Evening Star Newspaper, July 25, 1937, Page 26

D2 THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. SUNDAY _________ ~-----July 25, 1937 THEODORE W. NOYES The Evening Star Newspaper Company. Nl“(l)“x’ F;( 6;‘{1 Pe‘r\nfls)g\‘nnin A\‘?s ew Yor &t 49nd 8t Onicago Office: 43 NorthrMiChl‘:nn Ave, Rate by Carrier—Ci Regular Edition. The Brenin and Sundry star . 5¢ Der month or 156 per wee The Eventne Star b 45¢ per month or 100 per week . =85 Der Sopy 70¢ per month Ay 5c per month the end of each month or k. Orders may be sent by maii or tele- Shone National 5000. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Marviand and Virginia, $10.00: 1 SH00: 1 $4.00; mo., £5¢ mo’, 0c Sunday 1 mo., 40c only All Other States and Canada, Daily and Sunday_ 1 vyr. $12.00; 1 mo.. $1 .00 Daily only___ """ 1 yrl. $5.00: 1 mo. 73c Susday nniF. $5.00; 1 mo.. B0c Member of the Associated Press. The Associated Press is exclusively entitied to the use for republication of all news dispatches credited to it or not otherwise credited in this Daper and also the local news publiched herein All rights of publication of special dlspatches herein are aiso reserved ———— e hoice of Tax Evils. The important choices in local tax measures to be made by the House and Senate conferees lie between the gross receipts tax approved by the House and & local income tax approved by the Senate; between an increase in the real estate and personal property tax rate epproved by the House and the modified single tax plan, or land tax, approved by the Senate. These choices are most likely to be left in the hands of the men who have gained familiarity with the local tax situation through work on the original bills and whose attitude toward the Dis- trict of Columbia taxpayers is guided by sympathy and a desire to be helpful. While it is difficult to take an optimistic view of the final selections, bersuse of the nature of the material from which they must be made. it is wholly reason- able to hope that final selections will represent distinct improvement over either the House or the Senate bill. Such improvement can and should be made. First, as between the gross receipts tax and the local income ta As passed by the House the gross receipts tax for the District of Columbia follows a taxing principle adopted with apparent success in & number of the States, but is unique in its blanket application of a single rate to all forms of business. Testimony has shown clearly enough the damaging effects that might be anticipated from such blanket application of a single rate and the failure of the hill's provisions to take into consideration the varying margins of profit (as distinct from gross receipts) prevailing in different classes of business. On the other hand, the propose local income tax has been thrice turned down by the House, not only because of its taxation of congressional salaries, but because of the population conditions peculiar to the District of Columbia— conditions which make the administra- tion of such a tax highly complicated end invite gross inequities. There is the further consideration that the imposi- tion of a local tax on incomes would precede by possibly less than a year the consideration and probable adoption by Congress of higher rates and lower ex- emptions for Federal income taxes, thus constituting another and aggravated in- stance of double taxation. As every one familiar with the subject knows, the desirable trend should be toward separa- tion of Federal and local sources of taxation, not the pifing up of a complex hodge podge in taxation with the local governments and Federal Government competing for what the taxpayer may have left. s The wise compromise here, it would seem, might lie in the choice of the gross receipts tax with the proposed 08 per cent rate cut at least in Malf. For if lack of time makes a graduated gross receipts tax impossible, the next best thing is reduction of the abnormally high rate proposed for the District—a rate which may prove, in some lines of business, to be confiscatory in effect. As between an increase in the real estate tax rate and the imposition of the modified single tax theory by way of a land tax, there should be no diffi- culty. The former is, of course, burden- some and it is highly unfortunate that the original idea of sparing the real estate taxpayer further increases did not prevail. But the land tax is doubly obnoxious in theory and highly unfair and damaging in its effect on real estate taxpayers. Its grotesque inequities have been discussed in these columns before and it should not be necessary to empha- size them again. Certainly it seems almost incredible that the Congress of the United States should be seriously considering applying the discredited single tax theory in the District of Co- lumbia. There is ample room for bargaining between House and Senate in behalf of the local taxpayer, for both the House and Senate bills would raise more reve- nue than is justified by the needs. There has been universal agreement that new taxes should be kept strictly to the level of revenue demands. oo A “New Deal” carries the ancient im- pression that heavy taxes make no dif- ference =0 long as a way can be found to make the other fellow pay them. “Degenerate Art.” ©Of course, there can be no such thing as “degenerate art.” The one word con- tradicts