Evening Star Newspaper, April 19, 1935, Page 10

THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. : N, z , FRIDAY, APRIL 19, 1935. ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Editien. WASHINGTON, D. C. FRIDAY........April 19, 1835 THEODORE W. NOYES. . . Editor The l-:nnlux sm Nmp-per Company s Office. 11th 8t. -nfl Plnnsylvlnll New York Office: 110 East "nd Bt icago Office: lee Mlcmnn nunulnl pean Office: 14 Regent England. Rate by Carrier Within the City. anlllr Edition. 45c per month The Evenine Sta The Evening ang Gund.y Btar en 4 Sun 80c per month 685c per month ¢ per copy r.70¢ per month _55¢ per month Sollection | made ihe "end of each Orders may be sent by mall or Telephone Natlenal 500D Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. I‘AHY and S\mduy only Biiday only | All Other States and Canada. Daily and Sunday . 1 . $12.00: 1 s $1.00 Dally only $8.00: 75¢ Sunday only.. $5.00: l mo.. Member of the Associated Press. Tre Associated Press is exclusively en- titled to the use for republication of news dispatches credited to it or not other- wise credited . All rights of publication of special dispatches herein are also recerved. —_— Mr. Richards' Tax Comparisons. There is added interest in Assessor Richards’ comparisons of tax burdens, described* in detail elsewhere in to- day’'s Siar, because of their apparent contradiction of the recent Treasury report on comparative tax burdens. There is. however, no contradition in facts. The only contradiction is in conclusions as to tax burdens, due to & difference in methods of comparison. | Mr. Richards’ figures (see table ac- companying today’s article) do not | differ materially from the Treasury figures as far as tax rates are con- A% cerned. Both comparisons elucidate | the obvious fact that Washington's tax rate is one of the lowest in the country. The difference is that Mr. Rich- ards, because of personal, first-hand experience over many years and in accordance with prevailing opinion, places no importance on the tax rate, “adjusted” or non-adjusted, as an index to the tax burden. He follows the practice of the Cen- sus Bureau and others in expressing tax burden comparisons in per capita figures, based on actual tax levies and tax payments. The basic figures usegd in such comparisons are thus actual, not estimated or guessed-at ratios of | assessed to true value, the accuracy or Inaccuracy of which it is impossible, without prolonged and typical com- parisons between assessments and ac- tual sales, to determine. No one has to guess at population, &s determined by the census, or of tax receipts. And as it is a well-known and accepted principle that all taxes are passed along and reflected in prices, rents, etc., paid by the whole | community, reductions of tax totals and populations to per capitas gives | logical expression to ccmparisons of | tax burdens, especially when the ccmparisons are between cities of | varying population. ‘The result of one of Mr. Richards’ comparisons is to show that even when tax levy figures of the cities are swelled by State taxes and interest service— two elements which in equity should | be deducted in comparisons with ‘Washington—the per capita tax levy here is approximately equal to or in excess of nine of the nineteen cities with which Washington is compared. ‘When the comparison is between city | levies cluded—Washington's per capita ap- proximates or exceeds that of thirteen | of the cities with which it is compared. Such findings assuredly refute con- clusions—reached with a faulty and unreliable yardstick of measurement— | that Washington is undertaxed. Especially interesting is Mr. Rich- ards’ showing of how closely his assessments compare with actual sales values over a period of years and in ejery portion of the city. This show- ing demonstrates once again the generally acknowledged fact that ‘Washington 1s the most thoroughly | assessed city in the country. And until Mr. Richards’ careful comparison of sales and assessments over a period of years is duplicated in other cities no reliance is to be placed in unofficial | estimates as to what such ratios, in somebody’s opinion, may be. When such guessed-at ratios are used to “adjust” the prevailing high tax rates of other cities in comparison with Washington's low tax rate and demonstrable 98 to 100 per cent as- | sessment, the comparison is unfair be- cause the yardstick is unreliable. When actual figures of tax levy, expressed in per capitas for cities of varying population or for cities of comparable popula- tion and environment, are used ‘Washington’s tax burden is shown to be relatively high, and when | equitable considerations are applied to the comparison is shown to be excep- tionally high. e The Egg-Rolling Code. What the country has needed for @ long time is an Egg Rolling Code, and the National Park Service is to be commended for having supplied an official one. The Code was presumably written by idealistic theorists, how- ever, and may suffer when it clashes with some of the bitter realities of life. For instance, the Code provides: Each child has a basket of dyed eggs. There is one child at the bottom of the hill and another at the top. The child at the bottom places an egg on the ground and the one at the top tries to hit it; it is not touched as it is rolled down. If it %oea not hit the egg at the bottom, children change places. If it does hit it, the child at the top comes down after his egg and tries to crack the other, usually having three trials, the child at the bottom holding the egg in his hand so that only the end shows. If he cracks the egg, he takes it and then goes to the top of the hill and repeats. If he does not crack it, both children keep their own eggs and change places. The code should be amended as fol- lows: After the sentence “There is @ne child at the bottom of the hill alone—debt service still in-| in totals | and another at the top” add the words “And scores of other children between