Evening Star Newspaper, May 12, 1935, Page 30

D-2 THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. SUNDAY.........May 12, 1935 THEODORE W. NOYES. . .Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company Business Office: t and Pennsylvanta Ave, e: 110 East 42nd 8t Ghicseo Office: Lake Michigan Bullding ‘opean Office: 14 R?eni 8t. London. Englan Rate by Carrier Within the City. Regular Edition. The Evenine Star 45c¢ per month ‘The Evening and Sunday Star when 4 Sundays) 0c per month The Evening and Sunday Star (when 5 Sundays) 65¢ per month The Sunday Star e per copy Night Final Edition. Nieht Einal and Sunday Stas 70¢ per month Night Final Star s 55¢ per month Collection made et the end of each ont rders may be sent by mail or telephone National 5000 Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. Dafly and Sunday .1 yr..$1000: 1 mo. 85¢c Daily ‘oniy .- .1y "86.00: 1 mo. e Sunday only. .l '1yr $4.00:1mo. 40c All Other States and Canada. g:ll! and Sunday 1 yr., $12.00; 1 mo.. $1.00 ily only ..1¥L g g .00: 1 mo.. 75¢ Suuday only .11yr. $3:00i1mo. 60c Member of the Associated Press. e Associated Press is exclusively en- Mtied to the use for republication of all ] Al righ Dublication of special dispatches herein re also reserved Building and Rent Control. ‘With the administration devoting a great deal of its energy, its time and its money to ascertaining and remov- | ing the cause of the Nation-wide | gitjonal $2,000,000000 which would be | the | the cost to the Government of paying slump in the building industry, novel suggestion at the rent hearing on Friday that real estate men in Washington are in a conspiracy to stifle building in order to maintain high Tentals possesses the merits. at least, sun. As far as known, that particular suggestion has never been made be- fore. In searching for the answer as to why there is not more building of rental dwellings in Washington today, due consideration should be given, however, to the question whether nor- mal building operations here or any- where else will revive as long as there is doubt and uncertainty regarding the Government's own contemplated op- erations in this field and as long as there remains the potent threat of governmental seizure of private rental properties for purposes of drastic regu- lation of rentals. And if it is con- sidered desirable to encourage private building of rental properties, the ef- fect on private building operations of making all landlord-tenant relations subject to continued governmental regulation, based on the alleged ex- istence of a “dangerous” rental emergency, should, of course, be given careful study. Elsewhere in today’s Star there ap- pears an article discussing and review- ing the experience of the Washington community with wartime rental leg- islation. While little in the nature of expert testimony has been submitted to the legislators in connection with the alleged existence in Washington today of a rental emergency, compar- able with that of war time, some of the figures of population increase in the days of the New Deal, compared with those of the war days, are of spe- cial interest. In the course of a little more than a year the population of war workers in Washington was in- creased nearly 200 per cent; the popu- lation of Washington was increased by about a third. Despite the large increases of Government personnel due to New Deal activities, the total increase between February 28, 1933, and March 31, 1935, amounts to only 47 per cent—while the large numerical increase in the city’s population since 1930 is about eight per cent. There is little comparison between the un- paralleled congestion of the war days and the conditions of today, and there is no “emergency” discernable today which compares with that of the war. While exploitation of tenants and the unpardonable activities of profit- eering, greedy landlords deserves uni- versal condemnation and correction, the evidence of such evils should be definite and incontrovertible. It should not consist of generalizations, but of specific cases, with the tenant’s complaint and the accused landlord’s defense given equal examination. And when such evidence is established, the question naturally presents itself whether the remedy for such condi- tions is the punishment of the inno- cent along with the guilty by taking the control of all private rental prop- erty out of the hands of its lawful owners in order to get at the profiteer. ———e——— Much American money goes into foreign lotteries. The lottery ticket that signifies in small time politics is the ballot that may land a political Job. Highway Problem Solved. A reasonable and sensible solution of the Wisconsin avenue difficulty has been effected in the agreement by the Capital Transit Company to abandon its right of way on that artery beyond the District boundary and to install a bus service. This agreement was reached at a conference held Friday night between representatives of the corporation and members of the Be- thesda Chamber of Commerce. This will not require legislation to become effective and if the plans of the tran- &it company are promptly carried out, satisfactory service will be assured and the way will be open for the improve- ment of the highway, widened to seventy-five feet and fully repaved. . This improvement to the roadway will require the co-operation of the State Roads Commission, which should not and probably will not be withheld. This is a much better arrangement than any that could have been effected through the regrading of the track line, even with the removal of the poles carrying current wire from the center of the avenue to the sides. So it would appear that the typographical error in the bill enacted by the State Legislature at its recent session and submitted to the Governor for ap- proval, was to good effect after all &eor if that measure h* been in valid | | settled and out of politics.” | “extra cost” to which he had refer- of being something new under the | form and approved controversy might have ensued with a protracted delay in the installation of a line conform- ing to the established road grades and levels. A street railway line is for the pub- lic convenience and not inconvenience. It should