Evening star. [volume], April 15, 1936, Page A-12, Image 12

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

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| THE EVENING STAR
With Sunday Morning Edition.
WASHINGTON. D C.
WEDNESDAY. ..April 15, 19J6
THEODORE W. NOYES.Editor
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herein are also reserved.
Appeal to Youth.
President Roosevelt’s homily on youth
and his promised aid to the youn§ peo
ple of the country, delivered in Balti
more, were vague. His most concrete
suggestion was that something might be
done to limit the working years of men
and women at “both ends.” If the Presi
dent had his way, boys and girls would
6tay in school until they were eighteen
and men and women would quit work at
6ixty-flve. Not only would this make
for a better educated citizenry, but it
mould provide more jobs for those be
tween eighteen and sixty-five years of
age. Under the Constitution of the United
States, as it is now interpreted by the
Supreme Court, the Federal Government
is powerless to enact a law preventing
either child labor or the labor of the
aged. If anything along the lines pro
posed by the President is to be done it
must be accomplished by action of the
Individual States.
The President made it clear, however,
that he is not willing to abide by such
construction of the fundamental law of
the land. His promise to the youth of
America was to go forward with the
New Deal ideals. The era of the pioneer
in America is not ended, he said. It is
merely changed from the - geographical”
pioneer to the “social” pioneer. Indeed,
he said, the "period of social pioneering
is only at its beginning.” Great meas
ures. he said, will be needed “to bring
under proper control the forces of mod
ern society.”
The appeal of the President for
“youth,” for a better chance for the
young men and the young w-omen of
the land, strikes a responsive chord. And
yet the reforms undertaken by the Roose
velt administration during the last three
years, and the huge spending program
indulged in by the same administration,
have not so far solved the problem,
either for the youth of America or for
the older workers. There is arising,
therefore, a doubt as to the efficacy of
the Roosevelt policies. Will the President
be able to persuade the youthful voters to
continue to support him, in the light of
mhat has happened, or has failed to
happen?
The President described in his address
the objectives of youth. As given by the
President, they are not new. What young
man. since the beginning of the United
States, has not desired an opportunity to
make an honest living? What young
man has not wished for a reasonable
chance to improve his condition in life?
And what young man has not sought a
practical assurance against want and
suffering in old age? What young man
has not yearned to participate in the
finer things of life?
With something of a sneer in his voice,
the President referred to the “1928 kind
of prosperity.” Such prosperity, he said,
Was not good enough in the days before
. the depression, and is not good enough
* today. How many Americans would be
Willing to swap today the New Deal
lor the conditions which existed In this
country prior to the depression? That
Is one of the questions which the elec
torate, young and old, will answer, per
haps, in the November election. In
1932, when President Roosevelt was
elected, the people were willing to gam
ble for better conditions. They had
been through terrible years. They may
be willing to gamble again for a return
to the prosperity to which the President
now refers so lightly.
The threat which the President holds
©ut to American industry is that if in
dustry will not follow the New Deal
experiments industry must stand aside
and let the Federal Government do the
job. Many Americans today are asking
that the New Dealers stand aside and
give industry a chance to go ahead—
without the constant threat of more
regulation and more Government com
petition.
Efforts to make fun of the American
flag should be resented at least as
promptly as some fancied disrespect to a
foreign symbol of majesty and power.
The League of Nations still serves a
useful purpose as a filing system that
future historians may find useful.
Beneficial, Anyway.
Without further laboring the point
Whether the District Commissioners or
the Budget Bureau should be blamed for
failing in the adequate presentation to
Congress of pressing local needs, let it
be said that the outcome of the dispute
should be beneficial to all concerned.
The need for higher appropriations for
certain phases of public health work has
been recognized, apparently by the
Budget Bureau, certainly by the Senate
subcommittee. The Commissioners have
been invited, both by the Budget Bureau
%and by the Senate committee, to be more
vigorous in their future presentation of
local needs. After being taught, in all
A
these years, the sacred and reveren
tial attitude to be assumed by underlings
in dealing with H. R. H. the Budget
Bureau, such invitations will evoke im
mediate and even joyful response.
Regardless of other things, Budget Bu
reau practice has had the effect of les
sening responsibUity by the Commission
ers in presentation of Capital City needs.
Every year the department heads at the
District Building submit “preliminary”
estimates to the Commissioners, on which
the blue sky is the only limit. They do
so with the feeling that their estimates
are going to be whacked to pieces, any
way, so they might as well present every
thing, including the kitchen stove, in
their requests. Something of the same
spirit has accompanied tha submission
of the Commissioners’ estimates to the
Budget Bureau. The Commissioners
know their estimates are going to be cut
—so let the bureau hold the bag!
