Evening Star Newspaper, March 16, 1937, Page 10

A—10 THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. TUESDAY._.___________._March 16, 1937 THEODORE W. NOYES The Evening Star Newspaper Company. 1.tn St and Pennsylvania Ave New York Office: 110 East 42nd 8t. Chicago Office: 435 North Michizan Ave. Rate by Carrier—City and Suburban. Regular Edidon. The Evenine and Sunday Star » 65¢ per month or 15¢ per week The Evening Sta or 10c per week --bc ver copy Final Edition, Sunday Star-. r per mon The Sunday Star _ 70¢ per month == ¢ per month the end h month or ers may be sent by mall or tele- 5000 Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance, Maryland and Virginia, Datly and Sunday.. ] yr. $10.00; 1 mo, 8¢ Dally oply __ i gmm: 1 mo,, BOc Snnday oniy_ .. 1 yr 4.00: 1 mo.. 40c All Other States and Canada, Daily and Sundas. 1 yr. $12.00; 1 mo. S1.00 Daily only_______ 1 yr. §5.00; 1 mo, 75c Sunday only 1yl $500i 1 mo. b0c Member of the Associated Press. ‘The Associated Press s exclusively entitied to tre for republication of all news dispatches (3 ted to it or not otherwise credited in this er and al.o the local news piublished hersin rights of publication of special ispatches n are also reserved —_— Test of Leadership. Because some of our industrial leaders have been stupidly inept and blind in their handling of labor relations, does it follow that labor leaders must take a leaf from the same book? A test of their wisdom seems to be in the making at Detroit, The injunction granted the Chrysler Corporation by Circuit Judge Campbell, calling on sit-down strikers to abandon their illegal occupancy of property, is based not only on the law but on sound common sense. No one can deny its full Justification u the outlined by cou the la s intend to ignore it by the flin e of not “interfering” with the sit-downers but leaving with them the decision whether to obey a court order? If so, they indicate a deplorable lack of judgment and of responsibility to their men. The qu n at issue is not collective ba: ning, wages or hours or even the blunder- whose defensible. The . as Judge circumstances 1 for both sides. Do iLions or of some warped point of view question at Campbell defendant strikers or anybody else have “the right to seize and appropriate $50,000,000 worth of prop- erty of the plaintiff and to prevent by threats of violence any use of the prop- erty by the plaintiff or its agents.” ‘The judge relates, nificantly enough, that in no case examined through pre- vious court decisions “does the defend- ant stand before the court as the de- fendants do here, admitting the seizure of another’s property by force and threats of violence.” That is, indeed, precedent in this country. Do the labor leaders want to let it stand as precedent, attracted for the moment by a superfi- cial glitter of what seems to be success? Not if they are wise and not if they are to demonstrate themselves as fit leaders. To no class in America is the preserva= tion of respect for law and for the courts more important than to those who labor with their hands. To no class is there so much danger in the destruction of this respect for the law and for the courts. “The issue -in the case at bar,” said Judge Campbell, “is not between this plaintiff and these defendants.” It is much broader than that. It affects not merely “property rights,” but the “human “ right” of personal liberty as well. If a group of individuals is able to seize prop- erty at will and hold it until ransom has been delivered in the form of acquiescence with its demands, it is a very short step to the seizure of persons and their “liquidation,” which, like the sit-down, is another European innova- tion. The same courts that protect “property rights” protect, also, the rest of the Bill of Rights. In Flint recently Governor Murphy was able to hold court orders in abey- ance until negotiations were completed. He did a dangerous thing, but he avoided bloodshed. In Detroit he is faced with the inevitable result of an expedient, compromise. But he is giving other ad- vice: “The law must be obeyed. There must be no willful disobedience of court arders or defiance of public orders.” The labor leaders, not the men in the ranks, are responsible for following his advice, vers say ey gl When Senator Ashurst mentions a be- Hef that a change of opinion as in the honus vote makes him 50 per cent right, he puts a metaphysical twist into an already complicated situation. Psycho- analysts have a word for it, “schisophre- nia” which in a general way signifies ability to talk one way and think an- other. It has often been observed in the more primitive forms of politics. ——e— Why Not Withdraw It? Regardless of the slim majority of proxy votes which enabled the House District Committee to report the