Evening Star Newspaper, June 20, 1933, Page 8

" A8 THE EVENING STAR., WASHINGTON, -_— e —— {THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Edition. — ey T WASHINGTON, D. C. YUESDAY.........June 20, 1833 | THEODORE W. NOYES....Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company Business Office: and Pennsylvania Ave New York Office: 110 East 42nd St hicago Office: Lake Michigan Buildine. uropesn Office: 14 Regent St.. London, ngland. the City. 45¢ per month | &l ). ..........60c per month | Sunday Btar ays) 85 Rate by Carrie a r Within a; The Evening and (when 5 Sund: Sc per copy | end of each month. | Collection y mail or telephone m Orders may be sent i NAtional 5000. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Vlr‘inil.l - Dally and Sunda: 1yr.31000: 1mo.. 8¢ Daily only ... yr. Sunday only . yr., $4.00; 1mo. 40c All Other States and Canada. aily and Sunday...lyr.$12.00: 1mo. $1.00 | aily only yr, $800: 1mo., 75¢ Sunday only . D1yr, $5.00; 1mo. 50c Member of the Associated Press. The Associated Press is exclusively entitled to the use for republication of all news dis- patches credited to it or not otherwise cred- ited in this paper and aiso the local news published herein. All rights of publication of special dispatches herein are also reserve — R o the n b .1 1 Too Many Cooks? If Jate London dispatches reflect the | cantankerous truth, the American dele- | gation to the World Economic and| Monetary Conference seems to be pro- | viding an ocular demonstration of the old saw that too many cooks spoil the | broth. Unhappily the prospects of suc- cess at London are bleak enough with- | out conjuring up the horrendous | thought that the conference might be wrecked by disagreement within the American delegation. The rift in the lute appears to have been sprung by the submission of a suggestion originating with a minor American cxpert that a horizontal and multilateral ten per cent tariff cut should be placed on the conference agenda as a topic for future discussion. No sooner had the League of Nations secretariat, which is responsible for such announcements, issued the sug- gestion as a proposal emanating from | the American delegation—a not unnat- | ural conclusion—than Senator Pittman vehemently disavowed the delegation parentage of the child and branded it purely and simply as & brain wave of subordinate “experts.” The result was sensational London newspaper head- lines reading: “World Conference Bombshell. U. 8. Experts Disowned.” It is hardly as bad as that, but the fiction at any rate seems no long tenable that President Roosevelt's spokesmen—delegates, advisers, experts or what have you—are a band of brothers, divided perhaps as the billows, yet one as the sea. While the tariff mystery was still mystifying, came other evidence that the Americans appear to be working at cross purposes. Mr. Jay Hayden, keen ‘Washington political writer, cabling to Monday's Star, went the length of as- serting that “the United States clearly has not one delegation, but two.” He narrates that Mr. Roosevelt sent O. M. ‘W. Sprague and James M. Warburg, Treasury advisers, to London with a specific commission to negotiate cur- Tency stabilization, to apply to an ex- perimental period of six weeks. These men, it is said, regard themselves as answerable solely to the President and Secretary Woodin, and only when “per. sistently invited” to do so, did Messrs. Sprague and Warburg deign to give the official American delegation “a few crumbs of information” about the ‘Treasury advisers’ back-room sessions with the governors of the Banks of England and France, in which George L. Harrison of the American Federal Reserve also participated. It has been known in London for several days that these various representatives of key central banks of issue had framed in outline a scheme of Anglo-Franco- American stabilization. But suddenly came as a cold douche from Washing- ton the news that the proposed scheme is unsatisfactory to President Roose- clan. It came about through the opera- tion of laws immutable and rigid. That verdict is definitely confirmed by all | historians capable of a comprehensive, involved. Granted that “our generation” may not have been endowed with any spe- cial genius of its own, it still remains patently obvious that it has had no particular monopoly of stupidity, self- ishness or belligerency. no more sunk in folly than its prede- cessors. There always has been a “frightful mess” in the world, and only gradual improvement ever has been feasible. Toward that evolutionary gain the seniors of today have made a generous contribution. The earth is a better place in which to live in 1933 than it was in 1893, and the young graduates now emerging from the Na- tion's schools have a distinct advantage over their forerunners. The immediate prospect may be bleak and barren, but it is not different in kind from that | which “our generation” faced. It is difficult to have patience with individuals who are so afflicted with fixed ideas of inferiority as to imagine all their contemporaries worthless. Such pessimists do the race little service by suggesting that human des- tiny rests exclusively in the hands of vouth. That notion is a fallacy. Certalnly “our generation” wishes to help the men and women of tOMOITOW. But it is in no way genuinely helpful to imply that all the problems of the universe perforce must be dehivered to them for solution. The oldsters still have work to do. The youngsters may join with them in the task. Neither will make “a mess of things.” e Cotton the King Again. The Government and the cotton in- dustry itself are moving rapidly to bring the benefits of the farm relief act and the industrial recovery act to that great basic industry, to the farmers in the South and to the textile mills of the South and the North. The problem is attacked on two fronts. In the first place, the Secretary of Agriculture has put forward his plan for a material cut in the cotton crop, using authority granted under the farm relief act. His plan contemplates the leasing of ecotton lands, at rates varying from $7 to $20 an acre, in order to take them out of production this year. The rate of the lease payment will depend upon the productivity per acre of the land. An optional plan for the cotton farmer is a cash payment for abandoning a per- centage of his acreage plus an option on cotton owned by the Government. The payment per acre under this alter- native would be $6 to $12 an acre and the option on the cotton would be at six cents a pound, giving the farmers the opportunity to share in price ad- vances for cotton., The Secretary Of Agriculture under the farm act alsg is to put into effect the so-called processors tax, which is designed to finance