Evening Star Newspaper, December 4, 1935, Page 8

THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Edition, WASHINGTON, D. C. ‘WEDNESDAY ... December 4, THEODORE W. NOYES.. «««.Editor e s SO R The Evening Star Newspaper Company. 1935 Business Office: 11th St. and Pennsylvania Ave. European Ofmice: 14 Regent St.. London, Ensiand. Rate by Carrier Within the City. Re ‘The Evening St Tb{ Evenune and when 4 Sundays)_ The Eveain: and Sund; (when 5 Sundays unday St .60¢c per month 5¢ per monthk —---b5C Per copy Night nal and Sund: mfl‘i B "Ber ~55¢ per month e At the end of each month. oD Fn® Cent by mail of telephone Na- 0c per month Orders may be sent tional 5000. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. d 1 yr. $10.00: yri, $6.00; $4.00; All Other States and Canada. .. $12.00; 1 mo., $1.00 yr. $8.00; 1 mo, 73c yr. $5.00; 1 mo. b0c 1 mo., 85¢ 1 mo.. 50c 1 mo., 40¢ {ly an ily only_ Bun onl: yT. Bunday only. Member of the Assoclated Press. ted Press is exclusively entitled to e emublication of all news dispatches otherwise credited in this the local news publishe % RPe A B ubiiction of special dispatches herein are also reserved. o Find the Banker! President, Roosevelt is resourceful. He has given the country a new game called “find the banker.” As a result of his Atlanta speech the amateur sleuths are in search of the “great bankers” who ad- vised him that the country could stand & national debt ranging from $55,000,000,- 000 to $70,000,000,000. The President de- clines to tell. Perhaps the bankers will come forward and relieve the anxiety over this matter. It looks as though the President was “having” the bankers; as though he were poking & bit of good-natured fun at the financiers who have recently been his harshest critics. Actually, however, does it make any real difference to the country whether the President was ad- vised that the country could stand a colossal debt? The country is more in- terested in the present debt, which prom= ses to reach $30,500,000,000 within the month. It is more interested in the ultimate figure to which the debt may go under the present administration and its spending policies. And above all it is mterested in who is going to pay the debt. Does the advice of bankers relieve the President and his administration of any blame that may attach to the spend- ing of these huge sums? The President seems to be creating a diversion. He is making the sizeof the pub-* lic debt appear puny, although it is more than $9,000,000,000 in excess of what it was when he took control of the Gov- ernment. Puny in comparison to what “great bankers” said it could reach and the country still remain solvent. Doubt- less it would be a very sick country if the debt reached the proportions sug- gested by the “great bankers.” It may be & very sick country even if the debt does not reach these exact proportions. The President was careful to explain that he had no intention, then or now, of going along with the suggestion of the “great bankers.” That is comfort- ing. He told the bankers who were in conference with him that the country would have to go into debt for a time— it was to be a moderate debt. Thirty billion dollars may be a moderate debt, but it is too great a sum for the ordinary American to have any conception of 1ts size. A very pressing problem of the admin- {stration is how to spend and keep spend- ing without increasing the tax burden. That seems to be the program, until after the coming presidential election. This program may be increasingly dif- ficult. In the first place, demand for the immediate cash payment of the soldiers’ bonus, a matter of $2,200,000,000, is knock- ing at the door. The general opinion is that a bill for the payment of the bonus will be rushed through Congress soon after it meets in January; that even if it is vetoed by the President it will be passed over the veto. Then there is the question of the processing taxes to pay the farmers for not producing crops. These run into hundreds of millions of dollars. Should the Supreme Court hold these taxes to be illegal and violative of the Constitution, the Government will have to find the money through other forms of taxation, or more borrowing. The President, it has been suggesied, might use $2,000,000,000 of the unearned increment arising from the devaluation of the gold dollar to meet the bonus pay- ment. But even so, it looks like greater borrowing. ————— Europe is in danger of creating a situ- ation which will cause dictators to take, up arms and fight matters out among themselves. The Earth’s Toll. ‘This uneasy earth on which man lives is constantly taking toll of human life. Bometimes the exaction is a large one, with thousands of beings destroyed by a quake, as in Japan in 1923, and in earlier history in Pompeii and elsewhere. Again the exactions are smaller. But to those affected just as disastrous. In propor- tion as regards completeness of destruc- tion, one of the worst disasters in his- tory has just occurred in Ecuador. An