Evening Star Newspaper, March 9, 1935, Page 6

T HE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 1935 A—6 L L 2 2 j - THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL, THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Editien. WASHINGTON, D. C. BATURDAY......March 9, 1935 THEODORE W. NOYES. . . Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company 8t. w : 110 East 42nd 8t ghicazo Ofice: Lake Michigan Bullding. uropean Office; 14 Regent St.. London. Ensland. Rate by Carrier Within the City. Regular Edition. e Evening Star_.... .. 45cDer month Eveninz and Sunday Sia 'when 4 Sundays) -6 The Evening and Sunday Biar (when 5 Sundays) ~65¢ per month ‘The Sunday Star. .. . B¢ per copy Night Final Edition. ieht Final and Sunday Star.70c per month ight Final Star...... .. .55cDper month Collection made ‘at the end "of each may be mont] A sent by mall or telephone National 5000 Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. {1y and Sundsy. .1 yr. $10.00: 1 mo. 8¢ Sinday oniy. ;10 1YF. $4.00: 1 mo. 40¢ All Other States and Canada. Datly and Sunday 1 yr.. ay only ... 1 yr _Sunday only.. . 15r. Member of the Associated Press. Assoclated Press is exclusively en to the use for republication of al d in this paper and also the local news published herein All rights of publication of special dispatches herein are also rererved —_— E n Unsatisfactory Compromise. As so often happens when an effort. {s made to evade an issue by compro- mising with principle, the Senate sub- committee handling the Treasury-Post | Office appropriation bill has succeeded merely in damaging the principle. The compromise on the issue raised by | the McKellar patronage rider ceflects no credit on the subcommittee and will leave no one satisflied—least of all those who regarded that rider as & dangerons blow to the principle of merit systam and civil service pro- tection. Senator McKellar was anxious to get rid of some 700 prohibition agents | who, he claimed, had been appointed under the preceding administration and were being carried over into a| Democratic administration. The fact | . is that all these agents, regardless of their politics or the politics of the ad- ministratioa under which they were selected, had passed competitive civil service and rigorous character exami- nations when originally placed under the civil service. Controller General McCarl ruled that not only these em- ployes, but hundreds of others, would have to take new examinations as pro- vided for in the McKellar rider or lose their pay. Some of them declined to | take the examination and some of them failed to pass it. | But the principle at stake was| whether, by rider on an appropria- tion bill, those already possessing civil service status should be placed | in jeopardy by being forced to take | grave chaos and civil war may spring at any moment. Bombings and shootings in Havane and the provinces heighten popular unrest and fan passions. ‘The government has issued an order provisionally licensing indi- vidual citizens to carry arms, espe- clally those who are filling strikers’ Jobs. The State Department in Wash- ington ennounces that the United States, relieved of old-time obliga- tions under the Platt amendment, is maintaining & strictly hands-off policy in the present Cuban crisis, but our proximity to the sore-stricken island and our sentimental interest in its welfare nevertheless impel the American people to observe with sym- pathetic anxiety its chronic struggle to stifie political turmoil end concen- trate on the problems of economic recovery. That goal apparently is still afar off. Mr. McCarl and the Law. The amount of money involved in the controversy between Controller General McCarl and the Navy Depart- ment is small, and, as far as the equi- ties are concerned, the Navy Depart- ment seems to stand on pretty solid ground. But the direct intervention of the President in the matter and the fact that he backs up the Navy Depart- ment in ignoring a ruling by the con- troller general raises an extraordi- narily important issue. Controller General McCarl is the final authority in administrative interpretations of |the iaws and until overruled by the courts qr until the law is changed by Congress ‘remnln.s the final authority. The Navy Department’s contention, with which the President agrees, is that the Attorney General and a for- case, the Court of Claims, have ruled against the controller general. But in his lengthy letter to Secretary Swanson the other day Mr. McCarl | pointed out that the Attorney Gen-| eral’s opinions are advisory only and not binding on his office, and cited a Supreme Court decision as against the quoted ruling from the Court of Claims. At any rate, the remedy for the law's defect—if any—lies with Congress. Now that the Navy intends to ignore the McCarl ruling, with sanction by the President, what becomes of Mc- Carl? Should a precedent be estab- lished in which the executive branch of the Government makes its own, interpretation of the law, despite what Mr. McCarl's office has to say, then the controller general might as well quit and his office be abolished. For it was to prevent just exactly this situation that the controller general’s | office was established, the incumbent appointed for a fifteen - year term and prohibited from succeeding him- a new examination. Secretary Mor- genthau, with others, has severely | condemned what has been generally | construed as a grave threat to civil;l service protection should the precedent self. The controller