Evening Star Newspaper, January 11, 1937, Page 8

THE EVEN G_STAR, WASHINGTON, D. (., MONDAY. JANUARY 11, 1937. A8 K . THE EVENING OTAR W O D O NONDAY, JANTARY B M. THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. MONDAY .. -January 11, 1937 THEODORE W. NOYES_____..... Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company. 11t St. and Pennsylvania Ave, i’ Office: 110 East 42nd Ohleato Oice: 435 North Michizan Ave. Rate by Carrier—City and Suburban. Regular Edition, d_Sunday Star a8 :"“" :"ssc";':'er'inomn or 180 per week t paimeeinn i) per month or 10¢ per week The Su 'day Btar—_ .- oeooe oo 5¢ per copy Night Final Edition. Jlspt Einal gnd Sunday Star ight Pinal Star __ Collection made at the end each week. Orders may be sent phone National 5000. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. 70c per month b5¢ per month each month or by mail or tele- All Other States and Canada. Dally and Sunday_.1 yr. $12.( mo., $1.00 4 ot 1 $8.003 1 mo.,~ 78c 8indss or 1 yen 85008 1 mos 80c Member of the Associated Press. e Assoclated 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 All rights of publication of special dispatches herein are also reserved “Point One.” Point One of the three-point formula proposed as a solution of the fiscal relations issue is not new. The theory has been proposed before, only to be abandoned as impossible of pratical application. Now it is advanced again as a panacea for fiscal troubles. Its inherent weaknesses stand revealed in the report which presents it. Point One applies a system of reim- bursements for “intergovernmental” services. A service for the Federal Gov- ernment by the District government is to be measured and the District reim- bursed to the estimated value of such service. The District government or the local community, likewise, are to be charged for special services alleged to be rendered by the National Government. Such services, in the words of the report, are those “not available as a practical matter to any other State or local gov- ernment but which are considered special services to the District.” Tangible nature of & few services per- mits exact measurement. District patients in St. Elizabeth’s, boys com- mitted to the National Training School, children attending Columbia Institution for the Deaf, are pald for on a per capita basis and have been for years. But when the effort is made to include in- tangibles in the exchange of services and to separate the National Govern- ment from its administrative agency, the District government; to distinguish be- tween services rendered the local com- munity and those established or per- formed because this is the National Capital or to decide when to treat the National Government as & resident tax- payer and when to declare that the National Government cannot tax itself— the difficulties begin. “Estimating bene- fits in many cases led into the realm of imponderables,” the report complains, somewhat wistfully. And that is where Point One found itself. The report does not develop its own premises to a logical conclusion. To have done so would have been to reduce the whole theory of Point One to an absurdity. It does charge the District for the services of the Budget Bureau (insult added to injury)! It does charge the District with the salaries of the Engineer Commissioners, assigned here by the Corps of Engineers. But it does not charge the District with the services of the Congress in exercising its exclu- sive powers of legislation over the District. It does not charge the District with a portion of the salary of the President of the United States for his special services to the District of Colum- bia, such as signing bills and appointing officials, lighting the community Christ- mas tree, etc. Absurd? Certainly. But if one set of charges is logical or justi- fied, so is the other. On the other hand, the report charges the United States as a heavy user (and non-contributor) of water, exactly on the basis of a water-using property owner. It proposes charges for certain street costs against the United States as the owner of abutting property. But it levies no charge against the United States as a beneficiary of general police and fire protection and utterly ignores —as the basis of any charge—the Fed- eral Government’s vast ownership of untaxed real estate, or for many of the utilitarian and decorative embellish- ments of such property designed by the Federal Government for a National Capital, such as the street system itself. Many of the charges are estimates and can never be anything but estimates. “It was apparent that in many cases the value and cost of services rendered were not always identical,” says the report. In such cases the report submits esti- mates but does not go to the extreme of assessing the cost. To have done so would have revealed the theory’s com- plete fallacy and its curious inequity. The report finds an “estimated cost” of $55,000 for supplying to District residents the services of the Library of Congress, which is maintained in part by their national taxes. It does not charge for the services, however—not because of the grotesque unfairness involved, but because it would be “difficult and