Evening star. [volume], January 30, 1937, Page A-6, Image 6

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

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THE EVENING STAR
With Sunday Morning Edition.
WASHINGTON, D. C.
SATURDAY....January 30, 1937
THEODORE W. NOYES.Editor
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Social Security Changes.
A constructive proposal for amend
ment of the social security act has been
advanced by the Republicans In Con
gress, acting through two Senators and
two members of the House. It takes
the form of a resolution calling upon
the Social Security Board, which is cer
tainly friendly to the act, to draft needed
amendments and to submit them to
Congress by May 1.
First and foremost, it is proposed to do
away with the full reserve plan now in
the act. If carried into force, this pro
vision would result in an ultimate tre
mendous reserve of $47,000,000,000, all
taken from the pockets of the workers
and their employers through the so
called pay roll taxes. This huge sum
Would be Invested in 3 per cent Govern
ment bonds, paying $1,410,000,000 inter
est annually. This interest would be
used to help operate the social security
system, paying benefits to the aged, etc.
This interest would come from taxes
levied upon the people generally. It
eeems, therefore, a painful and unneces
sary thing to do to compel the workers
and their employers, through pay roll
taxes, to raise this great reserve fund.
A comparatively small reserve would be
all that Is necessary, If a pay-as-you-go
system were adopted instead of the full
reserve system. That is what the pro
ponents of the resolution, introduced by
Senators Vandenberg of Michigan and
Townsend of Delaware and Repre
sentatives Reed of New York and Jen
kins of Ohio, propose as a substitute for
the full reserve plan.
The immediate benefit of the pay-as
you-go plan would be to postpone an
Increase in the pay roll taxes, which be
gin this year at 1 per cent on worker
and employer, for five or ten years. The
postponement would be for five years, if
the benefits begin to flow soon instead
«f in 1942 and If the benefits are in
creased in size. The longer postpone
ment would follow' if the benefits were
Hot increased in size.
Under a social security program, with
Its insurance provisions, operated by the
Government there is no need for build
ing up a ‘‘full reserve” such as is main
tained by private insurance companies.
The reason for this is very simple.
Government insurance is compulsory.
Furthermore, the Government is guar
anteed a continuous flow of revenue,
Which is not true in the case of private
Insurance companies. The latter are at
the mercy of uncertain and fluctuating
revenues.
Other proposed amendments would ex
tend the social security system to In
clude farmers, domestic servants and
others not now covered by the act. It
applies now only to industrial workers.
If the system is desirable for this large
group of citizens, it is also desirable
for the other groups.
The advancement of these proposed
amendments to the social security act
by minority members of Congress, Re
publicans, shows what may be done by a
minority in Congress in a constructive
Way. The sponsors of the amendments
are not opposed to social security legis
lation. They make that very clear in
their statement regarding the resolution
they have offered. If the Republican
minority in Congress works along these
lines in connection with other legisla
tion, they will h_ve shown to the coun
try the real value of a minority party.
The sponsors of the resolution have
made a careful study of the social se
curity act, calling to their assistance
several of the foremost experts in the
country on insurance.
If Governor Nice had realized the back
Jiumber deficits that have to be provided
for from taxes he might have been
tempted to take refuge in the classic
Coolidge announcement, "I do not
ahoose to run.”
Sit-down strikers are at least expected
to stand up like other citizens when
“The Star Spangled Banner” is played.
Naval Aviation.
Twelve Navy planes yesterday com
pleted a flight from San Diego to Pearl
Harbor, Hawaii, a distance of 2,553 miles,
In twenty-one hours and forty minutes
elapsed time. This was a “routine”
flight, a transfer of new planes from
the mainland to the island outpost to
replace old ones. But for one circum
stance there was nothing exceptional
about the passage. That one, however,
proved a severe test of the efficiency of
the pilots and of the stability of the
planes. About 300 miles from Honolulu
the squadron ran into treacherous winds
that, as the dispatch from the islands
aays, “tossed the giant planes about as
though they were corks.” For an hour
and a half they battled the storm. The
eommander of the squadron said: “Thick
as pea soup, it had trapped us com
pletely; at one point it momentarily
stopped us cold." Nevertheless they
reached their destination. Maneuvering
as best they could in the raging wall of
wind, they eventually soared into a clear
spot and climbed over the remainder of
the storm.
