Evening Star Newspaper, April 11, 1933, Page 8

t © {THE EVENING STAR E WASHINGTON, D. C. TUESDAY........April 11, 1033 B AN o mmw. NOYES... .Editor hmgl;:sfmnm 11 ) N neg S Pl A 'ork et Rate by Carrier Within the City. -45c per month d ake Michigan Buildisis. egent St. Londe Engiand. i ay Star. 5c per copy liection made at the end of each month. Orders may be sent in by mail or telephone NAtional 5000, Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. Daily and Sunday. { :: x:u.m 1mo., 85¢c ily only . 1mo., Bonda ons " : 1o, 40 e 1 Daily and Sunday. only .. sy 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- ited in this paper and alse the local news published herein. All rights of publication of special dispatches herein sre also reserved. == The Tennessee Valley. ,President Roosevelt in his proposal to Congress for the development of the TTennessee River Valley would have the Federal Government tackle two prob- lems. The first is the proper develop- ment of the great natural resources of the river and its basin. The sec- ond is the regulation of hydroelectric power in interstate commerce, with all its ramifications, touching the financ- ing of these public utilities and the fixing of reasonable rates. p The Federal Government already has oon the Tennessee River a huge invest- ment in the Muscle Shoals power and fertilizer plants. The continued idle- ness of this “great national investment,” the President said in his message to mmmmnmw.nm—:m» ation ‘“to enlist this project in the service of the people.” Mr. Roosevelt, however, has looked far beyond the Muscle Shoals power and fertilizer plants in his vision of the development of the valley of the Tennessee River. He has recommended that complete plans be made dealing with flood con- trol, forestation, the elimination of marginal agricultural lands and the de- wvelopment of transportation and indus- tries in this great basin. His vision has taken the President even further. He has said that if successful in the Ten- nessee River Valley project, the plan- ning. should be extended to a “like development of other great natural ter- ritorial units within our borders.” If the President’s vision is pursued further there appears the possibility of the development of the entire Missis- sippl Valley and the valleys of the tribu- taries of that river, and of the great rivers lying to the West, including the Columbia. If the Tennessee River Val- ley can be made to realize the dream of the President and can become the home and the workshop of millions more Americans, the national development suggested by the Chief Executive may in future provide and properly care for untold millions of people. So much for the physical part of the development. plan. Of great and im-, mediate interest is the second feature of the President’s proposal, expected to be embodied in the Tennessee Valley Authority bill, which looks to Federal control of electricity in interstate com- merce. If the plans of Senator Norris of Nebraska, who in season and out has pressed for legislation similar to that proposed now by the President, are carried out, the Government will pro- duce, transmit and sell electricity from south of the Wall another of those pre- the great Muscle Shoals plant. And beyond that, it will undertake to regu- late the interstate transportation of power, heat and light electrically de- veloped, much as it has regulated inter- | state transportation by the railroads. | ‘This proposal naturally will be of huge interest to the public utilities which | have been developed unddt private ownership and private management and control. Here is presented a great question, of interest to millions and perhaps to all the people since electricity has become the light of the Nation. Not only are the people lighted by electricity, but millions of them are interested finan- eclally in the business of lighting the Nation, of providing power and heat. When the Federal Government under- takes to regulate electricity in inter- state commerce it may easily go into the matters of financing these public utilities and to the fixing of reasonable rates for the services which they per- form and the products they sell. Efforts may be made to distinguish between the | transportation service and the actual| power and current produced, and the | contention developed that while the | Pederal Government may fix rates for | transporting the eleciricity, it is not| empowered to fix the cost to the con- sumer of the product so transported. How far the Government may go, there- fore, in the matter of regulation will become an issue. | If the Government, through its great plant in the Tennessee Valley and other plants which may be developed, under- takes to produce and sell electricity to | the ultimate consumers, the private cit- | izens engaged in the business of pro- ducing and transmitting and selling electricity may easily find the compe- | tition of the Government too great to meet. Then arises the whole ques- tion of Government ownership and operations of all these public utilities. -t President Roosevelt visits Rapidan. Former Secretary of State Stimson is invited into diplomatic conference. His retirement from office stops a long way short of classifying Mr. Hoover as one of the forgotten men. s New Battle on an 0ld Front. ‘The advent of legal beer, according | to an Associated Press dispatch quoting the Employers’ Association of Chicago, “signalizes the opening of onecf the deadliest battles that has yet developed on the hcodlum front. The hoodlum bosses of the rackets will now go into acticn in the new field