Evening Star Newspaper, August 18, 1935, Page 30

D2 THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Editien. WASHINGTON, D. C. SUNDAY ...............August 18, 1935 — e THEODORE W. NOYES...........Editor et (AR s o0l RS T The Evening Star Newspaper Company. Business Office: 11th 8t. and Pennsylvania Ave. New York Office; 110 East 42nd Chicago Office: Lake Michigan Buildini European Office: Rate by Carrier Within the City. Regular Editton. The Evening Star___ The Evening and day 8t n 4 Sundays)_ ng and Sunda: 2 14 Regent St.. London. Ensiand -45¢ per month --60c per montn ----65¢ per month 5¢ per copy Night Final Edition. Night Final and Sunaay Star.. Night Fina: Star.. s Collection made Orders may be sent tional 5000. 70c per month 55¢ per month e ea by mail or telel Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Marylaad and Virginia. Member of the Associated Press. The Associated Press 13 exclusively entitled to the use for republication of all news dispatches credited to it or not otherwise credited in this paper and also the local news published herein. Al rights of publication of special dispatches herein are also reserved Out of Bounds. The President’s position “has been compared with that of the quarterback on a foot ball team, whose decisions must be made quickly, with an eye to his own advantages and the disad- vantages of his opponents. The analogy is somewhat striking in connection with the Guffey bill. There are times when a quarterback delib- erately runs the ball out of bounds with the idea of gaining tactical advantage. The ball, after the whistle is blown, is brought back to midfield, in prepara- tion for a placement kick or forward pass. That position increases the chances for success in the ensuing play. There seems little doubt that the Guffey bill is being rushed toward passage with the definite knowledge on the part of the strategists that when the whistle is blown the ball will have been declared out of bounds. In other words, the fact that the bill is uncon- stitutional is readily granted except by the few who argue, with their tongues in their cheeks, that you never can tell until the Supreme Court has actually rendered its opinion. That was the tenor of the President's now famous letter to Representative Hill—'I hope your committee will not permit doubts as to constitutionality, however reason- able, to block the suggested legislation.” What is behind the strategy remains a matter of opinion. No one can enter- tain serious beliefs that the Guffey bill's passage would cure the ills of the chronically sick and ailing bituminous coal industry. But it has been very definitely indicated that its passage is the price of calling off a strike. And the deliberate intention of building an issue against the Supreme Court, or in favor of radical amendment of the Consti- tution, by means of such measures as the Guffey bill, has been attributed to the President by more than one critic. Representative Treadway, in bitter opposition to the bill, quoted during House debate the President’s oath that “I will support and defend the Consti- tution of the United States” as incon- sistent with the spirit of his letter to Mr. Hill. That might be answered by the assertion that no living man, in- cluding the President, can say with absolute certainty that the bill will be held unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. More fundamental, however, than the question of the Guffey bill's validity is whether the legislation it represents, granting the Federal Government price- fixing power and production control over an industry by clothing it with a “na- tional public interest,” is under any conditions desirable. As Mr. Treadway pointed out, if the Federal Government can regulate the production of coal it can regulate the production of oil, gas, electricity, food, clothing — almost anything. And that, rather than the hasty en- actment of the Guffey bill as a swap for temporary labor peace in the coal fields, should be the issue considered by Congress. Chief Justice Taft, in his opinion holding invalid the child “labor law, wrote that “the good sought in unconstitutional legislation is an in< sidious feature, because it leads citi- zens and legislators of good purpose to promote it without thought of the serious breach it will make in the ark of our covenant, or the harm that will come from breaking down recognized sfandards. In the maintenance of local self-government, on the one hand, and the national power on the other, our country has been able to endure and prosper for near a century and a half.” Perhaps the time has come to take another route. But the decision, rest- ing with the people, should be made Wwith eyes open to the consequences. *Parts of Ethiopia are described as cool and pleasant, but even the most imaginative Italian promoter will hardly represent it to recruits as a Summer a . A Nation’s Grief. »The grief of a nation 1s not to be measured nor weighed in any human balance. No single individual that ever has lived has had the power to esti- mate the sorrow of a people. On Fri- day morning last it was the duty of & resident of Washington to interrupt the pxioceedlnzs of a convention assembled in the Capital to announce the tragic death of Will Rogers and Wiley Post. The shock of the news was manifest in