Evening Star Newspaper, July 9, 1936, Page 10

A—10 "THE EVENING STAR | 7! with Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTO THURSDAY ____ e THEODORE W. NOYES..........Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company. Bustness Office. sylvania Ave. B si 42nd Bt. Chicago Office: Lake Michigan Building. Buropean Office: 14 Regent St. ndon England. Rate by Carrier Within the City. Regular Edition. _4sc per month -60c per month W) -65¢c_per month $he Sunday Star_____ --52 per copy Night Final Edition. ight Minal and Sunday Star ight Final Star___. __ ML Hlectio fers may tional 5C00 Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. D. C. _-July 9, 1936 of each ail or telephone Na- Member of the Associated Press. Press is exclusively entitled to the use for republication of all news dispaiches credited to it or not otherwise credited in this r and also the local news published herein rights of pubilcation of special dispatches herein are also reserved. The Lion Roars. Nothing could more graphically depict the alarms and anxieties with which the European situation is now filled than Great Britain’s revised rearmament plans. To a program which originally contemplated expenditure of roundly $900,000,000, it is now proposed to devote more than $1,000,000,000. An extra $50,- 000,009 would be allocated to the navy; an equal sum to the air force, and an additional $25,000.000 to the army. The Baldwin government, which will seek parliamentary approval of its aug- mented defense budget next week, makes no attempt to conceal the fact that it is uneasiness over the foreign outlook which Justifies, the demand for increased de- fense outlay. No official specification is forthcoming as to the particular regions in which imminent danger is scented, but broadly it is intimated that there are s0 many possibilities of explosion that Europe faces conditions fully as perilous as those which ended in the eruption of 1914. British fears are reflected by Vis- count Cecil, who has just declared that “the old demon war is stirring again.” It is in Nazi attempts to liberate Danzig from League of Nations control that Lord Cecil envisions “the utmost danger to the peace of Europe.” His fears are echoed by Financial Secretary of the TTreasury Morrison, who describes the general situation as “grave.” The government's zeal in tightening up the bolts of Britannia’s three-armed fighting machine is motivated largely by the humiliating experience which the Yeague powers, and Great Britain in par- ticular, suffered at Italy’s hands. It was a matter of virtually public acknowl- edgement that neither the British fleet N tiee 5o/ cabiit s nor air force was strong enough to war- rant the risk of a conflict with Musso- lini. The resultant Fascist triumph was ascribed by David Lloyd George this week to the fact that the Baldwin gov- ernment was “completely devoid of nerve, courage, resolution and vision.” In so far as more warships, battle planes, troops and artillery can preserve the Tory gov- ernment from further indictments of this damning scrt, Prime Minfister Bald- win and his colleagues are apparently de- expense. The Italo-Ethiopian fiasco being more or less a closed incident, British eyes are now turned in other directions. In Europe they are riveted upon German rearmament and Hitler's plans when it is completed. The Fuehrer's persistent refusal to answer the British question- naire regarding his territorial expansion program fills Downing Street with rising | concern. Under the circumstances, Bald- win’s dictum that the Rhine is Britain’s frontier assumes even more significance than when it was uttered a year ago. John Bull is no less anxious over develop- ments in the Far East. Japan’s latest military moves in North China, coupled with continuous evidence of her purpose, by any means possible, to monopolize the Chinese market, impel Britain to view with undisguised alarm the security of Ber whole position in the Orient. With Bbis vital interests thus at stake, East and ‘West, a billion for defense is the British Hon’s growling answer to all and sundry ‘who menace them. e A certain charm of personality is as- serted by Senator Borah. He is one of the few statesmen who do not assume a standardized smile every time a camera 48 pointed at them. —— The Negative Aspect. On board a iransatlantic liner east- ward bound from New York to Havre two men who had been strangers until the moment of sailing sat in adjacent deck chairs talking. The first, a young Frenchman, said: *It all depends upon what kind of world we are going to have. Should it be a socialized world, then we have not wasted our time working for the state. But if it is to be a world of independent in- dividuals, as it was before 1914, we have incurred a handicap.” “You mean that employment in the government signifies isolation from the traditional competitive struggle,” re- marked his American companion. “Exactly,” was the rejoinder. “For in- stance, consider my story. I was at school in England when I was summoned home to serve my enlistment