Evening Star Newspaper, December 14, 1935, Page 8

THE EVENING STAR ‘With Sunday Morning Edition, WASHINGTON, D. C. BATURDAY ¢ «+.December 14, 1935 THEODORE W. NOYES. ..Editor mmmia bt b b, Sh s St iRy The Evening Star Newspaper Company. Bustness Office: el e P AL, ew Yorl 20 g A 16 an Build ng, Burostas Bmor: T4 Resent St London. Eagisnd. Rate by Carrier Within the City. Regular Edition. The Evening Star___.___.__._45c per month The Even.ne and Sunday Star i day Cwh The Sunday Star- & Night Final Edition 1 nd Su Night T "B Collection made Orders may be sent tional 5000 Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. dly .“1 Sunday.. .. $10.00; 1 ily only_ .00 §\§n oy on 8480 1 All Other St es and Canada. Bllly and nflu..i =1 of each month. by mail or telephone Na- mo.. 85¢ mo. 50c mo.. 40¢ . $12.00; 1 mo. $1.00 ally only yE. "$8.00i 1 mol~ 78¢ Sunday only. 21 5rs 80c -00i 1 mo. Member of the Assoclated Press. * iated Press 1s exclusively entltled to the e e Hemubication, of all news dispatches Sreditad b N ot o} o ishgd berain: Il Tights of oublication Of special dispatches herein are also reserved. The Townsend Party. It was probably inevitable that the Townsened old-age pensionites would undertake to form a political party. If and when the party is formed it will put forward candidates for Congress and for President, it is said. If the party is to get anywhere in the long run it will have to get down to the grass roots and nominate candidates for sheriff and clerk. The supporters of national pro- hibition long ago organized a national party and put forward their choice for President every four years. The Social- ists have had a presidential candidate for a long time. When Dr. F. E. Townsend announced his plan for a two-hundred-dollarga-month pension for every person in the United States sixty years of age or older, it sounded to a lot of people like the promised land. Un- sound as the proposal is, thousands of persons have fallen over themselves getting in line for it, encouraged by clever propaganda. Because, like other perpetual-motion- machine ideas, the Townsend plan would bog down and place disastrous burdens on the people, neither the Democratic nor the Republican party has espoused it. In Congress too many members on both sides of the aisle have temporized with it; too many have spoken words of encouragement to the proponents of the plan. But, generally speaking, the two major political parties have kept their skirts clear of this Utopian plan to hand $200 a month to all those who are sixty years of age. So Dr. Townsend has now announced that a new third party—the Townsend plan party—is to be set up. Probably that is the best way to get rid of the Townsend idea. If the Townsendites were content to bore from within there might be more danger that this dream of affluent old age for every one might be tried out in a country that already has tried a lot of experiments. But the Townsendites are likely to find that Republicans and Democrats will think hard before they hop to the new standard and to new candidates carrying that standard. After all, a political party must have more than one single plank—and that one which rhay not appeal to the youth of the country. . That the whole population under sixty years of age should bear the burden of keeping the millions sixty years old and more on pensions of $200 a month is the real proposal. One of the provisions of the Townsend plan is that no one after he or she is pensionable and pensioned shall do any work. The idea, of course, is that this will make more work for the rest of the population not of pension age. The cost of the Townsend plan has been estimated annually at many bil- lions of dollars. That is, the cost that will be saddled on the whole people in the form of sales taxes. A cheerful thought! The leaders of the Townsend plan claim they have five million mem- bers. They say that the total number of persons favorable to the plan is as high as 25,000,000, Congress has for months been flooded with letters favor- ing the plan. Its proselytes have worked in every section of the country. The sooner the issue is met the better. If Dr. Townsend and his followers wish to set up a national party, so much the better, The great trouble in dealing with crazy-quilt notions in this country has been the strength of organized minarities of the people working within the major political parties. . ‘While other Ethiopians were studying munitions and defenses Gugsa was study- ing the Italian bill of fare. The food problem always comes uppermost. The Republican party is now said to be studying the question of whether it has no leaders or too many. Carnegie Exhibit. The public appreciates the courtesy which prompts the Carnegie Institution of Washington to open the doors of its administration building periodically for an exhibition representing the