the operations for the benefit of the cotton producers. ‘The tax is to be levied on the makers of cotton goods of all kinds. This tax, in the case of cotton, will be the dif- ference between the average farm price of cotton and the pre-war parity price of 124 cents per pound. With cotton It has been | widened, with the sacrifice of sidewalk space and the removal of shade trees. A few years ago it was even proposed to slice off & portion of Franklin Square | | | unprejudiced view of the various factors | to effect a wider driving space. In the downtown streets the sacrifice of trees, though deplorable, has not been | strenuously resisted, but the gain in traffic sccommodation has not effected ! any appreciable advantage, in view of :me fact that parking continues to be permitted, so that the net addition to | the driving space has not been material. If the proposed change at Thomas Circle were executed, there would be no security whatever for any of the other | “beauty spots” of the Capital. This ecir- {cle has in the present situation stood s & symbol, and it is now highly grati- “!ymg that the Commission of Fine Arts has, with & view to the preservation of the city plan, expressed its strong dis- | approval of a project which, if carried | | out, would undoubtedly have led the way to other encroachments, and perbaps | displacements, of doubtful utility and of assured harm to the character of the | Capital. | —— e Two-Cent Local Postage. On and after July 1 Uncle Sam will carry letters for two cents, a reduc- tion of one-third from the rate that has prevailed for about & year past. But this service will be rendered on & two-cent basis only for letters that D. C., TUESDAY, THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. The patter of steady night rain on the roof has fascinated mankind for thousands of years. It still has the power to bring peace to those who have not attempted to banish personal soli- tude with perpetual merriment. There is, of course, such a thing as a personal solitude, into which one may enter at will. Every boy reading in the ‘amily circle is an example of it. The remainder chat and laugh, but he is It in Africa or some place. The companion who seems “lost in tliought,” as the world says, and who has to ask you what you said, before he can answer, is an example. Continual rain in the night merely makes easy a common mood. It is “night life” we like and understand. * k% % There is & slap, slap, slap on shin- gles, and a jingle, jingle, jingle from some downspout, where roiling drops, joining millions of others, cause a slight disturbance in the night. It is the blanketing affect of the mass of drops, however, which soothes ears long attuned to the intermittent noises of mankind. The sound of rain is a natural noise, one which holds no disturbing factor, since it has nothing to do with the world's arch disturber, man. Perhaps that is its greatest distinc- tion, in a sense. * Kk ox % Rain is a product of this world, but | distinctly keeps its other-world air, as are to be delivered within the imme- diate area. A letter written by a resi- lives in Southeast Washington will be delivered for a two-cent stamp, but | one that is addressed to a Baltimore correspondent will cost three cents, just as at present. | The two-cent rate, in other words, | will apply to what are known in postal | parlance as “drop letters. It will not apply to interurban letters. That fact | is to be borne in mind to prevent em- barrassment and perhaps delay. It ! will not be pleasant to have the post- | man present a letter from New York | or Chicago with a two-cent stamp on it and demand an additional penny or one-cent stamp before delivery. Some- | times the penny or the one-cent stamp |is not immediately available. If the | postman is hard-hearted and a rigid interpreter of the rules he will not leave the letter, for later collection of the arrears, The increase of the postal rate on | first-ciass matter from two to three | cents caused a considerable falling off | in the . volume of that class and the expected addition to the postal rev- |enues was not forthcoming. Just | whether the present change, restoring | the two-cent rate for local mail, will | cause a sufficient addition to the vol- | ume of mail matter to make up the deficlency remains to be seen. With the rate cut by one-third there must be an increase of a third in the volume | of drop letters to break even. | One effect of the new rate—or the | oid rate restored—for the local de- [ tvery letters will be the necessity of keeping two kinds of stamps at hand, two-centers and three-centers, not to mention the penny stamps that are al- | ways useful. ——— It is reported that President Roose- velt was plainly in need of a shave prices advancing, this difference may "hen he steered his yacht into harbor be wiped out, making a processing tax |8t Nantucket. Bushels of rasors and impossible. The price of spot cotton |facial cream will no doubt be sent him as quoted yesterday in New York was ; in the hope that he may by design or 9.35 cents per pound, with Southern | inadvertence cofltribute the most val- | | | | | | much so as when first it descended in the reeking effluvia of antideluvian dent of Mount Pleasant to another who | days. Alcng with other natural phenomena rainfall comes into being without con- sulting man. No amount of planning on the part of the inhabitants of this sphere seems to be able to influence when “it” shall rain and when “it” shall not. Rain, when it comes, is inevitable, there is no stopping it. and, when it stops, there is no starting it again. Like a haughty menarch of the old school, it does exactly as it pleases. No doubt part of the happiness of the night rain to the well housed man lies in the sense of protection from it. This, he tells himself, is what a house is for, to protect me and mine. The sturdy work of the roofing and gutters, and downspouts, is all forgot in the general sense of security, which envelops this house. x X % ¥ The best night rain is the leisurely sort, which does not pick up one min- ute, merely to die away later, but which continues steadily, at an even pace, as if the perfect patter of rains had been evolved at last out of the centuries. There are tempestuous rains, blown about by winds,; there are hurried af- fairs, over and gone before the house- holder can get used to them: there are rains of Summer and of Winter, and the cold drizzle of an Autumn day. This night rain of Summer, coming as it did when an exceptionally cool spell struck the city, combined some- | thing of all seasons in its make-up. It did not hurry, it did not bluster, it did not go around one way to come back by another, but went right ahead on its appointed task, to