Evening star. [volume], August 02, 1931, Page 2, Image 26

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

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2
THE EVENING STAR
With Sunday Morning Edition.
WASHINGTON, D. C.
SUNDAY August S, 1831
THEODORE W. NOYES Editor
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Taking Red Cross Out of Politics.
Indications are that a determined
effort will be made at the next session
of Congress to “take the American Red
Croos out of politics.” It goes without
saying that the sponsors of the proposal
are actuated by the* most sublime of
human motives, and that their victory
will be ranked among the blessings to
mankind. The only difference of
opinion likely to arise will be over the
procedure.
Senator Caraway's plan is understood
to contemplate making the Red Cross
independent of any appointive or elected
officer of the Government. This would,
of course, mean removing the President
of the United States from the position
he occupies, by virtue of that office, as
president of the American Red Cross.
But before attempting thus to take the
Red Cross out of politics, would It not be
wiser first to determine the rout* by
which it entered.
Who put the Red Cross into politics?
Who has fashioned the Red Cross, for
the first time, into an instrument that
can be used to hit the administration?
Who has capitalised it as campaign
material, charged It with the task of
feeding every hungry man and woman,
abolishing poverty, curing the ills of
the coal industry, preventing disease
and has then belabored it for failure and
attributed such failure to connivance
between the President of the United
States and its chairman? Who is re
sponsible for meeting Its public appeal
for funds by prom's' in effect, that
the Federal Govern rent would supply
the need? Who r ? those who first
attacked the Red Cross for having
failed to meet an .ecedented na
tional crisis and then, with the malevo
lent mischief of irresponsible bad boys,
proceeded to throw monkey wrench
after monkey wrench into its relief
machinery by charging that it was
functioning to suppress facts and
further the Interests of a political
party?
The politicians put the Red Cross into
politics and the politicians can destroy
its usefulness to the American people
altogether by making it their own little
foot ball. Or they can, as Senator
Caraway proposes, take it out of politics,
not by monkeying with its organisation,
but by conceiving it as the one great
national organization for the relief of
disaster and distress and proceeding to
use their Influence as statesmen to
strengthen its sinews for the supreme
test that faces the Nation today. To do
this, of course, requires the intellect and
the capacity to throw aside obstructive
partisanship in favor of the constructive
leadership that America needs. The
politicians, who put it there, must take
the American Red Cross out of politics.
Wage adjustments are not showing
much consideration for the white-collar
man. His embarrassments this Sum
mer have not been completed by the
necessity of figuring as the wilted-col
lar man.
"Automobiles will always be in de
mand," says Henry Ford. This means
that the parking problem is further
from solution than ever.
Building a Great Memorial.
The poposed George Washington
Memorial Parkway, skirting both banks
or the Potomac from Mount Vernon to
Great Falls, Is easily the predominant
feature of the Capper-Cramton park
legislation and, at the same time, the
most difficult of attainment. The cost
of the land and development, for one
thing, is tremendous, requiring an
eventual outlay of about $15,000,000.
The Federal Government's share of
the undertaking, $7,500,000, has already
been authorized and, of this amount, a
million dollars is now available. Bui.
the authorized and appropriated moneys
are tied up by the Important proviso
that they are not to be spent until the
State of Maryland or Virginia, or the
political subdivisions thereof, or “other
responsible sources'* make available
their share of the funds.
The difficulty of raising the State
share of the $15,000,000 required is
obvious, but there is no lack of senti
ment in favor of the project in either
Maryland or Virginia. The nature of
the memorial Itself commends it. It is
regarded as one of the greatest parts
of the whole, broad scheme of develop
ing the Capital and its environs. And
the loss to the people of the extraordi
narily beauUfec And picturesque land
Involved is not to be contemplated.
The recently announced formation,
therefore, of an Incorporated Board of
Trustees, representing in Its membership
tha District of Columbia, Maryland and
Virginia, is to be regarded as one of
the Important steps toward realizing
the acquisition and eventual develop
ment of the parkway. The board will
be charged with the acceptance of gifts
or pledges from private sources, from
the States or from their political sub
divisions, to be applied toward the pur
chase and development of the parkway.
Congress has authorized the advance or
loan of Federal funds for acquisition of
different units of the land When and
if there is definite assurance that its
funds will be matched and repaid, with
out Interest, over a period of eight year*:
The newly created Board of Trustees will
toil empowered to seek and to accept
the donations In land, cash or pledges.
And, once in hand, these gifts will en
■ able the Federal Government, through
the National Capital Park and Planning
Commission, to proceed with the ex
penditure of the funds appropriated.
. One of the advantages of the plan is
the elimination of otherwise cumber
some red tape. For the money donated
by individuals, or appropriated by the
States or their political subdivisions will,
in effect, be held in trust by the Board
of Trustees. Should the great plan for
the George Washington Memorial Park
way fall, the money can be returned to
the donors without resort to the
clumsy process of obtaining congres
sional authorization for its refund.
The Federal Government, In other
words, will not accept the funds from
the States until they are complete.
But it can proceed to protect, by op
tion or purchase, all of the lands de
sired without hazarding eventual suc
cess by years of delay.
Nothing approaching the magnitud!
of the parkway project can be realized
without years of consistent effort and
hard work. Such memorials are not
built In a day. In addition to the de
tailed work of merely accepting and
holding in trust the moneys or other
donations for the parkway, the board
of trustees Is to develop the already ex
iting sentiment in favor of the project
and shape it Into tangible form. It ia
not believed that the people of Mary
land or Virginia will permit the op
portunity to share in the building of
this memorial to go unanswered. The
board of trustees takes up its work at
the outset with great promise of success.
live Stock in Russia.