results obtained from the research activities sponsored by its trustees. No require- ment was laid upon the establishment by its founder in that regard. Indeed, the officers might maintain unbroken secrecy about the fruits of the founda- tion if they chose, and they would have ample precedent for such an attitude of reserve. - . For centuries, as the history of West- ern civilization abundantly demonstrates, men of science pursued in seclusion their quest for elemental truth. Roger Bacon, the admirable doctor, greatest philosopher of the ‘thirteenth century, never would have dreamed of inviting the mob into his laboratory. He knew about the chemistry of gunpowder and the magic of the mariner’s compass, but he scrupulously avoided communicating his knowledge to his uncultivated con- temporaries. It happened that he was familiar with the dangers of his posi- [ ’ THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. T., SATURDAY, DECEMBER 14, 1935, THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL, tion. The fragment of his learning that he finally did presume to put into writ= ing brought down upon his head the wrath of theological opposition and he was confined in prison for ten long years for his impertinent hardihood. But gradually, beginning with the Renaissance and the rediscovery of “the glory that was Greece,” a new relation between science and the human race has developed. A certuin tolerance now characterizes both genius and democ- racy. The gain to all concerned is ob- vious and unquestioned. Yet much re- mains to be done to perfect the bond between professional students of the rid- dle of life and the millions for whom they labor. And it is in recognition of that need that the Carnegie trustees welcome their guests three days each year. But the public also has an obliga= tion in the circumstances—an obligation to respond in a like spirit. Mr. Carnegie himself indicated the desired co-operation when he outlined the purpose of the Institution in the words: “To encourage in the broadest and most liberal manner investigation, research and discovery, and the.appli- cation of knowledge to the improvement of mankind.” His generous intent, sure- 1y, will be fulfilled progressively as the decades pass, science prospers and the people learn to understand. ————————— Naval Disagreement. Five days of the Naval Conference at London have only served the purpose of accentuating the fundamental differ- ences that seem to make a new agree- ment for limitation or reduction of armaments utterly impossible. Japan remains adamant in her demand for unqualified parity with the respective fleets of Great Britain and the United States. That insistence is the rock on which a new accord, to supplant the Washington and London treaties expir- ing in 1936, is doomed to go to smash. Tokio’s sturdy spokesmen in London talk of a “common upper limit of ton- nage” as the goal at which the .Japanese aim. Their position is that such equal- ity would mean “security for all.” They favor reduction in total tonnage, but decline to accept in future such a posi- tion of relative inferiority as the 5—5—3 ratio imposes. The Japanese would like abolition of capital ships and, aircraft carriers on the ground that navies with- out such vessels could never embark upon aggressive warfare in regions far re- moved from their home waters. What Admiral Nagano and his col- leagues in London fail to disclose in arguing Japan’s case is that what she actually seeks is sea power which will make her supreme, invincible and un- challengeable in the Far East. What Tokio wants is naval strength sufficient to enable her to prevent any possible sort of outside interference with Japanese plans for domination of Asia. Having in mind, of course, mainly the British and American fleets, Japan's nhaval strategists are convinced that with a navy of their own as powerful as those of the Western nations, the Japanese could successfully resist all attempts to impede Nippon's progress in Chgna or anywhere else on the other side of the world. Britain and America are naturally not blind to Japan’s underlying object in seeking naval parity. They are con- scious that for them to acquiesce in it would be to abdicate their rights to equality of opportunity in trade and other flelds throughout the Orient and to concede Japan's overlordship there. It is these aspirations’ and purposes of the island empire, as manifested by present-hour events in North China, that virtually destroy prospects of fur- ther naval agreement. The Western world is not ready to accept uncondi- tional Japanese mastery of the East. Therein lies the crux of the debates and differences now current in London. All else is of minor consideration. Once that is thoroughly understood over here, Americans will realize why the only pro- spective result of the conference, re- grettably, but