Evening Star Newspaper, April 30, 1937, Page 10

A—1v THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Editien. WASHINGTON, D, C. Y - April 30, 1937 The Evening Star Newspaper Company. 11th St and Pennsylvania Ave New York Office: 110 East 42nd 8t, Chicago OMce: 435 North Michigan Ave, Rate by Carrier—City and Suburban, Regular Editlon. The Evening and Sunday Star 65¢ per menth or 15¢ per week The Evening Star 4bc per month or 10c per week The Sunday Star __.~ ________"__Bc per copy Night Final Edition, Nikht F nal and Sunday Star. N Final Star__ 70¢ per month i = oc per month tion made at the end of each month or euch week, Orders may be sent by mail or tele- phone Natior.al 5000 Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance, Maryland and Virgini . $12.00; 1 mo. $1.00 $8.00; 1 mo., 75¢c $5.00i 1 mo.. 50c Member of the Associated Press. Associated Press {s exclusively entitled to e for republication of all news dispatches credited to 1t or not otherwise credited in this Paper and also the jocal news lished herein All righ s of publication of special dispatches herein are also ved Apply the Remedy—Now! Carelessness by subordinates at the District Building led to the routine, un- questioned grant of a permit for con- struction of foundations for a proposed abattoir in Northeast Washington and the Commissioners and Federal officials have been repenting the error and try= ing to-correct its results ever since. Zon- ing regulations, as amended, would pre- vent repetition in future of the same mistake. But amendment of the zoning regulations in this case was locking the stable after the horse was gone. As Secretary Ickes so clearly points out in his statement commenting on Senator King's bill to ban abattoirs or packing plants and nuisance industries from the District, the need now is for immediate enactment of the King bill, The bill would not only lock the stable securely but would re the horse, There is no room in the District for abat- toirs or packing plants and the erection and operation of a new one plainly con- tradicts wise policy and common sense in the development of the Capital. All such plants should be excluded from the Dist and the prospect of a new one is unthinkable. Secretary Ickes points out that the erection of the slaughter house would make impossible the needed and planned improvements contemplated for that vicinity; that it would blight a district capable of development into a pleasant neighborhood. Legislation already en- acted by Congress, such as the Ship- &tead act, safeguards Government in- vestment in the improvement of its own property by requiring official sanction of plans for new structures facing such property. The King bill goes a step further by protecting the National Gov- ernment in pursuance of its established policy of the developing of a great Na- tional Capital. It is high time that such protection be made effective and plainly understood by everybody who now or in the future contemplates establishing a nuisance industry anywhere-within the District of Columbia. His studies have convinced Chairman Collins of the House Subcommittee on District Appropriations that within a few years the boundaries of the District must be expanded to accommodate the in- creasing needs of the Federal Govern- ment and the city's growing population. But in the meantime, is Congress to per- it the creation of blighted zones within the strictly limited areas of the District? As Mr. Ickes points out in his excellent statemen:, the issue raised by the pro- posed abattoir is far from settled. But it is up to Congress to settle it. A lam- entable mistake in National Capital development should be prevented by prompt enactment of the King bill. Bome element of disappointment must zed that President t does not disclose to press con- ferees, even off the record, exactly what he intends to do next. — R Before permitting any further war ac- zation should be permitted spell in order to make a scientific analysis of what has happened tn Spain. ] ecretary Hull’s Aides. With Secretary F recommenda- tion, a bill is pending in Congress to re- estab Btate when Department, the abolished in 1919, hip of state » of the depart- ns, it is pro- idersecretary Lwo offices lthough no appc actment of the nec- that Sumner nounced pend 2 t is understood of State vacant under- n t Assistant Secre- tate R. Walton member of the Moore, veteran House of Repre- tives from Virghia and long-time Department. Messrs. Welles rank will meet with both and ger 1 approval Special tion of the counselorship because of t five hel Moore to t attaches to re-crea- distinguished men who formerly the office. The first was M. Hoyt of Henry Pennsylvania, appointed in 1909, and whose successors, in the order of their se: e, were Chandler P. An- derson of New York, John Bassett Moore of New York, Robert Lansing of New York and Frank Lyon Polk of New York. Mr. Lansing was transferred from the counselorship to the secretaryship of state in the first Wilson administration in 1615. Mr. Polk, last previous occu- | equipped to the position of counselor of the | | is to postpone