Evening Star Newspaper, November 2, 1935, Page 8

A—S THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. SATURDAY . ..November 2, 1935 THEODORE W. NOYES... ... Editor e L The Evening Star Newspaper Company. Business Office: 11th St. and Penn: New York Office: 11 ¢ 42nd St Chicago Ofice: Lake Michigan Building uropean Omce: 14 Regent St.. London. England. Rate by Carrier Within the City. Regular Editlon, The Evening Star_ The Evening and Sui 4 Sundays). (when The E Sui (when 5 The Suiday Star-. Night Final 45c per month 60c per month 65c per month -5¢ per copy 70c per month C Der |m1n'Hl Collection made each month. Orders may be sent by mail or telephone Na- tional 5000. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. B-ny and Sunday. . $10.00; aily only _. 1 mo.. &3¢ S6.007 1 Bunday only 1 mo.. 50¢ $4.00; 1 mo.. 40c All Other States and Canada. Elily and Sunday__1 yr. $12.01 aily only_ 1 yrl. S84 inday’only. 17 Member of the Associated Press. The Associated Press is exclusively entitled to the use for republication of all news dispatches eredited to it or not otherwise credited in this Paper and also the local news published hereln. 1l rights of publication of special dispatches erein are also reserved Germany’s New Army. Germany’'s new conscript army, even- tually to consist of twelve divisions totaling between five hundred thousand and six hundred thousand men, came formally into being yesterday, when some two hundred thousand recruits of the class of 1814 reported for duty. Bar- rack yards throughout the Reich once again buzzed with the activity of #Kaiser days.” The Nazi dream, fruit of the repudiated clauses of the Ver- gailles treaty, has at last come true. Germany returns to the ranks of first- class land powers, with plans and poten- tialities destined within a few years to make her once again the strongest mili- tary country in Europe. It is an event of historic magnitude and little designed to bolster Old World peace, for the Nazis' neighbors, persuaded that Germany is not creating a great army for decorative purposes, are bound to meet her chal- Jenge with augmented preparations of their own. The countries with those “bleeding frontiers,” of which the Hitler- ites prate from time to time—{ring- ing territory inhabited by German populations now under other rule—have special cause to shudder at the spec- | tacle of the Reich’s rising military might. There was a touch of the Hohenzollern war-lord tone in the speech delivered by Air Minister Gen. Goering at the opening of the “Air War Academy,” & brand-new departure in German mili- tary organization, “The Fuehrer,” ex- claimed Goering, “has often enough emphasized our will for peace. It will not be Germany's fault if this will is disturbed. But a sharp sword will always | the best guarantee of true This sword alone can maintain The new War Academy remain peace. and protect it.” will train officers in the strategic and | technical aspects of air warfare and fit them for a special general staff. Noth- ing so clearly betokens the paramount gtress which the Nazis lay upon the aerial weapon. While Germany's new army was snap- ping to attention, Winston Churchill, in the course of a Conservative election speech calling for increased British armaments, depicted Nazi air power as # graver menace to Great Britain than the German Navy was in 1914. He de- clared that the Reich is spending more than $4,000,000,000 on war preparations this year and warned Britons that their island realm may find itself at the mercy of a continental power unless it creates an air force second to none. “European states having succumbed to military dic- tatorships of the most fierce and aggres- give kind,” said Churchill, “the fate of Fthiopia shows what would happen to Britain upon a frightful scale if we were unable to defend ourselves.” While revived German military prowess s thus depicted as a threat to Western Europe, there are indications that the new army is turning its early attention to the East. At least the ten divisions already created are based on towns within striking distance of the eastern border. An iron ring already stretches along the far-flung frontier from the southeastern junction with Czechoslo- vakia to the northeasternmost tip of East Prussia, where Memel begins. The disposition of German forces is thus a matter of special moment to the Soviet Union, Poland, Lithuania and Czechoslo- vakia and reveals the direction in which the Nazis apparently expect first to utilize the Reich's rehabilitated land power. —————————— Merrymakers who impersonate the Dionne quints raise the old question as to whether art ever succeeds in improv- ing on Nature. —_— Hirsute Distinction. Sergeant John A. Johanson, retiring from the Army at the end of thirty years of honorable service, has been the re- cipient of commendatory notice for the ornament which graces his upper lip. In paragraph 4, general orders 11, his chief speaks of him as being “one of the few surviving members of that fine old school of enlisted men, symbolized * * * by the military mustache which so dis- tinguished the service over a quarter of a century ago.” His handlebar