Evening Star Newspaper, May 21, 1935, Page 8

A-8 pcm— With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. TUESDAY........May 21, 1935 THEODORE W. NOYES. .. Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company Business Office: 11th St. and Pennsylvania Ave, oRr SRS A Bt Eirovean oxclfc'rln"m ent St.. London. ngland. Rate by Carrier Within the City. Regular Edition. The Evening Star 45¢ per month unday Star Tohen 4" Sindays) 60c per month iar ~65¢_ per month The Sunday Star .. ... ..bc per copy Night Final Edition. i Star_70c per mont! NIShE “FiiaBlaz. 227 5% 568 Ser montn Collection m at fhe end of each month, Orders may be sent by mail or telephone National 5000. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. L4 Maryland and Virginia. {lv and Sunday .1 yr., $10.00; 1 mo ily only. . 7 y ¥ 6.00: 1 mo. 50¢ inday oniy 135 $400i 1 mo! All Other States and Canada. {ly and Sunday 1 yr., $12.00; 1 mo.. S1¢ lfl{ only. ..... .. $8.00; 1 m 7 Sunday only.. ll1yr! Member of the Associated Press. . 1y en- e TR R e punication. of ol news dispatcl es credited to it or not other- wise credited {n this paper and aiso th local news published herein. Ali rights of publication of special dispatches herein are also reserved. The Logan Bill. If the Logan bill, reported yesterday by the Senate Civil Service Committee, were to be considered on its merits as & measure to improve the Government service, there would be little or no doubt about its early enactment. Un- | fortunately, there is not much chance | of its being so considered. Political patronage is still regarded in too many quarters as a necessary element of the party system in government. To the victor belongs the spoils, and the Logan | bill would deprive the politicians of the | spoils. It is a sound measure, however, and 1t is not too much to believe that pressure of public opinion in years to come will force its passage or the passage of a similar bill. The pur- pose of the bill is to place some 199,000 positions in the Government under the | classified civil service and to require the incumbents of such positions, on & certain date, to pass a non-competi- tive civil service examination. There- nfter the positions would be filled by competitive civil service examination. The passage of the bill would add } greatly to the strength of the merit | system now and in the future. Of more than 651,000 Government | employes, some 199,000 are appointed now without regard to the civil service laws. In the been created in the past two years and declared that the appointive power (the head of the department or agency) shall make appointments re- gardless of the civil service laws. In others Congress has permitted the | head of a department or independent agency to make appointments outside the civil service, while in still others, such as the N. R. A. and the new work- relief agencies, the President is given the right to make appointments with- out regard to the civil service laws. In the first two groups the Attorney General has ruled that the President does not possess power to “blanket” into the classified civil service the po- sitions or the incumbents. In the last- named group, the President may, by‘ executive order, place employes under | the civil service, but that has not | been done. The Logan bill would reverse the | present order to the extent that all| positions would be placed under zhef civil service by statute except those ! which by executive order are specif- ically exempted, and such executive orders would have to be repeated every | four years. Responsibility for main- taining the integrity of the merit sys- tem principle would thus be shifted squarely from Congress to the Presi- dent. No administration in recent years| has suffered such wide criticism as the present administrafion for weak- ening the merit system. The doubtful permanency of some of the new agencles, together with the need for haste in the face of an emergency, have been cited as excuses for legis- About 86,000 of these are found | New Deal agencies which have | & half. In some of these Congress has | are correct. After hanging on the walls of the Louvre for many years this painting was stolen in August, 1911, by an Italian workmen named Vincenzo Perugia, who, after the recovery of the portrait in Florence and its return to Paris, in December, 1913, gave as his reason for the theft that he wished to retaliate on France for taking so many masterpieces from Italy. Peru- gla was later sentenced to imprison- ment for a year and fifteen days. If Dr. Stites’ identification is ac- cepted the two names by which this painting is known throughout the world, “Mona Lisa” and “La Gio- conda,” will be misnomers, but there is little likelihood that they will be dropped. By these titles it has been identified for several centuries and it is not probable that even with scien- tific and artistic adoption of the new identity it will be popularly styled by the name of the lady who sat for Leonardo for four years with a musical accompaniment. The Wages of Relief. The Government is going into the employment business in a big way, through the work-relief program. The rates of pay which the Government is prepared to allow on the work- relief projects have just been an- nounced in an Executive order signed by President Roosevelt. These rates, which run from $19 a month for unskilled labor in the “lower South” to $94 a month for professional serv- ices in New York City, are below the so-called prevailing wage rates in private industry. This nced be no surprise in the light of President Roosevelt’s announced intention to pay a “security wage” when he put forward the plan for a gigantic work- relief program. The fight between the White House and the Senate over the McCarran prevailing wage amend- ment to the work-relief bill when the measure was before the Upper House could leave no possible doubt as to what the President intended. The work relief program, in a gen- eral way, is dedicated to the shifting | of 3,500,000 unemployed workers from the relief rolls to the Govern- ment pay rolls. Instead of permit- ting private business to carry on these work relief projects with private em- ployes and private wage rates there is to be State employment at State wages. The State, which is merely another name for the Government, is going into competition with all kinds of private construction business, and it is going to get its work done for less than private business would do it. And when private business sees the Government getting work done for less than private wages, private busi- ness very likely will see if it, too, can- not cut the costs of labor. One of the troubles about this State employment of unemployed labor is the fact that the Government is un- willing to forget that the work is “made work”; that it is a form of charity. Under such circumstances, the Government argues, the workers should be glad to get what they can for their labor. what may be expected to happen if and when the “planners” who look eventually to a kind of State socialism are in the saddle. pected to take what the Government tells it to take—and like it. ‘This matter of wage scales has ing problems facing the whole ing problems which faced the whole work-relief administration. The Pub- lic Works Administration, built up efficiently under Secretary Ickes of the Interior Department, has had little trouble over wages. There was 1o at- tempt to designate a “security wage.” The actual construction work has been done by private labor as dis- tinct from Government labor. The theory has been to spend money for worthwhile public works, permitting the money to aid private employment and private business. The work-relief program is something else. The Gov- ernment is going to do directly what it was seeking to do indirectly—in- crease the number of the employed. Leaders of organized labor issued warnings against the adoption of the “security wage” before the work-re- iief act became a law. They now see a blow to labor in private industry lative departures from merit system principles. Practical politics and thei demand for jobs, of course, are the | real reasons. Enactment of the Logan | measure would accomplish a great deal | to restore confidence in the adminis- | tration’s real desire to strengthen lhei merit system and outlaw the partisan | spoils system. —————— It is the radioferous desire of Dr. Royal Copeland to have health gen- | erously distributed through the land, but he cannot undertake to alleviate all the depleting worry that accom- panies political care. —_——————————— Mona Lisa Becomes Isabella. ‘The inscrutable smile of Mona Lisa, the portrait painted by Leonardo da Vinei, which hangs in the Louvre, at Paris, is no longer a mystery, since Dr. Raymond 8. Stites, a professor at Antioch College, in Ohio, has discov- ered the identity of the subject. For many years it has been accepted as the likeness of the wife of Piero Fran- cesco del Gioconda, by some authori- ties named Zanobi del Gioconda, hav- ing been so identified by Georgio Va- sari forty years after the death of the gifted painter, who passed in 1519. Now Prof. Stites, after several years of research in the libraries and art galleries of Europe, announces that he has found indisputable proof that the subject of the painting was Isabella d'Este, the Marchioness of Mantua. Probably no other painting in the world has been the subject of so much discussion as this portrait of a smil- ing woman. It has inspired the rhap- sodies of many writers who have sought to interpret the meaning of her expression. The tradition is that Da Vinct took four years to paint it, caus- ing music to be played during the sit- ting in order that the rapt expression might not fade from his subject’s countenance. It has taken centuries to bring to light identity of {rom the wage scales promulgated by the President in his executive order. They are fearful that strikes and un- rest will follow, and they fear, too, that private employers will not be long in taking a leaf from the Gov- ernment’s book, paying lower wages than they have in the past. e ‘With reference to the soldier bonus, the President will deliver his ideas in person without requiring the media- tion of the Secretary of Agriculture or the Postmaster General. Critical Days at Geneva. Once again the League of Nations faces a crisis which will test its capac- ity as an agency for preservation of peace. The Italo-Abyssinian conflict has at length been deposited on Geneva’s doorstep in a form which calls for decisive action. Before the League Council, assembled for its eighty-sixth session, lies a clean-cut case within the meaning of the cove- nant preamble, which stresses “the understandings of international law as the actual rule of conduct among gov- ernments.” Emperor Haile Selassie, menaced by Mussolini’s palpable preparations for large-scale war, has personally ap- pealed for the League's intervention to prevent threatened hostilities. Abys- sinia is a full-fledged sovereign mem- ber of the League. Her territorial and political integrity is guaranteed by all its members. Italy is obligated to re- spect Ethiopian rights not only by her commitments under the covenant and the Kellogg-Briand anti-war pact, but by a 1906 treaty with Great Brit- ain and France, which pledges pres- ervation of the Ethiopian status quo. Yet, despite all these arrangements and safeguards against employment of force, Italy has mobilized an army on the borders of Abyssinia for the un- disguised purpose{of imposing the Here is a taste of | Labor will be ex- | THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTO - e e THE EVENING STAR | the sitter, it Prof. Stites’ conclusions | Italian will at the bayonet’s point and ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN. the cannon's mouth. The League must decide whether Mussolini shall be permitted to adju- dicate his dispute with the Ethioplans by strong-arm methods. He has thundered that he will brook no outside interference, and warned Britain and PFrance in particular to keep hands off his quarrel with Halle Selassie. If his spokesmen at Geneva this week take the position that the League, too, must keep off the Abys- sinian grass, the international body will be confronted by the same kind of a dilemma that was provoked when Japan and Germany in turn defied its authority. Italy, as they did, would probably bolt the League, leaving Geneva once again in the ignominious plight of being revealed to the world as incapable of enforcing its decisions. Britain and Prance, as always the custodians in chief of League prestige, may be relied upon to exhaust every possibility to avert extremes. They are conscious that Italy’s defection, following that of Japan and Germany, would deal Geneva an almost fatal blow. Mussolinl undoubtedly finds himself in a strategic position. Not only are the other Western powers anxious to avoid anything that would imperil the life of the League, but they do not wish to lose Italy's sup- port in possible moves to thwart German aggression in Central Europe. ‘The final result may be an Anglo- French deal with Italy, whereby Mus- solini would find himself free to deal with Abyssinia practically as he pleases. The outcome would be disas- | trous for the Ethiopians, and a crown- ‘tlng travesty on the efficacy of the | League as the protector of small | nations. Yet, amid the currents and cross-currents of international politics | now flowing, that is a consummation which a dismayed and disillusioned world may presently witness. A Council decision on Monday whereby the League washes its hands of the |Chaco war and turns over the | problem to five American nations is an ominous indication that troubles in remote Africa, too, are to be ignored as outside of Geneva's purview. —— e The wealth problem has not changed entirely since the days of Jacob and Esau, when the dominant | idea was to profit by each momentary advantage over necessity. o Like the State of Alabama in & nominating convention, Abyssinia holds a commanding position in the League of Nations because of alpha- betical precedence. s — Lawrence of Arabia wished for obscurity, but was denied it. One of | the elements of Britain's power is the determination to bestow fame where |1t is deserved. ) The Ringling circus is again on {tour. The famous midget will no | doubt see that the genial J. P. Morgan | will get a free ticket whenever he | wants it. oo A tremendous intellectual movement is on foot to invite forgetfulness of more recent quarrels and start hise tory all over again with the period of Henry VIIL Germany, famous for its logical only “Heil, Hitler,” without permitting ;mybody to interject, “warum?” SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Mechanism. A certain gentle fancy Has been manifest of late For the music necromancy Now considered out of date. When the lights are bright and cheer- ing, "Mid a festival array, I wish I could be hearing That old hand organ play. Mussolini comes to proffer Some announcements very great, But no Verdi comes to offer ‘To revise and orchestrate. We have machine guns nearing, Bombing planes are on their way, But instead I'd fain be hearing ‘That old hand organ play, Nobody Missed. “What has become of the forgotten man? “He doesn’t exist,” answered Sena- tor Sorghum. “The United States mail makes daily disclosure that no one is 50 lowly and obscure as not to be on somebody's sucker list.” . Jud Tunkins says he likes to pay as he goes, but as a taxpayer he'd like to inquire whether he’s gettin’ anywhere, Emblematical Art. I seldom see & Congressman ‘With whiskers on his chin, Although I do the best I can I can't approve the grin ‘Which “Uncle Sam” displays on call, 'Mid patriotic chants; It wearies me and, most of all, I do not like his pants. Confiding. “What's worrying you now?” “A brain trust,” answered Mr. Dus- tin Stax. “I hired a tremendously smart lawyer and I trusted him im- plicitly.” Heathendom. Why do the heathen rage With temper seethin'? In question we engage, “Who are the heathen?” A heathen we espy, " A man and brother, He simply makes reply, “You are another!” “Politics,” said Uncle Eben, “sounds to me like a game where folks ask rid- dles, only instead of laughin’ dey gits mad.” Safer Awheel Than Afoot. Prom the Chester (Pa.) Times. A lot of fellows who really don’t know how to steer an automobile are driving around use they feel that it is too to walk, philosophy, is now supposed to say | THIS AND THAT D. C, TUESDAY, BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. There is more than one way to sustain a loss. ‘The idea is so completely wound up with money that many persons fail to realize that they suffer deprivation in many ways. One of the most common, and often least realized, lies in the failure to be fair to others in ordinary conversation. One is not being fair if differences of opinion are greeted with surly, un- friendly airs; with contempt or any other indication of dislike of difference. It is possible to wonder if any human ever honestly liked a differing opinion. Education tends to make the world unbending in its estimates. ‘This was one of the dangers the poet had in mind when he asserted that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. He realized, perhaps better than most, that unfortunately the tendency of learning. as commonly known, is to make people intolerant of others, especially the ideas held by others. Here education is faced with an almost impossible task, of course. It is asked, on the one hand, to attempt to “educate out” of human beings & certain amount of intolerance. In that very doing education slowly builds up more intolerance, in effect specializing on that which manifests itself in a red face, flashing eyes and loud, explosive voice at the mere men- tion of a difference of opinion. * x x % Any one who indulges in these mani- festations is simply cutting himself off, consciously or unconsciously, from | much entertainment, some possible gain, a great deal of help. For it is almost incontrovertible that the progress of humanity has come about largely through an inter- change of ideas. All the good in civilization, and some of the bad, has resulted from the exchange of opinions. What one man has thought has been phssed on to another, and what the second man has thought has been modified, perhaps, as a result. Or the second man made his com- ments, and passed them back to the first, who, if he really possessed the mind capable of acquisition, modified his own ideas, retaining what semed | to him good, discarding what seemed | to him not so good. * ok ok ok This is the passage of the torch of learning from hand to hand. It is the way, and almost the only way, in which the average human be- ing ever begins to acquire the ele- ments of civilization. Because one lives in a civilization does not mean that one is civilized. The great failure of society has been right here. ‘We cover our eyes to the fact that part of civilization is just as uncivil- ized as ever, indeed it is worse, be- cause it is supplied with the elements of civilization, but to make a misuse of them, not to use them as the civil- ized portion contemplated. Hence every city has wild and reck- less driving, urged on by the speed mania, in f{tself a misuse of the powers brought forth from Nature by the mind of man. Contemplating the cars roaring along our boulevards, the spectator may ask himself what all these people are doing hurling themselves through space so fastly for, when the great | George Washington had time enough to take all day to make the journey between Mount Vernon and Washing- ton. STARS, MEN coming Summer. ‘The meteorological deadlock which was threatening to create an American Sahara appears to have been broken during the past two months, says J. B. Kincer, principal meteorologist of the United States Weather Bureau, and if the great air masses over the conti- nent continue to behave there should be normal rainfall for the rest of the year. The conditions fundamentally re- sponsible for the drought have changed. The masses of air from the North Pole once more are spilling out of the Arctic basin through the low- lying valley of the McKenzie River in Northwestern Canada and sweeping southward just east of the Rocky Mountains over the Dakotas and Kansas. Last year there was very little cold air coming down west of the Mississippi. It was as if the Mc- Kenzie Valley had been plugged. The Arctic “highs” escaped southward by way of Hudson's Bay and the Great Lakes. Great masses of cold air overlying & region are absolutely essential for rain. Cold air must come from the Arctic. It breaks out along the Arctic Circle at points of least resistence, such as low waterways. There are two such north of North America—the Mc- Kenzie Valley and Hudson's Bay. Sometimes the “highs” come through both. Sometimes, for no known rea- son, they come through only one. Once such a process has started, it tends to continue until something happens to break it up. ‘The Winter of 1933-34 was one of the coldest ever known east of the Mississippi and one of the warmest to the westward because all the cold air was coming through the Hudson's Bay break in the Arctic basin. The region west of the Mississippi, conse- quently, was covered with great masses of tropical air. It contaired moisture enough, but it had a monopoly. There were no cold waves coming down to disturb it. Consequently it remained stagnant. Now, as Mr. Kincer explains, the one requsite for rain is that a tropical air mass and a polar air mass shall bump against each other. The colder air, of course, is heavier and hugs the surface. The warm air must climb over it, just as if it were a mountain in the way. As it climbs it is cooled and the cooling process squeezes the moisture out of it. The result is rain. There will never be precipitation from tropical air left in undisturbed possession of an area in the temperate zone. There was water vapor enough in this warm air all the time, Mr. Kincer says, to have provided the Great Plains with normal rainfall. But the fate of the territory depended on something that was happening in Northwestern Canada where the willow-fringed McKenzie empties into the Arctic. Late in February the change started. The Arctic air masses started coming down along their ac- customed path. As they crossed the Canadian border they smashed into the stagnant tropical air which had been disturbed very little for a year or more. Abundant rains were the re- sult over the Dakotas and Montana. During the Spring they have had a slightly more than normal rainfall, in striking contrast to the year before when hardly a drop had fallen on the But. alr was obstinate. Lo Notebook of Science Progress in Field, Laboratory and Study. BY THOMAS R. HENRY. The Great Plains area of the United | The change brought no relief to the States, stripped bare by drought and | southern part of the drought area— duststorms during the- past year, has | Western Kansas, Eastern Colorado, a much more favorable outlook for the | If Gen. Washington could go slower, who in the name of Heaven are all these ordinary mortals, that they should speed along the road as if a veritable modern devil were after them? A devil is after them—the devil of the machine age, abeut which every one has heard a great deal. Well, thete is the devil, which is an idea, here as always, this time that be- cause one can make a thing go, one should compel it to go as fast as possible. * % kX ‘The popular idea, that humanity is is ineapable of any new acquirement after a certain age, comes about be- cause it has been found that most of them do not make any particular gains. Laziness, indifference, desire for amusement, and 8o on, are given as the reasons, rather than any real in- capacity after the age of 40 years, but perhaps this resentment of indiffer- ence of opinion is really at the bottom of it. If one becomes red in the face, simply over an everyday difference of opinion, he drives away from himself much help, and it is possible that the failure of many persons to learn any- thing after a given age is due partly to this piling up of choler. Anger has been preached against, all during the ages, and it is just as much a theme today as ever. Per- haps it deserves consideration more now than ever before, because we are supposed, as a race, to have made some headway against it, when the truth seems to be that the devil of :il,ecn is mightier than in the days of old. Then, too, there are so many more things to become angry over now! Motor cars alone give opporunity every day for thousands of near-quar- rels and hundreds of very real ones. Handling of machines does not come natural to many persons. A driver may be a good driver, what in all fair- ness must be called a good driver, yet achieve this end by sheer will power, at the same time piling up a nerve tension which makes him flame into rage when any other driver does something he does not like. * ¥ *x % In the pedestrian life one cuts him- self off completely from interchange of ideas, if he flies into a rage, or semi-rage, at difference of opinion. Others in time come to expect {t and react in one of two ways. If they are modest men, of true humility, they deplore such explosions over nothing, and either conceal their real opinions or reply little if anything. If they are of the same type as the | explosive gentleman they give him in kind, but since such talk is not con- ducive to real intellectual work, neither party to the conversation gets much from it. It simply is & series of state- ments, lacking the interchange of ideas which is the best feature of the best conversations. The explosive, intolerant person loses too much in the everyday life. There is a saying that you can't get something for nothing, and in the main that is true, although there are some interesting exceptions. There is none, however, in regard to the in- terchange of ideas. He who will not permit another to state what he thinks, so long as he thinks it, is not going to give anything, either, be- cause his ideas, expressed in such a one-sided conversation, are bound to be shallow, hasty and essentially un- intelligent. AND ATOMS Northern Texas and New Mexico— and it seemed not unlikely that these sections would experience a repetition of the drought. Meteorologists watch- ed anxiously for the highs to encounter | the lows far enough south to bring rain, where it was so badly needed. This did not happen until the middle of May, when polar air masses had pushed south over Kansas and an extensive low formed over Northern | Arizona. The two were in precisely the right | relationship to each other to bring abundant rain. The result was some of the heaviest precipitation ex- perienced by that region in recent years. Of course, there is no absolute guarantee that this situation will con- tinue and the Weather Bureau refuses to make any predictions. Meteorolo- gists point out, however, that weather conditions tend to persist once they have been established. When a drought is broken it usually continues broken. * ok X X Mr. Kincer sees scant basis for the dire predictions that a considerable part of the United States may revert to desert. There have been just as severe droughts in the same region be- fore, and for the same reasons. “The recent drought in the Great Plains,” he said, “was only what may be expected to occur periodically in climates such as this. There is no | evidence that during the last few years the climate here has perma- nently changed. Rather, we are going through a periodic dry phase of the existing climate. Such periods of dis- astrous drought are not confined to our Great Plains, but obtain in other parts of the world having similar cli- mates.” Such factors as deforestation and drainage play very little part in caus- ing such a drought, he says. West Virginia, for example, is heavly for- ested, yet no part of the United States was more severely afflicted by the great drought of 1930. As for the drainage theory, Mr. Kincer says: “It is argued that, with the destruc- tion of thousands of square miles of water surface, there is obviously less moisture contributed to the air through evaporation and consequently less to condense and precipitate as rain. This is superficial reasoning. Before the recent drought Nebraska was credited with less than 1 per cent of water surface, including ponds, lakes and rivers. A little simple arith- metic shows that if every ounce of water evaporated from these should have been returned to the State in rainfall, the annual amount would be increased by only half an inch. With a 10-acre pond on every half section of land in the State, assuming that every bit of it was evaporated and re- turned as rain, there would be pro- duced only about an inch and a half annually.” There is water enough normally in the atmosphere, Mr. Kincer says, to provide the n amount of rain- fall. The great source of supply for that section of the country is the Gulf of Mexico, although normally the gulf water would have fallen as rain and again have been evaporated into the at- mosphere several times before reach- ing the Central Great Plains. The whole great tropical air mass has been moisture-laden, but there has been nothing to squeeze the water out. ‘The future depends on the McKen- Do syl sasses” scatinue to scme mssses continue to MAY 2f, 1935. ‘The Bankhead Bill Will Give Farmers a Chance To the Editor of The Star: The Bankhead farmers’ home cor- poration bill, which will probably come up before the Senate soon, is the one piece of legislation which gives the man who has reached the end of his Present resources & chance to make his own recovery. I am writing as one who has had actual experience with every branch of the New Deal designed for this pur- pose, but in a large degree failing to meet with any very great accomplish- ment. Two and a half years ago, be- fore the present administration was in power, I decided to try to do some- thing to bring together the acres of unused land in the South and the man in the bread line up North. I think I am correct in saying that this was one of the very first applications to the Government for rehabilitation. The R. F. C. was then the only agency to which I could appeal. I was ad- vised to put through the State hous- ing bill in Florida (a State in which climatic conditions are favorable). A few days after this bill was passed and signed by the Governor the R. F. C. policy was changed and the applica- tion was sent to Public Works, Sub- sistence Homesteads, and on down the line, never at any time being re. Jected, and at one time being approved but running into a State snag which finished it in that department. As I understand the Bankhead bill, if it is passed, the man who has a good record and has been or feels himself capable of becoming a farmer may take his own destiny in hand, as | any good American wants to do, and say to the Government: “I think I | can take my family on this twenty acres of land and make a living, pro- vided I can borrow enough mortgage at long-term payments to start me off. I do not ask that the property be deeded to me until I show what I can do.” ‘This is no more than has been done for the home owner through the Home Owners’ Loan Corp., but this process should help the city man be- fore he gets on relief, ‘The other purpose of this bill deals with the tenant farmer problem, which has been growing rapidly in the last few years. Every American knows the advantage of home ownership, and the Bankhead bill will give this privilege to the tenant, together with added re- sources, which now are divided with the landowner, As I understand the situation the subsistence homesteads deal only with the man who has some definite in- come, outside of what he can grow on his homestead. The Federal Housing Administration insures only urban property. The F. E. R. A. rural re- habilitation is only for those on relief, and groups of houses are built by the Government and the family assigned to certain locations, leaving the indi- vidual very little say in his own destiny. On the other hand, the Bank- head bill will allow the hard-pressed man to strike out for himself, and at least attempt to rebuild his own life, as your and my ancestors have done | before us. GENEVIEVE VON ASCHEBERG. Mr. Metzerott Explains Rent Control Testimony To the Editor of The Star: In your news article of May 17 con- cerning the public hearings on the Ellenbogen rent control bill a portion of my testimony is quoted in such a way as to distort its meaning and purpose and as a result is not quite fair to me. I am sure this was not done intentionally. This is not, there- fore, intended to be & complaint, but rather an explanation of my attitude. I was not present as a voluntary witness, but was there under a sum- mons from the committee, and as I am neither a landlord nor a tenant and have no grievance against either group, individually or collectively, it is fair to assume that my testimony represented only my personal views without bias. All other witnesses, with | the possible exception of the gentle- man representing the Federation of | Citizens’ Associations, had a personal interest in the passage or defeat of the legislation. The chairman of the committee | definitely stated at the outset that I was present at his request, and I ex- plained that I did not care to testify as tc present conditions, but would confine myself to conditions as they existed during the life of the former Rent Commission, the difficulties en- countered in successfully administer- ing the law, and my opinion as to the necessity for certain provisions in any new law in order to make its ad- ministration successful. I did not advocate or oppose the enactment of any rent legislation, but stated that if there is to be legislation on the sub- ject it should be based upon the “po- lice power” and not upon emergency. I stated that while the refusal to allow landlords to evict their tenants would constitute very drastic legisla- tion I did not believe that a law regu- lating rents could be successfully ad- ministered without some such pro- vision. It seems to me that this is quite different from saying, as you quoted me without qualification, “he favored the proposal to deny land- lords the right to evict tenants with- out first securing the permission of a rent commission,” During the war period the Govern- ment built an extensive group of structures near the Union Station Plaza, which it rented to its employes. Recently there has been mention of the introduction in Congress of similar legislation, as well as legislation to provide Government housing for Senators, Representatives and legisla- tive employes. Might it not be well to consider which is the lesser of two evils—regulation of rents or Govern- ment competition? Money flowed freely into the de- velopment of public utilities during regulation, but it is panic stricken in its efforts to get away from the New Deal competition in the utility field. OLIVER METZEROTT. Cites Roosevelt’s Speech In 32 on Gold Standard To the Editor of The Star: I listened with interest the other evening to Mr. Morgenthau's recent broadcast in which he severely criti- cized the previous administration for letting gold go out of the country. Doubtless nearly every one with an ordinary amount of intelligence knows that Mr. Roosevelt is his own Secre- tary of the Treasury, but for the benefit of his mouthpiece, Mr. Mor- genthau, I would like to refer him to Mr. Roosevelt's speech at Brooklyn, N, Y, near the end of the campaign, in which he stated that Mr. Hoover’s claim that we were nearly forced off the gold standard was a “libel on the credit of the United States.” VICTOR F. BENNETT. down by this channel for the rest of May and through early June the drought-stricken region may be fairly confident of a normal Summer. But everything depends upon Nature. There is nothing that man eu:h do anticipate that there will " A reader can get the answer to any question of fact by writing The Washington Evening Star Information Bureau, Frederic J. Haskin, Director, Washington, D. C. Please inclose stamp for reply. Q. How many men and boys can the Y. M. C. As of the country ac- commodate with rooms?—J. L. A. The 685 Y. M. C. As reporting in 1933 could take care of 66,137. Q. I receive from time to time the Congressional Record printing the speech of some Representative. On the top page I see “Not printed at Gov- ernment expense.” May I ask at whose expense and how?—E, W. T. A. The distinction, “Not printed at Government expense,” used over a speech of a member of Congress, means that the member has nimself paid for the printing of the speech. When a member has speeches printed for his own use these are printed at his own expense. Q. How many children are adopted in this country each year?—B, L. A. The number is not known, but an approximation shows about 30 adoptions to 100,000 population, or about 37,500. Q. What is oakum?—C. J. A. It is loose hemp fiber obtained by untwisting old™roj and picking the strands into fiber, Q. Why does Warden Lawes of Sing Sing oppose capital punish- | ment?>—R. T. H. A. He says: “I am unalterably op- posed to capital punishment, not be- cause of sentimental reasons but be- cause it is neither a deterrent nor is it equitably enforced. Over 10,000 murders are committed in the United States every year. Not more than 2 per cent of the murderers reach the death chair. Remove capital punish- ment from the penal code and substi- tute life imprisonment, and judges, prosecutors, jurors, lawyers, the press and the public will be enabled to pass upon the merits of each case without passion, sentiment or emotion.” Q. Is the double negative permitted in other languages?—L. H. A. In Anglo-S8axon, Greek, French and some other languages, the double tensifier. In modern English it de- stroys the force of the real negative; in other words, two negatives make (an affirmative. Q. Please describe the Eternal Light in New York City—L. W. C. A. This is a war memorial in the form of a shaft of Oregon pine 125 feet high, surmounted by a heavy glass star in which are electric lights to be kept burning perpetually. The base is of pink Knoxville marble. Q. What is commercial geography? |—=G. T. A. It treats of the distribution of the world's products, of existing de- mands for these commodities, and means of transportation and ex- change. Q. May Confederate veterans be buried in Arlington Cemetery?—J. L. A. They may be under the follow- ing conditions: “Persons dying in the District of Columbia or in the im- mediate vicinity thereof who have served in the Confederate armies dur- | ing the Civil War, may be buried in the | Confederate section of the Arlington | National Cemetery without additional expense to the United States, upon | the certificate of Camp Numbered 171, | United Confederate Veterans of the | District of Columbia, that such per- | sons are entitled to burial under the | authority given in this section: Pro- | vided, that all such interments shall | be under the supervision and subject to the approval of the Secretary of War.” Q. What will take the “taste of the cask” out of wine?>—J. D. F. A. The following method is sug- gested: Finest oil of olives, one pound. Put it into the hogshead, close bung, and roll about, or othera wise well agitate it, for three or four hours; then gib and allow it to settle. The olive oil will gradually rise to the top and cerry the il flavor with it, Q. _How long did it take to build the Colosseum at Rome?—J. A. M. A. It is said that this enormous structure was completed within a year, the compulsory labor of 12,000 Jews and Christians being used. Q. How long was President McKin« ley's wife an invalid?—H. A. A. She died in 1907 and had then been an invalid for over 20 years. Q. Please give some information about the work of Duncan Phyfe. —J. G. A. Duncan Phyfe (1768-1854) was the first outstanding furniture de- signer in America. His style throughe out was composed of three elements skilfully commingled, the Adam- Sheraton, the Empire and hjs own original ideas. He came to New York City as a youth, received the patron- age of the John Jacob Astor family, and by 1800 was the country's fore- most furniture designer. His work may be divided into the following sections: 1795-1842, Adam-Sheraton influence. This period produced his finest work. « 1830-1847, Empire. In | the first part he continued to desizn beautiful furniture, but later there was a decline in his artistry. Q. What is the scope of the work done by the Children's Bureau in Washington?—E. L. A. The act establishing the bureau provides that it shall investigate and report upon all matters pertaining to the weifare of children and child life among all classes of our people, and shall especially investigate the quese tions of infant mortality, the birth rate, orphanages, juvenile courts, de= sertion, dangerous occupations, accie dents and diseases of children, em- ployment, and legislation affecting | children in the several States and Ter= | ritories, The bureau is also empow= ered to publish the results of thess investigations in such manner and to such extent as may be prescribed by the Secretary of Labor, negative acts only as a negative in- | Q. How fast does the earth travel in its orbit?>—E. B. | A. It travels 19 miles a second ocn | its journey around the sun. Q. What percentage of the appli- cants for Army flying training at Rane dolph Field are selected for this traine | ing?—W. P. G, i A. During the fiscal year 1934 (July | 1, 1933-June 30, 1934) 1,917 applica- tions for flying training were received at the Air Corps training center. Of this number of applicants a total of 1,587 were approved and ordered to | take the prescribed physical examina- tion. Of the total of 1.587 applicants given the physical examination, a total | of 321 actually qualified. Q. Where is Old Ironsides now?— 8. R. A. The ship Constitution (Old Iron- sides) is stationed at the Boston Navy Yard at the present time. Q. In what salary group are the | most families in the United States?— K. K. A. Between $1,000 and $2.000 a year. It was estimated that 5,750,000 fam- ilies received $1,000 or less a year, 10,500,000 received between $1,000 and $2,000 a year, 5,000,000 families re- ceived between $2,000 and $3,000 s year, 3,750,000 received between $3,000 and $5,000 a year and the remaining families, about 2,500,000, over $5,000 a year income. Q. Is the reindeer domesticated?— S.E, A. It has long been domesticated in Scandinavia, especially among the Laplanders, and in Northern Asia, for its flesh, milk and hide and for use as a draft animal. In Kamchatka it also serves as a saddle and pack an- imal. It sometimes attains a speed of | 10 miles an hour. Passage of the banking bill by the House of Representatives brings com- ment in the press that the fight over this measure will be more spectacular in the Senate. It is pointed out }tmt opposition to the provisions | which’ place control of currency and | eredit in the hands of the Govern- Jment is likely to be led by Senator Glass of Virginia. Supporters of the banking bill favor taking control away from private banking. “Assuming that the Government alwayls consisted of wise and patri- otic men” says the Long Beach (Calif.) Press-Telegram, “its ability to control money and credit, and con- sequently the ebb and flow of busi- ness, would be a beneficent thing, protecting the people from the violent and destructive fluctuations which have been witnessed in recent years and periodically in the past. The of a central bank will be political control.” “Amendments proposed by bankers,” states the Akron Beacon Journal, “which would have destroyed the re- forms embodied in the bill, including the direct Government control of credit, the volume of money to be placed in circulation and the deposit insurance plan, which has done so much to revive confidence in the banking system, were turned down. ‘The fact that the bill as it emerges from the House is not satisfactory to extremists in either of these groups is its best warrant to general public ind nt. It gives the President the right to appoint Reserve Board governors, who will be broadly rep- resentative of financial, agricultural, industrial and commercial interests. It would curb the power of centralized private banking control to expand or contract credit and currency at will, one of the fruitful causes of the mar- ket crash of 1929 and the wave of speculation that preceded it.” “The bill should be passed” de- clares the Sacramento Bee, “because, as President Roosevelt himself well has said, ‘These (proposals) are a minimum of wise readjustment of our Federal Reserve System in the light of past experience and present needs.’ ” opposition, the New York Sun remarks that under the bill “greenback financing, masquerading in an orthodox finance costume, would be made easy.” The Sun also ob- serves: “The reasoned statement ex- plaining the significance of the bank- ing bill of 1935 and its relation to banking and business which William C. Potter, chairman of the Guaranty ‘Trust Co., has sent to that institu- tion’s stockholders should serve as a call to all banks and business men to unite in opposition to the bill.” "v standing sponsor for such a measure,” asserts the Chicago Daily News, “Pranklin D. Roostvelt not only repudiates every Democratic principle and tradition, but flouts the memory of every great leader the party has | danger is that Government control | Banking Bill Is Promised Rough Handling in Senate | of pelf’ of the trusts, mergers and | combines that have always favored | central banking for America. The { New York background of the Presi- dent’s heritage and rearing finds fit expression in this bill, but to the West | and the South his attitude is one of | opposition to the financial independ- ,ence for which they have struggled for more than a century. History has no more ironical anti-climax than this spectacle of a President elected on a Democratic ticket seeking to | foist upon the country a system of | banking that has been abominated by | the Democratic party from its birth.” | “The bill cannot help but make the system a polictical foot ball,” says the Lincoln (Nebr.) State Journal, while the Nashville (Tenn.) Banner believes that “the idea of a central bank has long been offensive to public opinion,” and the Columbia (S. C.) Record holds that it is “as if the Government assumed physical management and hung a sign, ‘Bank of the United States,” over every bank.” “It conveys,” according to the In- dianapolis News, “the functions of ownership of the Federal Reserve System from the banks to the poli- ticians. Repeated demonstrations that this plan has never worked in any country seem to have no effect on the | administration. The failure of the United States to make it work a century ago is ignored. The fact that most of the banking ills of the coun- | try were brought on by politicians, | who relaxed the banking laws and encouraged speculators and stock job- bers to set up so-called banks as ‘fronts’ for their operations, is of no force, apparently, in Washington. There is, however, a substantial hope that able men in the Senate will save the country from an experiment of disastrous possibilities to the credit structure on which business confidence rests.” ] The Changing Times. From the Kalamazoo Gazette. ‘There was a time when some people believed in chewing each mouthful of food a certain number of times, to ald digestion. Now they do it to get thelir money’s worth. A Rhyme at Twilight By Gertrude Brooke Hamilton. Town Bachelor Of an evening in his pent house Overlooking town Friends of his tell him their troubles As the sun goes down; Men whose children squander money, Chaps with wandering sons, Men whose youngsters are rebellious, Some with paragons. Problems of the heart they bring him E'er the stars have shone. followed to victory or defeat. In the ld of finance the adminis! allied itselt with the ‘comm With a smile and sigh he listens— He who lives alone, ’