THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. THURSDAY.January 2*. 1937 THEODORE W. NOYES_Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company. Jltn lit and Pennsylvania Ave. New York Offlce: 110 East 42nd St. Chicago Offlce: 435 North Michigan Are. Rate by Carrier—City and Suburban. Regular Edition. The Evening and Sunday 8tar , „ _ . 65c per month or 15e per week The Evening Star . . 45c per month or 10c per week The 8u day 8tar_6c per copy Nlgbt Final Edition. Night Final and Sunday 8tar-70c per month Night Final 8tar.—ORc per month Collectlop made at the end of each month or each week. Orders may be sent by mall or tele phone National 6000. Rate by Mall—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. Bally and Sunday._.l yr., $10.00: 1 mo., 85e ally only _1 yr.. SS.OO; 1 mo.. 60c Sunday only_ 1 yt. $4.00; 1 mo. 40c All Other States and Canada. Dally and Sunday..1 yr.. $12.00: 1 mo.. $1.00 Dally only,_1 yr.. $8.00: 1 mo, 75e Sunday only ..._1 yr, $6.00; 1 mo, 60c rhe Associated Press Is eicluslvely entitled to the use for republlcatlon of all news dispatches credited to It or not otherwise credited In this paper and also the local news published herein. All rights of publication ot special dispatches herein are also reserved. The Facts on Strikes. The principle of the legislation sought by the Secretary of Labor, empowering the Department of Labor or some other Government agency to make formal in quiry into the causes of strikes or lock outs, with power of subpoena of wit nesses and records, is probably a good one. The danger, of course, lies in pos sible abuse of the power by a Govern ment agency which may not be strictly impartial. The legislation at this time is mani festly suggested by the difficulties over settlement of the strike that has tied up plants of the General Motors Corpora tion. Its proposal comes in the nature of a plan to deal with an emergency. Therein lies another danger—the danger of impetuous enactment of important legislation under the stress of an im pending crisis. That, of course, should be avoided. Under impartial, strictly neutral ad ministration, the powers conferred by the proposed legislation would enable the Government to present the facts to the people and public sentiment would be guided by those facts. Large strikes, such as the tie-up of a section of the automobile Industry, are no longer 'blat ters affecting merely the employer and the employe. Such strikes have a direct effect upon the general public and are thus vested with important public In terest. But, as in the present dispute be tween General Motors and the C. I. O., the public standing on the side lines has no way of knowing the facts except as given Ly the disputants themselves. How many members of the automobile Union under Mr. Lewis’ general direction are actually employed in the General Motors plants? Is it true, as Mr. Sloan repeatedly emphasizes, that a small but powerful minority is keeping thousands of men who are anxious to work out of their Jobs? The main issues do not concern the usual questions of wages and working hours. General Motors is admittedly a good employer. The main issue is collective bargaining. But, again, the issue Is not collective bargaining in the abstract, but the identity of the col lective bargaining unit. If the actual facts were available to the public, or were to be made available, both sides might be more amenable to settlement. The principle of the legislation may be Bound. But what condemns It In many eyes Is not the principle, but the picture of some Government official going on a fishing expedition to see what can be brought to the surface In the way of colorful headline material every time there is a strike or a threatened strike. It Is not the power itself that is to be feared, but the abuse of that power in the hands of those who may lack public confidence as unbiased judges. Extra flood contributions should be expected from peace-time profiteers who undertook to peddle second-hand air planes in a foreign market. The soothing of conscience has often prompted gifts to humanity of splendid generosity. Japan’s Die-Hard Army. It was not to be expected that Japan’s militarists, cocks of the walk at Tokio ever since the Manchurian adventure six years ago, would ever willingly or gracefully surrender their supremacy. Developments that followed last week’s fall of the Hlrota cabinet at the demand of a defiant Diet are proving afresh the army’s die-hard determination to fight to the bitter end for preservation of its long-time predominance. General Kazushige Ugaki, former governor gen eral of Korea, who was commanded by the Emperor to form another cabinet, Is unable to carry out the mandate be cause of militarist opposition. Although himself a veteran soldier and former War minister, Ugaki has been told that no general will accept the war portfolio In any cabinet of which he is the head. As present laws require that the office be filled by a nominee of the army; the latter’s intransigence effectually blocks the way to establishment