Evening Star Newspaper, April 28, 1940, Page 32

The Funday Star With Daily kveninz Edition THEODORE W. NOYES, Editor. WASHINGTON, D. C. BUNDAY. -April 28, 1940 —_— . The Evening Star Newspaper Company. Main Office: 11th &t Per Rew Vork Ofce: 110 Eupt Jond BeA™™ Chicago Office: 435 Nortb Michigan Ave. Delivered by Carrier— City and Suburban. 2 Regular Edition. vening and Sunday 75¢ per mo. or 18¢ per week The Evening Star 45¢ per mo. or 10¢c ‘The Sunday Star - _o, i Xflunfle.l;:::g Night Fina) Edition ight Pinal and Sund NiEht Fine] apg Sunday star Rursl Tube Delivery. fi: g!e!fl’!ll,l' -!n'd. Sunday Star ggfi per mon;h r c e Sunday Star 130 Ber copy Collection made at th each month or each week. - Orders Dhone' Nationa Bo00 ay be sent by mail or tele- 85¢ per month 60¢ per month -1 yr. $12.00: mo.. $1.00 i 2B o 3%3 Eutered as second-class matter ‘Washington. D. C. Pt oon Member of the Associated Press, The Associated Press 1s exclusivel the e ToF Tebublicetion o s neik iled,to credited to it or not otherwise credited tn this Baper, and also the local news bublished. hercin: ts of publl Dol ol “D;xe”rc'l:&m of epeclal dispatches —_— T Necessary Amendment Little time remains for any ex- tensive amendment of the District Unemployment Compensation Act at this session. It is to be hoped, there- fore, that the House District Commit- tee will give immediate attention to the proposed compromise amend- ment recommended on Friday by Representative McGehee’s subcom- mittee and that every effort will be made by the District Committee to have this amendment adopted and sent to the Senate without further delay. This compromise amendment pro- poses merely that the District Act be brought into line with the National Act by reducing the pay roll tax from 3 to 2.7 per cent, wiping out the tax meanwhile on salaries in ex- cess of $3,000. Benefits under the act are at the same time liberalized as to maximum payments, duration of payments and eligibility for pay- ments. These liberalizations do not go as far as labor representatives sought to go. But the pending amend- ments should be regarded merely as temporary, and not as the final amendment which is desirable. Simple justice demands expeditious treatment of the compromise amend- ment. The District is not only collect- ing a higher tax than is required under the National Act and a higher tax than is paid in the States, but is increasing an already large, frozen and wholly unnecessary reserve fund which has reached nearly $18,000,000. This excessive taxation should be ended and the pending amendment would represent partial remedy. In proposing the compromise amendment, Mr. McGehee’s sub- committee has, for the time being, abandoned any attempt to put the desirable employer rating system—or merit system—into effect. In an in- creasing number of States such sys- tems are being incorporated into State laws and the system represents a highly meritorious principle in un- employment compensation. Because so little time remains at this session of Congress, however, it is futile to press for the experience rating now and efforts should be confined to get- ting through Congress the compro- mise plan. The present law calls for adoption of an experience rating plan begin- ning next January 1, under which pay roll taxes would range from 1.5 per cent to 4 per cent, depending on the record shown by the employer in stabilizing employment. This plan is not considered altogether satis- factory, but perfecting changes must now be deferred until early in the next session of Congress. Wage-Hour Law The wage-hour law is not perfect, but its main objectives are sound, and the House should weigh care- fully the various amendments that will be offered before the pending battle for revision ends. In this complex economic era, with millions still unemployed and new labor-saving devices speeding up the output of factories, the Wage-Hour Act offers hope of spreading employ- ment by®shortening hours and of raising the buying power of the low- est paid workers by fixing reasonable minimum wage rates. It is not surprising that its wide application to industries engaged in interstate commerce should lead to early demands for changes in the act, and there can be no doubt that some of these changes are logical and desirable. For example, the basic purpose of the act would not suffer if white- collar workers, earning $150 or $200 & month, were exempted, as proposed by some of the amendments. On the other hand, there does not appear to be any real justification for singling out the processing of agricultural products and exempting hundreds of thousands of workers in such plants from both the wage and hour standards, as proposed in one of the pending bills. It is estimated that this step would exclude more than 1,950,000 persons from the bene- fits of wage-hour standards. As the law now stands, these agri- cultural operations are exempt in the “area of production,” and it may be that this definition needs some clarification. The House Labor Com- mittee has made a concession in that direction by proposing' partial ex- emption from regulation of hours for 16 operations not performed on the farm, but a drive is on in the House to take these occupations out from under both wage and hour limits. Supporters of the law have good grounds for fighting this proposal, \ THE 'SU&DAY STAR;" WASHINGTON, D. C,. APRIL 2, 1940—PART TWO. SUPPORTING POWER By the Right Rev. James E. Freeman, D. D. LL. D., D. C. L., Biskop of Washington. which goes far beyond the clarity’ stage. 