Evening Star Newspaper, June 15, 1937, Page 10

THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Edition, WASHINGTON, D. C. June 15, 1937 YHEODORE W. NOYES_.._.__..__Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company. nicaro Ofice? 438 North Michixan Ave. Rate by Carrier—City and Suburban. Regular Editien. Even dey 8t The w ::eg‘amu.r’m'o:{a or 150 per week The Evenink STy, per month or 1o per week The Bunday Star .. -be per copy Night ¥i pht Final anc 8 ht Final Star. Collection made eh weey ~Orders may be sent one Natlonal 5000. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryiand and Virginia, iy and Sunday. yr. $10.0 ily only nday only Al Gther tes and Ca .1 r. $12.00: 1 mo.. $1.00 Eig an4 Sunday }n [ 0. 3 Ir. .00; 1 mo., 78¢c day onl IT.. i .00 1 mo., B0e Member of the Amociated Press. The Assoclated Press 1a exclusively entitisd to the use for republication of all news dispatches credited to it or mot other credited in this per and also the local news published herein. Tights of publication of special dispatches erein are also reserved. The Adverse Report. The Senate Judiciary Committee, in its report to the Senate urging rejection of President Roosevelt's bill to increase the membership of the Supreme Court, turned the measure inside out—and the motives back of it—for public in- spection. The report may be referred to as the “opinion” in the case of Roosevelt versus the Supreme Court, handed down by a remarkably inde- pendent-minded committee of the Sen- ate. The main question at issue is not Whether the New Deal legislation is g00d or not good, a reading of the report will convince any reasonable person. The main issue is whetner the consti- tutional system of the United States s to be undermined through an attack upon the independence of the judiciary. Painstakingly, thé Senate committee has stripped all camouflage from the bill. No longer is it possible, in the light of the report, to believe that the major intent of the bill is to speed up justice in the United States, or to add more members to the bench or to provide for a constant infusion of “new blood” into the courts. The major purpose of the bill stands out like a sore thumb. It is to obtain a Supreme Court, and pos- sibly inferior courts, which will decide cases in accordance with the desires of the Chief Executive. The committee report is a scathing arraijgnment of this purpose. It mar- shals its facts and arguments in masterly fashion, showing that never before in the history of this country has there been such an attempt to make the courts subservient to the legislative and executive branches of the Government. It is, as the committee says, “a measure without precedent.” And once and for all, the committee recommends, the bill should be buried deep, so that no similar attempt will be made in the future. Granted, for the sake of argument, that the New Deal laws are what the people desire and that they may be good for the country, it still remains that for a temporary benefit it is' proposed to scrap the system of checks and bal- ances set up by the framers of the Con- stitution and, in the process, to do away Wwith the very essence of democracy and freedom—independent courts. And when the independence of the judiciary has been scrapped, the “human rights,” the guarantees of liberty written into the Constitution in the bill of rights, will be immediately in danger. What are these human rights? They are the right to religious freedom, to freedom of press end of free assemblage, to be protected in the home, Who shall say, once the independence of the judiciary has been destroyed, what the measure of control shall be? The Supreme Court has stuck sturdily by these human rights and has de- fended the people against attempted infractions countless times. The com- mittee, in its report, quotes John Mar- shall as he addressed the Virginia Con- vention in his 76th year. And this is what he had to say—which is as true to- day as it was in 1830: “Advert, sir, to the duties of a judge. He has to pass between the government and the man whom the government is prosecuting; between the most powerful individual in the community and the poorest and most unpopular. It is of the last impor- tance that in the exercise of these duties he should observe the utmost fairness. Need I express the necessity of this? Does not every man feel that his own personal security and the security of his property depends on that fairness? The Judicial department comes home in its effect to every man's fireside; it passes on his property, his reputation, his life, his all. Is it not, to the last degree, important that he should be rendered perfectly and completely independent, with nothing to influence or control him but God and his conscience?” The Senate, it is asserted, will back fts Judiclary Committee against this measure which would tamper with the independence of the judiciary. But even while this is asserted, rumor has it that through a compromise, through & back-door approach, the President is to have some kind of bill put through which would add