drench the yards and shrubs and trees and flowers, * ox ox x One, listening, hoped that it would not harm the Regal lilles, just coming into bloom. Too much water tended to turn the blossoms brown. Not all charming arden inhabitants care for nature’s aths. Great white peonies of some | three weeks ago had hung their heads in the mud. Iris stood up well, but even some of them suffered. Heavy rains had damaged the blooms of climbing roses, at least had not per- | mitted them to linger as long as they |vlould have done if dry weather had | prevailed steadily during their time. ‘These casualties, along with the “bull- nosing” of certain blooms on bush roses, were part of the penalty which | nature exacts of her own peculiar children. * x ok x Whatever the occupation of the eve-, ning hours, the sound of the rain comes through them. at least upon occasion. |own pleasure. He would not miss & | note of this timeless music. No doubt the savages of the cave days listened so, in the long, long ago. when the slightest unusual sound | caused quicker ears than ours to listen | more intently than ever. 3 | Rain is one of the binders of civili | zotion with savagery. |1 ) stranger to us, because we still re- i1 in our inner beings very large | waces of it. Those relations of thou- sands of years ago could accustom | themselves quicker to this than most of us could to their caves and conditions. *x % % Rain in the night, peculiarly, is the | binder of years and times and peoples. | The blanketing effect of the monotonous | noise of it helps bring the centuries together. Now we are no longer stranger to difference as_exists is ly that such L of the absurdities | one which arises out f mankind, rather than from reality. The middle-age towers of London, e first century circuses of Rome, the “Jatest” funny buildings at the very latest “world’s fair"—one and all they arose and arise from the needs of mankind, not from its dislikes and differences. Rain is one of our needs. It is so necessary to us that we tend to forget it, except during years of drought. | when the minds of the least thoughtful | remember it. | The things that draw up together, | rather than those which part us, the | rain reminds us of them, if it reminds | us of ‘nytmn.‘,‘ | | of | th very * x x There is no necessity, however, for it reminding any one of anything at all. It is one ofi kI;l(”ne l;l)app}?\hgnnz'; leges of a rainy night, when it c :lo“:’:mmd the listener of strictly noth- |ing at all. Then the leisurely drip of water, its sound on roof, its occasional dash | against window panes, builds up & | pure symphony, which one listens to as from a fine seat of one’s own. | ‘This 1s the music of the storm, tuned | down to citified proportions, dressed up | neatly for a city man’s entertainment. Oh, it can rage enough, and has done |50 in its time, with great tall trees bending like flag staffs before the wind, | but tonight is different, it is calm and peaceful, with all strictly man-made | noises blotted out by the calm, un- hurried sound of falling waters. * kX K This rain, peaceful though it is, is the source of Niagara Falls, of the great rivers, and of the mighty oceans. This rain is & sample of all rains, of that beneficial precipitation which | was decreed in the beginning, and has been with mankind ever since, in the main his friend and benefactor. And when one stops to think of the | powers for destruction in it, if it were to continue on and on and on, day after day, and night after night, at no more than this present unhurried pace, one must wonder at the great barriers which Nature has set up to keep her- self in check, when all the time she might, in any year of the unnumbered total, have swept us all away as easily as she hurls a leaf dripping against the window. High Lights on the Wide World Excerpts From Newspapers of Other Lands spot markets ranging 20 to 25 points lower. Secretary Wallace in announc- ing his plan for crop reduction pointed out that the prospects for' a heavy crop this year are good; that a surplus of millions of bales has come over from previous years. Meanwhile, under the provisions of the industrial recovery act, the cot- ton mill industry is submitting & code to the Government for approval, look- ing to fixing minimum wages for the workers and to limiting the hours of labor per week. It is reported that two- thirds of the members of the cotton textile industry are willing to agree velt and the United State Treasury. “These things naturally puzzle the | other nations,” cables Mr, Birchall to the New York Times. “They think they detect a lack of unity in the American | delegation and an overshadowing un- | certainty as to its course.” | Cheer up, London! Tomorrow Prof. | Moley sets sail for England, undoubted- | 1y with a plentiful supply of oil for the | troubled waters and authority to be- sprinkable them in the name of F. D. R. All will soon be well in Scuih Kensington and the American goose hang high again. If comedians were retired after thirty years of service, radio would suffer losses much to be deplored. .- upon a code and hearings are to be held on June 27. The minimum wages to be paid per week are $10 in the Southern mills and $11 in the North- ern, and a forty-hour work week is proposed. The Cotton Textile Institute is the first to flle such a code. dustrial depression under the new re- covery act will be in full swing. The effort to improve the condition of the cotton farmers and the cotton mill industry in this country is a great experiment. The fact that the major portion of the American cotton crop is for export purposes complicates the situation very greatly. But under the now proposed management of cot- cotton in this country running into thel But other industries are moving fast in this | direction and soon the attack on in-| | uable publicity by | receipt. acknowledging | i ATRIA, San Salvador—A strict veracity in periodicals is not universally expected, and much less generally realized. News, to be interesting, must have some color and vivacity, and most local events, though not essentially lacking in either of these features, reflect, nevertheless, a uniformity which if not mitigated in some respect or other palls upon the reader. Some people complain, after reading an issue of a newspaper—even, sionally, after reading a copy of Patria —that there is no news! It is certainly a little too much to expect of periodicals that they not only publish the news, but make it, too. There have been cases when editors and their subor- dinates have made news, involuntarily in most cases, out of their own actions and affairs, and the time is not so re- mote when to be a good editor and — e As the man at the patronage steering | wheel Postmaster General