Evening Star Newspaper, June 15, 1933, Page 8

e A—8 THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. .June 15, 1933 THEODORE W. NOYES....Editor ewspaper Company ivania Ave. t 430d 8t ice: Michigan Buildine. opean Offce; 1¢ Regent St., London. England. by Carrier Within the City. Sta: . .48¢ per month and T un .60c per month T oa& oer month junday . ....8¢ per copy nr.el lection made at the end of each month. Orders may be sent in by mail or telephone NAtional . Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Marviand and Virginia, .1yr., $10.00; . Bally anfy Sendevoniyn el 1 48 Sunday only . 1yr., $4.00; 1mo.. 40c All Other States and Canada. 15 Daily only Sunday only Member of the Associated Press. The Associated Press is exclusively entitled to the use for republication of all news dis- patches credited to it or Dot otherwise cred- | jted in this paper and also the local news | “It is high time to draw a line as to which agency of government shall tax the motorists and to fix a limit on the amount to be paid.” He calls sttention to the fact that motor vehicle registrations declined 1,600,000 during the year, with a resultant fall of $23,- 000,000 in gasoline tax receipts. Highway safety also demands par- ticular consideration. The psycho- logical attitude of the non-motoring public is very largely governed by its belief that automobilists are unmindful of their responsibility in this regard. The A. A. A, consistently a leader in safety campaigns, is appealing for the widening of arterial highways in con- gested urban areas and for the elimina- tion of a large variety of traffic hazards. It asks that a liberal share of the road fund carried in the industrial recovery act be allocated to these uses. Nat-| urally, the entire population is con- cerned in the matter. It is not merely @ class issue. The A. A. A. includes in its member- ship nearly a thousand motor clubs and branches. Its function is that of safe- guarding the rights of motorists and providing travel facilities. But as the atches herein are also published herein. All rights of publication of | speclal d res Preserve the Merit System! | The President has done the merit| system and the Federal @wrvice, of which it is an important part, a good | turn in vigorously denying his support | to the bill, just passed by the Senate | and sent to the House, under which positions with salaries of more than $5,000 would be filled by presidential| appointments without regard to civil service. The bill should be killed. The emergency, and the necessity for speedy legislative creation of new Gov- ernment agencies to deal with it, plus; the hunger for political spoils on the | part of victorious Democrats, have al- | ready dangerously undermined the merit system. It is time now to begin strengthening that system, instead of devising new plans to weaken it. ‘The jobs made available by the new recovery program, and which can be filled without regard to the Civil Service requirements, can and should be utilized to prevent the threatened unemploy- ment of efficient Government workers who are to be placed on indefinite fur- loughs through the various economy measures. It is encouraging to note that steps are being taken to that end. But it also is to be remembered that the Jack of any compulsion to give work to those employes who have been thrown out will mitigate against their re-employment, unless there is a more tangible enunciation of administration policy in this respect. The list of emergency legislative acts setting up new Federal agencies with- out regard to civil service requirements in selecting personnel is an imposing one. The new National Employment System, just ereated, will replace the system set up during the Hoover ad- ministration, which, it was said, pro- vided safe harbor for many deserving partisans. If that was true, the evil can be perpetuated, for positions in the new employment service may be filled ‘without regard to civil service require- ments. ‘The measure which authorizes $500,000,000 for relief of unemployment in the States provides for selection of personne] “without regard to the civil service laws.” The Muscle Shoals and | Tenneasee Valley development will be carried forward under Government agencies which select their personnel without regard to civil service laws. ‘The Corporation of Foreign Security Holders under the securities act will be established without regard to civil serv- ice requirements for personnel. The Civilian Conservation Corps has been put to work, of course, without any ref- erence to civil service. The adminis- trative agencies set up under the na- tional recovery act will be manned *“without regard to the provisions of the civil service laws.” The Production Credit Corporations and the Production Credit Associations, as well as the Farm Credit Administration under the farm relief act, will be administered without regard to civil service Jaws. The Home Ownership Loan Corporation, estab- lished under the terms of the home mortgage relief act, will select em- rloyes “without regard to the provisions of other laws applicable to the employ- ment or compensation of officers, em- ployes, attorneys or agents of the United States.” It is not possible at this time to estimate the number of administrative and clerical positions to be created under these various acts. But the num- ber will be large. Most of them are temporary—at least the hope is that | they will be temporary. If they are| regarded as temporary instruments for| the relief of politicians besieged for patronage, their efficiency i5 curtailed at the outset. The best protection for the politicians, as well as for the Federal | service and the Nation, lies in strengthening