As long a^ the Budget Bureau exer
cises arbitrary authority it may never
be possible to make the Commissioners
feel fully responsible for Budget Bureau
estimates of local needs. But the Sen
ate committee’s action in putting the bu
reau on the defensive, the Commission
ers on the offensive, is bound to produce
better results. To Senator Thomas and
members of his subcommittee go the
thanks of the by-standing, taxpaying,
local community.
Peace in the Balance.
Once again critical decisions are im
minent at Geneva, which will determine
whether the Italo-Ethiopian war is to
go on until Mussolini has accomplished
the military subjugation of Haile Selas
sie's empire or whether hostilities are
to be terminated by a peace negotiated
under League auspices. The situation is
tangled far beyond any previous aspect,
with international rivalries and differ
ences at their zenith. The Italians, bent
upon consolidating their strategic posi
tion before advent of heavy rains, have
scored substantial successes in the region
which opens the way to Addis Ababa.
Fascist scouting planes have made re
connoitering flights indicating that Mar
shal Badoglio projects an advance look
ing to the capital's capture and occupa
tion. Dessye, former field headquarters
of the Emperor, where he was supposed
to be preparing for a last stand to save
Addis Ababa, is said in Rome to have
been taken by a motorized Italian col
umn without resistance, although there
are concurrent Ethiopian reports of the
massing of 300,000 “reserve” warriors for
a stubborn defense against the invaders.
Coincident with these activities In
the theater of war, Great Britain and
France remain at violent loggerheads
over the question of tightening or lifting
sanctions. That controversy has been
aggravated by the action of the Italians
in occupying the shore of Lake Tana,
thus bringing to a head the issue of
infringement of British interests in the
area embracing the headwaters of the
Blue Nile, with its vital Importance for
the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. Rome and
Geneva surge with rumors that Britain,
irritated by the Fascist threat at Tana,
may no longer content herself with pro
posing oil sanctions, but may resort to
the far more drastic measure of closing
the Suez Canal to Italian troop trans
ports. Late London dispatches discount
the likelihood of this extreme step. The
Baldwin government not only realizes
that such action would automatically
precipitate the danger of a European
war, but believes that League peace
making resources should be exhausted
before fateful military sanctions are in
voked. Britain is further restrained by
the obvious peril of driving Italy into
Germany’s arms. The French sternly
oppose an extension of sanctions at the
moment when Paris is seeking to align
Europe in a program to chastise Ger
many for violation of the Rhineland
treaties. France plainly considers that
preservation of a united front against
Nazi aggression is more important just
now than Ethiopia’s rights.
Italy maintains relative aloofness
toward these various diplomatic maneu
vers and hesitations. II Duce is repre
sented as scorning truce talk until all
Ethiopia is at his mercy. As things
stand, there seems small possibility that
he will or can be cheated out of the full
booty of his aggressive venture in colo
nial expansion. Between Anglo-French
discord, the complication of the Euro
pean situation as a result of Germany’s
move on the Rhine, demonstrated League
impotence, and Italy’s military superi
ority in Africa, it begins to look as if
Ethiopia, having offered the bravest de
fense of which she is capable, is doomed
to become a conqueror’s prize.
A brain trust is in danger of im
petuous methods of intellectual initiative.
It is necessary to remember that citi
zens who do not grasp ideas with light
ning speed have a right to deliberate
and have things explained to them.
It is time for some of the authors who
affected communism as a form of humor
to arise and explain that they were only
fooling.
*
small rare tienovauon.
The park authorities have been fore
warned by something approaching a
deluge of criticism from citizens that
their new landscape architecture in
making over the city’s small parks must
be above reproach. Letters to The Star
indicate that presentation of the plans,
giving an idea of the proposed treat
ment, does not silence the criticism.
Why? For one thing, the park author
ities are digging* up more than lilac
bushes. They are uprooting old associa
tions. Let a man or woman pass a lilac
bush every day, Winter and Summer,
for years—as many of than have been
passing the lilac bushes In the small
park at Eighteenth and Pennsylvania
avenue—and anybody who moves that
bush has a fight on his hands right at
the start. So it is with other shrubbery
and trees. So it is, even, with the layout
of the sidewalks. Old associations are
hard to break.
The park people explain that the new
plans have been passed on by compe
tent authority; that the parks have been
neglected—which Is perfectly true—for
A
%
many long years, and that the new plans,
and the new arrangement of sidewalks
and shrubbery is going to make all the
parks more beautiful. What appears to
be ruthless destruction is merely the
foundation for something which will be
even more attractive, when completed.