race track bill, it is not believed that Con- gress, in the face of the stiff opposition already expressed from the community, will go out of its way to foist the race track nuisance on the District of Co- lumbia. Chairman Norton can carry the fight to the floor on the next District day and suffer probable defeat by the House. The wiser course, however, would be to recall the bill at the meeting of the committee tomorrow and, if hearings are not held, at least to write a report sup- plying the District and members of Congress with information, now lacking, as to why it should be passed. No writ- ten report on the bill has been made. Who is behind the bill? The bill ap- parently receives its chief impetus from the natural desires of a successful race track promoter to extend his operations to the District. But why a race track promoter’s ambitions for more con- venient contact with the pocketbooks of suckers in the District should force an unwanted bill through the District Com- mittee has not been adequately ex- plained. Who is against the bill? The term “reformer,” carrying an opprobrious con- notation, is conveniently "used by the THE EVENING bill’s sponsors to classify the opponents. But as the “reform elements” include the churches, the citizens’ groups and many others who have little concern with the moral aspects of legalized gambling, such elements represent mem- bers of the community whose views de- serve respectful consideration. They are against the bill and their opposition would be expressed if a hearing on the bill is permitted. In connection with the race track bill, Chairman Norton has associated hersel” with a fight capable of developing bitter, recriminatory ramifications, That fis regretted’ by many of her friends. If determined to continue the fight, how- ever, her friends would at least prefer to see her better equipped with ammuni- tion. As Mrs. Norton probably realizes, most of the ammunition is on the other side. r——— For War in the Air. Prophecies that another great war, should such a calamity again overtake mankind, will be mainly fought and probably won in the air, find grim sup- port in figures just published by the National Aeronautic Association at Washington, disclosing the gigantic air armaments piling up across the Atlantic, The secretary of the association, who re- cently returned from abroad, states that first-hand information indicates there are now twenty-five thousand, five hun- dred military airplanes in commission in Europe and that 1937 production “may well reach the startling total of twenty thousand.” That would bring the num- ber of machines available by the end of this year to more than forty-five thou- sand. The N. A. A. official estimates that Soviet Russia possesses seven thousand, five hundred fighting planes; Germany, five thousand, five hundred; Italy, five thousand; France, four thousand, and Great Britain, three thousand, five hun- dred. These impressive statistics leave no doubt that general staffs have come to pin strong faith on the aerial weapon. Unquestionably they reckon that the country which sirikes with it most quickly and forcibly—if possible, in sur- prise attack—will obtain immense ad- vantage in that impending international conflict, the outbreak of which so many authorities profess to be merely a matter of time, and sooner, rather than later. It is terrifying to contemplate the de- struction of life and property that will be spread by this super-modern mode of warfare, especially among civilian communities, The Aeronautic Association survey de- picts German plans, which are under the supervision of General Goering, Hitler's second in command, as the most dra- matic example of a bid for air su- premacy. The Nazis are promoting their program in three directions—immediate production, research and public educa- tion in all matters aerial, including training in defense mechanisms. . Italy is actuated by similar zeal and the French are about to follow suit, Great Britain’s vast rearmament program pro- vides several hundred million dollars for aircraft development this year and for comprehensive “protective measures, among them, the novel expedient of “caging” London in a gigantic steel net, to prevent a break through of enemy planes for bombing or gas attacks. Within the past year the world has had practical evidence of the effective- ness of aircraft in war. Italy owed her relatively quick conquest of Ethiopia primarily to unchallengeable mastery of the sky. The Spanish rebels were en- abled to carry their campaign to the gates of Madrid largely on account of numerically superior air equipment, plus the services of German and Italian pilots, Soviet Russia depends on air force to hold Japan at bay in the Far East. The Japanese themselves are devoting in- creasing