Evening Star Newspaper, December 8, 1936, Page 10

THE EVENING STAR ‘With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. December 8, 1936 The Evening Star Newspaper Company. Lith 8t and Penneylvanis Ave New York Office: 110 East 42n Chicago Office: Lake Mlchlm Iluuamc the City. -45¢ per month -80¢ per month B¢ per month ~be per eopy ar = llection made at the 1 e 3 ers may be sent by mail or telepnone. Na- onal” 800 Rate by MAlI—P:ylbh in Advance, Maryland ll‘ Virginia, Bl and Sunday s10.0 mo.. 88¢ ¥ mo.. A0 Binday” ony”: 13 3280 1 me: 36e Al Other States and Canada. aijy and Sunday_.1 yr. $12.00: 1 mo. Yy i) mo., un y only ;5 00; 1 mo., Member of the Associated Press, ‘The Associated Press is exclusively entitled to the use for renuhnutlon of all news dispatches credited to it or not otherwise Creditad in this paper and also the local news pulished herein. ights of publication of special dispatches herein are also reserved. 1, g 60c An Eased Situation. For the time being the British crisis {s divested of some of its tensity. Prime Minister Baldwin's conciliatory state- ment in the House of Commons that the cabinet will not press King Edward for an immediate decision eases the situation to the extent of averting action by either government or monarch under stress of emotion and passion, with re- sults avoidable under calmer circum- stances. When the King has “weighed” and made known his attitude, the gov- ernments in Great Britain and the dominions will determine “what advice, if any, they would feel it their duty to tender him.” Mr. Baldwin was at pains to remove any suspicion that the con- flict was of arbitrary government origin or that the King's ministers, as charged by political foes, were attempting to “extort” his abdication. The prime min- ister disclosed that matters were brought to a head by King Edward’s own an- nouncement to the government that he intended to make Mrs. Simpson his wife as soon as she is free. Thereupon the cabinet, “in a strictly personal and in- formal manner,” had advised his majesty only on the question of morganatic marriage. These developments, of course, carry no guarantee that danger of grave con- sequences is past. Feeling still runs high not only in Great Britain, but throughout the dominions, which enjoy full partnership rights in determination of the crown’s relation to the empire's government. The cabinet’s readiness to grant the King a period of grace is plainly a concession to those wide sec- tions of the British populace which sym- pathize with him and resent undue cabinet domination. Mr. Churchill and his allies in and out of Parliament may look upon the staying of the govern- ment’s hand as hope for the monarch's cause. But it would be premature to conclude that Britain's constitutional crisis is past. British authorities like Wickham Steed, former editor of the Times, and Harold Laski, professor of political science in London University, remind Americans not to ignore the “central issue,” which is defined as utterly apart from the personalities or the romance involved. The thing at stake is stated to be the principle that out of the ron- troversy no precedent must be created which makes the royal authority once more a source of independent political power. The point is stressed that if the sovereign is confirmed in the right to reject the advice of his ministers and take a detached view of state policy, it would mark the end of the crown's neu- trality in governmental affairs and that it wowld be a dangerously small step from a “King’s party” to personal rule. Professor Laski bluntly charges certain of Edward’s supporters with desiring to use his popularity as a weapon in the struggle to overthrow the dresent system. Mr. Steed asserts that unless parlia- mentary control is to be undermined, the King must heed the advice of his re- sponsible ministers and bow to the na- tional will, constitutionally expressed, or vacate the throne, either voluntarily or by constraint after conflict. In the light of such contingencies a moratorium on precipitancy is amply Justified. It will strengthen hope at home and abroad that a way may be found to avoid a catastrophic solution. Any weakening of the British Empire’s power or unity at this hour would be a world calamity. Realism Triumphs. By approving the recent act of Con- gress which made governmental em- ployes eligible for criminal jury service ‘unless disqualified for some reason other than the fact of their employment, the Supreme Court yesterday made an im- portant contribution to the growing movement to modernize this country’s Judicial machinery. N The absurdity of assuming that a governmental employe, merely because his employer, the Government, is a party to the case, could not render an im- partial verdict in the usual criminal trial, has long been recognized. And yet, despite its obvious fallacy, this assumption was permitted for years to impede the competency and efficiency of the administration of justice. In the opinion of most students of our Judicial system, this and Similar legal fictions