Farley finds |no Government employe now in the departments ready to give the signal| “Home, James.” e More inquiry into the stock market is demanded. The process of turning | lambs into mutton has been well ex- | plained. The new line of curiosity | relates to turning bulls into beef. e SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Good Intentions. QGood intentions we know Have as paving appeared In the Realms Far Below, By each sinner still feared. We'd avold if we could This epitaph sad: “His intentions were good. But his judgment was bad.” In historical lore We are called to repent Of the doings of yore That at first were well meant, And the line we repeat In some grave's leafy bow'r— “His intentions were sweet, But his judgment was sour.” ments in the matters of swordplay and murum-mmg, Those days are happily gone, but there remain duties and responsibilities equally obligatory, and far more essential to the defense of editorial honor and integrity. A newspaper can be veracious in the that all the information it prints is true, or it can take the truth of the reports of reservation of process mental | tul some fact or statement hot wholly demonstrable. A newspaper may, for instance, mildly rebuke misleading ad- at the same time print whole pages of blatant and. ridiculous advertising, or political propaganda, knowing full well that the pretensions and promises blatantly enunciated therein must in the very nature of things fall short of ocea- | essayist required further accomplish- | active and passive sense. It can be sure it gathers for granted, and by some | legerdemain neglect to denote as doubt- | vertising in its editorial columns, and| Certain Commencement Addresses. | ion production and the cotton industry lit is hoped that benefits will flow to the cotton farmer and to the cotton | This is the season’of commencement oratory, The press is filled with re- Courting Investigation. “What do you think of a man who ports of addresses d by honor members of gradu es and by representative spokesmen of the genera- tion which has made ational ad- vantages available to the vouth of the land. The circum: { the depres- sion, the fact that this year's graduates are going into an ndly world, the difficulties which they must face, the disappointments which they must ex- | pect and the degree of social assistance which they may anticipate have been d. It was entirely natural that this should be the case mill owner and the mill operative. Old ideas of competition are cast aside. Co-operation is to be substituted. At the same time the Government agen- cies are promising that the consuming public will be protected against too great increases in prices of the cotton goods it buys ———— Feminine taste turns to cotton. The mythical “King Cotton” should be de- posed in favor of “Queen Cotton.” - — Thomas Circle. Emphatic disapproval by the Com- says he courts an investigation?” “He is on dangerous ground” an- swered Senator Sorghum. “There is | nothing more likely to cause embarrass- ment in connection with an investiga- tion than a courtship.” Jud Tunkins says the 3.2 limit makes | beer taste to him like a misnomer. Pictorial Preference. He talked incessantly of art, But most admired the graceful skill | With which engravers can impart Pair meaning to a dollar bill. stipulated fulfillment. In this way, per- haps, journalistic conscience is appeased and veracity nominally and, as it were, | | passively supported, though the period- ical, in final accounting of the result. has shown itself & detriment and obstacle, rather than an suxiliary to, | morality and progress. | In fact, one newspaper destitute of worthy principles and humanitarian motives, ‘doss far more to retard a national virtue and advance than all the evil proclivities of the populace summed up in one conjunction. Thou- sands of people are thus dominated and | exploited by the press, first to their own | injury and degradation, and then, con- | sequently, to that of the entire nation. | We make claim ourselves to no im- maculacy of title. We, too, have erred. but certainly not with any calculated | We know that | insincerity of motive. | we enjoy the trust and confidence of | Likewise, it has seemed right and | mission of Fine Arts of the proposal| New Truth snd Old Poetry. proper that the olde utter words of cou to the younger. It duty to express the heartfelt good will, the and the hopefulness which, of course. the old entertain for the young. But certain speakers, it appears, have gone a tiifie too far Two, at least, have been moved to de- clare generation has made a frightful mess of things.” genera* age and °n should con; e to rearrange the layout of Thomas iration | Circle. at the intersection of Fourteenth poem beginning, ‘Stand! as been judged a and M streets and Massachusetts ave- | your own. | nue, should cause the abandonment of | this pian. which has evoked protests from many citizens and organizations. The idea of the change was to facili- |tate traffic at that point. It fnvolved the shifting of the car tracks to lines closer to the statue, with the establish- ment of lunette islands as safety points “Do you remember that grand old The ground’s my braves!""” “Yes” answered Mr. Plodder. “But that was before realtors had gotten the ground so much mixed up with mort- gages and tax sales.” “There are few victories worth cele- | brating,” said Hi Ho, the sage of | Chinatown. | Patria tells it!") “No oratory is complete if | Perhaps it is fair to inquire if that for pedestrians. Not only would it have it serves only to lead to another battle.” | Is it a fact that brought about the revolutionary math of that great struggle and the current econcmic slump? To answer in the affirmative would be to assume an unintelligent sttitude toward the realities of history. “Our generation” 1s Just as truly cast in the tole of vic- tims &s ever our successors may claim to be. The events of the past quarter century were dictated by conditions over which no single group or class or nation had complete control. The sentiment be “our genera ‘World War true on™ the greatly altered the appearance of the circle to its disadvantage, but it would Fine Arts points precedent. ‘The original plan of the city pro- vided for several circles at sireei in- tersections. In these circles have been erected memorials of various types which have become part of the Capital scene. With the sdvent of the motor car has come 2 great change in conditions, with heavy pressure upon the arterial high- ways. From time to time in recent out, & dangerous Repressions. after- have established, as the Commission of A silence we must sometimes dread, Because experience has taught, Though you may keep & speech unsatd | burst, Obey a