Evening Star Newspaper, July 28, 1935, Page 30

HE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, JULY 28 1935—PART TWO. S e R D. ©, ; LR el R S s R S AN A CAUSE THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Editien. WASHINGTON, D. C. SUNDAY ... vere.July 28, 1935 THEODORE W. NOYES...........Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company. siness Office: - St. and Pennsylvania Ave. rk Office: 110 East 42nd St. Chicago Office: Lake Michigar Building. &uropean Office: 14 Rewent St.. Zondon. Engiand. Rate by Carrier Within the City. Regular Edition. The Evening Star .. __ ---45¢ per month The Evening and Sunday Star 's) -60¢ per month -65¢ per month -Be per copy ontetion made AL the snd ol cction made i ihe end o Orders may be sent by mail o telephone tional 5000, Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. Daily and Sunday, nly. _ 1 mo. 85c mo., 1 mo.. 40c 1 mo. $1.00 i 1 mo. 7i5¢ i 1 mo. B0c Member of the Associated Press. The Associated Press is exclusively entitied to the use for republication of all news dispatci 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. = — The Banking Bill. Senate passage of the banking bill in practically the identical form in which it was drafted and reported from com- mittee, with fundamental changes from the administration-backed Eccles meas- ure, represents another personal triumph achieved by Senator Glass of Virginia, & man who' has chosen to add to his stature as a statesman by the simple, if difficult, procedure of stubbornly sticking to his principles despite hell and high water and the strange vicissi- tudes of politics. Of course, the successful piloting through the Senate of as intricate and | important a measure as the omnibus | banking bill required a great deal more than loyal allegiance to principles, in either banking or political economy. It required a knowledge of banking and a conception of the basic principles of the Federal Reserve System that few men, in or out of the Senate, may claim to share equally with the Senator from Virginia. More important, perhaps, than Sena- tor Glass' own victory on the banking bill was a change of attitude in the Senate which made such a victory pos- sible. The days of rubber-stamp legis- lation are drawing to a close. The Senate is again choosing to live up to its old tradition. The approval of administration spokesmen is not enough, in itself, to win the votes. A few days 8go the Senate voted down the proposi- tion to close the courts to those from whom, it might later be shown, the Government had illegally collected processing taxes. The Senate is stiffen- ing its backbone in resistance to the kindred plan of closing the courts to litigants in the gold-clause repudiation business. And Senator Glass grows in public estimation because the whole picture shows him unmoved—he stands where he was, but the tides which once swept over what he represents are now on the ebb. The banking bill now goes to con- ference, where its fate is uncertain. But the Senate conferees are not men known for their yielding dispositions nor for their susceptibility to bright ideas. The important fight will center over the degree of control to be exercised by the administration—through ap- pointees to the board—over open market operations; that is, the purchase and sale of Government bonds by member banks. The Senate bill preserves more of the autonomy of Federal Reserve dis- tricts and the representation of bankers; the House bill places what has been viewed as a dangerous political control over Government credit in the hands of political appointees, with such control eentralized in Washington. Another important matter is the per- mission granted to banks by the Senate bill to underwrite, under strict super- vision, certain security issues. This has been opposed by the President. But its approval in the Senate has led to the significant observation that the Senate is becoming more interested in recovery than in reform, which many will view as a good sign. In a torrential literary output, authors sometimes fail to remember that any- thing a man writes may be used against him. Middle of the Road. ‘The greatest praise conferred upon the tax bill as reportedly agreed upon by Democrats of the Ways and Means Com- mittee is that it follows the middle of the road. But most comment condemns it as being neither fish nor fowl nor good red herring. As for sharing the wealth, the bill is as empty and as meaningless as the phrase itself. As for producing revenue to balance the hudget or reduce the public debt, it will barely contribute a drop in the bucket. The purpose of the bill is to pull po- litical chestnuts out of the fire. Some- body haa to get burned in the process, and in this case the victims are the relatively few—less than a thousand— whose incomes exceed $150,000; the in- heritors of estates, or the recipients of gifts exceeding $50,000 and the “cor- porations.” Added to estate and income taxes that already approach the point of