Evening star. [volume], January 11, 1937, Page A-8, Image 8

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

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THE EVENING STAR
With Sunday Morning Edition.
WASHINGTON, D. C.
MONDAY_January II, 1937
THEODORE W. NOYES.Editor
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herein are also reserved.
“Point One.”
Point One of the three-point formula
proposed as a solution of the fiscal
relations issue is not new. The theory
has been proposed before, only to be
abandoned as impossible of pratical
application. Now it is advanced again
as a panacea for fiscal troubles. Its
Inherent weaknesses stand revealed in
the report which presents it.
Point One applies a system of reim
bursements for ‘'intergovernmental”
services. A service for the Federal Gov
ernment by the District government is
to be measured and the District reim
bursed to the estimated value of such
service. The District government or the
local community, likewise, are to be
charged for special services alleged to be
rendered by the National Government.
Such services, in the words of the report,
are those ‘‘not available as a practical
matter to any other State or local gov
ernment but which are considered special
services to the District.”
Tangible nature of a few services per
mits exact measurement. District
patients in St. Elizabeth’s, boys com
mitted to the National Training School,
children attending Columbia Institution
for the Deaf, are paid for on a per capita
basis and have been for years. But
when the effort is made to include in
tangibles in the exchange of services
and to separate the National Govern
ment from its administrative agency, the
District government; to distinguish be
tween services rendered the local com
munity and those established or per
formed because this is the National
Capital or to decide when to treat the
National Government as a resident tax
payer and when to declare that the
National Government cannot tax itself—
the difficulties begin. ‘‘Estimating bene
fits in many cases led into the realm of
Imponderables,” the report complains,
somewhat wistfully. And that is where
Point One found itself.
The report does not develop its own
premises to a logical conclusion. To
have done so would have been to reduce
the whole theory of Point One to an
absurdity. It does charge the District
for the services of the Budget Bureau
(insult added to injury)! It does charge
the District with the salaries of the
Engineer Commissioners, assigned here
by the Corps of Engineers. But it does
not charge the District with the services
of the Congress in exercising its exclu
sive powers of legislation over the
District. It does not charge the District
with a portion of the salary of the
President of the United States for his
special services to the District of Colum
bia, such as signing bills and appointing
officials, lighting the community Christ
mas tree, etc. Absurd? Certainly. But
If one set of charges is logical or Justi
fied, so is the other.
On the other hand, the report charges
the United States as a heavy user (and
non-contributor) of water, exactly on the
basis of a water-using property owner.
It proposes charges for certain street
costs against the United States as the
owner of abutting property. But It
levies no charge against the United
States as a beneficiary of general police
and fire protection and utterly ignores
—as the basis of any charge—the Fed
eral Government’s vast ownership of
untaxed real estate, or for many of the
utilitarian and decorative embellish
ments of such property designed by the
Federal Government for a National
Capital, such as the street system itself.
Many of the charges are estimates and
can never be anything but estimates. "It
■was apparent that in many cases the
value and cost of services rendered were
not always identical,” says the report.
In such cases the report submits esti
mates but does not go to the extreme of
assessing the cost. To have done so
would have revealed the theory’s com
plete fallacy and its curious inequity.
The report finds an "estimated cost” of
$55,000 for supplying to District residents
the services of the Library of Congress,
which is maintained in part by their
national taxes. It does not charge for
the services, however—not because of
the grotesque unfairness involved, but
because it would be "difficult and expen
sive” to compute the cost on a reader
basis.
The report shows how widely varying
the estimates for other services may be.
For use by the people of the District of
“museum facilities,” for maintenance of
the National Arboretum, for mainte
nance of that private congressional lux
ury—the Botanic Garden—the report
finds the “lower” estimates of possible
charges against the District totaling
$26,000, while the "higher” estimates total
$145,000. On the other side, hospitaliza
tion of non-residents and letting the
tourists look at the animals in the Zoo
could be estimated as charges against
the United States, running from $37,000
to 486,000. Who would make the esti
mates? The Budget Bureau!
!: The fundemental weakness of the
theory Is that ft presents an unrealistic
conception of the District government
and the local community as self
determining, self-sustaining, rendering
services to the United States for which
they exact a tribute or receiving volun
tarily services for which they pay. It
neglects the fact that services inter
changed arc established, not by the will
of the local community but by the Na
tional Congress or its various adminis
trative bureaus or branches. And in
many cases the services are established
not to meet local demand or need but
' because this happens to be the Capital
of the United States.
