Evening Star Newspaper, April 3, 1933, Page 8

" A-8 With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGZON, D. C. MONDAY. ..April 8, 1833 THEODORE W. NOYES....Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company Business Office: 11th St. and !’ennnlvuul Ad't.t Carrier Within the City. o 45¢ per month g (when 4 Sun 60c per month ‘Phe Evening and Sun (when 5 Sundays) The Sunday St Collection ....68¢ per month Sc per copy made at the end of each month. be sent in by mail oF telephone 00. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. Dally And Sunday....1yr. $1000: 1 mo. g8 "only 4 All Other States and Canada. Dally and Sunday...1yr., $12.00; 1mo., $1.00 Daily only .. b 1mo. 75¢c Sunday only . $5.00; 1mo.. 50c 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- ited im this paper and also the local news lished herein. All rights of publication of special dispatches herein sre also reserved. = Balancing the Local Budget. ‘The main task of the House, in con- sidering the District bill, is to balance | the local budget. The budget will be as much unbal- anced by collecting from local taxpayers excessive taxation, that is, in collecting revenues in excess of what is to be spent, | as it would be if deficits were to be in- curred by appropriating in ¢->_: of the available tax revenues. Those items of proposes < -diture that the Budget Bureau has stricken out should be restored, at least to the figures in water fund appropriations, gasoline tax fund and general revenues | that were approved in conference be- tween the two houses of Congress on the appropriation bill which failed in the last Congress. It was not a difference of opinion over these expenditures that killed the last bill. The difference was over the lump sum. Unless these restorations are made in whole or in part, the city is to suffer needless deprivation of essential munici- pal service. There is going to be addi- | tional unemployment and distress. At the same time, the House should | specifically provide, in some manner, that excessive revenues are not to be cuilected, thus assuring relief in the tax burden. It is mot known what final appropriation figures will be reinserted in the District bill. It is hardly prob- able that local taxes will or can be re- duced, without some rather prolonged legislative consideration impractical at this time, to the extent that the appro- priations would be reduced under the budget proposals. In the case of the real estate and tan- gible personalty tax rates, the Commis- sioners are to be left free to exercise their normal powers to fix the rate of taxation to yield the revenue that Con- gress appropriates, and if Congress fails to appropriate to the level of the rev- enues anticipated from current tax rate and assessment, the Commissioners will obviously reduce the tax rate. To assure the bringing of the local budget into balance, however, Congress could appropriately express its intent that the Commissioners are not to col- lect in local revenues more than is ap- propriated. In this respect it might be reasonable to make provisions—for the Present emergency only—empowering the Commissioners temporarily to ad- Just downward the tax rates on water and gasoline to prevent the accumula- tion of surplus revenues from these special, earmarked funds. It the local budget provides for mere horizontal slashes in appropriations, collecting more money than is to be spent and crippling the city, it will be an unbelanced budget. i, When a motion picture actress told G. Bernard Shaw in a spirit of compli- ment that she had appeared in one of his plays, he abruptly commented that it was probably a pirated version. Thereupon the lady burst into tears, although even if the author’s complaint was just, it could not possibly be her fault. The spotlight is often attained by assuming responsibility, whether it involves blame or credit. e An investigation of J. P. Morgan may bring interesting disclosures, which will Telate more to how dollars were ac- cumulated in the past than to how they may be earned in the future, — e Dry leaders are confident that the 18th amendment will stand and promise enough fight to provide a measure of color of its waistcoat. Of the ubiquitous starling he should have quantities of information, but actually he is con- sclous of only its unfortunate bad habits; he cannot snswer even the simplest question about its history, its economy or its social utility as an enemy of all sorts of bugs and other in- sect aggravations. He is not a keen observer, and he has not bothered to “read up” on birds. But if by chance he does devote a portion of his leisure to study of the ornithological character of the environ- ment in which he lives, he will add to his equipment for the enjoyment of his home. Francis Bacon is supposed to| have said that that man is noblest who | has most contacts with life, and the principle certainly applies in regard to birds. Knowledge of any science con- duces to comprehension of Nature, and the entertainment of an enthusiasm promotes the happiness of existence. Birds especially are worthy of the at- tention of men and women, boys and girls. They have beauty, vitality, prag- matic utility, and their adaptation to changing conditions in the earth, their power of adjustment, is fascinatir to watch, Alexander Pope obeyed an au- themtl® genius when he said: “Learn from the birds.” Possibly he was echo- ing the thought of One of Whom it has been reported that He is mindful of the fall of even & single sparrow. AR Veterans’ Compensation. President Roosevelt’s executive order cutting compensation and pensions of veterans to the tune of about $400,- 000,000 was expected. Denunciation of | the order on the part of those affected | and by their champions also is to