inevitably, is the resump- tion, sooner or later, of world-wide com- petition in navy building. Sad as it is to chronicle such an outlook, no other is in sight at this time. Reminiscences of* American wealth show the right to human happiness even when that happiness depends on the privilege of being a trifle silly. Gugsa suggests as Ethiopia’s national anthem the song, “It Ain’t No Disgrace to Run When You Are Scared.” Economic authorities now contemplate the League of Nations as a study in fac- tions. World diplomacy resembles a dance in which it becomes proper to change part- ners, but with no one to call the figures. Government Fire Hazards. ‘The fire of Thursday night in the new Gbvernment building which houses the Post Office Department and other branches of the Executive administra- tion has resulted in the disclosure to high officials of the fact, long well known locally, that none of the Federal property in the District is subject to inspection and regulation in respect to fire hazards. Yesterday the President him- self as shocked at this state of affairs and suggested that there should be a closer supervision over the Government property in this respect. At no time since the establishment of the Government here, .though immense tact with such materials—which seems to have been the cause of this lafest blaze—are permitted with none of the safeguarding supervision which is cpplied to private properties. 3 Each unit of the Government’s estab- lishment is subject to the supervision of the Federal authority, but it is manifest ihat that supervision is not adequate or efficient, else the ronditions which led to the firc of Thursday night would not occur. Yet when fire does develcp the District’s fire-fighting establishment is relied upon for extinguishment. ‘This is an ewident anomaly, which should be at once corrected. Yet to require District supervision over all Government buildings would entail a heavy burden which could not be borne without a material enlargement of the District’s organization. Thus would in turn impose additional expense which in equity should be, wholly borne by the Govern- ment. There is reason to believe that the fire hazard conditions that have now come to light in the case of the Post Office Department blaze are duplicated in practically all other Federal build- ings in Washington. The great enlarge- ment of the Federal service during the past two years and a half has caused congestion in every branch. In some of the new buildings other than that which was visited by fire Thursday hight filing cases chdke the corridors. A com- plete inspection would undoubtedly dis- close & situation that would never be tolerated in the case of private estab- lishments. ———— A court case becomes a physical ordeal in many instances. Muscles are not tested, but sometimes glands and other paraphernalia hooked up to the nervous system often compel their owner to take the count. ———— The United States Chamber of Com- merce demands that the Government’s budget be balanced and is contemplated as a visionary iIntruder who desires to “~‘errupt poetic idealism with crude ts. —————— Attorney General Cummings is opposed in his proposition to select a utilities case for trial. There is no objection even in the strict lottery laws to putting all the names in a hat and selecting one at random. Fears are expressed that Uncle Sam has so much gold that the demand for the yellow metal will cease. Gold unpop- ularity is something that has not yet happened in the history of the world. The Lyddane case will soon be up again at Rockville, Md. In the meantime the Montgomery County correspondents will have a dance in anticipation of the rest and recreation they will so richly deserve. Financial affairs are vital in present concern, but relief and pension calcula- tions will hardly succeed in substituting a compound interest table for the United States Constitution. e Japan is insistent on a new deal that will give her naval parity, but question arises as to propriety of her drawing so many cards. —_——— In African history Gugsa will not be credited with full native complexion. He will probably be described as having a yellow streak. e Shooting Stars, BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Eternal Dicker. Dickerin’ with the grocer— Bills are overdue. A “yes, sir,” and a “no, sir,” Assert themselves anew. Dickerin’ with the landlord And tax collector grim. Perhaps thou'lt understand, Lord, Our fear of such as him. Dickerin’ for our pleasure, « Dickerin’ for our pain When Doctors take our measure To cure us up again. For a harp we're hoping When Golden Stairs we climb, Through penances we're groping, Dickerin’ all the time. Permanency. “What would you suggest to protect Post Office records?” “Make ’em fireproof,” said Senator Sorghum. “Use asbestos instead of Jud Tunkins says everybody works to give