in the army. During two years I was a conscript, being ttained to march, to shoot, to think in mechanized terms of obedience to arbi- trary command. Also, though I did not realize it at first, I was learning to be 1azy, to avoid responsibility and to enter- tain a curious fatalistic attitude of mind. other words, I was ceasing to be an trdividual.” *You mean that you were becoming a good soldier.” A'Perhaps so. But when the two years cver I went back into private life. t to school, however. Books no longer the power to hold me. I simply ed’ in my father's house, idled [ N THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, through one week after another. There was no initiative, no ambition, left in me. I merely vegetated until my father died. Then, I was obliged to stir myself. And I did for a while. Yet as soon as I had secured an appointment, obtained wages enough to keep body and soul together, I slipped back into the easiest way of existing. I performed the routine labor to which I was ordered. My career be- came a dreary monotony of dull and stupid toil and sordid recreation. The habits of my term as a cadet had been confirmed into a pattern that I could not break, did not have spirit enough to wish to break. And a hundred thou- sand other boys were caught in the same trap—maybe millions of them. In effect, we no longer were persons; we were noth- ing but component parts of a slavish and degraded mob, waiting to be told our destiny by a master we never had seen for a cause about which we knew nothing.” “Do you think that America stands in any danger of such regimentation?” “No, not now. But, as your George Washington declared, ‘eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.” Expedient policies may be useful in an emergency. Yet they should be feared and resisted. Some- time, possibly when those who now are young are old, the question will be asked: “Was the mess of pottage for which we sold our birthright worth while?” “Such, my {friend, is the negative aspect of the problem which the United States faces today. The changes that are taking place in your country at present were the experience of my country long ago.” oot Farley’s Furlough. To meet the increasing demand that James A. Farley, Postmaster General, should either give up that office or cease to be chairman of the Democratic Na- tional Committee, President Roosevelt has given Mr. Farley leave of absence without pay until the political campaign is over. Mr. Farley's continuance in the cabinet and as chairman of the Demo- cratic National Committee has long been under fire from all except the | practical politicians. Not long ago charges were made by the Republicans that Farley was seeking contributions from Federal office holders for the Dem- ocratic presidential campaign. A letter bearing a rubber stamp signature of Mr. Farley asking campaign contributions was produced. Farley denied that he had ever heard of the letter. The blame was placed on some unknown enthusiast. And there the matter has stopped. The solicitation by an officer of the Federal Government of campaign contributions from employes of the Government would be a serious violation of the law. The plan decided upon by the Presi- dent and Mr. Farley does not remove the chairman of the Democratic National Committee from the cabinet—it merely gives him a vacation from his official It is well understood that he will resume those duties as soon as the campaign is over. He retains all the prestige which goes with a cabinet office at the same time that he continues to possess all the political authority of national chairman. No other President has ever permit- ted one of his cabinet officers to con- tinue as head of his party’s National Committee as has President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the case of Mr. Farley. ; Certainly no other President has ever either effort nor | ¥ s 2 termined to spare | adopted the strange device of giving & furlough to a cabinet officer so that he | might devote his whole time and attention to the job of running a political cam- paign. It is novel. It is the New Deal. For the New Deal can become extremely practical in its polities. It has been suggested that the Presi- | dent did not like the idea of having Mr. Farley resign from the cabinet; that such a move might give the impression that, after all, there was something to the criticism that Farley should not, and | could not ethically, hold both his cab- | inet office and his chairmanship of the Democratic National Committee. For that reason the President is said to have backed away from the proposal that Farley resign out-and-out from the cabinet. Unless these criticisms were well founded, there was no reason for doing anything at all about Mr. Farley. The President must believe that his granting a leave of absence to Mr. Farley has taken the curse off the situation, or he would not have made the move. Unfortunately for campaign fund sub- scriptions, a nominating convention can be held only once in four years. Many cities would pay liberally for the