way of stat- ing the old ones. Jud Tunkins says when you get past the First of April you wish in vain that this one day could render the rest of the year foolproof. Pilots. ‘When men who seize a ship of state Sometimes steer on with manners rash It seems no wonder very great That little things like airships crash. Relief. “The plans for your relief are being | elaborately worked out.” “I'm reading 'em,” said Farmer Corn- tossel. - “They're like a doctor's pre- scription. The language doesn’t clearly name the ingredients, but I'm sure they're going to do me good.” “Only those should seek to look down on the world,” said Hi Ho, the sage of Chinatown, “who are willing to climb| to tne mountaln top where it is cold and lonely.” Gambrinus. Gambrinus was & genial myth Whom many once consorted with, It now appears with figures long are disturbed by the circumstance. For generations the universities and col- leges have been endeavoring to perfect, the processes of education to the end that their graduates might be perfectly except in case of actual invasion of the United States. The inquiry was in- stigated by a Brown alumnus and ‘World War veteran, William Needham, dence lawyer, who informed the ities that the “war against war"” equipped to function effectively in the fields of their choice. They have labored | to make education an exact science. They have desired that a man or woman deserving to be considered an educated person should be academically To chronicle a thirst so strong. That taxes it will soon relieve And give no further cause to grieve. Complacently he grins because He thinks that he is Santa Claus. “When a mule balks,” said Uncle Eben, “he attracts more attention dan when he works. Maybe he jes' nat- urally gits tired o' bein’ de forgotten mule® y THE VALUE OF PRAYER BY THE RIGHT REV. JAMES E. FREEMAN, D. D, LL. D, “Hear thou in Heaven their prayer and their supplication and maintain their cause.” From the earliest known periods of history down to the latest hour, religion and devotion have been conspicuously evident in the life of mankind. forms that were crude and repellent, but, nevertheless, unformed and unin- telligent as they may have been, they have served to bring a satisfaction and a peace that nothing else could give. ‘The first act in the reign of King Solomon was the extensive undertaking of building & vast house of prayer and praise in his capital city. It had been told his father David that this work was to be reserved for his son, and the incidents connected with the building of this great temple, as recorded in the First Book of Kings, in the sixth and seventh chapters, are sugestive of the care and precision with which its every detail was carried out. In the eighth chapter of this same book, the story of the dedication of the temple is related, when it is said that “Solomon assembled all the heads of the tribes and chief of the fathers of the Children of Israel” and a service worthy of the occasion was rendered. In this same chapter is contained one of the most beautiful prayers in the entire Bible. It was of- fered by the king himself in behalf of his people and is full of a tender solici- tude worthy of the occasion. The whole thought expressed in his prayer is suggestive of the importance of the temple as a home center for the devotions of the people. Recognizing the incapacity of any buflding to ex- press the glory and honor of God, the king prays: “Will God, indeed, dwell on the earth? Behold, the Heaven and Heaven of Heavens cannot contain ‘Thee, how much less this house I have builded. Yet have Thou respect unto the prayer of Thy servant and to his supplication; that Thine eyes may be opened toward this house night and day.” The king then petitions that the temple may be to his people a way of closer access to the heart of the Eternal Father. Whether they sin, whether they suffer, whether they become out- casts among & strange people, if their hearts be turned toward this center of their devotion, if they bethink them- selves of this house of their religious faith, he prays, “then hear thou their At | times the yearnings of man for the | higher and the spiritual have taken on | in Jerusalem | Bishop of Washington. |prayer and their supplication in Heaven, thy dwelling place, and maintain their cause.” The dedication of the temple and the prayer of Solomon are strikingly sug- gestive of the essential value which re- ligion holds in the life of the people. | The expression of religious devotion is both natural and normal to men the world over. With many of us the re- |liglous habit and its expression are rendered superficlal and unreal because | of our tendency to make them remote from the common things of our every- day life and experience. . Prayer unre- lated to the more intimate and personal things of our life becomes unreal in its character and