Evening Star Newspaper, October 25, 1936, Page 32

D—2 THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D C SUNDAY .. October 25, 1936 THEODORE W. NOYES...........Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company. Business Office: St and Pelnlnlfy Chicago Office: Leke Mic! a Ave 4 nfl‘ 8t Europeap Office: 14 Regent St on “Buiiding, ondon En Engiana . Rate by Carrier Within thc City. Kegular Edition. 45c per month 6Cc per month h 65c_per month The' Sunday Star—- e ver cony Nisht Final Edity ight Pinal and Sunday Star 70¢ per month ollection made at the en Sers may be sent by mail or telephone Na- tional 5000 Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryiand and Virgiola fly and Sunday. E:nv only unday only. ANl Other States and Canada. Datly and Sunday__] yr.. $12.00; 1 mo. $1.00 iy 3 Bundar- -1 I5 S38001 1 mo. ® 48e inday” ot 00i 1 mo.. 60 " Member of the The Assoclated Press 1s exclusively entitled to the use for republication of all news dispatches credited to it or not otherwise credited in this paper and also the local news published herein. All rights of oublication of special dispatches herein are also reserved Farley’s Prophecy. On the 9th of January last James A. Farley, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, addressed that body at its meeting held in this city to make arrangements for the holding of the con- vention of the party. In the course of his remarks he said: “Our opponents will make this the bitterest and certainly the dirtiest political struggle that any of us here can remember.” He added: “This will be a campaign of defamation, financed by the largest slush fund on record, contributed for the most part by those who have neither public con- science nor private scruples.” The campaign up to this point has been far short of Chairman Farley’s prediction on both counts. He did not specify or clearly indicate what he meant by the phrase “dirtiest political struggle that any of us here can re- member.” The implication, however, was plain that he expected the “cam- paign of defamation” to be couched in terms of malevolent personal abuse of candidates. In fact, however, there has been remarkably little of that sort of thing up to this time and the campaign will doubtless close in the same vein. Those opposed to the re-election of the President have mainly pitched their attack in the key of criticism of his policies and the influences with which _heissurrounded. They have accused him of seeking the subversion of the estab- lished form of Government in this coun- try by the adoption of measures of ad- ministration contrary to the principles of constitutional government and of ac- uiring dictatorial powers under pretense of meeting a national emergency. . They have criticised his enormous expendi- tures in the name of relief, which have had the effect of accumulating an enormous deficit and the piling up of an indebtedness that will require a crushing taxation for a long period with resultant demoralization of business and a heavy addition to the cost of living. In these assaults upon the administra- tion none has been more bitter in de- nunciation than those Democrats who have revolted against what they have termed the betrayal of their party in the repudiation of the platform upon which Mr. Roosevelt was elected in 1932. The most scathing terms of criticism have been uttered by these Democrats rather than by the Republicans. It may be that Mr. Farley had these men in mind when he forecast the “dirtiest po- litical struggle” in the memory of the members of the Democratic National Committee, though they, in fact, have not engaged in the political pastime of what is known as mud slinging. Upon the whole, the campaign has been remarkably clean in point of per- sonalities and vituperation. There have been no “smears” of the personal char- acters of the opposing candidates. Some attempt has been made to cast reflec- tions upon Mr. Landon in respect to his conduct of the office of Governor of ‘Kansas—that typical prairie State the characterization of which with that phrase by Mr. Farley has boomeranged to his own discomfiture. Governor Landon has been assailed without effect for alleged relations with oil combines in the course of his career as a pro- ducer, for his closing of a number of schools in Kansas at the instance of the State Board of Education, and for his dispatch of militia to the scene of a strike at the request of the local au- thorities. These charges have been “duds.” He has not been attacked on personal grounds. As for the “largest slush fund on record” which Mr. Farley forecast, it has been completely discounted by the use of public funds expended for direct “relief and indirect relief in the guise of @ wide variety of works of more or less questionable character. For every dollar the Republicans have raised, from the small change of individuals to the large sums of “economic royalists,” the Demo- cratic campaign has been the beneficiary of a hundred dollars, perhaps a thousand dollars, from this source. Chairman Farley may not repent his prophecy of last January, even though it has been so plainly refuted by the facts. _If he has a quarrel with the political opponents of the administration, it is