Evening Star Newspaper, May 21, 1937, Page 10

THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Editien. WASHINGTON, D. C. May 21, 1937 The Evening Star Newspaper Company. 11th St and Pennsylvania Ave. New York Office: 110 East 42nd 8t. Chicago Ovfice: ¢35 North Michigan Ave. Rate by Carrier—City and Suburban. Regular Edition, The Evening and Sunday Star 65¢ per menth or 15¢ per week ‘The Evening Star 45¢ per month or 10c per week The Sunday Star ... - .-——---—___5C Der copy Night Final Edition, ight Fral and Sunday Sta; 70¢ per month ight Final Star.. ___ 53¢ per month Collection made at the end of each month or esch week, Orcers may be sent by mall or tele- phone Natioral 5000 Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Marvland and Virginia, y apd Sunday.. 1 yr. $10.00; 1 mo. 88¢c y only . 1 yr "$h00i 1 mo. 60c Bunday only 1 yr. $4.00: 1 mo.. 40c All Other States and Canada. Dafly anq sunday. 1 yr. $120 il ra Daily n Bunday only $5.00: 1 mo. $1.00 Thc 50¢ Member of the Associated Press. The Assoctated Press 1s exclusively en: the use for republication of all news dispatches redite not otherwise credited in this he local news published herein of publication of special dispatches re also reserved. Lesser of Two Evils. In choosing a sales tax in place of a local income tax the Commissioners were actuated by many important considera- tions. Most of these are covered in the fact that collection of a local income tax in the District of Columbia—with its extras ary proportion of non-direct taxpaying non-residents and Federal employes—raises many complicated ques- tions in law and in equitable applica- tion of the tax that are not encountered in the States. Because the District is faced with an emergency In the imme- diate deficit of the next fiscal year, rash experimentation in the abandonment of the productive tax on intangibles in favor of a locally untried income tax would be unwise. The choice between two taxes is, of course, a choice between two evils as far as the taxpayer is concerned. But the choice of a light sales tax, exempt- ing such necessities as food, clothing and medicine, is the choice of the lesser of two evils. The sales tax has gained amazing popularity in the States, and while there is some duplication as between local sales taxes and the Federal excise or nuisance taxes, on some articles, the States have found the sales tax about field left to them for revenue raising—outside of property taxes—that is not duplicated by Federal taxes. As for the growth of the sales tax in the States: Only two States were col- lecting general sales taxes in 1930, ob- taining therefrom a yield of about $1,- 200,000. Up to and including a part of the year 1936, the latest figures imme- diately available, twenty-five of the States were collecting general sales taxes which produced $284,400,000. Outside of property taxes, the general sales tax has become the third largest source of reve- nue in the States which have adopted it, the largest being the gasoline tax and the next largest the tax on motor vehicle registrations and licenses. As contrasted with the local income tax, the sales tax in the States has shown its great superiority as a revenue pro- ducer. Local personal and corporation income tax revenue in the States fell off over $83,000,000 between 1930 and 1936, despite an increase of eleven in the number of States imposing local in- come taxes. As everybody knows, the increasing revenue needs of the Federal Government make almost inevitable a broadening of the base of the Federal income tax, reaching down into the lower brackets which thus far have happily escaped. This wi! tend to place more reliance upon the sales tax for local reve- nues with the concurrent effort—now en- couraged by the Federal Government—to avoid the further duplication of income taxation as between the States and the Federal Government. Should the recommendations of the Commissioners be followed in adopting the principle of a sales tax, the effort must be made to confine its provisions to the least essential commodities by exempting the necessities. Study must be made of the question whether it is not more equitable to the small business men to collect the tax on each taxable transaction, rather than on gross sales. The latter perhaps simplifies adminis- tration, but is sometithes criticized be- cause it is more burdensome to the “ittle fellow” than to the “big fellow.” Above all, the sales tax should be kept et the minimum of revenue needs. Be- cause it is a “painless” tax, it is, like the gasoline tax, easily susceptible of ab\{se, More thorough inquiry into the question of potential yield may show that one per cent, in place of the two per cent rate tentatively suggested, may suffice to meet existing revenue needs when coupled with other proposed taxes. ———— It is stated by Senator King of Utah that he would be delighted to see Sen- ator Robinson of Arkansas appointed to & Supreme Court judgeship. This hearty indorsement indicates a friendly under- gtanding earned through the years and fcross chasms sometimes deeply over- cast by shades of political opinion. Harrison H. Dodge. As