rule that none can stop— | The tighter they are wrapped at first| The louder they are going to pop. “ “Foreign entanglements sho' does | bother me,” said Uncle Eben. “We seems “frightful mess of things” did not re- years efforts have been made to modify | to go on gittin' de news of quarrelin’ fzam eult & a5o one breed or caste, fault or failure on part | the general dlan as a means of lessen- | f'um abroad, same as we or ing congestion. Streets have been news of fightin'.” wwmu You cannot keep a thought unthought. | And thoughts, like fireworks, when they | | visitors to such centers of tourist traffic | all our readers, and it is our firm in- tention henceforth to be even more widely recognized for our probity and candor, Our clientele has long been convinced that “Si Patria lo dice, es verdad!” (“If Patria says so. it is true!”) Much better were it ever to be asserted of us henceforth, “Si es verdad, Patria lo dice!” (“If it's the truth, In our future efforts we shall kecp this new maxim con- stantly in the forcfront of our care and purpose. * ¥ x % Unemployment Slight In_Rumanian Capital. Irish Independent, Dublin—Despite recent reports ifrom the city that has| been described as the shabbiest capital | in Europe, we are assured by a special correspondent that there is practically | no unemployment in Rumania today | and nobody 1s in extreme want This happy condition of things is in pleasant contrast to the experience of | ' | | as Vienna, Prague, Paris and Berlin, where almsseekers are encountered at every turn. Proofs are in plenty that the inevitable consequence of poverty is depcndence. There was a time when the beauty spots and regions of tourist traffic in Ireland were the haunts of those who whimpered forth their long complaints in self-afflicted woe. The days of those importuning pests are | crediting | the traditions of the famous Dr. John- | son be commonplace. “It is the care,” he wrote, “of & Very great part | of mankind to conceal their indigence from all, especially their nearest neigh- bors.” Ireand anye'. claim the right | of Rumania to called a country without beggars. * % | Jobless Teachers Held | Threat in Britain, | Morning Post, London.—H. Humphrey of Bolton, next year's president of the National Union of Teachers, speaking t the union’s conference at Aberys- twyth, declared that there was a dan- ger of unemployed teachers becoming | propagandists of revoluticnary dictrines, Moving a resolution dulfintd to safe- | guard the interests of teachers involved |in the closing of “so-called redundant schools,” Mr. Humphrey said: “If in the course of a year or two there are to be probably thousands of teachers who have never had the op- | portunity of exereising their vocation, |T would say that just as the discon- tented teacher was a social danger in 1917, so may those young people be in danger of taking wrong lines and propagating dangerous policies, not among children, t among adults. ‘The conference expressed, by v “bitter resentment” at the prime minis- ter's refusal to promise to restore cuts in pay at an early date v District’s Intangible Tax Is the Heaviest Impost To the Editor of The Star: On the authority of the Christian Science Monitor of June 1. 20 States have adopted the personal income tax. ‘The tax seems to be on the average 1 per cent gross as minimum, and the ex- | emptions cited are from $725 to $1,000. Here in the District the tax analogous to the income tax that we are consid- ering is ‘the intangible property tax of one-half of 1 per cent on, roughly no exemptions, except $500 in a sav- ings account, non-checking. Now consider, if ycu please, the de- pendent class of our population, as to whom soclety has recognized its re- sponsibility. Many in this category have succeeded by thrift in providing for themselves, taking the burden of support from society, to their own in- tense satisfaction. Not being able to work, they live, of course, upon money at _interest. . Five hundred dollars a year will per- haps support one person, but with noth- ing to spare, and this income requires $10,000 at interest, if only normal risk be taken. Half of 1 per cent, the intangible property tax on $10,000 is $50, which ihe oxnet equivalent of a 10 per cent income tax with no exemptions. To the best of my knowledge and be- lief, this is the heaviest tax on record, on the class least able to bear it. and is certainly a supreme example of in- Jjustice. P. R. WHITMAN. ) End of the Kit Case. From the Buffulo Evening News. ‘The committee which investigated the toilet-kit contracts decided that the kits purchased were worth the money. but that they were much better than should have been bought for the reforestation army. That lets down Secretary Howe and Director Fechner to the extent of dis- the claim of the Quarter- master's Department that the articles should have been bought for about half what was paid. Nevertheless, when Senators wish to buy combs for them- selves they would better ask the Quar- termaster’s Department what the things are worth. Evidently the talk about turning the tables by raising a campaign to oust the quartermaster general and the chief of staff should not be taken seri- ously. ~Any attempt along such lines might have turned air into & real slowly but surely passing The time will, no away. doubt, come when ! scandal. . | The nature lover sees to this for his| And savagery is Charlemange, but brother; we see per- speaking. all money at interest, with | JUNE 20, 1933. NEW BOOKS AT RANDOM Margaret Germond. | NURSE ADRIANE. By Norah C. James, author of “Sleeveless Er-| rand” etc. New York: Covici- Friede. | A few weeks ago. on a day set apart for the paying of tributes to living mothers and of honoring those who | have passed into the great beyond, the Naticn as a whole devoted itself to an observance deemed suitable to the oc- | casion. Motherhood was idealized by | ministers, sentimentalized by radio | crooners ard emotionalized by readers | and poets. The next day most of the mothers settled back into the habitual routine of washing dishes, darning end- less pairs of stockings, cooking an as- sortment of food to suit the varied | tastes of the members of the family, | and accomplishing the house work and numberless other tasks as well. In short, mothers had enjoyed their day of glorification before the world and were back in harness, with not one | been their meed before. | particular Sunday had entered into the | splirit of the occasion and remembered following day into the regular routine of their lives. making just as many de- mands, registering just as many com- plaints and probably being just as dis- agreeable as usual over trifles. | It is good sentiment to believe that | this unlovely picture of family