with those of his own party who have rebelled against what they term the vio- lation of Democratic trust by its leaders. Autumn Is Free. This is the time when Nature stages her best of shows—the multi-colored pageant of Autumn just now is at its apogee of beauty. A certain marvelous richness characterizes the picture. Gold -and green, red and brown and yellow, skies blue and bright with the sun—all these elements are assembled to make the composition glorious beyond the power of words to tell. Perhaps the painter is only that principle which some 5 THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, OCTOBER 25, 1936—PART TWO. have called the law-of mathematics; perhaps the miracle of it might be re- solved into fractions, but a numerous public will prefer to think of it as a manifestation of the genius of an artist with human as well as heavenly at- tributes. i The spectacle appears to have been intended to appeal to people. Men and women unskilled in the articulate ex- pression of appreciation respond to it. Democracy is inherent in its claim upon the heart. It needs no explanation. Even its grandeur requires no apology. It simply is. The philosopher regards it as a permanent value in an Earth where many other lovely things unfortunately are ephemeral. It comes unbidden, re- mains throughout its customary span, fades into Winter gradually and quietly. But it is reliable. The significance of it is that of fulfillment. It is the harvest season in the noblest sense of the phrase. And no ticket of admission is demanded for inspection of it. One may enjoy it as one rides to work of a morning or rides home again when evening falls. Every tree, every bush, every patch of lawn is part of the wonder of it. The air is filled with its indefinable music. The smallest child reacts to the magic of its melody. Yet the most gifted of poets has failed to translate its harmonies into language. It cannot be caught in a printed page. All that is feasible, then, is to plead for a keener comprehension of its meaning. The year grows old, hu- manity matures, and the relation between those two fragments of circumstance is an affair of the soul. It may be discussed in terms of that instinct toward liberty well used and well rewarded which is of God. e Planes for John Bull. Of far graver immediate importance than any fine points of neutrality law that may be involved are the political considerations that lie behind Great Britain's plans to draw extensively upon American industry to replenish her air force. Although domestic plants have been speeded up to keep pace with the re- armament program ashore, afloat and aloft, it suddenly develops that facilities for aircraft production are inadequate, requiring the government to turn to the United States. In addition to reported ordering of several hundred planes of various types from leading manufac- turers here, British builders have ac- quired certain American basic patents for propellers and other essential equip- ment and are already fabricating them under royalty arrangements. In the in- terested service departments at London no secret is made of the fact that air rearmament projects cannot be executed on the contemplated scale or within scheduled time without recourse to American resources. One of the inci- dental reasons, which throws significant light on British industrial recovery, 1s | a shortage of skilled workmen in the air- craft trades. Since Germany's return to the status of a first-class military power, with un- disguised emphasis on ‘the air branch, Great Britain has turned her attention to the creation of a formidable air force of her own. She has been brought to realize that the Reich of the Hitler- Goering air era constitutes as much of a menace to British insular security as German sea power did in pre-war days. It is this modern danger-that inspired Prime Minister Baldwin to proclaim two yvears ago that the Rhine has become Great Britain’s “frontier.” Since he said that the Germans have advanced their armed lines considerably nearer the English Channel by remilitarizing the Rhineland. Within the past fortnight two other things have happened to make the Brit- ish government and people conscious that Germany is an uncomfortably close neighbor. Belgium has decided to forego, sooner or later, any alliance commit- ments to her old friends in Western Europe, requiring both Great Britain and France vitally to readjust their plans for defense against another German attack. The right to use Belgian terri- tory for air bases has bulked conspicu- ously in Anglo-French strategy in the event of future war. On the heels of the Belgian development comes the Italo-German entente, with its prospect of united military, naval and air action in the next European emergency. Bri- tannia’s memory of the Italian air peril to her “supreme” fleet in the Mediter- ranean during the Ethiopian crisis " is still painfully fresh. What German air bombers did to London and other British communities during the World War is no less indelible. The London government's concern over its aircraft needs is thoroughly compre- hensible. If American industry can minister to them without jeopardy to the Hefense requirements of the United States Army and Navy, British