Evening Star Newspaper, December 5, 1934, Page 10

A—10 THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON,D.C. WEDNESDAY, December 5, 1834 THEODORE W. NOYES. .Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company Business Office: . and Pennsylvania Ave. York Office; 110 East 42nd 8t. Lake Michigan Building. uropean Office: 14 Regent St. London. England. Rate by Carrier Within the City. Regular Edition, The Evening Star 45c mer month The Evening and 8 A (when 4 Sundays! 64 The Evening and Sund (when 5 Sundays). The Sunday Star... Night Fin Night Pinal and Sunday Star, Night FIne ads’ ‘at ‘thie en 0 month Ofders may be sent by mail or telephone NAtional 5000. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. Daily and Sunday. .1 yr.. $10.00; 1 mo., 85¢ Daily only 1yr. $6.00 1 mo., B0c Sundav only 1yr. $4.00; 1mo. 40¢ All Other States and Canada. T, $12.00: 1 mo.. $1.00 $R.00: 1 mo., 7 $5.00: 1 mo.. T 0c per month gar .65¢ per month © per copy Sunday only....1¥ boe Member of the Associated Press. The Associated Press is exclusively en- titled to the use for republication of all 2ews dispatches credited to it or not other- wise credited in this paper and also the local news published herein Al rights of publication of spectal dispatches “herein cerve When Progressives Fall Out. Senator Borah's demand for reor- ganization of the Republican National Committee has so far merely served to emphasize the demoralized state of the G. O. P. Not only has the Borah proposal brought an emphatic “no” from Chairman Henry P. Fletcher of the National Committee and other regular Republicans, but it has demonstrated the fact that so- called insurgent progressives do not have hearts that beat as one. It was to be expected that Mr. Fletcher and the other dominant regular Repub= licans in the National Committee, among them Charles D. Hilles of New York, would resent and oppose the | Borah plan to throw these old wheel horses of the party into the ash can. ‘While it has never been any secret in that the progressive Republicans I the Senate are as temperamental and jealous of one another as a pack of school girls, the bitterness with which Senator Couzens of Michigan has as- sailed the Idaho Senator and his pro- posal comes as & surprise. And where are the other progressive Republicans? Have they ranged themselves on the side of Mr. Borah in his demand for | a quick reorganization or revolt? If they have they have been very quiet about it. One thing may be said of the conservative, regular Republicans. They know what they want and for what they stand, as a general thing. The progressives, on the other hand, do not always seem to know for what they stand, and usually some of them are quite certain that they do not stand for the things which an indi- vidual in their group advances. The slighting attitude of many of the pro- gressives toward the Borah demand is a case in point. Their trouble, as a group, is that, while they may dislike the regulars, they do not like each other. Of course, some of these progressive Republicans may be perfectly content with the New Deal party of Roosevelt, and for that reason may not be able to arouse much enthusiasm over Re- publican reorganization. Not only have these Progressives stood by the President, but he has stood by them. However that may be, a difficulty which the progressives have always faced in the past lay in the fact that they were in a decided minority in the G. O. P.; it has been impossible for the tail to wag the dog. And now that the day seems to have dawned for them, with many of the old guard disastrously defeated at the polls, the progressives are unable to get together. Senator Couzens’' caustic remark that the Borah plan would fail be- cause it was, “as usual, nothing but words,” brought a shayp retort from the Idaho Senator. The argumentum ad hominem arouses the interest of the crowd, but does not get far. Mr. Couzens challenged Mr. Borah to take the chairmanship and announce a program, and see what he could do with it. Senator Borah's reply was that he would include in his program a tax on the present large number of tax-free securities, of which Mr. Couzens’ large fortune is supposed to consist. All of this has little to do with the rebuilding of the Repub- lican party. If the progressive leaders of the G. O. P. are unable to get together and to stand together on principles and program, what would it avail the Republican party to have them take eontrol of the party machinery? —oor—- A new feature of filing systems guar- antees not being able to find some- thing when you don’t want it. R Cleaning Up Rock Creek. One of the arguments advanced by those who favored modification of plans for the District sewage disposal plant, to be built with a P, W. A. loan, was that benefits from removing one source of pollution from the Potomac would be offset by failure to remove pollution from Rock Creek. If it was 8 question which of the streams should be purified, there was senti- ment in favor of cleaning up Rock Creek first. The existing condition of this stream, flowing through one of the most beautiful parks in the world, is nothing less than disgraceful. The P. W. A. grant of $25,000 to the National Park Service, announced yesterday, will defray the expenses of & thorough investigation of the prob- lem of removing pollution from Rock Creek and may be regarded as the first step in & major undertaking of mani- fest desirability. The chief source of pollution of Rock Creek in Maryland is from the town of Kensington. Garrett Park, not far from Kensington, recently in- stalled a sewage treatment plant which has improved conditions to terceptor, which generally follows the course of the creek and has its out- let at Blue Plains. Another Maryland sewer empties into the Potomac above the District line. But one of the chief sources of pollution of the creek in the District is the drainage through storm sewers, which empties directly into the creek during heavy rains. The expense of removing this source of pollution, involving new and larger mains, has been