superintendent of Mount Vernon Harrison H. Dodge deserved to be fa- mous. It was his privilege to preside over the historic estate during more than half a century. Twenty-five mil- lions of his fellow countrymen made pilgrimage to the scene in the five decades of his management of it. He was entitled to a large share of credit for the restoration of its beauty and the renewal of its fame. But it was characteristic of him to stress the part played by Miss Anne Pamela Cunning-~ ham and the ladies’ association which she founded to preserve the first Presi- dent’s home. “After all” he asked, “what have I done?” ‘The answer is manifest in the present condition of Mount Vernon. It was renovated and repaired under Mr. } Dodge’s direction. Also, it was publi- cized to the ends of the earth. The superintendent was both a builder and a showman in the best and most accu- rate meaning of those words. A certain inborn genius was needed for the task, and he was abundantly endowed with it. The driving force was an enthusiasm, an active patriotism which he taught thousands to share. Few of his con- temporaries were happier or more suc- cessful in their chosen fields of effort. But the best tribute that it is possible to pay to Mr. Dodge at the moment of his departure is that of citing the pat- tern which he designed. By example, he instructed America in the business of maintaining its contact with its past. Instinctively he knew that a nation re- quires a background, civilization wants a corrclated continuity. Such shrines as Mount Vernon, in his philosophy, have a practical significance. They are the material elements of history. To part with them willingly or carelessly is to betray tradition and to traduce the heritage of the people's soul. So regarded, Mr. Dodge was a philan- thropist. He should be remembered with gratitude because he enriched pos- terity. The men and women, the boys and girls of a distant tomorrow are in his debt for services they should find delight in appreciating. e Italy and Hungary. On one of those rare occasions when Premier Mussolini permits King Victor Emmanuel to dabble in Italy’s affairs, “the Emperor of Ethiopia,” accompanied by Queen Elena, Foreign Minister Count Ciano and an imposing suite of other officials, has arrived in Budapest on dip- lomatic business of high import. The royal expedition is obviously part and parcel of the Fascist scheme, with which Germany is closely affiliated, to build an Italo-German-Austro-Hungarian bloc capable of interposing its strength in Central Europe against the revived pre-war Anglo-French-Russian Triple Entente. The cardinal idea is to separate the Soviet Union from its western associates. Should such isolation ensue, Italy would feel herself in better position to domi= nate the Danubian area and the con- tinental southeast generally, while Ger- many could -ursue with diminished risk her eastern expansion ambitions, which involve Czechoslovakia as a probable first objective and Baltic states and Russia as eventual booty. Italy's recent pact with Yugoslavia, aimed primarily at dis- placing French influence in the Balkans, now looms as the first link in the chain which the Fascist powers seek to forge for the purpose of establishing their supremacy from the North Sea and the Baltic to the Adriatic and the Mediter- ranean. Opposed to this tall aspiration is the tendency of Austria, Hungary, Czecho- slovakia and Rumania to draw together in a neutral union which could with- stand Fascist designs until Great Britain and France are ready to reassert their influence in Central Europe. The four states in question do not relish the pros- pect of becoming vassals of Rome and Berlin. They are hopeful that the re- armament programs of the two western democracies signify Anglo-French deter- mination not to let the dictatorships ride roughshod over the small neighbors of Germany and Italy, including, in par- ticular, the destruction of Austria’s in- dependence. While these far-reaching Fascist moves on the Old World chessboard are in progress, British, French and Russian diplomacy is not idle. Of eminent im- portance is the Blum-Delbos-Litvinoff communique just issued at Paris, per- petuating the Russo-French alliance. British adhesion to that agreement is understood to be pledged thoroughly, if only tacitly. The Blum government con- siders a positive accord with Moscow preferable to Germany's nebulous offer of a security agreement. It is the French reply to the unabashed Nazi attempt to buy freedom of action in Eastern Europe with a western non-aggression pact ex- clusive of the Soviet Union. R Two fishing trips of President Roose- velt and Justice Van Devanter come along in time to get the boys busy prophesying again as to what the future may bring. B “’Tis Common Proof—" It may be “lese majeste” in Germany to refer to the humble beginnings of Herr Hitler, officially Der Fuehrer, but it is certainly not a cause of international complication for an American citizen to do so. Cardinal Mundelein's men- tion of him as an ‘“Austrian paper- hanger,™ however, has evoked a repre- sentation by the German Embassy here to the Department of