Whether Soviet Russia, as Lady Astor
remarks after an exhaustive Inspection
lasting one week, Is "the best run coun
try In the world” will remain a matter
of opinion, but there can be no doubt
that it Is just now a country bristling
with bold experiments. As a belated
segment of the five-year plan for in
dustry and following the 1929-1930 plan
for agriculture, Dictator Stalin has now
decreed a two-year plan for live stock
raising. A decree Just promulgated at
Moscow calls for an Intensive program
for the breeding of pigs, sheep, cattle,
poultry and rabbits during the re
mainder of 1931 and In 1932. The
carrying out of the scheme is termed
“the central problem of Soviet agricul
ture henceforward, just as grain pro
duction was in the years 1929 and 1930.”
Once live stock whence meat for
food is derivable Is being raised In
adequate quantities, the Soviet has
arranged for adequate facilities to ex
ploit it. Two replicas of the famous
Union Stock Yards at Chicago, once
1 the Windy City’s odoriferous glory, are
to be built. An American meat-packing
specialist has just returned to Moscow
from Chicago with the necessary plans.
He asserts that the plants to be erected
in Russia will be the equal in size.
! equipment and production capiudty of
anything in the world.
Stalin's recently proclaimed policy of
“greater reward for greater service" Is
to be extended to growers of live stock.
Walter Duranty, New York Times cor
! respondent in Moscow, asserts that the
I abandonment of the proletarian princi
ple of paying everybody the same wage,
irrespective of skill or output. Is pro
' during good results throughout Russian
industry. If Stalin contrives to fire the
cattle-raising peasantry with enthusiasm
for the two-year plan, Russia will be
on the high road to complete independ
ence. so far as its food supply Is
concerned.
What will interest America and other
cattle-raising countries most Is whether
the day is dawning when “dumped" j
Russian beef, pork and mutton, fabri
cated on modern lines, will become the ;
same menace in the International mar- :
ket as Soviet “dumped” wheat already
Is. If such a prospect Is realized, Soviet
forced labor conjures up a fresh peril
for the capitalistic world, especially
lands like Argentina. Canada and Aus
tralia, as well as the United States,
hitherto the great meat-producing and
exporting countries.
- » “
British Sensibilities.
If there were need of further proof
of the absurdity of the proposal to omit
the surrender scene from the Yorktown
centennial pageant. It is furnished by
the account that comes from England
of a plan to celebrate the Bicentennial
of Washington's birth next year at the
ancestral home of the Washington
family. In the county of Durham, with
a pageant which will include that very
scene of Cornwallis yielding his sword
to the American commander in chief.
This celebration Is to take place at the
town of Washington, originally Wessy
ir.3ton. British sensibilities on the
rcore of the defeat of Cornwallis are
evidently not so keen as has been sup
posed by those proposing the omission
from the American pageant of the
climactric of the event which is being
commemorated.
If one got down to the brass tacks
of the matter it would probably be
found that the British people are
amused at the suggestion that they
would be offended at the inclusion of
the surrender scene in the Yorktown
pageant. There is no evidence at all
in this country to show that there is
any Interest whatever in England In
the plans for this celebration. To the
folks overseas the Yorktown affair was
simply the last act of a national
blunder, for there was great sympathy
in England with the American col
onists who were struggling to establish
their independence. , While there were
Tories here, there were pro-Americans,
as they would now be called, in Eng
land.
Steel has often been referred to as
being either a prince or a pauper. As
a matter of fact steel has Its ups and
downs in a career of usefulness like A
member of the plain proletariat.
Mayor Jimmy Seeks Discipline.
Mayor Jimmy Walker of New York
is about to take another vacation. He'
plans to leave next week for a rest
cure in Germany, accompanied by a
physician. He feels that although he
has been absent from the city several
, times during his second administration,
■ he has not had a "real vacation” for
a-year and a half. He tried to take
i one two or three months ago, going
: cut to the West Coast for a holiday,
but the rude critics of his official con
: duct haled him back to Manhattan to
1 answer que*tl<]ps and defend himself
i against charges of negligence and dere
*THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C,, AUGUST 2, 1931—PART TWO. '
liction of duty, whicn was no way -to
treat a tired municipal executive.
Mayor Jimmy says that he Is taking
a physician along with him to Germany
so that he will follow dlseiplln#, “It s
the discipline that I think will do me
good there,” he remarks. "I could
probably observe the same regulations
at home if I had somebody standing
over me to make me follow them.”
That raises an interesting question, per
taining to official discipline. The
mayor's rejoinder to his critics and the
Governor’s acceptance of his defense
would suggest that there is no disci
plinarian on the Job In New York to
insure the official health of the execu
tive. And that fact may have a bear
ing upon the pclttical developments of
the next few months.
Lest it be suspected that Mayor
Jimmy is going away to avoid testifying
before the special legislative commit
tee now conducting an exhav stive in
quiry into the affairs of Orea.sr New
York, he has Just gone before one of
the sections of the committee to tell all
he knows about certain transactions
before the Board of Standards and Ap
peals of Ihe Fir* Department In the
days when he was a practicing lawyer
and not a municipal official. His testi
mony amounted to precisely nothing,
for he could not recall a single circum
stance bearing in any way upon the
dealings that It is suspected led to rapid
enrichment of certain personal bank
acoounts.
Interesting Ideas have been advanced
by Henry Ford regarding the desirabil
ity of maintaining a high wage scale.
If he can ahow the way to such an ar
rangement in all lines of business he
will be more useful as an economist
than as a manufacturer and will possibly
be drafted for political service whether
he chooses or not.
... ... — » $
The only embarrassment that can
arise from discussion of the surrender
of Cornwallis is a revival of the old
controversy as to whether England or
the U. S. A. has the better sense of
humor. In this case the Britisher who
laughs the matter off appears to have
a shade the better of the argument.
Rumor, which ha- many ways of at
tacking a successful ‘man, intimate*
that Mussolini is on the verge of severe
illness. It is startling to think of the
energy this man might develop If he
were in thorough health.