expen- sive” to compute the cost on a reader basis. ‘The report shows how widely varying the estimates for other services may be. For use by the people of the District of “museum facilities,” for maintenance of the National Arboretum, for mainte- nance of that private congressional lux- ury—the Botanic Garden—the report finds the “lower” estimates of possible charges against the District totaling $26,000, while the “higher” estimates total $145,000. On the other side, hospitaliza- tion of non-residents and letting the tourists look at the animals in the Zoo could be estimated as charges against the United States, running from $27,000 10.486,000. Who would make the esti- whates? The Budget Bureau! {'The fundemental weakness of the theory is that it presents an unrealistic conception of the District government and the local community as self- determining, self-sustaining, rendering services to the United States for which they exact a tribute or receiving volun- tarily services for which they pay. It neglects the fact that services inter- changed are established, not by the will of the local community but by the Na- tional Congress or its various adminis- trative bureaus or branches. And in many cases the services ere established not to meet local demand or need but because this happens to be the Capital of the United States. ‘The theory of “Point One” is unten- able and the report supporting it dem- onstrates it to be illogical. Morocco Again. Twenty-six years ago, in the hectic Summer of 1911, the German gunboat Panther suddenly descended on Agadir, Southwest Morocco, as a challenge to France. A crisis ensued which all but precipitated the World War destined to break out three years afterward. Con- flict was only averted by Great Britain's action in aligning herself against Ger- man pretensions. Later, Paris and Berlin patched up an agreement where- by the French acquired a protectorate over Morocco except a Spanish zone flanking the Mediterranean and directly opposite the mainland of Spain. It is in that region, wherein the Spanish civil war was incubated last July, that the seeds of international danger are again sprouting. Germany is reported to be at work in Spanish Morocco under circumstances which, be- cause of their implications, temporarily overshadow the Loyalist-Insurgent situ- ation in Spain. Though corroborative evidence is lacking, France claims that Germans troops are concentrating at Ceuta, the harbor directly facing Gibral- tar. Nazi engineers are alleged to be building fortifications, while other mili- tary activities are sald to be in progress indicative of Germany's intention to occupy the whole highly strategic region. Its possession, in addition to forming a nucleus for a new German foothold in Africa, would put the Reich in position to make itself dangerous in the Mediter- ranean alike to Britain, France and Italy. While Berlin denies the Spanish Mo- rocco reports, they are taken serfously in London and Paris. Alert to any threat to her Mediterranean position, Great Britain is dispatching virtually her entire home fleet to the area adjacent to Gibraltar. It will be a demonstration comparable to the armada sent into the same waters last year as a threat to Italy. Simultaneously, the French Atlantic fleet is making ready to proceed to Casa- blanca, Morocco, while the French garri- son in Morocco adjacent to the Spanish zone has been heavily reinforced, with orders to its commander to take any steps necessary to prevent German ag- gression. Thus, should it turn out that Hitler has actually ventured upon a military diversion in Spanish Morocco the stage will have been set for the most perilous international turn the Spanish tragedy has yet taken. It would be a desperate throw on the Nazis’ part—a gamble from which they could hardly by any stretch of the' imagination hope to emerge victorious. The British would not tolerate German guns in position to sweep the Straits of Gibraltar. France, dependent in war on an unimpeded flow of troops and supplies from her African empire, could not view without anxiety the ability of Germany to control the entrance to the Mediterranean. Italy would confront the same disquieting possibility. The Nazis may have a deal with Franco for concessions at Ceuta in re- turn for German “volunteers” on the insurgent front in Spain, but Berlin must know that they could only be held at the cost of a clash with Britain, France and probably Italy. It seems incredible that the Reich, in its pro- fessed zeal to thwart communism in Spain, would risk in Northwestern Africa an adventure which would almost auto- matically lead to a European war. Mean- time that powder barrel never seemed more nearly alight than at this critical hour. —_——— Airship brokers are asserting as much claim to attention as those famous old friends, the Wall Street brokers them- selves, and are not nearly so obliging about standing hitched while being in- vestigated. ————————— Al Smith says he once worked in old Fulton fish market, but was not adroit enough to capitalize Jim Farley’s scenic effect at the Philadelphia convention, introducing live mermaids. Social disturbance is being scientifically studied with a view to