the countenance of every person in the audience. Men and women reacted as though they had been struck a physical blow. The bearer of the bitter tidings left the platform with tears in his eyes, remorseful for having hurt so 1l4¥ge a company of fellow creatures. ,But he was proud, too, that the crowd had not been indifferent. The power to sympathize, he understood, is & national 2 THE SUNDAY STAR, asset. A populace incapable of sorrow would be unworthy of survival. Ca- pacity to share in general regret for the loss of a leader is, ih effect, a spiritual asset, a manifestation of fel- lowship and brotherhood such as society must have if it is to endure. It wit- nesses to fundamental charity, testi- fies to love. And so regarded, it is a bond of union, a tie which fastens heart to heart in an endless chain of understanding, a social amalgam ce- menting humanity together. Rogers and Post were worthy of the tribute of their country’s affection. ‘They had earned the admiration and the high respect of their mourners. Their lives were spent in the service of ideal purposes, sacrificed in a brave adventure for a common gain. And a bystanding philosopher must realize that that, too, is something to rejoice about in the sad hour of parting. Only a nation sound and strong could bring forth such characters. Weak states do not pro- duce unselfish heroes. America demon- strates her strength in them, be they living or dead. They were her own, and she grieves for them because they were deserving. The other members of the earth-wide commonwealth will understand. With ample experience in sorrow, they will grasp the significance of Columbia weeping for her sons, yet happy in the privilege of having borne them and of the comfort inherent in the companionship of her universal family in her bereavement. R Ohio Test Rejected. Governor Davey of Ohio has finally and formally determined that the elec- tion of a Representative at large to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Representative Truax, Democrat, shall not be held until next year. Presumably this meets with the favor of the Demo- cratic national leaders and the admin- istration. The Ohio Governor makes out a good case for not holding a special election at this time: Its cost to the taxpayers of Ohio, that an additional Democratic member of the House is not needed, and that all of the congressional districts in the State are represented. Unfortunately, however, it is just at this time that Governor Davey has come to Washington, made his peace with President Roosevelt and obtained the promise of $20.000,000 of public money to spend in Ohio. There may, indeed, have been no agreement to withhold a test of the Roosevelt New Deal at the polls in Ohio. The impres- sion left on the public mind, however, is none too good. Chairman Fletcher of the Republican National Committee issued a statement virtually charging that the Ohio Gov- ernor had “shaken down" the Roosevelt | administration to the tune of $20,000,000 in payment for not calling a special election at this time. True or not, the circumstances in which the promise of the $20,000,000 was made lend color to the charge. There is also the implied suggestion that after the $20,000,000 has been expended in Ohio, Democratic chances of success at the polls may be greater. A State-wide election in Ohio, such as would be brought about in the con- test for the Truax seat in the House, would help to clear the atmosphere. Reports are multiplying that the Roose- velt New Deal and the President him- self have lost heavily in popularity in recent months. The by-election in | Rhode Island two weeks ago showed & tremendous turn-over of public senti- ment in the last nine months, a turn against the administration. This same dissatisfaction with the New Deal has sprung up in the Middle West and the West, it is reported. The Democrats have only to put the matter to the test and still these reports by a victory in Ohio. There is always the chance they may not have a victory, however, or may gain a victory by so narrow a margin as to be virtually a defeat. The practical politicians say they have much to lose and perhaps little to gain. Yet a Democratic victory in Ohio might be of enormous psychological value to the New Deal at this particular juncture. After all, a postponement of the election may be merely a matter of putting off the evil day, so far as the Democrats are concerned. So slight has been the opposition to Roosevelt and his New Deal—until recently—that the Democrats may have grown overcon- fident. It is time they found out whether the American people object to being the subject of fanciful and im- practical experiments. The test, so far as Ohio is concerned, seems to have been finally rejected. & —————————— When the toast goes ’round care should be taken in selecting the person to whom the song is addressed. “He is a jolly good fellow.” He may prove to be at heart only a grim and implacable lobbyist. Jurney the .Magnificent. ‘William A. Hill, one of the Hopson attorneys, described the technique of Sergeant at Arms Jurney in serving him . with a Senate summons as “very lovely.” The description is apt, yet inadequate. For while Mr. Jurney undoubtedly possesses the lovely touch, or, as the ad writers would put it, the touch lovely, he combines with it in