Evening Star Newspaper, October 15, 1936, Page 12

THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTO D. C, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1936. A—L2 , THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. THURSDAY October 15, 1936 THEODORE W. NOYES.....cc....Editor — e The Evening Star Newspaper Company. Business Office: 11th 8t and Pennsylvania Ave, New York Office: 110 East 42nd 8t. icago Office: Lake Michigan Buildl Turopean ce: 14 Regent St.. London. Ehtiana, Rate by Carrier Within the City. Regular e Evening Star -45¢ per month -60c per month -70c per month Z755c per month He end of each month. mail or telephone Na- “nal Sta tion Orders may tional 5000. Flept o apd Sunday Siar- ‘.CJHQC lller att be sent by Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virgtnia, fly and Sunday . $10.00; 1 mo., 86c E:u: - ek } ma g unday only. B ) un Member of the Assoclated Press. The Associated Press is exclusively entitled to the use for republication of all news dispatches eredited to it or not otherwise credited in this Paper and also the local news published herein. 1l rights of publication of special dispatches erein are aiso reserved. 1 mo.. i 1 mol, 5.00; 1 mo. Credit Claiming. ‘The President, in good form at Chicago 1ast night, made his direct appeal for the support of business by pointing to the recovery which has taken place and continues to show evidence of sustained improvement since the blackest depths of the depression. Naturally, he gives the credit to his own administration. No one would expect him to do otherwise. The President is campaigning for re-election and no holds at this stage of the game are barred. But it is interesting to note that the credit for business recovery, in the opinion of the President, belongs not to business but to Government. There is the recurrence here of that same philos- ophy, namely, that we owe everything we have to Government and must look to Government for everything in the future, which is at the bottom of much of the criticism of the administration which comes from business. Free enter- prise, which accounts for most progress, s suspicious and jealous of a govern- mental paternalism reserving to itself the exclusive power to judge between what 4s right and what is wrong. And while many of the President’s metaphors last night were amusing and most effectively used, his hearers must have been left somewhat puzzled by his version of some of the facts. The Presi- dent, for instance, attributes some of our troubles to a concentration of “high finance,” which before the New Deal came to the rescue, “refused to permit Government credit to go directly to the industrialist, to the business man, to the home owner, to the farmer. They wanted it to trickle down from the top, through the intricate arrangements which they controlled.” Without going into the business of {dentifying “they,” what was the foun- tain-head before the Roosevelt adminis- tration, and what is the fountain-head today of most of the governmental credit extended to private business, home own- ers, etc? It is the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, under Jesse Jones. That organization was established before Mr. Roosevelt came into office, and it continues today as the agency for the extension of a large part of the credit which, in the opinion of Mr. Roosevelt, has done so much to revive the Nation’s business. On the other hand, what was the agency established as one of the first acts of the Roosevelt administra- tion to pull business out of the hole? Why, the N. R. A. And where Is the N. R. A today? Gone the way of many other expedients and plans of the busi- ness-saving New Dealers. And to their removal many people credit the recovery which began about the time they were knocked in the head. It was Mr. Jones, head of the Repub- lican-created Reconstruction Finance Corporation, who gave to business just this week a message that will be inter- preted as even more encouraging than the President’s speech last night in Chi- cago, Mr. Jones, using radio time spon- sored by the Democratic National Com- mittee, voiced a hope that the Demo- cratic administration would take steps to remove or to modify the tax on un- distributed surpluses, thus making sure that this measure, sponsored by the New Deal, would not penalize recovery, as business fears it will, o8 Radio advertisers who release time in courtesy to the Nation's great orators will have to face the possibility of fan mail protesting that the program as originally planned would have been more entertaining. o The law library which Senator Norris acquired by toil and self-denial and then introduced into Nebraska may come to be regarded as a landmark of civilization, surpassing even Dr. Eliot's five-foot book- shelf. Desperation in Southwestern Europe reveals that many people would rather turn “red” deliberately than be constantly scared into inadvertent pallor. Neighborliness. Yt is & matter worthy of comment when & former Mayor of New York declares that the metropolis has ceased to be neighborly, Perhaps James J, Walker was aware that he would cause a sensa- tion with the words in which he deplored the passing of the old order of friendship among the dwellers of the greatest city of the Western World. In any case, there 1s reason to believe that he was not entirely mistaken in the opinion he proclaimed. Times have changed. It would be use- less to deny the alterations which have made people sheltered under a single roof sirangers to each other, Life is adjusted to a more rapid tempo than it formerly was; life also is more dras- tically complicated. New transit facili- ties have served to scatter once closely [ correlated communities, New types of entertainment and instruction likewise have had a dispersive effect, But more particularly it has been the depression which has driven people away from people. The emergency put every individual on guard against the potential danger constituted by competition for jobs, for money, even for food, Govern- ment relief measures failed to eliminate the fear which multitudes felt. Indeed, it may be wondered if Federal charity has not been one of the most widely influential canses of human isolation in America. It certainly made numbers of families class conscious as they never had been before. Yet the gregarious tendency of the race is not subject to any permanent decline, Men are possessed of an inborn instinct for association with their own species. As normal conditions return, it may be hoped that they will emerge from the anxious shadows into the golden sunshine whose other name is mutuality. The Nation is hospitable at heart, and Mr. Walker is familiar with that fact in a notable degree. -——— The Soviet Purge. Despite its strenuous diplomatic activity in protest against foreign intervention in Spain’s civil war and the constant threat of conflict with Germany or Japan, the Soviet government finds time to con- tinue housecleaning operations at home. ‘When Zinovieff, Kameneff, Smirnoff and a dozen other one-time Bolshevist key men were convicted of treason and executed in August for complicity in a Trotzky terrorist plot, it was supposed that the Moscow purge was fairly com- plete. Now comes the arrest of Karl Radek, since Lenin's days the most brilliant publicist in Russia and long acknowledged as the U. 8. 8. R.s out- standing journalistic spokesman, to prove that the Communist czars do not even yet feel that the ranks of traitor suspects are sufficiently thinned. Stalin thus signals that he will not tolerate in the high command any persons whose 100 per cent devotion to the dictatorship is not indisputably beyond question. Radek has been in virtual eclipse since the trial of the Trotzky conspirators. His name was mentioned in a compromising connection during those amazing pro- ceedings. But in his last published article Radek assailed Trotzky, confessed the error of his own ways and protested his unqualified present loyalty to the Stalin regime. According to the latest accounts, this bid for pardon proved unavailing and Radek was taken into custody. Just what is in store for him has apparently not yet been decided. The expectation is that he, too, will be tried for treason. Nearly all of the original Lenin'adherents and lieutenants have successively been suppressed in one way or another. Trotzky is still in exile in Norway, from which Moscow recently and vainly sought his banishment. Others of the Bolshevist old guard, with only one or two exceptions, have been executed, ex- pelled from "Russia, demoted in the government’s service or are under arrest and on the eve of trial. A prominent trio which awaits determination of its fate includes, besides Radek, the formerly highly respected and influential com- missars Rykoff and Bukharin, Iron-handed despotism, such as holds sway in Moscow, Rome and Berlin, lives in chronic terror, suspicion and alarm. It is not accustomed to tolerate any scintilla of disaffection or disloyalty, nor is it above trumping up evidence to prove even the shadow of wrongdoing by its foes. The anxieties. and fears amid which the Stalins, Mussolinis and Hitlers traditionally exist and govern suggest normally that they are far from invul- nerably intrenched. Russia is probably no exception to the rule. But the purge program under way at Moscow is accom- panied by few tangible signs that the Stalin autocracy, hated and disavowed as it must be in many Soviet quarters, is on its last legs or even in shaky condi- tion. As long as the Red Army's allegiance is unimpaired, Stalinisin seems safely saddled. R Borah is described as a probable winner in Idaho’s senatorial race. Mr. Borah, however his fortunes may vary, must be regarded as one of the most successful favorite sons before the public. One of the questions in the minds of political patronage experts relates to the identity of mnext year's Postmaster General. Loss of Faith. Dr. Charles A. Beard, in the introe