Evening Star Newspaper, May 23, 1933, Page 8

= A—8 THE EVENING o) AR, WASHINGTON, D. C., TUESDAY, MAY 23, 1933. w‘ THE EVENING STAR - 'With Sundsy Morning Edition. — " WASHINGTON, D. C. YUESDAY.........May 23, 1033 . THEODORE W. NOYES....Editor " Fhe Evening Star Newspaper Company S i s aed Fenoevivania. Ave ropean Ofice: 14 Regent St Rate by Catrier Within the City. <Fhe Evening g 45¢ per month e Evening and 8 (when 4 Star_ undays ing_and Sunday’ Star Tenen_ s ‘sinda _The Sundsy Btar- 2 < Drdors may be sent tn by mail of telepnone .. RAtional Rate by Mall—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virgima. All Other States and Canada. 137, $12.00: 1 mo. undsy ", '$8.00; 1 mo., i 5% 1mes Member of the Associated Press. & The Associated Press is exclusively entit 3 use tion of all news dis- e e fed To it or ROt otherwise Cred- snd"slio the iocal news rein. Al Tights o . Bomiat Gisbaten in are only e I 3 h ‘Dublication of ‘dispatches here! siso reserved. —_———- American Policy Further Defined. _'In the evolution of the new American forelgn policy the latest step is that taken yesterday by Norman H. Davis, ambassador at large and chief delegate of the United States to the Disarma- “ment Conference at Geneva. While not specifically an advance from the previ- ously declared position, it is neverthe- jess & more explicit definition of the * part which this Government is prepared to play in the relations of the powers of the world. The important part of it "4 contained in these words: s i to consult the other ~B:u; ?;ec:'l;u:‘;l threat to peace with view to averting conflict. ~Further that, in the event that the states, in- conference, determine that a state been of & breach of the ::ce in flh“tfln of its international obligations and take measures against the violator, then, if we concur in the udgment rendered as to the responsible ~and guilty party, we will refrain from - action tending to defeat such col- ;mve eflo;: ;w:m these states may - make to r ‘e peace. - ~We are heartily in sympathy with the %déa that means of effective, automatic and continuous supervision should be us manner. tbems:mnemmm ‘most ’:ccg.x;:tew%‘e: fi:‘: x?zlrc:: ars ound on ailen sofl in violation of treaties. *** Analysis of this statement shows that “the United States reserves the right of “judgment in respect to the responsi- bility and guilt of & nation accused of & breach of the peace in violation of its international obligations. Only when At concurs in such judgment will it contribute by its waiver of its right of trade as a neutral with the offending "or ‘aggressor nation and abstension from 2Dy other action which may tend to de- deat the collective effort of the inter- ‘vening states. This does not pledge the Uhited States to participation in actual ‘warfare. . In one respect the statement by Am- bassador Davis makes & valuable con- tribution to internationsl understanding, that is in the definition of an aggres- sor as “one whose armed forces are found on alien soll in violation of treaties.” This would seem to be & wsimple, clear statement susceptible to To misunderstanding. Similarly there 1s no room for doubt as to the limita- tion put upon American participation. The Government at Washington will determine its part upon its own judg- ment and not upon that of the other states. It will not act, to any extent, until it has concurred in the verdict of guilt rendered by the actively inter- vening powers. - In respect to the matter of arma- “ments, it is now stated that the United States is prepared to go as far as the other states in the way of reduction toward the ultimate objective of the re- duction of armaments “through suc- ecessive stages down to the basis of & domestic police force.” While experi- ence teaches that it will be almost im- possible to reach an agreement respect- ing the size and component elements of such a “domestic police force,” there can be no doubt that even approximate sttainment of such a basis of armament would very greatly lessen the danger of international conflict, especially on -the sssumption of good faith on the part of all states. This statement by Ambassador Davis, made, of course, with the full approval, #f not at the dictation, of the President, is hailed in Furope, particularly by &Great Britain and by France, as a con- structive peace-making and peace-keep- ing proposal. It does not head the United States toward entry into the League of Nations, though it undoubt- edly is a departure from the “splendid isolation” of the United States in re- Jation to the politics and quarrels of the other nations of the world. oo Burdensome Taxation. The House Ways and Means Commit- tee has run true to expected form and has written into the administration’s public works and industries bill in- creases in the normal income tax rates end has made stock dividends subject to personal income taxes for the first time. It also has raised the rate of the Federal gasoline tax. These are the taxes designed to bring in addi- tional revenue to finance the public " works program of $3,300,000,000 and are estimated to produce $221,000,000 of Fevenue annusally. The committee turned down by a wote of 18 to 6 & proposal for & gen- eral manufacturers’ sales tax, consid- ered in many quarters as & much less burdensome form of taxation and & much surer method of raising revenue. The proposal to increase the normal income tax rates and to levy income taxes on stock dividends will meet seri- ous criticism. They will come at a time when there is need for more and .more purchasing power in this eountry to help industry snd agriculture out of the morass in which they find them- selves. The result of these taxes is quite likely to be a still greater burden on the American public. The proposed changes in the income “taxes will fall with great weight on the men and women of moderate means ‘means in this country. end of The tax on