action until the subject THE EVENING STAR. W pant of the post, left it in 1919 to be- come the first undersecretary. Appearing recently before the House Appropriations Committee, Secretary Hull drew an impressive picture of the urgent need for trained personnel in the State Department and throughout the foreign service. He declared that the $19,234968 departmental budget for 1938 is “indeed small.” It is less than appropriations for any other executive department for the current year; less than one-half of the appropriations for the Department of Justice; only three and seven-tenths per cent of those for the Navy Department and three and four-tenths per cent of those for the War Department. It is approximately but one-fifth of one per cent of all Federal appropriations for 1937. It is worth while to keep these figures in mind,” said Secretary Hull, ““for in the realm of inter- national affairs the Department of State is the first line of defense. It is only when it fails in its efforts to adjust by peaceful means controversies with other nations that the military and naval branches of the Government are called into action.” 5 With two chiefs of staff—a counselor and an undersecretary—in addition to three assistant secretaries, Secretary Hull will be correspondingly better shoulder the growing re- of our “Department of Peace” amid the incessantly more com- plicated world conditions with which from hour to hour it has to cope. sponsibilities e Jeflerson Memorial Costs. Official revelation that the cost of the proposed Thomas Jefferson memorial, if erected in Potomac Park on the site now named by the commission intrusted with the undertaking and on the architec- tural scale contemplated, will cost some- thing like $6.000,000—perhaps more— appears to have caused a decided reac- tion in Congress against the plan. Such an expenditure upon a non-utilitarian construction, however worthy. Thomas Jefferson of the utmost gratitude for his services as one of the greatest of Ameri- can statesmen, is regarded as excessive, especially at a time when the national resources are severely strained. Con- gress, confronted with the necessity for economy in Government costs and out- lays in order to effect an approximate balancing of the national budget, is not likely to look with favor upon so elabor- ate and costly a memorial. It is explained that a very large part of the now estimated total cost will be incident to the landscaping of the site which has been selected. This is final demonstration of the unsuitableness of that site. A memorial can be erected in the park at a point chosen by the commission only at the expense of a material—in fact, a revolutionary— change in the entire scene. To adapt the site to the proposed memorial would re- quire not alone the destruction of a large number of the cherry trees which con- stitute one of Washington's greatest attractions, but a complete rearrange- ment of the entire upper end of the park, A factor in this situation which has not been adequately considered is the presence immediately in the rear of the site proposed for the memorial itself of a high embankment carrying railroad tracks. If this is maintained—as short of a complete change in the transporta- tion line connecting Washington with the South, perhaps by means of a tunnel, it would need to be—the “Greek temple” tribute to Thomas Jefferson would have as a background a great dike which could not conceivably be “landscaped” into an appropriate setting and which would bring railroad trains, chiefly freights, into view at frequent intervals, To overcome this obstacle to an ap- propriate setting of the memorial would cost a sum that has probably not been included in the present estimate. It would run into several millions of dol- lars, which would have to be paid by the Government. That factor alone would seem to mark the site as unsuitable and unduly costly. There is no disposition whatever to begrudge the expenditure of a large sum, perhaps as large as the original estimate of $3,000,000, for the creation of a per- manent, worthy and significant memorial tribute to Thomas Jefferson. The Dis- trict of Columbia, however, is in no posi- tion financially to share in this expense. There is no present guarantee that it would not be called upon, or forced by congressional requirement, to share in the cost of the park changes incident to the construction. Nor is the Federal Government in its present financial plight in a position to undertake so ex- travagant an outlay. The best course can be more thoroughly considered to the end of finding a site of suitable sig- nificance and relationship to existing structures and parks upon which a me- morial—perhaps in the design now adopted—may be erected without im- pairment of the Federal finances. et A dissenting opinion enables the public to know precisely what lines of logic may have been employed in the course of argument. The Supreme Court does not go into executive sessions for the sake of coercing opinions. R e Hazards cannot be entirely avoided in money management. Even a thousand dollars of campaign contributions must face