ascertaining whether enlargement of the Supreme Court can be regarded as a favorable symptom., Friendship. No lexicon ever has defined friendship with convincing accuracy. Perhaps the bond that relates man to man is beyond the reach of analysis, not to be dissected by an epigram. Love and comradely af- fection are easy synonyms, yet not quite true equivalents. Friends, it seems, are individuals who are united by instinctive understanding. The tie is impulsive in character, largely subconscious in nature, occasionally altogether irrational in cause and in effect. To illustrate the difficulty, let this story be cited: It happened that on Christmas eve David Lloyd George, great Welsh reformer who once served England as premier in an hour of deepest need, was in Jamaica, and Edward VIII, until De- cember 10 King of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and Emperor of India and of the Dominions Overseas, was in self-imposed exile at Enzesfeld Castle, near Vienna, in Austria. Leagues of land and sea separated the two; they lived in different worlds. But by recourse to science in the shape of a submarine cable the former could, and did, send & Yuletide communication to the latter. 9 The message read: “Best Christmas greetings from an old minister of the crown, who holds you in as high esteem as ever and regards you with deeper, loyal affection; deplores the shabby and stupid treatment accorded to you; resents the mean and unchivalrous attacks upon you, and regrets the loss sustained by the British Empire of a monarch who sympathized with the lowliest of his subjects.” .or course, in the circumstances, the words may have been ill-advised. His- tory will judge of their political sig- nificance. What matters meanwhile is the spirit which they reflect. The Duke of Windsor answered in a tone which left no doubt of his comprehension of the motive: “Very touched by your kind tele- gram and good wishes, which I heartily reciprocate. Cymru am Byth (Wales forever).” Possibly the incident ought not to have been mentioned publicly. The fact, however, is that the exchange was re- ported in the London press. It there- fore inevitably becomes a foot note to the annals of the age. Translated into generalities, it means that “an old min- ister” still is faithful to his royal friend. Does Edward deserve such devotion? The question is a useless quibble. Far more important is the durability of a love like that of brothers—a love which, conceivably, is blind, and yet is good. —_— v Grand opera retains its fascination for music lovers. Art has its responsibilities as masterpieces reveal the influence of ancient opinions which relate even to personalities. Grand opera has not yet been studied to a degree that reveals historic significance, which is often in- tensified by the embellishment of a tragic incident by means of studied rhythms and tonal intervals. —_—————— In the vicissitudes of public life, quick study is often required. One of the hard- est things a faithful secretary has to learn is to throw off his office coat at an appointed hour and appear in high hat attire for a carriage ride along the Avenue. ————————— So many clever things are said at ban- quets that outsiders are beginning to wish that Senator Vandenberg could be invited to bring along the old phono- graph. As names make news, Robert Cuse flashes in conspicuous lettering. It is a name that will reward attentive study hereafter, not only on its own account, but for its commercial affiliations. —————————— Protest arises against sending killing machinery to Spain, especially when it is so evident that Spain already has more of that kind of material than she can intelligently utilize. —————— Enlarging the Supreme Court would necessarily bring up argument from an- other angle as to the desirability of inflation. Shooting Stars. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. False Impression. The statesman’s life is filled with care. He writes a ton of speeches And bravely sends them everywhere That the post office reaches. He sits up working late at night, As well as in the daytime, And does not seem to have in sight A chance of any playtime. He shakes hands with a lot of friends And tries to make things pleasant, ‘While busily he superintends The Future and the Present. And yet the folks out home declare, “That chap is in his heyday! He simply gets an easy chair And sits around till pay day!” Assuring Interest. “What is the usual method of con- ducting a senatorial investigation?” “Well,” replied Senator Sorghum, “when you decide on an investigation you start in immediately believing the worst.” Jud Tunkins says he leaves his flivver out in the street all night and it does him good by strengthening his faith in human nature when he finds it there next morning. Fleeting Fame. ‘There is ever something lacking, ‘Though the cup of fame be sweet; Some ingredient will be missing That might make the draught complete. ‘Though you carve your name in letters Which posterity must see, Probably your next-door neighbor ‘Will be asking, “Who is he?” Though you aid your fellow creatures By some scientific plan, The conducwor says, “Step lively!” As to any other man. Though today they