attention to aviation, realizing that enemy strength aloft might more than neutralize the island empire's power afield and afloat. defenseless ———— Many rural citizens who received franked communications prior to the election landslide are wondering why they contained no mention of a mandate to reorganize the constitutional govern- ment. ——e—. The Middle Classes. It is fashionable to poke fun at the middle classes. The rich and the poor alike are agreed in their contempt for that portion of the population which is neither wealthy nor poverty-stricken, Perhaps it is natural that it should be so. The plight of the individual who seeks to be independent of both the magnates and the mob is comparable with that of a pedestrian who walks the center of the road—he gets hit by new Rolls Royces and ancient flivvers indiscriminately. Just now especially the bourgeoisie is in peril of its existence. It has been frightfully deplete¢ by war and revolu- tion and their inevitable aftermath of disease and economic dislocation. The middle classes simply were not organized to survive. Also, they were handicapped by their sympathies—their patriotism, their altruism, their instinctive willing- ness to compromise with militant oppo- sition. They gave their sons and their money disproportionately. And, despite their losses, they endeavored to “keep up appearances”—an expensive expression of their pride. When thousands of men- dicants “went on relief” without a mo- ment’s hesitation, it was their pref- erence to suffer unnoticed. Gradually, they achieved the immerative adjust- ment, quietly submitted to an enforced lowering of their standard of living, were driven down to another social level, be- came “white collar” laborers under con- ditions which were hostile to them even in that miserable role, Of course, in America the tempo of the tragedy was slow, Not until 1929 did the drama of degradation really begin to move with speed. The middie classes in Europe, however, dragged their con- temporaries in the United States to the edge of the pit. At the beginning of the so-called Hoover depression, hundreds of ’ families plunged over the brink to dis- aster. But the New Deal has not rescued them. The “forgotten man” of William Graham Sumner was the taxpayer; the neglected soul to whom that phrase has been applied by Franklin D. Roosevelt is represented by quite a different char- acter—namely, the “uaderprivileged” misfit who “never has had a chance” but to whom the world nevertheless is al- leged to owe a subsidy, It has become a matter of politics to preach the basic doctrines of radicalism—the philosophy of economic equality without regard to distinctions of personal merit; democracy without reference to variations of ca- pacity for useful service to society, The President, pragmatically realistic, has summarized his point of view in the challenge: “While it isn't written in the Constitution, nevertheless, it is the in- herent duty of the Federal Government to keep its citizens from starvation.” His faith is predicated on conviction that “general welfare” signifies the sacrifice of the Haves for the preservation and maintenance of the Have Nots until the problem of the poverty of one-third of the populace has been solved. A least common denominator principle is his answer to the riddle. He sees the younger generation marching forward as a single army: “You think of the security for yourself and your family that will give you good health, good food, good educa~ tion, good working conditions and the opportunity for normal recreation and occasional travel. Your advancement, you hope, is along a broad highway on which thousands of your fellow men and women are advancing with you.” Anc Mr. Roosevelt may be correct in his vision. It may be that kind of regimented opportunity that the ma- jority of Americans desire. But the President must not be surprised if a small minority is loyal to the old rule of self-support and self-sufficiency. The middle classes prospered for centuries by obedience to that precept, and it is hard for them to relinquish it without a struggle. ] During hearings of the Judiciary Com- mittee on the President’s Supreme Court plan, Senator Norris played with a rub- ber band; as a suggestion, perhaps, that procedure was growing perfunctory and should be made snappier. ———— Arizona is a country ¢f sand, not of snow. In trying to follow two directions at once, Senator Ashurst may not be technically informed as to what hap- pens to a gentleman who gets his skis | crossed. B Herbert Hoover's motto, “Hands off he Supreme Court,” might have been valuable in campaigning if political crystal gazers could have foreseen the exigencies of what was then the future, ——— likes Judge Kenesaw even if he is seventy-one years Base ball Landis old still a mistake to seek to pyt an air of into a strike by tearing up pay envelopes for confetti. Shooting Stars. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Modern To “wisecrack” is a modern gift ‘Which will the weary soul uplift. | In politics it plays a part, And also in dramatic art. The word was not in shape to quote When Solomon his proverbs wrote, Although he might have met the test And claimed to “wisecrack” with the best. The Bard of Avon has seen fit To offer much in timely wit. All of the poets, now and then, “Wisecracked” to cheer their fellow men. And even scientists so grave Credit as humorists will crave. So let's be generous and take heart And hail “wisecracking” as an art! Consideration for the Public. “It is regarded as absolutely necessary for Congress to take a vacation.” “Absolutely,” agreed Senator Sorghum. “Do you public men grow weary of communicating great ideas?” “Not at all. But the public should be given a little time now and then to think them over.” “Philosophers who say they find hap- piness in poverty,” said Hi Ho, the sage of Chinatown, “are always broad-minded enough to experiment with wealth if they can acquire it.” An Influential Book. The Ten Commandments we must heed. Yet, as we reverently read, We sometimes have to turn away And ask, “What does the ledger say?” That ledger is a serious book On which with fear men often look And devious paths of conduct tread For fear of getting “in the red.” And so when policies are framed, Or sympathy our thought has claimed, A generous impulse oft we stay To ask, “What does the ledger say?” Jud Tunkins says to,a good many folks 'most any place seems cheerful, so long as it ain’t home. Shifting Points of the Compass. “Are you going with a Wild West show next Summer?” “No,” answered Cactus Joe, “the big desperado work is bein’ done in the metropolitan centers. I'm goin’ to or- ganize a Wild East show.” ' The Indefatigable Guesser. The market’s lure is never through. The speculator comes anew And hears it sing the old refrain, “He who guessed wrong may guess again.” “I doesn’ give no offense,” said Uncle Eben, “if I drops off to sleep in church, ‘cause I's a light sleeper and always wakes up when de contribution plate is passed.” [ STAR, W/ | most HINGTON, D. TUESDAY. MARCH 16, 1937 —_——— THIS AND THA THE POLITICAL MILL BY G. GOULD LINCOLN. When President Roosevelt in 1933 re-~ moved the late Willlam E. Humphrey from the Federal Trade Commission it vas because the commissioner did not see eye to eye with him on mattbrs of policy. The Federal Trade Commission is an “independent” agency of the Gov- ernment, a quasi-judicial agency, set up by Congress in the days of Woodrow Wilson to see that fair practices, rather than unfair, prevail in industry and busi- ness. It was very evident that if a member of the Trade Commission could be removed by the President, without any charge of wrong or ill doing, the independence of that agency was gone— like the snows of yesterday. Bk k% President went ahead and re- moved Humphrey. It was his method of dealing with a quasi-judicial body, which was supposed to be independent and to be bheyond the pale of politics and the influence of the Chief Execu- tive. He is now tackling the independence of the Supreme Court—a completely ju- dicial and completely independent body, it has been supposed. He is not taking the same method as that which he used in the Humphrey case That would clearly not be constitutional. But it is constitutional, it is generally conceded, for Congress at the request of the Presi- dent, to increase or decrease the member- ship of the court By placing half a dozen new justices on the bench, men who will see eve to eye with the Presi- dent, there can be wrought a change in the Supreme Court quite as effective as any change brought about in the quasi- judicial Trade Commission by the re- moval of members of the commission. * x The President’s correspondence with the removed commissioner throws light on the present-day struggle of the Chief Executive to bring the Suprem into line with his poljcies, the opponents of the Roosevelt court bill maintain. For example, on July 25, 1933, when he was intent upon getting a new trade com- missioner Pres wrote to Humphre) thout any reflection upon you personally or upon the service you have rend d in your present capacity, I find it ne to ask for your resig- nation as a member of the Federal Trade Commission. I do this because I feel > aims and purposes ministration with respect to the work of the commission can be carrl out effe with personnel of m; n selec Commissiones Humphrey not or not see eve to eye with the Pre or so the President said—bt did not consider t the President I ht t from off up the ¢ The m- tence been filed aga And that him. was the