adorn- ment, it is explained in the same testi- monial, had the effect of making him “a conspicuous figure in fhe metropolitan area, to the great credit of the United States army.” The story prompts appreciation of how drastically times have changed since Sergeant Johanson was young. Hirsute distinction was so commonplace at the moment of his enrollment in 1904 that it was no distinction at all. Rather, it was the fashion, and the youthful rookie cultivated the soup strainer over his mouth so that his appearance might be in harmonious consonance with that of his buddies. It was the mustache age, and to be totally clean-shaven in that era was inferentially equivalent to being stark naked. Certainjy, there was plen- THE EVENING tiful precedent for smooth faces—every Chief Execufive from George Washing- ton through James Buchanan had been beardless and the whiskers of Abraham Lincoln and U. S. Grant had been rea- sonably close-cropped affairs. But lat- terly—in the instances of Rutherford B. Hayes, James A. Garfield and Benjamin Harrison among others—there had been a tendency to grow to extremes. Grover Cleveland, fearful of the trend, decided to call a halt. Yet he did not wish to be too radical. A walrus variety of mus- tache, he supposed, would be a proper compromise. And Theodore Roosevelt and Willlam Howard Taft followed his example. For authentic masterpieces, however, the world was obliged to turn to Kaiser Wilhelm and General Kitchener. Meanwhile, the rank and file—Private Johanson included—did the best they could with their materials. Literally | thousands of hours and hundreds of tons of energy were spent in training untonsured subnasal decorations of mar- velous theoretical grace and beauty. Expert practitioners eventually de- veloped an art of mustache-stroking un- paralleled in the chronicles of human genius. Wilton Lackaye rose to such eminence in that department of esthetic enterprise as to be the envy of multitudes of his less accomplished contemporaries. He could perform the trick with a per- fection which was positively Olympian. But it required a soldier to reach the ultimate heights of mustache celebrity. Sergeant Johanson did nobly, of course. The laurels, nonetheless, must go to Old Bill of “The Better 'Ole,” created by Captain Bruce Bairnsfather and famous forever the planet around as the posses- sor of the noblest handlebars that ever grew. B The Office Octopus. Scarce a week passes without an- nouncement of the leasing of a business building or an apartment or a large private dwelling by the Government for public use in this city. The Government- owned housings have long since been filled to overflowing, and with the creation of’ new bureaus and administrations and services of various kinds there has been a complete exhaustion of both the per- manent and temporary facilities. In the latest instance of the taking of private property there are several “applicants” for the space thus obtained and not room in the structure for all of them. The fact is that the Federal admin- istration has outgrown the Capital. The building program adopted several years ago was supposed to provide for the Government needs for a long period. The development of the New Deal was not then foreseen. If a new program were to be devised it would have to be based upon some more definite data of probable continuation of the present set-up of administrative establishments than are now available. Nobody knows just how long this “emergency™ will last, how permament are the newly added functions and what will be the require- ments of Government in respect to hous- ing accommodations ten years hence. Meanwhile it is hard upon the long- tenure occupants of apartments to be suddenly thrust out of their accommo- dations. They are not assured of finding equivalent quarters elsewhere within the range of their accustomed activities, if they can indeed find them at any dis- tance. The Government has the power of ouster through an extension of the principle of eminent domain, although it takes over these properties only as a tenant and not as an owner, and there is no assurance that it will continue occupation for a long period, though that is probable. The situation indeed has reached the point at which some definition should be given of the immediately prospective plans of the Federal administration in respect to expansion and housing needs. Perhaps nobody in the higher ranges of Government knows just what the out- look is or how far the expansion pro- cedure will extend. The private builders run a risk of overconstruction, with a consequent decrease in values and heavy losses following in the event that the emergency organizations of the Govern- ment are suddenly deflated and liqui- dated. With the official population con- tinuing to increase to very near if not quite at the point of the peak of war- time expansion, there is now a veritable emergency which might conceivably appeal to the sympathies of those higher administrators who are concerned in the matter of accommodation of the people after office hours. —— et The White House needs new plumbing, but it is not in sufficient disrepair to war- rant