be maintained in good order and with the least obstruction te ve- hicular trafic. If and when, e€spe- cially on suburban routes, busses can be economically and effectively sub- stituted for a track service, that should be done without delay and without compulsion. Thus the deci- sion as to Wisconsin avenue is in line with progressive rapid transit administration, and the corporation is entitled to approbation for its compliance with the wishes of the community which it serves, in a mat- ter affecting -the welfare and the safety of the larger community near at hand. ———————— A Pretty Kettle of Fish. The conflict of views on the Patman soldiers’ bonus bill between President Roosevelt and one of his chief ad- visers, Jesse H. Jones, chairman of the Reconstruction Finance Corpora- tion, would be amusing if it were not for the serious implications and the results which may follow. Mr. Jones in a speech to the North Carolina istate Bankers’ Association said that it was “entirely possible that Congress may override a presidential veto of this measure.” He said, too, that the country could well withstand the ad- the bonus at this time, and he added, “I am not sure but that it will be | worth this extra cost to get this issue The ence was the unearned interest up to 1945 which will be paid the veterans today if the bonus bill becomes law. President Roosevelt, according to | all accounts, is preparing a veto mes- | sage which he will send to Congress | when the Patman bill reaches him. He needs one more than a third of the vote cast in the House or Senate to sustain that veto. In the House he has no chance. In the Senate the :leadexs have been confident that they jcould sustain such a veto. Even the | propenents of the Patman bill have | feared to bring the matter to an issue, and have delayed the bill in the Sen- ate through a motion to reconsider the vote by which it was passed. To- day these supporters are gleefully us- ing the statements made by the chair- man of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation to back up their conten- tion that the bonus should now be paid and that the extra burden which will be laid on the Government at this time is not unbearable. Mr. Jones, it is reported, appeared surprised that his address to the North Carolina bankers should have | been interpreted as an indorsement | of the bonus bill. He said he had not | intended to favor the bonus bill or to | take a stand on it in any way. His purpose had been merely to reassure the bankers on the credit situation of the country, and he had dragged in the | bonus matter to reinforce his state- ment that there was no occasion for alarm about a few billions of addi- tional debt. In fact, according to Mr. Jones, the “few billions” which the Government has expended for relief and for the New Deal experi- ments are nothing to worry about. The public debt during the Roose- velt administration has been run up to more than $30,000,000,000 and is going higher. But these billlons— which eventually must be paid by the Government to the people from whom the Government is borrowing, out of the pockets of all the people— do not mean much to Mr. Jones. Of course, if they are to be paid off in the same way that it is now pro- | posed to pay the soldiers’ bonus, by the issuance of “greenbacks,” Treas- ury notes, that is another matter. A government can issue fiat money and make the people take it, in order tore- pudiate government debts. But when & government does that the people lose enormously, for the money be- comes practically valueless as a me- dium of exchange. It will be interesting to see how Mr. Jones and the President will adjust their differences over this matter of the payment of the soldiers’ bonus. Mr. Jones, like the author of the bonus bill, hails from the great State of Texas. Mr. Jones believes it would be worth a lot to get this bonus issue out of politics. That sounds as though he believed the payment of the veterans would make a Demo- cratic victory easier in 1936. —————— Al Smith showed a personal philan- thopic interest in a forgotten song writer credited with the authorship of “Sidewalks of New York.” The songs of a nation are important, and Tin Pan Alley is entitled, along with Wall Street, to its voice in national affairs. —————e— Curbing Japan’s Militarists. Japanese cabinets are periodically baffled by the problem of keeping the army and navy out of politics and from interfering with functions that con- stitutionally are the prerogatives of the civilian government. *Premier Keisuke Okada has just launched a sort of New Deal at Tokio, which he hopes will conterbalance the excessive influence of the fighting services. He has invited a number of prominent versons to enter a National Policy Council formed under imperial ordi- nance. Two senior statesmen, former Premier Saito and former Home Min- ister Yamamoto, have accepted the in- vitation and the Minseito minority party has agreed to appoint three rep- resentatives. The Seiyukal majority party, which has strong army and navy sympathies, has refused to par- ticipate, but members of both Diet branches, the House of Deputies and the House of Peers, will join the Coun- cil, and several prominent business leaders are considering doing so. The premier will be president of the body and Finance Minister Takahashi will be vice president. The Council's nominal functions ‘ll:) “inquire fnto ‘THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C., MAY 12, 1935—PART TWO. THE MOTHER and deliberate upon important na- tional policies, on the instruction of the premier.” Japanese public opinion is frankly skeptical as to the efficacy of the innovation as & means of putting any effective brakes upon the army and navy. The Diet itself has been a wholly negligible factor in Japan’s home and foreign affairs ever since the conquest of Manchuria set in four years ago. Whether a Policy Council of relatively small numbers would on critical occaslons prove any more potent in staying militarist hands seems more than doubtful. Army and navy zealots have educated the Japanese people to believe that vhe aggressive policy pursued on the mainland of Asia since 1931 has im- measurably enhanced the world power and prestige of the