Evening Star Newspaper, February 23, 1935, Page 8

A—8 THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Editien. WASHINGTON, D. C. SATURDAY. .February 23, 1935 THEODORE W. NOYES...Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company Business Office; 11th St. and Pennsylvanis Ave, New York Office: 110 East 42ne Chicego Office: Lake Michigan Building European Omee'! 14‘ned:em St.. London. ngland. Rate by Carrier Within the City. Regular Edition. e Fverina Star . . . 45¢ per month e Eveninz and Sunday Star (when 4 Sundays) 60c per month The Evening ana Sunday Star (when 5 Sundays)......65cper month The Sunday Star . Bc per copy Night Final Edition, Sunday Star . 70c per month NIEhE Tita"Bla sy St 548 Ber month Collection made af the end of each month, Orders may be sent by mail or telephone National 5000. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. « Sunday. .1 yr.. $10.00: 1 mo.. 85¢ Bally *en.5oneer: 1 75 #4000 4 me: B0 Sunday “only 1yr. $400:1mo. 40¢ All Other States and Canada. 11, 812.00; . 81,00 Bl engundar 1. sy200: 4. 3300 Sunda; J1yr. $500: 1mo. 60c Member of the Associated Press. Tne Associatea Press is exclusively en- titled to the use for republication of all news dispatches credited to it or not other- wise credited in this paper and also th local news oublished herein. _ All rights of Dublication of goecial dispatches hereln are also reserves . Just Jockeying? The Senate administration leaders have sent the $4 880,000,000 work-relief | bill back to the Appropriations Com- mittee for the sole purpose of getting rid, if they can, of the McCarran “prevailing vage” amendment. Hav- ing been defeated in a wide-open Sen- ate fight on this amendment, with the danger of later concurrence in that amendment by the House, another tack has been decided upon. The word has been passed that the Senate committee is to report out, in place of the work-relief bill sent to the Senate by the House, a bill pro- viding merely for a continuance of direct relief, with the total appropria- tion cut to $1,880,000,000 or to $880,- 000,000. Without the provision for work relief, it is argued, there would be no reason for adoption of a “pre- vailing wage” amendment. The bill could be passed by the Senate and re- turned to the House. | The parliamentary situation which would arise then has plenty of pos- sibilities, however. In the conference Which would ensue between the tWwo [ tion plants. But his decision of yes- houses there would be before the com- | mittee representing the House and Sen- | ate the House bill and the House bill as amended by the Senate, generally spoken of as the Senate bill. If the House insisted strongly enough, it could prevail upon the Senate to ac- cept the original House bill, or cer- tainly the provision for work-relief projects with the additional appro- priation. There would, of course, be no “prevailing wage” amendment. A | conference committee is not permit- ted to write anything into a bill which has not been included by the House or the Senate when they passed on the measure, Either it is the intention of the| administration to ditch the work- relief plan and stick by direct relief ~—the dole—or it is its purpose to do by indirection and maneuvering that which it has been unable to do di- rectly, pass a work-relief bill without the prevailing wage amendment, If: the administration plans to abandon its work-relief program it can make that entirely clear. If it does not do 80, then the opponents of the “secur- ity wage” payment, the payment on an average of $50 a month to men ‘who work on relief projects, might as’ well consider themselves on nonce, that the administration is set to ac- complish its will by parliamentary | maneuvering, There has been a philosophy in | certain quarters in this country which | holds that wages of labor must come down before prosperity can return. It i is a philosophy of selfishness. The payment by the Government of an average monthly wage of $50 to 3,500,000 workers on relief projects will have the effect of bringing lower wages to labor in private industry. It is a weapon to beat down wage scales that have been bullt up through years of striving by labor. Now, when it is proposed to pay the “prevailing wage,” the usual wage paid by private in- dustry for labor; on these work-relief projects, a howl goes up that men will not go back to private industry under such conditions but will stick to their- Government jobs. The Government is in a position to regulate this, even if it were true. It can give men work for three days a week at the pre- vailing wages, and thereby reduce their earnings per week far below what they would receive on a private Job. Or it can cut off Government Jobs. Those who hold to this school of thought, that wages must come down, are now declaring that the President must be upheld in this matter of a | low wage payment on relief projects. ‘They are hiding behind a Chief Ex- ecutive who has been regarded as unusually friendly to labor. vt It is found that liquor tax revenues | bama municipalities that sought to | for sale of Government-made elec- | rant. THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, ] this country strengthens the eonwn-'tnwnd the ground. The claws will tion that gold obligations under the canal treaty cannot be paid off in devalued dollars. It is the funda- mental claim of Panama that the tfeaty cannot be altered or modified by one government without consent of the other. The Supreme Court held that American holders of gold clause bonds have no remedy because they can dem- onstrate no damage and they are de- barred from suing in the Court of Claims. Panama, it is indicated, is prepared to reply that these limita- tions do not apply to a sovereign gov- ernment to which the United States owes money. The amount involved is not considerable, measured by present- day billion-dollar standards in Wash- ington, but Panama has presented an undoutedly delicate legal problem. ‘The United States Government is understood to sympathize with Pan- ama’s position in principle, but is re- | luctant to establish a precedent lhnt: might affect collossal sums of other | foreign obligations. Panama and this country are nego- | tiating a new pact to replace the 1904 | treaty., It is planned to incorporalei in it some arrangement dealing with | the question of the gold payment.