The theory of "Point One’’ is unten
able and the report supporting it dem
onstrates it to be illogical.
Morocco Again.
Twenty-six years ago, In the hectic
Summer of 1911, the German gunboat
Panther suddenly descended on Agadir.
Southwest Morocco, as a challenge to
France. A crisis ensued which all but
precipitated the World War destined to
break out three years afterward. Con
flict was only averted by Great Britain's
action in aligning herself against Ger
man pretensions. Later, Paris and
Berlin patched up an agreement where
by the French acquired a protectorate
over Morocco except a Spanish zone
flanking the Mediterranean and directly
opposite the mainland of Spain.
It is in that region, wherein the
Spanish civil war was incubated last
July, that the seeds of international
danger are again sprouting. Germany
is reported to be at work in Spanish
Morocco under circumstances which, be
cause of their implications, temporarily
overshadow the Loyalist-Insurgent situ
ation in Spain. Though corroborative
evidence is lacking, France claims that
Germans troops are concentrating at
Ceuta, the harbor directly facing Gibral
tar. Nazi engineers are alleged to be
building fortifications, while other mili
tary activities are said to be in progress
indicative of Germany’s intention to
occupy the whole highly strategic region.
Its possession, in addition to forming a
nucleus for a new German foothold in
Africa, would put the Reich in position
to make itself dangerous in the Mediter
ranean alike to Britain, France and Italy.
While Berlin denies the Spanish Mo
rocco reports, they are taken seriously
in London and Paris. Alert to any threat
to her Mediterranean position, Great
Britain is dispatching virtually her entire
home fleet to the area adjacent to
Gibraltar. It will be a demonstration
comparable to the armada sent into the
same waters last year as a threat to Italy.
Simultaneously, the French Atlantic fleet
is making ready to proceed to Casa
blanca, Morocco, while the French garri
son In Morocco adjacent to the Spanish
zone has been heavily reinforced, with
orders to its commander to take any
steps necessary to prevent German ag
gression.
Thus, should it turn out that Hitler
has actually ventured upon a military
diversion in Spanish Morocco the stage
will have been set for the most perilous
international turn the Spanish tragedy
has yet taken. It would be a desperate
throw on the Nazis’ part—a gamble
from which they could hardly by any
stretch of the- imagination hope to
emerge victorious. The British would
not tolerate German guns in position to
sweep the Straits of Gibraltar. France,
dependent in war on an unimpeded flow
of troops and supplies from her African
empire, could not view without anxiety
the ability of Germany to control the
entrance to the Mediterranean. Italy
would confront the same disquieting
possibility.
The Nazis may have a deal with
Franco for concessions at Ceuta in re
turn for German “volunteers” on the
insurgent front in Spain, but Berlin
must know that they could only be held
at the cost of a clash with Britain,
France and probably Italy. It seems
incredible that the Reich, in its pro
fessed zeal to thwart communism in
Spain, would risk in Northwestern Africa
an adventure which would almost auto
matically lead to a European war. Mean
time that powder barrel never seemed
more nearly alight than at this critical
hour.
Airship brokers are asserting as much
claim to attention as those famous old
friends, the Wall Street brokers them
selves, and are not nearly so obliging
about standing hitched while being in
vestigated.
A1 Smith says he once worked in old
Pulton fish market, but was not adroit
enough to capitalize Jim Farley’s scenic
effect at the Philadelphia convention,
Introducing live mermaids.
Social disturbance is being scientifically
studied with a view to ascertaining
whether enlargement of the Supreme
Court can be regarded as a favorable
symptom.
Friendship.
No lexicon ever has defined friendship
with convincing accuracy. Perhaps the
bond that relates man to man is beyond
the reach of analysis, not to be dissected
by an epigram. Love and comradely af
fection are easy synonyms, yet not quite
true equivalents. Friends, it seems, are
individuals who are united by instinctive
understanding. The tie is impulsive in
character, largely subconscious in nature,
occasionally altogether irrational in cause
and in effect.
To illustrate the difficulty, let this story
be cited: It happened that on Christmas
eve David Lloyd George, great Welsh
reformer who once served England as
premier in an hour of deepest need, was
in Jamaica, and Edward VIII, until De
cember 10 King of Great Britain and
Northern Ireland and Emperor of India
and of the Dominions Overseas, was In
self-imposed exile at Enzesfeld Castle,
near Vienna, in Austria. Leagues of land
and sea separated the two; they lived in
different worlds. But by recourse to
science in the shape of a submarine
cable the former could, and did, send a
Yule tide communication to the latter.
r
The message read: “Best Christmas
greetings from an old minister of the
crown, who holds you in as high esteem
as ever and regards you with deeper,
loyal affection; deplores the shabby and
stupid treatment accorded to you; resents
the mean and unchlvalrous attacks upon
you, and regrets the loss sustained by
the British Empire of a monarch who
sympathized with the lowliest of his
subjects."