empire. The danger of attack by either Soviet Russla or the United States is peri= odically trotted out to convince pub- lic opinion that “weak” civilian gov- ernments need to be infused from time to time with that blood and iron spirit that is not to be expected in mere politicians. ‘There is a strong school of thought, exemplified by statesmen of the type of Baron Shidehara, which has con- sistently sought to minimize the in- fluence of the militarists on Japan’s foreign policy, especially in the Far East, and to mold it on lines that would show more respect for Japan's covenanted international obligations. Even though the Japanese people are required to bear crushing economic burdens to finance army and navy ambitions to make Nippon the indis- putable mistress of the Far East, devotees of the Shidehara’policy have been doomed to date to be as voices crying in the wilderness. The creation of the National Policy Council is & sig- nificant effort to make the inilitarist cult at least a less dominant force in the nation’s life. The King of Abyssinia warns that once mobilized, his troops will insist on fighting. His temperamental at- titude becomes almost that of the hero of a Bert Williams' song, who chanted, “I am so bad [ am a-scared of myself!” ——e—s. England is restoring pay cuts in her navy. That she is able to do this is a matter for congratulation. In a transaction like this the question of international debts may be classified as “nobody’s business.” —_————.— With characteristic geniality Presi- dent Roosevelt greeted Rear Admiral Byrd %ith a wave of the hand and the call “Salutations, Dick!” If there is ever to be an influential Antarctic vote, F. D. R. will surely have it. —————— ‘The Kentucky Derby brings an en- thusiasm which makes it seems re- grettable that a gallant race horse cannot be included, for what the title is worth, in the list of Blue Grass colonels. SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. “Our Fortunes Are Not in Qur Stars.” We study superstition In a most attentive style, Each star and its position Brings a heartache or a smile. Our logic shows profusion Of deductions that are quaint If it leads to a conclusion ‘With an astrologic taint. But Fortune's our own making As a mighty poet said, And the steps that we are taking Must with diligence be sped. If you run a course that's plucky Fortune still may be your lot, For a rabbit’s foot is lucky But a pussy-foot is not. Reasonable Precaution. “Factions are bound to arise in every party,” said Senator Sorghum. “Yes,” said the gratuitous adviser. “One band wagon is going one way ‘while another has a route of its own.” “That's only natural. But we ought to be able to manage the map so as to prevent grade crossing crashes.” Jud Tunkins says he has quit laugh- ing at his troubles. Some foolish friends handed him more just because they thought he enjoyed ’em. In the Aquarium. Society has run a course With brilliancy and beauty. It has become a mighty force ‘To point the way to duty. Amid the strife of pride and pelf ‘Where generous thoughts still beckon, A Queenfish may assert herself ‘With whom we’ll have to reckon. Resurrected Value. “Do you think a dead langfiage has present value?” “Certainly,” answered Mr. Dustin Stax. “A Latin name will boost the price of a drug several times at a pre- scription counter.” Utopiana. Sometimes we're wishing with a frown ‘That's prompted by misgiving, To turn completely upside down This world in which we're living. To dwell in bliss we cannot fail When our endeavors healthy Have put the sinners all in jail And left the righteous wealthy. “If & man allus had to know what he was talkin’ about,” said Uncle Eben, “dar would be a heap more silence in de world.” ———t——— An Unneighborly Judgment. From the San Antonio Evening News. BY THE RIGHT REV. JAMES E. FREEMAN, D. D,, LL. D., D.CL,, Bishop of Washington. “There stood by the cross of Jesus His mother.” This is one of the signi- ficant and appealing records con- tained in the gospel narrative. The tragedy on Calvary takes on an added significance and the whole scene is touched with peculiar pathos when we witness the lonely mother of Christ standing by her crucified Son. What thoughts must have welled up in her motherly heart, what must have been the depth of her emotions as she saw the end of a career, a career begun in the simple home in Nazareth and that, in a brief space of time, had come to occupy the central place, not only in her own life but in the life of her nation. In the last hours of His physical and mental anguish the eyes of the dying Saviour rested upon His mother, and in one of the few words spoken from the cross He com= miserated her condition, recognized the depth of her grief and provided for her future by committing her to His beloved friend. It was a great trust which the Saviour committed to John in those few words: “Woman, behold they Son,” and to John: “Be- hold they mother.” A significant word is added: “And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home.” 3 Thus the two greatest words in the English language find their place in the story of the crucifixion. All through the gospel narrative inci- dents are related in which the mother of Christ occupies a conspicuous place. It was she who gently chided Him when as a youth He wandered from His household and was found in the temple. saying to Him: “Son, why hast Thou thus dealt with us? Be- hold, Thy father and I have sought Thee, sorrowing.” It was she, who, at the first miracle in Cana of Galilee said to her servants who were reluc- tant to obey His bidding, “Whatso- ever He saith unto you, do it.” No one penerated more deeply into the life of Jesus than did His mother. No one understood Him more com- pletely, no one followed Him more implicitly or with more utter devo- tion. It is little wonder that the greatest of world artists have found in this devotion of mother and son the subject for their supremest mas- terpieces. Here, in the brief narra- tive that records the incidents and utterances of the Savior of Mankind, we have the appealing record of a supremely beautiful maternal love and of a son’s deep devotion It has fur- nished the incomparable model for homes the world over. A wholesome and