be expected, and already some of the champions are running true to expected | form, among them Senator Thomas of Oklahoma and Representative Rankin of Mississippl. These gentlemen pre- dict a wave of bitterness against the | administration once the cuts in com- pensation and pensions become effec- tive. The veterans, under the execu- tive order of the President, have until July 1 to accustom themselves to the changed conditions which they must face. Many of them have come to look upon the payments made them as vesied rights. The President’s executive order, made in compliance with the terms of the economy act recently passed by Con- gress at his urgent insistence, has taken two lines. It has reduced the payments of the veterans to conform to the low- ered cost of living and to the pay re- ductions made to all Federal employes, civil and military. It has removed from the rolls many of those veterans whose disabilities are not traceable to their military service. It seems impossible that the great majority of the veterans | themselves will fail to see the justice of these moves. The men who shoul- dered the burden of war when this country faced a foreign foe are patriots and have made sacrifices for their Nation and their homes in the past. They must realize that with the eco- nomic conditions as they are the coun- try again faces an emergency, although there is no blare of trumpets. Those gentlemen in Congress who undertake to arouse the resentment of the vet- erans against the President and the executive order he has issued will do the country no good service. The effect of the executive order will be to reduce by $400,000,000 the $927,000,000 expenditure for the veter- ans proposed for the fiscal year 1934. The appropriations for veterans have Increased since the World War in huge leaps and bounds. The prospects have been that these expenditures would in- crease, unless a halt were called, to $2,000,000,000 within a comparatively few years. The United States has always been most generous in its treatment of war veterans, It has been far more gen- erous than any other nation in the amount of money granted to its de: fenders. There would be a revulsion pf sentiment in this country if it were proposed to cut from the pension rolls those men who have suffered disability because they were injured in line of duty. But there is no such:proposal. The attack is made upon the compen- sation which has been awarded to vet- erans who returned to this country in good physical condition and were in that condition discharged from the service. Millions of them never left the country in the World War, yet under the laws which have been passed by Congress, many of them have been awarded compensation for non-service- connected disabilities. President Roosevelt has done the | country a necessary service, and the veterans themselves undoubtedly will relief from unemployment on their own account. | The Birds. | ‘There no longer can bs any doubt | about it—Spring is here. Residents of | the outer circle of Washington suburbs, ‘waking at sunrise to the jubilant music i of thousands of feathered songsters, know that such a chorus proves the | realize this to be a fact. It is & serv- ice which must be distasteful to the Chief Executive, It is a service that re- quired real courage to perform. ————————— ‘When James J. Walker was under- going the greatest ordeal of his political career, he concealed the fact that he was in ill health. While he did not maintain prestige as a big politician, Brordway friends will hold him in fact. Even two weeks ago no such har- | 5 iictic esteem as a good little actor. monious salutation to the dawn could have been possible. The birds are ar- riving in companies of thousands from | their Winter refuge in the South. Of | course, not all of them will remain throughout the Summer. Many will Journey on to the North, some even to the Arctic Circle. But a few, at least, will stay in the neighborhood of the Capital, and all that tarry will be wel- come. If they serve no other purpose than that of being an ornithological alarm clock, they will be appreciated. Curiously enough, perhaps, it is not necessary to know very much about birds to like them. The average citizen, as it happens, is almost totally ignorant of even the most primitive rudiments of the science which specializes in the fly- ing department of natural creation. He cannot tell one species from another. He is unacquainted with the peculiari- ties of even the commonest varieties e is unskilled in detecting the differ- ence between one song and another. A nest in a tree or under the eaves of & house is only a nest to him, and its inhabitants are “just birds.” If on oe- casion he wishes to describe some par- ticular avian sauropsidan he has seen, he speaks of it as being “biue” or “yel- | low and black.” as the case may be, in hopeful expectation that his hearers will understand exactly what he means. In effect, the only bird he really’can distinguish is the robin, and in that in- stance # is the brown-red breast that Uruguay and Siam. These are sure enough incredible times and a topsy-turvey world in which | | we live. Within the past forty-eight hours Uruguay, which has been a republic | since 1825, and Siam, which has been an absolute monarchy for centuries, lm"d' sweeping changes in their respec- tive forms of government. The republic “ set up a dictatorship and the monarchy intervened to bulwark a democracy threatened by Communism. Verily, | East is East and West is West, and | never the twain shall meet. Kipling, | like Sherman, was right. | Uruguay, for the time being at least, | has gone the way which so many Latin American republics have trodden, with varying degrees of success, during the past three years. Dr. Gabriel Terra, | who