Evening Star Newspaper, January 22, 1942, Page 14

The Eoening FHtav With Sunday Morning Editien. THEODORE W. NOYES, Editor. WASHINGTON, D. C. THURSDAY-. January 22, 1942 The Evening Star Newspaper Company. : JLih St and Pennsylvanis Ave. Cliléaso. Obieet 435 North Michigan Ave. Delivered by Clrrlzn—ctty and Suburban. gular Edition. ening and Sunday 75¢ Der MO, or 18 per week Evening Star .~ 405 ver mo. or 10c per week Oc per copy SNient Final Edltien. Jight Fina) and Sunday Siar 85¢ per month c Per mon Night Final Q8L rave Delivery The Evenine and Sunday Siar Ihe Evening Star 3 -~ b3c per month The Sunday Stal 10¢ per copy ‘Collections made at the end of each month or each week. Orders may be sent by mail or tele- phone National 5000 Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. 'g.sc per month 8¢ mo, &0 tered as second-class matter post office, - Washington. D. C. Member of the Associated Press. o The Assoctated Press 1s exclusively entitled to $he use for republication of all news dispatches eredited lu it or not otherwise credited in this per and also the local news published herein. &l rights of publication of special dispatches Tein also are reserved. Overdue Overhaul At long last, America’s war pro- duction organization is tp have a | badly needed overhauling. As those | who know him had expected, Chair- man Donald M. Nelson of the new War Production Board has ordered a drastic shakeup of .governmental agencies concerned with directing | the Nation’s war industries. This administrative machinery, by a pro- cess of evolution from limited to all- out defense and through the pro- gressive phases of lend-lease aid to the final stage of actual wartime in- dustrial effort, had become intoler- ably top-heavy, cumbersome and in- efficient, with serious divisions of authority and overlapping of func- tions. Mr.” Nelson has sought to eliminate these defects by a sweep- ing reorganization of the setup from top to bottom, including the abolish- ment of the outmoded Office of Pro- duction Management. A recapitulation of developments in the defense administration picture will show how agencies have been superimposed upon agencies and authority upon authority since the expiration of the War Resources Board in November, 1939. The first of the over-all supervisory agencies created after adoption of the national defense program in May, 1940, was the Office of Emergency Manage- ment, designed to be a clearing house for defense reports. Four days after the establishment of O. E.\M. on May 25, 1940, the President ap- pointed the Council of National De- fense of six Cabinet members and an | Advisory Commission consisting of Mr. Knudsen, Mr. Hillman and Mr. Stettinius. Mr. Nelson shortly there- after was made co-ordinator of de- fense purchasing. On October 22, 1940, the Priorities Board was set up, with Messrs. Knudsen, Hillman and Stettinius as members and Mr. Nelson as priorities administrator. In Janu- ary of last year O. P. M. made its debut, with Mr. Knudsen as general director and Mr. Hillman as co- director. Divisions of production, purchases, priorities and labor were created. Then in April, 1941, came the much-discussed Office of Price Administration and Civilian Supply, under Leon Henderson, followed by the Office of Agricultural Defense Relations on May 5, the Office of Civilian Defense on May 20, the Of- fice of Petroleum Co-ordinator for National Defense on May 28, the Office of Co-ordinator of Defense Information on July 11, the Economic Supply Board, headed by Vice Presi- dent Wallace, on July 30; the Supply Priorities and Allocations Board on August 28, the Division of Contract Distribution on September 4, the Of- fice of Lend-Lease Administration on October 28 and, finally, the War Production Board on January 16 of this year. Small wonder that in- dustry and even Government officials were confused by the sprawling and ponderous organization which re- sulted. Mr. Nelson has reviewed and evaluated the activities of the many defense offices and has endeavored to rearrange them into a co-ordi- nated, smoothly functioning ma- chine. He plans to achieve this by setting up divisions on industry operations, production, planning, purchases, materials, labor and civil- ian supply, with a special require- ments_committee to handle alloca- tion of raw materials for war and civillan uses. The industry opera- tions division will have the vital job of converting the automobile and other industries for war production. Most of the officials of the present organization will be retained, but their duties and responsibilities