the other. Authentic art never is ugly, bitter or vicious. Pictures pos- cessed of those negative attributes sim- ply are bankrupt of esthetic character. Yet the so-called Exhibition of De- generate Art at Munich needs little ex- planation. It was designed to show young German painters the errors of “our era of shame,” the period between 1918 and 1933, when the psycopathic harvest of war and revolution was being reaped in Middle Europe. The time was unpropitious everywhere \ in the Old World. Communism, the deadly doctrine of the dictatorship of the proletariat, the supremacy of regi- mented ignorance and greed, hung over the map like an evil cloud through which no sun dared to shine. Men ex- isted in the dark. Such creative effort a8 they ventured to attempt was pessi- mistic or perverted. They had been brutalized by suffering; their works re- flected their psychology of disillusion- ment, loss and pain. Adolf Hitler himself perhaps may be & natural product of that age, but he will be applauded by many Americans for his demand for “a clean and healthy national art” to replace that of “filthy examples of frightfulness inflicted on the nation by fakers, dilettantes and char- latans.” Washingtonlans who visited Germany In the “shame” era know without being told that the chancellor has diagnosed the prevailing disease accurately enough. Similar campaigns of correction are needed in France and Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands, even in England. Furthermore, protest against some of the abominations now being set up in Government buildings throughout the United States—the horrors inflicted on the walls of the Department of Jus- tice, for instance—is in order. There is “degenerate art” much nearer home than Munich that ought to be condemned. Chastened Attitudes. President Roosevelt has apparently accepted, for the time being, the decision of the Senate against his proposal to enlarge the Supreme Court. He leaves & hint that in the future he may make new demands, although he is not spe- cific. And, in addition, he claims that by wielding the big stick—the threat of his court bill plus direct criticism of the court-—he has brought about more liberal decisions of the highest court. So the big stick will be kept in readi- ness to wield again. Criticism of decisions of the Supreme Court is one thing and an attack on the institution, with a proposal that it shall be subservient either to Congress or to the President, is quite another. No court is perfect, any more than is a President or a Congre: It 1s capable of making mistakes. The Supreme Court has made them in the past and probably will again. But it has made mighty few mistakes. It is an institution which the American people revere for that rea- son; an institution to which the free- dom of the individual and of hard- pressed minorities is really intrusted by the Constitution. President Roosevelt recalls, as others do, that the late Theodore Roosevelt advocated the recall of judicial opin- ions. He claims, it is said, that by advo- cating such a proposal the former Presi- dent helped to keep the Supreme Court in order, He might also remember that this demand for the recall of judicial opin- ions did more than any one other thing to prevent the election of Theodore Roosevelt to the presidency in 1912. Col. Roosevelt lost the support of literally hundreds of thousands of voters when he came forward with his plan, which would have made the courts subservient to a political majority. He proposed that when the Supreme Court handed down a decision it should be followed by a referendum vote in the States, with the right to overturn the court. The Supreme Court during the past few months held the Wagner labor rela- tions act and the social security act valid and reversed an earlier opinion on minimum-wage laws. The implication of the White House statement is that if there had been the same chastened spirit in the court—chastened by the threat of the President’s court bill—there would have been decisions upholding the N.R. A. and the A. A. A. a year or more ago. And yet it will be recalled that the decision in the N. R. A. case was by a unanimous court, holding the act un- constitutional, in which Justices Bran- deis, Stone and Cardozo all concurred. There is always the possibility—indeed, the probability—that the recent cases in which laws were sustained had to do with statutes more properly drawn and with cases more adequately pre- sented to the court by the Government, and that because of these reasons the court handed down favorable decisions. The President is represented now as holding that it is the part of the Chief Executive to recommend to Congress and the part of Congress to write the laws. Here is a chastened attitude on the part of another branch of the Govern- ment. The Senate has done the country 8 service at a critical time. ——oe—s If some of the boys who still have & record to make in politics are wise they will reach for the exercise irons and quit talking about their ages. Peace or Truce? Immediate peril of Japanese-Chinese war as the aftermath of recent events around Peiping has apparently vanished. After nearly three weeks of threats and counter threats, accompanied by more or less desultory fighting, some kind of a local arrangement has been patched up whereby the Thirty-seventh Division of the