{ ‘While there is something to be said for the theory that “foreigners” should not be extended gold privileges with- held from American citizens, a coun- | try with a consistent record for main- | taining the sanctity of international contracts will find it embarrassing, to say the least, to deny the right Panama is now claiming. The tick- lish question bobs up to plague us, too, at a time when we are branding | as defaulters European nations which have repudiated their debt obligations to the United States Treasury. ———— Another Test for “Legalism.” Judge W. I. Grubb, who presides in the Federal District Court at Bir- mingham, has-in previous decisions on recent legislation proved himself to be something of a thorn in the side of New Deal progress. He held the N. R. A. was unconstitutional in an opinion rendered last October and in January issued a temporary re- straining order against fourteen Ala- borrow money from the P. W. A. to construct their own power distribu- | terday, holding that sale of electric energy by the Tennessce Valley Au- thority in competition with private i business was illegal, and making per- | manent the temporary restraining or- der against the municipalities, seems destined to bring a decisive legal test of one of the fundamental elements of New Deal experimentation, not only in the immediately affected Tennessee Valley, but elsewhere as well. The case before Judge Grubb dealt specifically with a contract under which the Alabama Power Company, a pri- vate utility, was to transfer a portion of its transmission lines to the T. V. A, tricity. The judge held that this would put the Government directly into the competitive power business. He suggested, in his discussion of the points at issue with counsel during the argument, that he could not “see where the United States gets any power under the Constitution to en- gage in any business permanently.” ‘The sale of surplus power, generated from a plant built primarily for war purposes, might be one thing, he said. But in the Tennessee Valley experi ment the Government is not merely disposing of surplus power, but is pre- paring to use all the power that can be taken out of the river and dispose of it in a permanent utility business. That, said the judge, would be a | “penevolent dictatorship,” for which | he could find no constitutional war- If the Government could go per- | manently into the power business, | with attendant “yardstick” demon- | strations, then it would follow that the Government could build a steel plant for defensive purposes in war and later go into the business of sell- ing steel permanently in competition with the private steel business. While the State of Alabama in this case has waived its rights, in the mat- ter of regulation and others, “other States might not do so.” And in reply to a question from Government counsel whether there was any differ- ence between the sale of power by the ! Alabama Power Company and the sale of power by the Government, the court answered: “Yes, the Alabama Power Company is subject to regulation. If the Government cannot sell power with- out violating the law, then it is better to waste it. * * * I have never been able to bring myself to believe that the United States could go into a permanent business within the limits of the States. Of course, I suppose within the limits of the territories it undoubtedly has the right.” The Tennessee Valley experiment naturally presents the most conclusive test of the power which Judge Grubb questions—the right of the Govern- fall below estimates. It is not easy to put the bootlegger in his proper place as a forgotten man. — —————— Panama Asks for Gold. While reverberations of the Su- preme Court’s decision in the gold clause cases still echo across Wash- ington, an international incident more or less related to the issue recently at stake clamors for consideration of the United States Government. It is pro- voked by the demand of Panama that $250,000 due next week for 1935 rental of the Canal Zone be paid in gold coin, as specified in the treaty of 1904, instead of in devalued Amer- ican dollars. If a check representing New Deal money is tendered by the Treasury, it is indicated that Panama will decline to accept it. ‘The Panaman government took the same position a year ago and returned the check offered to it. The isthmian authorities maintain that the Supreme Court’s ruling that Con- gress had no right o abrogate the _gold clause in public obligations of ment to go permanently into any field of business in competition with citi- Zens. The case is one which so di- rectly affects other New Deal theories that its early disposition by the high- est court in the land should be expe- dited. ' Judge Grubb has the reputa- tion of being an exact legalist. Pure “legalism” does not carry much water with theoretical-minded New Dealists. A Cat Up a Tree. Every s0 often a cat climbs a tree and gets “beyond its height” and has to be rescued. An incident of this kind has just occurred and the rescuer has been lauded for his pluck and skill in reaching the unfortunate animal. Just why a cat should get it- self into such a predicament- is one of the mysteries attaching to the domestication of animals. The felines are equipped with a remarkably efi- cient climbing device, sharp claws that engage the bark of a tree to give “purchase” for ascent. But these claws will not sergg in a downward trip with the animal’s head pointed il‘ounsel, follows its own bent. not “catch” the bark when the cat heads downward. And the cats, it would seem—all the cats, big and little ~—simply have not mastered the trick of backing down, as have the bears, for example, Just why