Evening Star Newspaper, August 12, 1935, Page 6

THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. MONDAY ........e.....August 12, 1935 THEODORE W. NOYES...........Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company. Business Office: 11th St. and Pennsyivania Ave. hicago Offine: ! Européan Omce: 14 Rexent St London. Znsiand. Rate by Carrier Within the City. Regular Edition. The Evening Star_. The Evening and St when 4 Sunday. The Evening and Sunday Star n(\'h('n 5 Svndays) o -45c per month -60c per month 65c per month Sunday Star—_. -5¢ per copy Night Final Editi Night Pinal apd Sunday Star. Night Finai Star--———___. Collection made at the end of Orders may be sent by mail or tional 5000. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virgini Daily and Sund: Daily only Sunday 0c per month 5c per month each month. telephone Na- Daily o Sunday Member of the Associated Press. The Associated Press s exclusively entitled to the use for republication of ail 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 2 are also reserved. Danger Ahead. As a revenue measure the Senate tax bill is an improvement over the House bill. As a political measure the Senate bill assumes some of the aspects of the sword with which the highly patriotic nationals of a friendly power sometimes perform the ceremony known as hara- kiri. Of the $218,000,000 additional revenue to be raised by the Senate bill, about $175000,000 of that increase would come from the pockets of the income taxpayers. And the number of income taxpayers affected must be counted in the millions, instead of the few thousand whom the House was willing to plaster. The political implications of the bill at this time are of major injerest. No matter what the President’s original intentions may have been in sending a so-called “share-the-wealth” tax message to Congress at the tail end of a weary session, the bill passed by the House was a political face-saver. It was neither a revenue raiser nor did it promise to re the wealth.” It prom- ised to do damage economically, but it was the least hurtful, politically, that could be devised. Now the Senate committee, having experienced the same difficulties faced by the House in trying to make a great show of revenue potentialities by soaking the rich alone, suggests that the bill be made into a revenue producer by dig- ging down into the lower brackets of the income taxpavers and relying, as always before, upon an already heavily taxed class of the population to assume & largely increased burden. The expenditure of billions of dollars for recovery means, of course, that the money must be raised eventually through taxation. And no one can consistently favor sound Government finance and at | the same time oppose paying taxes, as much as he may deplore both the ex- penditures and the taxes. It would be fundamentally sound to enact a tax bill that really hurts—a tax bill that will | make people realize what billion-dollar relief expenditures mean in dollars and cents out of their own pockets. 1t | would be the best safeguard against reckless spending that could be devised. | If Congress passed such a tax bill now, in a pre-election year, it might be a good thing for the country. But any revenue-raising measure should be care- fully drawn; carefully considered as to its effect on the business recovery now beginning to take place, lest the dam- age it causes will more than offset the advantages of the new revenue it is proposed to raise. The question now is whether the bill taking shape so rapidly, under the | pressure of politics and the desire for early adjournment, meets the test of a carefully drawn revenue measure. The Senate committee has hastily thrown together a revenue measure, superim- posed upon the almost universally con- demned political measure passed by the House. An effort is to be made to rush this bill through within a week or s0. There will be the juggling of Senate debate, and the later swaps and trades in conference. It stands to reason that, considering all these things together with the fact that Congress will be assembling again within a few months, the wise course would be to drop the business and take another start, with the objectives of the bill clearly understood and the effect of the new burdens care- fully studied. Rushing a tax bill through both houses and patching it up in conference is dan- gerous—not only to the politicians who have this bear by the tail, but to the « country at large. ———— o Regulation of the liquor traffic pro- duces an occasion of mild “fuddlement” without the direct use of alcohol. An Island Siberia. The United States soon will have an island Siberia, if plans eutlined by Col. C. A. Seoane of the Army Signal Cqrps and approved by Attorney General Homer Cummings are fulfilled. Federal prisoners, it is suggested, should be exiled to the Rat Islands, a thousand miles southwest of the mainland of Alaska. Marooned there, the outcasts would be required to “provide their own sustenance through their own endeav- ors,” the Government “assisting in the beginning through a minimum supply of foodstuffs and whatever other sup- plies