■ ■ ■ ■—» ■ ■■ $ ■
Having landed mall in the Arctic
Circle the Graf Zeppelin may look for
ward to still another field of usefulness
as soon as the Eskimos learn to read
and write.
SHOOTING STARS.
BY PHILANDER JOHNSON.
, The Favorite Season.
Oh, de sun he come each mornln’
brightly smilin' in de sky.
An' he lingers In de evenin’ like he hate
to say good-by.’
De birds, dey keep a Ringin' an’ de but
terflies is wingin'
An’ de honey bees is braggin’ 'bout de
sweetness dey Is bringin',
An' dis life dat we Is livin'—well, J tells
you dat it's prime.
Especial.v when you strikes it jes' 'bout
water-million time.
Oh, de grass is green an' shiny, like de
outside of de rind.
An’ de sky Is red at evenin'—like de
ripe an’ juicy kind.
An’ de seeds Is small objections dat
comes up in all directions
• To bother us a little without changin'
. our affections.
I You kin talk of Spring an' Summer,
j vdf yoh music an’ yoh rhyme,
But dar ain’ no other season good as
water-million time.
A Proper Humility.
The taunts which today ’round the bil
lionaire fall
The most, of us ne’er could endure.
It may become needful the fact to recall
That we musn’t be proud ’cause we're
poor.
Another Definition.
"Father." said the small boy, "what Is
a pessimist?”
“A pessimist, my son. is a man who
believes everything he reads In the
magazines.”
An Aphorism Revived.
That, poverty is no disgrace
Is an old-fashioned saying which
Finds force anew when many men
Apologize for being rich.
An Absurd Phrase.
"Mr. Bliggins has the artistic tem
perament."
"Don't say that,” responded Miss Cay
enne. "Whenever I hear that a man
has the artistic temperament I can’t
avoid an impression that he borrows
and forgets to pay.”
A Great Man's Phiz.
"You are going to sit for another ex
pensive portrait in oil?”
"Yes,” answered Mr. Dustin Stax.
"I’ve got to go before posterity with
some evidence in rebuttal of what the
sketch artists and amateur photogra
phers are offering.”
Fads and Fancies.
The folk who guide the “smart set’s”
ways a
’Mid social necromancies
Have naught to do, each leader says,
With things like fads and fancies.
The man who sees how dainty art
The charms of youth enhances
Believes the set that's truly smart
Is known by girls and glances.
The cynic, as he views the maze 1
Where nimble Cupid prances,
Asserts that nothing meets his gaze
Excepting duds and dances.
“D* every-day man dat pays his rent
reg’lar,” v said Uncle Eben. “don’t git
near de credit dat’s cornin’ to him foh
bein’ a financier.”
■»» i
“Buy a Stamp” Move.
From th# Detroit News.
Now if every one wore a vest during a
warm wave and Just carried a dollar's
worth of stamps about in- th? same, the
Post Office deficit would disappear in
jig time.
Just as Comfortable.
Prom the. Butte Montana Standard.
In that Canadian city which requires
that bathing suits reach three inches
beneath the knees, visiting‘American
girls might as well bathe In tpelr itreet
clothes.
ORDERLY LIVING
BY THE RIGHT REV. JAMES E. FREEMAN, D. D„ LL. Z>,
Bishop of Washington.
Text: “To every thing there is a
season, and a time to every purpose
under the heaven." — Ecclesiastes,
iti.l.
The perfect order of the universp in
which we live is evident to us on every
hand. Season follows season In unin
terrupted succession, and seed time and
harvest, Winter and Summer proceed
with a regularity that knows no let or
hindrance. So accurate are the move
ments of the planets in their courses
that we have come to make precis? fore
casts of their movements and to make
accurate time tables concerning them.
We live in an ordered and orderly
world. It was this that prompted the
Psalmist to cry out: “When I consider
the heavens, the work of Thy fingers,
the moon snd the stars, which Thou
hast ordained; what Is man. that Thou
art mindful of him?” To the mind of
th? poet so precise and orderly was the
world about him that he could not con
ceive of Its Creator as deigning to con
sider man.
It is an anomalous fact that, in the
midst of this perfect system and order,
man should be the rebel. He alone
seems to be ungoverned and ungovern
able. He Is unwilling to be regulated by
rules or to be governed by system.
Time tables and prescriptions that con
cern his habit and practice he Is un
willing to consider. He wishes to be a
free lane* and to live his life according
to his own behests. In the face of all
this. It Is clearly evident as life proceeds
that It cannot be enjoyed unless It
recognizes definite rules and regulations
that concern Its well being. From the
beginning of time wise thinkers and
philosophers have been endeavoring to
make evident that, rules are Indispen
sable to man’s highest happiness and
efficiency. An ancient authority, name
ly, Hippocrates, at the beginning of hla
medical aphorisms says: Xlfe is short
art is long, opportunity fleeting, experi
ence uncertain and Judgment difficult."
One of the most modern of theae great
thinkers has said: “The main thing to
Less Work and More Loafing
As a Solution for Depression
• BY WILLIAM HARD.
Working less and loafing more is an
Idea that seems to have made great
strides at Washington during this last
week as a contribution to the solution
of our economic woes.
Great favorable interest has been
aroused in Washington. by the efforts
of the Legislature and Oovernor of
Texas to assemble an Interstate con
ference for growing less cotton and for
spending more time doing something
else or nothing. /
Jubilation Is expressed that a lot of
Western farmers are reported to be
refusing to plough their fields for more
Winter wheat and to be taking life
c - sier.
Tt is announced that the "Voluntary
Committee on Petroleum Economics”
of the Federal Oil Conservation. Board
Is now preparing an estimate of the
prospsetive “demand for gasoline” and
of the prospective "supply of gasoline"
for the last quarter of this year in order
that producers may be encouraged to
stop overworking themselves at pump
ing up so much superfluous petroleum
out of the ground.