and protecting the merit system. ———————— Switzerland may be a little surprised | at the new idea among American tour- | ists who, even while admiring the scenery, instead of spending money lav- years have passed the organization has manifested in numerous practical ways a more liberal and constructive attitude than customarily is achieved by a partisan body. It has won the confi- | dence of thousands of people outside its own field. The present convention doubtless will still further promote its prestige. Al ! Great Britain's “Token” Payment. | Two points are made explicity clear by President Roosevelt's statement is- sued yesterday with regard to the Brit- ish payment of a “token” of $10,000,000 | on its war debt’interest to the United States. One is that the tender of a smaller amount than that which is due today under the existing arrangement is a “clear acknowledgement of the debt itself.” The other is that the debt question is not included in the economic conference now being held at London. The note accompanying the tender of a partial payment of the installment, which amounts to $75,950,000, definitely states that it is to be considered “as an acknowledgement of the debt, pend- ing a final settlement.” This justifies the President’s declaration that he has no personal hé.ation in saying that he does wot characterize the resultant situation as a default. ‘The Executive has no power to adjust #he debts due this country. Congress mlone can make curtailments, although the President can negotiate. In De- cember, 1931, the President sets forth, Congress, in approving the moratorium of June of that year, specifically de- clared that the debts should not be canceled or reduced. That is its latest action in the premises. Unless and until there should be further legislative action all discussions with the debtor nations must be advisory and tentative. The President can, however, under his constitutional power, as he states in his announcement, entertain representa- tions of the British government con- cerning the entire debt settlement, and that government has requested such an opportunity. The President has sug- gested to Great Britain that such repre- sentations be made in Washington as soon as convenient. The expectation is that there will be a series of consulta- tions here with representatives of the debtors nations separately, probably be- ginning with Great Britain, either through the diplomatic representatives at this capital or special envoys sent here for that purpose. In his statement issued yesterday the President does not go further than consideration of the British debt, none of the others having made any move at this time. As » matter of information to the American public, the President says, he makes it clear that the economic con- ference now being held in London does not include the debts question in its program, the American delegates having been instructed not to discuss debts with the representatives of any of the debtor governments. This is in accord with the principle that the debts be considered on their merits and separate from other economic questions. ‘With Congress about to adjourn, prob- ably until January—save in the case of a failure to complete the economic recovery program of the President in terms satisfactory to him—the whole matter of the debts as regards further reduction or possibly cancellation is necessarily postponed for at least six months. Meanwhile payments will be due from the other debtor nations than Great Britain. Likewise the economic its sessions, and although the matter of the debts is excluded from its agenda it will remain a factor to persist possibly even to the point of making more diffi- cult any advance in legislative sentiment toward compromise or settlement. The ugly word repudiation is being | avoided, but it is still echoing from earlier utterance and will probably be repeated. The people of the United States do not wish to be rated as ruth- the continued opposition in Congress to the cancellation of the debts that they are not now disposed to forgive these ishly, talked about Uncle Sam’s right to collect it. —_————— ‘There is 50 much material for argu- ment made in America that eccnomic isolation, even should it arrive, might not be altogether lonely. e A. A A Convention. ‘The annual convention of the Ameri- can Automobile Association is meeting in Washington, and it may be pre- sumed that there is wide public inter- est in the problems with which the assembly will attempt to deal. According to Thomas P. Henry, pres- ident of the organization, the primary purpose of the meeting will be “to formulate policies designed to secure equitable taxation for car owners, safer | Has he made new friends? Are his traffic facilities, and wider acceptance of laws to control the human element responsible for the greater portion of | should be: Yes. There must be at 1“'"1 highway accidents.” Obvicusly, such an objective is of importance to the generality of citizens, not merely to motorists alone. ‘The taxation phase of the problem deserves special study. during 1932 car owners and operators paid in excess of a billion dollars in 1t is said that | obligations as a whole or even in large part. oo When & man of recognized authority speaks by radio e tells his opinions |not to a limited audience, but to the | world, and should be encouraged to pre- pare his remarks as carefully as pos- ! sible. e It was learned with surprise by this community that the ocelot which a citizen undertook to fondle at the zoo | was 100 per cent wildcat and not merely a 3.2 specimen. ————et 1 Hewlett After Ten Years. A decade ago today Maurice Hewlett went to his rest. Is he remembered? | books still read? Perhaps