duction to his symposium, “Toward Civilization,” declares: “Great enter- prises, whole systems of economy and government, have been dissolved by & loss of the faith in their values, which sustained them.” The sentiment, obviously, is justified. Nor should there be any wonderment about it. It seems self-evident that nothing less than col- lapse should be expected of schemes in which the people no longer have con- fidence. History affords numerous examples of the corrective results of changes in popular psychology. The fall of Rome, for instance, may be obscured by myths and legends of later date than the event itself, but the cause of the debacle appears to have been none other than the disintegration of belief in the im- perial state. Barbarians conquered the mistress of the world when her Latin children ceased to be loyal to her. Tne French revolution, likewise, was & fruitage of skepticism. Careful read- ing of the annals of the age prompts conviction that it was only when the intelligentsia, so-called, ceased to trust the institutions of the ancient regime that the Paris mob had opportunity to work its murderous will upon society. whole generation of less widely famous nihilistic philosophers, who taught the masses their own te.mpernmenul 8gNos= ticism. The same forces, keen observers dis- cover, are in action in the United States today. Depression gave them their chance, and they are taking full ad- vantage of it. The New Deal incon- trovertibly came into power by an ap- peal to pessimism. A glance over the newspaper files of 1932 provides evidence to support the contention that Presi- dent Roosevelt based his whole cam- palgn on criticism of the traditional system which, as he said, necessarily must be replaced by a “crusade to restore America to its own people.” His foes demanded a definition of terms, chal- lenged him to explain his doctrine of “peaceful revolution” through “planned economy.” But he stuck to generalities, was content to rest his cause with the “forgotten man at the bottom of the economic pyramid,” who agreed with him that “the country needs * * * bold, persistent éxperlmenutlon." Victory perched upon his banners. And now the entire electorate is de- bating the issue. The question is: Have the masses the same devotion to reform that they had four years ago? If so, Mr. Roosevelt will be re-elected. If not, he will be defeated by some other leader. But it already is clear that any success- ful opponent must rely for his triumph not so much upon any rational fidelity which the mullions may entertain, but rather upon the disappointment and the disillusionment which they may feel in their hearts. The ebb and flow of faith, everywhere and in all periods, controls the course of life, including politics, ———————— A custom has arisen among news writers of including brief physical de- scriptions of statesmen in action. These are often a trifle uncomplimentary. The custom gives the feminine politicians a shade of advantage, as they are invari- ably described by the sisterhood of print as gracing social occasions as examples of indisputable loveliness. ————e. A lottery is an easy way of raising money, but American sense of propriety is such that innumerable contributors insist on making Europe bear the burden of iniquitous profit. - —————— An indorsement of Landon by Henry Ford recalls the fact that nobody eould be further in sentiment from horse and buggy days than Mr. Ford. ———— Secretary Wallace has quoted from ancient prophets without getting into close practical touch with the modern weather forecasters. R In a recent speech President Roosevelt referred to “Teapot Dome,” which is one way of trying to pour troubled waters on the oil. ot Cheers consume time and contribute no reliable thought. But, it may be men- tioned, so do many platform planks. ———————— Shooting Stars. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON, The Eternal Explanatory. Explaining things! What joy it brings, ‘With different hats in different rings, Tossed in by different candidates ©On whom a listening world awaits. There may be contradictions flat. One man says “This,” another “That.” When some say “No” and others “Yes” The answer may be hard to guess. Explaining things, since times long past! Perpetual motion’s found at last, And human speech that we employ Is a continuous source of joy. For Precedence respect we beg. Who's first, the chicken or the egg? Mankind, from peasants up to kings, Has always been Explaining things! Not to Be Disregarded. “Do you begrudge the time that your audience uses in cheers?” “No,” answered Senator Sorghum, “in spite of my perspicacious elucidation, the cheers may, after all, be the most convincing part of the demonstration.” Modest Request. Richard the Third, in accents coarse, Exclaimed, “My kingdom for a horse!” Yet Richard was a modest man. Had he pursued a modern plan A horse, though to a buggy tied, His wish could not have satisfied. He'd call, when caught in warlike scenes, For