Evening star. [volume], March 13, 1930, Page A-8, Image 8

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A-8
THE EVENING STAR
With g«aday Morning Edition.
WASHINGTON, D. C.
THURSDAY March 13, 1930
THEODORE W. NOYES Editor
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Developments in Haiti.
Secured by American support in his
dictatorship since his first election, in
1932, President Borno’s obvious lack ot
enthusiasm for the plan of the Forbes
Commission to set up a provisional gov
ernment in Haiti pending the holding of
legislative elections is readily under
stood. The question now is whether
the President, whose record for co
operation with American policies is
practically unmarked by opposition, will
allow his political supporters to per
suade him to adopt a positive stand
against the Forbes Commission's recom
mendations or whether, realizing the
eventual futility of such a gesture, he
will give the commission his full sup
port in laying the foundations for with
drawal of American participation in
Haitian affairs.
The Haitian President has everything
to gain by taking this latter course. He
retires in May and he has announced
more than once that he is neither a
candidate nor has he In mind any
candidate whom he will support. His
best attitude would be one of cheerful
acquiescence and determination to back
the commission In its plan for placing
the Haitian government In the hands
of the Haitians. No other attitude
would be sincere.
The Forbes Commission has not taken
long to reach Its decision regarding the
proper course for re-establishing popu
lar government in Haiti. The time left
In which this may be done before the
end of American treaty control, In 1838,
Is quits too short. There are few who
win contend with much logic that Haiti
has not been materially benefited by
American control. There Is relative
peace sad freedom in place of the "ap
palling conditions of anarchy, savagery
and oppression” which, in the words of
Secretary Lansing, existed at the time
of American Intervention, ‘ln 1915. The
country's finances are sound and the
work ot road building, public Improve
ment and establishment of schools has
gone forward under American control
with little interruption.
But It is also admitted generally that
small progress indeed has been accom
plished through American intervention
in the way of preparing Haiti for the
aclf-government to follow withdrawal of
American supervision. President Borno
has been in office since 1932. His re
election in 1926 by a Council of State,
eighteen of whose members were ap
pointed .by the President shortly be
fore the cloee of his first term, may
have been a good thing for maintain
ing 41m status quo In Haiti, but it
represented no progress toward popular
government. Now his retirement In
May, unless followed by the aboli
tion of the Council of State and
TC-eatablishment of legislative elec
tions—the latter step postponed time
and' again by President Borno—is apt to
be merely the signal for recurring po
litical revolutionary attempts that in
themselves present prima facte evidence
of the lack of self-governing ability.
The Forbes Commission plan, gener
ally speaking, is to institute a provi
sional government until such time as
regular elective processes can be set in
motion. Dr. A. C. Millspaugh, former
financial adviser, has argued that while
It is true that stable government has
been established in Haiti by the Amer
ican occupation, it is a stability which is
not rooted in the institutions of the
country, but on the contrary is imposed
by the force of the United States.
These Institutions could never take
root under a perpetuated dictatorship,
which the Forbes Commission now
plans to end.
Diplomacy is often required to deal
with a well meaning nation that is
willing to “compromise,” provided .it
can have entirely its own way.
Leißons in Fire Prevention.
Senator Copeland of New York has
Inserted in the Record, as extension of
remarks, an article by William H.
Redds, member of the National Fire
Prevention Association, Underwriters’
Association of the District, which deals
with the cause of the White House
fire on Christmas Eve and suggests
steps that should be taken in preven
tion of fire in other public buildings.
Mr. Rodda states the cause of the
fire as follows:
The cause of the fire was clearly
indicated to be faulty construction of
the fireplace. Wood studs and furring
strips were in direct contact with a
four-inch fireplace and chimney, which
is. of course, absolutely contrary to the
accepted rules of fire protection.
The fire once more demonstrates very
clearly the folly of combustible con
struction for Important buildings, espe
cially whan they house operations and
documents as valuable as those in con
nection with the Federal Government.
It is obvious, too, that protective meas
ures such as used in mercantile and
manufacturing plans would have
avoided or reduced the loss.
Amplifying his statements concerning
the cause of the fire, Mr. Rodda de
clares that “the fireplaces thethselves
are built of one layer of brick, and in
places those bricks have been shaved
off so they will fit nicely against wood
studs. • • • The result of a hot fire
built in a fireplace with four-inch walls
in contact with wood studs could hardly
be other than what happened. The
wood stud Ignited and smoldered for
several hours, spreading in the parti
tion and finally burning through to the
attic above, where it burst forth Into
A flames.”
* While it Is locking the stable after
the horse has gone, it is to be taken
for granted that full inquiry has been
• made to determine responsibility for
construction that is thus put down as
j "absolutely contrary to the accepted
. rules of fire protection.”
r But what Is of more Interest now is
. the desirability of taking some of the
steps that Mr. Rodda suggests toward
prevention of future fires and fire losses
in Government buildings. The new
buildings now in the process of con
struction doubtless will represent all
the knowledge and means at hand for
1 fireproofing and minimizing the danger
i of fire. But other Government build
i ings, constructed long before the execu
[ tlve offices at the White House, no
! doubt contain fire hazards due to build
ing practice and materials long since
regarded as archaic and out-of-date.
. While it may be Impossible now to
“house all important operations, con
tents and records in buildings of flre
( resistive construction." a* Mr. Rodda
: recommends, it is not Impossible nor
1 impractical to initiate surveys that will
assure regularity of inspections by
! watchmen recording their rounds on
approved clocks; the installation of
modern and efficient fire alarm systems
in all public building* and the storage
of all important papers and documents
in safes and vaults. Worthless docu
ments, as in the case of the executive
offices fire, added to the difficulty of
extinguishing the flames. Such worth
less documents should not be allowed
to accumulate in huge bales in dusty
comers of the public buildings, where
many of them no doubt are at present.
The erection of an adequate archives
building will improve Government stor
age methods and facilities greatly. In
the meantime the White House and the
Capitol fires teach valuable lessons that
should be heeded.