as might be necessary in establish- ing the colony.” Administrative ar- rangements, it is indicated, eventually would be in the hands of the convicts themselves. The original author of the scheme declares: “They could organize their own community government.” But have criminals enough social in- stinct to make a success of such an ex- periment? That question inevitably will be asked, and it is fundamentally im- portant that it be answered. Penal col- onies dependent upon co-operation be- tween prisoners and the State are a novelty. The Siberian exiles of the Rus- sian Czars, it is true, were obliged to solve the problem of their own board -and lodging, but they were policed by an army. And Great Britain customarily provided warders for her penal settle- ments in Australia, Tasmania and Ceylon. The notion that desperate men can be dumped down on & desert island in a near-polar latitude and develop under those conditions a self-supporting community competent of survival is fan- tastic in the extreme and would need a lot of proving before it could be ap- plauded by a public which somehow does not appear to wish to be revenged on the generality of Federal convicts. Col. Seoane, however, is forthright. Banishment to the Rat Islands, he ex- plains, “would mean a long good-bye, without hope of pardon, parole or escape. Herein lies the seqret of what is believed would become an effective damper on the crime wave of today.” The popula- tion of the colony, it is estimated, would be approximately ten thousand. About half a million dollars would pay the initial costs, and the investment would be returned with interest from the sale of the colony’s products. But attractive as the blueprint may seem to some, there will be many skeptics who Wi brand it an infeasible dream. Few, indeed, will be the number of people who have faith in the capacity of men of the type of Gaston B. Means, Al Capone and their like to labor together, even for their own good. The Constitution Issue. Any statement by a former President relating to the program and perform- ances of his successor is certain to be given weight as a political factor. Mr. Hoover's remarks about the Roosevelt administration, at Chicago on his way | East for business purposes, cannot be construed definitely as a bid for nomi- nation, but it must be accepted as evi- dence that the Republican candidate of 1932 is looking toward the campaign of 1936, as either a participant or a con- tributor. Mr. Hoover says that the administra- tion has by its attitude toward the Con- stitution created one of the most mo- mentous issues since the Civil War and that its acts and utterances since the Supreme Court’s N. R. A. decision have evinced “a continuous intent to | change the Constitution directly so as to authorize concentration of power.” There is the quality of a challenge in Mr. Hoover's statement. now see a demand from the President not to permit doubts as to the consti- tutionality of a proposed law to block its | passage; we listen to constant urgings | from prominent members of this admin- istration that the Constitution must be revised. These things can have no other meaning than a continuous intent to change the Constitution directly so as to authorize such acts and such con- centration of powers to accomplish them indirectly.” Furthermore, the former President says that common frankness requires a direct declaration by the administration to indicate wherein under the Consti- tution “we cannot correct evils and can- not prevent social maladjustments.” Then he adds: “The time has come when these full purposes shall be disclosed.” The people, he says, “should now be told openly in specific words of the exact amendment that these gentlemen want, so that the people can consider and themselves determine it.” This challenge will probably be ignored for the present, but it cannot be ignored for very long. A little more than nine months from now the parties will be holding their conventions and not only nominations will be in order, but declarations of principles in the form of platforms. Whether Mr. Hoover is a candidate for the Republican nomi- nation or not, the words he has just uttered indicate the probable line of the Republican challenge and statement of principles. The Constitution will almost certainly be the keynote of the campaign. And it will involve not merely the maintenance of the funda- mental law and the orderly processes of its amendment, but the question of State rights, which may widely broaden the field of the appeal of the opposition party to the public suffrage. ———rat— Those who find inheritances cruelly curtailed may seek consolation in the proverb, “A good name is better than riches.” G. O. P. Turns West. ‘The poll of Republican county chair- men, city leaders and “young Repub- licans,” undertaken by Robert H. Lucas, former executive director of the G. O. P. National Committee, indicates that the demand of the party is for a Western presidential nominee next year in no way connected with the Old Guard. With Senator William E. Borah of Idaho heading the preference list so far, the next three selections are