orders will undoubtedly be welcomed in this country. They are legitimate far-sighted measures of preparedness. ————————_ Post card politicians are sending out market quotations, often influenced by speculative drives to prove prosperity. And yet some wise people continue to say that it is wrong to gamble. The Iron Horse Still Serves. In these times of round-the-world travel in a few days, trans-continental plane flights in a few hours, rapid train transit is not-so much of a marvel as once it was. Yet there are accomplish- ments in the way of speedy transit on the rails that show that progress in this fleld of travel is still being made, and at a rate to effect a resumption of competi- tion for patronage by those in haste. A train on the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy line has just made a run between Chicago and Denver, a distance of 1,027 miles, in twelve hours and twelve min- utes. That is a new record for rail travel, better by fifty-two and a half minutes than a previous performance. The train, a stream-lined combination of eight coaches, averaged 83.6 miles an hour on the run, as against the former record of 77.6 miles. There are those who remember with somewhat of a thrill the accomplishment of the mile-a-minuté railroad speed on regular service. When that was done travelers who experienced it boasted of their participation in such a performance, But it was exceptional and rare. It called for the utmost in the way of high- pressure firing of the locomotive, for the soundest equipment and the firmest road bed. The hammer blows of the driving' wheels upon the rails were potential of grave danger. The evolution of the engine power has eliminated the hammer blow and road beds have been greatly improved. Speed is no longer as dangerous as it was in the early “mile-a-minute” days. Coaches are constructed of lighter but more durable materials. Switches are more dependable. Train dispatching is more exactly controlled. Automatic train stops assure protection against collision. In short, in every feature of railroading there has been improvement, to the end of assurance of security for the traveler as well as better service. ‘To those in a great hurry or those who desire novelty the air lines are preferable to the surface lines. Yet the trains after some depletion of patronage are again carrying “pay loads” in consequence of betterments in the service, curtailments in the travel time and the assurance of greater safety. The railroad is not obso- lescent and it will continue to enjoy its deserved share of public patronage so long as it advances in efficiency of serve ice, while maintaining a high standard of safety. ——————— In the complicated mathematics in- volved in New Deal arithmetic symbols are, of course, employed to denote num- bers. Senator Barkley of Kentucky has not found time, in his various activities, to elucidate exactly how many pigs it would take to make a handful such as he referred to in an early campaign speech. The suggestion that this city imitate London to the extent of designating a public space where orators of all shades of artistic thought may say what they choose might be useful in a practical way if police arrangements could be made to have each speaker fingerprinted and photographed for future reference. Jules Verne wrote “Around the World In Eighty Days,” but lacked imagination to portray the terrifying experiences and observations in a trip of the same length made in a much shorter time at present. ——————— As years advance some of the Euro- pean political leaders are forced to look around for a good “second-string man” to keep the works going in case of emergency. —_——————— Referring to the taxpaying public as a foot ball of bureaucracy, Al Smith intro- duces to the astonished imagination the idea of billions of dollars’ worth of foot ball. —_—re———— A song and dance by radio cannot exclude the serious reminder that an unbalanced budget, reaching into every home. ——————————— Al Smith has discarded one phase of his old reputation. After listening to him for five minutes nobody calis him a happy warrior. ——e— A heckler has his use in offering a little physical diversion for a crowd that is filled with the idea of throwing some- body out. Shooting Stars. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Suspense. ‘What is the sound so gently heard? “November 3rd.” Which keynote, as they lose or win, Will be cashed in! How many new jobs men will hold, Or lose the old? ‘We bow unto the mystic word, “November 3rd.” It holds the answer long deferred, “November 3rd.” On Sunday there are prayers to say And one more day Brings Tuesday when we’ll cease to smile And all be anxious for a while. Will it prove solemn or absurd? “November 3rd.” Economy. “Do you think more pay roll economy should be practiced?” “I do” answered Senator Sorghum. “It ought to be easy to send out and get back the dollar-a-year men who during the war were all over the place.” Word Play. Oft we have hidden our distress By word disguise effectual; To make dishonesty seem less We call it “intellectual.” Our strikes as “holidays” are known, And even things statistical May by the alphabet be shown In terms quite euphemistical. Earnings. “The stock