Evening Star Newspaper, October 23, 1935, Page 8

A—S THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. WEDNESDAY . ..October 23, 1935 THEODORE W. NOYES. .0 Editor _ The Evening Star Newspaper Company. Bustness Office: 11th St. ana Pennsylvania Ave. New York Office: 110 East 42nd St. Chicago Office: Lake Michigan Building, Furopean Office: 14 Regent St.. London. England, Rate by Carrier Within the City. Regular Edition. Tre Evening Star_. .. ----45cper month The Evenie and Sundsy et 65¢ per month Nizht Pinal Night F.nal Collection made A Orders may be sent tional 5000. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. Daily and Sunday___1 sr.. Dailv only __. =1 Sunday only.. yr.. $12.00; yr. $8.00% Iri $5.000 Dally and Sunaay.. Daily ovLly Sunday on! Member of the Associated Press. The Associated Press is exclusively entitled to the use for republication of all news dispatches credited to it or not otherwise credited in this paper and slso (he local news published herein. All rights of publication of special dispatches herein are aiso reserved. - = Britain’s Olive Branch. Earnestly reflecting the world's eager- ness for peace before Italy's war spreads into a European conflagration, the Brit- ish government has extended an olive branch to Mussolini, In a speech in the House of Commons Foreign Secretary Sir Samuel Hoare appeals to Il Duce to negotiate a settlement before the hour arrives to enforce League sanctions against Italy. Coincident with this pub- lic plea for conciliation, diplomacy is active behind the scenes at Rome, Paris and London. The outlook for ending hostilities is distinctly brighter. It is the iron hand within the velvet glove that Britain offers to Italy. Sir Samuel Hoare, while denying emphat- ically that the British ever contemplated military sanctions, supports unreservedly the economic measures decreed by Geneva. He warns Italy in significant terms that such sanctions “would defi- nitely shorten the duration of the war.” That is equivalent to reminding Musso- lini that the nations which voted them possess not only the will but the power to bring him to book by subjecting the Italian people to economic strangulation. ‘The British foreign secretary implies the hope that Rome will have the enlightened self-interest to accept an honorable peace while there is still time. Italy is addressed as a “fellow member of the League, an old friend and a former ally” and is urged to use “this eleventh-hour breathing spell so as to make it unnec- essary to proceed further along the unat- tractive road of economic action.” Britain's spokesman defended country valiantly against the charge that it is pursuing selfish interests in seeking to block Italian conquest of Ethiopia. He stressed that British pro- cedure has had in mind only collective steps for peace and security. Sir Samuel in a striking passage declared that while twenty years ago a certain power, by which Germany is meant, felt itself confronted by the alternative of *“world power or downfall,” the alternative fac- ing mankind today is “world peace or destruction.” There could be no plainer hint that Italy has applied the spark to a fire that may consume civilization unless it is extinguished. Britain's olive branch contains one twig that will not escape notice in Rome. Sir Samuel Hoare insists that a settle- ment be sought “within the framework of the League—acceptable to all three parties, the League, Italy and Ethiopia.” The British are determined that the principle of collective action shall be tried out, once for all, for, as Sir Samuel puts it, “we feel that neither the League nor our civilization can con- done a multiple breach of treaties and survive.” Ttaly is believed ready to negotiate a “settlement” on the basis of holding territory Fascist legions have already captured or will shortly be in position to occupy. It is intimated that certain powers are not unwilling to discuss peace on that basis. Haile Selassie’s ideas are another question. He tells the Associated Press that he is confident the League will see that any peace it sponsors will be a Just one, leaving Ethiopian sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence intact, “for any other peace is not peace, but stark confiscation.” There is a wide gulf between Musso- lini's peace notions and terms acceptable to his African foe. To reconcile them is a task fraught with difficulty for those who have shouldered it. It will at least be lightened if Italy grasps the olive branch just put forward in London. R Transit Service. A new element enters the already com- plex situation with regard to the han- dling of the bus traffic on Connecticut avenue which has given the residents of the region around the District-Maryland boundary much concern recently. The State of Maryland, into whose territory the traffic extends, now demands that all vehicles which cross the line at the midpoint terminal be licensed with Mary- land, as well as District, tags. It is evident that the State has the basis for & claim of jurisdiction, despite the fact that only a few yards of Maryland terri- tory are occupied by those busses which are routed to the circle. One