possibility of figuring as a total loss. R ] orman Hapgood. Norman Hapgood leaves a name which is entitled to remembrance as a symbol of chivalrous idealism. He was a crusader and cheerfully risked the making of personal enemies in the in- | terest of reforms he believed necessary for the public good; but he was difficult to hate—rather, it was part of his genius to win the respect and even on occasion the affectionate regard of many who were opposed to the changes he pro- posed. Something gentle in his temperament, a certain natural charm, distinguished Mr. Hapgood. When he went out to battle with ignorance or greed it was with a desperate conviction of the righteousness of his cause. Lacking that religion of altruism, he never could have taken the fleld. In “Collier's” and “Harper'’s Weekly” he campaigned not so much for definite objectives in detail -8 for human advancement in general. He was possessed of vast faith in his country and its people, and he pas- sionately desired that confidence justi- fled. Hence his innumerable agitations. But his soul was exempt from turmoil. Meeting him privately, one discovered him a friendly, generous, enthusiastic and helpful personality. His indignk- tions were symptoms of a social instinct, not misanthropic in any degree. Thus it may be said that he was not a radical by deliberate choice, but rather by the accident of living in times out of joint. With these who were most intimately acquainted with him it will seem that much of his labor was wasted and that his talents should have found more per- manent and durable expression than circumstance ever permitted; but Mr., Hapgood himself was not unhappy. He won victories enough to justify his toil and gratified ambitions greater than he consciously entertained at any point in his career. r——e—s A light-hearted spirit expands as the world prepares for the coronation of Britain's King. Costume is a considera- tion and is studied closely by Americans who will be among the visitors with claims to special attention. As time brings reactions the influence of offi- cials who have made impressions abroad by the splendors of a specially designed uniform should be felt more and more. The Attorney General's office, for in- stance, should be equipped on ceremonial occasions with a group of new titles, with ostrich feathers and gold braid to match. In official life it is not enough to be good and obedient. A personage with social responsibilities should also be beautiful. r———— Sympathy cannot be withheld from aviators who crash. A system requiring a medical examination for every pilot about to make a flight might save value able lives. In the stress of modern life the human heart may be recreant to its responsibilities. Lindbergh's mechanical heart has not yet been adjusted to the needs of the time. ————— Colleges may in view of restrictions on speculation call a convention of profes- sors to indicate how far it is permissible to instruct youth in the calculus of probabilities, a phrase which sounds as if it might in addition to giving light on actuarial calculation encourage a hope of figuring out horse race results by studying a form sheet. . Parade requirements may yet tempt some world speculator to buy ostrich feathers and hold them for a rise in market quotations. e Eloguent persuasions have not failed P. M. G. Farley to the extent that might call for contributions to finance another trip to kiss the Blarney Stone, ———— Shooting Stars, BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. The Great Game, The man who makes a chesty bluff And shouts “I am the real stuff!” May be quite useful for a day In getting something under way. On close acquaintance you may find He's ordinary human kind, But if he has true grit enough, When called, to make another bluff, ‘We honor his courageous show. Perhaps he’ll make the next one go, It’s better, son, to bluff a bit Than simply to lay down and quit. Confidence. “Do you fully understand all the topics you feel called upon to discuss?” asked the constituent. “Certainly,” answered Senator ghum. “Can you doubt it?” “No, of course, not.” “Then my method of procedure f{s shown to be correct. It isn't necessary to explain something to a voter if you can convincr him that you know all about it and that there's no excuse for him to worry.” Sor- The Whimsical Complainer, I shall complain from day to day, As loudly as I choose, For, when I win but few seem gay, There's laughter when I lose. For mortal envy I distrust. It puts you on the spot. So, to be happy, oft I must Pretend that I am not. “It is easy to impress the people,” said Hi Ho, the sage of Chinatown, “but they are often like children who love the promise of sweets and become fretful | if there are not sufficient to satisfy all.” Hold-Up. He said—and then T called a cop— “Dear friend, there won't be any swap. Be your possessions great or small, I'm simply going to take them all. Jud Tunkins says he's got so excited over politics and finance that sometimes he almost forgets to care what the day’s base ball score was. Musical Temperament. “Were you slumming today?” the inquisitive