one or two, or some greater number, of members to the Bupreme Court. There is no room for compromise. The report of the Senate committee has made this so plain that he who runs may read. You cannot compromise with principle, nor with the independence of the courts. Charles Lathrop Pack. Charles Lathrop Pack, closing his career at eighty, will have innumerable monuments. It is not too much to say that millions of his countrymen have appreciated him, will remember him. He will live in their hearts, and even the most distant generations will respect and » honor his name. The explanation of his immortality may be found in the fact that he is part of a durable tradition. His idealism is correlated to the humane philosophy of life which the whole world recognizes as distinctively American. In other words, Mr. Pack personified the doctrine of unselfish devotion to the common weal. When his biography is written it will demonstrate one single principle from first to last—the Golden Rule in practical application. But it will not be enough merely to prove that he was a generous philanthropist. Pri- marily, he was a worker, an inventor, a creator. He made the values he gave away. Indeed, it might be said in sober truth that he was the architect of his own example. People had talked about conservation for centuries, but it re- mained for him to translate a dream into a science. His forests, his wartime gar- dens, his multitudinous charities, his con- cern for education, his interest in eco- nomic reform and world peace, his pub- lished writings, his tireless preaching of his faith in God and nature, his confi- dence in the essential integrity of the race to which he belonged, all his enter- prises of benevolence were manifesta- tions of a mind basically sound and sane as well as a heart profoundly kind and good. A builder in the accurate meaning of the phrase, Mr. Pack brought many in- stitutions into being; «but, more impor- tant perhaps, he developed a school of thought—a religion of pragmatic altru- ism, simple in creed, yet vastly dfnamic in effect. To illustrate his power, let it be mentioned that he convinced a nation that it is a sin to mistreat a tree. Simi- larly, he stimulated a new confidence in the universal public. His influence in- spired entire communities. Nor will it cease with his passing. Such person- alities never die. Gratitude preserves them forever. —_—ee From Scylla to Charybdis. Being of good Irish extraction, Repre- sentative O'Connor of New York has a sense of humor which he exhibited to the House yesterday in a speech accusing the people of the District of Columbia of tax-dodging while the House itself was emphatically refusing, twice, even to consider a local tax-boosting bill because it taxed the salaries of members of Congress. It was doubtless a good joke, though made at the expense of the people of the only community in the United States which lacks representation in the Gov- ernment which levies its taxes and spends its tax revenues. If there is tax dodging in the District it is because of congres- sional misgovernment. But if Mr. O’Connor’'s evidence of tax-dodging is based on the same source of informa- tion which led him to make the accom- panying rabble-rousing statement that people of the District contribute nothing to the benefit of the District it deserves no more attention than the cynical pleasantry which was evidently intended. Yesterday's debacle on the tax bill is no joke, either for Congress or for the unrepresented taxpayers of the District. The tax bill, in the form in which it was presented to the House, deserved defeat, or at least a recommittal to the commit- tee which wrote it in order to remedy some of the more glaring of its defects and inequities. But there can be little solace to the District of Columbia in the refusal of the House to consider the bill. The House refused to consider the bill because the House was looking out for the interests of its own members and the interests of non-residents who have the vote. Its action was not based on any consideration of the interests of the people of the District. Nor does the effect of the refusal afford any occasion for gratification. For the effect of the failure of this tax bill will merely be to unload an increase of about forty per cent on the real estate taxpayers, and it was to relieve the real estate taxpayers—admittedly bearing too high a proportion of the load—that this pious attempt was made to “more equitably distribute” the tax burden. As for the tax bill itself, its fate rests in the lap of the gods who control the destinies of the House. The income tax is obviously as dead as a doornail. As Representative Dirksen pointed out—Mr. Dirksen being a man who has the cour- age of his convictions—there can be no local income tax worthy of the name which does not tax the locally derived salaries of non-residents. Congress will not tax the salaries of non-residents. And the other tax on which main reliance was unhappily placed, a business privi- lege and gross receipts tax, would not, as drawn, stand much chance