of a new gov ernment. The spurred and helmeted elements battling for retention of power resent General Ugaki’s designation as premier on account of his moderate leanings. They are further mistrustful of him be cause he enjoys the confidence of the political parties which seek to destroy militarist control and of the business Interests which envision economic ruin for Japan in consequence of mounting armament expenditure. The Japanese press, virtually of all parties, also is back ing Ugaki and appealing to the entire na tion to support him. A strong point is made of the general’s traditional attitude of blind devotion and obedience to the Emperor. His opponents are now ac cused of unconscionable disloyalty by thwarting the throne’s choice for the pre miership. This argument leaves out of account that times have changed In Japan since the great Emperor Meiji ruled, with the aid of powerful statesmen like Princes Ito and Yamagata. Today It would be extremely venturesome to in trude the Imperial authority Into a con flict In which the prestige of the army is directly at stake. A military revolution might easily result. General Ugaki is pursuing his efforts to overcome ob struction. Hope of his success lies mainly in the belief that the army as a whole does not dislike him and that enmity Is confined to certain individuals with personal grievances to avenge and am bitions to gratify. After the “purge” of February, 1936, with its train of assassination and re volt, expectation was widespread both at home and abroad that civilian authority would be more or less re-enthroned at Tokio. Events speedily proved the fallacy of such hopes. Aggression in China, de manded by the militarists regardless of political restraint, set in on an intensi fied scale. If some compromise with the war lords becomes necessary to seat General Ugaki in the premiership and to end the present crisis, it will signal to the world that the army still rules the roost. That will not be an omen either of tranquillity in Japan or of peace in the Far East. Public Building Plans. In connection with the need of a large public auditorium in Washington the President the other day said that a plan is being worked out for consideration by the appropriations committees of Con gress looking toward a long-view public building program for Washington to be developed on a ten-year step-by-step basis. This new building program, he stated, would be somewhat similar to that in the Mall-Avenue triangle which has resulted in the magnificent build ings on Pennsylvania and Constitution Avenues. It is greatly to be hoped that such a program will be developed and adopted and that the necessary appropriate legislation will be enacted at this present session of Congress. The need of It has been apparent for some years. The Mall-Avenue triangle program has not been completed owing to suspension of appropriations for the construction of the remaining units included in the original project. One of them is now under way at the "apex” of the triangle. Meanwhile the housing needs of the Government have been increased. Many thousands more Government workers are employed in this city—indeed some of them have had to be transferred to Baltimore for lack of space here. Old buildings are overcrowded. Some of them are of the "temporary” type, con structed during the war period to meet the emergency of a sudden great en largement of the Government service at the Capital. Unless « definite, comprehensive and progressive project of building emplace ment is designed and is executed as adopted, to be followed consistently and uninterruptedly for a period of years, with appropriations assured for Its con tinuous execution, there will be a repetition of the hit-and-miss experience of the war period, when necessity re quired the taking of sites even in the parks without regard to any definite grouping plan. These needs must be met. It Is assured that the Government personnel in Washington will not ap preciably diminish. Every consideration of economy requires the Immediate adoption of a broad plan which will comprise provision for all the present and Immediately prospective require ments of the public service. There is no real economy in unrelated building emplacement, design or con struction, A hundred-million-dollar expenditure for permanent buildings erected without reference to any system of relationship is in large measure a waste of public funds, whereas twice that amount spent In the development of a specific program would be an economy. There are two areas within which new Government construction should be placed to accord with the broad plan of Capital maintenance. These are the southern flank of the Mall and the region north of Constitution Avenue, now in part occupied by the Department of the Interior and somewhat definitely al located for the future War and Navy Departments. Any project that may be adopted should be based upon the use of these spaces, which have relation to existing constructions and to Govern ment activities. It Is to be hoped that differences