State, which, while it does not take the shape of a formal protest, is nevertheless an indication of official resentment at Berlin. Care is taken to make’ plain that there is no protest—merely a notation of the fact that the cardinal’s expression is dis- pleasing. The State Department can, of course, take no official notice of the incident, other than to indicate that the matter has been called to its atten- tion. Herr Hitler was not, in fact, a paper- hanger, but an exterior decorator. ‘Whether he was “a poor one at that,” as reports indicate that Cardinal Mun- delein said further, is a matter per- haps of the judgment of those whom the now head of the German state once served in that capacity. If he was a poor artisan, all the more credit to him that he rose to his present height of power. Certainly there is no discredit to him in his emergence from a station in life where he was unfitted to attain the highest rank in another state. In this country there is no feeling against & person who goes upward from small stature in society to high places. Andrew Jackson was & farmer. Abraham Lincoln was a rail splitter. Ulysses 8. Grant was a tanner. James A. Garfleld was & canal mule driver. Grover Cleve- land was a sheriff, Woodrow Wilson was & achoal teacher. Herbert Hoover was THE EVENING a college student-waiter. None of them was regarded the less highly for his initial social services. It is possible that some part of the feeling aroused in Berlin by the cardinal’s expression was due to a misstatement of Der Fuehrer’s first occupation. He was, in truth, not a paper hanger, but a house painter. He decorated the exterior rather than the interior of buildings. In point of fact, he had the artistic impulse. He aspired to be a graphic artist, and while struggling to attain recognition in that line he kept his pot boiling by handling paint in quantities rather than on a palette scale. Shakespeare is widely read and often acted in Germany—at least he was before the Nazi era. It would be well for Der Fuehrer to read again the following ad- monitory passage in Julius Caesar: "Tis common proof That lowliness is young ambition's ladder, Whereto the climber-upward turns his face; But when he once attains the topmost round He then unto the ladder turns his back, Looks in the clouds, scorning the base degrees By which he did ascend. et Already much dissentient, opinion ari.es in connection with the appointment of a new Supreme Court justice. It might be well to persuade the other lads to stay over for awhile if only in the in- terest of peaceful politics. s In the meantime, by way of reminder, Europe keeps sending out various hints of advantages which might be drawn from a general shake-down, but con- tinues to call for customary benefits which arise from no such procedure. —————— Spiritualists are busier than ever be- fore giving special seances. They show as usual skill in avoiding information which might in some manner be made to be considered useful instead of only embellishing. e June 2 is the date mentioned in this country for two things: The ending of Mr. Van Devanter's official career and the potential beginning of another for Mr. Robinson. e One inducement offered to a resigning justice is the assurance that no political mix-up will cause a public loyal to its basic institutions to hail any style of political caricature with approval, e Shooting Stars. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. ‘Humor. What we call “Humor” is a thing As delicate and light As color on each vibrant wing Of butterflies in flight. The smile is sister to a tear, The laugh sinks to a sigh, And sympathy supplants the sneer As time goes drifting by. We've joked about the mother-in-law, With patient, generous heart. We've joked about the man who saw Wealth vanish in the mart. We've joked about the man who fell And maybe wrenched his spine. We've joked about Love's curious spell Which leaves us to repine. We've joked about the statesman’s cares Through long, unresting days. We've joked about the man who dares To challenge Folly's ways. As human knowledge grows more clear, Less laughter it provokes, And Wisdom drops a generous tear For what we once called “jokes.” A Comfortable Egotism. “You are eloquent in praise of our leader,” said the constituent. “It may seem egotistical,” said Senator Sorghum, “but I can't refrain from in- tensely admiring & man whose ideas somehow invariably coincide with my own.” Increasing Supply. Of laws we have a wondrous lot Writ in the books of yore, Although we don’'t use all we've got, We still go getting more. Jud Tunkins says the man who uses profanity may be tremendously in earnest, but he isn't explaining what about. “The possessor of great wealth,” said Hi Ho, the sage of Chinatown, “must be prepared to meet both praise and blame that are often undeserved.” Activity. “Is there much activity in real estate around here?” “I'll say there is,” answered Farmer Corntossel. “We've been averagin’ an earthquake to every six months.” A Large Order. My Radio! My Radio! You are melodious or wise. Straight way a-purchasing I go Of all the things you advertise. And yet I fear, my Radio