pre- sumably will be clearly defined, to | avoid conflict. In short, America’s new war production czar has stripped his administrative -machinery for the type of accelerated action demanded by a total war economy. —_— Balkan Union ‘There is something unrealistic, yet perhaps notably far-sighted, in an eagreement signed by the Kings of Greece and Yugoslavia uniting their, two exiled regimes for the purposes of defense, foreign policy and foreign trade and, as the joint declaration states, as the nucieus of a general foundation for the “organization of & Balkan union.” ‘The agreement can be of little wartime value, for, with the excep- tion of the heroic resistance which the Serb Chetniks continue in their mountains, neither Yugoslav nor Greek forces comprise any substan- tial part of the United Nations’ forces. The fact remains, however, that the accord 1= a fresh token of eonfidence in the victory of the Al- led cause, and when that victory is 4, THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C., THURSDAY,: JANUARY 22; 1942. THIS AND THAT By Charles E. Tracewell, achieved it will provide a starting point for co-ordination of the diplo- matie and trade policies of the Bal- kan nations. Of course, the fundamental idea of a Balkan union does not originate with this agreement. There existed for years after the first Balkan con- ference in Athens in October, 1930, a loose Balkan Entente, which, like the Little Entents, toppled under the stress of a European war and the divided interests of its members. Greece and Yugoslavid, having joined with Turkey and Rumania as original members of the Balkan Entente, fought together against the German invasion a year ago. But Rumania went with the Axis while Turkey is still a caviious neutral. The Balkan Entente might have served to eliminate sources of con- flict between the Balkan states them- selves, but it accomplished nothing toward formulation of a common policy which would spare the entire Balkans the scourge of war. After this struggle is over there still will be need for peace machin- ery of which the Greek-Yugoslav | agreement may be made a part. But much water must flow under the bridge before the theory of the two monarchs can be given substance. Government Growth Some important questions statement that 85,000 more Govern- ment workers will be hired here this year, and that this means 250,000 new residents in the Metropolitan Area. ¥ The first thought that occurs is just how many employes it is pro- posed to evacuate to offset the pre- dicted influx and what agencies would figure in this decentralization program. The Civil Service Com- mission personnel report for Octo- ber—the last available—shows a total of 195,000 employes, of which 122,500 were in the White House and the ten departments and 72,500 in thirty-seven independent agencies. It is plain therefore that to make room for any appreciable number of the new employes by decentralization not only would entail tremendous inroads in the departments, but the transfer in their entirety of many of the independent groups. At the best, the wisdom of this course is open to question, but the situation is further complicated by the fact that more than 40 per cent of the departmental force is in the War and Navy De- partments, which hardly could be disturbed. That naturally would make it necessary to draw more heavily on the other establishments. Another serious question concerns the provision to be made for the | population increase that inevitably will accompany such a huge expan- sion of the Federal force even though | 1t is preceded by extensive decen- tralization. Simply because a certain number of employes are sent away from Washington, it does not follow that housing accommodations and other facilities would be available immediately for a like number of new-arrivals and their families. In fact, it is more than likely that if a mass exodus of employes were or- dered, there would be thousands of cases where only the head of the housefiold would go, leaving family behind. As Mr. Smith pictures con- ditions, however, the saturation point | for public services already has been reached, so something must be done. Under the circumstances, it is evi- dent that the Budget Bureau data which were furnished to the news- papers to show the prospective plight of Washington and its environs should be amplified to clear up the points that now are obscure, and then laid before Congress for what- ever action is necessary. More light is called for also on the reason for such a tremendous ex- pansion of personnel, which