market quotations indicate better earning capacity.” “Of course,” said Mr. Dustin Stax. “People just naturally have to earn more in order to pay the increased profits on our investments.” “A dishonest man,” sald Hi Ho, the sage of Chinatown, “must at last be cheated himself, since he is forced into companionship with experts in dis- honesty.” . Barbecurious! Had a little barbecue. . It was a splendid treat. A revelation plain and true Of how some folks may eat. The proletariat, in its place, To eat tough cuts would join, While politiclans offered grace And took the tenderloin. “A hen lays eggs” said Uncle Eben, “and a rooster crows: Dem dat does de least work is liable to make de nolse” & like the music, is. Social Security Plan is Menaced With Collapse BY OWEN L. SCOTT. Election excitement is screening what promises to become the most resounding crack-up in the history of New Deal ex- periments. This time, Mr. Roosevelt's pet experiment, social security, is in- volved. For the last few months the Social Security Board has realized that it was playing with political dynamite. Only careful handling has kept the explosive from blowing up in the hands of Gov- ernment officials prior to November 3. The first sign of impending develop- ments is contained in notices now being posted in factories and business estab- lishments over the country. These notices tell employes that, be- ginning on January 1, deductions of 1 per cent will be made from their wages to support a national system of old-age insurance. In addition, employers will be called on to contribute 1 per cent of total pay rolls. Later these deductions and contributions rise grldually to a total of 6 per cent. * K ok K But those notices are only the surface signs of a growing story. Back of them is a problem of administration that has the officials staggered even before it begins and that is leading to inside bets that the plan now on the statute books, designed to force 26,000,000 Americgn workers to save for old age, will quickly collapse of its own weight. Evety one of those millions of workers must become a number before January 1. That job in itself is huge. Yet for fear of reminding working people of the little surprise that the Government has mn store for them this job was put off until after election. As a result the Government must, between November 3 and January 1, register every worker in the land, except agricultural workers and domestic help. Each one of the millions will be called upon to give five facts about his life and to each one will be assigned a num- ber that henceforth will represent his title to a personal savings account de- signed to support him in his old age. * X X ¥ Difficult as is this task of signing up American workers and getting them properly tagged, it is simple compared with what then is to follow. Thereafter the Government must see that deductions are made from every pay envelope of every employe in the land and that those deductions—augmented by employer contributions—are sent to Washington and properly entered on each of 26,000,000 separate accounts. Because the annuity that comes later depends upon the amount that every single individual earns in every single week of every year, entries will need to be made on 26,000,000 accounts 52 times a year, with compound interest figured for each of the totals twice each year. Individual savings, figured to the penny, are expected to average about 25 cents a week, with another 25 cents coming from employers. The detail involved in this operation is described as colossal—over-shadowing any administrative operation yet under- taken by any government anywhere. B In fact, it is a job that many respon- sible officials say cannot be done. They are privately predicting a blow-up with wide repercussions and an administra- tive jam that may take a long time to straighten out. And as a sign that the Social Security Board itself is stumped, there is the fact that a delay of six months is planned in the requirement that employers make weekly reports on the earnings of every individual in the land. Millions of American workers move from job to job and from city to city, many of them crossing the Nation in a year. Hundreds of thousands of American employers are in business one day, out of business the next. Yet the Government now is charged with the task of recording every dollar earned in the lifetime of every individual and of collecting a slice of every one of those dollars from every employer—and of policing the whole set-up to make sure that deductions are proper and entries on the millions of savings accounts are correct. * % X % ‘The only tangible evidence of indi- vidual employes that the money to be taken from their pay envelopes is being saved in their names will be the title to a number. The only assurance against juggling by unscrupulous individuals among employers will be fgith in the ability of Uncle Sam to police between 3,000,000 and 4,000,000 employer accounts. And what does the individual worker get out of the system if it can be made to work? The answer depends on the earnings he has made during his lifetime, on the correctness of Government accounting and on the honesty of individual em- ployers. For five years after next