dear, You have me looking like a dunce When I attempt with trusting cheer To take all your advice at once! “After I listens to both sides of & question,” said Uncle Eben, “all dat gen- erally happens is dat I has two ques- tions instead of one.” Serious Omission. From the Davenport (Iowa) Daily Times. The Federal Government plans to spend $12,000,000 to exterminate grass- hoppers, chinch bugs and boll weevils, but it hasn’t added hit-skip motorists to the list yet. ——ee— At Least Traffic Lights. Prom the Indianapolis Star. From accounts of those trailing coro- nation robes, traffic in Westminster Abbey probably required a corps of train dispatchers. Vermont. From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Since Vermont- has repealed her amusement tax she can laugh at the rest of the eeuntry without eosh. » ¢ [y 1 ‘ STAR, WASHINGTON, THE POLITICAL MILL BY G. GOULD LINCOLN. ‘The scene and the situation shift from day to day, almost, in the fight over President Roosevelt's court bill. When Associate Justice Van Devanter an- nounced on Tuesday that he was retir- ing from the bench on July 1 it created a great stir, although it had been ru- mored for some time that he would take that action. The conservative bloc on the court had been broken. One of the four musketeers was out. Chief Justice Hughes always has been far more liberal than conservative. Asso- clate Justice Roberts already had moved over to side with the Chief Justice and Associate Justices Brandeis, Stone and Cardozo. But until Justice Van Devanter handed in his retirement the court was dtvided 5 to 4, and that was not enough for the New Dealers. They called it a “one man’s land,” where a single justice could throw everything out of balance. * ok K % That's all over. The President can put a new man on the bench with- out a new law or without a new consti- tutional amendment. The situation is changed in the twinkling of an eye. In the opinion of some of the Senators, Justice Van Devanter pulled the rug right out from under the President's court bill. Who is to be the new justice? There are all kinds of guesses. For a number of years, now, there has been talk of transferring Robinson from the Senate, where he has done yeoman's service as party leader for President Roosevelt. He has never been considered a rad- ical—but he certainly has gone along with a lot of liberal legislation. His col- leagues in the Senate are putting on a great drive for him to get the place. He comes from west of the Mississippi River and so does Justice Van Devanter. He also comes from a State that ranks as part of the South. The South has no representation on the Supreme Court today at all, unless Justice McReynolds is so considered. He hails from Tennessee. Hughes, Stone and Cardozo are from New York, Brandeis from Massachusetts, Suther- land from Utah, Butler from Minnesota and Roberts from Pennsylvania. Cer- tainly it does not appear that the North- eastern States have a claim on the place. The Middle West, perhaps. If the Pres- ident gives his first appointment to the Supreme Court to Senator Robinson the laugh will be on some of the younger and more ardent New Dealers, like Felix Frankfurter and James M. Landis of the Harvard school, Assistant Attorney General Robert H. Jackson, who comes from New York, and Donald R. Richberg of Chicago, former head of the N. R. A. e o The President was asked if he would stick to his proposal that men under sixty should be appointed to the bench at his press conference on Tuesday. His reply was that he had recently elevated some judges over y from the district courts to the circuit courts of appeals. His answer seemed not to shut the door on Robinson, who was born in 1872, and is therefore now in his sixty-fifth year. The President has a great friend in former Judge Rosenman of New York, upon whom he relied during the campaign. But it looks as though New Yorkers were a drug on the Supreme Court market temporarily. Another Senator, Wagner, father of the labor re- lations act and a former New York judge, would. under orcinary circum- stances, be eligible for the appointment. It is true that he was not born in the United States but in Germany. There is nothing in the Constitution or in law that requires the appointment of native- born Americans to the highest court. Justice Sutherland was born in England, and Frankfurter, who has been frequently suggested as Supreme Court timber, was born in Vienna. * % ® x Now that Justice Van Devanter has taken the plunge, more and more rumors crop up that other members of the court will retire within a short time. The new law makes it possible for them to retire at full pay. Before it passed they could resign. It was then up to Con- gress to appropriate specially for their continued pay. In point of age, five other members of the court are eligible for retirement, the Chief Justice and Associate Justices Brandeis, McReynolds, Sutherland and Butler. Gossip has each one of them on the way out, depending upon who is talking. The opinion of persons who are close to the court is that there will be no more retirements until the President’s court bill is dis- posed of. Under