Col. Frank Knox, publisher of the Chicago Daily News and a “Bull Mooser” in 1912; Gov. Alf M. Landon of Kansas, who has newly come into the political limelight, and Senator Arthur M. Vandenberg of Mich- igan, who has never been of the Old Guard in any way. The lead that Senator Borah has taken in the poll is due to the very high regard which Republicans all over the country have for the Idaho Senator’s ability and integrity, for his devotion to the Constitution and the law. With his great oratorical powers, Borah would make, in the opinion of many Repub- licans, an ideal candidate to run against President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his New Deal, which has disregarded lines and principles laid down by the Constitution of the United States. Whether finally the Republicans will turn to Mr. Borah and make him the party standard bearer it is too early to predict with definiteness. His demands for expansion of the currency will not rest well with many of the Republicans. Or whether Mr. Borah will agree to 5 | He says: “We HE EVENING permit himself to be drafted for the nomination is still to be decided. Former President Herbert Hoover, the titular head of the party, is sixth on the poll list. The small vote cast so far for Mr. Hoover seems to bear out the con- tentlon that there is no probability of the Republican National Convention turning to him next year. It is becom- ing increasingly apparent that the Re- publicans are intent upon getting as far away from the early days of the depres- sion 8s they can when they make their bid for a return to power. Furthermore, the Republicans of the West, and par- ticularly of the Middle West, are not likely to follow a ticket headed by Mr. Hoover. The winning of the West in the coming campaign is essential to a Republican. Perhaps one result of the poll now being conducted will be to silence demands made that Mr. Hoover make a statement definitely saying that he will not be a candidate for the presi- dential nomination next year. Such de- mands are not fair to Mr. Hoover. In the first place, he has not been offered the nomination. In the second place, no one can predict with absolute cer- tainty what will be the desire and the will of the people a year in advance. It would be an idle gesture and would serve no useful purpose for Mr. Hoover to declare himself out of the race and then to find that the people desired him. R Ethiopia’s Offer. There is little likelihood that the will- ingness of Emperor Haile Selassie, as reported from Addis Ababa, to cede part of Ethiopia’s territory to Italy in ex- change for an outlet to the sea and financial assistance will check Musso | lini’s war purposes. Unguestionably it | would be to Ethiopia's advantage to secure both a port and a loan, and these two objects might well be worth the | cession of & part of Ogaden, the Ethi~ opian territory lying immediately north | of Italian Somaliland, comprising the | territory directly in dispute. But it does where Italian aspirations envisage an extension of the Eritrean area, presuma- bly to include Adowa, the scene of Italy’s humiliating defeat in 1896. Nor does it comprise any suggestion of a link be- tween these two now separated Italian areas of Eritrea and Somaliland, which is a definite part of the Italian purpose. So much for the geographical consid- erations. There are other matters of moment which are not to be negatived by the suggested compromise. One of | these is the fact that Mussolini has put i | in Italy and elsewhere as prompted by caution, induced by the fear of widening of the war zone into European that Italy is bent upon conguest in Africa. A dispatch from Rome says that Haile Selassie’s reported offer is regarded in authoritative quarters as a last-min- | ute effort to interest other nations in “a interested in the “sand trap” or in other lini’s idea of a total solution of the prob- { lem. That total solution would seem to be no less than the subjugation of Ethiopia regardless of the desires and endeavors of Great Britain. aom o “Soaking success” would contradict the ruies of every game if it went so | far as to make it more profitable to lose than to win. Shooting Stars. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. When! Some pictures are for mirth designed And some are to romance inclined. A pleasant face with smile intense Won't always call for reverence. To laugh’s the general wish of men; The big idea’s knowing WHEN. ‘When I observe a gay cartoon Or hear some merry minstrel croon, 1 shall not smile or even wink Till I am told how I must think. Il ne’er make bold to laugh again Until somebody signals “WHEN.” Preservation. “Of course, you are in sympathy with every honest desire to save your country.” “I am,” said Senator Sorghum. “But care is required as to method. Some of us patriots get an idea that we are preserving our country by getting it into a pickle.” Jud Tunkins says the more war talk he hears, the more sensible radio jazz sounds by comparison. Cancellation. Two friends had I who disagree. With neither was I frank and free, For if to one I'd say, “Yes, yes!” The other frowned in great