threat- ens to require more office construc- tion. Since the emergency enlarge- ment of the Government force was started in June, 1940, approximately 65,000 employes have been added to the rolls here, and employment now is nearly twice that of the peak of the First World War. The principal increase has been in War and Navy Departments, but virtually all agen- cies have undergone some growth. It is extremely doubtful if this has been justified in every instance, and be- fore a recruiting program of the size envisioned by Mr. Smith is under- taken, it should be demonstrated beyond question where the additions definitely are needed. A Solid Front A major diplomatic triumph against the Axis powers has been scored at Rio de Janeiro, according to late reports from the historic Conference of Foreign Ministers in session there. After a tense period of uncertainty, marked by apparent reluctance of isolationist Argentina and Chile to join with other Amer- ican republics in breaking off all ties with the Axis aggressors, word comes of a unanimous agreement to close the doors of the South American continent to the enemies of democ- racy. To Undersecretary Sumner Welles and ’Brazilian Foreign Minister Aranha, who is chairman of the con- ference, must go a major share of the credit for inducing Argentina and Chile to swing into line. Both nations, noted for their independence of action, had been balking at sign- ing any commitment to sever rela- tions with the Axis in concert: with the rest of the continent. Undoubtedly the missionary Wark of Mr. Welles and Mr. Aranha was made easier by the stupidity of Axis diplomacy, which mistook Argentina’s and Chile’s desires for independence of action as proof that they were in A / are | raised by Budget Director Smith’s | .spear-armed youths Hitler's bag. Using typical Nazi- Fascist tactics, the Axis representa- tives overstepped themselves in at- tempting to bring pressure on the two Latin nations to join Hitler's “new order.” The efforts backfired, however. Now Argentina and Chile have signified their intention of taking their places in the solid front which will constitute a political, economic and military barrier against the Axis powers from Hudson Bay to Cape Horn. The foreign ministers of the two countries swung into line' after a reported general agreement to append to the forthcoming declara- tion a provision that commitments made at Rio must be ratified in accordance with constitutional re- quirements of the respective govern- ments. Since popular sentiment in both countries is overwhelmingly anti-Axis, there seems to be no doubt that ratification eventually will be obtained. i‘lospil‘ul Needs Hearings before the House District Committee on the Randolph hospital bill have directed attention anew to a community health problem that daily becomes graver as thousands of additional war workers pour into Warchingten, many of them bringing their families. The shortage of hgs- pital facilities in the Metropolitan Area has been estimated variously from several hundred to more than a thousand beds, the varying figures being due chiefly to lack of accurate data on the present and frospective population of this fast-growing city. Under normal conditions the city's private and public hospitals might have been able to handle all imme- diate requirements, except, possibly, maternity cases, in which field there has been a rising demand and little relief in recent years. In the ex-. panding suburbs of Washington, however, the hospital facilities are woefully inadequate for all types of cases, and the inadequacy must be met by the Washington hospitals. Thus, the phenomenal jump in the population of Washington and its en- virons since the launching of the national defense program has placed an inordinate burden upon the city’s hospitals, a burden the magnitude of which they could not foresee and which they were not prepared to meet. On top of this abnormal de- mand for hospital beds, principally for maternity cases, there has been imposed the additional prudent re- quh-emept that Washington be pre- pared to care for emergency victims of such wartime hazards as alir raids and epidemics. These abnormal, war-born needs of local hospitals are so great and are expected to become so much greater that neither the public nor private institutions can satisfy them without outside help. But the prob- lem of where to obtain funds and how to apportion them cannot be solved without an examination of basic public policy with respect to hospital care. The voices of caution which have been raised in recent