regarded in the past as prohibitory, in view of other nec- essary undertakings awaiting ade- quate financing. Grant of the money to the National Park Service for engineering surveys should assure the co-ordination of effort between the District and Mary- land which is necessary in this proj- ect, and rapid residential development of suburban Montgomery County, to- gether with extensions of the Rock Creek Park system into Maryland, are hastening the time when a plan must be adopted and pushed to completion. ———— The French Empire. In emulation of the British Empire at Ottawa a year or so ago, the Em- pire of France is now in conclave for a similar purpose—to link up for com- mon economic welfare the mother country in Europe and the far-flung| possessions, colonies and protectorates across the seas. The conference has Jjust been opened at Paris, under the auspices of the President of the Re- public, M. Albert Lebrun. Its assemblage is designed to re- mind the world of the importance and | immensity of the French Empire—a grand total, exclusive of France itself, of nearly 6,000,000 square miles in! area and & population of roundly 60,- 000,000. It embraces such territory as Indo-China and Syria, in Asia; Mo- rocco, Algiers and Tunis, in Africa, and French Guiana, in South Amer- ica. As of Britain's Empire, it can be said that the sun never sets on the Empire of France, spread, as it is, throughout the seven seas. President Lebrun emphasizes that there is no intention of forming a self-sufficing French imperial unit for exclusion of all others. France seeks only to encourage trade with “her best customers,” and to prevent them—the various French possessions —from becoming rivals of one another | In such fields as the wine and wheat industries. France is especially interested in keep- ing her territorles in North Africa— | Morocco, Algiers and Tunis—content- {ed members of the French Empire. Ambitious Italy, with adjacent African colonial territory and expansionist dreams, occasionally casts covetous eyes across the Mediterranean in the direction of the domains over which | the tricolor flies. To remove any cause upon the part of French Africa to switch its allegiance to Italy is a matter of vital concern to the Paris government, and it may safely be assumed that ways and means of solidifying Franco - Moroccan - Alge- rian-Tunisian relations bulk conspicu- ’ously’ in the empire conference. From North Africa, in the event of another European war, the French would draw not only manpower for their armies, but food supplies and raw materials. It is to assure her ability to keep the Mediterranean Sea lanes open for transport of these troops and sinews that France maintains so strong a submarine force and otherwise zeal- ously safeguards her naval position in the waters that separate her from Northern Africa. ‘While the French disclaim any pur- pose of setting up artificial trade barriers within their empire, and thus still further hampering international economic intercourse, they are likely to go at least as far as the British did at Ottawa, and sooner or later estab- lish an imperial preference system for the benefit of French and Franco- colonial interests. That will be a nat- ural and legitimate development, to which the outside world cannot raise any reasonable objection. ————————————— The Morro Castle disaster continues to indicate the undesirability of con- fusing excessive night club gayeties with serious navigation. —_— —e—————— No “Skirt” for the Monument. The Washington Monument is one of the most interesting of all existing structures. It has engaged the atten- tion of engineers as well as of non- technical observers ever since it was conceived, and especially since its completion, particularly of late with the erection of a great scaffolding of | steel to permit its redressing and re- pointing to repair certain deface- ments due to the vibrations caused by the wind and slight earth movements. Now comes a suggestion by an en- gineer that in order to ensure its in- tegrity it be given a sheathing or skirt of metal or marble. The Monument was designed in the form of the ancient Egyptian obelisk, which was always a monolith. Of course no single stone of the proposed dimensions of the shaft could con- ceivably be obtained or transported to the site or erected. The obelisk must therefore be synthetic, & built-up shaft, consisting of a great number of units. At the start one factor of possible impairment of the surface was overlooked. The outer stones were cut with sharp edges and were laid with leaden “checks” to prevent the squeezing out of the mortar. Those “checks,” being malleable, yielded to pressure and brought the edges of the stones closer together than when first laid, and the edges being sharp they were subject to spalling, or chipping. As the shaft arose in the course of its completion and the pres- sure increased this spalling in the lower portion became more notice- able, but the tendency was greatly lessened by a change of method, the outer edges of the newly laid courses being slightly beveled and the checks THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C., WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 1934, THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL, tion ceased with the substitution of bronze for lead. ‘The proposal of & “skirt” of stain- less metal, or of marble, to extend for a portion of the distance up the shaft is prompted by an engineer's interest in the preservation of the Monument from the defacing effects of earth movements and wind pressure. It is believed, however, that no such expe- dient will ever be necessary. In all likelihood the shaft has now reached the point of stability and the work of the restoration of the surface now in progress will correct the deface- ments already suffered and lessen, if not remove, the chance of any fur- ther impairment. It is greatly to be hoped that there will be no such ad- dition to the great obelisk as that sug- gested, for it would destroy its unity of line, which is one of its most im- pressive