impotent in its power. Real religion and its forms of expression of our daily living; to be stimulating and helpful to us it must be natural and normal. The apostle declared: “I | will pray with the heart and I will pray with the understanding also.” One of the finest illustrations of nat- ural prayer <hat we have ever heard was related several years ago concern- ing one of the greatest living authors, & man whose life and writings have made him one of the foremost figures of our time. He was stricken with pneu- monia in a hotel in New York and for several days remained unconscious, sunk in a deep coma. One evening, after long days of unconsciousness, the nurse attending him thought she saw his lips move, and hastening to his bed, she bent her head to hear his request. To her amazement and embarrassment, she heard him utter the children’s prayer: “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep; If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.” In her confusion she withdrew hastily from the bed, but her movement aroused the long silent man. Turning te him she said: “I sincrely beg your pardon for intruding upon the privacy of your devotions.” Whereupon, for the first time in many days, he said audibly: “You needn't apologize for I was only talking to my Father.” It was a defini- 1933—PART TWO. Capital Sidelights BY WILL P. KENNEDY. The House leadership is now sup- ported by the strongest party organi- zation in history to assist in controlling the largest majority that might become unwieldy with an unprecedented num- ber of new members restive to distin- guish themselves in one way or another. Previously the office of “whip” has been a perfunctory sort of job, carrying with it a little recognition for an individual member. Now the “whip” has an or-| ganization systematically covering the| entire country Wwith all the States Travel in Hard Times BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN. One of the most interesting measures of the depth of the depression is its effect on traveling. The American peo- ple are naturally a Testless lot The country was founded originally largely by fugitives and adventurers and the same classes made up a large percentage of the immigration during the last century and a half. It has been especially characterjstic, therefore, of Americans to be on the move. Only the most ad- verse conditions keep them at home. The company which operates Pull- brought into close co-operation and all| man cars has just cast up its figures for : ilast year and has discovered that for | the members, old and new, kept closely | i’ firgg, time in nearly two-thirds of a | informed regarding party policy and|century the business was operated at a — generation and that same restlessness may, jJater, when times improve and people’ once again have surplus money. be translated into increased railway travel. The urge to move about lkely will endure and, after this hiatus, rail- way travel will be greater than ever. Now, assuredly, it is at low ebb. The reports of the railroads themselves show how greatly passenger travel has faljen off but, as the Pullman Co. operates on all railroads, it furnishes the best pic- ture covering the entix The vear 1928 w full prosperity. In 920 individuals b either seats or berths in Pullman cars. This is almost exactly one-fourth of the entire popula- t period 23923 - program. ‘The new “whip” is Representative must occupy & place within the sphere | Arthur H. Greenwood of Indiana, who is also a member of the Committee on Rules, which is the policy and program, or political charge of carrying out the administra- tion’s and party’s program. Mr. Green- wood was an active leader in the two campaigns which made Representative Henry T. Rainey of Illinois floor leader two years ago and now Speaker, and in recognition of the close contacts he made in those campaigns with the big been chosen as “whip.” Representative Greenwood explains that the word “whip” is* really a mis- nomer because his forces are not em- ploying compulsion or endeavoring to drive any one, but are working more in the nature of “benevolent persuaders.” To better keep the entire House mem- bership in closer touch with legislation, for an intelligent understanding of what is being done, Mr. Greenwood has appointed 15 assistant whips, one for each of the 15 sections of the country laid out for the Steering Committee membership, of which Representative Robert Crosser of Ohio is chairman. iIn this way the whip's organization covers every part of the country from New England to the Golden Gate and ffrom the Canadian to the Mexican bor- der. This affords an opportunity to give recognition to some promising new members. tion of prayer worthy of the greatness of the man who uttered it. Is it any wonder that, with such a conception, men like Gladstone and Lin went to