** * *
The "Lumber Survey Committee” of
the Federal Timber Conservation Board
has reported and recommended that
during the last six months of this year
the producers of timber should He back
and let the trees grow and cut down
only a “minimum' number of them.
» The Secretary of Labor has an
nounced that nobody should work more
than five days a week in an ideal
United States and that It would be well
if on each of those five days he should
carefully confine himself to working
only six hours.
It becomes apparent that "the stren
uous life" Is what has been ailing this
country ever since the days of Roose
velt and that after keeping cool with
Coolidge the idea now Is to calm down
with Hoover.
** * *
It is thought appropriate that Texas
should take the lead In calling for
concerted action to do less work on
cotton—and on some other things.
Texas seems to have been one of the
busiest bad boys in our Union for a
long time.
The Department of Agriculture re
ports that in the last 10 years t#ie ultra
workers of Texas have added some six
million acres to their cotton labors.
It also reports that in the last 'five
years they have aded more than a mil
lion acres to their wheat labors. The
American Petroleum Institute reports
thßt In the last year they have added
two hundred thousand barrels a day
to their oil labors.
** * *
In all of these instances these super*
energetic Texans hate caused great
losses In prices and in incomes to
themselves and to their fellow
countrymen. One of the Nation's
greatest instant problems is seemingly
to diminish the working zeal of Texans.
This may be attempted emphatically In
Washington in the next House of
Representatives if it is organized by
the Democrats, whereupon Mr. Gamer
of Texas will become Speaker and the
chairmanships of most of the most ac
tive committees will be held by vigilant
and vivacious Texas statesmen. It is
hoped here that in those circumstances
a House of Representatives invigorated
by Texans will be able to tame Texas.
Texas now has a commissioner of
agriculture, Mr. J. E. McDonald, who
has reported to the Federal Farm
Board that it is hopeless to try to
“educate" Texans into working less at
cotton growing. He says that you
have to lick them into it by law. He says
that you have to have a law that will
lust simply make them grow leas. He
says that almost all the Texas farmers
who have given any thought to the
matter believe that the only way to do
it is by mandatory legislation.
** * *
This notion is not really quite auch
a novelty as It might seem to be. There
is no doubt whatsoever that the orllt
of national thdßght today Is toward
putting compulsory checks upon pro
ducers either directly by the Govern
ment or Indirectly through supervised
organizations of their own. '
The Hoover administration has
checked producers of petroleum and
producers of timber by strong restric
tions upon new petroleum operations
and upon new timber operations on
Government lands. It has aided the
restrictive ambitions and activities of
the petroleum-producing States through
granting to them the solemn official
blessing of the Federal Oil Conserva
tion Board. It now begins to sprinkle
a similar blessing upon the timber
producers through the rapidly emerg
ing endeavors of the new Federal
Timber Conservation Board, chair
maned by Secretary of Commerce
Lament.
** * *
Just “as a committee of the Federal
Oil Conservation Board has several
times made estimates of demand and
supply in order that oil produoers
might try to keep themselves within
profitable limits of effort, so now a
committee of the Federal Timber Con
servation IToard is beglning to make
similar estimates of demand and sup
ply for a similar purpose of output
restriction and of ultimate reasonable
price securement.
The advantage of these developments
is plain.
If private Texans, or Oklahomans
or South Carolinians should agree
among themselves to give us less cot
i ton till they got a decenter living out
t of it, their behavior would be—from the
; strictly Wgal point Os view—a conspiracy
in restraint of trade. If their Statee
learn in life is how to live.” Btill an
other suggests: "More men have de
stroyed themselves than have ever been
destroyed by others; more houses and
cities have perished at th* hands of
men than storms or earthquakes have
ever destroyed.”
In an engaging little book entitled
"Twenty-four Hours a Day” Arnold
Bennett sets forth a plan for so adjust
ing and regulating life's habits and
practices that discord and waste are
eliminated and efficiency Immeasurably
Increased. All of us have the normal
desire to get out of life all that there
Is in It. In our better hours we seek to
make our contributions to the weal and
happiness of others. We know that
selfish living proves unsatisfactory and'
that only as we merge our Interests
with those of our fellows do we attain
satisfaction. Entirely apart from all
that we may achieve or acquire in the
way of material advantage, orderly liv
ing contemplates as its primary purooee
the devlopment of character. Without
this life becomes chaotic and purpose
less. "To grow a soul” Is life’s highest
aim and design. To accomplish this
compels us to recognize the place and
value of religion. Whittier declares:
“The riddle of the world Is understood
Only by him who knows that Ood is
good.”
We are so constituted, we have such
appetites and yearnings, that to satisfy
them we reach out beyond the things of
time and sense. This is universally
true concerning man. Along with the
practice of orderly living there must be
the recognition of definite periods of
quiet and repose. Observed dally, it
stabilizes life, increases its efficiency
and lends satisfaction to Its deepest
yearnings and desires. It was to at
tain this, the greatest good, that the
Master gave to men a plan of life that
has design and purpose. These Sum
mer days will renew and refrash us
physically and mentally. If we seek to
get a larger view of life's real meaning
snd design.
| by law order them to grow leas cotton
It Is not a conspiracy.
■ Similarly, If a committee of the
' American Petroleum Institute, a private
body, should get out statistics intended
; to curtail oil production, It would alarm
| Attorney Oeneral Mitchell, but If a
committee of the Federal Oil Conserva
i tion Board of the Government of the
United States gets out the same statis
tics In order to arrive at the same
objective Mr. Mitchell Is unconcerned.
** * *
The process of thought Involved has
three steps:
1. Concerted action is necessary to
prevent ruin through overproduction.
2. Concerted actio? through private
producers simply by a id among them
selves would be oppressive snd extor
tionate.