of enact- ment. It would also tax many businesses which are ably represented in Congress and confiscate some others which are not. There still might be time, even before the close of the fiscal year, for a fair tax measure which would equitably de- velop some sources of local revenue. But the draft of a tax measure requires hard work, in addition to time, and few members of Congress seem disposed to give either to the needs of a voteless constituency. Debt Defaults Again. ‘This is another “red” letter day for the Treasury. It marks once again the default of eleven European debtors on semi-annual installments of interest and principal due on their $12,500,000,000- odd of war obligations to the United States. As on previous occasions, Fin- land enjoys the lone and proud dis- tinction of being the only debtor to meet its payment. The other countries, headed, in the order named, by Great Britain, France and Italy, already in default for $1,314,821,109, today swell the aggregate amount in arrears to $1,520,159,863. ‘The alibis put forth for non-payment are of familiar tone. Great Britain in- sists that so long as her own war debtors fail to pay up, she cannot further re- duce her American obligation. Al- though the British have already repaid $2,025,000,000, accumulated interest and arrears have brought up the total still 2] THE EVENING owed to $5108,000,000, which exceeds by nearly $1,000,000,000 the $4,277,000,- 000 originally borrowed. The French government, defaulting for the tenth time, hopes the day is approaching when something more tangible than refusals can be submitted at Washington. Pre- mier Leon Blum consistently favors re- sumption of payments on the debt, which exceeds $4,000,000,000, but in light of Prance’s disordered finances and heavy borrowings for rearmament ex- penditure, the prospect of curtailment seems remote. Italy, owing $2,000,000,- 000, reyeals no departure from the re- pudiation program. Mussolini is ready to discuss “readjustment,” but is dis- inclined to initiate negotiations. Uncle 8am's own debt policy is also unchanging. Washington has always been prepared to consider acceptable settlement terms, provided these would not call for outright cancellation or lead to renewed ralds on the American money market. Latterly there have been suggestions that reciprocal trade treaties might enable debt payments to be made in raw materials or manufactured goods. It is questionable whether such ar- rangements would be either practicable or satisfactory in light of intensive ef- forts by both creditor America and debtor Europe to sell more goods to each other across a complicated net- work of prohibitive tariffs and import quota barriers. Btatesmanship has its work cut out for it in attempting to grapple with the war debt problem and its thorny angles. Meantime, about all our people can do about it is to continue to possess their souls in patience and hope for the best. ———— The Nazis are finding it not quite so easy as they thought to replace the music of Mendelssohn. Performances of Shakespeare in the Reich are suffering by reason of substituted incidental music. It is hard to figure out their reasoning, but it is about equal to that of a man who, getting a poor shoeshine, goes home and burns all his volumes of Homer. e The biggest wheat crop since 1931 is prophesied by experts, while other cereals, it is estimated, will be well above the average. “You may double, or treble, the crops if you will, but the farmer’ll find something to sob about still.” ———— A prominent woman author and horse-breeder declares that the thor- oughbred horse is “the greatest of all mammals.” Is she not doing herself and her kind an injustice? ———— Canned bugle calls now summon to canned ‘“goldfish” and canned “willie” at Army posts. —— e Shooting Stars. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. The Dyspeptic. I think of happy days gone by, When I was gay and free, When I could order apple pie Or tell the cook an oyster fry ‘Was suitable for me. But now I murmur with a sigh, “A little toast and tea!™ ‘When tiny bubbles laugh and die, Like other joys that flee, When sunbeams gathered from the sky, By thrifty grapes unfettered fly To gild the revairy, The only toast that I may cry is, “Down with toast and tea!" The rarebit's perfume mounts on high, Delicious as can be! Broiled lobster—terrapin—oh, my! How they do haunt my wistful eye ‘With dreams of vanished glee! They still exist, I'm told. Oh, why, Must I have toast and tea? Ultimate Appraisal. “A man in public office may benefit greatly from the services of a good press agent.” “Yes,” replied Senator Sorghum, “but he must also bear in mind that there must come a time when the press agent forsakes him and the disinterested bi- ographer gets to work.” Jud Tunkins says the best part of a Summer vacation is the way it makes him appreciate his home and his regular friends. Government Ownership. It is & thought of gentle mirth My modest fancy now invents; Let governments own all the earth— And let me own the government. Not a Fan. “Bliggins doesn’t take any