have contributed in no small measure to the undermining of public confidence and respect which is so essential to effective law enforcement. ‘The lifting of this unreasonable ban cn Federal employes should be a distinct encouragement to those who are striving to substitute the realities of modern life for outworn technicalities as the basis for enforcement of our laws. The ruling is of particular importance in the District, since it will make avail- able for criminal jury duty some 100,000 prospective jurors heretofore excluded. The addition of these potential jurymen 3 should tend to simplify the sometimes difficult task of securing juries and may enable the courts to impanel jurors better qualified in some cases to judge the involved questions of law and fact presented for their consideration. At the same time there seems to be no reason to believe that accused persons will be deprived of their constitutional right to a trial by an impartial jury. For, as Chief Justice Hughes so aptly observed in delivering the opinion of the court: “Impartiality is not a technical con- ception. It is a state of mind.” The recognition of this fact will be welcomed by the thousands of govern- mental workers who have been subjected by implication to the suspicion that they might place material considerations ahead of impartiality. Single Term. Senator Burke of Nebraska promises to throw into Congress the controversial question—shall a President of the United States be limited to one term of office? He will, he says, ask an amendment to the Constitution providing that a Presi- dent shall not be re-elected but also lengthening the presidential term from four years to six. It is not a new pro- posal, for others have advanced the idea. The Nebraska Senator, however, probably believes that this is an ideal time to take the matter up. President Roosevelt is beginning a second term and presumably will be guided by precedent and by his own feelings and will not seek another. There could not be an implied reflection on the President. Some of the States, including Penn- sylvania and Indiana, have constitu- tional provisions barring a Governor from seeking re-election, although a Governor of Pennsylvania may run again for the office after another has served as chief executive of the State. The United States, however, has never sought to impose such a limitation upon the President. An unwritten rule, a tra- dition, has limited the Presidents to two four-year terms. Two separate questions are involved in the Burke proposal. The first is that a President shall not be re-elected. The second provides for a longer term of office. It is argued by those who demand a single term that & President would be freer, that he would not feel the neces- sity of playing politics, or catering to this or that group of voters, in order to assure re-election. This may be true. On the other hand, experience in the States which have limited Governors in this respect shows that their chief execu- tives play plenty of politics—seeking to pick their own successors. The recent gubernatorial campaign in Indiana is proof enough. Governor McNutt had his candidate and he put him across. A President, the titular and usually the actual head of his political party, prob- ably would feel the responsibility of doing what he could to keep his party in power after he stepped out of office. The same impelling reasons that, it is charged, cause Presidents to give ear to the demands of this group or that might operate even if he were not per- mitted himself to seek re-election. A six-year term of office is a long time—particularly if the President and his administration prove unpopular. On the other hand. a single term of four years, if a President were so limited, might not be long enough to give a President opportunity to put into effect policies of value to the people. For 150 years or thereabouts the coun- try has gone along with its present rule regarding the re-election of Presidents. Where a President and his administra- tion have been a success, the people have chosen him for a second term. In those cases where an administration has been unsuccessful or a President has been unpopular defeat has followed. If the demand for a single term amendment to the Constitution is really designed to make it impossible for a President to serve more than two terms of four years, it would be more to the point to adopt a constitutional amend- ment against a third term. In any event, the single term proposal is not one to adopt without a great deal of careful consideration. Question of Strategy. Senator Ashurst’s submission to & thousand lawyers of his proposed con- stitutional amendment giving Congress the power to regulate “agriculture, com- merce, industry and labor” has brought & majority of replies which, while opposing the amendment itself, agree with the Senator that this is the proper way to submit the question to the people. Several amendments, with similar ob- jectives, have been proposed and will doubtless be revived at the coming ses- sion of Congress. There