airplanes, tanks and submarines. Incidentals. “Are you alarmed by the political tempest around you?” “No,” answered Farmer Corntossel. “What I want is more and better crops. When you are praying for nl_:; you mustn't complain of the thunder and lightning that may happen along with 1> . “We are all eager to civilize one an- other,” said Hi Ho, the sage of China- town, “but have not yet devised & method of doing so painlessly.” Missing Letters. Our problems run to figures -vast And letters stand in great array In the discussion of the past And of the puzzling present day. We often meet a sad surprise When final proof we cannot see, And fail to rest our weary eyes On the initials “Q. E. D.” THE POLITICAL MILL BY G. GOULD LINCOLN. SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., October 16. —Unless all surface indications are at fault, the Far West is Roosevelt's. This narrows the battle for the presidency considerably, particularly in view of the fact that the South appears to be as usual—solidly Democratic. It virtually makes the battlefield the East and the Middle West country. In only States of the great area lying to the West of Kansas does Landon appear to have a look-in at present, They are Colorado and Wyoming. In the other camp appear to be Idaho, Utah, Montana, Nevada, Washington, Oregon and California. Farther to the South, Arizona seems bent on turning in for Roosevelt, while in New Mexico the Republicans are putting up more of a battle, In this great Western country—country that lies beyond the drought area, for the most part—conditions have been improv- ing right along. Not only have these States had millions upon millions of dollars of Federal money expended with- in their limits, which of itself has helped to make business, but the industries and agriculture—which is an industry here— have been going ahead. Cattle and sheep and mining are the principal products of several of the States, And cattle and sheep and mining are doing well, and so are the sugar beets in Colorado and the big potatoes in Iadho. The great majority of those employed in these industries are inclined to give Roosevelt and his policies, both agri- cultural and mining, credit for the im- provement in conditions, and so it goes. These people are not all satisfied, but they are more comfortable than they were, The Democratic campaign from he President down is couched on the proposition that conditions in 1936 are vastly better than they were in 1932. The effort is made to attribute this im- provement to the New Deal and the Roosevelt administration, It is a natural for this campaign, It is effective, Even though there are some who insist that conditions would have improved if Roosevelt had not been President and had not undertaken all the alphabetical experiments of government, the majority are saying: “He did something for us.” This undoubtedly is helping Roosevelt, * X ¥ x The main trouble for the Roosevelt party out here is with the business men— as it is perhaps in other parts of the country., They are making more money than they did a couple of years ago, it is true, in most instances. But these men are thinking ahead. What worries them and turns them against the New Deal is a fear for the future, They don't know, they say, how to plan. They are already feeling the heavy hand of taxation. They say that the Government spending, continued on its present mag- nificent scale, is making it increasingly apparent that within a year or two the Government will be seeking more money, through increased taxation. It cannot g0 on borrowing forever. Nor do they take much stock in the suggestion of the President that increased business is going to be so great that the present rate of taxation will be sufficient to meet the needs of the Government for money. The profits which they are making now do not seem at all secure. They may be easily wiped out. Contractors on big jobs are uncertain, when it comes to figuring costs and profit. The men on wages are not inclined to look so far ahead. They are better off and they thank Roosevelt for it. The farmers are more conservative and hard- headed. But even they are feeling better and inclined to continue with the pres- ent administration, rather than take a chance with a still newer deal. This in contrast to four years ago, when they, along with the rest of the country, were willing to gamble on Roosevelt—on any- thing to get a change from their intol- erable conditions which followed the de- pression and crash of 1929, * Kk X Some of the farmers do not like the quota system, whether in the form of the old A. A. A. or the newer soil con- servation program. If quotas are to be established for one year, how on earth are they to be changed in the next year? It looks like a program that would keep men in status quo—unless through polit- ical favoritism they can have the quotas changed in their interest. Such favor will have to come from Washington or from ‘the political boss in their own State. A