Well, it may be too early to take issue
with this argument. But let the authori
ties be careful! A newcomer to Wash
ington, as skilled as he may be in for
mal landscape architecture, cannot hope
to convince a Washingtonian that a lilac
bush is unsuited to this climate. Nor
can he prove by any number of charts
and maps that anything is gained by
substituting a single additional square
foot of concrete for the same space of
green grass.
While the healthy debate rages,
though, let us not forget the thanks that
are due to Secretary Ickes for having
taken the bull by the horns and made
the funds available for a greatly needed
program of renovation and improve
ment of the small parks which have suf
fered years of neglect, taking on a run
down-at-the-heel appearance pleasing
to nobody.
It is suggested that young and beau
tiful dancers should have spectacles
devised to Insure them employment.
Some of the best of the old operas were
produced under conditions which made
the corps de ballet a refuge for singers
whose voices showed wear and tear.
Tired business men winked gaydoggingly
and sent bouquets to the stage door just
the same.
The biggest of all lenses is expected
soon to penetrate new vastnesses of
space and add an infinite number of
mysteries to those which remain un
solved. One of the lessons of science is
the reminder that there are limitations
beyond which human intelligence cannot
go as it gropes for new glimmerings of
light in fathomless darkness.
A 74-year-old Georgia judge averted a
lynching by declaring every man in sight
a deputy sheriff bound to support the
law. Here Is one old gentleman who
should not under any circumstances be
retired on a pension.
An agreement that will secure peace
in the Western Hemisphere will throw
so much influence into this part of the
world that it may efface suspicion that
Columbus simply discovered a new sup
ply of the same old trouble.
Natural resources of the world have
been scarcely touched owing to a ten
dency to squander wealth on high explo
sives instead of buying food and shelter.
Shooting Stars.
rHlLANDER JOHNSON.
Early Crop.
“I’m going to make a garden soon," said
Aristides Bings.
“I’m going to raise tomatoes, com and
radishes and things.
I'm going to rise at daybreak, when the
sky is mild and blue.
And gayly warble ‘Tra-la-la’ and some
times ‘Too-ri-loo.*
I’ll buy myself some overalls, likewise
a spade and hoe,
And all the rest of what you need to
make a garden grow.
I’ll read the books that tell the use of
bone dust and of lime,
Or at least look at the pictures when I
have a little time.”
He dug around for quite awhile, did
Aristides Bings,
And then he cried, “What luck a little
honest effort brings!
The soil is most productive. I observe
where'er I look
As fine a lot of fishing worms as ever
graced a hook.
And there’s a sapling that will make a
first-rate fishing pole!
And here’s a cord for measuring, a stout
and goodly roll.
I didn't hope for such results. My joy
I can’t express.
The garden is undoubtedly a swift and
huge success!”
Sincerity Disapproved.
"You at least give that energetic
orator credit for believing every word
he says.”
“Yes,” replied Senator Sorghum.
“That is what makes me doubt his in
tellectual responsibility.”
Encouraging Conversational Confidence.
“You seem to have forgotten all you
used to know about base ball,” said the
girl who overhears.
“My escort is a little bashful,” an
swered Miss Cayenne. "His superiority
complex needs cultivating. I affected
complete ignorance of the game so that
he could have the pleasure of telling
me all about it.”
Sympathy for the Fish.
Oh, Mister Fish, I’m longing now
In quest of you to go,
And pause beneath some sheltering
bough
Where tranquil waters flow.
And there 111 wait with line and bait,
Where you with sunbeams play.
Down in my heart, the truth to state,
I hope you’ll get away!
Jud Tunkins says when a man claims
he works eight hours a day he is sel
dom exact. He counts in the time he
spends listening to funny stories or
talking base ball.
“Ingratitude,” said Hi Ho, the sage
of Chinatown, “should cause no regret.
Thanks from a natural ingrate could
only mean hypocrisy.”
Out tf Date.
“Honesty,” we still recall,
“Is the best policy” for all.
But that was in a copy book
Of which for years no note we took.
And any racketeer will state
The schoolboy stuff is out of date!
“A man dat’s always talkin’ ’bout bad
business,” said Uncle Efoen, “is a poor
advertisement foh his own self.”
I
NEW BOOKS 1
AT RANDOM
By Margaret Germond.
THE CHERRY BED. By Karlton Kelm.
Bobbs-Merrill Co.
