Evening Star Newspaper, January 24, 1935, Page 8

A—S8 THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. THURSDAY...January 24, 1935 THEODORE W. NOYES. ..Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company Business Office: 11th St. and Pennsyl New York Office: lfl) ghicszo O e pean Office. 14 Engla; Rate by Carrier Within the City. Rerular e Evenine Star, 9, Evening and Bunda undays) 2. The' Evening and Sunday’ Star Cwhen .5 Sundaye). .. ...05¢ per month The” Bunday Star 4% ber copy Night Final Edition. Night Final and Sunday Star. 70¢ per month Night Final Star.. .. ... 55cDper month Collection ‘made af ¢he end of e month. - Orders may be sen by mail of Tefebhone National 5000. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia, Daily and Sunday. .1 yr.. $10.00; 1 mo.. 85¢ ly _onl: Syrs lg only. .. 6.00: 1 mo.. 50c Sunday only. [ 0. 1yr. $4.00:1mo. ¢0c All Other States and Canada. Datly and Sunday 1 yr.. $12.00; 11n0.. §; Dally only......1yr. $8.00:1mo. 75¢ Sunday only.. . 1¥r. $5.00:1mo. B0c Member of the Associated Press. The Associated Press is exclusively en- titied to the use for republication of all news dlsnatches credited to it or ot other. a Ave st 42nd Bt. igan Building. nt St.. London. 1.00 7! are also reserve P Problems for a Health Officer. Dr. George C. Ruhland, health com- missioner of Syracuse, is still unde- cided whether to accept the post of District health officer, which the Commissioners have offered him. The offer itself is a great compliment, in view of the high standards set for the appointee by the committee of physicians and health experts advising the Commissioners. But Dr. Ruhland is faced with a sacrifice in salary. His position in Syracuse pays $7.500 a year. The salary of the health officer here begins at $6,500 and is graded up to $7,500. But of greater significance are some of the problems peculiar to a health officer in Washington, which are pointed out in an article in the Syra- cuse Post Standard, describing Dr. Ruhland's possible acceptance of the post here. This newspaper points out that Dr. Ruhland has been working in Syracuse with a curtailed budget smounting to $261,000, under which he was required to diminish some health department services. But in coming to Washington he would step from the frying pan into the fire, for the Dis- trict health budget for 1936 is $408,817, which is less than twice the size of the Syracuse budget, although the popula- tion of Washington is two and a half times the population of Syracuse. This is a handicap at the start to a health officer who is “expected to make revo- lutionary improvements in the low | health rate of the District, which has grown so bad that the Nation was canvassed to find the best available public health official to correct it.” The newspaper also brings to its local readers word of the extremely complicated processes which enter into the framing of the District of Colum- bia budget. Says the paper, the ap- propriations “are subject to the will of a congressional committee and of the Federal budget director, and,! according to the understanding here, it is necessary to reach the ear of the | President himself.” ! Dr. Ruhland having been tentatively selected as the best man available, the | community will hope that he can find | @ way to become the District’s next health officer. And if he steps into the job with his eyes open, under- standing the difficulties ahead of him, that also will be to his credit. Here he will find himself responsible for improving certain conditions that are nothing less than disgraceful in the Capital City of America. But he will find that Health Department needs have very little to do with the amount of money he is given to meet them. ‘The amount of money available under an unsatisfactory system of appro- priating for Washington is the measure of Health Department needs, | with a cabinet of other military men. Several of whom served in the dicta- torial government. They include of- ficers whose loyalty to the monarch in the past has not always been above suspicion and who indeed had a hand in the coup which last Sprirg set up the late dictatorship. But Premier Guerogiefl’s dethronement is regarded a decisive personal triumph for Boris, with possibly far-reaching consequences in Balkan and Eastern European poltics. Yugoslavia already views it with alarm. Balkan monarchs are incalculable factors. It may well turn out that Bulgaria has merely swapped dic- ta‘ors—exchanged a gcneral for a King. The late Alexander of Yugo- ach | slavia was assassinated because a fanatical opposition among his sub- jects considered that he had become an autocrat. John Barton Payne. The Red Cross has attracted to the service of suffering humanity many notable and eminent indi- viduals, but none among them all has been entitled to more grateful remembrance than John Barton Payne, chairman of the American branch of the world-wide organization from 1921 until his death early today. Some twenty foreign governments had paid tribute to his leadership, and four Presidents had expressed to him the confidence of the people of the United States, but his monument is the unprecedented record of progress which the work itself experienced under his menagement. Born on a West Virginia farm, one of the ten children of an impecunious country doctor, Judge Payne was the architect of his own career. His edu- cational advantages were as inconse- quential as those of Abraham Lin- coln, but, like the Emancipator, he made the most of them. Laboring as a sawmill hand, he qualified himself by independent study for admission to the bar and by the time he was thirty-four years of age attained the presidency of the Chicago Law Insti- tute. Election to the Superior Court of Cook County forecast participation in national affairs and the World War gave him opportunity to manifest his gift as an arbiter of