Chinese Army is withdrawn from the lately embattled region, ending tem- porarily the danger of further clashes be- tween the forces of General Sun Cheh- yuan, head of the semi-automonous North China regime known as the, Hopei-Chahar Council, and the Japa- nese troops that confronted them. Ac- cording to the Japanese version of the “peace” pact, as yet unconfirmed at Nanking, the Chinese authorities agree to eliminate persons “impeding Sino- Japanese relations,” to suppress com- munism and to exercise stricter control over anti-Japanese organizations and anti-Japanese propaganda. Evacuation of the Peiping sector by Sung's troops is considered particularly important at Tokio, because they were regarded as the spearhead of the movement within the Chinese Army to offer forcible re- sistance to Japanese encroachments. It would be premature and optimistic in the highest degree to suppose that prompt settlement of the latest Bino- t Japanese incident means that the situ- ation in North China no longer contains the seeds of grave trouble. The Tokio militarists seized upon the Peiping fracas as a pretext for strong reinforcement of the Japanese garrison in Hopei. There is every evidence that the additional troops and equipment. poured into the province since July 7 will be kept there for future emergencies, which will doubtless arise whenever the Japanese expansionists think the moment is ripe for new adventures. The political and economic separation of the Hopei- Chahar area, inclusive of Peiping and Tientsin, from the Nanking government's authority is tife generally recognized Japanese objective. Until it is attained, or Chiang-Kai-Shek by a show of force demonstrates that Japan cannot achieve her purpose, the danger of eventual large-scale war will continue. Tokio learned during the Peiping affair that & new influence is stirring in China, which caused Nanking to move its troops northward in considerable force, in answer to the Japanese threat. There seems little doubt that in the event of future provocations of equally critical nature Chiang-Kai-Shek will have to make a stand. Tokio, it goes without saying, would prefer to reach its goal peacefully, if possible. The future course of events depends on Japan's re- action to the revelation that Nanking would not shrink from war to prevent North China from becoming a second Manchukuo. Everything considered, therefore, it is hardly more than a truce that has just been established. Durable peace is still far off. —— e There are fears that back in the days when the sky was gray and snows were flying somebody may have intro- duced a custom of accenting the name of John Nance Garner on the second syllable. And if it served to enhance his popularity with the feminine voters, Mr. Garner probably did not care. It did not interfere with his speaking his mind with emphasis when the time came. R The Navy's radio service finds that airplanes may interfere with it in the neighborhood of Camp Springs. Just how much interference radio can stand after discharging fits essential function of long-distance communication of fact would be an interesting subject of research. e Maryland has many things to study in the way of forces, including the shores of the Chesapeake, the river that flows to the sea, and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. It is not surprising that Gov- ernor Nice should sometimes feel that he can be content with one term of office. o Nobody will permit question to be raised as to his respect for Thomas Jefferson merely because he did not ac- cept party guidance on the isle in the Chesapeake that bears the distinguished patriot’s name. — - If the Boy Scouts could have remained a few days longer in Potomac Park they might have seen the United States Cap- itol ablaze with some genuine history making. ——e Shooting Stars. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Depth. “My thought is deep,” the grave man said; “So do not be by folly led, And strive my meaning to pursue. My thought is far too deep for you.” Then said the simple passerby: “Your thought is deep, I can't deny. It lies secure from common wit, Because 'neath words you've buried it.” The Immediate Audience, “Future generations will applaud your speeches,” remarked the sincere ad- mirer. “I'm not trying to reach that far,” re- plied Senator Sorghum. “I'm satisfied if I can be correctly quoted in my home town newspapers.” Jud Tunkins says it's always wrong to tell what isn't so, and sometimes fool- ish to tell what is. Obstruction. When, to correct conditions bad, Great men in council meet, The man who kicks is not 8o bad As one who drags his feet. A Practical Lady. “What is your favorite flower?* “If you want to know the simple, un- affected truth,” said Miss Cayenne, “it's cauliflower.” Wasted Career. “How old did Methusaleh live to be?” “I don't know. He wasted his life, any- how, by not prolonging it at a time when he could utilize it as a patent food ad- vertisement.” Somewhere. There are suns that flercely glare Somewhere, ‘Way up yonder in the sky, And their temperature’s so high It's a million times more hot Than the sun that we have got. It's enough to singe your hair; Nothing cooked can be done rare; Every sunrise brings a scare Somewhere. The climate’s on a tear Bomewhere, And the record that is made, Fahrenheit or centigrade, On this little earth of ours, With its breezes and its showers, ‘With such warmth cannot compare. 