fine sentiment lies behind the designation of one Sunday in each calendar year as Mother's Sunday. It is designed to place a fresh accent upon the incomparable place the mother occupies in the whole scheme of our domestic and social life by emphasizing anew the lofty and indispensable place she oc- cupies in the maintenance of the most vital and essential of the insti- tutions with which we have to do, namely, the home. It is demonstrably true that where the virtues of home | life are maintained on & high level, | that where maternal love, the greatest | of all human instincts, exercises its beneficent influence the large con- cerns of the state are secured. It is only where the wholescme disciplines of home life are relaxed and the quality of mother love is impaired, where reciprocal affection is lost, that the home degenerates and the | large concerns of our social, indus- trial and political interests are jeop- ardized. When we come to trace to its source the development of any one of our institutions we inevitably discover that it had its genesis in a well-ordered home. Much thought is being given today to the rehabilitation of our industrial and political concerns, and it may be that in our quest for the restoration of material values we shaH lose sight of the most precious and cherished things that concern home and family life. As we reckon with the true and abiding values of life we are compelled to recognize that nothing excels the place the mother occupies in the economy of our life. No gift that God has conferred upon His | children transcends in distinction | that which He has given to the mother. Repeatedly in life we dis- cover that the intuition of the mother excels all our boasted reasoning and our so-called logical deductions. She is possessed of a faculty that is un- excelled for weighing and appraising life’s truest and finest values, and in the maintenance of those insti- tutions that have to do with the making of the strong things of char- acter she occuples the most con- spicuous and commanding place. Even the church itself looks to her as its finest ally. Thus we come today to recognize with all love and devotion the exalted distinction of this greatest of all human offices, and in doing so we reverently remember the nobility and sacrificlal service of her of whom it was written: “Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His Mother." Three Kinds of New Deal Trouble Are Now Besetting the President BY OWEN L. SCOTT. Trouble, and more of it, makes life something of a burden for Presi- dent Roosevelt these days. He has official family trouble, court trouble of a serious sort and congressional trouble. Each class of trouble offers its particular problem and calls for a different technique for its correc- tion. The President apparently takes | each trouble in its turn, without los- ing step. He certainly gives no sign that his troubles upset him unduly, or that they will cause him to change his course. Even political troubles of the kind being generated by Father Coughlin, Detroit’s radio priest; by Senator Huey Long and by other per- sonalities and organizations, are dealt with in stride. Much interest now is being shown over the family troubles within the New Deal. Some of these are open. Others are just brewing. One of the older, more evident sit- uations concerns Harold Ickes and Harry Hopkins, They are rival spenders. Mr. Ickes, as administrator of P. W .A., was given $3,800,000,000 to spend. He has been slow in spend- ing and a good deal of that money has been diverted from him. * X X * Mr. Hopkins has little trouble spending money. Besides the appro- | priations from Congress for relief work, he has had hundreds of millions more out of Mr. Ickes' allotment and | out of the R. F. C. His spending has totaled about $3,000,000,000 in two years. It is a remarkable record. On that record Mr. Roosevelt has chosen him to be the real head of the new $4,000,000,000 work relief program. There now is a very intri- cate organization and one involving a lot of people to handle the various aspects of that task, but Mr. Hopkins is the show and is likely to be more 80 as time goes on, That situation has rather hurt Mr. Ickes’ feelings. Mr. Roosevelt has sought to take away the personal sting by making the P. W. A. administrator head of an “allotment committee.” But Mr. Ickes' particular pride has been the spy system built up under P. W. A. Under the new orders Mr. Hopkins now is to set up a division of investigation “to co-ordinate the pertinent work of existing investi- gative agencies of the Government, so as to insure the honest execution of the work relief program.” That makes it look as if the P. W. A. spy system may be disbanded or will have a new hoss in the person of Mr. Hopkins. The old complaint was that s0 much attention was devoted to in- vestigation under public works that work was slowed up. A change is coming there. * % kX Another situation concerns Dr. Rex- ford Guy Tugwell and the Department of Agriculture. Dr. Tugwell is Un- dersecretary of Agriculture. But he also has become administrator of the Resettlement Administration, with the t of $500,000,000 to spend, and without having to report to Henry Wallace, Secretary of Agriculture. Mr. Roosevelt told newspaper men that Dr. Tugwell would have an in- dependent status. He keeps his title as Undersecretary in order to continue to draw $10,000 & year without need- ing confirmation by the Senate. But, as salve to feelings that were wound- ed when some of his cronies were “purged” from the A. A. A, he now becomes his own boss, subject only to Harry Hopkins and the President. That unusual situation could pass unnoticed except for the fact that, as head of the new Resettlement Admin- istration, Dr. Tugwell is taking over a fleld of activity in which the Agri- cultural Adjustment Administration 1s much interested. Some of the A. A. A. personnel is France could have Louisians back, pu and welcome, for that $15,000,000 Na- poleon got. ———————— Surer Weapon. Prom the Saginaw (Mich.) News. New death ray killed a mouse, ac- cording to its inventor, but many housewives will still prefer the broom. need more is & break from the rain, L8 . | be_as nothing. | he manages to iron