The Tenth-Amendment Argument.
With astonishing persistence some
opponents of prohibition continue to
pitch their tune in the key of the
proposition that the eighteenth amend
ment is invalid, for one reason or an
other. Some aver that it was never
properly ratified. Some declare that
it was improperly and illegally phrased
in the inclusion of the time-limit pro
vision. Npw comes a special commit
tee of the* New York County Lawyers’
Association, which for two years has
been studying the question, and de
clares, by a vote of 6 to 1, that the
eighteenth amendment was illegally
adopted and ratified. The ground for
this remarkable conclusion, which hRs
been advanced before, is that the
eighteenth amendment is contrary to
the spirit of the tenth amendment,
which reads as follows:
The powers not delegsted to the
United states by the Constitution, nor
prohibited by it to the States, are re
served to the Btates respectively or to
the people:
This, say the six members of the
committee just reporting, was a per
petual guarantee against the delegation
of powers to the National Government
not already by the Constitution so
granted. "Without the promise that the
sacred and inviolate rights would be
so safeguarded by immediate amend
ment, the Constitution would never
have been adopted.”
It is almost as idle to wrestle with
this strange perversion of logic as it is
for its entertainers to propound it. The
Supreme Court has, in the light of this
and other arguments against the valid
ity of the eighteenth amendment, upheld
it as a part of the fundamental law,
properly written, adopted and ratified.
So the question really is a moot one,
however it is framed. Yet It is per
haps interesting to point out the In
consistency and absurdity of the con
tention that the eighteenth amendment
is invalid because of the implied pledge
of the tenth amendment to restrain the
Federal Government from any further
assumptions of power.
An amendment could have been
adopted at any time legally and with
full effect, after the tenth amendment
was proposed, adopted and ratified, re
pealing that amendment, and without
any breach of pledge. In other words,
the right to amend the Constitution in
any respect by the regularly prescribed
methods is inherent and inviolable.
The thirteenth amendment prohib
ited slavery or involuntary servitude
within the United States. That was not
one of the powers already given to the
Federal Government by the pre-tenth
amendment Constitution, The sixteenth
amendment empowered the Congress to
lay and collect taxes on incomes, which
was not one of the powers possessed by
Congress under the Constitution prior
to the adoption of the tenth amend
ment. The nineteenth amendment
guaranteed the right of suffrage to all
citizens regardless of sex. And this was
not a power already possessed by Con
gress or the Federal Government when
the original Constitution was written.
Invalidity on the score of the viola
tion of the tenth amendment pledge or
guarantee has not been seriously charged
In the cases of the thirteenth, sixteenth
and nineteenth amendments. All three
of those, and the eighteenth as well
were adopted and ratified by the regular
procedure. The New York County law
yers’ committee makes its final stand
upon the proposition that the eight
eenth amendment “can confer no
sowers on the National Government over
the people or their individual rights un
til ratified by the people themselves, as
sembled in constitutional conventions in
their several States.”
It is in vain that one seeks in the
body of the Constitution for any clause
which requires such a method of rati
: fleation.
An ideal system of legislation might
be more easily attained if the fair and
disinterested people would go to as
1 much trouble to inform themselves as
| to details as the professional lobbyist.
The Death of an Ace.
| Canada is mourning the loss of one
, of its greatest war-time air fighters and
the United States Joins with Its sister
I nation in the sense of bereavement.
. Col. William George Barker was un
i officially credited with bringing down
, sixty-eight enemy planes and received
I official credit for fifty-two. He was
1 one of the great aces of the war, and
t was the holder of the coveted Victoria
i Croat fir his extraordinary valor in
r crashing six German planes In one
i engagement, although himself badly
r wounded. He was also awarded decora
• tlons by other governments.
• But such is the irony of fate! This
> man who had lived through the inferno
of the greatest war In history, who had
r faced deal# for months, rot only from
THE EVENING STAB. WASHINGTON, D. C.. THURSDAY. MARCH 13, 1930.
, the enemy, but from the possibility that
i his own ships of war-time models could
’ not withstand the terrific strain put
i upon them and would disintegrate in
the air, was killed In a crash while
flying one of the most modem com
; mercial planes manufactured today, with
i weather conditions perfect and a land
. ing field within a short distance of the
scene of the crash. Col. Barker had
been in the air but ten minutes on a
test flight of the new plane when In
a steep climb upward, while still close
to the ground, his plane went into a
stall and nose-dived to earth, killing
the famous flyer Instantly.
That a man of Col. Barker’s ex
perience should meet death in this
manner does not necessarily imply that
the modem airplane is a hazardous
vehicle. He is said never to have flown
this particular type of ship before, and
until he had gained the “feel” of it,
it would appear to be an error of Judg
ment to perform maneuvers so close to
the ground, where the slightest mis
calculation is almost certain to end
fatally. The planea of today are
infinitely better than those used during
the war. But the human element
unfortunately remains the same.
The Frogreu of Radio.
The progress In the development of
communications was most strikingly Il
lustrated Tuesday when the entire
United States heard the voice of Rear
Admiral Richard E. Byrd, 10,000 miles
away in Dunedin. New Zealand, the
outpost of civilization which welcomed
him on his return from the conquest
of the frozen Antarctic.
Telephone lines, undersea cables and
long and short wave radio stations were
linked together for this epoch-making
event, the significance of which is les
sened only by the success of recent re
broadcasts from Germany, England and
Holland.
Static and magnetic disturbances,
which have long been the bugaboo of
radio broadcasting, again Illustrated
their supremacy over science by making
the words of Admiral Byrd inaudible
at times. But science is struggling hard
to conquer these foes, and when it doea.
round-the-world communication will be
a reality.