serving a sum- mons a certain grandeur, a certain magnificence that cannot fail to impress all those so fortunate as to have wit- nessed Mr. Jurney in action. Ordinarily the life of a Senate ser- geant at arms must be somewhat prosaic. He shares with the secretary of the Senate some of the general adminis- trative duties of that body, keeping the machinery well oiled and the bolts and the nuts in shape. That is mostly routine, But, occasionally, as in the pursuit of Col. MacCracken or Mr. Hill or Mr. Hopson, Mr. Jurney comes into his own and when the spotlight is thrown he fills it magnificently. With his cane and his cutaway, his black eyeglass ribbons flaunting in the breeze and a corps of reporters on his trail, he pre- sents a spectacle’ that breeds admira- tion with awe. And when he finally comes upon his man the manner in which he serves the summons suggests the Sheriff of Nottingham. His treat- ment of Senate prisoners is humane and considerate to the degree that arrest at his hands is not only a distinction, but must be a pleasure Mr. Jurney has made an excellent sergeant at arms. ‘There was one unkind moment during the past session when he could not be found to still the chatter of gallery spectators. But he would be equal to any emergency and meet it with the air distinguished. It is unfortunate that the incident of dealing with the mother who was nurs- ing her infant took place in the House instead of in the Senate gallery. For, without attempting to say how Mr. Jurney would have handled such a delicate situation, one only feels that he would have done it in a way that pleased everybody, including the baby. It would have been, in other words, an inspiring sight. . The Good in Every One. It is to be hoped that Will Rogers’ grave stone will bear the epitaph—or as he said, “Whatever you call those signs on grave stones"—which in a speech he made in Boston in 1930 he pre- scribed for his last resting place: “I joke about every prominent man of my time, but I never met a man I didn't like.” For that is a perfect expression of the career and character of America’s be- loved humorist-philosopher. And it bears, furthermore, the significance of a message from him to his fellow men. Rogers saw good in every one. Which means that he saw the good in every one. And there is good, some good of some kind, in all men. Same of them are better than others, more Ifkable, more popular, more trusted and more respected. But at bottom there 1is something good in every human being. And it is the real philosopher who sees and recognizes and acknowledges this. The prejudice that arises from some unlikable trait or act or speech of an- other is often an unjust one. People say and do things in ill temper, in moments of stress, that cause others to dislike them. Yet with few exceptions those things are regretted by their authors more keenly than by others. To see the good in every one is man's highest virtue. o The influence of joyous youth is so powerful that Einstein’s association with Princeton can never make the fourth dimension as much a matter of popular concern as the outgivings of the Triangle Club. . The narcotic. weed marihuana can be raised in flower pots. This may bring the Department of Agriculture into even more intimate relations “with humble tax-paying domesticity. - The saying, “It is a crime to die rich,” was attributed to Andrew Carnegie. The sentiment is abundantly indorsed by wealth that is trying to give itself away. American protest against Nazi policies may involve honest sympathy in en- tanglements revealing unexpected po- litical strings to be pulled. —_——— e Stocks are going higher, but not yet high enough to attain double values ithat will account for a bisected dollar, - BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Futile Threat. A fight by many is assumed To settle grievances long hid. Though men have marched cannon boomed, It never did. Though solid shot may liquefy Beneath the chemist's subtle skill, And turn to gases by and by, It never will. A sentiment of honest cheer Is powerful with every man ‘Who scorns to be subdued by fear And never can. Publicity and Privacy. “Are you interested in public inves- tigations?” “Yes, answered Senator Sorghum. “Publicity is important, but it seldom does more than confirm what you already knew through private inquiry.” Chatter. Katydid, you chatter About some mystic matter ‘With industry immense Which is not making sense. I listen with endurance And give you the assurance ‘That, as for thought I try, ©Oh, Katy, so do I. Credulity. “Willie Wibbles believes thoroughly in himself.” “Yes,” said Miss Cayenne. “Some men are so credulous!” “The sorrows of my nation began,” said Hi Ho, the sage of Chinatown, “when the tax collectors became more numerous than the toilers.” Reminiscence. The man who keeps bad company ‘Wakes to the knowledge, rather grim, As fortunes in confusion flee, Bad company will not keep him. “Honesty is the best policy.” I read it in my copybook, Which now neglected seems to be. I think Il take another look. “I is charitable enough to believe dat mistakes is bound to happen,” said Uncle Eben. “But some folks has & way of hurryin’ ‘'em.” ~ WASHINGTON, D. C, Who Gets Credit for Recovery? . By Owen L. Scott. Argument is opening in a debate of ascending national importance. The