of opinion as to location, design and cost of the new buildings which are now urgently needed and which should be Included In the present plan of a ten year step-by-step program will not be permitted to cause delay, as in the past, but that Congress, on the advice and recommendation of the President, will proceed speedily with the enactment of the requisite authorization and the pro* vision of the necessary funds to set this often postponed federal project in motion. American newspaper men may be of occasional service in assisting “G-men,” but they should not be expected to put in a punctual appearance at the copy desk with an accurate survey of the intricacies of foreign intrigue. Calamity Philosophy. When Seneca in his De Providentia declared that calamity is virtue’s op portunity he established an axiom which has application in America today. The super-flood which has devastated the Ohio Valley represents tragedy for hundreds of thousands of people, yet it may be regarded as a blessing—if it dramatizes the need for correction of the conditions which have combined to create the present disaster. To illustrate the point, a story from the other side of the world may be cited. Between 1843 and 1863 the trade of Calcutta trebled in volume and value. The harbor and the city grew great In commerce. But, says Hubert 8. Banner in a bode published in 1933, “It never had been thought worth while to provide this large and still rapidly in creasing mass of shipping with any adequate protection against the sudden and vicious storms for which the Hooghly River always has been notorious." Cer tainly, the authorities were familiar with the fact that hurricanes occasionally swept the port. A committee of Inquiry studied the problem for two long years, then decided that 'nothing short of a judicious system of wet docks could serve to meet every potential emergency.” The verdict was received with general approbation — and filed for future reference. But quixotic nature did not wait. On October 4, 1864, “the sun set amidst clouds of a deep red, with purple veins, as If bursting with passion.” Three hun dred ships lay in the river, unsecured; the town was filled with visitors for the holiday festival of Doorga Poojah. A guard at the Calcutta Observatory noticed that the barometer was falling. Yet no proper warning was given. A "sudden noise like the rumbling of distant thunder” was the first procla mation to which the community paid any heed. Within a few minutes the cyclone crossed the Bay of Bengal and tore Into the mainland. In the wake of the blast came the inevitable tidal wave. Official computations later estimated the loss of life at "about sixty thousand”; the property destroyed never could be appraised. The tourist to Calcutta now, however, sees the constructive result of the still remembered horror. A port trust ad ministers the harbor. Vast facilities for docking, loading and unloading have been provided in a program which, espe cially since 1892, has been expanded in ratio with developing demand. Mean while, the old slum areas have been cleared away, the business quarter has been reconstructed, suburban residential neighborhoods have been created, streets and roads have been widened, the water system has been modernized, the drain age system entirely renovated. No won der the population has doubled in the past half century I What is wanted for the Ohio Valley is a definitely planned anticipation of the super-floods of tomorrow. The time to think about those emergencies is contemporaneous with the present calamity. A woman does not always assert a right to the last word. All that Secre tary Perkins is asking is frank conver sation between Mr. Lewis and Mr. Sloan, to lead where it may. For a time Tennessee Valley Authority is forgotten in the demand for some reliable and practical authority over the Ohio Valley. Old-timers who gave the names Mem phis and Cairo to river towns may have had in mind the overflowing of the River Nile and the necessity of flood control. At this moment the Mississippi Basin commands more American solicitude than the Rhine River, the English Channel or even the Mediterranean 8ea. Shooting Stars. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. The Craving (or Oratory. Oh, why should unemployment be A threat to any man, If he some little chance may 6ee To talk as best he can? The soap box should be cast aside As something insecure; But any one with eager pride May start a lecture tour. The topic does not matter much If it permits the choice Of language which the heart will touch And exercise the voice. So do not linger to explain The wants that you endure, But take the way to ready gain And start a lecture tour. Seeking Temptation. “Did you ever meet a lobbyist?” “No,” answered Senator Sorghum. “The idea that lobbyists are lying in wait for the unwary statesman is largely erro neous. In order to meet a regular, high class lobbyist, you have to go to the trouble of providing yourself with cre dentials.” Jud Tunkins says is it possible to judge a man by his handwriting. A