Evening Star Newspaper, April 16, 1935, Page 10

A—10 THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Edition, WASHINGTON, D. C. TUESDAY... .April 16, 1935 THEODORE W. NOYES. . . Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company ‘Business Office: 11th 8t. and Pennsylvania, New Y 110 East 42n 3 20 Office: Lake Michigan Building. pean Office: 14 Regent St. London. England. Ave. 2nd St Rate by Carrier Within the City. Star sinday’ B “45¢ per month ‘ning and Sunday Star hen 4 B\mdl&s‘» 60c per month nday Star n 65¢ per month ~5¢ per copY day Star.70c per month eht el b5¢ per month 2l R iectian qmade &t " ihé end of each month. Orders may be sent by mail or telephone National 5000. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia, {ly and Sunday. .1 3r.. $10.00; 1 mo.. 8¢ uly only. : 1 mo.. 50¢ E.‘Z., only’ 1yr. $4.00: 1 mo. 40c All Other States and Canada. ly and Sunday.1 yr., $12.00: 1 mo.. $1.00 fly only......1¥ $8.00: 1 mo.. 75¢ 'nlu only.....15r. $5.00: 1mo. 350¢ ‘Member of the Associated Press. Tre Associated Press is exclusively en- titled to the use for republication of all news dispatches credited to it or not other- local Dubl are aiso reserved. The D. A R. The Daughters of the American Revolution are assembled for another continental congress. For at least a ‘week members of the organization and their friends will be in Washington, and it is not too much to say that the city will be theirs during every moment of their stay. They are not strangers and stand in need of no special wel- come. On the contrary, it was here that their order was established, October 11, 1890, and for that reason | they may claim to be “home folks” in the true and accurate meaning of that phrase. But there may be an occasional in- dividual who does not understand the fundamental importance of the D. A. R, and for his benefit, if for none other, it may be explained that the society is composed of women who are descendants of those who “with unfailing loyalty rendered material aid to the cause of independence as a recognized patriot, as soldier or sailor, or as a civil officer in one of the several colonies or States.” Sum: marized in epigramatic form, its pur- poses are: To perpetuate the memory of the spirit of the men and women who achieved American independence; to promote institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge; to cherish, maintain and extend the institutions of American freedom: to foster true patriotism and love of country: and to aid in securing for mankind all the blessings of liberty. And these objects, it is well to remember, are served most effectively in and through the homes of the land. It was among domestic scenes that the flame of liberty first fluttered into life—the background of the struggle for emancipation from Brit- ish tyranny was that of thousands of simple, unpretending firesides around which not merely the men, but also the women and the chil- dren of the unborn Republic gathered to discuss the destiny of the new eivilization of which they were part. Nor could the revolting Americans have succeeded in their endeavor to throw off the yoke of alien misrule had they lacked that social founda- tion. It was, in sober truth, the homes of America that rose against George III. From their resources came the spiritual, as well as the physical, endowment of a “new Na- tion, conceived in liberty and dedi- cated to the proposition that all men are created equal.” Furthermore, it is from the homes that the power to “maintain and ex- tend the institutions of American freedom” must be derived. The an- nual meeting of the D. A. R. demon- strates both the principle and the practice of the democracy without which the United States could not survive. The Daughters, it happens, likewise are wives and mothers, and in those characters are the guardians of the national hearth. They keep the traditions and protect the ideals of the glorious past in the interest of an equally glorious future. The Nation's Capital, obviously, is the proper place for their work to be centered and correlated. ——vr—e—— The D. A. R. has always had vigor- ous contests within its ranks as a proper reminder that the fighting | apirit survives within the Nation. ——————————— Laughter. No one, says News-Week, ever has heard Adolph Hitler laugh. The statement, of course, may be an ex- aggeration. Even a dictator must have moments when the comedy of life is compelling enough to prompt the ordi- nary natural reaction. It happens that laughter is a normal manifesta- tion of comprehension of the ludicrous, and there is much in the world that properly may be so described. Thomas Carlyle believed that there is a patho- logical explanation for those who are habitually and conspicuously sober. “The man who cannot laugh,” he de- ecided, “is not only fit for treasons, strategems and spoils, but his whole life is already a treason and a strate- gem.” And Willlam Makepeace Thackeray supported the historian’s contention in the remark: “People who do not know how to laugh are always pompous and self-conceited.” But there is another side to the question. Lord Chesterfield, a gal- lant master of manners who was not at all a misanthrope, told his biog- rapher: “I am sure that since I had the use of my reason no human being has ever heard me laugh.” Francis Quarles likewise put himself on record to much the same effect when he wrote: Wrinkle not thy face with too much laughter, lest thou become ridiculous; meither wanton thy heart with too much mirth, lest thou become vain; the suburbs of folly is vain mirth, and profuseness of laughter is the city of fools. Doubtless, a certain sweet reason- ableness is what 1s wanted in the when he asked: “Did you ever observe that immoderate laugnter always ends in a sigh?” And Cicero was forth- right in his opinion that: “A horse- laugh is abominable.” The Romea probably was thinking of the kind of laughter which Oliver Goldsmith in- dicated as bespeaking “the vacant mind.” An-art of laughter might be culti- vated “for kind purposes,” and the basis of tke teaching in that event well might be Goethe's axiom: “Men show their character in nothing more clearly than by what they think laughable.” 