discussions of the local situation have urged exhaustive consideration, pointing out that the eventual de- cision may alter the balance between responsibilities of public and private institutions. They warn that a precedent of future Nation-wide importance may be set by whatever relief is given here to that group referred to by such terms as “in-between” or “semi- indigent”—unable to pay the present usual rates of voluntary hospitals, but unwilling to be classed as charity cases. Gist of the “go slowly” plea is that long-range implications should be kept in mind—whether it is deemed advisable to extend subsi- dies or other assistanee to private hosplta’ls, or expand the field of the public hospital’s operation, or both, in the light of conditions created, in large measure, by an emergency. The complexity of the financing problem, affecting as it does the future of Washington's hospital pro- gram, thus deserves the most care- ful oonsideration of Congress, ad- ministrative authorities and the hos- pitals themselves. — Democracy in the Raw The British Empire often is quoted as an example of democracy under monarchy, but for a much truer .democratic freedom under a Kking, turn to Uumba, a group of five small islands sixty miles south of Sumatra, ihhabited by 2,300 carefree souls. Their King, Felik the Unlucky, is sewed up tight by their Congress, ironically known as the Big Think. When Congress has thought, that énds it; Felik thinks the same, or else, in spite of his position as com- mander in chief of the army, forty and fifteen maidens, and of the navy, four ca- | noes. Felik is also chief justice of the Supreme Court, and head tax collector. % Whenever Uumba loses a war, dis- likes a legal decision, or kicks at high taxes, and puts the heat on the Big Think in consequence, that august body promptly establishes a quorum, passes a resolution to the effect that the people are supreme and democ- racy mus} prevail, and orders the sergeant at arms to round up his majesty, have him on the public square at four o’clock and stand by to whip him. In other lands much | time is wasted fixing responsibility when affairs go wrong; in Uumba, home of democracy in the raw, the constitution does it automatically. All aboard for Uumba! Assistant Secretary of the Navy Bard has announced that the Pearl Of Stars, Men And Atoms Notebook of Science Progress In Laboratory, Field And Study By Thomas R. Henry. A new emergency “shock drug” has just come out of New Zealand. It delays death for two or three hours —until a wounded man can be taken to somé place where blood plasma is avail- able for transfusion. The strange effects of the chemical, S-methyl-iso-thiurea, are described by Dr. P. H. Smerk of the University of New Zealand in the latest issue of the British Medical Journal to reach here. The chief symptom of shock is a quick fall in blood pressure. The sovereign remedy is a blood transfusion at once. The new drug, harmless in measured ‘doses, has much the same temporary effects, Dr. Smerk says. He urges that supplies be available in all areas sub- Ject to bombings. The chief effects are to raise the blood pressure and stimulate respiration. It also slows the heart beat. The chief experiment has been with 20 patients in a Cairo (Egypt) hospital, whose blood pressure was down to the point of “cir- culatory terminal collapse.” There was no hope that they would live more than a few hours in any case. The effect of injections of the new drug. was to double the systolig blood pressure and keep it up, without any- thing else being done, from 15 minutes to an hour. It might well have saved the lives of these patients if their con- dition had been due to shock. S-methyl-iso-thiurea seems to act di- rectly on the blood system itself. Blood pressure is largely under control of the nervous system, but the drug proved effective in dogs whose central nervous systems had been largely destroyed and whose sympathetic nerve endings had been paralyzed. In other dogs the blood pressure de- liberately was reduced to the point where the heart would have stopped beating in about a minute. With no other treatment but an injection of the drug these dogs were kept alive for as long as two hours. At any time their lives could have been saved by a plasma transfusion. Dr. Smerk is working in collaboration with Egyptian physicians. The drug, he insists, will save no lives by itself. It only delays death in cases of extreme trauma until better remedies can be given, In the same journal Dr. N. M. Mutch, senior physician of Guy's Hospital in London, tells of the development of a | new sulfa drug—sulfonamide E. O. S.