was regularly elected President in | January, 1931, has proclaimed a dic- tatorship which restricts all forms of representative government and local | authority and sets June 25 as the date | for the election of a new assembly to | rewrite the constitution. President Terra acted with the apparent support of the Uruguayan army, although to- day’s news is that his sway has been challenged and that certain troop movements from disaffected regions of the country conjure up the menace of civil war. As in neighboring countries like Argentina, Brazil and Chile, which the feature he cay-recognise. have gone through the throes of revo- mmw‘-mmmmm-nlm THE EVENING STAR,, WASHINGTON, D. C, MONDAY, APRIL 3, 1933. el aaeeeeeeee————————— ——— e e —— ————— THE EVENING STAR [robin except that single detail of the| Uruguay'’s disarrayed ecomomic condi- tions were the immediate cause of the present upheaval. One of the earliest dictatorial decrees provides for reduc- tions of government salaries and pen- sions, an economy move that smacks a bit of Washington itself. Siam, which threw off the shackles of absolutism last June, yesterday ad- vanced still further in the direction of popular government, not by action of the people, but at the instigation of King Pradjadhipok. That enlightened young monarch remained on his throne at the nation's request, even after it had substantially clipped his royal wings. With what sincere devotion to his country’s cause Pradjadhipok ac- cepted the new regime became mani- fest during the current week end, when by a decree from the throne he re- Jected the communistic plans of the State Council, because he holds them to be a violation of the “true democ- racy” which Siam instituted in 1932. He ordained the replacement of the so-called Young Patriots with men more reliably democratic. Siam is called by its inhabitants “Thal,” which means “free,” or “the kingdom of the free.” King Pradjad- hipok evidently intends that it shall live up to its name and not succumb to anti-democracy i-asquerading as Communism. ———s The fact is being recognized that the District of Columbia has unemployment problems which cannot be met merely by a note from a Senator or Repre- sentative to Postmaster General Farley. T — That lame duck session may have had its use in giving the administration opportunity to secure advice and in- formation to permit rapid procedure once it got into action. ———— Comedians made very free with the recent election, but very gracefully concede that the 4th of March was no merry preliminary to a 1st of April pleasantry. ‘When Hitler gets through with the German Empire it is feared he will have spolled it for everybody, including even the former Kaiser. ———————— Recognition is not slways effected in & manner to guarantee against po- litical aphasia. —_— e SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Before the Dawn, A bit of tune we try, Like a discouraged lark. Alas, we can't deny, { We're whistling in the dark. A word of wit we seek, ‘Which doesn't hit the mark. We own in accents meek, ‘We're whistling in the dark. But as the rooster crows Out in the barnyard park, The sun must shine, he knows, And whistles in the dark. Personal Relations. “I tried to remind that persistent caller that you are very busy.” “Don’t do that,” sald Senator Sor- ghum. “Invite him in and let me give him the personal assurance that it's his business that I am busy with.” Jud Tunkins says the war is over except for people that just naturally can't be happy without something to fight about. Hitler Un-psychoanalysed. “Du bist vericht mein kind,” Ran the ancient song. “Wo die verichter sind— ‘That's where you belong.” Adolph in Austria dwelt, Freud hung out there, too. Somehow he never felt Inclined to notice you. He never tried a way to show, ‘With his genius great, Just how you Libido Ought to Sublimate! Agriculture Militant. “Do you sympathize with the farmer?” ' “Not any more,” answered Cactus Joe. here have put the proposition up cold that unless they eat first, nobody eats.” “To cheat a friend,” said Hi Ho, the sage of Chinatown, “is dangerous, since the benefit may not compensate for the danger of adding another to your enemies.” Embellishments. Gambrinus, you may have to heed The forms that none escape, And come adorned, the dance to lead, With garlands of red tape. “Some o' dese flynanceers,” said Uncle Eben, “got so confident dat dey thought dey had a line o’ talk dat 'ud sell sumpin to any bunch of men; even a grand jury.” Checks Drawn on Trust Accounts Dishonored To the Editor of The Star: Would you kindly add another to the long list of public-spirited services | you have rendered this emasculated community? Many of us who have opened trust accounts in some of our ‘impounded banks, by permission and authority of the Treasury, have had our checks, so marked, returned by institutions which should know better. A patient of mine had his check to the gas company re- turned. I had mine so marked re- turned by the Veterans’ Bureau, with a request that I remit the amount in some other form at an early date. Others have suffered the same embar- rassment. Certamly it would be a pub- lic-spirited service to remind the public that a bank might be closed, but fts trust accounts afford a form of nego- tiable tender. Perhaps it might not be amiss to attach a little printed card with each check so drawn .o this ef- fect: “Please think twice before you refuse to honor this check. We know our bank is closed, but this is drawn on its trust account. It means just that, trust and confidence in the ultimate solvency of our local institution. Even frozen as- sets can’t keep good sap down.” 