Evening Star Newspaper, April 27, 1940, Page 8

The Eoening Htar With Sunddy Morning Editien, THEODORE W. NOYES, Editer. WASHINGTON, Db. C. Apri] 27, 1540 The Evening Star Newspaper Company. Maln Office: 1/th 8t and hnmxlu'rl"ln. R 3 1 2 3 Chicaso' Otfce. ¢35 Nopth ‘ichisen kve. Delivered by Carrier—City and Suburban. Regular Edition. Evening and Sunday 75¢ per mo. or 18¢ per wee] e Evering Star . 450 per mo. or 10¢ per wel The Bunday Star % 10¢ Der copy Night Fina) Bdition 1t nd Sunday Star .. Rural Tube Delivery. The Evening and Sunday Star.. 88¢ per mon . 8 c per mon The Sul 8t --.10¢ per copy llection made at th of each month or erir vtk Bruts ity e dent by oF eler Dhone National 5000. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. 0 0: . 81, Dally ard Sunday .1 yr. lég 00: 1 mo. 81,00 1; Biadas onty 8.00: 1 mo. 508 Entered as second-t matter post office, ‘Washington D. C. Member of the Associated Press, ‘The Associated Press 1a exclusively entitled to the Uise for republication of il news dispatches credited to {t or not otherwise credited is paper and also the local news published All rights of publication of special dis herel) are reserved ‘Finis Germania’ ‘To those many people in both allied and other countries who think Ger- many’s defeat will begin, as it did in the World War, with collapse of the “home front,” and not until then, there is something heartening in Fritz Thyssen’s warning to Adolf Hitler in a series of hitherto unpub- lished letters reproduced in the cur- rent issue of Life Magazine. As long ago as last December, the “exiled German steel and coa] king, who helped to finance the Nazi party and made possible Hitler’s rise to power, admonished him: “Your policy will terminate in a finis Germania.” With German military fortunes in Scandinavia for the moment, ap- parently, in the ascendant, Herr Thyssen’s warning to the political adventurer he once hailed and “heiled” as Fuehrer, may sound Cas- sandra-like. But German prospects of victory in the first World War, after more than two years of fighting, were vastly brighter than they are today in a conflict which has lasted | fewer than seven months. It is far too early for the Nazis to brand their one-time angel as a mere Jeremiah. The inexorable forces which eventu- ally spelled Germany’s defeat before again are at work. In making public his letters to Hitler, appealing to him to “turn back while it is still possible,” the { former Rhenish industrial magnate fulfills his threat to “call upon the conscience of the world” by disclos- ing the inside story of his flight from Germany to live the life of an exile and fugitive in France. Be- cause he dared to denounce Hitler- ism, Thyssen’s vast properties were confiscated and he and his family were stripped of their citizenship. Before becoming a man without a country, Herr Thyssen uttered in- creasingly helpless protests against the course of dictatorship. Here are some of his pleas to Hitler: “Think of the oath you swore at Potsdam (to uphold the German constitu- tlon). Give back to the Reich a free parliament, give back to the German nation freedom of conscience, free- dom of thought and freedom of speech. Create anew the foundations which are necessary to restore law and justice, which will make it pos- sible to trust a German treaty again. Btop the useless bloodshed and Ger- many will obtain peace with honor and will preserve her unity.” Once again the outside world hears eircumstantial rumors that the un- derground and Gestapo-suppressed revolt against Hitlerism is now so deep and widespread that ifefreedom of the ballot existed, instead of rule by bayonet, the German people would throw the Nazi regime out of power. Such reports are generally dismissed abroad as the outcries of an impotent minority. But voices like Fritz Thyssen’s cannot be lightly dismissed. When he tells Hitler that “your present policy (inclusive of persecution and torture of Christians and Jews) amounts to suicide” and that “its beneficiary will be your arch-enemy of yesterday (Stalin), who is your friend of today,” it is possible to conclude that a large and representative portion of the German people agrees that Hit- lerism “is driving Germany into an abyss and the German nation into perdition.” It cannot be doubted, despite Nazi protestations of national unity and unalloyed support of Hitler's pro- gram of aggression and brutality, that Fritz Thyssen speaks the voice of many another “tormented Ger- man” in appealing to Der Fuehrer to “Turn back and let freedom, right and humaneness rise again in the German Reich.” But overwhelming military defeat must precede that unshackling process. That is one of the reasons why the democracies still left in the world watch the fluctu- ating tide of battle on the Scandi- navian peninsula with abiding hope that victory will perch on allied banners