privi- lege of entertaining if there could be a series of conventions in various parts of the map. ———————— Communism is being discussed as a matter of momentum. A person charged with communism may be one who started as a Socialist and finds that his intellec- tual brakes are not holding. R Japanese Iris. Among the many good flowers and shrubs which bear the prefix “Japanese,” as showing the point of origin in the world, the Japanese iris, now in bloom in local gardens, is one of the loveliest, with habits of growth and serenity of color that set it apart. The full splash of the German or bearded iris makes many forget these later-blooming kinds, with their flatter flower heads, delicate colorings, and adaptable habits. This is one fine flower which is in no sense finicky, but does well almost any place it is put, just so long as no lime is used. The Japanese iris enjoys no place quite as well as a pool side, where it can get some moisture continually at its roots. Lacking this, however, it does finely in any ordinary garden soil, and may be planted in the average border with complete success. There is a fragile beauty to these great petals that remind the flower-wise of the fine spikes of gladioli, which will be the pride of Summer gardens everywhere. Comparisons between plants are invidi- ous. The smallest of the wildflowers 15 beautiful in its season. No one who lifts a stem to peer into the heart of a rose would whisper to it, “You are not as beautiful as a peony!” The love of plant life is all-embracing, asking not that one be taller than an- other, or that something else be smaller, but that each thing in its time be only what it is supposed to be, and give sim- ple satisfaction. The average man or woman will come nearest to understand- ing the Ancient Mariner, and his wise remark about loving best all things, both great and small, in the gverage backyard, where labor and love create beauty almost regardless of those harsh taskmasters, time, place and money. ———— et Seventeen-year locusts have come and gone without doing any great harm. They have been noisy and intrusive while damaging the foliage somewhat, but they will not be back for seventeen years, a space of time which represents an appre- ciable breathing spell. ————— Ethiopia is not rich in ancient ruins. The visit of Haile Selassie to Geneva enabled him to inspect what remains of the League of Nations with much senti- mental interest. The New Deal will not be abandoned even though it may introduce modified features that correspond to putting in the joker and playing deuces wild. e Steel is described by stock brokers as either a prince or a pauper, with danger of embarrassments in a con- tinuous career of social readjustments. — r—oe Monte Carlo is reported to be unpros- perous. American racketeers have pro- vided unlimited facilities for playing roulette without the trouble of an ocean Jjourney. - —e—s Shooting Stars. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Judicial Security. They can't scare me at all when certain politiclans say Supreme Courts aren't needed and should travel on their way. Jedge Waxem is a friend of mine; a friend of boyhood hours. We used to go a-fishin' or stroll idly pickin’ flow'rs. A race track does not tempt him, with a threat of serious loss, But when a “carnival” comes round hell ride a flyin’ hoss; Of great judicial wisdom we can never be bereft; No matter what may happen we will have Jedge Waxem left. Jedge Waxem's heart is younger than his years, and that’s the truth. He'll step out in a night club along with flaming youth . He'll violate the parkin' laws—he is a merry elf— And then suspend the sentence after he arrests himself. Jedge Waxem's all the court we need to handle suits with care; Sometimes he’ll toss & penny just to show that he is fair. On rural regions we'll depend for a Jjudicial brain. Though courts may come and courts may go, Jedge Waxem will remain. Fear. “Did your threat to retire from office cause any fear?” “Great fear,” answered Senator Sor- ghum. “I have received many letters expressing fear that I might change my A Century of Change. Another birthday greeting Is prepared for good John D. Through years that have been fleeting Many changes he can see. A motor car he handles When he sees the modern sights, And instead of birthday candles He will have electric lights. Parties. “Where have you been so late at night?” said the parent. “Organizing a political party,” replied the capable young woman. “Well, a political party is all right. I was afraid it might be a cocktail party.” “I have known astronomers,” said Hi Ho, the sage of Chinatown, “who could figure accurately on a solar eclipse, but whose mathematical science did not enable them to tell for sure when a ‘mortgage would be foreclosed.” Parade Promoter. Barnum had to leave this earth, Though humbugs he would cheer; He always gave their money's worth To folks who gathered near; He'd let the steam piano play And gilded wagons roll; He gave a grand parade they say— May Heaven rest his soul! “Everybody is entitled