Evening Star Newspaper, April 17, 1937, Page 17

Leila Mechlin. HE chief event in the field of art in this city during the cur- rent week was the opening, Thursday with a private view, and yesterday to the public, of the notable loan exhibition of important paintings and sculpture in Washing- ton, set forth in the Phillips Memorial Gallery. The paintings in this exhibition cover five centuries of production, and represent not only some of the greatest painters of all time but those trends which have found expression in the epoch-marking schools. PFurthermore, practically every work in this collec- tion is a masterpiece and well authen- ticated. An unrivaled opportunity is offered for study and comparison. As noted in these columns last week, no less than four great works by El Greco are here shown. There are two Chardins, two Fragonards, two Dau- miers and two Degas. There are works which date back to a time before the discovery of America, and works pro- duced in modern times which have upset all the theories of the masters of the past, as well as our own of to- day. Rarely in so small a collection | (not counting the contributions from the Phillips Memorial Gallery’s per- anent collection, there are only a few over 30 catalogued) is so wide a scope obtained. And what is the lesson? That there have been many men, of many minds, with great diversity of | expression, and all good. But even <i tn diversity there is unity, underlying | all is evident agreement in fundamen- tals and regard for craft. No one work In this superb exhibition but has been painted with knowledge and brains, enthusiasm or aspiration and skill. It is great art and to its production the painters gave their best. ‘The contribution from the Mellon Education and Charitable Trust gives foretaste of the wealth awaiting the completion of the National Gallery of Art. Included in this group are the charming Chardin, “La Maitresse d’Ecole”; an outstanding Memling, “Portrait of a Man With Arrow.” marvelously painted with grave exacti- tude; the famous Turner, “Martlake | Terrace”; a fascinating Da#vid, “Rest During Flight Into Egypt,” which | showed the continuing power of Bible themes to inspire, and two great El Greco’s. The next largest contributors are the Hon. and Mrs. Robert Woods Bliss, from whom have come no less than seven distinguished canvases—“Por- trait of a Woman,” by Maitre de Fle- | malle, born in Liege in 1614, the son of a glass blower; a landscape painted by Hieronymus Bosch before 1500; a “Mother and Child,” by Alfred Stevens, than whom none painted interiors with figures more charmingly; “Street | Musicians” and “Bust of Woman,” by | Daumier, the inimitable painter of his | time (1808-1879); a Degas, “Repeti- tion de Chant,” and “Head of a Young | ‘Woman,” by Seurat, who also exercised a .strong influence on contemporary art. There has scarcely been a notable loan collection of paintings by the masters in this country in the past few | years to which Mr. and Mrs. Bliss have not generously made contribution. The English School is represented by landscapes by Wilson and Turner— the former lent by Mrs. Marshall Langhorne, and by portraits by Re: nolds and Raeburn, lent respectively by Ambassador Houghton and Mrs. Keith Merrill. The Reynolds is 8 three-quarter length portrait of the Right Hon. Anthony Malone, in wig and elaboratedly embroidered velvet gown with lace neck cloth, and is a superb example. It is customary, mutable, as impossible to stay, as the incoming waves from the ocean on our shores or, for that matter, any other natural force. No attempt has been made to give Justice pictorial repre- sentation, but every observer must ask himself whether in this great trek toward the setting sun Justice has ridden with Hope, and how it has been administered. The latter is a more specific theme and strikes at national dishonor. A lynching party is denied its victim at the entrance of a court house by a justice in judicial robes, backed by armed guards. The hunted man, naked to his waist, has thrown him- self on the steps at the justice's feet. In front of the angry mob is a man with hangman's rope and noose, be- side whom stands a farmer holding back a bloodhound straining against “Portrait of @ Man With an Arrow,” by Memling, loaned to the exhibition of “Paintings and Sculpture Owned in Washingon” in the Phillips Memorial Gallery—Photo courtesy of the A. W. | Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust. THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C., SATURDAY, APRIL 17, 1937, ARTISTS OF FIVE CENTURIES Work Represented in Loan Exhibition at Phillips Gallery Is Nota- ble for Association With Trends Which Have Found Ex- pression in Great Periods of Art. close co-operation between painters and architectural designers. Four Handsome Sculptured Figures by Jennewein. 