their knees to pour out before God the deeper yearnings, anxieties and aspirations of their inmost hearts? Tennyson was right: ‘“More things are wrought by prayer than world dreams of.” Professors and Doctors Prominent in “New Deal” Roosevelt Administration BY KATHERINE DAYTON. It is rather the fashion lately to be witty at the expense of the number of doctors in high places in the new deal, though the lawyers, merchants, chiefs, and their equivalents go without com- ment. For some unaccountable reason it is assumed that the American people, with their high rate of literacy and their intense pride in their educational system, are going to be suspicious of any such new-fangled notion as a Gov- ernment official who went any further in his studies than the first grade high. And a good deal of intensive head- shaking and mumbling about ‘‘practi- cal politicians” is being indulged in by the professional alarm-viewers who are always with us. All of which makes a flight over the, so to speak, high-brows of Washington almost as interesting as over the dread and unknowable Mount Everest. For an airplane view is all you can get of officials these days. They are all busy, the professors included, at— guess what? Learning their jobs. The striking thing to us was that the type of youngish, cultured men, tremen- dously interested in actual Government service, brought by President Roosevelt into this administration, seem not only eager, but determined to learn. Which is more than could be said for what- ever you mean by the term “practical politician.” * ok ok ok And by “learn” we mean the making workable of the platform on which President Roosevelt was elected. There is a procedure, political and rsychn- logical, for the carrying out of ideas. It is & procedure that requires brains, but quality more than quantity. These men weré not chosen just because they are or are not professors, or blondes, or six-day bicycle riders. They were chosen because their particular sub- Jects have been their chief concern for years, plus the flexibility to adjust their conclusions to0 human needs, to say nothing of & hardly human Congress. They are, as we said, youngish men. But they aren't smart-alecky; they don't assume that they knew it all. In their 40s, most of them, but inclined to gray hair and lines aiready. There is the much-discussed Raymond Moley, with the bright, brown squirrel-eyes which belie his faintly detached man- ner. His conception of a professor is not & man who has the advantage over his class of having a book with him with all the answsers in it. In- stead, with vigor and enthusiasm he leads them through a problem. That is what he is doing now. He is work- ing out problems that fall to his lot, not giving out spot-news answers for headlines. Grave, dogged young Secretary Wal- lace and his professional staff, which includes the good-looking Dr. Tugwell and the extraordinary mathematically- minded young Dr. Ezekiel, are more or less the same. His whole life, inspired by his father, who was Secretary of Agriculture under President Harding. Mr. Wallace has studied the farming situation. He honestly believes in this farm bill. But you notice he calls it simply “the farm bill.” Naming the baby has heretofore been sufficient to kill it. Domestic allotments, marginal rental plans, could be shot at because they were defined. An editor, a stu- dent, Mr. Wallace's one idea is to make the damn thing work! If he succeeds it will certainly be a demonstration of | “practical” politics. x X K % Budget Director Lewis Douglas—a Congressman, not & professor, as the billboards might say—comes in the same category. With “practical” experience, which is usually supposed to mean knowing how to get elected, he is es- sentially a_student, and his been & teacher. Quiet, Scotch-freckled and reddish-haired, unassuming and un- his studies and experience the conclu- sion that liberal governments have a way -of tumbling down if their fiscal foundations aren’t sound. He is work- ing on a foundation, which isn't very thrilling, and he gets lots of criticism from people who haven't imagination enough to know how it's going to look when it's finished. And, lest you still view with alarm this tendency to insert 5 or 10 cents worth of brains in our national poli- tics, we should like to assure you that &ll these gentlemen are simply keys upon an instrument which is_performed upon by President Roosevelt himself. Undeniably he has the political equiva- lent of what Mrs. Malaprop would call “a nice derangement of epitaphs.” X * Balancing the profess: men as Messrs. Firley, H: Iull and Swanson, who can be accused of having their heads in the clouds. And the gl(‘.