stock dividends now ad- vocated by the committee is in effect double taxation. The earnings of cor- porations are taxed, and taxed heavily, at she source. The dividends of cor- porations go to millions of persons of small and moderate means as well as to the rich. The proposed double taxa- tion on the earnings of the corporations in which these millfons of people have invested their earnings and their sav- ings is not a matter which can be lightly considered. Undoubtedly the new proposals of the Ways and Means Committee for additional taxation will be subject to attack in the House. Further, they will be scanned with care by the Senate Finance Committee and by the Senate itself. The surtax imposed by the in- come tax plan starts at $6,000, which adds still more to the burden of the great middle class in this country, on #sc | which industry and agriculture must depend in large part for s market. p— —_— e Viscount Ishii. ‘Washington welcomes Viscount Ishii of Japan, not only as a personal ac- quaintance of more than fifteen years’ standing, but as an eminent envoy of a great people with which the United States has maintained unbrokenly friendly relations and whose rise to the stature of & world power has been watched in this country with abiding interest and genuine pride. Viscount Ishii has come to the United States, like other distinguished foreign states- men recently here, to confer with President Roosevelt on questions about to engage attention at the London Economic Conference. But events in the Far East, especially those now in progress, clothe Viscount Ishii’s pres- ence with a peculiar timeliness and un- common importance. While he was still on the Pacific and nearing San Francisco last week the President of the United States appealed to the heads of fifty-four nations to dedicate them- selves anew to the cause of disarma- ment, peace and especially non-aggres- sion as a condition precedent to inter- national economic restoration. From ‘Tokio came word that Emperor Hirohito has directed his government to inform President Roosevelt that Japan accepts his high-minded proposals “in princi- ple,” but with “important reservations. Though the nature of these reserva- tlons is not indicated, 1t must be sup- posed that they refer to the large-scale military operations in which Japanese armies are now engaged in North China. Seasoned statesman that he is, it is certain that Viscount Ishii would have wished for himself in Washington this week a different “atmosphere” than the one which the Japanese war lords have created, namely, a situation which finds Japanese troops within a day's march each of the ancient Chinese capital of Pelping and the important international trading city of Tientsin, and in occupa- tion of territory south of the Great Wall in “China proper” equal in area to the State of New Jersey. A situation, in other words, which, no matter how strong its faith in the purity of Japan’s purposes, compels the world to fear that China's ancient fears of gradual ab- sorption by her powerful and irresistible neighbor are in process of ruthless real- ization. While early this week giant Japanese war planes hovered menac- ingly over Peiping and Tientsin, word was forthcoming from various Japanese quarters that the military advance might be carried as far south as the Yellow River and that it might not even be arrested until the Province of Shan- tung, which Japan reluctantly restored to China at the Washington Conference in 1922, is reoccupled and once again brought under Nippon's sovereignty. All and sundry of these Japanese military operations and threats since Japan’s troops a few weeks ago pene- trated the Great Wall have been justi- fled on the ground that Chinese forces were offering a resistance which had to be crushed before measures deemed necessary for Japan's protective and self-defensive purposes could be halted. Presumably it is these same “neces- sitles” which form the besis of the “important reservations” Japan will make in accepting President Roosevelt's non-aggression and disarmament pro- posals. Far Eastern dispatches long have credited Japan with the eventual intention of setting up on the Manchuo- kuo model a new Northern Chinese state south of the Great Wall and installing Mr. Pu-Yi, one-time Boy Emperor of China and now the puppet regent of Manchukuo, in the ancient Forbidden City once occupied by his Manchu ancestors in Peiping, as em- peror of & combined Manchurian- North China state under Tokio's suzerainty. It would not be strange, in light of evenis of the past year, to find Japen arguing that such a state has become a fundamental neeessity for the safeguarding of widened Japanese “interests” in China. How even so astute a diplomat as Viscount Ishil is going to reconcile all these developments, accomplished or imminent, with President Roosevelt's world peace program—especially his plans for universal non-aggression pacts —is not at this time easily imaginable. Our distinguished Oriental visitor prob- ably has been on our soil long enough already—the better part of a week—to gather that American public opinion stands aghast at Japen's aggressive policy in China and looks upon it as perhaps the outstanding berrier in the world at this hour to the materializa- | tion of meankind’s hope for an era in which right and justice rather than fire and the sword shall prevail in the relations among nations. Until Japan has realigned herself with those nations which eschew mili- tary aggression as an instrument of na- tional policy, Viscount Ishii must know that the whole-hearted friendship and confidence which the American people yearn to repose in Japan cannot be and will not be extended to her to the de- gree they are anxious to offer them. —_—ra—————— European opposition to disarmament brings up inquiry as to whether nations can be hired to keep the peace or must be punished for breaking it. An Anti-Crime