Pr made it. 1st 81, 1933, the Presi- dent wrote to Mr. Humphrey: “I do not feel that your mind and my mind go along together on either the pol or the administration of the Federal Trade Commission, and fran I it is best for the people of the country that I should have full confidence in the members of the commission.” that note he Humphrey from office. L S and sum The removed commission his fight to for the re ad been appointed the case eventually reached the Supr Court of the United States, and witho handed down f at the President had exceeded Humphrey. about the res But it did p of the President at regard now, under the President’s plan for t reorganization of the executive branch of the Government, he has proposed to place the Federal Trade Commission, the Interstate Commerce Commission and other “independent” qua: adicial agencies of e Government directly under various cabinet officers “for ad- ministrative purposes.” But once that is done the independence of these com- missions will be just about as great as will be the independence of the Supreme Court after the President has “packed” it, say his opponents. * % * As hearings before the Senate judiciary were resumed today on the President’s court bill, there was a move under way also for a constitutional amendment which might run alongside. There seems far more support for a constitue tional amendment right now than for the court bill. With Senator Robinson of Arkansas, Democratic leader of the Sen- ate, and Senator Norris of Nebraska, ardent Rooseveltian, saying there was no reason why a constitutional amend- ment should not be supported, the plan seemed to have gained ground. How- ever, there has been no agreement on the kind of amendment or what it shall con- tain. Norris, for example, has offered an amendment which would do away with the life tenure of places on the Federal bench by the judges appointed and limit them to nine-year terms. Senator O'Mahoney has pinned his faith on an amendment which would make a two-thirds vote of the court necessary to declare a law unconstitutional. And so it goes. * Kk ok N ‘The hope of some of the supporters of the constitutional amendment plan is that if Congress submits an amendment t@the States for ratification the Presi- dent’s plan to revamp the court will be allowed to die. So far there has been no indication, however, that the Chief Ex- ecutive would consent to let Congress pass up his bill. On the other hand, if Congress finds that it has passed a law permitting the voluntary retirement of members of the Supreme Court after reaching 70 years of, age and after having been ten years on the bench— as it has—and that it has submitted an amendment to the Constitution, dealing with the subject of court decisions in one way or another, the urge to drop the President’s bill may be great. On the other hand, presidential supporters take the view that if those who favor an amendment to the Constitution are given their head they may be the more willing to let the President have his bill so that he may operate on the court immediately. * Xk k k It looks as though there was finally to be a showdown on whether the sit- down strike is legal or not. A court order has been issued to the sit-downers in the Chrysler plants to evacuate by to- morrow morning. Gov. Frank Murphy is reported to have said that the law will be enforced and court orders obeyed. It is not a pleasant situation, but it might have been averted if a firm posi- tion had been taken by the State and Federal governments weeks ago when the first automobile sit-down strike bobbed up. | obscu | is perforn | vears, and read some of the And on | BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. “The Egoist,” by George Meredith, has been called by a competent critic “one of the chief glories of English fiction.” Yet how many persons today have read it? There were many others which this man wrote, and which made a big splash in their day—"The Ordeal of Richard Feverel,” “Rhoda Fleming,” “Beau- champ's Career,” “Diana of the Cross- ways”—how many have you read? Time and life move on, and with them comes a new crop of novelist, assiduous persons letting readers livg vicariously the lives of other persons, enter into their mental lives, react with them to life’s problems. Browsing among the older novelists is supreme sport for the reading tem- perament, and one which may be recom- mended particularly to all persons who love the novel. In Pearl Buck's “Fighting Angel” we get a glimpse into the older days, but not s0 long ago, at that, when some persons held novels to be less than nothing at all, in fact a positive force toward evil, Time, which changes all things, has given most persons a more wholesome attitude toward fiction, especially as exemplified in what often is