bank cash ier can do it every time. The Great Historic Game. Of course, it’s very sad Indeed That statesmen must in quarrels mix. Yet without strife, it Is agreed, There'd be no zest in politics. And they who see from day to day The rhetoricians throwing bricks Will sigh, “Life has to be that way! The one great sport is politics!” “Deception,” said Hi Ho, the sage of Chinatown, “is easily managed if you are content to be one of those whose vanity enables them to deceive them selves.” Protection of the Law. “Didn’t you know you were exceeding the speed limit?” inquired the officer. “I suspected it,” admitted Miss Cayenne. “Then why didn’t you slow down?” “I found myself in one of those wild rushes of traffic that make me feel as if the only way to be perfectly safe is to get arrested.” Rough Experiences. The citizen upon a jury served, Where testimony was exceeding grim, And wondered when he went his way unnerved If home folks would associate with him. “If I bet pn a hoss dat done lef’ me broke,” said Uncle Eben, "I’d jes’ hang around hopin, dat mebbe I’d git a little friendly consideration when de ‘Be kind to Dumb Animals week* come round agin.** *\ V THE POLITICAL MILL BY G. GOULD LINCOLN. Public opinion in the past has had real influence in the settlement of strikes. Probably it will have its part in settling the automobile strike of today. When John L. Lewis, chairman of the Commit tee for Industrial Organization, turned loose a demand that President Roosevelt pay his election debt by backing the strikers in their controversy with Gen eral Motors, he aroused considerable anti-union opinion. But when Alfred P. Sloan, jr., president of General Motors, declined an invitation extended by Miss Perkins, Secretary of Labor, to attend a conference with herself and Lewis, he set public opinion swinging in the other direction. It looks as though both sides had been pretty stupid. What the country wants is the settlement of this strike, which is causing huge losses in wages, production and business gen erally, and a settlement without the loss of life or destruction of property. Lewis is clinging to the “sit-down” strike as a weapon. Sloan has declared there will be no settlement, and no negotiations looking to a settlement, until the sit-down strikers have left the plants of General Motors. The ad ministration in Washington has said nothing so far about the sit-down strike. The sit-down strike, however, threatens to become a grave issue in this country unless something is done about it. Administration Senators are unwilling to discuss the sit-down strike for publication, awaiting a cue, perhaps, from the White House. Privately, some of them say that there is growing a new conception of property rights, and that a man’s job may be considered a property right. There is an Implication to that effect in the Wagner labor relations act, passed by the last Congress. If there is to be new labor legislation in this Con gress, the property right of a laborer to hold his job may be more explicitly set forth, * * * * But even granting to labor a prop erty right in its jobs does not clear up the problem of the sit-down strike. When a group of employes takes over an industrial plant, refusing to get out, it is trespassing if it is not doing some thing more serious. Sloan takes the position that a small group of the General Motors employes, now on strike, have taken over the company’s plants and are “holding them for ransom with out regard to law or justice.” In other words, the plants have been kidnaped. There are ways and ways of maintaining a property right. But so far it has not been held legal to maintain a property right by seizing another’s property. It looks as though the Government wTould have to take a position, one way or another, before long in regard to the sit-down strike. Miss Perkins' latest move is along different lines. She has called upon Senator Robinson, Democratic leader of the upper house, to put through a new law giving the Department of Labor the right to go into all the papers and records of any concern in which a strike takes place. Presumably the depart ment would also have the right to go into the records of labor organizations which are conducting the strikes. Pre sumably Miss Perkins would use the facts turned up by the department' agents to influence public opinion, under the proposed law. Or the facts would be turned over to Congress to be used in drafting legislation. Her proposal smacks a good deal of the John L. Lewis in fluence. He has been demanding that a Senate committee look into the affairs of General Motors. “What will the Republican party do now?” is the question asked—and tenta tively answered—in Fortune Magazine in its recent issue. The magazine claims to have made an exhaustive survey of the political implications of the Novem ber election. As a result of that survey it is proposing to the Republican party that it do what the Federalist party did a hundred years ago—fold up and vanish from the political horizon. One possible result, the magazine suggests, from