— which is considerably less toxic than the | sulfapyridine used in treatment of pneu- monia, is nearly tasteless, and is freely soluble in water. It has been found es effective as sul- | fapyridine in such infections as puer- pural fever, pneumonia, cerebrospinal meningitis, septic wounds, and acute in- fections of ears, nose and throat. ‘The great advantage, he points out, is the solubility of the compound. It can be administered by injection into the blood stream or by mrouth for persons in too weak a condition to swallow any- thing solid. It is of great value, Dr. Mutch says, in the treatment of very young infants to whom it can be administered in liquid form with a medical dropper. Such in- fants are subject to such maladies as meningitis. A crucial test at Guy's Hospital was with 34 cases of meningitis, ranging in age from seven months to 63 years, who were admitted in a comatose condition. The cases had progressed so far that little hope was held out for them. Actually, Dr. Mutch says, only three died and these deaths were due to com- plicating conditions, meningitis itself. A distinct advantage, Dr. Mutch says, is that the new drug in liquid form does not have a tendency to crystallize in the urinary passages. This is a drawback of liquid forms of both sulfonilamide and sulfapyridine. % x % An animal that protects itself from cold by changing its color from red to green and becoming essentially a plant is described by Drs. L. P. Johnson and Theodore L. Jahn of the University of Towa in the current issue of Physiological Zoology issued by the University of Chicago. The animal is a microscopic fresh- water creature, Euglena rubra. The scl- entists discovered that when the temper- ature of the animals was lowered to be- low 30 degrees centigrade the red pig- ment near the surface of the body migrated to the center, leaving chloro- phyll at the surface which gives the animals a green color. Chlorophyll is the green material in plants which uses the sun’s energy to convert carbon dioxide and water into foodstuffs. The red color was restored by heat- ing, or by subjecting the animals to infrared rays, artificial light or sun- light. The chlorophyll in the little ani- mal, they found, serves the same purpose that it does in plants. In hot weather the migration of the red pigment to the surface shields the chlorophyll from ex- cessive sunlight. In cooler weather when there is less sunlight the red pigment leaves the surface, permitting the chloro- phyll to function more efficiently. Indorses Russia’s Struggle To Defend “Freedom of Soil.” To the Editor of The Star: Now that Red Russia, forced to armed defense, is with us and proving herself a dcminant factor in ridding the world of its militarist maniacs, we are having less of Red-baiting, which should help to a better understanding. A columnist, who sees & Red back- ground to everything gone wrong in our industrial setup, recently warned his readers against assuming that Russia is fighting for any one of the four free- doms. Russia may agree, and a reason may be that she has been and is fighting to maintain a freedom she may well re- gard as of more substantial importance to a country of vast resources bent on developing them. to the best advantage of 2ll her people. She has freedom of her soil from feudal landlordism. As events are now shaping themselves, Russia may have a chance to try out her brand of freedom on some of her neigh- bors who are doing their best to destroy it. Hitlerism is merely a new front for Harbor raid-disaster has “rebuilt this | Nation overnight.” It is hoped that during this reconstruction they made the result termiteproof. other than the | “MOUNT PLEASANT ST. “Dear Bir: “We have been following your col- umn with interest almost since oyr ini- tial observations of birds about two and one-half years ago whén we came to ‘Washington. On several occasions we wanted to consult you, but somehow the letter never got off. This time the hap- pening provokes action. “We thought we heard something like the crackling of snow outside our win- dow Saturday night about 10 o’clock. Looking out of our bathroom window, where we maintain a feeding station on the ledge of sunflower seeds, hemp seeds, chopped and whole peanuts and s little ground suet, we were shocked out of our wits to confront a bird. “He was undoubtedly as shocked as we, for he flew off to the apple tree in our back yard. When we finally collected ourselves, all we could remember was & bird somewhere between the size of & blue jay and