are, naturally, differences of opinion as to the phrase- ology which will accomplish the pur- pose without arousing too much oppo- sition on the basis of the sweeping powers granted to Congress. But these differences of opinion over phraseology are relatively unimportant. The impor- tant question is whether the objectives sought in the Ashurst and other amend- ments are to be reached through the regular process of amending the Con- stitution, or whether they are to be accomplished by the more indirect methods of enacting legislation of doubt- ful constitutionality, trusting to chang- ing sentiment of the court to give them validity. Senator O'Mahoney’s proposed bill for licensing industry in interstate com- merce exemplifies the latter course, And the choice between Senator Ashurst's method and Senator O'Mahoney’s method is largely a question of strategy. The administration may feel that it is amply backed by the public sentiment indicated in the past election in its plan further to enlarge the powers of the Federal Government over industry and commerce, making possible Federal regu- Iation of hours, wages and business practice. But it is by no means certain that the people are ready to grant to Congress the sweeping powers contained in the Ashurst amendment or other / amendments less forthright in their phraseology. The child labor amend- ment, for instance, submitted to the States twelve years ago, must still re- ceive the approval of twelve States be- fore its ratification. Yet the abolition of child labor, it would seem, is far more generally approved than would be the outright delegation to Congrass of un- limited power to “make laws to regulate agricultrre, commerce, industry and labor.” Senator Ashurst’s method logically de- segves & test of sentiment at the next session of Congress. Strategical con- siderations, however, may lead to its suppression in favor of a less desirable but more spectacular campaign of attri- tion, directed both at the Supreme Court and the Constitution. G. Bernard Shaw was once reproved by Charles Dawes, then Ambassador to Great Britain, for devoting his mentality to earning a reputation as a wit. Shaw's dialogues are lengthy and laborious. Dawes’ mere exclamation, “Helen Maria!” brought him world-wide fame as a humorist and philosopher. ———— ‘The applause in motion picture the- aters proved a more reliable measure- ment of popular sentiment than edi- torial research combined with mathe- matical tabulation. In times of political agitation the film critics should be heard from as well as the profound essayists. Mail contracts are regarded as essen- tial to the development of aviation. Mr. Farley will be entitled to a peace prize if he can keep the airships so busy carrying messages of good will that none of them will have space tp accommodate bomb tossers. World politics has reached a stage that might suggest the dismissal of brain trusts and the employment of Clarence Darrow to organize a battery of psycho- analysts, ————— In pictures a very charming gentleman may be cast as heavy villain with satis- factory results, The experiment is dan- gerous when drama intrudes into world politics. The Shakespeare historical plays should be studied more in order to lend greater verbal dignity to long speeches by official characters in modern situ- atfons. _— Money is a consideration of high im- portance in any crisis. While Fleet Street and Downing Street are all agog, The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street may usually be found attending to her knitting. Announcements by the weather man assume greater gravity as they suggest possible static interference with trans- Atlantic news broadcasting. Shooting Stars. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Our Congressman. Our Congressman is gentle, siderate and kind, In spite of all the trouble that he has upon his mind. He'll argue with a foeman in an un- relenting style And when again they meet he'll greet him with & genial smile, He's con- Our Congressman is generous. It's only Just because He hasn't the equipment that he’s not a Santa Claus! He knows all puBlic questions that per- plex us far and near. He also knows the answers, which so few will stop to hear. Our Congressman will always show & bright, courageous face And smile, though now and then he may be loser in a race— If you would lead your life upon an admirable plan, Keep up a brave endeavor to be like our Congressman! Outclassed. “Do you object to camera men?” “Somewhat,” answered Senator Sor- ghum. “I try to strike an impressive pose, but I don’t approve of pictures in politics. What chance has a statesman to secure attention with a favorite comedian in the column to his left and 8 dazzling prize-winning beauty on his right?” Unidentified Retributions. “Do you believe that our sins are punished on this earth?” “Yes,” replied Miss Cayenne, “I don’t doubt that we deserve all our boredom and annoyance. But it would be more satisfactory if we were allowed to know just what delinquency of conduct each penalty is intended to