fear that it will have to be included in a program of drastic clearance to make way for better building. e A spirit of impartiality is admirable. But even a dictator must consider the undesirability of a hostile attitude toward everybody in sight. ——— Hands. Not long ago a new town was begun at Elm Park near London, and five hun- dred houses were erected to accommo- date the first residents. But before even a single line had been drawn by the architects the sponsors of the develop- ment had the wit to inquire of the wives of prospective purchasers as to what conveniences they desired in their homes. Curiously, the answer was: “Kitchens large enough to turn 'round in.” Back of that reply, however, lay a psychology of occupation interesting to examine. Women are manual workers. For untold centuries they have been using their hands. Cooking, sewing, washing, ironing, practicing all the household arts and sciences, day after day, year after year, they have acquired a transmissible dexterity which is part of their cultural endowment—one of the basic values of their lives. So it happens that the widow of a millionaire, possessed f a monumental fortune, employs her leisure knitting jackets for babies she never has been, and her sister, almost equally well provided with material riches, tats Au" endless sequence of beau- tiful laces. Neither is obliged to toil, but in the heart of each is that strange Instinct to make things. The ladies of Elm Park, then, were concerned about the size of kitchens be- cause of the enterprises they meant to initiate there. They wanted room “to turn 'round in” not for the luxury of spaciousness itself, but rather for the practical utility which it would signify in terms of domestic achievements. Per- haps they did not pause to analyze the motive of their demand. Almost cer- tainly they did not trace it back to its origin in the mists of unwritten history. But such an excursion, had it been undertaken, would have disclosed the very fabric of civilization—the handwork which successive generations have accomplished. Those who fear the regimentation of the machine age may be encouraged by the elemental truth to which the women of Elm Park have testified. Humanity will not be utterly mechanized so long as people still respond to the ancient urge to create for themselves. The philosopher knows the correlated verity whereby it is established that builders also are thinkers and that, while hands are free and active, minds will be unenslaved. ) Good news comes from battlefields when it is admitted that Selassie has poisoned no wells and Mussolini has fired no dum-dum bullets. A trace of human forbearance is more to be valued than triumphant pageantry. e Science has come pretty near demon- strating that life can be artificially pro- longed. The next step will be to con- tradict some traces of skepticism as to whether it is worth living. - Personating the Dionne quints has become a fad among merry masquer- aders. The idea may have value in an implied indorsement of the economic de- mand for large families. D Babe Ruth may go to Japan to popu- larize base ball. His first and most dif- ficujt task will be to persuade the au- q stere Mikado to condescend to toss the | first ball at the opening game. e Traffic officers are said to be impressed by low numbers on tags. A democratic way of issuing tags would be to shake rule of “first come, first served.” ————————— Farm products are so valuable that question arises as to whether it is worth while to spoil a pumpkin to make a Halloween false face. —_— r e Human sympathy is never inert. It is universally admitted that a Community Chest is more important than a cam- | paign fund. — The man who really “broke the bank at Monte Carlo” may be the American tourist who decided to stay away from it. ) California is telling the world that it needs more than & glorious climate to make taxpayers happy. ———— by radiologists. An earthquake shakes up even pronunciations, — Telling farmers how much they can raise applies to mortgages as well as corn and pork. Shooting Stars. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Altitudes, Above the stratosphere they tell It's really very high; Beyond it folks on planets dwell Up yonder in the sky. But as of altitudes we hear We're asking here below, In accents that are loud and clear, “How high can taxes go?” ‘We take an airplane and we ride Beyond the wandering cloud. We watch the stars which speed in pride ‘To make a record proud. As marvels great we contemplate, We still desire to know— For a reply we humbly wait— “How high can taxes go.” Innocent Bystanding. “You enjoy a Shakespeare play?” “Yes,” answered Senator Sorghum, “I find great relaxation in the dialogue. It's a pleasure to listen to such magnificent speeches without the slightest excuse for jumping to my feet and taking part in the debate.” Art Conciliation. ‘The proud Circassian lady Remarked, “A blond am 1.” The tattooed man so shady ‘To her made this reply, “A cynical inspection Can be of little use Since there is no complexion Cosmetics can't produce.” Smartness. “Do you think children ought to be encouraged in the belief that