pigeon. It was too dark :nm coloring, markings or anything % “What do you think 1t/ was? An owl? Would an owl eat seeds Could it have been a nighthawk? Doesn't a nighthawk g0 for rodents? Would a bat be around at this time of the year? “Two other questions we should like to ask on which we have been specu- lating: “We have observed the blue jay feed- ing its mate at this time of the year with broken sunflower seeds and peanuts taken from our window. The out-of- the-mating season has us guessing. “Another question: Though any week- day the chickadees, juncos, titmice, cardinals, nuthatches, etc., come to our window, on Sundays we have noticed & marked diminution of feeders. Very likely bird lovers have more leisure on Sundays and scatter food about. But so do we make a special feast for the birds on Sunday. Though our guests decidedly fall off in numbers. “lhank you for whatever light you can throw on our que b “Sincerely yours, 8. D. M.” * % % x Our guess as to the bird at our cor- respondent’s window at night would be a screech owl, or possibly a starling. The screech owl is a fairly common permanent resident, often observed in the city. * ‘The starling has been so much ob- served that it is often overlooked as a very wise bird. It would be just like one of these to try to keep himself warm at a feeding station on a window sill. As is well known, the starling likes nothing better than a sill. If it could find one provided with food, it would simply roost there all night, and probably nibble a little food now and then. Being a soft-billed bird, the starling does not like seed, but will eat it, if hard pressed. It likes better both suet and bread. The starling is a “wise old owl,” as the saying goes. Its temperature is just & bit higher than that of most birds, and this demands more food, especially in winter. ‘The starling’s feet are more likely to freeze in cold weather, that is why it seeks a roost outside some heated room. In this way it can keep its feet from treezing up. Sometimes birds which roost on tin roofs on a sleety night get stuck to the roof, and cannot fly lway until the ice melts. * % %% Neither bats nor nighthawks would be around at this time of year. It is & question whether bats migrate o hibernate. Until the experts settle this, most persons will be glad that they at least are not visible. There is probably no creature, not even a skunk, which is more disliked. Nightha¥ks are seldom hereabouts after the middle of October. ‘Washington has many owls. Probably not as many as 20 years ago, .but still plenty for the edification of bird lovers. ‘The little screech owl is monogamous, and mates for life. It will use the same nest winter and summer, year after year. 1t is too bad that most persons do not get more opportunity to study owls. There is no bird which has found its way into man’s thinking more than this, but probably none which is less seen by average observers, ‘The screech owl is 10 inches long, with a wing spread of 22 inches. Ornithologists speak of this owl's “dichromatism,” which means its ten- dency to develop two distinct plumage phases. Oue is the red stage, and the other is the gray. Sometimes these owls become so mixed up that they are called mottled owls. The experts tell of one case which was gray, and which was fed liver. Its plumage turned red. Maybe this was a forecast of what liver extract was to do in treating anemia. The color of blood is red; whether the color change in the gray owl resulted from the creature’s “blood count’’ going up, we do not know. ** ‘The screech owl is a very clean bird. Most owls are on the dirty side, keeping their nests and the ground below their nests in a rather foul condition. Not so the little screech. He is as dainty as you please. He eats insects, mice, crawfish (when he can get them), frogs, toads, fish. if really hungry, he will catch hinself a nice rat, chipmunk or mole. It is said to be a clever fisherman, especially when ice covers the water. Then it watches the breathing holes, where the fish come to get air, and seizes them when they come up. About one-seventh of its diet consists of birds, mostly English sparrows. Its greatest “take” is in winter or at the breeding season, when the young owls are clamoring for food and more food. Letters to Readers Reply to Criticism Of Mr. Lawrence by Mr. Ickes. To the Editor of The Btar. “ In a letter printed January 16, Sec- retary Harold L. Ickes criticizes David Lawrence severely for an article which he says was “a foul attack upon the President of the United States.” But if you take the trouble