general was to be responsible only to Congress, and disbursing officers of the Government were to be responsible to McCarl. It is this law, and the principle he live to himself alone. It i3 & so- cial scheme of existence in which all races, all nations, all classes, all per- sons are but integral parts, and hu- manity will rise or fall in the ratio of incressing recognition of that fundamental verity. The “common lot,” the common struggle and the common victory, it appears, should be better, recognized and the policy of states, communities and individ- uals adjusted accordingly. —_————————— Hospital Heroism. “No soldier ever served a worthier cause with more valor.” These are the words of Maj. Gen. H. L. Giichrist, retired, and are applied to & former Medical Corps soldier named George 8. Ward, who was one of ten men who volunteered thirty years ago to take experimental typhoid vaccine. Eight of these men suffered severe attacks of typhoid and Ward's was the worst. Formerly a strapping young fellow, he never fully recovered, and today, at the age of fifty-four, he'is a feeble occu- pant at & charity ward on Welfare Island, N. Y., with death no great dis- tance away. Without these first tests of human beings the vaccine by means of which the Army bas conquered typhoid, con- queror of the victors in the Spanish- American War, could never have been perfected. Through the cool, calcu- lated, self-sacrificing personal bravery of Ward and his companions not only his Army, but his Nation and all the world were benefited. The heroism of Army volunteers who permitted them- selves to be inoculated with yellow fever germs has been recognized by Congress. Senator Copeland of New York has introduced a bill in Congress to provide a modest pension for this mer Attorney General and,”in one ) broken-down ex-soldier, and the aid of the President of the United States has been bespoken on behalf of this measure. The Congressional Medal of Honor is awarded to a person who “while an officer or enlisted man of the Army shall, in action involving actual con- flict with the enemy, distinguish him- self conspicuously by gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty.” No one will deny that Ward distinguished him- self conspicuously by intrepidity; that ) he risked his life. or that, being & volunteer, his deed was above and be- yond the call of duty. He did not benefit by the stimulating atmosphere of action or emergency. He was not in action with a human enemy; all he did was calmly assimilate a quantity of germs which were likely to kill him and which did wreck his life. Perhaps | no one would wish the conditions of the Medal of Honor widened to take in cases like this. But over and above the proper provisior: for his physical needs there should be some conspicu- ous and tangible recompense for an act such as his. —————————————— Propaganda in school books would put the play-loving youth at an ad- established by the McKellar rider be |represented in this law, that have | Vantage over the bright little young- permitted to stand. Well, it apparently stands. The | compromise reached by the subcom- mittee provides that those affected by the rider shall receive the pay for the latter half of the current fiscal year—denied them under the rider— but that about 450 of them are to lose their positions at the end of the | fiscal year. Lose their positions— why? Because they failed to pass a new examination which they were forced to take on the assumption that they were political appointees. For the first time in fifty years, Mr. | Morgenthau pointed out the other | day, Congress has seen fit to encroach | upon the jurisdiction of the Civil Service Commission in the administra- tion of the civil service laws and reg- ulations. That encroachment is un- fortunately approved, even though the approval came in through the back door, by the unsatisfactory com- promise just announced. Once the ! barrier of principle is broken down, other even more direct encroachments are to be feared. e —— The organized musicians might ex- ercise more political influence if they could withdraw their services from either philosophically forget the issue, or demand that it be settled by Con- the enactment of the budget and ac- counting act is worth preserving, the issue raised by the Navy Department | and the President should be squarely | In8 faced. e e o The reduction to the absurd is the important element of formal reason- ing. It loses its value in case a pub- Hc becomes bereft of a sense of | humor. —————— So far as Al Smith is concerned, the record has become so complicated that he may never call on friends to look at it again. —e Continuity. The basic fact of history is that of continuity. On occasion, of course, it may seem to an observer that hu- manity achieves a definite break with the past, but actually no such event ever happens. Instead, life flows like a river—an integrated tide in which each constituent atom is related to its kind. To {llustrate the principle as it ap- plies to cultural evolution, the geneal- ogy of Italian painting, compiled by Adolfo Venturi, may be cited: Leonardo learned from Verrocchio; Raphael from Perugino and, indi- rectly, through Timoteo della Vite, frgm Prancia; Michelangelo from Bertoldo and Signorelli; Correggio from Bianchi-Ferrari, Mantegna and | Costa; Giorgione and Titian from Gio- : vanni Bellini. Individually these artists were ] acknowledged masters and made their own distinctive contributions to the universal treasury of esthetic achieve- ment; but