of legitimate beer, prepared for the battle of thcir lives. It is going to be a battle which law enforcement authorities and legiti- mate business interests outside the brewing industry cannot view with de- tachment or unconcern.” b ¢ that legalimation of 50c | pre-prohibition era they will bend all an idle dream, of to| is lucky indeed, if rarity counts. would the farm, maybe, i is cthevwise, . Rackets are not confined to the illigitimate trades or illegal in- dustries. But the forces of law and order have won & powerful friend and aliy in some of the wet organizations which in the past were inclined to view bootlegging and racketeering as the inevitable ac- companiments of prohibition, not to be got rid of until prohibition was ended. Now that prohibition has ended, as far s beer is concerned, it is necessary for them to justify the strength of previous | arguments by demonstrating that the beer racketeer and bootlegger can be wiped out through legalization of beer. There are, in addition, the legitimate brewers, always skilled in propaganda, who must join the war against boot- legging and racketeering in self-protec- tion against illegal competition. If those who have fought prohibition, | assisted by those who now make a | legitimate profit from the beer industry, borrow & leaf from the history of the end racketeering or bootlegging in the liquor traffic. energy in spotling them at the outset and striving for the elimination of abuse and violation of the Federal and local beer laws. If they are unable to show any lasting benefits from legaliza- tion of beer in stamping out the evils | of bootlegging and racketeering, their | chief argument in favor of liberalizin the law and, later, ending all Federal prohibition will have been lost. Japan Invades “China Proper.” ‘Throughout the past year and a half of her military activities in Manchuria, | and latterly in the Province of Jehol, Japan has consistently argued that she was not operating in or against “China Proper.” The Tokio contention is that Manchukuo and Jehol never really were parts of China and that therefore there has been no invasion either of that unhappy country’s rights or of her territory. On the same theory, Japa- nese negotiations are now in progress to persuade ten Mongolian tribes to | secede from China and join Charhar Province to Jehol. It will not be so easy to maintain the “China Proper” politico-geographical fiction after the military movements Just launched by the Japanese army at the Great Wall. Yesterday it opened & sudden offensive against the Chinese forces along twenty-five miles of the ancient battlement that separates China into North and South—the Mason and Dixon’s line of the Orlent—for the purpose of establishing a ‘“neutral zone” beyond the Great Wall. The Japanese desire to make the zone wide enough to protect the sbuthern border of Manchukuo. Once the proposed “neutral” area is created, it can,‘of course, only be maintained by Japanese occupation. If that comes to pass, it will mark the scrapping of one more of the solemn pledges which Tokio has given to the world since the Mukden curtain- raiser of September 18, 1931, inaugu- rated the Manchurian tragedy. Time and again assurances have emanated from Japan—some of them are on file in our own State Department—that “under no circumstances” would Japa- nese forces seek to penetrate beyond the Great Wall into “China Proper.” It is true that these affirmations have sometimes had & string tied to them, such as the proviso that the imperial troops would push on into “China Proper” only if China's own actions forced so regrettable an operation. For example, the Tokio war department declares that “how far” the new move- ment twelve miles south of Shanhai- kwan “will develop depends entirely on the Chinese.” But the world today will, it is to be feared, be a little inclined to read into the news about Japan’s “neutral zone” texts of which the alibi-rich Tokio mili- tarists seem to have an inexhaustible supply. The suspicion is bound to arise that the process of nibbling China to THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTO in a city a horseshoe lying in a street is almost as exceptional as a fragment of & meteor. The other day in New ‘York & horse shoe lay on the pavement of a busy thoroughfare unnoticed for of the wheel flung it loose after a few turns and it was cast twenty feet and hit a boy in the head, inflicting a grave injury. No luck for him in that horse- shoe. Does that reversal of the influgnce of the horseshoe signify that the unseen forces of earth are protesting the passing of the animal that for countless generations rendered such faithful service to man? Henry Van Dyke. Henry Van Dyke, veteran poet and preacher, publicist and diplomat, fisher- man and apostle of the out-of-doors, is dead, and a multitude of friends mourn his departure But his eighty years of life were so crowded with enterprise and achievement; he lived so abundantly, so richly and in so many different spheres of effort, that it is difficult to concelve of him as being gone and his labor terminated. He appeared destined to survive forever; he gave the impres- sion of having outgrown all danger of the accident of dissolution. To his Juniors he seemed a permanent insti- tution whose existence was assured by the excellent use he made of its oppor- tunities. But during the past year he had been quietly preparingsfor well earned rest, and now, not tragically and not painfully, he has his release. It is a natural circumstance, and the fact eases the grief which his public, known and unknown, feels