the correct | answer to each of these questions | & few lovers of literature who have not | forgotten the pleasure they had in his | work when it was first coming from the | press, and possibly the younger genera- | tion has not altogether ignored him. Hewlett belonged to an era which was | aggravatingly complex. Two tendencies were patently discernible in the "rlflnl‘ national, state and local taxes of no| of his time. The one was that of social Jess than twenty-seven different kinds. One levy has been piled upon another untll, in the judgment of the A. A. A, the boundary of reason has been reached, i lexuedfll. Mr, Henry declares; 1 criticism, exemplified in the plays of Ibsen and Shaw and in the novels of George Meredith and Thomas Hardy. The other was that of a return to ro- conference at London will have ended | less creditors, but it is evident from | T Rostand and Barrie, Hall Caine, An- : thony Hope and H. Rider Haggard. It happened that Hewlett, sensitive of tem- perament, was attracted by both. He was keenly aware of the poverty and injustice of the world, but the ugliness and bitterness of the struggle repulsed him. He fled to the past, finding in the Middle Ages the themes for his novels, plays and verses. But his Te- treat was not motivated by cowardice. Rather it was prompted by a despair, a bankruptcy of hope. He simply could not believe that there was anything he could do to help humanity in its fratri- cidal strife. There was a minority, he knew, that cared about the things he personally loved. He dedicated himself | to the service of that handful, ; Italy was his second home, and he | wrote of it with a power which could spring from nothing less than a deep affection and a profound understanding of its medieval past. His first success was “Earthwork out of Tuscany,” and | he followed it with “The Masque of | Dead Florentines,” “The Road in Tus- cany,” and “The Fool Errant.” But his feet were firmly set upon his own sod and he did much to make the| Ergland that is dead live again. His “Forest Lovers” and “Richard Yea-and- | Nay” had great vogue, and his “New Canterbury Tales” also received a gen- erous reception. Complete achievement, | however, did not come until 1916, when he brought out “The Song of the Plow,” hailed as “one of the most considerable English narrative poems of the new| century.” In it he attained the apex of his art. He had been growing| | steadily in scope and perception, and| his genfus had been sharpened by use.| Thus it was a matured and abundantly | competent artist who laid down his pen | ten years ago today. For Americans Hewlett produced one unparalleled book, the gracious and deli- cate story of “Gudrid the Fair,” a novel based on the ancient Norse sagas of the settlement of Iceland and Green- land and the expedition of the Vikings to the lost Vinland of the North Amer- ican mainland. In fts pages Leif Ericsson, Thorfinn Karlsefni and Thor- vald Ericsson are immortal, and the lovely Gudrid deserves a place among | the premier heroines of literature. Not one of the brightest names on the roster of modern men of letters. Hewlett, nevertheless, deserves credit| for the many fine things he did. In a more friendly period he might have made a richer contribution, but even the handicap of a hostile environment did not stifle his creative and interpre- tative spirit. Some of the members of Congress ap- parently have worked so hard and fast that they have learned to enjoy doing 50 and have lost their taste for vaca- tions. . Occasionally the attentive reader ob- serves a name in the news which shows that a forgotten man cannot be redis- covered even by advertising. oo The veto is a useful weapon in the hands of the Executive, and President Roosevelt may be invited to use it ance in awhile to keep it from getting rusty. ——— If there were such a thing as a World Society of Lightning Calculators it might be expected to give free trips to the London conference as prizes. ——ee—. ‘Those engaged in the economic drama on Capitol Hill might have made an exit sooner if the thermometer had not missed its cue. ———e—. In contemplating debt payments the importance of reliable credit in future world transactions s not being entirely overlooked. ————————_ Interest in the great Chicago fair shows that the public still has money to spend when the inducements are sufficient. R The Wall Street ticker indicates a state of public confidence which is one of the big assets that should be hoarded most carefully. e SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON, Change of Vehicle. That old band wagon still I hear With music so diverse. The tunes, I very often fear, ‘Will go from bad to worse. And as again I long for ease When traveling afar, I send the message, “If you please, Bring on a sleeping car.” Enthusiasm we have shown And all have done their best Exploring realms that were unknown ‘With scholarship and zest. Since at the harmony they scoff And things are as they are, Let’s trade the old band wagon off And get a sleeping car! Striving to Please. | “You seldom indulge in gloomy | prophecy.” | “My customers,” said Senator Sor- ghum, “are like those of a fortune teller. They say they want the truth, but to keep them pleased you've got to go on telling only the good news.” Jud Tunkins says there are 5o many racketeers floating around that if you meet a carpet bagger you're glad if he isn’'t a sand bagger. | Certainty. | When we take risks to win some prize, This much is known at once: If you should win, you're very wise. If not, you are a dunce. Belated Regret. “A great many people do things they are sorry for,” sald the readymade philosopher. | “‘Quite true,” answered Miss Cayenne. “But many of them do