\idenl himself has that gift of the gods, culture without condescen- sion. It is a bright day for a democracy when its leader can say, as he did in his investment securities message this week, “This proposal adds to the an- cient rule of caveat emptor the further doctrine, ‘let the seller also beware,’ " and not make us, who don't even know “e_ pluribus unum.” feel pretty uppity. No, it is our belief that the American people really like to feel that their leg- islators and executives know their al- phabets as well as their onions. And that the sort of education President Roosevelt is putting in politics is like that taught in Dotheboys Hall by rs are such budging on budgets, he has drawn from | Dickens’ immortal Mr. Squeers. You remember he asked his pupils how to spell “window,” and when they replied, “W-i-n-d-e-r,” he answered, “Correct. Now go and wash ’em.” (Copyright, 19 ———— Life Insurance Companies Surviving the Depression ) BY HARDEN COLFAX. How American life insurance has borne up under the abnormal strain of business depression is shown by figures | which have just now become available |as to developments during the past three years, particularly 1932. The earnings of the prineipal com- panies for 1932 are found to have been sufficlent to provide necessary dividends and also “substantial additions to re- serves for contingencies.” Almost 90 per cent of dividends to policy holders were left with the companies. Representing some 92 per cent of the entire outstanding legal reserve insur- ance business of the country, data pre- sented by the larger companies may be sald to reflect fairly accurately the state of life insurance on the side of its dividend-earning power. During 1932, the figures disclose, these com- panies paid to policy holders, or benefi- ciaries, in cash and credits the enor- mous of $3,100,000,000—a record | for all thne. Census Bureau data from | other sources confirm the figures of the companies themselves. * K R X How did they earn the vast propor- tion of this amount that came from in- vestments? Aside from surrenders, loans and claims payments, which are expenditures, not in any real sense in- vestments, the relative growth of life | insurance assets since 1929 shows some | significant changes. At the end of the boom year 1929, mortgage loans made up 42 per cent of life insurance invest- ments. At the end of 1932 they made up 36.3 per cent. This, however, ac- cording to the authorities, has not been due entirely to selection or to any with- drawal from this field of investment, since foreclosures have transferred many mortgages to a new classification as real estate. This now represents some 4 per cent of the assets, as against 2.2 per cent on December 31, 1929. The foreclosure situation, as to both farm and city mortgages, is admittedly diffi- cult at present, but the companies re- cently announced a liberal and sym- pl:thetlc policy toward borrowers in this class, Turning to other major forms of in- vestment, we find that the net increase in the value of railroad bonds and stocks bought by the companies dur- ing the three years has been just short of $123,000,000. The companies declare they hove not lost faith in railroad securities as an investment. Public utility bonds and stocks are also re- garded highly, the holdings of these | having increased from 9 per cent in 1929 to 9.6 per cent today. Other stocks and bonds, including those of the Fed- eral Government and of States and municipalities, make up most of the rest., * K * % Since 1906, when this kind of statis- tics began to be collected &nd mg- preted, the records show that there has been, on the whole, & steady increase in these investments i Government and industrial securities. The peak for | most of these was reached in the period | from 1921 to 1924. Then the curve for | most types turned downward. Farm mortgage lodns in 1932 were about as large a proportion of total investments as in 1906, some 10 per cent; city mort- |gage loans, simewnat higher, ‘as was |a e case Wi ver: = e sy ‘ernment securi. Of the effect of the depression on in- | spokesmen for the companies say th are adjusting their dividend policies and ?llo'.menu 50 as to insure their own future and that of their polic; holders. e (Copyright, 1933.) e The Rabbit Sign. From the Nashville Banner. A Missouri farmer claims the depres- slon 18 over because a rabbit ran through his yard and nobody was after it. It's a hopeful sign, at any rate. ——— Safe Recollections. From the Ashland Daily Independent. ‘There was this about being Methuse- lah: Along toward the last there was no way of checking up on his older reminiscences. ——— Mild Epithet. Prom the Keokyk Dally Gate City. A public official in Toronto recently was called a lobster, indicating that political accusations in Canada are still ‘The chief duty of these assistant whips is to contact the Democratic members, cularly the first-termers, assisting them to understand the party program, purposes and actuating causes and the partisan political moves, so