Evening Star Newspaper, April 30, 1940, Page 8

broase » The Foening Star With Sunday Morning Edition, THEODORE W. NOYES, Editor, WASHINGTON, D. C. TUESDAY..___________ __ April 30, 1940 The Evening Star Newspaper Company. Main Office: 1/th St and Penneylvania Ave. New York Office: 110 East 42nd 8. Chicago Office: 435 North Michizan Ave. Delivered by Carrier—City and Suburban. Reguiar Edition. Evening and Sunday 75¢ per mo. o 18c per weel The Evening Star 45¢ per mo. or 10C per wee The Sunday Star _Z " 10c per cony Nizht Final Edition. Night Final and Sunday Star Night Final Star = Rural The Evening and Suni The Evening Siar B3¢ per month The Sunday Star - = 10¢ beg copy Collection made at the end of each month or each week. Orders may be sent by mail or tele- pione National 5000. 85c per month 80c per month 85¢ per month Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Daily ard Sunday 1 yr. $1200: 1 mo. $1,00 Daily only ~ §800: 1 mo. 78e Bunday only_Z £5.00: 1 mo. 608 Entered as second-class matter post office, Washington D. C. Member of the Associated Press, The Associated Press 13 exclusively entitle the use for republicatinn of al) hews Sionsiohey credited to it or not otherwise credited in this paper and also the local news published herein. All rights of publication of special dispatehes herein also are reserved. (= = - Accent on Youth War is a strenuous business. It calls for extraordinary energy and stamina. It is not for old men. It is with these facts ih mind that the War Department is placing a decided accent on youth in its emergency- inspired efforts to bring our fighting forces on land to an efficiency peak seldom attained except in time of war. Now that smaller, hard-hit- ting streamlined divisions have been organized, the Army is finding it advisable to place younger, more vigorous officers in command of them. This policy, which follows the European pattern, is the out- growth of lessons learned during the first World War and emphasized anew in the series of large-scale war games which the Army has been staging in past months. General Pershing preferred his brigadier gen- erals to be about forty-five years old and his major generals to be about fifty and he so reported to the War Department from France in 1918, The rigors of active field service, he found, put a severe strain on older officers, unless they possessed un- usual physical prowess. Simulated war maneuvers held recently have tended to confirm the soundness of Pershing’s attitude. In line with the rejuvenation pro- gram, President Roosevelt last week recommended the appointment of a group of brigadier generals whose ages average slightly more than fifty-three years—much younger than the usual appointment average. Many older officers possessing emi- nent qualifications for the higher ranks were passed over in the search for younger candidates. It is unfor- tunate that experienced and capable men should have to be passed over, of course, but the President appar- ently felt that the times are too critical to place individual considera- tions ahead of the welfare of the | Army as a whole. Another evidence of the youth movement is the request to Congress by the War Department for legisla- tion lowering the mandatory retire- ment age for brigadier generals from sixty-four to sixty-two years and for all others officers, with a few ex- | ceptions, to sixty years. Officers would be promoted automatically after fixed periods of service, instead of stepping up according to seniority when vacancies occur. This bill has passed the House, has received the | g,y provious to the invasion. approval of the Senate Military Af- fairs Committee and is awaiting ac- tion by the Senate. Enactment of this bill will be another forward step toward revitalization of the Army in preparation for whatever emer- gency may come in an era of ominous portents. Fire Everlasting The sun has been “burning” for at least 3,000,000,000 years. All this time it has been radiating light and heat into space. A tiny amount of it has been intercepted by the planet earth, captured in green leaves, pre- served in oil and coal. All this time the bulk of the parent star has not decreased by a measur- able amount. There has been no evidence that the sun is turning to ashes and that eventually it will be a cold cosmic clinker through space. The fire of the sun is of a kind not known on earth— the fire of the energy of exploding atoms. Yet even so, after an almost in- finitely long period, it might be ex- pected that there would be an end. Energy and matter are interchange- able. Where the one appears the other disappears. True, enormous amounts of energy come from tiny amounts of matter, but the general law of transference still holds good. Some day there will be no more sun. It is a comfort, at