'HE hall in which the Curry murals have been placed is fine in propor- tions and dignified in its simplicity. Furthermore, very appropriate decora- tion has of late been added by way of four full-length statues by C. P. Jenne- wein for which the architects them- selves contracted. These are female figures, draped and semi-stylized, rep- resenting certain elements affecting life—such as fire and water. They are in white stone or marble, not shiny, very impersonal and exceedingly stat- uesque and impressive. In the best sense they supplement and enhance the architectural effect. But they dis- tinctly belittle and put to shame the the leash; in the crowd are women and children, those of the upper as well as the lower classes. It is not a pleasant theme, but appropriate and unforgettable. The figure of the jus- tice attains distinction chiefly through his official robe rather than inherent dignity; the soldiers in the back- ground are a bit wooden, and the man with the rope is rather grotesque; also one feels a lack of emotional content in the figures which make up the crowd; but, nothwithstanding, the effect is dramatic, the story is well told John Steuart Curry was born in Kansas and has made a name for himself painting Western scenes. He studied art first at the Art Institute of Chicago, then at Beaver College, in Pennsylvania, after which he went today, rather to belittle the eighteenth | century school of portrait painting | in England and regard the painters | &s merely servants of the ruling aristo- | cracy, willing to flatter and to please, | pretty at times and superficial. But | to such charges this portrait, lent | by Mr. Houghton, gives. complete | denial—as does perhaps the more famous portrait by Reynolds of Dr. Johnson. Truly, this work is painted with the utmost cunning; textures and materials are beautifully rendered, y dominates interest, e face gives insight to strength of character and marked intelligence. The same is true of the best works of Raeburn, who painted with more breadth but less suavity, And after all, are we not fortunate in possessing today this record left us by Reynolds and his contemporaries of the well- bred gentle folk of England? Were they not representative of a ripening civilization and worthy of emulation? Life is many sided—a mixture of good and bad. The painter must choose which he would perpetuate. In the past, almost without excep- tion, the choice of the great masters was for that accounted fine. It 1s for this reason, we may believe, that their works have been so treasured that they may today be gathered in such an exhibition as this. New Mural Painting by Curry Given Permanent Placement In Justice Building. JHILE John Steuart Curry was in Washington recently, serving as & member of the Committee of Ad- missions and Awards for the Corcoran Gallery of Art's fifteenth biennial exhibition of contemporary American oil paintings, now in pregress, he found time to supervise the placement of the two murals which he had painted, under commission from the painting and sculpture section of the Procurement Division of the Treas- ury Department for the new Depart- ment of Justice Building, on Consti- tution avenue. These are long, nar- row panels, arched at the top, fitting spaces high up on the north and south walls of the elevator lobby on the fifth floor, from which the visitor passes either into the large depart- mental library or, by broad passage- ways, to the reception room and of- fices of the Attorney General. They represent, respectively, ‘“Migration Westward and Justice of the Plains” and “Justice Versus Mob Violence” and are painted in oils on canvas. The former is a rather common- place theme, oft repeated, but set forth with fresh vigor and force. Horses and riders occupy the center of the composition, & soldier and & bearded pioneer side by side, looking forward; to the left are belligerent cowboys on horses, afrighted by a prairie fire; to the right a yoke of oxen and two prairie schooners, while in the immediate foreground, most prominent, are the typical pioneer family, a man and woman headed ‘westward, walking, she with an infant in her arms, he holding a weary little lad by the hand. There is nothing new in all