The experiment was a success, how
ever. despite the interference. Admiral
Byrd’s voice was heard distinctly sev
eral times, and his chfery “Ha, ha!”
resounded through millions of loud
speakers. There Is every reason to be
lieve that when another explorer goes
Into the Antarctic enterprising Ameri
can broadcasting stations will have an
announcer with him to give the country
a daily jump-by-jump description of the
expedition.
By remaining In office In spite of
defeat in a vote relating to coal mines,
Ramsay Macdonald calls attention to
an element of “relativity” in the
science of politics. The wise states
man is the one who preserves a sense
of proportion In differentiating be
tween the small forces behind public
opinion and the great ones. A defeat
may be only a minor Incident, not
worthy of being magnified In attention
as an event.
Great confidence is felt In the out
come of peace negotiation* In London
in spite of the interruptions in the
flow of thought necessitated by home
politics. However great and far-reach
ing a subject under discussion may be,
it is a rule of the ages that home poli
tics must come first.
Fiction does not monopolise interest
in mysterious disappearances, among
the most remarkable of which are still
to be noted those of Gaston B. Means,
professional underworld spy, and Grover
Bergdoll, who devoted the effort of a
lifetime to rounding out a successful
career as a slacker.
Interest will be revived in the Doheny
transactions, Although the accounts
are liable to look a little like the stories
on the bargain counter that have passed
their heyday of sensational publicity.
Fear of causing a sensation restrains
Admiral Byrd from discussing his pi«n»
for the future. He is a fine explorer,
but a not very enterprising publicity
expert.
SHOOTING STARS.
BY PHILANDER JOHNSON.
The Sad Scholar.
The teacher used to say to me
That two and two make four.
Alas, it doesn’t seem to be
The answer any morel
When I fill out my income tax,
With pious, painful care,
The rules seem strangely to relax
That once seemed strict and fair.
My efforts never quite agree,
However I contrive,
For two and two sometimes make three,
And sometimes they make five.
If my arithmetic should fail,
I fear the law’s grim rule.
Perhaps I’ll have to go to jail
Or be kept after school!
Relaxations.
“Do you think a man of great public
responsibility ought to permit himself
the diversions of ordinary humanity?"
“Certainly,” replied Senator Sorghum.
“There is nothing more sensible than
a little nonsense at the right time and
place.”
Jud Tunklns says the first robin Isn’t
near as satisfactory a sign of Spring as
the strictly fresh egg.
Obstruction.
You’ll always find a faction
That is hard to understand,
Who critizes action
When it ought to lend a hand.
What Price Beauty?
“Oood looks are of little value.”
“Quite true,” rejoined Miss Cayenne.
“Take dogs, for instance. The uglier one
is the more it seems to be worth.”
“He who learns to control himself,”
said Hi Ho, the sage of Chinatown, “may
find at least that he has conquered his
own worst enemy.”
An Egotistic Inquiry.
Why is It what I have to say
Seems such a serious matter,
Wnile thoughts of others on display
Appear but idle chatter?
“De worst kind of a haunted house
> I knows about,” said Uiuje Kben, “is
l de one where de landlorjkeeps cornin’
, ’round for de overdue rsQjF
THIS AND THAT
’ BY CHARLES B. TRACEWELL. ' « •
One will find in Robert Bridges’ poem,
“The Testament of Beauty.” nothing
startling, either in thought or treatment,
but simply a noble tradition upheld.
That is something. ,
Poetry creates excitement and exal
tation in the mind of the reader, and
if it secures neither of these effects, it
is either poor poetry or the reader is not
fitted for poems.
There is no escaping this diagnosis.
The trouble comes when standardized
educational processes insist on pouring
poetry unrestrainedly into all types of
minds, into those unfitted to receive it
as well as those which naturally have a
poetic bent.
All reading, in a sense, is an unnat
ural process. One does not often stop
to realize this, reading and writing are
so firmly fixed in the thought habtts of
the civilized world.
Physically speaking there is some
thing most unnatural in the sight of a
hearty, meat-eating animal, sitting still
in a chair, a small book clasped In its
paws, or hands. From time to time,
during this silent, almost motionless
process, a smile may light the face of
the reader, and occasionally an involun
tary exclamation may escape him.
He Is the reader, a sight so common
in the world that no one stops to realize
that it is the result of scores of years
of training, education, if you will. Sav
ages do not read; even hundreds of
thousands of persons subjected to civili
zation do not read a line.
Illiteracy is much more common than
many people like to think. Added to
the large numbers of those who cannot
read is the annual list of those who give
up reading, except on the most desul
tory scale.
** * *
Give up reading?
Surely. There are thousands of per
sons every year who calmly and unin
tentionally release themselves from the
bonds fastened upon them by their days
of enforced compulsory schooling.
Reading was the thing to do, they were
taught, but when manhood or woman
hood came, with its trials and tribula
tions, its own problems, they found that
books were not necessary, per se, in the
tasks which they faced.
Gradually they gave them up. until
by the age of 30 or 35 years they find
themselves In an almost non-reading
state, especially in comparison with
their school days. Many of them would
be astounded at the accusation that
thev had accepted a release from a
thing which they believed they liked.
They had been pressed for time, they
would declare: they ha,d been very busy,
and the new books were so many, they
found It difficult to “keep up with
them.” They surely had as much ap
preciation for a good book as ever, but
life has a strange way of making one do
what one does not like, and preventing
one from doing what he cares for.
And so on and so on, but whatever
the reasons, and whatever the cause, the
net result Is that many thousands of
persons every year, or over a period of
vears, give over the serious reading of
good books, and sit for the remainder
of their lives far from the edge of the
literary sea which seethes and bubbles
around the world.
** * *
Particularly do most “grown-ups”
forego poetry, except the occasional
jingles which strike the Urge public
fancy In a broad way.
Yet even here it is significant that
the two latest issues of the Modern
Library—that good collection of mod
erately priced books instituted to please
the sophisticated taste—are Homer’s
"Iliad” and “Odyssey.”