1t is, frankly, brutal to laugh at cruel or painful things, and it is equally barbarous to laugh at noble and beautiful things—only a savage would suppose suffering to be funny and only a moron would imagine great art to be amusing. Herr Hitler, it may be presumed, has little to laugh about. Conditions in Germany and in the world at large being as they are, he is well- advised to be serious. And the same rule generally should be followed by other leaders of the distressed and troubled masses. ——e—s Magistrates’ Courts. Corporation Counsel Prettyman's suggestion for establishment of mag- istrates’ courts in the District for the disposition of minor offenses is being studied by the Commissioners’ Ad- visory Committee on Traffic Problems and may be embodied in legislation. The suggestion is interesting and may demonstrate its value, but it is even more important to consider the factors which prompted the sugges- tion. Mr. Prettyman has given them long and intelligent study. They may be summed up in the statement that Washington’s Police Court system for | | the disposition of the tens of thou- sands of minor offenses arising under the traffic and other laws has become | completely bogged down by the sheer weight of numbers and the situation is little short of disgraceful. Unless re- medial steps are taken to rid the con- gestion now existing in the Police Courts, trials there which assure jus- tice will be practically impossible. About half the time of the Police Court is now given to cases prose- cuted by the corporation counsel's office and about half to those prose- | cuted by the District attorney. The | result is the same as if all the cases | prosecuted by the corporation coun- | |sel's office were handled by two | judges. In number this means about :27,000 cases for each judge in a ]year. requiring, according to Mr. | Prettyman’s statistics, disposition by | each judge at the rate of 550 cases per judge per week, or about 100 cases a day. Even such an impos- sible task does not take into con- ; sideration accumulations of cases aris- | ing from continuances, etc, which require additional time. And the trend now seems to be— as represented in the passage by the Senate yesterday of the manifestly desirable negligent homicide bill—to enact new laws which will serve merely to increase the amount of vork already expected from the Po- lice Court. While it may be a good thing to bring into Police Court for disposition a certain type of case not properly handled by reference to a grand jury, anything that increases present congestion at the Police Court is to be regarded as unfortunate, if not worse. Last year there were some 52,000 cases of drunkenness, disorderly con- | duct, speecing and parking and other minor traffic violations coming into Police Court, each one of which re- quired sworn complaint by the arrest- ing officer before an assistant corpo- ration counsel, who had to draw a lengthy “information,” described as only slightly less complicated than & grand jury indictment. So much time and energy by prosecuting officers is required in the mere preparation of paper forms—which in other juris- dictions are not required—that their careful study and preparation of other, more important, cases is prac- | tically impossible. Working at top speed, for instance, it has been shown that nine jury trials a week in Police Court represents the maximum. Yet jury trials are demanded at the rate of twenty a week, and under the present system there is an automatic | accumulation of ten or more jury trials a week, with the prosecuting officers and the court never able to catch up because of the pressure from the 50,000 and more riinor cases that must be disposed of each year with- out jury trials. Such a condition prevents justice to | the accused and to the Government. It results in the settlement of cases (by bargaining with the accused on a light sentence) which should never be | settled and in the disposition of cases { by nolle pros which should come to | trial. | | The proposal for magistrates’ courts | is based on the hope of ridding the! Police Court, as at present organized, of the pressure from some 50,000 | minor cases each year, placing their disposition in the hands of magis- trates’ courts, and to simplify the un- necessarily complicated procedure of prosecution. Other cities have suc- ceeded while Washington relies on antiquated machinery designed long before the day that the first auto- mobile appeared on the streets. e The Shipping Bill. A ship subsidy bill, designed to meet the recommendations of President THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, TUESDAY, APRIL 16, 1935. administration has set up more new agencies than any in the history of the country. This one is to be known as the Maritime Authority, with five members at salaries of $12,000 each. This authority—which seems to be the preferred name for agencies of the Government set-up today—will perform most of the duties which have been in the past handled by the United States Shipping Board and the Emergency Fleet Corporation, and more recently by the Department of Commerce. At the same time the bill calls for the appointment of an Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Maritime Affairs, to supervise the work relating to the merchant marine which will remain within the control of the department. The bill seems to be a step back toward division of authorities and to the old Shipping Board, under a different name. The purposes set forth in the bill have much to commend them. It is declared to be the intention of Con- gress to foster an American mer- chant marine