entire community was wiped out of ex- istence, There were only about fifty people in the village, which was overwhelmed by aslide of rock from the mountainside. Not one was left. The slip occurred in the middle of the night, and without warn- ing in a few seconds the avalanche came pouring down over a front of nearly two miles. Every living creature within the path perished. A deep rumbling sound was heard at a distance beyond the range of the disaster, and when the light came and search was made for the cause this catastrophe was reyealed. That little village in the Andes was a complete communilty, a tiny world of its'own, sufficient for its sustenance with- out ties. It had been there for many years, doubtless many generations, per- haps for centuries, then suddenly it ceased to exist. It chanced to be In the path when & mass of earth and rock was ) a:slodged from the mountainside by some perhaps creeping or some sudden cause and it was annihilated. This disaster will not go into history, for the loss of life was not great enough to make it of importance in the world’s records. But proportionately such & completeness of destruction is as great as any of the catastrophes of the past due to the instability of this globule called the earth. Fiscal Equity Campaign. The Special Committee on Taxation at the District Building has followed & wise course in recommending to the Commissioners that the basic question of how much it is advisable to spend on improvements during the next ten years should be determined first as a matter of policy, before proposing new taxes to be borne by the people of the District. There is another basic question, how- ever, of equal importance, to be consid- ered, and that is how will the Federal partner in the upkeep and development of the Nation's Capital share in meeting these future requirements? The Com- missioners have indicated recently that they are not unmindful ef the impor- tance of the fiscal relations issue in the present situation, because, in submit- ting their estimates for next year to the Budget Bureau, they have urged that Uncle Sam return to a more equitable payment toward the city’s up- keep by increasing the Federal lump sum for next year to $8317500. For the current year the Federal payment is only $5,700,000. The data in the preliminary report of the Tax Committee. show how the ex= penditures for maintaining the city have mounted during the past sixteen years. Maintenance and operating expenses, for example, have climbed from $17,378,359 in 1920 to $35641,617 for the fiscal year 1936. This is not the whole story, how- ever. The picture of that sixteen-year period is far from complete unless it is pointed out also that, while the totals have increased so greatly since 1920, the all-powerful Federal partner in the task of maintaining the Capital City has been gradually whittling down its share of the cost. In 1920 the total of District appropria- tions, for maintenance and capital out- lay, was $20,129,239, toward which the Federal payment was $9,953,256. With a total appropriation for the current year of $41,224,208, the Federal payment now is down to $5,700,000. This widening dis- parity in the share of the burden being borne in recent years by the local com- munity as compared with the Federal partner makes the question of fiscal relations an essential factor to be weighed in any discussion looking to further taxation of local residents. Unless the inequities of the present lump-sum Federal payment are consid- ered along with future revenue needs there is danger that any new local taxes proposed at this time may be used only as & means of further reducing the Federal payment instead of providing for needed public improvements. Local taxpayers need only to look back to 1932, when bills to lewy four new taxes on the District passed the House, to find cause for that fear. Those tax bills came as part of a movement to cut the Federal lump sum from $9,500,000 to $6,500,000. The Senate did not concur in the tax bills, but the House in the ensuing appro- priation bills has succeeded in reducing the Federal payment even below the amount discussed at that time. There is cause for gratification, there- fore, in the announcement of Commis- sioner Hazen that he will give serious thought to the problem of obtaining a formula that will place the Federal payment on a more equitable basis, and will for the Commissioners fight vigor- ously for its acceptanece by Congress. If the District people had voting rep- resentation in Congress and the electoral college, and weresthus possessed of some power to participate effectively in the congressional legislation and appropria- tion which decide finally and conclu- sively these tax issues there wotld be greater encouragement for the com- munity to discover and express its opinion or wish concerning the taxes to be imposed upon it. As it is, experi- ence has taught the community that if it assents to some proposed new tfax burden as a substitute for one that