none of the number was isolated from the instruction and the discipline of constructive social pressure—each had a teacher, each labored within the normal boundaries of his place, his time and his art. And the same rule prevails in the field of science. A glance at the copious notes which Charles Darwin wrote into his “Origin of Species” and “Descent of Man” will suffice to show that even he was indebted to his fel- lows. He quotes scores of other re- searchers, acknowledges his obligation I to & long list of forerunners and con- temporaries. But the “endless chain of ideas” perhaps can be more effectively dem- onstrated by reference to the circum- stances of the birth of Sir Isaac New- ton practically at the moment of the death of Galileo—the one seeker after truth came into the earthly scene just as the other departed. It also can be shown, directly and tangibly, by the connection between James Watt, Sir Humphry Davy and Mi- chael Faraday—together they consti- tuted a brotherhood of philosophers spanning the period 1736 to 1867. A comparable fraternity was that of William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Robert Southey, Charles Lamb and Thomas De Quincy—they polished their genius in letters co- operatively. An elemental law may be detected all street parades that did not please them. ——————————— Russian entertainers could do much to relieve the gathering gloom in their native land by entertaining in Russia. —— . Cuba's Mounting Woes. What set in a fortnight ago as an apparently innocuous strike of school teachers and pupils in Cuba has at length attained the dimensions of an uprising that has fairly paralyzed the life of the entire island. The Men- dieta government now consciously faces a nation-wide revolt against its authority so menacing that it has found it necessary to proclaim that the full armed forces of the republic are ready to go into action to back the President and his threatened re- gime. The redoubtable Col. Fulgencio Batista, Cuba's military dictator, lends his personal prestige to that announcement. The Associated Press recounts graphically today the full extent of mounting unrest in the island. With last night's decision of state depart- ment employes to join 'in the strikes already in force, only two government departments at Havana .continue to function. Nearly four hundred thou- sand teachers and school children are participating in the movement for Mendieta’s overthrow. Newspaper publication is practically suspended in protest against government censor- ship. Hospital service has broken ‘down. Customs and tax collections have ceased, with treasury employes on strike. The post offices are out of business, with mail moving neither into nor out of Cuba, and none moving on the island itself. The government telegraph system is out of action. Havana’s street car traffic is almost completely stopped. Port traffic is seriously deranged. All ih all, Cuba at the moment presents the picture of a dislocated ang demoralized country, struggling mummm‘ma-m munwmup.mu- [ been challenged. Mr. McCarl will|Ster Who always knows his lessons by heart. —————— | gress. If the theory represented in| Whether or not married people are permitted to hold positions on the ray roll, there should be absolutely no mercy shown to any gigolos lurk- in the offing. e ——————— It is impossible to be other than optimistic when it is remembered what winners of Nobel Prizes have done for the world. —_———————— SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Pride. Here's a health to the Prince who has recently said. As obsequious flatteries grew, “Remember, I pray when your losing your head - ‘That I am a mortal, like you. “Recalling the Image in which all were made, I'm claiming & dignity due To one who is weary of empty parade And is proud to be human, like you.” Titles. “How would you like to be a king- fish?” i “The title would not be big enough,” said Senator Sorghum. “If we're go- ing to the aquarium for designations, the fish commission will have to propagate a dictator fish.” Jud Tunkins says he has just found out that the pink slip is just a piece of paper and not the old Mother Hub- bard wrapper grandma used to scold about. Boyminded. If you're “boyminded,” be advised, And soon be psychoanalyzed So that your tendencies may be Set plainly forth for all to see, We like to follow with the band If you will help us understand ‘What boyish model you select Your aspirations to direct; A gentle, sweet Lord Fauntleroy Or just a rough-neck Peck’s Bad Boy? Sense of Neatness. “What is Crimson Guich going to do about these fellers who are carry- ing on & continuous street fight?” “Keep 'em locked out in the street,” answered Cactus Joe. “We don’t want ‘em shootin’ up our nice new jail.” Clowning Again. Back to the clowning days of yore We travel and. turn back the clock To scenes that can do lfttle more ‘Than- bring about some sudden shock. In prohibjtion’s time we traced The old idea ever gay And for our comedy we placed The seltzer syphon on display. In dialogue, that does not hurt, We seek for a hilarious shout, * And old-time humor to assert ‘We bring that ancient slapstick out. “A pilitical job,” said Uncle Eben, “don’t allus put s man on de roll of roll.” s s Sk S ‘The question of ent or non- agreement with a writer is always an interesting one. . In the preface to & book by a great Russian, the transiator asserts that the way for the reader to get the most out of him is to concentrate on what he agrees with, not what he dis- | ing agrees