Here is much hope for those who may
be bemoaning the hard fate of true
poetry. The canny publishers of this
particular series of books have a repu
tation for issuing widely read books
It is said that if a book put Into the
Modern Library edition does not sell
well. It is withdrawn. It will be inter
esting to know the fate of Homer, but
Highlights on the Wide World
Excerpts From Newspapers of Other lands
El UNIVERSAL, Mexico City.—
Many epigrams and lots of
excuses have always been
showered upon the woman who
kills. Ingenious writers Invest
all such tragedies with a glamour and
justification that does not truly belong
to them. In many cases, indeed, as
if in apology for conditions which seem
to force women to take the law into
their own hands, in despair of getting
justice in the courts Cor from those who
owe them most), they are not only
acquitted, but are applauded, honored
with flowers, and all other aorta of
donations and notices, which furnish a
valuable advertisement for them in the
continuance of their "career.”
Our first impulse is to blame every
crime on the masculine element. Even
when a woman is caught with a
smoking revolver in her hand and the
victim at her feet, the feeling is not so
much antagonistic to her as reproachful
to the man who obliged her to resort
to such a desperate remedy. Woman
alone seems to have the paradoxical
right to kill to show her affection.
When they murder somebody, for "love,”
or in hysteria brought on by a jealous
fit, they simply appear to us as heroines
who keep alive within our hearts and
minds the eternal romance of life.
This charming philosophy of ours, it
can be well understood, tends to en
courage, rather than to diminish, the
prevalence of the No. 45 among the
femininity of this city.
Englishman's Home Is
His Castle.
Manchester Guardian.—The age-old
dictum that an Englishman's house is
his castle was established by a statute
of Richard 11, and Is in force today as
much as ever. No one can break into a
man’s house, not even the owner him
self, if somebody else is in temporary
possession. The reason is that such
action would occasion a breach of the
peace, and breach of the peace is
abhorrent to the law. A man may
defend the sanctity of his house even
to the point of killing the intruder, but
it is seldom, however, that such action
finds sympathy in a modem court of
law. A man also has the right to set
traps for burglars in his house or
garden, but is generally held responsible
when an Innocent person is injured. A
tenant has the right of removing his
temporary fixtures if done before the
termination of tenancy.
Celebrate Eightieth
Wedding Anniversary.
Cork Examiner.—Probably the oldest
married couple in the British Isles ara
Mr. and Mrs. Michael Coughlan or
Rapp House, Tullamore. 109 and 106
years, respectively. They have Just
celebrated the eightieth anniversary of
their marriage. During this long period
they have taken only one holiday, on
the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary
of their wedding dayl Mr. Coughlan
remembers the big storm that caused
so much havoc all over Ireland in 1633 |
I walked a distance of 15 miles to the
“town of Birr,” he said, “to see the
Main street, which was a mass of ruins.
I was out all that night helping to
release the many victims trapped be
neath the debris.” The famine of 1847
is another of his many recollections.
Mr. Coughlan works each day in his
little garden for exercise. It is 103 years
since he had his first drive in the old
Irish stage coach” that ran from Cork
to Dublin. He wears no glasses, touches
no liquor, but smokes an old blackthorn
pipe. Mrs. Coughlan attends to her
domestic duties with ease and ability.
“It seems but the other day when my
self and Michael were married,” she said,
“although that was in ’49. I always
practice the adage ‘Early to bed and
early to rise.' I am afraid the modern
young lady is too keen on amusements—
late hours, and a high life—while it
one may have reason for believing that
he will sell as well there as elsewhere.
It Is true that It to a proee translation,
toit that makes no difference with
Homer—even the best metrical trans
lations in English might as weU be
proas, for all practical purposes, due
to the Intense difficulty of turning the
Greek Into poetical English.
Nor to the poetical taste declining In
other directions, despite the fact that
emany do not care for verse at all and
ve It up at the first opportunity. A
»k of verse became a "best seller”
two years ago ("John Brown’s Body”),
and two short stories by a young man
named March have been successful, al
though done In ragged but clever verse
form. There has been also a “crime
novel” done In verse, but we do not
know whether successful as far as
sales are concerned.
sees
The point to, we believe, that poetry,
of all mediums of expression, to for Its
devotees, and for no others. Upon
those who love It to produced, by Its
reading, an Indescribable effect, difficult
to put Into words. If one remembers
the “definitions of poetry” which he
read In his youth from the pens of
Matthew Arnold and the like essayists,
he will recall vividly that no two writ
ers gave a similar definition, and that
no one of them did, in fact, give any
definition at all, In a real sense; for
aoetry to not to be lumped off in a few
words or described as one would an
airplane engine or the latest type of
radio set.
Poetry to not something easily de
fined. easily produced or easily read.
While its essence must be beauty, there
is plenty of beautiful prose in the world
of books, so that poetry has no monop
oly on this quality. Nor can it nar
rate a happening as well as prose, al
though the first tales were poems. It
has two qualities, however, which are
peculiarly its own—excitement and ex
altation. The first is a part of the lat
ter. The excitement of which we speak
is not a physical stirring, in any sense,
but simply the mental reaction which
comes with the reading of all good
work. Prose, whether novel, biography,
or whatnot, possesses this quality to a
degree. In the non-poetic mind it may
reside fully as much as In the poetic.
But when the poetically Inclined reader
gets true exaltation from a poem he
must possess a degree of mental excite
ment which no reader of proee alone
knows. Perhaps the only person who
can be sure of this as a fact is he who
reacts equally well both to words in
the prose forms and the poetic forms.
That is why only this type of reader
is willing to admit that the gigantic
word masses of such a writer as Walt
Whitman are essentially poetry, even
though the bulk of readers insist on
withholding from Whitman’s work the
sacred name of the muse.
The poetically Inclined reader, who
is by nature fitted to read poems, knows
that some of the prose of Emile Zola,
especially In his descriptions of mass
movements of men, such as the march
of the strikers in "Germinal,” is essen
tially poetry in prose form—might, in
deed. be broken into short lines. If one
cared to do so. The essays of Maeter
linck are easily so treated, and the
treatment forms an entertaining after
noon’s amusement for the curious
minded reader.