School. A constructive effort toward crime prevention has been undertaken in New York upon the initiative of Police Com- missioner Bolan. He proposes a class for school teachers to train them to fight juvenile delinquency. The teach- ers attending these classes will receive credits to count in their records. Police courses, and‘i‘the teachers will be instructors wjll have charge of the the tendency toward crime in younger children, from the police standpoint. ‘The initial announcement was made the other evening at a dinner meeting of the Lower East Side Community Council. In his address to the teachers there assembled the commissioner said that the project is an effort “to better the lives of the residents of this im- poverished and polyglot section.” That region is a notorious breeding place of crime. Many of the lawbreakers of the great city are youngsters. Their home in- fluences are unwholesome, their en- vironment is conducive to evil com- panionship, their ideals of life are de- based. They lack proper standards. They heroize the gangster and are prone to imitate him as a model. They see the law flouted with relative im- punity, and they not unnaturally come to feel that it is an enemy against which they are justified in literally taking up arms. Far more important than mere book learning for such children is instruc- tion in the danger of criminal associa- tions and practices. Moral guidance, warning them from criminal acts as & means of self-preservation, and the as- surance of a safer if less exciting career are of more value to them than mathe- matics or grammar. The success of such an experiment depends upon the capacity of the teach- ers to impress upon their puplls effec- tively the physical as well as the moral risks of unwholesome companionships and participation in games that turn upon the supposed enmity between the forces of law and order and the mem- bers of the community. If the young- sters can be brought to see clearly that crime is a risk of liberty and per- haps of life, they may be tided over the dangers of adolescence which, un- restrained, lead to the constant re- cruiting of the criminal forces of the ‘metropolis. e Buggestions have been offered that old Teutonic myths be popularized in American thought. It would only be fair to consider, on the other hand, the very simple idea of readjusting Wagner to American thought and language. ‘The music would lose none of its charm for being popularized in new terms. e Lenin's portrait in a Rockefeller mural decoration would have been a subtle form of Russian recognition, which, without being authoritative, would exert popular influence. Art, speaking all languages, is a favorite in- strument of polite propaganda. — e President Roosevelt may do a little fishing, but the public is too much in- terested in announcements he may make concerning public affairs to worry much about the size of the catch. e King Victor Emmanuel bestowed Never expect too much of a book. If you get just one good thing out of it, just one fact new—to you—ask for no_more. Yet many readers expect to be bowled over by the wisdom of a bookly pur- chase. ‘They demand more than any book can give, and then feel dissatisfied with it, and with themselves. * Kk * * If they will not expect too much, they will save themselves in their ex- E;cmnom, for great expectations often ve their drawbacks. ‘What is a book, after all, but words? And words are notoriously faulty. The sincere worker with them, the honest user, knows better than most how inadequate the; 3 ‘The human spirit soars, the mind tries to penetrate darkness. At times they succeed very well. * kX % ‘Then comes the attempt to tell others what they have discovered. And how lamentably the mind and spirit fail to state their case! ‘The intelligent reader, the most de- termined friend of books, realizes the difference between the intention and the results, But who knows the vast gulf as well as_the writer? In the fine glow of composition, he may seem to have done it at last, but in the cold gray dawn of the morning after he knowx‘he‘m: failed again. * Every book has at least one thing to give a reader. It gives him itself. This is the reward which he cannot miss. It may be a cheap book or a fine book, a vulgar book or & beautiful book. Whatever it happens to be it so pre- sents itself. Commonly this reward is overlooked, as some reader throws down a book he does not like for one of a number of possible reasons. He forgets that his very verdict is an indication of some sort of character. * ok k% The book we do not like is like the man we do not like—often enough a Judgment on ourselves, not on the book or_the man. But whether justified or not, the book stands for what it is or what it is not; distinctly something. So it comes about that many a distasteful volume some- how makes a greater impression than a distinctly likable book. Aside from this fundamental charac- ter, which must never be forgotten in any fair judgment, almost any book whatsoever will have at least one point of merit. * k% % It is a sort of game with many read- ers to keep this in mind. Thus they make every new book a search for merit. ‘The good point is the pot of gold at the foot of the rainbow. 