youngsters a happy holiday. As a guide to human conduct, “Merry Christ- mas” is older than the U. 8. Constitution and as indestructible. Faded Jokes. The mother-in-law life now reveals As a protecting saint. When slipping on banana peels ‘The laugh becomes more faint. Old jokes no longer can amuse As in the days gone by, And mostly when we read the news ‘We simply want to cry. Conversation. “Do you ever talk back to your wife?” “Just a little,” said Mr. Meekton; “enough to make her aware that I have not gone to sleep.” Humble Wishing. I do not ask for Fortune vast Nor wish the Trump of Fame Would sound a complimentary blast At mention of my name, But one request I have to make As through the world I roam— T hope the motor car I take ‘Will bring me safely home. “Education,” said Uncle Eben, consists of readin’, ritin’ and ‘rithmetic. A poli- tician kin mix ’em up together so's you can't make sense of either one.” Market Expansion Will Solve Economic Problem To the Editor of The Star: Your editorial in Tuesday's issue en- titled “Defense of the A, A. A.,” regard- ing the objectives of the President and this administration, is very timely and most interesting. ‘There will never be any unanimity of view with respect to the methods where- by the general welfare of the American people will best be served. But it does strike me that there should be a general agreement upon this one feature of our present situation: If unemployment is our chief trouble, there is but little, if any, chance of solving such difficulty by a program of restricted production, in- volving as it does a contraction of em- ployment. Such a program does not make sense. On the contrary, the formula by which such a difficilty must be solved is something like this: More markets for more production for more employment. Now I realize that I am preaching what the union laborer and the typical manufacturer will say is rank heresy, that America is irrevocably committed to a high wage scale and protection for American manufactures, We have tried that for the last two generations, and under that system we wellnigh witnessed the collapse of our whole social and in- dustrial order. There is nothing com- pellingly convincing or particularly sacred about the high wage scale or protection. Agriculture certainly wellnigh went upon the rocks under such a system and had to be given considerable artificial stimu- lation to be saved. Purchasing power we must have in order that the products of the farm and factory may have a market. But it is not necessary that all the cost factors of production should be stepped up in order that purchasing power may be acquired. The reverse may give us the same, if not a greater, purchasing power, In short, we can get increased purchas- ing power by stepping down the cost of the commodity to the consumer as well as by stepping up his income. Most of us are familiar with the find- ings of the Brookings Institute, which The Star carried recently. There it ap- peared that during the peak of the con- sumptive period in the year 1929 there was an additional potential market for $55,000,000,000 worth of goods within the United States before the American peo- ple attained the level of what our vari- ous governmental departments had set as a decent standard of living. Further- more, most of our economists assert that some 80 per cent of the peoples of the earth are underfed, underclad and un- derhoused. If that be true, there is prac- tically no limit to the world’s consumptive power, which means there is a potential market or outlet for the productive ener- gies of the American people. But we have got to reduce the cost factors all along the lines of production. The savings made possible by scientific discoveries as well as the economies made known by efficient and honest manage- ment must be passed on to the consumer. We must put 3,000,000 men to work at, say, $3.33 per day rather than 1,000,000 at $10 per day, and the business man and inventor must forego the idea that they are to become millionaires and be con- tent with reasonably decent living in- comes. These conditions must be brought about by the voluntary action of the American people. ‘No government can bring them about. We can destroy both liberty and civil- ization in a great class conflict, as has very largely happened in Russia, Ger- many and Italy. But the estate of the average man will in no wise be enhanced thereby. So let’s go after more markets for more production for more employ- ment. Let’s not stop at making the high- ways between Canada and the United States arteries of trade and commerce, but make the whole Atlantic seaboard one great trade street. With this as an example, the chances are that Europe would come to her senses and give nature a chance to help with the solution of her problems. JNO. W. HESTER. Denial of Taxpayers’ Plea For Sidewalks