called “the English novel.” Any novel translated well into English becomes, at least in a sense, an English Vizetelly did that with Emile s books, and while they remain lly French, they still take on some- thing of the good restraint which the translator imposed upon them simply by using his judgment as to what he put in and left out. * ok ko In a second-hand book store the other day, we looked for some of Jean Aus- ten's novels, but found only one, where- as on an obscure shelf in the dark there were three or four stories by Jean Austin, Although outwardly there is only the difference between an “e” and an “i” in the spelling of their last name, these two authors—authoresses, they -said in the old days—are not close together any longer. Jean Austen, the Englishwoman, is a world around. T 1 novelist, Somerset Maugham, in describing his new book, “Theatre,” has gone out of his way to pay ribute to Jean Austen, although from reading his hard-bitten stories you mig think the gentle Jane the last writer he would read. Jean Austin—she who spelled her last € with an “1,” was a favorite many 3 s ago in Boston circles, but now no one speaks of her books. It is only chance that reveals them in their dusty rest on e shelves, * ok o If a book is “One of the chief glories of English fiction,” no doubt all persons who honestly value the novel, ought to read it, and, if they have not, ought to make a point to look it up With the publicity which besets mod- €rn novels, many a reader’s mind is in a perpetual sort of mental merry-go- round, as he attempts what is calied up with the new books. It will be helpful, however, while he se inteilectual gymnas- ackward 50 years, a hundred ld ones. The modern pretension, especially in polite conversation, so-called, is that STARS, MEN ties, to go every admirer of things literary must “let on” that he has read all the really great things. To listen to polite talk about books is to get a good laugh, if you are so minded. Everybody has read everything. This little subterfuge would do no harm, perhaps, if it were not for the unfor- tunate fact that many persons tend to believe what they say. Not wishing to answer “no” to the question, “Have you read Meredith's “The Egoist’?” every one present has read it. Oh, of course! And every one, after awhile, believes he has. It is s0 easy to mix up those old names, and believe what one wishes to believe. * % ox % Any one, by taking a little thought, can make for himself a nice little list of the great things of the past which he really ought to read. Ought, of course, from his own stand- point It is not a social misdemeanor, as some would have us believe, not to have read certain great works of art, It is simply our loss. Not every author, for instance every reader. Let that point be insisted upon. Some readers think Dante the greatest of au- thors, others cannot abide him Many a modern reader tries Jane Austen in vain. Her honesty, which won the liking of Maugham—she never wrote about anything she didn’t know about— really is for is often overlooked. The fact that very | little happens, in the t sense of the word, is not to the liking of many mod- ern readers, brought up on the machine- gun school of fiction K There are few greater enjoyments, in books, than to go back to some of the older authors, and make them your own for a day or two, It soothes the restless spirit of times, for one thing. The sales talk these writers has ended. They endure, if they endure, simply because works refuse to perish forever discovering them What finer sport, for the reader, than to stumble over an old dusty set of Rob- ert Louis day, and discover for himse magic of the old word ma There are scores of the vesterday possible for any one sincerely feels the lure of the past every one does, of course, and if v the for who 1 are so “modern” that you cannot even rest | in a wing backed chair, but prefer one of these funny things all chromium tubes, stick to the present. It will be best. But the mind so attuned to facts that the past looms as well as present and future, will find somet. i deed, about the discovery of Smith’s essa “Al” Smith, s ly. but his name was Alexan- He discovered “Dreamthrope,” and put it on imperishable paper for us to discover, too, if we will go back ‘One of the chief g | fiction,” eh? And one never has read it! Maybe it would be a vervy good thing to read, after all, a little exc on the past, to find out what pe thought about then. and how the fered from us, if at ali, in the novels | they wrote and read. AND ATOMS Notebook of Science Progress in Field, Laboratory and Study. BY THOMAS R. HENRY. Eros and Tt S These words—the names of the Greek gods of love and death—constitute an ever-recurring burden in the works of the late Dr. William A. White. It seemed we with the passing of the man who a generation has been profoundest and most rilosopher, to seek for his ilosophy of the significance of ation of the individual. 