friend. “What do you mean?” rejoined Miss Cayenne “I saw vou looking into several pawn- shop windows.” “That was for musical satisfaction. It delights me to see so0 many saxo- phones and nobody playing any.” asked Perseverance. True perseverance is a thing In which great worth abounds. The more some of us try to sing The worse it really sounds. “You can't disguise a bald fact wif primped-up language,” said Uncle Eben, “any more dan you can disguise & bald head wif & wig” a HINGTON, THE POLITICAL MILL BY G. GOULD LINCOLN. Congress has taken very seriously the President’s recent message urging econ- omy and a balanced budget. There are two good reasons. First, there is a keen desire on the part of Senators and Rep- resentatives to avoid an increase in tax- ation. Second, there is developing an increasing desire for a balanced budget— which a year ago was mentioned by Democratic members of Congress, if at all, with considerable derision. With a congressional election coming on next year, and the whole membership of the House and one-third of the Senate mem- bership at stake, the desire to go before the people with a budget in balance and with no new tax burdens imposed is becoming stronger and stronger. There is also & growing fear that unless some- thing is done to balance the Govern- ment's budget, there may be greatly in- creased inflation with its attendant evils for the people. * X ¥ X Manifesting itself, too, is a greater spirit of independence among the Demo- cratic Senators when it comes to the matter of appropriations. Before the President left here on his present vaca= tion trip, he let it be known that he would approve a plan for impounding 15 per cent of all appropriations—except those for certain fixed charges, for ex- penditures for veterans, etc.—with au= thority placed in the President’s hands agencies for use so much of the fifteen per cent as seemed advisable and neces- sary. This proposal, although advanced in the House with considerabie eclat, has fallen on deaf ears in the Senate, Democratic leaders there—men who have stood by the administration through thick and thin—are attacking the pro- posal, on the ground that the Congress, not the President, should fix appropria- tions and expenditures. Senator Robin- son of Arkansas, the Democratic leader, has declared against this proposal and in favor of a definite cut of 10 per cent in appropriations—as suggested by Senator Byrnes of South Carolina, another strong admirnistration Senator, * %k kK Furthermore, these Senators, intent upon real curtailment of Government expenditures, are favoring a decrease in the President’s estimate for work-relief appropriations from $1,500,000,000 to $1.000,000,000. How far they will get with this drive for economy remains to be seen, but apparently the President has started something. The determination to keep expenses down is more evident in the Senate, so far, than in the House. Senator Kenneth D. McKeller of Tennessee, ranking Democratic member of the Senate Appropriations Committee after Chairman Carter Glass, in a radio address delivered last night, declared himself strongly in favor of the economy program and against any increase in taxes at this time. He produced figures to prove that Congress, in passing upon all the appropriation bills which have come before it so far this year, has cut the budget estimates. In all, he said, Congress has appropriated $182,539,327.32 less than the budget estimates for the departments affected by the bills so far acted upon. He added that he was in- clined to favor a horizontal cut on all departments and that he has prepared an amendment for that purpose. “While I believe in the balancing of the budget at the earliest possible moment,” he said, “I do not believe we should impose ad- ditional taxes. I believe with proper economy the taxes now levied will be ample to balance the budget and run the Government properly. I believe also that within two or three years we may be able to reduce taxes.” There are many Democrats in Congress who ardently hope that the Tennessee Senator is correct, * kK X It may be that the recrudescence of independence on Capitol Hill had its origin in the reception given the Presi- dent’s plan to increase the membership of the Supreme Court by a maximum of six. Certainly no proposal ever made by the President since he took office more than four years ago has caused a division in the ranks of the Democratic majority. When you find seven Demo- cratic Senators, out of a total of four- teen on the judiciary committes, stand- ing out flatly against the President’s program for the Supreme Court, a situ- ation that has never before confronted the Roosevelt administration is pre- sented. It is anybody's guess today how the fight on the court bill will ultimately go. But around the corridors of the Capitol is growing a feeling that even= tually the President will have to drop his original program and accept a compro- mise, and that if he does not soon let it be knewn that a compromise will be accepted, it will be too late to get any- thing through the Senate dealing with the Supreme Court. * ok ok