3. Therefore concerted action must
be accomplished through governments,
federal and local.
It has been argued to members of the
Federal Farm Board by lawyers of
distinction that the board now by law
has the power to control the produc
tion of agricultural commodities through
controlling interstate shipments of
them. These lawyers would have the j
board allocate to each cotton-produc- 1
Ing State, for instance, the right to j
produce a certain number of bales |
of cotton and then refuse to license'
the shipment out of that State of more 1
than that number.
** * *
The board does not believe that it j
possesses such s power. The discus
sion then turns to the desirability of
conferring such a power upon it. Bills
moving in that direction are expected
i in the next Congress.
That output restriction* of some sort
will be In eome way legalized in many
i Industries, agricultural and non-agrl
j cultural, during the next few years
begins to be accepted here as an over
whelming probability. The effect upon
employment of wage-earners Is there
upon visualized as an expanding
problem.
The "Lumber Survey Committee" of
the Federal Timber Conservation Board,
in urging curtailment of lumber pro
! ductlon, says: '
“Consideration should be given by
individual manufacturers to the tim
ing of reduction of production in such
a manner as to Involve minimum hard
ship to dependent employes.”
Hence another reason why the Secre
tary of Labor, Mr. Doak, and the presi
dent of the American Federation of
Labor. Mr. Green, talk so much and
so often about the five-day week and
the six-hour day and more leisure and
the same pay.
** * *
! The ultimate generalization of the
whole matter la:
This week emphasizes the proposition
that we sre moving toward controlled
production and that with It we are
moving toward a constantly sharpened
demand by labor for curtailed toll, but
assured inoome. Governments stabiliz
ing the producer will ultimately find
themselves stabilizing the wage-earner,
snd the stateammen who do It will con
tinue to denounce "bureaus"—and to
create them.
(Copyright. 1531.)
What Happens to the
Consumer's Dollar
BY HARDEN COLFAX.
Some very interesting facts concern
ing what happens to the consumer's dol
lar when he or she spends It in any of
the retail stores throughout the coun
try are being brought out by the census
of retail distribution in a series of really
remarkable bulletins.
The total value of all goods available
for trade, this census snows, "f. o. b.
point of production or import,” is Just
short of 190.500,000,000 annually. The
value of goods for the household market
has its share of Just over $32,000,000,000.
In this series of bulletins the Bureau
of the Census shows how all the various
commodities or articles are used by the
consumer. From the figures for cities
of 10,000 population or over the distri
bution of various goods and merchandise
can be seen.
** * *
For example, the distribution of food,
which is always the biggest item bid
ding for the consumer's dollar. In cities
of 10,000 and more population the
census figures show that every year
there is a per capita. purchase of food
to a value of sl3s. Mr. Average Cititen
spends every year in restaurants and
other eating places S3O. This is not
taking into account what he spends in
hotels. On the whole, every year he
pays out 23.04 per cent of his dollar
for food, 5.04 of the amount going to
restaurants. The census figures show
that the combination store, handling
groceries and general produce and fresh
meat, U now the leading type of food
outlet throughout the country. It does
about 34 per cent of the business iii re
tail food sales.
Os course, some of the food dollar is
spent in the general merchandise store,
in the department store and in Xne 5
and 10 cent store. Then there are food
chafns of all kinds, including confec
tionery stores, dairies, grocery chains
and others. These, according to the
census figures, do about 40 per cent of
the total retail food business of the
country every year. It is Interesting to
note that or the business done in all
these the combination grocery and meat
stores get 43 per cent.
** * *
The average Independent store selling
groceries or meats, or both, the figures
show, has an average annual income of
Just over $17,000, while the average
Capital Sidelights
BY WILL T. KENNEDY.
Apropos of tHjb stupendous program
of Capital improvements, which includes
palisade drives on both the Maryland
and Virginia banks of the Potomac
River to Great Falls, hard by Washing
ton's first engineering feats, and the
program of much-needed bridge con
struction in the National Capital re
cently emphasised by Representative
William P. Holaday of Illinois, the in
coming chairman of the subcommittee
on the District of Columbia budget, we
have been asked to write something i.i
this column about historic Washington
bridges.
A bridge was built across the Poto
mac River at Little Falls in 1797, which
wis destroyed in 1804. Another bridge
vis erected shortly thereafter, but this
bridge was also destroyed. Four years
later a bridge supported by ohains was
built. This bridge, which gave the
name “Chain Bridge” to the veteran
structure on the important highway to
Virginia, west of the once famous Port
of Georgetown, was destroyed after
about two yean.
On February 22, 181 L Congress au
thorised the directom of the George
town-Potomac Bridge Co. to rebuild
the bridge, and empowered that com
pany to call a general meeting of the
stockholders with a view to levying an
assessment tor rebuilding the bridge.
Up until 1823 these structures were
under the control of private oarties.
On March 2. 1833, Congress appro
priated $150,000 to aid the citisens of
Georgetown to purchase and make free
the then existing bridge over Little
Falls, and the acts of the Georgetown
Board of Aldermen and Common Coun
cil, approved March 11, 1833, provided
for the purchase of the bridge and for
declaring the same free. The acts of
these boards, approved March 20, 1(33.
did declare the Little Falls Bridge and
the road leading thereto and thence
onward to the District line, free.
It should be noted that at that time
the approaches to the bridge and the
abutments on both sides of the river
were in Federal territory, as it was
not until 1846 that an act of Congress
Srovided for the retroceseion to the
tate of Virginia of that portion of
the District of Columbia formerly ceded
by that State.
The act of Congress approved March
3. 1853. making appropriations for the
civil and diplomatic expenses of the
Government for the year ending June
30. 1854, appropriated $30,000 to be
expended under the direction of the
President of the United States for
the construction of a bridge across
the Potomac River at Little Fall*.