1t is the needle in the haystack. It is the proverbial rich man getting into heaven, the camel going through the needle’s eye. * ok k% If a reader purchases a new book on some aspect of food sclence, with the idea of securing vast help therefrom, which may change his whole life, he decorations of great distinction on Goering and Von Papen. This gives the Ttalian monarch the first chance at the spotlight he has had in some time. — e ‘There are many kinds of tax possible. ‘The present inclination is to try them all at once without losing too much valuable time in a complicated process of selection. ———————————— Knoxville celebrates the congressional decision to utilize Muscle Shoals. It is a mild prologue to the celebration that will be due when the work is complete. —e——————— Bonus marchers who decline to serve in reforestation appear to have no prac- tical program before them except to keep marching. SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. The Disregarded Signal. They say Experience will prove ‘The teacher best of all. Our minds toward loftier thought *twill move Her lessons to recall. And yet it was Experience That placed where all could see That word of warning so immense Spelled “P-A-I-N-T.” We smell the perfume and we say “That is the same old stuff.” And then our fingers o'er stray To prove it is no bluff. Experience got second hand Mere fiction seems to be; We must get smudged to understand It's “P-A-I-N-T.” 1t's useless to relate the woe Of cards or dice or rum. Though victims old their perlls show, New perils swiftly come. We scoff at warnings that men frame So thoughtfully and free. We treat plain signals just the same As “P-A-I-N-T.” Human Nature. “Some of your friends disagreed with the ideas of our great leader,” said the constituent. “They didn’t exactly disagree with his ideas,” answered Senator Sorghum. “They just got tired of seeing him have his own way so much of the time.” Jud Tunkins says there’s so much imitation material worn that it looks as if some of the jewelry stores were going off the gold standard. No Human Hibernation. They busy bees now persevere, Much work the ants from day to day do. Had T been loafing half the year Perhaps I'd toll as much as they do. The Discordant Ego. “You like music, of course.” “In moderation,” answered Miss Cay- enne. “My one objection is that it affords an excuse to so many who like any kind of a noise, 50 long as they are making it themselves.” “Peacemakers,” said Hi Ho, the sage of Chinatown, “do not always succeed in stopping a fight. They sometimes get into it themselves and only suc- ceed in making it larger.” The Lady Militant. Tough persons who, in days gone by, Addressed a lady rudely Politeness, now, are forced to try, ‘Though often rather crudely. A bandit, by a lady fair, Was beat up quite unlawful. He sighed, “A woman’s right, I swear, Can land a hit that's awful.” “Dat mule ain't afraid of nuffn’” said Uncle Eben. “De rzu&he cuts up when he sees automobiles™s dat he There no other wag to Jook ai if trained as to the best way to combat tryin' to scare ‘em.” is laying up disappointment for him- self, in lllpl.lk!).l!modpp° +If, on the other hand, he demands eration of Dressmakers. This organi- zation aims at creating Italian fashions e heicy - being granted generous sul to enable it to maintain a “fashion pal- ace” in the public park of Turin, vg:n the latest modes in Italiai clothes will be permanently exhibited. As a large number of Itallan women still cling to Paris as the world’s fashion center, the newspapers are called upon to help in the campaign. Some of the extreme Right Wing Fascist papers have started with a series of caricatures representing abnormally thin girls wearing tilted berets. They urge Italians not to copy these French gl(ut;u but to put on more flesh and lothes. Clever young artists have been en- gaged to create Italian clothes and give thelr figures big hips and sloping shoul- * k%% Delinquent Taxpayers ‘Worried in Hawail Honolulu Advertiser—The poll tax uestion g to agitate those sessment and penalties is a heavy bur- den. While entire elimination of the poll tax may not be practicable, as a matter of common justice delinquent as- sessments should not be levied on per- sons recelving small salaries or low wages. Those, for instance, who can prove that they are receiving less than $75 a month should be immune from back poll tax. After all, such a levy is more or less a relic of the Middle Ages. To put a tax on & man or woman merely for the privilege of living does not comport with modern ideas of human rights. The Ad- vertiser is in favor of the abolition of the poll taxes for persons of small in- comes and eventually doing away with it altogether. * * %% Reforms Expected In Free State Taxes. Irish Independent, Dublin—Next month 70,000 taxpayers in the Free State will receive the forms upon which they are bound to make a return of their income. has been a year in charge of the reve- nue department, we trust that the forms to be sent out and the instructions con- veyed to his officials will give practical effect to the reforms he advocated when in oonpp?ksllluom t occasion Mr. Blythe, then minister for finance, pointed out that the taxpayer is not bound to answer any | questions put to him by the revenue commissioners when cases are being in- vestigated. He admitted tat “hard- ships arise occasionally through the | complexity of the system. The ordinary person has a certain difficulty in under- standing and filling forms.” He added that a committee was at that time— June, 1930—sitting, examining proposals for the simplification of the code. This year's administration will, doubt- less, bear marks of MacEntee's re- forms. We trust the crude and almost unintelligible forms sent out to the tax- payers will be simplified. We hope, too, that some change will be made whereby poor persons with investments will no longer have tax to which they are not liable stopped at the source and held by the state. In the last year for which returns are available reve- nue authorities had to repay no less than £733,000 income tax to which they were not entitled. Probably much more should have been repaid, if every citizen knew his rights. Finally, while we have no complaint against the majority of income tax in- s, there is no doubt that occa- sionally some of them show excessive zeal for the revenue and forget that their duty is to act with perfect im- partiality as between the state and the taxpayer. It should be the officials’ dutymmutthnmpt{‘;rwmhh full rights in claims, allowances and abatements. g Sunday Movies Scored By Glasgow Presbytery. Evening Times, Glasgow.