print your picture Through the land, from sea to sea, In six months, if you are mentioned, They'll be asking, “Who is he?” “A truth that is unwelcome,” said Hi Ho, the sage of Chinatown, “should be protected by silence to prevent it from being overwhelmed by falsehood.” Memory Exercise. “A financier should cultivate & mem- ory for exact details.” “It all depends,” observed Mr. Dustin Stax, “on whether he’s a regular finan- cier or one of the kind who have to con- sider the possibility of eventually doing business with a grand jury.” History’s Repetition. There’s nothing new! But why feel blue And rail in prose or rhyme? The old<time stuff Is great enough To hear a second time, “Dar is all kinds o’ diffunt gamblin’,” said Uncle Eben, “but dar ain’ one of 'em dat makes you feel any better when you done lost & week's wages.” A THE POLITICAL MILL BY G. GOULD LINCOLN. ‘The opening of Congress has come and gone and President Roosevelt has de- livered two messages to that body within the past week. He plans to send another to the Capitol tomorrow, dealing with the reorganization of the executive de- partments and agencies. His first mes- sage on the state of the Union—his annual message—held only one surprise, the President’s declaration that he did not believe a constitutional amendment necessary. It may be incorrect to call even that a surprise, For the President theretofore had not indicated he would seek such an amendment, although some of the Democratic leaders including Sen- ator Robinson of Arkansas, the Senate leader, had expressed the opinion that the better way of validating some of the New Deal laws was by constitutional amendment, * kX Even now there are those Democrats who insist the President did not by any means close the door to a constitutional amendment. They say he urged upon the Supreme Court a more liberal inter- pretation of the Constitution, but that if a liberal interpretation is not forth- coming he may return to the amend- ment. Generally speaking, however, his message has been interpreted as placing the President in opposition to a consti- tutional amendment at this time. Any- way, speech put rather a damper on the movement in Congress for an amend- ment, The rest of his message, and also his budget message, failed to reveal any specific measures of his program, with the exception of a plan to reorganize the executive departments, to continue cer- tain nuisance taxes, to continue and make permanent the C. C. C. and to enact an amendment to the neutrality law giving the President authority to ban shipments of arms and munitions to the warring factions in Spain. All of these recommendations had been ex- pected. The rest of the President’s pro- gram still remains unknown. He inti- mated clearly that something must be done to revive the basic principles of the N. R. A, But what will be done still is entirely nebulous, * 2 % % The message on the reorganization of the executive departments will be awaited with much interest. It has been reported he will ask Congress to set up two new major departments, with their heads members of the President’s cabinet. One is a Department of Public Welfare and the other a Department of Public Works. The President has said several times that he does not expect great saving from the departmental reorganization—if any. If there are to be two new major departments created, taking in the great spending agencies of the Government set up to meet the emergency growing out of the depres- sion, it seems pretty clear there is to be no shrinkage of the executive branch of the Government. Rather it may be expected to increase. * X x % The President’s messages have indi- cated that he believes the Federal Gov- ernment must take over more and more the business of regulating matters that have in the past been left to the States | and must give more and more service to the people. This means, of course, greater centralization of the Govern- ment—in Washington. A Democratic Senator, commenting recently on the in- creasing growth of the Federal Govern- ment and its encroachment upon the States said: “If I were a comedian in vaudeville and wanted to get a laugh out of audiences in any part of the country, I would simply go on the stage and say: ‘I am for States’ rights’ States’ rights are a dead issue, and the country is beginning to regard them as such. The centralization of Government will con- tinue. There seems no other way. It may be that the State boundaries will not be wiped out—at least not yet.” * X ¥ X The speed with which Congress put through the Spanish neutrality resolu- tion, acting immediately after the Presi- dent had delivered his message, may or may not be indicative of future willing- ness to follow the lead of the President. The great desire of Congress and the American people to avoid any entangle- ment abroad that might lead this country into war naturally played its part in speeding that resolution through. However, that quick action seemed to be an augury of future acquiescence in the plans of the administration for legis- lation. Certainly it could not be con- strued as a willingness to say no. With the great popularity of the President in mind and the results of the