The gist of this is that only a cer
tain percentage of readers ought to read
poems. In any form, and that of this
number only a lesser number will care
for such a poet’s poem as “The Testa
ment of Beauty.” Such will enjoy it
for itself, not as a oentury-beating
work, which it is not, but because it
to a noble attempt to continue In the
world the poetic tradition of great
verse, poetry which stimulates the minds
of poetically inclined men to exalta
tion. containing ft? large, or unusually
large, portion of intellectual excitement
as its sure sign of worth.
lasts! I am not in love with her
fashions.”
The couple’s descendants number
threescore.
Japanese Leave Country
Because of Depression.
Japan Advertiser. Tokio. Japanese
emigrants up to the end of November,
since the beginning of 1929, as investi
gated by the Overseas Industrial Co.,
reached 15,616 in number, of whom
13,613 crossed over to Brazil, in South
America. Compared with the corre
sponding figures for the previous year
this is an increase of 6.366 emigrants.
This growing exodus is due to the busi
ness depression in Japan, and also the
policy of the government in facilitating
the departure of any who wish to try j
their fortunes in other lands.
Emigration to Brazil has been
encouraged by the establishment of a
Japanese colony in that country. The
Brazilian government has granted a
large tract of land to Japanese pro
moters in the northwestern part of their
territory, and over 25,000 Japanese have
taken root in this new environment.
Similarity of climate and agricultural
opportunities have made this concession
very agreeable to Japanese emigrants,
and much hitherto unoccupied land is
being developed.
Outcasts Forgotten in
Whirl of Festivities.
Diario del Comercio. Barranquilla
Poor little outcast boy—who has not
seen him lurking in the gloomy recess
of a doorway, illumined late at night by
the rays of a single star? His delicate
limbs without a better shelter, cold and
stiff; his tender sold forlorn without a
comforter! Poor deserted orphan! Thine
eyes dim with the same timid pleading
as those of the little dog beside thee,
thine only friend! Thy trembling hands
implore aid with the shrinking gestures
of precocious beggary! What desolation
must reign within thy breast, which
should at thy infant age be filled only
with the happy sports and loves of
childhood? For what fault of thine has
Fate overwhelmed thee with these cru
elties?
How can any of us be happy, though
surrounded by friends and resources;
how can we be happy, with all our
wants anticipated and lavishly fulfilled,
when there are presented to us such
tragedies of infancy for which we offer
no relief, or think that we can offer
no relief? Charity—what a mockery
we make of thy namel We attend bril
liant balls, festivals and banquets—we
salve our consciences by pitiful offerings
for the poor, but we shut them out from
that larger, holier charity, the charity
' of Christ that would make ourselves a
part of the gift to these unfortunates.
Celebrate Founding of
i Republic of Paraguay.
La Naclon. Buenos Aires. Recently
all the Paraguayans in the city cele
brated the fifty-ninth anniversary of
' the founding of the Republic of Para-
I guay. There was a general assembly
l at the Empire Theater in which two
films were shown, and various musical
: numbers rendered, as well as the
• execution” of the Paraguayan and
Argentine national hymns. The war in
which Paraguay preserved her inde
pendence and after which she pro
claimed the present republic was in
reality a Pyrrhic victory for her van
quishers. For after five years of war
Paraguay was invaded and laid waste
i by the allied forces of Brazil, Uruguay
and Argentina, but they could not agree
on her division, so Paraguayan autonomy
was preserved.
How Times Have Changed.
Prom the Louisville Times.
The good old days a ere those when
young people i.lived at home even be
fore they wef| married.
The Political Mill
Qy G. Gould Lincoln.
Announcement by William 8. Vare,
veteran Republican bom of Philadelphia,
that he would not be a candidate for
the Republican senatorial nomination
at the primary this year aeons to have
cleared the atmosphere In Pennsylvania
politics, which until recently has been
particularly muddled. According to Mr.
Vare, In his withdrawal announcement,
Secretory James J. Davis of the Depart
ment of Labor is to be a candidate for
the Senate, running against Senator
Joseph R. Grundy. Mr. Vare has urged
his friends to support Davis and also
Francis Shunk Brown, former attorney
general of the State, for governor. Mr.
Davis’ formal announcement of candi
dacy Is still to come, although It has
been predicted. Possibly It will be made
this week.
aa a a
Mr. Vare is a sick man. It is his 111
health, he says, which has caused him
to withdraw from the senatorial race
himself. His friends and supporters
have for weeks urged him not to endan
ger his life by attempting a campaign
for the nomination. Now that he Is out,
It remains to be seen Just how much
strength he can throw to the candi
dates he Is backing for Senator and
governor. Will he be able still to retain
his grip on the Philadelphia organisa
tion or will his influence fade out? The
Grundy people profess to believe that
they will have an appreciable number of
former Vare lieutenants In Philadelphia
back of their ticket. Mayor Mackey,
Vare's campaign manager when he ran
for the Senate in 1926, Is out for
Grundy.' But Mayor Mackey quit the
Vare camp months ago and backed a
ticket in the city election last Fall,
which failed to win because Mr. Vare
put a slate In the field himself.
** * *
One reason exists for a feeling that
the Vare organization will continue to
function effectively in Philadelphia,
even though Mr. Vare Is not a member
of the Senate or the House, or a candi
date for either. That is the dislike of
the City of Philadelphia to be a mere
province of the Republican organisation
built up In Pittsburgh, headed by the
Mellons, with Senator Grundy now
aspiring to leadership also. Further
more, the Vare leadership in Phila
delphia has become a tradition. William
S. is the third Vare to hold that leader
ship. When it seemed that the attack
on Vare in the Senate, which resulted
Anally in the denial of a seat In that
body to Vare, was to be successful, and
when Vare had suffered a stroke of
paralysis, there* was talk of a new
alignment in Philadelphia. But none
of the lesser leaders was strong enough
to seize the reins. Mayor Mackey de
sired the leadership. But so far he has
not been able to gain control of the
Republican organization.