7 Some farm groups are sald to favor this complete exemption on the theory that if the law increases pracessing costs it will add to the farmer’s marketing costs. Even if this is true it is taking a narrow view of the economic problem confronting the country today. Unless the buy- ing power of the millions of low-paid workers and the unemployed is re- stored, the farmer will not find a market for his crops. And if one large field of processing is excluded, it may be difficult for Congress to resist demands for similar treatment of other industries. Wage-hour regulation, like any new venture in Federal control, could be carried too far, but the present standards of 30 cents an hour and a 42-hour week are not drastic, if applied with reasonable provision for unusual situations. Nazi ‘White Book’ Publication of the latest Nazi “white book,” designed to charge the French and the British with primary responsibility for Germany’s invasion of Norway, is too trans- parent a deception to be taken seri- ously by any unbiased witness to the crime which has been committed in Scandinavia. These documents and the accom- panying interpretations are handed to the world by the representative of a government whose reputation for veracity has been notoriously bad. There is no explanation of the fact that the German invasion had been long in the making, noy does Foreign Minister von Ribbentrop give any reason for the assault on Denmark, unless it be inferred that that was a necessary military step in the conquest of Norway. Finally, it is claimed that the German troops beat the allies into Norway by “a few hours.” There is nothing in the “white book” itself to indicate that the allies had any intention of taking the initiative in attacking Norway, and this claim is refuted by the trag- ically obvious fact that the allies were not prepared to send troops to Norway, even after the Germans had attacked, and they are paying dearly now for sd scrupulously respecting Norwegian neutrality in this respect. There is no need to dispute the authenticity of the documents them- selves. It is reasonable to suppose that in the course of military opera- tions like those in Norway docu- ments of many sorts should fall into the invader's hands. And even i those documents exist in substance as presented by the German “white book,” they do not support the case Germany is trying to establish, for there are ample grounds on which to dispute the construction the Reich has placed upon them. The Germans have published a series of papers which they identify as orders from the British general staff to an expeditionary force des- tined for Norway; correspondence and espionage orders to the British consul at Narvik; extracts from the papers of the French naval attache at Oslo, and certain Norwegian state papers. On this basis Foreign Minister von Ribbentrop has indicted the allies and Norway on the counts that Brit- ain and France had planned occu- pation of Norway long before the Germans walked in nearly three weeks ago, and that Norway knew of the allied plan, acquiesced in it, and prepared to co-operate with them. There is nothing in the documents to bear out such allegations. As the British point out in reply, how could the Germans have acted on the basis of what these documents-contained when, at the time of the attack on Norway, they did not possess them? That the allies had made plans for a possible campaign in Norway is not unlikely. Nor would such plan- ning have been reprehensible, for Britain and France had to think about fighting in Norway as the re- sult of just such a German stroke as occurred three weeks ago. Sound military strategy demands that bel- ligerents explore every possibility and prepare for every contingency, and a German invasion of Scandinavia had long been the subject of speculation, which London and Paris could by no means ignore. But there is no evi- dence in the German “disclosures,” as Von Ribbentrop contends, that Britain and France wete on the point of invading Norway when the Ger- mans marched in ahead of them. Neutrals of all opinions are faced with the indisputable fact that it was Germany, and not the allies, who struck the first blow in Norway. That is a truth which cannot be obscured by propaganda, however clever. it may be. Submarine Nets Any war against the United States must come by sea and air, since it is argued by military authorities that only the grossest of negligence on our part could enable any potential enemy to'gain sufficient foothold in the Americas to launch a serious land attack. The proposal of the Navy Depart- ment to construct great anti-subma- rine nets to