capable of handling at least fifty per cent of the foreign commerce of this country and to pro- vide shipping on all essential routes; an American merchant marine that will be capable of serving as a mili- tary and naval auxiliary in time of war, operated and manned by Amer- icans; & merchant marine that shall be safe. In granting the subsidies to the American merchant marine the | Maritime Authority would take into consideration the difference in costs of ship construction in this country | and abroad, the difference in the | costs of American operation of mer- chant ships and of foreign operation, and the need for trede promotion. Furthermore, and particularly essen- tial, the Authority would give due| weight to the amount of ship subsidies granted by foreign nations in com- petition with American shipping. The clear intent and purpose of the | shipping bill is to aid in building | up and maintaining an adequate American merchent marine. With that purpose every American should be in sympathy. The details are matters that should receive careful | consideration before the measure is | finally enacted into law. The frank declaration that the Government is to grant monetary aid to shipping is far preferable to the subterfuges which | have been resorted to in the past. Saplent comment has been ventured about the experiment of giving this | country back to the American Indians. Indian traditions as preserved by Tam- many braves will not encourage the idea. ———aee. A new brand of statesmanship sug- gests a situation showing the populace lined up at the United States Treasury with meal tickets to be punched at discretion. -t ————— It is feared that the Government 'may be in practical ownership of all industry. The right to levy taxes of all kinds implies an elemental pro- prietary interest. —— It is the opinion of Secretary Mor- genthau that the financial jam is broken. Expert study is devoted to seeing who, if anybody, gets his fingers into the jam pot. — catee Hitler enforces his argument that Germany should be permitted to re- arm by calling attention to the fact that she has already done so. —_——rat—. SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. As History Repeats. Every year A man makes resolutions fine, Then breaks 'em all without a sign | Of grim remorse or prudent fear. He vows he'll skip the April chill That marks the opening base ball thrill, Yet he’s among the first to cheer Every year. Every year He rents a place and tells his wife That here they’ll settle down for life, | And still the moving van draws | near. | We think our destinies we'll change And yet we find as forth we range | The same old laugh, the same old | tear, Every year. Superfluity. “You never admit having made a mistake!” “What's the use?” asked Senator Sorghum. “When I make a mistake there are always plenty of people to talk about it without my joining in.” ’ The Habit of Complaint. “I suppose you were thankful for the heavy rain.” “Oh, yes,” replied Farmer Corn- tossel; “though I don't see why them: weather folks couldn't pervide to keep it in the flelds instead of lettin’ it stray around, muddin’ up the roads.” Laughter. Here's to the laugh that seems to tell Of a state of mind where all is well; The laugh that ripples with humor gay Like a flash of sun on a gloomy day! But who shall echo the laugh that shows A-friend’s mistake or a foeman'’s woes, The laugh that is empty and insincere, The laugh that only conceals a sneer? Suitability. Roosevelt that the present system of government aid to the American merchant marine be scrapped for a frankly stated “subsidy,” was intro- duced in the Senate and House yes- terday. The measure, sponsored in the Senate by Senator Copeland of New York and in the House by Repre- senu_t.ive Bland of Virginia, provides for three forms of subsidy to American shipping. There is to be Government aid for® construction of ships, for operation of ships in overseas com- merce and for the development and promotion of trade. Under the terms of the bill a new agency is to be set up to handle the “Aren’t some of the hats women wear absurd?” “Yes,” replied Miss_ Cayenne; “and yet when some people put them on they Do look So appropriate.” The Great and Glorious Game. Now we'll forget the toilsome grind. As base ball fans well wag our tongues. Perhaps it won't uplift the mind, But it is splendid for the lungs. “Moses,” said Uncle Eben, “was & great lawgiver. But de way he was satisfied to keep de ten command- ments short an’ to de point shows eircumstances, Leigh Hunt was wise | government of shipping. The present | he warn't no regular lawyer.” A L3 / LY Nothing will take the conceit out of a man quite so much as walking around a large city. There are so many persons one does not know! Hundreds of faces, faces, all equally strange. It gives one a queer mental feeling to realize that of these thousands of faces one probably will never see any of them again. The city resident given to walking in traffic might pass this way once a day for the rest of his life and never recognize a face. There is something solemn about such a thought. . It tells us once again the old fact that, in the last analysis, every one must live his life alone. * x X ¥ Surely, one is never quite so lone- some as when walking with, in and of the crowds. The fact that here and there men will be seen standing and talking, laughing together, brings home to the pedestrian his solitariness. He is aware more than ever that he is alone. How happy, then, the sight of a face he knows! This is a little enough experience, | | still if one happens to think of it in its true light, at the very time it is | happening, he is sure to be just a little thrilled at the epcounter, as| tame and everyday as it may strike some. | If a thing is going to strike one at | all, it might better be from the angle | of its good side or sides. % £k One of the beauties of these chance