ok Some of the Democratic Senators— and members of the House, too—are be- ginning to peint out that if the Presi- dent and the chairman of the Demo- cratic National Committee stick to their attitude that the measure is to be a party issue, they may wreck the Demo- cratic party. Not only will there be danger of many defeats in the congres- sional elections next year, but there will be danger to the whole program of the President, and he may not be able to put through measures which he has in mind in the interest of the people and to round out his administration. A few of them have gone to the President and urged him to give consideration to what the political effects of a stubborn fight to put through the Supreme Court pro- gram may bring, particularly if the ani- mosities aroused are carried into the campaign next year. They point out that the President may, by a continued in- sistence, put in jeopardy many of his good friends, who have stood by him in the past. There is a certain analogy which may be drawn between the fight now waging over President Roosevelt’s Supreme Court program and the fight which President Woodrow Wilson waged, first to elect a Democratic Congress in war times—1918—-and second, for his League of Nations and World Court. The late President Wilson sought to kill off politically Democratic Senators who op- posed his policies. Democrats who are supporting the President are hopeful that President Roosevelt will make no such mistake, and for that reason they are urging that he accept a compro- mise—no matter how slight the gain, from his point of view, may be. Unless some compromise is worked out and accepted by the President, all compro- mise proposals may be defeated. And when and if they have been defeated, the entire Supreme Court program of the President will stand in considerable jeopardy. Indeed, the opponents are claiming that the necessary votes to defeat it are in sight. * oK ko Democrats in Massachusetts have be- gun a drive to have the next Democratic National Convention, in 1940, held in Boston. The movement has made head- way in Western Massachusetts, where Democrats from four counties recently met and formed an organization to raise $10,000 to finance the drive and to establish a women’s division headquar- D. C., FRIDAY, APRIL 30, 1937. THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. On a rainy day it is hard to think of anything but rain. Falling water has a way, not only of soaking into the earth, and even into basements, but also into people’s minds. Everybody sees rain, thinks rain, talks rain. It is on the individual mind, and on the collective mind of the populace. The person interested in gardening thinks the water will be good for his plants. He who wanted to play golf laments the rain and hopes for a better day tomorrow. English sparrows, with glistening feathers, sit on ledges along downtown hotels or underneath eaves of suburban residences. They do not mind the rain, but aye glad to be out of it for a time, * K K X “What a wonderful day!” says one lady gardener to another, by way of telephone greeting. A rainy day is a great day for the growing things of earth, with the possible exception of germinating seeds, and these whether of flowers, vegetables or grasses. Heavy, continued precipitation often washes them away. Such a downfall is undesirable until the seeds are well sprouted, but when did Nature ever ask man whether he | desired a rain or not? to give back to the various Government | The rains fall and seeds and plants must take them as they come. Each rain, and especially each heavy one, is another manifestation of the in- evitable, which must be accepted, whether or no. * ok ok % It is an interesting change, that of the reception of rain from the same person (1) before he gardens and (2) after he gardens. Whereas before each rainy day was what is ‘popularly called, in the ver- nacular, & “pain in the neck,” afterward 1t becomes something to rejoice over. The latter attitude is not at all forced, or a theoretical thing, based upon beauty and a desire for change. No, it is solely practical, a realization that this rain is Just what plants need. Plant roots, with few exceptions, do not mind being soaked at all. They are so constructed that plenty of water around them is just what they like, provided, that the water does not remain for too long a time. Even a long continued rain, a rain which falls steadily for as long as two or three days without intermission, does not harm the roots of plants and very little to their foliage. Later in the season some damage may be done their blossoms, but really very little, after all, * ok oKk Unless drainage is bad, no harm re- sults to any plants from continued rains. That a long rain is as good for grow- ing things as several gentler rains, prop- erly spaced, is difficult to say, but in the main the amateur gardener may free himself from any fear that any damage may be done. High winds with torrential rains often result in broken tree branches, and in some cases in the falling of trees, but in such an event it is better so, for the trees would have come