that they will not only get the Demo- cratic members present to vote, but to understand what the party is endeavor- ing to get into la With the largest majority in history, the chief duty of the whip is to build up the party or- ganization with more solidarity so as to support the Speaker and floor leader in cll'rylnLa'ut the President’s program. The assistant whips who have been selected are: First district, including New England States, Representative Wiliam N. Rogers, New Hampshire; second district, New York, Representa- tive Jgmes M. Mead, New York; third ' | district, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and |scores of cities which once were able Delaware, Representative Harry L. Haines, Pennsylvania; fourth district, Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina, Representative John W. Flanagan, Vir- ginia; fifth district, South Carolina, Georgia and. Florida, Representative R. A. Green, Florida; sixth district, Ala- bama, Louisiana and Mississippi, Rep- resentative Numa F. Montet, Louisiana; seventh district, Arkansas, Kentucky and Tennessee, Representative John E. Miller of Arkansas; eighth district, Ohio and West Virginia, Representative Jen- nings Randolph, West Virginia; ninth district, Michigan and Indiana, Repre- sentative Carl L. Weideman, Michigan; tenth district, Illinois and Wisconsin, Representative Claude V. Parsons, Illi- nois; eleventh district, Missouri, Iowa and Minnesota, Representative Fred Bierman, Towa; twelfth district, Texas, Representative Luther A. Johnson, ‘Texas; thirteenth district, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska and South Dakota, Representative Jed Johnson, Oklahoma; fourteenth district, the tier of Mountain States, Representative Lawrence Lewis of Colorado, and fifteenth district. the Pacific Coast, Representative Wesley Lloyd, Washington. “Whip” Greenwood is serving his sixth term in Congress and is dean of the Indiana delegation which previous to his election in 1922 was solidly Re- publican, whereas today it is solidly Democratic, having completely reversed itself in 10 years. Representative Green- wood is a member of the George Rogers Clark Memorial Commission, which is committee which takes loss, due to the sharp falling off in the number of truvelers carried. The fact taat the Pullman business is at record lo¥ figure does not mean that all travel has come to a stop, but the circumstance does afford a compe- tent index to how the times have af- fected the migratory habits of the Na- tion. It is true that a new kind of travel has sprung up during the de- pression, an aimless wandering about the country of persons in search of jobs. Some are traveling in more than half-worn-out automobiles, camping by to the best of their ability. Some are hitch-hiking along the highways. Some are tramping the roads and the railroad tracks and some are riding the rails. Many thousands of youths—boys and girls in their ‘teens—are among the wanderers. Lacking nourishment and proper clothing to remain in school and unable to find the sort of odd jobs or regular jobs in stores and mills which in normal times are open to young people, they have taken to the open tion. There is a fraction over four per- | sons in the average American family s0, according to these figures, in 1928 one member of every family traveled in a Pullman car. In 1932 this number was halved. Only 15.749,507 Pullman | passengers were carried | 7 Those who bought Pullman sleeping | berths in 1928 numbered 21,310.891. while in 1 only 10185444 were counted. In 1928 there were 12,613,029 Pullman 'seats occupled for daylight rides, but in 1932 this number bad | dwindled to only 5564,063. It will be majority of the House membership, has | the roadside, and living off the country | noted that there was a greater decline |in the number of Pullman seats than | in Pullman berths. This indicates that | travelers, normally accustomed to ride | in chair cars or other Pullman accom- modations, contented themselves With railroad day coaches last year. Great Investment in Service. In this situation, the Pullman Co. | lost money for the first time in some 65 |years. It is interesting to note that | the average revenue received per pas- road. Most of them travel in bands of | senger rose during-the depressed years. from half a dozen to 20. They sleep |In 1928 the average paid by the mil- anywhere shelter can be found, even |lions who rode on Pullmans was $2.42. the crudest sort of shelter. Their position is reminiscent of the youth movement which sprang up in Germany and Austria following the ‘World War. Children and youths, or- phaned by the war and uncared for by the public because of the impoverish- ment of the defeated nations, formed into bands and went wandering about the countryside. The same thing hap- ned, on a more desperate scale, in ussia after