this, but the painter has given it new life and the power to stir the imagination. One feels the enward surge of the group as im- abroad and entered the Russian Academy in Paris. That was in 1926, and the following year he was back | in this country and enrolled at the Art Students’ League in New York. A rather jolly person, with round face, smiling mouth and alert, kindly eyes, Mr. Curry has almost invariably set himself the task of rendering tragic and harrowing scenes, best known among which are “Baptism in Kan- sas,” which shows up a farcical re- ligious ceremony—“farcical” in this instance; “The Tornado,” e horrify- ing picture of approaching devasta- tion and death, and “Return of Private Davis from the Argonne,” into which is painted the scorn of all sen- timent connected with sacrifice in the prosecution of war; the last now in- cluded in the Corcoran Gallery of Art’s current exhibition of contem- porary painting. But so great is the reputation Mr. Curry has attained, and so engaging his personality, that one of the greatest honors ever given a painter has been accorded him. Beginning last Autumn, he was ap- pointed, for a period of five years, “artist in residence” at the Univer- sity of Wisconsin and assigned a studio on the campus. He is not to teach, but to paint, and through per- sonal contact with the student body spread an appreciation of art, bred of real understanding of the artist's viewpoint. This is an innovation in education—no college has done it be- fore. As Mr. Curry himself says, it 15 too soon as yet to know whether or not it will work—but from all one hears it seems to be working. To return to the mural paintings in the Justice Department Building. They more than hold their own, but they are, it must be admitted, laboring un- der heavy handicap. It is in this hall, or lobby, that the frescos by George Biddle, many times more extensixe in area, and utterly different in color and texture, are to be seen; also the slightly arched ceiling and the frieze made up of panels in low relief, which extends the length of the east and west walls between molding and ceiling, are sil- vered, cold and glinting. Mr. Curry’s painting’s are not in accord with the frescos or the architectural decora- tions, and hence make a jarring note in the effect as a whole. The silver ceiling alone would not have so disas- trous an effect if it were not supple- mented by the silver frieze, but in combination the result is very un- happy. Here is where a real defect is mani- fest in the system now employed by the Government of acquiring mural paintings from various artists working indpendently rather than as a co-ordi- nate group. A mural painting is essen=- tially a part of the architectural de- sign, if it fulfills its real function, and though an attempt has been made to emphasize this fact when commissions have been given, there has been no actual co-ordination beyond a courte- ous submission of designs to the archi- tects for criticism or approval. But this comes in most instances too late— by then “the fat is in the fire.” The success of the murals painted for the World’s Fair in Chicago in 1892-3; to a measure those in the Library of Con- gress, and in greater degree those in the Custom House, Baltimore, was due “to a co-ordinator in each instance and [ Biddle frescos, which in comparison seem utterly futile and trivial—as per- haps they are. When art is used as propaganda it must be very subtle and founded on the universal if it is to sig- nify beyond the moment, and when a painting is given permanent placement on a wall, it becomes a part of the | structure. Leon Kroll's Murals for Justice Building Completed And Shown in New York. ANOTHER pair of mural paintings destined for placement in the Justice Department Building have late- 1y been completed. They are by Leon Kroll and are to go in the Attorney General's reception room. By special invitation they were shown in the Mural Painters’ exhibition at the Architectural League, which was to have closed on April 3, but, because of the interest shown, was continued to the 10th. Mr. Kroll is represented in the Corcoran Biennial Exhibition by a “Seated Nude" and a large, im- portant canvas, entitled “The Road to the Cove,” which won first prize | in the Carnegie Institute's most recent International Exhibition. This pic- ture was painted near Rockport, on Cape Ann, Mass,, in the studio built | some years ago, of native granite, near Folly Cove, by Miss Ellen Day Hale. It does not tell any particular story or carry any