** * *
It Is conceivable that the Philadelphia
organization may not be Interested
primarily In the election to the Senate
of Secretary Davis. He halls from the
western part of the State. But it Is
interested In the election of a candidate
of its own choice, and, further still. In
the election of a governor. It is no
secret that the desire to control in a
measure the office of governor means
far more to the organization than to
have a Senator of its choice. But in
the factional fights whieh have de
veloped in Pennsylvania In recent years
it has become the custom to place whole
tickets in the field, headed by candidates
for governor and Senator. With Vare
out of the picture, the Philadelphia
organization has swung to Davis in its
contest with the upstate organization.
The decision of Mr. Vare and his
friends to back Secretary Davis makes
the coming fight for the senatorial
nomination all the more Intense. Mr.
Davis will have many friends of his
own In the State. But hitherto he
has lacked organization support. The
Philadelphia organization, if It gets
back of him, with Its ramifications and
alliances in other counties. Is likely
to be a powerful factor.
** * *
The contest between Grundy and
Davis, if it comes, is likely to find
manufacturing interests aligned with
Grundy, and organized labor, generally
speaking, supporting Davis. Both men
have so far dodged the wet and dry
issue, Mr. Grundy’s only comment to
date being that “we believe in Pennsyl
vania in supporting the Constitution.’’
That does not commit him to much In
the eyes of either the wets or the drys.
So far nothing at all has come from
Mr. Davis on this subject. In some
quarters It has been presumed, how
ever, that Mr. Davis has been able to
satisfy Mr. Vare on this subject. Mr.
Vare ran himself In 1926 as a wring
ing-wet candidate and won over former
Senator Pepper, who, for the most part,
was rather Indefinite about the whole
matter.
It Is reported that Secretary Davis
both desires and Intends to remain in
the cabinet while he Is making his cam
paign for the senatorial nomination.
He has strong precedent for such action.
Both President Hoover and the late
President and Chief Justice Taft were
members of the cabinet when they were
candidates for the Republican nomina
tion for President.
** * *
The formal withdrawal of Mr. Vare
from the senatorial race brings to an
end the contests which grew out of
the Senate slush fund committee’s in
vestigations In 1926. Frank L. Smith
of Illinois and Mr. Vare, victors In the
elections in that year, were both under
fire. The contests before the Senate
itself dragged along for months and
years. The issue of State's rights was
made, the right of the people of a
State to elect and send to the Senate
any man they desired, But the ma
jority of the Senate turned a deaf ear
to such pleas. Neither Smith nor Vare
was permitted to be seated. And so
the issue closes for the time being, at
all events. A new slush fund commit
tee is soon to be appointed, under a
resolution offered by Senator Norris of
Nebraska, Progressive Republican. With
the record made in the Vare and Smith
cases, it is likely that contestants for
Senate honors this year will be very
careful what Is done by and for them.
** * *
Appointment of Judge William S.
Kenyon of the eighth judicial circuit
to be an associate justice of the Su
preme Court, to fill the vacancy caused
by the death of Justice Sanford, would
be a popular appointment In the West.
This is the Judgment of men who know
the sentiment of the people In that sec
tion of the country. It Is not conceiv
able, perhaps, that a President should
be guided by merely the popularity of
a choice In selecting men to sit on the
Supreme Court. But Judge Kenyon
has more to recommend him than his
popularity in lowa, Kansas, Minnesota
and other States of the West. He has
been an assistant to the Attorney Gen
eral during the Taft administration,
Senator from lowa, elected to fill the
vacancy caused by the death of Sena
tor Dolliver, and was appointed judge
of the United States Circuit Court of
Appeals by President Harding. He has
had a wide legal experience. He Is
now a member of the court Immediate
ly Inferior to the Supreme Court.
Judge Kenyon was urged to leave
the bench and make the race for the
Senate again In lowa this year. But
he declined. There Is not the slightest
doubt, his friends say, that he could
have swept the State in the sen
atorial election. At present he is serv
ing on the Law Enforcement Commis
sion appointed by President Hoover. In
the 1924 Republican.national conven
tion, Judge Kenyon’s name was put
forward prominently lor the vice presi
dential nomination. But a group of
Eastern leaders, including former Sena
tor Wadsworth of New York and Sena
tor David A. Reed of Pennsylvania, or
ganized a strong opposition to the
nomination and the movement for Ken
yon failed. Doubtless the same influ
ences which opposed the nomination
of Judge Kenyon at that time will be
exerted now against his appointment
to the Supreme Court. But the very
fact that such Influences were against
him would make the appointment all
the more popular in the West today.
ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS
v 111 1
BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN.
This newspaper puts at your disposal
a corps at trained researchers In Wash
ington who will answer questions for
you. They have access to the Govern
ment departments, the libraries, mu
seums. galleries and public buildings
and to the numerous associations
which maintain headquarters In the
Nation's Capital. I* they can be of
assistance to you, write your question
plainly and send with 2 cents in coin
or stamps to The evening Star Infor
mation Bureau, Frederic J. Baskin, di
rector, Washington, D. C.
Q. Who is the new Ambassador to
Poland?—B. 8.
A. John North Wlllys has been ap
pointed Ambassador to Poland. While
the late Alexander P. Moore had been
designated for that post, Mr. Wlllys
will be the first American Ambassador
to assume his duties In that capital.
Q. What is the name of Rudy Vallee’s
book? Did he write it himself?—B. S.
A. In the foreword to his autobiog
raphy, "Vagabond Dreams Come True.”
Rudy Vallee disclaims the assistance of
any ghost writer. "I believe,” he says,
"that I alone am capable of expressing
myself on this particular subject."
Q. What Is the cost per passenger to
go through the Sues Canal?—'W. W.