to read this article, you get the idea that Mr. Ickes did not like the said article, in fact, did not approve of it in any way and you feel that he does not like Mr. Lawrence ar the way he says things or what he says. Yet he refers to him as “Sir Galahad.” What does he mean by this? Sir Galahad was the noblest of them all. He was the only one of King Arthur’s knights who was said to be without guile. He was the only one who was worthy to find the Holy Grail, the cup from which they believed that our Lord drank at His last supper. My personal opinion is that Mr. Law- rence is not exactly interested in what Mr. Ickes thinks of him and that he will not worry very much about it. Mr. Lawrence seems to be able to dish 1t out but he can also take it, I think, LAURA K. POLLOCK. To the Editor of The Star: In the light of what David Lawrence actually said, Secretary Ickes’ “calum- nist” communication loses weight. The Secretary closes with “Let's win the war—and then ‘have at us’” Has it ever occurred to the Secretary that present methods might lose the war? President Wilson said there should be criticism in wartime. Secretary Ickes may try, but he cannot dodge the record, adroit as he is. Pre- cious time has been wasted, and as a result lives have been lost, and we are in a mess. The Truman report tells us as much. Maybe we are in need of a “calumnist” to place certain facts before us, so more power to Mr. Lawrence. This is no time for a cabinet officer to treat the safety of the country lightly. ‘What has happened to conquered nations is not:pleasant reading. And much has happened that we did not think could happen, not so long ago. Our country is the first consideration, certainly not Ppolitical toes. WM. G. DAVIS. | Asks Information About Photographer Brady. To the Editor of The Star: I am completing my work on the biography of Mathew Brady, photogra- pher of the Civil War and ‘America’s appeal as a public service in the inter- ests of a great but nearly forgotten American pioneer. JOSEPH B. EGANS. Harvard School, Charlestown, Mass. the Editor Letters to the Editor must bear the namfiw address of the writer, alti gh the use of a p:eudonym for publication is permissible. The Star reserves the right to edit all letters with a view to condensation. No. 1260. He also is on the Lincoln Park and Mount Pleasant cars. I have been in a great many cities and have had quite a bit of experience in dealing with the public, being connected for several years with three street rail- way companies and bus lines in Southern Indiana, and I certainly know the value of good men to a company. MRS. LULU BENNETT. Wants Ireland to Join In the Fight of Fights. To the Editor of The Star: With Britain and her navy (and now our Navy, also) shielding Ireland on all sides, Ireland’s “sit-down strike” against lending even her sea bases in the critical battle of the Atlantic makes it clear to all that Ireland remains today, as through the centuries, England’s thorn in the side, England’s problem child— forgetting nothing, learning nothing. It is because we true friends of Ireland want Ireland to get over her adolescent, self-pitying attitude and prove worthy of her geographical position beside the “tight little isle” of royal courage, that we urge that Ireland prove her right to the title of “the fighting Irish” right now, while the fight of all history is going on in full fury. BOLLING SOMERVILLE. Appeals for Popular Remembrance Of Miss Lombard’s Companions. To the Editor of The Star: From the night of January 16, when an airliner crashed into a Nevada moun- tain and took toll of 22 lives, we have been well informed of the horrible trag- edy through the press and by radio. But I must say that it seems that with few exceptions there have been too many headlines and too many long talks by some of the radio commentators on the death of just one person who lost her life on the plane and not enough about 21 others who also were killed. We never should forget to pay tribute to the Army flyers and the pilots of the plane who also died. Of course, there is no one who knew Haskin’s Answers To Questions By Frederic J. Haskin. qtm" can get the answer to any of fact by writing The Eve- ning Star Information Bureau, Fred- eric J. Haskin, director, Washington, D. C. Please inclose stamp for reply. Q. Who is the highest ranking Negro officer in the United States Army?