confisca- tion in the higher brackets, the new levies will, of course, prove burdensome ciple. There will, of course, be specific objections to the rates proposed. Nobody loves taxes. But by following the so-called middle by fair process of elimination, can be considered nothing else than political. The fanfare which preceded the deci- sion to enact the bill this session has accentuated the anti-climax represented in the bill tentatively agreed upon. By adopting the middle-of-the-road policy in framing the bill members of the House have, of course, avoided com- ing to grips with any such dangerous, though illusive, figure as sharing or de- stroying the wealth. They have kept within bounds as far as that is con- cerned. And they have not gone down into the lower incomes which affect the tens of thousands. The really “rich” are few and far between. But they have brought into even sharper relief than before the tremendous, broadening gap between Government revenues and Government expenditures. They have chosen an excellent way to illustrate the small pickings from “soaking the rich,” as compared with the billions being borrowed. And some good may come from that—good for the country, if not for the political party temporarily in power. “L. G.” Turned Down. Because of its resemblance, planned or accidental, to the New Deal, the British government’s rejection of David Lloyd George’s program for “organ- izing prosperity” is of special interest to the American people. The Baldwin cabinet has pitched the scheme into the discard after subjecting it to exhaustive examination, during which the “little Welshman” was permitted on no fewer than ten occasions to plead his own cause. His project is assailed hip and thigh as theatrical, impractical and much more potentially harmful than helpful. Inferentially the cabinet's adverse re- port compares “L. G.'s” ideas with cer- tain trends in the United States. He is hammered for believing that the people must be “shaken out of blank pes- simism” not by invoking “a considered government policy of concrete measures, but by establishment of some spectacu- | lar machinery, which is vaguely ex- pected to evolve a whole new program of national regeneration within twelve months.” It does not require much imagination to suspect that the author of those words must have been think- ing of the United States’ $4,000,000,000 work-relief enterprise and of the tall hopes that New Dealers pin upon it. Roundly the Lloyd George “adventure” is riddled as of “hazardous and uncer- tain character.” The regime of which that hard-headed business-statesman, Stanley Baldwin, is the head will have none of it. Conspicuous among the panaceas turned down was a proposal to raise a $1,000,000,000 government loan to be in- vested in made work. It was dismissed on both economic and financial grounds as entirely inconsistent with the policies to which the government attributes the progress toward recovery which has already been made. Scorned is Mr. Liloyd George's boast that he could com- pletely end unemployment in a year and a half. Another recommendation which failed to merit approval called for an old-age pension of $2.50 weekly for persons over sixty, at an annual cost of $500,000,000. Nor was the cabinet enamored of the notion of putting an additional $1,500,000,000 of home farm products on the market by abolishing the Ottawa agreements with the Domin- ions. It was claimed that this device would employ another 1,500,000 agricul- tural workers. Doubtless politics played a role in the decision to accord no hospitality to “L. G.’s” propositions. To accept them might have meant either taking him into the cabinet or running the risk of his becoming a more powerful figure in the country than the Tories would find agreeable. Be that as it may, Britain has pro- claimed that it has no enthusiasm for chimerical recourses that run violently counter to her traditional theories of government. John Bull's verdict is of significance to statesmen and people everywhere bent upon Utopian innova- tion, even in the presence of doubts, “however reasonable,” of their consti- tutional validity or economic soundness. It was Lew Dockstader, still affection- ately remembered as a minstrel man, who introduced the story about the man who was wakened by a burglar who ex- plained that he was hunting for money. In response to the question, “What did you do?” he replied, “I got up and helped him hunt.” The little story may reveal a more or less remote application to the move to soak the rich. Individualism. It is fashionable at present to speak ill of individualism. The long depres- sion has created a fatalistic pessimism in the minds of many otherwise normal citizens, and the conversation of the people, the press and the radio reflect the attitude of irresponsibility which is an inevitable concomitant of that psy- chology. President Roosevelt found it convenient to ridicule self-sufficiency in the speeches of his campaign in 1932, and the idea had -enormous appeal to