least, to be as- sured that we need not worry for another 12,000,000,000 years, or at least four times as long as the sun’s planetary system has been in ex- istence, and more than twenty times as long as any form of life whatso- ever has existed on earth. Such is the conclusion of Doctor H. A. Bathe of Cornell University, as reported to the American Physical Society here the other day after an exhaustive analysis of the series of atomic trans- formations by which the fire of the sun is produced. The “coal” of the sun is carbon— Just as is the fuel of the earth. The carbon is destroyed and then recre- ated again and both the destruction and the recreation give out heat. But, of course, that energy which has been radiated into space cannot be- come carbon again, unless it be in some new creation in which all the | suspicions? | damning hurtling | celestial debris of the old universe is gathered together and recombined in new forms. The sun is forever be- ing reborn. As long as the sun lasts life on earth may lasc. Only half a billion years hzave sufficed for the evolution from trilobite to man. What may be expected in a future of more than twenty times half a billion years? Ribbentrop’s Alibi What was left of Herr von Rib- bentrop’s flimsy alibi for Germany'’s invasion of Norway, after its dis- avowd] by the British and the French and its rejection by most neutral observers, has been demolished by C. J. Hambro, President of the Nor- wegian Parliament and chairman of the Norwegian Foreign Affairs Com- mittee. Stationed in Sweden since outbreak of war on the Scandinavian peninsula, Mr. Hambro, who enjoys world-wide respect as a statesman of integrity and reputability, takes Ger- many's clumsy “White Book” apart in chapter-and-verse detail and ex- poses it as gheer duplicity from start to finish. Far from accepting the German claim that the Nazis antici- pated the British “only by hours” in invading Norway, the President of the Oslo Parliament declares that Hitler “planned the violation of the country for months, and that the Norwegian Legation in Berlin had proof that German troops sailed from Baltic ports a week before the invasion began on April 9.” “We now have irrefutable proof,” says Mr. Hambro at Stockholm, “that Germany prepared detailed plans for invasion of Norway months before it actually occurred. We would have been in far better position today if the British really had troops ready to land when Herr von Ribbentrop says they had, and even more so if the allied intelligence service, which knew of the German preparations, had warned us previously.” The Nor- wegian statesman is reluctant to admit that his country’s diplomatic representatives in Berlin had news of Nazi debarkation parties sailing from German ports a week before the attacks on Norway started. Members of the Legation now ex- plain that while they knew for some weeks that Hitler's troops were be- ing concentrated at various German ports, they did not believe, on any information given the Legation, that | these forces were intended for an attack on Norway. Why should the Legation have harbored any such At the very moment the Nazis were completing their plans for invasion, they were assuring the Norwegian government through the Reich’s Minister at Oslo of Ger- many's sympathy for Norway and of Berlin's eagerness to help her re- main neutral. The history of state- craft, even at the zenith df Machi- avelllanism, records few examples of more malevolent diplomacy, though the blitzkrieg invasion and subjuga- tion of Denmark, on which Ribben- trop's White Book is silent as the tomb, is just as wanton. Mr. Hambro cites, as not the least evidence of Germany's guilt, that Norway possesses “a mass of evidence” from Norwegian pilot | masters and other shipping sources that Nazi vessels, which later dis- gorged soldiers from their holds as landing parties at principal Nor- wegian ports, had left German har- | bors more than a week before April 9. Cases are known where German troops, fully armed and equipped, issued from ships which had been lying in Norwegian ports four or five One typical instance is the eleven-thou- | sand-ton whaler Jan Wellem, which brought the major Nazi landing force and arms to Narvik. It entered Norwegian territorial waters on April 8 after a voyage which required a minimum of a week from the Ger- man point of departure. The Hambro statement contains much more circumstantial proof of the falsity of the Ribbentrop con- tention that the allies to invade Norway as a northern flanking movement against Ger- many. Despite the theatrical back- ground staged for its presentation, the reproduction of allegedly incrim- inating documents found on British officers and troops and other typical Nazi methods for adding “corrobora- tive detail to an otherwise