with, - This undoubtedly is true, as every one knows who has read at all. Yet the temptation to disagree is insistent, even to the point of total rupture. Templeton Jones had this brought out very strikingly the other day in regard to & work he was reading. He found the book much to his lik-|' ing until the last chapter. ‘Then he exploded with & loud bang. * kX% Jones found himself fuming in- wardly, and he knew from many past experiences that when he began to boil mentally he pretty soon would spill over into words. It was always so. g It always is 5o, not only with Jones, but with all readers. It was at this point that Mr. Jones remembered the words of the trani- lator, that one should not fret over passages with which one cannot agree, but pay chief attention to what is good iff* & writer. Before he came to this wisdom, however, he had taken a pencil and indited words of strong disagreement on the margins of the pages he dis- liked. “Atrocious rot,” he had written at one place; at others he had indicated his main disagreements with the statements of the author, L After he recalled the admonitions, however, he shamefacedly rubbed out all his remarks with a big, soft eraser and left the pages to the au- thor alone. Why should he violently dispute, even in the secret places of his own mind? He knew, as all know, that it is impossible for two human beings to agree in every detail about anything. It never has been done, and it never will. Surely this is a good thing to keep in mind, for by doing so a reader will save himself from much pertubation, as well as from being unfair to the writer before him. Consider the ardent champion of feminism, who feels that the use of such words as “man,” “he” and “his” indicates ‘“man-mindedness” in a writer. The poor fellow, in trying to con- sider abstract subjects, simply ad- heres to the common custom, with- out straining to Nnd a safely neutral mode of expression. Even women writers, when so thinking, use the word “man” in a perfectly indefinite way and refer to “him” and “his” without thought of sex. E * % % Every one, from time to time, has been offended at the use of “I" and “my” in articles. Their use, undoubtedly, grows upon one, so that often enough an article may be farily sprinkled with them, xithout a writer being aware of any pse. It then has been the fashion, with some persons, to encircle such words, often with truly laughable results, since the prominence then given such usage makes them strike the eye as much too much of a good thing. One may submit that such a pro- cedure is rather unfair to a writer, although no doubt st times it may have good results. ‘The worst effect, however, undoubt- edly is on the mind of “him-her” who succumbs to the desire to concentrate STARS, MEN on & peculiarity, rither than upon the thought of the’suthor. Thus s reader, whether male or female, who resents split-infinitives too heartlly, s much in danger of for them too avidly. ‘Templeton Jones, & typical reader, in no way distinguished from other readers, sometimes prided himself on the fact that he never permitted these smaller things, mistakes though they might be, from some standpoiats, to draw his attention away too long from the thought of an author. * ok ok X Writing, after all, is merely thought. If it hangs together, if the writer makes others see what he is trying to say, whether or not they agree, he has done the main things that words can do. ‘Words may do & great many other things, of course. ‘Wérds may cause laughter or tears, but often such effects are more or less the result of deliberate tricks of the trade, in some cases very cheap tricks, too. . The main purpose of language is to convey thought, not just to express thought. Only as words, directed from one mouth to other ears, carry into tne brain of the listener just what the speaker intends that they shall carry are they good words, well chosen and well put together. It is amazing how much speaking and writing there are in the world in which this effect is not secured, in the first place because the speaker or writer did not know exactly what he wanted to say, in the second be- cause the listener would not con- centrate on the main things, but insisted on putting emphasis on small matters. * ok k% Templeton Jones, reader, found that the danger of this attitude is that one may overlook unnecessary poor points in an effort to be fair to a writer. Yet even then he runs & very much larger chance of being unfair to himself. He has more real opportunity to get at the best in what he is reading. He reslizes, for instance, that writ- ers have tried for many years to coin new words of indefinite sex for use when confronted by the dilemma of speaking constantly of “man.” etc. Many curious combinations have been evolyed, no one of which ever registered with the reading public. ‘Their use is merely a clumsy pre- text to be fair in all ways. Even women platform speakers have realized this when they use “his” almost entirgly, when speaking of the abstract rights of mapkind. It would be fatuous to insist on speaking of “the rights of womanhood,” since the term “mankind” undoubtedly includes all of us. L The real readers of this world are men (and women, of course), who have decided not to worry very much about disagreements, or peculiarities, or even plain errors. They resist, as well as they can, the very human desire to proclaim er- rors they have discovered. Why should they rush to the housetops, when no doubt other persons are quite as wise? No, what is