down later, any- way. £ Often the most sturdy appearing trees are rotten at the heart, or bear in them~ selves weaknesses which do not show on the surface. We were interested recently in looking over a pile of wood from a great oak. Every great branch was hollow. L Rainy day gardening had best be done indoors, which is just another way of saying that no gardening should be done at_all. Efforts to work soil, or do any other operations on a rainy day, are generally time and energy wasted. Not only are they unpleasant tasks, in the rain, but neither dirt nor plant tissue is in con- dition to stand handling. Above all, do not rush into the yard to put seeds into the ground when it is raining. Most of the seeds will be washed away before nightfall, if the rain is a really heavy one. The ability to enjoy a rainy day de- pends somewhat upon imagination as well as upon some relish for gardening and its plant children. We have pointed out how even the beginning gardener finds something pleasant about & very rainy day. He may wake in the night and be surprised to find himself well pleased. Before he got interested in growing thipgs he would have resented the heavy fall of water, now he is glad to hear it, and hopes it keeps up all night! The person not interested is not lost, s0 far as a rainy day is concerned. He may still find it helpful, giving him a quiet day, with nothing to listen to except the falling water and h#s own thoughts. * ok Kk ok So much, of course, for the rainy day at home, especially Sunday. Week days, with plodding through the wet, and those stubby little umbrellas always threatening to send a fine drip down one’s spine, are different matters. On these days, too, the gardener has the advantage, because he is interested as he goes along in seeing what the water is doing for other people's gardens, and for the city's trees and shrubs and grass plots. He thinks of sitting down once he gets to office and writing the following letter to the editor: “Dear Sir: I find your paper indis- pensible, especially on a rainy day. I use it as a pad to keep people from dripping their old wet coats, their um- brellas and even their hats upon me. I find that the first section, neatly spread out over the knees, achieves more than you claim for it, and as for the second section, I use it generally as a buffer for my left shoulder, and believe it even more efficient than the first. The whole paper is better than anything I have ever tried for the purpose. Cordially yours, “TEMPLETON JONES.” * ok K Getting downtown in the wet with un- diminished good humor is an achieve- ment of which any suburbanite may be proud. There goes a fellow with so much “pep,” ardor and get-up-and-go about him that he fairly hurls himself down his front steps and is off at a run down the road. We had seen him run on fair days and had envied his ability there at, but this running in the rain was something new. There was a good eighth of a mile to go, and he was there long before the laggards. I5 As it so often happens, however, he really gained nothing except good spirits, because he had to wait several minutes, which gave the laggards sufficient time to catch up with him. Knowledge is power, they say. Knowing the schedules, especially on a rainy day, is well worth anybody’s while. Then one may walk along more leisurely, permitting the beauty of the landscape to sink into the soul and the wetness of the falling rain into the tails of one’s topcoat, to be dried and warmed through the simple process of sitting upon them for seven miles and thirty minutes. WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS BY FREDERIC WILLIAM WILE. Politicians and economists seem agreed as to the broad motives underly- ing the various propositions which Presi= dent Roosevelt left dangling in midair just before he took off for the Gulf of Mexico. The economy drive, anti-trust action against the aluminum combine, Attorney General Cummings’ plans for effective trust-busting laws, F. D. R's letter to Vice President Garner, warn- ing against the dangers that lurk in the Miller-Tydings bill to control certain retail prices, and the White House effort to banish stock market speculation among Government employes—all and sundry of these moves are seen as an interlocking whole. Their immediate purpose is emvisioned as an anti-infla- tion campaign through checking of “undue advances” in the prices of both commodities and securities. The more remote objective, as the Presidént's maneuvers are interpreted, is to guard betimes against the peril of “another 1929, beginning with a boom doomed to end in a second and perhaps even more devastating depression. It is sup- posedly this long-range specter which inspired Mr. Roosevelt’s hint of the “crisis,” which makes necessary, in his Jjudgment, reformation of the Supreme Court—"now!” * x X % On the scores .of both economy and price curtailments, now so earnestly urged, the New Deal is singing in vastly different key than the one it piped four years ago. In the Spring of 1933, the spending orgy was getting into its swing with gay abandon and giant strides. Treasury outgo