Evening Star Newspaper, December 22, 1934, Page 6

THE EVENING Q,l"‘ AR, WASHINGTON, D. C, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1934, {THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON,D.C. BATURDAY. .December 22, 1934 coast of Brazil, Capt. “unseaworth: and THEODORE W. NOYES..Editor it not been for veal of Oliver Wendell Holmes. -~ The Evening Star Newspaper Company Bu-tness Office aud_Penusyhanis Ave flice: ; 8t o Build e, 15 Revent St.. London: Eukland European Office: Rate by Carrier Within the City. Regular Edition The Evening S Th( Evening and Sunday Star w s hen 4 Sunday when The Sunday . be ver coby Night Final Edition. Night Pinal and Sunday Star, & Night Final Collection month. Or telephone per month made at end ders may o Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. Datly and Sunday. 1 vr.. 1'mo Daily v 1m0, 3 Bundav ¥ only. . EYRUIH All Other i 3 Daily and S 1 Dally onl S Sunday only.". Member of the Assoclated Press. in Dhis paper anc Incal news published herein. Al iblieation of special dispaiches Everyday Law Enforcement. Everybody realizes the weakness and relative futility of sporadic law forcement campaigns. They burn with intense heat for a few davs and then eool off. Nothing been accomplished, But is there any why renewed police activity against trafhe violators and against gamblers and racketeers should not be made a part of the permanent program violation of law? ‘The police have announced a deter- | el- coustructive has reason aguinst mined campaign against careless driv- ing, speeding, other forms of traffic violation. They have followed it up by arresting speed- ing motorists and traftic bringing them into the crowded Police Court. It may be dence, but the start of this campaign has been accompanied by an immedi- ate drop in what has been accepled &s the normal number ot daily accidents. But is reasouable to believe that if drivers know are on the lookout for careless driv- ing and that careless driving quick punishment, they will carefully? It is reasonuble, enforcement of the traftic become police routine. The police activity reckless traftic it not drive laws should which foliowed “Jimmy’s Place” has already shown results, Several alleged numbers ners, on their way 10 one of the lead- quarters of the numbers racket, been arrested. Aund more of such cases. e lave there must The police should comb the town for the runuers and put the matter of indictment squarely up to the prosecutors and the graud jury. If the present laws are the lawyers have contended, the best demonstration of that Wenkness the recurrent failure (o oblalu indict- ments and eonvictions in the courss - not one or a dozen failures, but re- peated failure. Continued activity of some sort by the police will have an immediate effect. and other racketeering in Washington thrives because it weak The numbers game is police interference in the past. 1f the stigma for failure to enforce the law does not rest with the police, the Ppolice prove it—again and again! The police now enjoy the confidence and sympathy of most of the people The way to hold both is to m: new campaign against law a continuous battle. The failure, in the of continued and accidents and deaths ways, A fraction of let this violution penalty traftic, case is a increasing number of on the high- them e inevi- table. But the preponderant majority is preventable by careful driving. The penalty for failure k up the numbers rackel and other nnder- world rackets is the creation in Wash- ington of a strong. undesiruble under- world element. Keep aft gumb- lers! Drive them out! The police can do it and if they keep up the pace they have set they will do it. 1o brea er the B Tiny Tim is affectionately recalled, gentle salutation lacks the vim that would make it of assistance to a brain trust. B Constitution Stamp. Philatelists for several years have been agitating for a poslage stamp in tribute to the U. S. 8. Coustitution, better known, perhaps, as “Old Iron- sides.” The proposal was considered by former Postmaster General Walter Brown and has been brought to the attention of his successor, Pusunaster General James A. Farley. But as yet no final decision has been reached and it therefore may be proper to discuss the subject from a non-phila- telic angle. ‘The famous {rigate, obviously enough, dramatizes the whole story of the United States Navy. She is a symbol of one of the major branches of the national defeuse, Built in 1794 she was intended for use against the Algerian pirates and served as Commodore Edward Preble's flagship from 1803 to 1805, taking part in three bombardments of Tripoli. But her eelebrity was achieved in her battle with the British frigale Guer- riere August 19, 1812—an incident of the second struggle with England. Under command of Commodore Isaac Hull she was the instrument of a victory notable in the annals of the sea. A conservative historian, refer- »ing to her caplain and his vessel, #ays: Hull sailed into Boston with his prisoners to such an ovation as few men have ever earned in so short & time. In less than tweuty-five min- utes of actual fighting he had lifted the despised American Navy and Na- tion to an equalily with the proudest of the world. And, with Commodore Willlam Bainbridge in command, the gallant Iittle ship repeated her perform- snce December 29,1812, when she 45¢ rer month 0 uc per month = E5c per montn e per month | 10" 40¢ o F the driving and vViokutors and ! unrelated coinci- | police means and zealous | 85 | | United States and Japan. profituble and | because there has been & minimum of | of | stired 8 clamorous tempest in her behalf and won | poet protest himself the everlasting the people by his powerful verses, * Ironsides™ Old cutionists, but still unspoiled. have renewed her { pilgrims, old und young, their patriotic faith She has under the and the Panama the Pucinic for exhibition shirine for all who love