Evening Star Newspaper, November 19, 1935, Page 8

| THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. TUESDAY ...........November 19, 1935 — THEODORE W. NOYES...........Editor ohalimy e et e Xhe Evening Star Newspaper Company. Business Office: cago. Of Cake Michigan Bullding. 5¢an Omce: 14 Hekent St. London. Engisnd. Buropean Office: 14 } Rate by Carrier Within the City. Regular Edition. e Evening SI&r_ .- _-ee.$5c per month 'he Evening and Sunday Star 4 Bundays)_. ight Pinal and Sunday Star....70¢ per month l:cmn oy et eiend n;“fif,‘;":,",{"? olle made at_the i Orders may b sent by mail or telephone Na- tional 5000. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Paliy an aily “only Sunday only: All Other States Bafly and Sunday.. aily only Buncay onl: | Member of the Assoclated 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 herein. Il rights of publication of special dispatches erein are also reserved. | Final Effort. The time has come for the final effort of the 1935 Community Chest campaign. ‘This morning 64.55 per cent of the mini- mum total sought had been pledged; approximately $666,000 remained to be - yaised. Without undue emphasis on the dimensions of the task, it must be real- ized that ultimate and conclusive success calls for strenuous endeavor during the next forty-eight hours. Obviously, the money still needed ghould come from those who have not vet subscribed. And it is indicated that there are many residents of the city who may be classified in that cate- gory. Perhaps the explanation is that they have not been asked to help. If &0, The Star cheerfully assumes respon- sibility for inviting them tc participate in the drive. Like their neighbors, they are entitled to share in the privilege of fellowship and mercy which the Chest yepresents. They need not wait for a solicitor to call. But an appeal also should be directed to those who, for one reason or another, have given less this year than they gave last. Certainly the necessities of the poor have not declined to any no- ticeable extent. creased. Yet, even when due allowance 1= made for rising costs of living among the more fortunate portion of the popu- lation, there has been a discernible trend toward arbitrary cutting of pledges. To offset the inevitable loss, the Chest pleads for reconsideration. The final effort likewise includes a further petition to the business estab- lishments of Washington. Trade Is improving, and it surely is not expect- ing too much to anticipate a commen- surate increase in giving. The benefit, it may be pointed out, has a mercantile aspect. Shops and stores will prosper in the ratio of the capacity of the people to buy. Again, Government employes &s & group are invited to join in the common cause. Some, it may be, have come to the Capital anly recently and hence do not feel that they are included in the Chest fraternity. The fact, of course, 15 that their affiliation with the work is particularly desired. They are not shut out from either the privilege or the obli- gation of charity to their fellow Ameri- cans, wherever they may be. their status as transients is not vastly different from that of recent arrivals who have failed to find emplayment or suffered other misfortune beyond their own power to correct. But no coercion is suggested. All that 1< wanted is honorable acceptance of the problem and mutual assistance toward its solution., If every individual gives what he conscienciously believes is the right amount for him to contribute, the rambaign will end in victory. It is for that generous co-operation that the Chest appeals—nothing more and noth- ing less. vt Some of the P. W. A. painting and #culpture shows a tendency to carry the New Deal back to aboriginal art forms. , Advertising illustrators do more in giving | modern society due credit for pulchritude. e Ethiopian soldiers who desert admit that a fragile and fragrant cook tent may be a more effectual argument than an armored tank. ———s Car Riding and Recovery. A favorite pastime for several years has been that of looking for recovery signs on the economic horizon. With hope in all hearts and with confidence in most, statistics of trade, employment, railroad activities, stock market volume, bank clearings, dividend declarations have all been watched and analyzed, with a gradual increase of optimism as | these indices have been steadfastly fa- vorable. The latest bit of figuring in this field of recovery research has been done with an unusual factor, the volume of traffic on the rapid transit lines of Greater New York. A report has lately come out to the effect that during the fiscal year which ended June 30 last these lines, surface and underground, busses as well as traction service, camried very nearly three billion passengers, a gain of nearly # quarter of a billion, or close upon one per cent, over the pmeceding fiscal year. This gain, it is held by some analysts of the question, shows that more people ‘were moving aboutein 1934-5 than in 1933-4. Of course there was some in- crease in population, but not