features. oo Museum of American History. A plan for a museum of American history, to supplement the equipment of the Smithsonian Institution and to house relics and souvenirs of the Na- tion’s glorious and colorful past, has been indorsed by the Washington chapter of the Society of Colonial Wars and doubtless also will be ap- proved by other patriotic bodies. The natural attraction of the project is obvious, and the need for some such establishment likewise is unquestioned. For many years the Smithsonian has been obliged to reject gifts freely offered by citizens. The space avail- able for the display of material was exhausted long ago, and & condition of overcrowding has been the distin- guishing characteristic of the institu- tion for several decades. Thus, from a purely practical point of view, the | construction of a new building spe- cifically assigned to American history should be welcomed by the regents and executive staff. It would make possible the rearrangement of all the material already owned by the Smith- sonian and bring into one single focal center some of the most interesting and valuable of the institution’s treas- ures. Also it vould afford accommoda- tion for material which the regents gladly would accept for exhibition. But the ideal represented by the history museum proposal is to be commended for its own sake. The Nation should have such a deposi- tory for its artifacts, and the Na- tion's Capital is the proper place for it to be located. Great Britain has the British Museum to serve a sim- ilar purpose, and no visitor to its gal- leries can fall to recognize the utility which it serves. Nearly thirty years have passed since Congress has granted the Smithsonian funds for construction purposes. If now it authorizes money for a history museum—and for additions to the National Museum and for a fine arts building as well—there surely will be general public approval of its action. —_— e Herbert Hoover said there were hard times ahead, but he lacked the genial personality which made the news a source of popularity. -t Maryland is sure to raise a protest if any one suggests extra salaries for brushing cobwebs off ballot boxes. When floods threaten, a sharp cold wave promises a frozen asset to be favorably considered. o SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. What Santa Claus Will Bring. Old Santa will draw near once more Amid the glorious acclaim. He leaves a small boy at the door And “Happy New Year” is his name. This Happy New Year may turn out To be a kind and gentle kid, With inclinations most devout Always to do as he is bid. ‘We hope as he keeps on the move He'll be a sweet Lord Fauntleroy And not with mischief try to prove He is another Peck’s Bad Boy. Impatience. “What is your opinion of old-age pensions?” said the human question- naire. i “They’re all right,” answered Sen- ator Sorghum. “But too many folks won’t wait for the years to bring an excuse for collecting something for doing nothing.” Jud Tunkins says he thinks the Gov- ernment ought to set an example in politeness, and when it writes you | about taxes say “dear sir” and “yours truly.” Pagliaccl. Perhaps at me you sneer, My dear, Because I'm only just a clown, ‘Whose antics, often queer, Appear At moments to amuse the town. But if my heart sincere Can cheer And from your brow efface a frown, Your smile so frank and clear, My dear, Means more than stateliest renown. Fallacies. “They are getting fallacies even into nursery rhymes,” said Farmer Corn- tossel. “It’s as serious as that?” “Yes, sir. When you're ordered to kill off porkers, what excuse is there for saying, ‘This little pig went to market'?” “I have some quaint figures in my little shop,” said H1 Ho, the sage of Chinatown, “but none are so gro- tesquely humorous as my pompous neighbor, Hi Hat.” Unmeasurable. Indian Summer comes and goes, We seldom know just when and how. In evanescence soft it glows As tints of beauty grace each bough. Like other joys, we truly treasure it, But there’s no rule by which to meas- of lead being replaced by disks of phosphor bronze. ‘The reddish stains in the older por- some extent. All of the sewage from Chevy Chase, D. C., and ‘most of the sewage from Chevy Chase, Md., now flows into the Rock Creek main in- Iy tion of the shaft, less observable of late than when the Monument was completed, were due to the oxidization of the leaden “checks.” This discolora- A ure it. “When you thinks you is smarter dan anybody else,” said Uncle Eben, “don’t forget you's in competition wif an unlimited number of people dat think de same thing.” A The uses of criticism are various. In the daily life the personal type of criticism, received by most persons, may be put to many good uses. If one is of a moralistic nature it may be received as a guard against the pride which goeth before a fall. It may be accepted with one or more grains of the proverbial salt. It may pose as material for study of the human ego, both as demon- strated in the critic and he who re- ceives criticism. It may be a help or & hindrance, according to the way in which it is used after reception. * kX K Only & few persons, by reason of wealth or power, will be free from fault-finding, and it is a question whether they may not be the losers thereby. ‘What they gain by freedom from the stings of petty criticism they perhaps lose by the failure to receive any help from this source. Napoleon, for instance, could not see the futility of his attempted raid on Russia half as well as hundreds who surrounded him. ‘The man who would have been bold enough in that empire to have told the chief that the curve of his stom- ach, while serving admirably perhaps in a snuff-box portrait, really presaged his fall no doubt would have suffered the fate meted out to those held too frank in a concealing world. * % ok The main thing to watch out for in regard to criticism is to separate words deserving consideration from the petty sort. It will be discovered that there are, in the main, two distinct types of hu- man being in this regard. Members of the first class offer