them, some of whom are looking for their parents and some of whom are being looked for by their parents, and all of whom are scream- ing at the top of their voices.” After the sentence “The child at the bot- tom places an egg on the ground” add the words “And another child grabs it and runs, causing a minor riot.” After the sentence “It is not touched as it is rolled down” add the words “Oh, yeah?” or “Sez who?” After the sentence “If it does not hit the egg at the bottom” add the words “It indicates the good aim of the child who threw th: other egg, for the ob- ject is not to hit the egg but to hit the child.” After the words “If he cracks the egg” add the words “There is usually a nasty scene betwacn par- ents who separate the children, the parents not only having never seen each other before, but whose remarks indicate that they most certainly never want to see each other again, such disgraceful conduct on the White House lawn beats all.” The Code will probably undergo further modifications, provided the Code Authority does not disband and call it a bad job. There should cer- tainly be specified, however, the num- ber of parents that each child is en- | titled to bring with him to the White House —_— Patriots’ Day. Last night the Nation heard, by Revere's ride and of the battles of Lexington and Concord, April 19, 1775. ‘Today patriotic citizens throughout the Union will observe the one hun- | dred and sixtieth anniversary of those 1events From coast to coast, in great cities and in little towns, men, wom- en and children will hear the glorious | chronicle, listen to Longfellow's fa- mous poem and feel within themselves that curious pride and sense of ap- preciation which is known as love of country. But through one of the strangest of contradictions Patriots’ day is not Nation. The people of the District of ‘Columbm are debarred automatically from their share in the normal bene- | fits of American citizenship. Congress has dictated that they shall be brack- eted with aliens, lunatics and crim- inals. Disenfranchisement is their lot. They cannot vote, they cannot par- | ticipate in the determination of their own civic policy or in the control of | their fiscal affairs. The epic of the | “embattled farmers” who “fired the | fore means nothing to tesidents of Washington unless it be that it has | the significance of an example and an inspiration. when their more fortunate neighbors | in the several States intercede for them that their disabilities will be senting their case are enormous. The | average citizen of Oregon or Texas, Florida or Maine is unfamiliar with the circumstances and has no natural |interest in the problem. He has a prejudiced faith in the notion that living in proximity with the Government implies an auto- | matic social and economic endow- ment and does not realize that, lack- |ing the ballot and representation in the legislative body, that makes their | laws, imposes their taxes and sends | them into battle in the national de- fense, no individual can have access | to those theoretical advantages. | But hope for change must be en- | | tertained. Few members of Con- gress are unfamiliar with Washing- | ton’s claims for justice; all have heard them discussed and many have con- | ceded in private conversation their basic validity. What is wanted now is for a representative body of citizens of the States to intervene construc- tively. The Daughters of the Ameri- can Revolution, for example, might assume leadership in the campaign. Organized in the Capital and meeting in it annually, they should compre- hend the issue perfectly and their | background of patriotism should fur- | nish an ideal inspiration for the work. | Meanwhile, the people of the Dis- trict will maintain their American- [ism as best they may. It is their | quty, as they see it, to manifest their inheritance. They, too, are descended from revolutionary sires; they, too, love | their country, and for those reasons, | if for none other, they must continue their struggle toward equal civic freedom. —— e | Agriculturists are being scientif- ically encouraged to do more farming and less bookkeeping. A Cheering Sign. Now and then something happens |in the House of Representatives that | revives faith in common sense. Yes- terday there came before that body a chimerical proposal, the Townsend | old-age pension plan. This plan had ‘been hailed as a pet project of mil- Ihons of Americans—even as many as 30,000,000. Yet only fifty-six mem- bers of the House rose in support of the plan, which was offered as an amendment to the economic security bill. Voting against the amendment were 206. ‘The Townsend plan, calling for a pension of $200 a month to all per- sons sixty years of age or more, was modified so that it read that no per- son should receive in excess of $200 a month as pension. The revenues from the special taxes to be levied under the terms of the amendment were to be distributed among the aged, with the hope that, if not in the first year then In a later year, the monthly pension would be $200 a month. It had been clearly demonstrated that the cost of the pension of $200 a month would have been about $19,- 000,000,000 & year, and that the taxes proposed, burdensome as they were, would raise perhaps only a quarter of that sum. Under the revised plan the pension would have averaged about $50 a month. The Townsend plan originated in California last year, along with the E. P. § C. plan of another Utopian, [ vy 5| to the President’s influence and to grace of the radio, the story of Paul | commemorated in the Capital of the | shot heard ‘round the world” there- | | Helpless themselves, it may be only | levies, as shown by the tax collector’s | removed. Yet the difficulties of pre-' Upton Sinclair. Its fame spread across the Rocky Mountains and plains of the Middle West to the Atlantic States. Millions of letters in its behalf have been written to ‘members of Congress and huge peti- tions have been signed. In view of