be strung across the mouths of our major harbors quickly in case of emergency, therefore, is one which possesses unusual interest as a passive means of defense. It has been announced that the Navy Department has asked for bids for furnishing essential parts for such a net system. The nets would be fabricated at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California. Two million dollars has been made available for this purpose by President Roose- velt under the terms of the limited national emergency proclamation issued by him soon after the out- 3 AY - - break of the European war last September. " The cost of providfng a net system for major American harbors, it is estimated, would be $22,000,000 asml Cgngress Las been asked to appro- priate the additional $20,000,000 re- quired for such a project. this fund has not béen included in next year’s naval appropriation bill,, now nearing enactment, i is safe to assume that many months will elapse before such,a project can be under- taken on a large scale. In view ofethe known efficiency of such nets, however, the proposed immediate expenditure of the $2,000.- 000 fumd seems to possess considef- able merit. *Anti-submarine nets wey: uskd extenstvely and’ successfully during the first Wdrld War, in conjunction with submerged mines. Fouling of such a net by a submarine gives im= mediate warning to surface vessels and depth charges spell a quick doom 15" the trapped invader even should it succeed in breaking throagh the mesh. The fact that such nets are used acts aj a powerful +detetrent to undersea raiders and consequently contributes to the sffety of inclosed harbors or naval bases. A Good Move® °* Chairman Bulow’s prediction that the Senate Civil Service Committee will reject the Keller-Nichols amend- ment in reporting out the Ramspeck civil service exténsion bill is welcome news for thousands of Government employes who would be penalized by the restrictive provision that Senator George of Georgia, a member of the committee, properly characterized as “clumsy.” The committee undoubtedly was impressed by the argument of the Civil Service Commission that the amendment is unjust and unwork- able. The commission pointed out that an impossible administrative sit- uation would be created by the at- tempt to withhold civil service status from all employes hailing from States which have more than their allot- ment of positions in the depart- mental service here, so long as any State is under quota. Chances appear good, too, that the Senate will go along with the com- mittee in the light of the Senate action Friday in turning down an apportionment amendment to the labor-Federal security bill, and there is no reason why the House should not follpw suit. The House passed the Keller- Nichols amendment on the strength of arguments that the Civil Service Commission has been ignoring the law which allocates positions here among the States on the basis of population. The commission prompt- ly refuted this contention and showed that the dislocation of ap- portionment figures resulted from World War employment conditions and the difficulty of getting residents of distant States to accept low-sal- aried positions in Washington. With the lengthy committee hear- ings ended, it is to be hoped that | the bill will be sent to the Senate without unnecessary delay so it may be speeded toward final passage. ° b Desirable Transfer The Senate Appropriations Sub- committee is showing good judgment in planning to place the education of physically handicapped children under the Board of Education in- stead of under the Board of Public Welfare as the House provided. At the same time the Senators propose to raise the appropriation from $15,- 000 to $22,400, which is the amount the Board of Education asked orig- inally. The appropriation of this increased sum probably would en- able the Board of Education to con- tinue the project on the scale on which the Works Progress Adminis- tration has operated it. Obviously, as The Star stated at the time the House placed the proj- ect under the welfare board, the matter is one of education and not one of welfare. The Board of Edu- cation for years has requested funds to carry on this work, but has never been able to “sell” the idea to some of the various agencies handling the budget. A move was made last year by the Senate to put an item in the bill, but it was lost in conference. When W. P. A. took over the work experimentally in 1938 it was made clear that it was only doing so be- cause school officials failed in their efforts to get funds to do it them- selves. W. P. A. conceded that the project properly was one for the school budget. School officials also have had the advantage of close co-operation in the working out of the W. P. A. project during the two years of its operation and hence are well pre- pared to take over the work. It is understood that considerations of economy moved the House to place the project under the welfare board in the belief that money could be saved by hiring teachers from the public assistance rolls instead of using the