Evening Star Newspaper, August 8, 1937, Page 28

THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON. D. C. SUNDAY . __ August 8, 1937 THEODORE W. The Evening Star Newspaper Company. 11th St and Pennsyivania Ave New York Office: 110 East 49nd 8t. Chicago Office: 435 North Michigan Ave. Rate by Carrier—City and Suburban. Regular Edition. ‘The Evening and Sunday Star 5 per month or 15¢ per week ‘The Evening 5Ln=5 r o 3 x © per month or 10c per weel The Sunday Star ___ C Der copy 70¢ per month Lol ~---55c per month eaSPllection made at {he end of each month or ch week, Orders may be sent by mall or tele- phone Natlonal 5000. £ Fittls Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance, Maryiand and Virginia, Daily and Sunday__ 1 yr. $10.00; 1 Daily only 1 g500: 1 4.00; 1 Sunday only_ Al) Other States and Canada, glll.v "‘fi Sunday. aily only_. su Member of the Associated Pres: ‘The Associated Press is exclusively e titled the use ‘for repiblication of all news Gispatchis credited to it or not otherwise credited in this Daper and also the local news published herein of publication of special dispatches Gloomy Fiscal Outlook. The public school estimates for the fiscal year 1939, just submitted by the Board of Education, graphically illus- trate the inadequacy and shortsighted- ness of the District’s fiscal system. These estimates give in detail important items totaling nearly $19,000,000, an increase of more than $6.000,000 over current fiscal year allotments. A large part of the in- crease is required for the construction of eighteen new schools and additions and continuing of building operations on four other projects and for the appoint- ment of 241 additional teachers, These needs represent an accumula- tion over years of close budget pruning and postponing. The progress of the schools, so far as the physical plant is concerned, has been more than retarded; it has been slipping a little further be- hind each year. The District, although it is to pay additional taxes of around $9,000,000, will be in no position te meet these require- ments of the schools. The additional taxes, according to Auditor Donovan, will Just about enable the District to meet operating expenses this year. So the question naturally arises, where are the funds to be found for carrying forward the school program? Of course, as in most estimates, that for the schools may be unduly large, but in going over the schedule many urgent items long overdue account for the greater part of the amount requested. The result of drastic pruning of the estimates was shown in the framing of the current appropriation act. Of the 84,024,000 requested for new buildings only $1,540,000 was allowed, and only fifty-four of the 223 new teachers needed were supplied. The school officials have worked out & comprehensive building plan to run for a course of years and systematically to bring the school plant up to date, adequate to accommodate a growing en- rollment. This plan and other plans for municipal development are valueless without a workable financial plan being put into operation. And under condi- tions that exist in the District no plan will be workable that fails to provide for an adequate payment by the Federal Government in keeping with its obliga- tion toward maintenance and support of the National Capital. It would be helpful if Congress would abandon the erroneous concept that the District is a self-determining commu- nity and realize that the Constitution and not the District residents is re- eponsible for placing the burden of its government on Congress. —————— Picketing embassies or legations {s brought into discussion with some un- favorable comment. A live artist in picketing should be able to get his ideas into consideration without depending on the attention to be commanded from the front window. ———e—s. Radio is to have the supervisory atten- tion of some of this Nation's best minds. The arts have been recognized by emi- nent men and the art of advertising will not be neglected. ——ee—s The country has a housing problem to consider. It is, after all, more important than some of the picturesque publicity which while promoting interest must be figured into the cost. Catching a Street Car. A tired young widow, working to sup- port herself and her two small children, hurries down Eleventh street on her way to board a street car that will carry her to Georgetown in time to purchase the meager family dinner before the shops close. The nearest car stop is at Twelth street and Pennsylvania avenue. The platform runs eastward nearly to Eleventh street, but only a jaywalker is guilty of approaching it by making a crossing in the middle of the block. The lady is not a jaywalker, so she trudges to Twelfth street, glancing back- ward occasionally to determine how fast she must travel to connect with the first car that will take her to her destination. A Georgetown car a short distance back holds promise. She hurries to the cor- ner, but arrives too late to attempt to reach the platform before the green light signals vehicular traffic to move forward. While she waits for a change of signals the street car discharges and takes aboard passengers and clears the light. Several street cars line up along the platform during the next stop light inter- val. The lady walks down the platform toward Eleventh street expecting that "one of the cars in the