Of course, in the circumstances, the
words may have been ill-advised. His
tory will Judge of their political sig
nificance. What matters meanwhile is
the spirit which they reflect. The Duke
of Windsor answered in a tone which left
no doubt of his comprehension of the
motive: “Very touched by your kind tele
gram and good wishes, which I heartily
reciprocate. Cymru am Byth (Wales
forever).”
Possibly the Incident ought not to
have been mentioned publicly. The fact,
however, is that the exchange was re
ported in the London press. It there
fore inevitably becomes a foot note to
the annals of the age. Translated into
generalities, it means that “an old min
ister” still Is faithful to his royal friend.
Does Edward deserve such devotion?
The question is a useless quibble. Far
more important is the durability of a
love like that of brothers—a love which,
conceivably, is blind, and yet is good.
Grand opera retains its fascination for
music lovers. Art has its responsibilities
as masterpieces reveal the influence of
ancient opinions which relate even to
personalities. Grand opera has not yet
been studied to a degree that reveals
historic significance, which is often in
tensified by the embellishment of a
tragic incident by means of studied
rhythms and tonal intervals.
In the vicissitudes of public life, quick
study is often required. One of the hard
est things a faithful secretary has to
learn is to throw off his office coat at an
appointed hour and appear in high hat
attire for a carriage ride along the
Avenue.
So many clever things are said at ban
quets that outsiders are beginning to
wish that Senator Vandenberg could be
invited to bring along the old phono
graph.
As names make news, Robert Cuse
flashes in conspicuous lettering. It is a
name that will reward attentive study
hereafter, not only on its own account,
but for its commercial affiliations.
Protest arises against sending killing
machinery to Spain, especially when it is
so evident that Spain already has more
of that kind of material than she can
intelligently utilize.
Enlarging the Supreme Court would
necessarily bring up argument from an
other angle as to the desirability of
inflation.
Shooting Stars.
BY PHILANDER JOHNSON.
False Impression.
The statesman's life is filled with care.
He writes a ton of speeches
And bravely sends them everywhere
That the post office reaches.
He sits up working late at night,
As well as in the daytime,
And does not seem to have in sight
A chance of any playtime.
He shakes hands with a lot of friends
And tries to make things pleasant,
While busily he superintends
The Future and the Present.
And yet the folks out home declare,
"That chap is in his heydayl
He simply gets an easy chair
And sits around till pay day I”
Assuring Interest.
“What is the usual method of con
ducting a senatorial investigation?”
“Well,” replied Senator Sorghum,
"when you decide on an investigation
you start in immediately believing the
worst.”
Jud Tunkins says he leaves his flivver
out in the street all night and it does him
good by strengthening his faith in
human nature when he finds it there
next morning.
Fleeting Fame.
There is ever something lacking,
Though the cup of fame be sweet;
Some ingredient will be missing
That might make the draught complete.
Though you carve your name in letters
Which posterity must see,
Probably your next-door neighbor
Will be asking, “Who is he?”
Though you aid your fellow creatures
By some scientific plan,
The conductor says, “Step lively!"
As to any other man.
Though today they print your picture
Through the land, from sea to sea,
In six months, if you are mentioned,
They’ll be asking, “Who is he?”
“A truth that is unwelcome,” said
Hi Ho, the sage of Chinatown, "should
be protected by silence to prevent it
from being overwhelmed by falsehood.”
Memory Exercise.
"A financier should cultivate a mem
ory for exact details."
“It all depends,” observed Mr. Dustin
Stax, “on whether he’s a regular finan
cier or one of the kind who have to con
sider the possibility of eventually doing
business with a grand jury.”
History’s Repetition.
There’s nothing new!
But why feel blue
And rail in prose or rhyme?
The old-time stuff
Is great enough
To hear a second time.
“Dar is all kinds o' dlffunt gamblin’,”
said Uncle Eben, “but dar ain’ one of ’em
dat makes you feel any better when you
dona lost a week’s wages."
.*1
THE POLITICAL
MILL
BY G. GOULD LINCOLN.