A small town in Wisconsin is the scene
of this first novel, which, though not to
be classed as a major contribution to the
season’s fiction, scores rather well on two
counts, its most important character is
Grandma Corley, an extraordinarily
clever and lovable woman whose ac
quaintance is well worth the making.
And next it adds another interesting pic
ture to the lengthening list of Main
Street fiction, which is always fascinating
because, if for no other reason, it gives
us a close-up view of ourselves as others
see us.
Mr. Kelm’s variation of the small town
theme is accomplished through the devo
tion of his narrative to the evolution of
a family. Whether or not the Corley
group is typical of the average Main
Street house of kinship may be a mat
ter of doubtful opinion. It is wise and
charitable to hope that this specific type
is in the minority. Yet every person who
has lived for any length of time in any
one of the multitude of urban American
communities—which, after all, form the '
backbone of the Nation—knows at least
one such family and maybe a few others.
Granted a properly adjusted sense of
humor, the enjoyment of a narration of
the activities, turmoils, jealousies and
unpleasant situations into which such a
family can become entangled is always
keen.
The significance of the cherry bed is
rather remote when considered from the
point of view’ of appropriateness as a
title. Its influence is merely the rela
tively small fact that the grandmother
and the mother of Annie Corley had
been born in it. When Annie became the
bride of Albert Corley the bed had been
given to her with the injunction to see
that all of her own children were born
in it. But the visits of the stork to these
two did not conform to the wishes of
adult humans, and of the five of their
children only the last one uttered the
first feeble cry of new life in the cherry
bed. And. by all of the standards of
society as interpreted by his sisters and
brother, Roy was condemned as a black
sheep.
In his mother’s estimation, however,
this youngest child of hers was the only
one in which she had implicit faith. He
was different, and she believed that the
wanderlust which drove him from place
to place would be the means of making
him a man of worthiness and ability.
The family has grown up and all save
Olive and Roy are married and have
their own homes when this tale of their
particular lives begins. There are sev
eral well-grown grandchildren, and
Grandma Corley is considered by chil
dren and grandchildren alike as very
nearly the last word in passe. They are
all fond of her—in her own home. But
the time has come when she must change
her mode of life, and instead of the
wholesome gladheartedness wdth which
they should have entered into a con
tract for keeping so grand and fine a
woman happy and comfortable, they
hold a council to settle her as a “prob
lpm ”
Grandma Corley has been a director in
the local bank ever since her husband
died. The bank has failed, and. in ac
cordance with all the rules of honesty
and integrity by which she has patterned
her life, she surrenders everything she
owns of salable value except a Paisley
shawl. She has never before been faced
with the problem of becoming acquainted
with her children as persons, and now
she must buckle down to the task of liv
ing with each of them by turns and of
learning just what they are like as mis
tresses of their own homes.
The fun soon begins. In the division
of the personal possessions of their
mother not one of her children wants
anything except the Paisley shawl.
Grandma Corley settles the fight by
keeping it for herself. Prom the shawl
incident to the end of the story there is
a succession of rivalries, jealousies, spite
parties and all the other jumbled picnics
created by domestic selfishness that are
part and parcel of small-town life. The
small town, however, has undergone
rapid changes in the past few years, and
the people who fill these pages with the
amusingly intensive manner of their
lives are the ultra-modems, striving with
all their strength to be New York in
Hicksville and feeling unjustly let down
by the complete failure of a visiting New
York girl to measure up to all of the pre
tense and the display of false values ar
ranged and practiced for her particular
benefit.
Through the tribulations of her chil
dren and the romances of her grand
children Grandma Corley wears a crown
of jewels not visible to the eye, but glit
tering in the hearts of Roy and Jana
and the others, who leam to know her
for the marvelous person she is rather
than the passe old woman they thought
her to be. Humor, wit and a true valua
tion of human beings and their weak
nesses make her a character worth
knowing.
* * * *
LORD COBBLEIGH DISAPPEARS. By
J. C. Snaith. New York: D. Appleton
Century Co.
If oddity is the quality that the reader
of mystery fiction desires for a change,
then ‘T’affaire' Cobbleigh” offers it in
abundance. An almost priceless neck
lace of black pearls is stolen from the
home of Lord and Lady Cobbleigh in
rural England. Young Thorp Devereux,
London agent of the famous Mumm In
vestigation Bureau of Vienna, plays golf
frequently with his lordship at the Neth
erwold Golf Club, and in a moment when
anxiety is the uppermost emotion in the
elderly plutocrat’s breast he confides his
troubles to that diligent and able sleuth.