80 we really needn't care What goes on away up there, Somewhere. “Families has somehow been mo’ cheerful in this settlement,” said Uncle Eben, “since dar was just enough change to buy groceries and not enough to finance a crap game.” ) ¢ Who Is Advising the President Now? BY OWEN L. SCOTT. Is any individual or group of individ- uals back of Mr. Roosevelt pulling the strings that have guided the President into one unusual venture after another? Has there grown up a sinister cabal— replacing the old and shopworn brain trust—that really dominates White House policy and White House planning? Anybody who listens to senatorial dis- cussions or who reads the comments of newspaper columnists would think so. More and more reference is made to mysterfous individuals who are influ- encing the President to do things that he really does not want to do and would not do if only he listened to older and wiser heads. One widely circulated con- fidential Washington service advised its clients & few days ago that this country’s troubles might quickly be solved if only eight or ten people could be deported. The story is that Mr. Roosevelt drove ahead to a smash-up on the issue of Supreme Court change under the spell of this group of radical advisers. The President, in fact, is pictured as a “yes- man,” accepting the dictates of indi- viduals who never have stood for election and whose ideas may spring from irre- sponsibility. Then when trouble breaks there is a scurrying for aid and comfort from the old-timers like Vice President Garner. . * X % % But none of the commentators gets down to the business of naming names of the supposed backstage dictators. That leaves the question: Who are these people supposedly guiding the President toward some unknown goal, getting him into deep water with Congress and with the country? The little group of supposedly “willful” individuals is not hard to detect. Of course, Tom Corcoran and Ben Cohen, youthful reform zealots, who are enjoying their first taste of power and prominence, head the list. As a matter of fact, Corcoran is accepted as the one person who today stands in most favor at the White House. But he deflates rather easilv, as Senators demonstrated by puncturing the Cohen-Corcoran plan for reviving Government control over industrial wages and hours, and by man- handling every other bit of “canned” leg- islation that this team prepared for the White House. Even so, Corcoran-Cohen ideas still command a premium in Washington. So do those of Mrs. Roosevelt, who is cred- ited with carrying to the President many of the ideas generated by left-wing thick- ers in the Government serv She has more direct association with several in this group than has the President. Her influence is behind many New Deal ex- periments. including such expensive ones as the Resettlement Administration and the ventures into various projects de- signed to help the under-privileged. * oxox % Nobody underestimates the influence of Harry Hopkins, but that influence has been exerted ever since the President took office. Mr. Hopkins combines ideas with more than a slight flair for politics that gets results from Congress in deter- mining relief policy. And when it comes to fiscal policy and experiments in taxa- tion the voice is that of Henry Morgen- thau, jr, but the ideas are those of Her- man Oliphant, counsel to the Secretary of the Treasury, and a reform zealot with a real passion for anonymity. Paul Appleby, youthful assistant to Henry Wallace, aspires to the toga dropped by Dr. Rexford Tugwell when he tired of the Washington struggle. Mr. Appleby is active enough, but there seems little evidence that he is deeply influ- encing the Secretarv of Agriculture, much less the President. And when it comes to labor policy. Frances Perkins counts much more heavily than some people think, S Is this. then, the little group of “will- ful” individuals who are supposedly in- fluencing President Roosevelt to under- take the ventures that have been shaking the Democratic party to its conservative foundations and keeping the country en- tertained? So far as there is such a group of ad- vanced thinkers wielding influence close to the seats of power, this seems to be the one referred to by the Senators and by the commentators. Some of the observers add Dr. Mordecal Ezekiel and Louis Bean on farm policy and Prof. W. O. Douglas as the Wall Street baiter of the Securities and Exchange Commission. But the catch in the whole set-up turns out to be that Mr. Roosevelt—in- stead of listening very attenively to ad- visers—is doing his own advising of him- self, or was until the other day. The very lack of outstanding personalities in the group syphoning ideas to the Presi- dent is the cue to what actually has hap- pened. Rather than being a ‘“‘yes-man” himself, President Roosevelt has insisted upon, or at least has encouraged, men” to gather 'round him. Opposition has had short-shrift. Or did have prior to the drubbing on the issue of Supreme Court change when a reputation for in- fallibility was lost. LEEIE Y As explained by one young and observ- ant official who has been in a position to see what has been going on: “The President, since inauguration, has had very definite ideas about the direc- tion he intends to