exists, or with conditional concessions by the Nation in reasonable compromise, it runs the danger of having the new tax to which it assents imposed by Congress not as a substitute for an existing tak, but as an additional tax burden or stripped of the compromise concessions by the Nation which are necessary to make the new tax equitable. The moral is, first, that the comnunity should go slowly in taking the initiative in proposing or accepting new taxes even with equitable conditions in the begin- ning attached, and, second, that some measure of political equity must be gained before full fiscal equity can be won., ———————————— Homicide records suggest that for per- sons determined on intoxication there should at least be a place for checking revolvers and shotguns. British Firmness. Amid current wiggling and wobbling in the international situation—affirmations and denials of Italo-Ethiopian peace negotiations, the vicissitudes of the Laval government, sudden doubts about the United States’ intentions respecting an oil embargo, allegations that the Stand- ard Oil Company’s Italian subsidiary is dickering to furnish Mussolini with all the supplies of its product that he needs—one positive, unmistakable ray of light is cast into an' otherwise chaotic picture. That is the unyielding firmness of Great Britain in the crisis with which the Fascists still menace the world. ‘Through the medium of his traditional “speech from the throne” King George on Tuesday opened the ninth Parliament of his reign with a -cut statement of British policy. Britain adheres un- flinchingly tc the program laid down by the League of Nations for dealing with ) the war in Africa. It will carry out in both letter and spirit its obligations under the covenant, Great Britain is “particularly determined,” the King emphasizes, to “use at all times the full weight of its influence for the preserva- tion of peace,” and then sets forth that the peace at which the British aim is one “acceptable to the three parties to the dispute—Italy, mmop}n and the League.” To that end Britain will con- tinue to co-operate “with some fifty other members of the League” in carrying out “certain measures of an economic and financial nature in regard to Italy.” 1f Mussolini has harbored any notion that threats of war on “sanctionist states” would deter them from enforcing the penalties decreed against Italy, he now has his answer from the quarter held chiefly responsible in Rome for the dilemma in which the dictator finds him= self. There is no indication in this au- thoritative exposition of British policy that John Bull courts an Anglo-Italian clash, but I1 Duce will not fail to discern in it a tone of iron resolution to see things through to whatever conclusion may be necessary. Britaim wants peace, but not at any price. The price will cer= tainly not be a peace imposed upon Ethiopia in defiant disregard of the League of Nations and the principle of collective action to which it is irrev- ocably committed. Italy’s choice is clear. The much feared embargo on oil has not yet been declared. It is still within Mussolini's power to negotiate within the framework of Geneva for a settlement that will ob- viate pressure destined slowly, but surely, to bring complete disaster to Italian arms in the field and catastrophe to the life of the nation at home. King George, speaking in the voice of the League, as he assuredly does, has notified Rome that there is no alternatfve. For Italy it is peace or ruin. —————— Scholarship in public matters has created so much cross-puzzling in affairs that what Uncle Joe Cannon referred to as the wisdom of the plain people may be tempted to turn their attention ffom the nine muses and give ear to the nine Jjustices in the Supreme Court. The country newspaper is a political power, Its editorial utterances may not be always profound, but it exercises unmistakable influence on public opin- jon simply by printing the delinquent tax list. e A man may not acquire gold, but he is permitted to go into the hills and dig it for himself, possibly with fhe fact in mind that gold thus obtained is seldom hoarded through several generations. = A press conference custom may de- velop to a point that renders it most valuable for information as to what must be regarded as off the record. Possibly an oath of allegiance might be required from private as well as public employes if only for the sake of estab- lishing it in recognized popularity. ‘Women have a just claim to be con- sidered in all public banquets. But they should never be emcouraged to fire the chef and insist on cooking the dinner. Shooting Stars, BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Simian Relativities, As Evolution still displays Its gneat, mysterious force, It sometimes turns to other days\ ‘Which now seem rather coarse. As history its way will plan, A fear it seems to bring That it will end as it began, ‘With just plain monkeying. In circles we appear to go, Like orbits in the skies, Until some reasoning