fit,” Restoration, Somewhere as Winter breezes blow A violet lies hid below The leaves that scatter here and there Across the earth so chill and bare. The hours of gladness swiftly stray And yet we know, not far away, The blossoming smile Time will restore To cheer the existence as of yore, Jud Tunkins says a great deal of time is spent in worrying about things that Congress will do and more things that it probably won't. “One who reserves his politeness only for those from whom he must ask favors,” said Hi Ho, the sage of China- town, “must not take offense if he is measured in esteem as & professional mendicant.” War Invention. We really love our fellow men And yet when war comes now and then ‘We'll seek, it's likelier than not, New ways to put him on the spot. “Don't tell nuffin’ but de ‘truth,” said Uncle Eben, “an’ don’ go out'’n yoh way to find out too much truth dltlln' none ¢ yoh business.” THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. Californians know their State, No sooner had we written it Tujugga, than we received the following missive: “Dear Sir: In your entertaining ac- count of United States place names this evening you select as a climax ‘Tujuggs,” Calif. The linotype man must have bungled this one, since the place Is Tujungs, s little sunny fruit-growing region in & narrow valley some 20 miles northwest of Los Angeles, well known, at least by heresay, to most Angelenos (residents of Greater Los Angeles), There is also a large canyon extending almost to the back of Mount Wilson called the Big Tujunga. “Tujunga does not seem particularly odd to us, as we can match it with Cahuenga, the name of a ‘pass’ and a modern boulevard leading north out of Hollywood through the Hollywood hills. There was a skirmish in the Mexican ‘War fought there between the ‘gringos’ and the original Spanish Californians. “Some Southern Californians think their prize odd name is La Jolla, just north of San Diego on the coast. Some folks think this town’s name means ‘The Jewel,” which, however, doesn’t fit with the proper Spanish for ‘jewel,’ which is ‘La Joya.’ Anyway, no Easterners can pronounce this name first time. “Tujunga and Cahuenga are both California Indian names. They seem to us not nearly so hard on the vocal chords as Passamaquoddy or Monon- gahela—relics of the Eastern aborigines. And, for that matter, wouldn’t ‘Potomac’ and ‘Appomattox’ sound strange if his- tory books had not accustomed us to them? Yours truly, D. T. R. P. 8.: I like your This and That. It is a relief from the pomposities of the political commentators, always harping on the same tune, and from the preposterous quanderies of the British cabinet and the sickening news of the doings of the homicidal maniacs on the continent of Europe.” %% Blame must be removed from the lino- type man, however, and placed squarely on the shoulders of the medicine man, from whose almanac we caught the spelling “Tujugga.” The compositor set up the name prop- erly, as we gave it. And it would not have helped matters to have looked in the gazetteer, for Tujunga is not there. Place names are forever and eternally interesting. Thomas Wolfe, in his “Of Time and the River” writes rhapsodies on them, giving pages to aboriginal Indian names. Walt Whitman in his famous “Leaves of Grass” recognized the intensely interesting character of these names. American history is sprinkled with them so thickly that there is no escaping them. Even a trip on a railroad through the mountains gives one scores of speci- mens, as spelled out on station signs along the way. What are we to think of Mauch- Chunk, for instance, pronounced mawk- chunk? It means “bear mountain.” Longfellow, in his “Hiawatha,” was an old-timer of the American literary scene—he was at the zenith of his power about 1856—who found an ultimate fas- cination in these Indian names. As long as America exists, which will be forever, they will be on the maps. * ¥ %X % The names of our mountains, our rivers, our islands, our valleys, passes, gaps, sounds, bays, creeks, even ponds— these are more likely to be “original American” than town and city names. Many of the Iatter are simply trans- planted from England. The real American names have a twist of us who came up through the regular schools of the United States will forever find r pleasing about these names, although too many of us, alas, know very little about them. Such & name as Tippecanee, for instance; we always harbored an impression, no doubt childish, that some Indian once said, after he had learned a bit of English, “See, heap big Indian tippy canoe, ha, ha, ha!” If any one doubts this etyml- ogy, let him give & better, but at any rate make no criticism of the laughter indi- cated by the last three syllables; Indians do laugh, and right heartily, at that. Recently on E street we met a group of braves fully clad in traditional regalia, and they were laughing as boisterously as any men we ever saw or heard en- gaged in that ancient pastime. Since that time we have taken occasion to note the facial muscles of Indians, as encountered around