and Lamps To the Editor of The Star: In one of the suburbs of our beautiful Capital City there has come to my notice an incident which makes me wonder just what has become of the rights of a tax- payer in the District of Columbia. The question in my mind is just this: Why should any one or group of tax- paying residents have to get down on their knees to the District of Columbia “governors” who hold sway in the big building on Pennsylvania avenue and beg them to bestow sidewalks and lights on the thoroughfare on which they have been living and paying taxes for fifteen years? Just whose streets have been given the benefit of these said people's taxes? Not theirs. Has it come to the point where the residents of this un-District thorough- fare, located in “residential A restricted zane,” must keep on wading through the mud on this pitch dark road at night and paying taxes much higher than property owners on improved adjoining streets? Don't consider for one moment that the District supplied these homes with sewerage or water. The expense of the water and sewerage was borne entirely by the owners when they built their homes with certified District Build- ing permits. Repeated attempts have been made by these property owners to get some action on this disgraceful situation, but to no avail. A visit to the District Building gives one the impression that it is a convict camp, since they all are so ready to tell you their hands are tied. This thoroughfare is just' one-half a block from Rhode Island avenue, and leads one to the beautiful Langdon Park, on which the District government has been spending the taxpayers’ money for several years, and since this is one of the streets leading to this beautiful park it does anything but enhance the beauty of the park. Adding insult to injury, a kindly neigh- bor, himself filled with the spirit of charity, and at present erecting a fence about his property, remarks that he could close up this said thoroughfare if he wanted to. And we all thought Hitler was in Germany. ROY L. FORD. Artificial Skating Pond Is Proposed for Washington To the Editor of The Star. I am very much interested in ice skat- ing. There are very few places in Wash- ington where one, in Winter, may enjoy that outdoor sport. The Lincoln Me- morial Pools are seldom frozen to the extent of 3 inches and the weight of therein. T N If you listen to some of the so-called bright young things, you might get the idea that it has not. To say “thank you,” honestly and p:afiy, and mean it, is not the thing at One must coyly declare, “A thousand thanks,” or the like. Waiting at a door to permit another to enter first is regarded as comical, to say the least. It is a great waste of time, too. Any one who does not believe in such simple acts will tell you so. He even will give you statistics to prove the point. If all the time wasted every day at doors, in a futile endeavor to be polite, were expended in some useful way, he will assert, the world would be twice as busy (and twice as dull) as it is at present. * ok ok ok With the best will in the world we are unable to agree with this, ‘We believe that a great many persons feel that there is not too much courtesy, but not enoygh of it. Christmas, of all seasons, ought to lead to a revival of common every day politeness, because it is based upon it. Kindness is nothing but courtesy. ‘When you are kind to another human being, or to any other living thing, you are courteous, whether you think of it that way or not. The beauty of courtesy, in the best sense, is that it is gentleness. One has but to think of the savagery of the world to realize the necessity for this. Despite the underlying cruelty, in every age—this one, too—there has been a strain of gentleness. The beauty of the best type of Christianity has been that it has conserved and built up kindness. * X ok ok If we give over courtesy in the every- day life, even as a pose, we give up too much. It is possible, of course, to laugh and joke about politeness, without really giving it up, and that, we may suspect, is what many of the youngsters do. Even with all their pretense, they are not as impolite as they would have us believe. If we watch what they do, rather than what they say, we see easily that they are mostly blufing. But bluff, in itself, is a type of impoliteness, if we regard the latter as essentially dishonest. Discourtesy is especially dishonest 1f one is not by nature discourteous. And we may be afraid that one must grow older and older before really realizing what one is. The trouble with youth is that it thinks it knows so terribly much. No- body knews quite so surely as the sec- ondary school pupil. He knows! Just why he feels so sure must remain a mystery. Almost every one has been through the stage, and can remember easily that he so thought. Still, perhaps, he does not know why. Maybe it