Evening Star Newspaper, July 20, 1935, Page 6

T HE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTO D C, SATURDAY, JULY 20, 1935. = THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. SATURDAY ..............July 20, 1935 THEODORE W. NOYES...........Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company. Business Office: 11th St. and Pennsslvania Ave. a ice: gan 5 European Omce: 14 Hewent St. London. Ensianc. Rate by Carrier Within the City. Regular Edition. The Evening Star_ The Eveaing and Sui (when 4 Sundays) -45¢ per month -60c per month -65¢ per month -5¢ per copy ar. Collgction made at the T, eacl 3 Orderd may be sent by mail or telephone Na- tional 5000. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virgini Daily and Sund: Daily only__. 195 Sunday only. 1 yr. All Other States and Cana! . $12.00; 1 mo.. $1,00 $8.00; 1 mo.. idc $5.00; 1 mo., b0c Member of the Associated Press. The Associated Press is exclusively entitled to the use for republication of all news dispatches credited to it or not otherwise credited in this paper and also the local news published herein. All rights of publication of special dispatches herein are also reserved. = Nazi Persecution Mania. Evidence multiplies that persecution mania is rampant in Germany on a terrifying scale. Protestants, Catholics and Jews alike are the objects of tyran- nical repressive measures. In the case of Jews, the crusade has taken the form of violent anti-Semitic outbreaks in Berlin. In the case of the Christian sects, decrees have been promulgated which threaten their clergy and other religious organs with ruthless punish- ment unless they conform uncondition- ally to Nazi demands that the church shall subjugate its spiritual activities to the paramount purposes of the Hitlerized state. Tomorrow Catholic priests will preach Sunday sermons directly under the surveillance of Goering's secret police. Any semblance of criticism of governmental policies will result in con- dign chastisement. Protestant church- mem are warned that if their pastors seek to emulate “political Catholicism” they may expect the same relentless treatment that is in store for the Roman hierarchy. There is a strong independ- ent movement within the German Evan- gelical Church, and its adherents, who refuse to bend the knee to Nazi Reichs- bishop Mueller, are held to be engaged in illicit political activity. For the moment it is excesses against Jews that constitute the outstanding feature of the persecution mania. Fol- lowing a series of barbarous episodes in Berlin two appointments have been made which denote the government’s intent to intensify the anti-Semitic crusade. Herr Hans Kerrl has been named as minister in charge of church affairs, and Count Wolf von Helldorf becames head of the Berlin police force. Both officials have national reputations as Jew-haters. Von Helldorf supplants Rear Admiral von Levetzow, who was removed for alleged moderation in treat- ment of Jews. His departure synchro- nizes with reports that the Ghetto may be revived as part of the campaign to exterminate Judaism. All over Europe curiosity mingles with horror over current events in Germany. They are so inexplicable that ‘wonder exists as to whether the new violence may not be intended to divert attention from something bigger. In London, where Hitler has attained his most bril- liant international triumph with the agreement permitting creation of a powerful navy, the theory is advanced that fnancial and economic conditions may be so grave that the government requires new sources of revenue. The question is asked whether the idea of confiscating Jewish wealth, or its “vol- untary” transfer as the price for peace, may not inspire authors of the anti- Semitic drive. It is an amazing and alarming situation, viewed from any angle, and the German people, were they permitted to learn the truth, would be left in no doubt that what is now hap- pening within their borders is a shock to civilization. . The popularity of Prof. Einstein may be due in part to the fact that while some of his ideas are bafiing he does not insist on trying to formulate them as public policies. oo The Summer climate is always a sub- Ject for legitimate discussion, but the President shows tactful restraint in never asking Congressmen with smiling solici- tude whether it is hot enough for them. Cheap Road Work. ‘When the work-relief bill was enacted in April the District authorities imme- diately began work on a program for highway improvement which they in- tended to finance out of the funds automatically allocated to the District, under the formula for distribution among the States. They went so far as to announce a tentative list of high- way work that would be done. Within the past week these plans have been scrapped and another set of plans substituted. For, under the rules prescribed by the Federal relief authori- ties, a maximum of $1,400 per man per year can be spent on any relief project, and the roadwork, of course, comes within that category. What the rule means is that more must be spent for labor and less for materials. The result is that high-grade street work, requiring relatively high-cost materials, cannot be undertaken. That would run the cost of the project too high in relation to the number of men given employment. The substitute program will include some high-grade work. But most of it will be the sort of work that can be done with low-cost labor and cheap materials. It will doubtless include the repair of some streets, the improvement. of others and grading and highway beautification. By adding certain Dis- trict funds to the Federal grant the local highway authorities have been able to comply with the Egderal regulations upon which depends expenditure of the grant. The detailed description of the low- cost work to be done with this money will be awaited with great interest. After the C. W. A, it is only natural to be skeptical of the real community bene- fit which is to result. It must be re- membered, of course, that the primary purpose of the relief money is to fur- nish work relief for the unemployed, not to produce essentially useful under- takings for the community. But the serious defect in this policy is that it merely substitutes a more expensive form of work relief for the direct relief which is to be abandoned by next No- vember. And when the work relief is completed the fear is that the relief demands will still be as pressing as they ever were, We have experimented now with direct relief, with system of relief known as “priming the pump,” with the dismal C. W. A. and, equipped with the $4,800,000,000 sum for work relief, are about to experiment with that. ‘The change in the highway plans is significant of this new work-relief policy. And that is why the announcement that “direct relief by the Federal Government will end on November 1” is appropri- ately accompanied, at the White House, by announcement that relief needs for the next fiscal year will be put in shape immediately for the Budget Bureau. Tax Rate and Surplus. All discussion of District finances for the current fiscal year and of the re- cently enacted appropriation bill has been predicated upon continuation of the $150 tax rate on real estate and personal property. The Commission= ers’ formal announcement of that rate for the current year, made yesterday, was anticipated as long ago as last Fall, when budget estimates were submitted. The important feature of the announce- ment is Auditor Donovan's estimate o& a three-million-dollar surplus at the close of the current fiscal year; an es- timate based, however, on the revenue demands written into the appropriation bill and not taking into consideration further demands resulting from enact- ment of the social security legislation. The amount of these is still prob- lematical. Estimates of expenditures for the needy District and old-age pensions are somewhat hazy. The final form of the local unemployment insurance bill is yet to be decided upon. As passed by the House it would require an im- mediate appropriation of $750,000 from local revenues, but modifications already decided on in the pending Senate bill and the united local sentiment against any appropriation from general revenues to augment the proceeds of the pay roll tax may eliminate that item entirely. In the deficiency bill, however, now awaiting conference between House and Senate is included an appropriation for the local health program. It does not meet the requirements outlined by Dr. Ruhland and the medical author- ities. But it represents a beginning. Furthermore, it will furnish the Health Department with normal maintenance funds, which were cut in the regular appropriation bill. Congress should grant the requested appropriation without question. The money is available, as Mr. Donovan’s estimate demonstrates. To pile up a surplus of tax money by neglecting es- sential needs of the community is not merely poor economy. It is nothing less than disgraceful. Washington’s Water Gate. As long as the memory of living Wash- ingtonians runs—and indeed longer— distinguished visitors to Washington, personages of note in foreign lands com- ing to the Capital by water, have been received at the Navy Yard, the only place where ships capable of crossing the ocean could be docked. This has never been a satisfactory or suitable ar- rangement. For the Navy Yard, or naval gun foundry, as it has been known for a good many years, is so located that the progress of the distinguished guests through the city has been along a route not calculated to impress them with the dignity and significance of the American Capital. Now a plan, conceived