labor dis- putes and other troubles incident to participation in the European struggle. He was successively general counsel of the Shipping Board and of the Rail- road Administration, then Secretary of the Interior in President Wilson's cabinet and director general of rail- roads. But the Red Cross claimed his talents at the apex of their develop- ment. As chairman of the board of governors of the League of Red Cross Societies, Paris, he influenced the poli- cies of relief activity in fifty-eight dif- ferent nations and wielded power of imperial proportions. The task de- | manded genius and Judge Payne was equal to its most rigorous require- ments. His private life was centered in his home, his library, his love of art and a long list of personal charities. The State of Virginia, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the University of Vir- ginia, Randolph-Macon and Willlam | and Mary College received gifts from his purse, and in Washington he was responsible for the restoration of St. John's Church, the “Church of the Presidents.” The Red Cross, however, was the philanthropy of his especial choice. To it he gave himself freely and without reservation. His objec- tive was the grandest of which the mind can conceive—the alleviation of human sorrow, the correction of hu- man disability. And his reward will be the inscription of his name on a roll of honor which never will fade. o must be increased when it is observed what wonders a piece of wood can do in turning State’s evidence. —_——————— Science and Justice. not the conditions which create the needs themselves. It has been seriously suggested that professional qualifications for a health officer in Washington are of secondary importance; that the first requisite is a smooth politician who can coax dol- lars from Congress. There is truth enough in that theory to make it dis- comforting. But the community is still willing to put its faith in profes- sional qualifications for the job, and, for that reason, is hopeful the Com- missioners will be successful in getting the man they are after. —— o An element of previous waste is in- dicated by the undiminished competi- tion for a Government job, no mat- ter how much the pay may have been reduced. ————— A Dictator Falls. It has been left to little Balkan Bulgaria to apply the reverse English to dictatorships and get rid of one. Although the Guerogiefl autocracy, which has just been toppled from power after eight months’ rule, was a Fascist regime, its fall is not likely to be duplicated in Black-shirt Italy, the cradle of Fascism, or in Brown- shirt Germany, where Nazi Fascism has been enthroned for two years. Yet the feat of King Boris, in over- throwing dictatorship in Bulgaria, does show that the system of which Mussolini, Hitler, Stalin, Pilusdski and minor imitators elsewhere in Europe are exponents is vulnerable and can be desalt with when combat- ed with force and determination. ‘The difference, of course, is that dic- tators outside of Bulgaria are made of sterner stuff than the Guerogieffs. King Boris has been virtually a prisoner of his government since May, 1934. Finally, he rebelled when an effort was made to strip him of all vestige of authority and convert him into some such dignified, yet purely decorative, figure as King Victor Emmanuel of Italy. Realizing that Boris had decided to tolerate no more dictatorship, M. Guerogieff threw up the sponge and resigned. The King thereupon offered the premiership to Gen. Petko Zlateff, However the testimony of the lumber expert who appeared yesterday at the Hauptmann trial may affect the case against the man accused of the Lind- bergh baby kidnaping and killing, it was an extraordinary demonstration of the refinement of research in matters which have not heretofore been gen- erally understood to lie within the scope of scientific study. This witness told of the pursuit, covering eighteen months, of the source of the lumber used in the making of the ladder which has been offered in evidence by the State as one that was found near the scene of the crime and which was supposedly used to permit access to the sleeping room of the stolen child. To the uninitiated the task of tracing a bit of wood to the place of its mill- ing would seem to be impossible. Yet, according to the witness examined yesterday, it was done. ‘There are some forty thousand mills in this country where lumber is planed for use. All of them but one had to be eliminated. First of all it was determined, by an examination of the quality and grain of the wood, that it was grown in North Carolina. Pre- sumably it had been milled there. That eliminated most of the mills in the list of “possibles.” Next by a minute microscopic study of the minute marks of the planer certain eccen- tricities were noted, indicating slight misadjustments of the blades of the planing machine through which the material had been passed. It was de- termined by these marks that the machine had an eight-bladed tool for one phase of the work and a six- bladed tool for another, each of them minutely inaccurate. That made it possible to determine the very mill in which the lumber was prepared and from which it was shipped to the yard in the Bronx where Hauptmann worked and from which, it is alleged, he obtained it. Science is wholly dispassionate and impartial. In the research upon which the testimony given yesterday was based there was no margin of opinion, such as appears in other lines of so- called expert testimony. The hand- writing expert may be mistaken, and the “insanity” expert likewise. There The poetic admiration for a tree; THE EVEN of witnesses in each of those fields. But it would seem to be impossible to refute the microscope and a scientific knowledge of the origins of lumber- trees, which have their climetic and regional limitations of areas, or the betrayal through the microscope of the