not realize how sorry they are until the facts come| out in the newspapers.” “The mechanisms for carrying our | thoughts great distances are wonderful,” said Hi Ho, the sage of Chinatown, “too often far more wonderful than the thoughts themselves.” Persistent Similarity. Another kind of cash we'll find. I am disposed to bet It will, in life’s eternal grind, Prove just as hard to get. “It do look,” said Uncle Eben, “like some men dat’s smart enough to make iE_EVENING 3 ‘There has been little use for the garden hose this year, a fact which delights the rank and file of Lazy Gar- deners. The truth is that it was the repeti- tion of the sprinkling chore which got on their nerves. Watering the lawn, borders and flower beds upon occasion was a pleas- ant task, one to bring out the philoso- pher in any man. But when dry days following dry days made the duty imperative their souls rebelled. ‘Those who wished to criticize, merely, might have said their muscles rebelled, but, no, it was the soul of man, which, be it a certain type of soul, rose on its hind legs and set up protest. * % x x This Spring and Summer so far there has been practically no need for un- kinking the faithful length of tubing, through which, in times of drought, life-giving moisture was poured, or sprayed, on plant life. ‘Whether the home gardener sprayed or poured depended upon his initiation into the life of the garden. When first he took up its pleasant duties he became, in that very mo- ment, either a sprayer or a pourer. If the former, carefully he twirled the gnuried nut at the end of the nozzle, breaking up the flow of water into as fine particles as possible. This, he said, or was told, it is dif- ficult to remember which, at this d: tance, was helpful to the seedlings, in particular, and in every way far su- perior to pouring water. x ok % X If he was a pourer, in the begin- ning, he removed the nozzle complete- ly, depending upon the full flow of water from the rounded end of the section of hose. Sometimes gardener becomes & pourer because he had no nozzle. In such cases the thumb of the right hand often came into play to cause the water, issuing from the end, to be deflected somewhat, often upon the trousers and shirt of the wielder. It was stated, and sometimes heal edly, that the full force of the water pressure should never be used thus, especially to sprinkle plants. It beat them down. In reply, the pourers declared that the use of the nozzle defeated the very purpose of watering, in that it did not permit enough water to get down to the roots, where it belonged. Only by pouring on a vast amount of water, as from the hose placed on the ground, without nozzle, could enough water be placed where it was needed most, they said. >Rk Between the claims of these two schools few have ever decided. No doubt there are occasions when the pouring method is its best it is messy. jpon occasion, especially with seedlings, a fine mist is preferable. Conditions govern, here as_elsewhere. ‘The cne essential to keep in mind, as every gardener knows, is simply that enough water be given the plants to help them when they neea help. ‘That might seem a truism, but when one contemplates the waste of time and water often encountered, he comes to realize that watering is an art, after all, and one not always understood. ‘To wet merely the top of the soil, although often soothing to the mind earthly good. To soak them immediately after a rain, as is often seen, is worse than a waste of time. To water the leaves of rosebushes is a crime against good roses. Yet all of these are witnessed on every side, except in seasons such as VENING POST, W L—A lad who should do %- strated in Masterton that the way to get a job is to go after it. He found his opportunity at a horse sale, at which a large number of farmers assembled. When the auc- tioneers had had their turn the youngster addressed the farmers a job, and invited any of them to give him one. There was no re- sponse at the moment, but the lad was not disheartened. He next tackled the farmers individually and went from one to another until he came across one who agreed to give him a job. His pluck and ‘initiative thus stood him in good stead, and he proceeded to his job. * ok k% Mayor of Rich Town Gets Jobless Relief. Berliner Lokal Anzeiger—There is a small town somew) in this republic of Germany known by the name of Trohe. It is a place which little is ordinarily heard; in fact, until now it was almost unknown, ex- cept to its own burgers. But that has all been changed. Trohe has, of course, a mayor and a board of aldermen, like all other German towns. The mayor in private life used to be a tailor, and a tailor who made a good living, even in this miniature city. But now, since he has been elevated above the statiop of the common citizen, and draws the ered good etiquette for him to continue work with the needle, And besides, the tatloring business is not what it used to be, either. The burgomaster’s pay in Trohe, unfortunately, is not large; in fact, it is quite the contrary. The honorable head of the municipality soon found it impossible to live upon his narrowed finances. And because he still could not bring himself to make the “faux pas” of clambering once more upon his bench, and thus serve two masters in the eking out of his exist- ence, doing justice to both, without any turther hesitation he applied for un- emtp}tt:?mmc relief, and what's more, he ‘oAnd that is why Trohe, that little town somewhere in Germany, has sud- denly become known all over the coun- try, because the mayor, the head of the corporation, is on the lists of the un- employed, though strictly speaking he has a job, and obtaining public as- sistance the same as the most poverty- burdened of his fellow citizens. Every week-day morning, at a certain hour, His Worship, the buergermeister of ‘Trohe may be discovered standing in line with the rest of the pecuniarily handicapped awaiting his turn to re- Long Live Progress! How comfortable an assurance it is, too, if circumstances have been so un- kind as to place one on the welfare lists, to observe the highest municipal official in the very same queue and category! To be the object of public benevolence then becomes quite stylish EE Jobs for Women Go Begging in Ireland. Irish Independent, Dublin.