criticism in the daily life because they are sincerely desirous of helping, although often enough their approach is faltering and fumbling, thereby placing them in a difficult position. Members of the second class merely criticise to find fauit. “shooting off their mouth,” as the vernacular has it, just “talking to hear themselves talk.” Often they find a malicious pleas- ure in pointing out what to them seem faults, but which really rank as such only in their own imaginations. They like to create an issue and carry the battle where the victim can see no ground for complaint. | Thus, if the latter is too kind to be | wary, he often finds himself vigorously defending himself from nothing. * Kk % Don't let anybody make vou untrue to yourself, through acceptance of an issue which is no issue, but merely a complaint, based on nothing much. Many of the criticisms of daily life come about because the complainer is neither willing nor able to understand what another is trying to do. He may be sincere enough in his belief that because he does not like a thing nobody else can, but he would be amazed to realize the numbers of those who hold the other way. If the victim of the attack is quite sure that the bulk of opinion is on his side and is favorable to his work, he should not become excited because | some one has not been able to see what he is trying to do. So much is to be expected in I' striving world. WASHINGTION ‘They are | Many persons cannot stand the original, or the different, perhaps be- cause they unconsciously regard it as a reflection upon themselves, just as those who drink consistently dislike those who do not. Especially is criticism likely to come to the original man from men in the same line who regard them- selves as “pretty smooth.” They are victims of a system, and none is more merciless. Anything dif- ferent from what they would do is a standing invitation to them to swing into battle for God and country—and themselves. * ok ko While he who is criticised should try to winnow the wheat from the chaff, he should not do so to the ex- tent of permitting the antagonist to create an issue where actually there is none. He should never permit the other to get him in an argument about the matter, for to do so makes it real, since words are things and cannot be held lightly, even when they are false. So never, under any circumstances, permit him to make you untrue to yourself. And never let what he says hurt you too much, ‘This will be asking & seeming im- possibility of many a sensitive human being. Yet a good callousness can be achieved, even by the most sensitive. A certain rather well known Wash- ingtonian, whenever he receives a badly phrased piece of criticism, such as would not be penned by gentleman or gentlewoman, consigns it to the waste basket with the simultaneous use of one of two epithets, according to sex. He wisely has learned how best to protect his inner self against raids. EEE There is something finely exciting about this form of intellectual battle. Battles are won and lost here as elsewhere, but not a word is said, no flag waved, nor shot fired. If the foeman will give the devil his due, he will realize, if not soon then later, that the fellow will try to search out the merit of his criticism, and if he finds it acceptable will adopt it. Depend upon him. Naturally he will not do anything which will be an admittance that what he has done should never have been done in the first place. He is a human being, not an angel, and func- tions as such. Criticism often does not have the point to it which the proponent thinks it has. It is the result, all too often, of hasty thinking, or the easy acceptance of one or two utter- ances as the pronouncements of many. Often criticism is worked up in little coterles speaking easily in cor- ners about another, who, if he were | present, could quickly show the fal- | lacy of the words. Yet they are trotted out later as | the solemn edicts of matured judg- ment, and the victim must hasten to bow the knee to superior judgment. Let him bow no knee, let him not admit too hastily the voice of the | gods. They are but gods of the | everyday and their crowns are tinsel. When the hollow speciousness of | their criticisms are seen for what | they are worth, a small, still voice will answer out of the whirlwind: “Aw, bunk.” OBSERVATIONS BY FREDERIC WILLIAM WILE. Although the White House officially is keeping its hands off the speaker- ship fight, it has the deepest concern in the outcome and is watching de- velopments with an eagle eye. The administration is punctiliously playing no favorites, ostensibly hoping only that the best man wins. What makes it delicate for the President to take sides is that all of the candidates— Byrns of Tennessee, Rayburn of Texas, Bankhead of Alabama and the rest— are his friends, and he shrinks from anything that would create conditions that might later rise up to imperil Roosevelt policies. From the New Deal standpoint, harmonious or- ganization of the House—the floor leadership as well as the identity of the man on the rostrum—is of para- mount importance. There is mno anxiety over the Senate situation, which is well in hand and relatively easy to keep In hand, but with the unwieldy Democratic majority in the House it's a different story. Much depends on those at the controls. That's why F. D. R. and everybody around him are watching events with vigilance, not unmixed with anxiety. * K K X Another American Ambassador now home on leave is Hugh S. Gibson, re- cently arrived from Brazil on his first leave since President Roosevelt sent him to Rio de Janeiro in May, 1933. Distinguished career diplomat and intimate friend of Herbert Hoover, Mr. Gibson is one of the few foreign service officers of ambassador- ial rank taken over from the former regime. As we shall soon be discuss- ing tariff matters with the Amazon republic, progress toward a reciprocal treaty is likely to be made as the re- sult of Mr. Gibson's personal report to Secretary Hull. We are also in- terested in Japanese immigration in Brazil, a live