rear is labeled Georgetown, but not any one of the five cars is going In that direction. The sixth, ' slowly approaching the®line-up, is a Georgetown car and it looks as though -1t might offer the luxury of a seat. Mean- < while the platform has become clogged with people and before the car comes to & stop the light chariges and the line of THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, cars moves ahead. The lady tries to work her way forward to the Twelfth street end where the car stops, but the crowd impedes her progress and the operator of the one-man car fails to see her. The green light is still with him. He closes the door and moves on. Another string of cars lines up. This time the lady, fearing a repetition of dis- appointment, remains at the Twelfth street end of the platform, reasoning with logic that a Georgetown car is again due to rank about stxth or seventh place. The light changes and the cars move for- ward. Fourth in the line is a Georgetown car. Having discharged and taken on passengers near the rear end of the plat- form, it speeds along with the light without even hesitating at Twelfth street. Foot-weary and mentally distressed by this time over the delay, the anxious mother and breadwinner completes three more round trips on the platform and is courageously undertaking the fourth when a Georgetown car hauls-up midway and she drags herself aboard. The car is so crowded that she cannot get within reach of a hand hold, but there is some comfort in the knowledge that though she may not enjoy being tightly packed in a joggling mass of humanity, she at least will be spared the indignity of a lurching fall to the floor. Rapidly waning hope vanishes com- pletely before the car reaches Washing- ton Circle. It is considerably past the time that the food stores close business for the day. —e—s Violent World. In a single page of a recent issue of the New York Times all of these head- lines appeared: “Bandit Is Felled After Wild Chase,” “Trestle Burns, Three Killed,” “Beating in Lobby Laid to Po- liceman,” “Escaped Prisoner Called ‘Yellow Kid',” “Kidnaper Suspect Held,” “Freed in Theft Charge: Woman Is Dis- charged When Three Refuse to Press Complaints,” “Girl Drowns in Barge Canal,” “Baby Killed, Six Hurt as Auto Hits Bench,” “3,000 Fight for Ride,” “Fined on 17 Auto Counts: Providence Man, Seized for One, Is Penalized on Old Record,” “Trapped on Bridge, Dies: Connecticut Girl Is Victim—Train Passes Over Others,” “Mounties Rescue Crew As Ships Sinks,” “Bronx Thugs Get $4,000: Three Seize Contractor's Pay Roll and Flee in Automobile,” “Five Police Demoted in Chaser Inquiry” and “Kills Three and Himself: Unemploved Youth Shoots Mother and Sisters in Pittsburgh.” Random selections from other portions of the same edition included: “Ships of Three Nations Bombed by Planes in Mediterranean,” “Flight from Nanking Begins When City Is Warned of Ex- pected Air Raids,” “Broker Ends Life,” “Auto Crash Toll Is Five,” “Strikes Hit Paving in Philadelphia,” “Seeks Felons' Return: Georgia Governor to Invoke Federal Law for Extradition,” “Painters Walk Out on 28 School Jobs,” “Blasts Fatal to Two More,” “China, Japan Buy Arms: Two Nations Among the Heaviest Purchasers in July,” “Thugs Attack Bel- fast Worker,” “Copenhagen Circus Stunt Fatal,” “Chilean Volcano Found in Vio- lent ruption,” “Paris Police Hunt Dancer: Aunt of American Girl Re- ceived Note Demanding $500,” “Flyving Officer Kills Friend and Himself,” “New Yorker Taken by Spanish Rebels,” “Strike Grounds Planes: 15 U. 8. Ships Held in Texas Due to Mexican Trouble,” “Loyalists See Foe Halted in Teruel,” “Summer Home Burns,” “Striker Gets Two Years: Third of 16 Men Indicted in Virginia Clash Is Convicted” and “Violence in Cleveland: Two Injured, Six Arrested in Steel and Textile Clashes.” If more convincing evidence of the turmoil of the world be needed, it may be found without much search. The mind of the average individual is only too profoundly conscious of it. Yet the situation is not hopeless. Humanity always has been affiicted with multi- tudinous troubles. Perhaps it is in- evitable that it should be. But there is no reason to suppose that every prob- lem is insoluble. On the contrary, the progressive development of a social con- science signifies the gradual perfection of a practical philosophy of adjustment under law and order. The race never may be competent to control volcanoes, but it certainly is possessed of the power to improve its natural pattern of self- government. Possibly it will help to re- member that headlines tell only a part of the story of contemporary events. There happens to be an aspect of his- tory that rarely is reported—the unwrit- ten chronicle of routine effort and hon- orable reward in which millions of people are represented but commonly unnoticed. —r————————— Yacht racing is always interesting and it 1s a welcome assurance to find that speed was not hindered by the tendency of ambitious lobsters to utilize the hull of a convenient hoat as a place of abode. The lobster is a valued feature of modern civilization, but he should be made to keep his place. Family Ties. Sociologists have noted a tendency of families to disintegrate. Forces, they say, are at work to establish breaches between parents and children. It hap- pens all too frequently that mothers are isolated from their daughters, fathers from their sons. Even though the household outwardly appears to be & normal social unit, diversive influences may be rampant in it. Tragedies like one recently reported in the local press are the occasional result. But it would be an error to suppose that nothing can be done to correct the prevailing tendency. Rather, it is plainly manifest that there is a medicine for the ill and that it must be employed in the interest of the civilization of which each independent family is part. Family life simply cannot be allowed to collapse. The fate of the human race depends upon the preservation of homes. 