the cat, which is in many respects & highly intelligent animal, has not learned this trick is beyond understanding. It can be taught many tricks, though not as many as can the dog. But the dog, save in a very few and rare cases, has not been taught ‘o climb a tree. Its claws are not built that way. It would climb readily enough if its apparatus per- mitted. The squirrel has no limita- tions in tree work. It can go up or down and it can leap with precision from limb to limb, which the cat will not do. It is the tree operator ex- traordinary. The cat, with all its domestication and development as a family familiar, remains in many respects the “animal that walks alone,” that keeps its own Tt is the most independent of all the creat- ures that man has taken into his own circle for use or for pleasure. If it is a useful household factor through its skill as a catcher of rats and mice, it is because of a preying instinct and in no degree because of a sense of service. And cats will continue to climb trees and get into trouble there- by as long as there are cats and trees. s Without mention of communism Dickens made an interesting analysis of social agitation in “Barnaby Rudge.” Many an industrial enterprise might do well to inquire if there is an envious and resentful Sim Tappertit in the shop. Spies are feared throughout the Eastern Hemisphere. In America any tourist desirous of acquaintance with intimate details of Uncle Sam’s resources will find a guide at his service and invitations to luncheon with various business organizations. ——— Intimations have arisen that the theater is being used for insidious anti-American propaganda. If Rep- resentative Sirovich entertains any | such ideas, he should be encouraged to hurl another shaft at the re- missness of dramatic critics. S By insisting that evolution is fake, the Tennessee Legislature con- tributes to the current impression that what politics needs is a greater abun- | dance of college professors. s Much of what the United States Supreme Court has undertaken to settle relates to dangers of overlap- ping authority in the three great branches of the Government. ———— Great art endowments must cause Andrew Mellon to be honored in mem- ory. An art gallery would be mani- festly absurd if the trustees undertook to turn the donor's picture to the wall. ——— Whatever else the gold decision has brought about, it has enabled Justice | McReynolds to show that freedom of speech in this country is absolutely safe. ———— A Hitler executioner called on to behead women directs grim attention to the fact that it needs more than | a full dress suit to make a true gcn-l tleman. ——— SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Interesting Specimen. A man’s a curious form of life. He often turns to fruitless strife. His days as well as nights are spent In unavailing argument. He talks of peace and starts a fight If you his views presume to slight, And then he wonders why his lot, Which ought to be serene, is not. The things he eats, with seasoning strewed, Are nothing more than nightmare food. He loses sleep and when he’s i1l Thinks cures are found in one small pilL. And then he breathes a bitter sigh And says he often wonders why The world with sorrow is so rife— A man'’s a curious form of life! Dangerous Combination. “You seem to talk quite freely for publication, without actually saying anything. “That's the art of it.” replied Sen- ator Sorghum. “A man should always avoid letting his views get mixed into his interviews.” Preference. “Do you like a man who quotes poetry?” “Well,” replied Miss Cayenne, “he is usually better than one who relies on original conversation.” Comparative Values. When I takes dat old banjo Dat cost me jes six bits I plays dem songs of long ago An’ not de lates’ hits. Dat banjo ain’t no ragtime band, 1t plays so sweet an 'strong 'Bout “Nellie Was a Lady” and De watermelon song. De grand piano ‘crost de street, It cost a great big price; Dis six-bit banjo sounds so sweet, But doesn’t look so nice. De grand piano bangs away An’ makes a noisy bluff— A thousand dollars foh to play Dat syncopated stuff. The Four Flush. “A four flush,” says Cactus Joe, “is entitled to a certain amount of re- speck as somethin’ to build on. It's mostly objectionable because of efforts to improve it from the bottom of the pack.” “De man dat goes aroun’ shoutin’ his opinions,” said Uncle Eben, “takes de chance of bein’ abused when he’s wrong wifout gettin no credit what- ever when he’s right.” o Alfalfa Bill. Prom the Wichita Eagle. Texas having gefused to hire Bill Murray to teach left him is to %0 oo making it. THIS AND THAT Let the heathen rage and go to war, if he wants; we will look at the rose bushes and see what they need at this time of the year. There is something satisfactory about roses, curse them as you will when they get the “black spot” and become covered with aphids and in other ways make horticultural nui- sances out of themselves. Even when a certain bush proves that its blooms will not stand the sunshine on them, being in full sun all the time, roses are interesting, therefore satisfactory. Anything ‘aat is interesting is, or ought to be, satisfactory. One of the fine points about roses is that they, even better than tulips, herald the return of Spring. This comes about because now is the time to prune them. Spring may seem a long way off, but already it has made its presence felt, If you will stoop to look at the base of rose bushes you will see swol- len leaf buds already there. These are the buds which were covered by the snow. o, Snow for a month kept the lower portion of the canes protected from the cold. It is difficult for us to understand exactly how frozen or congealed water, ;called snow, can keep anything warm. We were told that, even as children, and we professed to understand, but actually we didn't, any more than later in the scholastic life we honestly understood the algebra explanation { which the teacher “worked out” before our uncomprehending eyes. “See?” asked