quota system for business and industry, it it came, would have the same static effect. It would keep all the big boys big and the small boys small again, unless political favors were handed out. Homesteaders in Colorado and in other ‘Western States are feeling the leveling hand of Washington and do not like it. A considerable number of them have filed in additional lands, only to be told they cannot make a living on these lands. or on the lands which they have been using. * * % * The Republican State Committee in Colorado has not been slow to utilize this policy of the administration in an attack on the New Deal. It has estimated that in the West there are 4,000 families that have been told to get off grazing lands upon which they had filed under a homestead policy that dates back to 1862, when Lin- coln was President. The homesteaders are being ousted, it is charged, because offi- cials in Washington have decided that they cannot make a living on the land. Further, these officials have declined to permit homesteaders who have been prospering to add to their holdings. ‘They have been told that “we have decided you cannot make a living on 640 acres of grazing land on which you have filed. Accordingly we will give you 160 acres of it.” The Republican com- mittee has dug into the records and has made public a long list of cases of this kind, giving the names of the home- steaders in each instance. These Gov- ernment operations, the Republicans hold, are a clear indication of the manner in which it is planned to “regiment” the farmers of the country. They will have to take their cue from Washington, whether they want to or not. With some of the farmers the argument is effective. * ok k% ‘The campaign in the last week has warmed up. ‘The brickbats have begun to fly—with both President Roosevelt and Gov. Alf Landon doing some of the hurling. The two principals have not come to personal attacks upon each other, but the President’s recent speeches in the Middle West have been filled with aspersions on Landon, charging that Landon is trying to be one thing in the East and another in the West, and Landon’s campaign is two-faced. It might occur to the ordinary voter that since the speeches of Landon are broad- cast nationally over the radio, the Re- publican candidate could scarcely ex- pect to keep secret from an Eastern Deal and its spending policies, its: waste and its emnity to business. “I am dedi~ ‘When people go away, as on a vacation, and come back, somehow we expect them to look or be different, but they never are, with the exception of that coat of tan. Tan is acquired consciously, no doubt, to give at least that touch of difference. How easily one falls back into the old routine, how quickly the sun-tan fades! The man from China, he, too, is no different, either; just a few stories and anecdotes, and within a few days he is just the same as if he had never been away. 1t is difficult to say exactly what one expects of. those who have traveled and arrived home again. They should show it some way, in their face, maybe, or their clothing, or what? Just a few stories is not enough, we say, and yet in how could they differ from their old selves? ‘They never differ in character, but come back the same man, to all outward appearances, as when they went away. * k * * So are we to believe traveling, after all, s what some one called it, a fool's paradise? Or are we to think that we expect too much? Going away and coming back again have nothing in their possibilities to amaze us, knock us cold, as the saying is. One may recall a talk with a great fellow who had been to the North Pole; he was a fine old gentleman, with huge, sturdy wrists, but if we hadn't heard, we would not have known he had been there. And we have sat at luncheon with adventurers who have returned from the far places of the earth, Africa and the like, the broad deserts of China. They have been to the most out- rageous places, but if you were to see them walking along the city street and not know where they had been, they would impress you as well set-up fellows, probably foot ball players in their youth, and now successful insurance salesmen. * o K x No doubt we expect too much. Whether or not traveling is a fool's paradise depends on the traveler. But those who stay at home may rest sure of one thing, that what traveling does to the roamers scarce will show on the surface. The day has gone by for the wanderer ®o return in bearskin. There are no more bears, in the main, except in zoos, and bearskin robes are not in style, anyway. Feathers still are in style, if one may judge from the ladies’ hats this Fall What hats, with what feathers! An honest bird would be ashamed of himself to be caught with such feathers as now adorn each lady's new Fall hat. Not because the feathers are pretty, but because fashion ordains them— That is why each pretty lady and each not so pretty lady and each not pretty lady at all has floating triumphantly over her head a monstrosity