A. Fifty dollars.
Q. Who won the Bok gold medal for
advertising?—J. L. 8.
A. The Edward W. Bok gold medal
for distinguished contemporary service
to advertising was awarded recently to
Cyrus H. K. Curtis, publisher, because
of the strict adherence throughout his
distinguished career as a publisher to
the requirement, which he pioneered, of
high standards of reliability In adver
tising; because of the effort and en
couragement he has given to secure
better typography and reproduction in
magasines, ana because of the example
of wholesome journalism which he has
furnished.
Q Where are the most beautiful bo
tanical gardens In the world?—L. G.
A. What are so called are In Java.
They are said to be much more beau
tiful than any In Europe or America.
Q. Is it true that South American
aborigines have a process for shrinking
and preserving the heads of their slain
enemies?—C. H. 8.
A. This Is done by native tribes In
habiting the Amason jungles. They are
known as Jlvaro heads and are about
, the slse of an orange.
Q. When were special institutions for
the instruction of the blind established
in the United States?—D. G. W.
A. The first thought and purpose of
bulldlhg up special Institutions for the
instruction of the blind seem to have
occurred to benevolent persons In New
England, New York and Pennsylvania
almost simultaneously. The New York
Institution for the Blind was incorpo
rated April 22, IS3I. On March 18,
1832, Dr. John D. Russ began the edu
cation of three pupils. The progress of
the school was at first slow for want
of an efficient head to direct Its af
fairs. The Pennsylvania institution,
which is now one of the foremost In
the world, was founded In 18S8. Sub
sequently other schools were opened In
the various States.
Q. What Is called St. Elmo's fire?—
E. V. L.
A St. Elmo’s fire is the glow accom
'panylng the brushlike discharges of at
mospheric electricity which usually ap
pear as a tip of light on the extremi
ties of pointed objects, Such as a church
“Red Thursday” in America
Called Pink, Pale and Futile
Communist demonstrations in the
United States on “Red Thursday” are
declared by the press to have revealed
the complete failure of the Russian
cult to make headway in the United
States. Notwithstanding domestic ques
tions of employment, the alien influ
ence was Ignored by Americans gen
erally.
“They must have suffered a grievous
disappointment,” avers the New Or
leans Times-Picayune, while the Okla
homa City Times holds that “their
wildest efforts could avail little.” The
Lynchburg News calls the event a
“pink-tea affair,” the Bangor Commer
cial views it as "not so very red,” and
the Champaign News-Gaaette sees the
groups as pale pink.” The Sioux Falls
Argus-Leader calls them “overrated.”
“Communism has no place in Amer
ica and Communists should have none,”
declares the Los Angeles Evening Ex
press, which characterizes the doctrine
as a “foreign excrescence, brought here
by persons who are out of sympathy
with American Ideals and traditions
and institutions. Both the doctrine
and its devotees should be sent back
to whence they came,” this paper ad
vises. To the Elmira Star-Gasette the
propaganda of the Communists is “a
bad form of mischief making that
should be set down by force, if neces
sary.”
* * * *'
The Atlanta Journal says regarding
the weak showing made by the Com
munists on March 6, "Evidently the
theories which have reduced Russia to
so wretched a state are not congenial
to American minds.” As to the condi
tion of the people of Russia under the
Soviet, the Long Beach Press-Telegram
states: “Conditions in Russia today
are many times worse than in Amer
ica. Aside from the shortage of food
and shelter, the destruction of the ideals
of home life, the crushing of religion
and the exercise of other policies ob
noxious to American standards. Russia
is in constant fear of enemies, both
from within and without. Class is ar
rayed against class. * * * A system
of government that can sustain Itself at
home only by wholesale espionage on
its own people, by threats backed by
terrorism, and by maintaining the largest
standing army oh the face of the earth
is not a system that carries any appeal
in the United States,” concludes this
Journal.
But with the unemployed, driven to
seek relief from an intolerable condi
tion. the press has keen sympathy and
voices anxious interest. On this mat
ter the Youngstown Daily Vindicator is
outspoken: “It is detrimental to the
cause of the unemployed that their
spokesmen should be Communists, for
the Communists admit they are acting
under orders from Moscow in stirring
up demonstrations in this country ana
Americans are not likely to stand for
anything of that sort. But.” this paper
continues, "the problem of unemploy
ment troubles everybody, and it would
be a mistake to let any one get the
idea that we are heartless in dealing
with it.”
** * *
The Ann Arbor Dally News says:
“Unemployment is not a Joke for any
body Who suffers from it. Whenever
and wherever it occurs practical reme
dies should be found without delay.” In
the opinion of the Savannah Morning
News, “hungry men do not reason very
carefully; philosophy does not thrive on
an empty stomach. So, while the agi
tators should be restrained from causing
trouble, it is well to deal gently with 1
American citizens who have the mis
fortune to be unemployed,” advises this
paper.
“The Communist, in a country like
the United States, where the average
honest workman enjoys luxuries un
known to the kings of a few genera
tions ago, knows that he cannot get
anywhere unless he seizes upon unem
ployment periods,” states the Madison
Wisconsin State Journal, “and so the
Communist takes the initiative and in-
3 sires the unemployment demonstra
on, and some of the unemployed find
this a means to express their griev
ances.”
The thought of the Chicago Dally
News is that “indications that idle men
would prv2ff to work If they had work
tower or the masts of ships, during 11
stormy weather. It Is commonly ac- Bp
companled by a crackling er fizzing B
noise. The name Bt. Elmo is an Italian B
corruption through Sant' Ermo of St. B
Erasmus, the patron saint of Mediter- B :
ranean sailors, who regard Bt. Elmo's ■
fire as the visible sign of his guardian- B|
ship.
Q Who was the first man "shipped ' I
of the Mayflower complement?—?. N. B
A. The pilot, John Clarke.
Q. How old were the Wright brothers H
when they first started .experiment- ■;
lng?—T. B.