January, there is to be a period of accumulation during which no payments are made. It is in this period that a fund is to be built, from the interest on which annuities are to be paid. If an individual now is 60 years old and earning at the rate of $1,000 a year, he will be entitled in 1942—if he quits work —to an annuity of about $17 a month, which will be -paid to him for the re- mainder of his days. Or, if now 45 and earning $100 a month, he would have saved enough by the time he was 65 to draw $32.50 a month, pro- vided he quit work. Again, if now 22 and able to earn an average of $3,000 a year for the next 43 years, the individual would be entitled to an annuity of $85 a month at the end of that time. This is the maximum called for under the plan. * ok ok X 5 But what of the individual who has nof been included in the plan, either because he hasn't worked, or because he is in one of the exempt classes? For him the Government makes im- mediate provision. If he has saved noth- ing, has made no sacrifices, has had no thought of the future, he can get as much as $30 a month as a pension for the remainder of his life, if past 65 and in a State with a State old-age pension sys- tem. Not only that, but, if married, he and his wife can draw as much as $60 each month between them, with the Fed- eral Government contributing $30 of the amount. In other words, the Government is making much more liberal provision for the aged destitute of the country than it is for the workers of today who will build up their own annuity system. The system scheduled to go into ef- fect on January 1, with its highly intri- cate accounting, simply is a program of forced saving designed to provide a lit- tle something for the aged individual worker, depending on the amount of his earnings during a lifetime. It is that principle of basing a plan of old age assistance on the amount of individual earnings, of requiring every worker to build his own little retirement fund, that injects complications into the social security * ¥ % X Those complications are not all techni- cal, judged by the studies of independent ‘The studies make a point of the fact AN INDIVIDUAL EXPERIENCE BY THE RIGHT REV. JAMES E. FREEMAN, D. D, LL. D, D.C. L, BISHOP OF WASHINGTON. 4 The deep convictions that affect our judgment and usually determine our course of action ‘come largely as the result of personal experience. It is frequently difficult for us to define, even to our own consciousness, the reasons why we pursue a given course. In the main, the great decisions that we reach in life are effected through some incident or set of circumstances that attend us in the pursuit of our daily tasks. Those about us, even those most intimately related to us, may not be able to compre- hend our changed course of action. A notable example of this is recorded in the twenty-second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, wherein Saul of Tarsus, a scholar and an antagonist of the early Christian church, meets with an experi- ence on the road to Damascus that changes the whole eourse of his life, making him the most dominant advocate and protagonist of the Christian faith and that at a time when to espouse it meant persecution if not martyrdom. One of the most significant statements’ he makes in connection with this extraor- dinary experience is as follows: “They that were with me saw indeed the light, and were afraid; but they heard not the voice of Him that spake to me.” In this he affirms that the miraculous experience he had was solely personal to Jhimself. ‘Those about him were clearly conscious that something out of the common had happened to their leader and they were awed by that which they could not under- stand. Their ears were insensitive to the voice that arrested him and changed the whole course of his future action. To Saul this incident was more than the manifestation of a light that be- wildered him. It was the voice that challenged him that brought from his responsive lips the answer, “What shall I do, Lord?” Doubtless his changed course of life was wholly misunderstood * by his companions. Long experience has taught us that men and women come to the crisis in their lives, crises that affect their whole habit and practice, not because of the impact made upon them of what is commonly called mass psychology, but rather through a sudden or long- continued apprehension of the purpose and ministry of Jesus Christ. We fully recognize the influence generated by a crowd deeply moved by the persuasive utterance of a great preacher, but a conviction that issues in a vital personal faith comes in the main through personal experience of the incomparable value of that which the great Master taught and exemplified. Much of the appeal of religion today is designed for the crowd rather than the individual. All our planning contem- plates the effect it may produce upon the mass rather than upon the individual. Much if not most of the effort of the church is impersonal rather than per- sonal. We have largely reversed the methods of the Master himself. He dealt with the individual more than with the crowd. He changed lives through intimate contact with them and through a persuasion and winsomeness that were irresistible. He