seems to show It's foolish to be wise. . And to remote ancestral hours We oft appear to cling And waste our intellectual pow'rs On just plain monkeying. Into some memory casket fair ‘We go; and treasured lore We seize without a thought of care And dash it to the floor. Perhaps with a courageous heart The Peasant and the King Will have to make another start From just plain monkeying. Inevitable. “What is your opinion of a new deal?” “I regard it as inevitable,” said Sen- ator Sorghum, “if you regard it as an- other term indorsing the principle of rotation in office.” Jud Tunkins says every time he makes & mistake he finds it divided up among misguided folks who hope to profit by it. Sepia. I had a little goldfish bowl, But when I tried to think Some cuttlefish would take control And fill it full of ink. A drop of ink brings thought profound, But when it's shed too free It serves to scatter darkness ‘round The things you ought to see. Disguise. “Raising many potatoes?” “Not for publication,” said Farmer Corntossel. “My poy Josh says he be- Jieves education will help us so that we can bootleg a few through the market by calling them pommes de terre or kar- toffels or even plain p'raties.” Fading Display. An epitaph is always kind. On some occasions we will find It’s only gossip placed on view To tell us things that are not true. The graceful ivy thickly grows ‘Where lettering shows where folks repose. Who cares if it is good or bad? It helps no business as an ad. “You kin mnmpufin‘eflm dat’ll surprise you,” said Uncle Eben, “by readin’ de jokes in & college magasine.” A NEW BOOKS AT RANDOM Margaret Germond. THE STRANGE LIFE AND THE STRANGE LOVES OF EDGAR ALLAN POE. By Emile Lauvriere. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Co. Explathing the life of a genius is a task as difficult as that of solving the mysteries of the plan of the universe. Man has studied the plan of the uni- verse, checked the pattern of its move- ments and found that it operates with mathematical precision. But the source of that plan and the force which drives 1t are matters that are still behind the veil that science has not yet been able to penetrate. Genius gives to the world the fruits of its labors, but no man can dissect the human soul and reveal the well-spring of inspiration from which the creations of an exalted intellect flow. A veritable mountain of biographical and intellectual vivisectionist literature has been written about Edgar Allan Poe. It has been the purpose of all of these writers and critics to present a true por- trait of the man who was as much of a mystery to his friends and his contem- poraries as he has been to the later generations who have sought to define his character and account for his genius. Admirers and defamers alike flounder in the quagmire of contradictory qualities that made him a man apart and invar- iably fail to get beyond the unenlighten- ing conclusion that he was.an unfor- tunate degenerate and an incompre- hensible genius. For some inexplicable reason man- kind in general and moralists in particu- lar make heavy weather of accepting the fact that degeneracy and genius, far from being natural enemies, are often the companionate counterparts of the balance between total incompetence and sanity. There will always be moralists who love to shake their heads in self- righteousness and say: “Just think what he might have done had he not been a degenerate!” Yet the world of art, drama, letters and poetry is the richer because such men as Van Gogh, Casanova, Dostoevsky, Baudelaire, Strindberg, Oscar Wilde, Frans Hals, Rosseau, Francois Villon, Da Vinci and other notorious wanderers from the con- fining path of accepted virtue were en- dowed with superior gifts of intellectual creation. And who can rightfully say whether they attained fame in spite of the forces which drove them to extremes, or because of those compelling inner fires. William Cowper’s famous lines, “God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform,” are seldom thought of as applicable to the extraordinary achievements of the occasional weaklings of the human race in whom the flame of genius burns with a mighty fervor. After many years of devotion of inter- est and energy to the subject, the author of this latest endeavor to explain the character and the genius of Poe and to synchronize the two, declares that the secret of all of the anomalies in the life and in the work of the unhappy poet was revealed thrpugh the study, in connec- tion with the proposed thesis, of morbid=- psychology. This led to the conclusion that Poe was a dipsomaniac, and upon arriving at this diagnosis of the strange man’s besetting weakness much of the hitherto mystifying contradictions of his character became clear. The result of all this is just as clarifying as the find- ings of all of the other Poe biographers and commentators, from Dr. Griswold to Hervey Allen. Whether in plain words or in more kindly phraseology, they all manage to arrive by one route or