to his opinion,” said Uncle Eben, “but if you's goin’ to fuss with everybody whose opinions ain’ de same as yours, you's goin’ to end up mighty lonesome.” Third Party Coloring. -4 i P Representative Lemke says what pleases him is that “in none of the thousands of letters we have received has there been a shade of pink or red feeling.” But we've seen a Jot of purple faces among the orthodox. After Arrival. " htterpt 10 Teach o of Mt. Everest dropped,” says a headline. Brave men have risked their lives in the attempt. Plain folks wonder what the climber can do if and when he gets there. Hoping for a Lull. Inquirer. no reason now why the police should not resume enforce- ment of Philadelphia’s anti-noise or- \ dinance. Farm Problems. From the mm Lae Cri:n'e-::g..nd . follows a horse around, no wonder problems on the farm are complex. THE POLITICAL MILL BY G. GOULD LINCOLN. August 1 is the date set for “Jim” Farley to take over formally the running of the Democratic national campaign. ‘That is the day he is to go “on leave” from his cabinet office. Of course, Mr. Farley has been in entire command of the campaign up to the present time, as chairman® of the Democratic National Committee. And he will continue to have full control in the interim between today and August 1. He ran the preconvention campaign for the renomination of Presi- dent Roosevelt, and ran it so successfully that not a dissenting vote was cast when it came time to name the party’s presi- dential candidate. In fact, Farley has proved himself in the last five years an astute, energetic campaign manager. He traveled the country over in the interest of Franklin D. Roosevelt, then Governor of New York, prior to the Democratic National Convention of 1932, in Chicago. ‘What he did for his candidate is all a matter of history. Now he is to have another shot at it. Organization is a potent factor in politics. It is in organization that Farley shines particularly. He has been at it now for a long time. He began re- nominating and re-electing President Roosevelt immediately after the Presi- dent took office in 1933. What Farley has been doing in these yearswas well as the President’s own record—will be tested in the next four months. ¥ Farley and the Democrats face a dif- ferent task this year. They are likely to find themselves on the defensive fre- quently; whereas in 1932 they took always the offensive. There is no Republican President to attack today. Their job is to uphold a Democratic President. One of the things that may help them is the upturn in business. There is more busi- ness, and more employment—although the relief rolls continue very large. This does not seem to make sense. It was true before the disastrous drought hit the North and Middle West. If the admin- istration can please people on relief and at the same time please the majority of the workers, the victory should be an easy matter. There are signs, however, that those on relief are getting tired of it. And the interests of the employe and the employer, after all, are not so far apart ;R_;:lt the \lworker does not understand it. e employers, generally speaking, are anti-Roosevelt, B * x * 8 Florida has two Senators to elect next November. Death dealt heavily with the Florida delegation. First Senator Park Trammell died in the Spring of this year, and just before the close of the sesston Senator Duncan U. Fletcher. Neither of these Senators was up for re-election, for Fletcher had had two more years of his term to serve, and Trammell had four. Both were Democrats, and both will be succeeded by Democrats to be named at party primaries within a few weeks. Florida broke away from its Democratic allegiance in 1928 to vote against Alfred E. Smith and for Herbert Hoover. Even if a political miracle occurred again this year and the State should go for Landon, it is unlikely that Republican candidates for the Senate would be successful. Both Fletcher and Trammell had long service in the Senate. Fletcher became a | Senator March 4, 1909, 27 years ago. Only Senator Borah of Idaho has a | longer record of service, and Senator Smith of South Carolina a record of equal length. Trammell entered the Senate in 1917. Fletcher was chairman of the Banking and Currency Committee at the time of his death. He had engineered through the Senate all of the New Deal banking and financial legislation. Tram- mell was chairman of the Naval Affairs Committee. Gov. Sholtz of Florida has filled both vacancies temporarily, appointing Scott M. Loftin to fill Trammell’s seat, and William L. Hill te fill that of Fletcher. Neither Loftin nor Hill will seek election to the seats they now hold, they have announced. Senator Hill was urged by many of his friends to make the race. He decided finally, however, not to enter. £ ok kW For 20 years Senator Hill was secretary to Senator Fletcher. His appointment to the Senate following the death of Sen- ator Fletcher was the first time that a secretary to a Senator has ever succeeded the Senator directly. Mr. Hill, a lawyer, with a record of long and efficient