distress. Much my diplomacy has cost. I find that both my friends I've lost— Who will not loyally contend Finds he cannot deserve a friend. Comparing Statistics. “I am surprised,” said the statistician, “to look back and see how many pork chops and vegetables a dollar use to put into a market basket.” “And I am now surprised,” said the housewife, “to see haw many dollars a few groceries will put into the cash Tegister.” Gloom Defiance. To laugh is such a dangerous thing, It causes hesitation. A gentle steadfast smile will bring Sufficient consolation. - I seek a proper genial pride Though when bad news is flying, Perhaps I shall be satisfled If I can keep from crying. “It sometimes ’pears to me,” said Uncle Eben, “like de man dat can’t make a success wif a little authority is de one dat wants to keep bossin’ more and more.” L] STAR, WASHI | with Democratic leanings are the lead- | | tirely mistaken about that. not affect the situation in the north, | { clared the N. R. A. invalid. Apparently in gear a great war machine, a failure to | employ which might easily be construed | the | strip of sand,” and that Italy is not | concessions which do not meet Musso- | iTON, D. C, MO THE POLITICAL MILL * By G, Gould Lincoln. The presidential preference poll now being conducted by Robert H. Lurcas among Republican county chairmen, city leaders and “young Republicans” takes on a lot more interest in the light of signs of growing unpopularity of the Roosevelt New Deal and of the Presi- dent himself. The Republican nomina- tion is not something to be sneezed at, perhaps. It is not surprising that the results of the poll show Senator Borah of Idaho out in the lead. The discussion of Senator Borah as a presidential nomi- nee for the G. O. P. gained considerable headway when the Midwest “Grass Roots” Conference of Republicans was held in Springfield, 111, last June. Out- side of Herbert Hoover, former President, Mr. Borah is a more national figure than any other man in the party today. He is known as a great campaigner when he takes the stump. He is a champion always of the Constitution of the United States and the rights of the people re- served under that Constitution. With President Roosevelt assaulting the Con- stitution, as it is now interpreted by the Supreme Court, it is easily understand- able that Borah should appeal to the popular imagination as a champion to go up against Roosevelt next year. * X ¥ X Every time former President Hoover opens his mouth on subjects political or connected with the Roosevelt adminis- tration there is an immediate bleat that he is making a bid for the Republican presidential nomination. In Chicago yesterday Mr. Hoover issued a challenge to President Roosevelt to state to the people definitely just what he wanted changed in the Constitution. Right away the interpreters began to say that this was just another bid for the presi- dential nomination by Hoover. Those ers in such an interpretation. They would like to see Mr. Hoover the Repub- lican nominee, for they believe that the contest would then revert to the same character and status of the presiden- tial election in 1932. They may be en- At any rate. it is what they hope and believe would follow the nomination of Mr. Hoover by the Republicans. CEH B Of course, there is no reason whatever why the titular head of the Republican party should not say that the time had come for the President to tell the people | just what he wants in the way of changes in the fundamental law of the land. Whether President Roosevelt will answer the challenge is another matter. He stuck his foot in the pool of consti- tutional change immediately after the Supreme Court had unanimously de- he did not like the temperature of the water. The response of the country to his strictures on the Supreme Court and its interpretations of the Constitution was distinctly cold. There have been continued signs, however, that the Presi- | dent was still anxious to make an issue of the Constitution as it now stands, provided he could build up proper sup- areas. Lamentably the fact seems to be | port in the country. His request to mem- bers of the House that they pass the Guffey coal bill no matter if they had reasonable doubt as to its constitution- ality, so that the law might go to the Supreme Court for decision, was so in- terpreted. Either the President desires to see ®he' Constitution amended or he does not. He may think that it is too early to bring the matter to the fore. If so he is likely to say nothing. * kX X The small vote that Mr. Hoover has received so far in the presidential pref- erence poll, conducted by Mr. Lucas, who was executive director of the Re- publican National Committee when Mr. Hoover was President, should be an an- swer to those who profess to believe that Mr. Hoover will either be a candidate for or become the presidential nominee of the G. O. P. next year. Where Sen- ator Borah had 247 votes. Mr. Hoover had only 52. Col. Frank Knox of Chi- | cago. publisher of the Daily News, was second to Borah with 167, and Gov. Landon of Kansas was third with 127. | The junior Senator from Michigan, Sen- ator Arthur H. Vandenberg, was