out personal trou- | lowing: | The result is the prospect of a book | State lines to regulate business. An | | that Congress was without power to | Secretary of State. Mr. Peek keeps ! that recovery lies in the direction of tariff adjustments and revival of nor- mal trade relations with the remain- | der of the world. This situation has | approached the official embarrassment stage. However, President Roosevelt thus far is standing with Setretary | Hull. | There is a Donald Richberg-Labor | Board row that strikes down deep, but | it is relegated to the background by | the doubt over the future of N. R. A. | and its labor section. None of the present troubles quite compares with that which grew out of the break be- tween Mr. Richberg and Gen. Hugh Johnson prior to the general's retire- ment from the New Deal. But the problem of keeping his major actors in line is one that taxes Mr. Roosevelt's ingenuity. Even when bles, there are other troubles of more acute importance to tax his resource- fulness. A glance down the list of leading alphabetical agencies discloses the fol- T. V. A, seeking to remake the economy of the Tennessee Valley, checked in its ambitious electric power development plans by court deeisions. loss this year where a profit had been counted on. Also, communities that had turned to municipal power dis- tribution were stopped. Months must elapse before the Supreme Court con- siders this situation. N. R. A, shorn of much of its| power by decisions of lower court | Jjudges. They questioned the right of the Federal Government to step across early Supreme Court decision may | clear up the scope of central Govern- | ment power A. A. A, in trouble with the mar- keting agreement part of its farm program. Again courts have held that the’ Federal Government cannot ex- tend its powers to regulate all phases of marketing. The Supreme Court has yet to decide whether processing taxes, on which crop-control plans are based, are within the Constitution. N. L. R. B, hamstrung as an agency to regulate labor relations, owing to court decisions limiting the Federal | power. | Old-age pensions and unemploy- ment insurance, in doubt because of a Supreme Court decision holding order old-age pensions for railroad employes. X ki Narrowed down, the fssue between | the New Deal and the courts is whether this country has ceased to be a federation of sovereign States | and now is a single Nation, with the States playing less and less a part. The Constitution stands in the way of many actions by the central Gov- ernment. Dynamite is tied up in that rather uninteresting subject of constitutional law. But just as much dynamite is tied up in some plans with which Congress is toying. President Roose- velt finds that his. congressional troubles grow with time. He is hav- ing to use more and more of his energy to keep the legislators “on the reservation.” | The vote on the plan to pay $2.-| 200,000,000 of bonus debts in newly printed greenbacks is a sample. Treasury officials are convinced that the only immediate effect of distri- bution of that amount of new money would be to create that much new spending, and to add about two bil- lon dollars to bank resgrves that already are huge. But, if money can be printed to pay veterans, it can be printed to pay off farm mortgages. Regular committees in houses of Congress have recommended that $3,000,000,000 be printed for that purpose. And there are depositors in closed banks who want more billions. Then if money is being given away, everybody in the country is going to want to get some. When that time comes, the per- sonal troubles and the court troubles that now bother Mr. Roosevelt may What the President is striving to do is to straighten out all the troubles and see if the country can't work quickly out of the economic hole in which it continues to find itself. His biggest trouble, so some of his ad- visers think, may be the task of curbing Congress in its urge to forget Capital Sidelights BY WILL P. KENNEDY. The Capitol is a great center of at- tack for autograph collectors—and the pages have the fever. Almost any member is called upon to sign his name in albums some hundred or more times a day—and most all of them are pleasant about it. There is also another bit of the collection that the pages are doing— getting autographed photographs of persons in public life. A young protege of Representative “Billy” Connery, chairman of the House Committee on Labor, has the credit among his asso- ciates of having the best photograph and autograph collection. He has been collecting photographs of nota- bles for more than five years and now has more than 350 in a special cabinet. He has members of the Presi- dent’s cabinet and of the Supreme Court, etc. He has about a dozen albums filled with signatures of the biggest men in the country. He con- | siders as the “best looking Governor”— | Gov. Paul V. McNutt of Indiana. He has just received this photograph. This youth is John B. Wells of Win- throp, Mass, and he has charge of the newspaper distribution in the Speaker’s lobby of the House of Rep- resentatives, where he comes in close contact each day with most of the members. “I remember first seeing Gov. McNutt at the American Legion parade in Boston, when he was na- tional commander,” Wells explains. “I though then he was fine looking. Later I saw his picture on the sands at Miami and was determined to get one autographed. The Governor was very kind—so many people have been kind to me. I find people fascinating— | the big men and women are always so | obliging and helpful. I consider myself { most fortunate to be where I can meet and study so many successful peo- | ple—men and women who are making our laws—picked by their fellow men from all parts of the country.” thusiasms—he, too, is always ready to be helpful. * koK of the work-relief set-up, gives a hum- ble member of Congress—Representa- tive William J. Granfled (D., Mass.)