they are smarter than their parents?” “Of course,” said Mr. Dustin Stax. “They have got to be a whole lot smarter if they are to pay up the debts their parents piled up.” “Unkept promises,” said Hi Ho, the sage of Chinatown, “are the seeds which fill fields, that should sustain us, with unprofitable weeds. Rhetoric. ‘We looked for art improvement ‘With governmental care. We waited for improvement In rhetoric everywhere. ‘We heard, while we were seeking Refinement going some, One like a hobo speaking, Another like a bum. “When a man says he's too old to learn,” said Uncle Eben, “it's & sign dat he wasn't very good at learnin' in de n{“ sice.” b N Helena, Mont,, is variously pronounced | STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, them up in a box and issue them on the | Modernistic Conception of Art and Color Defended To the Editor of The Star: You asked in your editorial is “Mod- ernism Declining”? Then attempted to prove that it is. To forecast oblivion for such modern masters of art as Picasso, Cezanne, Monet, etc., is a broad statement indeed. However, as long as artists make more than a superficial study of their profession their fame will endure. Their theories and contribu- tions to art are founded upon scientific truths, Often they appear radical and startling, but so has every advance in any realm been designated. What the old masters didn't know about color would fill several books. In fact, the scientific study of color as we know it has been learned in the past fifty years. Color laws that every art student is familiar with were unknown to the older painters. Any modern artist who painted with the brown sauce and dull grays of the old masters and called it a truthful representation of nature would be either ignorant or a liar and should be ridiculed as such. Tt is idle to speak of purple cows, for any object in nature can be any color, de- pending upon the color of light that hits it. Why can't a cow be purple as well as black, red or yellow? I might ask, Is snow white? As a matter of fact it seldom is, as any artist will say. Monet painted grass green in one of his pic- tures, and after being criticized took a violin and laid it on the grass to prove it was not brown. as it had been the custom to paint it. Cezanne discovered that the shadow of an object did not merely turn dark, but followed a definite law around the color spectrum; that is, a red apple in light would have a crimson, violet and purple shadow intermingled with green, the complementary of red. A fact so obvious now that it is universally prac- ticed where true color representation is desired. Cezanne may have been a poor painter, but what he learned and handed down to artists entitles him to the posi- tion of greatness accorded him, for he revolutionized painting. Even the artists that ridicule his work follow the ideas he expounded. Painting was practically dead up to the middle of the nineteenth century, in so far as anything creative or original efforts were concerned. It is difficult for us to realize how barren and decayed it was until the moderns revived it. And, believe me, this could not have been ac- complished had their ideas been founded on treason. false theories or sand. From Cezanne Picasso developed “cubism.” which has doubtless changed the field of art more than any move- ment since Da Vinci perfected oil paint- ing Architecture, interior decoration, furniture. painting and sculpture have all passed under its influence. Without it we would have to go back to the Vic- torian age. The isms and experiments of modernism will be sifted out, and from it will arise the essence of modern art, which is simplicity, economy and beauty—an art that interprets the age in which we live. WILLIAM MACY. Deport Undesirable Aliens and Keep Out To the Editor of The Star I want to put down a few names: Arthur “Dutch Schultz” Flegenheimer, “Lucky” Luciano, Mever Lansky, Joe Messina, Abe Zwillman—these are the names that have made page one in the latest gangster war. These are the types of names that made up the crime news during the prohibition era, when organ- ized racketeering was at its peak. It is indeed a fine gift that Congress and the Labor Department has given the American people. They have sad- dled us with foreign-born and their children until in the short space of 35 vears the population of this country has jumped from 60.000.000 to 130,000.000. Certainly this is no normal rate of increase. This unnatural and unhealthy rise in population has struck a staggering blow at the United States and has left us with crime-breeding tenements, hordes of unemploved on relief rolls, and “rackets” organized on such a scale as has never been known before in the history of the world. Much irreparable damage has been done. However, some degree of order can and should be brought out of this chaotic condition. But it will not be by following the leadership of the sup- porters of the “sweetness and light” pro- gram. What we need is people in author- ity with enough courage and patriotism to clean out these aliens and send them back to their native countries: people with enough foresight and vision to see