—To the Editor: Anybody who takes the trouble to read the advertising columns of your paper will be struck with the frequent appearance of advertisements seeking women workers for clothing concerns As a director of one of these, I am in |a position to say that the number of women offering with any degree ol competency is wholly inadequate to meet the requirements of the present time. It is not an exaggeration to as- sert that three or four hundred work- ers of this type—if available—could fllnd immediate employment in Dublin alone. Likewise, I am assured by house- keepers that it is very difficult to get Gomestic servants. On this matter I am depending on second-hand infor- mation, which may or may not be ac- curate. a heap o' money don’ know nuffin’ to manticism, practiced with success by buy wif it 'ceppin’ trouble.” Side by side with this state of affairs anybody passing by an outdoor 'AR, WASHINCTON, D. C,- BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. roper, but at | of the home owner, does the plants no | A standing round, told them he wenied | of |the Panama Canal and the tunnel un- salary of an official, it is not consid-| ceive the indispensable grocery order. | this one, when Nature happily takes the job into her own most capable hands. ST Now a gardener might as well not have a hose. He does not need it. Reg- ularly once a week, or even oftener, a fine rain has descended, benefiting everything that grows. Just about the time the gardener | thinks that things are beginning to look dry, he glances at the aftermoon sky, | &nd, sure enough, there comes a thun- | derstorm! | _ Several of these rains have been at | | night, perhaps the best time of all, as far as plants are concerned, because I'then no moisture is evaporated by fol- lowing sunshine, but is permitted to lie | still in the soil, where it belongs, at| least for the time being. It is a matter of constant marveling | how much water the children of Nature can stand. | The absorptive power of the earth | seems limitless. Few plants receive | hurt from fit, either, so long as they | have good drainage. Lilles incautiously planted in a moist | border ought to be dug up, at the proper time, and given a good founda- tion of coal ashes. Many of these bulbs come from Asian countries, where they are said to grow in mountainous soil composed partly of volcanic ash. Every home gardener has had the ex- perience of noting the wonderfully fine growth made by various plants and shrubs placed along a driveway whose bed is nothing but cinders. ‘To look at such stuff, one would swear that nothing would grow in it. We know & driveway, now not used for several years, completely covered with good gra Its base is cinders end its top crushed stone. This grass dies out in the Fall, and does not come back until about this {ime each year, but from now on flour- ishes nicely and is cut with the mower g:& n{:\;l:; tfle ren:;lndedr of the lawn. ong the e w well, and bloom mg‘nmcmfiy, st * % There is, perhaps, too tendency on ti = k& e part of the avera, home gardener to be eticulous Abo\‘li };‘s’u;oub when afil the time Nature is g Brow her prizes in anything whsjgh : handy. » 5 e is not as fussy as the gardener ;fi'fif;am Stocked it mmhel“ndy' he , or stocked wi the prope: ngssaets, ' as if she refused to w her massive head about soil .mmor:'yu"_ ing that to man, as chemist, who insists on delving into such matters. |, Proper drainage and sufficient mois- | ture—these are Nature's necessities with regard to her growing things in the plant world. At the same time they constitute one of the perpetual stumbling blocks of the average home gardener. If his drainage is too all the water flows a the soil stays damp , & con- ditlon in which surprisingly few plants will do well. He is very happy, therefore, in most instances, to turn the job of water! the lawn and plants over to natural ;u}nml. in a season when it is plenti- ul The garden hose now becomes, for the time being, almost a curiosity. The rrdnnz “v&x‘ma‘? m“dhteh wfl;d spent. ours g it arount e yard. He only did it beca At the beginn! been some sat! 5 If not enough, use it was necessary. , of course, there had action in it, perhaps. hose was new, then, to him, at least. There was a sort of small happiness in dragging it around, atten to the wants of the plant world. years changed all that. Personal escort to a garden hose became tiresome, to say the least. The gardener longed for a year when Mother Nature would cha; eron her own. Well, this seems to be it. High Lights on the Wide World Excerpts From Newspapers of Other Lands office, where the hard-earned moneys of the people are doled out will see in the queue quite a big percentage of | women apparently physically, and Hs;m:‘ou mentally, suitable for .sucn | I submit that this is an intolerable | state of affairs, and one that calls for | immediate investigation. INDUSTRIALIST. * K K ok Texas Official Lauds Highway to Mexico. El Universal, Mexico, D. F.