Such a test proves that plane making
has greatly advanced in the past few
years and that pilotage has markedly
improved. The employment of the most
perfect possible devices for the detec
tion of adverse conditions, the use of
navigational aids, the training of flyers,
these have been the features of ad
vance in aviation. Yet, according to the
flyers themselves who have just made
this perilous passage from mainland to
islands, there was nothing extraordinary
about the flight.
Linking up the western coast with the
midocean outpost by a twenty-two-hour
flight brings the Hawaiian Islands with
in strategic range. There can be no
doubt of the value of such an achieve
ment, in terms of national defense. And
it is reassuring to find that the equip
ment of the naval air service is so de
pendable as to enable it to meet the
severest of adverse conditions and to
effect a landing virtually on schedule,
every unit intact. There has truly been
a great advance in aviation when it is
demonstrated that an entire squadron
can make such a long hop over the sea
and land in perfect order within a day
from taking off.
States’ Rights in Canada.
Hitherto, discussion of states' rights
in this part of the world has been
largely confined to the United States.
The issue suddenly bobs up in Canada,
as a result of decisions by the Judicial
Committee of the Privy Council at
London, the British Empire’s highest
tribunal and more or less the counter
part of our Supreme Court.
The matters at stake concerned legis
lation enacted under the late Conserva
tive government of Prime Minister Ben
nett. Spurred by the same necessities
that confronted the United States, Mr.
Bennett was supposed to have been in
spired by President Roosevelt’s New Deal
program. He proceeded to sponsor laws
affecting agriculture, unemployment and
minimum wages and maximum hours in
industry. Canada, like this country,
overcame depression, but, unlike the
United States, withheld credit for re
covery from the party in power and
threw it out of office in a Liberal land
slide. 1
Now comes the Privy Council and de
clares unconstitutional nearly the whole
Bennett new deal, including a social se
curity plan whereby worker, employer
and government would jointly contribute
to jobless aid. The Council ruled that
even if the Dominion collects a fund
through taxation, disposal of it is not
necessarily within the governments
scope. Acts regulating wages and hours,
including a five-day week, were declared
invalid on the ground that only the
separate legislatures of the provinces,
with powers akin to rights reserved
to the American States, possess the re
quired authority. The illegalized meas
ures had been ^recommended by the
international labor office created by the
Versailles treaty. 'Diey were accepted by
the Canadian government, which held
that since it had treaty-making powers,
it was empowered to enact the League
social legislation. Rejecting this theory,
the Privy Council sets forth that the
Canadian provinces alone have the right
to legislate “in respect to local condi
tions, which may vary by as great a
distance as separates the Atlantic from
the Pacific.” Otherwise, “constitutional
safeguards of provincial autonomy”
would be undermined.
The act providing financial relief to
distressed agriculture was upheld, but
the law permitting farmers to combine
for control of production and marketing
was invalidated because it applies to
transactions in natural products "com
pleted within a province” and which,
therefore, are unrelated to inter
provincial or export trade. As such, the
act was branded "beyond the com
petence” of the Ottawa Parliament.
The Supreme Court annihilated N. R.
A. and A. A. A. broadly on grounds
which now have led to uprooting of
kindred Canadian legislation. Our high
est tribunal has still to pronounce Judg
ment on social security and certain
labor relations, including the Wagner
law and the railroad pension act. It
will be interesting to observe whether on
those scores Supreme Court reasoning
also parallels that of the British Privy
Council.
Travel has become so rapid that the
possibilities of speed may be regarded as
having been sufficiently developed for
present purposes. The question of con
trol demands consideration. If the slow
going canal boat could be provided with
suitable waterways for heavy hauling, it
would relieve congestion in overland
highways and afford a means of distrib
uting the overflow when flood threatens.
School of Art?
Wherever his magnificent gift to his
countrymen has been discussed during
the past month, there has been sincere
expression of gratitude to former Secre
tary of the Treasury Andrew W. Mellon.