that the doors are hereafter closed to all undesirable aliens. This is not a question of prejudice. It is simply a matter of self-preservation. MRS. ANNA ADAMS. S A Plea For Action on the Proposed National Stadium To the Editor of The Star: It seems to the writer that too much time is being taken on a new stadium that has been talked about for some time and only reached the preliminary stages, such as plans and where it is supposed to be built. As a great believer in outdoor sports and recreation for all the young and old, I again urge a re- vival of interest in the construction of the largest stadium in the world, to be located at the foot of East Capitol street. Washington is so well located that if a large place was built, to hold 100.000 or even 125000 persons, any large event could well be taken care of. Let us get busy, so we can have the Army and Navy game here next year. It does not take long to build such a sta- dium. If those who have the power to allot the money get things started, we can easily have it completed and ready for 1936. Not only athletic events can be held, but large conventions and other exer- cises can be held there. So let us get busy and see if the greatest Nation on earth cannot have the largest and finest stadium in the world in its Capital at Washington. FELIX A. URY. r——— Informational Value in Teaching of Communism ‘To the Editor of The Star: ‘The wise decision of the corporation counsel is contemned by those zealous patriots who are unable or unwilling to recognize any distinction between infor- mational instruction and actual indoc- trination. It would seem only a logical further step in their effort to put blinders on the young to exclude from the schools any encyclopedia or dictionary which in- cludes information on the accursed sys- tem, and perhaps to require an oath that the teacher share the ignorance of those to whom socialism, communism and anarchy (if not fascism) are identical. Is it not a sad reflection on the intelli- gence of our youth that their loyalty to American institutions should depend on complete ignorance of inferior, obnoxious systems? Is it not also a reflection on those institutions if they are too fragile to withstand comparison? A corre- spondent has used the analogy of not driving too close to a precipice, but what is the use of that caution if the driver has never even learned what a preci- Ppice 152 H.W. ewcomers SATURDAY, NXOVEMBER 2, 1935. THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. Colds and the traffic problem we seem to have with us always. ‘The former is a strictly personal mat- ter, that is why each one of us must fight it as vigorously as possible. There is no Safety Council to help us with colds, so each person must help himself. This means, first of all, that one must think about colds to the best of one’s ability, refusing to be deterred because one is not a doctor. It often is possible, by the best use of the old bean, as the vernacular once put it, to work out a regimen of cold prevention and cure, This is not only helpful to the person involved, but to all others, because there can be little doubt, whatever may be the origin or cause of spread of a cold, that it is possible to “catch” it. ok K X . ‘The person who steadfastly refuses to say, “Oh, it's just a cold,” who de- termindedly uses his own mind to help himself, in regard to this popular malady, is a public as well as personal benefactor. What are some of the facts an indi- vidual may discover? In the first place, it must be kept in mind that in all such matters, what fs one person’s facts are another’s beliefs, or disbeliefs, even. Every fact thus discovered will be attacked, but that makes no difference. The way of the discoverer is notoriously hard, especially in things medical if he have no medical degree. Even then he must be very cautious, and trail along with the orthodox. But a great mistake is made by any one who does not think that the person without learning, in the specialized sense, has any right to think about disease and its cure. The fact that one lives gives every one the right, Let us see what we can know about the common cold. There appears to be some connection between it and fat. Look around you and see the number of fat persons of your acquaintance who are perpetually snifling and sneezing. Not that a thin man or woman cannot catch a cold. Far from it. If immunity from it were conferred by thinness, diet- ing would be a cure, which it scarcely is. But it is evident that the person with excess weight is more likely to “catch” cold than if he had no extra flesh. Whatever fat does or does not do, how- ever harmful it may be, although at times undoubtedly comfortable, it seems evident that it predisposes one to colds and more colds. It may be nothing more than the sedentary life which the fat person often leads. Perhaps it is more than that, and the secret rests in inner changes in- duced by the storing of fat. Perhaps the glands of personality, so-called, come into the picture Keeping down fat ought to help keep down colds. Such an observation is strictly un- scientific, perhaps, but thoroughly good common sense. From