—Senor Guillermo R. Ely, chief highway com- missioner for the State of Texas, ar- |rived in the capital last night, after driving over the “Carrera Pan.Ameri- cana” all the way from Laredo. In an interview with one of our representa- tives, Senor Ely pronounced the locat- ing and construction of this highroad one of the greatest engineering feats in history dec] g that it compares fa- vorably as an engineering triumph with der the Hudson River. Senor Ely then ventured upon a eulogy even more gratifying and im- pressive. “It is,” he insisted, “impossible to estimate the ultimate utility and value of this great rural avenue. In addition to its importance to the Grand Republic of Mexico, in promoting the deliveries to limitless markets for its vast agricul- tural products, it will accelerate social communication between the great de- (mocracies of the north and south, and thus contribute appreciably to the cor- dial and mutually helpful relations of the two largest nations upon this con- tinent. Already there may be antici- pated a vast stream of traffic, moving in both directions, and bringing each country into a fuller and better com- prehension of the other. “This sector of the Pan-American highway passes through one of the most charming and romantic regions of the earth, and affords all my fellow citi- zens a fresh and close acquaintance with the kindly cultured people of Old Mexico. We take off our sombreros in honor of the Mexican engineers and artisans for their courage and com- petence in making this formidable un- dertaking a glorious reality. The moun- tain sections of ~oute comprise the most wonderful phases of grading and structure witnessed since the build- ing of the Via Appia (Applan Way). It must be seen to be appreciated, for a verbal description is inadequate. This trip has been a revelation to us; we scarcely know whether we would rather live in Mexico or Texas!" ——oe—. Life Insurance Facts. Prom the Rock Island Argus. | Life insurance records of last year | provide much food for thought. The | companies paid 84,200 death claims on | policies that had been in force less | than a year. This put them to an ex- pense of $55,800,000, although only one premium had been collected on each policy. It is to be noted that one-fourth of the 84,200 claims were ' for deaths that occurred within three months after the policles had been taken out. Accidents are the chief cause- of deaths during the first year a policy is in force, and princigally automobile accidents. Pneumonia @@mes next and heart disease is third. = This last is accentuated by the troubles that come to people during a time of depression. Death claims are not paid if a policy- holder commits suicide during the first year of a policy. | According to the records, 60 per cent | of the sudden deaths occur to those | who are between 20 and 45 years of age. After 45 people apparently take better care of themselves and exercise more precautions. Nevertheless, as many as 230 people are killed daily who have taken out policies of life in- surance within a year. Certainly the taking out of life insurance protection is a primary duty, | Y. T JNE 15, 1933. When it comes time to cast up the gains and losses from failure of Con- gress to wind up its work last Saturday and adjourn the final passage of the Glass-Steagall bank reform bill will stand out as the great gain., President Roosevelt has announced that he will sign this measure, making it law. He may do so today. Under the Constitu- tion he has 10 days after its presenta- tion to him to give his approval. The bank reform bill is the most far reach- ing and salutary bank legislation since the passage of the Federal Reserve act, back in the days of Woodrow Wilson. The measure proved to have as many lives as a cat. Despite the big majori- ties in both houses for such legislation, forces 0] the measure were able to block its final passage again and again. A final threat by members of the House to delay adjournment of | Congress, plus an eleventh-hour willing- ness of the administration to allow the bill to go through, brought the on the bank bill together to out at last a conference report whit submitted and adopted by both on Tuesday. * k¥ ‘The demand for legislation o reform the banking system has been insistent, except by thore banking interests which have demanded the right of bankers to do all kinds of business. The failure of the old system, however, has been apparent and climaxed with the utter loss of confidence in the banks and the system which forced a closing of ail the banks last March. Opponents of reform legislation hoped that a re- vival of business would make the de- mand for this legislation less and less active. They strove for postponment of the passage of the bill by Congress. Fortunately for the country, however, | their tactics did not succeed. * Kk The mmu of bank deposit insur- ance, wi was written into the law finally, continue to croak. that a banking system which is sound should need no insurance of deposits. That is correct. But these same people have been supporters of the old system, presumably on the ground that it was Sound. ‘The long trail of bank failures issued in March, gives the lie to any such contention. ‘Why, on the cther hand, should the insurance of bank deposits make the system unsound? Banks themselves take out insurance against loss by theft or default of offi- cials of the banks. That insurance does not mu{ make the chances of theft and default in the banks any greater. This Nation-wide insurance of bank Geposits is & new thing. Such insurance has been tried before in sev- eral of the States, but has been aban- doned. The insurance Ilm now set up by the Congress should go far toward restoring the confidence of depositors in banks. And it should make the banks themselves, which contribute to the irniunnce funds, more and more care- ful * ok k% The vote in the Senate last night in support of the - Cuf veterans’ compensation amend- ment to the independent offices appro- priation bill was expected, despite the desperate efforts of the administration leaders to line up the Democrats to give the President a mjom";num it. Not Sorded gbinet the amendment, iad 39 e amen , and 19 Democrats broke away from their lead- g;shawvnurorlu ‘The vote stood against has met com- | “these’ * ok x Nineteen Democratic Senators is a big loss to the administration in this so-called Steiwer- | 8 Q. What are Judge Seabury’s po- litical affiliations?