all the agitation it seems strange that not more than fifty-six votes could be mustered for the plan in the House. But the compliment to the intelligence of the House mem- bership becomes all the more marked. Not only did the House vote down the Townsend plan, but it discarded all other amendments offered to the President's economic security bill, many of them with as decisive votes as that by which the Townsend plan was rejected. Pleas for greater liber- ality in the matter of old-age pensions, for a greater contribution by the Federal Government end easier terms for the States all were in vain. Gen- erally speaking, the ability to turn back these amendments was a tribute the strength of the Democratic or- ganization in the House, led by Speaker Byrns. If a revolt egainst the leadership of President Roosevelt is brewing, it did not manifest itself | in the House yesterday. Purthermore, the President's security bill, the sec- ond major measure of his legislative program, seems destined to pass the House by & huge vote in a form entirely satisfactory to the Chief Executive. 1t is gratifying that the membership of the House is still ready to follow | the President of the United States ‘immnd of Dr. Townsend. However, the demonstration against the Town- send plan yesterday cannot all be{ attributed to the influence of Franklin | D. Roosevelt. Many of those who | threw their votes against Dr. Town-: send’s scheme consider some of the | | plans advanced by the President to| be no less illogical end impractical | and even more detrimental to the fundamental liberties of the American people. e It is not likely that anybody’s block will be knocked off despite the ability | of athletic attorneys to introduce the ordeal of physical encounter into a | trial involving homicide charges. Even the college athletes will hesitate to transfer accounts of court procedure to the sporting page. e Bonus demands might be more eas- | ily met if the science of expert ac- counting were included in the various | | courses of popular education now pro- | vided. Few soldiers have prided themselves on bookkeeping as much | | as on marksmanship. ————————— Andrew Mellon’s art gallery will in- | clude recognized masterpieces in suffi- | cient numbers to prevent fear of its | | being overwhelmed by persons who | think they can get pictures hung by political pull. ——————————— Elephant and donkey mean nothing to Gen. Hugh Johnson if he can per- fect an experiment in political magic | to transform a bellicose blue eagle | into a sacrificial goat. — It is theorized that profit cannot be eliminated from war. Uncle Sam is still figuring to discover any profits | resulting from the most recent war. — e The confession of Einstein that he might have made mistakes is reason enough for Hitler's repudiation of him as an intellectual associate. D A base ball player is not passe at forty provided he finds a publicity promoter possessed of wisdom and experience. oo SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. ‘Wood Pulp. We're happy on the dear old farm, As happy as can be. A book that may be full of charm | Is fashioned from a tree. The pulp mills turn out pages white All ready for the ink, And call on us to read and write And now and then to think. Ard so we wander, book in hand, Like Hamlet in the play.. ‘We hear the roaring through the land Where winds through branches stray. We turn the pages fast or slow. Like many a twig they're lost, And in a little while we know That in the woods we're lost. Distribution. “Would you favor taking wealth away from those who have it and giving it to those who have it not?” “Perhaps,” said Senator Sorghum “But unrest will continue unless you can assure the newly rich that the wealth will not be taken from them in turn.” Jud Tunkins says poltics is an 21l right circus with an elephant and a trick mule and a certain amount of | clowning. Vitality. It is vitality that makes Us gather ’round to shout. So long as an emotion wakes, Who cares what it's about! Let each of us his challenge fling And bid contention thrive. So long as we keep quarreling We know that we're alive. Impatient Audience. “We must learn by experiment and experience.” “Yes,” answered Mr. Stormington Barnes. “But who wants to live in a perpetual amateur night.” Great Undertaking. An undersecretary call ‘Who may bring comfort to the hnfl By helping, with good-will for all, Us underlings to understand. An Alice new in Underland With gentle artistry may save The underdog and take command To make the overlords behave. “Gamblin’ can't be altogether wicked,” said Uncle Eben, “when de best a farmer can do is to go on takin’ chances on de weather.” & v THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. ‘There are perhaps no definite flowers of childhood. Blooms we remember from long ago depend upon long-lost gardens, and differ as those gardens did. Try as hard as he could, one re- called no more than the following list of flowers surely remembered: ‘Water lily. Hollyhock, Sunflower. Another person, asked to remember the flowers surely known by the age of 6 years, gave the following list: Sweet peas. Nasturtium. Pansy. Lilac. Peony. Dahlia. Asters. Strawflowers. Lily of the valley. Mock-orange. * ok ok ok It is interesting to note that peonies and lilacs are the only blossoms appearing in both these lists, the first drawn up by a man, the second by a woman. In drawing up such lists, every effort must be made to be sure that the flowers named actually were known in one's early years. It will be found that the temptation is to list shrubs and plants which one !did not know until much later, but which the haze of memory easily inclines to put in an earlier classifi- | cation. The trouble in making an abso- lutely correct series comes when one begins to recall the flowers which one knew were around the place. But did you actually see them, and correctly apprehend them, in the formative years? Whether one knew the names, of course, makes