slight but discernible vagrancies of machines, which, according to the law of chances, can not conceivably be duplicated. Just as it is now defi- nitely accepted that there is an in- variable individuality in human fin- gerprints, it is maintained that there is a definite individuality in wood fib- ers plus the marks of machining. And that widens the scope of legal research greatly. The ladder offered in evidence at Flemington may not have been fab- ricated by Hauptmann and may not | have been taken by him to the Lind- bergh house. But it is now well estab- lished that it was made of materials to which he had easy access, and, fur- thermore, that it contained a fragment of wood taken from the fabric of his own dwelling in the Bronx, whether by him or by another is for the jury to determine. Thus does science contribute to the unravelment of mysteries, not only in the limitless spaces of the cosmos but in the intimate affairs of man. e The “Last Word.” “It is my understanding that Mr. Ickes is out of it” Speaker Byrns told the newspaper men yesterday before the debate started on the work-relief bill gag rule. And there have been understandings conveyed to those Democrats who have their claws out for Mr. Ickes that Presi- dent Roosevelt would personaly head the new relief organization, whatever its name or its shape, and that neither Mr. Ickes nor any lesser official would have the “last word” of i allocations. The “last word” will be reserved for the President. That is apparently enough to com- fort those who are set on getting Mr. | Ickes out. But what does it all amount to? The President, unless he has become dissatisfied with the work of one of the strongest figures in his cabinet, will make Mr. Ickes the real administrator of the new relief fund, or of a great part of it. He will, of course, reserve to himself the “lagt word.” He has always had the last word, and as long as he is in the White House he will continue to have it. ‘Whether the Public Works Admin- istration, as it is known today, will continue is another matter. A com- mittee amendment will propose to strike out the section of the bill giving the President power to extend the life of any agency, including the P. W. A. But if the P. W. A. is killed, something under another name must be set up to take its place. Are the Democrats in Congress seriously considering the elimination of the organization Mr. Ickes has been so carefully develop- ing and training in the intricate busi- ness of how to spend billions of dol- lars? That is hard to believe. And | no matter what the amendments to the bill, when the end of the fistal year is reached the P. W. A. will un- doubtedly be alive, and Mr. Ickes will still be on top of the P. W. A. The President, of course, will be on top of Mr. Ickes. A few blizzard hours should be endured with patience when the long Winter nights in Little America are radiolized. —————— There is so much to be said at present that a difficulty arises in preventing too many people from talk- ing all at once. Hitler does not swerve from his course, being in the position of a hard driver in a one-way street. SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Depression. ‘When once in beauteous array The flowers used to grow, The blizzard breezes flercely say, “You've got to shovel snow.” The crocus and the violet Are waiting far below The drift. Before again they’re met ‘We've got to shovel snow. And, so, kind friends, the story ends, Life makes a kindly show For those of us whom courage lends The strength to shovel snow. Education. “You are going to Europe again?” “Yes,” answered Senator Sorghum. “1 desire as nearly as possible to com- plete my education. I want to find out some more about how not to run a government.” Jud Tunkins says a soap box orator has at least one asset. In a blizzard he can use the soap box for kindling. Peace at Any Price. They tell us that we must not fight, Though others may assail us. These manners, gentle and polite, In time of need may fail us. Our taxes now we much repent, But neighbors still inspect ‘em. How we'd resent some “furrin gent” Sent over to collect 'em! No Notoriety Inducements. “Any gunmen left in Crimson Guich?” asked the traveling salesman. “No,” answered Cactus Joe. “Their personal pride made ‘em all get out. ‘We decided to conduct all proceedings against ’em without the benefit of journalists or photographers.” Element of Comprehensibility. The brighest man I ever knew Is Einstein, who will place Before us thoughts that wander through Mysterious realms of space. He shows me calculations grand, Prom which I may select. Say he, “You'll never understand.” ‘This part is quite correct. “It’s jes’ too bad,” said Uncle Eben, “dat good advice is so much harder to ING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. ‘The danger of tropical fish leaping out of the home aquarium is an ever- present one—that is why the wise enthusiast keeps a glass cover over the top. Old-time fanciers filled their tanks half full in order to get around the necessity for some sort of protective cover. By doing this, however, they re- duced the amount of water per fish and permitted some of the precious warmth in the water to escape. The modern small aquarium is as near as possible a work of art, as well as a home for interesting crea- tures from far away. By keeping the water level high, both of these objectives are attained. The fear that the fish will “gasp for air” if a lid is kept over them has been shown by years of experience to | be_needless. The creatures do well enough when proper conditions are afforded them in regard to amount of water per fish, good growing plants, plenty of light, and artificial aeration when necessary. * % * X Nothing is more unsightly—and un- necessary—than an aquarium filled with water. ‘The water line is ugly in itself, and the full front of the glass, which ought