1 arly expressed in his Sigma Chi address of ten years ago. It is death alone that makes progress possible. There is inherent in proto- plasm a drive for the destruction of the temporary patterns into which it is woven—a drive which finds its expres- sion in many ways unrealized by the dual. When man in Eden plucked the fruit of the tree of knowledge and thus brought toil and death into the world he did only what his very remote ancestors had done before him, Said Dr. White: “The choice of knowledge and its her- itage of death is precisely the choice that life made in the very beginning, for upon this choice depended the possi- bilities of advance and evolution. “The individual may and usually does desire to go on living, but for the species the death of the individual is not only useful but inevitable and necessary. In the regular progression of evolution from the lower to the higher organisms there is a characteristic change in the character of the component cells. It consists in the main in a gradual differ- entiation and modification in the way of increasing specialization in function. The monocellular organisms contain within themselves all the powers neces- for subsistence, growth and perpet- uation by reproduction. Death with them literally occurs only as a result of acci- dent. They are, to all intents and pur- immortal. S Fhe differentiation of function in response to the increasing need for specialization of function can take place only by a progressive loss in the self sufficiency of the individual cells which must ultimately reach a point at which their further existence is rendered impossible. Then they die and are re- placed by new cells. If they are vital to the organism the organism dies and is replaced. Succeeding generations of cells and organisms, starting each a little further along the pathway of possibili- ties, render progress possible. “This capacity for progressive develop- ment and evolution in the cells is what we call knowledge in its higher reaches in the human mind, and it was for this that life gave up its immortality and chose the path that leads to death. This is the fundamental conflict which lies at the basis of all life and which makes evolution possible. It is the eternal strugele between the forces of self pres- ervation and the forces of creation which demand personal sacrifice as the neces- sary requirements for a program of ever increasing accomplishments.” * K ok X Chemical cultivation of Turkish to- bacco in the laboratory from a seed the size of a grain of sand to a giant flower- ing plant six feet tall, is reported by Dr. Sam F. Trelease of Columbia Uni- versity. First Dr. Trelease obtained a complete analysis of the soll in the Near East in which the tobacco grew best. This showed the exact proportions of the various nu- trient soils needed. Then a carefully prepared chemical solution was made up composed of iron, ammonium nitrate, magnesium sulphate, potassium acid phosphate, and calcium nitrate. There indi was added to this a “tonic” composed of one part of copper sulphate to 500,000, 000 parts of water and one part each of boric acid, manganese sulphate and zinc sulphate to 20.000.000 parts of wat Then the plants were grown in pots of pure sand to which these mixtures were added. If deprived of any of the infini- tesimal quantities of these chemicals the plant would die The plant is fed one drop at a time through a feeding tube. The solution drips into the sand, the quantity varying from one to two quarts every 24 hours, and is absorbed by the roots of the plant Using the same method of culture, but | varying the ingredients to suit the par- ticular needs of each plant, Dr. Trelease also has cultivated beans, green corn, tomatoes, larkspurs, petunias, snap- dragons, phlox, heliotrope, sweet peas, fuschias and nasturtiums. “Water culture has been applied with | great success to the potato,” Dr. Trelease says. One botanist working in this field claims to have cultivated a crop of 2,000 bushels to the acre, as against a maximum yield of 400 bushels in soil. ———— What If I Should Live to Be Three Score and Ten? To the Editor of The Star: I find that voting right and sharing an advancing cost of the more abun- dant life is not enough. I must be dra- matic and stage a sit-down strike (I hope your photographers will be look- ing) and do some collective bargaining with old Father Time about the devas- tating effect of his speed-up system on my birthdays. They are coming faster and faster and may take me to a squeeze. If my birthdays tick past the count ot 70 will I be cast upon some ash heap as useless, or put in charge