of the contentions of the dwellers in that area is that the bus service for the area beyond the circle is not ade- quate, that too many of the busses are stopped at the circle and turned back to town from there, or, conversely, that too few are sent through to the lake station, adoption of which as a terminal would solve the problem of the parking of vehicles at the District line. If Maryland is to require a license for each of the busses running into the State, regardless of the number or the distance of entry, the transit company might as well set up its Maryland service on a large scale, adequate to care for all the traffic. This ‘would please the public, encourage | that his | THE EVENING patronage and render needless the con- struction of a service terminal at or .+ .r the circle. The sole purpose of a transit line is to give public service. If it fails in that it loses its reason for existence. By public service is supposed to mean adequate service, prompt, dependable and com- fortable. Despite a divided jurisdiction there should be a single standard of serv- ice, putting no needless penalty of incon- venience on those who reside on the farther stratch of the line. It may not be requisite to maintain such a standard of service, to operate every vehicle over the entire line, though that would be ideal from the standpoint of the patrons on the longer runs. But some adjustment of schedules surely can be made to afford & reasonably prompt and efficient through service without the imposition of the penalty of long waits at junction points, whether or not those waits are made less onerous by the erection and maintenance of a terminal structure. Let this problem be approached from the bus rider’s viewpoint and its solution will not be unduly difficult. —_—————————— Corn-Hog Election. The farmers of the great corn and hog producing States are to be called upon Saturday to vote for or against a con- tinuation of the A. A. A. corn-hog pro- gram in 1936. These so-called referen- dums on corn-hog, wheat and cotton programs ask the farmers whether they prefer to be paid for failing to produce corn, hogs, wheat and cotton; whether they are pleased with the Government checks. The amazing thing is not that the A. A. A. programs should receive the indorsement of the farmers. It is so many thousands of farmers actally cast their votes against the pro- gram. The administration is bent on continu- ing the A. A. A. corn-hog program, al- though it has been worried over the soaring prices of pork chops to the con- sumer, and angered over the increase in the price of a loaf of bread. Indeed, the A. A. A is said to have won the hearts of the farmers of the West, and their votes along with their hearts in | the next presidential campaign: The fly in the ointment is the increase in the prices of foodstuffs to the consumer and the anger of the housewives who purchase the food for their husbands and children. Would the administration refrain from continuing the corn-hog program if the farmers were evenly di- vided for and against it, or even if by a small majority the referendum went -against the program? This is a hypo- thetical question. It probably will never have to be answered. ‘Thomas D. Campbell, one of the great- | est wheat farmers in the country and at | one time a supporter of Herbert Hoover, now declares that the A. A. A, must be made permanent. Mr. Campbell is quoted as saying that many persons insist that the high prices of foodstuffs | were caused by the A. A. A, whereas the real cause of high prices was the drought which has visited much of the farming ‘West in the last two years. If Mr. Camp- bell is right, then there was no need of the A. A. A. program to bring higher prices to the farmer for wheat and corn and hogs. They would come in any event because of the drought, a natural cause. ‘What has happened and has rejoiced Mr. Campbell and other farmers is that in addition to higher prices for their products the farmers have been receiving checks for large sums for not producing crops. These checks are paid for out of processing taxes and these taxes come ultimately out of the American con- sumers. The consumers are coming out at the little end of the horn. It is both ends against the middle, with the con- sumers in the middle. If the sole purpose of the A. A. A. is to increase the prices received by the farm- ers for their wheat, corn, hogs, cotton, etc, and these prices are increased by curtailment of crops, why is it necessary to pay the farmers for not producing? The answer is simple. The farmers would not curtail unless they had the money in hand from the Government. That money comes from the pockets of con- sumers and in greater proportion from the little man than from the big. The Government has had to sugar-coat the A. A. A programs with hundreds of millions of dollars. Long live the Gov- ernment checks! The administration has conducted a vigorous campaign among the corn-hog farmers of the West in favor of the 1936 program. Why it was necessary to scat- ter propaganda for the corn-hog pro- gram, to drum up meetings and to but- tonhole farmers it is difficult to see. But the administration