to be a complete animated picture, is cut by it as by a knife, if too low. From the esthetic standpoint, there is no excuse whatever for anything less than an aquarium practically | filled with water. From the practical | standpoint of management, there is none whatever, for the fishes need { all the water they can get. Just how high in the tank the water ought to come must be left to the indi- vidual owner. Common sense will dictate between an inch from the top and half an linch. This permits about as much water as possible and still leaves some air over the water. Experts declare that this amount of air is enough, that the water will draw from it some oxygen and be able to release into it part of the carbon dioxide gas which accumulates as the result of life processes in the water. It is a peculiar thing about aquarium management that there are endless possibilities for experimentation, but that few enthusiasts take advantage of them. More or less, they do as they are told, from word of mouth or read- ing, when all the time real experi- mentation is within reach, even of the beginner. It would be a most interesting ex- periment to carry the water in a tank as high as the glass cover. This would rule out all air space and, according to popular belief, would kill the fishes in no time at all. But would it? We have never seen a tank with the lid actually touching the surface of the water, although often the underside of the cover glass is wet from evaporation. Another aquarijum superstition, held by some, is that the temperature of the water should not be permitted to vary a degree from some pre- determined point, say 76 degrees. Yet even the most meticulous en- thuslast knows that the water may change as much as 10 degrees in 24 hours, so long as it does not go through this range too quickly. In fact, this up-and-down in temperature is more Nature’s way than an un- varying temperature the whole day around. o ki The one objection to having the water high in the tank, as far as we have been able to ascertain, is that it undoubtedly facilitates the jumping |out of the aquartum of the more mettlesome creatures in it. Fishes differ as humans. STARS, MEN Some of them are willing to “stay put,” while others seem to have the leaping complex. Whether this is due to piscatorial ambition, or faulty digestion, is & question. At any rate, there are times when even the most sedate fishes become lively. Feeding and spawning, naturally, are two of these times. Therefore the aquarium owner will be particularly cautious at such times, especially if he keeps his water level high, He will see to it that at no time is the lid left off longer than is necessary in order to do the job in ‘hand, whether feading, placing plants in position, or siphoning dirt off the bottom. He must keep in mind that practi- cally all of the small fresh water tropical specimens kept in home tanks are jumpers by nature. A rush through the air and landing again in their native element must be a re- freshing experience to them. Perhaps it is somewhat akin, among us, to & dip in the surf. In natural waters, however, the fish is sure to light in water again. In the small confines If | of the aquarium he may land out on the floor. He does not at any time have to be more than an inch or two over the surface, and we have seen them leap as high as half a foot out of the water. A large angel fish, or scalare, with a “wing” spread of six incles, jumped that high, at feeding time. When it started to come down, it descended outside the tank, and smacked down on the hardwood floor, where it lay much like a pancake, owing to its flat shape. Dipping his hands first into the tank, the owner slid one under the fish, and the other over him, and thus lifted him back into the water, where, save for some rather heavy gasping, due to fright, he was in no worse condition than before; fn fact commenced to eat shortly, and with every evidence of enjoyment. * %k x ¥ A specimen of albino Paradise fish leaped out of a tank situated upon & rather high bookcase. ‘The water line in this aquarium was about one-half inch from the top of the tank rim. The lid was removed to place some food an the surface. This particular specimen leaped across the surface of the water from one end of the 20-inch tank to the other. ‘The owner quickly placed his hands, spread out, over the water, thinking to intercept a further leap, but the fish was either too shrewd for him, or too unlucky for his own welfare, for he then leaped squarely between two fingers, soared a foot into the air, then fell some 5 feet to the floor, & leap equivalent to a human jumping off a 12-story building. ‘This fish evidently lit on one of its protruding red eyes, for when it was placed back in the tank a stream of blood dripped down through the water, but did not immediately diffuse, re- maining congealed for a depth of 2 inches for some minutes. Removed to mild salt water, the fish made a good recovery. In several days the eye was apparently as good as new, although the perfect round of the silver rim was broken in two places. Some tropical fishes, of course, are worse jumpers than others. The Coepina Guttata, for instance, is a notorious leaper. But even guppies will jump out the aquarium upon oc- casion, if the lid is left off too long at & time. On one hand, for ordinary purposes, there is no need to figure on them jumping out; still, it is not a bad thing to remember that they are good at it. AND ATOMS Notebook of Science Progress in Field, Laboratory and Study. BY THOMAS R. HENRY. Confirmation of the existence of curious “brain waves” has just been reported to the American Association for the Advancement of Science by Drs. H. L. Jasper and Leonard Car- michael of Brown University. These are cyclic changes in the electric potential of the brain which can be detected with electrodes at- tached to the front