was reckoned in billions, and Congress, then in the first exhilara= tion of its rubber-stamp mood, acqui esced unquestionably in about everything the pump-primers asked for, starting the national debt, now at $35,000,000,000, more or less, toward its all-time peak. Those were the dizzy days, too, in which incessant emphasis was laid upon the necessity of raising prices—when the President in one of his famous fireside chats said, in effect, that if they couldn't be increased in one way, some other way would be found, but that “raise them we shall” Now that recovery has come, New Dealers appear to realize some of the dangers that were inherent in hell-bent-for-leather emergency re- courses and are ready to call a halt on them as ruthlessly as the experimental panaceas were launched. * ok ok X When Congress re-establishes the post of counselor of the State Department, a pretty question will arise &s to whether that official or the Undersecretary of State will serve as Acting Secretary in Secretary Hull's absence. Assistant Sec- retary R. Walton Moore, who is slated to become counselor, and Assistant Secre~ tary Sumner Welles, scheduled for pro- motion to the undersecretaryship, will have the same nominal rank and $10,000 salary. But it will be up to Judge Hull to designate which one will pinch-hit for ters in Boston. The Bay State has swung strongly to the Democratic side in recent elections, having given its electoral votes to Democratic presidential candidates in the last three natiol contes and having elected Democr: Governors for & number of years. The Democrats are intent upon maintaining this political supremacy in the State, and believe that Boston {s entitled to be the national convention city three y:l hence. him from time to time, and thus estab- lish a precedent for future adminis- trations. * kX & During the recent textile conference two Englishwomen visiting at the British Embassy drove to the White House for tea with Mrs. Roosevelt. En route they chatted with the taxi driver, as do nearly all strangers in Washington. The talk turned to the abdication of Edward VIII, and the driver said: “I suppose the English objected to Mrs. Simpson be- cause she’s an American.” The fair fares replied: “Oh no, because of her past—her divorces. And we think it the saddest happening in British history. What do you think is the saddest hap- pening in American history?” Instantly the driver rejoined: “When Lee handed his sword to Grant, who gave it back to Lee.” * ok Xk K If President Roosevelt and his com- panions find the fish are not biting as hospitably as they ought off the shores of Texas, the Washingtonians may ac- cept an invitation from Mexico to try their luck in the waters off its Gulf Coast. Cordial suggestions to that effect were conveyed to the White House by Senor Najera, the Mexican Ambassador, on the eve of the White House party’s departure. * ok Kk K No recent executive announcement has churned up more bitter criticism than President Roosevelt's refusal to consider an unemployment census. His adamant opposition is certain to strengthen hostil- ity to lavish relief appropriations. Peri- odically, for three years, there have been informal intimations that a census would be taken, although the President un- failingly stressed the difficulty of de- termining what constitutes a jobless per- son, particularly whether a man . or woman spasmodically in gainful occu- pation can be so classified. Nevertheless, the consensus is that until such a tab- ulation is made, unemployment statistics are pure and simple stabs in the dark. With another billion-odd in sight for relief, most authorities think it's high time to stop guessing and get down to brass tacks. Despite Mr. Roosevelt's ob- Jections, this is not considered an im- possible task. L I O Although well on the sunny side of 50, Harry H. Woodring, Just appointed Secretary of War on & permanent basis Instead of the temporary status he for- merly occupied, is by no means the youngest man ever to hold the portiolio. Henry Knox, first Secretary of War, ap- pointed under the Articles of Confed- eration, was 35 years old. He was re- appointed under the Constitution at 39. Newton D. Baker became Secretary at 44. Jefferson Davis was not over 45 when he took charge of the department under President Pierce. Secretary Wood- ring will be 47 next month. The Kansan is the third World War veteran to occupy the secretaryship. The others were Dwight F. Davis and Patrick J. Hurley. Woodring’s creed was expressed on recent Army day. He said: “Calamities of war, like devastating attacks of na- ture, often come suddenly. For neither are we ever quite ready. But it is grati- fying to know that we have on guard an ever-vigilant Army ready to answer any call, be it to repel the arrogance of an aggressor or to succor a community in distress. There are no more earnest advocates of peace than our armed 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. Please name the Presidents of the United States to whom President Frank- lin D. Roosevelt is related either through blood or marriage —C. D A. They are Martin Van Buren, John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Ulysses S. Grant, Zachary Taylor, James Madison, William Henry Harrison, Benjamin Har- rison, William Howard Taft and Theo- dore Roosevelt. Q. How much money was bet on the races in Florida this season?