at the moment of parting with him. The story of Van Dyke's career prompts appreciation of what a funda- mentally good experience a life can be. He was not a brilliant genius with the handicap of inability to arrange a com- fortable adjustment with society, but he did have enough of the divine fire burning in his mind to render it pos- sible for him to do surpassingly well all the scores of things he attempted. He was so constituted as to deserve success, to win it easily and to enjoy it to the full. He was fortunate from first to last. A philosophic liberal by temperament, he was called upon to make no constricting compromises; an optimist, his enthusiasms were gentle and polite, never expensively exuber- ant. He paced through the years, pass- ing from one eminence to another with dignity and honor. He had in his soul & placid serenity which was, undoubt- edly, a source of strength to him. He stood apart from unnecessary quarrels and dissensions, and when other men tired of strife they instinctively turned back to him in anticipation of construc- tive help, which he never withheld. But he was not wholly a cloistered sage. On the contrary, he knew the meaning of passion quite as well as any of his contemporaries. And when he was stirred by the spectacle of injustice his wrath was a fearsome phenomenon. “The Potsdam gang,” for example, never had a more bitter foe. Religious intoler- ance, likewise, brought from him scorn- ful denunciation. He could fight when he wished. The point is that he was not often willing. His preference was for the pleasant paths of peace. Probably Van Dyke, the Presbyterian pulpit orator, the Princeton professor of literature, the Wilsonian Minister to The Netherlands, will be forgotten; but Van Dyke the poet and the essayist will remain, and from time to time, espe- cially when they are troubled, readers will seek him out with love and grati- tude. ——e—. Uncle Sam's business has gone on with remarkable rapidity since March 4. Less speed may be expected as further details come up. A tariff discussion is something that always takes time, ————t——————— By urging Germany to get rid of Hit- ler, Moscow gives Stalin an implied in- dorsement as a comparatively mild and pieces, crymb by crumb, is in relentless and irresistible progress, Dispatches relate that Viscount Ishii, well known and highly respected in Washington, is coming here to repre- sent Japan at the pre-Economic Con- ference conversations to be held by President Roosevelt with foreign govern- ments. It is stated that the seasoned Far Eastern statesman will be author- ized and prepared to discuss the whole range of international questions in which the United States and Japan have a mutual interest. Viscount Ishii is not unaware that President Roose- velt is on recent record as holding the sanctity of internatijonal treaties to be the “corner stone” of good relations among the nations. The American Gov- ernment will hardly fail to find occasion to tell Viscount Ishii that the buffeting o which Japan has subjected the nine- power treaty and the Kellogg pact comes conspicuously within the orbit of the Japanese-American questions in which the United States has the liveliest interest. ——————— Frozen deposits are being rapidly res leased. There may be other severe financial Winters, but there will be less skating on thin ice. e Horseshoes. At the turn of the century the motor car was called the “horseless carriage.” It was veritably a curiosity. When one went through the streets people stopped : to watch it, wondered at it, some derid- ing it as assured of failure, others wel- coming it as a great advance. For per- haps a decade the horse held its own as & motive power, bul as the automobile was improved, as the motor was per- fected, the animal that had for centuries been relied upon by man for transporta- tion was gradually replaced, until today the appearance of one of them, attached to a carriage or a wagon, in the streets of a large city, is almost as much & cause | of wonderment as was the chugging, snorting, comparatively crawling con- traption of thirty or so years ago. ‘The horeshoe once was regarded as a token of good luck. When me was found it was usually taken for a mascot. Nailed over a door it was considered as & protection against witches. It was held in Welsh folk lore to be lucky be- | cause it was crescent shaped, was a part of a horse’s equipment and was made of | iron, the crescent being a resemblance to | the halo, the horse, in ancient English | mythology, being a harbinger of good | fortune, and iron held to possess mi- | raculous protecting powers. Lord Nelson | {nailed a horseshoe to the mainmast of the Victory, his fiagship. Nowadays the finder of a horseshoe on but humane type of dictator. ———— SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Sufficiency. How often have the poets told That sorrow makes the heart more bold, And sad experience belongs ‘To heroes who inspire the songs. Those who must write and those who read, Like heroes, discipline will need. But now men say, “This training's tough! We've liad enough! “The wintry days were dark and chill. The sun oft loitered ’'neath the hill. The speeches that folks would rehearse Were often bad. The songs were worse, And yet men never have denied That souls must frequently be tried. But trials haye become too rough. We ask, ‘Have we not had enough?' ” Keeping Up Appearances. “Why don't you take a vacation?” “I haven't time,” answered Senator Sorghum. ” “Are you -working hard?” “No. But I've got to be mighty care- ful not to quit looking as if I were.” Jud Tunkins