and rear of the head and the impulses amplified by a vacuum tube system. They first were reported a few months ago by Prof. Hans Berger of the University of Jena in Germany, but received no notice in this country until Jasper and Carmichael checked the results independently. Berger found two systems of oscillations— one of about 10 cycles a second and an electrical potential of between 100 and 200 millionths of a volt and one of about 25 cycles a second, but with a very much smaller amplitude. He referred to them as Alpha and Beta waves. Other European investigators found much the same phenomenon when electrodes were applied directly to the brain tissue during surgical op- erations and when they were applied experimentally to the cerebral cortex of dogs. Most significance was attached to the Alpha waves, the existence of which has been best confirmed by the Brown University psychologists. Berger found that they diminished in magni- tude during anesthesia, in epileptic attacks, and when the subject was engaged in deep thought. There was very little variation in the Beta waves. Jasper and Carmichael, they report, found oonvincing evidence of the Alpha waves distinct from any other physiological rhythms, such as breath- ing and heartbeat. Ranging between 8 and 12 cycles a second, they found, these vary little from day to day for any one individual. In some patho- logical cases, however, it was found that only two or three cycles & second was recorded. In other cases there were differences between the waves of the right and left sides of the brain. The nature of this brain wave phenomenon and the range of its variations will be studied intensively because of the light it may shed on brain differences and the possibilities of its use for diagnosis. * ok x % The earth’s surface may be divided into “climatic energy” areas, accord- ing to a new map prepared by Dr. Elsworth Huntington of Yale. Different reglons are evaluated on the basis of all the accumulated correla- tions between human health and ac- tivity and geography: ~The assump- tion is that, everything else being equal, human accomplishments would fall into a natural gradation accord- ing to habitat. The greatest climatic energy com- ponent was found in the territory around the North Sea in Europe, around the Great Lakes and in some small sections of the Pacific Coast of temperate South America, part of South Africa, Southern Australia and Japan. The rest of the earth would fall into a third classification. Curlously enough, maps of the ex- tent of various human activities— such as the percentage of college stu- dents and the number of professional men in the population—show much the same areas. Maps of the preva- lence of drunkenness, suicide and {lli- gitimacy follow exactly the opposite trend. * % k ok Greenland is about 250 meters far- ther west than it was in 1870, accord- ing to finding reported by a Norwegian government expedition commanded by Capt. Hans Jelstrup, sent out to check up the Wegener theory of the drift of continents westward. With the great- est possible allowance made for errors in the 1870 longitude observations, Jelstrup reported, a slight westward drift of the great land masses seems confirmed. Greenland {s drifting about one mile every 400 years and it must have acquired approximately 800,000 years to have gotten so far from Europe, to which it once was Jjoined. R The next big volcanic eruption within the continental United States need not be expected before 1980, ac- cording to the calculations of Arthur Holmes, National Parks Service geolo- gist, based on the 130-year cycle of volcanic activity recently found in Japan. According to this hypothesis there is a great outburst every 130 years with a minor period of activity each 65 years. The last active period of Mount Lessen in California, the most notable of American volcanoes, was between 1914 and 1917. Records show there were eruptions in each 65-year interval preceding. The Coming Message Race. From the Roanoke (Va.) Times. If the airlines continue to clip time off their flying schedules, the time may come when it will be a race be- tween the telegraph and the mail planes to see which can deliver a message first. —_—————————— The Other Half. Prom the Savannah Morning News. Even if the relief situation reaches the stage where one-half has to sup- port the other half, it will still be difficult for half the world to know exactly how the other half lives. Japanese Telling. From the Helena (Mont.) Independent. The Japanese are at least a very frank people. First they tell us that they are going to tell us they dis- approve the naval agreement; then they tell us. Looking Ahead. C., THURSDAY, JANUARY 24, 1935. The Political Mill By G. Gould Lincoln. President Roosevelt is going to get his lump-sum appropriation for work relief, with no strings attached, so far as the House is concerned. Whethes or not the House amends the bill in some particulars, relating to the pun- ishments which may be imposed for violations of regulations laid down by the President and regarding the proposal to authorize the President to extend the life of existing emer- gency agencies of the Government for another two years, the House is | going to vote the Chief Executive the sum of $4,000,000,000 to use as he sees fit. There seems no reascn for the administration to worry sbout its influence with the Congress in the light of such action. It is a little early to say what the Senate is going to do with the work relief bill. No gag rules; such as that adopted in the House yesterday, are possible in the Upper House. But Senator Robinson, the Democratic leader, and other ad- ministration Senators gre confident the measure will go through as the President desires it. * % ¥ X There were 40 Democratic votes cast against the gag rule when it was adopted by the House in preparation for the consideration