interest in base ball.” “How do you know?” “He says he never allows himself to become angry or excited.” “Sometimes,” said Hi Ho, the Sage of Chinatown, “civilization ceases to march onward, but dances in careless gayety; moving backward or forward, caring not whose toes may be trodden on and eventually getting nowhere.” Power of the Diminutive. Sorry for the quarrel Rising everywhere, Though the precepts moral Echo here and there. But we can't keep busy Watchin’ human tricks, When we may get dizzy From spotted fever ticks. Though we may endeavor To evolve a plan That will seem most clever For our fellow man, Yet that plan’s distorted Till we're in a fix Through germs imported By spotted fever ticks. “Some o' dese big speakers,” said Uncle Eben, “is like de whistle on a locomotive. Dey uses up steam to make a big ’sturbance, But dey ain’ pushin’ nufin® along.” THE POLITICAL MILL BY G. GOULD LINCOLN. The Senate Judiciary Committee has cracked down on President Roosevelt's court reorganization bill in unmistakable terms. Its adverse report to the Senate, urging that the bill do not pass, while lengthy, is remarkably clear. As far as can be learned, the administration leaders in the Senate are not asking for any minority report from the commit- teemen who stood for the President’s bill. It is usual for a minority to file its report on measures of great importance, although that course is not always fol- lowed. At all events, nothing is being put forward by the minority on the court bill. Now that the bill is actually on the Senate calendar, the activity of the ad- ministration forces, seeking a compro- mise, is increasing and may be expected to increase from day to day. Generally speaking, the administration is starting from Hatch in this effort. Senator Hatch of New Mexico is the author of a pro- posal to give the President authority to appoint an additional justice of the Supreme Court each year up to a maxi- mum of fifteen, when justices of re- tirement age fail to get off the bench. Hatch is one of those strongly opposed to the original presidential bill. In fact, he has subscribed to the majority report of the judiclary committee of which he is a member. But he is will- ing to compromise. He believes that his proposed amendment will remove the objections to the original bill. How many other Senators counted on to oppose the President's bill, which called for six new justices, until Associate Justice Van Devanter retired June 2, and brought the number down to five new Jjustices, are willing, like Hatch, to com- promise? The administration leaders continue to insist that they can get enough. Moreover, they have not given up hope of gaining more than the Hatch amendment, once the compromising spirit gets underway—if it does. * % ¥ X ‘The sharp attack, not only upon the court bill but upon the President himself for offering the measure and seeking to disguise his real purpose at first, con- tained in the Senate committee report on the bill has widened the rift in the Democratic party. The Democratic Sen- ators who joined in this report, and other Democrats in the ‘Senate who subscribe to it, have burned several bridges behind them politically—if not all. The report is not such as to endear them to President Roosevelt or to.Chair- man James A. Farley of the Democratic National Committee, who has been busy up and down the country seeking to line all Democrats up for the President's plan to increase the Supreme Court and who has made his demand on the ground of “party loyalty.” ‘The committee brought the President himself into the picture without hesitation, quoting from his message to Congress and his later speeches in support of the court bill. It was a good fighting report and when the debate in the Senate gets under way, the bitterness which has been growing between the opponents and proponents of the measure will flare forth more vividly than ever. * * & ¥ Seven Democratic members of the Sen- ate Judiciary Committee, one-half ex- actly of the Democratic membership of that committee, concurred in the adverse report. Three Republicans also signed it, while Senator George W. Norris, who does not like the bill but is willing to take it if he cannot get anything he likes better, did not sign the report. Here is where Norris and Hiram Johnson, two supporters of Roosevelt in 1932, part company., Senator Johnson is unwilling to go along with the President in this assault upon the courts which he con- siders fundamental, while Norris is will- ing. The seven Democrats who signed the report are King of Utah, Van Nuys of Indiana, McCarran of Nevada, Hatch of New Mexico, Burke of Nebraska, Con- nally of Texas and O'Mahoney of Wyoming. All of them, incidentally, are from the West or Middlewest, * %k X X The administration has sought in vain to make this contest over the court bill appear a contest between the adminis- tration and the Republicans. It has failed utterly in this attempt, however. There can be no doubt whatever in the minds of any that when one-half of the Democratic membership of the Senate Jjudiciary, and