public school staff. The Star believes that the disadvantages of this plan far outweigh the small economies expected from it. German propagandists have an- nounced a new and secret war ‘weapon—one that will “freeze” artil- lery batteries and render them inoperable. The Nazis made a lot of Norwegian guns inoperable, but it was not done with freezing—mnor with mirrors, either, nor is it much of a secret. The latest in the construction line is a home designed for enlargement as the owner’s income grows. That is all right enough, but a good many people are interested in a dwelling designed for shrinkage as one’s \ d i/ President Roosevelt Leads for National Defense By Owen L. Scott. ~President Roosevelt is enjoying the sat- *isfaction that comes®o dnybody who pre- dits the future, finds his prediction questioned, and ther, is provided by events with the opportunify to say: “I told you 50.” The President now points with pride to # whole series of forecasts come true with regard to Europe. While Mr. Roosevelt s not reminding the Nation of the fact, nonetheless the United States today is deeply indebted to the President for one forecast upon which he, acted. * The President, even before tnflnu office in 1933, sensed trou- ble brewing in the world. On entering office he found the American Navy in a lamentable state of disrepair. Not a ship of any importance had been laid down for four yedrs. For 12 years this coun- try had followed the policy of attempting slisarmament by example—cutting down American naval strength in the belief that if this country became weak at sea rival nations would sacrifice their arms. Acjually, in the Pacific, Japan was teking advantage of the American policy to increase the strength of her navy rsla- tive to that of the United States. By 1931 she felt strong enough to challenge the British and Americans in China—and got away with it, President Roosevelt, as almost his first act in office, started to remedy matters. If the act creating N. R. A. was a $3,000,~ 000,000 public works appropriation and it permitted use of some of the funds for naval building. The President was ac- cused of seeking to build up a big Navy at the expense of the unemployed. When later he pushed for more funds with which to build battleships he was accused of looking for trouble. Congressmen con- tended that all this country needed was a mosquito fleet that could dash out and launch torpedoes against any navy that might approach the American shores. When the President sought authority to fortify the island of Guam, far out in the Pacific, he was accused of trying to pick trouble with Japan. When he sought an air base in Alaska—only this year—the House cut out the appropriation. Now some very interesting facts are coming to light. One of these facts is that as of today, Japan has as large a navy—except in dreadnaughts—as the United States. Another fact is that Japan, with 10 dreadnaughts to the American 15, will launch four more during the next year while the United States is launching one, A third fact, as revealed to Congress, is that the Japanese right now have 135 aircraft carriers to the American 7; a total of 45 cruisers to 43 for the United States; 132 destroyers to 97 for this coun- try and 56 submarines to 46 for the United States. As expressed by Admiral Harold R. Stark, chief of naval operations, the Japanese are “uncomfortably close to a 5-5 ratio” with this country. In other words, even after President Roosevelt's constant emphasis upon large appropriations tor naval construction and after all of this country’s naval spending in recent years, the American Navy has slipped back in relative strength com- pared with the Japgnese Navy. There now is to be a time lag of from 12 to 18 months before the construgtion efforts under way here will overcome the advan- tage that Japan gained by jumping the gun in the naval race. ¢ All of this, under normal circumstances, would be academic. But today, just ala crucial period in the relative stréngth of navies, the Japanese are hinting broadly at their primary interests in the South- ern Pacific region in which the United States and Great Britain also claim pri- mary interests. The United States, in fact, has had to serve notice that it will be unable to ignore any move by another power that might upset the status quo in the region of the Dutch East Indies. President Roosevelt, as a result, can tell his critics in Congress and in the country: “I told you so0.” If he had not act@® to increase American naval strength when he did, this country today would be in a very weak bargaining posi- tion just at a time when the whole world is in turmoil. The fact that only four Senators voted against spending a billion dollars on the Navy in the year that be- gins July 1 is a measure of the confidence that the Senate now places in the Presi- dent’s judgment on national defense needs. As it turns out, too, the working of events over which this Nation has no control, suddenly makes apparent how vital would be a base at Guam. If the American Fleet ever should be called upon to keep open the