is taking no chances. It wants to roll up an impressive vote next Saturday as a preliminary to the vote in the national election next year. -*—_w The President’s ship managed to ride in ahead of a hurricane. It is intimated that he expects to do something like it in the next campaign. D Is the Law an Ass? The worthy burghers of Prince Georges County comprising the grand jury of that jurisdiction, holding solemn session at Upper Marlboro, have reached a con- clusion respecting the prevalence of cer- tain unsuitable and unsavory conditions in that area which for clarity of reasoning deserves a place in the annals of American law. They are laymen, but are aided by the official bar in their re- searches and perhaps in their expres- sions. The case in point is the matter of gambling, regarding the prevalence of which in Prince Georges County there has been no doubt in the public mind. After profound study of the situation the grand jury has thus reported to the court: “Indications are that gambling exists in Prince Georges County, but this grand Jjury has been absolutely unable to ob- tain any evidence. We therefore recom- mend that gamblipg be legalized.” Here, indeed, is a masterpiece of logic. ‘The law prohibits gambling. The law, in the persons of the members of the grand jury, is satisfled, that gambling exists. The ln}, in that same embodi- ment of research, can find no evidence of gambling. Hemgce the conclusion: Gambling should be legalized. A perfect syilogism. ‘Theodore Roosevelt, when police com- missioner in New York City, reasoned somewhat similarly, though with a dif- ference, in respect to the enforcement of the laws against certain vices, such as gambling. He found these laws on the statute books and he proceeded as the head of the enforcement body to make them effective. His idea was that if the law was a good one it should be enforced. If it was not a good law at- tempts to enforce it would lead to its repeal. At all events it should be prose- cuted as long as it remained on the statute books. His vigorous efforts led to some degree of housecleaning and to some repeal enactments. Mr. Bumble, the beadle in “Oliver Twist.” remarked: “If the law supposes that, the law is an ass, an idiot.” If the law in Prince Georges County sup- poses that the way to enforce a law is to repeal it when it is difficult to ob- tain evidence, then it is rendering itself subject to Mr. Bumble's indictment, and its exponents may well, and with pos- sible profit, pursue their literary re- searches further and ponder the dilemma of Dogberry, who bewailed that he had not been properly “writ down.” ——r——————— Latest report is that Jimmy Walker will return to New York, but will keep out of local politics. The use he has made of his time in studying affairs calls renewed attention to the educa- tional advantages an American can en- joy through a sojourn in Europe. .- A parade of pink elephants might be introduced in the campaign in conces- sion to the theory that the old G. O. P. elephant may survive, but will never lock the same. .o Economies suggest themselves in startling ways. There are thrifty souls who think there must be war because of the large sums invested in munitions | and machinery. o —+wo—s Collegiate influence would be more secure if there were no differences of opinion or purpose which could not be fought out in open daylight on the foot ball field. - The world will be happier when Italy resumes its custom of supplying opera singers and African art resumes interest in giving the world more and better banjo players —— If Uncle Sam has to foreclose too many mortgages his budget complica- tions may find him drifting toward a state which expert realtors describe as “land poor.” e ——— Successful civilization has always been measured less by its pictures and sculp- ture than by the ability to produce an abundance of comparatively contented taxpayers. e Shooting Stars. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. The Idle Day. An idle day comes driftin’ by An’ gits you jes' to wonderin' why; A-wonderin’ why the sky is blue, ‘Why blossoms fade, to bloom anew; Why sunshine has to melt away To make room fur a cloudy day; ‘Why leaves a-wavin’ on the tree Must quit some day, like you an’ me; Why noises, managed right or wrong, Will make a disgord or a song; The questions come a-buzzin’ past Until they wear you out at last An’ make you seek your ploddin’ task ‘With joy; because you needn't ask Yourself no questions such as leave Much wiser folks than you to grieve, An idle day—it ain't much fun; You're sort o' glad when it is done, An’ you are called your strength to try "Thout lookin’ off an’ wonderin’ why. Coloring the Fu;.l. “A great orator should be a skillful word painter.” “Sometimes,” replied Senator Sor- ghum; “and sometimes he is a skillful word whitewasher.” Summing Up Results. “Did your garden help you out any with your supplies for the Winter?” “Yes. Some of the tools will make pretty good implements for tending the furnace.” Exhausted Patience. A mule seems kind as well as strong Until his disposition sticks At something that he deems dead wrong— Beware the optimist who kicks. A