The act of Congress approved June
10, 1872, appropriated 8100,000 for re
building the then existing bridge and
provided that said bridge shall be re
built as a substantial iron structure
upon plans to be approved by the Chief
of Engineers of the Army and under
his supervision. l7ie bridge so au
thorised was constructed under a con
tract between the United States and
the Phoenix Bridge Co. in 1874. and
is now known as the "Chain Bridge.”
The act of Congress making ap
propriations for the sundry civil ex
pense* of the Government for the fiscal
year ending June 30. 1880. approved
March 3. 1879. carried an appropriation
of 81.200 for the care of the Bennlng,
AnacostU and Chain Bridges, and an
appropriation of $2,500 for replank
ing and painting the Chain Bridge
since which time the District of Co
lumbia has contributed toward its
malnenance. It is assumed that from
| 1854 to 1880 this structure was main
| tained solely as a Federal bridge.
** * *
! Cabin John Bridge, one of the mast
j noteworthy achievements of st on e
: masonry in the world, is on another
extremely attractive drive from Wash
: ington to Great Fall* on the Maryland
side of the Potomac River.
This bridge was constructed for the
purpos* of carrying across the deep
ravine of Cabin John’s Run the acque
duct which furnishes the National Capi
tal and suburban area with its match
less water supply, drawn from the Po
tomac River above Great Falls.
All surveys, projects and estimates
for the Capital's water system, includ
ing Cabin John Bridge, were prepared
by Capt. M. C. Meigs. The actual work
was begun in 1857 and was supervised
bv Jefferson Davis, then Secretary of
War and later President of the Con
federacy. On December 5. 1863. the
water was turned into the aqueduct,
but the bridge itself was not completed
for use by the public until the following
year. The present parapet walls, con
structed in 1872-73. are of red sand
stone from the quarries at Seneca, lo
cated about 7 miles farther north on
the Potomac River.
The total cost of the bridge was
$254,000. It is 450 feet long, with a
single span of 250 feet and a rise of
57.26 feet. The conduit it carries is
9 feet in diameter. The cut stone arch
is of Quincy, Mass., granite
On the south side of this bridge,
about half-way up the curve of the
arch, are two inscriptions. The eastern
one reads: "Union arch; chief engineer,
Capt. Montgomery C. Meigs, U. S
Corps of Engineers. Este perpetuum.”
The western inscription reads: "Wash
ington Aqueduct, begun A.D. 1853:
President of the United States. Frank
lin Pierce; Secretary of War, Jefferson
Davis; building finished A.D. 1861:
President of the United States, Abraham
Lincoln: Secretary of War. Simon Cam
eron.” At the outbreak of the Civil War
the name of Jefferson Davis was erased
from this inscription, and the space re
mained blank until the name was re
stored by act of Congress during the
second Roosevelt administration.
The names of Cabin John Bridge and
Cabin John Run are popularly attrib
uted to a hermit fisherman. Captain, or
Cabin. John, who is said to have for
merly lived at the Junction of Cabin
John Run with Bowie Run. Romantic
imaginations have evolved a tradition
identifying this obscure hermit as the
husband of the "female stranger” whose
tombstone in Alexandria still stands as
a memorial to an unsolved mystery.
Moral Practice Needed. . •
From th« Lynchburg New*.
The Mexican minister of foreign as- 1
fairs says the world needs a new moral'
code. In the meantime, a slight attempt
to use the old one might help a little.
A Grand Opening.
Frow. the Newark Evening New*.
It's a wonder Tex Ouinan hasn't
thought of opening a night club in the
Arctic Circle, where the nights are six
months long.
Hat Pin Blocks Arms Cut.
From the Lowell Evening Leader.
.rust as there seemed to be a greater
Interest In the limitation of armaments
the announcement is made that the hat
pin is coming into fashion again.
chain unit does a business amounting
to Just short of $56,000 a year.
In this connection, the Federal Trade
Commission is Juat bringing out a re
port on its investigation of chain store
methods of marketing and distribution
bassd on a study of more than 300 co
operative grocery chains with a total
retail membership of more than 43,000
independent stores. The commission
finds that "the retailer co-operatives
have concentrated on distribution of
goods to members at low cost and, com
pared with wholesaler-retailers, have
expended much less in service and ad
vertising,” thus "giving the consumer
more for his money.”
Retailer co-operatives, on the average,
succeeded in getting goods to their
members and other retailers on a gross
margin of 5.5 per cent, which is about
' one-half that of the average of whole -
I saler-retailer co-operatives. The report
states that the wholesaler-retailer co
operative is “too recent a development
to permit a definite conclusion as to
; which of the two plans of merchsndis
i lng is mors effective in meeting com
r petition.**
(Copyright. IMO
Canadian Air Transportation r
fly FREDERIC J. HASKIN.
Canada, the northern neighbor of |
the United States, carries on national
enterprises which dwarf some of those
of our own country. To appreciate
fully what the Dominion has accom
plished one must make two striking
comparisons and proceed from that
premise.
Although Canada Is considerably
larger than the United States terri
torially, it has but one-fourteenth, ap
proximately, of the American popula
tion. Yet the handful of people oc
cupying the vast Dominion has pro
duced works which compare favorably
with the most pretentious in this
country.
Although the Dominion has 3,603.000
square miles of mountain and plain,
including almost every type of soil and
natural endowment, she has but *8.787.-
000 Inhabitants. This number is no
greater than the people of what is
called the metropolitan district of New
York City, a single American com
munity. Over the immense stretches
of Canada only as many people are
available to carry on the business of
the Dominion as there are dashing up
and down the subways and the sub
urban trains of New York.
Compared with that 3.603,000 square
miles of area, the United States has
3.036,000, but to populate it now has
some 124,000,000 people.