says sometimes a man thinks he’s a great leader when he's only & runaway hoss. Diplomatic Circles. In diplomatic circles they present Innumerable phrases most polite. We try to tell just how the talking went And say at last “in circles” must be right. Too Anxiously Considered. “Do you approve of beer?” “Yes,” said Uncle Bill Bottletop. “If it's only another kind of ‘soda water mebbe it's just as well for people to take it into their alimentary tracts and get it off their minds.” ‘We've had enough! “It is better to go on telling the old stories,” said Hi Ho, the sage of China- town, “than strive for the originality which in desperation turns to idle | gossip.” Lure of the City. The forest seems exceeding good, We like to wander through it. But when it comes to chopping wood Few people like to do it. For now. since many will contrive ‘To greet a foaming flagon, ‘The workless man aspires to drive A handsome brewery wagon. . “A man dat dont think of nobody but hisself,” said Uncle Eben, “is at least sure dat he will u*h entirely friendless™ b T b THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. A favorite theory of ours has always been that music is fundamentally sad. This is interestingly borne out by the songs of most of the birds. Almost every one of them pipes its Iay in a minor key. ‘There are few bird songs which begin or end on a major. Always associated with this poign- ancy is the further melancholy derived from incessant repetition. Every one who has listened to the mountaineer songs, or to the South Sea Island ditties, has been struck by | the sadness of repetition. * x *x * Over and over again goes the short strain, usually a form of quatrain, as it would be called in verse, At the fourth repetition, no matter how jolly and swinging the tune, ihe thing begins to “bore in” on the heart. Usually each bird has but one song, with variations. Most often these vari- ations are nothing more than leaving off a note. If there are four notes in its song, the bird sings, upon occasion, only three of them. The very next time it may be four notes (the quatrain formula), but then again it may do three, or even boost it to five. * K ok % ‘The mathematically inclined listener, who attempts to check up on the per- formance, will be unable to reduce the bird and its song to probabilities. There is no forecasting how the bird will sing it. One time he will do three notes, an- other four, and the next time three again. The moment a human being begins to believe that he has discovered the bird has a system, the creature shows hhlr; ]‘I}llst h?:l wrong he is. ere is any sort of system in tl song of birds, the birds have not dl’l‘f covered it. * K % % The most lugubrious birdlet of the season was sitting on a locust bough, high up, just where the tip of the wistaria reached. He was a small bird, so minute that it was difficult to note at a distance whether he really had the crest he seemed to have. He was, at this distance, nothing but a song. And what & sad song it was, to be sure; it welled out of a minute throat with all the perfect precision of a steam calliope; it crashed over the lawn and into a waiting pair of ears. It's power did not make it a happy song, instead it but added to its mirth- less tone. 'R R Unhappy to the last degree, to hu- man ears, was that bird’s song. It consisted of two notes, exactly spaced, and the same, followed by from two to four more, but lower down in the scale, and each the same as its mate. ‘The listener, if he had attempted to reduce the song to musical notation, would have found himself confronted with the problem. which always has faced those who- dared ‘to attempt it. It is the impossibility of ascribing conscious melancholy to a bird. * Kk * ‘The bird is not consciously unhappy, he is simply singing; he knows nothing about happiness or sadness, as such, High Lights on the Wide World Excerpts From Newspapers of Other Lands ORTH CHINA HERALD, Shang- hal—If the 'nm::hnx all Lon- is blame the smaller y. In its usually excellent review of the year the Times devoted about half of an ar- ticle on the League of Nations to & brief and - competent account of the Manchurian affair and the Lytton Com- mission activities. Reference was made to Shanghai’s troubles thus: “In January, after some anti-Japa- nese rioting, the Japanese admiral landed marines and troops at Shanghai. A small, useless and inconclusive war was waged—without war being de- clared—between Japan and China in the area just north of Shanghai. The International Settlement was en- dangered and & detachment of British troops was sent from Hongkong on Feb- ruary 1.” The brwttgeox this plece of compres- sion is matched by the curt disposal of China in a six-and-a-half column ar- ticle on foreign affairs thus: “The Cantonese government set up the previous year in opposition to Nan- king was formally dissolved in January. The financial position of China re- mained irregular and unstable, and banditry flourished. In Manchuria two British subjects, Mr. Corkran and Mrs. Pawley, were kidnaped near Newchang on September 7 and only ransomed and rcleased on October 20.” The value of so perfunctory a contri- bution to current history is not easy to assess. * K K % Cat-fighting Barred By Siamese Officials,; Bangkok Daily Mail—The recent ap- plication of a local sport lover for per- mission to establish a cat-fighting arena in Bangkok has been refused on various grounds, including the fact that such fights would violate the regulations re- garding cruelty to animals. It is understood that a new applica- tion has been. submitted by a different party for permission to establish a dog- fighting arena. * kK ¥ English Pacifists Praised in Italy. Corriere Della Sera, Milan.