—Vigorous High Lights on the Wide World Excerpts From Newspapers of Other Lands girls | Glasgow recently. e following motion: Now that Mr. MacEntee | the attacks on cinema Sunday, which was described as “wanton exploitation of the Sabbath” and as enc %, counterfeit charity which bl ther the THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. but one good thing of his new friend, he will find it, if not in the book, then in himself. Just one hint of where he has been wrong, in some one particular, may be worth more to him than the price of the volume many times over. * kK % A felicitous expression, or a new way of looking at a problem, may be all that the reader has a right to expect, as often enough it is all he will get. ‘The more he has read and investi- gated a subject for himself, the less likely he is to find untold treasures in any book, but the surer he is of finding something or other. This seems to be the reading law. Every book is a search, to be remem- bered because of one bright jewel. * Xk x Indeed, there is never an article, how- ever brief, from which séme good may not be wrested by the determined man. “All gives way before a determined man,” sald Walt Whitman, in a larger aspect. 1 The determined reader is no less mighty. He takes the least, and makes some- thing worthwhile out of it. If s0 many readers do not achieve as much, the fault is theirs, not that of the article, or the book, perhaps. * K * ¥ Man seldom sits in judgment as much as he thinks he does. ‘This is particularly true of the read- ing of a book. Man commonly expects too much and therefore feels that he receives too little. ‘What the reader should do is to re- vise his own estimates. B It is no pleasure to be disappointed in a new book, principally owing to the fact that one made a pig out of one’s *Jush Sne thing per book n one T is enc and will be all thpee more memorme. since it will forever be with the very name of the volume, there being nothing else to stand in memory's way. Disappointment thus is reduced to a minimum in , mainly by pre- vious use of intelligence. It is mind, atter all, which reads books. And the mind may lecture the mind beforehand as well as afterward. It | has a right to tell itself, “Do not ex- pect too much, for that way disappoint- ment lies. There will be enough oppor- tunity for disappointing thyself, oh, my mind, without deliberately courting it by too vast expectation.” LR Remember, that every writer is a hu- man being. He is not a god or that sort of thing, but a fallible man, subject to error and miscalculation as well as the rest of us, his readers. Almost every one knows the common disappointment experienced after meet- ing the famous author. Pshaw! He wasn't so much, after all! i We had built up & picture of him no human being could possibly equal; we must be careful not to make the same | mistake in regard to his books. One good point is enough. One mediumly memorable saying, one real or fancied help, one bit of intel- lectual honesty. We ask no more, and, never disappointed, are always well leased. This is but one of many intel- ctual ways to help make life happy. heard at a meeting of the Presbytery of The Rev. James Muir proposed the “That this presbytery, in view of the recent great and increasing exploita- tion of the Lord’s day for secular gain whereby, through unfair and unscrupi lous competition, conscientious observ- ers of that day are injured in business and deprived of their lawful occasions for rest and worship, does protest against cinema Sunday and all such Sunday licenses and calls on all in au- thority to uphold and maintain the heritage received from our fathers in Sabbath rest.” “There has been s serlous increase in Sunday trading and traffic in this city unfavorable to the higher and better life of our citizens,” said Muir. - people regret this and feel themselves powerless to resist it. The motion I propose gives the Church of Scotland an opportunity to express this popular resentment and to exert what luence it can to stem the tide of in- vasion of our ancient mg,u and privi- day. ble's report just issued, said Muir, had shown that on & Sunday in June, 1932, there were 5,608 shops open in Glasgow, showing an average increase of over 100 per cent since 1921. It was the competition of less scrupu- lous rivals which compelled many to open when they would gladly have kept shut. Long hours over a seven-day week were wearing out the lives of men and women before their time. Motors Invade Venice. Prom the Butte Montana Standard. No more shall be found isolation in | any of the customary haunts of hu-| manity. The last citadels are crumbling before the march of modern com- munications. For 1,400 years Venetians cherished their “splendid isolation.” No enemy could reach the island of Venice by land. Navigation was difficult in the lagoon that separates it from the main- land. Venetians traversed it in flat- bottomed gondolas and floated their houses on piles in the alluvial mud. A part of this isolation was lost when an iron railway viaduct was strung across e Venetia in 1846. But it was not until last month that the “Pearl of the Adriatic” was attached to Italy's mainland by any kind of a road. new highway, of brick, stone and con- crete, is five and a half miles long, two and a half miles of it being bridge over the lagoon proper. enetians had been arguing about a road to the mainland since 1898. Long- range guns made Venice's isolation valueless as a defense, but many still clung to the tradition about which the city’s reputation had been built. It was not until 1931—and then only on direct order of Premier Mussolini—that work on a highway into Venice was begun. Lovers may still go to Venice to float | on the moonlit waters in silent gondolas | propelled by the rlcturesque gondoliers. But the music of guitars and