5 Yet it is folly to presume that every household deserves to survive unre- formed. Children will not be loyal to parents who forfeit their love. Drunken and shiftless fathers, lazy and extrava- gant mothers have little claim on the respect or affection of & younger gen- eration which often is regarded as being wild but which, generally speaking, is not incorrigible. It is no accident that the court records of youthful criminals almost invariably mention “unfortunate home environment” or “lack of parental guidance.” Perhaps the average family stands in need of a practical social statesmanship. Boys and girls require tactful manage- ment in their childhood, diplomatic coun- seling as they approach maturity. They cannot be “bossed” into a congenial ad- Justment to the world. Unquestioning obedience to the temperamental whims of their elders no longer is to be ex- pected from them. They must be per- suaded by processes of education begin- ning in infancy; they must be convinced by the living example of their seniors. To illustrate a feasible solution of the universal problem, let the case of a nameless Washington family group be mentioned. Not one but a score of mutual enthusiasms tie the home to- gether. Parents and children alike are correlated in work and play. The mother helps the father in the routine of his profession, serving as his secretary and treasurer. Her household duties are shared by her daughters, one of whom attends to marketing and upstairs rou- tine while the other supervises kitchen and pantry, laundry and garden. The sons keep the domestic equipment in repair, drive the family car, aid in the maintenance of the family budget. Hob- bies, including photography, philately and music, furnish employment for leis- ure hours which otherwise might be spent less wisely. The parents long ago started a family scrapbook for which the youngsters now are responsible. In the volume a stranger might find the un- written chronicle of a solidarity which has survived because it is kindly and mannerly and just. B Japan is said to contemplate a protest against the sending of American avi- ators to China. A number of distin- guished flyers have perished, without creating suspicion that they intended to go to Asia. It is perhaps a mistake to add to the suspicions to which flight as practiced by an independent nation may be subjected. S e If American aviators have been train- ing Chinese to fly they should have been required to guarantee a better job than some of them have been able to;turn out on their own account. ————r—e— Russia is in a state of indignation to- ward representatives who have shown activity in Asia and may decide on dis- cipline. Trotzky with all his troubles may yet be regarded as luckier than the once powerful Litvinoff., R Shooting Stars. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. In Thought and Deed. Good thoughts may come, though men remain, But selfish slaves to sordid gain, And though their source unfit may seem, Still benefit the human scheme. The impulse to good deeds may rise In one whose thoughts we must dispise And heralded abroad by fame Make gratitude o'ershadow blame. When one at last to view is brought Noble in action as in thought, The world his record fair will scan And say, “He was, indeed, a man!” Discretion Required. “You must have had opportunities to make a great deal of money.” “Many,” sald Senator Sorghum. *“A man in my position finds discretion necessary to enable him to avoid becom- ing so poor he can’t afford to stay in politics or so rich that he won't be con- sidered eligible.” Jud Tunkins says a farmer must make hay while the sun shines, but he won't be satisfied till he's prosperous enough to hire some one to come along and hold an umbrella over him. A Peril of Peace. Some day we’ll get them settled, These problems so perplexed, "Mid peaceful bow'rs This world of ours ‘Will seem just like the next. Some day we’ll get them settled— And yet there comes a doubt. With all made plain, What will remain For folks to talk about? The Great Revived. “I understand you are going to revive Shakespeare.” “An actor doesn't have to revive Shake- speare,” answered Mr. S8tormington Barnes. “But there’s always a chance of Shakespeare's reviving an actor.” Gay Paree. “A great many people go to Paris to study art.” “Yes,” answered Miss Cayenne, “and a great many study art as an excuse for going to Paris.” Conversational Philanthropy. How oft a man with phrases good Amid the throng will walk. He talks of “human brotherhood” And pays his dues in talk. “Education only confuses a person dats natchelly dumb,” said Uncle Eben. “Ever since Rastus Pinkley learnt dat de world is round he's skeered foolish foh fear “hell slip off.” Hidden Gold. From the San Prancisco Chronicle. It will be one more Summer