question at issue: Who should get credit for the recovery that appeers to be under way, the Supreme Court or President Roosevelt and his New Deal? Recovery vs. Reform Enthusiasts, those who argue vehemently that the New Deal has blocked recovery ever since 1932 by stressing economic reform, are throwing credit to the Supreme Court. Reform and recovery enthusiasts, those who insist that only by reform through some degree of national planning could recovery develop, are ready to claim credit for the New Deal. They argue that groundwork for the present move was laid long before the Supreme Court obliterated the Blue Eagle. To them it is simply evidence that the President's plans are just beginning to click. * x % % Optimism over the business outlook is more pronounced at the White House and among Government economists, and private economists as well, than at any time since March, 1933. The stock market has been rising slowly since last March. Retall trade is above expectations. The automobile in- dustry has enjoyed a boom and looks forward to another good year. Home building has started on an expanding scale. PFinancial markets are becoming active for the first time in years as industry begins to adjust its debt to a lower interest basis. Farm buying has taken a sensational spurt. x x * % Opponents of the New Deal assert that whatever recovery is now about to occur will be due to the fact that indus- trialists and financlers are regaining confidence. The reason they are more confident, so this argument goes, is that the Supreme Court has demonstrated its readiness to stop experiments by the President and Congress when those ex- periments conflict with the property pro- tections of the Constitution. In addition, the election in Rhode Island showed that people in an indus- trial State, harboring & relatively large number of unemployed, prefer a dole to care for those unemployed to the more expensive work-relief program of the New Deal. And besides that, Congress, overwhelmingly Democratic, displayed an unmistakable desire to kick over the traces when prodded by the White House. Mr. Roosevelt, however, is preparing to tell the country a different story. To New Dealers it looks as though many of their plans, started in 1933, are just beginning to take effect in a big way. They are ready to claim credit for whatever improvement is occurring. Their arguments? They are many. But first and foremost is emphasis on the effect of the shift from a desperate effort to cling to deflation and the gold standard under Mr. Hoover to reflation through a break with gold under Mr. Roosevelt. * x % ¥ President Roosevelt entered office with an intention to go through with Mr. Hoover's deflation. That's what makes his 1932 campaign speeches sound a bit ridiculous now. Mr. Roosevelt has revealed that when he looked into the problem of pushing deflation to a hurried conclusion, he ran squarely against the Constitution. There was no power in the United States Gov- ernment to do what the French govern- ment today is trying to do—force reduc- tions in rents, in food prices, in interest rates, in utility charges, in union wages and other items of fixed cost. Blocked from that path, the President turned to reflation. The effort then was to borrow and spend, to attempt to prime pumps, to do most anything to get deflated prices higher instead of lower. This effort was accompanied by a lot of hocus pocus, including a campaign of gold buying based upon the intricate charts and calculations of Prof. George F. Warren, agricultural economist of Cornell Univyersity. A silver-buying pro- | gram that has upset the economy of a large part of the world's population likewise is being indulged in. But what- ever the cause, prices have risen about 33 per cent from their low point and the pressure of deflation largely is relieved. * x ox % Next, the New Deal is going to talk about the effect of its plans to help home owners, urban and rural. Through the billions of the Home Owners’ Loan Corp. and the Farm Credit Administration, the terrific defla- tion of mortgage credit has been ar- rested. Hundreds of thousands of hgmes and farms have been saved for their owners. Today investment money is beginning slowly to flow back into mortgages. To help along this trend, the New Deal a year ago provided a Federal Housing Administration. Now, a year later, its program is beginning to function a bit. Then there is the story of Jesse Jones and what he has done with the Re- construction Finance Corp. Mr. Roosevelt usually greets Mr. Jones with the query: “Well, Jesse, how much money did you make for Uncle Sam today?” Mr. Jones, with the billions of the R. F. C., has bulwarked the country’s banks, its railroads, its insurance companies and a number of its industries and is making money in the process. His contribution has been to help stop the financial deflation. IR R The A. A. A. has syphoned nearly a billion dollars from the cities to the rural regions in two years. Combined with the weather, it has so effectively adjusted the supply and demand situa- tion that farm prices are 92 per cent higher than they were March 4, 1933. Farmer income this year will be more than 50 per cent higher than it was when Mr. Roosevelt took office. Not only that, but Henry Wallace and Chester Davis have provided