No other philanthropy within the mem
ory of living Americans has stirred the
community heart of Washington to
greater appreciation. It has been com
monly said that the Nation’s Capital is
particularly fortunate in the donor’s de
cision to build his gallery in the District
of Columbia. People have realized that
it might have gone elsewhere, and they
are glad and proud that the choice was
the city which all citizens of the United
States are entitled to regard as home.
But a thoughtful minority has been
concerned about the creative effect
which Mr. Mellon’s pictures will have
upon the public mind. The exhibition
of the masterpieces he has collected, this
group believes, may work a psychological
miracle totally new in the experience of
the average man or woman. Such glo
rious productions are possessed of a
dynamic power. The force of their im
pact upon the imagination of thousands
L
should be Inspiring in the highest degree.
Take, for example, the Bernardino Lulnl
described as "Portrait of a Lady”—it is
one of the noblest creations that ever has
been quickened into life by a painter’s
brush. Not more than a small fraction
of the population of the Western World
ever has seen a canvas of comparable
beauty or magnetism. The eyes, the lips,
the delicate and graceful hands appear
to be as real as the sentient model her
self; the bosom breathes in the perfec
tion of the illusion. Language is too
pale to tell the story manifest in the
triumph of the work; wonderment si
lences the human tongue in the presence
of its marvelous loveliness.
Yet the influence of art never is
sterile. Rather, naturally enough, it
prompts the soul to enterprises of imi
tation. The least responsive tempera
ment is vitalized into action by acquaint
ance with esthetic achievement. Hun
dreds of boys and girls, it confidently
may be prophesied, will visit the gallery
established by Mr. Mellon to find their
vocations. A renaissance—perhaps the
first authentic dramatization of Amer
ica's best ideals in the twentieth cen
tury-may be assured as a definite and
tangible result. It follows that Wash
ington should be, as Rome and Paris
and London formerly were, a veritable
school of art. Coming events, the
ancient axiom says, cast their shadows
before. Hence, the accelerated Interest
in painting which currently prevails in
the Capital. The forty-sixth annual ex
hibition of the Society of Washington
Artists, opening at the Corcoran Gallery
tomorrow, should attract crowds of
friends who have cultivated the pleasure
of appreciation and who will be con
cerned to demonstrate their enthusiasm
for the pioneers who, probably uncon
sciously, are preparing for the city’s rise
to fame as the new art center of the
Nation.
Just how coughs, colds, sore throat and
hoarseness are propagated and distrib
uted may yet become a subject of super
scientific consideration. The love life of
a flu germ would be a fascinating subject
for any profound investigator with time
on his hands and a competent secretary
to assist in compiling memoranda.
Protests against visiting cards are in
tended to break down needless formali
ties. A chief of police desirous of cordial
social relations may even decide to re
strain the custom of leaving tickets in
parked cars.
A diplomat very properly cultivates
cordial relations with the press. What
he may be saying in his own political
language “off the record” is a matter
which cannot always be accounted for
with accuracy.
A radio announcer calls himself “The
Town Crier.” In view of the sadness
which the news inspires, he might almost
claim the title of "town weeper."
A rearrangement of dates is still de
manded which will equip an inaugural
demonstration with a reasonable amount
of “safety first” assurance.
Whatever publicity may be attained by
Trotzky, it must be candidly admitted
that he is nobody’s mascot.
Shooting Stars.
BY PHILANDBl JOHNSON.
\
The Essential Farmer.
Good Parmer Friend, in days gone by
I echoed oft the idle jest
Which to attain a laugh would try
By picturing you with rural zest
Performing duties which supply
Our various wants the long year
through
And doing work we dare not try—
Which we could never leam to do.
Good Farmer Friend, our mood has
changed.
We now salute your courage bold
Which through the seasons oft has
ranged.
To meet our needs as they unfold.
In spite of all our varied arts
The humblest task grows greatest yet.
We take this lesson to our hearts
Since you adversity have met.
Uses of Investigation.
"Why do you Insist on so many in
vestigations?”
“It seems absolutely necessary," said
Senator Sorghum, “to start a new in
vestigation in order to take the public
mind off the most recent one.”