before Hitler's ruthless gam- ble in the north becomes a matter of history. Allied Air Orders The signing by the allied purchas- ing mission of contracts for $200,- 000,000 worth of United States air- planes and aircraft engines carries a significance far beyond the mere size of the orders and their military or political implications. These or- ders profoundly affect the prepared- ness of the United States aviation industry for any future emergency which may face this country. It has been announced that the new con- tracts have been based upon the releasing for allied purchase of all the late type American quumy air- | THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, SATURDAY, APRIL 27, 1940, THIS AND THAT By Charles E. Tracewell. craft which the British and French governments have sought permission to buy. It also has been disclosed that the cost of the aircraft engines to be purchased includes the cost of enlarging of bullding the factories in which they will be produced. This latter point is one of the utmost im- portance to the American alrcraft industry and our whole air defense plan. The lack of an adequate supply of aircraft engines in the higher power ranges has been the bottleneck of the American aircraft production program. Airplane factories for many months have been geared to a far higher production ratio than have the aircraft engine factories. The measure of our air defense strength has become, therefore, not the capacity of the aircraft factories, but of the engine plants. The allied orders not only will make necessary an immediate and considerable ex- pansion of our aircraft engine plants to speed up production but will pay outright the cost of that expansion. Such expansion, indispensable to the allies as an emergency measure, also is of the utmost importance to our own air safety in case of emergency. Release of the new types of aircraft, among them some of the fastest pursuit airplanes the world has seen and a new four-engine bom- bardment airplane possessing re- markable performance characteris- tics, puts these aircraft on an imme- diate quantity production basis. By acting to ““freeze” these designs, the orders free our aircraft engi- neers and designers for concentra- tion on the development of still more advanced types already reported to be well on the way toward the pro- duction stage. Farmers and the Budget The House of Representatives, which for four months has shown courage and consistency in cutting appropriation bills almost without exception, will have its record put to the acid test within a few days when it votes on the big Senate increases in the farm bill. If it stands by its guns it will demonstrate to the country that Congress can economize when it finds the Treasury approaching the alternative of higher taxes or lifting the debt limit. Should it retreat under Senate fire it will take nearly all of the economy out of the economy drive, and bear out the viewpoint of skeptics, who | believe Congress looks upon retrench- ment like a new year resolution— good in January, but forgotten by spring. After weeks of negotiation the House conferees on the agricultural bill acted wisely in deciding yester- day to take back to the House for separate action the three major increases the Senate made, namely: For parity price payments to farm- ers in 1941, $212,000,000; for disposal of surplus commodities, $85,000,000, and for loans to farm tenants, $50,000,000. This course puts the economy issue squarely up to the House, which should stand firmly by its earlier action, and either disagree to the increases outright, which would put the issue up to the Senate again, or, at least send the bill back to con- ference for further efforts at compromise. The outlook, however, is none too bright for those in Congress who want the session as a whole to show a serious effort toward economy. The rural sections want the parity pay- ment fund, while the cities want the surplus commodity increase. When the test comes the desire of each group to have its item saved may put them both over. If the Senate farm program wins, the session might still end with a net saving of about one hundred million below the budget, as the supply bills now stand, but this would be largely at the expense of national defense and would be but a feeble step toward making up the $460,000,000, which the President figured would have to be raised in new taxes to meet his budget recommendations. The Navy bill left the Budget Bureau carrying $1,087,311,577. It is now in conference, cut to $963,797,478. The budget figures for the Army have been cut by the House from $860,312,094 to $784,999,094 and are awaiting Senate action. If Congress is willing to take chances with' the Nation’s defense needs by postponing vital items in those bills, why not also put off part of the farm benefit funds until