The case becomes too involved for him
to handle alone, so after consultation
with his equally clever and competent
wife, who had served most satisfactorily
as the great Mumm’s secretary, they ask
the super-investigator of Vienna to take
a hand in an effort to recover the pearls.
That gentleman finds that not only have
the pearls been stolen by a famous gang,
but that one and perhaps others of the
valuable paintings in the Cobbleigh
house have been substituted with value
less imitations.
Soon after the discovery that the paint
ings have been substituted and that
practically all of the servants in the
Cobbleigh domain are members of the
most powerful of all international gangs
of thieves, Mumm demands that the
whole lot of them be dismissed and that
the house be closed. But before this feat
is accomplished Lord Cobbleigh van
ishes from the golf club green during
a pea-soup fog. All efforts to locate
him fail and the conclusion generally
accepted is that he wandered in the fog
until he walked into the sea and was
drowned. Mumm holds to this theory,
but young Devereux has other ideas, and
though it takes him many months he
solves the mystery.
Thorp's attractive wife is also Vien
nese and is almost as adept in the art
of sleuthing as is the huge Austrian for
whom she has worked. He is a world
famous character and has visited and
investigated in every country in the
world. His facility for picking up the
slang, the Idioms and the dialects of the
various nationalities has been passed on
to Mizl. Devereux also has visited many
countries In his capacity as an investi
i »
r
THIS AND THAT |
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.
Signs of health in the aquarium are
six in number, as follows:
1. Good appetite. 2. Normal activity.
3. Erect dorsal fin. 4. Easy breathing.
5. Good coloration. 6. Black excrement.
Lack of one or more of these will
indicate to the close observer that the
animal is less than well.
“Looking little,” therefore, is a neces
sity for the person who wishes to ascer
tain the first indications of piscatorial
ill health.
It is catching these signs when they
first occur that offers the keeper some
chance of doing something about it.
* * * *
The beginning enthusiast, whether he
has exotic fishes or the humble goldfish,
usually fails to "look small’’ enough and
therefore often overlooks signs of ap
proaching illness until it is too late.
To “look small” means exactly what
it says.
There are two ways of looking at an
aquarium. One is to look “large,” seeing
the tank and inmates as a whole, a pic
ture, or view.
This is the usual attitude of the unin
terested person, who, viewing a tank of
rare, exotic specimens, says, apathetical
ly, “Oh, I see you have some goldfish.”
The other way is that of the enthusiast,
who is so interested in all the aspects of
his hobby that no detail is too small to
escape his eagle eye.
* * * *
Lack of appetite usually is the first
sign of beginning fish ill health.
Conditioas must be checked. First, the
fish, then the water. There are some
diseases manifest by visible signs, and
these must be carefully looked for. If
they are present, proper remedial meth
ods must be taken.
The fish must be checked for lowered
dorsal, or top fin. This fin, in health,
in almost all species, is carried stiffly
erect, as a rule. There will be moments,
of course, when It is lowered somewhat,
but mainly it should have a starched ap
pearance.
Once this sign has been realized by
the keeper, he unconsciously looks for
it at all times. He keeps his eye on that
upper fin, for it is a barometer of health
and ill health. Like a signal flag, it
indicates one thing by one position; an
other by another.
Water must be checked. Does it smell?
If so, the probability is that too much
food has been fed, so that some of it is
not eaten, but remains to foul the water. •
Such a condition cuts down on oxygen
and helps bring about lowered resistance,
as well as setting up another of the
signs of ill health—excessive gasping for
"air.”
* * * * •
If the water condition is not good,
either to the nose or eyes, it should be
corrected at once. Fortunately for ama
teur fish culturists in this vicinity, the
water hereabouts is very good and may
be used freely, provided it is brought to
the same temperature as that which it
is intended to replace.
The old idea was to be very chary about
changing water, especially in exotic
tanks, but fortunately this is giving way
to a belief that at least one-fourth of
the water should be replaced every’ week
with fresh tempered water. It Is not
necessary to ‘’season” It, as in less for
tunate communities, even to the extent
of permitting it to sit for a day.
Fresh water has a laxative action on
fish life. This is easily observable in any
aquarium. The idea of feeding salts and
other laxative substances to them is not
good, mostly because totally unnecessary.
The operation of syphoning off a fourth
of the tank, adding fresh water, gives
the fishes a slight fright which, with
intensified activity, has all the effects of
a cathartic.
Causes of poor water must be ended.
Usually such remedial measures will
tend to improve the appetites of the
fishes. Correction of poor appetite often
may be made by the extremely simple
expedient of putting the fishes on a
fast. Perhaps It would work equally well
with humans!