It has been inevitable, therefore,
that Canada should have taken to, the
air. With such tremendous distances
to cross to bring a full measure of com
munication to her people, the air seems
especially Indicated. The result Is that
she now has nine companies operating
regular services over 29 different fixed
routes.
Transportation in such circumstances
I as those facing Canada has always been
a major problem. It is interesting to
note that it was Canada that built the
first transcontinental railroad. While
American companies were dickering
with stock control, in some cases, and
Congress was quarreling over the land
grants, the Dominion government mad:
the dirt fly and constructed a line from
coast to coast, a line which runs as a
monument to the enterprise of the
statesmen who planned it. There now
are two transcontinental Canadian
railroads, while there is not one in the
United States.
* Shortens Great Distances.
Similarly, the Dominion government
assisted with subsidies the construction
of highways, telegraph lines and other
essential lines of communication for
the purpose of knitting together its
tremendous Dominion. It opened the
Welland Canal to bring Orest Lakes
traffic down the St. Lawrence River to
the sea and thus open this greatest of
inland fresh waterways to ocean navi
gation.
With such a record it was, then, but
natural that the airways should be
seized upon as a further means of nar
rowing the great spaces and making the
vast territory more comfortably fit the
relatively small population. These air
ways now have been extended until
they cover, on regular services, a total
of 7,665 miles.
Entertaining much the same doctrines
i of national life as the American peo-
Fifty Years Ago
In The Star
Just three weeks after President Gar- 1
field was shot fifty years ago. and when 1
confidence In his recovery:
President I had been est a b llshed
D-ior... throughout the country,
xieiapie. he suffered from R «-1 <
lapse, as It was called, and cheer was
changed to gloom. This relapse was
attributed to the formation of an ab- :
cess In the wound. Dr. Agnew cf Phil
adelphia and Dr. Hamilton of New •
York were summoned and the former
performed an operation which drained
the abcess and the patient appeared to j:
i recover. The Star of July 25, 1881,
says:
[ "The news of an alarming change In
the President’s condition was so un-
I expected that it was a shock to the
; country’. Favorable reports of the Pres
ident's progress had gone out from day
i to d*v until the public mind settled |
, upon the conviction that he was out of
I danger A relapse was not apprehend
: ed. The first Information sent out
from the White House Saturday morn
ing was of an assuring character. It
cautiously alluded to a slight febrile rise
i of the night before, and closed with a
reference to a 'gain In the President's ;
i favor.’ This conveyed the Impression
i that.he was doing well. Following this
' within an hour or two was the bulletin
i of the surgeons stating that the Presi
i dent had passed a restless night and
had had a ‘slight rigor’ that morning,
j The figures given showed an increase cf
1 fever, which caused general alarm. The
1 fear that the President was in greater
• danger than the bulletins Indicated took ;
possession of the people and every face |
' was marked with the deepest anxiety, i
' The news today Is reassuring, and it
now looks as If hope may reasonably [
• take the place of fear again. The sur-1
1 gical operation performed yesterday was I
followed immediately by good effect,
1 and It has apparently removed the
' cause of all the trouble. The President
■ rested well last night, his fever has once
1 more abated, the discharge of pus from
the wound continues to be free, and
everything looks hopeful. The grave
danger which confronted the President
on Saturday is passed. Os course the
danger remains of the formation of
other abcesses, but the chances are
that each new development of the sort
can be successfully dealt with as in this
case.”
*
* *
"Guiteau still remains in Jail,” saya
The Star of July 38. 1881. ‘‘At least it
_ , is safe to assume that
Gmte&n Kept as a fact, from the
T« «olitnile * rPat precautions
in SOlituae. uken to prrv ent peo
ple getting into the building. Visitors’
day has been temporarily abolished.
Visitors are not allowed beyond the
waiting room. Just inside of the en
trance. If things are brought to pris-,
oners they are taken to them by guards.
The attendants are under strict orders
not to communicate with Guiteau and
not to communicate with people outside
about him. They will not even say in
what wing of the Jail he is confined.
The directions of the district attorney
regarding the isolation of the prisoner
have been complied with, and he now
occupies a whole section of the Jail by
himself, sans newspapers, sans books,
sans companions, sans everything —in
abolute solitary confinement, the hor- (
rors of which have been so graphically
portrayed by Charles Reade. The guard
who appears occasionally to attend to
his wants is not allowed to communi
cate with him. Since the district at
torney went away Guiteau has even
been deprived of the pleasure he had
of making statements to that official.
A detachment of artillerymen still re
main at the Jail, Guiteau being In some
sense a prisoner of state.
"The Jail officials deny that Guiteau
has been kept informed of the condition
of the President and that he expressed
sorrow when he heard of the relapse.
He is kept in utter ignorance. It is a
question of interest what the effect of
this solitary confinement will be upon a
man of OulUau’s peculiar mental or
ganisation. The right of the authori
ties to use such rigorous treatment In
Guiteau’s case is frequently discussed,
though no one makes a move in his
behalf. The popular feeling is such
that the authorities would be sustained
in the most stringent methods.
"So far as can be ascertained. Oui
teau has not asked the privilege of hav
ing a legal adviser. He is a lawyer
himself and egotist enough to think
that counsel will be superfluous. Hav
ing no one to fight his case for him in
oourt, he is ‘baaUled'—committed to a
darkness of solitude, which would excite,
some sympathy from the public in the
case of any other criminal."
i pie, the Dominion government seeks to
aid and encourage rather than to sup
plant private enterprise. While the
construction of the transcontinental
railway was far too pretentious an un
dertaking to be essayed by any but til*
government itself, it has been felt, and
apparently with good reason, that Inci
dental aid would be adequate to pro*
mote the air lines.
An air line, if responsibly sponsored
and managed, is quick to be favored
by a mail-carrying contract which is,
in effect, a subsidy in that it pro
vides the company with a sure source
of income. With mail payments from
the government it is able to pay basic
expanses of operation, obtaining profit
from passengers’ fares. People
been quick to adopt the airplane as a
means of transportation because so
great are the distances in Canada that
days would be consumed in getting from
one settlement to another by any
slower means.