supply lines to the Dutch East Indies that island would be almost essential for air and seawoperations. Con- gress, however, has not seen fit to author- ize funds for development either of an air or a naval base at that point. The Army and Navy now cost about two billion dollars a year, which seems like a lot of money. These expenditures, how- ever, represent only about one-fifth of the total Government expenditures and less than 3 per cent of the national income. The British are devoting more than half of their budget and 25 per cent of their national income to armament. The Japanese are devoting two-thirds of their budget and 30 per cent of their national income to armament. Germany is devoting most of her budget and nearly 50 per cent of her national income to armament. And so it goes. The meaning of these figures is that in spite of the steadily rising outlays by this country on arms, other nations are forging ahead in relative military and naval strength owing to their vastly greater proportionate -expenditures. ‘Where the United States is devoting less than 3 per cent of its national energy to preparation for war, other major na- tions are devoting from one-quarter to one-half of their national energy for that purpose. Of course, the United States has no de- sire or intent to get into a fight with any- body. But officials who are charged with making sure that this country is pre- pared to defend itself and at least some of its commitments, say that there is a grave quesion whether this assurance can be given in today’s world except through increasing exertion. President Roosevelt has understood these facts all along. Where others have argued against building up the Navy and air force he has insisted upon pressing ahead with building. Of all of the lead- ers in Democratic nations, Mr. Roosevelt —events prove—has had the most realistic view of world developments and the best understanding of the purpose and meth- ods of aggressor nations. As a result the United States is not as unprepared as it might otherwise have been. Isaiah x11.13: “T, the Lord thy God, will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, ‘Fear not: I will help thee.’” The conception of God as revealed in the Bible is one that might properly be called progressive in that it rises, step by step, from the more primitive and ab- stract to that which speaks more inti- mately of His relation to the world and to His children, From early childhood to our latest years the persistent query upon our lips is, “Who or what is God?” It is a query that begins with the dawn of conscious- ness and, like many other of the great questions of life, it never seems to be wholly and adequately answered. We read in the Bible, “From everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God,” and we think of Him as eternal." Again, we find Him repeatedly described as the “God of Hosts” or the “God of History,” but here there is nothing that suggests His inti< macy with the common, everyday things of life. These abstract definitions make us think of Carlyle’s expression in which he speaks of an “Absentee God,” and we are bound to believe that to many he seems little more than this. The above text from Isaiah is one of the finest descriptions the Bible contains of the intimate relation of God with the individual. There is no doubt about it, during these straining months through which we are passing, men’s minds have been reaching out for a more personal realization of a God who is in some very intimate way related to the common con- cerns of everyday life. The story from the battleflelds suggests nothing more evident than this yearning after a closer and more real fellowship with a God who is actually related to the concerns of the individual life. Probably no creed or sys- tem can adequately express for us this conception of a personal and companion- ing God. It was such a Divine Father that Jesus Fifty Years Ago In The Star “The Zoological Park bill only needs the signature of the President to be- come a law,” says The Debate on Zoo Star of April 23, 1890. Park Bill “Senator Morrill yester- day afternoon reported that the conference committee had failed to reconcile the disagreeing votes of the two houses. The House insisted that the District be compelled to pay one-half of the sum necessary for the maintenance of the park and no amount of oratorical eloquence or common sense argument could change the situation, Senator Mor- rill and Senator Schooner both declared that the bill could never pass unless the Senate recede from its decision. Previous to that action there was a little spicy de- bate. “Senator Ingalls said it was an obvious and a flagrant and glaring injustice to compel the people of the District to bear one-half of the expenses involved in the undertaking. They might just as well be called upon to bear one-half the expense of the National Museum, of the Smith- sonian Institution or any other of the national exhibitions and museums here. The bill was read and then Senator In- galls said: “‘Mr. President, the government of this District is an absolute