good in an author is what we should all strive to find. If we do not find it, it may be his fault— but it may be ours, too. Templeton Jones (and Mrs. Jones, too, by the way) is a good reader be- cause he tries to be fair to those he reads. He will not forget that last chap- ter, the one he fumed over, the pages he marked up and then erased again. AND ATOMS Notebook of Science Progress in Field, Laboratory and Study. BY THOMAS R. HENRY. Thirty centuries ago the Egyptians were operating stills and probably pro- ducing alcohol. But they knew too much, or not enough, to drink the product. These are the conclusions of L. E. Warren, Department of Agriculture chemist, presented the other night before the Washington branch of the American Chemical Society, which he has reached after an exhaustive study of the practical chemistry of the Egyptians as revealed by papyrus msnuscripts, wall paintings and ar- cheological remains. Ordinarily, discovery of the art of distilling is attributed to the Arabians or to the mediaeval alchemists. It became & lost art with the decline of Egypt. Mr. Warren's chief evidence for Egyptian distilling is a passage in & manuscript now in the British Mu- seum describing the “penalty of the peach.” Egyptian priests who re- vealed secrets of their orders were put to death with some poison derived from peach stones. ‘When all the possibilities are con- sidered, Mr. Warren told the chem- ists, the only poison which fits the de- scription is hydrocyanic acid which could have been obtained in sufficient quantities only by distilling the peach stones. They might have been fer- mented, but it would have required an enormous amount of the juice to have killed any one, whereas a few drops of the distilled product would have been enough. There is also evidence that the & hthie £ in the circumstances. As man does [ honor simply because he's on de pay |; | progress in the science of metallurgy, and in gold plating, glass blowing, etc. * x X % | An event is possible or impossible. | A statement is true or false. Such is the case, at least, accord- ing to the logic of Aristotle, which has governed the thinking processes of the Western world for 2,000 years. It is the so-called “law of the excluded middle,” one of the three fundamental postulates of logic. It would seem also to be a postulate of common sense. ‘There can be, in t straigh thinking, no hybrid possibility-impos- sibility. But it probably is not true, Dr. Wil- liam Malisoff of the University of Pennsylvania told the Washington Section of the American Chemical So- clety at a recent meeting. The revo- lution which has swept mathematics and physics in the past two decades— breaking down the familiar landmarks of time, space, mass, dimension, mat- ter and energy—at least has invaded logic with devastating results, he ex- plained. One of the fundamentals to g0 has been this basic “law of the ex- cluded middle.” There always is the third possibility. . Dr. Malisoff warned the chemists that the devastating revolution in the structure of human will strike into the fleld of chemistry within the next generation, with re- sults that .re’ u‘:eptedlcuble but may bring some of most far-reaching changes the world has known in ma- terial things. Chemistry, Dr. Malisoff said, is bound to be much affected by the abrogation of this “law of the excluded middle.” For c¢xample, two atoms of n plus one atom of oxygen_eqt one molecule of water. But, Br. Malisoff asked, is this quite true. The most essential element of the molecule of water may be neither the oxygen nor the hydrogen but the configuration of the combination which is inde- pendent of either of them., Water is not hydrogen plus oxygen. It is hy- drogen plus oxygen plus THE LIBRARY TABLE BY SARAH G. BOWERMAN. THIS WANDERER. By Louis Gold- ing. New York: Farrar & Rine- hart. This group of casuals, tales hardly elaborated enough to be called fin- ished short stories, has in it lllt.lel to identify it with the style of the author of “Magnolia Street” and “Five Silver Daughters,” though the location of some of them in Dooming- ton does form a connecting link. The tales are varied, tragic and g.y,' realistic and fantastic, plausible and unfathomably mysterious, with ut«I tings as far apart as London and| Bessarabia. They suggest 8 rummag- ing in the manuscript chest, but a rummaging which has produced some minor objets d'art. Mr. Golding is no amateur in writing and handles whatever stbject he chooses in a way to give it distinction. Some of the best of the tales are “Divinity in Deauville,” which tells of the madness of James Pendon of Brixton, insur- ance agent, over a Hollywood actress and his too-late awakening: “Miss Pomfret and Miss Primrose,” a feminine idyl of two spinsters who | console each other’s loneliness briefly; | “The Man in the White Tie,” a tale! of madness or of & ghodt, whichever you choose, and “Wimpole’s Woe," which relates the troubles of a literary critic. * k ok x TWO ON SAFARI. By George Agnew Chamberlain. Indianapolis: The | Bobbs-Merrill Co. { ‘The East African adventure in this new novel of Mr. Chamberlain will carry it with many readers who like to travel dangerously and vicariously. Others will be captivated by the sen- sational plot, in spite of its lack of plausibility. Still others will un- doubtedly absorb with sympathetic in- terest the hackneyed device of stimi lating sex interest to which the au- thor resorts, even though they know from the start that Josephine Casco- den’s antipathy toward Ballard Mal- lory (she