bald and unconvincing narrative,” as the librettist of a far cleverer piece of claptrap and balderdash once put it, the German White Book takes its place in the history of this war as the latest, but hardly the last, at- tempt of the Nazis to clothe their action in the garb of decency and plausibility. It has failed like all the others that came before. Strange Coalition " John L. Lewis’ apparently success- ful bid for the political support of the National Negro Congress, an organization which appears to be strongly pro-Communist in its sym- pathies, adds another unit to the rather strange coalition which is being formed under the leadership of Labor’s Non-Partisan League, an adjunct of the C. I. O. The Negro Congress, should it finally decide to cast its lot with the Non-Partisan League, will join forces with the American Youth Congress, which has been accused of, but has denied being, a Communist front organiza- tion. At other times Mr. Lewis has indicated that the league would welcome the support of old-age pension groups and farmers. Precisely what the Negro Congress hopes to accomplish for the people it claims to represent by joining such a coalition is not clear. With one hand, according to its former presi- dent, A. Philip Randolph, who re- fused to seek re-election, the con- gress accepts money from the C. 1. 0. planned | THE EVENING STAR, \'VASHI‘&GTON, D. C, TUESDAY, APRIL 30, 1940. afld with the other from the Com- munist party. He described this as an unhealthy condition, warning that the donors of money to the congress also will seek to control it and to supply its ideas. If he is correct, the congress, at best, will owe a divided allegiance to the Com- munists and to the Non-Partisan League. Under such circumstances it is difficult to see how any political advantage can accrue to the colored race as a whole. If Mr. Lewis has any definite polit- ical plans for the near future, he has not as yet revealed their nature. But, under all the circumstances of his developlng “non-partisan” move- ment, it would seem that the mem- bers of his own labor organization should be vitally interested in ascer- taining the precise nature of the goal to which he is leading them. The Steel Decision The decision of the Supreme Court holding that wage requirements im- posed by the Secretary of Labor on concerns doing business with the Government under the provisions of the Walsh-Healey Act are not subject to judicial review marks another victory in that tribunal for New Deal legislation. As a result, an order of the Labor Department, which the Court of Ap- peals here condemned as “not only unwarranted but incongruous,” is found to be entirely within the province of the department, and protesting steel concerns in the Northeastern section of the United States have the alternative of raising the pay of common labor or forgoing some Government contracts. The Walsh-Healey Act requires that concerns taking Government con- tracts involving $10,000 or more guarantee to pay “not less than the minimum wages as deter- mined by the Secretary of Labor to | be the prevailing minimum wages | for persons employed on similar work or in the particular or similar in- | dustries or groups of industries cur- rently operating in the locality” in | which the supplies contracted for are to be manufactured or furnished. The Labor Department, in January last year, set up six “prevailing wage” areas for the steel and iron industry, including one that extended through thirteen States, part of a fourteenth, and the District of Co- lumbia. In this, the minimum wage for laborers was fixed at sixty-two and one-half cents an hour, al- though, generally, the rate fifty-six and one-half cents an hour, with the sixty - two - and - one - half- cent rate applicable only at the large, fully integrated plants at Pittsburgh and Youngstown. Seven “little steel” companies in Eastern and Central Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Maryland, attack- ing the order, declared that the in- terpretation of “locality” to embrace such a vast area was “arbitrary and capricious” and said it set wage standards that probably would pre- vent them from competing with larger establishments. They were later joined by twenty- five other protestants, and with this picture presented, the Court of Ap- peals enjoined enforcement of the order. It is this action that the Supreme Court now has nullified, and what is perhaps more important to the Labor Department, the decision validates the principle that it has followed in more than a score of cases which would have been subject to challenge had the high court ruling been ad- verse. The Supreme Court was critical of the intervention of the Court of Ap- | able to fit their diets to their tastes and | make up the deficiencies with