relation- | ships is not true. In many instanc it is nct true. But in far too many families it is true, and, unfortunately, individual dispositions frequently justify | the situation. | Suppose that on Mother’s day some one devoted a discourse, or a poem, or a ballad to the mother who is a parasite, | or to the mother whose colossal selfish- | ness is wrecking the lives of her chil- | dren? The individual or the group who | dared such a departure from ideology | wculd probably be publicly condemned | if not ostracised. Yet there are thou- | sands of such mothers, and nobody does | anything about it. If the sons and| daughters of these and other undesir- | able types of mothers lack the courage | —and they usually do—to defy the parental will, then there is apparently no remedy for the situation and no hope for the salvation and happiness of the unfortunate children. The only worthwhile peint in the story of “Nurse Adriane” is the struggle between two women to save a man. Sister Adriane, graduate nurse in charge of a ward In South’s hospital, London, has loved Jerry Mimms for four years, i during which period she has waged a losing battle to save the young man from his mother. For all the years of his life the ambition of Mrs. Mimms has |been to save hLer son for Adriane is a girl of modern London, highly efficient in her profession, pos- sessing a superior and analytical mind, | a ke2n sense of justice and a wealth of | {human sympathy and understanding. | | Mrs. Mimms is e parasite. | | It Adriane expresses the hope that ' Jerry will take her to the theater on | one ‘of her few evenings off duty he is | pleased. Before the appointed evening | arrives Jerry reports that his mother is | not feeling well and she thinks it would | do her gcod to go to the show with | | them. If the free evening offers an| opportunity to take the girl he loves to | | dinner, before the sun reaches high | noon on that day something happens to the maid and Mrs. Mimms thinks it “would be so nice for us to have dinner together.” When vacation time or holidays come along and Jerry plans | trips for his mother, on the day of de-| | parture she is too ill to go alone and | | he must accompany her. | A great asset is such a mother! Yet | how many there are in this world! The privilege of motherhood is a beautiful thing to contemplate and to meditate upon. The sacrifices and agonies of mind which all mothers undergo from the moment the new life comes into the world until it reaches maturity are things which every individual tries to appreciate and to understand sympa- thetically. But for those mothers who use these weapons as constant remind- ers of a debt which must be paid in filial service and duty there can be no kindly sentiment. As a background for a novel the large London hospital offers a wealth of realistic material. Every department of the institution and every phase of hospital work is vividly portrayed in the many episodes which day by day project their influence into the romance of Jerry and Adriane. To any one who has known the blessing of being cared for in a first-class hospital and of be- |ing coaxed back to health by those | whose profession requires the utmost endurance of patience and hard work, the descriptions and the events which take place at South's have a familiar |and a homelike ring. A young man suffering from appendi- | citis is brought in for an operation and is placed in Mary's ward, over which Nurse Adriane presides. Bernard Star- |ling is the nephew of a prominent sur- |geon and he could afford to pay for hospitalization. But the surgeon is a bachelor and has loved the orphaned nephew he has reared as though he were his own son, and he wishes Bern- ard to be in the hands of Sister Ad- riane. Therefore the young man oc- | cuples bed number twelve, vacated only an hour or so previously by a youn chap who had let go the tiny flicker oi It is natural for patients to fall in |love with their nurses, and Bernard | falls desperately in love with Adriane. To his attempts to speak of what fills his heart she turns a deaf ear, finally | taking -dv.ntz‘a of an opportunity to tell him that she is engaged. He suf- fers, but she is so engrossed in her love for Jerry and her fruitless attempts to save him from his mother that she fails !to see what a truly unselfish love is like. Bernard recovers and goes his way, occasionally seeing Adriane at the hospital or taking her for a drive and dinner. The situation for him grows | unutterably hopeless, and then he is brought again to the huspital, this time the victim of a crash in an automobile | race. | Meantime, Adriane has played her trump card in a final effort to gain the love which every man is expected to give to the woman he marries—and Mrs. Mimms takes the trick. ———— » | life remaining after a bad accident. Independent Offices Act | Will Cause Dismissals | Te the Editor of The Star. | Your editorial of June 16, 1933, re- | | lating to economy legislation passed at | the recently adjourned Congress as affecting Government employes would create the impression that the fur- | lough clause (section 9) of the inde- | pendent_offices bill is a favorable piece of legisiation for the employes, inas- much as it authorizes a rotative fur- section will undoubtedly adversely af- fect thousands. In my opinion, sight has been lost of the fact that section 216 of the legislative appropriation act of 1933, as amended, and as carried | out during the current fiscal vear, in- | augursted and made mandatory upon the departments to furlough and not dismiss (in express terms) employes. Consequently, not one single civil service employe was dismissed for reasons of eccnomy up to the passage of the new law, it being contrary to law to do so. Not one single employe was thrown into the streets without a job. The new furiough clause, however, repeals sec- tion 216 and leaves it discreticnary with the departments to furlough or dismiss. ‘There is no question that as a result of this legislation thousands of Gov- ernment employes, many of whom make barely a living wage ($1,200 to $1,600, less 15 per cent and less 315 per cent fcr retirement) will now lose their jobs and join the breadlines, whereas under previous legislation, bad as it was, all employes contributed their share by taking furlough without y, 8o that that none had to be thrown upon charity without jobs. RALPH GRAVES, ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN. This is & special department devoted solely to the handling of queries. This paper puts at your disposal the services | of an extensive organization in Wash- ington to serve you in any capacity that relates to information. This service is free. Failure to make use of it deprives you of benefits to which you are entitled. Your obligation is only three cents in coin or stamps in- closed with your inquiry for direct re- ply. Do not use post cards. Address The Evening Star Information Bureau, Frederic J. Haskin, Director, Washing- ton, D. C. Q Where was Grantland Rice, the are 34674 known interments in Arling- ton National Cemetery and 4,713 un- known interments. Q. Is Isham Jones, the band leader, a composer?