is just another of the fortunate possessions of youth. The skids would be knocked from under life too quickly if youngsters did not haye some good delusions. * ¥ Xk % Perhaps courtesy is a delusion; we are not sure, but if it is, it is another of the good ones. It is pleasant, to say the least, to believe that other humans are worth being courteous to, that life is not all hard knocks, that a good deed, in little, is as worthy in its ways as a large deed in large, If for no more than the effect on the doer, courtesy in the every day is very much worth while. The practical effects are wonderful STARS, MEN in setting up gentleness as a real thing in the private life. True courtesy, of course, is quite democratic, in the real and best sense. A spurious politeness which removes the hat only to women of influence and stands aside at the door only for men who may be able to help you is not courtesy at all. There is a name for it, too, but the good name of courtesy does not belong to it. True, it borrows the clothing and masquerades for ‘it effec~ tively, in some cases, but the astute are never taken in by it at all. The effects on the private life con- centrate in a building up of the centers of kindness. All one has to do is to think of the rancor and ill will which besets the world to realize the gupreme necessity for kindness. One cannot stress it too much. There will always be this fight, just as it has existed since life became conscious of itself. Even uncon- scious life, as manifested in the brute creatures, knows kindness and gentleness in a surprisingly large number of in- stances, Many‘ an animal will shame many a human 'being when it comes to this sort of “politeness,” so we need not assume at all that the fine flower of courtesy is left to man. Old dogs can be more chivalrous—often are—than some men. * k¥ % % The effect of kindness and considera- tion, in manners and address, on others is what really counts. If we could think very hard for many years, in an endeavor to devise a good way to help other human beings, we ordinarily could think up nothing quite so good as courteous, cultured, cultivated manners. These have been worked out, fortu- nately, by so many ages of human beings that there is not the slightest bit of mystery about them. ‘What is the use, then, for any person of average mentality to pretend that the ordinary forms of politeness are mildly absurd? They are the best practical means we have of incorporating decent gentleness into every-day life without flubdub or mock heroism. One may be polite without calling any particular attention to himself, except from the discriminating. This is also pleasant, in times when to call atten- tion to the self sometimes results in un- pleasantness of kinds not known in former ages. The plain help that is given another, | even by the most simple every-day cour- tesy, such as standing aside to let him or her enter a door or elevator first, is of a sort not usually noticed, perhaps. | But just as the entrance of a germ is not noted at the time, so the precious and minds unaware. work there and it is good work. It means that the first wish of human na- ture, for attention, has been complied with, has been satisfied, though in little. The regard which every person alive thinks ought to be his is his, for a brief moment, at any rate. This satisfies the spirit of man, his pride, or whatever one wants to call it. It is a legitimate satisfaction. A little attention is a good thing, and if more courtesy were found in all walks of life, the personal esteem of more people would be cherished, with resulting waves of good will spread far | and wide. The good which courtesy does in the day-by-day life lives after it; it may be so simple that it is scarcely noticed, but its effect is large and lasting. There is nothing more useful in a busy life than courtesy. The only people who have no time for politeness are the in- herently lazy, just as the only person who hasn't time for something else is u::h. person who is doing nothing to begin w AND ATOMS Notebook of Science Progress in Field, Laboratory and Study. BY THOMAS R. HENRY. Science has gone to the races—not to bet on the horses, but to find an answer to one of its most fundamental and diffi- cult problems, This is the problem of complex he- redity, aptly illustrated in the inheritance of racing capacity by thoroughbred horses. The records of the track, kept exactly by breeders over many genera- tions, provide by far the largest body of precise data available. From them Dr. Harry H. Laughlin, geneticist of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, has been able to derive a mathematical formula for the inheritance of racing capacity which promises to become one of the most valuable tools yet placed in the hands of blologists. He has worked out this formula by assembling the racing and breeding