* * * *
Easy breathing or its reverse is seldom
observed unless one looks closely. Many
a beginner, whose fishes are “gasping
their heads off,’’ hasn’t the slightest
suspicion that anything is wrong.
When a fish has enough oxygen in its
water and does not have to share it with
too many other fishes, his mouth is
seldom open except to snatch food or,
if he is belligerent, to bite at the fin of
a mate. *
His gills open slowly and easily and
not very widely.
When the water is contaminated or
he is suffocating from too much carbon
dioxide, which lies heavily at the bot
tom, or he is forced to share what oxy
gen there is with too much competing
life, he opens his mouth widely and
incessantly and spreads his gill covers
until, viewed from the rear, they would
impress any observer as too widely open
and at the same time show red within.
The sick fish will gasp even when water
conditions are correct for him, but more
often this is merely a sign of insufficient
oxygen, combined with too many low
lying gases in the water.
Fresh water, then, will do a great deal,
but is only a palliative. The real remedy
is to reduce the amount of life in the
tank until no fish gasps, even at dawn
(after the plants have been using oxygen
all night). The next best remedy, if one
insists on a crowded tank, is to use arti
ficial aeration of some type. The way
this takes the "gasps’’ out of a given
collection of fishes is one of the real joys
of the hobby.
* * * m
Aquarium keeping teaches even the
mast squeamish person that there is
nothing unseemly about plain biological
necessities. Hence, he comes in a short
time to watch carefully for dark excre
ment as a sign of good health; and the
white, stringy sort, filled with air bub
bles. as an indication of failing health,
mostly brought about by feeding too
much dry foods. The remedy is plain.
Either feed nothing at all for a day or
two or use some form of live food, such
as garden worms or the like. An in
between remedy is to feed very much
less of the dried foods than one has been
using.
Lack of proper coloration is often hard
to detect, since one may not have ready
standards of comparison. It is impor
tant, however, and. along with lack of
appetite, excessive gasping and lowered
activity, is one of the sure signs of sick
ness or approaching sickness.
Less than normal activity is always
suspicious. The old saying, “Life is mo
tion,” is particularly true of fish life.
Even the protected confines of the glass
walled aquarium offer no exception. The
lively fish is, with few exceptions, the
healthy fish. The moping fish is the
ill one. Fishes do rest, however, at times,
and also sleep, we believe; so do not
make the mistake of calling them ill
when they merely are seeking a little
repose.
WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS
BY FREDERIC WILLIAM \TILE.
President Roosevelt apparently aspires
to rate as a stand-patter, in the sense
of sticking by his guns. His Baltimore
“accent on youth” speech, pledging a
program of unrelenting warfare against
unemployment, reaffirms the policy of
“action” promulgated the day he took
office, on March 4. 1933. His now pro
claimed determination to keep on doing
• something,” and, "if it doesn’t work, to
do something else,” is also in line with
the President’s famous quarterback allu
sion of early White House days—when
he intimated that recovery would be
promoted by certain plays, which would
be continued as long as they gained
ground, and, if they failed, the quarter
back would signal for other plays. On
the policy of sustained effort, tempered
by results, the President stands pat. he
indicated at Baltimore. Undoubtedly
Mr. Roosevelt has struck what is des
tined to be a paramount keynote of his
re-election campaign.
* * * *
Political observers read into the Presi
dent’s speech an unmistakable sugges
tion of his intention sooner or later to
recommend re-establishment of some
thing that will fulfill N. R. A.’s functions,
if unemployment persists. His remarks
at Baltimore had a distinct Blue Eagle
ring when he declared that “the Gov
ernment must give, and will give, con
sideration to such subjects as length of
the working week, stability of employ
ment on an annual basis and payment
of at least adequate minimum wages.”
It is the second recent occasion on which
F. D. R. has hinted at the urgent duty of
private industry to supply more jobs.
There were similar intimations in his
March message to Congress calling
for $1,500,000,000 additional work-relief
fluids. Between its lines there seemed
to run a pretty plain indication that
other plans and policies might be in
voked if industry proves incapable of
grappling effectively with unemployment.
By and large, signs multiply that the
master of the New Deal will ask the
country for a second term largely on a
promise of incessant effort to cure job
lessness.
* * * *
industry s attitude toward tne presi
dent's warning on unemployment will be
disclosed at the annual meeting of the
Chamber of Commerce of the United
States in Washington from April 27 to
30. The general text of discussion will
be “Principles of American Enterprise.”