Washington—and there are many more of them here, at most times of the year than one might think offhand—and have discovered, al- though it probably is no discovery at all, that the particular muscles which enable a human to laugh are even better developed in the Indian .countenance than in the average American, so-called. * x % x All names are interesting, however. They need not be Indian, or even Amer- ican. There is no more intriguing hour to be spent than in going over a good map of any country and noting the names, especially if the chart is large enough to give plenty of the small towns and villages. Each name is a history in itself and by itself, if one wants to delve into it. This will demand a certain type of mind, known popularly as research man; not all persons are research men by any means, yet the charm of place names is as open to them as to any, and even without precise knowledge they may yet enjoy the contemplation and sound of such words. Even lists of town names as contained in the average gazetteer under the names of each state and country will yield great rewards of ‘interest to the person who reads them over carefully. The inclination in using such a list is to hurry through it, intent only on the one name sought, bui unless one is in a great hurry, this may be accounted a mistake, since by carefully going through the list, dwelling & bit on each name, the reader more often than not runs onto something intriguing. It is the same with a dictionary. Any- thing is good which sends one to that book. some one has said, but often it 1s possible to get a great deal more out of it than most of us do simply by reading a bit before and after the word we seek. Those who reside in and near Wash- ington have a wonderful field for such investigation in the very names of streets and avenues, because so many of these names are of persons who originally came from all over the land, as well as foreign lands. The smallest map of the National Capital will give the arm-chair investi- gator much material. He will discover that in opening up new suburban areas more and more interesting place names are creeping into the Washington scene. Who knows—before long we may have Tujunga terrace and La Jolla avenue if this keeps up. STARS, MEN AND ATOMS Notebook of Science Progress in Field, Laboratory and Study. BY THOMAS R. HENRY. Sixty million years ago a vast forest fringed the Arctic Circle in North Amer- ica, Siberia and Greenland. It contained the ancestors of most of the trees now found in the temperate United States—redwoods, pines, hem- locks, chestnuts, maples and beeches. It covered land which now is barren, frozen tundra during the Eocene geological pe- riod, or the “dawntime” present-day life when flowering plant@@singing birds and mammals first made their appearance. A notable part of this forest was made up of ancestors of the present giant red- woods of California, the oldest of living organisms. The Eocene climate was mild in the Far North. In the temperate zone it was at least semi-tropical. After 10 or 20 million years it began to grow colder and the great forest packed up and moved south for the Winter of the ages whose icy winds were beginning to blow through its branches. This was perhaps the most epic migration in history. It required millions of years for the trees to reach the temperate zone and find themselves comfortable -new homes, while the semi-tropical forests in their path in turn were pushed South. Such is the story uncovered by plant paleontologists of the Carnegie Institu- tion of ‘Washington. The story of the migrating forest will form a notable part of the annual Carnegie exhibit which opens Saturday, following the annual meeting of the trustees at the admin- istration building Sixteenth and P streets, Friday. The hypothesis of the great southward march of the woods through the ages, long before there was any human habitation of the New World, is based on a growing collection of fossil remains from the semi-Arctic zones of both North America and Asia. “There is increasing evidence,” says the report, “for the belief that the cli- mate over the whole of North America was more mild during the Eocene period than it is today. Not only did tem- perate forests of redwood and oak extend far north of the present tree line, but trees now characteristic of the tropics have been recorded from Eocene rocks of middle latitudes in the United States. Fig, avocado, bread fruit and tree fern suggest a past climate in Tennessee and Oregon like that now found in Mexico and Central America. Heavy rainfall and an absence of frost must have con- tributed to the existence of such sub- tropical and tropical plants in these now temperate regions. “The causes of climatic change are not fully understood. Possible changes in the amount or character of energy given off by the sun during geological history doubtless resulted in fluctuating tem- peratures. At some times the of vast quantities of ash blown into the air from volcanoes may have lessened the amount of solar energy which has reached the