enough to account for the gain of nine-tenths of one per cent in the volume of rapid transit patronage. To put the matter more definitely, more of the same people were stirring around. For what reason, argue the optimists who see a hopeful sign in this report, than that there was more business to be done and, after business hours, more pleasuring, which costs money and helps in distribution. The uttermost depths of the depres- 53 Indeed, | | by foreign nations against THE sion were marked by material reduc- tions in the transport volume in all cities. Nothing more definitely indicated that there was a large and increasing degree of unemployment. In such a city as Greater New York, where the individual transport by motor car for business pur- poses is proportionately small, owing to the difficulties of movement and care of machines, the public conveyance patronage is a dependable measure of trade, commercial and professioral ac- tivity. Now, it would seem, the people are doing more street car riding, under, on and above the ground. The assumption is that more of them have work to do, which means that more of them are earning money, which in turn means that more people are making money in business, trade and professional activ- ities. The gain of nine-tenths of one per cent in the course of a fiscal year is not much as a proportion, but the other figure, twenty-five million, is somewhat impressive. Reduced to a daily ratio, it means that close upon 80,000 more persons rode than during the preceding year. Let that token of a turn in public af- fairs take its place with the car loadings, the mill reports, the dividend declara- tions, the stock market volume and all the other indices of betterment. It is Jjust one of the pieces in the mosaic that is now in the making, representing the American Nation getting back on its feet. ———— China’s Doom. While the Japanese Army four years ago was engineering the creation of “independent” Manchukuo, the fiction was propagated that the inhabitants of the Manchurian provinces, considering themselves Manchus and not Chinese, were voluntarily going about the busi- ness of setting up a sovereign nation based upon genealogical and geographical foundations. The new state having been established under Japanese military and political protection, Tokio was profuse in its assurances that Japan had no intention of widening her sphere of influence into “China proper.” Events due to occur this week indicate | that the Japanese program in China, which has long aimed at domination of that country, is about to be advanced on a new and colossal scale. Five prov- inces of North China—Hopei, Shantung, Shansi, Suiyuan ahd Chahar—are to be 107 | set up as an “autonomous state” and Rather, they have in- | separated from the Nanking govern- ment. The result will be the detachment of an area of 470.000 square miles, em- bracing & population of 95,000,000. The American mind will grasp the immensity of the territory thus to be sliced from the heart of China when it is realized that it equals the combined size of the | New York, New West Virginia, Indiana, Michigan and New England States, Jersey, Pennsylvania, ©Ohio, Illinois, Minnesota. As happened when Manchukuo was fashioned, the Japanese claim that the northern provinces are springing into “independence” as a native revolt against the oppressive Nanking govern- ment and that it is led by Chinese gen- erals. For many weeks past Japanese Army leaders have openly been threat- ening North China with forceful meas- ures unless its political and military authorities “co-operated” in suppression of anti-Japanese agitation, banditry and communistic activities. It was obviously beyond the power of North China in- definitely to cope with the superior strength Japan is in position to fling into the region. The inevitable is now imminent. Japanese sway is on the verge of deep extension beyond the Great Wall. Hitherto, as the army pounded its way and imposed its authority ever nearer to “China proper,” the civilian Japanese authorities have professed to look ask- ance at such aggression, though ready, when its purpose was accomplished, to accept the resultant fruits. On the pres- ent occasion, militarists on the mainland and the government at Tokio are ap- parently working hand in hand. There is a cynical conviction in all Japanese quarters that the world is far too ab- sorbed in its own troubles, particularly the Italo-Ethiopian conflict, to offer any real resistance to Japan's plans for bring- ing North China within her grip. The area includes the ancient capital of Peiping, official seat of foreign em- bassies and legations in China, and the great commercial port of Tientsin. In both places considerable numbers of foreign troops are serving as guards for diplomatic premises and the railway line connecting the two cities. Whether, under these circumstances and despite their preoccupations nearer home, the powers with vast interests in China will stand by as wholly inactive observers of Japan’s latest moves is more than open to question. The