records of more than 12,000 individual thoroughbred running horses, chiefly American, but including some from Eng- land, Ireland, France, Germany, Canada, Australia and South America. The great value of this formula is that it can be applied to the prediction of almost any other hereditary complex, the end results of which can be exactly meas- ured—including various human qualities. Rk K ¥ It has been obvious from the begin- ning that qualities of parents tend to reappear in modified form in their offspring. Nearly a century ago the Austrian monk, Gregor Mendel, observing succes= sive generations of sweet peas in the monastery garden for the first time, derived a formula for simple inheritance which became the corner stone of the new science of genetics. The colors of parent flowers appeared in exact ratio in their descendants. For this simple case Mendel's law applies as well today as when it was formulated and appar- ently is one of the basic laws of nature. But this was a case of simple in- heritance. Only two hereditary factors were involved—the -~olors of the two parents. They were unit factors. The law had a rather limited application, because not many problems.of heredity, especially in the higher animals, were so simple. Racing capacity of horses, for example, long has been recognized as hereditary. speaking, with proper allow: runner. This simple observation is the basis of the ancient science of horse- breeding. But racing capacity is not a unit-fac- tor in genetics. The speed at which a given horse can run depends on such considerations as body build, muscula- ture, nervous constitution, and perhaps, above all, the extremely complex ele- ment known as “temperatment.” Not two unit factors present in the parents are involved, but probably several hun- each . The cases of such relationship between se- lected kin and foal for each of the fol- lowing relationships: Sire-offspring, dam-offspring, sire’s offspring, sire’s dam-offspring, dam’s sire-offspring, dam'’s dam-offspring, full sib-full sib, foal-par- ent, grandchild-grandparent, uncle or aunt-nephew or niece, first cousin-first cousin, R The calculation of a “manerkon,” as Dr. Laughlin terms his mathematical formula, is extremely complex and hardly can be explained except in mathematical language. The work is the subject of cne of the featured exhibits at the an- nual scientific exhibit of the Carnegie In- stitution of Washington which was opened to the public at the institution’s head- quarters, Sixteenth and P streets north- west, today. It is considered one of the outstanding scientific accomplishments of the year. The value, of course, lies not in the new tool which is placed in the hands of race track handicappers. Few of them will be able to use it, un- less they take a university course in higher mathematics. It covers the whole field of heredity. Says Dr. Laughlin: “One of the principal tasks of the future for the Eugenics Record Office is to pre- pare in its laboratories, and to preserve for ready and permanent reference in its archives, many such prediction formulae for specific, measurable human qualities —physical, mental and temperamental. Similarly, other research laboratories of human anthropolgy and phychology would serve science if they should work out and save for reference accurate formulae for specific measurable struc- Jfural and functional qualities in defi- nite racial and family stocks, and other population groups of mankind. Also the laboratories and expeyiment stations for plant and animal breeding would find it profitable to work out specific formulae of heredity. The task is too big for any one institution or group of laboratories.” A Rhyme at Twilight Gertrude B:):ke Hamilton Youth-About-Town. Tad danced the “piccolino” many a night. But every now and then he took a flight To river mission where the only toll ‘Was gospel rhythm left in his jazz soul. No cover charge or floor fee on this bat; offering, Free Tad’s cash in mission hat. s ¥ | arate | 230 million schillings. ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS By Frederic J. Hoskin, A reader can get the answer to any question of fact by writing The Washin j- ton Evening \Star Information Bureau, Frederic J. Haskin, Director, Washing=- ton, D.C. Please inclose stamp for reply. Q. Does the sky get brigh - tarAs a;;:’end?—l’. L'! ighter as avia . The higher one rises from the earth the less brignt the sky. Thirty or 40 miles up it would be almost black. Q. What kind of museum did John D. Rockefeller, jr., give to Palestine?—L. H, A. The Palestine Archeological Mu- seum, recently completed at a cost of $2,000,000, is the gift of Mr. Rockefeller, It is destined to & storehouse of in- formation on the country’s historic past. The collections include specimens from excavations in Palestine, the famous Galilee skull and relics of Hebrew monarchy. Q. What was the name of the actor who gave the expositions on snoring in “Broadway Melody of 1936?"