this standpoint, then, some attention to diet on the part of fat people will help in the reduction of colds. * kX X The belief that colds are the result of some sort of accumulation in the body is bolstered by the plain fact that many colds may be “sweated” out. Taking a hot drink and piling on the blankets—this has been common wisdom for centuries. STARS, MEN It is just as wise a procedure today as ever. Perspiration achieved by these means often has a peculiar odor, quite different from usual. If the sweat treatment is successful it gives the cold victim so much more “pep” the next day that he thinks him- self completely well and sometimes he is, There seems to be a three-day cycle, however, in the course of most colds, so that great care is necessary for the two succeeding days, if one is fortunate enough to “break it up” the first. * ok ok K Probably most diseases seem worse at night, but a cold unusually so. This would seem to indicate the plain wisdom of remaining at home. at night when one is suffering from or even “catching” a cold. Yet every one knows the temptation to do otherwise. Hence many a cold is spread. Every one is familiar, too, with the temptation to “remain on one’s feet” with a cold, whereas common sense would point to the necessity for com- plete rest. Who is there who has not “stuck out” & cold for several days only to be com- pelled, in the end, to take to one's bed? Rest, perspiration, light food and warmth—these are some of the cardinal and natural remedies and too much stress cannot be placed upon them. Science has placed at our disposal various vitamin concentrates. With these an expert's advice is helpful, but in the end one must decide for one’s self whether they are worthwhile. The best of them undoubtedly tend to make a cold more difficult to “catch,” and to keep it in the early or light stages, at all times. In other words, if such prepa- rations work they seem to do it, not so much by preventing the cold entirely, as by lessening its severity and its terf. * ox ok x One great aid in the prevention of common colds is to refuse to walk except when one can take a shower and rub- down immediately afterward. Far more persons than is commonly | realized catch colds by getting in a mild | perspiration and then cooling off in a | | wind or even in a cold room. The fact that one may not drip per- spiration after a little walk is no sign that the so-called insensible perspiration has not increased materially. This leaves the entire body slightly moist, in a perfection condition for the chill of the skin, which is the first out- ward sign of a cold. The evaporation causes the coolness, aided by the help toward evaporation given by a draft. The old fear of a draft was a sensible thing and a few years of physical culture sneering at it has not harmed it at all. in this life are quite wholesome; a sen- sible person does well to hold onto them. Getting the feet wet, for instance— maybe it is namby-pamby to fear that, one can trace a cold back to wet:feet at some time or other. It is not enough to keep warm—one must keep warm and dry at the same time. The only time the cold-susceptible may be both warm and moist is when he is under blankets trying to sweat it out. | Then the hotter and the wetter the better. | Surely there is no cold cure as good as this, provided one keeps it up for the entire sleeping period. Just a few min- utes’ sweat is not enough. AND ATOMS Notebook of Science Progress in Field, Laboratory and. Study. BY THOMAS R. HENRY, Growth has a self-accelerator. Such is the finding of Carroll E. Palmer and Lowell J. Reed of the Public Health Service and Johns Hopkins Uni- versity based on the growing rate of more than 2,000 boys and girls between 6 and 14 years of age in the public schools of Hagerstown, Md. These children were measured annually for four years. After the sixth year, it was found, there was a slight but steady decline in the growing rate for both sexes up to at least the tenth year. Some children grew more in a year than others. The statistics were for growth rates, not for actual increments in stature. More- over, it was found, the growth rates seemed to depend upon age. The rela- tive gains of tall and short children were approximately the same. The former did not grow faster, in relation to their normal heights, than the latter. But when girls reach a height be- tween 50 and 51 inches and boys & height between 53 and 54 inches the growth rate, which has been slowing up for four or five years, takes a sudden spurt. It is as if some automatic gadget had been set off. Thenceforth, until the girl reaches a height of between 55 and 56 inches and the boy a height of between 60 and 61 inches, the acceler- ated growth rate no longer is dependent on age, but on actual stature. The tallest grow fastest and the shortest grow slow- est. The average gain declined with each inch of the average height of the group measured. Once the end of the spurt is reached, the growth rate once more declines sharply and this decline continues until the end of the normal growing period. There is no longer the close dependence of growth rate upon height