—Tt is said that a group of thoughtful and religious students at Oxford University in Eng- land are deliberating the tenets of a new faith which henceforward would bind them not to fight for King nor country. Not that they are to be con- sidered in any sense disloyal, but only that they may be recognized as con- scious of a Christianity and human fellowship which is not bounded by geography or politicil boundary lines. Insomuch as this group may be clas- sified among the highest of any nation in culture and educational training, the conception of these philanthropic views has much more than an incidental or transient significance. For the time is passing, if not already past, when those who stand for godliness against worldli- ness must suffer persecution and politi- cal or social disibility. We have seen the same advancing trend in the awakening of our own country to & fuller perception that our problems are not merely national or local, but that conditions in every other quarter of the globe, in these diys of instant com- munication and rapid transit, affect us more and more, either for better or for | ! worse, When we can throw our whole in- fluence and power, along with the same factors of every other nation, into the | scale of things for good against the evil, we will find that the world will, as it were, overnight awake to a millennium of prosperity and felicity w{nch a hundred wars could never win, The fact is that the strife between good and evil is irreconcilable. We have tried to combine and placate both and the state of the world has been steadily growing worse,” The en- deavor to placate and harmonize de- praved and desperate men has shown itself a tragic fallacy. Such under- stand not the spirit of gentleness and moderation, but interpret every favor and concession as an evidence of sur- render or admitted inferiority, And 50 both individéals and nations are emboldened and excited wo further in- justice and deadly atrocities. But the time cannot much longer be dela; when both sa individuals and as & ns- tion we must choose with sure and D. C, TUESDAY, APRIL 11, 1933. and, above all, he knows nothing about music. If he is sad, it is sad Nature | in him. If his song is musical, as we hear it, it is not so to him. It is not even a song, to him. It does not even occur, as far as he knows anything about it. If a human listener puts down & bird’s song with a pen on ruled musical paper, what he is attempting to do is to | turn bird into human. . | Well, it cannot be done. No matter how accurately he hits it, something is lacking. It is the bird. * * x % As accurately as a song may be tran- scribed, it must be “translated” into sounds by means of some instrument. If this is & violin, it may be pointed | out that the bird has no violin. If a piano, in justice to the creature it must be stressed that it does not know the keys. ¢ No matter what instrument one chooses to interpret the bird songs, it smacks of man, and man is not a bird, at least in the realistic sense. Out of the millions of human beings in the world, only a hundred or so are able to imitate accurately the birds. Of these, there may be no more than a dozen who would fool the birds themselves. * K ok X ‘The song of *most birds is of & pen- sive, melancholy tone; it is depressed, | disconsolate, joyless, dreary. All this, only if accurately heard. Accepted on the fly, as it were, the songs of the birds are cheerful enough. It must be accurately understood that the total effect of their music is some- thing else than the immediate effect. The latter is gay, surrounded as it is, especially at this season, with the bud- ding vegelation, the sunshine, the in- creased hopes of mankind, always at their highest in the Spring. The total effect of a bird song, how- ever, is different from the immediate, and especiallv the mass effect of & group of singing birds. ‘Together the birds achieve harmony, when they do not lend themselves, as /they sometimes do, to cacophony, as in the early morning hours, when they strike the sensitive ear with the same force that arises from a great orches- tra “tuning up.” * K kX Each individual bird song, rightly heard, with an effort to hold it single for what it is, will create a feeling of unrest in 2 human listen a pi mind. It makes no attempt to correct what it is into something it would like itself to be. It is Nature, and Nature has a flaw in it, somewhere. This sad truth is at the base of all religions, and systems of ethics. It is the apple in the Garden of Eden. Man knows it, but man covers it up. The bird knows it, but the bird does not conceal it. He opens his bill and he sings; and when he sings he does so in a distinctly minor key, to tell the whole world truly what the whole world knows. Surely this does not make the birds’ songs any the less enjoyable, or any the less beautiful. The sorry beliet that happiness is dependent upon laughter is merely a modern mani- festation; it has arisen, it is having its day, and it will die out, because it is false. The true, as told to us in. the songs of the birds, will sound forever. swift finality whom we shall serve. Heh Bt e se ly o worship both the devil and the Deity? As Christians and as we Italians are in the most preferred and strategic position to wield the instru- ments of universal reform. Our states- men are among the world’s greatest thinkers and diplomats. Rome is the mother-city of the ristian faith and holds the world already in a species