national election by no means yet forgotten, it seems entirely probable the administra- tion will have little trouble getting what it wants at the hands of Congress. That goes for the Senate as well as for the House, * ok ok % Reverting to the question of constitu- tional amendment or some other means of getting more liberal laws, the progres- sive bloc is intent upon quick action at the present session to rewrite or to validate the New Deal laws as they relate to labor and industry, to hours of labor and wages. The members of the bloc are calling upon the veteran Sen- ator Norris of Nebraska to take a fore- most part in this drive. Senator Norris already has his name attached to one amendment to the Constitution—the “lame duck” amendment, which did away with the old “short” sessions of Congress and put the newly elected President in office in January instead of waiting until March. It would be an extraordinary thing if Norris’ name should be so closely associated with a second amendment to the Constitution— although that may happen. Thinking back on other amendments, in recent years, the name of only one other Sen- ator is so intimately attached as to come instantly to mind—Senator Morris Sheppard of Texas, who fathered the eighteenth amendment providing for na- tional prohibition. That amendment is now no more. It seems increasingly clear, however, that the Progressives do not intend to let the grass grow under their feet in the session of Congress now convened. One way or another they intend to force through labor legislation and legislation dealing with agriculture as quickly as possible. If the President takes the lead, so much the better. If he does not, they are prepared to go ahead anyway. * K Kk ok In his budget message President Roosevelt asked for an appropriation of $650,000,000 to be used for the W. P. A. and the R. A. until June 30 next, when the new fiscal year begins. This is more than his original suggestion that $500,- 000,000 might be sufficient to wind up the year. It is much less, however, than the sums for which members of Con- gress, mayors of cities and the relief workers are clamoring. Great pres- sure will be brought upon the Appropria- tions Committees of the House and the Senate to increase the sum, perhaps by several hundred million dollars. Senators and Representatives from the States of the Northwest are early in the fleld with & committee, headed by Senator Pope, Democrat, of Idaho, to the de- ‘mands for more money the Houss <} THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. Cleaning out the old office desk is an annual job which most persons put off until just after the new year. Starting on these labors the other day we pulled a metal drawer clear off its driveway, and there on the flooring found an old letter, one which we re- called having thought a good letter at the time of receipt several years ago. Since the problem it presents is a perennial one, we take pleasure in print- ing it at last: “Dear Sir: You may possibly have written an article on the subject I am about to mention, but if you haven’t I wish you would. Having been out of the city for a year and a half I have not seen The Star regularly. “I wish you would give your most caustic expression to the drivers of autos who sound their horns or start their engines loudly in order to see pedestrians jump. “You will observe that they usually pick out some elderly person, or per- haps some girl whose attention they wish to attract, disconcerting those who are trying to cross the street in safety and with as much speed as possible. “It’s & lot of fun for morons. They have their equal in the motorman who Jjangles a bell unnecessarily for the same purpose. If any pedestrian were to ex- perience an accident because of this class of driver’s antics, that driver would speedily justify himself, “This type of ‘amusement’ s not one indulged in by women. So mark up another good point for women drivers. “The rule that pedestrians who start on the green light have right of way all the way across the street is more hon- ored by non-observance than by ob- servance. Yours very truly, A. De G.” * ok ow % - The pedestrian problem presented is more acute today than ever. Traffic is much worse, all things con- sidered. There are more cars, there is more careless and indifferent driving. The pedestrian scarcely has been helped by increased laws and regulations. There always has been enough in the streets to keep the hapless walker busy. Multi- plicity of lights and regulations neces- sarily are more confusing to him than to the driver, for he it must always be remembered, is made of flesh and blood, and has no metal to bulwark him against the “arrows of outrageous fortune.” This thing of having some one make you nearly jump out of your skin, just for the “fun” of it, is distinctly discon- certing. It not only is totally unnecessary, but it often startles a pedestrian just enough to divert his attention from a car com- ing around the corner. It is the car coming around the corner which takes away all the possible last vestiges of pleasure which might be left to the pedestrian in the city proper —or improper. Sometimes the walking person thinks traffic