fourth with 97, and back of him and just ahead of Mr. Hoover came former Gov. Frank O. Lowden of Illinois, with 88 votes. Further returns from the poll may bring differences in the standing of the presi- dential “possibilities.” Up to the present time, the Republican candidates for the nomination have been reticent. Some of them have declared that they had no aspirations whatever, although their friends have been working quietly. It | won't be long now before some of them | will be throwing their hats in the ring | in good earnest. * ok ok x ‘The determination of the Democratic leaders in the Senate to bring the sol- diers’ bonus to the fore next January looks very much as though they had reached the conclusion that they had better put this measure through before the coming national election. Further- more, apparently it is to be put througn just on the eve of the national cam- paign. President Roosevelt vetoed the Patman inflationary soldiers’ bonus bill earlier in the present session and his veto was sustained. His veto was ac- claimed widely throughout the country. Yet in spite of this the Democrats in the Senate are making the bonus a special order of business for the first part of the next session of Congress. One reason advanced is that by such tactics the debate on the administra- tion’s tax bill will be curtailed. The bonus advocates were planning to offer immediate cash payment of the bonus as a “rider” to the tax bill. The vet- erans’ vote in the election next year is a lure. But whether the veterans them- selves will be satisfied with such Demo- cratic tactics remains to be seen. * K K X The Roosevelt administration is in hot water over its tax bill and also over the “subsistence wage” which is offered the workers on the work-relief projects. The President himself is responsible for throwing the tax problem into Congress this Summer. He is equally responsible for the “subsistence wage.” When the $4,880,000,000 work-relief bill was before the Senate, the President stood out flatly against the amendment offered by Senator McCarran of Nevada, Demo- crat, calling for the payment of the “prevailing wage” for work done on these relief projects. He was warned by Democratic Senators and by organ- ized labor that he was heading for trouble. The threat of strikes all over the country now because of the payment of the subsistence wage is a fulfillment of these warnings. Both the tax issue and the wage issue may work out un- fortunately politically for the Roosevelt administration. The Senate Finance Committee has undertaken to levy taxes on a much broader base than the House. That means the tax burden will fall on many more persons. That is net a popular thing. —_— e Hitler’s Early Indiscretion. Prom the Chester (Pa.) Times. Five early water color paintings by Hitler have been found in Munich. If are bad enough this may be the | that will JGUST 12, 1935. THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. It takes a lot of pounding to make , man or woman who wants nothing a house. Everywhere in the suburban sections of the National Capital, and nearby Maryland and Virginia, the sound of hammers goes on all day long. Men are building new homes for new families and old families, too. It has always seemed to us (we may be wrong, but at least it has seemed so to us) that Washington is a peculiarly home-loving city. We have seen Government clerks sneered at, in one of the sophisticated magazines, for their strenuous efforts to own homes of their own. They should be blessed instead and have blessed themselves, indeed, over all these years. * % % % The amount of sheer pounding that goes into a house, even a small house, 15 enormous. A passerby going along a residence street, wherein a new house is under construction, hears the same bang, bang, bang, for days on end, weeks, several months. Busy black or brown haired men—few carpenters are blond, evidently—hammer home nails in various key places where they will do the most good. Thousands of nails are used, even in brick homes. There is just a little more pounding in frame houses. The daily pedestrian inspector of such seething activity often wonders just how every one knows just where to hammer. It is the same with a modern office building under construction. To the lay inspector everything seems confusion. He would swear that no one knew where anything could be found. Yet they say, and time always proves, that the superintendent knows to a square foot of lumber just where every bit of material is at any given moment. * ¥k x Tt is an interesting thing to watch the building of some one else’s house. Whether one would find interest in the inspection of the building of his own depends largely on personal tem- perament, of course. Nothing could be more exciting, to the home-loving person. There is as much sheer excitement in it, to such a man or women, as in the construction of a ship to a sailor, or of a | blind to a hunter. Persons of ordinary quiet tempera- ment find as much pleasure in the things of home as many another persan does in a foreign trip. It is all a matter qf inner tempera- ment, built solidly on