>—J. T. L. A. Judge Samuel Seabury, who was concerned in the recent investigation in New York State, has for many years, rticularly during his occupancy of ?u‘d\cul offices, been inactive in politics. However, he was Democratic candidate for Governor in 1916. Q. Can beer be sold on Indian reser- vations?—M. T. N. A. It is not permitted. The laws pro- hibiting the sale or transportation of liquor on Indian reservations are much older than the eighteenth amendment or the statute permitting sale of beer and are still in force. % What is there about cedar chests that repel moths?—M. E. A. It is the aroma of the cedar wood, caused by volitilization of the oil in the wood. Q. Why is & theater pass called an Annie Oakley?>—M. C. F. A. Theater passes always have two holes punched through them and the nickname for passes (Annie Oakley) is an allusion to the accuracy of Annie Oakley's aim, for she often made a d:uble perforation of a target with two shots, Q. Why is Boston called the Hub of the Universe?—J. G. A. This was a mild satire of Oliver Wendell Holmes, who once said that Bostonians thought the dome of the state house was the center of the earth and that Boston must be the hub. Q. Please explain the term snow- line.—M. B. A. Snowline is the line above which the snows remain unmelted in the form of a permapent snowfield. Snowflelds occur in any latitude at sufficiently altitudes, or at any altitude in = clently high latitudes. About 78 de- grees latitude the snowline reaches sea level. In lower latitudes it shows a pro- gressive rise, but many factors, in addi- tion to temperature, influence its height —e. g, total snowfall, humidity of at- mos) and aspect. In Lapland it is about 4,000 feet above sea level, in the Alps about 9,000 feet, on the south side of the Himalayas about 13,000 feet, but on the north side over 16,500 feet; on the east side of the Equatorial Andes about 16,000 feet but 18,500 feet on the western side. Q. What is the pulation of Tia Juana, Mexico?—J. A. Tt has about 1,000 inhabitants. modified, “this” or “that” must be used and not " or “those.” The latter two are fight. Not only did the President lose | the the support of his own party men in this vote, but he failed also to hold those allies of his on the Republican the side of the chamber, the Norrises, the Cuttings, the La Follettes and Johnsons. :l}ll ulf‘;hom d:erted the G. O. P. e campaign and clung to the Roosevelt standard. But the urge to vote for the veterans was too great to permit them to stand with the Presi- dent on this issue. For once the Re- publican side of the chamber was found voting as a unit. Such a thing literally has not happened for years. It has been a long time since some of the Republican progressives have not been found voting with the Democrats on inajor issues before the Senate, Senator Norris of Nebraska pro- claimed his affection and admiration for President Roosevelt at the same time he announced that he intended to vote against him on this veterans’ issue, and Senator Johnson of Cali- fornia did much the same thing. The serious thing for Mr. Roosevelt, how- ever, lies not so much in the loss to his standard, even temporarily, of the progressive Republicans, but in the loss of 19 Democratic Senators. It would be a disastrous thing for the adminis- tration if a recalcitrant group of Demo- crats of such proportions should de- velop in the Upper House. The Re- publican Presidents of the last dozen years had their “progressives” to deal with and met defeat after defeat on administration meagures, which did not make for the interests of legislation, * x % % The Republicans fn the Senate took a leaf out of the Democratic book writ- ten in the last administration. If there is any political advantage to be ob- tained from taking the veterans’ end of the fight with Roosevelt, they intend to have it. The Democrats during the Republican administration played the S"llf kind of politics. any one had any doubt as to Wwhat would happen in the Senate when “debt day” rolled around for the for- eign debtor nations the debate in that body yesterday must have removed it. When it became known definiteiy that the President had accepted 310,0};70.000 from the British, or about one-eighth of the amount due today, and that he had said this did not necessarily mean default, there was a howl, Senator Borah of Idaho, former Republican chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, took, it is true, the posi- tion that the President had forfeited nothing and had maintained the integ- rity of the claims of the United States. But Senator Reed of Pennsylvania and Senator Hiram Johnson of California ! rose and roared at the British for “de- fault.” The debate, to put it mildly, is not calculated to throw on troubled waters at the London Eco- nomic Conference. * kX x Senator Carter Glass of Virginia launched into a discussion of the war debts, however, which is as foreign to the usual speech by Senators on that subject as anything that been heard in the Senate for a long, long time. The Virginia Senator, who says wha! he thinks without regard to any political implication or the votes he may make or lose thereby, bluntly told the Benate and the world that the foreign debtors should be given a opportunity to discuss their debts with representatives of this country. He 000 ridiculed the talk of the other Sen- ators, which fell into line with the comment of the late President Coolidge when he said of the debtor nations: “They hired the money, didn’t they?” He called attention to the fabulous American fortunes which had bzen made by Americans cut of the money D i —_——— l The Political Mil) ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN. the climate of the Mediterranean re- sembles most closely that of Southern California. Q. How do peanuts grow?