encounters is that it makes no differ- | | | | | not. Thus the mean little differences | evolved in living, differences of opin- | ion which often shame one, are swept | aside as easily as a walker waiks. All one sees, in yonder approaching | face, is something familiar. Now, every human being ought to | seem familiar to every other, and | does, in a sense, but when it comes to | the exact arrangement of features commonly called “familiar” the thing is different. A face is 2 face, but the face we | know, whether to speak to or not, is something different. We may not | even know the man, but we have seen him before, some place or other; we | | hail him inwardly, at least; a bell is | pushed that seems to play a tune we have heard. * % k X Many have speculated from time to | time, on just exactly what it fs, in the familiar face, which makes it familiar. A mouth, a nose, two eyes—every one has these. along with ears. Perhaps it is not so much the fea- ture, after all, as the general carriage, the set of head or neck, the general thickness or thinness, which one recognizes in a crowd, and in a hurry. ‘The mouth and the eyes, undoubt- edly, stand out as leaders of all the features. These are what we look to, and at, to determine if we know the passerby. If familiar, they seem to push a call button, and we to ourself, “Where have I seen him?>" This is what is known as a good memory for faces. The person who has a good memory in this way will be able to recognize instantly faces seen but once, and perhaps as long ago as 10 years. STARS, MEN | Laboratory “Double” and “redouble” is Mother Nature's way in playing the game of evolution. Such. at least, has been the story | of brain evolution culminating in man, | according to Prof. Eugene Dubois, dis- | coverer of the remains of Pithecan- thropus erectus. earliest known of the pre-humans, more than 40 years ago. | His conclusions are contained in the proceedings of the recent Interna- | tional Congress of Anthropology and | Ethnology in London Application thgoughout the animal kingdom of | Prof. Dubois’ own ‘“coefficient of cephalization,” he reports, leads to the | discovery of a hitherto unsuspected | biological law of cephalic progress. This “coefficient of cephalization” is | the average brain weight of a species or genus divided by five-ninths the average body weight. As one goes upward in the animal kingdom this figure advances by four-fold or two- fold jumps, without any intermedi- aries. Between distintly related forms | the jumps are four-fold. Thus the co- | efficient for man is four times that of | such manlike apes as the gorilla, | chimpanzee and orang-utan. That of the apes in turn is four-fold that of the tiger, the cat, the buffalo and the goat. These, in their turn, have quad- ruple the cephalization of the mouse and the rat. The law, Prof. Dubois says, also has been confirmed by him- self and other workers for the birds, reptiles and fishes. ‘The progression is by discrete jumps of equal distance, not by minute ad- vances. But when it comes to closely related animals Nature stops redoubling and starts doubling. Thus, Prof. Dubois’ measurements show, the brain coeffi- cient for the primitive kanchil, an archaic East Indian representative of the deer family, is exactly one-half that of ruminants in general. Like- wise the polecat, the stoat and the weasel have almost exactly half the cephalization of the marten. The coefficient for the pigmy hippopotamus is twice that of the large hippopot- amus, that of the squirrel twice that of the marmot and that of the mole twice that of the shrew. The extinct procamelus, equal in size and similar in form to llama, which is its acknowl- edged descendant, possessed only half its brain volume. The common insec- tivorous bats have half the brain co- efficienct of the leaf-nosed bats of South America and these, in turn, have only half that of the East Indian flying foxes. By applying this co-efficient, Prof. Dubois claims, the relative position of an animal in the scale of brain evolu- tion can be determined. But there is one gap between the cephalic co-effi- cient of creatures admittedly closely related—man and the great apes. There is a fourfold instead of a two- fold gap. Was this a case where natured arbitrarily redoubled when she should only have doubled. Here Prof. Dubois turns to his own particular specialty, Pithecanthropus. Calculating from the available bones and skull the probable body and brain weights of this curious animal, he finds that the co-efficient turns out exactly twice that of the apes and exactly half that of mankind. “In that sense only,” Prof. Dubois says, “Pithecanthropus doubtless was the missing link, and the immediate precursor of man. In other respects he was not particularly advanced in relation to the great apes. He ap- parently was no nearer the acquisition of speech than they and no nearer the ability to walk upright.” This doubling and redoubling proc- ess, Prof. Dubois says arises from the L thousands of | ag | the face of somebody one does not Notebook of Sciex;ce Progress in Field, BY THOMAS R. HENRY. THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. ‘We speak not of those extraordinary persons, with the memories of ele- phants, who are supposed to be able to recall faces—and names—of persons seen but once a quarter of a century 0. There is always some particular! reason, such as duty or gain, which impells them to train a memory al- ready tenacious of such things. ‘We speak only of the average per- son who, walking a downtown street, on business or pleasure bent, happens to meet some one he saw years ago. Every day, no doubt, he does the same thing, but often he forgets, does not recognize, perhaps does not even see. This time his eyes look at a par- ticular tilt of a head, and his mind says to his mind, “Why, I know that man—let me see—" * x % X It goes without saying that the person hugely