heredity. Just how much subsequent training may have to do with this fine love of | home is a problem. Certainly many otherwise fine folk never seem to ac- quire it. Their attitude is reflected in the old song, “Any place I hang my hat is home, sweet home, to me.” At the other extreme is the person who becomes greatly attached to one particular house. It will be found. in most such cases, that even the furniture ing to the strictly modern conception of things. A further step in this almost patho- logic love of home may be seen in the is cherished, | years after it ought to be junked, accord- | moved. Not eveff a book must be displaced from the position it has held for many years. - Between these extremes, of which many instances must occur to any one, in his own personal acquaintance, there is the ordinary, normal love and interest in a home to be found on every hand. One’s own home, to such persons, is vastly loved, but is not all of life, by any means. It is kept well, but not to the peint here it becomes a burden. ‘They find that a house always takes a great deal of pounding, from time to time, in or&r to keep it running along | smoothly. nxsomelh.\ng is always getting out of | “Out of fix,” what a good phrase! It is one of the colloguial expressions in which our language is so rich. When a thing is fixed, it is fixed, but when it is out of fix, then it needs fixing again. It is just as simple as that. P In this good work of fixing again some- | thing which has broken, in ordinary use, the hammer is the best of all tools. Not even a saw has more ordinary uses around the home than a good hefty hammer. There are times and occasions and | places where a slight hammer is best, but for most cases one with some size | and weight is necessary. It is the same with a screwdriver and a plane, but particularly with the former. ‘When the home owner needs a good, | husky screwdriver, none of these little fellows will do, as admirable as they are | for lighter work. ‘Take the lawnmower, prime instru- ment of the gardened home. Just as the householder cannot get along without the mower, so he cannot operate the grass cutter at times with- out the use of a screwdriver. Maybe he has had the mower for 12, 15 years, in active service every year. We know one Washingtonian who claims a record of 21 years of year-in | and year-out service. However that may be, a dozen or so years is nothing exceptional Cutting wet grass may cause nuts and bolts to become rusty. Then when the cutter bar gets out of adjustment, the owner wishes to fix it again. The little screwdriver will not budge anything. What is needed is a large, | husky implement, with a handle he can get a grip on. ‘The first thing to do is soak the rusty places with a good grade of oil, and allow the mower to stand idle for sev- eral days. This will give the oil a chance to soak through the rust, and loosen up what needs to be loosened. put to the test, it comes through with ! flying colors. The cutter bar is lowered, it makes the | proper contact, away goes the machine, with a clear, wholesome sound as de- lightful to the ear as the contented purr- ing of the very best motor to the ear of the most enthusiastic motorist. Yes, it takes a lot of pounding to make a house, and to keep it made. WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS When President Roosevelt addresses the Young Democratic Clubs of America, assembled in their second national con- vention at Milwaukee on August 23, it may be said that the “opening gun” of the coming presidential campaign has been fired. That it will boom forth a message which will resound throughout the Nation and reverberate for many succeeding months and be echoed and i \ i F re-echoed in scores of other speeches | follow before Democratic groups is a foregone conclusion. What the President says to the 10,000 Young Democrats who are expected to be in attendance at the convention from every State of the Union and a number of the Territories regarding the policies and plans of the party which he leads will be like a signpost pointing his followers to the road he expects them to take. It will be a similar guide to millions of other Americans who will listen to him over the radio. When carefully analyzed | and interpreted. it will have an impor- tant bearing on the events to follow next year. . * * ¥ % Another presidential address, but of an entirely different character—one which will have about it a touch of sad- ness—is that which he will make, prob- ably by radio, rather than in person, to the Confederate veterans assembled next month for their last reunion. Their meeting this year, to be held in Amarillo, Tex., the farthest west it has ever been taken, will have both a historic and sentimental significance. Only one re- maining Confederate veteran is living in Amarillo, and not more than 1,000 wearers of the gray are expected to be in attendance. The President’s words to them, no doubt, will be tinged with thoughts of dying glory. praise and pathos combined; reverent in praise of the unselfish sacrifices they made and mindful that the end of the road is near. The last G. A. R. reunion, also, will