agriculture with a highly developed piece of crop- control machinery. All of this leaves out N. R, A. That New Deal creation has just about disappeared, leaving-behind few regrets. Yet codes are credited with helping to bring labor income back quickly from the low point it reached at the bottom of the depression. Then, to top it off, the whole economy of the country has been floated on a wave of Government spending. This spending has taken the form of relief payments to the millions of unemployed, the form of relief wages to workers on C. W. A. and now on work relief, the form, too, of direct and indirect wages to workers in industry through vast public works. These dollars are credited by New Dealers with carrying industry through a period of readjustment. More billions of them will be poured out during the next 18 months in an effort to give pri- vate business a further push. The offi- cial hope is that this push will result in industry’s absorption of millions of men now unemployed. * ok * X When all these things are added up they represent the story that the Presi- dent can offer to the people as the New Deal contribution to recovery. They fit in, too, with a national in- £ AUGUST 18, 1935—PART TWO. “SALT OF THE EARTH” BY THE RIGHT REV. JAMES E. FREEMAN. D. D, LL. D, D. C. L, BISHOP OF WASHINGTON ‘The Master in His sermon on the Mount used these striking words: “Ye are the salt of the earth; but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted: It is thenceforth good for nothing.” The function of salt is to freshen, cleanse and preserve. It has an indis- pensable place in the whole economy of our life. It performs so important a function that in the practice of medi- cine and surgery it is recognized as a valuable and indispensable agent. Reck- oned with other things that we use daily, it seems comparatively inconsequential, and yet we could not do without it. ‘The Master was speaking of that qual- ity of character in men that serves to make them in all their contacts and fel- lowships wholesome and cleansing fac- tors. He implied that in our domestic, social and economic systems salt has an essential place. Addressing Himself to the men and women to whom He was speaking, He contended that what they in themselves of the qualities that salt embodies was an important ele- ment in maintaining the best and most enduring things of life. Without it life degenerates and society becomes corrupt. The analogy is a striking and sugges- tive one, and there are abundant evi- dences of its application to our indi- vidual and corporate life. Repeatedly we have had demonstration of the salu- tary influence exercised by those who, with purily of motive and definiteness of con- vjction, attempted to bring to a situation that was threatening to the peace and happiness of their fellows the refreshing and renewing influence that proceeds from a life that is clean and wholesome. Sometimes a single individual in a critical situation accomplishes a regenera- tion that affects for good a whole com- munity. A striking {llustration of what we have in mind is presented in the extraordinary service rendered by the late Jane Addams. Quite single-handed she at- tacked a situation in one of the con- gested parts of Chicago that, to her vision, imperiled those whose lives were shadowed by misfortune and lack of privilege. Without adequate support she undértook to make a more wholesome community by bringing to it the strength” and purity of her own life. -The story of her bold adventure and the record of Hull House is one of the most dramatic episodes in the history of our modern cities. It seems incredible that one person, and she a woman, could effect such large results in a compara- tively brief space of time. She literally took her Christian principles and tested them by application to the problems of those who, of themselves, were incapable of resisting forces that were inimical to their well being. Little by little she broadened the field of her influence until it spread to a continent, and ultimately to the world at large. Her extraordinary service is a practical dem- onstration of the force of the Master's word that those who possess the fine qualities of salt are the real preservers of the best things in life. The test of what we hold of Christian faith ic found in its adaptability, not only to our own needs, but to the needs of those who are less fortunate than our- | selves. If the “proof of the pudding is in the eating,” the proof of the validity and utility of our Christian profession is in its fitness to serve the world in which we live. It is iffcreasingly clear that reformations of every kind are effected | by those who, in themselves, possess qualities that cleanse and enrich every situation with which they have to do. Life cannot be made the better and the | richer by a salt that has lost its savour. Fifty Years Ago In The Star The special delivery system of expe- dited letters sent through the mail is half - Half Century of L tury old. The Special Delivery. lss';; ‘:{ yAs‘:"gu“ 12, “The Postmaster General has de- termined upon a plan for the introduc- tion of a system of the delivery of letters bearing the special ten-cent stamp au- thorized by the last Congress. He will | issue a circular today containing rules for the government of this new fea- ture