—C. B. S. A. Isham Jones won reputation as a song writer before he became promi- nent as an orchestra leader. Some of | his compositions are “If You Were Only Mine,” “I Can't Believe It's True,” “I'll See You in My Dreams,” * Moon™ and “You're in the Army Now.” | Which he wrote while serving at a | training camp during the war. 1Aqhwno were the Mugwumps?—M. whit less drudgery to face than had | Sons and daughters who on that| that they had mothers, fell back the! sports writer, born and where did he receive his education’>—E. E. S. A. Grantland Rice was born Murfreesboro, Tenn. on November | ., A. The Mugwumps were a faction of the Republican party who refused to in | support James G. Blaine and supported 1,| Grover Cleveland. Mugwump is .an 1880. His preparatory education was Algonquin word meaning “chief.” at Nashville Military Academy and| Q. Is more electricity in the United twm.ce University School at Nash- | States produced by fuel or by water- | ville, Tenn. He received his B. A.|power’—R. K. | from Vanderbilt University in 1901. | A. Of the 83,000,000,000 kilowatt | hours of electricity produced in the Q. When did Theodore Roosevelt United States in 1932, 41 per cent was first use the expression the “big stick”? | produced by the use of water power iy | and 59 per cent by the use of fuels. A The first assoclation of Roose- b | Q How old is Ferdinand Pecora, velt with this phrase dates from 8| ,,;0e) for the Senate committee B | speech delivered by him at Chicago, | SOUn April 2, 1902. On that occasion | yo-li€ating banking orgainzations?— | Roosevelt said, “There is a homely old | addage which runs, ‘Speak softly and | | carry a big stick and you will go far.' |1t the American nation will speak | A. Mr. Pecora is fifty-one years old. Q. Please describe Ohio's — DM, F o's flag. herself. | W. softly and yet build and keep at a pitch of the highest training a thoroughly efficient Navy, the Monroe Doctrine will go far.” Q. What city has a street of silver?— | L A. The city which has a silver street is Delhi, oald capital of the Mogul Em- pire in India and the new capital of British India. The street is called Chandni Chauk, and it was once sup- poselg to be the richest street in the world. Q. Who are the three smallest mo- tion picture stars>—R. C. . Lilian Harvey, weighing 92 pounds; Marian Nixon, weighing 94 pounds, and Janet Gaynor, weighing 98. Q. When was gold first used to fill teeth?—N. G. F. A. The filling of teeth with gold foil is recorded in the oldest known book on dentistry, Artzney Buchlein, published anonymously in 1530, in' which the operation is quoted from Mesue (AD. 857), physician to the caliph Haroun al-Raschid. Q. Is there much that can be seen at the Chicago World’s Fair merely for the 50 cents admission charge?— . L K A. Eighty-five per cent of the $25.- 000,000 represented in the exposition is available for the general admission charge. Q. How many grains of wheat are there in a pound?—M. W. . The number of grains of wheat in a pound varies from 7,500 to 24,000; from 377 determinations the average was 12,000 grains. . Who invented the printing of music?>—A. N. A. Ulrich Hahn of Rome invented the printing of music in 1476. . How much time is consumed in meqmechnnlcal production of a book?— 5. W. A. It has been calculated that the whole time taken in the production of an ord words, from the casting off and the composition to the machinery and binding, and from the first dispatch of the copy to the printers, to the return of the completed book, is about 12 weeks in all. Even then, the business of actual publication has not been counted in the estima Q. How many of the soldiers buried at Arlington are unknown?—P. P. B. A. According to latest statistics there inary book of about 100,000/ A. The flag of Ohio is the only | pennant-shaped flag among all the State flags. The law making it the | offictal ensign of the “Buckeye State" | was adopted in 1902. The outer quar~ ter of the fleld is swallow-tailed, the field itself consisting of five stripes— three red and two white—red at the bottom and top. At the staff end of the fleld is a triangular blue canton, | with the base resting on the staff and the apex reaching half way across the fleld. On this canton is a large cir- cular “O” in white, inside of which is a red disk. Seventeen stars, repre- senting all of the States at the time of Ohio's entrance into the Union, ap- pear grouped around the circ “0.” All of these stars are five-poinl Q. Was the late Emperor Charles of Auxt.ri:m a lln"um’!—s D. . majest ke Slently, ty spoke seven languages Q. When children are born in a lo- | cality where daylight saving time is in use, is the time of birth recorded to dl{‘llllgt saving time or standard time? A. Standard time. Q. What change has taken place in the amount of money in circulation since the inauguration of President Roosevelt>—A. G. A. The Federal Reserve Board re- ports that money in circulation has de- clined from about $7,500.000,000 about March 4 to approximately $5,800,000,- 000. This reflects the reappearance of hoarded gold and paper currency. So long as money is outside of the Treas- ury it is regarded as technically in eir- culation. While there is no way of ar- riving at the figures, more money prob- ably is changing hands today than on March 4, although the circulation fig- ures show a shrinkage. Q. What can I do so that I will tan instead of blister when cut in the sun any length of time?—E. J. A. Rubbing the parts of the body with cocoanut oil before exposure to the sun usually produces an even coat of tan. People with very fair skin often use vinegar before and after exposure to the sun. Pat the vinegar on the skin and let it dry. Then use cold cream and powder both before and after exposure. Q. What kind of endowment is a chantry?