of spiritual unanimity and iso- lation regardless of all racial, national and political differences. The rel entity of the church is far too in- clusive and unified in love and fellow- ship to be affected adversely by suc- cessive turmoils incited by the bellicose and godless men to be found in every le. The Fascists, too, stand for brother- hood and co-operation among men, and the sharing of duty and responsi- bility. They require a loyal and con- certed action of all for the benefit and security of all. With these, an equal distribution of all good things for its equivalent in effort is the ideal, and comforting reality. Granted these ex- alted privileges and special rtuni- ties, it becomes us, and is indeed re- quired of us, more than of any other nation, to lead the way to the clear heights of universal confraternity, when wars and rumors of wars are known no more. The whole world has stumbled in its blindness, but the way out of disaster is easy and simple when the peoples pu: aside all greed and employ true fellowship. Twenty Planes Together. From the Atlanta Journal. It has beeh a habit with romances to lament that Lindbergh, the DO-X, the Graf Zeppelin and other pilots and vessels of the transatlantic sphere have closed out a dramatic chapter in | the history of aviation. There is noth- | ing more, they have said sadly, to be done—nothing except to follow the es- tablished trails and refine upon the established services for trave] over the ocean. In a sense this may be true. The world can never again, perhaps, feel the same tremendous thrill that came with the first heroic feats in the battle to conquer an ocean without touching it. That part of the story is written across the sky in letters so bold there is little room left except for the smaller type which will be given to expansion- ists. But the project of Gen. Italo Balbo to fly the Atlantic, with a fleet of 20 seaplanes is novel enough to at- tract universal interest and respect. Never before have the invaders of the ether attempted such a broad- scale attack upon the elements. On May 24 the 20 planes, flying in formal formation, will leave Rome, and skim to Amsterdam. the route will be to Northern Scotland; thence to Reykjavik, in Iceland; thence to Labrador over the hazardous north- ern route, and so to Montreal and Chi- cago, the American destination, Here is an example of aerial progress staggering in its implications. From single and doubtful efforts to span the Atlantic, the Italians will move into a higher level of enberfrlxe by treating he ocean as a practice field for ma- neuvers. All the planes, it may be, will not come through, but every pilot will be protected from disaster by his com- }:nmmu. None of the men should ail to reachus, even if some of the machines do fail. ———e—— A Dulled Blade. From the Toledo Blade. . a Detroit man remarks, “Public sentiment has me & weapon with a very dull edge.” Uh-huh. It's now blunt instrument. —_——— Pa’s Old Car. ®rom the Detroit News. ‘Tactful inquiries are advisable before saughing at the college boy who bounces down the street in a dilapidated 1917 model. It may be his father’s. an ideal which soon becomes & most | his THE BIG CAGE. By Clyde Beatty, with Edward Anthony. New York: The Century Co. Many volumes have been written |and many words have been uttered | during the past fifty years on the pe- | culiarities, the habits and the tastes| of the American people. All sorts of | reasons have been proclaimed by psy- | | chologists and other learned delvers into the intellectual and emotional re- actions of the United States brand of mankind, as well as by just plain, ordinary students of human nature. The accumulated opinions expressed on this subject would very nearly filll to its capacity a good-sized library and yet not one of these works of | wisdom has produced an ounce of sub- | stantial proof in support of a theory, nor has any one of them, or all of them put together, changed by a hair’s breadth the likes and dislikes of the mass of the people. Some day maybe one of the world's great sages will discover the reason why the American temperament is unlike that of any other national group on the earth. When that memorable day arrives the aforementioned wise man is likely to prove to be an humble member of society, minus any claim to fame as a leader of thought, and his verdict will probably be based upon something as simple as the quality of water we drink, the style of hats we wear, the sort of curtains we hang at our windows or the price we pay for a second-hand name plate to hang on the front door. A super-sage, indeed, will be he who can accurately account for the queer impulses which drive the human machine to extraordinary ma- terial achievements and which in almost nine cases out of ten never seek to satisfy ihe natural craving of the spirit for the enjoyment of beautiful and cultural things. Given a choice between visiting a famous art gallery or prizefight, the average American will choose the lat- ter; if the choice should be between listening to an inspiring’ program of symphonic music or going to a ball game, he will take the ball game; or if the choice should lie between see- ing an immortal drama or g to the circus, the vote would be in favor of the big tent. Why? The answer is simple. Mr. United States Citizen and his family like thrills, Why they like thrills is the question which must be answered by the sage of the future. There are wonderful thrills, of course, in beautiful paintings and sculptures, in music and in drama, but these are too spiritual, too intangible for the masses