of the postal service. The law authorized its introduction in all places containing more than 4,000 inhabitants and. at first the Postmaster General thought it best to limit it to a few of the large cities for the present, but he finally decided to introduce it into all the places allowed by law. There are 630 places in the United States where this new system will be introduced. By placing the special stamp on a letter, in addition to the regular postage, it will be delivered at once by special car- rier upon its arrival at the office of destination, and this also will apply to local letters. In this service a special corps of messenger boys will be em- ployed and to some extent the regular letter carriers. The new system will go into operation October 1.” * * ¥ “The ardent friends of the civil serv- ice law,” says The Star of August 13, 1885, “have been in- Democrats and clined to deride the Civil Service. idea that any de- be made at the coming session of Con- gress to repeal or modify that act. But | the expressions of leading Democrats who have been in Washington during the last few weeks indicate that the opposition will be more formidable than the friends of the law anticipate. The truth, as developed by the honest ex- pression of Democratic Congressmen, is that they do not like the way in which the law operates. Democratic Congress- | men who, after the election of Cleve- land. counted confidently upon getting | certain friends and supporters in place under the Government, have been foiled by the civil service law. They have found it a barrier to their cherished hopes. They have been compelled to inform disappointed constituents that they were rendered powerless by this law. This has had the effect of raising opposition to the law among the masses of the democ- rary everywhere. This opposition is more outspoken than ever. It is boldly pro- claimed by Democrats in Ohio and in New York. The law is regarded as the one obstacle which prevents the ap- pointment of Democrats to.all the Fed- eral positions and as the democracy has been out of power and out of place for so many years it is easy to under- stand that they grow restive at being excluded from place. “It is quite certzin that an organized effort will be made in Congress to repeal the act. More than a dozen Democratic Congressmen have pro- claimed their intention to offer a repeal bill in Congress. A form of modificaticn of the law which seems to have a good many supporters is to amend it so as to provide that after a candidate shal: have passed an examination he or she shall be eligible to appointment without the formula of having the name sent up by the commission. The idea is that none but persons having certificates shall be eligible to appointment in the classified service. This plan would en- able the Congressmen and other leading Democrats to do much more for their constituents than the present law admits of. It is more likely that some change like this will be made than that the law will be repealed; but there is not much probability of any modification of the law until the Democrats get con- trol of both Houses of Congress.” come picture that shows returning in- dustrial health. American industry, dur- ing 1932, when deflation was at its height, lived on its fat to the extent of $10,000,000,000. In other words, it produced, to Government fig- ures, a total of $38,400,000,000 and paid out about $48,000,000,000. Last year the total national income was $49,400,000,000 and the income pro- duced was $47,000,000,000. Thus industry was living on its fat only to the extent of two billions. Government experts think that in the present year there may even be some business savings, in place of the long train of losses run- ning from 1930. g In other words, the profit system, or profit-and-loss system, is functioning under the New Deal in a way that on the surface looks healthy. But until the Federal Government can balance its income with its outgo doubt will exist about the soundness of the national picture and New Deal op- ponents will have something to talk about. The budget, with the problem of unemployment relief that it reflects, remains the President’s vital unsolved {(Copyriehk. 10352 ¢ | have been put termined effort might | | publicly Capital Sidelights By Will P. Kennedy. Representative “Pat” Boland, one of the most genial men in the House, has earned the title of being the best “whip” the Democrats have ever had in Con- gress. This tribute is paid him by Speaker Byrns and all the other leaders. Representative Adolph J. Sabath of Illi- nois, dean of the House, having a serv- | ice of 30 years, with Speaker Byrns and Acting House Leader Taylor, each of whom has served 28 years, bear wit- ness that “Pat” most effective “whip.” His latest exploit has been to get the Guffey coal bill before the House withh a report from the Ways and Means and Rules Com- mittees—largely through his personal persuasion. And that in itself is mag- nanimous, because Senator “Joe” Guffey, also of Pennsvlvania, personally pro- tested against the appointment of Boland as “whip.” The latter has been working tooth and nail for the coal bill, “because it means so much to the miners of my State,” he says. Four other most Deal” administration important “New “must” measures through the House, without