— credit for being one of the very few cially of its grounds is one of many vicissitudes and unexpected turnings. To begin with, the manner in which the Capital City has grown has dis- of others connected with the estab- lishment of what Washington always insisted upon calling the Federal City. ‘When the Capitol was bullt it was expected that the city would grow eastward from its site on the com- manding eminence of Capitol Hill. It was for that reason that the imposing front of the Capitol was designed fac- ing to the east. But, for a variety of reasons, the growth of the city did not run with the intentions of the de- signers. One of the reasons was the high price at which the property own- ers held their land. It must be re- membered that such men as Robert Morris, the financier of the Revolu- tion: George Washington himself and other business men of the period, many of whom had had a hand in selecting the site of the Federal City, were in on what today would be called the ground floor. They knew the plans for the location of the new cap- ital of the new republic. It was in- evitable that land speculation should set in. An equally inevitable result was a price rise which had the effect, not of enriching the speculators but of turn- ing the develorment elsewhere. So it was that the city began to grow in the opposite direction, leaving the Capitol and Canitol Hill, so to speak, stranded At what was the designed rear of the Capitol was an expanse of swampy forest land extending to old Tiber Creek. It was an alder swamp, but among the alders stood grand oaks of great age, oaks under which the In- had perched. They shut off the view | of the Potomac River and the Vir- ginia hills. At the time of the War Frank C. Walker, the new big boss | ©f 1812, as a measure of economy, these oak woods were cut down for firewood. Washington's House Still Stands. men who ever defeated him in an elec- tion. They were rival candidates for the office of vice president of the Notre Dame University Alumni Association —and Granfield won. In August. 1932. Granfield attended & dinner in honor of Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was yet to be elected President. The dinner was given by Basil O'Connor, President Rcosevelt's | former law partner, at his Long Is- land Summer home. Granfield and his daughter were chatting with Mr. Roosevelt, Mr. O'Cornor and his brother, Representative John J. O'Con- Rules Committee, when Walker made his appearance. It had been several years since Granfield and Walker had | | seen each other. Their greetings were most cordial and Waiker said to is one of the few men who has licked | me for office.” He and Walker have remained good friends, Granfield said, and he be- lieves President Roosevelt could not have made a better choice for the post of chairman of the National Pmergency Council. | Declining Birth Rates! BY A. G. GARDINER. LONDON, May 11.—The most sig- | is the bonus for babies. I call it the most significent fact because it is the | first hint of the turn of the tide of a | gospel that has swept this country like a new religion. | _ T mean the gospel of birth control. | It is only since the war that that gospel | has been propagated. There had been a steady decline in the birth rate of the country (excluding Ireland, where it still remains stationary) for 40 years | before the war. | that birth control, with Marie Stopes | as its high priestess and people like | Dean Inge and J. M. Keynes as intel- lectual sympathizers, became an or- ganieed crusade, carrying the gospel | into the remotest corner of the land tion and support. The result has been that the birth rate, which in 1880 was 34 per 1,000 of the population, has fallen from 25 in 1920 to 15 and even under 15 today. It is now the lowest of any country in Europe with the ex- ception of Sweden, which has de- clined to the same level. * % X X The phenomenon, of course, is not confined to Britain. with the exception of the Far East, pean countries. Germany’s birth rate for example, has declined from 25 to 17 since the war and is now below the level of France, which, when I was a boy, used to be regarded by pious Britons as the immoral country where people wickedly interfered with the Divinely-appointed processes of Na- ture and were destined to come to no good in consequence. Today the French birth rate at 18 is substantially above that of England. . The country which shows the smallest decline is Italy, where Sgnr. Mussolini has made the duty of the nation to multiply it- !self a leading feature of his state- craft. $ The effect of the declining birth rate of Britain upon the population has been obscured by two facts. The first is the concurrent decline in the death rate, which has steadily fallen from 20 per 1,000 of the population in 1880 to 11 per 1,000 today. The second is the cessation of emigration since the war. We are no longer exporting our surplus population. Indeed, more people have come back to England than have gone forth. * X ok ok In spite of these correctives, the statisticians announce that the coun- try has reached the end of that sus- tained growth of population which be- gan with the industrial revolution of a century ago and that we are on the brink of a serious decline, Two things are likely to intensify it. Un- like the birth rate, which may well fall still further, there is pretty clear evidence that the death rate has now reached something like bedrock. And with the recovery of the world from the economic catastrophe of the last few years, the revival of emigration is regarded as inevitable. Should the revival reach anything like the level of the pre-war years, the depopulation of England would proceed at a much faster pace than the calculations of the statisticians allow for. And there is another consideration in the minds of the chancellor of the exchequer and the government in re- versing engines on the population question and encouraging the tax- payers to produce more bables. When, it ever, the tide of tion begins to flow again it will take with it. not the elderly and the obsolete, but much of the youth and vigor of the country. And this will further accentuate the shifting of the average age of the community which is already in prog- ress. The lengthening of the individual life by something like five years in all the alphabetical New Deal efforts to escape the depression and turn on the printing presses a3 & suppos- the course of the last generation, cou- pled with the limitation of births, has already moved the balance from early manhood to middle age. (Copyright. 