In the Heights.
“Don't you admire the Shakespearean
drama?”
"There are two forms of entertain
ment,” replied Miss Cayenne, “that I
can’t properly appreciate. One is
Shakespeare and the other is a trapeze
performance. They are both too far
over my head.”
Avoiding Unemployment.
The world,, if it continues thus
. In unrelenting fury,
Will have no work for most of us
Save serving on a jury.
Jud Tunkins says he bought a gold
brick once. There was so much curiosity
about it that he put it on exhibition
and collected enough admission fees to
get his money back.
“Great men,” said Hi Ho, the sage
of Chinatown, “are often men in reality
not very large, but highly magnified by
popular imagination.”
Investigation.
It is the fate mortals ever find,
To be disturbed by an Inquiring mind.
With each discovery the world may heed,
A new discovery will assert the need.
So we investigate and cry, “Encore!
So far, so good. Investigate some more!”
“Don’t worry if you happens not to
be handsome,” said Uncle Eben. “Re*
member dat de elephant is regarded as
de meet valuable animal in de circus.”
‘ ■ $
Motor Strike a Menace
To Freedom in America
To the Editor ol The Star:
The automobile strike is being over
shadowed for the moment by the ter
rible flood disaster, but it involves prin
ciples more vital to all the American
people and to our social order and polit
ical Institutions than does the flood.
Material and economic losses, great
and disastrous as they are from the
flood, can be recovered, but should the
principles prevail for which Lewis and
his followers are contending a body blow
will be given our social order and politi
cal institutions from which recovery
would be possible only by violent
revolution.
The primary and fundamental duty or
government—in fact, the very reason for
which government is established—is the
protection of the life, liberty and prop
erty of the citizen, and when it fails in
this primary duty it ceases to justify Us
existence. This man Lewis, by his tac
tics and demands, is threatening all
three. He and his followers are really
outlaws, because they are operating out
side of the law, and in open and con
temptuous defiance of the law and the
constituted authorities. His sit-down
strikers are trespassers upon the proper
ties of the General Motors Corp, and
if their action is condoned or longer per
mitted the constitutional rights of prop
erty will no longer exist in these United
States, and every one’s possessions will
be at the mercy of labor union gangsters.
The sit-down strike is alien to Amer
ica. It is a foreign importation from
Prance and originated with the Commu
nists in that country.
The unquestionable object of Lewis
and his associates Is to Sovietize the
Industries of the United States, and to
control them by, for. and in the interest
of his union. Such activities and
objects should not be tolerated for a day
in America, and it is clearly the duty of
the State governments where these
strikes are being conducted to forcibly
eject, if necessary, these strikers from
the plants of the company, and give
every possible protection to the property
of the company, and it is passing strange
they have thus far failed to do so.
These lawbreakers should be taught
the wholesome lesson that no individual
or class is above the law In the United
States, or can defy the law and destroy
the constitutional rights of the citizens
of our country with impunity.
ALEXANDER SIDNEY LANIER.
Flood-Menaced Lands
Should Be Evacuated
To the Editor of The Star:
Have Just read your very timely edi
torial "Mississippi Flood Problem.”
Needless to say. I agree with it entirely,
and would like to comment on the situa
tion, or situations, if I may be permitted.
While I am not familiar with all the
flood areas of our country, and have
never seen any part of them during a
flood, I have been in a number of the
present flooded towns.
As a child I was raised on a farm in
the prairie hills. A small creek, usually
dry, flows southeasterly a few miles from
home. Along this creek bottom the
railroad and towns were built. For the
most part, life in these settlements
went well, except now and then the
flood waters came flowing down the
bottom, inundating houses and property.
The people, on these occasions, would
leave, usually In the night, and stay
with their neighbors on the uplands
until the waters receded. I tell this
merely to show how similar all the low
lands seem to be. Nearly always high
land lies close by, but the bottoms look
very nice and entice people there.
It seems to me at this time, with the
floods coming twice within 12 months
and marking a definite danger line, that
a slow but determined evacuation from
the danger zone should begin. A build
ing lot above the danger zone would be
so comfortable during these floods and
nearly as easily made into a year-round
home.