exemplified a method that must be recovered, if the Christian church is to effect results issuing in a more dynamic faith and practice. It was to Saul, and Saul alone, that the voice spake that convinced him of the error of his way. He was singled out for a great purpose and through him far- reaching changes were effected. It is inevitably true, and the long his- tory of the church certifies it, that where one individual is completely converted to the Christian cause he becomes a regenerating factor to those whose lives he touches. ‘The whole story of the growth and de- velopment of the Christian church wit- nessed to revivals and reformations that have issued from a mighty change effected in the life of some individual. We need the mass movements, but we also need a fresh emphasis upon a ministry that is definitely designed to present its high claims to the individual. Religion is an individual experience and the practice of the ministry of Jesus is one that needs fresh recognition in our present world. Our individual experience of the value of the Christian faith will be strengthened and enriched just in so far as we seek to interpret it by word and act to those with whom we have fellow- ship day by day. Fifty Years Ago In The Star Half a century ago the Socialists in London were demonstrating in advocacy : . of “reform” legislation Disorders in and occasioning much disorder. The Star of the Streets. October 30, 1886, com- menting on this situation, says: “It is a very common error which the Socialist Committee in London has fallen into as to the right of everybody to the use of the public streets, irrespective of time and circumstances. The same mis- take is made daily in the large cities in this country, when political, social and religious bodies want to indulge in what they call a ‘demonstration’ and are re- fused the privilege. The streets of a city are public property, it is true; but that does not mean that any one citizen or collection of citizens has a right to use a street to the exclusion or inconvenience of other citizens. except by permission of the authorities to whom the laws com- mit its care. If any other rule were recognized there would be nothing to | prevent an American maker of patent medicines frcm painting his advertise- ment on the front of every post office building owned by the United States. Such buildings are public property in the broadest possible sense, and every citizen who pays taxes and does jury duty in the Federal courts and otherwise fulfills all his obligations to the Government is one of its proprietors. This gives him absolutely no privileges, however, beyond free access to the corridors and public reception rooms of the buildings at such hours as the official custodian desig- nates.” * * “The latest sleeping car horror,” says The Star of October 30, 1886, referring to 2 a railroad disaster Sleeping Cars in Wisconsinin which thirteen per- asleath Lraps. sons were killed, *“only adds one more to the long catalog of proofs that this class of vehicles are, in certain circumstances, mere gilded pyres. It is the old story of the oil lamp and the coal stove. Nothing but & desire for big dividends keeps such antiquated apparatus in use by a rich railway company. If creosoted timber, tungstate sizing and mineral paint were used instead of the gum-chatged natural woods, for ornamental purposes, the heating done by exhaust steam by the locomotives or by one of those processes of chemical evolution which have been tried with success in Europe and the cars lighted by gas, the pipes and burners being all outside and the rays trans- mitted through adamantine glass tran- soms set in the cornices, the perils of travel from one source, at least, would be reduced to a minimum. But this would cost money and the sum laid out on it would diminish the incomes of the stockholders to some extent or else cut down the princely salaries of the presi- dents and other officers. It might also interfere with the artistic beauty of the cars. But that is of comparatively small importance; for a human being, in pres- ence of the most horrible death known to Nature, is not likely to measure his surroundings by the standards set up by John Ruskin or Sir Charles Eastlake.” e that the mass of American workers never have been able to save, and if forced now to do 8o by their Government, then the savings will need to come out of their standard of living, which already is at the subsistence level. After a lifetime of sacrifice, these low-income workers would have accumulated far from enough to give them as much of a pensiorr as they could get under existing State pension systems that make provision for the aged destitute. Until now most criticisms of the com- ing natfonal system of old age insurance have been aimed at the huge reserves to be " accumulated. Those reserves are scheduled to reach $47,000,000,000. They tbooks of in- dividual workers, through pay roll taxes, But again there is inside official skepti- cism. Bets are being made that, even if administrative difficulties could be over-, come, the annuity plan would break down long before it became fully effec- tive, owing to political pressures opposed to application of the full 6 per cent