'HOMAS E. MATTINGLY. e Ergs Below Par. Prom the Cleveland News. Electric power production last year ‘Was 9 per cent off, according to experts, Meaning that if we had the electric dollar, it would be somewhat below par. - Classified. Prom the Chicago Dally News. In the new process of ting “The agricultural boys around |iR THIS AND THAT horse, stopped light, manages to find anything inter- esting in & motor truck nearby. Animal and car found themselves side by _side. The horse, hitched to a milk wagon, immediately turned its head sideways, and gave an appreciagive . There, iding from the vehicle, was a fine, great bunch of carrots. Sniffing appreciably, the horse tried to reach the vegetables, but could not quite make it. The colored boy on the back of the vegetable truck grinned broadly, his down the entire line of stopped vehicles. Try as it could, the horse could not reach the succulent carrots, so near and yet so0 far. * ok % x The lights turned green, away sped the truck, after it came rolling the milk wagon. By the time the latter was a block on its course, the vegetable wagon had gone at least four blocks. As it reached the intersection of the street, a roll in the paving hit it. Out tumbled the carrots. Apparently no one aboard the truck realized the loss, for the vehicle went bowling along 1t out of sight in the converging sice" of the avenue. It would |- interesting if one could record that the milk wagon came along, the kindly driver stopped, and the old hoss had his lunch of carrots, after all. Apparently, however, matters turn out 50 only in stories, not on real city stoeets. ‘The prosaic truth was that, when the milk wagon came to the block just before the intersection in Wwhich the carrots lay, the driver gave a pull on the reins, and the outfit turned east. It was all up with the carrots. * K K x In the old days poets liked to draw lessons from such incidents. It might have run that if the horse had kept on, it could have eaten its carrots, in all probability. Somehow we prefer to look at it this way. that if either the man on the truck had proferred the animal the bunch of carrots, or if the driver had the carrots would have been no more lost than were at last. “We only keep what we give away,” some one has well said; the difficulty comes in knowing when to give, what to give, and how much. man on the wagon thought he was doing the right thing by his em- ployer to laugh at the efforts of the beast; its driver, no doubt, experienced a slight thrill of honesty at reining in the hungry creature. And both erred. * ok % x Even if the horse had come along, he would have trotted right over the carrots, in all likelihood. It was just an incident in the day’s work, an unregarded incident, mostly, but distinctly worth recording, it would it showed the necessity for taking a chance on being kind to animals. Kin¢ to animals is not so much theory as practice. It presupposes a human regard for their essential dignity, in a world wherein man is not always either es- sential or dignified. There art innumerable splits of l:;;mm opinion, and here is ome of 'm, Into those who take care of animals Now that the New Deal has been in progress for four weeks and achieved more real action in domestic affairs than was recorded during the previous four years, curiosity is widespread as to what rapid-fire developments may impend in international relations. If White House callers cross-examine President Roosevelt on that score, he's altogether likely to follow the rule he generally pursues when light is sought on his future plans. He juts out his chin, turns on his billion-dollar smile ;nd says: “Read the Democratic plat- form.” * Kk x % ‘That shortest program of party prin- ciples on record was brief, but terse, regarding forelgn affairs. As it has proved a reliable guide to the adminis- tration’s home policies, it's fair to con- clude that it as accurately indexes what lées hlhnd abroad. 1"We advocate,” it leclares, “a firm fore! in- cluding: Peace with ll]‘g:e ‘:fl:fi and the settlement of international disputes by arbitration; no interference in the internal affairs of other nations; the nd of good will in finan obligations; adherence to the ‘World Court with the pending reser- vations; the pact of Paris abolishing war as an nt of national policy, to be made effective by provi- sions for consultation and conference case of threatened violation of treaties; international sgreement for reduction of armaments, and co-opera- tion with nations of the Western Hemisphere to maintain the spirit of the Monroe Doctrine. We oppose can- cellation of the debts owing to the United States by foreign nations.” Elsewhere the platform advocates the two issues now actively engaging the State Department’s attention: “Recip- rocal tariff agreements with other nations, and an international economic conference to restore international trade and facilitate exchange.” * K ko Speaking of international matters, ;he s‘mn of Tennessee was never be- ore in our 80 conspicuousl; identified with their conduct as l{ present. Its late junior Senator, Judge Cordell Hull, is "Secretary of State. Representative 8am D.: McReynolds of Chattanooga is chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. Nor- man H. Davis, newly-appointed Amer- ican ambassador-at-large to Europe, is also a Tennesseean, though his busi- ness and professional career has bcen developed outside the State. His pres. ent chores “over there” include the salvaging of the Geneva Disarmament Conference and arrangements for the World Economic Conference. * X K x Yusuke Matsuoka, late chief Japanese delegate to the League of Nations, who has just left Washington after a series of ‘“unofficial” visits to President Roosevelt, Secretary Hull, _Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Pittman, Senator Borah and other powder- wielders, proved to be of an unusually adroit type