a few peals in this case, but certainly, in declining to accept “locality” as meaning a stretch of territory from | Maine to Kentucky, and in view of the fact that four of the companies concerned had contracts with labor | embodying the same wage bases it was proposed to change, the lower tribunal had reason to believe that, its view of the case was proper. Hot Dog! The Republican National Conven- tion at Philadelphia next June will open, and continue, in a sedate at- mosphere. So says Walter E. Ales- sandroni of the citizens’ committee on arrangements, who has barred the low-brow hot dog from the Conven- tion Hall “in the interest of dignity,” with or without mustard. The fleld is left wide open for speechmakers, | who will not have to shout to make themselves heard above such raucous cries as “They bite! Get 'em while they're hot!” It is not, however, thought that shout any less than is customary; nor is it considered that the edict will be a death blow to baloney. In | its cylindrical form, incased between rolls, it may have been thrown for a loss, but in its more general and political form it will not suffer. Boloney there will be in vast pro- fusion. It may not be of the kind that is taken in through the mouth, but there is a more insidious variety that enters the ear and scrambles the thoughts, and it will take more than a resolution of a citizens’ committee to eliminate that. Still, John Hamilton approves of the frankfurter rule so strongly that he would eliminate Franks wherever found, especially from the White House. The spirit of Lord Kitchener must still walk occasionally. It was he, you will remember, who said that six machine guns were all that were necessary for any British regiment and that a dozen was “a luxury.” At the time he made this announce- ment the German regiments had from two dozen to forty. (% had | ranged from fifty and one-half to | They bark! | of Sfurs, Men . And 'Atoms Notebook of Science Progress IngField, Laboratory And Study - By, Thomas R. Henry. Vitamins have soared into a $100,000,- 000 business in the United States in the past few years. Drug store counters are piled high with bottles of pills and boxes of capsules. Restaurants list on their menus the sup- posed vitamin contents of various dishes as they used to list calories. The Ameri- can public has become vitamin conscious in an extreme degree. Even five years ago the vitamins—only five or six of them—were mysterious somethings contained in different foods such as spinach, carrots, tomato juice and yeast. Complete lack of some of them, it had been demonstrated, would cause such horrible diseases as night blindness, beriberi and pellagra. Other- wise very little was known about them and the average citizen knew only thai a fair amount of all of them in the diet was necessary for the general health. Now new vitamins are reported every few months, Some of the most essential have been identified by chemists so that they can be prepared in pure form. Prices constantly have been reduced. Extensive experiments, using human volunteers, have been conducted by such research organizations as the United States Department of Agriculture. The old vitamin list has been expanded to between 20 and 30; nobody knows just how many—each of which has a specific | function. The old vitamin B, for ex- | ample, now has been split into at least 10 different substances, at least five of which are essential in human diet. THIS AND THAT By Charles E. Tracewell. “Dear Sir: “T have chanced on a bird new to me. He seemed to be the only one of his kind, among several vesper sparrows. “I had taken my binoculars to the Monument Grounds to get a good look at the vesper sparrows using this field as a migrating station. “Behind a clumh of grass ran a spar- rowlike bird of the same size as the rest. “The binoculars picked up a flash of golden yellow. “The head of this lone bird had alter- nate broad stripes, running lengthwise, like those of a white-throated sparrow, but the stripes were black and golden yellow. 3 “And his undersides were more than merely streaked. Underneath his mark- ings were pronounced, because of the broadness of the wavy black stripes. “These stripes covered all the breast and reached well up to the throat. ‘There was no patch at the throat | as has the white-throat; nor was there | any spot on the breast as has the song Sparrow. “Very truly yours, A. O.” * K ok % Could this be an oven bird? This is the famous bird whose nest resembles a small outdoor oven. It is mostly found in open woods, where it builds its arched nest on the ground among leaves or pine needles. The oven bird is only about six inches long, which puts it in the fairly smail | class. The nest is made of leaves, grass and strips of bark, arched at the top, with only a very small