specially important meaning other than that of composi- tion, arrangement, color and good painting. There is neither mystery nor emotional content—just good painting—which in itself, however, has the power to create pleasurable reac- tion on the part of the observer. Attractive Ilustrations by Frederic Dorr Steele on View. N WHAT is known as the “south curtain hall” on the second floor of the Library of Congress is now to be seen a delightful collection of illustrations by Frederic Dorr Steele— illustrator and etcher—taken from the Library's fast-growing Cabinet of American Ilustration. No one could hope to spend a pleasanter hour than with these drawings, if one is in- terested not only in art but in one’s fellow-man. For not only are these illustrations well executed, but full of life, of wit, keen perception and kindliness. Immediately upon pausing before the first case in which the works are displayed one is fascinated by the group of illustrations made for “Passport to Paradise,” by Myra Kelly, published in McClure’s Magazine long enough ago to have been forgotten, but quite as good today as then. These are done in pen and ink, charcoal, pen and charcoal, and Wwith now and then a touch of color. For the most part they are of children—and inimitable—so childish, so character- ful. In the case to the right the visitor makes the acquaintance of “Ezekiel,” a little Negro boy—pic- turesque and engaging—and full of capers. Farther on one meets other characters known and unknown— Sherlock Holmes, Robin Goodfellow, Joseph Conrad's “Laughin’ Ann” and Kipling's “Doctor of Medicine.” Some of the drawings are entirely in charcoal, and very skillfully han- dled—others are in wash, with or without line. The medium seems to have been selected to suit the subject. But most notable is the interpretation of personality and the vividness of the representation. These people live, not only in connection with the writ- ings of their creators, but inde- pendently and for all time in these drawings. They are of all classes— the lowest and the highest—not always by any means good-looking, or well- mannered, but not hopelessly vulgar or debased. Here we have the “Amer- ican scene,” but very differently in- terpreted from today—people of many types, but not hopelessly degraded, not without a spark of the divine, not devoid of sympathy and humor. A different picture, but true, and, it we must live with it, preferable to those which in these later days are constantly put before us. To have a liking for Mr. Steele’s drawings is Portrait of the Right Hon. Anthony Malone, by Sir Joshua Reynolds, loaned by the Hon. Alanson B. Houghton to the exhibi- tion of “Paintings and Sculpture Owned in Washington” in the Phillips Memorial Gallery. not to profess a leaning for the much-derided, and long past, glories of the nineties, for, happily, he is still living and producing—illustrating the works of living authors—such as Mary Roberts Rinehart and others—and also doing now and then portraits in chalk. He is the first of the living illustrators to have representation in the Cabinet of American Illustration. Monotypes by Prendergast Feature Exhibition at Corcoran Gallery of Art. A SPECIAL exhibition of monotypes by Maurice B. Prendergast con- stitutes a unique feature of the Cor- coran Gallery of Art's Fifteenth Bi- ennial Exhibition, which opened on March 28, to continue to May 9. These—27 in number—are displayed in the cases in the upper atrium, where, from time to time, are shown prints and other small pictures. A monotype is a painting done on a smooth, hard surface and transferred by printing to paper. It is by no means an exact reproductive method, but is intriguing because of the large element of chance that enters into it. This accounts in a measure for the lack of line and the somewhat vagueness of these little prints now on exhibi- tion. But to Prendergast the limita- tions of this medium must have been agreeable rather than otherwise, for they fit in remarkably with his own predilections. As a painter, Prender- gast rendered impressions and delight- ed in vague patterns—actualities to him must have been boring, restrictive, commonplace—his preference was for broken masses of color, fully sug- gestive, but open to imaginative inter- pretation. He saw groups of people not as an aggregation of individuals, but blurred and commingled as colors in a gay hooked rug. Out of the mass occasionally, both in his paint- ings and in these little monotypes, come definite objects—a Venetian well, sails of