of Oriental diplomat. No question fired at him caught him off his guard. He smokes & pipe as in- veterately as a Dawes. Short, stal- wart, dapper and perfect master of English, he fenced without embarrass- ment with interrogators who suggested the unrighteousness of Japan's occupa- tion of Manchuria. In Mr. Matsucka's unshatterable opinion, Japanese activi- ties In North China during the past year and a half are like Caesar's wife —above suspicion—and in n of his discussions at Wi n could the little son of Nippon, who “walked out on the League,” as he puts it, be budged from that position. DR Last Thursday, March 30, was the sixty-sixth birthday of the Territory of Alaska as a part of the United States. ‘The new Democratic delegate from the Territory, Mr. Dimond, received unani- mous consent of the House of Repre- sentatives to address it for 10 minutes in honor of the anniversary. He re- called that the Roosevelt system of “action, and action now” had its coun- 1867,” Delegate Dimond said, Secretary of State, Mr. Seward, was sitting in his house, on the spot where Belasco Theater separa! the sheep from the goats, the common B e o fonger e v, the Dlay- ing whist. permitted the creature to come close, | BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. by a traffic| for the animals’ sake, and those who prima; care for animals rily for man's e. As with most such divisions, there is no hard and fast line, and those on op- posite sides of this fence, too, believe {mmlm right and the other side wrong. ‘With one side it is the dog for the dog’s happiness in life; with the other, it is the dog for mankind's pleasure or protection. One side values the. cat for the cat's ,”';n health, the other because it catches | mice. | “One side protects game because its members want the “game” to enjoy | life, the members of the other group like to !hkir: of themselves as conservation- * Kok % Man’s moral duty to the animals may be settled by laws, but it is placed in the hearts and minds of those who see in the creatures another effort of life to establish itself in & monstrous universe. Where the line is to be drawn must be left, in the last analysis, to the in- dividual. “I suppose,” said a member of one great group to a member of the lesser group, “that now that you have gone in Inolrhl.gmflum you will never eat another He had not thought about it that way, but he supposed that he never would eat a fish again. Why should he? ‘There were plenty of other things in the world to eat. He knew that members of the other way of thinking would ridicule him for this attitude, but he had suffered a great deal of ridicule, in his time, and did not mind it much any more. Time does a great many ill things to a human being; this is one of the good things it does. * x Well, this may seem a long way from a horse eating, or not eating, carrots, but it is not as far as it seems, perhaps. The man who did not hand the old hoss a carrot did not dislike animals; indeed, he may have liked them very much, but he unconsciously permitted himself to be put in the class of the in- different, at least, by refusing to hand the creature a carrot. The fact that the vegetables did fall out of the wagon, and were thus loat, proves the case, at least to us, although another secticn of thought on this mo- mentous matter might feel inclined to put forward the theory that it had pre- cisely nothing at all to do with the matter. True kindness to animals means that one must never let a chance slip by to do them some service; if this means, in plain language, helping them to a meal, when it presents itself, then thievery is well blessed. A large section of humanity may pre- fer, and perhaps they are right, to in- clude the helplessness of human beings gne t,}t)l:l pathetic lists of those who may to animals, we may believe, Kinén | without aught of disrespect ~(because seem, if for no other reason than that | we have au:h a high .um..,(nf ani- mals), must and does include the suf- fering men, women and children of there days. If we have a carrot, figuratively speaking, which we could put in their reach, undoubtedly we ought to do it. ‘We have never felt that the dime given on dthemtl‘:reet, lltho’\.uh it has been made a song, wasted in real sense of the word. u'"fi | Maybe only a carrot, but at least it has not retary, I am authorized by my govern- ment to comply with the terms of sale’ of Alaska. Tomorrow, if it suits you, I shall come to the State Department, and we can then draw up the treaty, and sign it.’ Secreary Seward replied: ‘Why wait until tomorrow? Let's do it tonight’ Secretaries and experts were sent for, with the result that at 4 o'clock on the morning of March 30, 1867, the Alaskan treaty was signed and the $7,200,000 pur com- pleted.” * k% From a constituent of this dent Garner, having already proved hlmnllwl disciple of l.nnmthm.p could tor for s purposes, th Enll‘ e officer ld say: “The nizes Senator So-and-So from and-such a State.” part, it is suggested, mack for the gulries vt 3 viod mark for ' benefit: “I yleld to Senator Blank of Blank.” 