the revolution and the famine. Some do not even know who their parents are. Modern Nomads. Then there are entire families, still held together, which, afoot or in old automobiles, the last vestige of former prosperity, follow warm weather from region to region. They have no des- tinations because they have lost their homes and they know not where to find work. They pick up an occasional day’s or hour's employment, oftener than not receiving gasoline or a snack of food in place of money for their services. A survey recently made shows that to provide relief no longer are able to do so. Some communities have been forced to shut down completely and treat such wandering transients as va- grants. Others give a night's lodging in jail, one meal and a godspeed. The last is practically universally insisted upon by the authorities of the small and medium sized communities. They in- sist that these modern nomads shall not remain more than a few hours in their jurisdictions. So travel of a sort continues, but this is abnormal enforced travel. It may in- crease the native restlessness of the next In 1932 it was $281. This was not due to any increase in rates; there had actually been a decrease. It was due to the fact that passengers did not take Pullmans except for long trips where | sleeping accommodations had to be pro- vided. When these increased collec~ tions from each person are translated into net revenue per passenger or the amount made by the company, it ap- pears that all profit disappeared. While in 1928 the company had earned a profit of 32 cents on every passenger carried, in 1932 it lost 8 cents, and 8 cents multiplied by millions counts up. ‘The railroad business and its various branches operate on a fairly narrow margin in the best of times. When one sees a Pullman palace car about a block long, sees its rich appointments, its careful service, and the ponderous steel construction of the steel frame, the wheel trucks, the vestibules, the compli- cated air-brakes, and realizes that it is hauled over hill and dale, marshland and river and by night becomes a ho- tel, where two or three dozen people sleep, the idea is likely to be engendered that a great deal of money must ac- crue to the operators. As a matter of fact, in the most prosperous times, & Pullman car pays a profit of only from $2.50 to $3.50 a day. A Pullman car travels an average of 365 miles a day in prosperous time; last year the cars traveled 384 miles as it was necessary to get the utmost out of them, but the number operated dropped from 8,631 in 1928, to 5,693, and those were often more than empty. Quite_a number of stories are still {told in Pullman smoking compartments and not a few relate to this aspect of the times. Britain Adopts Plan for BY A. G. GARDINER. LONDON, April 1.—Parliament this week was the scene of one of the most momentous debates in its history. For three days, in Sir Herbert Samuel's phrase, it was engaged in debating in Westminster a future constitution for 350,000,000 people living thousands of miles away in Asia. The subject of debate was a motion a constitution for India on the lines laid down in a government white paper. The scheme, which is the cul- mination of the India round table con- ferences, provides not omy for a large in charge of the gigantic memorial be- ing carved on the face of the mountain at_Vincennes. measure of self-government for the provinces, but for a responsible govern- ment at the center on a federal basis. Indian Self-Government ! setting up a joint committee to con-| While a member of Congress he [Included in the scheme are safeguards, earned his master's degree at George |vested in the governor general, which Washington University. He took his law | are designed to preserve the financial degree when he graduated from the | stability of the country, military security Fifty Years Ago In The Star There were no “gangster films” half a century ago because there were no films of any kind, but the possibility of the corruption of youth by dramatic representations of crime was appre- hended as the following in The Star of March 26, 1883, indicates: “A minister of Newburyport, Mass., has set the example of inyoking the law for the suppression of vicious dramatic representations. He made complaint against a traveling theatrical company which presented the late highwayman, Jesse James, in the character of a hero. Jesse James As a Hero. vestments by life insurance enterprises, | University of Indiana in 1905 and was awarded the A. M. degree in 1925. In studying for that degree he specialized in income tax, Pederal procedure, con- stitutional law particularly with refer- ence tc the commerce clause, and in international law. * K % % In the House there are many men who have won their way to popular election carrying the name of a great statesman who holds high place in American