despotism, but I do not think that I ever knew of an illus- tration of more perfect tyranny than is evinced by that provision in this bill. The people of the District of Columbia have absolutely nothing whatever to do with that park or its maintenance or its management. It is to be under the con- trol of the regents of the Smithsonian Institution. The people of the District have no representation on that board, no connection with its management, no dis- position whatever of the finances which { are to be appropriated and disbursed. The Senator from Vermont speaks about the precedent already established. If there has been one established—which I do not know—it is a most pernicious precedent and if we allow this one to be established there will be no escape from it hereafter. They can then plead that the money for the original investment having been shared with the District, and the money for the first annual appro- priation having been shared with the District, it has crystallized and passed into the form of law and cannot be changed. How far this expenditure will extend nobody can tell. It may go into the millions. It will go into the millions. It is to be a great national institution and I protest in the name of the people here against imposing upon them this invid- ious and unjust and unnecessary burden in addition to what they already endure.’ “Senator Cockrell said that the people of the District wanted the park; sought for it. They ought to be willing to pay one-half its cost. ‘This park,’ said the Missourian, ‘is for the convenience of the people of the District of Columbia nine hundred and ninety-nine times more than for the people of the United States. Not one in ten thousand, not one in a hundred thousand of the great mass of the taxpayers of the United States will ever see this park, and it is for the beau- tifying of the City of -Washington, for the increase of the value of property here and for the benefit of the citizens who will frequent it.’ “Senator Butler had the floor in an instant and retorted: ‘So would the pub- lic buildings in St. Louis be for the entire benefit of the people of St. Louis and no other portion of this American Union, and yet I suppose they would think it a great hardship if St. Louis should be called upon to pay half the expense of the courthouse and post office building there. I do not understand that the Dis- trict of Columbia has anything to do with the public park more than that it is within the limits of the District of Co- lumbia. It is a Government institution which all the people have the right to get the benefit of, not alone the people of the District, and it would seem to me to be a very great hardship to require the District of Columbia to pay one-half of the expense of the park which is in- tended solely as a national affair.’ “Senators Collum, Gibson and McPher- son all protested against the saddling of this expense on the District, but the two former said they would concur in the House amendment because it was the best that could be done. Senator Mc- Pherson would have voted ‘nay,’ but he Was pafred. The nays were Senators Al- & Christ revealed to the children of men. The great purpose of His life was to reveal the heart of the Eternal Father, We can doubtless strain his conception of God’s care for the individual to the point of making it illogical and unreasonable, On the other hand, we do believe that there is no more satisfying conception that can stabilize and strengthen life than this one which the text sets forth, “I, the Lord, thy God, will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, ‘Fear not: I will help thee.’” We believe that the events of life are governed, not by chance or fate, as Omar Khayyam suggests, but that there is both plan and purpose in the great scheme of things of which we are a part. Such a conception gives to life a newer and larger meaning and invests it with a power and a confidence that makes for security, sat- isfaction and enduring . We some- times are bewildered by too much system and in our confusion we lose this more personal consciousness of relationship with the God of our daily life. The fear element in life does more to disorganize and destroy both efficiency and happiness than possibly anything else. It not only takes the enthusiasm out of life, but it actually robs igof its satisfaction. To go forth in the con- sciousness that in our daily consistent living we shall have the Father’s closer fellowship with us in all life’s concerns means 1o enjoy confidence and assurance and to have strength for each new test as it comes to us. We shall never out- grow the yearning for a God who super- vises and directs the affairs of our life, and we believe that now, more than ever, the world is beginning to realize the con- trolling power of an Eternal Father in all life’s concerns; a power and control that no human agency, however well organ- ized, defeats or destroys. May this more intimate consciousness of God’s personal relation to the individ- ual, and hence to all human affairs, be more clearly recognized. Capital