The opening of Congress has come and
gone and President Roosevelt has de
livered two messages to that body within
the past week. He plans to send another
to the Capitol tomorrow, dealing with
the reorganization of the executive de
partments and agencies. His first mes
sage on the state of the Union—his
annual message—held only one surprise,
the President s declaration that he did
not believe a constitutional amendment
necessary. It may be incorrect to call
even that a surprise. For the President
theretofore had not indicated he would
seek such an amendment, although some
of the Democratic leaders including Sen
ator Robinson of Arkansas, the Senate
leader, had expressed the opinion that
the better way of validating some of the
New Deal laws was by constitutional
amendment,
* % * *
Even now there are those Democrats
who insist the President did not by any
means close the door to a constitutional
amendment. They say he urged upon
the Supreme Court a more liberal inter
pretation of the Constitution, but that
if a liberal interpretation is not forth
coming he may return to the amend
ment. Generally speaking, however, his
message has been interpreted as placing
the President in opposition to a consti
tutional amendment at this time. Any
way, his speech put rather a damper on
the movement in Congress for an amend
ment.
The rest of his message, and also his
budget message, failed to reveal any
specific measures of his program, with
the exception of a plan to reorganize the
executive departments, to continue cer
tain nuisance taxes, to continue and
make permanent the C. C. C. and to
enact an amendment to the neutrality
law giving the President authority to
ban shipments of arms and munitions
to the warring factions in Spain. All of
these recommendations had been ex
pected. The rest of the President’s pro
gram still remains unknown. He inti
mated clearly that something must be
done to revive the basic principles of the
N. R. A. But what will be done still is
entirely nebulous.
w w w w
The message on the reorganization of
the executive departments will be
awaited with much interest. It has been
reported he w-ill ask Congress to set
up two new major departments, with
their heads members of the President's
cabinet. One is a Department of Public
Welfare and the other a Department of
Public Works. The President has said
several times that he does not expect
great saving from the departmental
reorganization—if any. If there are to
be two new major departments created,
taking in the great spending agencies of
the Government set up to meet the
emergency growing out of the depres
sion. it seems pretty clear there is to be
no shrinkage of the executive branch
of the Government. Rather it may be
expected to increase.
* * * *
The President's messages have indi
cated that he believes the Federal Gov
ernment must take over more and more
the business of regulating matters that
have in the past been left to the States
and must give more and more service to
the people. This means, of course,
greater centralization of the Govern
ment—in Washington. A Democratic
Senator, commenting recently on the in
creasing growth of the Federal Govern
ment and its encroachment upon the
States said: “If I were a comedian in
vaudeville and wanted to get a laugh out
of audiences in any part of the country,
I would simply go on the stage and Say:
‘I am for States’ rights.’ States’ rights
are a dead issue, and the country is
beginning to regard them as such. The
centralization of Government will con
tinue. There seems no other way. It
may be that the State boundaries will
not be wiped out—at least not yet.”
* * * *
The speed with which Congress put
through the Spanish neutrality resolu
tion, acting immediately after the Presi
dent had delivered his message, may or
may not be Indicative of future willing
ness to follow the lead of the President.
The great desire of Congress and the
American people to avoid any entangle
ment abroad that might lead this
country into war naturally played its
part in speeding that resolution through.
However, that quick action seemed to be
an augury of future acquiescence in the
plans of the administration for legis
lation. Certainly it could not be con
strued as a willingness to say no. With
the great popularity of the President in
mind and the results of the national
election by no means yet forgotten, it
seems entirely probable the administra
tion will have little trouble getting what
it w'ants at the hands of Congress. That
goes for the Senate as well as for the
House.
^ T
Reverting to the question of constitu
tional amendment or some other means
of getting more liberal laws, the progres
sive bloc is intent upon quick action at
the present session to rewrite or to
validate the New Deal laws as they
relate to labor and industry, to hours
of labor and wages. The members of the
bloc are calling upon the veteran Sen
ator Norris of Nebraska to take a fore
most part in this drive. Senator Norris
already has his name attached to one
amendment to the Constitution—the
“lame duck” amendment, which did
away with the old "short” sessions of
Congress and put the newly elected
President in office in January instead of
waiting until March. It would be an
extraordinary thing if Norris’ name
should be so closely associated with a
second amendment to the Constitution—
although that may happen. Thinking
back on other amendments, in recent
years, the name of only one other Sen
ator is so intimately attached as to come
instantly to mind—Senator Morris
Sheppard of Texas, who fathered the
eighteenth amendment providing for na
tional prohibition. That amendment is
now no more.