all the circumstances, it is quite natural that there should be retirements. Had President Roosevelt never presented his reorganization plan, and the Sumners retirement bill had been passed, more than one retirement would in all probability have been made before now. * oK ok ok Before the Supreme Court adjourns it is expected to hand down its opinion in the social security act cases. And, by some of the ablest constitutional lawyers in the Senate, it is expected to sustain the validity of the act. If that be so, there will be another dent in the ad- ministration’s demand for an increased membership of the Supreme Court. The strategy of the administration supporters at present appears to seek a compromise for the President's court program in the Senate, put the substi- tute through and let the measure go over to the House. There they hope to be successful in passing the bill with the President’s original proposal, permitting a maximum increase of the court mem- bership to fifteen—and then holding it there. The bill would then go to con- ference, and in conference the adminis- tration leaders hope for further victory. ‘Whether a conference report could ever get through the Senate, if that report gave the President his program prac- tically without change, remains to be seen. If there is to be a compromise in the Senate, it is likely to be along the line of that proposed by Senator Logan of Kentucky, providing for a per- manent court of nine, with temporary Increases when justices fail to retire at 75 years of age, or that first advanced by Senator McCarran of Nevada, pro- viding for a definite increase of two justices, making the court eleven and no more. * ¥ ok X When the tremendous victory won by the President last November at the polls is recalled, the situation today is almost unbelievable. Senators and Representatives who fought for his nomination in 1932 and who backed him ever since are in the hostile camp today. What is the Presi- dent to do? Will he next year try to defeat these Democratic Senators for renomination and re-election? It seems impossible that he should wish to pursue such a course unless he has reached the conclusion that the time has come for a complete political realignment in this country and that the New Deal party and the Democratiz party are no longer to be synonymous. I was told by one Democratic Senator recently that he had gone to the Presi- dent and urged him to count the cost, both to his old friends and to himself, if the oourt fight should be pressed to & FRIDAY, MAY 21, 1937 THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. Nature is beginning to rescue many a poor lawn now, putting it into the me- dium good or even good class. The “June grass” is coming up. This is the salvation of every grass plot which is not as thriving as it might be, or can be. Plenty of water, and some heat, and the first thing any one knows the wide blades of this variety are up and into the eir. They not only fill in the bare spots, but thicken and revivify the old turf, wherever it has managed to take hold and thrive. It seems that, no matter how good grass is, it may be better. * % ¥ ¥ A searehing of hearts will reveal two facts, in the main, about most poor lawns: 1. They are hungry. 2. They are thirsty. Very few living things can get along well when both these conditions prevail. Mostly the home gardener fails to un- derstand the appearance of hungry plants. He recognizes the signs of thirst much better. The other state is far worse for the plant, however. It means that the plant really is slowly dying. Nature has put a marvelous resilience into plant tissue. A plant, like a human body, is mostly water, but the drying state may go on for a long time, without real harm to the living thing. Plant tissues have ways of conserving such water as they have. A little will go a long way. It is nothing less than mar- velous how most plants will live though the ground around them is baked and cracked open by heat and drought. In fact, the belief is growing among horti- culturists that heat, as such, plays a far more important part in plant ill health and ultimate destruction than has been recognized. When we say plants are dying from lack of water, what we mean, at least in some instances, is that they really are dying from the heat. * k% x The hungry plant can go a long time, a very long time, indeed, without giving up the fight, One great trouble with the hungry plant, it is believed, is that it lacks resistance to fight pests of all kinds, both insect and fungus. The plant lacking proper nourishment is not healthy, nor can it build up, naturally enough, the same sort of thick walls and tissues as do plants properly fed at the beginning and during the growing season. This is a matter of physics; the tougher the walls and tissues, the harder time the insect pest will have getting a foot- hold. There is a more complex relation, however, between poor tissues and the pests lumped off generally as fungi. Here we deal with real plant diseases, and it seems that most plants under modern artificial cultivation lack “resistance just as animal bodies which are poorly