nine-power treaty and the Kellogg pact are definitely affected. Unless they can be invoked or other ac- tion taken to stay Japan's hand, China’s doom, long foreshadowed, is sealed. Might once again will have triumphed over right. e Canadian Reciprocity. Trade barriers, erected in recent years American exports, have played their parts in the continuance of the depression. The re- striction of trade has been so severe that two schools of thought have developed. One contends that 'American markets must be sealed tight against foreign competition and American producers must confine themselves almost entirely to their home markets. The other in- sists that the hope of this country and of the rest of the world lies in breaking down trade barriers and the resumption of international trade on larger scales. To the latter school belongs Secretary Cordell Hull of the State Department. The negotiation of the reciprocal trade agreement between the United States and Canada, now made public, must be regarded as a triumph for Mr. Hull and his consistent support of increased in- ternational trade through a lowering of tariff walls and hostile quotas. It was to be expected that the inter- EVENING fected in any degree by the concessions made to Canada in the reciprocal agree- ment would immediately protest. The expectation already has been fulfilled. With how much justice these protests come it is impossible to say definitely. The agreement does nct become effec- tive until Janvary 1. But the adminis- tration has promised, at least informally, if any glaring injustices are done, to seek their correction in coliaboration with the Canadians. The protests come from the American farm and lumber interests. Canada is for the most part a producer of raw ma- terials, from the farm and forest and mine. The United States, on the other hand, is a large producer of raw ma- terials and of manufactured goods. Con= cessions granted to Canada necessarily, in the circumstances, had to do with raw materials, and the concessions granted by Canada to the United States were in re- lation both to agriculture and manufac- ture, more particularly and in larger de- gree to the latter. The argument advanced by the admin- istration in support of the agreement and in reply to the protests of American farmers and lumbermen is that the American markets will be helped by the increased purchasing power of American workers, due to the increased exports of American manufactured products to Canada. In other words, the American farmer will sell more products to Amer= icans because of the agreement, and the Canadian competition in the farm mar- kets of the country is limited by quotas to & very small percentage of gmerican consumption. Canada and the United States have been large customers of each other. If the trade has dwindled and shrunk in recent years it is due partly to depression and partly to the tariff walls and quotas. Those who have faith in international trade as a cute for depression will con- tend that the proposed removal of these barriers is wholesome. The proof of the pudding is in the eating. A policy that turns its back on the restriction of pro- duction and wealth through scarcity will have its supporters. A policy that looks to ever-increasing trade within the West- ern Hemisphere tends to make better friends of close neighbors. It was the Harding campaign that de- veloped Will Hays as a publicity expert, eventually fit for the movies. Perhaps the Republican elephant might do well to borrow him back to stage what is con- fidently announced as the greatest show | schools. on earth. e Perhaps one of the largest enterprises the New Deal has undertaken is the H. O. L. C. effort "at wholesale simpli- fication of the realtor business. e ——— American history repeats itself as con- ditions call for a searching and spirited discussion of the tariff, e e The United States Constitution com- mands respect in stopping an argumen. without going away back to the swastika. e Shooting ars, BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. This Sporting Life. Other days had other ways Pursuing a design 'To call posterity to praise The efforts to refine. Near nudity would be revealed To an admiring view In games on the athletic field And beauty contests, too. { Yet those who in arenas went Faced consequences rough | Because their aspirations meant A killing, sure enough. | And when a chariot race was on No driver hit the mire To find his chance at whistling gone Through a deflated tire. They seemed to have a thrilling way, But we each thrill enhance, For every day in every way We take a bigger chance. Can’t Take It. “Do you resent money in politics?” “I do,” answered Senator Sorghum. “And when money aimssa blow in a po- litical fight I admit without embarrass- | ment that ‘T can't take it.’” Jud Tunkins says eagerness for ap- pointments can't be a governing influ- ence. There's a difference between a political situation and a political job. Humpty. A trust is something we respect, We dare not' leave it in neglect, But when we bust