fishing boats, a lady's parasol, which give point to the com- position and induce closer inspection. The subjects for the monotypes he found in many places—on Telegraph Hill, in Boston's Marine Park, in the Quatorze Juillet, Paris, or the Roman Campagna and elsewhere. His touch is always light, his evident sense of | personal enjoyment keen. Prendergast is especially well rep- resented in the Phillips Memorial Gallery, and five of his paintings in this gallery's collection are reproduced in Mr. Phillips' book, “A Collection in the Making,” with a note from which the following comment is taken: “A delightful decorator, one of the most sincere and original artists of our time. He did not have ‘the pho- tographic eye’ and his ‘figures without faces’ and ‘surfaces like old samplers’ were an aggravation to all who require an imitative picture. * * * But he was not consciously or deliberately quaint, capricious, fantastic. His painting was the perfect expression of the jocund philosophy which kept him young at heart as he grew older in experience and more magical in power. * * * At his best, he invariably conveys a sense of symmetry and of ecstatic joy. There was something primitive and Gothic about him.” Mr. Phillips also truly remarks that Prendergast must, in doing this imag- inative work, have “traveled a long way from Julien’s Academy in Paris,” where he made ‘“conscientious draw- Bulletin of ings in the life class,” but he described the studio which he and his wood= carver brother, Charles, shared as “a | place of consecration to beauty.” This collection of monotypes was secured for this exhibition by the Cor- coran Gallery through the courtesy of the Kraushaar Galieries, New York. Two Interesting Events Scheduled for Arts Club Next Week. ‘WO interesting events of note are scheduled by the Arts Club for the coming week. At a club dinner on Tuesday evening the Committee on Education will present Mr. David Donoho of Jackson, Breathitt County, Ky, and Dr. O. Lhtham Hatcher, president of the Southern Woman's Educational Alliance. Mr. Donoho is, at the present time, conducting an experiment in art teaching in the mountain community of Kentucky, whence he comes. Until three years ago, when a col- lection of paintings by Washington artists was sent to Jackson for dis- play, the people of this community had never seen original works of art. The present teaching experiment has been instituted by the local Board of Education and sponsored by the Southern Woman's Educational Alli- ance. Mr. Donoho is a pupil of ihe Cincinnati Academy and has traveled extensively abroad, but he grew up in the Kentucky mountains, where his father is a practicing physician. Mr. Donoho will illustrate his after-dinner talk by examples of his pupils’ work. He will be introduced by Mr. Hatcher, who will tell something about the background and inception of the project. On Thursday evening, April 22, the second event will take place. This will be a talk by Mr. Gideon A. Lyon, associate editor of The Evening Star, on “Beauty Through the Lens; Camera Hunting in Four Continents and Some Islands,” illustrated with colored slides giving views in China, Japan, Korea, Manchuria, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Egypt, Italy, Guatemala, Mo- rocco and the United States. Upon this occasion Mr. and Mrs. L. M. Leisenring will act as hosts. Portraits by Miss Burdette of Distinguished Washingtonians. IN CONNECTION with the cere- monies in celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the Young Women's Christian Home, next Tuesday afternoon, two paintings of benefactors will be accepted and hung. These are Mrs. John W. Thompson (deceased) and Miss Bessie Kibbey, well known in social and philan- thropic circles. Both are the work of Miss Hattie E. Burdette, one of our outstanding ~ Washington portrait painters. These portraits date back 50 years to the time the home was established and were done -chiefly from photographs and the memory of friends, but they are vital and sig- nificant. The portrait of Mrs. Thomp- son is life size and nearly half length, including hands. It shows her in an ivory-colored lace gown of the late 80s or early 90s, seated beside a table, on which she rests her hand on a book. It is painted in a man- ner suitable to the period, very lovely in color and in character interpreta- tion. The portrait of Miss Kibbey, Exhibitions CORCORAN GALLERY OF ART—Fifteenth biennial exhibition of contemporary American oil paintings. . NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART, United