fed, and which, above all, lack vitamins and mineral elements, succumb to dis- ease much quicker than those fed with vital feods. * ok x % There can be little doubt that most of us fail to feed our plants properly This applies particularly to the lawn. Some forms of fertilizer, such an ammonia sulphate, when put on with the proper dilution, give a tremendous | top growth, but it is coming to be seen that this overstimulation above ground is gained at the expense of the under- ground system, notably the roots. If one uses the sulphate, it is a good plan also to use a complete fertilizer in order that all parts of the plant, unseen as well as seen, will receive proper nourishment. * ok % Bone meal is a good lawn fertilizer. It is slow, but for that very reason is excellent, since it insures some nourish- ment months later, when grass fertility has been forgotten as a subject of con- versation. Along with it some complete fertilizer ought to be used at least twice a year, preferably in the very early Spring, and sometime in the Summer. For many years it was believed that fertilizer put on a lawn too late in the season was harmful, but today it is felt that there is very little danger, indeed, of stimu- lating grass at the wrong time. It re- sponds to the urge of weather, and will not grow except when meteorological conditions are right, no matter how much chemicals are at the roots. All plants eat food in the form of “soup.” That is, a hunk of minerals, placed exactly at the roots, would be completely useless to a plant, indeed, would harm it, unless there were enough water present to put it into solution, in which form it may be util- ized. * ok Kk Even bone meal should be watered well after applying. Lawn fertilizers should be put on after & good mowing, preferably after the loose grass has been raked up. Then the fer- tilizer should be sprinkled evenly over the area, in such proportions as are recommended. No time should be lost in watering the material well, so that there will be no chance of burning, but this should not be done until a rake has been run lightly through the grass, in order to knock down as much of the material as possible to the ground. One does not want it on the leaves. There is now on the market a syphon arrangement for drawing a solution of ammonia sulphate out of a bucket with a garden hose, thus diluting it tremen- dously, since it requi about two hours to drain all the solution—about a gallon —out of the bucket through a tiny pin hole. The hose is running at the normal rate all this time, so it will be rea. that the gallon of solution—i placing a quarter’s worth of the chemical in the bucket of water—is very well di- luted, indeed, over that period We have a friend who used this sys- tem with success, except that the pin hole became stopped up at one time, during which period no solution was drawn out and mixed with the water from the hose. These places later showed in the grass as streaks, so much greener was the remainder of the lawn. P It may be realized that even with modern methods and knowledge the proper fertilization of the lawn is no easy matter, for each sward is a problem in itself and may require different elements and treatment. “I don't know what's the matter with my grass,” is a very common remark, but each person who makes it really does know what is the matter. He has failed to feed it, that is all, but it is enough. The June grass, being a stout grass while it lasts, will do a great deal toward ng even a poor lawn seem a fairly good one for the next two months or more, but there can be little question that fertility is at the basis of every really good lawn and that those who want good grass must pay for it by | feeding it. WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS BY FREDERIC There are abundant indications that Supreme Court compromise is on the way. Activities of Capitol leaders close and friendly to the administration point strongly in the direction of revi the President’s plan, eventually at once. The Van Devanter r practical certainty of the bill's Democratic party mutiny—all these de- velopments conspire to change the sit- uation drastically from the White House standpoint and make discretion the bet- ter part of valor. If they now fail to induce President Roosevelt to yield, ‘Washington is headed for one of its big- gest surprises in moons. Which of the various factors aforementioned will turn out to be the decisive one in altering the President's course, is about the only remaining element of doubt. He has had substantial vindication of his “liberal” viewpoint in the succession of decisions on fundamental New Deal issues, handed down since he sprang the court enlarge- ment project. He could justify an about- face on that ground. Certain Roose- veltians at any rate are now urging that F. D. R. would suffer no loss of prestige, if he took * nal recourse in the argument that supervening events of the past 3'2 months warrant withdrawal from a posi- tion which has become politically and legislatively untenable. * Kk x * Although Senator Joe Robinson's ele- vation to a Supreme Court justiceship under existing circumstances