Further, the Dominion government
has gone to the expense of surveying
the airways. Including the provision of
lighting, where necessary, and emer
gency landing fields. Weather reports
are provided by the government, with
facilities for furnishing weather data
en route.
Lindbergh Takes Canadian Route.
The cities have taken the initiative
in providing airports at terminals, glad
to go to that expense adequately in or
der to have a new link to knit them to
some far distant but nevertheless near
est neighbor.
What Canada has done in aid of
air navigation is of special interest in
connection with the fact that Col. Lind
bergh chose that route in starting out
for the Orient. Although traversing
thousands of miles of territory densely
wooded and practically uninhabited, he
could be fairly sure of finding some
Dominion aid to air navigation so long
as he remained over Canadian terri
tory.
Use of airplanes in Canada is of ex
ceptional value in that it permits com
munication otherwise impossible. In
the long Canadian Winters when lakes
and streams are frozen over and tha
rigors of the climate make practically
impossible the use of dog teams, com
munication formerly ceased with North
ern points for as much as six months
at a time. Planes now are equipped
with sklis, and it is possible for them
to land with ease on frozen water sur
faces and to reach places which, by
other means of transportation, would be
utterly inaccessible.
Lakes an Advantage.
Canada has a great wealth of lakes
; which, in Summer, make airplane
; transportation relatively easy. Routes
are designed to operate over waterways
so far as is practicable, and planes are
, equipped with pontoons. The planes
may come to rest on lake or river with
comparative ease. A lake forming such
a welcome harbor usually is surrounded
by forest so dense that a landing in the
; neighborhood on land would b» out of
the question. The same is true of the
mountain lakes, which often are located
|in depressions between mountains so
rugged that a landing would be impos
sible without disaster.
Trial of Lord Kylsant
Stirred Britain Deeply
BY A. G. GARDINER.
LONDON. August 1. —No case in re
cent years has stirred this country so
profoundly as that which ended Thurs
day evening in the sentencing of Lord
Kylsant to a year s imprisonment. TTiis
was due both to personal and public
considerations.
Tire fall of Lord Kylsant was like the
fall of one of th? central pillars of the
London financial district's structure.
He is one of four brothers named Phil
lips. sons of a Welsh clergyman, all
famous physically for their extraordi
nary height and publicly for the emi
nence they have achieved in the finan
cial* world. Each had taken a com
mercial empire for his own and each
had accumulated a vast fortune and had
been honored with titles.
** * *
The eldest. Lord St. David, is chiefly
concerned with railway developments
in South AT.erica. Lord Kylsant, as
the head of the Royal Mail Steam
Packet Co., became a spectacular fig
ure in British shipping, and before the
war waged a struggle with Albert Bai
lln of Hamburg for the supremacy of
the world's mercantile marine. The
Royal Mail became the center of a vast
system of shipping companies, of which
Lord Kylsant obtained control and be
came chairman He recovered control
of the White Star Line from America
and his last great deal was the pur
chase of the Australian Line from the
commonwealth government. He was
reputed to control more tonnage than
any other owner In the world, and his
prestige in the city was unsurpassed.
During the war the Royal Mail ac
cumulated vast reserves, which were
largely employed in new developments
and the building of ships at a time
when the costs of construction were
vastly by war finance. Then
came the catastrophic world slump in
' shipping, but the Royal Mail still paid
dividends, not from current profits, but
from hidden reserves.
** * *
In 1928 Lord Kylsant issued an imi
tation to the public to subscribe to de
bentures. stating the annual balancea
over a period of years were sufficient
to cover the interest several times. In
the original draft the word used was
‘ profits," but ‘ balances” was substituted
in the published prospectus.
Lord Kylsant'a brother. Lord St.
David, who was a trustee of the orig
inal debunture holders of the Royal
Mall, became concerned for the inter
est of his own clients and took action
which led to the public disclosure of
the gravity of the affairs of the Royal
Mall and allied companies. The result
was the sensational collapse of the
whole structure. Shares in the Royal
Mall, which once stood over *SOO a
share, became practically worthless. It
was estimated that the losses were in
the neighborhood of £50.000.000 sterling,
and during the past year a committee
* representing the government and banks,
both deeply involved, has been engaged
In salvaging the wreck.
** * *
After & prolonged examination of the
facts, the government initiated the
prosecution of Lord Kylsant on two
counts: First, Issuing annual reports
|in a form intended to deceive share-
I holders, and second. Issuing a pro-
( spectus which he knew to be false, with
| intent to deceive investors.
( The first count raised the most criti
cal issue. For a fortnight the battle
raged between expert witnesses as to
the right of directors to conceal from
shareholders the fact that dividends
were being paid from hidden reserves
instead of profits. It was admitted
that this was frequently done, and it
was defended on the grounds that the
purpose of hidden reserves was to aver
age prosperous with unprosperous years,
and because of the undesirability in
the Interests of the shareholders to
disclose to competitors facts which it
was to their advantage to know. On
this count the judge made strong com
ments on the relations of directors to
shareholders and the duties of auditors
to companies. He held that, sharehold
ers as owners were entitled to know
the real facts and that the hidden re
serve was entirely proper, but should
not be used to conceal essential truths
about the company’s position. On this
Count the Jury, after a three-hour de
bate, acquitted Lord Kylsant, but found
him guilty of issuing a prospectus with
intent to deceive investors.
The trial created deep disquiet In the
commercial and financial world. It is
agreed that the law In regard to the
relations of directors and shareholders
provides adequate protection for the
latter, but a widespread practice of con
cealing essential facts In reports of bal
ance sheets has been disclosed.
tOopyrlshU IMU