States National Museum— Permanent collections—Evans, Gellatly, Ralph Cross, Johnson, Harriet Lane Johnson and Herbert Ward African sculptures, Stained glass windows by John La Farge and William Willet, Paintings and etchings by Thomas Moran. Exhibition of paintings, sculpture and other works of art by Washington artists sponsored by art department, District of Columbia Women'’s Clubs. SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, DIVISION OF GRAPHIC ARTS— Exhibition of etchings by Frederick K. Detweiler. NATIONAL MUSEUM, ARTS AND INDUSTRIES BUILDING— Exhibition of pictorial photographs by Eleanor Parke Custis. FREER GALLERY OF ART—Permanent collection, paintings, drawings and etchings by Whistler. The peacock room, Oriental paintings, bronzes, pottery, miniatures, etc. PHILLIPS MEMORIAL GALLERY—Permanent collection, paintings by old and modern masters; also works in sculpture. Retrospective exhi- bition of works in various media by Arthur G. Dove. Loan exhibition of important paintings and sculpture owned in Washington—opening on April 15, with private view. STUDIO HOUSE—Exhibition of paintings and drawings by Walt Kuhn. TEXTILE MUSEUM OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA—Permanent collection, rugs, tapestries and other textiles of the Near and Far East. Open Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, 2 to 5 p.m. Admission by card, obtainable at office of George Hewitt Myers, 730 Fifteenth street. ARTS CLUB OF WASHINGTON—Exhibition of paintings and block prints by Marguerite C. Munn and paintings and etchings by Elisabeth Seancy. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, DIVISION OF FINE ARTS—Exhibition of etchings and other prints by contemporary printmakers: lithographs; drawings by American illustrators. Pennell Spectal exhibition of illustrations by Frederic Dorr-Steele. PUBLIC LIBRARY, MAIN BUILDING—Exhibition of works by Pul?fls of Richard Lahey, Mount Pleasant Branch, paintings by Mrs. Levine and Janice Holland. WOMEN'S CITY CLUB—Paintings by Herbert Hicks. DUMBARTON HOUSE—Historical utility and pictures. art exhibit, furniture, articles of INTIMATE BOOKSHOP, LITTLE GALLERY—Exhibition of paintings by members of Chevy Chase Woman’s Club. STUDIO, LEAGUE OF AMERICAN PENWOMEN, THE GRAFTON— Exhibition of paintings by Eugenie De Land Saugstad. GALLERY OF MODERN MASTERS, 1367 Connecticut avenue. Land- scapes and studies by Isabel Kuhiman. HOWARD UNIVERSITY GALLERY OF ART—Exhibition of water- colors by Oscar Julius. “Madonna and Child,” by Lucas Cranach, the elder, loaned by Mr. and Mrs. Adolph C. Miller to the exhibition of “Paintings and Sculpture Owned in Washington” in the Phillips Memorial Gallery. —Photo by Lewis P. Woltz | which, incidentally, is very like her | births, deaths and immigration andllmse sheets. still, is under life size and only the | head and shoulders, but is likewise rendered in a pleasing manner. Incidentally, Miss Burdette has just | finished a second portrait of Rear Ad- miral Spencer C. Wood of George- town, in this case in civilian clothes. It is an excellent likeness and one of her most successful canvases. Census Wizardry (Continued From Page B-1. portant to manufacturers and busi- ness generally. In this census State summaries were issued as well as in- dividual reports for approximately 235 industries. Such information as “num- ber of establishments,” “number of wage earners,” “wages” and “value of products” added their quota to the general data. The business census was of espe- cial significance in these days of dis- cussion regarding the increase of prosperity or lack of it. It brought out indisputable evidence that happy days are indeed “here again,” and in its coldly matter-of-fact way laid out the figures. The census showed in- creases in all fields of business and covered more than 3,000,000 busi- ness establishments. In retail trade, for example, in 1935 business amount- ed to $33,161,276,000, while in 1933 the amount to its credit was $25,037,- 225,000. The number of stores in 1935 was 1,653,961; in 1933 they numbered 1,526.119. Wholesale trade perked up corre- spondingly. Net sales in wholesale trade for 1935 amounted to $42,802,- 913,000, as compared with $30,009,- 590,000 in 1933—an increase of 43 per cent! What about the men and women employed? Well, in 1935 the retail trade employed on an average 3,961,- 478; there were 1,511,734 proprietors and firm members, in addition to this, actively engaged in their own stores. The pay roll for 1935, not