it all at once Vox populi feels like a dunce. We are suspecting, after all, That poor old Humpty Dumpty's fall Calis for the horses and the men To piece old Humpty up again. Superficials. “Great statesmen in the old days often wore whiskers.” “Whiskers were not essential” said Miss Cayenne. “Women are coming for- ward in politics and it would be too bad for a woman to have no chance in an election unless she was a bearded lady.” Mother’s Knee. When they're seeking further knowl- edge . ‘Various students in a college Will get irritated over politics. They will go into a flutter They will vehemently utter Wild phrases less convincing than prolix. Affection can't be greater ‘Than theirs for Alma Mater, But as education takes a higher rank In this economic friction There arises a conviction That sometimes Alma Mater ought to spank. “Every year brings Thanksgiving day,” said Uncle Eben, “and it's a good idea foh folks to agree to quit kickin' foh at ests and industries in this country af- ‘leut twenty-fo’ hours.” 1] [ STAR, WASHINGTON, 1005 Coincidence of Events Of War of 1898 Recalled To the Editor of The Star: I was much interested in reading the editorial “Coincidence” in yesterday's Star, but was struck by the omission of one example of curious and accidental correlation of circumstances whereby in- cidents in widely separated parts of the world should so shape themselves at pre- cisely the same time as to produce an almost incredible precision of events closely related in historical importance, an association of political events wholly unexpected and unforecast. So remarkable indeed was this pure co- incidence and its triple influence upon the suddenly assumed imperial policy of this country as to open the avenue to the suggestion that, after all, coincidence is not tue shaping of events in the kaleid- oscope of chance, but such exactness of arrangement may be possibly due to some highier power controlled by other forces, such as those we sometimes call prevision or prescience. I refer particularly to three momentous incidents taking place in widely diverse geographical areas on the earth’s surface at the close of the Spanish-American War in August, 1898, all of which hap- pened on the same date, August 13. These were the fall of Manila, the hoist- ing of our flag at Honolulu over the Hawaiian Islands when that group was taken over from the Dole government and the signing of the protocol treaty at Madrid between the Kingdom of Spain and the United States, which terminated the Spanish-American War. When it is reflected that these events occurred in an era long before the dis- covery of wireless (radio), when there was no cable to Honolulu and the one connecting Manila with the rest of the world, which had been cut by Admiral Dewey after the battle of Manila Bay, it was clearly impossible for them to have been co-ordinated in any manner by human agency or to have been planned in advance. If destiny had no hand in their coin- cidence, then chance, pure and simple, must have cast the horoscope under which their stars so strongly swung in the orbits of their fateful courses. And vet they were all linked together in the one purpose, viz.: Of launching our im- perial policy as a world power and of purging the Western Hemisphere and the sphere of influence of the United States of America of the last remaining vestige of monarchial rule. CONSTANTINE M. PERKINS, Colonel, U. 8. M. C,, Retired. More Important Subjects Than Communism Remain To the Editor of The Star: As a lifetime resident of Washington, and being more or less interested in the education of its children. T would like to know if there is actuallv any need for teaching Communism in our public When T went to Franklin School a good many vears ago I was taught read- ing, writing, arithmetic and geography, a great deal of which I still remember. I have an idea that there are subjects more important to the children who will be the citizens of the future than the knowledge of conditions in Russia. A good many boys who have an idea of going to George Washington or Har- vard are a little h: s to who composes the faculty of the toral college and what is its curriculum. What proportion. I wonder, of high school girls and boys are familiar with our own Government in its various forms —its National Congress, its State Legis- latures, its Town Councils and other matters of that sort? It would seem to me that a thorough understanding of our own Constitution is more desirable than a study of the creeds of Soviet Russia. I may belong to the horse and buggy age, but I am sure there are a number of other old- timers who feel the same as I do. VICTOR KAUFFMANN. An Opportunity l()ipl—ll Some of the Idle to Work To the Editor of The Star To pick up whisky bottles the morning after they have been deposited the night before, under sidewalk trees, might afford employment to more of the jobless than is generally realized. This morning I counted six empty bottles which had been thus placed on one side of one block alone. My postman tells me he counted 15 on one