highly improper, let it be known. * ¥ % X Between the cars turning the corner and the sudden racing of engines, more prevalent now than the blowing of the horn to frighten people, the person afoot has an increasingly hard time of it. Sudden roaring of the engine, with a slight hitch forward, is worse on the nerves of the crossing pedestrian than a horn perhaps. The sound of a horn—how different from the days when a horn was used merely to frighten the fox—gives warn- WASHINGTON | the modern pedestrian. ing about something perhaps, but at corners it comes mostly from a station- ary car. But the sound of a racing engine means, in the mind of the average walker, a moving machine, and that is where the “scarce” comes in. There can be little doubt that some motorists indulge in these “antics,” as our correspondent calls them, purposely, and with evident design to frighten pedestrians. We believe them to be in a minority, however. Most of the engine racers and hitchers forward of their cars just a little while at a crossing do so out of nervousness, we feel, Driving cars in modern traffic takes a lot of nervous energy. No doubt many persons who are not aware of the fact, nevertheless are making nervous wrecks out of themselves by motoring. It may be glimpsed in the set faces of many drivers. Something to relieve the nervous ten- slon—and this “something” is the relief of tooting on a horn, or causing the engine to snort a few snorts. That some drivers, almost always men, as the writer of the above letter points out, do make people jump, just for the fun of seeing them jump, is un- doubted. But if one has a sure sense of how much time is left before the change of lights, one need not worry much about them deliberately running over one. * k% No, the real danger comes from cars making the turns, from two directions, squarely into the path of the hurrying pedestrian., Although the person afoot “has the light,” so, alas, has the man making a turn. Instead of making the wide turn, which was overturned several years ago, to the sorrow of most pedestrians, and some motorists, the driver makes as short and narrow a turn as possible. This means that often the pedestrian is prevented from crossing and kept im- movable long enough so that by the time he is able to resume his course, he finds himself assailed by an entire new band of flends in human form, rushing at him from another direction. The walker cannot stay where he is, and yet he cannot move forward or even backward, in some instances. What is he to do? ‘Well, we leave it to you. Having been caught in one of these famous situa- tions the other morning, what we did was to swear fluently and proficiently, and beat it back to a car platform as swiftly as possible. Fortunately, the street car had waited to take on a fat lady. Blessed fat woman! Had it not been for thy portly shadow, we might have been No. 102, or whatever the vic- tim would have been that day. All in all, the plight of the pedestrian is sad, just a little more sad, or sadder, as one chooses, than last year, despite some alleviation. The forgotten man is If you don't | think he is forgotten, stand out in the | middle of Pennsylvania avenue some | else. time and start thinking about something Oh, anything will do. It must be some sort of high crime to start thinking in such a situation, because the penalty is swift and sure. You are not supposed to think in the middle of the street. All | you are supposed to do is jump. OBSERVATIONS BY FREDERIC WILLIAM WILE. Faith and hope, apart from skyscraper figures, are the high lights of the third Roosevelt budget. The President bases his expectations of & “layman’s balanced budget” for 1938 and a “certified public accountant’s” budget for 1939 on what he confidently thinks will come to pass rather than on any cast iron assurances on that score. Never have F.D.R.’s in- vincible buoyancy and optimism been more graphically illustrated than in his sunny belief that Uncle Sam’'s expense account will actually be squared two years hence. The President places his chief reliance on industry and recovery: (1) On industry, to take up the slack in unemployment by providing jobs, and thus curtailing the Government'’s relief burden, and (2) on recovery, to proceed at such a rate that Treasury revenue from income taxes will continuously swell, and thus do its bit to keep the country in the black. If these things happen, Mr. Roosevelt is certain the budget goose will hang high by mid-1939. * % %% ‘There’s no more pertinent passage in the budget message than the gentle hint to Congress that if it indulges in ex- penditure beyond fundamental Federal requirements, it must simultaneously raise the necessary wind. Otherwise, House and Senate are admonished, the budget is doomed to remain chronically out of gear. Pressure groups of one hue or another are due sooner or later to come forth with various designs on the Treasury, though nothing is in sight as devastating as the veterans’ bonus. A test of congressional economy sincerity is just around the corner. It will be provided by demands for relief funds in excess of anything either Mr. Roosevelt or Mr. Hopkins projects. For the moment “balance the