no difference at all. ‘The flower is the thing. and though a rose by any other name will smell as sweet, it actually remains a rose. = x The Washingtonian who recalled the first list given above can see the pond, with its ice house, even yet, although he has not laid eyes on it for many years. He actually can remember the ap- pearance of the lilies, and fancies he can smell them yet. ‘The memory for odors, of course, is one of our keenest. ‘Who that has ever smelled the lilac ever forgets the odor? It is the same with most flower scents, although no doubt some per- sons are better at such “recollections” than others. Put sassafrass bark in a paper bag, | and hold it under the noses of asso- ciates. The chances are that this | theory of odor memory will get a severs jolt, for perhaps only one out of ten will name it correctly. Yet to him who has a really keen “nose” for such things, there is never any mistake. W The inclusion of the sunflower in the list may need some explanation He was held up in his mother's | arms. The sight of the nodding disks of yellow were supposed mollify his infant energies to the point where he would willingly take castor ofl. He often has wondered, he tnld us, whether he honestly remembers the flowers, or only recalls them oecause he has heard his mother tell of the incident so many times. In those days the only peonies known to average folk was the old red type, the “officinalls,” as it is known today. This gentleman believes, and we feel rightly, that every garden today ought to have this variety of peony. Its red is still good, deep and true, and it has a spicy fragrance. Planted in a row with Festiva maxima, the average garden would have all the peonies it needs. * K K K When we asked this gardener his idea of the “one best peony,” he un- hesitatingly peplied: “Festiva maxima.” He sces no particular reason why any one in average circumstances should bother with other varieties, as lovely as they are. This grand old peony gives the average small garden absolutely ev- erything the ordinary gardener de- |sires in the peony line. It is husky, dependable, lovely. Most people need go no farther in planting peonies. In fact, Festiva maxima means | “peony” to thousands upon thou- sands, including hundreds who have no idea of its name. After all, the flower is the thing. * *x ¥ X As for the althea and the holly- hock, they represent flowers about | which he is not sure. Did he, as |a little one, actually distinguish be- tween the two? He has a suspicion | he did not. How could he? ing, in those days, was not the art it is today, except for a very few | persons, | and perennial plants, and a few an- nuals, were grown without much thought. | put on the vegetable patch. It will be seen that the second list. given above, is the work of & much more observant person, and one who, as she says, was instructed in flower lore. A flower not included in either list, | but undoubtedly known to both, as children, was the apple blossom. | We hear a great deal today about ilhe cherry blossoms, and fairly | enough, but in themselves they are |no finer in display than apple trees. {Our cherry blossom display here shows what can be done when art |is combined with flowers. demonstrates the appeal of planting near water. It is significant that the second list. gives sweet peas. { In those days everybody had sweet | peas. flowers to grow and absolutely de- manded no care except the constant | picking of the lovely blooms. The greatest lack in the Washing- ton garden is the sweet pea. When will it come back to the place it once held? WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS BY FREDERIC WILLIAM WILE. Everybody interested in the recovery program rejoices that the Government | is at last about to undertake an honest-to-goodness census of the un- employed. ever been attempted during the New Deal. country has been familiar were largely matters of guesswork. Totals at different times have ranged all the | way from 7,000,000 to 15,000,000 | Seldom have the statistics issued by the Department of Labor, the Amer- ican Federation of Labor and various industrial and commercial organiza- tions been anywhere near alike. Since Uncle Sam put the unemployed o1 | the dole corresponding discrepancies have occurred with reference to relief | rolls. multiplied by four, to arrive at the relief total. Others multiplied by five. Before President Roosevelt begins dis- | gorging his $4.880,000,000 he’s deter- mined to get exact unemployment figures, as far as they are ascertain- able. Eventually a force of 600,000 workless white collar people may be mobilized to compile the census at a cost of $12,000,000 to $15,000,000. It will be taken at the earliest possible moment. * X X ¥ Already it is anticipated that pleas for work relief projects will call, in the aggregate, for four or five times as much money as there is available— in other words, for something like $16,000,000,000 or $20,000,000,000. Mr. Roosevelt asserts that the humblest proposition will have its day in court before the White House allotment “round table,” at which he will be the presiding officer and final arbiter. Naturally, what everybody wants to know is just when work relief dollars will begin to roll. The President's estimate is that it will be at least two months before his big pot of gold will actually be tapped. Thence- forward the money is to flow in a regular stream, in the expectation that the expenditure peak will be reached by November. Everything de- pends on the completeness and per- suasiveness with which proponents of projects prepare their plans. * k ¥ % One basic decision in the work re- lief plan is that money handed over to cities, counties, States and other political subdivisions shall, as far as possible, take the form of loans, and not grants. Uncle Sam intends to | get back every solitary recoverable dollar of the billions he is about to invest in this last supreme attack on depression. The idea not to regard