—J. C. A. On October 25, 1940, President Roosevelt announced the promotion of Col. Benjanfin O. Davis to become the first Negro general in the history of the United States Army. Col. Davis was ele- vated to brigsdier general and is the bighest ranking Negro officer in the Army at the present time. Q./Can you tell me i~ a Prime Minister of England, other than Winston Churchill, has ever addressed the Senate? —P. M. A. Ramsay MacDonald, when Prime Minister, addressed the United States Senate October 7, 1929. Q. Where did Gen. Chiang Kai-shek receive his military training?—J. B. O. A. He was trained in the Japanese Officers’ Academy at Tokio, where he studied four years. s Dictionary—An up-to-date, au- thoritative publication of 20,000 words in common use. An out- standing feature is the special supplements containing current words and phrases, words mispro- nounced, abbreviations, foreign phrases, curious word origins, words derived from persons, words derived from places, everyday errors, long words, and a guide to com| . A handy-sized vol- ume for home, office or school. To secure your copy of this publi- cation inclose 25 cents in coin, wrapped ip this clipping, and mail to The S Information Bureau. Q. How much money is spent in & year on postage stamps?—C. A. 8. A. The Post Office Department says that the figures are not yet available for 1941. For the fiscal year ending June 30, 1940, the sales of stamps and stamped paper totaled $521,777278.16. * Q What are the names of the stars in the Big Dipper?—G. L. F. A. The names of the seven stars are, beginning at the handle: Alkaid, Mizar, Alioth, Megrez, Phegda, Merak and Dubhe. . Q. Please send me the titles of the poems recited by Jeffrey Lynn in the picture “The Fighting 69th.”—E. McM. A. The poems repited by Jeffrey Lynn as Joyce Kilmer in the picture “The Fighting 69th” were “Rouge Bouquet” and “Prayer of a Soldier.” Q. Whom did Capt. Miles Standish marry?—E. J. 8. A. The first wife of Miles Standish is usually referred to simply as Rose Standish. She died the first winter that the Pilgrims were in the New World. Barbara was the given name of his sec- ond wife. There were six children by this marriage. One son and one daugh- ter died young. Q. Was gold ever mined in Virginia?— R. W. 8. A. Thomas Jefferson refers in 1782 to the finding of a lump of gold ore near the Rappahannock which weighed 4 pounds and yielded 17 pennyweight of metal. The next record is the deposit of $2,500 of gold at the mint in 1829, According to Watson, gold was dis- covered in Spotsylvania County in 1806 | and & mine was opened in Orange County in 1831. Silliman, writing in 1836, refers to mines in Goochland, Louisa and Culpeper Counties yielding ore reaching in one instance as high as $133.73 per bushel (100 pounds). All of the activity in these questionably suc- cessful undertakings was stopped with the breaking out of the Civil War. The legendary accounts of the production of these mines would indicate a gross out- put of several millions, but the amount- of gold actually deposited at the mint prior to 1860 is somewhat less than $2,000,000. Q. Will you please give me the quota- tion that the present King of England used in his Christmas radio address two years ago?—D. F. W. A. The quotation used by King George VI in his Christmas broadcast in 1939 was as follows: “I said to a man who stood at the gate of the years, ‘Give me a light, that I may tread safely into the unknown,” and he replied ‘Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God. That shall be to you better than a light and safer than a known way.'” Q. Can you give me a good method of cleaning felt hats that will not cause them to become limp and floppy?— W. J. B. A. The National Bureau of Standards says that hats are generally dry cleaned by the use of gasoline or Stoddard sol- vent. Cleaning usually removes some of the sizing compounds which give the hat its desired stiffness. After cleaning the hats are dipped into a sizing solu- tion, which may be a dilute solution of shellac or other similar material, and then blocked and shaped. Departure This is the loneliest hour of the day, this winter twilight, The boat easing from the harbor with a sad chime of bell, Wind blowing cold from the breake water, the blood-red sunset Fading on stained waves, the steady creak and swell, And no voice speaking, no word; only . far lights blinking In the ash-blue backdrop of a dis- tant shore, And three gulls wheeling in the vlolet light for @ moment, Then falling away; just this, and nothing more. . A sailor silhouetted, solitary, against the railing And behind him the ice-clear glite ter of the evening siar; But no word spoken; only the M churn of engines, Faint wash of swells, thoughts loud, and lost shore far. FREDERICK