opening. The swamp sparrow also answers | somewhat to our correspondent’s de- The Committee on. Nutrition of the | United States Department of Agricul- ture now lists the following non-debat- ably essential vitamins with their chief functions and richest sources: Vitamin A, essential for life, health and growth—fish oils, green leaves and yellow vegetables. Thiamin, a sulfus compound, essential scription. This bird is shorter than the oven bird, being but 53 inches long. The stripes on its head are not so dis- tinct, and it lacks wavy lines on the | breast. The oven bird, for that matter, | has no lines, but its spots might be fot the burning of sugar in the body— | lean pork, chicken, liver, grain germs. Vitamin C, ascorbic acid. essential for prevention of scurvy, fruit juices and fresh vegetables Vitamin D. essential for building bones —cod liver oil, liver, brain, green vege- tables. Riboflavin, essential for the breathing of living cells—liver, kidney, eggs and greens, Nicotinic acid, essential for prevention | of the nervous disease, pellagra—brewer's yeast milk, green vegetables, Vitamin K, essential for clotting of blood—alfalfa leaves, grass, green vege- tables. These seven, it has been determined experimentally. are absolutely essential | to human welfare. dozen others There are half a necessary for different | animals. There is no general agreement, | as yet, concerning the parts they may nlay in human living processes. In addition, there are six or seven other hypothetical vitamins, such as some- thing in green grass necessary for the growth of calves. It is possible that they may be almost identical with some of those already described. Thus Americans have added a $100,- 000,000 vitamin bill to their yearly ex- penses. In 1937, the last year for which the United States Food and Drug Ad- ministration has definite statistics, the manufacturing cost alone was $37,000,- 000 and then the vitamin business had | hardly gotten a good start. ple who can afford Those peo- to pay for the prepared vitamins may be overdosing | themselves, but Department of Agri- culture specialists do not anticipate any | dire results. In most cases, it appears, the body will make use of the maximum for its own needs and discard any sur- plus. In any event, it is generally | done in the first World War. agreed, vitamin dosing is less harmful | than most self-medication, although some of the end results still are debatable. One result has been that folks are pills. A danger in this is that vitamins constitute only one of the essential fac- tors in food. Minerals, proteins, fats, etc., are just as essential. It would be best, the Department of Agriculture food experts agree, if everybody chose food containing the necessary vitamins | and could get a plentiful supply of them | without resorting to pill-taking. Probably the best solution, says Dr. Paul E. Howe, chief of the animal nutri- uon division of the Department of Agriculture, will be to train the popu- lation from childhood in good food habits. Most animals, given a free choice of foods when they are hungry, he ex- plains, will pick out things containing the vitamins they need. In some way not understood deficiencies set up crav- ings. This presumably would be the case of human beings in a pure state of nature. But man's taste has been edu- cated, sometimes in wrong directions. His natural cravings, if they exist, often have been submerged in habit and prejudice. Even domestic animals have been educated to the point where their y | natural cravings are a deficiency guide. for this reason speechmakers will ' Urges Catholics to Pray for Peace. To the Edito: of The Star: Those who protest against the appoint- ment of a representative to the Vatican don't realize they are protesting a help of untold value to their own welfare! The church has not only been a definite and militant force against evil and for the advancement of good, but it has been the outstanding sponsor of that intan- gible but powerful weapon of prayer which, in all its fragility, is more potent than the most elaborate weapons that puny man has invented! . At the present time Pope Pius XII has issued a special call to every Catholic and Catholic institution in the world for prayer to the Mother of God for peace during every day of the month of May, which 1s dedicated to her. “More things have been wrought by prayer than this world little dreams!” Who knows but this simple act may keep us American parents from the agony of having our sons go through the suffering and death of war, or worse, returning a ghastly, maimed caricature of a human being. It is too bad there are any so short- sighted as not to see these things. FORTUNATE CATHOLIC. April 26, | 214). seen as lines, Otker birds which might be fitted into the description, with