January? It is argued that the program must be laild down now, so that farmers will know how to plan their crops. But advance planning is just as essential for national defense. Maryland Primary Another test of strength between the Maryland Democratic faction headed by Governor O'Conor and Howard Bruce and that led by Mayor Howard W. Jackson of Balti- more and Senator Tydings will be provided by the senatorial primary on May 6. The outcome of previous encounters between the two factions makes it difficult to predict the re- sult of the coming election. In the last gubernatorial primary Governor O’Conor, backed by Mr. Bruce, made a better showing than Mayor Jackson, and eventually won the nomination. The Governor even carried all the districts in Baltimore City, the Jackson stronghold. A few months later, however, when Mayor Jackson ran for renomination, he was able to ‘defeat an O’Conor- backed candidate, proving he was still a potent power in Baltimore politics. The line-up in the coming pri- mary has the O’'Conor-Bruce com- bination working for the nomination of the latter and the Jackson-Tydings forces fighting for the renomination of Senator Radcliffe. Many observ- ers believe the decisive votes will be cast in Beltimore City. While the current campaign has not attracted the national interest of the last Maryland Democratic senatorial primary because there is no presidential purge element in- volved, as there was when David J. Lewis was running against Senator Tydings, nevertheless the intra-party battle is being strenupusly fought. The fact that a senatorlal investiga- tion of campaign expenses has been’ ordered can be taken as an indication of the seriousness with which the campaign is being waged. Meanwhile the Republicans also are engaged in an equally bitter but somewhat less sensational senatorial fight between former Governor Nice and Willam F. Broening, former Mayor of Baltimore. The Republican congressional primary in the sixth district also is of more than local interest because of the candidacy of Walter Johnson, former baseball idol and now a Montgomery County commissioner, who is seeking the nomination against three rivals. he third district Democratic race is of special interest to Washingtonians as the entrants include Representa- tive D’Alesandro and his predecessor, former Representative Palmisano. Police Court Judge In naming George D. Neilson, one of Washington’s younger attorneys, as judge of the Police Court, to suc- ceed Edward M. Curran, who recently was appointed United States attorney for the District of Columbia, Presi- dent Roosevelt has selected a man who is thoroughly familiar with the work of the court by reason of his several years of service there as a prosecutor. Judge Neilson has been an assistant corporation counsel, representing the District of Colum- bia, since 193¢ and he has been assigned to Police Court most of that time. Thus, he has become acquainted with some of the prob- lems of the court, the four branches of which—Traffic, District of Colum- bia, United States and Jury—disposed last year of nearly 58,000 cases. The task of meting out justice fairly and efficiently in so many cases is a major problem in itself. It requires a high order of devotion to duty and a considerable amount of real energy to do the job properly. Traffic cases are the most numerous and they are exceedingly important and deserving of careful attention. Work of the District of Columbia branch is almost as heavy. Jury cases have been falling behind, ac- cording to a recent review. On Janu- ary 1 of this year there were 339 jury cases pending, as compared with 192 on that date a year ago. This in- creased congestion was due to an accumulation of jury cases during the summer vacation period. How to prevent such accumulations is one of the perplexing problems which confront the Police Court judges. The borrowing of a Municipal Court judge in the summer months has been one method of solution in past years, but in 1938 and 1939 no Municipal Court judges were avail- able. What arrangement is to be made this year has not been dis- closed—but something should be done to avert another serious log- jam, Judge Neilson will have plenty of opportunity in his new post to assist in speeding up the court’s machinery without impairing the quality of Justice issuing therefrom. That he is fully cognizant of the trust im- posed upon him is indicated by his pledge that he will strive diligently to co-operate with his fellow Jjudges and with the prosecutors in “guard- ing jealously the rights of the indi- vidual” and in serving the people of the District as a whole. He will have the best wishes of the community in this endeavor. Welcome News Railroad men of the country may well take pride in the announce- ment by Assistant Secretary of War Louis Johnson that there is no place in the