issue there ever since Nippon, to its dislike, was placed on a quota basis somewhat on American lines. There has been a considerable influx of Japanese into Brazil and ‘Tokio encourages such migration. The new Japanese Ambassador at Rio, Setsu Sawada, is well remembered in Washington as one-time counselor of embassy here. * Kok K Mrs. Calvin Coolidge has let inti- ‘| mate friends know that she has not the remotest intention of acquiring a home in Washington, as circumstan- tially rumored from time to time. It has frequently been suggested to the former First Lady that she should leave Northampton, where she leads a more or less secluded life, and settle down here among a legion of friends. But the gracious Grace seems deter- mined not to join the local circle of one-time White House mistresses, now confined to Mrs. Taft and Mrs. Wilson. * K K K In his highly informative “Hoover Off the Record,” just from the press, Theodore G. Joslin, the former Presi- dent’s secretary, lifts the veil on Hoover activities in the Lindbergh case. Word reached the White House that Mrs. Lindberg would appreciate it if the President would publicly appeal for the return of her child in the course of a broadcast on unemployment relief on the evening of Sunday, March 6, 1932. Mr. Hoover - agreed Wwithout hesitation to do so. That very night came word from Col. Lindbergh that as “an important development” was anticipated, it would be best if the appeal were not made. This is What Mr. Hoover intended to say: “Mrs. Lindbergh has asked me to request the return of her baby boy. It is a request no man would refuse. If any one within the sound of my voice knows where that baby is, I ask that they immediately communicate with the proper authorities, and if they do not, may God have mercy on their souis!” Dr. Glenn Frank, president of the | University of Wisconsin, who ineu- gurated Washington'’s Town Hall this week, continues to be looked upon as & 1936 Republican white hope, in case the elephant harks to advice to turn to the liberal left. The chance that the young Western educator may develop into presidential timber lent piquant interest to the side-swipes he seemed to be taking in his Town Hall address at certain New Deal policies. A native of Mis- souri and just turned 44, Dr. Frank has never aspired to public office. Despite his nine years at Madison he has revealed little identification with the La Follette brand of progres- sivism nor taken active interest in party politics generally. As an avowed “internationalist,” one of Dr. Frank's claims to fame is that he was a mem- ber of a group headed by William Howard Taft that drafted a covenant for the League of Nations. * ok ok % Demands for Republican reorgani- zation and for younger leaders are causing a regular treasure hunt for talent. Some of the names (among others) honorably mentioned include Bronson Cutting, Col. Theodore Roose- velt, Hamilton Fish, jr.; Patrick J. Hurley, Fiorello H. La Guardia, F. Trubee Davison, Senator Gerald P. Nye, Chase Mellen, jr.; Hanford Mac- Nider, Henry Cabot Lodge, 2d; Gov. Landon of Kansas, Gov. Winant of New Hampshire and Gov.-elect Hoff- man of New Jersey. The Seventy- fourth Congress may develop brand- new timber. Had Bob La Follette stayed ‘“regular,” the consensus is that he would have had few rivals for liberal G. O. P. leadership and might easily have molded party poli- cies, with the old guard in the dis- card. * % % % More is likely to be heard of George Olmsted of Des Moines, head of the national Young Republican movement, who is expected to call a conference of his associates later this month or early n January for the purpose of organizing a concerted attack on the old guard. Senator Borah may be invited to address the group and dis- close his plans for - “liberalization.” The Idahoan has tentatively agreed to speak beforc the New York Re- publican County Committee on De- cember 13. If he keeps the date, it would afford him an ideal forum challenge to suggest a platform. It is a rare iribute to the 69-year-old “father” of the Senate that Repub- licans who would rejuvenate the party are turning to him as the man to show the way out of the wilderness. EL White House habitues wonder whether President Roosevelt's favor- ite desk ornaments have been moved into the spick and span new Execu- tive quarters—a little cloth donkey, symbol of triumphant democracy, and & paper weight helmsman’s wheel, emblematic of F. D. R.s penchant for the sea. (Copyright, 1934.) —_— e Dancing in Germany, From the Boston Transcript. A German girl at the University of Vermont says it surprises her how much American girls dance. The only difference we can see between the situation here and that in Germany is that over here we hire our own fiddler. R Motor Electioneering. From the Albuquerque (N. Mex.) Journal. It has always been a source of wonder whether the political placards on cars are for the purpose of chang- ing votes or merely indicating that the owner of a car wants folks to know how he’s going to vote. 4 in which to take up Senator Couzens'! I NEW BOOKS AT RANDOM Margaret Germond. FER-DE-LANCE. By Rex Stout. New York: Farrar & Rinehart. Nero Wolfe, a new figure in mys- tery fiction, is presented in a story that is proportionately as immense in problem as he himself is in stature. He is a man of ponderous bulk. Na- ture has clothed his giant's frame with too many layers of upholstery to give him any grace of form or to permit an easy freedom of move- ment. He chooses his own time and his own place for meeting those with whom he wishes to talk, and they may take it or leave it. He is re- garded as an eccentric because he breaks the daily routine of life in his own rooms for no one, because neither prominent officials nor medi- ocre underlings can fathom the sources of his knowledge or the methods by which he gleans it, and because he is a grower of rare orchids. Two hours each morning and two hours each afternoon he spends in the plant room. Those whose busi- ness urgently requires his attention during those hours may cool their heels