service with Senator Fletcher, has many friends among the Senators as well as in his home State who have expressed their appreciation of the honor done him. Several candidates have filed for the Democratic nomination for Trammell's seat in the Senate, among them former Gov. Doyle E. Carlton, Judge C. O. Andrews and Robert Boone. Only one Democratic candidate has come forward to date for the Fletcher seat, Claude Pepper, who was an unsuccessful candi- date for the senatorial nomination against Trammell two years ago. Pepper’ made a good race, and was defeated only by a rarrow margin. The last day for filing for Democratic primary for these Senate seats is Saturday, July 11. The primary takes place August 11, and if a run-off is necessary it will be held Sep- tember 1. * ok k% The defeat of Senator Gore for re- nomination in Oklahoma’s Democratic primary is not likely to bring any great amount of distress to the Roosevelt leaders. Gore has frequently been a caustic critic of New Deal measures and spending. The blind Senator trailed two New Deal Democrats in the primary, Representative Josh Lee and Gov. Mar- land, who will fight it out in a run-off primary on July 28. The New Deal has other Democratic critics in Oklahoma, among them former Gov. “Alfalfa Bill” Murray. There are some of Gov. Landon’s friends who insist the Republican candi- date for President will carry the State next November. The Democrats, of course, seek to ridicule such a predic- tion. The fact remains, however, that Landon is likely to have considerable support in that State. Senator Gore was one of the first two Senators to represent Oklahoma when that State was admitted to the Union back in 1907. He lost his fight for re- nomination in 1920. That, too, was just before the close of a Democratic Presi- dent’s term of office—Woodrow Wilson, And Gore had antagonized the Wilson administration, prefty much the same as he has antagonized that of President Roosevelt. * ok % x Two new possible factors in the polit- ical situation have loomed up in the last few days. The first is the drought in the farm .States of the Northwest and the Middle West. The second is the pos- sibility of a hard fight to organize the steel workers, with the prospects of & big strike. President Roosevelt has moved rapidly to give aid to the hundreds of thousands of drought sufferers, putting them on the W. P. A. pay rolls and doing other things for them. He will visit the drought area himself in the near future. Gratitude and the President’s coming to the area may have a good deal to do with the way the balloting goes in these States next Fall. So far as the steel strike is concerned, if it comes, it may be more to figure out just how it s b D. C, THURSDAY, JULY 9, 1936. THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. Baby blue jays are among the most charming of bird juveniles. Those particularly plaintive ecries which arise over the suburban areas at this time of year are from the little jays. Most young birds are as large as, or even larger than, their parents, but the small blue jays are not quite as big as theirs. They have a squat, dumpy appearance, with ruffled feathers and a voice which fits into their generally helpless appear- ance. All of the bold defiance of the adults is lacking in the little ones, who squeal and squeak all day long for food, food, food. The jaunty jays are fine parents. All day long they heed the cries of their little ones, making endless trips to the place where the young birds are flying about. * * % x ‘This place may be the nest, but more often it is a yard near the nesting place. For all the young of the bird popula- tion are in the air now. The baby wrens are out, the young robins and mocking birds, the baby wood thrushes and thrashers, the latter sometimes hard to tell apart at a little distance. ‘The longer legs, longer tail and bill will help distinguish the thrasher young from those of the thrush. The wood thrush, as might have been expected, is an exemplary parent. The young stay close at hand in the garden, with bills held open at all times for dainty tidbits which may be placed in them. These are the days, however, when all young birds are learning how to hunt food for themselves. It is interesting to see their first tentative steps in this direction. ‘Young mockingbirds are adepts, strik- ing out early for themselves. An amusing instance came to light recently in a nearby Maryland garden. Those who lived in the house attached to the garden had never seen young mockingbirds. Tolerably familiar with the adult birds, they totally failed to grasp that the large, handsome fellows which were walking around by the big tree were the mockingbird babies. “What bird is that?” The old cry of bird watchers went up. The birds had white on them, but were so round and shipshape under- neath (very fat) that no one recognized them for what they were. An eager search went on in the bird Ks. Could these be loggerhead shrikes? Well, not exactly. Some one with more common sense than usual at last hit on the truth. “Why, they