pay- Not at all. The very predicting a collapse of the plan, as now on the statute books, are busy with de- Capital Sidelights BY WILL P. KENNEDY. There is marked antithesis between | Representative Stephen W. Gambrill of Laurel, Md., and Roscoe C. Rowe of An- napolis, who are pitted against each other in the congressional contest in the fifth Maryland district. Gambrill is of the old school and comes from historic stock which helped to de- velop the State. He was educated at Maryland Agricultural College, now the University of Maryland, and is a gradu- ate of the law department of Columbian University, now known as George Wash- ington University. He has been practic- ing law for 39 years and saw service in both branches of the State Legislature before coming to Congress, 12 years ago. Rowe was born on an Indiana farm, and after graduation from high school enlisted in the Navy. He served through all the enlisted branches of the Hospital Corps, retiring as an officet of that { branch. He spent several tours of shore duty in Annapolis and married a native of that city. Their eldest son subsequent- ly graduated from the Naval Academy and is now an officer with the Pacific Fleet. While on duty in Annapolis as an enlisted man Rowe attended the Uni- versity of Maryland Law School, gradu- ating in 1924. He served two terms as city counselor of Annapolis and is now State's attorney for Anne Arundel County. Anne Arundel County, by the way, was named after the wife of Cecilius, second Lord Baltimore, and was founded in 1650. Howard County, where Gambrill was born. was founded in 1651 and named for Col. Juhn Eager Howard, the elder. o o % Maryland has a population of 1,663.000 and an area of 12,300.21 square miles, nearly one-fourth of which is water. It received its original charter in 1634 and was founded by Cecilius Calvert, Lord Baltimore. It was named after Queen Henrietta Maria, wife of Charles I of Eng- land. The first settlement was St. Marys. It was one of the thirteen original Col- onies. It has more river frontage than any other State in the Union. It has 15 principal rivers and 10 important mountains—the highest is Mount Back- bone, 3,320 feet; Negro Mountain is next, 2,908 feet; then come Kaiser Ridge, 2,894 ;eet and Big Savage Mountain, 2,850 eet. The State’s manufactured products have a value of $519,000,000, while the farm products have a value of more than $86,000,000. Its oyster, crab and fishing industry is a $4,000,000 business. Mary- land packs more tomatoes than any other State in the Union, about 25 per cent of the entire pack for the country. Mary- land ranks next to Louisiana in the pro- duction of muskrat pelts and first in production of black muskrat pelts—rated the choicest on the market. It is one of the leading strawberry producing States, one of the leaders in vegetable canning, in supplying sweet potatoes to the East- ern markets. The Nation depends on Maryland and California for the bulk of all spinach grown for canning purposes. * x k 8t. Marys County, Md., one of the most closely contested sections in the fifth congressional district, was named in honor of the Virgin Mary—the landing from the Ark and Dove at St. Marys having been made on the Feast of the Annunciation. The county dates from 1637. * % %% Arrangements going forward for the inauguration of the next President are in charge of two veteran Capitol em- Jurney and President on the east front of the Capi- tol is the real heart of the inauguration. then to Senatar Charles A. Culbertson for 20 years. He also served for six years as clerk to the Senate Judiciary Com- Twentieth Century Standards of Living BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN. ‘There is an old observation to the efTect that half the people do not know how the other half lives. This statement is believed to be in error because of its ex< tremely narrow conservatism. The di- vision is not so simple as by halves, The real fact is that scarcely any one really knows how any one else lives. How other people live is a matter of enduring curiosity to others. One is tolerably (or intolerably) familiar with the manner in which dwellers in small towns pry into the affairs of their neigh- bors. Sir James Barrie's description of the track of the minister of Thrums is not peculiar to Scotland. It would fit any American town. Indeed, small towns are but little different from large cities, for each large city is cut up into neigh- borhoods, and this same consuming curie osity persists. One can carry the storv even farther, From the days of Herodotus people have been traveling to far lands to find out how other people live. No tales are more eagerly listened to than the tales of re- turned travelers. In all parts of the world, and in all times, the story has been the same; this abiding curlosity has persisted. * % k x It is only in relatively modern times that what might be called scientifio methods have been adopted to find out some of the facts. What is modernly called the survey was unknown in earlier days. Nowadays the effort to satisfv curiosity has become a part of social study. Perhaps it would be difficult to show just what good the information elicited serves beyond meeting that age- old curiosity, but at least