as long as they like. He re- celves all visitors, titled or minus any distinction, seated. It is on Wednesday that Maria Maffei, an Italian woman of fine character, appeals to. Wolfe to find her brother, who has been missing | since Monday evening. Her arrival is timely, for it costs a lot of money to maintain a greenhouse for the culture of orchids and Wolfe is about broke. The woman has only & small amount of savings, but she will pay all of it for the restoration of her brother. Archie Goodwin, private secretary, investigator and right-hand man for Wolfe, is sent to Carlo Maffei’s rooming house to make the first in- quiries, and after an apparently fruit- less search for clues decides to take the young girl who cleaned the miss- ing man’s room for an interview with | Wolfe. An inquisition at the hands of Wolfe, as described by Archie Good- win, becomes a thing of beauty. After hours of questioning it is a simple statement concerning a torn news- paper that finally yields the key to| a startling truth. ‘While playing a foursome on Sun- day before Maflei's disappearance, Peter Oliver Barstow, prominent and wealthy resident of Westchester County and president of Holland Uni- versity, had been stricken with a heart attack and had died on the golf links. On Tuesday his body had been committed to the earth in the quiet dignity befitting his professional and social position. On Thursday Archie Goodwin arives in White Plains with an offer from Wolfe to make a $10,000 wager with District Attorney Anderson that if he will have the body of Barstow exhumed and en autopsy performed a poisoned needle will be found in the man's stomach. The length of the needle, the ma- terial of which it is made, its position in the man’s anatomy and the slant on which it entered his body are described in the challenge. The wager does not take and Archie returns to New York, but the much perturbed | office the next morning and is allowed the happy privilege of working himself | into a temper until Wolfe decides to | receive him. The district attorney is given his| choice of accepting the wager or of having the newspapers give the first information that Barstow had been | murdered. He accepts the wager and | the autopsy is performed. Wolfe's prediction of the result is proved and things begin to happen. Meanwhile | the body of Carlo Maffei has been found in a thicket a few miles out | of Scarsdale. He had been stabbed | in the back. Barstow's widow, upon learning that her husband's death had been wrought by the hand of a murderer, offers $50,000 for his detec- tion and punishment, and Wolfe, in need of funds, undertakes to earn the reward. The story is told by Archie Good- win, legs and action for his moun- tainous employer, interviewer. investi- gator and spokesman for Wolfe when he takes a notion that he does not care to put on an inquisition of his own, which is often. Archie is a thoroughly likable chap. competent, temperamental and an inveterate drinker of milk. The methods of Wolfe are different from those of any other man hunter of fiction, and his philosophical deliberations, calcula- tions and deductions place him im- mediately in the ranks of the best. He is an intellectual genius, always just a step or two ahead of those who would give much to prove him wrong, but who have learned to their sorrow that he has a most disconcerting habit of being dead right. Rex Stout has created two strikingly effective characters, and it is to be sincerely hoped that they will be given many other mysteries to solve. * ok X % STILL DEAD. By Ronald Knox. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., Ine. Where else than in the eerie mists that shroud the hills of Scotland could the same man be found dead in iden- tically the same position and location twice within three days? Colin Reiver, worthless son of a family distinguished largely for its ill rather than its good focrtune, leaves home for a trip abroad. An accident resulting in the death of a child has caused him to brood upon his failure in everything he has undertaken, and his father and sister are glad to have him make a sea voyage. In his heart he wants to join the Foreign Legion and it is with this possibility in mind that he consents to go to Spain. The sudden and grave illness of his father causes his sister to summon him home, but on the morning before he could possibly arrive in response to the message his body is discovered beside a gravel pile on the estate by an old gardener, who hastens to the house to call for aid. Returning to the scene with various members of the household, the old gardener is stunned to find that the body has dis- appeared, Believed generally by the superstitious neighbors to be possessed of second sight, the old man is dis- credited and his story of having dis- covered Colin dead against the gravel heap is believed to have been an hallucination created by the weird mist of the early morning. Two days later, however, the body is again dis- covered in the early hours of the morning in the same place and posi- tion as reported by the gardener in the first instance ‘The death of the young man creates 3§ fine point in the matter of a life in- surance policy. Payments on the pol- icy had been paid regularly until the old man became ill and the install- ment due in January failed to reach the office of the company. The be- lated payment, arranged for on the night that it was believed the elder Reiver would die, arrived on Monday morning. If Colin Reiver was ac- tually dead in the early morning of Monday, when the gardener reported his discovery, he died uninsured. If he did not die until Wednesday, the day of the unmistakable finding of ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS : BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN. A reader can get the answer to any question of fact by writing The Washington Evening Star Information Bureau, Frederic J. Haskin, Director, Washington, D. C. Please inclose stamp for reply. Q. What was the first intercol- legiate foot ball game in the United States?