immersed in what are known popularly as his own affairs will scarce be in a position to recog- nize any one. These “own affairs” often are noth- ing but moodiness, although their holder may regard them as sacred. Every one knows the clutter of ideas generally regarded as sacred to the holder. It is with the mind, however, as with old shelves in cupboards, often it holds things doing nobody any good, least of all the owner. He who dashes through traffic, often at peril to his life, without once noticing any one he meets, is losing something out of an otherwise inter- esting life. Opportunity ought to be taken by our dangerous streets, to get the most out of the experience. Not only will interest in one’s fel- low pedestrians achieve this end, to a certain extent, but it may be the means of saving one’s very life. This business of going along with the head down is dangerous. * kX The curicus thing about meeting a known face is that one is pleased with like. Just for a second, the famous “split second,” the pedestrian finds himself mildly thrilled with recognition which does away completely with all hates, | dislikes, resentments. If this mood could be prolonged for a time. what revolutions might | not be wrought in this world of envy, spleen, disaster. One speculates idly, going along: If the mood of pleasant surprise can | be attained at all, even for the part of a second, why cannot it be stretched to twice the length? If it could be prolonged two or three times might it not be given an additional life, as it were—might it not even become permanent? It might, of course, but it seldom | does. The thread of illusion snaps. The feeling of wonder over recogni- tion gives way to doubt. “Why, he isn't a stranger—I know | him!" Even in the moment of recognition, | the pleasure of knowing this one face out of so many unknown faces, leads but on to the reality of hate. The unknown, giving way to the known, almost instantly becomes the unknown again, that terrible igno- rance and misunderstanding of each | other which is the banc of humanity | and religion. AND ATOMS and Study. natural tendency of most living beings. | or tissues, to grow by bipartition of | cells. It is thus the number of nerve | cells which increases and brings about the progression of the brain | organization. Thus the quantitative progression, as well as the functional progression, is necessarily discon- | tinuous, since the number of nerve cells in closely related animals be- comes doubled without intermediary values. | * X % Xx The direct precursors of the human race of today in Euorpe were the well- known Neanderthalers—quite ape- like creatures with stooping gait, long arms and bulging ridges over their | eyes. They may, or may not, be in the direct ancestry of modern man. But in the same proceedings Prof. W. E. Le Gros Clark reveals that the earlier the Neanderthaloid specimen the less apelike. In other words, these ancient men did not necessarily stand in any close relationship to the chimpanzee and the gorilla, but were evolving along parallel lines. Con- sequently, he says, the Neanderthal type can no longer be regarded as an intermediate stage in the evolution- ary development of modern man from a troglodyte ancestor. “A detailed study of the anatomy of living and fossil primates,” Prof. Clark says, “as well as a consideration of biochemical and physiological evi- dence, shows that parallelism in their evolution has been a much more com- mon phenomenon than is generally admitted. * X %k % There is accumulated evidence, Dr. A. Tindell Hopwood reported to the same conference, that the human race probably originated in Western Eu- rope or Africa. First, he pointed out, most an- thropologists now are agreed that the ancestor of man is to be found among a family of ancient apes—the dryo- pithecus. Fragmentary remains are found both in Asia and Eucope. The man-like apes also are supposed to have descended from this group. “But,” he said, “recently it has been shown that the European species form a group close to the gorilla and chimpanzee, while the Asiatic species are close to the orang-utan. It is also known that the human body more nearly resembles the Western anthropojds in its structure than the Eastern. So the place of origin of the human species might be expected to be nearer the West than the East. Also, when the known remains of fos- sil man are arranged in the order of age and area it is seen that the earliest, such as those of the Piltdown man in England, -nd the earliest comparable to homo sdpiens, also are from the western half of the Old World. Hence the fossils tend to cor- roborate the view that the human family is of Western origin and should be placed with the Western anthro- poids in any major scheme of clas- sification.” * X K X One of the long-accepted dogmas of evolution has been that its proc- esses are irreversible—for example, that changes in the relative length of different segments of the body, once initiated, can proceed only in the direction in which they have started. But, reported Prof. W. K. Gregory of New York City, altogether too much has been made of the doctrine in attempting to fix human ancestry in a very remote past. The differ- ences may be complex characters made up of & number of factors, such as divergence, parallelism and com- { Lynchings a Reproach To American Civilization To the Editor of The Btar: Current discussion of the Costigan- ‘Wagner anti-lynching bill shows that some people still place credence in the old fallacy that the crime of lynching originates in the righteous indignation of reputable citizens at the slow processes of the law or miscarriage of justice. However, the facts indicate that lynch mobs do not uphold, but violate the law, jus- tice and civilization. Murder by a mob is still murder, but its effects are worse because the active participation of many persons debauches entire communities and plunges