It seems increasingly clear, however,
that the Progressives do not intend to
let the grass grow under their feet in the
session of Congress now convened. One
way or another they intend to force
through labor legislation and legislation
dealing with agriculture as quickly as
possible. If the President takes the
lead, so much the better. If he does not,
they are prepared to go ahead anyway.
* * * *
In his budget message President
Roosevelt asked for an appropriation of
$650,000,000 to be used for the W. P. A.
and the R. A. until June 30 next, when
the new fiscal year begins. This is more
than his original suggestion that $500,
000,000 might be sufficient to wind up
the year. It is much less, however, than
the sums for which members of Con
gress, mayors of cities and the relief
workers are clamoring. Great pres
sure will be brought upon the Appropria
tions Committees of the House and the
Senate to Increase the sum, perhaps by
several hundred million dollars. Senators
and Representatives from the States of
the Northwest are early in the field with
a committee, headed by Senator Pope,
Democrat, of Idaho, to place the de
mands far mart money before the Houm I
THIS AND THAT |
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.
Cleaning out the old office desk is an
annual Job which most persons put oft
until Just after the new year.
Starting on these labors the other day
we pulled a metal drawer clear off its
driveway, and there on the flooring
found an old letter, one which we re
called having thought a good letter at
the time of receipt several years ago.
Since the problem it presents is a
perennial one, we take pleasure in print
ing it at last:
“Dear Sir: You may possibly have
written an article on the subject I am
about to mention, but if you haven’t I
wish you would. Having been out of
the city for a year and a half I have
not seen The Star regularly.
“I wish you would give your most
caustic expression to the drivers of
autos who sound their horns or start
their engines loudly In order to see
pedestrians Jump.
“You. will observe that they usually
pick out some elderly person, or per
haps some girl whose attention they
wish to attract, disconcerting those who
are trying to cross the street in safety
and with as much speed as possible.
“It’s a lot of fun for morons. They
have their equal in the motorman who
Jangles a bell unnecessarily for the same
purpose. If any pedestrian were to ex
perience an accident because of this
class of driver’s antics, that driver would
speedily justify himself.
“This type of ‘amusement’ is not one
indulged in by women. So mark up
another good point for women drivers.
"The rule that pedestrians who start
on the green light have right of way all
the way across the street is more hon
ored by non-observance than by ob
servance. Yours very truly, A. De G.”
* * * * «
The pedestrian problem presented Is
more acute today than ever.
Traffic Is much worse, all things con
sidered. There are more cars, there is
more careless and indifferent driving.
The pedestrian scarcely has been helped
by increased laws and regulations. There
always has been enough in the streets
to keep the hapless w'alker busy. Multi
plicity of lights and regulations neces
sarily are more confusing to him than to
the driver, for he it must always be
remembered, is made of flesh and blood,
and has no metal to bulwark him against
the “arrows of outrageous fortune.”
This thing of having some one make
you nearly jump out of your skin, just
for the “fun" of it, is distinctly discon
certing.
It not only is totally unnecessary, but
it often startles a pedestrian just enough
to divert his attention from a car com
ing around the corner.
It is the car coming around the corner
which takes away all the possible last
vestiges of pleasure which might be
left to the pedestrian in the city proper
—or improper. Sometimes the walking
person thinks traffic highly improper,
let it be known.
* * * *
Between the cars turning the corner
and the sudden racing of engines, more
prevalent now than the blowing of the
horn to frighten people, the person
afoot has an increasingly hard time of it.
Sudden roaring of the engine, with a
slight hitch forward, is worse on the
nerves of the crossing pedestrian than a
horn perhaps.
The sound of a horn—how different
from the days when a horn was used |
merely to frighten the fox—gives warn- '
lng about something perhaps, but at
corners it comes mostly from a station
ary car.
But the sound of a racing engine
means, in the mind of the average
walker, a moving machine, and that is
where the ‘'scarce” comes in.
There can be little doubt that some
motorists Indulge in these "antics,” as
our correspondent calls them, purposely,
and with evident design to frighten
pedestrians.
We believe them to be in a minority,
however.
Most of the engine racers and hitchers
forward of their cars Just a little while
at a crossing do so out of nervousness,
we feel.
Driving cars in modern traffic takes a
lot of nervous energy. No doubt many
persons who are not aware of the fact,
nevertheless are making nervous wrecks
out of themselves by motoring. It may
be glimpsed in the set faces of many
drivers.
Something to relieve the nervous ten
sion—and this "something” is the relief
of tooting on a horn, or causing the
engine to snort a few snorts.