surface of the earth. ' Ease of distribution by winds and water cur- rents of the ‘heat which reaches the earth’s surface also has been a factor in terrestrial temperatures of past ages. Just as a clogged pipe may result in freezing or over-heating, so impaired eir- culation of ocean and atmosphere may :umponnble for extremes of tempera- “When the continents were low with broad, shallow seas such as Hudson's Bay extending over them, circulation was greatly facilitated and mild climates were increasingly widespread. Subsequent earth movements have raised continents and built up mountain ranges. The result has been a concentration of cold water and air in high latitudes and a localization of tropical climate to the South. We are now living in such a period of land emergence when climatic zoning is pronounced and when there are areas made arid by high mountain ranges which prevent rain-bearing winds from reaching the continental interiors. But in the Eocene period North America was relatively low and the mountain ranges in the West did not rise high enough to prevent a wide circulation of rain-bearing winds. A subtropical cli- mate characterized middle latitudes and there was a northward extension of tem- perate climate into regions now Arctic.” This dawn age was succeeded by the so-called Miocene when the forms of animal and plant life of the present were developing. There are indications that it was a time of much volcanic activity. Fossils of this time were preserved in the volcanic ash of the Western part of the United States. These reveal that the Arctic forest must have moved down to middle latitudes in the van of the in- creasing cold. In the course of their migration they changed only in minor respects. The climate, along the Pacific at least, was not so cold as is the case today. The Cascades had not risen suffi- ciently high to shut off the rain-bearing winds from the sea. Since then the red- ‘wood, which constituted a major ele- ment of the ancient forest, has been driven south into California. During the approximately 40,000,000 years which have passed since the Mio- cene, the southward moving forest has been differentiated into local branches. In the West the lessening of Summer rainfall has increased the number of trees with thick evergreen leaves and tended to kill out the broad-leaved types. In the East, where moisture has re- mained plentiful, the deciduous trees, such as the beech, chestnut and elm, have survived. Chase-Wheeler Art Show Omitted From Exhibit List ‘To the Editor of The Star. Feeling sure it was an oversight, I beg to call your attention to the fact that in listing the art exhibitions you neg- lected” to state that the show at the Mount Pleasant Branch of the Public Library is by Susan B. Chase and Francis ‘Wheeler. FRANCIS W. WHEELER. the Hudson. Prom the Philadeiphia Evening Bulletin. New York, which is going to drive an- other tube under the Hudson, might find it cheaper in the long run to carry that stream past the city on a viaduct. Sure to Be Disappointed. Prom the Indianapolis News. Those people looking for Utopia in the Bahamas are not likely to have any more luck than the people who have looked for it elsewhere. Head-on Collision. Prom the Pond Du Lac c.mmnnmn. Traffic m plicated when & pdm wllo cnmud with another walk s frac- tured skull. . A . Doubts That Melancholy Philosophy Was Serious ‘To the Editor of The Star. The Star is to be congratulated on publishing those new and heretofore unpublished extracts from letters of Oliver Wendell Holmes, the great jurist- philosopher. They appeared in The Star in an article by Thomas R. Hemry on November 29. I wish they might be published at great length in some more permanent form. Rarely, if ever, do we find such a profound thinker—outside the realm of pure philosophy. But the great jurist’s views on life and immortality and the whole cosmic scheme were much more melancholy and mate- rialistic than I had expected. It is dif- ficult for me to reconcile the Holmes whom we knew, with his keen zest in life and with the warm, rich mental pattern he constantly exhibited, with the man who could say, “I regard myself as s cosmic ganglion” Of course, if taken as an ultimate implication, if we are nothing but & “cosmic ganglion,” life has no definité meaning at all. I wish we knew more of the great jurist’s views on these matters. I am unable to see how he could fail to be impressed with the life, character and teachings of Jesus Christ. Here is something more than a “mere cosmic ganglion.” We often forget that the life and teachings of Jesus can be sub- jected to the most practical test (a purely pragmatic test, if we want to follow Willlam James), and when we do, we make the astounding discovery that only the principles of Christianity have stood the test of time; have applied universally under all conditions and have endured the strain and the stress of the most violent disturbances to the life and thought of men for 2,000 years. Curiously enough I found a striking and significant answer to the views of the great