—F. H. W. A. A report of the Florida State Racing Commission shows that $50,121,647 was wagered in Florida during the racing season just closed. Q. How many people in Pennsylvania speak Pennsylvania Dutch?—E. W, A. In the center of the Pennsylvania Dutch area, which comprises Lehigh, Berks and Lebanon Counties, between 60 and 65 per cent of the total inhabi- tants can speak it, and between 30 and 35 per cent use it constantly. Q. What is the Club?—W. H. A.Tt is a club affiliated with the Union Methodist Church, New York City, which is exactly 99 steps from Broadway. This church, of which Rev. C. Everett Wagner is pastor, {s known as the Actors’ Church. A restaurant is maintained for theatrical people and unemployed actors can get their meals and use the facilities of the auditorium for rehearsal. Ninety-nine Steps Q. What is the seating capacity of the Municipal Auditorium at San Antonio, Tex.?—H. J. A. The auditorium has a seating ca- pacity of more than 6,000. Q. What is the name of the {sland on which Edsel Ford has purchased an estate?—C. F. A. Mr. Ford has bought an estate on Jupiter Island, north of Palm Beach, Fla. Q. What is the origin of the slang term nuts?—H. W. ken in the American Vhen nuts in the sense revealed by ‘Chicago was nuts for the Giants’ came into popularity in the United States about 1920, it was treated by most of the newspaper commentators on current slang as a neologism, but in truth it had been used in precisely the same sense by R. H. Dana, jr, in ‘Two Years Before the Mast,’ 1840, and by Mark Twain in ‘Following the Equator,’ 1897.” A. Who wrote the play called “Night Over Taos"?—E. M. A. It is the work of Maxwell Anderson. Q. Please give some information about the famous maitre d'hotel, Oscar of the ‘Waldorf —W. J. A. Oscar Tschirky was born in Locle, Canton de Neuchatel, Switzerland, in 1866. He began his career working in confectionery and pastry establishments. In 1883 he came to the United States, where his first job was as a busboy in the Hoffman House. He progressed in learning the hotel business and went to Delmonico’s, where he eventually became catering manager. In 1893 he was se= lected by George Boldt to become man= ager of the Waldorf. He has been decorated by three governments and has greeted at the Waldorf-Astoria notables from all over the world. Q. How much milk is used by the people of New York City in a day? —K. T. A. A day's supply for the city con- sists of nearly 3,500,000 quarts. Q. Can the foliage of iris be kept green during the Summer?—N. M. A, A. The foliage of iris dies down during the resting period in the Summer. There is no way to prevent its doing so. Q. How old is Milton S. Hershey? —W. J. A. The chocolate manufacturer and philanthropist is 79 years old. Q. What is the population of Switzer- land?—C. B. A. Switzerland has a population of about 4,200,000. Q. Please give some information about the school for training servants in Mc- Keesport, Pa—W. H. A. The City Council of McKeesport has appropriated a sum for a housemaids’ training course sponsored by the Y. W, C. A. and conducted under the State de- partment of public instruction. Nine weeks of instruction will be given to 15 young women accepted from applicants registered at the Y. W. C. A. They will be trained for professional household service from 9 am. until 3 pm, five days each week. Q. Why are Minneapolis and St. Paul called the twin cities?>—D. V, H. A. Their city limits adjoin. Minne- apolis, in Hennepin County, is separated from St. Paul, in Ramsey County, partly by an artificial land boundary, and partly by the Mississippi River. Q. What is the name of the wealthy man in Muncie, Ind., who gave all of his railroad holdings to establish a foun- dation?—E. J. A. George A. Ball of Muncie gave his stock in the Midamerica Corporation for the establishment of a religious, charit- able and educational foundation bearing his and his wife's names, A Rhyme at Twilight y Gertrude Brooke Hamilton. Seeking Peace. Leaving far, far behind me The nolsy streets of town, I wandered to the river To watch the sun go down. Across the gray-toned water Stretched a long bridge of flame; From the flery heart of sunset The golden cables came, But the river, all unheeding, Pursued its even flow— More than the gold it gave me Calm in the solar glow. defenders. Their lives are dedicated to their country’s service. Their energy is devoted to maintaining the Nation secure against attack and to preserving a lasting peace with all the world.” * ok ok % One of the unauthorized stories kick- ing around town, especially among Fed- eral employes whom the powers that be would dissuade from consorting with Wall Street bulls and bears, is that the honest-to-goodness purpose is to pro- mote the sale of Government bonds, not only to members of the civil service, but to the public generally. e (Copyright, 1837.)