another at the same conclusion . . . that the man was an hereditary degenerate and an unfathomable genius. Beyond that the present volume gets no farther than \ts predecessors. Edwin Gile Rich has done much better work on other translations than he can be given credit for in this work. Many sentences are so clumsily constructed that they have to be read several times before their significance becomes clear. The book is interesting chiefly because it is Jjust another volume to add to the already voluminous Poe biography. . * ok ok X SILAS CROCKETT. By Mary Ellen Chase. New York: The Macmil- lan Co. Four generations of the family Crock- ett, abiding in and sailing from a seacoast town in Maine, are presented by the author of the engaging “Mary Peters,” in this new story about the hard-bitten, seafaring men of the rockbound coast of New England and of the women who wait and pray for their safe return, or who go with them rather than be left behind to a life of anxiety and doubt. The story is in four parts, beginning with the prosperous days of 1830 when handsome young Silas Crockett was cap- tain of the clipper Southern Seas, en- gaged in the flourishing Canton trade. Steam navigation was then in its infancy and no Crockett who had ever mastered the winds and waves under billowing sails could possibly look with favor upon a steam-driven “ship. Then came his son Nicholas, in the days when the schooner was in its hey- dey and the rounding of Cape Horn as the first officer of the Mildred May was an experience, less glorious perhaps than the colorful adventures of his dauntless father, but exciting nevertheless. By the time young Reuben, grandson of Silas, was old enough to take to the sea steam navigation had become an established fact, and significant changes had af- fected not only the home life, but the livelihood of the coast dwellers, whose men folk had for years returned from three or four year voyages as casually as though they had been to a neigh- boring town for half a day. The excite- ment in Reuben’s professional career was confined to a passenger steamer plying between coast towns. The fourth generation brings a new Silas to the Crockett clan, but the sea no longer beckons to the adventurer, for it is 1930 and civilization has made a safe and sane highway through the rolling waters of the Seven Seas, and ro- mance beyond the horizon has ceased to call forth the spirit of hope for danger- ous and exciting experiences. So Silas prefers to study medicine. Times are not so good, however, for the dwellers in Saturday Cove, so the great-grandson of the handsome Silas of 1830 is re- duced to a job in a large herring fac- tory, now the main industry of the once- famous coast on whick ships were built and the men to sail them were the pride of Saturday Cove and its seacoast neighbors. In Abigail, who knew that no Crockett was as perfect as he believed himself to be; Solace, who hated and feared the sea, but sailed with her adventurous hus- band rather than be separated from him; Deborah, who inspired a love in Nicholas changes that have for a century been remaking one of the most fascinating sections of the United States. | combat e THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. The birds were feasting away that bright afternoon. They were enjoying the sunshine and the seeds at one and the same time. There cannot be any more question about them enjoying one than the other. On sunny days they gather at the feeder more persistently and in greater numbers. R Two nuthatches, sometimes called tree mice, were running up and down the trunk on which the self-feeder is in- stalled. In the trough, or platform, of the device & mother cdrdinal, quiet but lovely in her softer coloring, was sampling the day’s offering. At the base of the tree her beautiful mate pecks at seeds which had fallen on the ground. He has never sat on the rim of the platform, probably never will—we do not know. There were song sparrows and juncos there in large numbers, probably as many as 50, though such creatures are hard to count. . Occasionally a bluejay, vying with the male redbird for color, winged his way straight to the platform, scatter- ing the little birds. * Xk kX *x 1t was, in effect, a bird sanctuary. Some 20 paces behind them was a long hedge, composed of various shrubby material, including altheas and the true bridal wreath, intermixed with ever- greens. A fence and hedge ran along the other side of the corner. These were the favorite retreats of the birds at any alarm, such as occa- sioned by the advent of the hawk. It must be noted at this point that the birds did not seem in the least afraid of the squirrels. They left the feeding platform when the aboreal rodents arrived, but fed on the ground below the tree. The pigeon hawk, however, was dis- tinctly a bird of another color to them. No sooner had it winged its way to a branch about 30 feet in the air, on a nearby tree, than every one of the approximately 60 feeding songsters arose with a swoop. It