probably be held this year. The sug- gestion has been made that the two organizations meet in a final reunion next vear, but no decision has been reached as to whether this will be done. L Congress will have been in session. up to and including Monday, August 12, & tetal of 222 days. But it would have to remain until after the snow flies to break the congressional duration record. Many previous sessions have sat longer, although this one, by the date of its ex- pected adjournment, will have outdis- tanced all others since the second ses- sion of the Sixty-seventh Congress, which met on December 5, 1921, and lasteo until September 22, 1922, a total of 292 days. Only six sessions in the history of the country have run over 300 days, the first of these having been in 1849-50, with others in 1867-8 (this one, however, with two lengthy recesses), in 1887-8, 1889-90, 1913-4 and 1917-8. * k * % If Benjamin Franklin were alive to- day he would look with pardonable pride, it is certain, on the great number of young Americans who, like him, have been captivated by theylure of the print- ing press. Wherever they go, whatever they are doing, one of the first thoughts that “pops” into the heads of almost any group of citizens, in convention or elsewhere, is: “Let’s get out a news- paper.” This inherent strain in the blood is manifested by what the boys in the C. C. C. camps are doing in this direction. In a great majority of these camps—in 1,108 of the 1,640 camps, ac- cording to the latest available figures— some form of ne:hsplper is published. In mimeogra sheets, set up with machines and other supplies procured by the men themselves without any financial assistance from the Government. In a few places some neighboring town weekly sets aside a ! | for this easily page, or part of a page. for this purpose. ‘The gathering and preparation of the news constitutes part of the instruction | the educational x the men receive in courses furnished for them. * *x % x Pity the poor “spud”! The United States Department of Agriculture claims that the humble and innocent potato is getting too many “bumps” in life. and so0 it is trying to make the way easier food family. agricultural Through the bureau of engineering it points out | various simple and readily applied meth- ods of handling by which growers can reduce injuries in potato digging, stor- ing and grading. Paddings the rims and | bottoms of the barrels as the tubers | ;,. conctitution are gathered is one of the aids sug- gested. e In Washington, as elsewhere, when- ever 8 group gathers these days politics is almost certain to be one of the sub- | jects of discussion, with the coming presidential campaign as the magnet for drawing forth predictions and coun- ter-predictions as to various phases of the outcome—and this will be an in- creasingly strong and steadily pulling source of attraction as the days go by. ‘These predictions already have resulted in the placing of a number of friendly wagers by certain prognosticating indi- viduals in the Capital versed in the ups and downs of politics. The rest of the country, no doubt, is following suit in this interesting pastime. * k Xk X ‘The records of the famous Wicker- | sham Commission, which investigated the prohibition question, awaiting even- tual storage in the Archives Building, | repose at present in a dark, locked room | in the Department of Justice. By some | curious twist of fate they smell strongly | of drugs—heroin or some of the other Government-seized narcotics which were their neighbors in the space thev previ- ously occupied in an older building. R When Congress gets ready, as it is expected to do “pronto,” to “pack up its troubles in its old kit back” and start on | the joyful road for home, it will “sing, sing, sing.” Yes, literally; and the sing- ing will be done, as is usual when Con- gress is about ready to adjourn, by the lower house, while its members are awaiting last-minute action by the Sen- ate on certain measures. During the closing hours, if Congress follows cus- tom, there will be a more or less melodi- ous mingling in the House of Repre- sentatives of plantation songs with “The Last Round-Up,” and, said to say. even “Sweet Adeline” also in the running. (Copyright. 1935.) s A Rhyme at Twilight By Gertrude Brooke Hamilton The Royal Colors. While the hues of waning Summer Deepen to a mellow shade Turning all the leaves and grasses From bright emerald to jade And the dark-hued purple asters Mingle with the gol I would find a forest pathway That no other man has trod. Fathoming a deeper meaning Back of all the human strife, Coloring ephemeral dreaming ‘With a fuller sense of {iv_le. Finding need for sorrow’s purple And the reason for the rod From the ever-deepening foliage ‘In the August woods with God. L injured member of the | 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 Bvreau, Frederic J. Haskin, Lirector, Washing- ton, D.C. Puease inclose stamp for reply. Q. How much power is used at va- rious speeds in overcoming wind re- sistance in modern cars compared to a highly streamlined car?