are baby mockingbirds!” Sure enough, they were. ‘This is one of the pleasures of bird watching—to spot the juveniles and see just how they differ from the adults. ke It is amazing to think that soon these fluffy fellows will know just when to fly South and what to do along the way. Only a few days from nothing, they are yet able to master great distances, take their places almost instantly beside their parents and fly away over moun- tains and streams to a land where they have never been. It seems even more amazing when one stops to think about the tiny wrens. These, too, fly away when the time comes, and next year will STARS, MEN fly right back to the same garden where they hop today. Some of them will fly unerringly to the very same wren houses and make their nests there. It is an amazing story which time cannot wither nor fancy staie. It has been going on for thousands upon thou- sands of years. Despite all the plain dangers which attend them in this world, the bird babies mostly grow up and learn to be “on their own.” ‘The terrors of Independence day, bombs bursting in air, frightened them not, as far as we could see. Safe in their nests at night, probably cnly one or two were Fourth of July casualties as the result of falling rockets and the like. Even these casualties are problemat- ical, but not so those due to wandering animals, Of the two mockingbird babies which hopped around to confidently in the garden at dusk only one survived. The soft gray feathers of the unfortunate bird were found by the green bench next A cat? The poor cats—they get blamed for everything of this kind. It may have been a cat, but an owl could have done it, too. * x ko An incessant cheep, cheep, cheep came from the wren house, except when a certain warning note was given by the parents. When the babies heard this they be- came as quiet as mice. You could go right up to the house and stand beneath it. Not a sound was to be heard. ‘When you went away, even as you left the immediate vicinity of the nest, | you could hear the cheeping begin again. Wren youngsters are not as smart as their parents. Constant scolding of the older wrens is not a very pretty noise. This bird is called a song bird, not because its song is really music, but solely because its syrinx is of a certain construction. Most of its utterances are quite harsh and unmusical. It is all very well to call it & “feathered alarm clock,” as one writer does, but surely it is as unmusical as most such timepieces! Still, there is a cheery something to its constant rattling in the garden. Those mixed buzzes and metallic sounds, those geysers noise, mean something pretty and interesting in the garden. Fortunately each bird stakes out its territory by its song. That is, all other birds of the same species are warned by a song that the territory is taken. “Keep away!” says the song. This, at least, is the thecry among ornithologists. They do not discount the love motif, in bird musie, but say that the song is partly territorial. It is an interesting theory, at least. Those interested in gardens and birds | should keep close watch over the after- noon ambulations of the babies and see to it that they are protected, as far as this is humanly possible. Most of the youngsters are now able to fly and in a few weeks will be almost completely self-protecting. Keep cats in as much as possible and watch out for other ene- mies. The birds will repay you many times over. Keep an eye on dogs and squirrels. See that bird baths are kept filled and put out a shallow pan, pref- erably sunk in the ground, for the little | ones who are having their first experi- ence in a big world. AND ATOMS Notebook of Science Progress in Field, Laboratory and Study. BY THOMAS R. HENRY. ‘The strange story of the king's scape- goat comes to the Catholic Anthropo- logical Conference here from the Rev. Joseph Kler, for 10 years a missionary in the mysterious Ordos Desert—>50,000- square-mile waste of sand in Inner Mongolia just north of the Great Wall of China. ‘Through this remote and desolate re- gion wander the Ordos Mongols with their flocks of sheep and herds of cattle, horses and camels. During his service among them Father Kler has made a | special study of their medical practices. Each desert chieftain, he reports, has in his retinue one man whose job is to serve as a decoy and draw the spirits of sickness and death away from his king. When the ruler falls sick the scapegoat immediately dons the best clothes of his master, mounts the mon- arch’s favorite horse and gallops away a few hundred kilometers into the desert. The idea is that the spirits caus- ing the illness will mistake the scape- goat for the king, believe that their in- tended victim is getting away from them and pursue him. Thus the monarch himself is left alone. The scapegoat fully expects to die, and often does. If he is able to outrun the spirits of evil, however, he receives as his reward the king's clothes and his horse. For lesser individuals a manikin serves the purpose of a scapegoat. The lama, who acts