the retirement of the G. O. P. from the field, might be a split in the Democratic party. The Republican party might do worse, it says, "for if the Republicans liquidate, the Democratic will split. And if the Democratic party splits, the split will run along economic rather than economic geographic lines, and then there would be no more solid South.” The ultimate result would be a cleavage between liberals and conservatives. * * # * This might happen, and then again it might not. In the meantime, Re publicans go about trying to think up something that may be done to put new life into the old party. They are not talking about liquidating. As Fortune points out, the Republicans are thinking along two lines. One group wishes to make the party more liberal and to put it in closer touch with the people. An other group wants the party to become a stout opposition party to the New Dealers, biding its time until something turns up. Today it looks as though the Republicans would take it out in talk— at least for a while. Fortune denies that President Roose velt ran for re-election and was vic torious as a "liberal.” It insists that he ran and was elected as "Mr. Roose velt,” and that his chief issue was not liberalism, but prosperity. He was the man who had brought back, through his administration, prosperity. This, prob ably, will shock some of the liberal followers of Mr. Roosevelt. It seems true, however, that if there had not been a big pick-up in business and employ ment and production in the year 1936 that Mr. Roosevelt would have had a tough time being re-elected. a, w w The National Get-Out-Vote Club, headed by Simon Michelet, is entering upon a campaign election and registra tion reforms. The president of the club points out that since its organization in 1924 and it began its campaign for a wider suffrage, there has been a big increase in the vote. In the presidential election of 1920 the total vote cast was less than 50 per cent of the potential electorate 21 years of age and over. In the 1936 election this percentage increased about 63 or 64 per cent. Even now, however, the percentage of voters in the United States is far below the percentage in Great Britain and Germany, where the records show a turn-out of about 80 per cent. The Get-Out-Vote Club is centering its fire just now on the States which con tinue to impose poll taxes on their citi zens as prerequisite to voting. There are nine of these States—in the South. Rhode Island has a poll tax, but it is not imposed on the poor and needy and therefore does not act. as a deterrent. “The nine poll tax States,” says Mr. Michelet, "here grouped — Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia—have an aggregate potential electorate of citizens 21 years of age numbering 12,472,245. In the 1936 elec tion they cast an aggregate vote of 3,006,893—an average of 24 per cent or the electorate. “Immediately adjoining the poll-taxed | THIS AND THAT BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. Peony shoots were up, poking their red heads through the earth. Answering the call of Spring in Janu ary, shoots of those stalwart species, Fes tiva maxima, Jules Elie and Maiguerite Gerard, came up to see the sun. For the entire month they had felt that lure, now they succumbed, came into the light at last. Observers almost felt they had a right to read triumph beaming from the tip of that small red shoot. This coming into the light—we won’t say sunshine, for there had been very little of it—had something of the tri umphal about it. It was fair to believe that the shoots had come up to see the sun, even if they were to find very little of that precious commodity. It was the heat of that orb which was drawing them and many other shoots, buds, and even flowers, into the air, to And that January is a cruel deciever, ever. * * * Man can say to himself “Why, this Isn't Spring, really, this is Just a freak January!” But the birds and the flowers and the shrubs and the trees have nc way of knowing. They simply respond to a combination of warmth and moisture. The action shows better than many the combined intelligence and seeming lack of it which characterizes Nature. On one hand we have great forces which are beyond our understanding, and on the other perfectly mechanistic hap penings which speak of a fury and ignorance which the world has long tried to picture as the “devil,” so-called. The peony shoots should not come up at this time of year, but they come just the same when warmth and moisture call them. There is nothing else for them to do. * ^ a In sheltered spots In the rear of the yard a few violet leaves had uncurled. They, too, were hopeful of better things than Nature evidently had In store for them. Perhaps it is not an unfair wresting of words to say that violet plants show hope when they uncurl their leaves. There are many more hopes, surely, than those which rest somehow in the keeping of mankind. Surely there must be a hope for more warmth, more light and more moisture when a small violet unfurls its leaves at this time of