some straining, are the sharp-tailed sparrow, 574 inches, and Hensiow's sparrow inches. These both have somewhat greenish heads. * koK % A Silver Spring correspondent wants to know ahout a birti he saw. “He was jet black, with pure white wings, a fairly short bird about 6 or 7 inches long, and he had a stubby tail. “He seemed to be real hungry, but after feeding at the station he flew away and I haven't seen him since. “He paid no attention whatever to the other birds, just concentrated on his dinner. He warbled once or twice, a sort of lively tune.” Sounds as if it which somehow white wings! The starling, however, is longer, be- ing seme 8':; inches in length. * ok % % The species the description nearest fits is the lark bunting, which 1s given might be a sta managed to acquire ! the grackle is bands of starlings are not steady visitors, | in the books as 7 inches in length. (End of bill to end of tail) This species is sometimes called the white-winged blackbird, on account of its odd plumage. The bird does not look like a blackbird, nor has it similar habits. This is just another instance of how wrong popular nomenclature can be, But there is little if any record of lark buntings in this territory, although the so-called lark sparrow has been seen, The lark buntings are gregarious, seldom going it alone. They fly in flocks even in nesting time. They fly into the air singing and come down still singing. They somewhat resemble starlings in their superabilities at mass flight. If one starts to fly, the whole flock flies | up at once, and keeps a-wing until a leader settles down, when all descend. * ok * % Our own yard was overrun last Sunday by purple grackles and starlings. Both of these are beautiful in coloring, properly seen. Like some aquarium specimens, these purple-black birds de- their best. Many a person who has come to look upon starlings as colorless has been | amazed to note how they sparkle and | shine when the sun is on them just right. Both the starling and the grackle have | what is commonly called electric blue in their color schemes. The grackle has more of it, of course, and much more | glistening, but it lacks the gold-greea flashes the squatter birds possess The home gardener will not particu- larly welcome g group of grackles, but he may take advantage of their pres- ence to observe them, especially if he has a feeding station close to a win- dow, A great deal of fuss has been made against the starlings, but they are not one-tenth the liability in a-garden that For one thing, the small The grackle: come every day on the other hand, will and about the same | time, if you let them. Our advice is not to them, for while they may seem harmless now, later on they will murder fledglings in the nest. They are particularly severe on baby cardinals. The thing to do, therefore, is to sally forth, when the grackles have had a little to eat, and chase them away. One’s mere presence in the yard will do it The important point is to be around the next dav when they come back Another sally will show them that they are not wanted. If the human element in this serio-comedy is as ner- sistent as the bird. the grackles soon realize that they are not wanted and do not come back. If they are personally greeted each time they come, they will not come, and the baby birds will have one less enemy to contend with this summer. Letters to Sees Russia at Root Of World's Evils. To the Editor of The Star: Your open forum regarding the sec- ond World War is attracting considerable | attention and admiration. Only by hear- | ing all honest viewpoints can the real truth be discerned. Representative Thorkelson dis- cussed, through your what he calls the British plan and purpose to embroil has columns, this Republic in this secon World War through propaganda, as was We are told by British propaganda that we must fight now to make the world safe from aggression. We were told before that we must fight to make the world safe for democracy. One of your correspondents, Mr. Er- nest E. Oswald, now tells us, through your columns, that “This war is un- questionably for the principle of the maintenance of international law” and “to prevent the subjection of whole nations and even the whole world to conditions far worse than slavery.” May I present a few points for con- sideration? 