them into anarchy. The lynch mob solves no problems of per- sonal, social or economic maladjust- ment, but institutes a reign of terror and lawlessness and sets an example of immunity for the brutal and de- generate. In the last 50 years there have been 5,073 recorded lynchings, both white and colored, of whom 83 were women. In many instances the crime with which the victim was charged was trivial, and in only a small per- centage of cases was there the charge of rape or murder. The methods of execution have included beating to death, hanging, shooting, burning and prolonged and obscene tortures. States where lynchings most fre- quently occur have taken no steps to prevent them, so it devolves upon the Federal Government to enforce the amendment to the Constitution which guarantees to all citizens the equal protection of the law. Each year when there has been a cam- paign for Federal legislation against lynching the number has decreased during the time Congress was in ses- sion. When Congress adjourned with- out action on anti-lynching bills the weeks following brought renewed out- ence whether one likes the fellow or |every one, when compelled to thread | breaks of this crime. America’s lynch record is better known in other parts of the world than to many of our own citizens and our proclamations on the rights of small nations and minority races are regarded as hypocritical so long as the Federal Government abandons those within our own borders to bar- baric torture and death at the hands of mobs. The Senate Committee on the Ju- diciary considers the Costigan-Wag- ner anti-lynching bill constitutional | and has recommended its enactment as “appropriate legislation.” The facts regarding lynching, as disclosed . scope of 600 or 1,200 magnification. at a recent hearing, will probably | astonish many of our citizens, and I suggest that they try to get this | information and then urge Congress to pass a law which will discourage and punish lynchers. GERTRUDE B. STONE. Answers Mr. Steer on Rights of Pedestrians To the Editor of The Star: I have read with interest the letter of Henry B. Steer in The Star headed “Pedestrians Prone to Ignore Traffic Lights.” a trip of over a thousand miles, in the course of which I visited a num- ber of cities and observed the traffic | situation. It is a serious problem in all cities and the District of Co- lumbia is no worse than any other of the same size and population. The statement of Mr. pedestrians dare the automobile drivers to hit them is plain apple- sauce. No sane person wants to go to the hospital. I suggest to the gentleman who has been driving a car for five years to leave his car in the garage and take a walk with me in the busy hours of traffic. I will prove to him that he is talking as a car sitter and chafing under the collar about waiting a few seconds. God help the people of Washington if they do not obey the lights. There would not be enough hospitals in the the injured. Try to make the cross- ing at Ninth and K streets during the busy hours! making the turn in front of you. Thus delayed, you get half-way over when the lights change and another flock of cars comes racing at you. The same condition exists at Seventh street and Mount Vernon place. These are only two of the many dangerous spots for pedestrians. Some of these drivers when facing the red light cannot hold their cars still, but keep inching up to hold the pedestrian from crossing. Of | course there are a number of drivers who are nervous, others are suffering with mental trouble. There should be a mental examination of gll op- erators of automobile trucks and cars. One taxi driver was arrested four times for s . His brother-in-law visited the court and refused to pay his fine until he promised to give up driving a car. Taxis in every section of the city cut corners on the green light, endangering the lives and limbs of those who step down. The fact that pedestrians cannot make the opposite curb in time does not give a driver the right to run them down. The drivers showed more respect for pedestrians when the traffic police were on the job, for the knew they were watched. WILLIAM C. CONNOR. Empty Beer and Liquor Bottles in Public Places To the Editor of The Star. It has come to pass that our beau- tiful city is being “adorned” nowa- days with a variety of empty bottles, sometimes called “dead soldiers.” During the past 12 months this has become a veritable eyesore, a specta- cle offensive to self-respecting citi- zens. These bottles are constantly seen in public parks, on playgrounds, in streets, on sidewalks, in front yards and rear lawns, on fences and curb- ings—almost everywhere. The obvious dangers from broken glass, h’re?)ective of the challenge to order and the insult to decency, should demand immediate and radical action by those clothed with police authority. g If men and women insist upon be- ing foolish enough to drink this poi- son, might they not be trained some- how not to dump their glassware wherever they please? Everybody with any intelligence knows that empty bottles, if discarded, ought to be de- posited in trash cans; the vast ma- jority of sensible and patriotic Ameri- cans believe that the proper place for the contents of the particular bottles in question is under the cover of the metal pail behind the kitchen. Cannot something effective be done soon about this public nuisance? Is it right and reasonable to require our citizens of dignity and character to look at and be menaced by this kind of rubbish? EVERETT M. ELLISON. —_—ree Identification. From the Macon (Ga.) Telegraph. An Illinois parent wants to have his 5-year-old twin daughters finger- printed so that he won't spank the wrong one, but some authorities hold that in a case of that sort there ain't no wrong one. —_— mon inheritance from a remote past. Others are due almost entirely, he believes, to the in way of l:; m‘-bom by man's lw- 1 | J. P. Duryea, in a Duryea car. Steer that the | You move when | the green light appears. Here come | a flock of cars down Ninth street | I have just returned from | | $23,925,003. | acres are devoted to growing pineap- | |of destruction,” ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN. A reader can get the answer to any question of jact by writing The Washington Evening Star Informa- tion Bureau, Frederic J. Haskin, Director, Washington, D. C. Please inclose stamp for reply. Q. Does any horse in an entry or the fleld win in the daily double?