including compensation for these active owners, was $3,623,289,000. In 1933 retail trade employed 3,- 433,652. The number of proprietors and firm members active was larger, as it always is during a time of de- pression when owners work themselves instead of employing others, and num- bered in 1933, 1574341. The pay roll, exclusive of compensation for working owners or proprietors, was $2,910,445,000. In the wholesale trade there was an increase of 8 per cent in 1935 over 1933; and a 24 per cent increase in the 1935 pay roll. ‘With respect to this inquiries are often heard about the possibility of taking an “unemployment census.” As a matter of fact, to take an un- employment census would be to at- tempt to measure nothing in terms of nothing. A census can only be taken along affirmative or existing lines. What, we may ask, is unemploy- ment? Does four days work a week constitute unemployment? Or three or two? On the other hand, if a census of employment be taken, and measured against a census of em- ployables, you can arrive at statistics with regard to unemployment. Em- ployment, in other words, can be measured in degrees against popu- lation. NO RECENT ‘“‘unemployment” cen- sus has been authorized, although if Congress, of course, should decide to inaugurate such a census it would be inaugurated. It takes a long time to prepare for a census and bureau officials are now making ready for the 1940 population census, with which anything ‘as intangible as an “‘unemployment” census would serious- 1y interfere. When the 1940 census is taken, however, it will supply data with regard to population, employment and vocations, which will in turn answer the purpose of an “unemployment” census. At present, information with regard to unemployment, which is probably more complete than could be obtained by self-registration meth- ods, is available at the United States Employment Service. They have at present records which show 6,500,000 unemployed in the United States and Census Bureau officials are inclined to regard this information as the best available. Records of the Census Bureau indi- cate that, taking into consideration - A | person every 35 seconds emigration, there is a net gain population in the United States of one Six sets of quadruplets were born in the United States in 1934, One person in every 25 is the surprising proportion of the total population that works in retail stores and women were 31.3 per cent of total retail employes in 1933 It is evident that the population of | the United States is slowly, but per- | sistently, growing older. What is| known as the “medium” age is the measuring rod. The medium age in | 1850 was 18.8 years; in 1880 it was 20.9 | years; in 1900 it was 22.9 years; in 1910 it was 24.0 years; in 1920, 25.2 in 1930, 26.4; and in 1935, 27.6. This is to say that census figures reveal the fact that in 1900 the total | number of persons over 70 years of | age was 1,777,572. In 1935 however, | census estimates show this number | to have increased to 4,349,000! From 1920 to 1930 the population grew only about half as fast as in the previous decade. In 1910 children under 10 | accounted for 23.7 per cent of the| population while in 1935 it is esti- | mated that only 17.5 per cent were under 10 years of age. The school population has shown a correspond- | ing tendency to shrink. There has| been, simultaneously, a continuing in- | crease in the number and proportions | of the population entitled to old-age | benefits. | Social security legislation has given | A greater spurt than practically any | other single factor to the activities of the Bureau of Census in this admin- | istration. FROM January 1 to December 31, 1936, 59.809 letters were received by the Census Bureau inquiring with respect to age certification for retire- ment, old-age pensions and similar requests. There were recorded, in ad- dition, 2,695 personal visits. In the last month, March, 1937, the bureau received in its searching section 10,257 letters on these subjects and | 276 personal visits. The increased correspondence continues and at the present time about 20,000 applica- tions await examination. Anticipating the demand for proof of age in connection with social security beneflts, the Bureau of Cen- sus began in January to copy on | microscopic size film the 50,000,000 | names recorded in the 1,024 volumes of the census of 1880, using photo- graphic equipment especially built for the bureau. At the same time a different type | machine began recording on film 76,000,000 names