the teacher, blandly. Unanimously we agreed we saw, {but we were liars all. { We did not see then, any more than now we “see” the gold decision. No doubt it is a good thing most | of us have no gold, if one must un-| what to do with it many persons that actually they un- derstand such things. Once upon a time it worried our innocent soul a great deal to feel derstand “decisions” in order to know | | We love the pretense of a great BY CHARLES E, TRACEWELE, first, he accepts the fact without a murmur. He realizes that vegetable fiber is not as tender as skin, and that though snow piled around his 1limbs would mean destruction to them, over a month, it would be a help to bush canes, The buds prove it. * K K % ‘The best pruning of bush roses is done at this time of the year, during the last days of February and the first 14 days or so of March. Be not afraid to wield the clippers. ‘The pruning shears help make any of our popular or not so popular roses better plants. Mostly they should be cut back to half a foot or less. We have seen them cut clear down to the ground, only to come back stronger than ever for the severe pruning. This, of course, only if the roots are in good condition. Such pruning is safely practiced if the plants did well last Summer and Fall. If they did not, perhaps it would be better to handle the snippers with discretion. In any event it is best to prune before the leaf buds begin to swell clear along the canes. After that happens something is lost to the plant if cut back. The leaf buds at the base are the strongest, and from them will grow those first beautiful bronze-red leaves | so beloved by all gardeners. What is more beautiful, after all, in the marvelous procession of Na- | ture’s forms than those divinely col- | ored leaves at the tips of lower branches? | There is here not the overwhelming | beauty of peonies in bloom, but something simple, just a bit of leaf, | colored. 5 Many of us have to train ourselves to see such simplicities. It is easy enough to comprehend the studied impudence of such per- sons and things as aim to startle us. Surely they achieve their end. | But what of us? We are left in | danger of demanding more and more | of the same, else we fail to see any- thing at al What was a novelty, and nothing more, to begin with, becomes at last a necessity. In the world of plants this means that we must test ourselves, now and then, for adherence to divine sim- plicity. If a huge and showy bloom Is needed to make our garden soul thrill, we are in great danger of overlooking some of the finest treats which Nature has in store for all who love her. It was not for nothing that our early poets wrote about the fringed gentian. They had their eyes on fun- |that we, alone of mankind, failed to | understand so may things! | The why of mankind's plain cussedness—could any one explain it? | | Yes, many could. and many would. | | There was nothing hard to under-| | stand about it. It was very easy—— | The why of finance, could any one explain that either? | Yes, thousands could, and tens of thousands did We, alone, of all mankind, did not seem to understand things. | { How often and vainly we lamented | this sad state of affairs, until one day, like & flash of light from heaven, ! came the soothing truth. | Only a few of the thousands. we | saw, actually did understand things hard to understand. | partly in the eye that sees, as well as in the thing seen. Shame on us of today, if we put all our stress on the rose, and not some on those lovely first leaves, uncurling Jo (Tt rebdie Frofended do. 2 little Iater, crimson with fire from 1 the heart of Nature, touched with her Happily it doesn’t make much dif- | best green. { ference whether the gardener under- | Prune we must, but, with all our | stands the real “why” of gardening | pruning, let us remember to stoop or not, he can go ahead with his down to see the little leaves which . plants just the same. If snow helps will come soon. They are among keep the lower portion of canes warm, Nature's smallest but best garden dis- so that leaf buds begin to swell there plays. STARS, MEN AND ATOMS Notebook of Science Progress in Field, Laboratory and Study. BY THOMAS R. HENRY. ‘When men first looked at the moon ; mountain, and its crater, usually a through telescopes they saw with | rather small vent, opens from its earth-bound eyes its lofty mountains | summit. Besides being so much and great, flat valleys, | larger, the moon craters are not on These astronomers interpreted top of mountains. Rather, they are | what thgy saw in accordance with the | surrounded by mountains and high | damentals, knowing that beauty is/ tory, all that is| ori familiar topography of the earth. They had every reason to beheve that the great satellite was another world with much the same sort of landscape. So when they drew maps they labeled the dark level spaces | “mares,” or seas. They supposed themi to be great expanses of water sur-| rounded by mountains, presenting | much the same picture to moon- | dwellers as did the earth’s oceans to| themselves. But when a developing physical science attacked the problem of the came obvious that these “mares” could not be seas. It was physically imposible for any appreciable amount of water to exist on that airless chunk of the earth's substance a quarter of a million miles away. Just so it was physically imposible for any moon- dwellers to live there. What, then, were the “moon scas”? It became customary to refer to them as “craters,” although the term hardly could be synonymous with that used to denote the hollows in the tops of earthly volcanoes. They were far too extensive. The exact nature of the “mares” what problematical. Some of the more notable of them have been “surveyed” by the Moon Committee of the Carnegle Institution of Washington, of which Dr. F. E. ‘Wright of the geophysical laboratory is chairman and which is making an exhaustive study of the satellite’s sur- face features. Approximately 250,000 miles away from the object of their