That some drivers, almost always
men, as the writer of the above letter
points out, do make people jump, just
for the fun of seeing them jump, is un
doubted.
But if one has a sure sense of how
much time is left before the change of
lights, one need not worry much about
them deliberately running over one.
No, the real danger comes from cars
making the turns, from two directions,
squarely into the path of the hurrying
pedestrian..
Although the person afoot “has the
light,” so, alas, has the man making a
turn.
Instead of making the wide turn, which
was overturned several years ago. to the
sorrow of most pedestrians, and some
motorists, the driver makes as short
and narrow a turn as possible.
This means that often the pedestrian
is prevented from crossing and kept im
movable long enough so that by the time
he Is able to resume his course, he finds
himself assailed by an entire new band
of fiends in human form, rushing at
him from another direction. The walker
cannot stay where he is, and yet he
cannot move forward or even backward,
in some instances.
What is he to do?
Well, we leave it to you. Having been
caught in one of these famous situa
tions the other morning, what we did
was to swear fluently and proficiently,
and beat it back to a car platform as
swiftly as possible. Fortunately, the
street car had waited to take on a fat
lady. Blessed fat woman! Had it not
been for thy portly shadow, we might
have been No. 102, or whatever the vic
tim would have been that day.
All in all. the plight of the pedestrian
is sad, just a little more sad, or sadder,
as one chooses, than last year, despite
some alleviation. The forgotten man is
the modern pedestrian. If you don’t
think he is forgotten, stand out in the
middle of Pennsylvania avenue some
time and start thinking about something
else. Oh, anything will do. It must be
some sort of high crime to start thinking
in such a situation, because the penalty
is swift and sure. You are not supposed
to think in the middle of the street. All
you are supposed to do is jump.
WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS
BY FREDERIC WILLIAM WILE.
Faith and hope, apart from skyscraper
figures, are the high lights of the third
Roosevelt budget. The President bases
his expectations of a “layman's balanced
budget” for 1938 and a “certified public
accountant's” budget for 1939 on what
he confidently thinks will come to pass
rather than on any cast iron assurances
on that score. Never have F. D. R.'s in
vincible buoyancy and optimism been
more graphically illustrated than in his
sunny belief that Uncle Sam's expense
account will actually be squared two
years hence. The President places his
chief reliance on industry and recovery
(1) On industry, to take up the slack in
unemployment by providing jobs, and
thus curtailing the Government's relief
burden, and (2) on recovery, to proceed
at such a rate that Treasury revenue
from income taxes will continuously
swell, and thus do its bit to keep the
country in the black. If these things
happen, Mr. Roosevelt is certain the
budget goose will hang high by mld-1939.
T ^ ▼
There's no more pertinent passage in
the budget message than the gentle hint
to Congress that if it indulges in ex
penditure beyond fundamental Federal
requirements, it must simultaneously
raise the necessary wind. Otherwise,
House and Senate are admonished, the
budget is doomed to remain chronically
out of gear. Pressure groups of one hue
or another are due sooner or later to
come forth with various designs on the
Treasury’, though nothing is in sight as
devastating as the veterans’ bonus. A
te'st of congressional economy sincerity
is just around the corner. It will be
provided by demands for relief funds in
excess of anything either Mr. Roosevelt
or Mr. Hopkins projects. For the moment
"balance the budget” is popular at the
Capitol as a slogan. All hands are
chanting it. But it isn’t likely to be
long before a host of schemes aimed at
wider distribution of taxpayers’ wealth
will bob up. New Deal leadership will
have its troubles keeping the "gimme”
brigade in leash. The would-be spenders
can count on plenty of opposition from
the White House.
* * * *
It’s just about half a century since
“Czar” Tom Reed rebuked a Coolidge
like House member by drawling his im
mortal epigram that “this is a billion
dollar country.” The speaker alluded to
the round figures of the modest budget
of that day. Congress now has a $6
000,000,000 or $7,000,000,000 budget on
its hands. So accustomed are Uncle
Sam’s children to Federal billions that
the current national expense account
hardly causes anybody to bat an eye.
The biggest single item, apart from re
lief, is the $980,000,000 for national de
fense, a peace-time peak. Not since the
other Roosevelt has the country had so
preparedness-minded a President as the
White House incumbent. Under his
leadership, Congress since 1933 has given
generous heed to defense requirements.
Current world conditions will probably
stifle any semblance of opposition to the
record Army and Navy appropriations
Mr. Roosevelt has just submitted.