—C. K. A. Princeton and Rutgers Novem- ber 23, 1869, played the first intercol- legiate foot ball game in history. Q. What group of professional men has the greatest longevity?—M. B. A. Life insurance statistics indi- cate that ministers, as a group, may expect greater longevity than men in any other calling. Q. Has Eugene O'Neill, the play- wright, ever been an actor?>—H. T. D. A. Eugene O'Neill is the son of James O'Neill, who was a famous actor. The son played with the father for one season in “The Count of Monte Cristo.” Q. How much does it cost to light the Washington Monument?—A. T. A. About $1,400 a year. Q. How much of the Skyline Drive is now completed?—S. E. C. A. Thirty-two miles. When com- i pleted, the drive will be about 90 miles in length, reaching from Front Royal to Waynesboro, through the Shenan- doah Valley. With its extensions south, it will eventually be 400 miles in length. Q. What s the average age of a Spanish War veteran?—V. F. A. The average age of Spanish War veterans is now 60. Q. Which State ranks first in area, and which in population?—A. M. A. Texas is first in area, but New York is first in population. Q. Can_gasoline be peat?—H. T. W. made from A. The process of making gasoline ! from peat has been developed at the Leningrad Industrial Institute. The gasoline has been used in an automo- bile test run from Leningrad to Mos- cow and return and experts there re- port that the new fuel gives more power than ordinary gasoline, makes no smoke and costs only half as much to produce as gasoline from petroleum. Q. What height was reached by the Piccards on their stratosphere flight? —E.R. A. Dr. and Mrs. Jean Piccard reached an altitude of 57,979 feet or nearly 11 miles. Q. How many pounds of tobacco does it take to make one thousand cig- arettes?—M. W. S. A. About 2385 pounds. Q. Were negroes called slaves when they were first brought to America?— F. M. A. Apparently the word slave was not applied to the African Negroes imported for servants and sold, until many years after the practice orig- inated in America. It was a gommon custom for white persons to be brought grants and their services were sold for a varying term, either to fulfill their sentences or to pay for their trans- portation. For many years it appears that the status of the African was not | greatly different from that of white servants and both were called by the iatter term. The transition from servitude to slavery was made when | the servitude became hereditary and descended to the offspring of the orig- | inal servants. Q. When was “Tom Sawyer” write ten?—A. M. A. It was finished in 1875, but was not published until December, 1876, Q. Who started the first hospitals for foundlings in the United States?— C.T.W. A. The first institution designated for foundlings seems to have been St. Vincent’s Infant Asylum, established | by the Sisters of Charity (St. Vincent de Paul) in Baltimore, Md., in 1856. Q. Is it considered that President Roosevelt's action prohibiting the use of gold as money and substituting | Paper is constitutional?>—W. N. A. The Supreme Court ultimately will pass upon the matter, but, mean- time, reference is made to Article I, section 10, of the Constitution, which | says: “No State shall * * * make any- thing but gold and silver coin tender |in payment of debts,” and some law- yers hold that what is forbidden to any of the States must be forbidden to all of them. Q. What kind of a drink was cider royal, popular in Colonial days?— M. P. | A it was strong cider mixed with honey. Q. Please describe the Golden Gate. | —E.R. M. A. The Golden Gate is a channel at the entrance to San Francisco Bay, | between the peninsula upon which is located San Francisco and the one upon which Sausalito stands. The average width is 2 miles, and the | depth is sufficient for ocean steamers. It is guarded by Forts Pointe and Mason, both on the south shore. The name was given to this channel by Drake, about 1578. Q. How long a time did Caruso al- | low himself for dressing and making up?—I. D. | 'A. An hour. This same length of | time was occupied in taking off the make-up. | Q. How many gold mines has Call- fornia?—J. T. W. A. In 1933 there were in operation | in California 797 lode gold mines and | 993 placer gold mines. Q. What interest has Columbia University in Rockefeller Center?— N. F. D. A. The facts concerning Rockefel- ler Center and Columbia University | are as follows: In turning the prop- erty over to Mr. Rockefeller, the uni- | versity replaced more than 200 sepa=- rate leases by a single large lease, the first term of which expires in 1952, with the lessee’s option of re- | newal for three further periods of | 21 years each. Through this arrange- ment the building center may remain | a separate and individual entity until the year 2015. Upon termination of | the lease all buildings on the Co- lumbia leasehold will become the property of Columbia University | without cost. In the meantime the university will receive large yearly | rentals for the support of its educa- | tional program, increasing in amount | as the years pass by and the property district attorney arrives in Wolfe's | 1o America either as prisoners or emi- | hecomes more valuable. These rentals amount to a large part of the total income of the world's largest educa- tional institution. Q. How does automobile registra- tion in the United States now com= | pare with registration 10 years ago?