survey, they have been able to make fairly close calculations of distances in miles and depths in feet by means of several methods. ‘The method of determining heights is described by Dr. Wright as “ascer- taining the length of the shadow when near the limit of illuminatior across the moon's disk. We know for any given time and for any point on the moon's surface the angle which the sun’s rays make with the vertical to the moon’s surface at that point. So it is simple to compute from a given angle and length of the shadow the height of the feature casting the shadow.” The Carnegie Institution scientists also have several more complicated methods for their moon surveying. * kK % One of the most remarkable of the “mares” they have surveyed is that of Tycho, named for the great Danish astronomer, Tycho Brach. They find it to be approximately 1,700 feet deep and 54 miles across. Nearby is the great crater of Clavius, 17,000 feet deep and 142 miles across. Breaking up its floors are several small craters, the tiniest of which is larger than any terrestrial volcanic crater. An inex- plicable feature at present is the “great wall” of the moon, apparently a straight precipice about 70 miles long and with a “down-throw” of nearly 1,000 feet on one side. Some of the moon’s mountains, Dr. Wright and his associates find, reach heights of about 25,000 feet—almost as high as the highest on earth. They are extremely rough and precipitous. Even if there were plenty of air and water there and a reasonably equable climate, the committee members con- clude that they would be extremely difficult to explore. * x X X Certainly some of the “mares,” they conclude, must have been of volcanic gin. Now, a'“terrestrial volcano is a nature of the moon’s surface it be- | still remains scme- | hills. The explanation lies partly in the | extreme lightness of the moon, com- pared with the earth, and hence the | difference in the pull of gravity. A man on the moon could jump 40 or 50 feet without much difficulty. The C., SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 1935. THE LIBRARY TABLE BY SARAH G. BOWERMAN. LIBERIA REDISCOVERED. By James C. Young. Garden City: Doubleday, Doran & Co. Liberia, always regarded as “a moral protectorate of the United States,” was chosen by Harvey Fire- stone for the development of an inde- pendent source of rubber which would give American industry protection from foreign monopoly. Mr. Young describes Africa as it was a hundred years ago, then the settlement of Liberia by freed American slaves and | their efforts to establish a community of their own on the edge of the jungle. Liberia was brought out of its ob- scurity, perhaps a comfortable ob- scurity, by the Firestone expedition of 1924, when Donald A. Ross went there to examine rubber possibilities. Since then thousands of acres of jungle have been cleared for rubber planta- tions, good roads have been made, sanitation has been established, hos- pitals and stores have been built and & radio station links Africa with America. This all came about be- cause the British Government and Far Eastern rubber growers combined | to raise the price of rubber in 1922, | Now Liberia has become important, has become, in fact, one of the minor “trouble spots” of the world. The reason for this, why Great Britain and France and the League of Nations are disturbec about Liberian affairs, | is explained in Mr. Young's very in- teresting book. which is well docu- mented and illustrated from photo- graphs. * X k% WE SAGEBRUSH FOLKS. By Annie Pike Greenwood. New York: D. Appleton-Century Co. Soon after Annie Pike and Charles | Greenwood were married they left a settled, more or less conventional life in Kansas and went to live in the sagebrush desert of Southern Idaho, on the new Minidoka irrigation project. In this autobiography Mrs. | Greenwood tells a story of thwarted teffort and futile but unavoidable hardships which escapes being com- pletely gloomy only because of her own alert reactions to all the life which she experienced and all the | people who formed a part of it. The recurrent crises of child-bearirg, for | herself and her neighbors (and the | interest of each crisis was shared by | a1, broke the monotony of sagebrush | days, but each time added to the bur- | dens. The niceties of a more gracious i]l{e were given up one by one. The | velvet carpets gave place to linoleum, | curtains wore out and were not re- | placed; only mortgages were abun- , dant. Her daily bath Mrs. Greenwood | refused to relinquish, and all the years | of her farm life she bootlegged it in | the kitchen. Her description of her electric dashes from kitchen to bed room when the men inevitably came to the kitchen for drinks of water during her bath reveals another reason why she was able to endure the sagebrush life, her incurable sense of humor. In spite of the long, hard road and the ultimate loss of their farm, the Greenwoods fared better than most of their neighbors, prob- ably because of superior intelligence and background. Mr. Greenwood went to the Idaho State Legislature and Mrs. Greenwood wrote some ar- ticles for the Atlantic Monthly which put some of the Idaho politicians in anything but a favorable light. So, not farming, but politics and writing, brought a measure of success. This account of 15 years of the life of an American farm woman on one of the last of the frontiers makes very in- teresting reading, but it will hardly tempt any one to go and do likewise. . THE FOGHORN AND OTHER STORIES. By Gertrude Ather- ton. Boston: Houghton Mif- flin Co. Mrs. Atherton might have followed the suggestion of Bernard Shaw's title of “Plays Pleasant and Un- | pleasant” for this collection of stories, with italics for the “unpleasant.” The }l(mgest of the stories, “The Eternal Now,” permits a possibility of pleas- antness in the split life of Simon de Brienne, wealthy owner of a Long Island estate, who at times vanishes { mentally from his present surround- ings and lives in the medieval past of his ancestors, in