The chamber proposes to subject to
“practical business scrutiny” the obsta
cles retarding recovery and re-employ
ment. The subjects to be X-rayed, be
sides re-employment, are the increase of
production and consumption, Federal fis
cal policies and taxation, relationships
between Federal and State Governments,
social security and industrial relations
and the relationship between business
and the public. Much attention will cen
ter upon “limitations of political control
over economic activities” and “increas
ing governmental encroachments upon
business.”
* * * *
Very latest of G. O. P. dark horses is
Col. Charles H. March, chairman of the
Federal Trade Commission. He received
support in the recent preferential poll
gator for the Mumm Bureau, so between
them they converse with ease and with
energy in all the branches of odd, satis
fying speech. The mixture of American,
English, German and Viennese slang
gives an additional spice to the mystify
ing events that lead eventually to the
death of a harmless cuckoo in an exas
perating clock.
conducted by the New York State Young
Republican Clubs. Col. March was Re
publican campaign manager for Minne
sota in 1924 and was appointed to the
Federal Trade Commission by President
Coolidge in 1929. In an interview in the
current Magazine of Wall Street Chair
man March discusses the mistaken ten
dency among some sections of the public
to look upon the Federal Trade Commis
sion as “a cantankerous troublemaker,
for the mere love of persecuting business
people, when it proceeds against monop
oly." He predicts that from now on, as
a result of what the business world has
been through in the last few years, the
commission will have more and more
friends and supporters. He notes a
marked revival of resort to the F. T. C.
for its approval of, and co-operation in,
voluntary codes of trade practice ethics.
* * * *
Plans to have President Roosevelt
make an extensive speech-making cam
paign tour of the country are inter
preted by anti-New Dealers as evidence
that Democrats are not as cocksure of
victory as they pretend to be. The argu
ment is that if Roosevelt and Garner
were as 100 per cent certain of re-elec
tion as Chairman Farley boasts, the
President, fond of travel and ••mixing”
as he Is, would hardly embark upon so
exacting a spell-binding expedition as is
now projected. “Sunny Jim,” as a prac
tical politician, habitually warns party
workers to beware of overconfidence. It’s
his theory that a campaign should be
waged in every precinct until the polls
are closed. So the scheme to have the
President personally “contact” as many
voters as possible between now and No
vember may simply be intended to ad
monish the faithful against the peril of
counting chickens before they’re hatched.
Apparently Democratic strategy this year
is to take nothing for granted.
* * * *
James M. Beck was regarded in ureat
Britain, as well as in the United States,
as one of the master orators of the
English-speaking race. Addressing a
London Pilgrims’ dinner in 1916, Beck
delivered a panegyric on the far-flung
activities of the British Army and Navy
that was considered so classic a tribute
to Britannia's war effort that it was re
produced as a talking-machine record
and circulated throughout the empire.
Many of his friends believed Beck's
crowning ambition was to be sent to the
court of St. James as American Am
bassador. Periodically, during the
Harding, Coolidge and Hoover adminis
trations, there were proposals that he
should be given that blue-ribbon ap
pointment. Republican leaders look
upon Beck’s passing as a major party
disaster. Eloquent and uncompromising
archfoe of the New Deal that he was, he
was to have been drafted for important
service on the stump this year.
* * * *
Senator Carter Glass of Virginia is
destined to go down in history as ‘‘the
Great Unbeatable.” Not long ago the
lone and venturesome Democrat who es
sayed to oppose him for renomination
abandoned what he discovered was a
hopeless task. Now come the Virginia
Republicans and vote not to put a can
didate in the field against the Democratic
veteran. Every once in a while a mem
ber of the House of Representatives is
returned to Congress without opposition,
but it is rare for a United States Sen
ator to receive such a tribute of invinci
bility as has just been bestowed upon the
Old Dominion statesman-editor. Though
incorrigibly opposed to certain New Deal
policies. Glass will be aboard the Roose
velt bandwagon in the coming campaign.
(Copyright. 1686.)
• /
ANSWERS TO
QUESTIONS
By Frederic J. Haskin.
A reader can get the answer to any
question of fact by writing Th. Evening
Star Information Bureau. Frederic J.
Haskin. Director, Washington. D. C.
Please inclose stamp for reply.
Q. How much money was taken tn by
the Jackson day dinners?—E. M.
A. It is estimated by the Democratic
National Committee that more than
$300,000 was netted from the 230,000
guests at Jackson day dinners.
Q. When there is a three-day delay
between application for and receiving a
marriage license, do some couples fail to
return?—E. M.