* * * *
When Emery L. Frazier, stentorian
toned legislative clerk of the Senate, calls
«
and Senate committees. It may be ex
pected that members from other sections
of the country will come forward with
demands. The fight over this relief
appropriation, to be carried in a defi
ciency bill, is likely to show the temper
of Congress on spending and retrench
ment
A
the roll of the newly organized chamber
he reels off three familiar names. Again
the roster contains a Lodge, a Hitchcock
and a Pepper, reminiscent, respectively,
of two former chairmen of the Foreign
Relations Committee (Lodge of Massa
chusetts and Hitchcock of Nebraska) and
the Philadelphia lawyer 'Pepper of
Pennsylvania), who was in the Senate
from 1922 to 1927. Once more, too, there j
are two Johnsons, as there were when
Hiram of California and Magnus of
Minnesota were both members. The
newest Johnson is the former Governor,
Edwin Carl, of Colorado. He has been
assigned the outer wing position on the
fringe of Democrats for whom space had
to be found on the thinned Republican
side.
* * * *
Andrew W. Mellon's gift of a monu
mental National Gallery of Art to
Washington has its inspiration mainly
in the Pittsburgher’s devotion to paint
ings and sculpture, but it also springs
from the former Secretary of the Treas
ury’s ardent desire to see the Federal
City become architecturally the most
beautiful capital in the world. Nothing
during his record tenure of 12 years at
the Treasury gave Mr. Mellon greater
pride than his association with the
$100,000,000 departmental building proj
ect along Pennsylvania and Constitution
avenues. His commission to John Rus
sell Pope, New York architect, who will
design the art gallery, stipulated that
the building should be in full keeping
with the granite and limestone piles
which now luxuriously house so many
Federal activities.
At the White House sphinxlike silence
is maintained about the make-up of the
second-term Roosevelt cabinet. Although
the impression grows that no changes
are in early prospect except possibly in
the secretaryship of war, to which Mr.
Woodring was appointed temporarily,
gossip persists in connection with the
Labor Department. If there's to be a
new Department of Public Welfare, Sec
retary Perkins rates as a strong possi
bility for its first head, with Works
Progress Administrator Hopkins as chief
runner-up, or vice versa. If the cabinet
lady is switched to public welfare, her
present chief aide, Assistant Secretary
Edward F. McGrady, is looked upon as
her certain successor. With strike tur
moil looming as the blackest cloud on
the New Deal’s horizon, its ace trouble
shooter in the industrial realm would
take over the Labor portfolio at a psy
chological moment.
* * * *
Senator Matthew M. Neely, Democrat,
of West Virginia, chairman of the Con
gressional Inaugural Committee, is wres
tling with the traditional and thorny
task of solving the loaves and fishes
seating problem on the Capitol Plaza on
January 20. Mr. Neely has the distinc
tion of being West Virginia’s second
United States Senator to be elected to a
third term. The only other one was the
late Stephen B. Elkins, Republican. Fol
lowing the patronage reprisals recently
imposed upon Mr. Neely’s young col
league, Rush Holt, a State newspaper
refers to the senior Senator as West
Virginia's “only recognized representa
tive” in the upper branch of Congress.
It acclaims him as having now reached
a commanding position, "where he can
procure for West Virginia benefits that
were out of reach before.”
* * * *
Somebody has suggested that the
President might magnanimously cele
brate that “era of good feeling” which
is supposed to have set in on a certain
day last November, by naming the
f
ANSWERS TO
QUESTIONS
BY FREDERIC J. HASKIS.
A reader can get the answer to any
question of fact by writing The Evening
Star Information Bureau, Frederic J.
Haskin, Director, Washington, D C.
Please inclose stamp for reply.
Q. What Is the average bet of people
attending the races?—E. R.
A. Jack Doyle, New York betting com
missioner, estimates that two-thirds of
the people playing the horses bet only
$2 at a time.
Q. How Is the Irish name "Sean” pro
nounced?—J. E. H.
A. Sean, which is the same as the
English name John, is pronounced as
though spelled shawn.
Q- Are there many left-handed den
tists?— B. G. T.
A. Not more than 1 dentist in 500 is
left handed, it is said, although many
of them are ambidextrous.
Q. How large was the first edition of
Who's Who in America?—C. W.
A. The first edition, published in 1899
1900. contained 827 pages and 8,602 bio
graphical sketches.
Q. Is there a form of architecture
known as Tuscan?—W. R. B.
A. This is an order of architecture of
the Etruscan style, called also the Rustic
order. The Tuscan style is generally
regarded as differing from the Doric
only in being less refined in its propor
tions.