shrinks from his touch but forces. herself on him for a safari) will end in a lovers’ denouement. Though not a typical mystery story, there is a mystery involved in the safari of the American Ballard Mal- lory into East Africa in search of the Hon. Laurence Morland. When he is engaged by Lord Morland of Morland to go on the quest, he is told that if he finds Laurence alive he will receive 100 pounds a month until his return: but if he brings back evidence of the young man’s death he will receive & bonus of 5,000 pounds. The hint contained in the offer is sufficiently broad to be understood by any one of average intelligence. Bal- lard sets out: on the boat to Africa meets the attractive English girl, Jo Cascoden, who unconscionably at- taches herself to him, against his vio- lent protests. They find Laurence Morland, who almost crowds the hero off the stage, and the final love scene is a moonlight night in the jungle, with lions roaring in the dis- tance, and Morland also present. * % * % INTERLUDE OF GOLD. By James F. Gordon. New York: Fleming H. Revell Co. A business man, a traveler, a man | with insatiable curiosity and serious interest as regards both people and places, Mr. Gordon has here written & novel of sufficient plot entertain- ment to satisfy the most exacting demands for abundant action, and has also embodied in his story a philosophy which is a good antidote for the post-war defeatism so com- mon in fiction and biography today. Life as “an interlude of gold” may seem to some a sentimental concept, but it is an inspiring and helpful one. Because joy and beauty and serenity are not always easily grapsed does not mean that they are non-existent. They are a possible possession for human beings, Mr. Gordon says, if their ideals remain steadfast and fine in & world disturbed by conflicts aris- ing from too rapid changes. But Mr. Gordon's novel is not a sermon. It is the story of Larry| Stevens, coming home from France on Armistice day, and humorously kidnaping Ann Blake on the crowded streets of New York—Ann, who a short time before had reflected that she would probably sometime marry Alan Trowbridge. Of course, she does not marry Alan. We do not for a moment expect that she will. Beginning in Philadelphia and New York, the scene of the story shifts to Burma through a retrospect of Larry’s and his father’s life, and the yellow-robed figure of Le Favre, the radiant Buddist priest, assumes the importance he is always to have in Larry’s life. From him Larry acquires faith in the ultimate high destiny of all humanity and through that faith is able to alter Ann's conventional way of thought and action. She learns from Larry and Le Favre that dreams are worth while whether or not they ever come true. “Interlude of Gold” is for those to whom the surface of life is but the shell, for whom the real life is the life of thought and dreams. It is written with the enthusiasm of one who has belief. THE INEVITABLE WORLD RECOV- ERY. An Examination of the Be- haviour of Money and a Forecast. By Harold Fisher. New York: Doubleday, Doran & Co. This title has a cheerful sound, like Voltaire’s best of all possible worlds in “Candide.” If. under present condi- tions in the British textile industry, Mr. Fisher, who is a woolen manufac- turer, can be optimistic, his views are at least of some interest. They are quite definite, not merely pipe dreams, however their prophecy may turn out. He belleves & new trade cycle is under way which will bring such prosperity throughout the world as has never yet been known. The gold standard tradition came to an end, he says, when the United States abandoned it in Aptil, 1933, He dramatically pic- tures the nations of the world strug- gling like inhabitants of the Inferno to roll a Sisyphus ball which looks like gold up hill and from time to time being crushed by it as it rolls back. Pinally they give up the hopeless task and let the ball go, and behold! it col- lapses and reveals in its center only a tiny piece of real gold. He sees the mountain of debt which is crushing the world being cut away, and prom- ises to pay in time and services re- promises to pay in meney. placing Dr.| “and when the turn comes, nothing can prevent the entire herd of hu- manity riding to prosperity upon it, the foolish and incompetent as well as the careful and far-sighted.” Mr. Pisher's ideas are not of course en- tirely original, but he expresses them with picturesque vigor. The sugges- tion for payment of debts in services is familiar in connection with the EBuropean war debts. EE FOOD AND HEALTH. By Henry C. Sherman. New York: The Mac- millan Co. Probably at about the time when each inhabitant of the United States ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN, ~ A reader can get the answer to any question of fact by writing The Evening Star Information Bu- reau, Frederic J. Haskin, Director, Washington, D. C. Please inclose stamp for reply. Q. What is the smallest army in the world?>—G. M. B. A. The Monacan Infantry, number- ing 200, is said to be the smallest army in the world. Q. What is a lacrimatory?—M. S. A. This was a small glass bottle | with & narrow neck found in ancient | tombs and mistakenly supposed to have held the tears of the mourners. In reality it contained unguents. Q. Please tell me the earliest date| that veneer was-used on wood?