public works advances as gifts is the one to which Secretary Ickes has con- sistently adhered. Despite its un- popularity in certain regions, it has 100 per cent White House backing. Already P. W. A. has on hand some $900,000,000 worth of projects pro- posed by municipalities. Sk ok kX Administration and congressional activities in connection with power and the utilities have apparently deprived ‘Washington of a big convention this year. In 1934 the Edison Electric Institute, representing about 90 per cent of the' power industry, arranged to convene here in 1935. It has now been decided to transfer the conven- tion to the more hospitable atmosphere of Atlantic City. Electric Institute interests have a particular grudge against the T. V. A. “yardstick” idea and were at one time inclined to chal- lenge its constitutionality. * K K % Echoes of technocracy, theme of popular discussion a couple of years ago, are being heard in Congress as the result of a proposed “technotax,” described by one of its proponments, Representative John H. Hoeppel, Democrat, of California, as “the ace in the New Deal.” Thopllnlswhx machines according to the numbers workers which they displace— ‘muhhul 4 Nothing of the sort has | The figures with which the | Some authorities reckoned that i every unemployed person ought to be | which create production out of balance with distribution, cen- | tralize wealth and foster monopoly.” | Like the Townsend plan and Upton Sinclair's ‘Epic” panacea, the “tech- notax” is sponsored mainly from the Pacific Coast. The prime mover is the American Technotax Society, with headquarters at Whittier, Calif. Its | supporters contend that a thorough- going unemployment survey will dem- onstrate that labor-saving machinery {is largely responsible for creating | America’s army of unemployed. * Xk % % Once upon a time the undersecre- taryship of state was the only “little | cabinet” post of that rank in Wash- |ington. Now that the Senate has undersecretaryship of the interior, the probability is that there will soon be four undersecretaries, the others being in the State, Treasury and Ag- | | riculture Departments. Perhaps some day our undersecretaries will become | permanent officials, as similar func- governments departments, notably the foreign office. * * x X U. S. Grant-Smith, retired veteran of the United States foreign service, advocates & new deal in American foreign relations, as far as the activi- concerned. He favors a system where- by Uncle Sam's ambassadors, minis- ters and other diplomatic and consu- lar officials would be required to spend less time on “cultivating” mere so- cialites and devote more attention to contacting the “real” people of the re- spective countries to which they are accredited. He also thinks it would be useful if our officials abroad did not have to concern themselves so much with “American_colonies”—the groups of our folks who live abroad for business, social or other reasons. Mr. Grant-Smith, formerly minister to Uruguay and Albmh. made a nota- ble record as “minister for foreign affairs” at the Chicago Century of Progress Fair in 1933 and 1934. * ¥ x % While assembled here for their an- nual meeting, members of the Ameri- can Society of Newspaper Editors are keenly interested in attending the ‘White House press conferences and in observing just how the President and the Washington scribes make the news wheels go round. Last night Mr. Roosevelt received the editors in an “off the record” press conference of their own. Tomorrow evening Senator Borah will commune with them on the international situation. His sub- ject is “Unafraid.” His address will be broadcast across the country. (Copyright. 1935.) Keep the Red Lights On Longer for Safety To the Editor of The Star: One of your correspondents finds the pedestrians at fault in traffic. How about the impatient motorists, who dart between loading platforms and speed along car tracks? As Gen. Fries declared in your paper, the taxi drivers are the worst menace to safe traffic. The whole aim of motorists is to “beat the lights.” My suggestion 1s to keep the red lights on longer. E. B. COLLINS, —_————— Solace. From the Rockford (Ill.) Register-Republic. The weary laborer milking 20 cows in the shank of the evening may be encouraged by the thought that Gene Sarazen, golf champion, attributes his success to farm life. Dust as Antidote Later. From the Albuquerque (N. Mex.) Journal. Over in the district where the drought is severe one man is reported a8 saying if enough rain ever falls to wet him he’ll have to be revived with three buckets of dust. Garden- | who certainly did not live | in small towns. The various shrubs | Most of the activity was | It also | They were the easiest of all | okayed Secretary Ickes’ request for an | | vonaries e in one or two British | ties of our representatives abroad are | Errors as to Denmark And Germany Corrected To the Editor of The Star: Permit me to protest against some grossly misleading statements con- cerning the relation of Denmark and to | Germany contained in Constantine Brown's column, “This Changing ‘World,” in The Star of April 17, First misstatement—“Denmark . . was forced by the allies after the World War to accept a slice of Ger- many.” Denmark was not forced to “accept & slice of Germany”; on the contrary, the reunion of the Danish part of Slesvig with Denmark had during 60 years of German suppres- slon been longed for and worked for by the Danes in German captivity, eagerly backed by the mother coun- try, and was, when effectuated in 1920, celebrated as one of the hap- plest events in the life of the nation. Second misstatement—"“The pru- dent Danes refused the large slice the allies offered them and accepted only the Slesvig Province, which had been Danish until 1864, when it was lost to Prussia after the Prusso- Danish War.” The facts are these: In 1864 Denmark lost to Prussia not only Slesvig, whose population was mainly Danish, but also some other provinces, whose