a vast deal of such information is gathered every year at the expense of the American taxe payers. The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics is one of the most inveterate gossips and looker into other people's affairs in the country. It does the job in a thorough fashion. It sends repre- sentatives right into the households and practically insists that the family secrets be laid bare—not, perhaps, all the family secrets about marriage, birth and bury- ing—but the secrets about how much is spent for this and how much for that. To be sure, the bureau does not betray the secrets of individual families. They are guarded in an impersonal, statistical manner. But it does find out how large numbers of people live. * ko % The bureau is primarily interested in wage earners and persons of small sal- aries. The manner of life of the rich is left to other investigators. Labor is the bureau’s province. It has just reported on how large num= bers of families in several American cities spend their money, and there is enough material in the survey to form the basis for a novel. To make the survey better understandable, what is called a con- sumption unit has been created. That is one member of a family. Because of the varying sizes of families, family fig- ures would not mean so much, so the consumption unit was conceived. It cone sists of the theoretical amount of food, clothing, shelter and all other things which an adult male would normally consume. Women and children are given graduated values in accordance with age, sex and the like. The outstanding fact which appears from the study is that the lower the in=- come per consumption unit the higher the percentage of income spent for food. Food comes before everything. but as the scale of income rises the relative money impertance of food sinks. ae Take the city of Detroit, for example, It is shown that in families where the income provides not more than $300 a year for each consumption unit, 409 per cent of the whole income goes for food. With every $100 a year advance the percentage spent for food goes down. The top class studied is one in which there is $700 a year or more for each consumption unit. In that class only 25.2 per cent of the total income goes for food. What seems a little hard is that the survey reveals that when one reaches the higher income classes, more food and much better food is obtained, even though the family needs spend so much smaller a percentage of total income. In the lower groups the market basket is laden with flour and meal, with only the cheapest types of meat, and little of that. Fresh vegetables and fruits are in small supply. Potatoes are important because they usually are cheap. The amount of milk is much governed by local prices. As the scale goes up the consumption of fresh vegetables and fruit is more than doubled. Consump- tion of fresh meat, poultry, fish and eggs is actually increased by 50 per cent. * X % ¥ Percentages of income spent for cloth- ing are more constant than percentages for food. For instance, in Detroit, the $300 level spends 11.1 per cent of income for clothing, while the $700 class spends but 119 per cent. But while there is no appreciable difference in percentage there is the difference between about $33 a year and $77 a year per consumption unit in cash outlay. The same general rule is true of hous- ing, which, as a rule, means amount of rent paid. In Detroit, in the $300 class, 143 per cent of total income goes for rent, while in the top class 15.8 per cent is so expended. This means more than twice as much is spent per consumption unit on rent in the top class than is spent in the lower class. This does not quite tell the full story. The average number of members of the higher ine come class families is much less. In Boston, for example, the difference is so great that the $300 class shows 51-3 consumption units per family, while the $700 class shows only 22 units. Obvie ously the living quarters are even better in comparison, as between the classes, than the percentage figures indicate. In some cities the number of families in the $300 income class living in reste dences having such convenjences as in- side toilets, running hot water, gas and electricity is as low as 27 per cent. In the $700 class it runs above 94 per cent. * ko X An interesting point shown is that the lower class families of Boston, which claims to be the hub of learning, spend five-tenths of 1 per cent of total in- come on education, while the highest class spends only three-tenths of 1 per cent. These figures, of course, would be far different were it not for the uni- versality of free public schools. In gen- eral, in the cities covered, the percentage spent on education declines as income rises. Amounts spent for medical care rise exactly in proportion with income. Sums spent for personal care and for household furnishings, the amenities and garnishings of civilized life, rise with income, too. There is really nothing very revolu- tionary in the discovery that people spend in accordance with their incomes, but the various percentages they apply to certain things may satisfy some vol- ume of curiosity. All these figures are large numbers of families. learn about are people