7 I From intimation, rather than direct affirmation, Roosevelt a) unenue'ca scientific or semi-scien Government posts will be made, it appears, irrespec- tive of politics. Such indications are seen in the retention of Sanford Bates as director of Federal prisons and Dr. Lyman J. Briggs as director of the Bu- original appointments from Republican Presidents. Friends of Henrynfip'mney. commissioner of fisheries in the Depart- ment of Commerce, are hopeful that his record h a Hoover appointee) in his perpetuation. He's the bureau’s ranks, having St. Johnsbury, Va., station in 1897. modern development of the Ahlhlnf fisheries is one of his outstanding achievements. About every outdoor or- ganization in the country, as well as cannery interests, fur dealers and allied arts and erafts, including fishermen’s leagues, have let it be known that they mthe ;11' gl‘?uey th:d rkhtl dfl.lh!l’mln in Place, and would like to him kept in his present waters. o * ok x ¥ Here's the very Rooseveltian latest: N. D. doesn't stand only for N % It means No Delay. el * K % % Bob Woolley, once-upon-a-time Wil- sonian member of Lhevl.;lhnuu. cvg- merce Commission, opines that Wash- ington just now is probably full of the kind of deserving Democrats of whom & classic yarn, dating from Grover Cleve- land'’s time, is spun. “A Southern gen- tleman, with the proper political cry dentials,” says Bob, "Cne% town :‘lg the ambition to become American Am- to the Court of St. James, feel- ing that nothing less than our blue ribbon diplomatic post was worthy of his claims and dignity. He hung around for weeks, and finally for six r;l:;ldmlm At ’.fi pnmnri: k‘;“ his re- P Was given a clerksh! Pensions Bureau.” o e (Copyright. 1933.) e England’s Slump. Prom the Roanoke Times. England is reported to be sinking to sea level (it the rate of nine every century. This will alarm every- body but the Channel swimmers. m ————ee— Undeterred. From the Indianspolis News, A little thing like frozen ground not going to defeat the gardener who has learned to begin indoors with paper and pencil. - Geography. Prom the New York Sun, Agilators who shouted “Down with Hitler!” in Madrid supply fresh evi- «dence that geography has to he taught unremittingly. — . Hitler's Time Limit. From the Oaklsnd Tribune. If he does not make good in four Germany may years. u“ Hm"lhlh. D do been permitted to tumble into the dust.| W WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS BY FREDERIC WILLIAM WILE. Teau of Standards. Both received their | Repul fisherles service at the | Palaf is | ment to give employment, in The Political Mill By G. Gould Lincoln. ‘The people begin today the big show- down on the question of national pro- hibition Starting in Michigan, the battle to Wisconsin tomorrow and then on through the months to all those States which provide for the elec- 55 on e - :t. In many of the States this will be the first opportunity the le have had to register their will on jues- tion of prohibition. In none of them have the people ever before voted so directly on national bition. When the eighteenth amene mitted to the people of States, however, in a popular refer- endum, or as near a popular referendum as the Constitution permits. In many of the States, before national prohibi- tion was adopted, the le voted di- rectly for State —not na- tional prohibition, which is a very dif- ferent matter. * x % % The results of these State elections of delegates to the constitutional con- ventions will be closely followed, and nowhere more closely followed than on Capitol Hill. The Democrats, taking the wetter side of the national prohi- bition issue, won s sweeping victory over the G. O. P. last November. But it may be said with absolute truthful- ness that\had there been no question of prohibition in the election at all the Democrats would have won just the same kind of a victory, because of the hard times that afflicted the country. But now the only question at issue in these State elections is national prohi- bition. If State after State shows a big lead for the wets, the members of Con- lief. But if the vote is very elose or the drys score victories, the members i e e ol e o o eir fuf action on prohibition quu{lom. — * ok oxox Notwithstanding the wet wave which has apparently swept the country, many of the members of are still gun shy when they think of the drys. Perhaps it is because they have been afraid for so many years of what the drys might do to them if they dared to Vote wet. Look at what happened in the Senate the other day when the District of Columbla beer bill was be- fore that body. Although it has been proclaimed far and near, in debate and in legislation, that 3.2 'per cent beer is not intoxicating, the Senate stuck its tail between its legs and voted, 44 to 28, to prohibit the sale of the beer in any bullding owned by the Federal Government. It may be that the old habit of voting dry is still strong upon them, or mote probably it is a lingering dread of the drys and their votes at home. How the Senate can have the face to vote for the sale of 3.2 per cent beer on private property and then prohibit its sale on Government prop- erty, provided the beer is constitutional, as it is claimed it is, passes the under- standing. * * X X It won't be long now—Ilong until the beer begins to flow. Then the people will make the practical test as to whether it is intoxicating or not. That's 8 matter the members of Congress might have tried out before they put through the beer law. Senator Dill of ashington during the last session of Congress very sensibly real test of the proposed be made. posal was.Surned down. Ft 1 expebsed WaS wn. It is e: that the drys will test the constitution- ality of the beer in court, on the ground that it is intoxicating, and a Vviolation of the eighteenth amendment, which still stands in the % If they can find cases of intoxication where the only beverage imbibed is 3.2 per cent beer, they will have a case to present. R 18 no secret about the fact, ‘There: however, that the drys believe the legalization of beer will work in- the | end inst the repeal of the eighteenth mn‘&:unt. ‘They look for an orfiz of beer , with accompany ills of intoxication, automobile accidents, etc. Almost they would r an imme- turning off of beer faucet. column comes the suggestion that Vice Presi- | the courts the people, and the wets would be all the more determined to put through the repeal of the eight- eenth amendment. And it is also no