population was main- ly German. When in the Fall of 1918 the German Empire collapsed the Danes in Slesvig, as well as the Danish government, immediately acted in order to obtain a reunion on basis of the Wilsonian idea of national self- determination. H. P. Hanssen, Danish representative in the German Reich- stag, raised in Berlin the demand for a reunion, while the government of Denmark communicated its wishes to the allies, recommending a plebiscite en bloc in North Slesvig (designated as Zone 1) and a community ballot in Central Slesvig (designated as Zone 2). Some hyper-nationalistic circles |in Denmark were eager to gain also | the southern part of Slesvig, which is almost purely German, and persuaded the Peace Conference in Versailles to |provide for a plebiscite in a third zone—a provision which was later dropped. The result of the plebiscite | was that the first zone went to Den- | mark, with 75 per cent of the votes, while the second zone went to Ger- | many, with 80 per cent of the votes. | Thus Denmark did not refuse any offer from the allies, but accepted that BY FREDERI A reader can get the answer to any question of fact by writing The Washington Evening Star Informa- tion Bureau, Frederic J. Haskin, Director, Washington, D. C. Please inclose stamp for reply. Q. What are the dimensions of a pitcher’s slab and how far is it from the home plaie?—F. M. A. The slab is 2 feet from one end to the other and 6 inches from front to back. The front of the slab is 60 feet 6 inches from the rearmost point of the home plate. Q What country has the fewest sutomobiles?—B. E. R. A. Spitzbergen is probably at the one car. This group of islands lies | north of Norway. It has a Summer ‘Winter population of 1,200. This motor vehicle is an American truck. Q. Was the plot of the “Merchant of Venice,” revolving around the at- tempt of Shylock-to recover his debt, bottom of the list, since it has only | population of about 1500 and a| C J. HASKI which a train operated by a steam locomotive was on the Stockton & Darlington Raflway, England. This road was opened September 27, 1825. Q. Did the battleship Maine sink after an internal or external explo- sion?—E. L. A. A board was appointed to ine spect, the wreck ot the U. 8. 8. Maine after she was raised, and it reported that the injuries to her bottom were caused “by the explosion of a charge of a low form of explosive exterjor to the ship.” Q. How can the crease be removed when changing the hem in & silk dress?—S. W. A. It cannot be done with much success. Perhaps a row of picoting or machine hemstitching can be put at this line, and others added below or above to form a decorative finish. Q. Please give a short biography of Clara Louise Dunaing, who devised the Dunning method of music study. —A. A original with Shakespeare?—A. R. A. Robert Wilson, an actor and playwright who died in 1600 had pre- viously used the plot in his play, the “Three Ladies of London,” which ap- certain. 1600. Q. Do wrens return to their pre- vious nests with the same mates each year?—P. K. A. Mr. S. Prentiss Baldwin had a It was not printed until Cleveland, Ohio, and he trapped and banded them to study their marriage relations. He found that the adults separated after raising each brood and sought new mates. While it was certain that divorces were common there was no evidence to indicate that polygamy was practiced. An accurate record from the parént stock to the third generation showed an amazing mix-up of uncles, aunts, cousins, brothers, and sisters. It was noted that wrens may flirt. Some- times a pair will start to build a nest and separate after a day or two. The | record in progeny, for the particular group under observation, was 27 young from one father and four part of Slesvig—and only that—to | which she was entitled on basis o( honorable principles. Third misstatement—*“But believing | that it never pays to get something for | nothing . . . they (the Danes) paid for Slesvig in hard cash.” Den- mark did not pay for the return of | Slesvig as such, but naturally some | financial transactions were involved in | | the transfer of the new territory to the sovereignty of Denmark. The Danish government, for instance, had to pay the German government for | | German state-owned property in Sles- | vig. In order to meet these obliga- | tions, Denmark did not “turn over to | Germany” the $25,000,000 obtained by the sale of the Virgin Islands, but ar- ranged in August-September, 1919, for | a loan of 145000,000 crowns. The | | problem in Slesvig, it should be re- membered, was not that of conquest but that of rational settlement of na- tional adherence according to the de- | sires of the population in question. Fourth misstatement—“The Danes are not anxious to keep that newly | acquired territory—although it was| originally part and parcel of their | country.” The author’s basis for this | highly provocative assertion is strange | indeed, since anybody familiar with Danish conditions should know that the entire population of Denmark, in- cluding the social democratic govern- ment, is wholeheartedly and unequivo- cally supporting their countrymen in North Slesvig which does not any more | have the character of a special prov- | ince, but constitutes an integral part | of the State of Denmark. As to Denmark’s reasons for not | backing the great powers' rebuke to Germany, these have been stated in | | the words of Dr. P. Munch, Denmark’s | foreign minister and spokesman at the | A ] “It is true that Germany recognizes | her act is not in conformity with the treaty. But she maintains that other | facts justified her action. We think it natural that the three powers (Britain, France and Italy) should ex- | press their opinion of Germany's ac- | tion. But we fear that to vote for the resolution in its present form might | risk costing the League its character | as an instrument for peace.” JENS NYHOLM. | Taxicab Mileage Factor In Accident Percentage To the Editor of The Star: On