of a feather in terrible green, hectic red, eve-defying orange or some other too-vivid color. x ox % % Did any returned traveler, from what« ever country, ever see such feathers as these? ‘To think that we do not have to stir out of town to witness this jungle parade that would make even the macaws sit up and take notice! What is most striking about all this is the angle of each feather. Also the length. Perhaps the two go together. The angle is both saucy and impudent, if angle can be 5o, and they can. Usually the feather is long and unhampered. brought forward over the front of the head. ‘Why this forward angle is something of a puzzle, until one notes how, in public places, it stabs some one in the eye. While not quite as dangerous as the old-fashioned hatpin, these feathers can do & nasty job of it, and no doubt will, unless the hat fashions change by Winter. Probably they will. Women'’s fashions are always changing. It is the change which makes them fashionable, one may suppose, Skirt fashions change by running them up and down the ladies’ legs. Years ago skirts were very long, then shorter, then longer, now they are two inches shorter this Fall than last. * ok o % If anecdotes and stories and observa- tions are all travelers are going to bring back with them, let us do our own ob- servations at home and make the best of them. . There go some travelers up there in the sky, real travelers these, but few of us left behind pay much attention to them. Some of us are paying more attention to them year after year as we learn more about them and their interesting ways. These are the migrating birds on their way South. They do not go in flocks, but one by one mostly. If you want to see them, look for them in your own back yard. If you are fortunate, some afternoon just before dark you will see 50 robins, for instance, deployed across the garden looking for worms. But in the main they do not fly in such numbers, these or any other birds. Most of these migrators are on their own, traveling from the far North at this time to the extreme South, and by the latter we do not mean Georgia, or Florida even, but on to Yucatan and farther south still, These are real travelers, all the more so because the distances are simply immense in comparison with the size of these travelers, which take no baggage with them and have no time tables, or meals set on tables for them. but go solely on their own, without guiding hand except the genius of their race, the genuis of all races, of whom the poet told us when he said to the waterfowl: “There is a Power whose care Teaches thy way along that pathless coast— The desert and illimitable air— Long wandering, but not lost. “He who, from zone to zone, Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight, In the long way that I must tread alone ‘Will lead my steps aright.” STARS, MEN AND ATOMS Notebook of Science Progress in Field, Laboratory and Study. BY THOMAS R. HENRY. Guarded from irresponsible intrusion for generations by the supposed blue ghosts of its ancient sleepers in the valley of a jungle river, a possible an- cestral culture of one of earth’s great civilizations has been found in Hon- duras by a joint Bureau of American Ethnology and Harvard University ex- pedition. The archeologists, led by Dr. William D. Strong of the Bureau of Ethnology, found along the Ulua River and one of its tributaries a definite stratification between Mayan artifacts and those of a more primitive but similar type of & considerably earlier date. When Spanish explorers first came to Honduras in the sixteenth century they found & great civilization in its declining days. With its pyramidlike temples, its statuary, its ceramics, its agriculture, its religion and its mathematics, it had been one of the three or four great achieve- ments of human intellect and energy in history. In some ways it was superior to the European civilization of the Span- jards and in some essential respects quite inferior. It has developed independently of other culture centers. It was by far the greatest achievement of aboriginal America. Of late years the ruins of Mayan civili= zation have been explored extensively by archeologists and there has come out of their labors a fairly clear picture of the daily life of the people. But it seemed to have come into being in full flower, Its earliest remnants were almost as good as those of its highest period. Where did it come from? What lay behind this great explosion of man’'s genius in a feverish tropical land? There have been only a few questionable clues. In 1929 the late Mrs. Dorothy M. Popenoe, former Department of Agri- culture botanist, who then was living in Honduras, became intrigued by native stories of the “playas des los muertos,” or “beaches of the dead,” along the Ulua. This swift stream for generations had been cutting a deeper and deeper chan- nel and for some time past had been exposing ancient graves 20 feet or more below the surface. The bones of an ancient and