—F. R. | A. The use of veneer on furniture or on wood or metal surfaces can be traced to no specified date or year. It transcends all historic data and comes | into notice along with the earliest known furniture in Egypt. It has been used freely by all civilized peoples | and wherever people have worked in | wood. The British Museum contains some examples of Egyptian work which are many thousands of years| old. ' { Q. Is there an organization inter- ested in American folk arts?>—G. S. | A. There is a National Committee on Folk Arts with headquarters at| 675 Fifth avenue, New York City. Q. When did Gene Stratton Por- | ter, author of “Girl of the Limber- | lost,” die?—F. C. A. Mrs. Gene Stratton Porter died after an accident when she was struck | by an automobile, December 6, 1924, | Los Angeles, Calif. Q. What is the difference between a lockout and a strike?—H. F. | A. A lockout is the shutting down. | as of an industrial plant, and with- | drawal of employment from a body of men who refuse to accede to the | employer’s conditions. The lockout | is to be distinguished from the strike | on the ground that in the lockout it is the employer who directly causes | the stoppage of operations, while in | the strike the initiative lies with the men. . Q. How long has electricity been known?—W. 8. P. | A. Electricity was known to the ancients. _About 25 centuries ago Thales, & Greek philosopher, recorded the fact that if amber is rubbed it will attract light objects. Q. Please describe Artists’ drive in Death Valley, Calif>-A. D. R. A. Artists’ drive is & one-way high- way containing two loops and mount- ing to an elevation of 1,000 feet in its | 9-mile course. It lies between Golden | Canyon and a point opposite the salt pools in the foothills of the Black Range. The Panamint Range, scenes of feverish activity in the mining days, with its ghost towns and aban- | doned ditches; Telescope Peak, the most precipitous peak in Inyo County, and mazes of small canyons, vivid in coloring and weirdly eroded. are among the features of Artists’ drive. Q. Where is the Ca-Choo Clui?— E.F.C A. The headquarters of this or- ganization of hay-fever *suffgrers is in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. Q. Was Coleridge cured of the drug habit in his last years?—H. G. K. A. Halleck says: He spent the last 18 years of his life in Highgate with his kind friend, Dr. Gillman, who suc- ceeded in regulating and decreasing the amount of opium which Coleridge | took. Q. Please give a biography of the English aviatrix who was lost at sea in 1928 or 1929.—W. McK. A. Elsie Mackay, English aviatrix and actress, daughter of Lord Inch- cape, was born in 1894. She married | Lieut. Dennis Wyndham in 1917, sub- sequently appearing on the stage as | Poppy Wyndham. The marriage was | annulled in 1921. As an aviatrix she obtained the Royal Aero Club's cere tificate in 1922. On March 14, 1928. with Capt. Walter Hinchcliffe, she took off from Cranwell Airdrome, Lincolnshire, in an attempt to make & westward transatlantic flight, It is presumed that both fijers were lost at sea. In July, 1928, her father gave $2,500,000 to the British nation in her memory. Q. Haw many men have been killed during the construction of Boulder Dam?—W. B. A. Ninety-seven men have been killed so far while working on the project. Q. How long ago was the Zonta International Club established?— F. M. P. A. This organization of executive women was established in Buffalo, N. Y, in 1919 to encourage high ideals and ethical standards in busi- ness and the professions. Q. Please give some facts about the statue, Civic Virtue, in City Hall Park, New York City—F. B. A. The group was donated by Mrs. Angelina Crane, who, in her will, dated January 19, 1891, left the money for a City Hall fountain. Mrs. Crane died in 1904. Prederick MacMonnies was comissioned by the city fa- thers to do the statue. It was designed at his studio in Paris and the work was completed, with the assistance of the Piccirillf brothers. in New York. Q. What is the legend of St. Bran- dans Isle?—S. L. B. A. This island was supposed to have existed southwest of the Canary Is- lands. It was said to have been dis- covered by the Irish monk, St. Bran- dan, and 75 brother monks in the sixth century, after seven years spent in search of the land of the saints. Each of the various geographers gives it a different location. The legend had some influence on the discovery of America. Q. Please tell something about the hobby fair to be held in New York?— H H A. An exhibition which is to be known as a Hobby Round-Up will open in Commerce Hall at the Port of Authority Building, May 1, contin- uing through May 11. The affair is under the auspices of the Leisure League of America and is expected to become an annual exposition of leis- ure time activities. Activities to be included are sports and physical culs ture, collections, community projects, including the drama and the dance; domestic arts and crafts, gandening. mechanical handicrafts, mountain and country activities, music, pets for oleasure and profit, photography, read- ing. writing and travel. Q. What is Babe Ruth's salary as vice president and assistant manager of the Braves?—J. L. A. His salary is reported to be $25,000. Q. Please give a list of well known people who have adopted children.— H A. A few of the prominent persons who have adopted children arc Mrs. Finley J. Shepard, Lolita Armour Mitchell, Helen Morgan, Crosby Gaige, Mabel Walker Willebrandt, Babe Ruth. Harold Lloyd. Gracie Allen and George Burns and Eddie Ricken- backer. Q. How long have buildings been equipped with elevators?