their country. suiled across through Canal ta Aud quite aside from snything | philatelists may desire, the which nity. be hoped that ey and that she deserves homige It will agree [ niay the | Wil be suthorized. - No Provocation. Authoritative that the United foundly of word Stales, disappointed the is while* over the lapse lute don, not that is ready 10 abandon during the nest two years yet 10 preserve land weans may be tound asreement principle and ratio basis of he treaty 1s about does not actually December 31, 16 | The American people this that in the meantime there will be uo in terruption of plans to build the Unite States Navy up (o the full limits whicl Jupan 1o sbrogate treaty 6. share hope, while trusting }lhe stIl existiug treaty permits. country, too, the view that | accomplished by provocative talk that cun ouly evoke augry reperciss abroad and sggravate & situation al- | vesdy unfortunately strained. | In recent tunes public designed 1o stir there have been resentment in and whet militarist-jiugo sentimen there that is eager (0 seize upon Aueri can material for inflammstory pur | puses of on “crushing” American territory are ' be deprecaled every standpoint does not seek war any discussion of Japan or uew air base: contiguos her soil fromw with Japan, snd | of such a confiict | utterty out is unjustified and place. It serves purpuse of fanning | passions and increasing the difficulty of iele pe | Of reaching an eventual understanding the | with the Tokic eovernment on real issues between the two nations America’s program is & simple and ! defensible one. We believe | maintenance of the 55 system which affords | “relstive security” in all Britain, We pro to pose 1o expand the American Navy by | degrees o & point that gives us our i!ufl quota of strength under the tresty ratio laccompaniment of bluster | with sbiding confidence 1 or threats At our aliese friends, as time goes come 10 recognige that the margin of | sea power they willingly ;\\‘ hington in 1922 |as it on accepted al was len, to uard secu and all of their interests in the Far t E: = ——— | necessarily hinders An overworked policeman cannot expected to be scrupulously polite. holiday It will be a pleasure again to hear the words of ‘Tiny Tim. which e suspected adroit partisanship. Students of crune decide that cha | never of &uy hiut bystanders for that of a ra manitestly unfair. keteer B Sam out of future wars it may better to be broke than to be neutral. —— e The Leasue of Natious is Love Letters. Three huudred and eighteen letters, written by Napoleon Bonaparte to his second wife, the Austrian Arch- duchess Marie Touise, have been sold al auction in London. The French governiment was the purchaser, and the price was approximately seventy- five (housand dollars. Footnotes , the epistles throw light on the experience of France between 1809 and 1815. But, even more important, they constitute a record of & psychological love history adventure on the part of a character everlastingly curious and interesting to an international public numbering millions, ‘The Little Corporal was Emperor of the Prench when he began to cor- respond with the haughtly young daughter of Francis I. He was forty years of age and was divorcing his consort, Josephine, to whom he had been married in 1796. The object of his presumptive affections was but eighteen and had been brought up to hate him with a fervent enthusiasm. But Bonaparte “played the imperial lover In grand manuer, VOwing to throw himself at the feet of his adored and to devote his life to making her happy.” He wanted an heir for his ill-gotten throne, plus & practical alli- ance with the archduchess’ father, The move was basically political, and the romance of it plainly srtificial, But Napoleon, it seems, made an earnest effort to deceive himself as well as to fool Marie Louise. The letters show how desperately he tried to school himself to an authentic af- fection for the woman he never had met, but to whom, for political rea- sons, he was proposing. And there are indications that he succeeded to a certain extent n his game of self- beat the British frigate Java off the | Charles Stew- art led her to added honors in 1815 | But by 1830 she was condemned s | Russian campaign of 1812 he could destruction cer- | tainly would have been her fale had the indignation and | The of "for gratitude of lines familiar to four suc- cessive generations of schoolboy elo- Literally hundreds of thousands of fag. Atlantic a floating that stamp would | Mr. issue forthcoming pro- col- Anglo-American- Jupanese naval conversations n Lon- Lope ways for the lumitation | The expire until cordially | The will echo with approval 1u0 good purpose will be | ions | utterances in the United States | | Proposals of sir fleels capable o The United Slates concrete srranye- the tearing down of the fence sround | Wents for the more efficient conduct the ! Japanese | the | 3 ratio as & ! around the We shonuld proceed quietly and | | steadily toward that goal without the | Jap- will adequate uow, their legitimate A drive to eliminate motor accidents cheer. be can of ex- ve of lives of one or two iunocent is In deciding on plan to keep Umlr| be | philosophically decided that it is even wrging although statesmen admit that his| everybody to keep out of war, which is exactly what Uncle Sam intends to do. to { deception. After the wedding, it is | true, his communications “cooled in| tone.” but In the midst of the tragic pause to write: You know how much T love you. must know that you sare well ,hxppv Good-bye, my love, sund Kkisses, 1 and A thou- | And when his star had fallen and | he was & prisoner at €. Helens, soon ’j 1o die, he still could say: “I long to | see you and my son. Murle Loulse, however, does not ap- pear (o have responded. The mar- | riage, as she saw i, was just an ordeal ! to be tolerated in return for & crown. | When Nupoleon needed the help of | “Papa Frantz” she refused to influ- ence him: and us soon us she free she married one of her Count Neipperg. Her boy k unhappy King of Rome, But letters of any kind are | fascin Three that Bouuparte addressed Lo Josephine recently sold for more than seven thousand dollars | each, wnd doubtless were worth every | penny of their price. The world, how- EVer, way question the propriety of | muking such documents a mmxmu | commodity. Perhaps Martha Wash-| ( lngton was well advised when, imme- lumrlv alter the death of the First | President, she burned every scrap of | | their correspondence. ——————— I The Supreme Courl snuounces | | opinions with an suthority that contra- | > was | €rvants, | was the love ating | dicts muy possible popular impression [ thal s & “braln st as popularly | | defined, | ————— There can be no doubt that Gov. Rilclie has glven Gov. Nice souie im- portant information beyoud the ussur- ulice that he has & tough job ahead. e | A housing plan will be most effica- ! Cious if the Government can regulate thie cost of lots uud allow the jobless | L0 build their own houses. —_— e Germany's music is sure to suffer in present conditions. It has never | vet been possible to judge a singer by | his political opinicns. n One difficulty which Com- | munists labor is the fact that so few | of them are able (o0 pass xr.wnnlne under t lintellivence test. B — Litation machine guns are not good | | | | toys i | s for small boys, who may grow up | to be as lightminded as the parents 1 who present them. [ L ot ernea b Wisee 1 e N.R.A. | code system are key men who appar- Lently mislaid their keys, Si{OO TING STARS. \ BY PHILANDER JOLUNSON Poinsettia, Polnsettie, In ruddy pride, | You glow aguin at Christmas tide. | There's nothing to compare with you | In pink or delicately blue, | Your biossom was too small to make A gift for true affection’s sake. | You tovk & sturdy leaf or two | Aud gave to them a Haunting hue, Which fearlessly and frankly shows Tlie red blood that in friendship flows. | A Follower. “You agree 10 every proposition.” e 0 g Al present it let anybudy spousibility.” is my fixed policy to| | else have all the re- | : { Safety in Mythology. mythical saint And a mythical sleigh With kindliness quaint A As he passes We love him salthough He's & bit of & joke. € happy to know Myths can never go broke. this way! w Work Simplified. “Are you men raiding bling house?" “No.” answered Cactus Joe | body in town is there st | We're taking the census.” “My neighbor Hi Hat 18 a good enough fellow.” said Hi Ho, the saye | of Chinatown, “but he is afflicted by | | ancestors distinguished that fears it would be undignified for him'! work.” that gam- | “Every- this hour. s0 he | to Pandora’s Box. A gal named Pandora, in ages gone by, Came snlong with & trunk full of sorrows, And suid they last when once let them fly For an infinite lol of tomorrows. Paudora was paged by & public en- raged, Who found. beyond sny mistaking, As a working girl houest she had been engaged At a factory, in Ballot Box msking. would she “Don’t be too hard on a small boy foh wantin' his own way,” said Uncle Eben. “De chances are dat's what his father has been downtown hustlin’ for all duy.” o New Fast-Driving Excuse. Frow the New York Sun. ‘The speed which modern automo- biles have atlained presages the end of the world, says & student of the Bible, giving the versatile driver an- other reason to give to the cop for being in such a hurry. et Kitchen Melody. From the Helena (Mont ) Independent. A Toronto man claims he heard a radio program coming in through his kitchen stove the other day. His wife must have been in the cellar singing “Home on the Range.” _— Perennial Pastime. From the Jackson (Mich.) Citizen Patriot. When the League of Nations has nothing especial to do it warns Bo- livia and Paraguay to stop fighting. e s e Oratory vs. Irons. From the Shreveport Journal, Portland (Oreg.) policemen are studying oratory, but probably will find a pair of handcuffs more effective in holding prisoners, Mixing Signals. | these times should be answered Senator Sorghum, | ! | production | the From the Roancke Times. And now and then a coll when two motorists go after the same pedestriane Y | THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. A very gracious lady who is em- ployed all day is having a difficult time doiug her she says. Curiously enough, against other women, They insist on standifig and talk- ing in aisles, she complains, so that a Christumas shopping, her kick is real physical hindrance is offered to | the shopper with but a few minutes 10 spare. “They just stand and and tulk,” she declared. the way al the revolving doors, get in front of the counters. “When one has all day in which to shop, probubly that makes no dif- ference, bul when you are reduced to Just w few minutes at lunch, it makes # wreal deal of difference” ‘I'he spesker smiled, for she manages to find & smile i everything, if aL all possible “My daughter says the way (o do it is to elbow your way through say. ‘I'm so sorry, but I simply must get this shopping done.’ “But I can't do it. I wasn't brought up that way." * ok o ok Many persons were not brought up that way, Their desire is to be polite, even if it is their loss. As strange as it may seem, often put themselves into positions n which they are accused of impolite- ness, simply through an excess courtesy 1o strangers Sometunes it seems as if the mod- alk, and stand | They block | always | and | Standing and talking is a combined action which is very pleasant. Surely there is no person, man or woman, whe has not at some time or other during the busy season stopped in & crowded aisle to talk. The greeting over, some thought should be given to others. Yel it is the commonest thing in the world to see two or more persons standing together, taking up a great deal of room, utterly oblivious of the fact that other persons are on strictly business bent. No doubt it is asking too much of People (0 expect them (o think first of others—but might they not think ! second or third? * Kk ¥x * Motorists often accuse pedestrians of being dumb, in the sense of not being quite bright in trafhe Perhaps there is some justice in their uccusation, at least if one may Judge from the actions of certain per sous seen in the course of the day. Here comes & bus, quile the largest vehicle i the street. Obviously it is about to turn the corner. THE LIBRARY TABLE BY SARAH G. BOWERMAN. OMAR KHAYYAM. By Harold Lamb. Garden City: Doubleday, Doran & Co. From three known facts about the supposed suthor of “The Rubaiyat,” made famous by Edward Fitzgerald's translation, Harold Lamb has con- structed the probable story of his life. The known facts are that Omar was the sstronomer of Sdltan Malikshah, | that he was alive in 1115 and that his grave is at Nisapar All Mr. Lamb's deductions about his life are reason- able, based on revelalions of person- ality in his quatrains and on the gen- eral life of his time. The result can hardly be called authentic biography, but it has none of the purely imagina- | tive sensationalism which so often | goes with fictionized biography. It s & piece of real literary scholarship and is written with charm, us are Mr, Lamb’s earlier works, “Genghis Khan," “Tamerlane” and “The Crusades.” * * *x % THE WANDERING SCHOLARS. By Helen Waddell, New York: Heury Holt & Co. “Peler Abelard.” Miss Waddell's novel which presented a new inter- Here comes a girl across the street, probably thinking about her friend.” She does not see, or at least pre- tends not to see. the largest thing in | the street. | they | When she gets into the center of | traffic she glares horribly at the bus of | eru Gty too readily breeds discourtesy | i all foris. Perhaps it 18 an overflow from altomobile wanuers, or rather lack of hew Mavbe it is too much to expect the verson who has just glared horribly at a ftellow motorist for nothing much 10 step from the car to the sidewalk a Chauged human being “The brand of motor mdifference, to ¢ rights and well being of one’s fel- lows i upon their brow. It is not to be expected that they Cal change s suddenly. Indit! to others, however, cannol be placed solely at the door of the automobile. It s, nirst and foremost, trait the resources of religion and hu- manity have been needed over the centuries 1o beat into most of us the little courtesy we possess, * ok % This fund of politeness is a precious thing, yet many persons munuge 10 permit it almost to get away’ from & human ~ | them at times It seems reully too bad that one of son of Christmas, 1d be u great deal more joy- und if every one would stop to think of others, not theoreticully und when at home, but actually when ou the streets and espe- i “Ihis any one good thinking would prevent from askiug 8 salesgirl o display & laree line, then to walk away atterward without buying anything somelinies even without a word of thauks Yes, every one has seen that done, and no doubl 1t perplexes the woman &t any time of the year, but must drive her almost frantic at this season, the joyous sea- sales- | driver. It being dangerous business for & person afoot to dispute the right | of way with a bus, she turns back ta sidewnlk, glariug more horribly thau ever, * * x | Many persous simply standing on Sidewalks. or i store aisles, ure just as thoughtless us this, although there 15 no chance of danger to them Their thoughtlessuess simply irks | and harms others, | One of the great failings of the average cily dweller is the mistaken idea that all persons are equal All persons are not equal, especially #5 10 time It is one thing for a person to come down town und spend four or five hours shopping, and quite another for wn employed woman to give up part of her lunch hour to the task. In appearance there is no difference Whalever Letween the two, but one has about five times as much time as the other for the task Very few of the former, however Will ever give this idea thought slend talking to friends. It very plessant to meet, all very uice (o talk over the hundred and one aflairs which interest them, Let them, however, not close to counters, nor too those revolving doors, Let them. now and then lovkout for the lady who simply will not elbow them, * as stand too a hurry she is in! Even the mildest person at times longs to use the elbows freely. The: seem 1o liuve been made for that par- icular purpose. do they not? A shght clevation of the hands and the el- bows come into action immediately. Their effect on others most often €1y reassuring hey move over. They move out of the way. Let them frown. It has been a goud lesson to them. Maybe in time they will learn to think of others | without a phnnll pruddmx first l)eplm'es Proposed Pl.m to Use Great Falls for Power Production To the Editor of The Stax The press Teports oris and MeCarran will revive in he next Congress the proposal for e Federal Government to utilize the potential power of Great Falls for the of electricity for distri- that Senators bution, It seems that there is on fool at present a determination on the part of certain public men to sbsolutely destroy every light and power plant in the United States, and- that, too, withiout the slightest moral compunc- tion for the loss that would be suf- fered by the hundrgds of thousands of our people who have invested their money in them, and the fact that but for the initiative and enterprise of pri- vale business and the capital furnished by the people we would still be using oil lamps snd doing =l our labor by Land. The motive behind tiese proposals hard to fathom. Are they inspired by political considera- tious, or the result of mere prejudice and sbysmal ignorance of the sub- Jeet? As to this particular proposal this arew is thoroughly and efficiently served by the Polomac Electric Power Company. Millions are iuvested in