A. In Los Angeles County. Calif., out
of 20,000 couples applying for licenses
in one year, 1,200 did not return to get
licenses.
Q. When was*the factory fire which
engaged the interest in factory hazards
of Mme. Frances Perkins?—A. S.
A. It was the Triangle Waist Factory
In New York City. March 25, 1911. The
dead numbered 148.
Q. What are the names of some of the
famous caves in Europe?—J. K.
A. Fingal's Cave, Scotland; Eye of
Dionysius, Syracuse, Sicily; Grotto of
Antiparos, Greece; Peak Cavern. Derby
shire, England; Gailenreuth, Germany;
St. Michael's Cave, Gibraltar.
Q. Prom what language does the name
chrysanthemum come?—H. L.
A. It is Greek and means golden
flower.
Q. How many theaters in the United
States are wired for sound?—J. V. W.
A. As of January 1, 1936, there were
15.858 wired theaters in the United
States. Of this number 1,697 were closed
and 14,161 were open.
Q. Please describe the Ukrainian flag.
—L. B.
A. The flag of the U. S. S. R. is red,
with the national device in the upper
left-hand corner. The constituent re
publics of the union have their own
flags, likewise red. with the initials of
the name of the republic in the upper
left-hand corner. In the case of the
Ukraine, the initials are the Russian
equivalent of U. S. S. R„ meaning
Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.
w uia ADranam Lincoln s son, Robert,
attend college?—S. S.
A. He was graduated from Harvard.
Q. Does a stream of water have to be
of any definite width or length to be
called a river?—W. R.
A. The term river is not applied to a
stream of any given width or length.
A stream called a creek in one locality
would be called a river in another.
Q. At what time during the month is
the moon nearest to the sun?—W. F.
A. It is nearest at new moon.
Q. When did Gov. Spottswood and his
retinue cross the Blue Ridge Moun
tains?-^. V. V.
A. Accompanied by Lieut. John Fon
taine. Gov. Spottswood left Williamsburg
for Germania, where his party’ was as
sembled and whence they set out on
August 29, 1719. There were in all 12
gentlemen accompanied by three ser
vants, guided by four Meherrin Indians,
reinforced by two troops of rangers, an
officer and six men each. On the eighth
day they ascended the Blue Ridge and
then continued across the Shenandoah.
The rangers were sent on, but the party
set out on its return on September 7,
reaching Germania on September 10.
Q. On what kind of trees other than
nut can one graft walnut with success?—
W. C. S.
A. Walnut cannot be successfully
grafted, on any other trees than nut
trees. In fact, successful grafting can
be done only within the genus.
Q. Whose name has been forged most
often?—S. M.
A. Probably the signature which has
been forged most often in history is that
of Antonius Stradivarius, maker of
violins.
Q. How wide is the Potomac River at
Washington. D. C?—S. T.
A. About 2.000 feet. When it enters
Chesapeake Bay it is about six miles
wide. The lower Potomac covers what is
known as a drowned valley.
Q. Is vegetarianism a new theory?—
B. T.
A. It was known in ancient India, and
was advocated by Plato and Plutarch.
It became a cult in England under
George Chevne in 1671.
Q. How many trips does a milk bottle
make from dairy to home?—N. P.
A. A study made in New York shows
that quart bottles average 22 trips, pint
bottles 20 trips and half-pint bottles 15
trips before being broken.
Q. Do the colors in Chinese rugs have
particular significance?—H. E.
A. The Chinese have symbolic colors:
Red signifies fire and the south; black,
water and the north; blue or green, wood
and the east; white, metal or mist and
the west; yellow, earth and the center.
Q. When was Gaelic at its height in
Ireland?—S. P.
A. As a living language it reached its
acme of perfection in the seventeenth
and eighteenth centuries. Then a law
against its use was passed. It is now
the official language of the Irish Free
State.
Q. How many C. C. C. camps are
there?—M. L. F.
A. At the present time there are 2.158
C. C. C. camps in operation throughout
the various States.
Those Behind.
From the New York Sun.
The Soviet government is said to be
organizing the peasants as a “front be
hind the front’’ in case of war. This
will offer the opportunity for a song
about the man behind the man behind
the man behind the gun.
A Rhyme at Twilight
By
Gertrude Brooke Hamilton
An Infectious Laugh.
It rang out somewhere in the city street,
A sudden laugh that seemed to clear
the air
Of fog and murkiness, and unaware
To warm the heart, as when strong
handclasps meet.
The vibrant laugh a second filled the
place,
A sunburst; lagging steps new vigor
found.
And though nobody turned to look
around
Response awoke to every passing face.
I *