amendment through the offi- | ciency of “Whip” Boland's organization. First. the $4.880,000.000 relief. on which some 43 amendments were offered; then the social security bill. on which 35 amendments were offered. the banking bill and the tax bill, with 25 amend- ments proposed and 42 amendments offered to another bill. On all of these measures Boland carried the load for the administration to get the “must” program through, and to succeed in the major “New Deal” measures he had to neglect his own bills. When selected to be “whip” for his party, Boland saw a real opportunity for service and organized a strong regional organization with key men from 15 sections, and chose as his principal as- sistant Representative Thomas Ford of California, a former newspaper man. He himself has been constantly in charge on the floor, always keeping the Democratic membership informed how best to work together for the adminis- | tration’s program. Speaker Byrns has repeatedly and commended the work of his “whip,” and “Pat” Boland always gives credit to the 16 other members in his “whip” organization. Sk The Damon and Pythias of the Sen- ate employes, who have worked their way upward together for more than 38 years, are about to be separated by the distance between the Capitol and the new Archives Building. Col. Edwin A. Halsey, secretary of the Senate, and James D. Preston. for many years su- perintendent of the Senate Press Gal- lery, later librarian of the Senate and now assistant to the administrative sec- retary of the National Archives, felt real “pangs of regret” when they separated after nearly twoscore years of the closest co-operation—each always helping and boosting the other, and each always glad to do a service for others. have for years been an inspiration and encouragement to humbler workers on the Senate pay roll. X X ok % The flowery tongued and fluent orator of the Senate—Senator James Hamilton Lewis of Illinois—chiding critics of the administration, who “loosened the volleys of their assault on the President,” quoted from classic lore in the language which Shake- speare puts in the mouth of Bassanio, when, referring to Gratiano. he says: “‘Gratiano speaks an infinite deal of | nothing, more than any man in all Venice. His reasons are as two grains of wheat hid in two bushels of chaffl— you shall seek all day ere you find them, and when you have them they are not worth the search.’” * & kN Representative Caroline O’Day, mem- ber at large from New York, and per- sonal friend of the President and Mrs. Roosevelt, is one member of the House who urges her constituents to write to her about legislation in which they are interested. In a recent circular letter she said: “A Congressman must know the wishes of his constituents, and he cannot know unless he is told. So write to your Congressman, remembering this: Between 8000 and 9000 bills have been introduced in the House this ses- sion. No one Congressman can be fa- miliar with all of them and it will take a little time to study up on the one you write him about.” * koK % Colen H. Emerson, in charge of tele- phones in the Democratic cloak room of the House, who was recently made a Kentucky “colonel,” has now been made an “admiral” in the Nebraska Navy. B “Bob” Kempton, veteran House Office Building worker, secretary for some 20 years to Representative Robert Luce of Massachusetts and clerk to the Com- mittee on the Library, who studied law while doing congressional work, is now a candidate for mayor of Cambridge, Mass. Mayor Russell is now a member of the House. Nature’s Power Plant Busy By Frederic J. Haskin. The favorite simile of the North Amer- ican Indians, employed to express multi- plicity, was a reference to the leaves of the forest. To the Iroquois or the Choe= taw/ nothing quite so thoroughly em- phasized incalculable quantity as th: foliage under which, over much of the land, he was constantly embowered. The Indian had no science, in the modern acceptation of the term, but his realiza- tion of the mightiness of power of forest leaves must have been instinctive, for now it is known that these innumer- able leaves are power plants for the storing up of energy which can be used by man. In the time of Theodore Roosevelt a wave of interest and apprehension swept the country in response to that Pres- ident’s crusade for the conservation of natural resources. It was foretold that the vast riches in American natural re- sources would, sooner or later, become exhausted. Particular stress was laid upon the necessity for conserving the forests. 