budget” is popular at the Capitol as a slogan. All hands are chanting it. But it isn't likely to bé long before a host of schemes aimed at wider distribution of taxpayers’ wealth will bob up. New Deal leadership will have its troubles keeping the “gimme” brigade in leash. The would-be spenders can count on plenty of opposition from the White House. * Kk X X It's just about half a century since “Czar” Tom Reed rebuked a Coolidge- like House member by drawling his im- mortal epigram that “this is a billion- dollar country.” The speaker alluded to the round figures of the modest budget of that day. Congress now has a $6- 000,000,000 or $7,000,000,000 budget on its hands. So accustomed are Uncle Sam’s children to Federal billions that the current national expense account hardly causes anybody to bat an eye. The biggest single item, apart from re- lief, is the $980,000,000 for national de- fense, a peace-time peak. Not since the other Roosevelt has the country had so preparedness-minded a President as the White -House incumbent. Under his leadership, Congress since 1933 has given generous heed to defense requirements. Current world conditions will probably stifle any semblance of opposition to the record Army and Navy appropriations Mr. Roosevelt has just submitted. R When Emery L. Prazier, stentorian- toned legislative clerk of the Senate, calls and Senate committees. It may be ex- pected that members from other sections of the country will come forward with demands. The fight over this relief appropriation, to be carried in a defl- clency bill, is likely to show the temper of Congress spending and retrench- o is supposed to have day last N the roll of the newly organized chamber he reels off three familiar names. Again the roster contains a Lodge, a Hitchcock and a Pepper, reminiscent, respectively, of two former chairmen of the Foreign Relations Committee (Lodge of Massa- chusetts and Hitchcock of Nebraska) and the Philadelphia lawyer (Pepper of Pennsylvania), who was in the Senate from 1922 to 1927. Once more, too, there are two Johnsons, as there were when Hiram of California and Magnus of Minnesota were both members. The newest Johnson is the former Governor, Edwin Carl, of Colorado. He has been assigned the outer wing position on the fringe of Democrats for whom space had to be found on the thinned Republican side. * ok % % Andrew W. Mellon’s gift of a monu- mental National Gallery of Art to Washington has its inspiration mainly in the Pittsburgher’s devotion to paint- ings and sculpture, but it also springs from the former Secretary of the Treas- ury's ardent desire to see the Federal City become architecturally the most beautiful capital in the world. Nothing during his record tenure of 12 years at the Treasury gave Mr. Mellon greater pride than his association with the $100.000.000 departmental building proj- ect along Pennsylvania and Constitution avenues. His commission to John Rus- sell Pope, New York architect, who will design the art gallery, stipulated that the building should be in full keeping with the granite and limestone piles which now luxuriously house so many Federal activities. * kX At the White House sphinxlike silence is maintained about the make-up of the second-term Roosevelt cabinet. Although the impression grows that no changes are in early prospect except possibly in the secretaryship of war, to which Mr. Woodring was appointed temporarily, gossip persists in connection with the Labor Department. If there's to be a new Department of Public Welfare, Sec- retary Perkins rates as a strong possi- bility for its first head, with Works Progress Administrator Hopkins as chief runner-up, or vice versa. If the cabinet lady is switched to public welfare, her present chief aide, Assistant Secretary Edward F. McGrady, is looked upon as her certain successor. With strike tur- moil looming as the blackest cloud on the New Deal’s horizon, its ace trouble- shooter in the industrial realm would take over the Labor portfolio at a psy- chological moment. * X k% Senator Matthew M. Neely, Democrat, of West Virginia, chairman of the Con- gressional Inaugural Committee, is wres- tling with the traditional and thorny task of solving the loaves and fishes seating problem on the Capitol Plaza on January 20. Mr. Neely has the distinc- tion of being West Virginia’s second United States Senator to be elected to & third term. The only other one was the late Stephen B. Elkins, Republican. Fol- lowing the patronage reprisals recently imposed upon Mr. Neely’s young col- league, Rush Holt, a State newspaper refers to the senior Senator as West Virginia’s “only recognized representa- tive” in the upper branch of Congress. It acclaims him as having now reached a commanding position, “where he can procure for West Virginia benefits that were out of reach before.” * kX % Somebody has suggested that the President might magnanimously cele- brate that “era of good feeling” which set in on a certain ovember, by naming the p ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN. A reader can get the answer to any question of fact by writing The Evening Star Information Bureau, Frederic J. Haskin, Director, Washington, D C. Please inclose stamp for reply. Q. What is the average bet of people attending the races?