of his blocks. One of the bottles was broken and was likely to be swept into the street to complete its diabolical mission by puncturing unsuspecting auto tires. An- other bottle was on the street, near the curb, right in front of a parked automo- bile. I carried it to a waste paper re- ceptacle. No. This did not occur in those sec- tions of our city known as Hell's Bottom or Goat Alley. It was in one of our best residential sections. All over the city milk bottles, fash- ioned of heavy glass, are placed under trees. They are often made targets for sport by children—broken—and either | left on the sidewalks or thrown into the streets. Paper is broken into small bits and scattered, newspapers are thrown on the sidewalks, orange and banana peelings are dropped—a menace to safety of pedestrians. Imagine such conditions in Berlin or any well-ordered city. No wonder visitors refer to Washington as a “dirty cit, This disgraceful state of affairs reveals a thoughtless, selfish, careless, slovenly generation which sadly needs education in habits of personal responsibility and in civic consciousness and conscientiousness. MYRTLE S. SIGGERS. { Modernism in Art Is Product of Jazz Age ‘To the Editor of The Star: I wish to express my appreciation of your timely and courageous editorial in The Star Saturday, October 26, headed “Modernism Declining.” So much of what has been written lately by art critics is just pure twaddle. It is there- fore refreshing and encouraging to note the facts stated in an important news- paper. For several years the public has been misled and bewildered by the prop- aganda in favor of these monstrous crea= tions called modernistic art. It is, how- ever, difficult to understand why directors of galleries and museums should, perhaps unwittingly, aid in this propaganda by giving too much prominence to distorted works. There is some evidence that this mod- ernistic tendency has run its course and that people are beginning to understand that it is merely a product of the “jazz” age and is not permanent. A. H. O. ROLLE. oo Timée to Talk. From the Wichita Eagle. Motor manufacturers predict that 1936 will be a peak year in new cars, sur- passing even 1928. If anybody has a parking solution, now is the time for him to speak up. r—e— Adamant. From the Paducah (Ky.) Sun-Democrat. Electrochemists are trying to generate 5,000 degrees F. “to melt stubborn ele- ments of the earth,” but we doubt if it will have any effect on Mussolini, 11 TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 1935, THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL, Do not argue too much with the man who is more interested than you ig a given subject. He will know more. Yet half the disputation that goes on in civilization is of this sort. The party who knows the most will regard the other as ignorant, although he may be too well bred to say so. In fact, he finds himself in a very delicate situation, if he is of an in- herently kindly nature, because if he wins the argument, as he ought, occa- sionally he must show up the other as an ignoramus. > There is no more “know-it-all” person in the world than the man who doesn’t know. That is axiomatic. * X ¥ x That, also, is where his plain ignorance comes in. Instead of keeping his lack to himself, he is only too anxious to thrust it down the mental throat of others. ‘This compels them, often against their | better instincts, to put the fellow in his place. He deserves it, but what glory is there in it? He will be only too willing to forget promptly the knowledge given. Here we see a fundamental of the educative proc- ess, that knowledge self-gained, because one wants it, is better than knowledge thrust at one. 1t is & curious fact, stop to think of it, that any one who really knows nothing about something will attempt to argue about a phase of a matter with some one who does. \ * X ok % This willingness, so very common, must be based on something, so let us see what it is. 1t is, we believe, lack of interest in the other fellow, and something of contempt for him. This is plainly seen by the fact that few persons, in our modern society, like to argue with an admitted expert. So long as he is known to be an author- ity, all bow down to him, but let him | know as much, without the title, and few respect him. This is just the same as the famous dog in the manger, for that canine, after all, was not so much motivated by hunger or jealousy as by a plain inability to give the others their due credit. It comes about, among humans, as elsewhere, that one of the most used é methods _of boosting one’s own self- | esteem is to have none for the other fellow. * % X ¥ Despite the ballyhoo of brotherhood which goes on in civilization, it seems to some that the ancient Chinese were more honest. ¥ They had a saying, widely used, that “between the seven seas, all men are brothers.” But they must have winked when they | said it, because their literature, in so far as it has been translated, plainly shows that they seldom lived up to this fine | aphorism except in theory. Since