The main thing I am trying to say is
that the flood areas should be turned
over to the rivers. Perhaps have a few
levees over the bottoms, but for a sud
den extreme rise let the waters have
their spread, without nights of horror
and anxiety. The productive land of
the bottoms could be farmed, but have
no dwellings of permanence within the
danger zone. Then there would be no
sudden emergency, no sudden appeal for
relief, no flood menace, because there
would be none.
It seems to me no great amount of
law-making would be necessary to
accomplish this. Merely make building
permits necessary, the one stipulation
being that all dwellings, hotels, apart
ment houses and hospitals have their
lowest floor 10 feet above the present
water line. Mounds could be built or
make use of the available upland.
HUGH B. CRAWFORD.
Suffering Public Too Polite
To the Capital Transit Co.
To the Editor of The Star:
I often' wonder why people are so
polite. These citizen associations po
litely ask the Capital Transit Co. to
listen to their yards and yards of definite
complaints and maybe the car company
throws them in the nearest trash can,
or maybe it waits to throw them in its
own waste paper basket. Why do they
bother with the car company? Is this
not a job for the Public Utilities Com
mission, or is there a Public Utilities
Commission?
I have given weeks of my life to the
unbelievably poor transportation service
from Brentwood to my office, waiting for
cars, struggling to get on and ofl. I
would like something done about it.
MILDRED HOLLISTER.
Calls for Prayers to
Avert National Ills
To tho Editor ol Tho Star:
No doubt there are people among us
who wonder why, In the face of such
great calamities as floods, strikes, law
lessness, etc., the religiously minded ele
ment in the Nation does not turn into
prayer as used to be the custom in ages
past! Of course, every one knows the
wisdom of resorting -to the more prac
tical means for immediate succor, or
take the human steps necessary to re
lieve distress or discord; but have the
people as a whole come to look upon the
violent manifestations of nature, such
as storms, earthquakes and floods, as
outside of the realm and control of the
Invisible we call spirit?
The prevalent negligence to look for
causation in ordinary human affairs, of
health or sickness Inevitably extended
to the larger circles of nature’s dis
turbances, and like the boy who has not
yet learned how to multiply 3 by 3,
dares not to tackle the relatively or
rather equally simple problem of multi
plying 3,000,000 by 3, we cannot even
imagine that those violent disturbances
so common in some countries like Amer
ica could be averted.
The object of this writing is not to
condemn any person or even popular
opinion, but to appeal to the inteUl
gence of the people -to reflect more se
riously on these things. It has been con
clusively demonstrated that violent
thoughts in persons, communities or na
tions invariably translate themselves in
. some violent experience.
THIS AND THAT |
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.
Some Washingtonians are fortunate |
enough to have bluebirds for happiness |
all Winter long.
One such person, living on Twenty
eighth street, writes:
‘‘I have often thought of writing to
you regarding some of my bird observa
tions, since I enjoy your articles so much.
“Your article of January 20 about the
relative time of arrival of bluebirds and
fox sparrows was the immediate inspira
tion for this. On that holiday morning,
when I had more time to watch for
birds, I heard that 'trually, trually’
which is supposed to register the call of
the bluebird.
"For us it is not a matter of arrival
of bluebirds; there is a pair which we
feed daily; they stay all Winter—not
Just this year, but every year.
"I can well realize why you went into
ecstasies on March 29 of last year when
a pair visited your garden. On warm
Winter days ours go to the boxes as if
preparing to build; they even throw out
straws which sparrows have carried into
the houses.
"As late as Thanksgiving we had an
even half dozen with us, but apparently
the younger birds migrated. It was espe
cially nice to have bluebirds on Christ
mas day as well as around New Year day.
* * * *
"We have been living in our present
location for four year and have had
bluebirds every year—two families until
last year, when there were three with
young numbering 5, 5, 2, or an even
dozen fledglings, from one pair.
"I know that it was-the same pair
because the parents were still feeding
the previous family while preparing a
nest for the next. Incidentally, two of
the families—the last two-were reared
in the same house. The second ppst was
built on top of the first. I had planned
for a third family to be in a different
box, but they planned otherwise and
had eggs before we found out their
location.