would in- evitably suggest that he would be ap- pointed as a 100 per cent apostle of theories which New Dealers yearn to implant in the fundamental law, the Arkansan is no spineless “yes” man. His friends are persuaded that he would don the ermine unpledged and untrammeled. The virtual unanimity of his colleagues in favor of Robinson’s selection for the Van Devanter vacancy attests their faith in his complete eligibility for the high bench. Thick and thin loyalty to his official party leader, which Joe has so consistently demonstrated during the past four years, is one thing, his admirers say. It would be a horse of quite another color, they insist, once he became a Su- preme Court justice by grace of a con- firmatory Senate vote of confidence, un- marred by a single dissent. No one in the chamber can conceive of Robinson wearing any collar except that which would adorn his judicial robe of office. Nor is it forgotten that his predilections are all of conservative tendency. * K Kk Should the Democratic leader be named an associate justice, he will have received a series of successive State and Federal honors such as come to few Americans. Robinson served five terms in the House of Representatives, re- signed his seat to become Governor of Arkansas, and retired from that job to enter the United States Senate, in which he is now filling his fifth consecutive term. In addition to these various dis- tinctions, the Senator in 1928 was Demo-~ cratic candidate for the vice presidency, as Al Smith’s running mate. In 1930 he was a delegate to the London Naval Conference. He led the Democratic Sen- finish. This Senator is one of those still listed as uncommitted on the President’s court bill. “Not only,” he said, “would the President jeopardize the political future of Senators who had done much for him in the past, but the President would jeopardize the last two yegrs of his administration and the program which he hopes to put through.” WILLIAM WILE. ate minority from 1922 to 1933, and the majority since then. Including his first office. membership in the General As- sembly of Arkansas, Robinson has been in public service uninterruptedly for the past 42 years. PR Whether it denotes calm resignation to threatened defeat or serene confidence in victory, President Roose current demeanor, while receiving White House visitors, is marked by all his old-time, worry-proof buoyancy. When he enter- tained this week his first Washington press conference in nearly a month and faced a capacity audience of news- hungry scribes, he wise-cracked and chuckled. as of yore, giving no slightest sign that he's in the throes of the su- preme political conflict of his life. It can safely be assumed that if and when the resilient master of the New Deal has to climb down on the judiciary issue, he’ll do it with a smile. It would be an almost unique experience for him to swallow defeat on a major occasion, but nobody doubts that he can “take it.” * ok % ox Except for a pretty widespread feeling that the heir to the Senate majority leadership—if such there is to be—should not be from the South, Pat Harrison would be an ideal, logical and popular choice. No man in Congress has waged the good fight for New Deal causes more valiantly than the Mississippian. On more than one occasion he has borne the brunt and stood the gaff under con- ditions from which some others might have flinched. A vigorous debater, re- sourceful parliamentary tactician, astute politician, and—as Disraeli was once de- scribed—“a master of the tedious art of managing men,” Harrison has about everything needed for the arduous post of congressional generalissimo. including the prime requisite of the President's full confidence. * K x % ‘Whatever happens to the Supreme Court, the battle is worth everything it has cost in blood (bad blood) and tears for the sake of the advertisement which the hitherto sadly neglected old Consti- tution has received. The furious con- troversy has stirred popular interest in the 150-year-old charter of our liberty to a wholly unexampled extent. It's an interesting coincidence that the cam- paign of education should have raged in this sesquicentennial of the event that made history at Philadelphia in 1787. * X kK Another generally remarked and im- portant consequence of the judiciary war is the opportunity it has provided for reassertion of the independence of Con- gress. Chroniclers of this tempestuous hour are eertain to star the fact that, after four years of rubber stamp sub- servience to the executive will, the legis- lative branch rose in all its star-spangled might and glory to show that its flag was still there. * X ok ke Cardinal Mundelein of Chicago. whose attack on Chancellor Hitler has been protested by the German Embassy at Washington, is an ardent admirer of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his poli- cies. On the occasion of the President’s acceptance of an honorary degree at Notre Dame in 1935, the prelate deliv- ered an eloquent eulogy of New Deal purposes and achievements. * Xk kK K While taking a good-natured side- swipe at President Roosevelt’s inconsist- ency in appointing 78-year-old R. Wal- t 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 give the names of the Brit- ish announcers who described the core onation over the radio—J. H. A. The coronation announcers were as follows: Harold Abrahams, Howard Marshall, George Blake, John Snagge, Michael Standing and Thomas Wood- rooffe. Q. How much was paid for the movie rights to “The Prince and the Pauper,” “Huckleberry Finn” and “Tom Saw- yer?"