secret that some of the most ardent supporters of prohibition repeal are fearful that the legalization of beer may hinder the passage of the repeal amendment. . * This week the Congress is expected to put the touches on the proposed farm bill. The measure is pending in_the Senate. The revolt against the President’s farm bill, which '.het House took ;t one sitting and with- out cal will be by the Senate in pretty much the same form as it came from the , with the blican vote split and many of the regulars opposing the measure. Be- fore the bill comes to & final vote, if present plans are carried through, the farm come tacked on as an amendment., This amendment wifll make the farm bill itable to many of the members who do not like the varied and various fea- tures of the farm bill. ing that he would meet defeat at the hands of the Congress on the farm bill and other measures. * * % ¥ . ‘The President bas used the ax, and used it effectively, in his executive order making effective the terms of the economy law as it applies to the vet- erans of wars. He promised to cut $400,000,000 from the billion dollar an- nual expenditure of the Government for the veterans. He has done it. What will be the political effect of this wholesale execution '% compensa- tion and time tell. Cer- tainly the President has the country with him right noy. A year ago the Congress would have turned a dozen f;nm before it mla have put ol ‘economy . Even now many of the members feel they may escape the anger of the veterans since they did not write into the law just wmtmmfldhm‘h:utwmuvbl‘tl; erans’ com) tion an left it to m‘mflnk P * * % % It looks as though this country was tnun.)onglwplonwermdmmu socialism right now. The Federal Gov- ernment is undertaking to put millions of persons to work, and the Govern- ment will pay them. Admittedly the reforestation act, the relief bill and the farm relief bill are all experiments. Other huge employ- ment plans are to follow. Advocates socialism may rejoice at these mm als. They are not so likely to with faver, however, on the latest un- employment relief plan, the building up of the Navy to treaty by add- "}S" new warships at a cost of about $230,000,000. However, if the people’s money must be spent by the Govern- no way could it be spent to greater advantage than to mvlfle adequate national de- fense, money expended in the shipyards, the steel plants and all the factories that must supply materials for ship bullding, will give men work and stimulate right now than money expended to re- forest remote lands, remote from the centers of population. ——aer Bad Judgment. monn"ehm, which is soon to|tiful than from the White House, will be industry more _effectively | wo ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN. ‘What do you need to know? 1Is there some point about your business or - sonal life that puszles you? Q. How kept hi A It at least once each day, in the evening after has been com; . There alsp chemicals, as calcium chloride, which, sprinkled on the court, will draw dampness from the atmosphere mm conjunction with rolling serve, to extent, as watering. Such chemical treatment would have to be renewed every three weeks or every'month, but it is not expensive. Q. Which States have their prohibition enforcement laws?—N. A. L. A. No official compilation is avail- able. Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Loulsiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, Ne- Dakota, Oreven ode Loiand, W 3 Wi ington, and Wisconsin have repealed their enforcement laws; in Maryland no State law was enacted, bills are pend- Lndenfly late day's play are United States Army or Navy?—J. H. B. A. While some of these institutions !t;'u 10,455 State ml:&ub‘lm and trust companies, va and 6,150 national banks, Q. How _long does the giant cactus ing in Minnesota and New Mexico, while a bill in Alaska awaits the Gov- ernor’s signature, . How ing the occupancy of President The service is sufficlent for 100 Which are all that can be White House dining x'cmm_u“.d wqbwm cAuses an ‘M'T‘ A. One suthority says that the best evidence indicates that earthquakes are caused by electrical disturbances far down in the interior of the earth, or originating there. Another says that the coincidence of earthquake and vol- canic eruptions is significant, and that both are due to tremendous explosions of steam within the earth, with a con- the live?>—N. T. A. Some of the cacti in the new Sagauro National Monument in Ariz- m-:‘wmuumm 100 v § niggh A. The average child of 5 years of age knows about 1,700 words, Has the number of lawyers or dncbaqulnereu«l more rapidly in the last decade?—E. L. M. sequent readjustment of pressures and | and material within the immediate region. Still another contends that the more widespread cause of earthquakes is the fidd:n. c:mxn‘, thulf.ln( ‘or bending of e 's crust, owing to strains that are set up within it. Q. Why does slamming an oven door make a cake fall?>—A. L. A. A baking cake is & delicate struc- A ol tommed by e Jeavening sent form, and the cake falls, Q. Cen an alien who has served in v_flsonnem receive citizenship papers? A. This is a question for the court to decide. He must prove that he has been a man’ of good moral character for the five years immediately preceding the ssuance of his final papers. Q. Who furnishes new desij for coins for the United States?—IL. C. V. A. When the Treasury Department desires a new design for coins, invita- , Who sul -m;fa be appropriate for the coin de- sired. A design is then selected from this number and approved by the Sec- retary of the Treasury and the Fine Arts Commission. Q. Is the word “chrysanthemum” de- rived from the Chinese?—A. D. A. It is Greek in derivation. *! sos” is the Greek word for “gold” and “anthemon” for “flower.” Q. What does the phrase, “Buy rican” mean?