1. Great Britain—Without the slight- est reflection upon the British peopie generally, is it not evident that Great | Britain cannot properly be regarded as the arch enemy of aggression? Her record of aggressions is so extensive that the sun never sets ugon her domain, | and those now in control do not hesi- tate to flout international law. 2. Nazi Germany—Without the slight- est reflection upon the German peorle generally, who are under a regimentfd control almost as subjugating as Bolshe- | vism. is it not evident that those now in control of Germany do not hesitate to flout international law? 3. Soviet Russia—Without the slight- est reflection upon the Russian people, who areevictims—not devisers—of Bol- shevism, is it not evident that revolu- tionary undermining and ultimate de- struction of all civilized goverpnments aas been the constant objective of Soviet Russia since 1917? Our then Ambassa- dor to Russia, David R. Francis, de- clared in January, 1918, that the Bol- shevik leaders “are internationalists” who “care little for Russia or any other country” (Russia from the American Embassy, by AMbassador * Francis, p. At p. 227 of his book, Mr. Francis quoted a Bolshevik pronouncement of Feo. 5, 1918, disclosing their sinister purpose: “We want to transform the war of nations into a civil war.” In other words, wars of nations serve the Bolsheviks by exhausting civilized nations for Bolshevik take-over through civil war. Mr. Francis added in his book (published in 1921): “All of the unrest throughout Europe and in this country and in every coun- try cn the Western Hemisphere can be traced back to this Bolshevik experi- ment” (p. 334). 4. The Real World Aggressors—Is not this second World War due to the same secret world aggressors who manipu- lated both sides of the first World War, and sat upon all sides of the Versailles peace table, where the groundwork was lald for this second World War? Why { | over | torch of 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! do those now in control of Great Britain scrupulously avoid any confli with Soviet Russia for doing things which are deemed a cause for war with Ger- many? Again, why do those now in control of Germany scrupulously avoid any conflict with Soviet Russia, substi- tuting instead a campaign of friendly co-operation? Since Soviet Russia 1Is already in complete Bolshevik control, the international forces behind Bolshe- vism naturally do not wish to embroil Soviet Russia in their exhaustion proc- ess, but to limit such exhaustion proc- ess to nations not yet completely taken over. Is not this the only explanation that makes sense? Is it not also evident that these in- ternational forces would rather take the rich U. S. A, without first exhausting it? Are they altogether without hope in this regard, if they can substitute emergency war powers for constitutional American liberty? Let us | keep out of war and preserve our con- stitutional American liberty, so that the U. S. A. may survive the cleverly de- | vised exhaustion process, amd keep the liberty burning against the planned sole survivor, Soviet Russia. GEORGE E. SULLIVAN. April 27. Thanks Star Writer For Generous Act, To the Editor of The Star: My attention has been called to an in- cident that took place in Washington today, which I think the people of this city should know. A certain veteran of the World War passed away, and the city officials, not being able to locate any relatives or friends, had the body placed in the District of Columbia Morgue. Among the veteran's effects, (in searching for a clue, so that they could communicate with any relatives or friends) they found a letter addressed to this veleran, Reddish by name, and the writer of the letter was John Jay Daly of The Evering Star. The city officials got in touch with Mr. Daly right away, and Mr. Daly spent the better part of a busy day to contact the Veterans' Administra- tion, got a copy of the man’s fingerprints, and had the body removed, and saw to it that the man will receive a proper funeral. Mind you, none of this was in the line of duty, yet he gave of his own time, and expense, telegraphed some of the people whose addresses he obtained from various sources, and when the man is finally laid to rest, Mr. Daly will be present at the grave and the man he is doing it for is hardly known to him. The American Legion, Department of the District of Columbia every year awards a citation for meritorious service for the individual who has done the most for the good of the Legion, and I don't think I am making a mistake in asking the department of the American Legion of the District to make the award to Legionnaire John Jay Daly. HARRY CEDAR, Vincent B. Costello Post, American Legion. April 23. - f | inet member, Answers To Questions : By Frederic J. Haskin. A reader can get the answer to any < question of fact by writing The Evee ning Star Information Bureau, Fred= eric J. Haskin, director, Washington, D. C. Please inclose stamp for reply. Q. What was the last play in which Sarah Bernhardt appeared in this coun- try?—W. G. A. Her last appearance in the United States was in a play entitled “Arriere les Huns” at B. F. Keith's Hippodrome, Cleveland, Ohio, in 1918. The perform- ance was a benefit for the Fourth Liberty Loan. Q. Did George Washington's brother Charles marry?