they were nobody’s fool, by any means, they surely must have been on the lookout for the treachery which their | fiction, at least, so plainly shows indi- | cated. | This same treachery exists among all | peoples, at bottom, only some races are better able to put up a bluff about its | opposite, to talk more largely of it. What we are getting around to is this, STARS, MEN that if most persons, under what we like to call civilization, were to exhibit real interest in other human beings, they would not be as ready, as so many of them are, to argue all the time at the drop of a hat about so many matters. For they would know, as we all ought to know, that it is perfectly possible for a man to be exceptionally well versed in something or other without once “blow- ing his own horn,” or in any other way branding himself before the public at large as an “expert.” * X X ¥ No doubt if all of us had the honest and genuine interest in other humans which all of us ought to have, none of us ever would make the mistake of “belittling” any one, because we would beware of showing ourselves up as the plain ignoramuses which we no doubt often show ourselves to be. The fact that no “come back” may | result is no sign that one has not put his famous foot into it, and shown his | plain ignorance on some subject, for it is true enough that the better disposi- tioned, the more kindly, the better bred, in truth, the one to whom the talking is done, the surer he is to makg no sign. Such a human, whether man or wom- | an, often will permit one to gain a vic- tory, for the moment, in order not to embarrass one by pointing out a self- announced ignorance. This is a peculiar situation, one often | met, in which the only way to win an argument is to show to all and sundry— especially the sundry—that the man on the other end of the argument simply does not know what he is talking about because he is ignorant. He who upholds theories, such as that authority must always be right, simply because it is authority, will not be in a position to understand the genuine | knowledge of another, one who refuses to bow down to the theories of this life. ‘Theories are all right; they have their place, especially when attempting to ra- tionalize something about which human- ity as yet knows nothing. When they are accepted at face value, however, by those who ought to know | better, they become betrayers of the mind in the making. TR A little elementary caution, in this life; is good, and we refer not only to caution in physical things, but also intellectual. This is common knowledge, of course, but often it is not retained in mind at the particular time needed. else we would not hear so many persons every- where “talking through their hat,” as the ancient slang had it. 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. Who are the members of Railroad Retirement Bn‘rd?—J.Llli‘.e(;ew A. Murray W. Latimer is chairman; Lee M. Eddy and James A. Dailey are the other members. Application blanks will probably not be ready before the first of the year, since the provisions of the act do not take effect until next March, and there is no haste about making application. Q. How many Texas Rangers are there?—H. O. A. At one time there were as many as 500 Texas Rangers. Now, however, there are about 75 regular rangers., There are, however, innumerable spe- cial rangers, since any one can receive an appointment as a special ranger, Q. What kind of mahogany was used in the furniture for the United States Supreme Court Building?—G. N. L. A. The architect of the Capitol says that Cuban mahogany was used, with the exception of the rostrum in the Supreme Court room, which was Mexican, Q. How many men have worked on the Boulder Dam project?—W. P, A. About 4,000. Q. What is the altitude of the city of New York?—F. O. H. A. It varies from 8 feet at Riverview Park, at the foot of Eighty-fourth street, to 417 feet on Todd Hill, in the Borough of Richmond, which is said to be the highest point on the Atlantic Coast from | Maine to Florida. Q. Does a skeet shooter sight across his barrel with one eve closed, or is it an official rule to keep both eyes open?— V.F. M. A. In skeet, as in trapshooting, the expert does not take deliberate aim. He simply looks at the target with both | eyes open, concentrates on breaking it, | instinctively swings his gun along the Unless one has made a particular study | of some subject, it is dangerous to speak one’s mind freely upon it—in the presence | of any one who has. Only the person | with some knowledge of a subject real- izes how many pitfalls await, and how wrong inferences made by the ignorant may be. Since there are 5o many ways in this life for every one to show ignorance, lie of flight, and at the right instant, without a pause, pulls the trigger. The exact spot to place the shot load can be learned only by experience. Nearly all skeet targets require a slightly different holding and swing, just as rising birds do in actual field shooting experience. Q. How were delegates to the Consti- tutional Convention chosen?