before the gold can be salvaged from the sunken Lusitania. Our thought has been to leave it and issue paper money against it where it les. Proof of Titanism. From the Paterson (N. J.) News. Those who keep bathing suits for rent continue to hold steadfast to the belief that &he planet earth is inhabited F [} race & glants, 3 D. C, No Ghost-Walking for the N. R. A. BY OWEN L. SCOTT. There is to be no walking of the ghost of N. R. A. when—as now seems certain —the Federal Government goes back into the business of telling employers how little they may pay their workers and how many hours those workers can be kept at their jobs. Memories of the blue eagle can con- tinue to fade. “Crack-downs” are not on the new schedule. The intriguing idea of “industrial self-government,” with its anti-trust law exemptions, is not to be revived. Neither will there be any drive to force all employers under codes by Christmas. Codes have no part in the revival of wage controls. The truth is that, once the shooting dies down in Congress, most of the Na- tion will be expected to forget quickly that the Government in Washington has retaken some of the territory given up on order of the Supreme Court in May, 1935, Like so many controversies, this one has involved a maximum of heat and a minimum of light. But, as with other controversies, some light is available for the looking. Part of that light is afforded by experience in this country during and after N. R. A. days. More is afforded by the experi- ence of Great Britain with wage boards during the last 20 years. Still more can be provided by the researches of those who are preparing the way for the Fed- eral Government to undertake some wage regulation. Essentially, what is seen is the highly intricate and difficult nature of the task that the Government intends to undertake. But also disclosed is the basis on which the argument rests for venturing into this most difficult field of regula- tion. The very difficulties involved lead to assurance that no attempt is to be made to jack up wages overnight in a bootstrap-lifting operation that would bring a return of the wild experiences of N. R. A. * kK % ‘To start with, only about one out of 16 or 17 industrial workers in this coun- try would be affected by the wage pro- visions of the proposed law. Leon Hen- derson, economic adviser to Harry Hop- kins and one of those who has pre- pared the groundwork for the new plan, sets the number affected and earning less than 40 cents an hour at about 2,000,000. But about one out of every six workers is emploved for more than 40 hours a week and might thereby be affected. The number in this category is 5.000,000. Does the Government intend to set about immediately forcing the wages of the 2,000,000 low-paid workers up to 40 cents an hour and to force the hours of the 5,000,000 longer-hour workers down to 40 in one week? Not at all. Rather, the machinery of the plan go- ing through Congress calls for the most deliberate approach to the whole prob- lem of ordering any changes in wages or hours. There will be hearings and in- vestigations by advisory committees and application of policy standards laid down by Congress, narrowing the field of action. A sample of what lies ahead was afforded during the past year by experience under an aci passed in 1936, governing wages and hours of workers filling Government contracts. In the months that have followed just seven wage orders have been issued. and those affect relatively few workers. Several of those orders called for minimum wage standards of less than 40 cents an hour. The same deliberate and careful approach is planned under the new set-up. Then why push ahead if results are likely to be anvthing but spectacular? *x X X X ‘Those back of the legislation point to what they regard as several convincing answers. One is the experience of Great Britain, where wage boards have been used on a voluntary basis over the last 20 vears to help bolster wage rates for workers in the industries not covered by collective bargaining between em- plovers and organized workers. Several million British workers are affected by agreements in this field. and experience during the depression showed that the minimum wages held well. Another answer, and the one that did most to gulde the President and Con- gress, was given by Isador Lubin, the Government's commissioner of labor statistics. Mr. Lubin deals in facts and figures, of which he has more available than any one else. The facts and figures offered by him show that, after N. R. A. codes were upset, the hours of work in major in- dustries shot up sharply. Those facts and figures disclosed, too, that, in in- dustry after industry, a small group of employers reduced wages once the codes were gone, and employers who did re- duce wages received the larger propor- tion of the increase in business. The greater the cut the larger this propor- tion of business going to the wage- cutter. Studies which brought out this point covered a number of important in- dustries. The moral seemed to be that low prices attracted business, but low prices apparently were being effected at the expense of labor. * ok K ok At this point the figures appear to present a convincing argument for the old thesis that reduced wages and re- duced prices provide the formula for increasing the volume of production and thereby the number of jobs. But the answer to that argument offered by Mr. Roosevelt and others is that the experi- ence after 1929 showed that wage cut- ting did not solve the depression riddle, because price cutting did not follow automatically and evenly. 8o now the theory is that the Govern- ment should put a bottom under wages below which an employer cannot go in playing the competitive game. That theory has been at work in W. P. A. and P. W. A, with the Government using its spending power to keep surplus labor off the market. Now it is to be applied directly in those industries that in any way affect interstate commerce. Why the strong stir of opposition from the South to application of this theory of Federal Government wage control? Again figures offered by Mr. Lubin help to provide an answer. These fig- ures show that, last year, in the in- dustries covered by a special study, the average starting wage for Southern workers was 33.5 cents an hour, while that in the North was above 46 cents an hour. This is a difference of approx- imately 25 per cent. Under N. R. A. codes the difference was narrowed to about half that amount. The South today is seeing a surge of industrial activity. That area has a large farm population that no longer is able to make a living from the land. It presses into the towns and provides a supply of labor with little experience in union organization. With John Lewis at their heels in the North, employers find the Southern picture attractive. They are figuring that freight rates, which penalize the South, and distance from major markets are more than off- set by the advantages of the labor sit- uation. Now the Government proposes to step into that situation and make some new rules of the game. Southerners fear that an dttempt by AUGUST 8, 1937—PART TWO. “FAITH AND WORK” BY THE RIGHT REV. JAMES E. FREEMAN, D. D, LL. D, D. C. L., BISHOP OF WASHINGTON. “Faith and Work” is the distinguish= ing title by which the world confer- ence, recently met in Oxforu, describes itself.. It is a comparatively new thing for the church to couple faith with work. Most of us were brought up to think of faith, our profession of re- ligious bellef, as something quite unre- lated to work. We kept our faith as we kept our worship, quite apart from our ordinary, every day tasks. While we accepted certain principles that af- fected conduct, what we did and said in church was one thing; what we did and said in our social and occupational life quite another. As a matter of fact, we were solemnly admonished by those in authority that we were not to bring the church and its beliefs into too close contact with the practical concerns of life. “You can't mix religion and busi- ness,” was an axiom widely observed. The teachings of Jesus by this stand- ard of judgment had to do largely with other worldly concerns. Accepted as He might be as a great, the greatest of teachers, there was nothing in His concept of life that was designed to fit the conditions of the market place and forum. By this standard of judg- ment, religion had its prescribed and restricted sphere of action. A great English bishop once affirmed that the church, as an institution, had no re- sponsibility for the unwholesome and unsanitary conditions under which the underprivileged were compelled to live. Doubtless it was this type of preaching that created a cleavage between the toiling masses and the church. They could not see in it anything that was profitable or helpful, so they abandoned it for more practical institutions. The social implications of the gospel, the discovery of Jesus’ purpose in His ministry, is largely a new thing, and the changed attitude of the church is comparatively modern. ‘True, great preachers like Charles Kingsly and Frederick Dennison Maurice in Eng- land sounded this note in books and sermons in the last century, but take the church by and large, its assumption of its social, civic and industrial re- sponsibility is compassed by the last half century of its life, hence the sig- nificance of the Oxford Conference on “Faith and Work.” The men and women who met in this conference were not idle dreamers, nor were they discussing questions too profound ard complex for their understanding. While they were not statesmen or economists, they were clear-visioned men and women who had come to see in the new and changed political, social and economic order that neither statesman nor econo- mist alone was capable of bringing order out of what looked like impend- ing chaos. We had a Christian civili- zation out of which much of Christian practice had gone. Equity and fair play in every sphere of life were the church's concern, and they proposed to enter the lists in their behalf. One of the leading speakers, whose message was adopted in principle, said: “A task of colossal magnitude faces the church in such circumstances,” and he defined this under four headings: “(1) The church must present not only a doctrine but & way of life; “(2) It must prove itself a living force in the purposes and activities of civil society, and must achieve its influence, not through a clergy, but through the agency of laymen, evading no responsi- bility andl rejecting altogether the idea that the church as such has nothing to do with real life; “(3) It must give the world a new idea of what is meant by Christian edu- cation, especially in preventing and removing those emotional biases which dull the still, small voice of conscience and render men insensitive to cruelty and injustice and oppression; “And, finally (4), the church must not be content with saying things, but it must discover the will of God for men's lives and make it manifest therein.” This is a call to a more aggressive and militant spirit, and if it is taken serious- ly, as I believe it will be, a new day is ahead for the church as an institu- tion. “Christianity,” to quote again Chesterton, “has been tried and found difficult,” but it is that which is diffi- cult that challenges the heroic in men and women. Christ is not to be con- fined within cloistered walls. nor is His message to be related solely to those who worship in His house. It is to be brought to bear, in all its implications, upon the world’s so-called practical concerns; upon everything that has to do with human betterment and human salvation here and now. Fifty Years Ago In The Star A little more than fifty vears ago a beginning was made upon an important AN, development in The Beginning of public educa- “Tech” High School. tion in Wash- ington by the establishment of a small carpentry shop in the basement of the high school build- ing on O street. From this developed that branch of high school education which is now housed in the large estab- lishment at Second and T streets north- east. The Star of August 6, 1887, says: “For two vears the Washington High School has been the scene of an exten- sive experiment in the way of the man- ual training of public school pupils as a branch of public education. During the first year the “shop,” as it was termed, was cramped in its extent and effective- ness, the number of boys receiving in- struction being necessarily limited to about 40. The instructor was one of the teachers of physics and was able to de- vote for a short space of time each week to the work in carpentry, which formed a first step in the experiment. The boys were taught the elemental theories and practice of the joiner's art and were given a short course in wood turning. “The experiment of the first year was regarded as sufficiently successful to war- rant its continuance last year under a different plan and with enlarged accom- modations. A graduate of one of the leading technological institutions of the | country was employed and an additional room was given up in the basement of the | school for this purpose. By means of the unexpended portion of an old contingent fund Commissioner Webb was enabled to secure sufficient tools for the new enter- prise and the boys of the school manu- factured the necessary work benches. Instead of forty, 240 boys received in- struction one hour each week. “This, as has been said, was to a cer- tain extent experimental and the work was closely watched for practical results by the Commissioners and the school trustees, by whom it was pronounced an unqualified success at the close aof the past school year. A Star reporter called on Mr. W. W. Curtis, who is the chairman of the committee on manual training of the board of trustees and asked his opin- ion of the work and its results. He said: “‘I can say with assurance that the work at the high school has been emi- nently successful; so much so, indeed, that our committee has decided to recom- mend its centinuance and its develop- ment. We propose to enlarge the work of the high school by renting-a building opposite. In the Jefferson and the Ped- body buildings we will start manual training schools, with one teacher for each. T believe that the manual train- ing of students is destined to become a necessary factor in our public instruc- tion.”” the Government to put a bottom under wages and a top on hours of work will serve to slow the migration of industry and to check the development of new industry in an area that offers an abun- dance of workers who do not demand high wages. The validity of the Southern argu- ment, so far as it is based upon dif- ferences in living costs and upon trans- portation penalties, is recognized by Congress in the legislation now taking shape. But the coming law is designed to check the tendency for industry to seek a haven in the South based upon extremely low wages. Actually, Gov- ernment figures show, the range of wages is as wide in the North as in the South. Sweat shops are not limited to either region. : And what is to be the probable effect of the law on the general run of the people? Are prices to be boosted still further? The best available answers seem to be: At present levels prices are returning large profits to industrial concerns pay- ing wages far higher than those pro- posed. Demands of organized labor, not affected by the planned new law in any appreciable manner, are having much more effect on price than the wage and hour law would have. The type of enforcement now planned should not be painful to any one other than the few employers paying exceptionally low wages. But the big question is: Where will Government wage control lead, once its principle is accepted and its possibilities appreciated by the masses of the coun- try's workers who possess voting power? An answer to that one is something else ain, B (Covyrisht 4957, Capital Sidelights BY WILL P. KENNEDY. Who was Patrick Tracy? Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, jr. tells you in an erudite article inserted in the Congres- sional Record that he was “the founder of a long line of able Massachusetts men with whom I am happy to be able to claim connection.” Former Representa- tive Joseph F. O'Connell of Boston sug- gested that this belated tribute to a penniless Irish lad who became a Revo- lutionary figure and left among his de- scendants great judges, statesmen, sol- diers, clergymen, merchants, captains of industry, lawyers and physicians who have themselves made history. To name only a trinity—Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Henry Lee Higinson and James Jackson Storrow. His son Nathaniel was “an intimate of Jefferson who voyvaged with him in a Tracy ship to Europe, learning much with which to tone the ideas of John Adams and John Jay; who entertained Washington and other great men.” * ok ok % The old-fashioned art of beautiful Spencerian handwriting is not entirely lost—this was emphasized to many mem- bers of Congress last week when there was displayed to them a beautifully executed document which had been transmitted to Speaker Bankhead by the Mayor and city government of Lynn, Mass. It was a tribute to the memory of the late Representative William P. Connery, jr—done as a labor of love. The handwriting was like copper plate in its perfection and uniformity—now almost a lost art. And a significant fact, which few who read the document ap- preciated, was that the first signature was that of the Mayor of Lynn, who was Connery’'s opponent in his last political contest, * ok Kk % The years and months and weeks bring interesting experiences and a broader knowledge of life in its fullness to mem- bers of Congress. Take the veteran ‘Washington news correspondent who ten years ago thought his life was pretty well rounded out—Representative Louis Ludlow of Indiana. Two months ago he did what he never expected to do—went flying. As chairman of the Appropria- tions Subcommittee in charge of postal affairs of sponsoring the legislation that established trans-Atlantic airmail and passenger service, he was prevailed upon to make the flight inaugurating the first leg of the trans-Atlantic route—New York to Bermuda. There were twenty- eight passengers, including the veteran, R. Walton Moore, for whom a new office was created in the State Department, and Senator William G. McAdoo, repre- senting the Senate. When he returned to Washington after a flight of nearly K600 miles at an aver- age altitude of 8500 feet—more than a mile and a half above the surface of the sea—he was amazed to find he had lost only one working day from his congres- sional duties—the trip out took five hours, ten minutes’ running time and back six hours, ten minutes. Then Rep- resentative Ludlow wrote an Alladin's tale about his trip—780 miles across the sea, above the clouds to land on a little speck of land in midocean. And now he sometimes wonders if he was wise to write it, for his office is kept busy an- swering requests for copies of his “Ana- masis-Katabasis.” Louis still has a flare for writing with human interest appeal. “Watching Washington” has become rather necessary for the people scattered throughout the entire length and breadth of the land. This was em- phasized by Senator Reynolds of North Carolina, a noted wanderluster and writer of what he observes. He emphasizes the vital need for national planning for the future, pointing out that in the legis- lative field today attempts are being made to control forces that could not be foreseen, which has resulted in new conceptions of the responsibility of gov- ernment. As examples, he sites six major industries with large capital and em- ploying hundreds of thousands of per- sons, built on inventions that have come since the turn of the century—the tele- phone, automobile, airplane, motion pic- tures, rayon and radio. It is impossible to calculate the social influences of these upon the people, he argues. So the her- culean task before Congress is to en- deavor to meet new conditions—while the millions of people affected in all affairs of daily life—“Watch Washing- ton.” Aqueous Prosperity. Prom the Burlinston Hawkeve Gasette. Egypt's the only civilization we know of that was built up on the strength of floods. Producing Perfumes in A Laboratory Garden BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN, e S — | When one thinks of Lady Macbeth's reference to all the perfumes of Arabia the mind instinctively leaps to far, East- ern places whence so many of the per- fumes the world knew for so long came, Had she lived today she might well hava referred to all the perfumes of the lab- oratory, for there is not a single bottled perfume which does not owe some of its composition to chemical synthesis. In- deed, there are some flower perfumes in the making of which the flower has no part at all beyond conferring its name, In the story of modern American scientific development, there is no more fascinating chapter than the lahoratory evolution of commercial perfumes. When Shakespeare spoke of painting the lily and throwing perfume on the violet he showed either an uncanny or an in- spired prescience. One may walk in the garden, over ths meadow, or through the wildwood and catch the windblown scent of many a blossom still—but it is unnecessary. More perfumes than even Flora, the goddess of flowers, ever dreamt of are to be had from the counters of American depart- ment stores. Combinations of perfumes have been employed to make wholly new scents, scents unknown in nature. More- over, scents have been captured syn- thetically which had previously proved too elusive to' insnare by natural means, * % % x The old-fashioned method of making perfumes was to obtain the natural oils of the blossoms and refine them. In the case of the lilac, no process ever was3 found which successfully would extracg its oil. None has yet. Nevertheless, chemical science has produced a lilac perfume which so perfectly counterfeits the flower's original scent that not even a Scot¢h gardener could tell them apart. The same is true of lily of the vallev which never has yielded its essense. Yet a perfect lily of the valley scent has been derived from—of all things—oil of citronella. To revert to all the perfumes of Arabia, One perfume in wide use today probably has more scents in it than Lady Macbeth had ever heard of—seventeen—and all captured in a single essence. Its com= ponents are muck, alcohol, coumarin, oak moss, vlang-ylang, lilac, sandalwood, vetiver, styrax, patchouli, jasmine, violet, rose, lily of the valley, carnation, orange blossom”and mimosa. Two of these, 1t will be noted. are purely synthetic, the lilac and the lily of the valley and. where natural oils are used in connection with some of the others, they are fortified or modified by synthetic processes. * % ok % From the purely commercial point of view a tremendous saving is realized bv the use of synthesis. When violet per- fume was made from natural oils, twenty- tons of violets were required to produce a single ounce of violet ofl. Today violet perfume is made from by-products of coal tar. Similarly, a ton of roses was necessary to produce ten ounces of natural oil. What the perfume laboratories regard as their chief triumph has been tha production of synthetic musk. Of all perfumes musk is said to have ths greatest appeal to most human beings. The musk-rose of Lycidas and of Mid- summer Night's Dream and the “swirls of musk” of which James Whitcomb Riley speaks emphasize the preoccupa- tion with this curious scent. Natural musk comes from a gland secretion of the musk-ox, a wild creature of the Tibet highlands. So rare had these creatures become because of constant hunting that musk in the raw state had reached a price of $560 a pound, awhile a pound of purified musk would be worth $40,000. | * ok K x ' Patient chemical research has devel- oped & musk-scent that never was nearer Tibet than Wilmington, Del, yet is indistinguishable. The great value of musk is that it is what perfumers call a fixative. It is a sort of blending agent which brings all component essences of a perfume into aromatic harmony and preserves the effect. An interesting fact is that synthetic perfumes keep their freshness longer than those made from natural oils. An oddity about perfumes is that the bases of many consist of most evils smelling matter. The most evil-smelling of all is civet. This is a secretion of tha civet cat and most of it comes from Ethiopia. It is =0 offensive that trans- portation agencies will not handle it unless it is tightly sealed. Yet civet is the base of some of the finest perfumes. Castoreum, obtained from the beaver, i3 another animal perfume constituent, while ambergris comes from a whale. The latter is extremely valuable. It is picked up on beaches occasionally, or by sailors at sea. A piece has been found worth $60,000. * ok o % The perfumers’ art is a high specialty. It is said that it is difficult to set a formula definitely. The perfumer must experiment. He has some rules, how- ever. The chief odor must be subtle rather than strong. A strong perfume ceases to be a perfume in the true sense, in that it serves to paralyze the sense of smell just as a loud noise deafens or a flash, as of lightning. blinds There are four principal odor tvpes, These four must be used in combination to make a pleasing perfume. First there is the sweet odor, next the acid, third the burnt, and last what is known as the goat odor. These may be used in varying combinations, the perfumer emphasizing and minimizing the parts as an orchestra leader might swell and modulate his strings, his woodwinds, his brasses, or his drums. The course of manufacture is a rather tedious one. There are many processes through which the various in- gredients must pass before a completed product appears. The fleld is constantly being broaderied. Where but a short time ago only about 200 perfume mate- rials were employed, now the number exceeds one thousand. L In addition to the liquid perfume which comes in those fantastically shaped bottles, there is perfume for va- rious other purposes. Every soap and cosmetic on the market is perfumed, including laundry soap. In some cases soaps are perfumed not to produce & positive aroma, but to produce a nega- tive effect in killing an unpleasant odor. Laundries use perfumes to drown the scents which might arise from chemicals, soaps and the like. Paints, leather, linoleum, medicine, ink and whisky are perfumed in the same defensive manner, The most recent use of perfume has been| in air-conditioning. It was found that the first air-conditioning systems cieaned and cooled the air, but the result was an apparent lack of freshness. 8o a| perfume-freshening has been introduced —the breezy call of incense-breathing morn! —o— Garner’s Debut. Prom the Albuquerque Journal.