thousands of men and women who were suffering from the effects of the eco- nomic slump. The propaganda of & lengthy list of panacea preachers has contributed toward keeping the notion alive. But is the philosophy of individualism really such a dreadful thing as it has been represented to be? Granted that & chain is as strong as its weakest link, it also may be said with equal justice that it is a chain because most of the links are strong. The weak link is the exception, not the rule. Analyze the problem thoroughly and it will be, seen that society survives because of the efficient and powerful elements in its constitution, not because of the ineffi- cient and powerless elements. The state endures by reason of its thinkers and not by reason of its morons. Certainly, equality of opportunity is to be desired. No human being should be denied his fair chance at life, and fair reward for fair effort is & principle ) deserving to be defended. But is there any advantage to anybody in the arbi- trary reduction of mankind to a least common denominator of enterprise and compensation? ~ Suppose the rich are soaked, the golden goose which has laid s0 many golden eggs slaughtered: Will the result be a social paradise of ease and comfort for John Doe and his wife and children? Theoretically, yes; actually, the doctrine is a snare and a delusion. It could succeed only in a world where every living creature was born with the same endowment of heredity, educated in the same environ- ment, possessed of the same resources of intelligence, health and spiritual ma- turity, responsive to the same influences, amenable to the same degree of social pressure. And such a world does not exist. The earth is rife with competition. It always has been and always will be. Life itself is a battle, and the weak would be overwhelmed were it not for the strong. It follows that in an era of distress and suffering every individual who can stand on his own feet and make his own defense against adversity is in that character and to that extent a bene- factor of his kind. The greatest good for the greatest number is not to be served by stabbing him in the back. i Silent Street Cars. For many years a noiseless street car has been sought in the interest of public peace and quiet. At last, it would seem, such a car has been developed, one that if not actually noiseless is far less clangorous than those that are now in operation here. A test was had yes- terday over one of the roughest streiches of track in Washington, which means that the new vehicle was put to the severest possiblg test, for this city suffers from some of the most hill-and-dale rail lines known. It was an altogether satisfactory demonstration, and if the entire traction service in Washington were operated wholly with units of this character the city's street noises would be reduced to a comparative whisper. This improvement is effected by in- terposing a rubber insulation between the inner and outer rims of the wheels, a half-inch layer which prevents the transmittal of noise-producing vibration through the wheels to the body of the car. Something of this sort was pro- posed a long time ago, but the art of construction has only lately been de- veloped to this point. The new device is accompanied by a method of braking which permits the easy, smooth and yet quick stopping of the car without the generation of heat, which would de- teriorate the buffer band of the rim and cause it to lose its resilience. A smooth-running, practically silent street car will be hailed with delight by all. It will be & boon to those who ride and to others who, at times riders, are for the greater part of the time afflicted with the din of transportation. Such a car, furthermore, will cause less wear and tear upon the tracks, giving them longer life by imposing less strain upon joints and yokes. While a com- plete installation of the new car is not to be expected immediately, it is to be hoped that as rapidly as possible the old equipment of the now unified system will be replaced with these modern, com- fortable, silent units. —————————————— Powerful as he has become, Hitler cannot be regarded as a success in setting the styles for merry littie house parties. Shooting Stars. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Metals. T have no gold nor silver shining fair. What do T care? \ Since in our mighty system economical Metals apply to figures astronomical. ‘The gold and silver that I sought to save I do not crave. : ‘When mills are coined, I'll find no trace of gloom in ‘em. IT hope to pay my taxes in aluminum, Conservative. “Have you any criticism of the Post Office Department?” “No,” said Senator Sorghum. “I am not looking for trouble. All I venture to say is that you can't believe half the hotel post cards that come through the mails.” Jud Tunkins says he is avoiding true friends. He'd rather go to a fortune teller and get good news C. O. D. Brain Stormers. To erudition self-assumed We often say, “Oh, fudge!” And some to sit have now presumed In judgment on a judge. Our mental science might proceed To usefulness immense Should “psychoanalysts” give heed To simple common sense. Point of Vantage. “I never contradict Henrietta,” said Mr. Meekton, “You always agree with her?” “Absolutely. In case of a serious quar- rel, you know, she isnt the one who would have to pay alimony.” Pretext. A very small germ can create a distress Which causes discomfort that doesn’t grow less. In spite of the doctor; in spite of the nurse, It baffies our care and grows steadily worse. On history’s pages we read with dismay What with faithful precision the chroniclers say, Since Helen of Troy left the world in a plight— The smaller the pretext, the bigger the fight! “Politics is a little different from what it was in de old days,” said Uncle Eben. “Instead of usin' big words dey uses big figures.” £ X New Deal’s Four- Billion-Dollar Bear By Owen L. Scott. President Roosevelt and Harry Hop- kins, his relief specialist, now are aware that they have a $4,000,000000 bear by the tail. They don't dare let go; yet are concerned about the consequences of holding on. ‘Those four billions, Mr. Roosevelt be- lieved, would perform miracles. “The Federal Government must and shall quit this business of relief,” he told the country last January. The billions were to turn that trick. Slums were to be cleared, grade crossings eliminated, soil erosion checked, farms electrified, na- tional highways built, forests reclaimed, farm homes constructed—all part of a national plan. In the process of doing those things 3,500,000 jobs were to be created, most of them by July 1. Those jobs were to be useful “not just for a day, or a year, but useful in the sense that they afforded permanent improvement in liv- ing conditions.” They were to yield “security payments” in place of wages, were to be applied largely to self-liqui- dating projects, designed to compete as little as possible with private industry. o . Mr. Roosevelt laid down this outline nearly seven months ago. Congress voted the billions and blanket authority to use them more than three months ago. Mr. Hopkins, who had turned on and turned off 4,000000 C. W. A. jobs, got the job of filling in the outline with performance. He thought he was deal- ing with a tame bear. What has happened? More than six months have gone by since planning started. Relief rolis that were to disappear are nearly 400,000 larger than a year ago. The cost of that relief is nearly $50,000,000 & month larger than at this time last year. In other words, about 4,000,000 families, composed of about 19,000,000 individuals, are being cared for at a cost of approxi- mately $180,000,000 each month. Those figures are for persons “on re- lief.” Add $30,000,000 a month for C. | C. C. camps and $120,000000 a month | for Public Works expenditures, and it | is discovered that a total of $330,000,000 a month, under the old plan of relief and pump-priming, still goes out of | the Federal Treasury. Multiply that monthly total by 12 | and the result shows that the cost of relief, direct and indirect, has been running about $3,960,000,000 a year, or Just short of the four billion mentioned by the President as the amount that would revolutionize the method of meet- | ing this problem. * % ¥ X So the situation simmers down to this: Mr. Roosevelt expects by work relief to show the country bigger and better resuits for its money than he was able to show for the same amount of money spent on a combination of relief and public works. What does that mean? Simply that less money will be spent on such projects country's | as Boulder Dam, flood control, grade crossing elimination, surfaced highways unemployment | | that BY THE RIGHT REV. JAMES E. FREEMAN, D.D,LL.D,D.C. L, BISHOP OF WASHINGTON, ‘There is a dramatic story in the Pirst Book of Samuel which speaks of a crisis in the history of an ancient nation. The militant forces had been brought into conflict with an old enemy of the people, and an impasse had been reached that renderec. the army of Israel utterly im- potent. A giari, the champion of the Philistines, had defied the armed forces of Israel and in fear they fied before him and “were dismayed and greatly afraid.” Into this situation came a young man—a shepherd—David, by name. Immediately upon entering the camp of his country’s forces he made search- ing inquiry concerning the situation that confronted them. Rebuked by his brothers for his temerity and his as- sumption of ability to meet the giant, David in his enthusiasm replied: “What have I now done? Is there not a cause?” Appearing before King Saul, he essayed to undertake contact with the Philistine giant. The King, observing his youth, questioned his capacity to contend with so formidable a foe. At length, yielding to him, he offered David his armor, but the lad found it cumbersome and useless for his purpose. As the story proceeds it tells of the stripling going forth in his own native strength, exer- cising his fine skill in the use of the sling, and his subsequent defeat of the self-confident enemy of his country. The whole story is suggestive of a condition that repeats itself frequently in our life, and indicates the need of self-reliant and courageous leaders to meet critical situations when they arise in our corporate life as a people. “Is there not & cause?” has been the strong affirmation upon the lips of many a valiant leader who has dared in times | of crisis to enlist in defense of an ideal | or principle that concerned the well- being and security of a community, a a state or a nation. The large interests of the home, of society and of industry are furthered | by those who are ready and willing to make sacrifice in the setting forward of a cause that is just and in the in- terests of the common weal. Salutary changes and reformations are ushered in by those who, enlisting in s great and appealing cause, jeopardizé their lives in sacrificial service that it may be maintaired. The heroes of the Chris- tian faith who have carried its standards in the face of overwhelming odds have done so out of loyalty to Him who went to a cross for the cause of human sal- vation. Like Him, they have not “counted their lives dear unto them- selves,” in the unfailing belief that the ideals of life for which He lived and died should prevail in the counsels of men. Our age has grown passive and lethar- gic, and in our quest for material gain and advantage the strong heroic quali- ties that grow out of deep conviction and devotion to a mighty cause have been largely lost to us. It is becoming increasingly evident that the time is at hand that challenges the best we have to give that, “some great cause, God's new Messiah,” may seize our hearts and minds and consume us with a passion for righteousness. Such an enlistment necessarily involves personal convenience and sacrifice, but its compensations out- weigh these. Christian service contem- plates something more than advocating creeds and systems. Loyalty to Christ and His ideals lays upon His disciples claims that involve the finest and strongest qualities in their nature. A new testing time is upon us, and the world is justly asking us to give a reason for the hope that is in us, and to justify it by the consistency and self-sacrificing devotion with which we maintain its cause. There was some- thing utterly noble and convincing in the statement which Christ made be- fore Pilate when He said, in defense of His mighty mission, “To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world.” Fifty Years Ago In The Star Ulysses 8. Grant, twice President of the United States, died at Mount Mc- Burial Place of fegor, N a0 the morning of July General Grant. 23, 1885, after a long, painful ill- ness. of a proper place for his interment. The Star of July 24 says: “Laying aside all claims based on local ambitions rather than any special fitness for the desired distinction, the popular voice of the country will undoubtedly and unmistakably echo and confirm the already largely expressed sentiment the natural and proper place for | General Grant's final sepulchre is the | National Capital. and heavy construction in the building | field; more will be spent on making sur- | veys, grading farm roads, touching up rural school houses, putting bridges over creeks and other inexpensive projects. But today 2500000 persons on relief are employed in just that type of occu- pation. They work one or two days a week and draw an average of $26 a month for their relief labor. Under the new plan they will work longer hours and give more service on much the same sort of project in return for a “security wage” amounting on an aver- age to $50 a month. *A ok Primarily the object is to raise the standard of living for the employable persons now receiving relief, at the ex- pense of persons now supplying labor and | materials on the heavier kinds of public | works jobs. And that object, in turm, | is part of Federal groping for some method to bring the unemployment problem into national focus for perma- nent treatment. Officials who study the problem have about made up their minds that relief is here to stay, in some form or other. ‘Why? Because they are convinced in- dustry has adjusted itself to function with fewer workers. Even in the midst of depression, technical improvements have been made that displace human labor. Higher N. R. A. code costs, Gov- ernment studies show, have resulted in perfection of machinery to bring labor expense down to the level at which goods can be sold. X X K % Unemployment, in fact, is larger this year than last, according to all available reports. This is true in spite of the fact that production in industry has increased and business has been more active. Out of the country’s unem- ployed, only about one-half are “on relief.” The remainder are supported from savings or by relatives. But the Government finds that the pressure from the unemployed who had not been “on relief,” but who finally ran out of resources and had to ask for keep, offsets the absorption of workers in industry and offsets, too, the attempts to cut the relief program by cleaning up the rolls. Just now relief is being denied able- bodied men in the Middle West, where labor is needed for the harvest. x % X % If relief is here to stay, what can be done about it? The New Deal has been seeking an answer. Three systems have been under study. One is the dole. This is England’s method. Mr. Roosevelt doesn't like it because he believes that merely to supply subsistence for work- ers, without asking labor in return, is to undermine morale and to destroy ability. Others don't like it because the dole tends to create a pool of idle labor that can press down on wages in in- dustry as the idle workers seek to com- pete with industry workers for jobs. This is the relatively inexpensive relief in dollar cost. - The second is the third economy. Dr. Rexford Guy Tugwell provided that technical description of the*® work pro- gram toward which the New Deal is groping. He visioned a system, maintained by Just what precise point within its limits or neighborhood should be selected is of comparatively little importance; should be in the place which stands in all eyes as the visible symbol of the national union, the center of national interests and the measure of national aspirations, would seem to be too plain | & propesition to admit of argument. “The City of Washington represents for which General Grant’s great services were given. Its history and associations are closely and inseparably connected with the most conspicuous events in his illustrious career. Here he lived as long as he ever held a residence in any single place. To his prowess in the field it may be said that it owes its very existence, and to his administration of the presi- | dential office it is largely indebted for its present prosperity and beauty. It was one of the great captain’s regrets | that he did not carry out his original intention of taking up his permanent residence in Washington after returning from his foreign tour, and so far as he ever expressed any preference on the | | subject, it was at least not unfavorable to this city as his last resting place. “It is therefore eminently fit that, while his memory is honored and kept green in the hearts of all the American people, his mortal remains should repose at the seat of government, laid out by the immortal Washington himself, and hal- lowed by the blood of thousands of gal- lant men spilled in its defense in the battles of two hard-fought wars. To bury General Grant in any other place would be in a measure to denationalize his fame and to withdraw his name and reputation from the public memory. Take the case of General Scott, for ex- ample—whose natural and appropriate place of interment was the grounds of the Soldiers’ Home, near this city. How many persons can tell today where he is buried? What opportunity is there for the hosts who once looked upon him as an idol to lay a flower upon his grave? “No. General Grant's last resting place should be neither in the mad hurly-burly of a great commercial center nor shut in by the seclusion of a military post. The proper place for his monumental mausoleum is the National Capital. If no other reasons presented themselves, it would be enough that the thousands of people who annually come here could thus at one pilgrimage draw fresh in- spirations of patriotism and renew pleas- ures of devotion to their country at two such shrines as the tombs of Washing- ton and Grant.” On the day following this publication it was announced that the interment would be in Central Park, New York. ————————————————————— go far enough in supplying 3,500,000 jobs of that character for the Nation's idle. Besides, national planning jobs largely were located in the country’s river basins. The idle are concentrated something can be done in the future to effect the third economy, but mathe- matics has forced him to be content with a less ambitious plan of work relief. X X X ¥ give the idle jobs in turning out goods for the use of other ed. unemployed. This plan would be the cheapest and could lead to a rising standard of living among the unemployed, but there ad- mittedly is a grave question whether the country long could get along with a socialistic relief system. alongside a Immediately arose the question | but that his tomb | Capital Sidelights By .rTu’. P o— Congress is all things to all men—or something like that: One member is Black, two White, three Brow.:, two Gray and one Green; one May and another Kahn; one Cross and another Crosser. There's the Pope and Church, Maas, Cross and Bell. There South and West meet Daly. see the Long and Short of it. There’s a Byrd and Eagle, a Pish and a Buck— also a Maverick. There are Holmes with Keyes, Celler and a Hatch. Some are Hale, Gingery, Bland—others | Crowe, Hope, Beam or are just plain Meeks, or those with Ayers—and one | is a Dear. Congress is made up of Glass, Wood, Gore, Bone—or what have you. You can have your