was more thafi half an hour before one of them returned. x x x *® It is interesting to note that birds seem to feel the need for flying up and away once every 10 minutes, even when there is no visible alarm. No doubt this is a provision for their safety. The birds must have evolved it over the centuries. They know that even in the face of peace danger may lurk. Hence they take no chances, but fly up and away every so often, just to make sure. The silhouette of the hawk was some- thing new in our garden scene. How straight he sat, in his “long-tail” coat, peering over the landscape. ‘The little birds did not admire him. They left his_presedce sorrowed at the sight. Now they would not come back. The hawk evidently thought so, too, for he left in a minute or two. - The yard Wwas deserted for half an hour, 40 minu - Then two flashes of white and blue came across the garden, and the pair of nuthatches began waiking, head down, on the tree. Within 10 more minutes it seemed as if every bird t had been there before v%luck again. ‘e wondered if they were the same specimens, and decided they must be, because there was the pair of cardinals and the occasional bluejay. * ok x % ‘When the fat, gray squirrel ran across the borders and out over the grass toward the feeder, the little birds rose up to seek protecting branches in the shrubs, but as soon as the rodent climbed into the trough they flew back again to the base of the tree. Later, they permitted Mr. Squirrel to walk around among them. We could detect no particular signs of fear of him, nor any evidence on his mis- chievous part to harm them. It was when he ascended the trunk to take another turn at the feeder trough that he began to show his true colors, There is a bird-size hole near the top of the feeding device, probably put there to intrigue the birds, who glways love such an opening. Evidently this also seized the fancy of the squirrel. He was not content with eating out of the trough, but put his paw up in the hole and stirred around. Probably the level of food had sunk below the reach of his sharp claws. So he bit a large chunk out of the feeder itself. Those needle-sharp teeth cut through as easily as if the material had been cheese. Just how much he would have en- larged the hole we do not know, because at this point a personal sally was made into the yard, scattering Mr. Squirrel and all the birds. The rodent was canny. He went up the tree about 50 feet and sat, peering down, until he. shought the coast was clear. Then down he came, to take up his work of destruction where he had left off. ki A This was too much. He was chased away again, this time with more vigor, to unanimous applause, if we could judge by the chirping of the bird chorus in the background. It was a satisfaction to note that the birds actually seemed to understand these personal intrusions and did not fly away far, nor stay away very long. Soon they were back at the feeder, taking turns at the trough, the rest of the assemblage industriously feeding off the ground from the seeds scattered there by the bills of the ones aloft. It is evident that the destructive ten- dency of the average squirrel must be taken into account in providing feeding devices for birds. No wonder one manufacturer makes one of metal! WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS BY FREDERIC WILLIAM WILE. Talk of the Democrats taking their 1936 national convention to Philadelphia, in order to promote their chances of carrying Pennsylvania, stimulates specu- lation as to whether there’s any basis for such a theory in the light of experience. The Democrats nominated Wilson at Baltimore in 1912 and carried Maryland, renominated him at St. Louis in 1916 and carried Missouri. But the holding of their convention at San Francisco failed to carry California for Cox in 1920. Nor | dia Davis’ selection in hectic Madison Square Garden_in 1924 keep Coolidge from winning New York. Four years later, even though the donkey wandered as far afleld as Houston to nominate Al Smith, Texas for the first time broke away from its rock-ribbed Democratic moorings and voted for Hoover. Roose- velt, nominated at Chicago in 1932, pro- ceeded to win Illinois. Democratic lead= ers may think that, as their convention location proved a mascot for the first time in 12 years, F. D. R. can repeat the trick, as far as Penn State is concerned, if he’s put up for a second term in Phil- adelphia. At least, that’s the logic on which the current Quaker City boom rests, plus the suspicion that the Presi- dent prefers a nearby place, in order to repeat his Chicago precedent of accept- ing nomination in person before the con- vention adjourns. 