—B. L. 8. A. Approximate figures are as fol- lows: The conventional car uses 2 h.p. at 25 mph; 10 at 50, and 33 at 75. A well streamlined model would use 'z hp. at 25, 4 hp. at 50, and 12! hp. at 75. In each case rolling resistance horse powers are roughly 3 at 25, 8 at 50 and 14 at 75. Q. Are any mnewspapers published at | Addis Ababa, Ethiopia?—T. W. - A. There are five—two native publica- tions, in Amharic, Aemero (Reason) and Berhanenna-Selam (Light and Peace) and Courrier d’Ethiopie, in French, pub- lished weekly, and two bi-weekly jour- nals—Ethiopie Commerciale and Noti- ziario. Q. How many people visited the Boulder Dam while it was being con- structed?—A. N. A. It is estimated that a million peo- ple visited the project during its con- struction. Q. How many gallons of coconut oil | can be obtained from 500 pounds of copra?—R. L. A. About 25 gallons should be ob- tained from that amount. Q. Can a father who has hemophilia transmit this disease to his daughters or transmit the trait to them?—L. B. E. A. Hemophilia is a disease which occurs in males only, but which is trans- mitted by females. In other words, if hilia his sons will not ill carry it, and | their sons may have it. Q. What is the meaning of om mani pad me hum?—J. H. A. This is a sacred Buddhist formula meaning, “Oh, the jewel in the lotus, amen!” When recited it insures rebirth after death in the heaven ruled by Amitabha, the reputed author of the incantation. It is inscribed on all Buddhist prayer wheels. Q. Please give some information about the Chateau d'If.—A. W. G. A. The Chateau d’If is most widely known through the “Count of Monte Cristo.” It is located on a rock island about 2 miles west of Marseille. The castle was constructed by Francis I in 1529 and was later used as a state prison. In it Mirabeau, Philippe Egalite | and others were confined. Then, when the large implement is | Q. In wrestling, what is a dog fall? | —G.E. A. It is a fall in which the two com- batants touch the ground together. Q. When was the Flatiron Building in New York City erected?—T. H. A. It was built in 1902. It is some- | times referred to as the first skyscraper in New York City. Q. What is the origin of the expression, tips, meaning gratuities?—J. C. A. The custom of tipping is said to | have originated in a coffee house in London. In this tavern there was a box into which patrons desiring special service put a certain amount of money. On the box were the words, “to insure prompt service.” The initial letters of this phrase developed into the poun, tips. Q. What is a berm?—W. §. C. A. It is a horizontal ledge on a slope or along a bank. Q. What is the comity of nations?— K.R.G. A. This is the principle upon which the courts of one country recognize the validity of the laws and judicial deci- sions of another. The principle has been embodied in the fundamental law of the United States by the provision of (article 4, section 1), that “full faith and credit shall be given in each State to the public acts, records | and judicial proceedings of every other State.” Q. Was Walter Ufer, the painter of Indians, born in the West?>—E. R. A. Mr. Ufer was born in Louisville, Ky. Q. Is Northern China very cold in Wintertime?—W, L. B. A. China is exposed to the full blast of the northwesterlies from North Asia. Northern China experiences ex- ceptionally severe Winter weather, the coldest in the world for its latitude. The Winter period is short and very windy. Q. Please give some information about the late Andre Citroen who was called the Henry Ford of France—M. C. A. Born in Paris in 1878, Andre Citroen studied at the Ecole Polytechnique, graduating as an engineer. He special- ized in motor car construction and before he was 25 had become an engineer of note. His invention of a cannon-making machine during the war added to his | fame and fortune and he organized his own munitions plant at that time. After the war this was converted into an automobile factory. At the height of the post-war prosperity, he employed | 3,000 workers on a 24-hour schedule, his factories being the outstanding examples of mass production on the continent. M. Citroen died in Paris, July 3. Q. How did the expression, “let George do it,” start?—A. K. A. The allusion is to a popular comic supplement feature by the American cartoonist, McManus. Q. When did the tricolor become the flag of France?—G. W. A. Lafayette brought about its adop- tion in 1789. Q. What were Ty Cobb’s and Tris Speaker’s batting averages for their base ball careers?>—G. P. A. Ty Cobb’s average was .367 and Speaker’s in his whole major career was .345. Q. How long did the United States Supreme Court occupy the court room which it has now left to take possession of its own building?—H. P. A. It used its former quarters for almost 75 years. Q. What is the difference between American and Canadian whisky?—W. F. A. It is a difference in the way they are made. Canadian whiskies are gen- erally of light body and subtle bouquet. American whiskies are richer, stronger and more full bodied. Q. How many Trappists and Trappis- tines are there?—E. G. A. The total number of Tra) in the world is about 1,000, while the number of Trappists is 3,500. I3