Rural Philologist. “We don't say ‘farmin’’ any more,” remarked Farmer Corntossel. “We say ‘agriculture.’” “What's the difference?” “‘Agriculture’ has four syllables an’ ‘farmin’’ has two; the significance bein’ that there is jes’ twice as much con- versation along with the one as with the ‘other.” ‘The Soft Answer. “A soft answer turns away wrath, you know.” “Yes,” replied Miss Cayenne; “but you want to beware of the person who has cultivated his powers of dissimulation sufficiently to be always able to give one.” Inevitable Delay. No wonder that the law seems slow In settling any matter; Some Latin phrase each case must show, Instead of modern chatter. The argument that greets our ears— We cannot swiftly end it. ‘We must go back 2,000 years Before we comprehend it! “I got my suspicions,” said Uncle Ebén, “dat Satan ain’ ‘bliged to lay in wait foh a whole lot of people. Dey takes deir checkbooks in hand an’ natchelly pesters him to name his own price foh tempta- tions.” 4 Es STAR, WASHINGTON, D T, NEW BOOKS AT RANDOM Margaret Germond. GOLD, DIAMONDS AND ORCHIDS. By Willlam La Varre. New York: Fleming H. Revell Company. A decorative jacket cover with a pho- tographic inset showing the smiling countenance of a pretty girl who is up to her neck in a jungle swamp is the first item of fascination in the story of Wiiliam La Varre’s seventh expedition into the lost worlds of South America. The pretty girl is his wife, and the trip in search of gold, diamonds and orchids from which they have only recently re- turned is the first on which she has accompanied her adventurous, treasure- hunting husband. Exploring unmapped lands for new treasure is not a hobby or pastime with William La Varre, who is also & news- paper man and an eminent economist, but a profession. It is the realization of an ambition formed in childhood to go adventuring into strange worlds, to which the years of growing into young manhood added the determination to ex- plore the lost territories of northern South America, and to make it pay. His first adventure yielded more of experi- ence and kncwledge than of actual cash profit, but each excursion into the jungles since has produced a great variety of treasures, ranging from herbs, barks and useful insects to gold and diamonds, for which civilized humanity has a need or a desire. This seventh expedition into the un- explored jungles of British Guiana is the climax of fifteen years of effort to locate the source of the apparently never-ending supply of diamonds that can be had for the gathering in this Tegion of South America. It will be re- membered that it was William La Varre who brought the great Kurupung dia- mond out of the British Guiana jungles a few years ago. Beginning with the take-off of the expedition up the river which empties into the sea at Georgetown, a fully de- scriptive and enthralling narrative is recorded in “Gold, Diamonds and Or- chids” of the experiences and the find- ings of these two interepid white pioneers with their company of native guides and helpers during twelve months of tedious but always fascinating journeying through the jungles and over the moun- tains southward toward and across the Equator, everitually coming out through the Amazon River to Para. Each episode in the history of the ex- pedition has its own particular thrill of excitement, danger, amusement or dis- covery. There are the accounts of driv- ing the four heavily laden canoes through tortuous jungle floods and rapids under the skillful navigation of Captain Pete; of Jimmy, Hector, Big London, Allman, ‘Tagami and other natives of the expe- dition, whose loyalty, endurance and in- tuition made possible the success of the undertaking; of a birthday party in the jungle, with the honor guest receiving a fortune’'s worth of pure white orchids gathered by some of the natives, while others presented her with various of nature’s gifts and the cook produced a rare feast. Among the stories of strange happen- ings is the one in which the mystery of the Moon Demon, who drenches a crystal stream with crimson, is solved, and an- other in which a dead alligator comes to life in a canoe in the thick blackness of night on a jungle stream. Then there is the story of a woman being stoned into the wilderness for what the ex- plorer believes to be the offense of at- tempting to poison her husband. and of the surprise and danger to which he is subjected when she returns. Again there is the thrilling story of climbing “The- Mountain-That-Can't-Be-Climbed” and of the terrifying experience of descend- ing its hazardous, unstable boulders. One particularly appealing human in- terest episode is that of the entire party stopping for two days and listening for radio reports of the flight of the Lind- berghs from Manaos, Brazil, to Trinidad, while Captain Pete, who had battled the treacherous jungle rivers for fifty years, sat on the jungle roof and prayed for the safety of the flying couple until overcome by numbness from the cold of a violent tropical storm. ‘These are but random incidents in the chronicle of a year of pushing deeper and deeper into the “lost world” and of bringing out of this uncharted