—H. W. R A. It is one left to support & chape’. | priests, etc., in return for the daily | singing of masses for the soul of the ! founder. Earthly affection for the planet | Mars and its legendary inhabitants, it | 1s indicated, received a shock from the announcement that the neighboring heavenly body hasn't enough atmos- phere to support people of our type. Drs. Walter S. Adams and Theodore Dunham, jr., of Mount Wilson Observa- tory conclude that Mars has less than 1 per cent of oxygen, but Americans, ct least are reluctant to give up their neighbors of the universe, even though their existence was hypothetical. “The man from Mars, everything considered,” advises the St. Louis Post- Dispatch, “has been a rather helpful bimbo, but jeers will be his portion, we fear, on his next appearance. He is a myth. That, surely, is the im- plication of two eminent astronomers who have been giving Mars a fairly scrutinizing once-over. They were in- terested in the amount of oxygen on that planet. They found it decidedly inadequate. At the most, less than 1 per cent. In such an atmosphere the man from Mars would not only not get anywhere, but he wouldn't even get started.” “Speculation may be indulged,” in the judgment of the Buffalo Evening News, “as to the possibility that the universe may contain millions of living and intelligent beings entirely differ- ent from the inhabitants of Earth, but | that would be carrying the subject into |a fleld vastly wider than our humble little solar system.” The Evening News says as_to the evidence offered at Mount Wilson: “If there is so little oxygen on Mars, all the visions which have pictured that planet as a world populated by human beings much like ourselves must disappear. These be- liefs have not been the mere phan- tasies of imaginative minds. Many professional astronomers of high stand- ing have clung to them. More than one skeptic has become a tentative convert, at least, on seeing the canals of Mars through a strong telescope and under the favorable atmospheric con- ditions of such places as Arizona or the Chilean deserts. The lines of sup- posed vegetation bordering apparent | waterways extending from the poles have appeared too regular and sys- tematic not to represent the careful planning of brilliant engineers.” “Nevertheless, e haunting idea that Mars is inhabited, declares the Atlanta Journal, offering we can’'t escape the| 'Earth People Are Skeptical About Barrenness of Mars the Des Moines , “that if any sort of human life comparable to our own exists on Mars, its | ce is not yet satistactorily apparent. The evi- dence that some sort of life exists may permit us to conclude that the plfi is at least in an evolutionary stage, if some intelligent bel have evolved | or do so in the future, how much lHke | ourselves could we expect them to be | in an ‘n.mosphere with less than 1 per cent of oxygen?” 4 “We shall miss the Martians,” states | the New York Herald-Tribune, “not merely because they were the only other plausible inhabitants of a cold and lonely universe, but because of their profound influence uj our corner of it. It was the Martians who were al- ways traveling to the earth (in books) and exclaiming upen the absurdities of our civilization; it was the Martians who (also in books) had worked out an ideal society, in which eugenics enslaved Cupid, the future had triumphed over the cash register and no one was ever selfish; it was Mars that should be our | first stepping stone to the wonders of infinite space when rockets took the first men on the first journey away from our own jolly and well oxygened little spheroid. But now this can never be. * * * Yet something in us cries out that it must be, that we cannot remain all alone. Pass once again. oh cruel astronomers, the stars and planets be- fore your spectograph, nor rest until you find, somewhere, oxygen enough to | support, if not life, at least the hope of | other lives than ours.” These astronomers, according to the New York Times, “have explored Mars from pole to pole, and the planet turns out to be warmer than was generally | supposed 10 years ago.” The Times be- lieves that “the nights there musi be as cold as Greenland at its worst,” but that there are “alternations of tem- perature that imply furs after sunset and the lightest fabric at noon—intelligent life, if there is any on Mars, must have its troubles.” Comparing the situation of Mars with | that of the Earth, the Providence Jour- | nal offers the explanation: “The sun | gives the whole Earth one-fifteenth | more heat in January than in July. But it gives Mars half as much again. This ought to give the northern M tians a comfortable Winter. But there are two important differences. One is that the heat that Mars receives from the sun is, on the average, only about four-fifths as much as’the Earth re- | ceives. The other is that the atmos- ver: the opinion ss to the latest discovery | e o3l %% thin that it affords lough system. On the contrary. this | | gree to all by observers of the solar system: “If this be true, it is a challenge to those of us who like to think of that star as peopled by beings somewhat akin to ourselves. For while some bacteria | might get along without oxygen, no/ lady or gentleman would do so. We| can live without poetry, music and art; we may live without conscience and | live without heart, as a certain son of | a certain lord reminded us long ago.| But civilized man can no more live| without oxygen than he could live with- out cooks, nor could the sturdiest sa age. Therefore, we hope that the emi- nent astronomers are mistaken, but we shall not argue the matter. Their method of exploring the atmosphere of the pianet would have interested the, old lady who said that, although she| could conceive of an astronomer meas- uring the distance of the stars, it ut- terly passed her understanding how he ever found out their names.” As to the “quality and quantity of | life on Mars,” the Danbury News-Times | holds that “nobody knows,” but that “it may be reasonable to infer that there is no life precisely like man.” The paper concludes, however, that "ptob—| ably there is no part of the universe without life,” while “man assumes that his life has resemblance in some de- of every sort.” ve to concede,” thinks “We | but a very scanty ‘thermal blanket.’ So the heat that the planet receives from | the sun at once flies off into space. The result is that the noon temperature in the Martian tropics may be as high as 79 degrees. But the morning and eve- | ning_temperature is far below zero. As the Earth is muckr nearer the sun than Mars, we cannot see the night side of Mars. No high-grade life that we know could flourish on Mars, on ac- count of the cold.” e Farm Prices. From the Pasadena Star-News. Good news comes from the farms of the United States. Official figures show that in the month from April 15 to May 15 there was & gain of 17 per cent in farm prices. Here is something highly significant—this rise was the largest for any month since April, 1919, And it was in 1919 that the entire c3un. try was feel the effects of the pcst- war boom. t is interesting to roie that grain led all the major commodities in the rise in farm prices this. year. Wool made the most striking e o v Soge et E7arm news thtae is