A. According to the first biography of ■
the Inventors, "The Wright Brothers M
Fathers of Flight," by John R. Me- Bi
Mahon, they showed their Inventive B
minds at an early age. When Orville B
was 10 and Wilbur 14 they constructed ■
a wood-turning lathe out of lumber ■
from the wood pile, parts from an old ■
buggy and marbles tor ball bearings. ■
Its power plant was a foot treadle long ■
enough to accommodate the feet of six B
boys. When Orville was 17 and Wilbur B
21 they built a printing press with a B
second-hand tombstone as the flat bed. I
Their first revolutionary discovery was |
made from a cardboard box from which r
Wilbur had just sold a bicycle Inner P
tube. Orville had previously concluded ■
that lateral balance would be necessary I
to successful flight. As his brother I
twisted the Sides of the box he evolved J
the very .principle they had been seek
lng. This became the warp which, in its
present form of aileron, is essential to
the sidewise balance of airplane*
Q. Where is the smallest post office in
the United States?—W. H. C.
A. The smallest po6t office in the
United Btates is said to be at Grim
shaw, N. C. It is 8 feet long and 6 feet
wide, built of logs, with the Inside work
-1 lng space 6 by 5Va feet. W. A 8. Alex
ander is postmaster, and the business
1 of the office amounts to from $l5O to
1 $175 annually.
Q. Why is water sometimes cloudy
when drawn from the faucet and clear
after it stands a few minutes?—J. F.
A. Air in the pipes has been forced
into the water by pressure. It Is soon
released and the water becomes clear. *
Q. How much was the-housekeeper at
: Mount Vernon paid?—G. J.
A. Excerpts from a letter from George
Washington to Samuel Frauncis follow:
"As no other person can judge better of
! the qualifications necessary to consti
' tute a good housekeeper, or household
steward, than yourself, fbr a family which
, has a good deal of company, and wishes
to entertain them in a plain, but gen
teel style, I take the liberty of asking
> you, if there is any such one within
, your reach whom you think could be
, induced to come to me on reasonable
, wages. I would rather have a man than
k a woman, but either will do, If they can
be recommended for their honesty,
‘ sobriety and knowledge of their profes
sion; which, in one word, Is to relieve
! Mrs. Washington from the drudgery of
> ordering, and seeing the table properly
: covered, and things economically used.
! Nothing more, therefore, needs be said,
to Inform you of a character that would
[ suit me, than what is already mentioned.
, The wages 1 now give to a man, who is
, about to leave me In order to get mar
ried (under which circumstances he
would not suit me), is about SIOO per
. annum, but If one who understands the
business perfectly, and stands fair in all
> other respects, I would go as far as
’ $125." Washington's diary Indicates that
■ he found it necessary to pay Richard
• Burnet £4O a year as steward. This was
t about S2OO.
to do are in themselves encouraging
from the point of view of a sympathetic
public. Such men should not be left to
follow wroiw-headed or malevolent
leadership. Their needs should not be
ignored,” contends the News.
"The sorriest spectacle to be witnessed
is the cunning with which the advocates
of those erroneous theories attach them
selves to those who would not listen to
their tirades if idleness did not supply
the opportunity for the un-American
subjects,” declares the Fort Worth Rec
ord-Telegram.
*★ * *
Although the Communist pretends to
be the friend of the workingman, many
editors point out that the labor unions
in America are his most relentless foes.
And yet “Russian money is being ex
pended in America for the double pur
pose of creating sentiment in favor of
world revolution and to bring legitimate
labor organizations into disfavor," as
the Harrisburg Telegraph notes, saying
further: “They would like to have it
appear that trades unions are back of
the riots Soviet employes stir up, so
that public opinion would be turned
against them and their destruction
made possible, for the labor organiza
tion. as we know. Is bitterly opposed
to Communism; It regards the Russian
scheme rightly as a deadly enemy.”
As the New York Times says, “The
fact that organized labor discerns in
Communism the foe of the trade union
will explain why labor displays less pa
tience with Communism than is ex
hibited by ‘bourgeois’ liberals and
radicals.” •
As to the Communist menace in. this
country, the Louisville Courier-Journal
rates “the red menace as no more
alarming today than when ‘Gen.’ Coxey
marched his army on Washington.” The '
Asbury Park Evening Press says:
“Whatever value is attached to Com
munist principles has always been vague,
and the party’s failure to formulate a
feasible program has not aided its at- -
tempt to solicit suppdrt. Now, after 10
years of campaigning. Communist dem
onstrations and propaganda have de
clined from a menace to a petty an
noyance.” this paper asserts.
Indeed, “it has been established re
peatedly that this country is a poor
field for these mischief makers," con
tends the Manchester Union.
“Our Communists are noisy, but not
powerful.” as the Fort Wayne News-
Sentinel puts it.
“Their power is almost solely of the
lung,” agrees the Dayton Daily News,
while it estimates that “there is about
one Communist to every 150 square
miles of the United States, so not even
with all their lung power can the Com
munists enclamor the whole country."
However, notes of warning are sounded
in some quarters. The Danbury News,
while agreeing that “the widest freedom
of speech permissible under the law has
always been enjoyed here, and should
be enjoyed," still declares, “But there
must be no confusion of license with
liberty.” >
They'll See to That.
From the Fort Wayne Newe-SentlneL
British physician says a man who
sings at the top of his voice for an
hour a day will never be bothered with
chest complaints in his old age. Righto!
Leave it to the neighbors!
Both Brief and Funny.
From the Louisville Times.
If brevity is really the soul of wit,
then the tenure of a French cabinet is
Just about the funniest thing in the
world.
Going 'Round in Rings.
From the Sprlnsfleld (Mo > News and Leader.
The Senate must have gotten its train
ing from monkeying with (he revolving
door - . t
A Fitting Prize.
From the Pittaburth Post-Gaxette.
The Maine octogenarian who has worn
the same hat and coat for 50 years
might be awarded a trip to Scotland as
a prize.