—M. G. A. The peanut is a tropical plant of ;h‘xryb-r: . m'h:‘m m‘:u;.‘,::m airy stem ai TS, whose peduncles bend after and push the pods into the ground, where they ripen. Q. How did the phrase “slmighty dol- A. It is believed to have originated with Washington Irvi in his “Wolf- ert’s Roost, Creole Vi .¥." published in 1837 in the Knickerbocker Magazine. The expression was popularized by B. E. Woolf, author of the comedy en- titled “The Almighty Dollar.” Q. Just where is Hell's Kitchen in New York City?—C. N. A. The New York Historical Society says that there were no exact bound- aries of Hell's Kitchen. That name was given to the section west of Tenth ave- nue between Thirty-eighth and Forty- second streets; also sometimes applied to blocks a little farther north. "|lar” come into use?—A. D. Q. What was the value of Lincoln’s estate, and how was it divided after his death?—W. P. A. Lincoln's estate, as administered by United States Supreme Court Jus- tice David Davis, amounted to $110- 295, mostly saved from his salary of $25,000 & year and invested in Govern- ment_ securities. ‘The property was equally divided among the widow and the two sons, Robert T. and Thomas (Tad). Q. What is the Maelstrom?—C. B. A. The Maelstrom is a rapid current | or tidal whirlpool oft the northwest | coast of Norway. It runs with the tide | alternately six hours from north to | south and six from south to north, pro- | ducing immense whirls. When the wind is northwest and opposed to the re- flux of waves, it attains its greatest fury, but in ordinary circumst can be traversed mxcuc difficulty. . Is there any way to prevent the eoemu’oiabglzhmmm e botile, cork and all, may be dipped into melted paraffin. Q _What is sbsolute music?—M. C. uL This is & term applied to musie s purely abstract , devold of """""“‘“‘fiu‘;’fn!unm"'“},‘:‘ that cance, as the pictorial or descriptive kind kmown as program music. Q. When was the first cremation in = Loan to China Of Farm Products Debated ton and wheat shipped will contribute something sizable both to and e Oakland Tribune, and that paper comments: “The money goes from one country to the other and comes back again. American ships carry the cargoes and American growers receive the bene- fits of the sales. its expenses, nese finances are in better shape in years.” “This loan to the Nationalist govern- ment_at Nanking,” in the opinion of the Hartford Courant, tendency to strengthen the K“:I‘:ht’; this group was pointed out by the Lytton Commission on Manchuria, be- cause only with some fairly strong cen- tral power can China in any way r le for its o tions. This loan to Nanking for ase of Amer- ican products is in complete harmony with out historic policy of the open door, or equal opportunity among na- tions in competition for the great un- developed Chinese market, but it in- volves consequences which clearly dicate the immediate need for inte: national understanding on problems of world trade.” “This may prove,” says the Charlotte Cbserver, “the beginning of the opening of the way for trade resumption between the United States and China, which will have substantial benefits for both coun- tries. It is somewhat in the way of letting down the trade barriers existing since the World War, if even by a process that may be considered a little peculiar.” “Not only will it mean the reduction of cotton and wheat surpluses, espe- cially the former,” points out the Louis- ville Courier-Journal, “but it will result activity for the railroads, p lines and the flour mills. The cotton, it seems, is to be shlppem bushels, that quantity is enough to prosperity to the milling comm which must, in addition, turn out regular supply for this country and the Atlantic export trade.” “To all intents and purposes,” as in- terpreted by the Fort Worth Star-Tele- loaned to thesc foreign allies of the United States, all of whom purchased | China supplies in this country. gram, *“the United States for Purchase shippers,” according to| gjeng China guarantees the | ching deal “a good trade,” and feels that “the present Chinese governmeent is “will have a|jng negotiated by T. V. minister of finance of public. Under ‘T. V. China is one of the few nations of the world to mefli a balanced budget. He knows to get the money, and his word is good financial circles around the earth.” “The agreement indicates that China is paying back other loans and is con- sidered a risk,” according to the Houston Chronicle, which also points out that “the Chinese food supplies of late years have been severely depleted by interior floods.” The Lincoln State Journal, however, voices the judgment: “China’s capacity for absorbing Ameri- can wheat seems to be limited only by its capacity for borrowing money with which to purchase grain. China would be a very good customer if she had any money. As it is, the United States has to make a loan every time it sells China some wheat. That is all right 83 an emergency measure, but it can't go_on forever.” Columbia Record observes: