Evening Star Newspaper, July 8, 1935, Page 8

THE EVENING STAR With Sundsy Morning Editien. WASHINGTON, D. C. MONDAY .. ceeene .July 8, 1935 THEODORE W. .Editor ‘The Evening Star Newspaper Company. Business Office: 11th St. and Pennsylvania Ave (‘h}x':l'loygflk!c?‘m Sice Michighn Bidine European Office: 14 Regent St.. London. Engiand Rate by Carrier Within the City. Regular Edition. 45¢ per month 60c per month 65c_per munth - "6 per copy NOYES....couot a. ‘The Sunday Star. .. Night Final Edition. Night Pinal and Sunday Star. .. 70c per month 1ght Final Star - 55¢ per month Collection made at the end of each month. Orders may be sent by mail or telephone Na- tional 5000. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. Daily ard Sunday..l yr. $10.00: 1 mo.. 85¢ Daily only ... 1 yr., $6.00; 1 mo., 30c Sunday only ". 1 yr. $4.00; 1 mo. 40¢ All Other States and Canada. Dally and Sunday.1 yr. $12.00; 1 mo.. $1 Daily only 1 yr. $8.00; 1 mo. Sunday only. ... .1 yr. $5.00: 1 mo. Member of the Associated Press. The Assoctated Press is exclusively entitled to the use for republication of all news dispatches credited 10 it Or not otherwise credited in this Paper and also the local news published herein. Il rights of publication of special dispatches herein Iso reserved _—— 00 756 bue Mussolini’s Motives. With the failure of Emperor Haile Belassie to induce the United States to set the Kellogg pact in motion to stay Italy’s hand, Mussolini seems to regard all international possibilities of obstruc- tion at an end and now thunders his “irretrievable decision” to make war on the Ethiopians. Fresh troop transports leave Italian ports almost daily and the country has been lashed into a war frenzy as Il Duce electrifies it with grandiloguent visions of the manner in which Fascist legions in Africa are about to “rewrite an heroic page of Italian history.” Along with assertions of the {dealistic purposes which inspire their *civilizing mission” comes the grim announcement that Italian scientists have perfected a chemical for saturat- ing the Abyssinian soil so as instanta- neously to burn the soles of Haile Selas- sie’'s barefooted soldiers who cross ter- tain thus treated. In The Sunday Star there was a quo- tation from an article written for the Manchester Guardian by an Italian, Carlo Rosselli, which is one of the acutest analyses so far to reach this country as to the motives alleged to underly Mussolini's war plans. Signor Rosselli declares that the Fascist state has never been so powerful, but that *“Italian society has never been so weak.” Material strength and irresistible coer- cion, he says, march shoulder to shoul- der with popular passivism, indifference and resigned despair, youth included. The corporative state, with which Mus- solini attempted to galvanize the masses, is depicted as a myth. Trade unions have been disillusioned. Wealth has not been “distributed.” National finan- cial chaos is held to be imminent, with reserves depleted through fabulous ex- penditure “for appearances and for war.” Exports decrease, taxes rise and living standards diminish. “These,” Signor Rosselli contends, “are some of the hidden motives which have decided II Duce to throw himself into the colonial venture against all reason.” The Abyssinian expedition is thus en- visioned as not merely a diversion, but as a supreme effort to break through the inertia of the country and give to the dictatorship a goal, a justification and a glittering success. At the same time, the existence of a state of war imposes an iron discipline upon the people, silences criticism and serves to rid Italy of dangerous social and political ele- ments, which, according to Signor Ros- selli, are simply banished to Africa. Allowance must be made for the prob- ebility that the writer who thus pre- tends to lift the veil is a militant anti- Fascist, yet other uncensored indica- tions oozing out of Rome have corrob- orated much of the dark picture which he draws. If conditions even approxi- mate those which he narrates, Musso- 1ini has ample reason to drug his peo- ple with prospective “glories” on African battlefields as the surest method of bol- stering a tottering regime at home. —————— ‘Will Hays was a most capable factor in the Warren G. Harding campaign. Exigencies may arise to suggest taking him out of the movies and putting him back into politics. e Baton Rouge is reported by Louisiana as headquarters not only for some ancient traditional Red Stick, but as a modern custodian of a political big stick. —————————— Columbia Institution. Secretary Ickes has filed an applica- tion for $210,000 of work-relief funds to provide necessary new construction for the Columbia Institution for the Deaf in this city. If this proposal is approved—and there should be no ques- tion on that score—it will be the first provision of funds for building in sev- enteen years, during which time the student body has increased -twenty- seven per cent. Columbia Institution for the Deaf was incorporated by an act of Congress approved February 16, 1857, and was established on a two-acre tract given by Amos Kendall, & leading citizen of Washington. Through Mr. Kendall's activity the late Edward M. Gallaudet, member of & family of distinguished educators, was brought to Washington to be the superintendent. He served for many years. Under his administra- tion a collegiate establishment was organized for the higher education of those deprived of hearing and speech, and in the course of the years many hundreds of students have been gradu- ated from its halls and have gone forth to success in various fields of occupa- tion despite their afflictions. On the occasion of the public anni- versary of Gallaudet College in May, 1881, President Garfield was present and made an address in the course of which he said: “I am glad to say that A in spite of all the differences of party opinion we have worked together in trying to make this institution worthy of our Capital and our people. I am glad to believe that this progress will be unimpeded by any changes that may happen at the Capital, and unchanged by any vicissitudes that may happen to the country.” This forecast has been fulfilled. Gallaudet College, as the collegiate branch of the Columbia Institution for the Deaf is known, has been maintained, but at times with difficulty owing to inadequate funds. This present pro- posed allocation of work-relief funds will provide xmprovemen'cs and enlargements, the need of which has been felt for some years. Regard for the services of the devoted men and women who for more than three-quarters of a century have labored in this important field of education should insure the grant of this fund and the establishment of a more liberal scale of financial provision for its future development. No More Delays. ‘The Senate subcommittee on the sec- ond deficiency bill is considering the item for a new home for the General Accounting Office, headquarters of the controller general. That branch of the Government has grown to large propor- tions. It has never had an establish- ment of its own and it is now housed in the old Pension Building, in Judiciary Square, a temporary location pending the construction of a new building or perhaps the rearrangement and possible extension of that structure. The House bill now before the Senate subcommittee contains a provision of $2,000,000, part of an ultimate expenditure of $4,700,000, to add two wings to the old Pension Office and to reface the exterior. Two factors, however, enter into the equa- tion to raise doubt as to the advisa- bility of this plan. One is that a senti- ment prevails in Congress that the Gen- eral Accounting Office should be located nearer the Capitol. Another is that in the readaptation of plans for the Mu- nicipal Center, for which a large area was purchased by the District between the Court House and Pennsylvania avenue and which cannot be utilized be- cause of the District's financial strin- gency, the use of Judiciary Square is contemplated for such erections as may be required for municipal purposes, with the old Pension Building revamped and perhaps enlarged as one of the units of the group. 1t is to be hoped that the complica- tion will not cause delay in decision and further postponement of definite and adequate provision for this needed addi- tion to the Federal Government's equip- ment. Choice should be made now be- tween the two propositions, with a third possible in the taking of part of the District’s Municipal Center land on Penn- sylvania avenue for this purpose. There is no advantage in procrastination, which has already, in the case of other Gov- ernment building works in Washing- ton, cost enormously. The whole mat- ter has been thoroughly studied and is ripe for settlement. Most of the Government's official hous- ing troubles in Washington have arisen from postponements caused by differ- ences of opinion regarding sites and designs. The plan for the taking of the Mall-Avenue triangle lagged for many years for that reason, and in con- sequence the ultimate cost to the Gov- ernment for the land alone was nearly trebled. Even now there is a blockade in the completion of this great project due to lack of decision. In the same way the construction of new homes for the War and Navy Departments, now wretchedly housed in the “temporary” war-time buildings in Potomac Park, is lagging for lack of decision, and the transaction of the public business is in consequence impeded and complicated. History has often shown instances of moral charges that complicate political purposes. Ethiopia may as well be pre- pared for accusations of atrocities of which the general world was hitherto unaware. ——————— ‘There is one satisfaction in sports. A tennis racket or a golf club is never likely to be used as an implement of war. o “Trial and Error.” President Roosevelt has certainly done an unusual, if not an amazing, thing. He has asked Congress to pass the Guf- fey coal bill, even though it may have reasonable doubts as to its constitu- tionality. He did this, moreover, after his own Attorney General had declined to give an opinion that the bill is con- stitutional. Here is & new “trial and error” system of legislation sponsored by the Chief Executive. He wishes to have the measure enacted into law so that the Supreme Court may pass upon it. Under such a plan for legislation Con- gress should feel at liberty to try any- thing. The courts and the country would have & merry, if somewhat hectic, time. The President seems to have been im- pelled to take this course with regard to the Guffey bill because of the strike threatened in the bituminous coal in- dustry. Another reason for his course has been suggested. It is that the Presi- dent is inclined to show the country that under the present interpretation of the Constitution by the Supreme Court it is impossible for the Federal Govern- ment to undertake to help out in “eco- nomic and social problems” of Nation- wide scope. - That was the President’s complaint after the Supreme Court had unanimously declared his N. R. A. law unconstitutional. It is not understood that he has abandoned it. The situation in the soft coal indus- try has been unfortunate for years. But that does not seem to warrant a de- mand that something be done by Con- gress that is not within the Constitu- tion. Nor does it warrant a yielding by the President to the demands of the labor leaders who are now threatening & strike. ‘What will be the situation in the soft coal industry if this law is passed and , WASHINGT placed in operation and later the act is held unconstitutional by the courts? Will the industry be any sicker? Will the workers be in any way better off? Or will the whole picture be worse? If the President desires a change in the Constitution so that what he now pro- poses in the Guffey coal bill and what he sought under the N. R. A. and other New Deal measures he legal, why does he not frankly say so? He has the right to suggest to Congress that Congress sub- mit to the States a proposed amend- ment to the Constitution. Why beat around the bush longer? Or does he consider that such a move would not for the present be popular? —r—————————— A potato war in Southern Maryland is a serious matter. Farmers have caught the idea of gaining higher prices by rating a product as a luxury rather than a necessity. e — Letter carriers have always been sub- jects of solicitude. In order to get his full quota of sympathy at present a letter carrier must also be an airship pilot. - A shake-up in the police force should never dispense with the experience that knows how to deal with gangsters who make & business of shaking down. e Several world statesmen have been shown to favor only as much of the League of Nations as they can use in their business. —_— ra—————— As a public goes deeper into debt some adjustment seems necessary of the re- lationship between the high power sales- man and the credit man. _— Fortunately, there is no limit to in- tellectual endurance. Every little thing that happens threatens more work for the United States Supreme Court. — Even those who do not know how to score a tennis game are again giving three cheers for the kind of photograph Helen Wills Moody takes. — e ‘When Mussolini predicts war in Africa, nobody doubts his ability to “make dreams come true.” —_— e Shooting Stars. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Tron Butterfly. Used to sing of roses 'round a happy little home, Hear the airplane humming, as it starts again to roam, To Africa, where trouble wjll be waiting, like as not, And to Arabian deserts, where the sands are always hot. Just across to China and still onward to Japan, A loop to show a glimpse of what the Soviet may plan; A wurst in old Vienna or a frankfurter, by chance, Or a lunch of truffie sausage as you flutter on through France. The roses swiftly wither as it passes us on high, A thing of gaudy color like an iron butterfly. It leaves a brood behind it that is filled with shapes of fear, Devouring caterpillars, with each air- plane draw near., Undaunted Though Frivolous. “Your enemies conspire to bring your gray hairs in sorrow to the grave.” “They haven't a chance,” said Senator Sorghum. “I am bald-headed and I don't wear whiskers.” Theorizing. When Einsteih theorizes In his own delightful way, He shows us new surprises ‘Where the stars are on display. Of billions he discourses, ‘We can listen and relax, For his figuring never forces Payment of an extra tax. Intuition. “Do you depend on woman's intui- tion?” “No,” sald Miss Cayenne. “When I have important responsibilities I look for some one who knows more than I do and take the benefit of as much tuition as possible.” “Most of my ancestors were good and patient men,” said Hi Ho, the sage of Chinatown, “but, alas, I am compelled to confess that the little fortune I re- ceived came from those who con- descended now and then to be just & little wicked.” Rapidity. Our prodigies grow up so fast ‘That if they study ways of sin Before their infancy is past, Their thoughts of racketing begin. - And as the time grows more perverse So swiftly on their way they trudge, They scarcely murmur “Good Night, Nurse!” Before they say “Good Morning, Judge!” “Some men,” said Uncle Eben, “gets de reputation of bein’ smarter dan others, simply because dey has been luckier in dodgin’ consequences.” Closing In. Prom the Topeka Daily Capital. New York police announce that they can now identify fingerprints left on cloth. The net is slowly closing about youthful jam purloiners. The Great Taxer. Prom the Winston-S8alem (N, C.) Journal While running for office the politician taxes your patience. If elected he taxes most everything you have. Musty Legislation. Prom the Charleston (8. C.) Evening Post. of President Roosevelt’s “must” will soon be getting musty if Washe heat waves exert the expected in- ) 2 THE POLITICAL MILL By G. Gould Lincoln. ‘This is a crowded week for the Con- gress. It holds plenty of dynamite. New Deal measures, in the form desired by the President and the New Dealers, are in danger. The House, which has already slapped the administration on the wrist in connection with the passage of the public utility holding company bill, 1s taking up the Tennessee Valley Authority bill. Its Military Affairs Com- mittee has amended the bill in a way that pains the New Dealers and is declared to be objectionable to the President. The Senate must either send the holding company bill to con- ference or agree to the House amend- ment, which eliminates the now famous “death sentence” clause. The vote, it is predicted, will be very close. The House Ways and Means Committee begins its consideration of the Presi- dent's tax revision program. Commit- tees of the House and Senate are ex- pected to tackle lobby investigations to determine whether the power trust has borne down heavily on members of Con- gress and whether the administration has sought to influence congressional votes by threatening to withdraw or promising to give “relief” money for the people of this or that State or district. There is, indeed, promise of several kinds of fireworks. * k¥ It is not without some significance that the assaults of Democrats on New Deal measures are becoming more nu- merous and more severe. Only because of this Democratic revolt in the House ‘was it possible for the holding company bill to be amended in a manner dis- tasteful to the President. Now comes the T. V. A. bill and more House Demo- crats to assault the Senate measure which pleases the New Dealers. Repre- sentative Andrew Jackson May of Ken- tucky, a Democratic member of the House Military Affairs Committee which handled the T. V. A. bill, is out with & statement lashing the T. V. A. He considers the T. V. A. a “dangerous so- cialistic and economic folly and worse.” He believes the bill as reported by the Military Affairs Committee is the lesser of two evils, however. Mr. May says that the committee bill broadens very considerably the powers of the T. V. A. —in a way he would not approve. He continues, that seemingly such a meas- ure should be applauded by the New Dealers. Instead, there has been “vitri- olic_ denunciation” of the bill. Why, asks Mr. May, and he answers: “It is because the House bill, as re- ported, makes T. V. A. finances subject (after July 1, 1936) to the same audit and control of the controller general as is imposed on other Government agen- cies, and looks to a less dishonest power vardstick by requiring T. V. A. to con- form to a uniform cost accounting sys- tem, to be prescribed by the Federal Power Commission. “It is because the House bill, as re- ported, prohibits T. V. A. (after July 1, 1937—two years hence) from selling surplus power or chemicals below the cost of production: precludes T. V. A.'s duplication of existing privately owned transmission lines (providing for their acquisition by T. V. A), and expressly forbids acquisition by T. V. A. of land not ‘actually necessary to carry out plans and projects actuallv decided upon.’ “What is so vicious in these stipu- lations? “What have honest administrators of an honest program to fear? “What is retarded except deceit and confiscation and tyranny?” *x x ¥ % If this was the statement of a Repub= lican member of the House, it might be charged up to partisan politics. It comes, however, from a Democrat. There will be a lot of other statements and speeches from many other Democrats attacking the T. V. A. before the bill has been passed in the House. The T. V. A. is one of the pet projects of President Roosevelt. . x x x Out in Cleveland, Ohio, where the late President Calvin Coolidge was nominated in 1924, a Republican “regional” meet- ing is getting under way today. It has been sponsored by George H.' Bender, leader of a political faction in Cleve- land, where political factions have plenty of rows. The fact that Bender launched a “regional meeting” of Republicans at a time when Republican National Com- mittee members and other leaders were planning to hold a conference for this region next September has tended to place the present meeting under sus- picion of being a personally conducted affair for the enhancement of Mr. Ben- der’s own prestige. Anyway, Bender has kept at it, despite the fact that some of the Republican leaders in Ohio, Mich- igan, Pennsylvania and other States in- vited to participate have turned a cold shoulder. None of the Republicans are anxious to throw cold water on any Republican meeting, designed to stir up enthusiasm for the party and against the Roosevelt administration. The members of the national committee, including Chairman Fletcher, have been forced into & posi- tion of at least tacit approval. Fletcher has sent a telegram to be read to the Cleveland conference, wishing it suc- cess. But unless the Cleveland meeting proves far more of a success than some of the Republicans believe it will be, the plans for a September meeting in one of these States may go forward. * x ok x The Midwest “Grass Roots” Repub- lican Conference, at Springfield, IIl., proved a success from a Republican point of view. It is difficult to hit a fast pace and keep it up through a lot of similar conferences. As at Springfield, the Republicans are to talk publicly only about party principles and issues for the next campaign. There are to be no boosts for presidential candidates. None of the would-be candidates for the presi- dential nomination are expected to at- tend. A year from today, however, the Republicans will have nominated their candidate for President. The G. O. P. National Convention is expected to take place in June of next year. It seems entirely unlikely that this old custom for national conventions in that month will be abandoned. Despite the fact that the time is drawing comparatively near, the presidential possibilities in the Republican party continue to be mere shrinking violets in the politicsl garden. If they don't step out before long, they may find that some one has outdistanced them—left them at the post. * x x % There is one Republican, however, who is frankly and openly seeking the presi- dential nomination — Representative Hamilton PFish of New York. Mr. Fish served as captain and major during the World War, overseas. If the veterans are to demand a candidate who is him- self a veteran of the World War, Mr. Fish, who has served in Congress for a number of years, is ready. He has just come forward with & petition to dis- charge the Ways and Means Committee from further consideration of a joint resolution which provides that the vet- erans’ bonus be paid out of the $4,000,- 000,000 work-relief bill. Mr. Fish says he believes that if this huge sum of money is to be expended, it had better be used to liquidate the country's debt to the veterans, ’ AY, JULY -8 1935. THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. Templeton Jones never thought he would live to see the day when he would be sentimental about street cars, but here he was, riding across the old Cal- vert Sireet Bridge, not exactly with tears in his eyes, but just imagining it was the last street car. He was on the last car, he thought. After this there would be no more. Nobody would ever see a street car again. ‘The pleasant broad aisles, plenty of room (it was on the morning of July 4 and everybody else but Jones seemed asleep in bed), the clickity-clack of the rails, the slam of the door, the clang of the bell— All these struck our passenger as something happy and not to be forgotten lightly. * % ¥ ¥ Soon he was bowling along down Eighteenth street, the newly widened Eighteenth street. How different and how much better the thoroughfare looked. A somewhat drab street, in the mixed change from former residence to not yet complete business, it yet had two of the best features, a hill, and a blocked vista. ‘The slight turn in the street, just north of U, cut off the view to the South. 8o much has been said of the advantage of vista that sometimes one may think it has been overdone. The famous element of surprise may be attained even in a crowded city, if the straightaway is not too straight. * % * % It was many vears ago, in the city by the Potomac, that our friend Jones made his first acquaintance with street cars. It is the fashion, of course, to talk about horse cars, and the like, when one goes into reminiscences of this type, but Templeton Jones remembered the cars much as they are today. He will never forget the time when he stepped blithely off the rear end of a Fourteenth street car, holding a very heavy suit case in his right hand, and how the weight of the baggage tumbled him all over the street. The memory of it is painful yet. The worst feature, however, was the gawking carload, the solicitous conductor, who asked him if he were hurt. Hurt! The small Jones picked himself up quickly, held himself at his full height, to show that he was not hurt in the least. He admitted to a pain in his pride, but it was not until he got around the corner that he put down the suit case to rub another portion of his anatomy. * x % % As long as Jones could remember, street cars and the National Capital had gone along together. With all their faults, including noise, they had their good points, not the least of which was safety. This had grown with the years, until the old street car had become the safest | place in some very unsafe streets. The loading platform, frowned upon by some as unesthetic, nevertheless has managed to make standing and waiting and boarding comparatively safe for all. In hectic traffic these plain wooden platforms have eased the minds of countless thousands of people. To many such persons it is almost as bad to be afraid of getting run over as to be run down. At least that is the way they feel, at times, as they manage to get themselves caught somewhere between two lines of onrushing traffic. Then some wight, with a queer sense of humor, scares them to death. The loading platforms have added immeasurably to the mental comfort of the people. Jones hoped that even the ultimate abolition of the street cars and tracks would not entirely do away with platforms. The need for them on such boulevards as Connecticut and ‘Wisconsin avenues will be greater than ever, as these thoroughfares are turned over entirely to the tender mercies of motorists. * ok * % Vast increase of automobile traffic in recent years made platforms necessary, as they brought to the fore one of the street car’s inherent bad points, that the passenger must come to the center of the street to get aboard. The fact that a bus can and does take the passenger on at ihe curb, and let him off at the same comparative safe place, is surely one of the greatest points in their favor. If, under the new dispensations, busses are permitted to stay in the center of the road, instead of pulling up to the curb, there will be cause for lament. Some Midwestern cities are using a form of hybrid-bus which has a trolley and pole, but no tracks. The purpose of this is to permit the bus to draw up to the curb. The lack of flexibility of this arrangement, however, is apparent, in that if there developed a blockade, the queer busses could not take some other route, but would have to remain on their “tracks” until the block was ended. ‘This points to one of the major gains of busses, that in case of necessity they can be rerouted, or the driver can reroute himself at any time necessity demands. * x k% As his car eased down Fourteenth street Templeton Jones wondered what would become of the motormen. Since childhood he had preferred motormen to conductors. Perhaps this was somewhat of a slander on the latter. At any rate, Jones had a warm spot in his heart for the old fellows. He wondered how the gray whiskered man at the controls would do, driving a bus. He wondered if he would be asked to drive a bus. Bus driving is something for young fellows, right off the farm, Jones thought. If he could judge from some of the specimens of driving given him recently by red-cheeked farm lads, bus driving was inclined to partake of those gods of the modern, speed and heed- lessness. by A graybeard at a bus wheel would look queer, would he not? * ¥ X x Templeton Jones looked forward to the day when the last street car, as we know them, would be run on any line, anywhere. No doubt it would be & ceremony, with officials in high hats and carna- | tions, and brass bands, and speeches. This trip today was no ceremony, but somehow it partook of such to the imaginative Jones. | It was just as the same as the last ride, to him, for he seldom took the | cars, having foresworn them for busses years ago. Still they had a past. And there | always would be some of them, he felt sure, since they seemed to fill a need. As long as they filled it, they would be retained. The bus, as a form of public trans- port, would have its day. And after that, what? Templeton Jones did not know. It was comforting to him to think no one knew. WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS BY FREDERIC WILLIAM WILE. Emperor Haile Selassie’s attempt to induce the United States to interfere in the Italo-Ethiopian squabble under the terms of the Kellogg pact about coin- cides with the sixth anniversary of the pact’s formal proclamation. That event took place under colorful circumstances in the east room of the White House on July 24, 1929, with President Hoover playing the leading role. The diplomatic corps in full regalia graced the occasion, as did former President Coolidge and former Secretary of State Frank B. Kellogg, co-author of the pact. The ceremony was marred by an incident which induced superstitious souls to fear for the pact's future. Through some mishap the radio microphones into which President Hoover was to deliver the address of proclamation were not in place when he began to speak, and, in order not to disturb proceedings, they were not rigged up. The projected world-wide short-wave broadcast of the affair therefore did not take place. Soon afterward came the first Kellogg pact fiasco—Soviet Russia’s curt rejection of Secretary Stimson’s effort to settle the Chinese Eastern Railway conflict. A little later Japan turned down Col. Stimson's invocation of the pact in the Manchurian affair. Now comes Abys- sinia’s ill-starred venture to utilize the o3-power multilateral treaty for its purposes. * ok k% On all hands Secretary Hull's terse note to the Abyssinian monarch is con- sidered & masterpiece of diplomacy. It astutely indicates the United States’ determination not to burn its fingers in an international mess which is of no American concern, while at the same time reaffirming our devotion to the anti-war principles of the Kellogg pact and to the cause of peace generally. The note’s references to the League of Nations are also acclaimed as keen statecraft. They constitute, without di- rectly saying so, unmistakable notice to Mussolini that this country disapproves of his defiant refusal to settle Italy’s quarrel with the Ethiopians through Geneva's peaceful machinery. * * X ¥ Just as soon as Congress is off his hands — prospectively, around about Labor day, sooner or later—President Roosevelt is expected to go to the White House microphone for another of his fireside broadcasts on the state of the Union. If he does not take such Siring history of the past six months mon! —Supreme Court decisions, congressional insurgency and all the rest of ticlans think he is sure to speeches on the swing to which he still hopes to make. will, in effect, be the opening his campaign for re-election. xx x® Former Budget Director Lewis W. Douglas is about to make comprehensive confession of his political faith in a book entitled “The Liberal Tradition.” The young Arizonan divides his dis- cussion into four sections, entitled, re- spectively and significantly, “The Sins of the Past,” “A Planned Economy and the ,” “Dictatorship and Europe's experience in dealing with the problems of youth is to be explored ; this Summer for the benefit of Presi- dent Roosevelt's newly created National Youth Administration. Investigations to that end will be carried on by Col." H. | Edmund Bullis, formerly of Washington and now executive officer of the Na- | tional Committee for Mental Hygiene at | New York. Col. Bullis, who has just sailed, will survey conditions in 13 coun- tries, including Great Britain, France, | Germany, Italy, Soviet Russia and the | Scandinavian kingdoms. He will inter- view educational leaders and attend in- ternational youth conferences to which he has been invited as a delegate. On his return early in September he will submit an exhaustive report to Aubrey Williams, executive director of the N. Y. A. at Washington. Col. Bullis is a seasoned globe-trotter and investigator of world economic and social conditions. * X X X Lately published statistics indicate that employes of the Federal Govern- ment now number 712112, & new high under the Roosevelt administration and the biggest total since World War days. It does not include the Army, the Navy, employes of the legislative and judiciak branches, enrolled personnel of the C. C. C. or employes of the District of Columbia. It is made up only of those directly employed in the “civil executive branch” of the Government. The New Deal alphabet is not chiefly responsible for the record number of civil servants. About two-thirds of those on the Fed- eral pay roll are said to work for the long-established Post Office, War, Navy and Treasury Departments. Salaries and wages in the “civil executive branch” amount to $108.000000 a month. Be- fore we entered the World War this is estimated to have been more than the entire cost of the Federal Gov- ernment. * X X X They're now calling Gov. Alf M. Landon, a leading mid-Western G. O. P. white hope for '36, “the Kansas Cool- idge,” because of his passion for econ- omy in Government. In co-operation with his Legislature, Gov. Landon has reduced real estate taxes in the Sun- flower State by almost a third, and the total expenses of State and local gov- ernments are far below the 1929 level. Kansas by law - is forced to keep its expenditures within its revenue. It is therefore not afflicted with a budget balancing problem and has no State debt other than for a soldiers’ bonus. Kansas, of course, is receiving New Deal largess in various forms, but paying its full fair share, unlike some States which have shifted the burden of relief to the broad shoulders of Uncle Sam. * X X *x Trans-Atlantic tourists include Lau- rence Todd, Washington representative of the official news agency of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, who is sailing for Leningrad, via England, to spend several weeks giving present-hour Russian conditions the once-over and acquainting himself with Moscow’s cur- rent attitude toward relations with the United States. (Copyright, 1935.) —_—ae—————— Ttalian Years. From the Saginaw Daily News. Longevity in Italy has doubled in the past 55 years, statistics show, Mussolini may ask the statisticians to skip the period of the Abyssinian unpleasantnees. h ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS By Frederic J. Haskin. A reader can get the answer to any question of fact by writing The Washing- ton Evening Star Information Bureau, Frederic J. Haskin, Director, Washing- ton, D.C. Please inclose stamp for reply. Q. How did the length of stride of Man o’ War compare with that of Phar Lap?