approximately one-half of the Democrats in the Senate itself are lined-up against this measure, the division is in the ranks of the Demo- cratic party. It is a case of Democrats who insist upon maintaining the prin- ciple of an independent judiciary and the constitutional form of government op- posed to those who are willing to follow the President, even though his course leads to a subservient judiciary. *x X X X ‘This fight over the court bill is bound to go into the congressional campaign next year. It seems bound to go into the Democratic primaries, where candi- dates for the Senate and for the House must be named. It took, and will take, a lot of courage for Democrats to face the displeasure of the President and Chairman Farley growing out of the opposition to the President's pet court bill. Not enly are they opposing this measure, which might be forgiven, but they have also made it impossible for the President to put this bill through as he sent it to Congress. There is today a majority of the Senate against the measure in that form. The administra- tion has been forced to seek a compro- mise, and the President, apparently, to agree to a compromise. This is tough. There will be 29 Democratic Sen- ators up for renomination next year, including the recently appointed Senator George L. Berry of Tennessee, who fills the vacancy caused by the death of the late Senator Bachman. Two of them, Van Nuys and McCarran, are both signers of the Judiciary Committee report. There are other opponents of the court bill in the list who have not failed to speak out against the measure, including Clark of Missouri and George of Georgia. What is the administration going to do about these recalcitrants? It has not yet been disclosed. * ok K ok ‘The contest over the court bill is likely to have its political ramifications in 1940, as well as next year. If the administra- tion goes out and defeats a number of Democrats seeking renomination to House and Senate, the resentment left behind will be plenty. And if it tries to defeat a number of these members of Congress and fails, the administration will have no hold over them in the crucial days of 1940 when another presi- dential candidate is to be selected. The administration is counting upon the support of the rank and file of voters in this court fight. It has done so since the beginning. But outside of the ranks of organized labor, the support has been decidedly lacking. The country is get- ting a bit restive over the activities of organized labor, which seems to be taking ta the sympathetic or general strike idea to force its demands. That kind of thing is not calculated to make friends among & great mass of Americans. And the politics of that situation may yet become mixed in with this court Aight, '8 STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, TUESDAY, JUNE 15 1937 THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. ‘Took & good look at those barn swal- lows in the garage again and they are really fine birds—trim, small, neat, with their blue backs, white stomachs, orange on throat and forked tails. Among the most fearless of birds, they take to the garage like geese to water; they fly in and out at all times, utterly undisturbed by humanity and its motor cars. Bright lights flashed upon the mother birds have no adverse effect. The rumble of automobiles, the sound of horns frighten them not in the least. This is splendid, for it is just the attitude the birds need, if they must choose garages to nest in, and fine for their watchers, too. For most of our wild birds are really that—wild, not with the wildness of madness, but simply with the true spirit of the great god Pan, which keeps the real children of the wild suficiently so for their own sakes. x ok k% These trim swallows—the first we had ever seen—are beautiful birds, mostly owing to their trimness. They are slim with a sleek besuty which millions of human beings of their sex would give almost anything to Ppossess. Yes, both are mother birds. Where the males are no one knows. If they are outside in the trees, at least they never come into the garage, or interfere in any way with the maternal duties of their mates. Mostly both these female swallows nest together on nests build about 2 feet apart, as previously explained here, at the juncture of uprights and cross- bars on the inner back wall of the garage. These nests are about 8 feet from the floor and mostly the birds sit on the nests at the same time, but this does not prevent one or the other of them from taking a little rest now and then. Mostly this rest is in the form of a gentle swinging back and forth on a rack at some distance along the same wall. This rack is for a variety of pur- poses, but the birds put it to a new one. It strikes them precisely as & perch, and that is what they use it for, of course, since they have deprived them- selves, for the time being, of the great outdoors. * * * X Not that they do not go out, of course; it they did not they would starve to death. Most of their time, however, is spent in the garage, which is