jurist on the very day after The Star published this article. I happened to be reading a copy of Public Opinion, the journal published in England, and found there a review of Prof. John McMurray’s new book, “Structure of Religious Experience.” Undoubtedly Prof. Murray was not thinking of answering Justice Holmes, but what he has said forms the most per- fect reply to the great jurist’s philosoph- jcal pessimism: Said Prof. Murray: “The spiritual world to which, by our transcendence of the natural order, we belong is not an- other world, but the natural world known and intended. We live in the natural world in good truth; but we know it and know that we are living in it. “Because of this knowledge our actions, so far as they are human, are intentional, and our intentions, directed upon the natural world that our knowl- edge reveals, transform it and all that it contains. It is no longer a world of fact, but a world of possibility; no longer an existing present., but a world with a future. So we have our being in a spiritual world which is the natural world of existence raised to a higher power by our capacity for reflection and the intentionality which reflection con- fers upon our activities.” I have always felt that America’s greatest philosopher was John Fiske. Certainly he was greatest in the field of the reconciliation of science and re- ligion. In 1883 Fiske delivered an ad- dress at a banquet in New York City in honor of Herbert Spencer—the great philosopher being then on this only visit to America. In the course of this ad- dress, Fiske gave utterance to this belief: “There is a power outside of ourselves that makes for righteousness.” Here was the greatest of the evolutionary philosophers affirming his profound be- lief in what is really the essence of the Christian faith and doctrine. Fiske never changed or gave up this view, and no scientist since that time has successfully overthrown the under- lying truth of his declaration—uttered now 53 years ago. This statement of Fiske remains the last word of an en- lightened scientific intelligence upon the greatest of all themes. Mr. Justice Holmes was a contempo- rary of Fiske—and a warm personal friend as well. I have discussed Fiske and their friendship with the justice. T cannot see how Justice Holmes could have remained uninfluenced by the deeply religious spirit that pervaded the thinking and writing of the great Har- vard philosopher. The beautiful spirit of Justice Holmes, his delightful sense of the beauty of friendship and the glow of life, all caused me to feel that (in the statement like the one published in The Star) he must have been indulging in a playful philo- sophical pastime and that underneath it all he must have entertained some pro- found faith in the certainties of 2 uni- verse which had produted a marvelous thinking and feeling mechanism such as Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes. WAYNE C. WILLIAMS. This Writer, One Fears, Is Just a Bit Sarcastic ‘To the Editor of The Star: Having been a citizen of this town for five years, I feel that I must compliment the Clpim Transit Co. for its car system. Such a wonderful, efficient car system T have never had the pleasure of being associated with, on a passenger basis. The employes are the most kind and courteous of any who have ever had the pleasure of operating such vehicles. Of course, I must say that the street cars are the most modern and up-to-date of any in the country. There may be & few minor details of annoyance, but being so trivial I feel that I ought not to mention them. They never fail to wait for a passenger who is hurrying to the office, or waiting in the coldness of a brisk Fall morning or evening. And, of course, I must mention the friendly man- ner in which the fares are requested to enter the car. Tsk, tsk, such kindness is unheard of! Raise the fare? Why, of course, any amount within reason, for is it not a pleasure to be able to transport ourselves in such honorable vehicles? To realize how anxious people are to ride them, just gaze on the happy faces of the occupants of any one car. Such a rush and trample I have never seen; why they actually fill the street car until the doors cannot close. Then, so reluctant are they to leave, the conductors must wait and ask them to hurry, so that other citizens of this town may bask in the light of such honor. The street car safety zones are forever packed with expectant eyes to the horizon, waiting for the beloved steeds of transportation to come into sight. How hard the Cap- ital Transit Co. strives to appease their desires; never do they have to wait un- duly long for their cars, always one is just around the corner. May the light of heaven glow upon this, for such brotherly love I have never witnessed, father and son, mother and daughter. People may come and peopie may go, but may the street cars go on forever! I close this letter, solemnly vowing to ride the trolleys until their doom; that is, when I can walk no longer, due to poor feet. BERNARD WILLIAMS. Something Wrong. Prom. the Jacksonville Jourfial. A centenarian attributes his longevity to an exclusive diet of raw vegetables. He's either fond of raw vege- remarkahly .tables or & plumb fool about living. 