Q. What instruments form a sym
phony orchestra?—L. R.
A. The four choirs which comprise the
symphony orchestra are the strings
(violas, violins, violoncellos and contra
basses'; the woodwinds (bassoons, clari
nets, flutes, English horn and occasion
ally the French horn, oboes); the brasses
(French horns, trombones, tuba, trum
pets); the battery (instruments of per
cussion such as drums, triangles, bells
and tympani).
Q. Please give a biography of Ernest
Sutherland Bates, author of “The Bible
Designed to Be Read as Living Litera
ture.”—H. W.
A. The author was born at Gambler,
Ohio, October 14, 1879, son of Cyrus
Stearns and Laverna Sutherland Bates.
Graduated from the University School
at Cleveland, he received his A. B. at
the University of Michigan in 1902 and
A. M. in 1903; Ph. D., Columbia Univer
sity, 1908. He was instructor in English
at Oberlin College. 1903-5; tutor in Eng
lish, Columbia, 1907-8; professor of Eng
lish. University of Arizona, 1908-15, Uni
versity of Oregon, 1915-21. He was lit
erary editor of the Dictionary of Amer
ican Biography, 1926-9. Mr. Bates was
on the staff of the Saturday Review of
literature and the Modern Monthly.
Among his books are “The Friend of
Je*us,” "This Land of Liberty” and
“Study of Shelley's the Cenci.”
Q. What are the most important min
eral elements in food?—B. L. C.
A. Probably calcium, phosphorus and
iron.
Q. When was the Mississippi River
formed?—M. T.
A. The river, as it now exists, was
formed during the latter part of the Ice
Age, more than 20,000 years ago.
Q. What breed of chicken is the 1936
champion. Miss New Deal?—P. M.
A. She is a White Leghorn. She laid
327 eggs in 365 days and scored 347.25
points—a two-ounce egg equaling one
point.
Q. Can you tell me something about
Elizabeth Fry?—A. W. S.
A. Elizabeth Fry was a Quaker, the wife
of a prosperous London merchant. In
1817 she started a work among the
women prisoners of Newgate Prison that
led to reforms in the treatment of women
prisoners throughout the British Isles,
France. Germany, Belgium. Holland and
Switzerland. She devoted 25 years to
this work and was recognized as its
chief exponent throughout Europe.
Q. Was William Blake, the English
artist and poet, a spiritualist?—C. H.
A. He firmly believed that he held
converse with the spirits of Homer,
Virgil, Dante and other great men.
Q. How did the prohibition poll taken
by the Literary Digest in 1930 turn
out?—S. W. D.
A. The result of the poll was: 30.5 per
cent of those voting favored the con
tinuance and strict enforcement of the
eighteenth amendment and Volstead
act; 29.1 per cent favored modification
of the Volstead act to permit the sales
of light wines and beer; 40.4 per cent
favored repeal of the eighteenth amend
ment.
Q. Is the last member of the Last
Man's Club still living?—C. K.
A. The Last Man's Club was a dinner
club composed entirely of Civil War
veterans. It* originated in St. Paul.
Minn. Each year the members of the
club attended an annual dinner. Each
year the places were set for all of the
original members, even those who had
passed on. About a year ago the last
man died.
Q. What is the average weight of chil
dren 2 and 3 years old?—N. S.
A. At 2 years the average weight is
2514 pounds; at 3, 29% pounds.
Q. What is semolina?—J. W.
A. Hard grains of wheat left In the
bolting cloth when the fine flour has
passed through its meshes are called
semolina. It is also sometimes manu
factured by millers. Certain hard, large
grained wheats growing in Southern
Europe produce the best semolina, which
is used for thickening soups, for maca
roni, for a French bread, as an addition
to Italian polenta and is employed in
puddings.
A Rhyme at Twilight
By
Gertrude Brooke Hamilton
Winter Magic.
Nothing more fairylike I know
Than dry weeds in a drift of snow;
Wild carrot tops, standing upright,
Holding a thimble cup of white;
A clump of withered goldenrod;
A milkweed stalk with one gray pod:
A few cattails, erect and cool,
Snow-etched against a frozen pool.
Above the drift, in the sun’s gleam.
Petrified orchids the weeds seem.
- ■ — ... 1 . a
United States’ forthcoming two 35,000*
ton battleships Maine and Vermont. As
there’s no politics in the Navy, evidence
is lacking that the proposal is being
taken under serious consideration.
(Ooarrlsht, 19S7.)
f