—J. K. A. The Mark Twain estate received $75,000 from Warner Bros. for the talk- ing picture rights to “The Prince and the Pauper,” and “Huckleberry Finn and “Tom Sawyer” were purchased by Selznick for $105,000. Q. What is the longest basket ball throw?—J. M. A. A world record basket ball throw was claimed during an indoor meet in the Naval Armory, Chicago, February 11, 1933, when Nan Gingele tossed the ball 97 feet 8 inches. Q. Who is the inventor?—E. J. A. Miss Beulah Louise Henry of North Carolina is the most prolific inventor, with 52 patents registered. best-known woman Q. Is there an annual trailer show?— 7. H A. The Trailer Coach Manufacturers’ Association will hold the first national show in Detroit in September. Q. Are lions in captivity ever as fine specimens as the jungle cats?>—H. G. F. A. Lions bred in captivi are said to live longer, be healthier and larger, and to have finer coats and manes than wild lions, as a rule, because they are better fed, are well cared for, and en- counter none of the hazards of jung. life. Q. Where in the West is the mountain of glass to be erected from old bottles? —W. J. A. Twenty acres of land in Salt La City, Utah, have been set aside nun cipal authorities on w of glass will ke erected from old bot and The mountain will be land- scaped with flowers and shrubs. Q. Who gave the money for th ile lon which is to be installed near the Lur Caverns in Virginia?—T. M A. T. C. Northcott. owner of the cave erns, donated $200.000 for this purpose. Q. What is the highest price offered for an old newspaper?—E. H A. The highest price currently offered for an old newspaper is $1,000 for the first number of Bradford's New York Gazetteer, published in 1729. Q. Do people in Italy have charge ac- counts at grocers?—H. S. B. A. Practically all of Italian food buy- ing is on a cash-and-carry basis. Q. How large is the Banff National Park in Canada?—W. H. A. It is 2,585 square miles in area. Q. Why was Socrates' death post= poned?—J. McL. A. Socrates’ death was postponed for 30 days until the return of the sacred ship which had been sent to Delos on its periodical mission. Delos was the seat of the great Ionic festival to which the various states were accustomed to dispatch annually a sacred embassy in celebration of the anniversary of the god Apollo, who was held tradition to have been born on that island. Du the consecration of this ceremony public matters were held in abeya including the death of Socrates. Q. Who is the author of the quotation beginning: Reading maketh a full man, conference a ready man, and writing an exact man?—H. W, A. The quotation is from Lord Francis Bacon's essay, “Of Studies.” Q. Who will be the next ruler of Liechtenstein?>—W. K. A. The principality of Liechtenstein will probably be absorbed by the Swiss Confederation on the death of the pres- ent ruler, his serene highness Prince Francis I, who is childless. There is, therefore, no official heir apparent. The nearest male relative is the prince's first cousin, once removed, H. S. H. Prince Aloysius von und zu Liechtenstein. Q. What famous dances were created by Nijinsky?—H. W. A. Among his most famous crea are the Spectre of the Rose, Petrushi Carnival, Les Sylphides and the Aft noon of a Faun. Q. Did some of the early American flags have eight-pointed starts?>—J. E. B. A. Some of them did. A notable one is still preserved in the Easton (Pa. Library. It was unfurled when the Declaration of Independence was read from the court house steps on July 8§, 1776. Q. Please give a list of some famous woman photographers—K. H. A. Such a list would include Toni Frissell, Leize Rose, Josephine von Mik= los, Margaret Bourke-White, Emelie Danielson, Marian Stephenson, Jackie Martin, Wynn Richards, Antoinette Hervey, Sophie Lauffer, Helene Sanders, Helen T. Farrell and Hermine Turner. be held?—H. A. The Oxford Conference will be held at Oxford, England, July 12-26, 1937, — e A Rhyme at Twilight Q. When will the Oxford Conference S. By Gertrude Brooke Hamilton. Seagirt. Dark waves between your bark and mine came drifting; Adrift they left me, rudderless, at sea. Until winds blow you back, the breakers rifting, There is no shelter anywhere for me; I float at random, in a dusk unlifting. Oh, when will daylight pierce the density, currents shifting, And we sail safe to port, in unity? Black of misunderstanding ton Moore as Counselor of the State De- partment, after branding Supreme Court Jjustices superannuated at 70, Represent- tive Hamilton Fish, jr., Republican, of ew York disclosed in the House the other day that Mr. Moore is a cousin of his. The member for Hyde Park paid handsome tribute to his kinsman's “integrity, ability and public service record.” €Copyright, 1037