the France of pull of gravity there is perhaps less than one-twenty-fifth what it is on ! the earth. ' When a terrestrial volcano explodes ! | it shoots out an enormous amount of | | rocks and lava. This is acted upon by gravity, which soon overcomes the | initial propulsion of the subterranean explosion which threw it upward. It falls to earth very close to the vent | from which it issued. Hence a moun- | tain is built up surrounding the vent —and the familiar form of the earthly volcano results. On the moon the force of gravity also pulls down the flying debris— eventually. But it gets much farther away from the vent out of which it are piled up at distances of 50 to sev- eral hundred miles away—leaving the great plains which the old astronomers thought were seas. * % % % But Dr. Wright, in his latest report of the work of the committee, sees another possible origin for the “mares.” The moon, like the earth, is con- stantly bombarded by meteors from outer space. Unlike the earth, it has no protecting armor of air to break the force of the “hits” and to burn most of the missiles to ashes before they hit the surface. Occasionally, in spite of this air | cushion, an enormous meteor hits the | earth and buries itself. of the collision is terrific, setting up earth waves that can be detected from Siberia to Washington. But what must be the force of such an impact on the unprotected moon? Dr. Wright calculates that when the kinetic energy was transformed into actions very similar to those of a ter- restrial volcano. Such an explosion would produce much the same sort of “mare.” * Xx ¥ % ‘To help in the exploration from such a vast distance of the mysterious mountains and valleys of the moon the Moon Committee is constructing a new kind of map of the moon on a globular surface which, they claim, will afford a much more accurate rep- resentation of its surface features and their relations to each other than has been possible with a flat-surfaced map. In addition they are learning much about the nature of the materials which make up the moon’s surface through studies of the effect it has on the sunlight which it reflects and ::gch comes to the earth as moon- t. ———— P et Conviction and Taxing. From the Reno Evening Gazette. Maybe the authorities can't convict a million dollars, as often is claimed, but_they're how to tax the stuffing out of it. ——ee— One Sure Reaction. From the Worcester Evening Gazette. seem able to ex- lain how they feel on the bom pl ey feel on us ques- terrible. 5 feel issued. The result is that the heights | The impact | heat it would be sufficient to melt, or | even volatilize, the rocks and set up | e e Jeanne de Valois and the invasions of the Black Prince. The story ends| with a hint that Simon's solution may be found in the identification of twentieth century Anne Clyde with fourteenth century Jeanne de Valois. The title story, “The Foghorn,” is & | tale of horror equal to anything of | Poe’s, of a young and beautiful woman | on the point of going away with the married man whom she loves, an 'accident in & boat in San Francisco Bay, then a blank of years, and | final awakening in a hospital bed just before death, a shriveled old woman. “The Sacrificial Altar” relates the murder of the beautiful and wealthy | Berthe Dupont by Louis Bac, novelist of crime, who is impelled to the deed by his avidity for real experi- {ence in crime. The stories are not representative of Gertrude Ather- ton’s best work, but show her usual ingenuity of plot and sophisticated facility of style. | * Kk k% THE SCIENCE OF ECONOMY. By Ludwig Kotany. New York: G.P. Putnam'’s Sons. Dr. Kotany, Austrian by birth, be- |came an American citizen and was both a financier and broker and a | writer for the Quarterly Journal of Economics and other economic period- icals. He died while preparing the manuscript of this book for the press. | He believed that the classical econo- mists, Adam Smith, Malthus, Ricardo and their followers, whose theories he analyzes in some detail, were too largely influenced by Roman, Canon and English law and consequently looked at economic problems from the legalistic voint of view, instead of that lof human experience in production, distribution and financing. Modern science has also changed economic conditions, he held. and made a new economic theory necessary. This book is bulky and contains his reasoning |and conclusions about general eco- nomic theory, “the economy based on inequalities,” principles of production and distribution, the structure of in- dustries, the police power of the state, taxation and national debts. He be- lieved that high taxation destroys business and that national debts, accu- mulated through war or other emer- gency, should be rapidly reduced in the interest of national prosperity. * k% % SURVEY OF CONTEMPORARY ECONOMICS. Edited by Norman S. Buck, Yale University. New York: Thomas Nelson & Sons. Made up entirely of newspaper arti- cles showing New Deal developments during the past two years, this volume accurately claims to survey “contem- porary” economics. It is intended for the average reader interested in cur- rent affairs. Into its scope the editor, chairman of the division of eco- nomics at Yale University, has gath- ered articles, many of them sent out | by the Associated Press, others signed by special writers, on the depression in general; money, banking and the price level; the farm problem and what has been done about it; unemployment, unemployment relief and re-employ- ment; social planning and security; labor ghganization and collective bare gaining; industrial and trade ovrob- S i b S | | | ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN. A reader can get the answer to any question of fact by uwriting The Evening Star Information Bu- reau, Frederic J. Haskin, Director, Washington, D. C. Please inclose stamp for reply. Q. How did the Supreme Court of the United States happen to take up the gold clause question?