—G. G. A. The delegates to the Constitutional Convention were elected by the Legis- latures or governing bodies of the dif- ferent Colonies or States. The ac- credited membership of the body which | drafted the Constitution was 72, but not be chary in talking about something | which the talker knows he knows next to nothing about. One would not advocate the old sys- | tem of “counting ten” before speaking, but it might not be a bad plan at all to think quickly, when confronted by an opportunity to utter a snap judgment— and then refuse to snap. Silence is golden, the old maxim said. | Often it is just plain common sense, too. AND ATOMS Discovery of a way of producing im- | munity to one of the “incurable diseases” was announced at the Carnegie Institu- | tion of Washington last night by Dr. E. C. MacDowell of the institution’s genetic laboratory. At the same time Dr. MacDowell en- countered facts which throw new light The disease is leukemia—the so-called “cancer of the blood.” It is manifested in a wild, unrestrained multiplication of certain of the white blood cells. Human cases are rare. Almost always they are fatal. It occurs, however, in mice. In mouse and man the disease is almost | identical. Dr. MacDowell's experiments have been with mice and the possibility of any human application remains to be seen. Immunity is induced, in brief, by in- troducing into the abdominal cavity of skin of unborn rats of a strain which is not susceptible. A single treatment with embryo skin will enable a susceptible mouse to Tesist a dose of leukemic cells that would certainly kill any untreated mouse. * ox kX The complex uncovered, however, is extremely complicated. First, he found, certain strains of his mice showed an apparently inherited tendency to de- velop the disease. Not all the animals of a susceptible line developed the disease—but it appeared very seldom in individuals of other strains. This discovery led to the breeding of various strains to learn about the com- plex interplay of external and internal influences which increase suspectibility or resistance. Dr. MacDowell obtained | three strains representing three differ- ent degrees of leukemic inheritance. Each strain was geneticallyuniform, but the relative power of external factors upon the occurrence of the disease dif- fered with each group. Said Dr. MacDowell: “The question is directly answered by transplanting leu- kemic cells from a spontaneous case into a normal animal in which the regu- latory control of tissue growth is pat- ently intact. In certain animals the transplanted cells will continue their wild growth. Since normal cells could not do this, it is clear that leukemic cells are different from normal cells and that a change in the cells, rather than a change in the regulatory mechanism, leads to the disease. “Since leukemic cells will continue their wild growth when transplanted into another mouse, it is possible by suc- cessive transfers from mouse to mouse to prolong indefinitely the multiplica- tion of the descendants from the orig- inal cells. Thanks to the consistency and specificity of the results from each series of transfers it has been demon- strated that leukemia is, indeed, a disease of new growth. “The leukemic cells were followed mi- croscopically from the time of trans- plantation to the death of the host. Thus it was found that they invaded the host as if they were protozoan parasites. Leukemic cells arose only from leukemic cells. Even after passing through hun- dreds of successive hosts, in the course of many years, the leukemic cells are direct lineal descendants from the spon- taneous case in which they originated. The change that rendered certain cells on the complex mechanism of heredity. | susceptible rats a preparation of the | | also involves great complexities. | differentiations leukemic is inherited by their descend= ants indefinitely. “If genes were the only means of ’h Notebook of Science Progress in Field, Laboratory and Study. BY THOMAS R. HENRY. genetic transmission, we would think that this inherited change them, but reciprocal crosses have shown that there is some other mechanism Genetic theory insists that the cells of different specialized tissues within an individual carry the same genes, so that some mechanism other than genes must assist in the origin and maintenance of these differences between tissues. “Until evidence can be secured the question must remain open. Is the prop- erty that distinguished leukemic cells from normal cells transmitted from cell generation to cell generation by means of a changed gene or by some other mechanism of the cell? This same question applies to all other mammalian tumors and it applies to the differences between specialized tissues within an individual.” * X X X ‘The way of bringing about resistance Its ef- fect depends upon an interaction deter- mined by the genetic constitution of the mouse in relation to that of the normal embryo skin tissue which is introduced. If the mouse and the transplanted | | normal tissue have the same genetic | constitution resistence may not be in- duced. Moreover, said Dr. MacDowell, ‘in some combinations of constitutions | the reaction may be completely reversed, | inducing heightened susceptibility in- stead of resistance. The identical nor- mal tissue that induces resistance when | transplanted into hosts of one genetic | constitution may strikingly hasten the | growth of leukemic cells in hosts of an- | other genetic constitution. “The different results from treatments with different normal tissues symbolize the delicacy of the balance in the inter- action of tissues. Such interactions may well play a part in the control of tissue growth in the normal process of devel- opment. Instead of different trans- planted tissues we have the successive of specialized tissue which react with the organism as consti- tuted at the moment and enable it to depress or stimulate a given tissue. With the advent of each new differentiation the reaction system of the animal as a whole is modified, so that its power over the growth of different tissues is con- stantly changing. “Thus the environment of leukemic cells is the deciding factor in the out- come. Genetic factors may make this environment favorable or unfavorable, but in either case extrinsic factors may reverse the effect of the genetic factors. Treatments with normal embryo skin are among such extrinsic factors, but the effect of normal tissues as extrinsic factors depends in turn on their genetic constitution.” —— e —————— One Vote Sure. From the Worcester (Mass.) Evening Gazette. President Roosevelt's farm in Georgia is reported to be making a good net profit with the assistance of the A. A. A. From that it seems fairly certain that in the next A. A. A. referendum Presi- dent Roosevelt will vote “yes.” o The Unexpected. From the Macon (Ga.) Telegraph. _ The question is, though, what's that new foolproof airplane going to do when up bobs a mountain the fool didn't know was there? | inches; more than 55 ever appeared at any one it is just the path of common sense to | ° N8 Q. What color was the famous Dan Patch?—B. G. K. A. He was a mahogany bay with black points and with a small white star on the forehead. He weighed 1,165 pounds; height, 16 hands; girth measure, 73'2 shoulder measure, 63 inches. His sire was Joe Patchen; dam,.Zelica. Q. Where did Lewis and Clark recruit the men who accompanied them on their famous expedition?—D. D. A. Lewis left Washington on July 5, | 1803, and was joined by Clark at the Ohio. The expedition was delayed at Pittsburgh till August 31, then proceeded on its way toward the Mississippi, Lewis choosing volunteers from the military posts along the way. The party come prised, in addition to Lewis and Clark, | 3 sergeants, 23 soldiers, 3 interpreters involved | and Clark’s Negro slave York. Q. How many people in Canada are French? English?—W. M. A. The population of Canada is 10.376.« 786. Of this number 2,927,990 are French. The number of English is 5,381,071, \ Q. Have any Negro players been chosen on all-America foot ball teams?— | RR.M.R. L | and Augustus A. The following Negroes have been chosen: Marshall, Minnesota, 1905 and 1906; Pollard, Brown University, 1916: Paul Robeson. the popular concert and opera star, Rutgers, 1918; Slater, Iowa, 1921, Q. How old is cryptography?—W.C.P. A. Cryptography is of the greatest an= tiquity. Plutarch and Gellius tell of & method employed in Sparta for com= municating with their generals abroad. The earliest system was the winding of a strip of parchment spirally upon a staff with the edges meeting. The message was then written along the line of join- ture. The broKen lines could only be | read afterward by rolling the parch- ment upon a duplicate staff in the pos- session of one who knew the precise size. There are a great many other cryptograms. The Jews made use of them. See Jeremiah, xiv. Julius Caesar made frequent use of them. Q. When was the stamp act passed by the British Parliament which brought on the American Revolution?—S. L. A. It was passed February 27. 1765, to become operative on the following November 1. Q. When did the first contingent of American soldiers arrive in France?— Y A. The first United States troops | arrived in France May 10, 1917, Q. Where was the first oratorio so- ciety in the United States?—E. G. A. The Handel and Haydn Society, established at Boston in 1815, was the first of its kind in America. R A Rhyme at Twilight By Gertrude Brooke Hamilton Before Dawn. If a man would riddle the heart of the city, Let him drive toward dawn thru the calm, darkened town. Though he may see sights that will move him to pity, He'll see streets in repose with the stars shining down. He'll see more of the tiown and less of the people Where the infrequent footfalls in blue stillness drowned Emphasized the dawn quiet of paving and steeple In the shadowy spaces, serene and profound. The city in silence. The nocturnal city, All the heartbeats of thousands sube merged into one— The great, vital heart shaming his in its pity For the dreams and delusions its peo< ple have spun.