returned in the| census of 1900, which had been | transcribed from original volumes onto 33.000,000 cards. Based on the information contained in these two censuses—1880 and 1900—American citizens will be able to supply the Government with necessary facts with regard to birth and otherwise in quali- fying for benefits under the new social security act. These volumes in the Bureau of the Census form the only documentary evidence of the birth records of many Americans, since registration of births by local authorities was not general prior | to 1915. New Hampshire is an excep- | tion, having birth records on file | dating from 1640. This miniature copying of census | records by photography will serve | several purposes. Original documents of human history of our country will be preserved from wear and tear of frequent handling. A serious problem of storage will be solved, for ome roll | of films less than four inches in di- | ameter will record the 70,000 names contained in a census volume twice the size of a large dictionary. The previous method of searching for names in a 25-pound census volume that had to be removed from a vault has been eliminated. And the exist- ence of duplicate records on safety fiim will be an added precaution against loss by fire or water. - The new apparatus copies large | census record pages on film as nar- row as motion picture film and re- duces individual names to pin-head size. However, these names can be read from the film by means of pro- | jectors which enlarge the writing to| half again its original size. There are 40 such projectors in the Bureau of Census. CAMERAS 11 feet high are doing the major copying job. Two of these were designed for photographing A A s the pages under paratus as rapid bureau w and se by years cent sav from pu T The 8,700,000 pag now in ge occupy shel Copied on film, all of the e s can be stored in 28 standard size file cases, humidity co: chines of well-nigh m in constant operat anyone to whom metic problem is a chall agine, if you will, a mack up 45 columns of figure You drop in a card, p rious places. The machine goes to work on and before you can say Mr. Robinson’s first name Jack out come 45 columns of answers, perfect as you please. That means that cards with 45 columns of figures will only have to be dropped into such a machine once to secure answers to each of the 45 items. Both of the best-known types of equipment for mechanical tabulation were invented by employes of the Cen- sus Bureau and some one is con- stantly at work in the bureau im- proving upon them. The Government retains the right to use these ma- chines, free of royalties, but the em= plove who invented them retains all commercial rights to them. Three types of machine are used for the mechanical stage of the census— “punchers,” “sorters” and “tabula- tors.” The punch-card machine per- forates the cards that are lined off as a statistical table, with rows of serial numbers under each heading. Each perforation has its own meaning and it's a wise census bureau-ite who can translate those perforations into vital statistics. The original schedules are filed away in safes. c powers are befuddle t arith- Im- 1e that adds at one whack. nched at va- HE sorting machines will pick out from thousands of cards only those for certain classifications. It will require some one more mechanic- ally minded than a feature writer to explain how those grocery store cards separated themselves from the hard- ware store cards and what turned the drug store data into the proper chan- nel! As for that tabulating machine—we throw up our hands! In go sorted cards and out come printed “result slips,” containing all the data sep- arated and totaled and arrayed by classification of the cards. All day long these remorseless machines weighing nearly a ton each swallow cards and spew forth classified data. Perhaps it is because he likes to see the look on somebody’'s face when he remarks, offhand and casual-like, “Did you know there were 982,000 mar- riages in the United States in 1932 and 160,000 divorces: that 43,000 of these divorces were granted to hus- bands and 117,000 to wives? With 4,000 annulments? And that there was a ratio of one divorce to every six marriages?"” Beautiful Japanese and Chinese Bro- cades, table covers and wall hangings. Also kimonas and haoricoats. ASIAN ARTS 1143 Connecticut Ave. Abhott Art School SPRING AND SUMMER CLASSES Commercal Art — Fashion — Life — Costume Designs—Fine Arts— Interior Dec. — Etching — Block Print 1143 Conn. Ave. NA. 8054