mysterious people were found protruding from its banks or lit- tering its temporary beaches. The depth at which they were buried showed that an incnlculabl:d time must have passed since they died. Nativesygreatly feared these beaches of the dead. Strange blue lights, pos- sibly some phosphorescent effect, floated over them at night. They thought these were the ghosts of the ancient dead guarding their own graves. The places were shunned by the living. They were almost inaccessible. Mrs. Popenoe caused herself to be low- ered by ropes over the 20-foot bank of the river and in this way gathered a great deal of skeletal material of the mysterious “beaches of the dead” peo- ple. These old bones were difficult to interpret. They had rested so long under the great weight of 20 feet of earth that they were badly broken and distorted. Mrs. Popenoe’s work was halted by her death, with the problem unfinished. Now it so happened that the beaches of the dead were on the edge of the area of Mayan civilization and might afford some clue to its . When Dr. Strong, accompanied by Alfred Kid- der, 2d, and Drexel Paul, jr., of the Pea~ body Museum of Harvard, arrived on the Ulua last Spring they found that the sites explored by Mrs. Popenoe had been completely obliterated by floods. This turned out in the end to be a for- tunate circumstance. Along the river bank they sunk a P o, St eoes ik eiarmme s S President nor Gov. Landon would make a trip into the Far West before election day. They both realize that the battle will be won or lost in the Middle West and the East. D 20-foot trench. At the bottom they found clear evidences of an ancient cul- ture without skeletons—fragments of pottery, jade ornaments, old house sites and refuse heaps. The pottery was espe- cially significant. It was decorated with designs clearly of the Maya type, al- though less elaborate. It was all of one color and never showed the polychrome design associated with authentic Mayan pottery. Above these remains was a layer of tlay about two meters thick. Above this layer was another deposit of potsherds— but this time characteristically Mayan. Here was what the archeologist seeks above all else—stratification, or remains of one culture on top of another. It provides the time sequence of pre-his- tory. It must have taken & long time, probably centuries, for the clay layer between the two deposits to have been laid down. That would be the time sep- arating the two cultures. It was like a book with a score of pages torn out of the middle. Dr. Strong and his party then under- took to find those missing pages. They partly succeeded at another site along the Comayagua River, one of the tribu- taries of the Ulua. There they found remains of an apparent transition stage where the “beaches of the dead” style of pottery seemed to be shading off into the Maya type. ‘There seems to be little question. says Dr, Strong, that the beaches-of-the-dead culture was prior to and probably an- cestral to the Mayan. It was similar to it, considerably simpler, and preceded it in time. There still are missing links, however, which must be found before the thesis can be fully established. T Old Stormalong Sims. From the Toledo Blade. It has been said that Admiral Sims was the stormy petrel of the Navy, but that is an inaccurate appraisal of the man. The stormy petrel appears before, or with, the storms. Admiral Sims cre- ated the storms which time and again broke around his head on account of “most insubordinate criticism” of poor Navy gunnery and faulty construction of battleships. ‘The publication of such criticism would not have been permitted in any country other than the United States and Sims, then a minor officer, made them public only after his official re- ports and recommendations had been ignored and suppressed by brass-bound, know-it-all superiors. Then President Theodore Roosevelt, man of action, or- dered Sims to come home from China and take charge of Navy target prac- tice, mdke good in 18 months or lose his official head. Sims made good. American gunners who had averaged only 13 per cent hits against 80 per cent hits by the British, became the world’s best gunners. Equal improvement was made in the construc- tion of battleships, and during the World ‘War Admiral Sims rendered most dis- tinguished service in command of the United States Fleets in the war zone. Admiral Sims possessed both physical and moral courage. He was a construc- ve critic and a great executive officer, courageous and efficient in action and equally courageous and efficient when he dared to expose weaknesses in the Navy which might have made effective action impossible. < . Peanuts and Pellagra. From the Nashville Banner. Georgia is preparing to get behind the idea of making peanut meal palatable as human food to. end the pellagra scourge on the one hand and end the peanut surplus on the other. }/ 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. Why is President Roosevelt no longer impersonated on the March of Time pro- gram?