—A. N. G, . It is a slogan Used to induce per- sons to purchase goods manufactured to praminent that | N. Q. How long has the pari-mutuel scheme of betting on horse races been in use?—R. N. uAi It has been used in France since day than on a col A. This penetration faster on & mild day one, nor, on the other any, slower for the first Spirit of California Lauded As Quake Results Are Seen American praise goes to the ‘people of Southern California for their confident energy and notable spirit in accepting the results of the earthquake and pre- paring for the future. Rapid restora- tion of business is observed with ap- proval, and the plans for safe construc- tion, especially of school buildings, are held characteristic of a State which shared conspicuously in the building of the Nation. “Invincible courage is shown in the stricken areas,” says the Pasadena Star- News, the reconstruction under way, dec] that the “spirit of the people is unbroken,” and that %, o on_fm -ndslmnlun no holg uj 'm."” e Star-News predic ufi’:‘"me devastated areas soon will be dotted with new structures, much more substantial than the old, built to resist earthquakes, and made even more beau- those that went to ruin in the disaster.” “You can't beat it—the California spirit,” declares the Portland Oregon Journal. “To them, ‘What's an earth- quake that destroys your house if you , | can sleep out of doors in California?’ ing. And by the fmest advertising in the world they have about convinced the public that California sunshine is the only genuine sunshine and that all other sunshine is imitation. But their attitude is a laudable devotion to their State. And it has made Cali- fornia one of the great States of the Republic.” “Pioneer spirit of the West is not dead!” exclaims the Eureka Humboldt Times. “Before the smokelike clouds of pulverized plaster had settled to the earth, and before the ashes of its fires were cold, the area stricken by the quake began to rebuild. . Surely, this is the ploneer spirit of the old West—the rit that is ever young, as history of e West grows old.” The Times adds s mm soundly ifi.‘u: the Los ares, structures, made to stand the strain, will fight off destruction. “The true Oalifornian,” avers the Rock Island Argus, “is entirely sold on the ‘Golden State’ His home town is always the best town. Even a catas- trophe taking 118 lives is only a ‘dis- tinctly unpleasant experience,’ and al- though distressing and regrettable it is by no means a ‘major . Far from 2 gdl‘tm owes much to its veterate promoters who minimize the occasional eccen- tricities of Mother Nature. IMinois ple and those in other States mEM, with profit to themselves and their lo- calities, take on more of the California spirit. Nothing—absolutely nothing— can shake the complacency, the serenity or the State pride of a Californian. Not even a so-called ‘act of God.'” m:\mur Ben]:wruufllm is quoted bu’a Springfleld (Mass.) Repul \n the effect that “nothing much hap- rmed. and what did haj was just hrilling enough to make life the more worth " and that “s little earth- quake now and then attractions of the great fornia.” The Republican “San Francisco is magnificent by far st te of Cali- eomments: more populous and than the cu{' de- yed in 1906 by quake plus fire. It has been so. Human nature is more disasters 50 long as the :nd the sun each year ‘warm erjough to make mw‘e ase only adds to the e took all by as such major dem- onstrations always do, and for most of the new which this area is all wreak more havoc a year and take a larger toll of life. The tornado, twister, cyclone and even severe windstorm cleave paths of vary- ing length and breadth and of almost destruction. * * * It is only a portion of their lives in sec- visited yearly by either or all of these hazards, a people who in many cases have come to Southern California to escape them, should refuse to be- come panic-stricken at an earth e.” “Within a day after the shock,” says the Oakland Tribune, “business shops were open and commerce was proceed- . Long Beach re] a flood of new building permits an of the tent population. In the disposi- tion to summon the best of expert ad- vice as to construction for the future and in the publication of the report of the unprejudiced scientists which show the shock itself was not a major one, the Southland, without minimizing the damage sustained, has informed the public of defects and rallied support to t inmimize possibi ties of d:g“mm{m Dreliohey Teparta of the o preliminary rej o uake as showing that “though l;.l.oré:gn brick buildings of - three and four stories went through the experience without suffering material damage, there were many old brick buildings in the district,” the New York Sun points out that “because of the effect of the frame houses in general suffered little material damage. Buildings of con- crete masonry, in general, were only superficially damaged; all the principal structural frame buildings wese es- sentially undamaged, and Was as true of those built of structural steel as of those built of reinforced concrete.” That paper also refers to the fact that if the shock had come a few hours earlier, “loss of life would have been appalling in the schools.” A State measure for investigation of the sch&ol:hor mfiAnlel‘el County, di- rected e question of responsibility for construction faults. is discussed by the San Prancisco Chronicle, with a demand for investigation of the schools of the whole State, “to make sure that none of the other counties will the suspicion tion,” while the been said,” records the es, “of the with Californis in general, in , met dy. o the | politicians murn his uhtry of government, !xph}.nln. of St 85 Sy with suspi~lon and d':iou: