Evening Star Newspaper, August 6, 1935, Page 8

A8 THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. veeesse.s.August 6, 1935 e e i THEODORE W. NOYES........... Editor ekt At T The Evening Star Newspaper Company. Business Office: ca ce; Lake i European Gmee: 14 Regent St.. London, Ensiand. Rate by Carrier Within the City. Regular Edition. ----45¢ per month --60c per month 65¢ per month —-6¢ per copy “70¢ per month 55¢ per month a each month. has a.l:nt by mail or telephone Na- orde tional 5000, Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Daily an Daily_only_ a: ¥ mo. Sunday only. ¥r. mo., 40¢ All Other States and Canads, fly and Sunday..] yr. $12.00; 1 mo.. $1.00 il 2 1 mo. = 78¢ 8inda. . Boc Member of the Associated Press. Associated Press is exclusively entitled to m;"’.‘,i. for republication of all Dewg ‘apatcnes 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. _— Fixing Gas Rates. When the Potomac Electric Power Co. was fighting rate reduction and valua- tion orders of the Public Utilities Com- mission it succeeded admirably in tying both into a knot of litigation that might have defied unraveling for years to come. The company spent a lot of money defying rate reduction, the pub- lic lost a lot of money that would have been represented in rate reduction, and nobody gained anything except ill will. Then the sliding-scale formula of rate reduction, by a court order, was put into effect and continued later by agreement with the commission. The company’s been reduced every year since 1925 and it has made a name for itself through- out the country as a utility that not only makes money, but reduces its rates every year without a court battle. The company and the community have gained through the arrangement. The situation regarding valuation and rates of the gas company today is not unlike that which involved the Potomac Electric Power Co. previous to 1925. The gas company has appealed the utilities commission’s valuation order. Instead of a rate reduction, the company has made temporary eight-and-a-half- per-cent discounts. According to Mr. Roberts, the company has spent upward of $600,000 in its valuation fight and the end is not yet in sight. As long as the valuation fight proceeds new rate orders will merely signal new litigation. Mr. Roberts has proposed the adop- tion of a sliding-scale arrangement, com- parable to the agreement with Pepco, for fixing gas rates. As a prelude, the company would reduce rates now by an amount equal to about $820,000. Added to the prevailing discount on bills of eight and a half per cent, the reduction to the consumer would amount to about fifteen per cent. He imposes other con- ditions, which the company is consid- ering. Certainly this method is preferable to the continued and wasteful litigation that marks the company’s resistance to regulation. It will, of course, require agreement on matters on which the company and the Public Utilities Com- mission are pretty far apart now. With the company claiming a valuation for rates at about $30,000,000 and the com- mission holding out for a valuation of about $17,000,000, the gap is not easily bridged. But more difficult things have been accomplished before. The Public Utilities Commission as- sumes the correct attitude in awaiting the gas company's overtures regarding Mr. Roberts’ proposal. The gas com- pany should be the petitioner. It would seem that the company has more to gain than lose in beginning negotiations. The Filipinos are on their way to independence, with no assurance, how- ever, that they can protect themselves from foreigy entanglements. —_———————— A few phrases are immortal. The old New York politician who said “What's the Constitution between friends?” will never be forgotten. Stone Walls and Iron Bars. ‘When Richard Lovelace wrote his fa- mous poem, “To Althea From Prison,” in 1642, he was incarcerated for having presented to the British Commons a pe- tition in behalf of King Charles I. In it he penned two lines that have become part of the current language of the English-speaking people. “Stone walls do not a prison make, nor iron bars a cage.” Latter-day involuntary guests of the State have proved the truth of that epigram. Prisons have been broached so often and so easily that there is little | | | | THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, element, to hold the would-be escaper until capture is effected. That may be a good plan. But there will remain need of some further im- provement in the means of detention, such as the correction of the abuse of the parole privilege. The lawbreaker who goes to jail relies upon either the breach of the prison or the procurement of a “ticket of leave” from a board of parole. He has no intention of staying in confinement for the duration of his term of sentence if he can contrive escape by one means or the other. He purposes to regain his liberty to con- tinue his criminal practices. Let the iron bars of jail become water pipes to foil the escapers and let the parole system be remedied by the adop- tion of a standard of remission which gives the benefit of the doubt in all cases to the public welfare rather than to the convict, and then there will be abatement in the criminal practices of those enemies of society who are chronically unable to conform to the legal standard of behavior. —— e Continued Safety Work. Commissioner Hazen's order to the Police Department to continue its cam- paign of traffic regulation, with concen- tration upon three particular types of rule breakers, speeders, those who weave in and out of traffic lanes, and those who turn from wrong lanes, is certainly in the interest of the public safety. Much good has been accomplished by the in- tensive drive of the past two weeks against dangerous motoring. Many ar- rests have been made and it may be as- sumed that most of those thus taken into custody and haled to court and fined, some with jail sentences, have learned a wholesome and possibly a lasting lesson from their experience. But the habit of bad driving is a difficult one to break. The arrests during these | weeks of the campaign have not included business has increased, its rates have | all rule breakers, by any means. Many “weavers,” speeders and wrong-turners | have escaped notice and penalty. They have yet to be shown that these prac=- tices are detrimental to themselves as | well as dangerous to the other drivers and the passengers in their cars. every operator of a motor car in the District of Columbia is brought to the point of scrupulous observance of the regulations. Those rules are for the benefit of all, the careless as well as the careful. Disregard of them may be due to ignorance. If so, the best teaching is through the arrest and penalty process. It is supposed that every driver of a motor car licensed in the District knows the rules. Ignerance of them is in itself an offense. Certainly it is no defense against the charge of bad driving. The police can do no more important | work than this-of correcting the bad driving habits of the motorists of the Capital. There is more law violation by drivers in the streets in the course of a | single day than in other form through- out the District in a week. And that law violation in the streets is more deadly dangerous than the other forms. If the record of accidents since the drive started is a test of its success it proves that the police have through this activ- ity been instrumental in saving mapy lives and preventing many more or léss serious injuries. And that is good and valuable police work for the community. Its continuance is justified. Indeed a year thus spgnt, at the pace of the past fortnight, would not be too much if thereby the motorists of the District were made to know that the driving of a machine is to be permitted only if the rules of safety are scrupulously ob- served. ————t— A naval race is a form of competition that must lack the enthusiasm which attaches to a sporting event. The win- ner is the one who can defend himself and still keep from going broke. ————— Hitler is being reminded that it is impossible for any government however powerful to persecute everybody all at once. Costumes of Yesterday. One of the most popular attractions of Washington is the display of gowns worn by wives of the Presidents, shown in the Old National Museum Building of the Smithsonian Institution. Crowds of people inspect the exhibition daily, and the experience prompts a convic- tion that women always have been attractively dressed. Some basic ele- ment of good taste is involved. The feminineg half of creation, it seems, in- variably has been possessed of a certain peculiar skill to be charming. Whether one prefers the mode of Martha Wash- ington’s day or that of Grace Coolidge is, of course, a matter of personal pre- dilection; but it appears to be abun- dantly evident that either lady would have looked lovely in any costume—a whole century of time divided them, but Martha could have worn Grace's laces and Grace could have worn assurance of custody. Jailbreaking has | nr.i410v velvets and brocades. become almost a fine art. Scarce a week passes without some delivery of con- victs, followed by intensive pursuit.and usually tragedy. The stone walls have yielded to the tunnellers and the iron bars to those who have been surrepti- tiously supplied with cutting tools or who have contrived them out of the odds and ends of materials secreted by them. John Dillinger broke jail with the aid, it is understood, of merely a wooden “gun,” though there is suspicion that he was abetted from the inside. Now comes a proposal from United States Marshal John J. Murphy of Mn.p- sachusetts and one of his deputies, John Hall, that the iron bars of detention be replaced by iron tubes, or pipes, which, _kept filled with water, give warning whenever a breach is made in them by an alarm set off by the change of pres- sure. Stone walls will remain, of course, but the iron bars will be at once a means of detention and of detection. Furthermore, it is proposed that a system of supplementary pipes be introduced into the cells from which, upon the fall- _Yet a Washington man with some- thing of the poet’s spirit in his heart recently called attention to the power which the clothing of less drab and commonplace eras of history undoubt- edly had to dramatize a crowd. He referred especially to the thousands assembled to hear the National Sym- phony Orchestra at a sunset concert on the bank of the Potomac. “Suppose,” fie said, “that all these multitudes of people were attired in the fashions of the crinoline age: wouldn't they make a picture!” And those hearing him smiled, not unappreciatively. The no- tion prompted exercise of the imagina- tion. Somewhere against an all-but- forgotten proscenium of the mind there rose a pageant of romantic evenings long ago. In thought Lawrence’s por- trait in the Wallace Collection came alive, and Queen Victoria, young and rarely beauteous, stepped down from the frame to take the hand of tall and handsome Prince Albert. They walked through a paradisial garden to greet ing of the water pressure when the cell | as guests Eugenie and Napoleon, as pic- grill is broached, will come streams of | turesquely personable as themselves in tear gas, steam or some other choking ~ raiment colorful as their own. The lawn ’ . { | driven motor car. “War—A. E. F,, Eighteen months. Killed | | 50,310, wounded 182,674.” panied by the following: “Peace. Motor | | of war. blossomed with youth on Summer night parade, soft waltz tunes crept from the encircling trees and merry laughter rose and fell in the gentle tide of melody. But the dream changed, as dreams are apt to do. The hands of an unseen clock sped back to Good Queen Bess' glorious days, and the thinker beheld Hempton Court and under its* towers Elizabeth with Raleigh and Drake, Will Shakespeare and a hundred other stars of her reign—girls in farthingales weighted with embroidery and young men in tunics and slashed trunks of costly silk. That muddied cloak which Sir Walter sacrificed to the conven- ience of his sovereign truly was worth the reward it brought—what museum exhibits its like in the epoch of the Palm Beach suit! The reverie collapsed with the first notes of the symphony, but the re- membrance of it lingered, though it was only an adventure of the mind and be- longed to a civilization which has been swept away to make room for improve- ments like streamlined motors, super= heterodyne radios, mechanical refrigera- tors, the A. A. A, midget money and “shorts.” i .- War and Peace Tolls. New York is emgaging in a campaign against motor casualties, even as i§ Washington and as virtually every other city in this country has occasion to do. For the traffic problem in America is today one of the most important, outside of the field of economics and business recovery, that confronts the people. In the course of New York's campaign it is resorting to posters which are to be distributed by thousands throughout the city for display. One of them has just been described in the news reports. It presents two pictures, the devastation of war and the destructiveness of the badly It bears this legend: This is accom= vehicle accidents, eighteen months ended June 20, 1935. Killed 51,200, injured 1,304,000.” There is the contrast, the tragic dem- Street safety can not be assured until | onstration that America’s traffic toll is heavier and more deadly than the toll Something may have béen gained through the sacrifices of the war. Historians will argue about that for a long time to come. But there is no ques- tion on the score of the traffic casualties. | There was no profit in them, no gain, no advantage and no contribution to the public welfare. Just needless loss, a waste of life and limb and health. And the cause of it was man’s selfish, heed- less haste, the thoughtless urge to get | somewhere in a hurry. B Railroads are considering a reduction | Tax payers provide fine high- | of rates. ways, but they are so crowded with com- mercial vehicles that passengers seeking | comfort might easily be persuaded to return to the tracks. —_——————— So many different new organizations are announced as to confirm the im- pression that all the world loves a Joiner. e e e Shooting Stars. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Not Entirely Unhappy. When the Summer time has started in to simmer And the cooling breeze has halted far away; When the dawn gives forth a super- heated glimmer, And the sun keeps getting hotter through the day; When the mind is filled with dreams of a vacation On mountain heights or by the ocean foam, You are sorry for the luckless situation Of the fellow who's obliged to stay at home. But he doesn't have to hustle in the morning To catch a train to bear him from the town. He doesn't hear the locomotive's warning, And quail beneath the ticket taker's frown. He isn't jostled, fretted and detested By the others who are rushing forth to roam. There is comfort in the freedom un- molested Of the fellow who's obliged to stay at home, Alert Attention. “What gave you your start in public life?” asked the biographer. “I haven't time to think about that _now,” replied Senator Sorghum. “What I'm looking out for now is the way I'm liable to get my finish.” Helpful. “Have you found your son helpful on the place?” “Kind o',” replied Farmer Corntossel. “The hired help seems more willin’ tg stick around an’ cut the grass since Josh undertook to teach ’'em to play golf.” A Marine Observation. ©Oh, art is a deceptive trade On which much disappointment waits. No bathing suit was ever made That looks much like the fashion plates. Explanation. “Willie, did you tie that tin can to the dog’s tail?” “Yes, sir,” replied the small boy. “I'm trying to do a kind act every day.~That dog chases every rabbit he sees. I tied the can to him so that it will make a noise and warn the rabbit.” “It's lucky animals can’t talk,” said Uncle Eben. “Ef a mule could speak out de day would be all argument an’ no work.” Cracking Down. Prom the Charleston (8. C.) Evening Post. Gen. Hugh 8. Johnson has started to turn on the heat in sweltering New York. ‘ [4 00 Indorses President’s Taxation Proposals To the Editor of The Star: Various articles and editorials in your paper to the effect that the Roosevelt tax proposal was “hasty” and “ill-con- ceived” and “satisfactory to no one” are inconsistent with the sentiments of the overwhelming mass of the population of this country. Spokesmen in Congress and the large newspapers of the coun- try championing the cause of the poor rich man know nothing of, or are not concerned about, the sentiments of the people I know. The truth of the matter is that such spokesmen and newspapers are expressing the views of a very mili- tant and powerful, but also a very de- cided minority, and the people whom I know have been little heard from as yet. I have no quarrel with those who may object to the proposed taxes in rela- tively minor details, but to those who would oppose them in substance, or altogether, I would say that it is as fair a proposal as was ever made. Tell the farmer, who has been struggling for a lifetime at honorable labor in the most basic and necessary of industries in an effort to pay for a small farm, of the pitiful plight of the poor, suffering, rich man, who now must content him- self with a million and a half a year whereas formerly it would have been considerably more. Surely he would be moved to tears. Or tell the sad story to the laboring man who puts the materials together and does the actual building. No doubt he would be similarly affected. No, the astonishing thing is that such a suggestion was not made long ago. ‘What are some of the pointless argu- ments they use? First, they say that the proposed taxes will not be enough to pay the deficits and reduce the public debt. Of course, any reasonable, well- informed man will probably agree that that is true and be prepared for what is coming, but using the same line of reasoning, it is a wonder that some one has not thought to suggest that because taxes on those with incomes of $100,000 a year and over would not of themselves be sufficient to meet the expenditures of our Government, therefore such incomes should not be taxed at all. Secondly, they say that the tax base will have to be broadened. In all proba- bility that is so, but again it has nothing | to do with the honesty and fairness of | the present proposal, and there is noth- ing to prevent subsequent action in that direction at any time. Thirdly, they say that the poor rich man cannot afford such taxes. Tell that one to the farmer, too. I am sure you can picture him nodding his assent. Your articles and editorials are all right so long as they do not purport to speak for people I know. Those people | are solidly behind the President. JOHN H. LINTON. R ] Presents a Different Definition of Capital To the Editor of The Star Your effort to define “money” indicates standing of fundamental Capital is that portion of previous pro- duction which endures to render useful service, as contrasted with the portion consumed. Abstract human productive ability s capital in pre-natal condition, just as this same universal “raw material" from which all wealth is mainly made— is consumer goods and services in the abstract. A factory building or a machine is capital. A bridge, road, park or other useful public improvement is capital owned collectively, which pays dividends direct in the form of satisfactions, in- stead of in money, exchangeable for satisfactions! Money is a medium of exchange. It is but a minor item of the Nation’s real capital. The principal capital is the latent ability of our 50,000,000 potential pro- ducers to create, by manuajor mental toil, perhaps $150.000,000.000 of new values per annum. Such asset—on a 20 times earnings basis—is worth perhaps three trillion dollars potentially. ‘When enough of us will learn that we will stop wasting productive ability in in- voluntary idleness. We will buy, collec- tively through current taxation, that portion of our own maximum output which we currently fail to buy as indi- viduals and as lesser groups than the whole Nation. Then there will be no more involun- tary idleness and no more depressions. The Nation's potential income, in excess of $150,000,000.000 a year, wil be con- tinuously its actual income. LEWIS L. BAXTER. Offers a Model for Chain Letter Writers To the Editor of The Star: As the chain letter still persists in staying around, I feel that probably this one that I copied out of an Eastern paper might be of interest and I send it on to The Star so others might be able to peruse it, as I did. “The latest chain letter. “Andy Gump, Hickory Corners, Sucker County, Mo. “George Gullible, Wayward Inn, Lord- helpus, Iowa. “Sally Easymark, County, Calif. . “Maybe True, No. 6 Easy street, Lazy- burg, Oreg. “Hope I. Gettit, Idle Hour avenue and N. R. A. street, Washington, D. C. “Faith, Hope in Grafters. “You who get this letter was selected as being at the top of five suckers who probably will bite. Instead of sending a dollar to the one named at the top of the above list, go and buy something useful for your own family or give it to some honest person more unfortunate than you are. “Now copy this letter five times and mail to five persons who may know some worthy person who is in need and who is a good sport to enter into the game and you will show a greater faith in humanity than you will by trying to get something for nothing. “Yours for the return of true Ameri- canism.” FELIX A. URY. capital as Do Tell, Misery Change Constitution Lest the Nation Perish To the Editor of The Star: ‘Who does not recall the campaign for funds to preserve the old frigate, the U. 8. 8. Constitution? Yet hardly such fight is ridiculous past the int of laughter. The old U. 8. 8. Constitution belongs a museum, does it not, as far as it any practical present worth? And preserve it, as we should, as an in- resting memento of our past. Thus it has its value to stimulate us perhaps to even better efforts, to remind us of our humble beginnings and our original thirst for liberty and independence. And the U. 8. S. Constitution was a most invaluable implement in obtaining our liberty and independence. But times have changed—need it be remarked— since then, and the liberty and inde- pendence of our country and its millions of people must be safeguarded with modern methods and equipment—else we perish. ROWLAND F, DENISON, Norwich, Conn, ) a lack of under- | economics. | TUESDAY, AUGUST 6, 1935. THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. There is no prettier flower in the garden than the aster. And none harder to raise. Who can remember when the annual aster was to be found in every yard? It wasn't very long ago. Every one grew asters then. You will go for miles torday without seeinz a one of them. Even many gardeners who regard them as the best of all annuals reluctantly leave them out of planting plans. Now this is really too bad, for truly there is no flower finer, in its way. RN The old-timers spoke of the garden variety as the Chinese aster. Calliste- phus hortensis is the plant from which our garden varieties were derived. C. Chinensis is the original of the so- called China aster. From these two parents have sprung the various types advertised in the seed catalogues, Between the wilt, the yellows, the root lice and the aster beetle, however, this old favorite has been almost driven out of our yards. While extreme good fortune may re- sult in a crop, along with unremitting attention, probably the surest way to grow asters successfully today is to plant in ground never before used for them. The finest specimens we have seen in the past 10 years were so grown. The next year, in the same situation, they were a failure. Few plants show the multiplication of enemies better than the old-fash- foned aster. It is common discussion among home gardeners, how no one in the old days bothered about insects, or fungi, yet had beautiful flowers. Today all is different, although some plants, of course, are hardier than others. Roses suffer largely from the black sp«* and from fungus growth. The gladiolus seemed immune until about three years ago, when an infes- tation of a small insect popularly called the ‘thrip” spread all over the United States. Often some one asks why this is so, | why pests spread so rapidly today. The answer, we believe, is simply that the widespread interest in gardening, especially as a city avocation for tired business men and others, has led to the purchase of plants from all parts of the country. Thus infected material has been car- ried from coast to coast, whereas if all persons bought such plants and shrubs as they needed from nurseries close at hand, a comparatively small area of infection would result, in case any re- sulted at all. Modern enterprise reaches out in all directions. Universal travel by automobile, too, may have played a part. It is easy to carry plants from one area to another. ik &k ‘Whatever may be the causes, it is an | undeniable fact that the home grower, especially of flowers, must contend now- | adays with inimical factors utterly un- | known a generation or two ago. The sad part of it is that even with | unremitting attention, it is not always possible to grow plants satisfactorily. Take the garden, or annual, aster. The four forms of attack directed against it by Nature are often more than the plant can survive, even with the best help of man. The “yellows” explains itself. The plant, often just about to bloom, be- STARS, MEN comes yellow overnight and topples over. The flowers, of course, do not unfold. The wilt is an allied disease. It, too, can put out of commission a plant which the evening belore seemed in prime condition. Roct lice are colorless forms of aphids (the so-called lice), which do their work underground. An attempt may be made to control them by boring a hole about 2 inches from each plant and pouring down a solution of nicotine sulphate. Even when this seems to succeed the resulting plants and flowers are not up to standard. Various sprays have been recom- mended for the other ailments. The aster beetle is immune to everything except hand picking and immersion in kerosene or other noxious fluid. %% It cannot be gainsaid that, even if one succeeds half way with the aster, he has failed miserably, in contrast with the fresh beauty of perfect flowers. Properly grown, without disease of any kind, there is no flower, certainly among the better known ones, of more genuine beauty. It can hold up its head in company with the fairest examples of the florist’s skill. When the* home gardener succeeds in getting some real blossoms, they will rivet the eye of every one, no matter how many varieties of flower he has or how expensive the others may be. In their exquisite tones of lavender, pink and white (yes, there are tones in white), they are unrivaled. They combine a touch of the common with a touch of the exquisite. Hence everybody loves them. Nobody is too high or too low for the aster. It was found in the humble dooryard, and in the conservatory of the rich. Now, alas, one seldom sees it unless in new ground. Those who move into new homes to succeed. Good cultivation, plenty of air and in themselves to insure success. Yes, it is true that a wilt-resisting what success we do not know. Even at best, however, there are three other terrible enemies. * % % % ‘The perennial, or hardy, aster is best known in its form of New England aster, Aster Novae-Angliae. This, too, is a member of the com- | posite family, but there the resemblance ends. | It grows 5 to 6 feet high, its purple and lavender flowers blooming in Autumn. There are many varieties of it, but | named. | Practically nothing seems to harm it. The trouble, some say, is to keep it from This has As | spreading all over the place. always seemed a queer complaint. if one could not pull them up! Those who have given up the garden aster, as too hard to grow, should try the so-called New England form, by all means. It will not be the glorious annual, however, whose name means “star,” the flower which Gretchen used to tell her love to Faust. AND ATOMS Notebook of Science Progress in Field, Laboratory and Study. BY THOMAS R. HENRY. Genes, the lowest units of “life,” play | a double role in the development of | every living organism, according to re- cent findings of the department of ge- netics of the Carnegie Institution of ‘Washington. Their traditional role is that of trans- mitting hereditary characters from par- | ents to offspring—such as body form, color of hair and eyes, etc. But, it is shown by the experiments of Dr. H. Demeric of the Carnegie Institution staff, they also take an active part in the vital function of every cell in the organism and that a very slight gene deficiency in any cell group will result in its death. The transmission of hereditary char- acters, Dr. Demeric believes, is actually a secondary function, a sort of by- product of those fundamental chemical reactions of the genes which are re- sponsible for cell life itself. These findings, he stresses, support the view that genes are the lowest units among living organisms and that the history of evolution has been that of the accumu- lation of single genes and subsequent differentiation among them. Although the gene is below the limits of visibility, so that its size and com- position can only be conjectured, the Carnegie Institution biologists have gone far during the past year in clearing away some of the obscurities surround- ing this minute particle of living matter. It is through study of the genes, Dr. Demeric believes, that eventually a more fundamental understanding of the still mysterious mechanism of evolution can be obtained. Only through factors affecting the genes, he points out, can hereditary changes in the morphology of the body be brought about. Nature has pro- tected them very effectively against very profound or frequent changes. Says Dr. Demeric: “A gene is a minute organic particle, probably a single large molecule, possessing the power of repro- duction, which power is one of the main characteristics of living matter. Changes in genes may be visualized as changes or rearrangements within molecular groups of a gene molecule. “It looks as if a gene can stand slight changes only. A more extensive change destroys its reproductive power and automaticaily eliminates the gene. A whole complement of genes of an or- ganization constitutes a balanced system which determines the appearance and nature of that organism. A majority of the genes in a gene complex probably functions in every cell. If any one of them is missing the disturbance pre- duced in the system is fatal to the whole organism and in many cases is even highly detrimental to individual cells.” There is strong evidence fiupponing the view that genes are the sole vehicles of inheritance, according to the Car- negie Institution investigators. All the characters which an individual derives from his parents are potentially present from the beginning. So variations in transmitted characters can come about only through changes that take place in the genes themselves. From this conception it follows that the body structure results from the action and interaction of the genes and that the function of the body as a whole, viewed genetically, is that of a container which maintains and protects l'.heae genes, Various agents in the may affect the A ’ | the molecular structure of the particles it contains and, in consequence, are | powerless to change heredity. The body may be attacked by germs, ravaged by | disease, impaired by injurious habits, or broken by accidents without any apparent effect upon the only physical thing which the individual passes on to his children. changability of genes, the Carnegie in- vestigators point out, cnildren are ge- netically protected from the physical and mental defects and handicaps acquired by their parents. On the other hand, they are denied the oppor- tunity of profiting genetically from the advantages accumulated by their an- cestors who have lived wisely. But this does not mean, they insist, that environment is of no importance. Environmental factors determine the way in which the genes express them- selves in the development of an or- ganism. A fortune environment may enable an individual with a poor in- heritance to live a long life. On the other hand, conditions may be so bad heritance may succumb to them. —_————————— The Match Test. From the Worcester (Mass) Gazette Workers in Japanese match factories are now being paid bonuses for good work. And the first fellow to make one match light out of five gets a gold medal. —_—eee Too Absurd! FProm the Charleston (8. C.) Evening Post. No one ed that Mussolini would go to the ble of shipping 130,000 Italian troops to Africa and then bring them back without § war. ’ . Deaf Drivers. Prom the Paducsh (Ky.) Sun-Democrat. A Massachusetts traffic director finds the deaf as # rule are the safest motor- ists. It is the subtlest crack yet at the back-seat pilot. —— vt A Rhyme at Twilight By Gerirude Brooke Hamilton Good Fellows Together When the trout leap highest and a tang is jn the air ‘Three fish together in a far-off mountain lair. One an orator conspicuous for his gifted tongue, One a jurist on whose wit the higher courts have hung, One well known for a good story in the banquet hall, In the rating of their city fluent talkers all. . In the mountain fastness, drinking birdies sing. An old law between them is to seldom Shunning wimm:ldfinl that won plaudits from the crowd! [ ought to think of the aster before all | the roses in the world, for in fresh | soil they will have a very good chance | some lime are good, but not enough ! aster has been put on the market with | perhaps none is better than one just | Because of the almost complete un- | 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 many pounds of dynamnite were used .n the construction of Boulder Dam?—S. H. A. The contractors used 8551,300 pourrds of dynamite, 915,000 feet of fuse and 1,139,500 exploders. Q. Is golf a popular game in Ger- many?—D. E. R. A. Germany has about 40 golf clubs to Great Britain's 2,000 clubs and courses and the United States’ 5600. There is now a movement to popularize the game in Germany. Q. How many eggs does the average American eat in a year?—F. 8. A. The number fluctuates from year to year from 17 dozen to 22 dozen. Q. What are the ingredients of Seid- litz powders?—A. 8. A. They are composed of 120 grains of tartrate of soda and potash and 40 grains of bicarbonate of soda reduced to powder, mixed and inclosed in a blue paper, and 38 grains of powdered tar- taric acid in a white paper. Q. What is the inscription over Shake- speare’s grave?—A. D. A. The following lines are inscribed on the slab which marks the spot: “Good friend for Tesus’ sake forbeare, To digge the dust enclosed heare; Bleste be the man that spares thes stones, And curst be he that méves my bones.” Q. How many people have radios in | Canada?—W. L. A. Last year 812,335 radio licenses were issued. It is believed that this year will see a considerable increase in the num- ber. Q. What is the origin of the words “cow” and “bull”?—E. F. A. The words are probably imitative, the root idea of “bull” being a suggestion of its bellowing, while “cow,” which in | early English and Scotch is pronounced “c00,” is imitative of the lowing call to the calf. Q. Are the original pews in Old Swedes Church, in Philadelphia?—R. D. A. They were removed some years ago and new ones substituted. Q. Which melts faster, ice cream or sherbet?>—E. P. A. If equal quantities of sherbet and ice cream were exposed to ordinary room temperature the sherbet would melt | faster than the ice cream. This is be- cause it has less body than ice cream. Ices melt faster than sherbet for the same reason. Q. Who said, age”?—R. K. A. Francois de la Rochefoucauld, the greatest of French epigrammatists, made “Women's hell s old | this remark to Ninon de I'Enclos. Q. What is the distance between the George Washington Bridge and the Hud- son River?—H. J. W. A. The clearance beneath the lower deck of the George Washington Bridge at New York Tower is 195 feet. The clearance beneath the lower deck at center is 213 feet. Q. Please give the particulars of the Sims case—F. R. A. In April, 1851, a Negro, Thomas Sims, arrested in Boston. was claimed by James Porter of Georgia as his slave. Counsel tried in vain to deliver him from the custody of the United States marshal, and the case caused prominent | abolitionists to denounce the fugitive | slave law of | but few are powerful enough to disturb ! 1850. Sims was at length sent to Savdnnah. where he was sold to a brick mason at Vicksburg. He escaped during the siege of that place to the Federals (1863) and became, in 1877, a Government messenger at Washington. Q. What is meant by the nine points of the law?—N. G. A. They have been given as: (1) A good deal of money, (2) a good deal of patience, (3) a good cause, (4) a good lawyer, (5) a good counsel, (6) good wit- | messes, (7) a good jury, (8) a good judge and (9) good luck. Q. When were diamonds first found | in South Africa?—R. S. A. In 1866, when a child picked up a stone which proved to be a diamond weighing 21% carats. It was sold in the rough for $2,500. Q. For what was Sara Andrews Spen- cer famous?—F. T. A. She was a woman suffragist (1837- 1909), who, in 1871, with other women, | unsuccessfully attempted to register and vote. Afterward. she brought suit, the . ad | supreme Court of the United States de- that one with the best possible in- | ciding, in 1874, that women had not the right of vote without local legislation. Q. What were the Guilds of St. Luke? —M. R. A. They were medieval associations of painters under the patronage of St Luke, formed to protect the interests of their members. Engravers, printers and members of other occupations related to bookmaking were later received into the guilds, which had a long existence in Holland, flourishing particularly in Antwerp. Q. Where did Judge Gary receive his education and when was he a judge?— G. A H. A. He was educated at Wheaton Col- lege and the University of Chicago and was admitted to the bar. He was county judge of Du Page County for two terms. Q. How many motion picture theaters has Moscow?—A. 8. A. Moscow has 48 moving picture thea~ ters. About 1,000 more motion picture screens and projectors are installed in clubs, meeting halls, etc. Four theaters are reserved for children only. Q. How much did the Federal Gov- ernment collect from automobile excise taxes last year?—J. B. A. For the fiscal year ending June 30, 1935, the Federal revenue from auto- motive excise taxes amounted to $277,- 827,208, Of this, $161,532202 was the tax on gasoline, Q. Please give some information about Reuben Greenspan, the earthquake prophet—R. L. B. A. Born in Evanston, TIl, in 1903, he left home at the age of 14, At 15 he ob- tained a seaman’s license and earned enough money to obtain his education during the Winter. He worked in fac- tories, as a farmer and as a fisherman before entering Louisiana University, where he spent two years. Mr. Green- span obtained his degree in 1922 at Armour Institute of Technology, where he majored in mathematics and physics. Q. How old is the St. Cecelie Society at Charleston, 8. C.?—S. G. A. It was founded in 1762, }