of this country, as at present consti- tuted, to grasp and enjoy. The thrills they demand are of variety that hit them in the pit of stomach and give them the same sensation which is experienced when an elevator in which they are riding makes a rapid plunge. This extraordinary taste for thrills at the expense .of living beings has led to the development of many remarkable professions in this country, and this interesting story by Clyde Beatty is the outgrowth of one of them. Collaborat- ing with Mr. Beatty in the writing of “The Big Cage,” Edward Anthony, who was a co-author of “Bring 'Em Back the ,” has_helped woudzrguny to give tale smoothness and style. ‘Twelve years ago Clyde Beatty ran from h’ school and a producing been believed by the greatest trainers of other generations to be impossible. The most remarkable act of all has been developed during the past five years, and it consists of forty lions and tigers —natural enemies of the jungle—per- forming stunts in a thirty-two-foot arena. In one decade this daring youth has risen from cage boy to heights never before attained by any member of ‘profession. It has been the job of Clyde Beatty to train all species of wild animals, but this volume is devoted almost exclu- sively to the processes of “educating” the big cats of the jungle to under- stand simple cues which mean the per- formance of extraordinary acts. In the earlier days of the traveling circus a few comparatively simple stunts suf- grandstand mnut eaters and pop drinkers for thrills. But that reasonably placid audience has vanished and in its place has grown a more selfish group of spectators, avidly demanding bigger and more dangerous The trainer of wild animals has been produce these more risky thrills, and 0 the present time the author of book has delivered more of them than any other individual in the pro- fession. 'The fact that the profession is one in which danger is incessant would seem to be no to Beatty, for he loves it. charges will never tertain spark of affection for him and that, h they respect him in most in- stances to his face, he can never turn his back upon them without risk of attack. He knows also that only pa- tience and kindness and respect for the endurance of his pupils during their training can win them to do his bidding, and he has never struck an animal except in self-defense when trapped in an attack. Even then his only defense-is an ordinary kitchen chair, used to divert the attention of the animal and not to strike, to scare or_to anger the attacker. Into the discard for all time goes all the clap-trap about training animals for theatrical performances by means of cruelty. The majority of people al- ready know that the difference between wild and domestic animals in this re- spect is that the latter can be cowed by ill-treatment and that the former can not only never be cowed, but that they hold grudges and will never for- give an offense. Mr. Beatty's chapter on this phase of his work is one which every individual should read and take to heart, for it is a lesson on ethics in the handling of all creatures, whether denizens of the jungle or the cats which nocturnally congregate on back fences. ‘There are chapters on how these enormous cats are given tfeir school- ing, and the surprising and unaccount- able things they do. They have their individual hatreds and loves for each other, and they never fail to take ad- vantage of an opportunity to settle a fight with a rival. In many instances their performances are much the same as would be those of members of the human race in the same circumstances. There are many stories about individual lions and tigers who are favorites with the audiences, presenting the trizls and tribulations of their trainer in getting them educated, and in keeping them in order and on their good behavior dur- ing a performance. Other chapters tell of many narrow escapes of the author from death at the claws and teeth of his jungle “pets” —and there have been so many close calls that the layman wonders how he has managed to keep alive. Also Mr. Beatty gives delicious accounts of the contents of his fan mail, the varieties of people who call on him at all hours, the vicious attacks upon him by cranks who call out the humane societies, and the arena-struck boys and girls who want to enter the cage with him and phrticipate in the act. ‘The volume is embellished with a col- lection of sixty-four full-page photo- le many of the totally un- glibly repeated theories and beliefs regarding the training of wild” animals to act in theatrical per- and to answer many ques- no further value it Two at a Time. Prom the New York Sun. NS t deal more value than that, for ficed to gratily the demands of the | foy. urpose of this volume has been | will follow ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS o} BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN. Take advantage of this free service. If you are one of the thousands who have patronized the bureau, write us again. If you have never wused the service, begin now. It is maintained for your benefit. Be sure to send your name and address with your question e mmmmw‘ the time of such failure.” L Q. Where is Al Capone $mprise oned?—W. J. 8. A. In the United Btates Peniten< tiary at Atlanta, Ga. and inclose three cents in coin or stamps | for return postage. Do not use post cards. Address The Evening Star In- formation Bureau, Frederic J. Haskin, Director, Washington, D. C. Q. Are there any outstanding foot ball coaches who acquired their knowl- edge of the game from literature per- taining to the game, and not from par- ticipation in the game itself?