—E. H. A. The March of Time has complied with the President’s request not to simu- late his voice on this program. Q. Was the Louisville, Ky., ball team in the National League a second time after resigning in 1878?—K. R. A. It re-entered the league in 1892 and resigned in 1900. It was during this period that Honus Wagner and Fred Clarke broke into major league base ball with Louisville, Q. What is the enrollment at the Casey Jones School of Aeronautics in Newark, N.J2—H. M. A. The total enrollment of students this Fall is over 400. Q. What does Brazil mean?—F. C. A. The name of the South American country is derived from a Portuguese word, braza, meaning live coal, in refer- ence to the color of its dyewoods. Q. How large is the hall in which trad- ing on the New York Stock Exchange is conducted?—E. M. A. The hall of the exchange is more than 100 feet wide, 183 feet long and 79 feet high. Q. What is meant by Cinque Cento?— H. M A. This term is used to describe that period of the Italian Renaissance between 1500 and 1600. It is applied particularly to the artistic styles prevalent at that time, and especially to the classicism of the high Renaissance. Q. Is Sir James Jeans married?—E. H. A. The noted astronomer is married to Susi Hock, Viennese musician, Q. Are many Indians engaged in mak- ing and selling baskets, rugs. jewelry and other typical handicraft?—H. N. A. The Indian population is about 000. In 1935 approximately 20,000 we; producing and selling baskets. beadwori: blankets, rugs, pottery.and jewelry. Q. How many people does it take to make a Mickey Mouse cartoon?—L. F. A. Four hundred employes are requ to turn out one Mickey Mouse car and one Silly Symphony each mor Q. Please explain jiujitsu—H. M. A. Jiujitsu means literally the art of making one’s opponent us® his strength to his own disadvantage. It is not a system of muscle building by phy: training, but rather a means of offsetti the effectiveness of powerful muscles perforn the most simple but skillful maneuvers. It is a scientific application of the knowledge of the weaker spots in the human anatomy to offensive and defensive. [Every trick that would be accounted “foul” in wrestling and boxing is the height of excellence in jiujitsu. This science is taught to every officer and enlisted man of the Japanese armv. navy and police force. The United States Government has recognized its impor- tance by having it taught at West Point and Annapolis as a special training. Q. What was the value of the late Huey Long's estate?>—E. J. A. The estate is estimated at $153,588 Q. Is Guy Massey, composer of “The Prisoner's Song,” living?—W. L. H. A. Guy Massey died in San Anton! 1925, Q. Who first produced coagulen?— M. R. 'A. It was discovered by Theodor Kocher of Bern. Q. Do most of the boys in the C. C. C. camps enroll in study courses?—J. G. A. Three-fourths of the boys in the Civilian Conservation Corps camps are enrolled in courses ranging from firsy grade to college. Q. Is Jack Johnson on the stage?— A R. A. The former heavyweight champion recently made his debut as an Ethiopian general in “Aida” with the Hippodrome Opera Co. Q. How much money did Hetty Green's son leave?—F. R. W. A. The estate of Col. Edward H. R. Green is estimated at $80,000,000. Q. Please give some information about the Nibelungenlied.—E. J. A. This historic poem is known as the German Iliad. It is the only great na- tional epic that European writers have produced since antiquity. The poem is divided into two parts and 32 lieds, or cantos. The first part ends with the death of Siegfried, and the second part with the death of Kriemhild. The death of Siegfried and the revenge of Kriemhild have been celebrated in popular songs dating back to the lyric chants now a thousand years old. Q. Is there a monument to the first person who ate a tomato?—G. W. A. In Newport, R. L, there is a monu- ment to Michael Felice Corne inscribed, “To the first man to eat & tomato.” Q. Who was and where lived the author of the Jewish national hymn, Ha-Tikvah (The Hope) ?—D. A. H. A. The author was Naphtali Herz Imber, who cied in New York. v ——— Hiccups. From the Jacksonville Journal. § A physician recommends standing on the head to cure hiccups. But, doc, a person rarely has a severe attack of hic- cups until his condition is such that he can hardly stand on his feet. Needless. From the Lowell Leader. So far as popular identification goes, it occurs to us that the inclusion of Shirley Temple in the latest edition of Who's Who in America is superfluous. A Rhyme at Twilight By Gertrude Brooke Hamilton Out of the Past. One memory shines, & bright, fixed star Pervading all my thinking; Its rays become a saving spar To which I cling when sinking. It shines by day as well as night, I travel by its gleaming; And as I rest in soft twilight It permeates my dreaming. It “s’}*:‘eds & clear light on my path en turns become - Buch memories are the aRermath Of ways that were not vexing. N | > A