take and the moves he wants to make. Those who have dis- agreed or found fault with decisions have plainly been in disfavor. After all, those around the President now are enjoying greater power and prestige than ever be- fore in their lives. Why should they court disfavor and a loss of that:power and prestige by disagreeing very strenu- ously when Mr. Roosevelt decides that an idea sounds good? The result is that some of the old heads no longer are de- pended upon for advice that might upset plans while the others go along yessing at anything.” - * K ok X Mr. Roosevelt pressed his fight against the Supreme Court in the face of warn- ings from every one of the old-line ad- visers, who recognized a practical victory at the time the justices altered their at- titude toward the scope of Federal power. After that the country witnessed the strange spectacle of a President bump- ing his head against a stone wall of opposition after he had got what he needed. The idea “yessed” into acceptance by the youthful zealots was that the time had come to purge the Democratic party of its fossils and that this would be the issue on which the President could show who really was boss. But the other day when lines broke and a count of noses revealed definite defeat for the White House, old heads were called back to do some patching of party lines. Experi- ence finally went to & premium around the executive establishment. Instead of an expected thrill at the sight of conservative Democratic Sena- tors being taken for a political ride, tha youthful White House emissaries Zis- played an acute case of the jitters as they scurried around to get advice from some of the very individuals who were down on the list to be purged. Now what? Is the President to trim sail to try to get back with the main current of his party followers, or is he to eontinue his effort to turn that eurrent t D. ¢, JULY 25 1937—PART TWO THE SOURCE OF ASSURANCE BY THE RIGHT REV. JAMES E. FREEMAN, D. D, LL. D, D. C. L, BISHOP OF WASHI ‘What is at once one of the most atrik- ing and dramatic incidents in the New Testament is a descriptive passage con- tained in the fourih chapter of 8t. Mark’s Gospel, thirty-seventh to fortieth verses. It relates the story of Christ and His disciples in & sudden and violent storm that occurred on the Sea of Gali- lee. We read that He had taken His disciples in a small craft to cross the shallow sea or lake and that “there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship.” Confused terror seized the disciples and they were amazed when they found that their Mas- ter, unperturbed, was “asleep on a pillow in the hinder part of the ship.” With indignation at His apparent indifference to their peril, as well as His own, they awoke Him, saying: “Master, carest ‘Thou not that we perish?” Whereupon He “arose and rebuked the wind and said unto the sea, ‘Peace, be still’” His concern was not so much for the threat- ening peril of the sea as it was for the lack of faith disclosed by His disciples. He gently rebuked them, saying: “Why are ye so fearful? How is it that ye have no faith ‘The story presents a striking contrast between the fears and apprehensions of the disciples and the unruffied calm and serenity of the Master. They were ap- palled by external conditions; He was undisturbed and unafraid because He possessed an inner peace and tranquil- lity. ‘The story runs true to the average experience of life. No matter what our knowledge or experience, we seem to be more affected by environing conditions than we are sustained by a repose of mind that is born of an unfailing trust in the outworking of a divine plan. We can be very confident of our serenity of mind where conditions are favorable to our ease and comfort. The test comes when environing conditions are unfa- vorable and we meet with ungenerous judgments and stern opposition. St. Paul speaks of those who all their life- time are “subject to bondage through fear.” He is speaking of a condition all too common to the average of us. The undisturbed repose of Jesus, His per- GTOX fect serenity of mind in the midst of a storm, was due to His abiding conscious- ness that He possessed a power that nothing could resist. He knew that the purpose of His life could not be inter- preted by conditions extraneous to it. He is the supreme exemplar of a mind that cannot be disturbed or distracted by forces allen to its sense of security and peace. We may not approximate this divine expression of undisturbed serenity; we may cultivate, if we will, that sense of God-dependence that saves us from the confusions, the conditions and circumstances that constitute the environment in which we are placed. It has ever been true that those who are the real leaders and molders of human destiny are the men and women who move on their course unaffected and unafraid, while those about them are confused by the distractions and passing events of life. The serenity of Wwhich Jesus was possessed does not grow out of confidence in men, but from a certain and unchanging trust in God and the outworking of His eternal pur- poses, We are passing through a period that seems to be fraught with many and grave perils. There is an evident loss of confidence in the wisdom and genius of men and their conflicting ideals and purposes. Much of the assurance and confidence that have hitherto