the dip of paddles will be accompanied by honking of horns, the purr of motors and the smell of exhaust gas of arriving | NEW BOOKS AT RANDOM M. G. ‘WHITE MONEY: A Novel of the East Indies. By Madelon Lulofs. Trans- lated from the Dutch by G. J. Ren- ier and Irene Clephane. New York: ‘The Century Co. Mme. Madelon H. Szekely-Lulofs is & product of the tropics, and during her life among the native tribes and among those of white blood who find them- selves literally exiled from the white man’s world she has gained enough background and experience to fill many interesting volumes. This story, how- ever, is her first successful contribution to literature, and she has chosen the novel as the medium of its exposition. Her love for stories led her into the manufacture of many vivid and pic- turesque tales for her own amusement before she was old enough to handle a pencil, and she has been thinking them up and jotting them down ever since, though until the present publication made its appearance she has not been well known in a literary capacity. It might be interesting to note here that her first recorded effort at writing was a letter addressed to God. This is not children write to God, and more often than not for very remarkable reasons. Little Madelon's letter, however, con- tained a most extraordinary request: “My dear, dear God! Won't you please send me an angel? I want to give it to my doll. Yours very truly, Tootsy.” She was born in Soerabaja, Java, and being the daughter of a civil officer of the Dutch government in the colonies, she was necessarily moved from place to place at frequent intervals, giving her the splendid experience of attending some nine elementary schools before she was sent to Holland to complete her education, Fearing for her safety after the outbreak of the Great War, her father arranged for her return to the Dutch col- onies, and two years later, at the age of seventeen, she married M. Lulofs, & Hungarian whose fortune was invested in the rubber industry of the tropics. The collapse of the rubber market, household duties and the care of babies kept Mme. Lulofs too busy for a while to indulge in the expression of her un- doubted talent, but when she and her husband returned to his home in Hun- gary she found that the only means by which the depleted family fortunes could receive ald was through her pen. “White Money” is the result of that ef- fort, and it went rapidly into four edi- tions in Holland. The story is laid in the tropics of Sumatra, where white men le against an alien civilization until they actually become strangers to themselves. Through years of battle against home- sickness, against intolerable heat, against the strangling jungle, white men work to preserve themselves for the time when, their fortunes made, they return to their own world. Men divided within themselves! For they know, however much they try to deceive themselves, that eventually they will become vic- tims of the tropics. Many of them go home, only to find themselves strangers to the life they once lived, and despite dread of the heat and the they go. The urge of the tropics is too big and too strong to defeat. Wherever else they may go they are exiles. In the Dutch East Indies there are great wealth-producing rubber planta- tions, where white men strive ag: alien climate, conditions and civiliza- tlon to defeat overpowering influences in an effort to wring out of the soil the fortunes they expect to make. Through many years the brave adven- turers of the Caucasian race struggled in entire isolation from all the things that meant comfort, happiness and the joys of home life. No woman of their own race was believed to possess the strength and the endurance required to exist in the alien land, and so there were none. But it is the destiny of women to fol- low their men. Just as surely as men adventure into strange places, just so surely will women eventually follow them. White women entered the for- bidden life in the tropics. They suf- fered the hardships of climate, the ter- rors of jungle, the agony of homesick- ness—and they endured. And with their coming life for the white man in the Dutch East Indies changed. The two figures around whom the story of “White Money” is woven are Frank and Marian Versteegh, as strong in their love as the jungle itself, and as stabilizing an influence in a topsy- turvy world as a mighty cliff against which a storm may lash in vain. With the coming of white women to the jungle came also the civilizing influence which they were intended by their Maker to represent. Spreading over the colonies in the natural course of its development, this influence brought many cl es in the ways of life among the whites in the tropics. But it brought other elements also, of which up to that time these colonies had been free. ‘With the arrival at the colony of French wife of John Van Laer things begin to change rapidly. Intrigue and the jealousies and rivalries and hatreds which follow in its wake run rampant, introducing elements more difficult to defeat than the ever-growing jungle. But the growth of wealth breeds, as always, a spirit of toleration, even though those who benefit most realize fully the demoralizing influences under the crust of a wave of prosperity. Women of America and women of Europe flock into the colony, and with the introduction and acceptance of American customs social activities and contacts become more free and more pleasant. American millions are put to work financing huge enterprises, and rubber prices soar higher and higher. Wealth flows in like a river at flood tide, and flowing in with it is a high pitch of excitement which filters poison into the blood of the money-mad pop- ulation. The boom in rubber, like great real estate booms in this country that have wrecked fortunes running into millions and broken hearts run- ning into hundreds of thousands, sky- rocketed on and