as medicine man, dresses up this manikin in the sick person’s best clothes. The evil spirits are supposed to mistake the image for the man. At times the lamas will make from flour dough three-cornered balls from 10 cen- timeters to a meter thick and the evil spirit is supposed to take his departure inside these. Rich nomads will cover this ball with a pagoda made of willow sticks and silk cloth. This then will be left at a cross-roads. The next morning the lamas remove the ball and appro- priate the silk cloth as their fee. The Ordos Desert people, Father Kler reports, have no other medicines than those of the lamas. Among these, how- ever, ‘are some famous practitioners who astonished the priest with their intimate knowledge of the curative powers of the plants of the desert and steppes. Some of these are quite efficient for minor maladies. Medicines are given in the form of powder, or else mixed in liquids such as water, alcohol or milk, especially milk from red or brown cows. According to the native beliefs, such cows give a more milk. The natives eonsider the milk of black mares is th n Ao e an that of white more mares. When a lama prays over a sick person, Father Kler rts, he first washes the face of his patient in blessed water, to which sugar has been added and over which prayers have been said. Then, will affect the political situation. Big steel plants are located in Pennsylvania, which the Democrats are making great efforts to carry. John L. Lewis, president of the United Mine Workers, who has tined the mine workers up for Roosevelt, 1s leading the drive for the unionization of the steel workers. If the strike comes, Gov. Earle of Pennsylvania, Roosevelt leader, will support the strikers. It looks l? though the sudd smk.em ‘would hlvl: of ect, as thoug gh:mnoom’gtm;edmocnu would be tied in pretty closely with the strikers. ' with the aid of his book of magic form- ulas, he determines the direction irom | which came the particular malady. Then he walks a hundred steps in that direc- tion and throws away the water with which he has washed his patient’s face. When a sick person is at the point of death the lama has him carried out- side the tent, for it is considered a dis- grace for a Mongol to ‘ie except under the open sky. The dead are considered | as impure, and if one should die in & house the building no longer can be used as a dwelling. It is forbidden to carry out the corpse through a door. Instead it must be cafried out through an opening made in the wall. Another method is to construct a second door of straw in front of the regular door. Then the wandering ghost will not be able to recognize the real door after the straw one has been burned, and hence will not be able to return to do harm to the survivors. At the moment of death the lama pulls out a hair from the brow of the dying person so that the soul can make its exit. As soon as death has come the priest places the body in a squatting position with the hands joined, and puts a blue scarf on the head which falls over the face. The relatives also bring their scarfs and supplies of tea, butter and flour for the welfare of the dead. Mpu.rnlng lasts 49 days after a death. During this period shaving is forbidden. When friends meet they do not greet each other, but make a slight bow in silence. * % k% Curious and hitherto unsupected spe- cific effects of wave lengths of visible light on the growth and behavior of plants are reported from the division of radiation and organisms of the Smith- sonian Institution. In the experiment oat seedlings were exposed to the light of an electric lamp which was split up into its constituent wave-lengths by passing through a prism. The exposure was arranged in such a way that only a narrow band of visible wave-lengths of light fell upon each plant, and from a horizontal direction. As was expected by Dr. Enoch Karrer, who conducted the experiment, the seedlings exposed to the blue region were bent toward the source of the illu- mination—the ordinary phenomenon of phototropism. But, in addition, he found the tips of these seedlings were bent toward each other, while in the red region of the spectrum they were bent away from each other. He also noted the following specific effects: The greatest growth in length was in the two regions where were found the greatest convergence and divergence of the tips. The greenest growth was in those plants illuminated only in the orange part of the spectrum. The yellowest growth was in the blue-green region. Roots grew longest in the extreme blue and shortest in the orange-red. The implication of these is that different wave-length bands of light give rise to different forces in the physiology of plant development. This renders much more complex the already extremely complicated relationships of life and light. At different stages of growth a plant may have need of all the wave-lengths in the visible light spectrum, with one or another exerting the dominant influence at any one period. P ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN. A reader can get the answer to any question of fact by writing The Evening Star Information Bureau, Frederic J. Haskin, Director, Washington, D. C. Please inclose stamp for reply. Q. What are the religious affiliations of Gov. Landon and Col. Knox, nominees of the Republican party?