wilder- neses rich treasures for the use of civil- ization. The gathering of gold, orchid bulbs, medicinal barks and other prod- ucts of the soil, the discovery of a tribe of white Indians and a village of blighted women are al! but a part of the story of how a potato scraper containing thirty- five diamonds weighing more than a carat each led to the Creek-of-Bright- Rocks and eventually to the mountain- ous birthplace of the precious stones. ‘There is only one thing wrong with the book. Despite its more than generous size and its splendid photographic illus- trations, there just isn't enough of it! * x * x BEAUTY IN JAPAN. By Samuel H. Wainwright, jr. New York: G. P. Putnam'’s Sons. Japan and beauty are synonymous. Ever since the outside world was first permitted to enter and enjoy with freedom the Land of the Rising Sun the first emotional reaction to its charm has been a response to its passion for beauty. There are, of course, unlovely conditions in Japan. just as there are in all the nations of the world, but these are iargely political and economic sore spots, not visible in the material struc- ture presented to the eye of the stranger within its gates. For the Japanese are a beauty-loving race, with a universal appreciation of the artistic and a re- markable gift for translating everything that is to be seen or handled into a work of art. In preparing this handsome volume about Japan it has been the purpose of the artist-author to analyze the peculiar genius of its people for heauty and to present in a profusion of illustrative sketches examples of the adeptness with which art has been applied to every phase of life and of construction within the Island Empire. Mr. Wainwright is an American, born and brought up in Japan. He learned the lJanguage along with his own tongue, and the people and their customs were more familiar to him in his youth than were those of his own race. He is an eminent artist as well as an entertaining writer, so that the combination of these - qualifications gives his work a clarity and a beauty that is unique. S Facing the decorative title page is an exquisite color plate indicative of the quality and attractiveness of the book. A young girl has come to the well and found a bloomihg vine entwined in the chain and festooned over the bucket. She is entranced with its beauty. The caption, expressing so aptly the reverence of the Japanese for beauty, is: “The morning glory has taken the well bucket, I will go borrow water.” More than two hundred illustrations by the author accompany the text, and the volume is dressed in an artistic bind- ing in keeping with the nature of its contents. The book is in itself a work of art and one that should be given a warm welcome by all lovers of books that are authentic and interesting as well as besutiful. \: WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 1935, THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. For those wakeful hours which come to most persons at times, what is better than a very dull book? Every reader has some one author with at least one book he simply cannot get through. 1t is the best possible reading in the world for wakeful moments. Its first very practical use is to put the reader to sleep again. This reverses the entire reason for beings of books. They are intended to interest. TG say that a book “kept me up until 4 am.” is the very highest praise most persons can give. “I could not put it down until I had finished it.” Such is great praise, indeed. * * % ¥ The book, on the other hand, that puts itself down, as it were, by falling literally out of hand, is the one to select for wakeful hours. ‘The latter can come through any num- ber of reasons. ‘Wakefulness is a thing in itself, as well as a state of mind and body induced by a great many diversified causes. The kindly person will wake up early if he has in his mind the recollection of an ungracious deed or word, no matter how innocently he may have stumbled into the first or uttered the latter. No one in the world will know, perhaps, but he will know, and it is enough, it is too much, in fact. * * % % ‘Wakefulness arrives. What to do then? All the writers upon the subject—and there have not been many—agree that to think of being awake is the worst possible thing. Think of anything, except the fact that you are awake, because awareness invariably leads to worry and worry to more Worry. From then on the chain or cycle is complete, urtil at last it is utterly impossible for the victim to sleep at all. Therefore for many years it has been fashionable to recommend “counting sheep,” and the like, or almost any mental occupation which will keep the mind of the sleepless one from the fact of his sleeplessness. Many of these occupations are silly enough, but if they help some souls they are to be accounted good. Unfortunately there are hundreds of victims of occasional sleeplessness whom they not only do not enable to g0 to sleep again but whom they even harm by setting up a quite unnecessary nervous tension. * % % As a result there has arisen a new school of thought in this matter which relies on physical relaxation. or the complete removal of tension