history—such as George ‘Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, Alexander Hamilton, Abraham Lincoln, Jefferson Davis, Schuyler Col- fax, James G. Blaine, Grover Cleveland, U. 8. Grant and Willlam Jennings Bryan. Representative George Washi Edmonds of Pennsylvania was not _only named for “The Father of His Coun- try,” but was born on Washington's birthday. Representative Jeff Busby has a dou- ble claim in this list because he is named after both Thomas Jefferson and Jefferson Davis. His real name is ‘Thomas Jefferson Davis Busby, but he shortened it to just plain “Jefl.” ‘Then there is Representative Patrick Henry Drewry, member at large from Virginia. Representative Hamilton Fish of New York traces his name back to Alex- ander Hamilton. Abraham Lincoln has several name- sakes in the House—Representative Abe Murdock of Utah and Lincoln McCand- less, delegate from Hawali. Representative Schuyler Merritt of Connecticut bears with honor the name of Schuyler Colfax, former Speaker and Vice President on the same ticket with Gen. U. S. Grant. Representative Ulysses S. Guyer of Kansas is named after Gen. Grant. Representative James G. Polk of Ohio carries proudly the name of James G. | | and internal order. The proposal was attacked from two extremes. The die-hard Conservatives under the leadershi] of Winston Churchill denounced the g;vernment‘a policy root and branch. the most lurid colors Churchill pictured a horri- ble fate descending on India and warned his fellow members not to lay up somber self-reproaches in the eve- ning of their lives, At the other ex- treme the plan was assailed by Com- munists and Laborites. * kA A The main Conservative attack was directed on two points—first, that a centralized government on & federal basis should be abandoned and self- government be tried first in the prov- inces only; second, that the British should not hand over control of the police to the Indian legislatures. These proposals if adopted would re- duce the scheme to practical nullity. The essence of the government scheme is the incorporation of the states of the Indian princes in a federal scheme. Without this, the consolidation of In- dia into a unitary system of govern- ment would be impossible and the con- cession of self-government to the provinces of British India would be merely a negligible and illusory reform. The scheme of autonomous provinces with an irresponsible center would probably break down before it was well started and would certainly be repudi- ated by Indian opinion. It is agreed that risk is taken in the transfer of control of the police to the provincial legislatures, but the case of the government is that risks must be taken and that only by this transfer can a sense of responsibility be expected to develop within the provincial legis- latures themselves. Only when the Indian legislatures have been charged with the daily maintenance of public order will it be impossible for them to lay the blame for their own incapacity Blaine. Representative Cleveland Dear of Louisiana was named after Grover Cleveland, but couldn’t have the entire name because there was another young American born in the same neighbor- hood at the same time so their re- spective parents had to divide that il- lustrious name, and the other baby be- came Grover. It was Willlam Jennings Bryan him- self who suggested that the promising young member of the House, Repre- sentative Jennings Randolph of West Virginia, should be named after him— and Randolph seems to have inherited on British officials. * x % = ‘While the government was assailed from behind by its own supporters, it was also assailed in the front by Laborites, who argued that the reforms were inadequate. James Maxton, leader of the Communists, protested that Great Britain ought to leave India, bag and baggage, apparently regardless of the fact that such a course would bring the whole structure of the system to the ground and release sleeping hostilities between the Hindus | and Moslems which have only been re- strained by the stabilizing element of the oratorical talents of “The Great Commoner.” * x % % Representative Marion A, Zioncheck, representing the first district of the State of Washington, has wandered far from his birthplace in Kety, then in Austria and now in Poland, and has made remarkable nragress during the 32 years of his eventful life. His father was & tanner by trade, and his first job in this country was in the stock yards of Chicago. Following the call of the West, the family went to Seattle when Marion was 6 years of age. There the father was employed in packing houses and the mother took boarders. ‘The boy sold papers for & time and during an epidemic of rats, caught them at a in their infancy. S Economy and Sport. From the Albugueraue (N. Mex.) Journal. ‘The Poughkeepsie regatta was aban- colleges didn’t