—H. R. A. Gov. Landon is a Methodist and Col. Knox is a Congregationalist. Q. How long was Primo Carnera heavy- weight champion?—H. H. I. A. About one year. He won the heavy- weight championship June 28, 1933, in Long Island Bowl by knocking out Jack Sharkey in the sixth round with an uppercut. Carnera lost the title June 14, 1934, when Max Baer won the bout with a technical knockout after 3 minutes and 16 seconds of the eleventh round, when Referee Arthur Donovan stopped the fight to save Carnera from further punishment. Q. What are the emblems which deco= rate the Government's new Central Heating Plant at Washington, D. C.7— B.M. S. A. Carved into the granite and colored appropriately are cuts of a turbine, a boiler and a pump. Q. When did grapefruit cultivation begin in the United States?—A. R. A. About 1900. Q. Do fewer people use the telephone during an electrical storm?—C. 8. A. The number does fall off appreci- ably. Telephone equipment has been so perfected that there is no danger in using it during a storm. Some people prefer not to while other possible users may be occupied in closing windows or in somewise attending to the storm. Q. Is there a monument to Goldsmith Maid, famous trotter?—G. R. A. Goldsmith Maid is buried at Fashion Stud Farm, Trenton, N. J. The monu- ment erected in her memory bears the following inscription: Here lies Gold- smith Maid, queen of trotters for seven years. Born in Sussex County, 1857; died here September 23, 1885. Best record, 2:14 at Boston in 1874; earned $364,200, the world's record. Driven by Bud Doble. Owned by Henry N. Smith. Q. Where are the Barrier JIslands? —H. K. A. They are a group of some 100 islands lying off the South Atlantic mainland of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida, extending approximately from Charles- ton, S. C, to Fernandina, Fla. Q. How many colleges give correspon- dence courses in the Summer?—F. R. W. A. Forty universities continue their correspondence courses throughout the Summer months. Q. Has Richard Strauss composed any new operas?—K. L. A. The famous musician is at present working on two operas, “Der Frieden- stag” and “Daphne,” the former of which is practically completed. Q. How should a bronze tablet be tr;at;d ;o give it a weather-proof finish? A. The National Bureau of Standards says that the best treatment for bronze is to allow it to form its own finish or patina. There is no treatment that can be given to it that is permanent. A transparent lacquer is often used, but this must be renewed at intervals of two or three years. The remains of the old lacquer coating must be removed before renux;i;hm; and this is sometimes quite a 3 Q. What is the new highway in Mexico called in that country?—J. H. NA.xh is known as Camino Nacional 0. Q. Was Patrick Henry offered a posi- 2%1 in President Washington's cabinet? L V. A. He was offered the position of Sec- retary of State, which he declined. Q. What is the authorized limit of men and boys in C. C. C. camps?—L. T. A. The authorized strength is 350,000. The number was about 300,000 on July 1. so about 50,000 are now being permitted to enroll. Q. What is spelter?—R. §. H. A. Spelter is the old commercial name for zinc. _Q. Do more people have defective eye« :‘m;f now than a few generations sgo?— A. An eye specialist says that this is not the case. More people follow occupa- tions now which require close vision. It is also true that more people are aware of the need of glasses and do not neglect this aid to sight. Q. What is the design on the new duck stamp?—M. G. A. Three Canada geese in flight. Q. Which is longer, the present Demo- 'A. The new platform contains 32252 ;g:rzd:, about 652 more than the one in Q. How old is Mme. Curie’s daughter? Has she any children?—S8. F. A. Mme. Irene Joliot-Curie is nearing 40 years old. She has two children, a girl of 9 and a boy 4. Q. How many pure-blood American bis&n gre there outside of North America? A. There are 205 in South America and foreign countries. In North America there are about 22,000. e Collars. From the Woreester Gazette. A trade magazine predicts popularity for a new kind of rubber collar that can be laundered in 10 seconds with a damp cloth. If it's a slogan he wants, we suggest something like, “Be a Collar-a~ Year Man.™ A Rhyme at Twilight By Gertrude Brooke Hamilton Midsummer in Town. ©Overhead a scene of brilliance, Glittering white stars set in blue; In the street the sounds of traffic, Sirens, hoots, a noisy crew; From the parks a pungent fragrance, Trees and flowers drenched in dew. Standing at my open window In the sultry Summer night, Every wind a breath from Heaven, Every lull a fresh delight, Living seems a thing so poignant 1t allows no sense of blight. Life in midtown, pulsing, teeming— Hfled:'thwelndthp'tthm- ) )