page B-1 of The Star of April 16 appears a story entitled, “Taxicabs, 3 Pct. of Motor Total, Figure in 21 Pct. of Accidents.” This would suggest to the unthinking reader that the aver- age taxicab is seven times as danger- ous as the average motor vehicle. According to the second paragraph, however, taxicab drivers are responsi- ble for only about 10 per cent, not 21 per cent, of the accidents. Thus. even if the story itself told the whole truth, the headline would be grossly mis- leading. But the story does not tell the whole truth—far from it—since it takes no account of the tremendously important factor of mileage. One taxicab driver tells me that the average is about 200 miles a day (73,000 miles a year): another calls it 90,000 miles a year. The average for all motor vehicles is, I believe, usually estimated at about 10,000 miles a year. I suspect that the true average is a little higher, say 12,000 miles. In order to “lean backward” (from the taxicab driver's standpoint), I am assuming that the taxicab average is 73,000 and that the average for all other motor vehicles is 12,000. A calculation based on these estimates and the figures in The Star’s story gives 313,000,000 as the total annual mileage for taxicabs and 1,754,000,000 as the total for other motor vehicles, making an aggregate of 2.067,000,000 miles, 15 per cent of which is ac- counted for by the taxicabs. Now, since the taxicabs are recorded as the “striking vehicles” in only 10.5 per cent of the cases, and since they contribute 15 per cent of the total motor vehicle mileage, it is obvious that taxicab drivers are less of a traffic menace than are the drivers of other classes of motor vehicles. (If 100 be taken as the “hazard index” for all drivers, including taxicab drivers, 70 would be the index for taxicab drivers alone.) I may add that the proportion of taxicab mileage driven in the rain and on slippery streets is larger than the corresponding proportion for the driv- ers of other motor vehicles. This would tend to raise the index figure for taxicab drivers. The article in The Star is an excel- lent example of misinformation con- veyed by half-truths. So far as I know, every word in the story in question is true and every figure in it 18 correct; yet, by omitting any ref- erence to the vitally important mileage factor, it gives the reader an altogether false impression of the extent to which taxicabs, in comparison with other classes of motor vehicles, are menaces to the safety of our highways. The headiine is particularly misleading. LE VERNE BEALES. mothers in two seasons. Q. Has the site of Jamestown nlways been an island>—R. O. R. A. It is now an island. but at the time of the settlement of the colony | it was a peninsula. Q. When was the first homestead entry made?—O. S. T. A. The original homestead law was approved May 20, 1862, by President Abraham Lincoln, to become effective | January 1, 1863. On the latter date the first homestead entry was made at the Brownville, Nebr. land office by Daniel Freeman for the S NW!;, NE'; NW';, and SW!, NE!,, Sec, 26, T. 4N, R. 5E, 6th P.M, | Nebraska, containing 160 acres. The application was numbered 1. Final | proof on the entry was offered Janu- ary 20, 1868, and final certificate issued on the same day. The entry was patented September 1, 1869. Q. In the famous painting, “The Spirit of '76.” what air is being played by the fifer>—P. T. A. Since the original name of the plinunl was “Yankee Doodle,” it seems that would have been the tune that was being played. Q. When was the first rnlmnd rail used>—T. O. M. A. Wooden rails for use in mines | were used as early as 1555 on a tramroad near Barnard's Castle Co., | Durham, England. The first use of ! iron plates to strengthen the wooden rails was at the Whitehaven Col-| lieries, Cumberland, England, in 1738. | In 1754 iron plate rails were laid on a wagon way, connecting the Coal- brookdale Iron Works in Shropshire with additional smelting furnaces at Horsehey. The first iron rail over| peared in 1584. Shakespeare’s “Mer- | chant of Venice” was written about | 1594-98, the precise date being un- number of wrens on his farm near | A. Mrs. Dunning died in & New | York hospital, September 8, 1929, after | a brief illness. She was a teacher for | more than 30 years. Mrs. Dunning is credited with having imparted her method to 3.Q00 teachers in the United States and Canada. She was born April 8, 1380, at Mount Morris, Ky. Her maiden name was Steckle. In 11903 Mrs. Dunning originated the system which bears her name. She |was a pupil of Willlam Mason. of | Fraulein Pri and she also | studied under u-rrw 2Ky. Q Was the found?—W. W A. Melvin Ho was kidnaped in Ma: hallville, Ohio, December 27, 1528. The boy has not been found nor have his kidnapers been npprehendcd Q. Is there a “a statue of Roger | Williams in Washington, D. C.>—C. T. | A. There is a statue of this founder of the colony of Rhode Island in Statuary Hall in the Capitol. It was a gift of the State of Rhode Island. |1t is a marble statue on a pink granite pedestal, and Pranklin Sim- mons was the sculptor. Q. Where can I get a booklet de- [ scribing the celebration of Garden week in Virginia?’