mobilization plan of the Army for Government ownership or opera- tion of the railroads in the event of war. After all the problems with which they have been confronted in recent years, it should be encourag- ing for them to learn that the War Department considers them efficient to the point that it is willing to en- trust to private ownership any trans- portation problems arising out of industrial mobilization. Colonel Johnson deserves credit for pointing out that the War and Navy Departments share responsibility with the railroads for effective transportation during mobilization. This constitutes recognition that the railroads alone were not to blame for the congestion of terminals and the miles of railroad sidings with thou- sands of cars awaiting unloading that characterized the situation in 1917-18. Only with efficiency on the part of all three groups can there be ultimate group efficiency. And Colonel Johnson gave every indica- tion that the two service departments will know what to do' when the emergency arises. What may have been a czlincher toward establishing the War Depart- ment’s confidence in the private operators—although the latter may not have realized it at the time— were the recent war maneuvers. In the troop concentrations some 25,000 men with arms, food and equipment, hundreds. of motor vehicles and re- placementr parts, and tons of food and supplies were moved by rail, _according to Colonel Johnson, with- out delay, without breakdown, with- out injury to men or damage to prop- erty. A\ Of Stars, Men And Atoms Notebook of Science Progress In Field, Laboratory And Study p By Thomas R.Henry. A veritable chemital Cinderella is vita- min A. Ten years ago it was recognized only as a preventive of night blindness, an in- ability to see in dim light, which was so extremely rare in the United States and Western Europe that few physicians ever had seen a case of it. Today the substance is known as an absolute essential to human and animal life. Most of the inner surfaces of the body are lined with a-kind of “skin” known as epithelial tissue. It lines, for example, the digestive tract and separates the living parts of the body from food which has not yet been thoroughly di- gested and from waste products which are to be excreted. With a total deficiency of vitamin A, it hns‘been found, this epithelium degener- ates and its funiction as a protective lay- er is largely destroyed. Life becomes im- possible. One sees by a chemical process brought about when light falls‘on a substance known as visual purple in the retina of the eye. This process sets up nerve im- pulses to the brain. The visual purple is altered and must be regenerated. One of the chemical constituents of visual pur- ple is vitamin A. Unless there is a suffi- cient supply of it on hand the vital “see- ing stuff” becomes diluted to the point where it cannot function. In the end there may be total blindness from which there is unlikely to be any recovery. There is no question, Department of Agriculture specialists say, that a defi- ciency of vitamin A is very bad for the eyes. Whether a more than adequate supply is of any great benefit to the eyes is more debatable. Folks tell marvelous stories of failing eyesight restored by eat- ing carrots, but few of these are suscep- tible to scientific proof. The vitamin demonstrably plays some part in-normal bone development. Chil- dren with a deficiency of it in their diets | grow defective teeth. Some authorities | claim it is the most serious of all defi- ciencies in the young. Of late the vita- min has received much publicity as a preventive of infections, especially colds. As for- this, say Drs. Lela E. Booher and Elizabeth C. Callison of the Department of Agriculture, recent medical reports in- dicate that the substance has no specific anti-infection properties, although there may be some indirect relation. “When the body contains a goodly store of vitamin A, they say, no further re- sistance to infection can be secured by the administration of increased amounts. However, when the body is suffering from a moderate or severe deficiency most au- thorities are agreed that there would be a lowered resistance. It is important to | provide fairly liberal stores to bridge over periods of {llness,or emergencies attended | with low vitamin A intake.” In animals there is accumulating evi- dence lack of vitamin A may cause sterility. This has not been demonstrated for human beings. Vitamin A, per se, exists only in ani- mals, or animal products, such as milk | and eggs. Animals make it in their own bodies—so, of course, do human beings— out of a lovely orange-yellow pigment. It is carotene, the stuff that makes car- rots yellow. There are three chemically distinguishing forms of carotene. One or another of them is found in all green leaves. It always accompanies the green coloring