from the entire body. This occupation requires the attention of the mind, often with the most happy results in preventing the victim from thinking about himself as awake. In busily relaxing his entire body, one part after another, he forgets all about being awake. Ridding his body of residual tension. as it is called, recalls him time and time again to the present state of the back of his neck or his throat or his eyes or arms and legs. This system was in- vented by a Chicago physician, who elaborated his theory in a large volume published by the University of Chicago press. In recent years a small popular condensation has been presented for the general reader. * x x x ‘There are times, however, especially when one perversely insists on awaking just a half hour or perhaps an hour before the usual rising time, when a dull book is the best of all. Just what one means by the term “dull book” must be left to the individual. What is a dull work for one will not be for another. The admirer of the novels of Jane Austen, for instance, may find one of them terribly dull. We refer, of course, 40 “Sense and Sensibility.” It is quite possible for a reader to think her “Emma” and “Mansfield Park” the best novels of their type ever writ- ten, at the same time to regard “Sense and Sensibility” as only good because the great Jane wrote it, not because she did a good job with it. Jane is in it, of course, as every good writer is in everything written. So it is not the author alone who is dull, perhaps. The reader who is fair will be willing to admit, at least to himself, that if he finds a work dull he may be as much at fault as the writer. ¥ e Whoever may or may not be guilty, one finds a book dull. This means, if it is a work of fiction, that it does “not quite come off,” to use the prevailing favorite phrase of the reviewers. Something misses fire. Maybe it is the conversation or the plot or, again, the reader. ‘Whoever or whatever it may be, it is enough to make one yawn. The spark of interest, well called divine, has not been set off. This sort of book, when fiction, is more deadly in sophorific effects than the most weighty of studies. The sleepless may read philosophy with a light heart, bounding along mer- rily, but a dull novel, however famous its author, is something else. beyond expression. It has a way about it more sleep-compelling than any drug. It is, in truth, a drug of no mean order, though its name is not included in either the Pharmacoepia or other book of standards. And this brings up another point. the | sheer physical weight of the book. Large, heavy volumes ought never to be used for this purpose. The reader keeps himself awake in the mere physical exer- cise of holding them. They bore into the chest, compelling attention to their physical if not teo their qualities. A small book, preferably printed on Teather-weight paper, is so little in itself that it offers no hindrance to its dull- | ness, if that is its quality. ‘When sleep finally overcomes, it rolls out of the fingers and drops to the floor without wakening any one, even the | reader—or, better, sleeper. WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS BY FREDERIC WILLIAM WILE. Elections in a dozen or more different States on Ncvember 5 will be anxiously watched by both Democratic and Re- publican leaders. Although only local issues and offices are involved, the New Deal has figured directly or indirectly in all of the campaigns, so that party man- agers are prepared to deduce that the outcome will testify that the Roosevelt administration either continues in favor or has slipped in popular estimation. In- terest centers mainly in the Kentucky gubernatorial fight and in contests for the New YOrk Assembly. Republican victory in either of those States would be interpreted as a national portent of the first magnitude. The G. O. P. has conducted a particularly intensive anti- New Deal drive in New York. For sev- eral weeks a “Republican . Assembly caravan” has been touring upstate in the hope of wresting control at Albany from the Democrats. Other States in which the voting may show how the Rooseveltian wind is blowing include Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, Ohio and Indiana, in all of which certain State, county or municipal offices are to be filled. Philadelphia’s mayoralty contest and the fight for two congres- sional vacancies in New York City will be scrutinized with particular care. The forthcoming pollings do not measure up in importance to an off-year congres- sional election, but with 1936 approach- ing they have more than ordinary significance, * x % Opinion is crystallizing that Senator Borah put a serious crimp in his presi- dential boom by his recent demand for trust-busting as the Republicans’ para- mount issue. Considerable Borah senti- ment was beginning to develop in the East. despite his unorthodox views on currency and other questions, because it was thought that by and large he is the Republican most capable of drama- tizing anti-Rooseveltism and waging & popular campaign against the New Deal. But with his thrust at big business through the demand for stressing anti- monopoly