Sidelights By Will P. Kennedy. “The forgotten man” in the present Maryland senatorial contest is Vincent Francis Gierttowski —the independent candidate for the Democratic senatorial nomination. He is a “puddler” at the Bethlehem Steel plant, Sparrows Point— where his fellow workers daily spread out new banners heralding his candidacy. Gierttowski came from Poland, and worked in the Pennsylvania coal mines. Later he came to Baltimore. Maryland has a night school system where a day course of four years can be made in night school in six years. Gierttowski took that course. Later he took a night scnool course in law. He figured out that by living at Sparrows Point he would have to pay tuition, but living in Baltimore he would save tuition—and he could ride the streetcars to and from work at less than the cost of tuition, so he hired an apartment on the fourth floor, walkup, of an old house in a densely populated Italian district. He graduated from night law school and has tried, unsuccessfully, to pass the State bar examination. He decided that in this free country any one can run for office, so he figured he would start at the top and work down. He paid his $270 to register for the Democratic nomi= nation for Senator, and on the last with~ drawal day rejected the importunities of many persons—and refused to withdraw. His argument was that a candidate had to have political psy- chology. He had it figured out that Bruce would not have enough votes to win, and Radcliffe would not have enough to win, and that he would have the balance of power and capture the nomination. So he hung on, and is still hanging on. He has the utmost con- fidence in himself. He has a unique platform, but makes no campaign speeches because, as he says, “if I open my mouth some one will find out what my platform it—and steal it.” Whenever he gets a day off from work he gets on a but and puts stickers on store windows and cards on trees along the highway. One of his proposals is for a bridge- highway to Ocean City, Md., to help the oyster industry “on land and sea.” So he took & bus to the mountain district of Western Maryland and put his posters on trees in the mountains. At Cumber- land he called on the grand mogul of the C. I. O, who refused to meet him— 80 Gierttowski said—"“that's O. K. by ine—you don’t know what you are miss- ing,” and went serenely on his way. He told Candidate Howard Bruce, Demo- cratic national committeeman, to his teeth that he would lick him and Mr. Bruce replied—“May the best man win.” Candidate Radcliffe ignored him. * xEx Augustus E. Geigengack, the public printer, is a practical printer with many years of experience. His mother, grand- father and brother were printers. He bas carried a union card for 32 years. % % x The public printer has pledged to Congress that he will save $16,000 a year by change in format of the Fed- eral Register, making it a three-column publication, e ——————— lison, Barbour, Bate, Blodgett, Butler, Call, Casey, Eustis, Faulkner, Hale, Hamp- ton, Harris, Hawley, Ingalls, McMillan, Moody, Teller, Vance, Walthal, Wilson of Iowa.” * ok % X The same issue of The Star contained the following report of a traffic accident of that day: “Yester- Runaway Hurts day afternoon Mrs. TwoWomen Lizzie Wilson was in- Jjured about the face and head and Mrs. Edith Wilson about the back and arm by being thrown from their carriage on New Jersey avenue near D street. Their team ran away and col- lided with an express ‘wagon, throwing both of them out. They were taken into Peacock’s stables, and Drs. Collins and Gruseking attended them, after which they were removed to their home, 406 M. street NW. b TR o T N il New Navy Slogan From the Richmond News Leader. Modern sea warfare is so hazardous that if the United States should become involved in the European war the Névy would probably have to change its re- cruiting slogan to “Join the Navy and see the next world.” 3 A War in the Vegetable Kingdom By Frederic J. Haskin. Peace societies and individual moralists all over the world bewail the widespread incidence of warfare while statesmen and even military leaders assert flam- boyantly that all their efforts are bent toward the restoration and preservation of peace. Even the utterances of Hitler and Stalin drip with expressions of peace and, throughout history, but few soldiers have admitted that they fought for any reason other than to bring about peace. All this is very perplexing until one looks into some of the more quiet secrets of creation and finds that war and the preying of the strong upon the weak seem to be the normal way of life, this side of Paradise. 