of a nurse not of my own choosing, or will I, as the world advances to a more ideal state of civilization, be given an Addis Ababa salute at sunrise? It seems to me the birthday method for measuring man% mental capacity is more archaic than the horse-and-buggy era which was so loudly proclaimed a relic of the dark ages. If a smiling President can change our courts by a mere wave of the big stick and gain his objectives, may not a scowl- ing President go to the woodpile and get an armful and use them for his own pet objectives? HELEN B. GASH. oot Astronomical Puzzle. From the Albuquerque Journal. Just why a comet should get lost, when it doesn’t know or care where it's going, and if it got there wouldn't be any place, is beyond our powers to explain. L TR Victims of Greed. From the Miami Daily News. Just think of these poor underpaid base ball stars lolling in the Florida sun- shine and holding out for enough salary to live in the style theyre trying to get accustomed to. Tide-Stopper Needed. Prom the Chicago Daily News. An Ohio Valley authority with a King Canute complex might do something about those floods. — e Amateur, From the Paterson (N. J.) News, Probably the most amateurish ama- teur is the amateur gardener. A their | Some one is | i | into Not | | the model of t | —v. w. 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. How many clowns are there in tha Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus?—W. E. R A. There are approximately one dred. Q. When are the South Carolina and Georgia gardens at their best?—M. " A. Late March and all of April is an excellent time to make a tour of the gardens Q. How many people went to Ala:ka in the first year of the gold ru ~H. N, A. About twenty-eight thousand per- sons rushed to Alaska when the news of gold in the Klondike region reached the outside world greyhounds are raced . R fifty-four hundred at the various race Q. Ts there an top of Mount Wilson, C s located?—R. G road lead of Mount Wil 1 tc et Q. What is leaf lard A It the lard taken f surrounding the kidneys of Q. How —8. D It is nearly ment ar dred and fou: large a book is the Kor the same as the Ne s divided into one hur s or chapters. bs Club in New Chri orporated tmas time May 10, ired by han D. B ays of the race meas- 1ents were usual ved from some natural measurs wch as the hand and the foot for Q ¥ v did Sousa derive from the sale of “The Stars d Stripes Fore A Tt ources over three h Q. Did Pre | rency ref A. H onsor th ¢ currency refor 1 Federal Serve A law Fed Re- were incubators Dr. Tarnier constructed roL the 1en was Cumberl C. R nd Gap discova he passage lazed which a trail thro became known as the e willow pattern c A. This tea house was in Shanghal. Q. Has a fly more th; eyes?—P. D), A. It has se 1 thousand compound eyes and three simple eyes. Q. Did the Colonies use privateers dur= ing the Revolutionary War?—J. 8. A. More than two thousand American privateers ranged the seas. They cruised along the Atlantic Coast, about the West Indies, and extended their operations to the English Channel and the North Sea. one kind of Q. What is the capacity of the human stomach?—E. C. C. A. It depends upon the size of the person and varies in the adult from foue to five pints. Q. Please give the name of a radio publication in England with a large cir= culation—E. G A. The Radio Times, official organ of the British Broadcasting Corporation, has a circulation of 2,800,000 copies a week. Q. Where in Canada is the ranch which was owned by the Duke of Windsor? How large is it>—E. H. A. The E-P Ranch is in Alberta, Cana ada, and consists of four thousand acres, Q. What per cent of crude oil is gaso= line?—J. H A. The average yield of gasoline fr crude oil run through refineries in t United States is about forty per ce It ranges from five to ninety per cent. - Age No Handicap. From the W ton-Salem Journal, New developments in industry bespeak a break for age. An old man can do about as well in & “sit-down” strike as a young fellow. om . Hats Off. From the Grand Island Independent. It is contended that going withous hats affects men mentally, but this may be just another case of putiing the cart before the horse. By Gertrude Brooke Hamilton. Climbing the Cascades. Leaving “Paradise”—the vale— We climbed Rainier’s mountain trall, Camping for the night half way; Up and on with dawn of day, Reaching the great mountain crest As the sun, now traveling west, Tinted with a golden crown A light cloudlet farther down, While the sky above, deep blue, Stretched in vast, unchanging hue, Thru binoculars tall trees Only seemed a shadowy frieze To a river’s silent flow Fourteen thousand feet below. On the snow-capped mountain height, Like the hush of deepest night, Not an echo, not a sound, Broke the solitude profound. i