— A.J. A A. Approximately 24,000,000 cars are registered for 1934. There were about 17,000,000 registered 10 years | ago. ‘Talk of Franco-Russian Pact Complicates European Status Although it was promptly repudi- ated by higher officials, the statement by the French budget reporter before | the Chamber of Deputies that Russia had offered her army to aid France in case of war with Germany further complicated the criss-cross currents | of war talk in Europe. “The diplomacy of Soviet Russia” according to the New York Sun, “has shown itself capable of driving hard bargains. France would be con- strained to defend Russia from attack by Germany because, if for no other reason, a German victory over Russia would add to the peril in which many Frenchmen believe their country al- ways stands. To Prench insistence has been attributed Russia’s change of front toward the League of Nations. It is of importance for other countries to know how far the present Franco- Russian understanding is to be ex- tended. Calling the Russian move “some- thing of an inovation in world diplo- macy,” the Lincoln (Nebr.) State Journal suggests that “it may serve to crystallize the situation and may bring about & drawing of distinct lines of alliance.” That paper adds: “On the other hand, it may take the fight out of Hitler and Germany. The situ- ation is at present Germany against the world. The Germans cannot in- terest Austria in an alliance for fear of Italy. Poland is bitter even though the Russian pronouncement has thrown Germany and Poland together | in their mutual distrust of Russia.” Asserting that “preparations for war may become as destructive as war itself,” the Indianapolis News advises: “In speculations as to the outcome of French and German rivalry must be included considerations of how long the stress on the internal politics of the countries can continue without producing some form of revolt or revo- lution. Recurring crises in France appear to endanger French unity of action, but whether German unity under its dictatorship is real or arti- ficial and can withstand the immense economic strains that country is un- dergoing is also a question. For the welfare of the world it is necessary that some way be found to make friendly national existence possible even on the continent of Europe.” ‘The Nashville Banner agrees that “the main hope for the avoidance of a cataclysmic war is the impoverished treasury of well-nigh every European nation.” That paper adds that “it sounds incredible that nations which have paid such terrific war penalties so recently should again be thinking in terms of war.” The Newark Eve- ning News calls it “a reflection on European statesmanship that it has Bredon is an acquaintance well worth cultivating, and so is his smart and attractive wife, whose intelligent aid in the gathering of inside information about those involved in her husband's cases is almost as brilliant as his own work, Was the young man murdered or did he die of exposure, as the evidence indicates? Was he alive and wander- ing in the hills and woods for two days, as some evidence found in a mountain cave known as the Devil's Dimple denotes? Did he actually take a sea voyage, or was his willing- the body, he was definitely covered by the insurance. Miles Bredon, special investigating agent for the insuring firm, is sent to the Dorn estate either to dispel the “Phantom of Strathbogle” or to prove that the phantom was a reality. Mr. ness to go abroad merely a gesture to screen some questionable activity near his own home?. These are some of the questions which confront Mr. Bredon, and which he finally answers to the satisfaction of all concerned. Inot found & new and better way to organize itself.” Observing that even Prime Minister MacDonald of Great Britain holds it is time “to think of national defense,” the Boston Transcript comments: “So Europe talks of the next war in terms which masquerade as preventive meas- ures. There is opportunity for revival | of the discussion whether or not arm- ing nations to the teeth is safeguard of peace. The idea that it was re- ceived a deadly blow in 1914. But | the present trend of events does not necessarily indicate an early outbreak | of hostilities. There are restraining | influences as well as those which | hasten progress to the edge of the precipice. Perhaps for the moment | future possibilities are rivaled in in- | terest by the appearance of Ramsay MacDonald in the role of a big-navy man.” Cost of armaments is referred to by the Portland Oregon Journal as “more | than enough to retire the debts,” while the St. Joseph (Mo.) News-Press de= clares that “there is in Europe no one power capable of rallying the others for peace.” The San Antonio Express, however, doubts that “Germany would | take any step which might imperil | European peace.” “A defensive military agreement (between Russia and France) cone- ceivably may prolong peace until the saving influence of reason and com- | mon sense are given another opport | nity,” thinks the New Orleans Times= Picayune, while the Charleston (S. C.) | Evening Post holds that “the very fact that there is such open talk of war is the best assurance that things are not | 50 near as they seem to another Euro- }pean conflict, which might well make |an end of modern civilization on that continent.” “They are all adding to their arma- | ments, and the picture is not a pleas- ant one, nor does it bode well for the future peace of the world," says the Boise Idaho Statesman. The Man- chester (N. H.) Union concludes: “Just now Germany is isolated, partly as a result of Hitler's diplomacy or the lack of it, and partly because of French machinations. Germany has only one friend, Poland. The announcement of a Franco-Russian entente may prove to be the surest way to bring her new friends. Already Italy and Great Brit- ain have expressed their alarm over the report of the entente. They find it | difficult to believe. One would think | that France might have learned that | amid the unstable conditions that exist any political structure is apt to prove insecure.” —ee. Experts. From the Topeka Datly Capital. England, Japan and the United States are consulting in London as to whether it is “time to bury the corpse” of naval disarmament. The big powers are experienced and apt in burying corpses. —_————————— Wise. From the Rochester Times-Union. The wisdom of the founders of the Republic was profound. They put a guaranty of free speech in the Con- stitution, but didn't guarantee any listeners. ———— Foot Ball and Farm Relief. From the Toledo Blade. Since so many agricultural college teams are winners in surprise upsets this Fall, one may wonder whether the full effects of farm relief have yet been appreciated. q