—T. R. C. A. Man o’ War’s stride was once meas- ured coming down the stretch and at tull‘ racing speed was 26 feet. Phar Lap’s stride measured in about the same situation was 24 feet. Q. What building comes nearest to th; i:lmpu'e State Building in height? A. The second in height is the Chrysler Building. The Eiffel Tower in Paris, the third tallest structure, is the tallest in Europe. Q. What color is the Tiffany dia- mond?—R. 8. Z. A. Tt is best described as orange yellow. Its color is so rare that it is doubtful whether another stone of exactly the same tint has ever been found or ever will be. Q. Please give the cost of Boulder Dam Reservoir, the American Canal, and the Los Angeles Aqueduct.—H. P. A. It is estimated that the dam Reservoir will cost $70,600,000; that the American Canal will cost $38,500,000, and the Los Angeles Aqueduct will cost $220,000,000. Q. How many newspapers have repre- sentatives in the press gallery in Wash- ington?—F. A. A. About 310. Q. Is there any observable natural swing back compensating for the effects of the drought?—M. D. A. In addition to the unusually heavy rains which have visited the drought areas, hog litters are reported as larger than normal and an unusual number of twin sheep are being born, tending to compensate for the drought deaths | and the A. A. A. slaughterings in 1934. Q. Why is corned beef so called?—R. M. A. Many years ago, the word corn meant a small, hard particle of any sub- | stance such as sand, salt or gun powder. Beef was treated with corns of salt and 50 derived its name. Q. How are automobiles loaded in freight cars?—G. L. B. A. Autos are sometimes loaded into fréight cars by being rolled in on their own wheels. The vehicles are loaded endwise and when on their own wheels, three or four make a carload. When they 1 are loaded by what is called the Evans loading device, the wheels are taken off of the front of the car. When stacked | at angles with the front wheels removed, six small vehicles can be accommodated. Q. Which of Thackeray's works is called a novel without a hero?—E. H. A. “Vanity Fair” (1847-1848), which is | also called his masterpiece. Q. Who first used the word sympo- sium?—H. L. A. Both Plato and Xenophon used the word as the title of a work describing | the conversation of Socrates and others. Since then it has come to mean a dis- cussion. Q. What is the Torrey Botanical Club?—E. G. A. This is a scientific society in New York City, incorporated in 1871 and now one of the six associated societies form- ing the Scientific Alliance. It has a valuable herbarium of several thousand specimens, illustrating the flora within 100 miles of New York, which is exhib- ited at the New York Botanical Garden, home of the club. Q. Who was Echetlus?>—W. M. R. A. An unknown stranger clad as a peasant, who at the Battle of Marathon appeared armed with a plowshare and killed many Persians. The name was conferred by the oracle. Q. What is the purpose of the Na- tional Shrine of the Immaculate Con- ception now under construction in Washington?—C. W. A. It is designed as a symbol of Amer- ican Catholic devotion to the Blessed Virgin. The building will take its place with such notable memorials as Santa Maria Maggiore of Rome, Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence; the modern shrines of Lourdes and Fourviere in France, and the shrines at Einsiedeln and Guade- loupe. It is felt to be fitting that a great architectural work embodying the high- est historical ideas of Christian art should be related to this center of Cath- olic learning in America. Q. What was the earliest lighthouse? —W. M. A. Modern lighthouses may be said to date from the construction of the Eddy- stone Lighthouse in the English Chan- nel in 1756. Q. Please give some information about the Walters Art Gallery in Baltimore?— R. S. M. A. The Walters Art Gallery and its contents was left to the City of Balti- more by the late Henry Walters, who died November 30, 1931, and who also included in his bequest the Walters resi- dence and the income from one-fourth of the residue of his estate in trust for its maintenance. The art objects are said by experts to form the greatest pri- vate collecion ever brought together. The great collection was begun in 1850 when Willlam T. Walters, father of Henry Walters, acquired his first paint- ings. In paintings alone there are over 1,500 canvases. The Oriental collection includes -ceramics, bronzes, tapestries and rugs. Q. How are the seats for members of the British Parliament arranged?—S. C. A. The members sit on benches facing each other across an alsle. A Rhyme at Twilight B Sosai Riion City Lights In the‘ul‘ong dusk, town windows come ht; Come one by one in buildings far and near As luminaries in the sky appear; Yet llll these starry windows in their glow Seem but a part of some fantastic show; Colorful, flaring, restive, overbright, Their beams bring little heartease to the sight. And, suddenly, above the electric town, mundgmtdlveruobe.nmm lown. God’s lantern swung aloft in the blue Dimming each trivial shaft of human ‘l'lh& \