— J.F. H A. Only one horse from an entry or the fleld can win a race in the daily double, and the selection must? be made before the races are run. Q. Have any Republicans served as chairman of the National Repub- lican Committee while members of a President’s cabinet?—W. 8. A. Dr. Hubert Work, Secretary of the Interior, and Harry New, Post- master General, served as chairman of the National Republican Commit- tee while holding their cabinet offices. Q. What do the gold stripes mean which appear on the coat sleeves of members of the United States Marine Baud?—H. K. S. A. They designate service. For ex- ample: One stripe means four years' service, two stripes, eight years’ serv- ice, etc. Q. How long after marriage is the wife considered a bride>—B. G. N. A. For the first year following her marriage, it is customary to speak of | s young matron as a bride. Q. What is Eddie Cantor's real name?—L. A. C. A. His name is Isidore Iskowitz. Q. When was the first automobile race run?—F. B. A. The first automobile race ever run was on June 22, 1894, from Paris to Rouen, France. The distance was 78 miles. The pioneer race in the United States was a reliability run in Chicago, under the auspices of the Times-Herald. The date was Novem- ber 28. 1895; the distance 54.36 miles, from the heart of Chicago, into the suburbs and return. It was won by The speed average was 712 miles per hour. Q. How strong a microscope is nee- essary to see the corpuscles in the blood?>—C. D. C. A. The corpuscles of the blood may be seen quite easily under a micro- Q. Please give a few facts about the pineapple industry in Hawaii—A. J. A. The growing and canning of pine- apples in Hawaii are conducted by nine companies with a capital totaling $17,- 825,000, and assets exceeding $35.- 750,000. The shipments of canned pineapple to the States in 1933 to- taled 434844057 pounds, valued at Eighty-eight thousand ples. The number of employes in the canneries averages 5,000, and in the field 6,000, while 750 homesteaders grow the fruit on contract. Q. What animal has fur called broadtail>—R. 8. G. A. Broadtail is a fur trade name meaning the skin from the Winter- killed lamb of Bokhari, the original of which is properly called Persian lamb. Broadtail is nearly always black, is much smaller than Persian lambskin, and has a very silky, moire- effect fur-wool. Q. How should the head of the post office department in Italy be addressed? Must the address be in Italian?—T. R. B. A. Address a letter to the Direc- | tor General of Post and Telegraphs, Rome, Italy. It is not necessary to write' it in Italian. g. Who was the witch of Agnesi? —B.S. A. This witch is not a person, but District of Columbia to take care of | the Bame of a special curve, the char- acteristics of which were discussed by Maria Agnesi in 1748 and named for her. Maria Agnesi was a Milanese, daughter of a professor of mathe- matics. As early as 14, her philo- sophical and mathematical treatises were read by distinguished scholars. Pope Benedict XIV appointed her to succeed her fdher in the chalr of mathematics at the University of Bologna. She also became directress of the Blue Nuns at Milan and ulti- mately joined that sisterhood. . Q. Please state definitcly whether the Clarter Oak is still standing.— D. E B A. This large oak in Hartford; Conn., was blown down in August, | 1856, when its age was computed to be nearly 1,000 years. The tradi- | tion relating to it is as follows: When |Sir Edmund Andros was appointed Governor General of New England; he came to Hartford in 1687 to re- ceive the Colonial charter. This the | colonists were loath to surrender, but, | appearing to submit, carried it to the | council chamber. During the debate, | the lights were extinguished and in 3the ensuing confusion the document | was carried from the room to its hid- | ing place in the hollow of the tree. | Here it remained until 1689, when the ideposiuon of Andros made further | concealment unnecessary. | | | Q How is the expression “in so |far as” correctly written?—J. G. | A. The prefix “in” is superfluoys . | and should not be used. The other three words are written separately. { Q. Did President Wilson proclaim !a day of prayer during the World | War?>—A. R. M. A. During the World War, Presi- | dent Wilson proclaimed three public |days of prayer. The first, 8th of | September, 1914, proclaimed October | 4 as a day of prayer for the peace of the Nation; the second, proclaimed | the 19th of October, 1917, set October | 28, 1917, as a day of prayer in con- nection with the entrance of the United States into the World War for the triumph of the United States and allies in a righteous cause; the third, | proclaimed 11th of May, 1918, set | the 30th of May, 1918, as a day of prayer for counsel and wisdom for victory and peace and for a general confession of sin and declaration of | reliance upon Almighty God. Q. How many acres of publicly- owned forests are there in Indiana?— M. G. L A. There are no Federal forest lands in the State of Indiana. However, there are 15433 acres of State forests jand 18417 acres of county and city forest lands. | _—— | Q. Who wrote the poem, “The Blue and the Gray?"—D. G. S. A. It was written by F. N. Pinch. It was suggested by the act of the women of the Confederacy, who, in 1867, decorated the graves of Federal and Confederate soldiers buried at Co- lumbus, Miss, Q. Next to New York City which city has the most foreign-born white inhabitants?