on. There was no limit to the wealth to be had, no limit "The | to the money that could be offered for privileges of promotion, no belief in the intrigue and duplicity which was rotting the roots of the tree of wealth. And then the crash came. From the early days of the first clearing of the jungles Mme. Lulofs car- ries this powerful novel through all the stages of the development of the Su- matran rubber industry until it reaches its climax in the collapse of Wall Street and the consequent wreckage of for- tunes and of lives as the world plunged headlong into economic chaos. “White Money” has all of the appeal of the exotic beauty and attraction of the tropics in its vivid portrayal of the lives of adventurers and its graphic revelation of the hurly-burly conditions of modern life in the Dutch East In- dies. It has the pure quality of au- thenticity, and it is extremely well en. and defi(nx automobiles. A night in | it Venice hardly be the same again. R Too Liquid. Prom the San Jose Mercury Herald. One trouble with the country is that too many co tions tried to get in a liquid condition by watering own securities. Difficult Goal. Prom the Omaha Evening World-Herald. Bernard Shaw thinks heaven would be the best place to live. Hard place to get to, though. ———— Beer and Books. Prom the Toledo Blade. Chicago is said to have spent $10,- 000,000 for beer in ‘three weeks. That would seem like a lot of money if paid out for education. S Budget Material. From the Indianapolis News. ‘That new material that stretches and it | sion of the Board X x ¥ BIRDS YOU SHOULD ‘Thornton W. Burgess. tle, Brown & Co. Here is one of the handsomest pocket editions of a bird book that has ever been produced, and ft is by a man whose knowledge of all of the creatures of nature is exceeded by none. An invaluable bird book for children and many_other nature books have come from his pen, as well as almost count- less stories about the wild and domestic creatures of woods and fields. The volume is bound in black limp leather, trimmed with gold, and contains de- scriptions of over two hundred birds. Every othet page carries full-colored il- lustrations by Louis Agassiz Fuertes, which have been reproduced by pernfis- of Regents of the State of New York from original paint- ings in the possession of the State TnulTn h hensi ) ve such a comprel ve vol- fix. Burgess is a splendid thing, and to have it completely illus- Boston: Lit- the hardships, the aching loneliness, the | Sy e = K back ainst | pend on the breed E KNOW. By | skin. particularly unusual in itself, for many | ‘Take advantage of this free service. have patronized the bureau, us again. If you have never used the service, begin now. It is maintained for your benefit. Be sure to send your name and address with your ques- tion and inclose three cents in coin or stamps for return postage. Do not use post cards. Address The Evening Swa Information Bureau, Frederic J. , Director, Washington, D. C. Q. When did organized base ball come into existence?—D. J. A. In 1903 the American League and the National League and National As- sociation of Minor Leagues—now called National Association of Professional Base Ball Leagues—banded together as organized base ball. This was the re- sult of the friction caused by the dif- ferences in the different teams and leagues. Q. What animals yleld the fur known as lapin and galyak?—W, A, E. A. Lapin is rabbit skin. Galyak is a trade name for flat lamb or kid- Q. When did the originator of the fipe‘tff!gln style of handwriting live?— A. Platt Rogers Spencer was born in 1800 and died in many lectures upon various parts of the country and his work was influential in causing the establishment of business colleges. Precntclanna it ary P'mt“mzm nch cleaning an cl 2 How long has such a process been in use?—S. B. A. The process of dry cleaning is known variously as dry, French and chemical cleaning and 'by its French equivalent “neeoyage a sec.” The dry process seems to have been first em- ployed commercially in the last cen- tury. M. Jolly, president of the Paris Syndicate of Dryers, stated that the old members recall having worked at dry cleaning with essence about 1856, but his father recalled the employment of the process as early 1848. At this earlier date it would appear that the spirit employed was camphene, an oil of turpentine specially distilled for burning in lamps. . Q. Does Ringling Bros. and Barnum ezv annlezy’s circus give street parades?— A. It has given no street parades since 1920. The size of the show and weight of the equipment is such that it takes the entire time to get ready for the afternoon performance. Q. What was Pastor Russell's real name?’—G. A. A. Charles Tazewell Russell, who died in 1916, was known as “Pastor Russell.” Q. What metals are the best con- ductors of electricity?—O. D. A. The Bureau of Standards says that all metals and alloys of metals are conductors of electricity. The six best conductors in their order are pure sil- ure copper, pure gold, pure znc, wed?ah {ron, tin. Q. How much and what kind of cream does it take to make & pound of ter?>—W. C. A. The amount of cream produce a pound of butter of the duce : pound of butter. Q. What were the dances in the time W 7—O. A. The minuette and the gavotte were the formal dances, while reels, jigs and quadrilles were very popular. If you are one of the thousands who|to penmanship in | wou), ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN. A. When did the Chinese first come California?