of the work re- lief bill. On the other hand, 246 Democrats voted for the adoption of the rule. The surprising thing is not that there were 40 insurgents, but that the administration could vote such a huge block of members for a drastic rule. The administration made a few concessions in the matter of opening parts of the bill to the pres- entation of amendments from the floor. But did it permit any amend- ment to the all-important section authorizing the appropriation in & lump sum of $4,000,000,000, to be handled by the President? It did not. The other amendments, even if they be adopted, make little difference so far as the vast power placed in the hands of the Presjdent is concerned, the power to spend four thousand mil- lion dollars. The hand that controls the purse can certainly rock the Na- tion, and probably in any direction it sees fit. * % % ¥ A great deal is being made by some members of Congress of a seeming victory against Secretary Harold L. Ickes, Secretary of the Interior and administrator of public works. The word was passed out that Speaker Byrns had told the Democratic caucus of the House that the President, not Mr. Ickes, was to allocate the money | for the various projects. The remark seemed to appease the members, though just why is a little difficult to explain. They ob- jected to Mr. Ickes largely because he would not give them all the projects and all the jobs they asked. The President will have to get some one to run the work relief administration —or whatever it may be called—far him. If he does not turn to Mr. Ickes he may get some one else who will be just as hard-boiled in protecting public funds and considering the pub- lic welfare as Mr. Ickes has been. As a matter of fact, it would seem per- ticularly ridiculous to scrap a public works administration which has beenl set up with a good deal of care and then to build up another. Not omly would it take time, but if politics is to play a more important part in the set-up than Mr. Ickes permitted it to play in the development of the pres- ent organization, it would be & mighty poor exchange. * ¥ ¥ X 1t looks as though the Senate may get to a vote on the World Court at a comparatively early date. Senator Robinson of Arkansas, who has charge of the protocols in the Senate, is suggesting that he will ask a lim- itation of debate before long. This, of course, may not meet with the de- sires of opponents of American ad- herence to the court. They would prefer to see it side-tracked and the right of way given to social security legislation, the appropriation bills and what not. The simple truth of the matter seems to be, however, that the social security legislation is Dot likely to reach the Senate for a con- siderable time. Hearings may last another couple of weeks, and any way the House will have to act on t.hel economic security bill before the Sen- ate takes it up, since it proposes ap- propriations. The $4,000,000,000 work relief bill might give the opponents of the World Court a respite in the Senate. But that bill is not likely to reach the Upper House for several days. It must first be passed by the House and then be considered by the Senate Committee. * X k% When the vote on the court is taken, administration leaders say, there will probably not be more than 24 or 25 votes cast in opposition, if that many. It would take 33 votes to prevent ratification. The first rounds will be fought over proposed reservations; for example, that of Senator Norris of Nebraska, which calls for a two-thirds vote of the Sen- ate before a question in which the United States has an interest can be submitted to the World Court. Presi- dent Roosevelt takes the ground that such an amendment would be an encroachment on the Executive, which is charged with handling the foreign relations of the United States. He is opposed to the Norris reservation. Reservations are the pet method in the Senate to kill treaties which have been negotiated by the Executive. They constitute the chief menace today to the successful ratification of the World Court protecols by the Senate. * ® X ¥ Senator Josiah W. Bailey of North Carolina, discussing the World Court in the Senate yesterday, very perti- nently remarked that he saw no rea- son why the United States, of all the great nations of the earth, should de- cline to become a meinber of & court of international justice. He said: “Are we to argue here that there is something special about the United States of America that we cannot af- ford to adhere to a court which will take no jurisdiction save by and with our consent? If we take that posi- tion, Mr. President, we shall be simply taking the position that there are no circumstances under which we are willing to submit our cause in a con- troversy to & tribunal of justice. “I have heard a good deal sald nere about Americanism. If that attitude be Americanism, then it might be pleaded in the courts of the world as evidence that we are not a civilized people. The only alternative to ac- cepting that voluntary jurisdiction is the alternative of sitting back here upon our shores with a strange con- ceit that we alone are capable of de- ciding disputes between ourselves and others and that the other nations must either whip us in battle or we wl hip them. “To reject the character of juris- diction outlined here is to reject the principle of justice in international relations, and to reject the principle of justice in international relations is to reject the principle of justice alto- gether, because justice is not a ova- tional affair.” A Stop-Over Lure. Prom the Lake City (Fa.) Reporter. Gold is reported to have been dis- covered in Georgla. Maybe it's just a to get the tourists to stop be- | less ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS " BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN, 4 reader can ’m ného b;m to any question o) writing The Evening Star Information Bu- reau, Frederic J. Haskin, Director, Washington, D. C. Please inclose stamp for reply. Q. What countries have compulsory automobtle insurance laws?