ils plant and equipment, Its stock is owned largely by the people ot District and vicinity, It pays enormous taxes to the District and Federal Governments, The advocates of this propositios claim as their sole object and justifi- cation lower light and power rales to the people, ignorant of or indifferent to the facts that government owned and operated utilities pay no taxes but are supported by tion of the people for their operation and main- tenance, and that they are operated 4t & maximum of cost and & minimum of efficiency because they are subject is | to the deadly and corrupting ence of politics. Furthermore, influ- if the proponents of this scheme are sincere in their statements that their purpose is chieaper light snd power to the peo- ple. this can be accomplished without destroying existing properties, as all| public utilities are subject lation. and there is ample law at present, or. if there is not, Congress has the power (o enact the necessary laws under which the charges of this coucern can be reduced to what may be considered & reasonable basis. When complaint is made of the charges of light and power companies the fact should not be lost sight of that they pay an sunual tax, Federal, State and local, estimated at approx- imately $300,000.000. Should this tax be reduced materially or the com- panies exempt therefrom, and thereby put upon & par with the Government- owned utility, their charges could be reduced from 40 to 50 per cent, and they would still be able to muke = fair return on their investment There is no more justification for the Government to single out this in- dustry and go into the hight and power business than it would be for the Government to parallel all the rail- roads in the United States (which are now subject to regulation and control by the Interstate Commerce Commis- sion) people rates, The impression grows deeper every 10 regu- for the purpose of glving the | lower passenger and freight !'day that there is a spirit abroad in our country which is gaining in mo- mentum to socialize our Government and Sovielize our industries: and it | would appear that such is the motive | behind all the hullabaloo going on against the public utilities. ALEXANDER SIDNEY LANIER. American Children Should Be Bi-Lingual To the Editor of The Star Most Europeans can speak mare than one language, but too often ‘we Americans can and even forget how to speak the tongue of our ancestors. Until I was 6 years old I spoke Welsh and English equally well. as I heard Eng- | Jish spoken from other children, but | Welsh in the home. Today, howeve a grown woman, I can no speak or understaund the picturesque language of my sancestors. I cannot now Welsh hymns and beautiful old Celtie songs I hear at the churches and by the glee clubs and neither can I now carry on a simple conversation | | every speak only English | longer 1 understand the fnspiring old | | the native land. |ty worth cultivating, and children need | blood and our racial stock are say- ing and thinking. The irony of it! I am &s alien now to them as though [ being from another planet. As a native-born American I think citizen should speak English and defend the institutions of this land, but one can be loyal to the land of birth and still feel an interest and affection for the customs, lan- guage, etc, of the land across the sea whence the parents came and |also feel keen regret for inability to speak the mother tongue of an- cestors as well as the language of It seems to me it is an asset for people to be able to speak more (han one language and the abil- to speak two languages is well | not forget the language of their par- with relatives from abroad in their | native tongue, as the barrier of lan- guage is between us. An interpreter is necessary before I can understand what people of my own flesh and ents if only they realize the value of keeping it alive in their memory by conversing daily with people from the | country they came from before they forget entirely the tongue of their ancestors. DOROTHY A, DAVIS, Military Leaks. From the Los Angeles Times. ‘The pother made in the Senate committee investigating munitions about exchange of information be- tween America and British powder manufacturers and the “grave con- cern” of the Navy Department about premature publication in Europe of plans for a “mass flight” of Navy aircraft to the Philippine Islands, are in all probability decidedly over- rawn. What they amount to is that in- formation which the secret files of all the war departments in the world contain has become public property. Military secrets are the bunk in most cases, especially when they pertain to equipment. Such “secrets” in the World Wag, for example, were the “tanks” on the side of the allies and various poison gases on the part of the central powers. Both were known to the other side before they could have any decisive effect. ‘The central powers never did use tanks, perhaps because their over- taxed factories simply could not find time to turn them out, but certainly not because of any secrets about their construction. The allled powers promptly learned all the poison-gas formulas and proceeded to use or better them. Special equipment is obviously of little advantage unless at hand in large quantities, and the manufacture of large quantities makes discovery of the secret inev- itable. The Army and Navy should stop leaks where they can, but need not worry too much about them. The general Elblle need not worry at all, "POY{ of the social and religious life of the | | were the heirs to the Latin and Greek | medieval is | close to | | be on the nU matter how much | | truck driver suddenly turned and | beingkindaped or pretation of the medieval scholar and | his love for Heloise, showed deep study Middle Ages. That study has now produced this account of the Vagantes, or wandering scholars and poets, who pagan learning, made their own place | in literary