—G. N. A. Two suits were brought. F. Eu- gene Nortz, New York coffee dealer, was required to turn in gold certifi- cates under the hoarding ruling but was paid only the old par value. He sued to recover the value declared by President Roosevelt. Willlam H. Bixby, trustee for gold bonds of the Iron Mountain Railroad, sued to en- force payment at the Roosevelt rate. Q. In what schools are courses given so that persons can become ex- aminers of questioned documents, such as the handwriting experts con- sulted in trials of crminals?—E. A. H. A. Albert S. Osborn says: “There is no school or institution that I know of where disputed document courses are given. * * * Numerous of the | best qualified experts began with a technical study of handwriting, either as teachers or authors, but, of course, more training is necessary for one who is to do this work successfully | than a technical knowledge of pen- | manship.” | Q. What becomes of unclaimed mail | in Wisconsin?—E. M. | A. When such mail is found in first- | class offices (like Madison or Milwau- | kee) it is opened by clerks. If it is found in second, third or fourth class offices it is sent to the Central Ac-| counting Office at Madison. This new | method of handling unclaimed mai! | is in operation in all of the States. Q. Does an automobile burn more gas in second gear or in high gear for | the same mileage?>—W. F. §. i A. In second gear. Q. Could one correctly call magne an art patron?—B. R. M. A. Charlemagne strove to introduce into his empire the culture of the an- clent world. In so doing_he became a patron of art. His palace walls were decorated with pictures; the cathe- dral of Aix-la-Chapelle was adorned with mosaics. Charle- M. Q. Do Eskimos, as a race, embrace a religion?—J. B. B. A A statement about the Eskimo religion can scarcely be brief and clear without being misleading. It is not far wrong, however, to say that the idea of worship as Christians under- stand it is rudimentary or absent. Like more highly civilized people, the Eski- mos are, of course confused in their religious thinking. Different answers and confused answers come from the most thoughtful and best informed members of the same cemmunity. Q. Who were the first four Chief Justices of the United States Supreme Court?>—E. B. A. John Jay, served 1789-1795; John Rutledge, 1795-1795; Oliver Ells- worth, 1796-1800; John Marshall, 1801-1835. Q. How long is the mandate over Palestine to last?>—R. L. C. A. The country of Palestine is un- der the jurisdiction of the League of Nations, which awarded the mandate to Great Britain. It is impossible to say at the present time what final disposition will be made of Palestine. There is no definite time set for the termination of the British mandate. Q. What is the derivation of the word Baptist>—R. H. E. A. It is from a Greek word similar in meaning to wash or dip. One of the early names applied to the Sepa- ratists or Baptists was the Dippers. Q. Do the players who work as extras in Hollywood make much money?—R. 8. A. Q. What is the difference between | A. The annual report of the Cen- a national park and a national monu- | tral Casting Bureau in Hollywood ment?—E. J. P. shows that of the 4,000 extras worke A. The national parks and national | ing in the movies last year only 12 monuments are so closely allied that | made a living wage. Six men made it is difficult to draw a hard and fast | $2,500 or more during the year, while line between them. Generally speak- |6 women were paid between $2,000 ing, national parks are areas preserved in Federal ownership by act of Con- gress because of their outstanding scenery, national in character. The national monuments, on the other hand, are reserved because of their historie, prehistoric or scientific interest. Q. Does Mount Vernon river or the drives?—R. S. H. A. In the days when Mount Vernon was built it was customary to have two fronts of a house, the river front and the land front. At the present time the river front of Mount Vernon is generally considered the front of the mansion. front the Q. How long was there only one United States Mint?>—J. H. A. From 1792 to 1833 the only United States Mint was the cne in Philadelphia. Q. Please tell what a concert> and a symphony are—H. N. B. A. A concerto is an extended com- position in sonata form for a solo in- strument with orchestral accompani- ments. A symphony is (especially since 1780) a work for an orchestra in the form of a sonata but generally with fuller development and greater breadth of treatment. Q. Does Scotland Yard have pa- trolmen?—N. R. A. It has not. It does only detec- tive work. {and $2,500 Q. How firmly should a person | bear down when taking a finger- | print>—M. B. B. A. The degree of pressure exerted in taking a fingerprint is important in obtaining a clear impression and oan be determined best by experi- ence and observation. The subject should be asked to relax the fingers completely and not attempt to assist by exerting pressure on the inking surface. | Q. How large is the maze in Hamp- ton Court Palace Gardens?—W. McL. | A. It is in the form of a triangle |and contains about one-third acre, | but this small area has more than one-half a mile of walks four feet wide, bordered with hedges six feet high and two feet thick. It is so | constructed that a false step may compel the return for a long dis- | tance, with a consequent loss of the | sense of direction. The hedges are |of yew, hawthorne and holly, the | hawthorne being added in late years. | The key to reach the center is to keep the right hand continuovusly in contact with the hedge from first to last, going round all the stops. | Q. How many dogs are usually en- | tered in the Westminster show?—C, A L | A, In the last 10 years the number | has been over 2,000 each year. In ! 