—G. M. A. Simple hoists for freight ap- peared about the middle of the last century. By 1870 they had been improved and adapted for passenger service. Q. Please describe the lifeboat sys- tems of the Normandie and Queen Mary.—F. McC. A. The Normandie has 88 life- boats, 2 of them motorized and each equipped with radio. The Queen Mary each motorized and each equipped with radio. The lowering svstems of both have been so simpli- fied that a child could launch the boats. ‘Babe Ruth, as Institution, Again Stirs Sports World Babe Ruth's transfer from the New York American League club to the Boston Braves of the National League is received by the country as one of the big events of the day, rivaling New Deal developme.iis and Supreme Court decisions. His new position in the managerial realm and as part- time player is expected to lend new interest to the Braves and the game. Ruth is described by the Manches- ter (N. H) Union as “the greatest figure in modern base ball's hislory and the idol of American boydom.” The Union remarks that “today the Braves have him and, what is more important, the base ball public still has him.” Welcome to New England is extended by the Lowell (Mass.) Courier-Citizen, and the New Bed- ford (Mass.) Mercury predicts that he “will start the season as a first- class favorite in the home games.” ‘The Worcester (Mass.) Evening Ga- zette attests that “the Babe likes Boston "and Boston likes the Babe.” adding: “That's the place where he used to set world series batters back on their heels, as a pitcher for the Red Sox.” From the American League stand- point the Jersey City Journal de- clares: “There will remain that feeling in the heart of every true Yankee fén that, no matter who plays right field, there will always be the ghost of another there. For, who. in the final analysis, can deny what a sports writer once bluntly wrote— ‘There’ll never be another Ruth.’” “It is a credit to the good sense of base ball,” thinks the New York Herald-Tribune, “that it has solved so happily this thorny problem of keeping in the game its greatest idol.” The Tribune also comments: “Some one has said that it is more thrilling to watch Ruth strike out than to loss of appetite, scurvy, decay of teeth. rickets, digestive disturbances, nervous depression and various other ills, and to cultivate resistance to infectious disease and physical dete- rioration; they must also know all about vitamins A to Z, and about calcium, phosphorus, iodine, iron, and all the other minerals which ought to be found in the healthy human body. This book by Dr. Sherman, profes- sor of chemistry in Columbia Uni- versity, embodies recent advances of knowledge in the field of nutrition. now recognized as of supreme tmpor- tance in relation to health. It also discusses food sanitation, as essential to the prevention of mild or serious food poisoning. 8 * *x A% Christopher Morley, well-known novelist and critic, is editing a new edition of Bartlett’s “Familiar Quota- tions,” first published in 1855, com- piled by John Bartlett of Cambridge, Mass. The editor and publishers re- quest suggestions of quotations to be included, which may be forwarded in care of the publishers, Little, Brown & Boston. watch another ball player hit & home run, and this is scarcely an exag- geration. No one who has ever felt the tremor that runs through the crowd when the Babe approaches the plate will question it, nor will any one who has witnessed the Homeric quality and proportions of his home- run drives.” “Transfer of Babe Ruth is a color- ful thread in the social fabric of American life,” says the Long Beach (Calif.) Press Telegram, which feels that “his dramatic career is one to stimulate the imagination of all” and that “it is typical of Americans that they should be happy over his suc- cess.” The Ann Arbor Daily News calls him “a national institution,™ and the Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch refers to him as “the grand old man of base ball” The Watertown (N. Y.) Daily Times says “he will give to Boston and the National League & new and colorful figure.” The Scranton (Pa.) Times lauds his “im- mense drawing power.” “The whole country will feel a sat- isfaction in the manner in which things were arranged for him.” states the San Francisco Chronicle, while the Bergen (N. J) Evening Record predicts that “this astounding ath- lete will remain the miracle of base ball” The Reno (Nev.) Evening Gazette recognizes that “Boston still calls him its own,” and the Glens Falls (N. Y.) Post-Star visions his greeting there “with ecstatic delight.” ‘The Flint (Mich.) Daily Journal says that “fans will be bound to find sat- isfaction in the place he has ac- cepted.” The Bay City (Mich.) Daily Times recalls his early triumphs, and the fsct that he “appeared upon the stage at a time when base ball needed & hero to save it from ruin.” “It is not too much,” advises the Allentown (Pa.) Morning Call, “to expect that his personality is going to lift his new team to unusual heights, while his presence on the team in his old home town is likely to pack the cash customers into every ball park where he appears during the coming season.” Rhyme at Twilight By Gertrude Brooke Hamilton v Hearth Fires In the afterglow of strident hours, At the end of the daily battle, | The cars are moving through the town Like herds of homing cattle. Roseate flames on many hearths Burn bright in the tender gloaming To warm the ones who come driving in Frop the money marts and the roaming. Only homing men can know the lure On nights when snow is falling Of glowing lamps and tended fires \And children’s voices calling.