history through their sec- ularizing of the stage and their culti- valion of salire, and were one of the | eurly disintegrating influences in the | church, Miss Waddell's | bouk, in Its sixth edition in England, | mukes the so-called Dark Ages seem | | full of the stirrings of uew life. | x * % x PEGASUS PULLS A HACK. Memoirs of & Mudern Minstrel. By Berton Braley. New York: Minton, Balch | & C ; Versification did not die out either | with the Middle Ages or with the Vic- torian age. It is still practised today | and practised voluminously, as Mr. | Braley testifies. In a quarter century he has not only written, but published, | which is another matter, over 9000 pieces of verse, amounting to more | than 10 linear miles. He does not | need ideal conditions to stimulate in- spiration, does not, in fact, claim in- spiration st all. His Pegasus has pulled & hack, from the time when he | wrote his first verses at the age of 7, ! through his eaily newspaper days, to | the financial success he had deter- | mined upon as & writer of verse for magazines and syndicates. He tells all about it in this autobiography and in- sists that his verse-writing is a cralt, carpentry with words.” PN MORE HARBOURS OF MEMORY. By Wiliam McFee. Garden City: Doubleday. Doran & Co. The atmosphere of the sea and ships permeates all the work of WIlllnml McFee, He is the essayist of the ship, | from the duys when she depended on her own sail and the caprices of the | winds to the present. when she de-| pends on Diesel «ngines and has & dif- ferent set of catastrophes to fear. Mr. McFee knows ships from engine rooms to decks and back again: perhaps he | prefers engine rooms, at least one u | inclined to think so while reading “Engine-Room Stuff,” “The Moods of Mechanism,” “Oil. and the Hairy Ape” and some of the other essays. | | Some of the less mechanically tinted | essays will be more to the taste of those who travel on ships without | ever visiting the engine rooms. “Wives | in Every Port” unexpectedly tells of | the wives of ships' officers, who keep | thrifty homes ashore or iead uncon- | ventional lives, instead of the light- ! o'-luves acquirted by the seamen in different ports. “Wine on the Seas” tells of the drinking habits of seamen the author has known, but he says: “In a score of years of close contact | with seamen and engine fitters there | Was never a case of & man or boy be- |'ing derided for refusing liquor or say- | ing his prayers.” * ok o X THE SECRET KINGDOM. An Af- ghan Journey. By Ben James. New York: Reynal & Hitchcock. After trying salesmanship and the law, Mr. James decided that exploring | what remained of the world beyond | the reach of conducted cruises and overland parties would be far more interesting. Journalism offered him | his opportunity snd with that as a pilgrim’s staff he has visited 36 coun- tries. ‘The journey which is the sub- | ject of this book, and is outlined in the end-paper maps, began at New York and led by way of Moscow. Tiflis and Teheran, over deserts and moun- tains, to Kabul and Khandahar, Af- ghanistan, where he awoke on his 33d birthday in the walled palace of | ihe King, whose guest he was. All the tages of the journey are described | and the people of many nationalities | along the way, but the most evertful | part beging when Mr. James' Arglmn{ waved his cigarette lu\’llxd . ]aggedn horizon and shouted “Afghanistan! Afghanistan!” Soon he was in the “secret kingdom,” where, an attache ot a legation had ouce told him, his chances of “getting through without robbed, possibly wounded, as an incident, were about 3 out of 10." His adventures were not disappointing, but he came back alive and able to write the story. As he crossed the Kyber Pass, headed for Peshawar, Agra, Bombay and a liner bound for Suez, he looked back at the Atghan froutier and read the sign: “It Is Positively Forbidden to Euter Afghan Territory.” x x o ox FRANKENSTEIN. Or the Modern Prometheus. By Mary Wollstone- craft Shelley. With Engravings on Wood by Lynd Ward. New York: Harrison Smith & Robert Haas. Mrs. Shelley made her first rough sketch of the gruesome story of “Frankenstein” in 1816, when the Shelleys and Byron were neighbors in Switzerland. They were reading French and German ghost stories to- gether when Byron suggested that each of them write a ghost story. Mary Shelley was the only one who carried out the idea and her resulting story was not & geuuine ghost story. Its plot came to hier while she was listen- ing to Shelley and Byron discuss the | philosophy of the principle of life and the various attempts to produce life by chemical experiment. After- ward, on trying to sleep, she was haunted by visions of alchemists trying te produce s human being, and sud- denly the concept of her monster created by the student Frankenstein flashed into her mind. The details of the terrible retribution which followed this encroachment on divine preroga- tive were gradually worked out in her imagination. “Frankenstein” is one of the most perfect tales of horror ever written. The engravings by Lynn Ward reinforce the awesomeness of the plot. The edition is handsomely printed and bound in white, blue and black, | i LI R I AMERICAN SECRET SERVICE AQGENT. By Don Wilkie as Told to Mark Lee Luther. New York: Frederick A. Stokes Co. John Elbert Wilkie was for 16 years chief of the United States Secret Service. That is the reason why his son, Bon Wilkie, entered the same ~ | Finn™ | Dr. 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. | daily diet materials needed both Q. How can a perwn estimate the number of electric lights which are needed for & Christmas tree’—P. L. A. For trees under 15 feet, use 8 to | 12 lamps per foot of height; for taller trees from 6 to 10 lamps & foot are | sufficient. Q. Why does the former Princess Marina wear her wedding ring on the right hand?