1935 there were 2,837 entered. =Hauptmann Verdict Accepted 'As Just by Newspaper World All through the newspaper world the | opinion of the Gary (Ind) Post- tmann .. | Tribune, while the Troy (N. Y.) Rec- e o sty i e, | OFd calls the defense “one of the moct derer of the Lindberg] Y 1S 8¢ | fantastic, impossible and unbelievable cepted as just and as the inevitable in any major criminal case within result of the amazing chain of cir- | the recollection of this generation.” cumstantial evidence built up by the authorities. “This conviction, the sentencing. the eventual execution should convince even the lawless,” according to the Buffalo Evening News, “that circum- stantial evidence, properly knit to- gether, will bring to justice the most cunning. It should make the crimi- nally inclined less sure of their ability to evade punishment.” It is admitted by the Topeka (Kans.) Daily Capital that “many will wonder if the verdict was just,” because of the circumstantial evidence, but that paper concludes it “was in accord- ance with the system of American jurisprudence.” The New Orleans Times-Picayune observes that “never before have we had such a web of circumstance woven about a defend- ant,” and the Allentown (Pa.) Morn- | ing Call feels that it was “so strong | and evidently so convincing that the Jjury was ready to pronounce the most | serious verdict possible.” “The mass of such evidence,” states the New York Sun, “overpowered the alibis presented by the defense. Rea- | sonable doubt, which every judge in | a capital case so carefully explains in | his charge, was swept away. The long | and sometimes weary trial ends with | a verdict which most readers who have | followed the volumes of testimony will | approve.” “The defense helped to make the State’s case impregnabl lems; transportation and the public | utilities; public finance; the dispute over economic control. As a source of economic information current at the | time of publication, the book is valu- | able, but of course its material needs | to be daily supplemented from the‘ newspapers. Economics is a rapxdly‘ The Los Angeles Times advises that in | future dealing with crime it should be required that “the State be informed a reasonable length of time before the trial what alibi or alibis will be claimed by the defendant and the list of witnesses he relies on to establish | them.” “Among those who have established judgments by reading reports of the trial,” says the Asbury Park (N. J.) Evening Press, “there may have been disagreement over the defendant's guilt, but none will now question the fairness of the proceedings, the re- liability of the judge and jury or the wisdom and gravity with which they assumed their duty. Every chance was afforded the defense to produce evidence of the defendant's inno- cence. All agree that the trial was conducted upon an eminently fair basis. And when the jury uttered ‘guilty’ there scemed to be no doubt that justice had been done.” That the outcome was just is the conclusion of the Birmingham Age- Herald, the Charlotte (N. C.) Obe | server, the San Antonio (Tex.) Ex- press, the Jackson (Mich.) Citizen Patriot, the Tulsa (Okla.) World and the Chattanooga (Tenn.) Times. The Rochester (N. Y.) Times-Union offers the judgment: “The Hauptmann de- fense used every effort to shift blame to others, but failed to influence the Jury. This crime startled and shocked the whole Nation. It raised the men- acing shadow of kidnaping. That it was finally cleared up and the crim- inal brought to justice upholds the law and greatly strengthens the pro- tection it extends to homes and fam- ilies throughout the land.” “A warning to kidnapers” is seen by the Atlanta Constitution, while the Roanoke (Va.) World-News states: “All over America there is a wave of moving feld of knowledge today—a | relief. Every American home will feel quicksand. An index would have added | the safer when Bruno Hauptmann has to the value of the book. B THE FAR CALL (Verse). By Alethea Todd Alderson, Dallas, Tex.: The Kaleidograph Press. In this small volume of poetic mis- cellanies Miss Alderson has collected poems already published elsewhere, some in Washington newspapers, many of which have received prize awards. The subjects are varied and range from the emotional and reflective to the practical, from “Lost Dream” and “The Mystery of the Hereafter” to “In a Drug Store.” The metrical forms are equally varied and include the sonnet, blank verse and French bal- lades, rondeaux and rondelets. There is little in the volume of the conven- tional material of poetry; all the pieces have evidently been suggested by experiences or moods of the author and reflect her own ideas, emotions and imagination. In every case the feeling rings true; there is no artifi- clality. The phrasing also is natural and at times striking in its aptness. Some of the poems have their motive in musical interests, as “After Hear- ing John Powell's Rhapsodie Negre” and “Nocturne From the East.” Some of those showing deep human interest are “In a Public Library,” “The Grandmother,” “My Father's Life” and “To Frances, Aged Thirteen. Miss Alderson is & vice president of the Poetry Society of Great Britain. | been executed. If ever there was a | case for capital punishment this is the | time. The verdict of the jury at Flemington is plainly right.” “Judge Trenchard’s charge to the | jury,” in the opinion of the New York Times, “was a model of compactness and good law—especially his state- | ment of the probative force of efr- | cumstantial evidence. Though the jury could have been left in little | doubt of his personal convictions, he | carefully observed the rule that juries | must be the sole judges of the facts in evidence. Ail told, Judge Trent | ard bere himself during all those try- ing weeks ‘as becometh a judge’ and added his part to the high reputation long enjoyed by ‘Jersey justice.'"™ ——————— Actually Active, | Prom the Indianapolis News. That Federal Power Commission re- port on electric power rates in Amer- ican cities seems to show that in some States public service commissions do their work. Good News. | Prom the Helena (Mont.) Independent. | The discovery that Mars is not | habited 1s the first good news the United States relief administration and the Red Cross have had in a loiig time.