4 The forests of the land have, indeed, been reduced. The pioneer was eager to get rid of the trees for a combination | of reasons. He wanted the timber to build his house and provide fuel, he wanted it removed to make room for tilled crops, and it was imperative that | the forest be felled to destroy the In- | dian’s ambush. his natural fortress Millions of acres of land were speedily | denuded. But there is a marked difference be- tween using up coal, petroleum, gold or | iron and using the forests. Nature is far more deliberate and leisurely in pro- | ducing the minerals than in producing | the forests. All around us, while we talk about it, Nature is replacing the forests with a rapidity which, in historical terms, is rapid Researches of the scientists of the United States Forest Service, conducted | in the Boyce Thompson Institute at | Yonkers, N. Y.; at the Forest Experi- | | ment Station at St. Paul, Minn., and in | the forests of Northern Minnesota and Northern Wisconsin, point the way out of cold and impotence into heat and Boland has been a | They | power in the distant future when coal | and petroleum supplies run low. These | experiments illustrate how nature is | still, through the medium of trees, con- | verting sunshine into stored-up heat and power—just as she has been doing for millions of years, ever since leaves | learned how to imprison sunlight. Enormous Storage of Energy. Actually, Dr. Hardy L. Shirley of the Lake States Forest Experiment Station, who has been in charge of the Forest | Service delving into this subject. de- | clares that the forests are today chain- ing two and one-half times as much energy as is annually released by the burning of coal. Wood. for equal | weight, has a heat of combustion of ap- | proximately 75 per cent that of coal, so that we may say that an acre of pine forests may produce the equivalent of 2588 pounds of coal each year. If we consider the entire forest area of the | United States, which amounts to 670,- 000,000 acres, and assume that it could all produce wood as efficiently as an acre of white pine, the annual produc- | tion of wood in usable form would be equivalent to 867.000,000 tons of coal, or approximately one and one-half times the amount of coal mined in the United States in 1930.” In addition to the wood, Dr. Shirley | points out, there is the litter of the | forest floor, which annually accumu- lates at the rate of 2,122 pounds to the acre. Taking this into consideration, the total energy stored each year by the forests of America would be equivalent | to 1,403,000000 tons of coal—over two and one-half times the amount ordi- narily mined in this country. Nevertheless, Dr. Shirley indicts the trees on the charge of inefficiency. The heating \'nlu_g, of the 150 cubic feet of pine annually produced on an acre is only about 0.17 per cent of the solar energy which falls on that acre in the course of a year. E | _Dr. Shirley points out that. in passing through a forest canopy, solar energy is modified in both intensity and quality. Hardwood leaves modify the light to a | greater extent than conifers, since a large percentage of incident energy ac- tually passes through them. The forest | canopy also changes the proportion of direct sunlight to sky light. The intensity of light which penetrates | the canopy varies somewhat with the age and density of the stand and also the species which compose it. Though | chlorophyll has its greatest absorption | bands in the red and blue regions of the | spectrum. recent experiments indicate that the eficiency of photosynthesis per unit energy actually absorbed by the leaf is about equal in the different spectral regions. - Benefits of Experiments. { The greatest differences were between | plants in the blue house and those in the red house. Those developed in the | former resembled somewhat plants grown in daylight at equal intensity, except that they appeared to be dwarfed. The ones in red, on the other hand, were | greatly elongated and somewhat resem- | bled twining plants. Such changes in | the quality of light as occur in passing | through the forest canopy could not produce such astounding effects, but the changes in intensity of light do have a very marked influence on the growth of | plants in the forests. Photosynthesis in- | creases in almost direct proportion to the light factor over a considerable range, provided that other factors are favorable. Practical benefits from these experi- ments will result from regulation of the forest cover by thinning so as to get a maximum intensity of light down to the under-story of new growth near the forest floor. While an enormous quantity of wood is still used for fuel, the photosynthetic deposition of wood which ceaselessly goes on is now far more important as a source of industrial ma- terial than of heat and power. Dr. Shir- ley’'s researches emphasize the fact that on its timber lands the United States has a perpetual supply of building ma- jeterial and of raw material for the plastic and fiber industries. As the fixed min- eral supplies become depleted, the ever- living forests will become more and more important in the national economy. For example, recent developments in the manufacture of newsprint paper from Southern old field pine promise that overcropped corn and cotton fields may be more profitable for tree crops than they ever were for agriculture. These new forests on old fields will make them new again, in time. The litter of cellulose material accumulating on the forest floor from year to year rebuilds the fertile top soil. Morris Llewellyn Cooke, one of the New Deal wizards in charge of rural rehabilitation, has warned that the whole country will wash away in less than 100 years unless soil erosion is prevented. His agency, the C. C. C. camps, and a number of other govern- mental projects are feverishly reforesting the country. Their efforts, supplement- ing those of Nature, bid fair to furnish strong potential competition with the power trust and it may be that by the end of the chapter the population will be lost in the woods. * [