19389 But it was not until after the war | and winning for it even official sanc- | The year before his death George | Washington built a brick house a little to the north of the Capitol. A pic- | ture, showing this house in its orig- | inal state and surrounded by a plan- | tation of trees, now long gone, is to be seen in the Towner Division of the Library of Congress. Washington bought other lots in the Federal City, | all in"this general neighborhood. When the creek at the rear of the Capitol was in spate, as always in the Spring of the year, it was not ford- able, and members of Congress, most (of whom dwelt in the thriving and nor, present chairman of the House | fashionable city of Georgetown, were constrained to tie their horses in the woods and cross the stream, at first, it is recorded, on fallen logs and later by a foot bridge. 3 With the passage of years the Cap- | taking potshots at Mr. Hull's thesis | Roosevelt and the O'Connors, “Here | ilol grounds developed and took form., Streets were graded and paved, fol- !lowlng the I'Enfant plan and, grad- | ually, the old common was trans- formed into one of the pleasantest parks in Washington. The slope to appointed the expectations of Maj. | contain a trifle over I'Enfant, of George Washington and |land. Development of the Capitol Grounds BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN. The story of the development of |the westward was terraced and, al- the Capitol at Washington and espe- | though the rear of the building, pre- sents, in the opinion of many ob- servers, a more gracious aspect than the rather stiff and formal classic east front. The Capitol Grounds 126 acres of ‘The whole story of the development of the Federal City has been a story of rumbling, topsy-like changes. Even rnow one may occasionally find a | shack, scarce able to stand, next to | a million-dollar mansion With the richer development of the city going | northwestward, instead of to the ex- pected east, land values on Capitol Hill collapsed. This resulted in the | construction, very near the Capitol, of second and even third rate resi- | dences. Indeed, there was but a single | mansion built facing the Capitol | Plaza. That was the massive stone | mansion constructed by Gen. Ben- Jamin F. Butler after the Civil War. It stood on the site of the new House Office Building, and, for years, was used as a Government building, hous- ing at one time the United States Public Health Service, and, at an- other, the Coast and Geodetic Survey. Unsightly Buildings Must Go. But, for the most part, the Capitol was hemmed in by almost squalid houses. There was a livery stable | nearby and, right over against the | House of Representatives wing, a | stonecutter’s yard with examples of | his graveyard art standing rather | gruesomely about. A short distance | from the Senate wing loomed the high-piled stacks of a lumber yard. Only now are the last vestiges of | this unlikely fringe being removed and | the Capitol Grounds finished off with the art they deserve. The property has been condemned And they all like Wells and his en- | dians hunted and on which eagles (20d the structures are being wrecked | in preparation for extension of the | landscaping. It is a fdr cry from the first appropriation Congress made for local improvements at the National | Capital. That first appropriation was | for the construction of a footpath | from the Capitol to Georgetown, | where many of the members of Con- | gress lived. Incidentally, this foot path went past the White House. Between the date of acquisition and the razing of a number of structures in the space now included in the plaza of the Capitol, the Congress became the landlord of the tenants of these buildings. As ap indication of their relatively low value, it is re- ported that the entire rent roll for the fiscal year 1933 was only about $1,400. Some of the premises rented for as little as $15 a month. It must seem somewhat strange to the person living far from Washington to realize that one could recently rent a dwell- ing, actually facing the Capitol of the United States, for $15 a month. But that is the incontestable fact. All this speedily will be trans- formed and. like much of the rest of Washington, will in a few months present a changed appearance. There will be little left in the neighborhood as a relic of the time when this scrub | oak hill was a part of Duddington, the | manor of the Carrolls of Duddington. | Cotton Competition Is | Now a Serious Threat Europe Concerned Over it 5 BY HARDEN COLFAX. While the President’s Cabinet Com- | mittee, appointed to study the cotton ! textile situation, has been struggling with the three thorny problems con- | nificant feature of the current budget 'Dected with the troubles of cotton— District the necessity to reorganize the indus- try, the effect of the processing tax | and competition from foreign pro- ducers—it is the last that has been making the most dramatic appeal to the American business world Is there any really good reason for the South to be conceraed over the possibility that foreign growers might | take away the market abroad for American cotton? Is there any real danger facing American producers of cotton textiles that such industrial nations as Czechoslovakia and Japan, | particularly the latter, will make seri- | ous inroads in our exports of cotton- finished goods, in spite of our tariffs and what the N. R. A. may do to soften international competition? These are the questions to which, so far. answers from administrative | officials have been in the negative. It | has been considered that this country | has the best cotton land, labor and climate, while our foreign competitors | must face factors that would prevent them from taking our markets from us. RO | Recent reports to the Departments | of Agriculture and Commerce from It is world-wide, | our agents abroad, however, indicate . 