character- ized us have, for the while, suffered im- pairment. Even those things that seem stable and unchanging appear to be less secure than they were. The faith that we once expressed in the God who has made and preserved us a Nation is less evident. The old cry is heard again: “Carest Thou not that we perish?” and for a renewed sense of security we are turning to what we hold of material possessions and what we may have of the genius of statesmanship. The New England poet, Whittier, whose life was characterized by poise and se- renity, expressed in beautiful verse the source of his unfailing assurance: “Drop Thy still dews of quietness Till all our strivings cease; Take from our souls the strain and stress And let our ordered lives confess The beauty of Thy peace.” Fifty Years Ago In The Star Much complaint was voiced fifty years ago about the inadequacy of street clean- - ing service in Wash- Protest Against ingion. The Star of Dirty Streets. July 19. 1887, says: “It is not true, as has been claimed, that the streets of the city are better swept and kept cleaner generally than under previous contrac- tors performing the same service. If human observation, experience and tes- | timony are worth anything, the reverse of this assertion is true. This, however, is doubtless due only in part to defec- tive machinery or inefficient service in | the street sweeping department. A very large proportion of the dirt lying upon the streets and the flying dust com- plained of every day comes from the wretchedly careless manner in which those engaged in carting dirt from new buildings and other excavations are al- lowed to perform their work. Hardly a single cart engaged in this work is as free from large cracks and holes as it might be and where any are found in de- cent condition their loads are usually piled so high that a large portion is shaken over the tail and side boards when the cart is in motion. The result is that nearly every cart thus engaged | leaves a thick trail of dirt on the streets from the point where it is loaded to the place of deposit. Now, there is no ex- cuse, as there is no necessity, for this state of things. It is observable that | loads of coal in transit are largely spilled in small quantities on the streets. The presumption is that if dirt from cellars, etc., were as valuable as coal, measures would be taken by those engaged in transporting it to prevent its loss. At all events, the coal business shows that spill- ing from carts can be avoided when de- sired, and ought, therefore, to be pre- vented. Our impression is that there is already in existence a regulation to this effect. If there is, it ought.to be en- forced. If not, one should be framed and put into operation at once.” xox ok % A dispatch from West Africa reported the death of Henry M. Stanley, the ex- plorer, at the hands False Report of o natives, and also Stanley's Death. another dispatch stated that he had been drowned in the sinking of a steam- er. The Star of July 21, 1887, savs: “The different stories'of the death of Henry M. Stanley are, at the present writing, too conflicting to put even the main statement bevond a doubt. In the barbarous region where his life work has carried him it is well nigh impossible to ascertain the details of any occurrence. Most of the news must necessarily be conveyed for a long distance by word of mouth and through a chain of ignorant messengers, and by the time it reaches its final destination a story is liable to be garbled, distorted and colored beyond recognition. If it shall turn out that Stanley is dead, however his death may have occurred, the world will have cause to mourn a very remarkable man.” The report of Stanley’s death in Africa proved to be false. He died in London May 10, 1904, more than seventeen years after this comment was printed. * K K X “The inquiry is respectfully made,” said The Star of July 23, 1887, “whether : 4 half-past three o'clock Washington's in the morning is not Dark Streets. too early an hour for the extinguishment of street lamps. That is the time when a number were turned off this morning and the darkness was quite as great then as it had been at any time during the night. It may be true that few people are abroad on proper errands at that particular hour. It is also-true on the other hand that most good people are wrapped in sound slumber at that hour. Yet these are just the reasons why the street lamps should be kept lighted until daylight.” e — ————— in the direction of moge experimental reforms? Every sign points to a continued drive for a second New Deal. There may be more readiness to con- sult with leaders in Congress before writ- ing the bills that are supposed to remodel the country’s economic system. But Mr. Roosevelt refuses to budge from his de- termination to do something for the Nation’s underprivileged groups. Regu- lar White House conferences are devoted to exploring this problem of economic re- form. In these conferences the new New Dealers do their sparkling as they burst out with one intriguing idea after an- other. The next worry, instead of centering around a supposed cabal of inner-circle thinkers plotting to change the eco- nomic system, may center in the difficulty of inducing Congress to make reforms even if needed. 