year. There is a beginning of different things. The plant wants to go ahead. This “want” or desire must be in every fiber of its being, although it has no language of its own, and must rely on man to say it for it. If he "says it with flowers,” he may say it for flowers, too. One variety of tulip had poked its nose (green) through the soil. It was that splendid variety, the Clara Butt, which forever will be a monument to that great woman. A tulip is a plant better adapted than many others to endure the cold of Win ter after it has sprouted. It has been grown for so many years in the cool climate of Holland that somehow that chill, moist atmosphere has penetrated its very fibers, and it can stand more cold than many another green thing out of season. The tiny crocus, and the stately narcissus, both emerged into the light that week. The bridal wreath shrub still sent forth its tiny white flowers, and the leaf buc^ of the Thousand Beauties climbing rose were now about an inch long, almost ready to unroll. Some gardeners think there is nothing prettier than this red of the new leaves, just before uncurling. It is one of the garden beauties which one must pay particular attention to, in order not to miss in the general excitement of true Spring, when there is so much to be seen. But now, in January it was, there were only a few developing things to be watched, after all. The amateur gardener should not be come much perplexed at Spring in January. These unseasonable periods will come, and there is not much the gardener can do about them, except try to protect his budding plants as best he may and be reconciled to in evitable losses. What should save him, as it will the plants, is the boundless latitude and amplitude of Nature, in whom there is forever despair and triumph side by side, and no man shall know which is which. What was the perplexed gardener to do with peony shoots at this time of year? There wasn’t much to do, but cover them up as best he could. Many leaves were piled over them, in order to protect them when the cold should come again, as it might almost any day or hour, even. Every one of those shoots which became blighted meant just that many less stalks on the bush in May and June. It was entirely possible that a peony which sent every one of its shoots into the air at this time might lose them all, and be a very poor bush, Indeed, at its normal time next Spring. It was easier to understand, during such a season, what the advice meant which said that mulching with leaves, peatmoss or other material should be done to keep the cold in. Covering of peony roots during the Winter is mostly unnecessary, provided the season is a normal one, that is, pro vided there is a freeze, and the ground remains more or less frozen until Spring. Too much mulching in Winter is not good for peonies, and commonly results in shy blooming. But in such a Winter as this, with Spring in January, at least for two-thirds of the month, a deep mulching might have prevented the shoots from getting into the air. If one had not previously covered, now was the time to do it, in order to protect the shoots as far as possible. That this would be a successful effort, one could not predict, but at least it would have the merit of protecting, to some extent, the lower part of the shoot. Nature is wonderful, truly enough, and may manage to grow back a new tip if the lower portion, emerging from the root, is not too badly damaged. * * * * Other things were up in the yard. Tulips, the crocus, the narcissus, were showing above the surface of the earth. They, too, would suffer when the in evitable cold came. It would be better for them, and for all shrubs, whose leaf buds wTere swell ing. if they had remained dormant. Who could blame them, however? The dumb vegetable Intelligence of all plant life was being fooled. Nature was “putting one over” on them, and they had no way to protect themselves. When Mother Nature goes back on them, they are to be pitied, indeed, for she is their all. STARS, MEN AND ATOMS Notebook of Science Progress in Field, Laboratory and Study. BY THOMAS R. HENRY. Much of the present area covered by the Atlantic Ocean once was dry land. Through most of the great gulf of time between the cooling of the earth and the appearance of the first known life about a half billion years ago it was above water, and had seas, lakes, rivers, mountains and valleys. This condition continued after the development of life through most of the paleozoic, or old life, period of the earth's history'. Even in the tertiary period of geologic time, just before Hie coming of the ice ages, there may have been large land areas which were temporarily enlarged by the pe culiar climatic conditions which accom panied the glaciers. necessary but modest postulate of a limited Appalachia—a hypothetical an cient continent—is but a structural ele ment of the whole sub-Atlantic litho sphere, and stratifgraphers are finally relieved of the insupportable structural difficulties which they now encounter. “It is not implied that the down-warp of