1thnt. in producing the raw material, and it is most pronounced in the Euro- | competition from India and Egypt is | increasing, while other countries with favorable climate and soil conditions | are becoming increasingly able to sat- isfy their home needs. In Egypt the cotton industry is !wmewhnt handicapped by the neces- | sity for irrigation. Current reports | from Government agents at Rio de | Janeiro say that increased cotton | acreage has been plented in Brazil this year. Brazil is believed to be a huge potential grower of cotton, and Argentina figures prominently in fu- ture production. Our Government agents at Rio report a recent over- ture from the Japanese government | to the Brazilian govemment, seeking | to lease for a period of years a huge | acreage of Brazilian land and tq send large numbers of cotton workers to Brazil. Japan is regarded as our chief | competitor in cotton textiles. Our Gov. ernment figures agree with those of- ficially issued at Tokio to the effect that, all textiles considered, Japanese exports to this country are compara- tively small. When it comes to cer- tain categories, however, such as cot- ton cloth, Commerce Department figures show there has been an aston- ishing increase in imports from Japan during recent months. In fact, during | the first three months of the present | year the importations from Japan of cotton cloth, bleached. unbleached | and printed or dyed, both in yardage | and value, were almost equal to the | | total importations of these kinds dur- ing the entire year 1934. Recent studies of the cotton indus- try of Japan and China show they are producing goods of a quality which stands up well in what were formerly British and American foreign markets, and that the social and labor condi- tions under which this product is turned out in Japanese mills are com- parable to those in England and the United States. Japan grows no cotton herself, but imports it all, by far the largest quan- titles coming from India and the United States, and the remainder from China and Egypt. However, this handicap of being compelled to buy all her raw material in foreign mar- kets is perhaps equalized by her prox- imity to her great Eastern outlet. Heretofore Japan has confined her ef- forts very largely to China and India, has built up a large and efficient mer- | chant marine, has established lines of | communications and agencies in v.he‘ Orient and has already made substan- tial inroads into British markets in India and American markets in the Philippines. An official study of forelgn competi- tion in cotton, made by the Bureau of ‘Fifty Years Ago In The Star “The activity among the District politicians just now in regard to the filling of the offices, is not of the brass bandr crder,” says The Star of Offices. ray 6, 1885, with ref- erence to the office-holding turn-over incident to the change of administra- tion. “The time for delegations and the circulation of petitions, which marked the early weeks of the present administration, seems to have passed, and, although an occasional delegation may visit one of the departments or the White House, on the surface Dis- trict politics seems to be as calm and restful as if there were no offices to fill and no anxious throng of appli- cants. The candidates for the offices land their friends seem to think the deliberation and caution displayed by |the President the proper course to | pursue, or at least no harsh criticisms are heard. The office seekers are neither pitching into each other nor into the Presicent and they are await- ing the turn of the wheel or the cast- ing of the die with a cheerful serenity that, to say the least, is unusual when the interests of men are involved. One of the leading men in District matters thus summed up the present situation to a Star reporter: ““You express surprise that there is not more stir and excitement among the District people over the District {offices. It is very easily understood. | The first rush is over, but still there | is a great deal of work going on. Men who rushed upon the President before he had fairly got into the White House probably had few if any claims to recognition.” The President has had other matters to attend to, and besides announced his intention of going slowly in making District appoint- ments. I suppose that he means he wants to know about the men. The brass band business doesn't throw much light on the character and fit- ness of an applicant for office, and this has been gencrally appreciated, and so, you see, the excitement and stir has disappeared. Still, it is only on the surface. The President must be posted about the different men, |and it is important to approach him |in the proper way, and this is the flund of work that is now being done. | The opportunity is now being im- proved of bringing to the President's attention to claims of the various candidates, and it is the belief that all this will have some weight. Of course, what is known as the outside influence—I mean the politicians from | the varicus States—is being utilized either at the suggestion of candidates who happen to be on friendly terms with them, or because they want to secure some of the District patronage to strengthen themselves. “‘After all,’ he continued, ‘the main points of interest to District people are the District commissionerships, al- though I believe that District men will be appointed to fill the other offices. The present system of government has been a success in spite of the men who have been Commissioners, and now the people of the District want to see what the system would be when run by men who are acquainted with the needs and interests of the District.’” increase in acreage planted to cotton abroad and potential increases in pro- duction already offer a real threat to the American producer if there is no alteration in cotton prices in this country. Some eight million Amer- icans are dependent for their liveli- hood on growing cotton and exporting it to foreign markets, and a larger . number get their living out of man- ufacturing for home consumption. ‘When it is remembered that Japan is one of our best customers for raw cotton, that we need large exports of American farm products, and at the same time our producers are becoming more and more frightened at the in- . creasing imports of Japanese-manu- factured cotton goods, it will be real- . ized that it is & knotty problem facing Agricultural Economics, but not yet published, is believed to show that the [} the Federal Government. (Copyright, 10352 #