1837 4 Capital Sidelights BY WILL P. KENNEDY. “Paging all pages—this is ‘Daddy’ Shannon announcing from Station EATS.” That is to say that Repre- sentative Joseph B. Shannon of Missouri is today host in the garden room of the Mayflower Hotel at his annual ban- quet to the fifty-six House pages “Daddy” Shannon, as they call him, is “tops” with the pages. They nominate him for the presidency, and this year Johnny McCabe, chief page, who is master of ceremonies, tipped us off that they may nominate him this year for one of the new jobs on the Supreme Court bench, if and when—because they have no intention of losing him and an annual meal ticket in the House. The boys have a good time planned. McCabe, who is known as “the turkey king of Congress,” because he has a chicken farm at Arcola, Va, from which he brings in eggs to members and makes them pay by digging post holes on the farm, will make the introductions. Jack Parrish of Indiana will serve as chaplain. “A message from the President” will be delivered by T. V. Martindale of Ohio. Music will be furnished by Donald Car- michael of Georgia. “The workings of Congress” will be described by William Paul of California. A touch of comedy will be furnished in a harmonica dance by Henry Hill of North Carolina and Cullen Collinsworth of Tennesee. Albert Payne of Texas is all ready to make a | speech, following which Ryder Ray of New York will describe “My Headache.” | Aubrey Russell of Kentucky says he will sing. Then will come a sketch by James Strachan of Georgia and George Catlett of Kentucky. A harmonica specialty will give the spotlight to William McLaughlin of Ohio. Earl Morgan of Alabama has a poem he writ, Walter Morgan of Ala- bama will contribute what he calls music, Roy Robertson of Maryland wiil break out with a speech and there will be one-minute talks by Thomas Northrup of South Carolina, Myron Blalock of Texas, Martin Schafer of Illinois, James Neal Peterson of Georgia, Arthur Sutton of Michigan and Edmond Walsh of the District of Columbia. Another “sketch” about Paul Revere will be worked by Edward McCormack of Pennsylvania and James Thompson of District of Colum- bia. James Linkletter of New Jersey has practiced up for a harmonica solo. A Spanish story will be told by Antonio Suazo of New Mexico and a grand as- semble harmonica trio by McLaughlin, Morgan and Collinsworth will close the festivities. The motto for the occasion is “Be not ignorant of anything; in a great matter or a small.” The other pages who will demonstrate disposing of good victuals are Lewis Allen of Ohio, Jack Barrett of Pennsylvania, Thomas Beatty of New Jersey, Rodney Bowman of Ohio, Harmon Burns, jr.. of Maryland, Randolph Carr of West Vir- ginia, James Chestnut of North Carolina, Maylon Clinkscales of Georgia, Owen Dieterich of Michigan, Eugene Dingler of Pennsylvania, Daniel Ellis of Ala- bama, C. H. Emerson of Tennessee, Peter Green of Illinois, Charles Harris of Georgia, Lucian Hunter of Kentucky, Harry Joachim of Mississippi, Fred John- son, jr., of Wyoming, James Johnson of Indiana, John Jurgensen of New York, Jimmie Mack of Florida, Charles Mc- Carthy of Tlinois, Rutledge McGhee of South Carolina, Robert Martin of Cali- fornia, Landon Mitchell of Virginia, H. H. Morris of Kentucky, Jack Morrow of Nebraska, Robert Parrish of Indiana, Fred Schatzman of New Jersey, William Smith of Pennsylvania, Alvin 8Smuzynski of Michigan and John Stacy of Georgia. * ok ox X The House welcomes back George Potter Darrow who was unanimously elected by the Republican members to succeed the late veteran Joseph G. Rodgers as a minority employe. Mr. Darrow is 79 years of age and up to the last election had served continuously in the House for twenty years and was one of the most valued members of the Naval Affairs Committee. Mr. Darrow comes of an old New England family and is a native of Waterford, Conn. He served in Congress from Philadelphia, where he had been president of a sec- tional School Board and a member of the City Council. He graduated from Alfred University, New York, in 1880. ——— Safety First. From the Jacksonville Journal. A nation-wide program of public health is launched in Russia. Rule 1 is to walk rapidly away if Stalin’s name creeps into the discourse. ——oe—s A Non-Striling Caste. From the lndllnlvolh"‘s All that strike litigation makes lots of work for the lawyers—who, be it noted, never strike. s Cause of Legislation on Sunday Labor. BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN. One of the notable changes which has taken place in American jurisprudencas relates to blue laws, especially laws against labor on Sundays. Buch statutes were first known in England and Scote land, but soon they were imported to ths colonies. Connecticut—or more properly the New Haven Colony—seems to have gone furthest in this respect There were no less than 45 statutes of the blue= law type. Originally, the laws against Sunday labor were based on religion. The Puri- tans held it to be against public polic to employ Sunday for mundane labor, Even the preparation of food was, in some places, forbidden. There w many punishments, some of them q severe, for transgressions against Sunday labor laws. The United States and other countrics today have Sunday labor laws, but basis is different. s economi humane rather than religious theory of these modern laws is that workers should be protected right to one day of rest a wee there