some years ago, is about to be executed to provide a suitable place for the debarkation of such visitors. It is announced that the original design for a water gate facing the Lincoln Memorial is to be carried into effect in the near future. This will involve the dredging of the Georgetown Channel on the District side of the river so that ships may pass through the draw of the Memorial Bridge and berth at that point for landing. No more suitable site could be found for the ceremonial reception of an hon- ored guest of the Nation, who could then be transported through the park and along an avenue lined by imposing structures—when that avenue has been cleared of war-time “temporary” archi- tecture and the present public building plans are completed—to the White House for reception by the President. Such an approach and entrance will be infinitely more fitting than that which circum- stances have required to be used for many decades. Washington thus reached and entered by guests of honor will be at its best instead of presenting its least attractive aspect to the newcomer. Man and His Time. “Let every man be master of his time, till seven at night.” So Shakespeare made Macbeth remark. It was good advice and it could be followed strictly in those days of which the Bard wrote and those as well in which he wrote. But now things are different and man has difficulty in controlling his minutes and his hours. Time has become subject to complexes that man cannot conquer. In Shakespeare’s day, and in Macbeth's also, life was simpler, distances were shorter—the distances of man’s daily scope of action. There was little occa- sion for hurry, to make the most of minutes. ‘.l'hfln were no long spans from home to office, to be covered by transport over which the wayfarer had no full control, no traffic jams to block even the swiftest of vehicles, no break- ages of mechanism to halt the progress, for there were no mechanisms of indi- vidual carriage. Afoot or on horseback the traveler, for short or long distances, could determine his own pace, unless held up by some private or public enemy, and could thus master his time to precision. Much of the fret and worry of these days is caused by this complication of man’s relation to his time. He sets his schedule only to find it wrecked by the intervention of some factor beyond his control. He is now part of a complex of conditions over which he cannot establish mastery. However stout his purpose, however faithfully he may adhere to a time table for his own movements, he is subject to interruption and his course of wisdom lies in accept- ing these interventions as part of the price he pays for living in an age of haste. One may waste his own time through sloth or indifference to his own duties and have only himself to blame for the loss. But there are factors in this sched- uling of activity which he cannot master, before or after seven at night. The true philosophy of modern existence is to prepare against delays by anticipating, when conditions permit, those require- ments which may be blocked by loss of time in transport, or by the thoughtless intrusion of other people with their own affairs. Let every man be master of his time, forsooth! He must be a tyrant and a ruthless individualist to be such a master while life goes on at its steadily accelerating pace and daily widening of the range of personal action. - Munitions makers protest that they do not favor war and may consent to some restrictions similar to those which seek | to keep dangerous drugs out of cir- culation. e Andrew Carnegie used to be quoted as saying it was a crime for anybody to die rich, but he hardly expected the idea to be magnified to the proportions of a political policy. Intended to relieve anxiety, the funds made available have created a multitude of problems concerning their expen- diture. His declaration that the New Deal has not worked makes it clear that Albert C. Ritchie, though temporarily out of politics, has not lost interest. e If titles mean anything, the King of Kings and the Lion of Judah must be credited with a fair lead at the outset of the coniest. ———————— Moral support is demanded for the League of Nations. Moral support it has always had. But even international statesmen will chisel a little, —_——— Already stories are told of atrocities by the Abyssinians. One of the weapons of modern warfare is a hideous im- agination. —————— In order to be sure of keeping off the record some of those interested in legis- lation simply destroyed the records. Shooting Stars. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Future New Deal. When the machines have done their worst And killed us off on sea and land, ‘While gear wheels and propellers burst For lack of skill to hold command— ‘When mortal energies have slumped And wires short-circuited are left, And all machinery is dumped Because of “juice” it is bereft— Some remnants of primeval pride Will linger in & human brain, Amid the devastation wide, And start the old works up again. Sitting on the Lid. “Doesn’t some of this diplomacy you read about seem kind o’ schoolboyish?” asked the old friend. “It's the great youth movement that impresses you,” said Senator Sorghum. “Figuratively speaking, a diplomat has to keep his geography in the seat of his trousers because he never knows where the next kick is coming from.” Jud Tunkins says some grafters ain't satisfied to chisel. They take an ax. Modern Warfare. The swift and undismayed recruit For Abyssinian pursuit Must learn a different warlike style And tame the treacherous crocodile. He may find foes along the way ‘That bombing planes can never slay. With tennis gestures he must try Daily to “swat” the tsetse fly. Elastic Currency. “What currency basis does Crimson Gulch favor?” “You've touched a sore spot,” said Cactus Joe. “While we were quarreling over gold and silver somebody slipped in and loaded the town up with rubber checks.” Translation. A college professor should be the possessor Of courage and muscular skill. The mere knowledge seeker in strength will grow weaker If he spends his life sitting still. The mere art of letters is not for our betters, ‘Who manage our morals and law. The poets and sages who taught through the ages You must render in plain “rah! rah! rah!” “Dar ain’ any mo’ chance,” said Uncle Eben, “of a man gittin’ enough money to satisfy him dan dar is of & small boy yl.nnm"sfllde marbles he wants.” 2 Pay of Relief Workers And Those on Relief To the Editor of The Star: I am sympathetic with the individuals in the Red Cross personnel who demand a full restoration of their salaries. And yet their case is somewhat similar to that of the staff ministering relief for the Federal Government, and I find myself critical of the latter. If it were merely a matter of ex- pending one-half of every relief dollar for supervision and overhead I would not be so disturbed about it. Gov- ernment workers generally are com- parable to relief clients in that they draw their money from the national money drawer and many of them would actually be on relief if dismissed. If, therefore, the relief dollar were divided between an equal number of relief clients and workers administering relief, there could be little criticism. But it does not work out that way. The highest-paid relief client draws some- thing like $50 per month, while the lowest-paid personnel worker draws $120 per month. Many of them draw from $300 to $500 per month. Now the pity of it is that all relief rolls now include people who are skilled in nearly every walk of life. There are stenographers, bookkeepers, accountants, all kinds of clerical workers and even doctors and lawyers. They are just as nearly average workers in their lines as are civil service or politically selected employes. They are as capable of ad- ministering relief as the higher paid working staff chosen by Government agencies. An average of four relief clients could be taken care of for every present Government salary paid. Re- placing relief personnel with relief clients would enable the relief agency either to double the amount of money paid to each relief family, or double the number of families now on relief. Administering relief with relief clients (except for Mr. Hopkins and his staff), would practically assure every dollar of relief money to be spent for actual relief, which is as it should be. The cry will go up that we need expert personnel. I have no quarrel with that. But I know that only a few of the su- pervising staff members have any ex- perience or need any. Most of the work- ers are clerical and technical workers whose experience and skill have nothing whatever to do with the technique of administering relief. Equal skill and experience is waiting in every relief group. I know, because I have just resigned from a group of 30 clerical workers who are doing nothing, waiting for the new spending program to begin. Meantime, we were just marking time, drawing our very satisfactory salaries week after week, enjoying the comfort of an air- cooled building. Our chief told another Government official we were being car- ried along because our experience would be needed later on. I am just a fair typist, and what experience I have had in the relief agency consists of taking letters ex- plaining why certain funds should or should not be allotted. I play a very poor hand of bridge, am not good at checkers or light conversation. I quit, even if I must gc on the oth® side of relief. GLADYS MACKMANN. .o Difference Between the Drys and Prohibitionists ‘To the Editor of The Star: The replies published in The Star to the letter of Mr. Walter Walton indicate clearly the difference between a prohi- bitionist and a dry. Mr. Walton pro- fessed to be a prohibitionist, but is really a dry. I, too, am a dry. His critics are prohibitionists. It was the drys who defeated na- tional prohibition and brought about repeal. There never were enough wets to do it. Repeal was opposed by the prohibitionists. The difference between them is the difference between pure fanaticism and reason; between blind faith and enlightened science; between fiction and fact. It is the unseeing loyalty to a cause that induces such a sincere advocate as Mr. Mahoney to give voice to such inaccuracies as that “500 drunken boys under 21 years of age have been arrested in Washington during the last 12 months,” and his statements that “court and other records” indicate great in- creases in deaths and injuries from drunken driving and crime and poverty due to intoxicating liquors since repeal. An inquiry at police headquarters re- veals that there has been no abnormal number of juvenile delinquencies during the past 12 months, with no increase in the percentage due to alcoholism. Pov- erty we have with us as never before and automobile accidents are on the increase. While liquor drinking, as during the late lamented bootleg era, still has a good deal to do with irre- sponsible motor piloting, the record will not support the theory that alcohol accounts for any very great proportion of the accidents. Far more are due to daring carelessness of the modern driver, and the speed to which the present auto- mobile is geared. That poverty has no relation to pres- ent liquor drinking must be apparent to all who are familiar with conditions. It was the old saloon, where pay checks were cashed, bad associations formed and designing owners all but robbed their helpless patrons that made drunk- ards of men. These were the poverty breeders. Happily this ancient institu- tion has disappeared under modern repeal conditions and it never will return as long as we have the wise plan of easy and wide distribution now in vogue. Drinking has become respectable and we should thank God not so much for the disappearance of the brothel as for the elimination of the type of de- bauchery that made the brothel possible. Mr. Jones, too, reaches his conclusions without considering the facts. America’s greatest authority, Director Joseph H. Choate of the Federal Alcohol Control Administration, after estimating the present consumption of illicit liquor as being greater than that upon which tax is paid, recently stated that unless the present huge capacities of distilleries are immediately increased America will be faced with a shortage which must be supplied by imports. The cry that repeal has failed and that prohibition must come back will avail us nothing. It is like shouting into a rain barrel. MRS. BERTHA BOUROUGHS. C. C. C. Is One Place That Has Really Worked ‘To the Editor of The Star: Referring to Harry T. Rupert's letter, “The President and Hoover Dam,” in The Star July 13: Of “a single instance of a plan con- cluded or a project which actually works,” has Mr. Rupert heard of the C. C. C.2 If so, does he know that it it has keen working now ‘for over two years? JEROME GIRARD. Hopeful Waiting. Prom the Lowell (Mass) Evening Ledger. Prof. Einstein has just announced & new theory. But until the previous one is mastered our safest course will be to defer comment. The strange object in the streef was & bird’s nest. How little, how pitifully inadequate, it looked, there where it did not belong. How wonderfully it fulfills its funce tion of home in the trees! Like thany things out of place, it was just a mass, a conglomeration; in its rightful setting it was a domicile, crude, but adequate. In such little homes the birds of the world are born to grow up and then fly away. And such flying away! One has to see maps of bird migra- tion to comprehend even in part the stupendous journeys they take. ‘The little songsters in your vard today within a few months will be in South America. ‘There is nothing like an examination of these maps, with the chartered courses of the migratory birds, to make one understand something of the vast mystery of life. ‘Then we do not have to sing the late Victor Herbert's famous song. AT The nest was lying on its side in the street, having been blown loose from one of the many gigantic oaks which lined the avenue. Its inhabitants,. and especially its builders, had not been bothered by any attempt to keep up to date. The architectural lines had been de- cided on once and for all many cen- turies ago, countless ages and ages ago, when the world was young. Trying to keep up with the latest “improvements” is nothing at all to a bird. He just builds, and that is an end to it. Then he is satisfied with it. If it were possible for the bird tribes to gather together in a convention and talk matters over, the member that arose to declare that “birds need a new type of nest” would be howled or rather chirped down at once. One may wonder if the word “con- vention,” as used to indicate a group of like human minds, was selected be- cause the conventional, or usual, was the desired thing. R How temporary the birds' homes are. Perhaps they perpetually teach man- kind a lesson, only we do not like to heed it. We adorn and polish our homes as if they were to last forever. One has but to watch the changing face of the city, however, to know that the little birds are right. Here and there one sees some stal- wart old mansion, with walls 2 feet thick, built “for keeps,” capable of last- ing for centuries, undergoing the crow- bars of the wreckers. Only a few days, weeks at most, are necessary to completely remove, plumb- ing and all, homes which required many months to build. The birds are right. Man is right, of course, in his selec- tion of houses and their care and adorn- ment. He is not a bird and he has, through mind and history, through his books, a past, which no bird has to itself. Birds, happily, are freed from history. | One may ask, at times, what good is history, after all? It seems to have taught man very little. - Fortunate birdies, to know nothing of history, even your own! * x % ¥ Birds have been flying up and down the world for countless centuries. No STARS, MEN doubt, short of an universal cataclysm, they will be doing it centuries hence. No advanced fellow even will be able to talk them into living in Florida the year 'round. Some of them want Peru, others Bo- livia, others Brazil. How interesting it is to feel that these very little fellows, so bright, so full of Nature’s music, actually have been in lands we probably will never see! Even the greatest average human traveler seldom accomplishes as much as this tiny shrimp in feathers. Boast of your trips across the Atlantic as muclr as you please, here in the garden are scores of much wider wan- derers. * X ¥ ¥ Perhaps it is just as well for them that their habits have been fixed for them or that they have fixed their own habits, however you choose. Take the matter of cats. Birds are not in one-tenth the danger from members of the feline tribe as some persons think. ‘They have evolved, each bird family for itself, an entire system of warning cries. Ornithologists have listed these notes, often harsh, staccato, strident, quite un- musical. They arise at the sight of any enemy, but particularly as a warning to babies against members of the cat tribe. Birds know, with the shrewdness of successful life after many centuries, that the cat is dangerous. And that, undoubtedly, is why far fewer birds fall to the wiles of cats than some persons would have every one think. * x x x The birds know better than you do the natural attraction of a bird for a cat. Hence they take good care to keep out of their way and to warn their young of the danger. No cat can walk in & modern garden, where there are plenty of trees, without being accompanied the entixe way by an advance guard of birds. These fly along over its head, through the boughs, stopping on shrubs, even flying down to the ground. All the time they keep up a great clamor, making it plain to all and sundry: “Cat! Cat! Cat!” Often the Tom or Tabby seems quite perturbed, for cats have many other reasons for walking abroad than catch- ing birds. Often we have noted the most aston- ished look upon a cat’s face, at the clamorous reception committee which came to greet it, the moment it set | foot in the garden. A yellow cat, in ar, is the target for every bird within hundreds of feet. It is seldom that a cat of this color can go about without a vast racket accompanying him. If ever you hear the birds making a noise of very sharp notes, louder than usual, be sure that a yellow cat will be seen shortly. In this the birds are somewhat mis- taken, for cats of this color are no more | capable of catching them than a tiger or other colored and marked cats. Perhaps it is some dim ancestral memory of the deserts, so old, so time- less, of a yellow shape lurking in the shadows. Who knows? strange creatures. AND ATOMS Birds and cats are Notebook of Science Progress in Field, Laboratory and Study. BY THOMAS R. HENRY. Five of the basic processes of Nature’s sunshine cannery have been determined by chemists of the Fixed Nitrogen Lab- oratory of the Department of Agri- culture. These discoveries include a primitive carbohydrate which appears to be a keystone of life on earth. The forma- tion of this substance out of water and carbon dioxide gas is the fundamental process from which all the others pro-. ceed. The transformation, as described by Dr. Dean Burk of the Fixed Nitrogen Laboratory staff, is brought about with the energy of sunlight through two catalysts—substance which promote chemical changes but do not enter them- selves into the product of the chemical action. One of these catalysts is chloro- phyll, the green pigment of leaves, which has been known for a long time. The other is a recently discovered enzyme. This primitive carbohydrate which re- sults from the initial chemical process is in the same class with most of the commen foods which supply heat and energy when they are broken up in Lh_e animal body and the ‘stored sunlight is released. Once this primitive carbohydrate is formed, a new chemical process starts. Both the chlorophyll and the enzyme are released from the combination, while the water, carbon dioxide and solar en- ergy remain bound together. The cata- lysts are free to start the process all over again and “can” some more sun- light combined with carben dioxide and water in the form of the basic carbo- hydrate. This process can take place only in plants. All animals—and all plants which do not possess the chlorophyll— must depend on these plants for their food supply. They have no capacity in themselves for the direct storing of sunlight, which is the basic form of all energy on earth. In the animal body, of course, the carbohydrate enters into new combinations retaining a large part of its stored energy. The plants may be transformed into coal or the animals into oil which retains the solar energy for use as fuel millions of years hence. If the process of sunshine canning ever failed all life on earth would cease in a very short time. * ok x x Neither plants nor animals, however, can live on carbohydrates alone. Al but a few of the simplest organisms need foods that include nitrogen in their composition —the so-called proteins. There is an unlimited supply of nitro- gen in the atmosphere. It comprises four-fifths of the air we breathe. The animal, however, simply breathes it in and out again. None of it remains in the tissues to supply the food needs of the organism. Some plants, however, have the capacity for “fixing” this gas in their cells. In recent years man has learned how to get nitrogen from the air for use in fertilizer, but by a rela- trical energy. Dr. Burke and his asso- ciate, Hans Lineweaver, have continued their investigations to determine how the plant does the job so much more easily. Dealing with some of the simplest mmtmmguuum Burke and Lineweaver have found that chlorophyll and sunlight do not enter into the nitrogen reaction. The energy for this process comes from the solar energy that has been stored in the primi- tive carbohydrate made by the chloro- phyll action. Thus it works out that some of the organic or carbon products created by chlorophyll activity are burned up whenever a plant fixes nitro- | gen. This may happen in a living plant directly, or bacteria may fix it while living on the roots of legumes. It also may happen in the soil when bacteria break down organic plant remeins and change surrounding nitrogen gas into compounds that living plants can use. Here also the nitrogen change does not use energy direct from the sun, but takes place with energy stored in carbon products made previously with the help of chlorophyll. The chlorophyll reac- tion is the most fundamental since it comes first. In this research the Department of Agriculture chemists have used some of the simplest of living organisms. One is a minute green algae in whose life little happens except the change of car- bon dioxide into the protoplasmic carbo- hydrates. By limiting the supply of car- bon in one experiment, by limiting the supply of light in another, and by in- terrupting the processes frequently to find out what is going on, the chemists are able to check them step by step. For the combination reactions in which carbon dioxide first is fixed under the influence of chlorophyll and sunlight, and then broken down within the same plant to provide energy for the fixing of nitrogen they have studied one of the blue-green algae, a threadlike plant with relatively large cells and distinct chlorophyll masses. A third line of in- vestigation has dealt with the azoto- bacter, a colorless bacterium of the soil which works in the dark and is engaged in breaking down organic material and the manures that are applied in fer- tilization. This bacterium gets its needed energy from the comparatively complex carbohydrates of the decaying vegetable matter and uses it in chemical trans- formations that sort out the nitrogen in the decaying plant material and transform it into soluble forms the growing plants can use. A Rhyme at Twilight By Gertrude Brooke Hamilton Blue Summit omdmdmm-mmunmhtse:: mm pavings you and I might Green slopes of fragrant grass cool to the feet, Emerging on some rocky height sublime ‘Where eagles meet, From all the tentacles of town set free, On a blue summit with white mists above, Might we not lose hot doubt for ecstasy— And climb to love? ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS By Frederic ]. 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. g. {lho was Sidney Lanier’s mother? A The poet’s mother was Mary An- derson who belonged to a prominent Virginia family and had a decided talent for music and poetry. Q. What will kill the weeds which are 80 persistent on a tennis court?>—R. W. A. They can be killed and at the same time the surface can be kept slightly damp by the use of calcium chloride, Q. How much money did Trader Horn leave?—T. C. A. His net estate was $2,570, gross estate, $8,520. His will, signed with his real name, Alfred Aloysius Smith, de- vised his estate to his daughter. Q. Is the new Florida divorce law in eflect?—R. C. E. A. It 1s. Under this law a residence may be established in 90 days. Q. How wide is the flood area in the Mississippi Valley?—E. F. A. The flood plain of the Mississippi River varies greatly in width. North of Cape Girardeau, Mo., the lands which are subject to overflow are compara- tively narrow, from 3 to 5 miles wide. The broad alluvial valley south of that point is some 50 miles wide, although it is almost never inundated to this width. In the lower Mississippi Valley protect- ing levees exist and are planned to pro- vide a width of from 10 to 25 miles. In the immediate vicinity of Vicksburg, Miss., the river is not subject to over- flow on the Mississippi side because of the high bluff 350 feet above sea level on which Vicksburg is built. Q. Is there such a thing as a wingless bird?—W. M. A. The kiwi, or apteryx, a native of New Zealand, cannot fly. Its Greek name, apteryx, signifies that it has no wings. There are stumps which can only be seen when its feathers are pushed aside. This bird is almost extinct in the Antipodes and the New Zealand govern- ment has established kiwi reservations to protect its remaining numbers. The London Zoo now has a specimen of the kiwi. Q. Who is Lord Tweedsmuir?—K. R. T. A. This is the title recently taken by John Buchan, upon whom a barony has been conferred in connection with his appointment as governor general designate of Canada. Q. Where in New York City is the Martyrs’ Monument?—K. G. A. It is in Trinity Churchyard and commemorates the American soldiers who died in the British prison ships in the Revolutionary War. Q. What does the expression, neither fish, flesh, nor good red herring, mean? —M. C. A. It means suitable far no class of people; fit for no particular use. Not fish, food for the monk; not flesh, food for people generally; not red herring, food for the poor. Q. When is the Foster Festival in Kentucky?—E. J. A. Every Fourth of July a festival is held at Federal Hill, Bardstown, Ky., to honor Stephen Foster. Some of the guests wear costumes of the period and a young man resembling Foster is se- lected to play the best known of the composer’s songs. It was when Foster was 26 that he visited Federal Hill, home of Judge Rowan, and composed “My ©Old Kentucky Home.” g. BWhAt kind of horse is a barb? A. It belongs to the barbary breed, in- troduced by the Moors into Spain, and of great speed, endurance and docility. This breed is said to be a variety of the Arabian, and most of the pro- genitors of the present thoroughbred were of the same strain. Q. What are atouts?—L. W. G. A. They are the 22 emblematic cards, numbered from 1 to 21 and including one unnumbered card, used in the an- cient game of tarrochino, or tarots. Atout is also the regular mcdern French word for trump at auction or contract bridge. Q. What is the best way to smoke a cigarette to get its full flavor?—M. M. T. A. A simple rule for getting the most pleasure from smoking a cigarette is to light at low temperature, smoke slowly, hold the lighted end up when not smok- ing, and stop before two-thirds of the cigarette is consumed. Q. What is meant by the expression felo de se?—P. R. A.In criminkl law this is the technical description of a self-murderer or suicide. As defined by Blackstone, “A felo de se, therefore, is he that deliberately puts an end to his own existence, or commits any unlawful act, the consequence of which is his own death.” Q. How large an aquamarine has been found?—B. E. J. A. Probably the largest and finest is one which was found in Brazil in 1910. The gem was a greenish-blue, weighed 243 pounds, and measured 19 inches in length by 16 inches in diameter. Uncut, it brought $25,000. Q. What was the amount of the first medical fee paid to Dr. William Osler? —D. H. A. Fifty cents. The young physican, destined to be the celebrated Sir william Osler, earned the fee by re- moving dust from a patient’s eye. Q. How many changes in the map were caused by the Civil War?—S. B. A. One. This was occasioned by the creation of West Virginia.