—H. P. A. His name is Robert Wildhack. Q. When did Capt. Taylor Branson he%nnée leader of the Marine Band? A. He was appointed May 1, 1927, Q. When did the first Jews come to the United States?—L. K. G. ,_A. The American Hebrew says: In 1654, 34 years after the Mayflower landed the Pilgrim fathers at Plymouth, Mass., the Santa Caterina arrived at New Amsterdam (the present New York) with 23 Jews on board, who in all likelihood came from Brazil, which country the JeW§ left when it passed from the pos= session of the Dutch to the Portuguese, Shortly before the arrival of this band of Jewish pilgrims, the first Jews known to have arrived at New Amsterdam, came on the ship Pear Tree. These were Jacob Barsimson and Jacob Aboab. It is quite likely that even before this many indi- vidual Jews may have found their way to some portions or other of the country, Q. How does the quantity of beer sold | now compare with the amount sold 20 years ago?—B. F. A. So far this year 38,000,000 barrels of beer have been consumed, compared to 45,000,000 barrels in 1915, Q. Please give a biography of Fannic Farmer, the authority on cookery.— E.L.R. A. Fannie Merritt Farmer was born microbes of courtesy enter into hearts | in Boston in 1857. Ill health interfered They do their | with her plans for a college education and she turned to the study of cooking, graduating at the Boston Cooking School. She became assistant director and later director of the school until 1902, when she opened Miss Farmer's Schoql of Cookery. For 10 years she contributed a page on cookery to the Women’s Home Companion. She edited the Boston Cooking School Cook Book and published several other volumes on the subject. She died in 1915. Q. Please tell something about the so- cial insurance system in Austria—T. H. A. In this respect Austria occupies a very high rank among the nations o’ the world. Almost two-thirds of the total population (about 4,000,000 people) come under the compulsory health in- surance. Under special legislation sep- insurance institutes have been created for that purpose, namely the in- surance institutes for working people (number of persons insured about 900,- 000), for private employes (237,000), for government employes (150,000), for the railway staff (166,000), for municipal employes (40,0000 and for agricultural workers (300,000). As the dependents of the persons directly insured also come under the scheme, the total number of | people who derive benefit under the com= pulsory health insurance is about 4,000, 000. All workers and employes engaged in industrial enterprises are, besides, sybject to compulsory accident insurance and the private employes come under an old-age insurance as well. There is also a public unemployment insurance, to which all work givers and work takers in private enterprises have to make con- tributions and the annual expenditure under the latter scheme amounts to over The cost of all branches of social insurance for persons in private employment exceeds 650 mil- lion schillings annually. Q. Who wrote “Two Years Before the Mast?"—H. R. A. Richard Henry Dana. It gives an account of his voyage around Cape Horn to California as a young sailor of 22 Q. From what time does the Moham- medan calendar date?—R. G. A. It dates from July 16, 622 AD,, the day of the Hegira. Q. Please give a biography of Herbert Feis, economic adviser to the State De- partment —E. G. A. Born in New York City in 1893, Mr. Feis is the son of the late Louis J. and Louisa Waterman Feis. From 1917-1919 he served overseas as a lieutenant in the United States Navy. After graduate ing from Harvard in 1921 he became ase sociate professor of economics at the Uni- versity of Kansas from 1922-1925. From 1926 to 1929 he was head of the depart- ment of economics of the University of Cincinnati, and from 1929 to 1931 a member of the staff of the Council on Foreign Relations. In 1922 he married Ruth Stanley-Brown of Mentor, Ohio, granddaughter of President Garfleld. Q. What color walls reflect the mosp light?—T. A. A. White walls reflect about 85 per cent or more of the light that strikes them; cream ones reflect 70 per cent, and walls of other colors range down to the lowest, black, which reflects only about 3 per cent. Q. Are inmates of a Federal prison such as Alcatraz allowed to take corre- spondence courses?—H. H. A. Twenty-five of the prisoners at Al- catraz are taking correspondence courses from the University of California. Q. Is there no way to prevent a fili- buster in the United States Senate? —E. P. A. Until 1917, under the Senate rules, there was no check upon unlimited de- bate or speechmaking known as fili- bustering. In 1917, after a filibuster to prevent the law allowing for the arming of merchant ships to pass, a proposed