—H. K. A. Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Great Britain have compulsory auto- mobile insurance laws for every one. Switzerland and Austria have these laws for their own nationals. Q. Hcw long has Frank B. Noyes been president of the Associated Press?—G. N. A. He has served continuously since early in 1900. Q. Are the roads of Puerto Rico un- der repair?—M. E. G. A. In Puerto Rico a road improve- ment project calling for the expendi- ture of $1,000,000, made available by L3 congressional relief fund, is special now under way. Q. How many Texas Rangers are there>—R. . A. At one time there were as many as 500. Now, however, there are about 75 regular rangers. There are, however, innumerable special rangers. Q. Does a shark have to turn over in order to bite?—B. W. A. It is one of the distinguishing marks of the shark in its many spe- cler that it turns over on its back in order to attack or bite. This is due to the formation of the mouth. Q. What was the inscription on the | base of the statue of the Christ of the Andes?—L. G. G. A. It is sald that the following in- scription was engraved on the granite t the base of the statue of the al Christ of the Andes, erected on the | border between Chile and Argentina: “Sooner shall these mountains crum- ble to dust than Argentines and Chi- leans break the peace which at the feet of Christ the Redeemer they have sworn to maintain.” There is now some doubt as to whether these words were ever inscribed on the monumefit, or whether they were merely spoken in the dedication, for there is no longer any trace of them. Q. What is Perrel's law?—W. A. A, Ferrel's law 15 to the effect that if a body moves in any direction on the earth's surface, there is a deflecting force arising from the earth's rota- tion which deflects it to the right in the Northern Hemisphere and to the left in the Southern Hemisphere. Q. How many members has the American Woman's Assoclation?—T. | R. M. A. The assoclation, of which Miss Anne Morgan is president, has a mem- | bership of 4,000 women, of whom over 75 per cent are trained for and ac- tively engaged in a profession or bus- iness. Q. What is the Book of Kells?— C. V. H. A. It is an illuminated copy of the gospels in Latin. It also con- tains local records dating from the eighth century, and is preserved in the library of Trinity College, Dublin. Kells is a small market town of County Meath in Ireland. The Book of Kells is believed by some authori- ties to be the finest existing example of early Christian art. Q. Did Mark Twain write “Per- sonal Recollections of Joan of Arc” while living in Missouri?—H. M. A. In 1891 the author went abroad and, after spending s Winter in Ber- lin, settled in Florence, where he wrote his “Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc,” a book for which he declared he had spent 14 years in preparation. It was published anony= mously and he nblegvued to his O:l%u that it meant more to him than any- thing he had ever undertaken and that it would never be accepted seri- ously under his own signature, wg:ul}u.l:o e E‘hnl\e University a n aeroflautical engines e W. B. 8. P A. A complete course In aero- nautical engineering will be offered at Notre Dame beginning next year. Q. How many telephones are there in the world?—F. C. G. A. The total number of telephores in the world is 33,275,000. Q. What is the loudest noise ever heard?—H. L. M. A. The loudest noise on record was the explosion of Krakatoa, in 1883, sald to have been heard 3,000 miles away. Q. What is the £ ?— S traveler's tree? A. This is a remarkable tree of Madagascar and Reunion, with a straight stem reaching 30 feet in height and bearing at the top a num- ber of large long-stalked leaves which spread vertically like a fan. The leaf has a large sheath at the base in which water collects in such quan- tity as to yleld a coplous supply, hence the popular name. The plant is known botanically as Ravenala madagascariensis. Q. How many dogs are there in New York City?—F. D. A. A. There are 300,000 dogs i v York City. i QR. What kind of food is cebabci?— | ~_A. Cebabei is a small pork sausage | which is very popular in Belgrade. Q. Who coined the old adage, “A fool and his money are soon parted”?—D. 8. A. It was said by George Buchanan, the tutor of James VI of Scotiand. s a courtier after winning a bet as to which could make the coarser verse. Q When did part of the land around Niagara Falls ca 9 M. S. R. S A. On August 13, 1934, a part of th brink of Niagara Falls 250 feet long and 15 feet thick, at the lip of the Horseshoe Falls, tumbled down 160 | feet into the gorge. Q. How large is the fund constitut- ing the Nicholas Longworth Founda- 120; for the furtherance of music?— A. This fund. in the hands of the Trust Fund Board of the Library of Congress, has, by successive contri- butions, become about $7,000. Q. What President was the latest to be inaugurated for a second time prior to Lincoln?—A. D. A. President Jackson, who was in- augurated a second time in 1833, A.Qiawl};eu did wheat originate?— A. Its original home is unknown, but evidence seems to indicate that |1t is probably a native of Western Asia. The cultivation of wheat ante- dates history, as the most ancient lmonumem.s show that at their erec- tion it had been domesticated. The ancient Eyptians and Greeks attrib- uted its origin to some of their deities. 