—H. K. L. A. A Garden week booklet will be sent on request to the Virginia State Commission on Conservation and De- velopment, Richmond, Va. | Q Please give figures on equip- ment for telegraph communication in this country —R. C. A. There are 23 companies oper- ating 256 661 miles of poles, 2.266.054 miles of leased and owned wire and 96.468 miles of ocean cable. ls Horst boy ever years of age, Q. What comprised the extent of the Roman Empire under the Caesars —as geographically described today? {=—J. R. E. A. The Roman Empire at its greet- est extent under the Emporer Ha- drian, about 117 AD., stretched from Scotland in the northwest to the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf in the | southeast, and from the Caspian Sea. the Black Sea. and the Danube River in the northeast to the Atlas Moun- | tains in the southwest. Q. In electrical currents, is the joint resistance of wires in paralel | equal to the average of separate re- :mancos"—s B. A. The National Bureau of Stand- ards says that in electrical currents the joint resistance of wires in parallel , is never equal to the average of the - separate resistances, because two wires § |in parallel elways present less re- sistance to the current than either one alone. Q. What does Ouled Nail mean? —E. M. N. A. 1t refers to a class of profes- sional dancing girls well known in Northern Africa, particularly Algeria. for their sensuous benun‘ For U. S press comment on the observance of Army day, but it is asserted through- out the country that preparedness for national defense is the best guarantee of peace. It is maintained that the | population of the country should have | confidence in its protectors, and that | the military establishment should command the respect of other govern- ‘ ments. “Men and women whose love of | peace has not distorted their gnup{ | of realities should resolve that the present reckless inferiority of the| American Army must be relieved.” de- clares the Cincinnati Times-Star. | That paper argues that “martial | hysteria is no more dangerous than | the hysteria of pacifism, which fondly | supposes, against the teaching of all| history, that a weak military estab- | lishment is the best insurance against war.” The Times-Star feels it is “fortunate that the Roosevelt admin- istration is seeing clearly and acting wisely at this critical juncture in world affairs.” Holding that the Army “does inval- uable work for the Nation in time of peace,” adds that “in war time it is the line that stands behind the Navy for the protection of our society.” The Port- land (Me.) Press Herald testifies that “every sane American knows that the | so well prepared for defense that we can keep out of any conflict.” The Grand Rapids (Mich.) Herald, de-| fending new expenditures for this purpose, believes that “if the worst fails to come, we shall have only ex- pended our wealth, not the lives of | our youth, unprepared, undLscnplmed\ and untrained.” “The wisdom and timeliness of the Army increase,” according to the New Orleans Times-Picayune, “are recog- nized by all Americans who believe in adequate national defense, and can be el.snly justified on other important grounds.” The Times-Picayune feels that “Americans will rejoice in the assurance that the American Army is in better shape than it has ever been in its history.” That paper offers the suggestion: “When it is remembered that ‘approximately one- third of the regular Army is continu- ously on service in the Philippines, Hawalii, the Canal Zone, Puerto Rico, China and Alaska’ the need of in- creasing the forces available for the expanding tasks on the mainland is readily understood.” ‘The need of “introducing the Army to itself” is brought out by the New York Herald Tribune, with the com- ment that “throughout continental United States it has scarcely as much as two regiments together in one place.” The Herald Tribune con- tends that “an Army in the field is of little use unless its units are trained to work together and its com- manders are trained to maneuver the great masses of men employed in modern war.” “As long as money has to be spent ln.yny. why not give the Army s American peace ideals are upheld in | the Portland Oregonian | only way to keep out of war is to be | | country.” Army Day Inspires Pleas . Defense Steps geles Times. while the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin remarks: “The Na- tion recognizes the necessity of main- taining a nucleus of an Army and its proper equipment, and in general of such preparedness as shall be an in- surance against the possibility of an emergency calling for the resort to armed force.” Less enthusiastic is the Williams- port (Pa.) Sun, making the argument that “our immense military budget leaves us little ground upon which to stand in criticizing other govern- |ments.” The Springfield (Mass.) | Daily News, looking back at “a war to end all wars,” states that “the pen of history was dipped in the ink of irory,” and asks as to future con- { flicts: “How much reason is there to suppose that everything would not proceed as it did before?” The Brook- lyn Times-Union asserts that “the world is not ‘safe for democracy’ or any other form of government.” “A virile and well-organized regular Army of trained men and expert offi- cers” is upheld by the Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch, and that paper of- | fers the description of the personnel: “In days of peace they contribute | manfully and unostentatiously in the fields of engineering, medicine, chem- istry, public safety, and in days of war are able to expand with efficient | rapidity into an instrument that be- comes a shield and buckler to the | women, children and citizens who have put their trust in them., “Today we salute the officers and men of the United States Regular Army. They deserve the confidence, the pride and the support of their ——ee— Homework. From the Jackson (Mich.) Citizen Patriot. In a town in Texas home work is not permitted. When the children of the Nation find that out parents from | other States will have trouble prevent- ing a general exodus. e Industrial Opportunity. From the Louisville Courier~Journal. Another of those overlooked indus- trial opportunities would seem to be a factory for making shin guards for bridge partners. —— e A Rhyme at Twilight By Gertrude Brooke Hamilton Tide of Trade Nine floors up, a quiet desk over his midtown store, Steering all the ebb and flow of trading on each floor: The electric hum of cable wires, The wash of human surf below, Cash slips, call-bells, clanging doors— Trade, in thunderous undertow! Beyond his upper windows the lure of river and sky. chance at as much of it as it can practicably handle?” asks the Los An- Playtime on blue waters. A white yacht sailing