the Idahoan becomes less at- tractive to the industrial East, which the elephant must capture in 1936 to offset acknowledged Roosevelt strength in the ‘West and South. * k X X Alfred E. Smith has just lost his job—not the “happy warrior” who was once Governor of New York and now runs the Empire State Building, but a Republican namesake who has been post- master at Nantucket, Mass, since the Coolidge administration. The New Deal has at last struck the historic little island off the New England coast. Mr. Smith has been retired in favor of a Democratic postmistress, Miss Alice Roberts, and the quaint little post office building in cob- bled and tree-lined Main street of Nan- tucket town is soon to give way, under the Farley regime, to a Colonial type structure located appropriately on Fed- eral street. There’s a tale that Nan- tucket’s Al Smith was once staying at the Hotel Biltmore in New York City, then Democratic headquarters. While there he was astonished to receive an invitation to address a convention of Young Democrats. He informed the committee that he was the Republican postmaster of Nantucket, but would be glad to talk about the Democratic party, if desired. The invitation was not pressed. Mr. Smith has now gone back to his private business. EL Politicians in both parties rejoice over the decision of the American Federation of Labor not to organize an independent, workers’ party in the United States. Such an organization, should it ever attain the dimensions of its counterpart in Great Britain, would play havoc with regular party calculations and alignments over here. American I will adhere to its traditional non election- day practice of rewarding friends and punishing enemies on their records in office—national State or local. It is not vet clear what effect the A. F. of L.s indorsement of a New Deal constitutional amendment will have on the 1936 cam- | paign. Some authorities think it is bound to spur the Democrats to advocate con- | stitutional change, especially if impend- | ing Supreme Court decisions deal addi- tional blows to the Roosevelt program. 18 % Miss Sonja Branting of Stockholm will be guest of honor at a dinner of the Quota Club of Washington tomorrow eve- | ning. She is a famous Swedist jurist and | specialist in courts of domestic relations. The daughter of a former prime minister of Sweden and the sister of a prominent member of the Upper House of the Riks- dag, Miss Branting is in the midst of a speaking trip in the United States deal- ing with the European situation and the plight of political prisoners. * X *x % Our railroad executives are exceedingly proud of their safety record, particularly as compared with the terrible toll of human life that is taken by automobiles. John J. Pelley, president of the Associa- tion of American Railroads, has just an- nounced that not one passenger was killed in a train accident in the United States during the first six months of | 1935. It is the third time within the last four years that the railroads have scored a perfect record during the first half of | the year. The announcement coincides with publication of statistics showing that American automobile fstalities rose to a new high in 1934, with 33,980 persons killed in or by motor cars, a death rate | New | of 269 per 100,000 of population. Hampshire, Delaware and Kansas made the best auto safety records. 3 =k Among the new members just enrolled in the Military Order of the World War is Maj. Gen. Michael Pleshkoff, formerly of the imperial Russian Army. He comes from an ancient military family, his an- cestors having fought and been decorated in the battle of Poltava in 1709. The general himself was an officer of the famous St. Petersburg Cavalry Guards and later commanded the Czar’s 13th Hussars. In 1917 Pleshkoff served in Admiral Kolchak's White Russian Army | in Siberia. After arrest by the Bolshe- viks he escaped to the United States and became a naturalized American citizen in 1926. (Copyright, 1835.) e Shocked. Prom the Buffalo Times. Hollywood man stepped into a tele- phone booth, deposited a nickel, dialed and fell dead. He must have gotten the right number. — s e A Rhyme at Twilight By Gertrude Brooke Hamilton Nomadic Charm Is it your soft, unruly hair, Or your melodious line of chaff, Or just your nonchalant, gay air That moves my heart, yet makes me laugh? Is it your lithe, untethered grace. ‘With its light-footed, gypsy gait, That brings strong color to my face— Half envious of Your errant fate? Is it your dusky, earth-brown eyes, ‘That call to mind the harvest time, Long sylvan trails and starry skies, The russet leaves and wild sweet thyme? Whatever your allure—my goal Is to possess your nomad soul. It bores | intellectual | ostentatiously | tinued to operate a brewery. ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS By Frederic ]. Haskin. A reader can get the answer to any question of fact by writing The Washing- ton Evening Star Information Bureau, Frederic J. Haskin, Director, Washing- ton, D.C. Please inclose stamp for reply, Q. Have the Ethiopians been at war since the Italian invasion 40 years ago? A. There has been no war in Ethiopia since the Italian invasion of 1896. Under the present Emperor the unification of the country and the education of the people have progressed greatly. Q. Is the Cuban government issuing medals to American soldiers who were in the Spanish-American War?