something new for most birds which nest in this vicinity. Occasionally a bird of another species will come inside & sun porch, or fly into an open window. Some one was telling us the other day of leaving the screen out his living room window and being surprised by a small form which ap- peared in front of his face, as if posed in the air. It was & ruby throated hummingbird, of course, several thousands of which appear every Summer in Washington. It is one of the rare gems of birdland which seem to prefer the deep city. Any garden, no matter how small, which grows bell-shaped flowers, and these preferably red, will have hummingbirds. * x % x The bird taking a little exercise on the STARS, MEN swinging bar executes a very interesting dance, “inching” along with a slight jump, from time to time, or teetering back and forth on the bar. So unafraid are these mother birds that they strike an observer as more domestic than any other feathered thing, in a sense. The only parallel is the domestic hen. It is said that these birds always be- come so tame during the nesting period that they fly in and out of the buildings they have chosen without a trace of fear. Since they consume thousands of in- sects, swallows must seek the open air for their dinner; we have no doubt that the birds here described leave their nests for sufficient periods daily to get something to eat. Certainly they will do so when the young are hatched out. Just how the youngsters will escape the wheels of incoming and out- going cars remains to be seen. * x ¥ x Ornithologists tell us that swallows are almost the only birds which travel in migration during the daylight alone. Most migrating birds eat during the day and travel at night, but the swallows sleep at night. It is said that they are slow travelers and do not like to fly over water. If they encounter a bay, or river, they patiently fly around it, if the thing can be done at all. They are very domestic, in other words, a character which befits thelr beauty and their gentle ways. ‘They seem to bring out very pointedly, at least to a person who has never seen them before, one very fine feature of amateur bird observation: That always there remains, in this fascinating sport, something new to be seen. There is never any coming to an end of the things to be seen and ad- mired, nor is it necessary to go to strange lands to see them. They come to us, if we are patient, and keep our eyes open, and, above all, are not afflicted with that strange Amer- ican disease, the desire to pretend that ‘we have seen all, have been everywhere and know all. Probably not one city man or woman out of 10,000 has ever seen a barn swallow, but probably not two persons out of that number would be brave enough to admit it. (Who is the other one!) * ok ok Just why barn swallows happened to take such a fancy to barns is explained by professional bird men as follows: Originally, these birds made their nests In caves and on the underside of cliffs, as witness the cliff swallow to this day. Being great insect eaters, particularly of mosquitoes, they early discovered that the barn attracted a great many insects of various types, especially those which bred in manure. By nesting in the barn, the mother swallow not only achieved protection for her brood, but also was directly at the source of food supply. Barns and stables are few and far between, in a modern American city, but who can blame a swallow if she mistakes a garage for one? High and dry is her nest. Let the winds blow and the rains descend— Mother Swallow and her nestlings are safe. But where is the old man? AND ATOMS Notebook of Science Progress in Field, Laboratory and Study. BY THOMAS R. HENRY. One of the queerest quirks of the mind and the eyes yet reported has been un- covered in the psychological laboratory of Catholic University. Experiments have been conducted there for several years in the strange phenomenon of eidetic imagery. This is a faculty possessed in varying degrees by a few children. A rather complicated picture is placed over a white screen before the child. After it has been looked at for a few seconds it is withdrawn. But appar- ently—and it has been tested very rigidly —the child still sees the picture just as vividly as before. It is not a case of remembering. It is actual, objective seeing. The child is asked to describe in minute detail what he “sees.” He does 50, with a minuteness which is completely beyond any possi- bility of memory. In some cases rather intricate geometrical designs have been shown and the subject afterwards asked to trace what he sees on the—to every- body else—white sheet. He reproduces the original design perfectly. There can be no question but that he actually sees something which is not there. Now Dr. J. Edward Rauth and James J. Sinnott have carried the experiment one step further. A printed sheet, con- taining long, unfamiliar words, is placed over the white sheet upside down. It is removed and the child is asked to read what is before him. He can't. It is & meaningless jumble of upside down letters. Then the