—E. R. A. Jack Doyle, New York betting com- missioner, estimates that two-thirds of the people playing the horses bet only $2 at a time, Q. How is the Irish name “Sean” pro- nounced?—J. E. H. A. Sean, which is the same as the English name John, is pronounced as though spelled shawn. Q. Are there many left-handed der.- tists?>—B. G. T. A. Not more than 1 dentist in 500 is left handed, it is said, although many of them are ambidextrous. Q. How large was the first edition of Who's Who in America?—C. W. A. The first edition, published in 1899« 1900. contained 827 pages and 8,602 bio~ graphical sketches. Q. Is there a form of architecture known as Tuscan?—W. R. B. A. This is an order of architecture of the Etruscan style, called also the Ru: order. The Tuscan style is gener: regarded as differing from the Doric only in being less refined in its propor- tions, Q. What instruments phony orchestra?—L. R. A. The four choirs which comprise the symphony orchestra are the strings (violas, violins, violoncellos and contra- basses); the woodwinds (bassoons, clari= nets, flutes, English horn and occasion- ally the French horn, oboes) ; the brasses (French horns, trombones, tuba, trum- pets); the battery (instruments of per- cussion such as drums, triangles, bells and tympani). form a sym- Q. Please give a biography of Ernest Sutherland Bates, author of “The Bible— Designed to Be Read as Living Litera- | ture.”—H. W. A. The author was born at Gambier, Ohio, October 14, 1879, son of Cyrus Stearns and Laverna Sutherland Bates. Graduated from the University School at Cleveland, he received his A. B. at the University of Michigan in 1302 and A. M. in 1903; Ph. D, Columbia Univer- sity, 1908. He was instructor in English at Oberlin College, 1903-5; tutor in Eng- lish, Columbia, 1907-8; professor of Eng- lish, University of Arizona, 1908-15, Uni= versity of Oregon, 1915-21. He was lite erary editor of the Dictionary of Amer=- ican Biography, 1926-9. Mr. Bates was on the staff of the Saturday Review of Literature and the Modern Monthly. Among his books are “The Friend of | Jeus,” “This Land of Liberty” and | “Study of Shelley’s the Cenci.” Q. What are the most important min- eral elements in food?—B. L. C. A. Probably calcium, phosphorus and iron. Q. When was the Mississippi River formed?—M. T. A. The river, as it now exists, was formed during the latter part of the Ice Age, more than 20,000 years ago. Q. What breed of chicken is the 1936 champion, Miss New Deal?—P. M. A. She is a White Leghorn. She laid 327 eggs in 365 days and scored 347.25 points—a two-ounce egg equaling one point. Q. Can you tell me something about Elizabeth Fry?—A. W. S. A. Elizabeth Fry was a Quaker, the wife of a prosperous London merchant. In 1817 she started a work among the women prisoners of Newgate Prison that led to reforms in the treatment of women prisoners throughout the British Isles, | France, Germany, Belgium, Holland and | Switzerland. She devoted 25 years to | this work and was recognized as its | chief exponent throughout Europe. Q. Was William Blake, the English artist and poet, a spiritualist?>—C. H. A. He firmly believed that he held converse with the spirits of Homer, Virgil, Dante and other great men. Q. How did the prohibition poll taken by the Literary Digest in 1930 turn out?—S. W. D. A. The result of the poll was: 30.5 per cent of those voting favored the cone tinuance and strict enforcement of the eighteenth amendment and Volstead act; 29.1 per cent favored madification of the Volstead act to permit the sales of light wines and beer; 404 per cent favored repeal of the eighteenth amend- ment. Q. Is the last member of the Last Man’s Club still living?—C. K. A. The Last Man’s Club was a dinner club composed entirely of Civil War veterans. Ii" originated in St. Paul, Minn. Each year the members of the club attended an annual dinner. Each year the places were set for all of the original members, even those who had passed on. About a year ago the last man died. Q. What is the average weight of chil- dren 2 and 3 years old?—N. S. A. At 2 years the average weight is 25% pounds; at 3, 297; pounds. Q. What is semolina?—J. W. A. Hard grains of wheat left in the bolting cloth when the fine flour has through its meshes are called semolina. It is also sometimes manu- factured by millers. Certain hard, large- grained wheats growing in Southern Europe produce the best semolina, which is used for thickening soups, for maca- roni, for a French bread, as an addition to Italian polenta and is employed in puddings. A Rhyme at Twilight PR A Winter Magic. Nothing more fairylike I know ‘Than dry weeds in a drift of snow; ‘Wild carrot tops, standing upright, Holding a thimble cup of white; A clump of withered goldenrod; A milkweed stalk with one gray pod; A few cattails, erect and cool, Snow-etched against a frozen pool. Above the drift, in the sun's gleam, Petrified orchids the weeds seem. -_— United States’ forthcoming two 35,000e ton battleships Maine and Vermont. As there’s no politics in the Navy, evidence is lacking that the proposal is being taken under serious consideration. (Coprright, 1937.)