this great continent of Atlantlca was relatively rapid, or that it took place all at once. In the late tertiary there may still have been some remnants whose land areas were temporarily enlarged by the particular climatic conditions of the Pleistocene. What is implied, however, is that through the pre-Cambrian and paleozoic history of the earth, the At lantic region was characterized by seas, lakes, rivers, mountains, sediments, ma rine and terrestrial organisms similar to and consistent with those of the continents.” An Important bit of evidence support ing the hypothesis is that of the great submarine canyons stretching off the Atlantic Coast of North America. Fossil remains and other data indicate that their bottoms were once above water, and became submerged with the melting of the great ice sheets. This would involve, however, the assumption that these Ice sheets on the two continents were from 20,000 to 50,000 feet thick. Another pos sibility Is that of a change in the el lipticity of the surface of the oceans due to a sudden decrease in the rate of rota tion of the earth, and the consequent drawing of the oceanic waters Into polar latitudes. Such is the hypothesis presented to the American Geophysical Union of the Na tional Research Council, based on sev eral lines of evidence but particularly on the progress of earthquake waves in the rock strata under the sea, by Dr. Richard H. Field of Princeton University. Thus the idea of an ancient Atlantis—but far older and bigger than the Atlantis of Plato—is given considerable support. For many years geologists have held that the bottoms of the oceans were composed of much heavier rock than the surfaces of the continents, as a result of which, according to the principles of isostacy, they sank while the lighter rocks were pushed upward into con tinents and mountains. The experi mental evidence for this so far as the Atlantic is concerned, Prof. Field claims In his report to the National Research Council, has been very slight. It has consisted chiefly of a few bottom samples brought up by dredging and the sub merged and clifflike margins of the con tinents. Analysis of the earthquake waves, he claims, brings forward quite a different picture. These indicate that the rocks beneath the ocean floor are not markedly different in density than those of the European and North American conti nents. In the past students of ancient life have been puzzled to account for the similarity of fossils found in the rocks of the two continents and have been obliged to postulate the existence of land bridges across the sea. The al ternate hypothesis has been that they once were contiguous but at some point in geological history were broken apart— after which North America started a slow drift westward while waters from the Pacific rushed In to fill the gap. According to this theory, the Atlantic has been growing bigger and bigger, at the expense of the Pacific, through the mesozoic and tertiary eras of geologic time. Says Dr. Field: “Combining all the seismic evidence produced during the last few months, it Is possible that the sub Atlantic lithosphere constitutes a vast area of down-warped pre-Cambrian and paleozoic geology, fully comparable to the unwarped pre-Cambrian and paleozoic geology of the surrounding continental areas. If this be true, the An Underestimate. From the New York Sun. A naive person has calculated that the present session of Congress will cost the country $21,000,000, but he has figured in only the legislative salaries and the bill for printing. Reno’s Enterprise. From the Worcester Qazette. Reno points with pride to the fact that it had more marriages than divorces in 1936, which is evidence of enterprise in developing raw materials for its major Industry. An Incomplete Computation. I From the Indianapolis News. The Republicans spent $8,065,524 and the Democrats $5,030,848 on the cam paign, and goodness only knows how much it cost the taxpayers. Modern Youth. From the Danville (111.) Commerclal-Newa. A Michigan lad set fire to his mother’s $1,100, which fits the theory that modem young people think their parents have money to bum Tracks and No Tracks. From the Saginaw Newa. The vandals who stole Holyoke's fa mous dinosaur tracks apparently left none of their own, either. Hard Hearted. From the South Bend Tribune. By this time the would-be munitions profiteers should be convinced that Unala Sua Isn’t entirely sympathetic. group are six poll-tax-free States along the Mason and Dixon border—Kentucky, Maryland, West Virginia, Indiana, Illinois and Missouri—which have an aggregate potential electorate of 12, 434,793 (or slightly less than the poll taxed group) and this group of six cast on November 3, 1936, an aggregate presi dential vote of 9,817,094—or three times the vote of the poll-timed group.” ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN. 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 stomp for reply. Q. How much gold and silver went Into Industrial consumption in the United States last year?