attained. The phenomenon of the sudden growth spurt at about the twelfth year long has been known to physiologists. It is known as the “adolescent spurt.” It is one of the most notable events on the road from childhood to maturity. The causes of this spurt are obscure, but in the past they have been consid- ered as purely a phenomenon of age advancement. The Hagerstown experiment indicates strongly that age, per se, has nothing to do with the adolescent spurt. Chil- dren of both sexes reach the critical height that sets off the growth-acceler- ating gadget at different ages. Almost invariably the spurt starts .at that height, regardless of age. It is as if the elonga- tion of the body stretched a rubber band which snapped back against some one of the endocrine glands—which, in turn, proceeded to pour its growth-promoting substance into the blood. Thus, the statisticians intimate, rela- tive stature may be a better index of an individual's comparative maturity than the number of birthdays. * o ok X Extensive excavations have been con- ducted by the Smithsonian Institution this Summer at the oldest known habi- tation site in the New World—the se.l “- ment or camp site of makers of Folsc..a spear,points in the lowest foothills of the Rocky ~Mountains in Northeastern Colorado. Dr. Frank H. H. Roberts, jr, of the Bureau of American Ethnology, who directed the work, has just returned to Washington with a large collection of artifacts obtained by digging a trench 270 feet long and 10 feet wide through the area occupled by the ancient Americans. ‘The Folsom man himself—hunter of extinct bison and mammoth at a period believed to have ln.l.lgad shortly the retreat of the last glaciers from this part | of North America—remains a mystery. There were no human bones found in the excavations. The work this Summer, | however, enabled Dr. Roberts to con- struct a more intimate picture of the ways of life of this primitive people and of the habitation site itself. This particular settlement dwelt in what once was a valley filled with luxuri- ant meadows fed by cold springs. The sedge grass and reeds grew in profusion on the valley floor. This can be deduced, if not entirely proven, by the character of the layer of black soil which rests directly upon the glacial gravels. The valley probably was a favorite grazing ground for the bison—creatures of an extinct species considerably larger than the bison of today. There is every reason to believe that there were enormous herds of them. Folsom man hunted with spears. Probably he seldom was able to kill one of the big animals outright with a single blow. He was, however, a skillful hunter. He probably knew how to hit an animal so that it would be paralyzed and could safely be knocked over the head. For instance, one spear point was found penetrating slightly the spinal column of a bison, a wound that would have paralyzed the creature’s hind legs. Some of the points found this Summer appear to have been arrowheads. They are about the right size for this purpose and are too small, it would appear. to have been useful as spear points. This raises the interesting question as to the time when the bow and arrow first was brought into North America, presumably on one of the migration waves from Asia. It is known that the basket makers of the Southwest did not have this imple- ment. Yet Folsom man, it generally is suppos_ed. preceded them by several centuries. Several new types of artifacts were found, including one bit of notched bone which hardly could have served any other purpose than that of an ornament. A number of palettes were found which had been used for mixing a sort of red paint which also probably was employed for personal decoration. There were several traces of fires over which Folsom men probably had cooked their bison steaks. Altogether, the work this Summer is believed to have revealed a fair cross section of life in the ancient settlement, although the possibilities are by no means exhausted. The primitive hunters, Dr. Roberts says, occupied a considerable area—at least a half mile long and a hundred yards wide. The indications are that they were there for a long period. This ancient habitation site first was discovered several years ago by Judge C. C. Coffin and was partially explored by Maj. Roy G. Coffin, grofessor of geology at Colorado State College. Maj. Coffin reported it to the Smithsonian Institution. e The American Sequence. From the Shreveport (La.) Journal. Base ball is followed by foot ball, and foot ball by basket ball in this country, and the procession is almost endless. But that beats the cannon ball screaming in other lands. ——— Book Lore. Prom the Saginaw (Mich.) News. President of a Nebraska college urges that American educational institutions sponsor horse racing instead of subsidiz- ing athletes. ‘It certainly would preserve a amuvhere. | other composers Many ordinary fears | | mercial use. ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS By Frederic J. Haskin, A reader can get the answer to any question of fact by writing The Washing- ton Evening Star Information Bureau, Frederic J. Haskin, Director, Washing- ton, D.C. Please inclose stamp for reply, Q. How many people visited national parks last Summer?