2.5 W Representative James P. Buchanan, Democrat, of Texas, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, who intends to “fight like tL< devil” for budget retrenchment, is one of the shrinking violets of Capitol Hil, despite his pugnacity as watchdog of the Treas- ury. He is among the handful of mem- bers who refrain from autobiographical sketches in the Congressional Directory. His life story there is confined to the legend: “James P. Buchanan, Democrat, of Brenham, Tex.” Though he has spent pgactically his whole life in the Lone Star State, Buchanan is a native South Carolinian. He made a big reputation as a criminal lawyer and public prosecutor before being elected to the Sixty-third Congress in 1913 to succeed Albert Sid- ney Burleson, who resigned to become Postmaster General in the first Wilson cabinet. Mr. Buchanan also inherited the Burleson place on the Appropriations Committee and has filled it throughout his 22 years in the House. Nobody has a firmer grasp on the intricacies of Fed- eral finance. A $20,000,000 dam on the Colorado River in his home district has been named after the Appropriations chairman. . ¥k Former Gov. Gifford Pinchot of Penn~ sylvania has just arrived to spend the ‘Winter in his Washington home, survey- ing the national scene from the em- battled Potomac and completing his book on forestry and conservation. The volume will deal exhaustively with the celebrated Ballinger-Pinchot controversy in the In- terior Department during the Taft ad- ministration, which became a political sensation 26 .years ago. Pinchot has temporarily withdrawn from the political arena, but those who know his lust for to find him somewhere on-the 1936 fighting line, possibly as a Roosevelt supporter, if the Republicans fail to nominate a Progressive for Presi- dent. The Governor, at 70, cuts the figure of having plenty of scrap left in his lean of Triple-A Santa Claus a warm welcome Rrobably awaits the master of the New Deal at Chicago. He is, at any rate, not likely to suffer the chilling frost that President Coolidge encountered when he addressed the federation in midterm at the time he was the object of rural wrath because of his opposition to McNary- ‘Haugenism. * ok kX New Dealers, who have hitherto con- sidered they had a strangle hold on the farm vote, will be inclined to revise their calculations if George N. Peek dons war paint in opposition to President Roose- velt’s re-election. Peek has been a power in the agricultural world ever since he first went into the implement business, 40 years ago. He was chief patentee of the McNary-Haugen plan and the spear- head of the long but futile effort to write it into law at Washington. Although a Republican by origin, Peek in 1928 allied himself with Al Smith and had charge of the Democratic campaign in the corn and wheat belts. No man in the United States has a wider and more intimate personal connection with farm leaders than the two-fisted Westerner who has just quit the administration. As the story goes, the straw that broke the camel’s back was Peek's speech at Ber- nard M. Baruch's recent annual Armistice day dinner reunion of World War In- dustries Board buddies, in New York. It was an unblushing plea for economic and naval nationalism—a rugged policy of “America for Americans,” as distin- guished from the Roosevelt-Hull pro- gram of infernational trade and naval agreements, * ok ok % Politicians wonder whether administra- tion moral pressure to debar sales of war materials to the African belligerents is going to affect adversely for the Demo- crats next year the big Italian vote in places like New York, Chicago, Phila- delphia, Boston, Detroit, San Francisco and Los Angeles. In certain regions men and women of Mussolini’s blood hold a neighborhood balance of power. They are almost a unit in favor of Il Duce’s war against Ethiopia and in angry mood over what they interpret as the United§ States’ sympathy with the League's “pro- British” and anti-Italian measures. * X * X Mr. Roosevelt’s current absence from the White House is affording him an- other one of those opportunities for “perspective,” on which he lays constant stress as all essential to a President of the United States. He frequently tells callers after returning from such so- Jjourns that he systematically plans them every so often, in order to get away from the trees and have a look at the forest. It's the congressional “perspec- tive” which interests the squire of Warm Springs most at the moment. (Copyright, 1935.) Italy’s Rations. Prom the Louisville Herald-Post. What is important is not that Italian butcher shops are to be closed Tuesdays, but what they have to offer the other days in the week. e r———————— Reciprocity. From the Kalamazoo Gazette. Great Britain, says a report, has been offering an olive branch to Italy. The Italians might respond by sending a few ceals to Newcastle. Smash! Prom the South Bend Tribune. ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS By Frederle J. Huskin. 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. 5 QE.' Is Mount Fuji of volcanic origin?