—M. C. S. A. It is the custom of the Greek | Church, to which the Duchess of Kent | belongs, for the wedding ring to be placed on the third finger of the right | hand. Q. Is much gold produced in the Cripple Creek district of Colorado?— F.C.W. A. It is predicted that production of | gold in this district will reach $6,000,- 000 during 1934. Q. How many cities have Goodwill | Industries?>—R. C. A. | A. One hundred and five cities in | the United States and 17 cities in foreign countries, Q. How many Canadians are of French origin?—H. E. H. A. Of the total population of the Dominion of Canada of 10,380,000, 2,928,000 are of French origin and 5.381,000 of British origin. The re- maining population is divided among other nationalities. Q. How many luwyers does the De- partment of the Interior have?—W. D. A. It has more than 60. During the fiscal year ended June 30, 1934, for the first time they have been under the administrative jurisdiction of the solicitor. Q. Who was the first Doctor of Philosophy at Yale University?—M. T. A. The degree of Doctor of Philo- sophy was first conferred by Yale in 1861. Three men received it that vear. Eugene Schuyler, James Morris Whit- on and Arthur Williams Wright. Q. Which book comes first, Adventures of Tom Sawyer” “Huckleberry Finn"?—C. H A. “Tom Sawyer.” “Huckleberry is its sequel. Q. How is the 200-inch telescope ' to be shipped to Mount Wilson Ob- servatory?—J. W. G. A. The Corning Glass Works says it has not as yet been definitely de- cided how the blank for the new 200-inch telescope will be shipped. It will be possible to ship it by rail to the New York State Barge Canal From there it could go to New York City and thence by boat to Cali- fornia. 1f the blank is sent by train it is expected that steel frames will have 1o be built and specially shaped. The engineer of the locomotive will have special safety charts for guiding hus hand at the locomotive throttle. Q Is —C. C A. This well-known physician and ! author is almost blind. Q. Why is solid silver called ster- ling?>—J. B. S, A. The word sterling is a con-' traction of Easterling. In the twelfth century there flourished in Germany the Hanseatic League. comprising cer- tain free towns. which issued their own money. The money of these towns was always staple and the coins of the Easterlings or those from the east of Britain were insisted upon. Later sterling became the standard for English money and for the man- utacture of solid silver. “The or Dr. Axel Munthe blind? | same time build healthy | Cattar | soid, | tional rage and since then Q. What foods should an expece tant mother eat?>—T. C A. Because the expectant mother must keep herself well and at the tissues for in her by herself and the unborn child. Foods which help to insure good health for both the mother and child are milk and eggs, meat, green vegetables whole-grain cereals and breads. fruits and cod liver oll. The diet for the nursing mother should be about the same as that for the expectant mother, her child, she must include Q. Where is most of the soy bean erop raised?—L. F. A. Seventy per cent of the world's crop is produced in Manchoukuo. Q. Please give some information about the Theatre Union and the plays which it produces—R. C. B. A. The Theatre Union, which is now in its second season, is a non- profil-making institution. Part of the profits goes into a sinking fund for tuture productions and the rest is divided among the actors and business staff as bonuses. The | Theatre Union's program for a social theater for New York is based on | following elements: The production ‘o( plays concerning vital social ques- tions of our time, production at low- est prices in New York, and the ganization of its audience by sell blocks of seats to various group such as women's clubs, schools churches and labor organizations “Peace on Earth,” “They Shall Not Die,” “Stevedore” and “Sailors of are some of the union’s pro- ductions, Q. Was the toy trade larger than usual this Christmas?>—L. G A. James L. Fri. managing direc'or of the Toy Manufacturers of the [ S. A, has announced that the to} trade was the heaviest in four years Q. Who was President and who w Postmaster General when the parcel post went into effect”—P. B, A. It was during President William H. Taft's administration that the parcel post law was passed. This wa during the administra ter General Hitchcoc passed August 24, 1912, and the parce] post syster placed in operation Janu- ary 1, 1913, Q. When Australia held a ref n drafting men dur , what was the result E. A. Conscription was defeatacd Australia in December, 1916. Q. Please give a history of “Sweet Adeline."—H. F. R. A. “Sweet Adeline” was written by Harry Armstrong and Dick Gerra: It was published in 1903 afte ignominous career as “Sweet Ros While the composers were trying to the song, Adelina Patti began he farewell tour. A publisher suggested the change in title. The song vas but even as “Sweet Adeline failed to become a hit. About that time the Quaker City Four, a vaude- ville quartet, tried out the ballad on a Broadway audience and stopped the show. In a few weeks it was a over million copies have been sold. Q. What is the best drink to allevi- ate thirst>—J. A. H A. Dr. Harvey Wiley said: “There is only one beverage for real thirst and that is water. Things which are consumed in a liquid state which have little or no food value belong to the purely condimental class of beverages As types of these bodies there may be mentioned tea, coffee, ginger ale, min- eral waters, potable waters and others of similar character.” the song Visit of Quintuplets’ Doctor Greeted With Press Applause The Dionne quintuplets, safely past the six-month mark, inspire words of praise from the American press as A. R. Dafoe, who brought them into *he world. pays a visit to New York and takes his needed recreation. His achicvement is accorded a high place in the history of medicine and is held 1o reflect credit upon all coun'ry doctors “'His resourcefulness and success