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 college foot ball player of all time has participated in the most games? —J. W. A. Andrew R. E. Wyant took part in 98 college games. He was with Bucknell in 1888, 1889, 1890 and 1891, as guard and tackle and then shifted to the University of Chicago in 1892, 1893 and 1804 as center. There was no three-year rule then, thus making it possible for Wyant to play seven years of college foot ball. Q. How old is Harpo Marx?—W. H. A. The comedian is 43 years old. Q. Have the, Eskimos a written lan- guage?—S. H. A. They have a definite language. A magazine, entirely in Eskimo, has ap- peared regularly since 1867. Q. Why is a rain coat called a mack- intosh?—H. G. A. It is named for Charles Macintosh, who in 1823 produced rainproof garments by sewing a thin sheet of rubber between two of cloth. Q. How many silver fox skins are sold in one year?—W. 8. A. About 600,000 silver fox pelts are sold annually throughout the world. Q. What is a masoola?—E. W. A. This is a boat common on the east coast of India, adapted to be beached on the surf-beaten shore. The planks are sewed together with coir, over wads of the same material. The boats are 30 to 35 feet long and are rowed by 12 men, oars double banked, and a steers- man with an oar at the stern. Q. Who gave the spectrum its name? —N. R. A. Sir Isaac Newton observed that a beam of sunlight coming through a shutter into a darkened room and pass- ing through a glass prism produced an unbroken band of colors. In 1666 he called this a spectrum. Q. Was the author of “In Flanders' Pields"” killed in battle?—E. H. M. A. Lieut. John David McCrae died of pneumonia in France on January 28, 1918. Q. What is Belleek?—H. W. A. Belleek is thin, light-weight porce- lain, having a beautiful iridescent or pearly glaze. It takes its name from a town in Ireland where it has been made for many years. Q. How many copyright registrations were there last year?—L. H. A. For the fiscal year ending June 30, 1936, there were 156,962. Q. Which country has the greater population, Japan or India?—E. J. B. A. India, which has a population of 352,000,000. The Japanese Empire has a population of 92.000,000, Japan proper having about 66,000,000. Q. How old is the Gridiron Club?—E. G. A. This society gave its first banquet on April 23, 1885. Q. Does the United States own the Panama Canal?—F. S. A. The Panama Canal Office says that the United States owns the Panama Canal in perpetuity. The Canal Zons is a United States Government reserva= tion, developed especially for operation and management and protection of the Panama Canal and the various enter= prises associated with the operation of the canal. The territory of the Canal Zone is controlled and owned by the United States, and its establishment and administration by the United States is solely for the operation of the inter- oceanic waterway. Q. What is the origin of the word, isostasy?—H. G. A. Maj. C. E. Dutton in an address before the Philosophical Society of Wash- ington, D. C., in 1889. coined the word and presented the idea which it rep- resents. Q. Should leather boots be oiled while still damp?—S. M. A. The boots should be allowed to dry, then oiled. Q. What is the theme song of the Firestone radio program?—W. H. A. It is, “In My Garden,” composed by Mrs. Harvey Firestone. Q. How many letters without proper addresses are received in a large post office?—C. F. A. In New York City approximately 43.000 pieces of mail a day without street addresses are received. Q. Who said that progress does not consist in increasing truth, but in freeing it>—R. C. B. A. The quotation is from Tolstoy: “Progress does not consist in increasing truth, but in liberating it from its veils.” Q. What is the maximum percentage that an employe will ever have to pay under the present social security act? —K.T. A. The maximum, going into effect in 1949, will be 3 per cent. The maximum in cash will be $90 a year for a salary of $3,000 or more. Q. What are the names of “the Great Four” mentioned in Italian art?—M. B. A. Leonardo, Raphael, Titian and Michelangelo. A Rhyme at Twilight B; Gertrude Brooke Hamilton In the Attic. In an old red trunk in the attic I found an lvory fan With a scene from Faust painted on it, ‘The colors all dimmed and wan. From out of its perfumed satin case I lifted it, light as dew; And fic:houhu went wandering idly A generation or two. A chandelier-lighted theater, With ladies in rustling silk; Rich laces, the bright gleam of jewels, Presh faces with skin like milk, Arch glances and sweet, winning laughter, Coquetting with smiling eyes . . . Arts of a century now long gone In the ivory trifie lies. Laying the fan in its satin case A fleet shadow crossed my modern face. Tough Town. From the Kalamazoo Gazette. Cleveland must be s tough town. We notice hold-up men there insist on picke ing on taxicab and truck drivera ¢