matter of vegetation, chlorophyll, which is the cornerstone of all life on earth. It apparently is made in the same way and is one of nature's devices for trapping the energy of sunlight. The animal body changes these carotenes into something which can be obtained in the form of pale yellow crystals and is | the actual vitamin A. It now is recognized that there are at least two and perhaps three or four vitamin A forms, depending on which kind of carotene is used as a starting point. Each may eventually be consid- ered a separate vitamin. So far as known the functions are very similar. It makes very little difference whether one eats the vitamin A itself or the things out of which it can be manufactured, except in cases of illness when the conversion may be slow and inadequate. THe substance is contained in fish liver oils, milk, butter, cheese and egg yolks. The amounts in dairy products and eggs, however, are quite variable, depending on the amounts of carotene in the feed of the cows and poultry. Most leafy green and yellow vegetables contain one or more of the carotenes. Red and yellow carrots, yéllow sweet po- tatoes and ripe tomatoes are excellent sources. The average adult human being, the Department of Agriculture’s specialists calculate, should have about 12 milli- grams of vitamin A in the diet every day. A milligram is about one thirty-thou- sandth of an ounce. In a recent experi- ment there three subjects volunteered to eat diets without any vitamin A. As soon as that which was stored in their own livers was exhausted they soon reached the point where they required ten times as much light to see as when they wers eating a normal diet. Restoration of the vitamin soon brought their eyesights back to normal Tribute d to Late Dean Fox. To the Editor of The Star: The passing of John McDill Fox is a deep loss not onjy to the law teaching profession and the Department of Agri- culture where he had become an expert on the law relating to foods and drugs, but especially to that large group of law students who for several decades had come within the ambit of his teaching genius, for he was one of the few master teachers of the law of contracts. No law teacher that I can recall was ever more at the service of his students than Dean Fox. He knew that the young and friendless and timid needed a source of encouragement, and he wag happy when he observed their development. To an alert and photographic intellect, he added a facile mastery of the English language and was never at a loss for the right word and the apt quotation. He spent his life in doing good for his fel- low man. LEWIS C. CASSIDY. April 25. “MASSACHUSKTTS AVE. “Dear 8ir: “I am very much interested in your column in The Evening Star. “I have a feeder and a pan of water on my porch, and 26 English sparrows come every day to get the sunflower seeds and a drink of water. “One little fellow squats all the time which makes me think of a sit-down strike. “Can you tell me what ails him? “Two beautiful cardinals come for the seeds also, but they never sing, which is a great disappointment to me, hence this little rhyme I made: Ah, radiant bird with the scarlet wing, Why do I never hear you sing? Cheep, cheep, is the one and only note Coming from your lovely throat; Sing, sweet bird, and cheer my heart, Ere I from this world depart. “E.C.M.” * Xk x % That's better than rhyme, it's real verse, it seems to us. You can see a dear lady, sitting quietly on her porch, waiting for the cardinal to sing its real spring song. It probably never will sing on the porch, but let us hope it flies to a nearby tree and there sends forth its “cheer, cheer, cheer” to an eagerly waiting ear. Songs of the robin and cardinal com- bine, at this time, to make the character of the bird chorus. The ‘robin leads, because his song is more persistent, and of a bubbling char- acter which often is overlooked until the bird friend happens to realize it, and then for the rest of his life it is in his ears wherever 'he goes, especially in the early spring, when it is such a new note in the world. Sometimes we think the robin’s song Is not appreciated at half its worth. It is just like some people, accepted without much thought on the part of others, but really constituting a great part in their lives. So it is with the robin song. It is not a thing of great beauty, but somehow it blends perfectly with the landscape. If the reader does not know exactly how a song may blend with a landscape, let him look out the window some rainy day and listen. Then he will hear how the robin is “calling for rain,” at the actual time the rain is coming down. This peculiar combination of notes is often heard all day long, but mostly in the evening, when this bird sets him- self up as a feathered weather prophet. One may think, at times, that he does | about as well as most weather prognosti- cators, but then, the weather has been 50 odd, hasn't it, that bird or man may be forgiven for not “hitting it.” | Our correspondent likes the English sparrows. That is a good thing, for they are like- able beasties, once the bird lover decides to live up to that good name, and give over his hates. Then these sparrows are seen to be rather pretty, than otherwise, and their songs as pecullarly, happy, if not really musical. Music, in any form, is a queer thing; the more you study it, the more you lis- ten, with open ears, the more sure you are that no one form can contain all of it. Consider the symphony hound, if we may use a slang expression. He pretends that there is no other music worth listening to except sym- phonic music. ' His antithesis is the “hot jazz” en- thusiast. If you take him at his word, he finds no music worth a cent except some raucous old tune played in the Chicago style. ‘The only thing the matter with these persons is that their musical horizon is limited. It may save their pocketbooks, espe- cially if they are record collectors, but it does no credit to their intelligence. * X koA - So it is wifh bird friends. True friends of birds like them all, and try their best to see good in them, and something to admire. This way, they have their troubles, it is true, when unwelcome species come to feeding stations, but they have their reward in a variety of interests which comes in no other way. English sparrows, despite all that has been said against them, are interesting little creatures, enjoying life as well as the rest of the birds. ‘What is more, they have brought hap- piness to thousands of bird watchers, for they are the city bird, peculiarly so, and come to sidewalks and ledges and win- dow sills where other birds seldom come. In the world’s literature, many excel- lent passages of tribute to these spar- to get them together and present them. In the meantime, let all those who choose to look upon themselves as bird lovers really try to live up to the name, just as music lovers should make an honest attempt to appreciate all music, not just the section of it they happen to have a “crush” on at the moment. Musicland and birdland are larger than we think. Each realm contains multitudes. Love the symphony, but have a place in your heart for popular melody. Listen for the song of the cardinal, of the English sparrows. Letters to Attributes Burke Defeat To Embargo Vote. To the Editor of The Star: Last summer, when the repeal of the arms embargo was pending, this writer predicted that the members of Congress who supported the embargo in 1935 and 1936 would most certainly injure them- selves by reversing their stand in the face of the European war which had just broken out and would'be defeated | if they ran for re-election this fall. The defeat of Senator Burke of Nebraska in the recent primaries and his statement regarding it is one instarice bearing out that prediction. The disregard by Congress of the pleas of thousands of voters that the embargo | be retained as the best safeguard of the neutrality of the United States and guarantee of its non-involvement in European quarrels was as bold a slap in the face as the people of this country have ever received from its Government and representatives in Congress. Con- gress ignored the pressure of public opinion and yielded to the pressure of | groups whose identity and motives are still unknown to the majority of the people of the United States. They only know that the embargo was lifted, that the United States is becoming the muni- tions base of France and England, and that step by step this country is being eased to the brink of war without its citizens having any opportunity of voicing their wishes effectively. I have concluded, and evidently a great many other people have also concluded, that pleading with our Congressmen on this issue is useless; that we are com- batting influences which are working behind the scenes and refuse to be drawn into open and honest debate, and that the only recourse of the people at a time like this is to go to the polls in November and vote against the party which, since the administration of Wood- row Wilson, has stood for intervention and war in Europe. April 20. ELEANCR H. FINCH. Disagrees with Colby On Wisteria Spelling. To the Editor of The Star: Mr. Frank Colby’s column, “Don't Take My Word For It,” Evening Star, April 18, dealt with the case of “Wistaria vs. Wisteria.” ’ Mr. Colby made short work of the matter, deciding quickly, with an, air of finality, in favor of Wistaria. What Mr. Colby considers an erroneous spell~ ing, “Wisteria,” is attributed to the carelessness of the naturalist Thomas Nuttall—Mr. Colby has it Nuttal. Nut- tall, according to Mr. Colby, should have known the genus “Wistaria” was named in commemoration of Dr. Caspar Wistar, the celebrated anatomist. Per- haps Mr. Colby should have known that Nuttall was the author of Wisteria, and plainly stated it was named in honor of Wistar. Finally, Mr. Colby asserts that “Wis- taria” is the only spelling recognized by the .International Rules of Bo- tanical Nomenclature. In the copy of this work I have at hand the spelling is “Wisteria.” The “Rules” also state that the original spelling of & botanical name must be followed unless an error of spelling is unmistakably involved. Neither Mr. Colby nor any one else knows that Nut- tall did not find the spelling Wisteria more agreeable than Wistaria. No cor- rection of this name is made in the er- rata of the work in which Wisteria was originally described (“Genera of Plants of the United States”), and it is spelled Wisteria in the index. It should also be remembered that Wister was & varia- the Editor Letters to the Editor must bear the name and address of the writer although the use of a pseudonym for publication is permissible. Please be brief! tion of Wistar, and was probably in use in Nuttall's period. Wisteria is the form used in Gray's “Manual of Botany,” seventh edition, | and in Bailey's “Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture.” To be consistent, Mr. Colby will have to take up Gleditschia instead of Gled- itsia, M'Mahonia instead of Mahonia, Dierevillea instead of Diervilla, and Teco- maxochitlia instead of Tecoma. April 23 ROBERT F. MARTIN. England's Cause Identified With That of Freedom. To the Editor of The Star: It seems to me a very foolish thing to affairs, when the most recent of these occurred 75 or more years ago. Your correspondent in yesterday's paper evi- dently does not know the true facts about the Monroe Doctrine. her Ambassador, Bulwer-Lytton, was as anxious for the doctrine to go through have a selfish aspect, as England had all she wanted in the Western Hemi- sphere, and wished to prevent any other European power getting any foothold, in which she was immeasurably helped by the stand of the United States. In fact, especially when we were young, it would have been impossible for us to enforce Britain and her navy to back us up. It is a pity that your correspondent remembers all the unpleasant incidents of nearly a century ago, but has forgotten those much more recent; for example, the incident at Manila in 1898 when Capt. Chichester and his command placed themselves beside Admiral Dewey, when the Germans threatened: the latter. I cannot understand how any man in this present crisis can place himself against the allies by letting what must be merely personal prejudice obscure the fact that if decency, religion and freedom mean anything to us in America all these are at stake in the present conflict. I do not deny that Britain, in @ past has looked after her own interests. So have we—witness the Panama Canal, the Philippines and Hawail. And so has every nation on earth strong enough to do so. But the fact remains that wherever England has gone she has bettered conditions and this is shown today by the loyalty of the dominions and by the fact that no British colony today would willingly change its al- legiance. If Germany, should win - this war, which is unthinkable, no Briti:a colony could be turned over to her with- out protest of the strongest character and probably armed resistance if it were pos- sible to give it. England does not want us to pull her chestnuts out of the fire. She is satis- with what economic help we are now ving her. Nevertheless, England and France today are pulling the chestnuts out of the fire for the whole civilized world, and any one who does not recog- nize this is doing the ostrich stunt. The issue of this war is not primarily the vic- tory of England or of France; it is wheth- er the whole world, including us, is going totalitarian, or Bolshevist, which is one and the same thing, and I feel that all of us should use any influence we have to prevent it. CUMBERLAND H. H. RUMBOLD. Covington, Va., April 24. rows may be found. Some day we hope | but, lacking that, be glad for the music | bring up past grievances against Great i Britain in the present state of world | England, through | or even more so than the United States. | I do not question that this stand may | the Monroe Doctrine if we had not had | Answers To Questions By Fredertc J. Haskin. A reader can get the answer to any question of fact by writing The Eve~ ning Star Information Bureau, Fred- eric J. Haskin, director, Washington, D. C. Please inclose stamp for reply. Q. How many telephone calls does the average person make?—W. N. H. A. The average per capita use of the telephone amounts to 223 calls a year. Q. What is the oldest church in New York City?—L. A. C. A. St. Paul's Chapel of Trinity Parish, built in 1765, is the city's oldest church. Q. For whom is Fort Benning, Ga., named?—D, 8. B. A. Fort Benning, which was formerly Camp Benning, was named in honor of Gen. Henry L. Benning, a district lawyer and judge of Columbus, Ga., who died in 1875. A tablet in his honor was erected in 1926 by the Daughters of the Con- federacy. Q. Please give the titles of the books by Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt—C. T. H. C. T. H. A. Mrs. Roosevelt is the author of the following books: “It's Up to the Women,” “This Is My Story,” “This Troubled ‘World,” “My Days” and “Trip to Wash- ington With Bobby and Betty.” Q. When was puffed rice invented?— H. E. R. A. The process of puffing rice was dise covered in 1901-2. It was not marketed, however, until 1904, when it was dis= played for the first time at the St. Louis World's Fair. Q. Please give some information about a major league baseball player who be= came Governor of Pennsylvania—H. F.P. A. John K. Tener began his baseball career in 1885 as first baseman for the Pittsburgh Pirates. After playing half & year he was released to a semi-profes= sional club in Massachusetts. In 1886 he returned to the major league and pitched for three years with the Chicago White Sox. During 1888-9 he toured the world with a group of baseball teams. His playing career ended in 1889. Mr. Tener was elected Governor of Pennsyle vania on January 17, 19117 He served as Governor of that State until January 19, 1915. In that year he was made hon- orary president of the National Basee ball League. Q. From whom did Howard Hughes, the aviator, inherit his fortune?—M. T. P. A. At the age of 18, upon the death of his father, Mr. Hughes inherited a for= tune of $17,000,000. 'Q. How much would a million dollars in $1 bills weigh?—R. C. S. A. The Bureau of Engraving and Printing estimates that a million dollars in single bills would weigh approxi= mately 2,031 pounds. Q. Was the United States the last of the large nations to grant pensions to old people?>—B. S. A. In 1930, before this country had passed any Federal legislation for old- age pensions, 41 foreign countries had established public pension or insurance systems other than retirement systems for public employes. Q. What gives Scotch whisky its dis- tinctive flavor?—H. D. A. The peculiar smoky flavor of Scotch whisky is due to the peat of Scotland, which is produced from aromatic heath- er. In drying the malt, the Scotch dis- tiller uses peat for fuel. While the peat is burning, the aromatic substances are absorbed by the moist malt and thus pass into the mash, the fermentation tank and the still. After the fermenta- tion the flavor of peat, being volatile, comes out with the whisky during dis= tillation. Q. Please give a brief sketch of May Irwin. the famous actress—N. T. E. A. She was born in Whitby, Ontario, on June 27, 1862, and began her the- atrical career at the age of 12. In 1876 she appeared with her sister at the Adelphi Theater in Buffalo, N. Y. Seven years later she came under the tutelage of Augustin Daly and thereafter rose steadily to stardom. Among her out- standing appearances were in “A i i “A Country Sport,” “Sis= v,” “Belle of Bridgeport” and “No. 33 Washington Square,” which she played before Woodrow Wilson and his cabinet at the President’s request. She died on October 22, 1938, in New York City. Q. What were the names of Winston Churchill’s parents?—T. N. M. A. His father was Lord Randolph Churchill, a noted English statesman, and his mother was the former Jennie Jerome of New York. Q. Who originated the I. Q.?2—L. J. D. A. The late Louis William Stern, pro- fessor of psychology at Duke University, was the originator of the intelligence quotient concept. Q. What Southern States plan to build newsprint mills?—D. A. A. According to the Bulletin of the National Farm Chemurgic Council, a movement has been started to establish & $5,000,000 newsprint mill in the area of Chattanooga, Tenn. Two other mills are under consideration, one in Arkansas, and another at Savannah, Tenn. Q. Is it possible to obtain & baby panda from China?—J. K. A..China has placed a ban on further export of pandas. Q. Who was the first colored school teacher in the District of Columbla?— M. W. A. Miss Emma V. Brown was the first Negro teacher employed to teach in the public schools in the City of Washing= ton. Her first class of 40 pupils, which constituted the entire school, was taught in’ the Ebenezer Methodist Episcopal Church at Fourth and D streets S.E. in the spring of 1864. Q. Was Arnold Bennett & member of the Anglican church?—H. P. 8. A. He was an agnostic. Q. What is the salary of Wendel Willkie; the public utility executive?— W. G. A. As president of the Commonwealth & Southern Corp., he receives $75,000 a year. Q. Is there such a word as telegony®. —B. M. W. A. Telegony is defined as the supposed ca:rying over of the influence of a sire to the offspring of subsequent matings of the dam with other males,