— A. It was built by volcanic action centuries ago. Fujisan is the outstande ing peak in Japan, reaching a height of 12,365 feet and wearing a crown of snow, most of the year. P g. HWere Paul Dunbar’s parents slaves? A. Both parents of the poet had been slaves. /in! Where is Randalls Island? —L. A. The island comprises 150 acres in East River, New York City, at the con- fluence of the Harlem River. It was long the site of hospitals and homes for children. In 1935 plans were made for converting the island into a park and sports center. Triborough Bridge crosses over the island, Q. What do the initials “S. J.” stand for after the name of a Roman Catho- lic priest?>—P. K. A. They stand for “Society of Jesus.” Priests using the initials are Jesuits. Q. How much wgs paid to Govern- ment employes in retirement annuities last year?—E. B. A. The total for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1935, was about $47, 000,000. Q. What color are the uniforms of the guards at Whitehall?—E. 8. A. The tunic is bright scarlet; trous- ers, white; the long boots, black; breast« plate, steel; helmet, steel; plume, white; gloves, white. The horse’s saddle cloth is white. Q. What are homographs?—R. K. A. They are words spelled alike, but from different sources, and, usually, of different meanings, such as “bark,” the outer covering of a tree; “bark,” the cry of a dog, and “bark,” a kind of boat. Q. Was Macauley noted as a speaker as well as writer?—C. C. P. A. Halleck says: “He was a remark- able talker. A single speech of his has been known to change an entire vote in Parliament. Unlike Coleridge, he did not indulge in monologue, but showed to finest advantage in debate. His power of memory was wonderful. He often startled an opponent by quoting from a given chapter and page of a book. He repeated long passages frem ‘Paradise Lost,’ and it is said he could have re- stored it complete had it all been lost.” Q. Is it correct to say that any one is going on 16?—F. H. R. A. The expression is both tautolog+ ical and provincial. Q. How old is “The Beggars' Opera”? —H. M. A. This ballad opera and social sate ire, music by Christopher Pepusch, libretto by John Gay, was produced in London in 1728. It was revived in 1920 and ran for three and one-half years, It was produced at the Metropolitan Opera House in 1930. Q. Please give some information abott Moore House, in Yorktown, Va.—L.P.W. A. It was in Moore House, at Yorke town, that American freedom was se- cured. The house stands on the Temple farm. On October 18, 1781, Lieut. Col. Dundas and Maj. Ross of the British Army, Viscount de Noailles, representing the French, and Lieut. Col. Laurens of the American forces met as commissioners to draw up 14 articles governing the sur- render of the British Army. In Moore House the surrender was signed. The house is an old one. R. A. Lancaster, Jr., says that it was probably part of the residence of Col. George Ludlow (1596« 1656), a member of the Colonial Council, Q. How many boys may be appointed to the Naval Academy each year?—R. K. A. Five midshipmen are allowed for each Senator, Representative, Delegaté in Congress, and the Vice President, five for the District of Columbia and 15 appointed each year from the United States at large. Fifteen appointments at large are made by the President each year. Q. What is the difference between initiative and referendum?—T. S. A. Several State constitutions permit a prescribed number (or proportion) of the voters in a State or city to submit a proposition to all the registered voters. If carried it becomes a law. This is the initiative. Some allow laws already passed to be submitted to all voters. If rejected, the law is inoperative. This is the referendum. Q. What is the official language of Egypt?—J. S. A. Arabic. Q. Where, in his writings, can Mark Twain’s “War Prayer” be found?—A. C. S, A. It will be found in “Europe and Elsewhere,” published by Harper & Bros. Q. What was the calling of the father of the first Du Ponts who came to this country?—F. 8. A. Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739-1817) was a French statesman and writer on finance, and an exponent of the theories of the physiocrats. He spent the late years of his life in this country with his sons in Delaware. Q. Is there a Meriwether Lewis fil- tional Monument?—J. H. A. One was established in 1925 near Hohenwald, southwest of Nashville, Tenn, The explorer is buried there. Q. What was the name of the German communistic settlement established at Ambridge, Pa.?>—H. G. A. About 1825 there was such a settle~ ment called Economy. Some of the buildings are still standing. . A Rhyme at Twilight By Gertrude Brooke Hamilton Idyl of Ivy You are the rock and I the vine Fused by your strength to growth divine; And though the granite stone is cold The ivy lives where flowers mold. As from the rock the vine draws power It turns the stone to a green bower, And o'er the bleak crag where it clings Tengrils of grace it lightly flings. Thru verdant Springs and Winter snows Upon the rock the ivy grows, Till stone and leaves so intertwine To cleft the rock would kill the vine, Oh, granite heart, let love’s green vine thy bleak crags creep and twine high! climb light! in raj the rock knows caress Tl