—J. H. C. A. Charles Washington married Mil- dred Thornton. Q. Where is William Jennings Bryan buried?—G. A. A. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. Q. Does a member of the British House of Commons, who is also a cab- receive both salaries?— M. H. A. The British Library of Information | says that a member of both bodies re- mand reflected light to show them at | ceives only the salary of a cabinet offi- cer. Q. What is the source of the lines “Backward, turn backward, O time in | vour flight; Make me a child again, just for tonight?"—C, C. A. They are from the poem “Rnck Me to Sleep,” by Elizabeth Akers Allen, Q. When the Government buys gold from a foreign country, does it pay $35 | per ounce in United States currency? —C. H. G. A. The regular practice of the Treas- ury Department in buyving gold, whether of domestic production or imported, is to make a payment at $35 per fine ounce, less one-quarter of 1 per cent handling charges, and less the small charges for working the metal. Payment is ordie narily made by check, but at the request of the vendor, payment will be made in current paper currency or coin. Q. Was there a stamp issued in honor of the Rev. Manasseh Cutler?—L. B. R. A. The stamp honoring the Rev. Man- asseh Cutler was a 3-cent stamp of the Northwest Territory commemorative stamp issue of 1938. This stamp was first sold July 15, 1938, at Marietta, Ohio, where the first civil government in the Northwest Territory was established. Q. When did William Allen White write his famous editorial on Kansas?— | ACAL A, A. “What's the Matter With Kansas?" appeared in the Emporia Gazette on August 15, 1896. Q. How early did people in the United States begin to eat tomatoes?>—L. S. R. A. Until the early part of the 19th century, the tomato was little cultivated il America and then only as a deco- rative plant or as food for pigs. It made its first appearance in the South- ern States probably a little before it was introduced into the North. In March, | 1828, a number 6f the Southern Agri- | culturist, published in Charleston. mentioned it. It was brought to New Jersey by Peter Bogart of Princeton | about 1830. A monument to the man | to eat the first tomato marks the grave of Michele Felice Corne, in a small ceme- | tery near Farewell street, Newport, R. I. | Q. What proportion of city streets in the United States is paved with asphal:? —M. K. H. A. According 1o a recent surve: asphalt paving surfaces three-fourt f the square yardage of streets 53 leading United States cities, Q. Is the book “Gone With the Wini" to be sealed in the Crypt of Civiliza- tion at Oglethorpe University?—D, E. C. A. "Gone With the Wind" has alreaay been microfilmed for inclusion in the Crypt of Civilization. A complete shoot ing script of the motion picture has also been microfilmed. The crypt is to be sealed, with appropriate monies. on May 25 of this vear, and i to remain inviolate until the year 8113, AD. et Q. What became of Gasparilla, famous pirate?—W. R. V. A. By 1821 the United States Govern- ment had made matters so difficult for Gaspar that his pirate kingdom was broken up and its bounty of $30.000.000 divided. As he was about to sail away, a large ship came into the bay, apparently an English merchant ship. Gaspar at once prepared to attack her, when she ran up the Stars and Stripes, proving | herself to be a heavily armed American man-of-war. The pirate ship was de- feated, and Gaspar, winding a piece of anchor chain around his waist, jumped overboard and was drowned. His age | was 65. the Q. What is the religious affiliation of Bernarr Macfadden, the editor and pub- lisher?—E. J. K. A. Mr. Macfadden is affillated with the Unitarian Church. Q. How much meat is eaten by people in the United States?—B. C. A. In the year 1937 the per capita con- sumption of meat in the United States was 137 pounds. Q. Where is the largest coal mine in the world?—J. H. A. The largest coal mine in the world is said to be the New Orient Operation of Illinois, with a capacity of approxi- mately five and one-half million tons yearly. The Pear Tree All winter long I saw the old tree there Beside my garden gate, a twisted thing, Stripped of the pearly dress it wore last spring, Its black arms naked in the sharp cold air. Then suddeniy today I saw the tree, The same pear tree, all gloriously white, With snowy blossoms in the morning light. I know God's hand was there for all to see, To prove anew that life must conquer death. ‘The cld, old grief that wrapped my heart so long Went now, and in its place a lovely song Soared high—as sweet as this tree's scented breath. Dear Lord, I hope in heaven there will be Beside the crystal lake a white pear tree. WILLIAM ARNETTE WOFFORD. 2 i