—T. G. A. The figures for 1936 are not yet available. In 1935 the figures—subject to revision—were: Gold, $25,929,497; silver, 41,192,023 fine ounces. Q. Where is the sword surrendered by Santa Anna at San Jacinto in 1836?— J. L. H. A. When Santa Anna was captured and brought before Houston he was dressed as a private soldier and hacl no arms. Q. How are lighthouse tenders named? —E. F. A. Since 1865, lighthouse tenders have been named after flowers, trees, and plants. The Orchid, Violet, Jasmine, Crocus, Ivy and Willow are typical names. Q. When was the Venus de Milo found?—A. R. A. It was found in 1820 on the Island of Melos, Greece. Q. What is the density of the popu lation of Alaska?—J. A. A. The average number of inhabitants to the square mile is one-tenth of one. This may be compared with continental United States, with a density of 41.3 to the square mile. Q. Who were the most popular movie stars of 1936?—H. K. A. A personal popularity contest, con ducted by the trade magazine Box Office showed the following preferences: Clark Gable, Shirley Temple, Astaire and Rogers, Robert Taylor, William Powell, Myma Loy, Claudette Colbert, Norma Shearer, Gary Cooper, and Fredric March. Q. What are the earliest examples of Gothic architecture in the United States? —G. R. S. A. The Gothic revival of the nineteenth century manifested itself in the*United States as early as 1839, when Richard M. Upjohn undertook the design of Trinity Church, New York. Of the same time was the Church of Holy Trinity, Brook lyn, New York, designed by Lefevre. Grace Church, New York, by James Ren wick and by the same architect, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, New York, are among the most successful efforts of the period. The Gothic style was for the most part restricted to churches. Q. What is the percentage of illiteracy in Soviet Russia?—C. H. A. According to government statistics. 90 per cent of the Soviet citizens are literate. Q. How did the word blackguard origi nate?—E. M. A. The term was used In the sixteenth century with reference to the lowest menials of a noble house, the scullions who cleaned pots and pans. It was also used of the hangers-on of an army camp and of vagabonds in general. Q. Does Louisiana still have the news paper license tax enacted by Senator Huey Long?—E. W. A. On February 10,1936, the newspaper license tax was unanimously invalidated by the United States Supreme Court on the ground that It abridged the freedom of the press. Q. Why did Charles Dickens use the pseudonym Boz?—E. J. A. A younger brother of the author had In childhood received from the latter the nickname of Moses, which, being face tiously pronounced through the nose, be came Boses, and being shortened beeline Boz. Q. Do all the farms in the United States show the effect of soil erosion?—H. W. A. About one-third of the acres of land show little or no soil erosion. Q. Where is Black Rock Desert?— W. R. A. This is a tract of nearly 1,000 square miles north of Pyramid Lake, in Nevada. Q. What was the name of the man who claimed he was John Wilkes Booth?— G. M. A. The one whose claim has persisted was known as John St. Helen and later as David E. George. Some years ago the mummified body of St. Helen was ex hibited about the country. Q. Please give some information about the inventor of the Gatling gun.—H. W. A. Richard Jordan Gatling was bom in Hertford County, N. C., in 1818. While a boy he assisted his father in the inven tion of a machine for sowing cottonseed. Subsequently he invented a rice-sowing machine, later adapted to sowing wheat in drills. Ke graduated in medicine at Cin cinnati, but before establishing himself in practice conceived the basic idea of the gun which afterward made him famous. In 1861 he built the first types of the revolving battery gun now known as Gat ling. This was improved in 1865 and immediately adopted by the United States Government. In 1886 he invented a new gun metal of steel and aluminum. Con gress soon afterward voted him $40,000 to perfect a new method of casting can non. He died in 1903. Q. Have the perfumes in musk and civet ever been produced synthetically? —W. H. A. The chemical compounds in musk and civet used in perfume making have been chemically duplicated by scientists in the Du Pont laboratories. Q. Who established Herbartian prin ciples in the American educational sys tem?—C. F. A. Charles Alexander McMurry, his brother, Frank Morton McMurry, and Charles De Garmo were among the early advocates of Herbartian principles in education. They were influential in establishing the National Herbart So ciety in 1892. A Rhyme at Twilight By Gertrude Brooke Hamilton The Deeper Joy. There Is a joy man can sometimes reach That Is not the carefree kind; It comes when heavy sorrow has wrought Problems to which he’s not blind But has squarely faced and met and solved To the best of human ken; Accepted the grief and learned the while To smile with his fellow men; Learned to disregard from day to day All small-minded stings and fears; Has attained a certain peace—and knows A happiness deep as tears.