have brought new, though vicarious, honors w0 those faithful servants,” says the Kansas City Times, with the tribute: “His record will be imperishable in medical annals, whatever the future ! of the quintuplets may be. Admira- tion for him is enlarged because of his simplicity, his common sense, his resistance of every effort and every induzemsnt to exploit the infants or to deviate from the regime he pre- | scribed for them. The babies are be- | ginning to reward him with smiles and gurgles of recognition. They don't know it, but they have set up the most :hrilling sister act of all times, and Dr. Dafoe is their impresario The New York Herald Tribune praises his simplicity, competence and self-possession. says that newspaper, “was itself one of the most fascinating of true ro- | mances which could be told: but the doctor's hearers were fascinated as well by the directness, pungency and humor of the telling. The whole city | was arrested for a moment in its gilded or grim routine by this smallish, capable man, snatched suddenly from 27 years of desperately laborious and | unremunerative obscurity among poor | and hard-driven farmers to be sub- jected to the white lights of massed publicity. It was, perhaps, just a lit- tle surprise to find that the white lights looked, in the encounter, & trifle | false and garish.” “New Yorkers probably didn't un- | derstaad it,” observes the Davenport (Iowa) Daily Times, suggesting that “to many of them, any place out- side the precincts of the city is ‘the sticks’ and to live there seems to them | the height of folly.” The Times con- cludes that “through the visit of Dr. Dafoe, New York learns there are other places that are just as attrac- | tive.” “What interests us,” comments the service, though his father did to stop him. Using his father’s files | and his own experiences, Capt. Wilkie | makes some start] disclosures about | what goes on beneath the surface of | this country of ours and tells how the | secret agents of the Governmiént de- velop a sixth sense for crime. Smug- gling, white slavery, dope traffic, counterfeiting, racketeering provide continuous cases for sleuthing, but some of the most interesting cases de- scribed by Capt. Wilkie are political, Spanish spies in the Spanish-Ameri- can War, the Taft-Diaz conspiracy and many manifestations of espionage in the World War all made work for the Secret Service. The last section of the book brings American crime up to date: “Then Came the Gangster.” Chicago, the home of the Wilkies, is | recognized as the focal point of gang | society, about which Capt. Wilkie | knows considerable. “It fell to me to | probe the beginnings of that guerilla | warfare between the gangsters and so- ciety; to know the sinister leaders of Chicago's underworld; and to learn | from personal experience how it feels | % be put on the spot.” ‘The physician's tale, | * 4 than Lowell Courier-Citizen, “is that thr tribute is really being paid to the Canadian country doctor as a type and the country doctor in the States as well” That paper adds: “We honor this once inconspicuous man as & representative of the great number of such humble physicians who cover large areas in their professional visits, who are resourceful in emergencies. who are at the service of their pa- tients night and day and who event ally, only too often, wear themselves out in & work that has little respite Quoting the doctor's statement that “it costs $500 a month to maintain the famous babies,” the San Franciscc Chronicle points out that “the Cana- dian government and the Red Cross have been bearing the expense of Yvonne, Annette. Cecile, Emelie and Marie.” The Times Herald of Port Huron (Mich.), citing the wonders that were viewed by the doctor in thr metropolis, remarks: “After all, what are the miracles which man may per- *| form compared with those of nature “The miracles of Manhattan,” com- ments the South Bend News-Time 'seem to have left him more or I cold; he has a miracle of his own to talk about, infinitely more impress And this, after all, is quite natur Wealth and invention may combin to rear some surprising wonders—bu! the miracles Mother Nature ca: achieve when she sets her mind to i makes these look small. What is an Empire State Building or a skyscrape: skyline compared with five babies wh. all arrived at once?” With the suggestion that “the coun- try doctor has sort of been pushed into the background in recent years yet he is the backbone of America the Danville (Ill) Commercial-New | asserts that “some one should dedi- cate a statue to the country doctor he is a survivor of early America an- he belongs to a vanishing race.” ————— Universal Draft Act. From the Atlanta Constitut President Roosevelt's move to “tak the profit out of war” is in line with the American Legion-sponsored “uni- versal draft act,” which that patriotic organization has been offering Con- gress for many years. The “universal draft “take the profits out of war” by plac- ing heavy taxes on excess profits in time of war, by “freezing” prices, and by drafting every industry and every resource, as well as every citizen, should war occur. The Legion has sponsored this measure as insurance against war pointing out that the hope of profit often leads some to actually woo war. If there were no profits for these they would not want war. ‘The Legion also argues that if it is fair to draft men, it is equally fair to draft industry, and calls attention to the $15-a-day wages paid laborers in shipyards and munitions plants as contrasted with the $1 a day paid soldiers in the camps and $125 a day paid them overseas. Not only would the “universal draft act” make war unpopular in this country, but it would serve as a warn- ing to other nations that if they warred against the United States they would face a united nation, the rich- est nation on the globe, that would have more resources at command they could hope for, - act” would