—D. D. Q. What is the chemical used to 'e}l;l ’fimnw other iron and steel parts? A. The thermite process, ented, is often used. There are modifications of the process, using ferent metals and metallic oxides. scale and ferric oxide are both used. A mixture of such an oxide and finely divided aluminum will, when in one spot, produce a very high tempera- ture almost instantly without any :x ply of heat or power from the Sometimes an “energizer,” such as barium peroxide, may be incorporated in the mixture. Q. Please give the capacity of Boulder Dam reservoir and of Cove Creek Dam reservoir—J. L. H. A. The capacity of Boulder Dam res- ervoir will be about 30,500,000 acre f¢ of which 9,500,000 acre feet will be flood regulation, 5,000,000 to 8,000, acre feet for silt pocket and 132, 3,222,400 acre feet would be regulation capacity, 387,000 acre feet id be flood storage capacity and the remainder dead storage capacity. i Q_y ‘What is the Art Directors’ Club?— A. The Art Directors’ Club was founded in 1920 to foster a higher art consciousness in America the development of higher standards in ad- vertising illustration and design. It in- cludes in its membership the most prominent members of the ad profession in the United States. Q How many times are silver and gold mentioned in the Bible?—P. B. A. The precise number of times the words occur in the Bible varies with the different cr-mm;om or versions. lver, as money and metal, about 160 times; gold, about 120. 18 tastes, about different estates. favorite villa was at Tusculum. Q. Is the Bastile still standing e st st e Bastile in ‘was red in July, 1789. A bronze column now marks the site. Q is tenced to hang” or “He was sentenced to be hanged”?—A. J. D. A. Both are correct. “Hang” is both & transitive and an intransitive verb. Q. What is meant an open mar- ket?—A. McK. g A. An open market is one that s free to all as distinguished from one in which participation is restricted to members of an exchange. In Well Street terms, the open market for se- curif Tises 000,000,000 3s invested in and about $50,000,000,000 be referred as Possibility The possibility of the repeal of the prohibition amendment turns public at- tention to the magnitude of the rack- eteering interests and raises the ques- tion whether these forces will turn their attention to forms of business which g the A tion, it is felt, would help con- B Thly' threak of racketeering” is “A new ouf of bserved by the Pasadena Star- the young, beautiful and very modern | i that “the racket must end,” while stat- ing that “business enterprises have been ruined and numerous lives taken by racketeers, in exacting tribute through terrorism.” “It has vast ramifications and pro- duces tremendous revenue,” says the Providence Journal, adding that “it has tended to become a source of liveli- hood for hoodlums who pre found profit in violation of the dry law.” That paper records that “in a sinister form, it levies continuous trib- ute upon legitimate business by or- ganized criminals who threaten vio- lence or other reprisal if payment is not made.” “Senator Copeland has introduced a resolution,” observes the New York Sun, “calling upon the Senate Committee on Commerce to make a full investigation of racketeering. He reports widespread complaint that legitimate trade is suf- fering from the impositions of those Wwho prey on honest business men, men- tioning a ‘beer racket’ a try racket’ a ‘milk racket’ and others. Where things of that kind are going on investigation is clearly in order, but why should this be the task of the Enlwdmsu";l Ben::e; I :he Senator anxious racketeering as practiced wlthl‘x’ary his own constituency, he might do a little prodding of dis- trict attorneys and grand jurles at home.” Discussing conditions in New York, the Springfield Republican suggests that “if there were a Jerome or a Whitman in office just now, the public would have greater reason for hope- fulness that the long reign of the rack- eteer was about to have at least a long tinctly brightened.” The Republican bases its judgment on “‘co-operation of prosecuting attorneys, police and vic- tims.” The Dayton Daily News refers to “conviction of four racketeers in New York City on charges of con- g indi- try industry.” The o a number of reasons it has been difficult hitherto to punish the gangster for his ugliest deeds. Corruption of public officials was one stumbling block. Another was the reluctance of victims to seek redress or appear as witnesses in the event that prosecution was otherwise instigated. They feared, not without reason, under- co-operate, should others.” Commenting on Chicago the Daily News of that city that “hoodlum racketeers have into control of certain labor museled unions and purpose of col- industry,” and re- stretches and theh resumes its normal shape ought to be fine for budgets. ume from trated with the incomparable pictures of Mr. Puertes seems too good to be interruption, but the outlook has dis-| enterprise ;‘Tfifi of insuring fair elections and honest tion of their union affairs; and to" employers Who are ter- of Federal Curb On Rackets Is Welcomed ring is flourishing or lodgment appear to lack either the authority or inclination curb these criminals fears or cupidity of a large element of citizens, the Federal Government ap- pears to be the last reliance for en- forcement of law and protection of so- ciety. Such a condition is deplorable, but it is a true commentary upon the breakdown of law in great centers of population.” Similar nope of Federal action is voiced by the Tex- arkana Gazette, while the Rockford Republic argues that “vigorous police work could in 30 days rid the country of the gangster menace,” ing in support of its declaration a ment from New York Supreme Justice Lewis. That paper also quotes the judge as holding that “there is more excuse for existence of the rack- patch, which feels that “there are too many worthy causes to permit these things to be done,” while the Oakland Tribune avers that “the public is anx- jous that every cent contributed where it will aid the needy,” and tl Philadelphia Evening Bulletin contends that “it is needful to squelch every that uses professed At the Turn. Prom the Topeka Daily Capital. corner t, it zu-.}r."uuumd or not Al have made a U-turn in that dlrceuo: American Ruins.