1t was cultivated as early as the Stone Age by the lake dwellers of Switzer- land, and in China, where it was con- sidered a direct gift of Heaven, it was grown 2,700 years before the Christian era. It is one of the five specles an- nually sown by the Chinese in & pub- lic ceremony. Wheat was not grown in America prior to Columbus’ dis- covery. Amelia Earhart Takes Rank Second Only to Lindbergh No recent aviation exploit has so stirred the public imagination as did the flight of Amelia Earhart Putnam alone from the Hawsalian Islands to the Pacific Coast. “Progress of aviation would be much slower,” declares the Sioux Falls (S. Dak.) Daily Argus-Le: , “if there were no Earharts or Lindberghs. They set the pace, demonstrating in spec- tacular flights the possibilities of aerial development.” “Mrs. Putnam,” says the Long Beach (Calif.) Press-Telegram, ‘“be- came the first fiyer ever to make the solo trip from the Hawalian Islands to the Pacific Coast, and the first woman flyer ever to make this course, and in so doing she established a new woman’s record for continuous flying over water. An enthusiastic American public is stirred with pride by the marvelous feats of this extraordinary woman. She deserves the Nation's congratulations, and the more so be- cause her achievements are the result of careful precautions and experience as well as courage and daring.” “It was no ptu, rash and lucky bid for celebrity,” according to the Syracuse (N. Y.) Herald, “but a climax to a series of cumulative hon- ors. Leaving aside the lesser enter- grises of her 16 years’ experience as an aviator, great acocmplishments had been recorded to her credit. In 1928 she was the first woman to cross the Atlantic by afrplane—on that occa- sion with a male pilot and mechanic. Four years later she was the first woman to make the transoceanic trip alone, and the first with two crossings to her credit. And now she adds a double score to her renown, as the first woman to fly from Hawali to the United States and the first person to do it alone. This is glory enough for the present, but she will doubtless set no limit to her enthusiastic ambition.” “There are no illusions or heroics about Miss Earhart; she did not un- dertake the trip to ‘prove anything aeronautical’ unless there might be some little value in testing the two- way radio phone,” states the Milwau- kee Journal, quoting her own state- ments, but that paper adds: “We do think that Miss Earhart demonstrat- ed some things aeronautical despite her lack of claim. She tested new in- struments; she tested the accuracy of navigation charts such as she used. Pacific flying to and from the Hawai- ian Islands is a step nearer. More than that, she tested her own skill and won a splendid victory for wom- anhood. If we ranked fiyers in this country as we rank tennis players, for instance, she would stand next to Lindbergh.” “She has & long list of brilliant, outstanding achievements,” records the San Antonio (Tex.) Express, with the tribute that “she was the first woman to make a transcontinental non-stop flight, and holds the speed record for any aviatrix’s dash from coast to coast—17 hours 7% min- utes.” The Express observes that she “is greatly interested in promoting commercial aviation, and her numer- ous flights have stimulated public in- terest in that service.” This phase of her work is recognized also by the In- dianapolis News, with the tribute that “personal courage and aptitude play & large part™in such pioneering ven- tures, but ithe progress of invention and mechanical skill do muchhihlt is (Okla.) World, “for the general ad- miration of this woman; she is so far superior in courage, poise and skill to the general run of humanity that shc stands out as one of the great per- sonalities of the time, one of the real- ly famous women of the world. A flight alone, 2,408 miles in a small machine, with a thousand chances to fail and just a few to succeed, is no ordinary matter, even in this age of fast mechanisms, applied science and spectacular deeds. The practical value of her achievement may be dis- counted without any reflection upon the aviatrix. As in the case of Lind- bergh, the personal qualities of mod- esty, quietness, high intelligence and superb skill are the outstanding features.” “Her feats of courage, daring skill and endurance rival those of any man, yet she is all woman,” says the Okla- homa News, while the Elkhart (Ind.) ‘Truth holds that “she made a distinct contribution to aviation history.” e College Sports Should Be on Higher Standard To the Editor of The St The pronouncement by the Board of Visitors of the University of Vir- ginia that “no compromise will be made with professionalism” in ath- letics has found a reverberation in the pen of your illustrious sports com- mentator, H. C. Byrd of the Univer- sity of Maryland. Meditating upon a certain passage in Mr. Byrd's dictum which runs thus: “If more university boards would follow the lead of Virginia there would be less of the objection- able in intercollegiate athletics,” the alumni of the University of Virginia | wonders to what extent he and others of like influence will take up the cud- gel in behalf of the return of col- legiate athletics to an amateur status. Sparkling words of praise may be ornaments of the moment, but will they fade into oblivion when the first cheers of the next foot ball season resound across the gridiron? Mr. Byrd as well as some others who have been deeply impressed with the courageous action of the governing board of the University of Virginia are in a position to lead the fight against the subsidizing of college athletics for their athletic ability. What a glorious fleld the present wholesale hiring of college athletes (especially foot bali players) presents to some honest and influential person in the sports world! We of the alumni of the University of Virginia are anxious to see our teams carry off their share of the honors in the athletic contests in which they participate. We cannot sanction any methods whereby they are to take unfair advantage of their opponents in doing so, however. Our only request is that we be given 8 with Mr. Byrd for returning college| athletics to a higher plane. FRANKE B