Coffee and Bacon or Dietrich. You may contem- | plate a River, a couple of Fords, three Hills, a Greenwood, a Moore or Parks. There's Cox that Crowe Daly, a Driver | without horse and wagon. You may greet a King or a Pope or a Lord. One Dies and two are Dunn. There are two burns there—whether you spell it Byms or Byrnes. You can keep cool with Coolidge or Cooley. There's Hope in material form the ideas and cause | and a Greever and a Guyer. One mem- ber is always Luckey. Congress has two Cannons. One Senator bears Tyd- ings. There are two Coopers and one Mason, a Carpenter, a Weaver and a Turner. Those with the shortest names are Lee, Lea and Nye. Five are just plain every day Smith. *x %% In these days of “alphabet soup” it is not so surprising to have the United States Civil Service Commission adver- tise an examination for an alphabet accounting machine operator. * * x % There are only two deceased ex-Presi- dents of the United States since 1369 who have been overlooked in the matter of postage stamp issues in their honor— and by a strange coincidence both were born in Vermont—Chester A. Arthur and Calvin Coolidge. Representative Plumley of Vermont has brought this matter to the attention of Postmaster General Farley and has introduced a bill authorizing the print- ing of an issue in honor of the late President Coolidge. He said: “I believe that the eminence of Calvin Coolidge and the reverence with which memory of him is held in the hearts of his fellow countrymen should place him at the head of the list of those for whom such an honor is contemplated.” * ¥ % % They very seldom “come back” to their constituents—those members of Congress who quit either by their own volition or the votes of the electorate. Usually they stay in the National Capital and practice law or lobbying. Their legis- lative experience has made the contacts for them with so many governmental agencies valuable in furnishing legal aid to industries and private interests throughout the country. There’s James A. Frear, for example —who knows his Washington well since schoolboy days here, who enlisted in the Army Signal Service 56 years ago, grad- uate of National University Law School, who retired from Congress this year after 40 years of public service, 22 years in and most of that as a mem- ber of the Ways and Means Committee. * k% % ‘Who is this fellow Deen, who headed up the vote to adjourn-and-go-home movement? His name is Representative Braswell Drue Deen, and this is the first bid he has made to be conspicuous in the House. Since graduation from Emory University in 1922 with the degree of B. P. H, he has been engaged in various branches of the teaching pro- fession—during the war as a Y. M. C. A. secretary. He has varied this profes- sion with farming and real estate de- velopment, president of a local bank and being publisher: of a weekly newspaper. Black Widow Spider Found Near Capital ‘To the Editor of The Star: a sclentific’ illustrator. MARY F. BENSON. Claiming Americans. From the Atlanta Constitution. Claims for shares in the $2,000,000 estate of an Oklahoma Indian have been filed by 130 heirs. What do they mean, “Vanishing American”? You can | Death Trap for Birds By Frederic J. Haskin. The flood lights which play on the lofty Washington Monument at the Na- tional Capital, arranged partly for deco- rative purposes, but largely to prevent airplanes from crashing into the huge pile on dark nights, may have saved the lives nf some aviators, but they have had the reverse effect on birds. A study of migrating birds in Washington has revealed that the flood lights serve to attract the birds which crash head- long into the Monument and fall, either dead or injured. To what extent the birds consciously use the reflected light of the Monument as a beacon directing them on their way, and to what extent they may be dazzled or blinded, has not been defi- nitely established. It has been estab- lished, however, that more bird casual- ties occur when the Monument is illumi- nated than when it is not. It is thought probable that the birds in some cases may be caught in wind currents eddying about the Monument and dashed against the stone when at- tempting to avoid the obstacle. Their efforts to make a last-second swerve 0 avoid the structure prove unavailing. * According to one observer, Miss Phoebe Knappen, the bird mortality at the Monument is greater on nights of storm. Caught in the wind, the birds are dashed against the stone with great force. Even on calm nights, fast-flying birds may kill themselves from the force of their own momentum, but the death rate appears higher when the wind force is added. ‘When the slightness of the space occu- pied in the air by the relatively slender shaft of the Washington Monument, in comparison with the unoccupied space all around, is considered, it seems odd that so many birds should come to their deaths in this manner. This fact lends credence to the theory that the lighted sides of the Monument have the effect of attracting the birds. In Path of Heavy Migration. Observations show that birds are af- | fected by illumination. For example, on | moonlit nights the birds fly at a much | higher altitude and, thereby, avoid col- lision with structures, The fact that they fly nearer the ground on dark nights is believed to indicate that they utilize the glow of artificial lights on human habitations, streets and electric signs to guide them. Just how much the death of the birds is due to use of lights as aids to flight and just how much to a sort of flamelike attraction, as in the case of moths and other imsects, is & matter for conjecture and further observation. The District of Columbia is in the path of huge bird migrations, Spring and Autumn, and observers often check the flights, noting the arrivals. It was on the night of September 5, 1932, that the effect of the flood lighting of the Monument on the birds was first noted. There had been a severe thunderstorm, accompanied by high winds. A some- what dramatic result was that, in addi- | tion to the heavy precipiation of rain, it literally rained birds about the base of the Monument. Eighty-eight of these birds were identified as belonging to 16 different species. These formed about one-third of the total which had met their deaths in that single stormy night. After that the Monument was visited nearly every night by observers who usually patroled the base, but sometimes mounted to the top, 555 feet aloft, and listened to the cries of the birds as they sailed past or over the shaft. This type of observation was continued in the Spring and Fall seasons for two years, and in the period from September 5, 1932, to May 27, 1934, no less than 718 birds which had dashed against the Monument had met their deaths. Some were t0o badly mangled to be examined or preserved for the Survey or National Museum collections. In some cases, i prowling cats and dogs caught the falling birds and preyed upon them. The best estimates which the observers could make was that at least 500 birds lost their lives at the Monument in the single migration season of the Autumn of 1932. The amazing fact is that the dead birds collected over this period were of 53 distinct kinds. The District of Co- lumbia is rich in bird life. There are over 100 species to be found in the District in the Summer months, and this number is nearly tripled if the birds of passage are added. The high num- ber meeting their deaths against the narrow shaft of the Washington Monu- ment indicates that light has an attrac- tion for most birds, regardless of species. A number of bats were also killed against the Monument. A special rea- son is assigned for this. The bats, of course, were not all engaged in migra- tion, but were, for the most part, at- tracted to the flooded-lighted walls by the clouds of insects. The insects had been attracted by the lights and the bats found the premises to constitute an excellent feeding ground. Then they either blindly dashed against the stone or were blown helplessly by the wind. Feed By Day, Fly By Night. That the birds were not attracted by the insects is indicated by the fact that post-mortem examinations of the stomachs of the fallen revealed that nearly all were empty. The principal flights, therefore, were of birds employ- ing the night to move on to their next station. Apparently most of these migrants use the day in which to feed and the night in which to fly. In con- trast, the stomachs of the bats were filled with the Monument insects. The average layman would doubtless find surprise in the great variety of birds killed at the Monument by their own impetuosity of flight, many of them being unfamiliar to any but ornitholo- gists. Warblers and kinglets and vireos were picked up in large numbers and also song 3 the injuries of the SParrows. The nature of birds was also looked into. Some wings were broken and in some cases the force of the shock was great enough to break both mandibles of the bills. There were broken legs and broken necks and some scalpings where, presumably, the head had struck a glancing blow upon the wall. Skulls and lungs in some cases were suffused with blood. Some of the birds after striking and fluttering to the ground actually recoyered and flew away The Washington Monument is not the only death-trap of migrating birds. The high tower of the Philadelphia City Hal! has for years been a place of observa- tion at which birds have been notec flying to their deaths, and the new sky- scrapers in New York kill their share Lighthouses also attract and kill many birds, but the Statue of Liiberty, perhaps because of its unusual position, appears to be the migratory birds’ public enemy No. 1, more than 700 warblers having been killed there in one month. Nc figures are available, but there has been an immense destruction of migrants by the Lindbergh Beacon in Chicago. It is one of those ironies that mysterious the lights installed at the Monument to protect human birds should bring ° death to so many natural ones. 2 ‘