>—R. B A. Detroit is second, Philadelphia, third, and Chicago, fourth. Q. What is the cost of a criminal in a Federal prison?>—W. R. T. A. Per capita cost to the Govern- ment of keeping a prisoner in a Fed- eral prison or reformatory is 88!2 cents per day. Q. When will Mars be closest to the earth in this century?—B. B. A. In 1939. It is in excellent posi- | tion for observation at present, will | be closer in 1937, and at its best | in 1939. Q. Were the desks in the Senate of the United States originally oak? If | 50, when were they changed for ms- hogany ones>—H. C. B. | _A. There never were oak desks ih the Senate chamber. When the Sen- ate moved into the present building on January 4, 1859, the old desks ! which were mahogany were brought in from the old chamber and these have been replaced as needed. Q. What is the population of Mex- ico?—C. B. I. A. When the census was taken in M 1930, the population was 16,- 2. 55! Pope’s Warning of War Peril Echoed in P The press of this country acclaims and echoes the denunciation of war by Pope Piux XI in his address to an assemblage of cardinals. “The churches may not be able to prevent war in the present age,” says the Winston-Salem (N. Journal. “¢ * ¢ — the causes of war are deep and complicated and the mere desire for peace does not wipe out those economic necessities which plead for war.” But, the Jour- nal concludes, “the churches can lay the foundations of a broad philosophy of peace which bear fruit with the passing years.” “Pope Pius,” the Youngstown Vin- dicator declares, “is universally rec- ognized as one of the strongest men who have guided the affairs of the church. It is not to be expected that, in case of another war, he would be silent. church was content to let its com- municants follow the dictates of their national leaders. Should another war come within the next few years, or within the lifetime of the present Pontiff, we should look to the Vati- can to take vigorous steps to pre- vent it.” “The Pope’s moving denunciation of war, his manifest anguish of soul at the thought that the peoples of the world could again be forced to face the horrors of modern warfare, intensified by unremitting labor since the armistice in devising new agencies accordi ng to the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, “will be echoed by every other lover of mankind. The prayers which he has ordered to avert such a calamity will strengthen the moral forces which are at work to prevent such a calam- ity to mankind. In addition to such moral forces there are, as Pope Pius points out, physical and material factors that make war at this time inconceivable. All the world knows what these are. Europe admittedly is in a state of apprehension which is beginning to cause competitive arming, an all-around strengthening of national defenses.” “After 2,000 years of precept and prayer,” observes the San Francisco Chronicle, “the consent of mankind to receive the message of the Prince of Peace has not yet been attained. The processes of conversion, as the Pope takes pains to point out, may once more be too slow for the processes of modern mobilization. The time-table of the last war was three weeks. German plans were set to decide the war in that time. When Belgian resistance and British strategy slowed it to six weeks the time-table - changed to over four years and gave the victory then to the other side. Now the French fear that the time-table of the new war will be three hours. Only a miracle could speed the infiltration of the grace of God into the hearts of repro- men to outrun that schedule. * The only final peace is the Pope prays for—the peace d even he is far from An the early arrival of that In the World War the | ress of America | peace. By the experience of 2,000 | years. he knows how slow the pace is when it has to work through so refractory a medium as the human | heart.” | _“The Pontiff's plea,” in the opinion |of the Birmingham (Ala.) News, | “ought to have a high moral effect |on statesmen, as well as on the people, at a time when moral lead- ership against war is needed.” The |New York Sun avers: “It was a |stern warning to those ‘willing tp ipu.sh to suicide, to ruin and ex- | termination not only their own nation, | but a great part of humanity.’ The ‘c]imnx of the allocution came in the | declaration of the Pope that if the | desire to commit the ‘nefarious crime }per:,;:ted he could only pray God to ‘scatter those peoples who desire war.' " “Pope Pius can do much to ‘shame’ nations out of war,” thinks the Tulsa (Okla.) World, while the Scranton (Pa.) Times holds that “European statesmen are certain to pause and consider his observations.” The New Haven Journal-Courier is convinced that “we know in our hearts that the civilization we have built can hardly survive another general en- gagement.” “He erdeavors,” according to the Topeka (Kans.) Daily Capital, “tc | rally the scattered and ineffectual | forces of Christendom to the stand |ard of the Prince of Peace. But | ruling governments give it small note |in their egoistic schemes of place | and power. Two thousand - yea: | after all, are but ‘as yesterday wh |it has passed, or a watch in the | night’ in the long course of humag hlslory." 4 No Relief Rolls Then. From the Cincinnati Times-Star. Pre-historic American horses seem to have had four toes; in those barre old days everything had to scratc! for @ living. Chin Control. Prom the Rochester Times-Unlon. An expert says s golfer must It to control his chin. Yes—before, dune ing and after. £3 A Rhyme at Tw:hgh; By 5 v Gertrude Brooke Hamiltort, ‘g [ H k| Just a Song Lend me the melod: ot your low yaice In song, at end of day. . I like to watch you while your tend hands v Over the ivories stray. In this dim room, where books' music vie, And where you sing, i3 £ 1 am your king. L