—A. G. A. Grantland Rice, noted sports writer, says that while it is undoubt- edly true that a number of the well known athletic instructors and coaches were not themselves outstanding per- formers in their specialties, practically all of them have had p! experi- ence and a very large majority of them played on university teams. A few of the well known foot ball coaches never made the university team; for instance, Bob Zuppke of Illinois and W. A. Alex- ander of Tech, but they played foot ball nevertheless. Q. How long has Child Health day been observed?—G. T. A. The first celebration of the day was in 1924, Q. Is there any food value in car- bonated beverages?—M. R. A. The food value of an average 612~ ounce bottle of carbonated beverage is from 827 to 103.4 calories, depending upon the sugar content. Q. What is carried in a solider’s pack?—G. N. A. The following are the articles that are contained in a soldier’s pack: Knife, fork, spoon, comb, toothbrush, bar of soap, shaving brush, shaving cream, tooth paste, safety razor, canteen, cup, meat pan, first-aid packet, round of ammunition, canteen cover, blanket, onc-half tent shelter, tent pole, five tent pins, one rope, suit of underwear, handkerchief, pair sox; during the Win- | ter an overcoat or raincoat is carried. During war time an extra pair of shoes and a helmet are carried. Q. Has a woman ever been u.ufi'edu h:." xufi. e dlfl!nv:: eve € A a dally clrculation “of 167,000, with 193,000 on Saturday. Q. Did President Monroe die & poor man?—C. N. p‘ymmt of $30,000 to him, and after his death the purchase of his papers. Q. What is meant by crotch ma- hogany?—G. R. B. figured wood the tree at or nurl:crotch. 1t is also called feather crotc] Q. What is a good tive dress- ing to be applied m‘m bind- . The Bureau of Standards suggests thin coatings of egg albumen (whites of eggs). The use of ammonia for and preserving the solution should be avoided, but the whites, after th beating, may be made antiseptic by addition of a small quantity of camphor, thymol or some essential oil. In some cases vaseline is a satisfactory pre- servative for leather book bindings. Its use should be governed by the texture of the leather. 3,. vahy are objects different in color? A. White light, or daylight, is a mix- ture of all wave lengths and the bodles upon which it falls absorb certain wave engths and throw back the remainder. This causes the different colors. Q. Who wrote “Goal of Creation,” “Brain . Tests” and other books under the name Edwin S| sbury ?—H. C. W. A. It was the pseudonym of Webster m!dte“:;l:'. who was born in 1852 and died . 15 it necessary to be an sccom- a can- didate for the presidency of the United States?—B. T. A. Mrs. Belva Lockwood was the candidate for President of the Equal Rights party in 1884 and 1888. Q. How many kinds of maple trees are there in the United States from maple sirup and maple sugar?—G. 8. A. There are 13. However, 80 to 90 ver cent of sirup and sugar comes from the sugar or hard maple. Q t is safety glass composed of>—R. S. Pl horseman in order to over a national park trail on horsel ?— . C. A. The horses and mules available for these trips are so trained that need no guidance from their riders. Saddle-animal parties are always un- der supervision of a competent person. Q. How many people subscribed to the fund whlch"u raised by the In- augural Committee?—C. T. A. mm?fl?fia sul amounting ,455. This - repaid in full. g are seen in the new bankruptcy law. “There is a place for the railroads dispensable transportation an in " declares the Topeka Daily basis would be welcomed by the whole Nation,” says the Oakland Tribune, with a demand for “altering legislation which has put the steam lines at a disadvantage and which was drawn in circumstan times when ices were vastly ‘The Tribune feels that “it lines to emerge from present difficul- On _the other hand, the Buffalo managers ht first have & good try at self-help be- ernment. “In_the final analysis,” thinks the Providence Journal, “it is not only railroad labor that is interested in the settlement of the railroad problem. are millions of other workers, cutnumbering the railroad employes many times over, whose recovery of their old jobs depends upon getting the transportation of goods by rail re- duced.” The Chicago Journal of Com- merce asks: “Does the administration propose to operate the lines, however they may be consolidated, for the bene- fit of labor alone, for the continuation of many jobs which might be pared down by economies, and of high wages which appear to be desired?” As the situation is described by the Spokane Spokesman-Review: “On the one hand, agriculture, the orchard industry, the forest industries, the mines and other basic industries are testing, with ve relief from railroad managers are saying that must have increased revenues if they are to avoid bamkruptcy. The third angle, the railway employes, are mili- tant against wage reductions.” The Spokane paper em; sion-that “ove In, weight on many railroad “The m&luddlg is an authentic and thrilling account e perhaps the most dfl':nev Immediate Railroad Action Put Strongly Before Nation B & H i g g { i g 34 g g | ] B H g it £ i ] 5 fore laying their burdens on the Gov- | g H i Will the Racketeer Outlive Prohibition ? From the Cincinnati Times-Star. “The accomplishment of npfil will find the professional booze lord deter- mined to keep his present grip. * * * I anticipate an increase o‘! omicides * * * acrime surge * * * an era of racketeering, based upon nearing_s- elimax.” | self to be