are some remarkable survi older States of Sunday blue laws, in g eral the idea of Sunday suspension strictly adhered to, the law being met if workers are given one v off a week which may be any day. It has come to be recognized that certain services must be performed on Sunday. « % ox % first legal condemnation of Sun- day blue laws came as early as 1853 when, in a case known as Parte Newman, a Califor court held that Sunday labor could not be forbidden out= right. Since then, been a large number of cot dating old laws against work on § and, in practically of these de the relig side of the qu ignored. This cannot well be t an indication that the countr progressively irreligious; rather dication that enlightened co: thought it better re: n to se public welfare by ma without interruption An examination of court decisions shows the shift in opinion as to Sunda labor, a shift from religious to social grounds. In the case of Soon Hing, a Chinese laundryman, the issue arose. and the court decided that one day a week on which workers are to refrain from should be observed. but it was sta the decision came “not from an; the Government to promotion of religious obs from its right to protect a the physical and moral which comes from uni That such a decision wc fied the good Puritans of cannot be doubted, and decision could be made re alization of sentiment on such work. The ave ces person o ox Kansas has been n acted a number of st blue laws, espe- cially relating to Sunday obser notable decision was handed down by Supreme Court of that State rela the publication and distr papers on Sundav. The Kansas Sun law exempted works of ch sity from its labor prot issue turned on wheth was & necessity. The decision c incidentally, an interesting and succ definition of what a Sunday newspaper is. The court said “From the small bov whose first thought on arising Sunday morning is the comic section to the son grown older who turns eagerly to the sport page, the young daughter who peruses the socie columns. the father and mother who turn their attention to the more serious pages the Sunday paper is looked upon and has grown to be a necessity and so this court holds.” All the States have laws of some sort barring labor on Sund them have so many exception ally listed, that the prol nearly empty. A few specify exempted acti use the broad exemption of charity and necessity. Much li has resulted to arrive at decisions, as the Kansas newspaper case, of T constitutes such works. * ok ox % Georgia prohibits the operation of mo- tion picture theaters on Sundav. A theater operator was haled into court for violation of the statute, but pleaded that the performance given was a special one and all the net proceeds were devoted to charity. Nevertheless the court fi d against him, convicting him of a m demeanor. It is a matter of conjecture as to what the decision would have been if the gross proceeds had been turned over to charity, but. as the case stond some one was paid for the work of oper- ating the theater and that constituted a violation of the law. In general domestic work such as cook- ing and usual house service is auto- matically regarded as work of necessity, but a number of States feel it necessary to name such labor specifically. Operation of means of transportation and communication is generally excepted from the Sunday labor laws. but not com- pletely. For example. the State of Georgia has a law which permits opera- tion of certain railroad trains, but forbids the operation of others. So has New Jersey. The barber has been the sub- ject of much Sunday labor legislation. In some States barbering is expressly forbidden; in others it is expresslv per- mitted. The Michigan law singles out the barber for its only specific mention The usual works of charity and neces- sity blanket is emploved to cover the whole case, but a special clause savs that the dead may be shaved on the Lord day. Sale of drugs and the work of phy:i- cians are permitted all over the cou but a number of the States permit druz stores to sell only drugs and medicine sick room appliances, and the like. Th may not carry on the department store activities in which so many modern drug stores usually engage. * ok X K Connecticut, originally most famous for its strict Sunday blue laws, has en- acted a complete reversal and is now one of the more liberal States. It not only permits trains to run, but also the load- ing and unloading of freight. The sale of milk, bakery products, fruit, ice, ice cream, confectionery, soft drinks, to- bacco, newspapers, automobile supplies and gasoline is permitted. Various pro- fessional or trade work may be carried on and also industrial operations requir- ing a continuous process. Some States have provisions that vari- ous types of stores may make sales on Sunday of necessaries. but may not keep their doors open. The customer must ring & bell and be admitted or not as the storekeeper elects. In addition to State laws. there are many local ordinances of a distinctly blue nature. Also many old blue laws never have. been repealed, although thev are generally regarded as dead letters. Occa- sionally some sheriff or other local officer who has some grudge or wants publicity will invoke an old law or ordinance and cause much embarrassment. In the main, the whole attitude toward Sunday labor has altered. '