2 Every one knows of the ceaseless war- fare which goes on in the animal king- dom. Most of it, like most of the wars of men, has an economic basts, the struggle for food. But the observer may not over- look the fact that the males of the ani- mal kingdom fight also for political rea- sons, for individual supremacy which has little if any connection with the search for sustenance. Stags, bulls, elephants, tomcats and a great number of other creatures lock in contests for political leadership. That is so thoroughly realized that it need not be expatiated upon, but it is astonishing to realize that in the vege- table kingdom warfare also is rife. There are many obvious examples of plant war- fare and predatory action. Most people know how the ivy strangles the tree upon which it grows and that even the gentle- seeming mistletoe is a parasite which, in time, bests the stoutest oak. At this sea- son of the year especially, gardeners everywhere are observing the blitzkriegs which the weeds seek to visit upon plants of more demure and elegant conduct and, it is constantly observed, even with the man with the garden hoe for an ally, the predatory weeds make costly inroads. But, after all, that sort of plant war- fare can scarcely be called bloodthirsty. The struggle rarely is spectacular. How- ever, there is one widely spread genus of plant life which carries on a different warfare; not a warfare against its own kind, but against the animal kingdom. ‘The group of plants which botanists clas- sify as Drosera and Dionaea are carniv- orous and overcome their prey pitilessly. Such tall tales have been told of man- eating plants of the tropics that the very existence of them has been thought by many persons to be as fictitious as the stories concerning strange creatures of Herodotus and other early writers of trav- elers’ tales. For example, a favorite story concerns the man-eating plant of Mada- gascar which attracts human beings by the beauty of its blossoms only to im- prison and devour them slowly. Such a plant. is not familiar to botanists, al- though it is agreed that there are plants which might conceivably capture a small rodent such as a field mouse. But even if there yet remains to be authenticated a story of a man caught by a carnivorous plant and devoured, the principle remains the same: There are many carnivorous plants and right here in the United States. Their prey, how- ever, usually consists of insects. A story to an American ear sounds bet- ter if the locale is placed deep in some, tropical wilderness or other outlandish place and stories of carnivorous plants seem to fit especially into a tropical jun- gle scene. It is better theater. Never- theless, the Edenlike climate of California furnishes bloodthirsty plants as do the pleasant savannahs of the Carolinas. In the temperate climate of Ireland and England and in Portugal are to be found these silent enemies of wirged and creep- ing life. Neglecting any attempt to point a moral as to the instinctive urge of all life to destroy other life, in any branch of creation, one can still find fascination in the habits of these fiercer specimens of plant life. Members of the Drosera tribe are to be found as a rule in low, swampy ground. For example, the hogs of Conne- mara in Ireland furnish thousands upon thousands of plants which derive their sustenance from living creatures. Most of these plants go by the pleasant name of the sundew. The sundew of Ireland and England somewhat resem- bles the daisy. It is a small plant. Of course it draws sustenance from the soil and from the air, as do other plants, but these sources of life alone are insufficient to the sundew's well-being. The plant has a great many small tentacles, as many as 265 have been counted on a sin- gle specimen. Each of these has what appears to be a tiny globule of dew on its tip. Actually this moisture is a sticky substance which attracts flies and other insects like honey. The insect needs but to touch the sticky drop to be imprisoned. Instantly, the many tentacles begin rapidly to close around the creature as the fingers of a hand close into a fist. The insect is hopelessly caught. The moist, sticky substance then takes up its secondary task, which is to digest the living creature, Sometimes as much as four hours is re- quired for the plant to extract the suste- nance from the prey. This done, the ten- tacles open again and drop the indigest- able remainder—what might be called the skeleton of the prey. There are some types of plants which go even further, having an exudation which liquefies every part of the prey and makes food of it. Charles Darwin, the great naturalist, discovered that plants have a definite nervous system and Philip Darwin, his son, has made some fascinating experi- . nents with these predatory plants which reveal an amazing sense of selection, seemingly a sort of mind. For instance, if any substance which is non-edible to the plant is placed on the sticky tentacles, the plant pays no attention whatever; the tentacles do not fold inward to cap- ture ft. But what is still more fascinating, Mr. Darwin has made experiments in feeding piants. He has selected plants growing in close proximity to each other,-in the same soil. Some he has fed by hand, as it were, with meat, beef in this instance, and the, others he has left to find their own prey. Those which have been fed have grown amazingly, while the others have shown only a normal, wild growth. Plant life is the oldest life of the earth, older than the rocks, as the rocks them-