—A. T. A. About 4,300/000 persons. Q. What are frijoles?>—J. M. A. In Mexico and the Spanish-Ameri- can countries any cultivated bean of the genus Phaseolus is called by that name. In particular it refers to the small flat black bean, which ranks next to maize in importance as an article of diet and is an ingredient of many dishes. It is probably of South American origin, Q. How long has the term military in- telligence been used?—T. N. A. It came into use during the World War to designate the work of securing information concerning enemy activities. It included a spy system in enemy ter- ritory, apprehending of enemy spies, the intercepting and decoding of enemy com- munications and other work of a secret nature, Q. Who was the first person to make the ascent of Mont Blanc?—T. T. A. A guide named Balmat made the first ascent in 1786. Q. Where is the Lake District in Eng- land?—M. F. A. This region of beautiful mountain and lake scenery is in Cumberland, Westmorland and Lancashire. It is about 30 miles in diameter and includes part of Furness Peninsula and Coniston Water, Uliswater, Derwentwater, Butter- | mere, Windermere, Grasmere, Crummock Water, falls peaks. Ennerdale, several beautiful and some of Englands highest Q. What {s a fantasia?>—M. R. A. It is a musical composition which is not restricted to any formal design or theme, but is freely constructed ac- cording to the composer's fancy. Ex- amples of fantasia are found in the works of Bach. Brahms. Schumann and The term is also ap- plied to medleys of popular airs, Q. What s erbium?—E. L. A. A rare metallic element. With | other metals of the rare earths to wi group it belongs, it is present in mineral garolinite occurring in Sweden. It is combined with oxvgen in a rose- colored oxide, erbia and with other ele- ments in a number of similarly colored salts. Discovery of the element (1843) is credited to Mosander. It has no come Q. What is the derivation of the word Messiah?—W. T. A. It is from the Hebrew Mashiakh, | meaning an anointed one. Q. Who was the first Vermont?—R. D. A. Thomas Chittenden. He was Gov- ernor from 1778 to 1789 and from 1790 until his death in 1797. Governor of Q. Where is Grub street?>—T. G. A. This was a street in London, not far west of Finsburg Circus. It was once famous as the residence of poor authors and journalists. Since 1830 it has been named Milton street. Q. Is Edward Johnson interested in engaging young American singers for the Metropolitan Opera Co0.?—W. N. A. The new general manager is re= ported as being especially on the look- out for young Americans singing in opera in Europe under assumed names. Two more young singers of American birth have been engaged for the main Metro- politan season—Charles Kullmann, tenor, and Suzanne Fisher, soprano. Q. Just before Lincoln produced the | Emancipation Proclamation during a cabinet meeting he read aloud an amus- ing storv. Two men present did not laugh. Who were they?—T. M. S. A. Stanton and Chase. Q. What is a hackmatack?—J. H. G. A. This is a popular name for the American larch. Q. What is stainless steel made of?— K. 'A. Stainless steel is the term applied to chromium steels of varying chromium contents and also to chrom-nickel steels. Q. What is the origin of the term Indian Summer?—W. McG. A. Mr. Albert Matthews has shown that the expression Indian Summer does not occur anywhere either in printed books or manuscripts until the year 1794; but at that time it was in use through- out the Atlantic States. The popular belief that Indian Summer weather was predicted by the native Indians in con- versation with the first European settlers finds no documentary corroboration, and the idea that the term Indian Summer was employed by the early settlers seems to be a myth. In general, neither this term nor anything corresponding to it is to be found in any Indian language. The term Indian Summer in its present usage was introduced into England from America. In 1778 Horace Walpole used the same expression, but he evidently had in mind the intense heats of the Midsummer weather in India and the West Indies. Q. Where is the Inland Sea?—H. G. S. A. This is one of the scenic beauties of Japan, separating Honshu on the north from Shikoku and Kyushu on the south. It is about 240 miles long and from 8 to 40 miles wide. Dotted with picturesque isles, it yields a great variety of fish. Q. How long has it been the custom not to eat oysters in months which have no “r"?—E. M. A. It dates at least as far back as 1600. A Rhyme at Twilight By Gertrude Btooke Hamilton Evening Flight Over town spaces alight and gay, Over the midcity's crowded wa= Always in shadows of falling nfght My heart takes flight. Never a brilliant crossing space, In the populace never a face Halts the swift journey my heart must make Or lonely break. Lover of solitude’s dusky peace, Lover of silence when clamors cease, ‘To you somewhere as the eve chime rings My dusk-heart wings. Often after the glare of the day Town-fagged and quiet thru shadows gray Your heart meets mine in the ebbing light— Lmdny in flight. : -