—E. L. C. A. By virtue of a decree law, No. 867, of the Cuban government, dated Febru- ary 13, 1935, a silver medal has been authorized for those members of the armed forces of the United States of America, including its auxiliary corps or organizations, who served during the War with Spain. Q! Has the expression, “her man,” been in use for a long time?—A. T. C. A. The expression, “her man.” meane ing husband, has been in use for hun- dreds of years. We find it first in 1300, written “hir man.” Q. When will National Art week be observed?—P. K. A. From November 2-11, Q. When was laughing gas discove ered?—E. G. _ A. The gas was discovered by Priestley in 1772 when he removed oxygen from nitric oxide by the action of moistened iron filings, and its properties were later investigated by Davy. Q. Is there such an animal as the dormouse?—W. L. A. The dormouse is a small squirrel-like rodent with prominent black eyes and a bushy tail. Like the squirrel, it sits on its hind legs when eating and stores food for the Winter. It is chestnut in color, about the size of a mouse, and spends half the year in sleep. Q. What is an oxbow lake?—R. T. A. It is a stagnant lake formed in abandoned river beds when a river cuts through the neck of one of the méanders | or loops characteristic of the course of rivers of slow current. Without outlet or inlet, the oxbow lake, sometimes called a bayou, often becomes a marsh or swamp and finally disappears. Q. Who was called the citizen King? —S. M. A. Louis Philippe, King of France from 1830-1848, was so called because of his bourgeois manners and dress. Q. Please give some information about the philanthropist for whom Vassar College was named—R. M. T. A. Matthew Vassar was born in Eng- land in 1792 and came to the United States with his father in 1796. He settled in Poughkeepsie, N. Y. whers the father established and the son con- In 1861 he gave over $400,000 to the newly formed | Vassar Female College. Q. How early did Charles appear on the stage?—M. F. A. He made his first stage appearance as a baby in his mother’s arms. While still a child he became a member of the juvenile dancers known as the Eight Lancashire Lads. A few years later he played the role of Billy, the page boy, in an English production of “Sherlock Holmes.” Chaplin Q. Why was the passion flower so named?—C. M. H. A. It is because of the supposed re- semblance of the corona to the crown of thorns, and of the other parts of the flower to the nails and wounds, while | the five sepals and five petals were taken to symbolize the 10 apostles—Peter who denied and Judas who betrayed being left out of the reckoning. Q. How much did the Du Pont High« way cost Senator du Pont?—A. M. A. The highway cost him $4,000.000 and is 103 miles long. Senator du Pont said he would build a monument 100 miles high and lay it on the ground. Q. Where is Audubon, the naturalist, buried?—M. G. A. He is buried in Trinity Cemetery, New York. Q. Was John Gough, the temperance lecturer, once addicted to alcohol?—H. C. A. Poverty and tragic personal bereave- ment drove him to the extremes of alco- holism from which he was diverted by the temperance pledge. From 1842 until his death he lectured on the temperance cause in America and England, winning pledge signers by the hundreds of thousands. Q. How old a city is Cape Town, South Africa?>—W. F. A. It was founded in 1652 by the Dutch, in whose possession it remained until the British took it in 1806. Cape Town now has a population of more than 250,000. Q. How large a company is the Pope's Swiss Guards?—T. B. A. It numbers exactly 100. The com- pany is recruited from Switzerland. Each soldier must be at least 5 feet 8 inches, less than 25 years old, unmarried. free from all bodily disfigurement, and a Roman Catholic. Q. Who comprise the jury of award for the 1935 Carnegie International? —C.A.N. 4 A. Alexander Brook of New York, John Curry of Westport, Conn.: Colin Gill of London, Jonas Lie of New York, Hendrik Lund of Oslo, Norway, and Isidore Opsomer of Antwerp. Q. Does the use of schoolboy patrols help to solve the accident problem? —A. S. A. A. In the eight years that schoolboy patrols have been on the streets of Washington, D. C., traffic fatalities to scheol children have decreased 30 per cent. Q. Please give some information about . an early almanac published by Ames? —E. G. A. In 1725, when but 17 years old, Nathaniel Ames published the first num- ber of his almanac, which he continued to issue annually until his death. It was the most famous New England almanac of the day, with a circulation running as high as 60,000 copies. In form and arrangement it became the general pg-nem for American almanacs. Q. Who was the first person to swim the English Channel?—F. 8. A. Matthew Webb swam the channel first in 1875. Q. Is “Whe's Who in America” pube lished every year?—P, R. A. It is published once in two years. The Qext edition will be 1936-1,