blank sheet is turned around. The child “reads,” or spells out, the original page. “To test this phenomenon more rigidly,” they say in their report just made public by the Child Research Com- mittee of the National Research Coun- cil, “a complicated picture was used. A magazine advertisement was presented in inverted position to several adults, none of whom succeeded in perceiving what it was. Upon rotation of the pic- ture, the variegated mass of daubs and streaks was easily recognized as a birth- day cake. This inverted picture was used in succeeding rotation experiments with eidetic boys, and in every case the meaning of the picture became plain only in the eidetic phase after the screen had been rotated 180 degrees. “It is also curious to note that a large card with the word “Frigidaire” boldly printed thereon was presented visually in inverted position to a nine-year-old eidetic boy. An inverted eidetic image was obtained, but it could not be in- terpreted. Upon rotation of the screen, the boy recognized the image as a word which he could not promrounce, but which he promptly spelled out. He re- ported that one letter “G” had faded out, so that he could not perceive what it was.” They consider the reversed screen ex- periment as incontrovertible evidence of the objectivity of the child’s experience. He doesn't imagine, he doesn’t remem- ber—he sees. Something happens in the complicated interaction of eye and brain which causes an image, once seen, to persist as an actuality. There is no conscious mental effort on the part of the youngster any more than there is a conscious mental effort involved in see- ing anything actually before the eyes. ‘The Catholic University experimenters find that, by and large, the laws of optics are obeyed in this sort of vision. “The eidetic fleld,” they say, “is fertile with theoretical implications and ex- perimental possibilities which should not be overlooked. The basic facts that the ddetic image i or seen, 2 with apparent perceptual objectivity and that under certain conditions it obeys or is psychologically modified by certain laws of optics, by the physiological con- ditions of the retina and by the special position of the screen, open up avenues of approach for the investigation of the dynamic visual processes, as well as for methods of determining the precise na- ture of the eidetic image itself.” The eidetic faculty, the Catholic Uni- versity experimenters have found, exists in both boys and girls, but in its full development is quite rare. It almost in- variably disappears with adolescence, al- though there are supposed instances of it—such as in the case of the poet Goethe or the English essayist De 1Quincey, where it persisted into adult ife. Dr. Rauth found some outstanding cases of possession of this faculty among the children at St. Mary’s Industrial School in Baltimore. Most of his sub- Jects have been drawn from this school. — True Inwardness of Peace Pledges Prom the Cincinnati Times-Star. “I pledge not to support the Govern- ment of the United States in any war it may conduct.” This is the so-called “Oxford oath,” which a number of stu- dents took at the fourth Nation-wide anti-war demonstration sponsored by the United Students Peace Committee. If all young men everywhere subscribed to this, and stuck by it, then there would be an end of wars, or only such conflicts as Amazonian women and old- sters could put on, which would not be so hot. From varying motives, ranging from Quaker quietism up—or down—the pledge doubtless was taken. A photo- graph of New York's student demon- stration, which has come to our desk, indicates the direction there. A true pacifist minds his own business, we sup- pose; but the metropolitan demon- strators carried banners attacking Amer- ican neutrality as a help to the Spanish insurgents and demanding “aid to Spain,” etc.,, etc. And now we venture to expand the Oxford oath so as to carry out the implications of the banners and the intent of some of the sponsors of such demonstrations: “I pledge not to support the Govern- ment of the United States in any war it may conduct. I pledge to knife it should it become engaged in war with a Popular Front government anywhere. I pledge to support no democracy, even in peace, unless it permits communistic boring from within. I pledge to engage in a class war whenever the prospect looks good, and to make it very much the real thing.” America’s so-called peace movement includes genuine idealists, persons at- tracted by anything phoney, and quite a sprinkling of sadists. ———————— The Shortest Cut. Prom the Saginaw News. The ‘British government is reopening the war debt question, it is rumored. Much lost motion would be saved if they put a zipper on it. —_— e Precocious. Prom the Topeka Daily Capital. A fourteen-year-old Union City, Tenn,, girl obtained a divorce from her thir- teen-year-old husband, and probably secured custody of the dolls. A 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 jor reply. Q. What is meant by saying that a race horse is on the schooling list?—P. H. A. It means that because the horse is fractious and nervous at the post, it must attend daily practice at the starting gate until the horse has convinced the assist- ant starters that it is not dangerous and will stand in the stalls. A horse placed on the schooling list may not race again until an improvement in starting etiquette has been shown. Q. How many ships are there in the Spanish Navy?—M. L. A. There are eight cruisers, eighteen destroyers, eleven torpedo boats, eleven submarines (three building), five first- class gunboats, eight coast guard gune boats, two surveying vessels, two training ships, one submarine salvage vessel, one fleet oiler, two transports and other smaller vessels. Q. Ts there any guide to the length of sentences when one is preparing a lece ture?—M. M. A. There is the generalization that sentences should not be long. Twenty- four words is a safe maximum, Q. How much would all the rain weigh that falls yearly in the United States? —C. H A. The average yearly rainfall over all the Continental United States equals 1,300 cubic miles. This quantity of rain water would weigh six trillion tons. Q. When will the next World Confer= ence on the Control of Leprosy take place?—B. L. M. A. It will be held March 21 to 31, 1938, in Cairo, Egypt. The Leonard Wood Memorial in this country is one of the world leaders in this work. Q. How are the operas broadcast from the Metropolitan Opera House?—B. H. A. A box at the theater is especially equipped for sound. In it are an N, B. C. production man and an N. B. C. engineer. In a soundproof box with glass panels is the announcer who com- ments on the opera for radio listeners. Q. When were steam whistles first used on Mississippi River steamboats?—J. E. E. A. There is controversy as to the exact time and boat. It was in 1843 or 1844, Q. What towns in this country hold tulip festivals?—J. H. A. Holland, Mich., and Pella, Towa, have annual celebrations at this season. Q. What was the historic Kit-Cat Club? —J. M. A. It was formed in London in 1703 by Jacob Tomson and other Whig sup=~ porters of the Hanoverian dynasty, in- cluding in its membership Sir Robert Walpole, Congreve, Addison and Steele, The club was named for Christopher Cat, in whose bakery and tavern the first meetings were held. Q. How much more would it cost to inflate an airship like the Hindenburg with helium?—J. J. B. A. The capacity of the Hindenburg was 6,700,000 cubic feet. The only available figure on the cost of inflating the Hin- denburg with helium or hydrogen is the figure of the Standard Development Come pany of New Jersey. The prices given are based on the purchase of certain quantities and it should be noted that although the initial cost of helium is much higher, the fact that it can be repurified and used so many times makes the cost eventually little different from that of hydrogen. Hydrogen, $4 per 1,000 cubic feet; helium, $10 per 1,000 cubic feet. Based on these figures the cost of inflation would be $26,800 for hydrogen and $67,000 for helium. Q. Has the General Motors Linden, N. J.. plant been opened?—S. M. A. This division has been established for the assembly of Buick, Oldsmobile and Pontiac automobiles to serve the Eastern region of the United States. This plant was opened on a limited scale about the first of April and production is being gradually increased. Q. Who first used the expression, “Place in the sun?"—G. A. H. A. The expression has been used by many authors at various periods. Pascal used it in the following sentence, “That dog is mine said those poor children, that place in the sun is mine; such is the beginning and type of usurpation throughout the earth.” Q. According to population are more whites or Negroes arrested in the United States?—F. C. A. For each 100,000 native white popu- lation, 438 were arrested in December, 1936; for each 100,000 Negroes, 1,306 were arrested. Q. How many blind people have been supplied with talking books?—E. M. A. Approximately 18,000 are now ene joying these books. Q. How many marriages have been performed by the marrying parson of Elkton, Md.>—E. L. A. In nine years Edward C. Minor, known as the marrying parson, has pere formed almost 18,000 marriages. Q. Where is the Fly River?—H. R. M., A. It is the largest river in New Guinea, rising in the territory of Papua and flowing to the Gulf of Papua. e A Booklet on Weight Control Are you overweight or underweight? Body weight is the barometer of your health. Proper diet is the easy and natural method of weight control. Care=- ful selection of food will build you up or take you down—the process need involve neither stuffing nor starvation. Learn how to get your weight at the correct figure and how to keep it there. Get yourself a copy of this authoritative publication on WEIGHT CONTROL. Available at a cost and handling charge of ten cents. Order today. 3 Use This Order Blank and Mail. The Washington Evening Star Information Bureau, Frederic J. Haskin, Director, ‘Washington, D. C. I inclose herewith 10 CENTS in coin (carefully wrapped) for a copy of their booklet on WEIGHT CONTROL.