seem. their “paddle own '.Emn’ e bounty of 10 cents per carcass. Mounted on a pony, he herded cattle for 50 cents a week. He also sold fish—as did Al | co-operation is vital. British authority. ‘The debate ended in a remarkable triumph for the government. The Die- hards and Communists together suc- eeded in recording only 43 votes gainst the government's 449, This is a remarkable achievement in a House of Commons overwhelmingly Conserva- tive and indicates that so far as Brit- ain is concerned the victory for Indian self-government is won beyond the pos- sibility of challenge. It remains to be seen what the atti- tude of responsible Indian opinion will be. The gent tenor of comments by Indian leaders is critical of the scheme as being excessively cautious, but this was ex] . More serious is the question whether the Indian princes will implement their undertaking to co-operate in the federal scheme. This ‘Without them Smith—peddling salmon in & wabbly | the proposal for a responsible govern- two-wheel cart, efter catching them in | ment af the center would be imprac- the Duwamish jeweler's appreatic ver, He worked as a | ticablel The princes of the chief Indian during high school | states are believed to be still favorable | doned this year because some of the days, getting 10 cents an hour, and to the plan, but opposition is threat- | later as & “whistle punk” in & 10gging ened by the « ces of smaller states. yright, 1933.) In this play, as presented, highway rob- bery was pictured as a noble calling, offering a most tempiing field of occu- pation to the youth of the land. The minister had the actors arrested there- fore upon the charge that they were corrupting the morals of the young by making vice attractive. The court con- sidered the charge grave enough to bind the accused over to the grand jury.” * * ¥ The “dime novel” of that time was also regarded as a pernicious influence. 2 Th t 1 Protest Against mr:n sm: rll:!. the Dime Novel. 8% . _ L recognized social fact that the cheap literature of the day has a cor- rupting tendency on the minds of the young. The low price of these poison- | ous publications places them within | reach of boys and girls everywhere and | as the production of them is profitable | there is an active competition in it. It is only within the last few years that the young have been exposed to this cor- rupting influence. Formerly the cost of publishing books placed the price be- yond the pennies and nickels that chil- dren could scrape together, and ordi- narily a boy or girl only obtained a book through purchase by the parents. Now, unfortunately, it is the very worst class of literature that is so cheapened as to fall readily into the hands of the young. Publishers pander to the morbid taste because it pays, and the writer who can paint crime in the most alluring colors commands the highest price. Juvenile imitators of the James brothers have been detected with pistols, purchased with stolen money, in several instances. They had read dime novels, which pic- tured the robber and assassin as a hero, Two youths not out of their teens, in Arkansas, lately’ carried their admira- tion of the James brothers to actual per- formance and undertook to rob a rail- way train. Now, as inmates of the penitentiary, they confess that it was vicious literature which instilled crimi- nal ideas into their minds. But the other day a young man—he was not 21 years of age—was hanged in New York for murder. When he shot his unof- fending victim down he exultantly said: ‘Now I've knocked out my man and I'm tough.” He was ambitious to be knowa as a noted criminal and it took him to the gallows. It behooves society, there- fore, to correct this evil by prevention rather than by punishment, if that can be done. It is a difficult problem, but it is one that demll;l(ds consideration.” * The present starling problem had its forerunner 50 years ago in the question | a of what to do with Sparrow the English sparrows. Problem. The Star of March 28, 1883, says: “On the principle of allowing both sides to be heard, place is given in an- other column to a communication in favor of the English sparrow. But it throws no new nor reliable light on the subject. In this case the Pennsylvania farmers hold one theory and our corre- spondent entertains another. The weight of authority, however, is against him on the disputed theoretical point, and so are the ascertained facts. As all old residents of the city know, before the sparrow found its way here all our parks were full of native singing birds of nearly all varieties, though the accom- modation and food for them were far less then than now. To see or hear one at the present time is a treat rarely enjoyed. The noisy. a quarrelsome spar- row has driven them out and taken their place. For this reason, if &n‘ no other, it should be exterminated. e