"Largely as a result of your ‘tolerance’
articles on house sparrows, I permitted
a couple of nests in one of our boxes
last year. They nested only a few feet
away from the ‘blues.’ It was very
interesting to see the bluebirds and the
sparrows join in a fight against the
starlings, when the latter came into the
yard—unfortunately also against the
wrens—although at one time last year I
could sit in our yard and watch blue
birds, sparrows and wrens feeding their
young at the same time.
"I always have feeders, but not many
species of birds come to them regularly.
The regular boarders this Winter have
been a single mockingbird, which stays
all Winter (incidentally, he is a greedy
fellow and chases other birds away),
the pair of bluebirds and plenty of
sparrows.
“The transients or occasional visitors
this Winter have been juncos, cardinals,
titmice, chickadees, nuthatches, wood
peckers and starlings. I am grateful for
the latter being occasional. I have
never learned tolerance for them or any
others which fight the ‘blues.’ Yours
truly, E. M.“
* * * *
This is a pretty picture, English spar
rows and bluebirds helping each other,
one which we wish to call to the par
ticular attention of all persons who im
plicitly believe all the slanders they have
read in bird books against these spar
rows.
Here is a local bird observer who has
seen something both interesting and
beautiful, simply because he was wise
enough to be tolerant.
Not many persons have had such an
experience, surely, because everywhere
one turns the observer is sure to read
that sparrows will chase bluebirds away.
Some cities where bird conservation
has taken hold in a big way devote their
entire energies to killing off the spar
rows, as if they were not birds, too.
It is probable that the incident given
above is not solitary, by any means, but
would be seen by all persons who were
willing to try out the more gentle
methods of dealing with such problems.
Cats and birds, for instance.
Many people who love the birds feel
that a cat will drive all birds away from
a yard.
Yet last Winter we had a great tom
cat which spent all day long on our
back porch, paws calmly folded, watch
ing hundreds of birds at three feeders in
the yard.
It is true that his stomach was full of
good food. He had a good breakfast, in
other words, of such delicacies as cats
like, but they came from the butcher
and not from birdland.
This Winter we have another home
less cat as a back porch guest.
At first he walked from one feeder
to another, but after a time he, too, got
over his desire to catch birds.
Good feeding was what did it.
* * * *
The word has gone out that bluebirds,
which most of us are not fortunate
enough to have at this time of year, will
not get along with sparrows, that the
latter will prevent them from nesting
and usurp their houses.
Our correspondent proves, at least in
one case, that it is simply a matter
of supplying more houses, so that the
sparrows may have nesting places, too.
These sparrows are truly pretty, in
teresting birds, and. since they con
stitute the bulk of feathered creatures
at any feeding station, must be ac
cepted, if the observer is to get the
most from bird watching.
The statement that they are quarrel
some. so often met in books, is another
of these half-truths.
Yes, they are quarrelsome—but so are
cardinals. So are humans, alas. So,
one may believe, will be angels, if one
happens to step on their celestial toes.
We have seen female cardinals raise
their wings and flap them at other birds
as angrily as any sparrow.
* * * *
At least 50 starlings flew down in our
yard last Sunday and spent half an hour
feasting in the grass.
Evidently they were finding worms
and grubs, brought up by the excessive
rains, for they paid no attention what
ever to the three, feeders, with their
scores of birds eating in and beneath
them.
In the entire time they were present
on this, their first visit of the Fall and
Winter of 1936 and 1937, they attended
strictly to their business of eating, not
once showing any anger at their mates
or at any of the other birds.
Their stubby, glistening dark bodies
made a new note on the grass. Surely
they are fascinating birds, in their way,
and as long as they do not roost are
welcome visitors. There seems to be
little danger of them staying after dark,
for they prefer the District Building, we
believe.
A Takoma Park, Md., correspondent
writes:
"Dear sir: I enjoy reading 'This and
That’ very much. Would you please
tell me if we have the Phoebe bird this
time of year? Early in the morning I
hear the call very plainly, and am
anxious to know whether it is the
Phoebe or some other bird. Very truly,
R. H. A.”
It is the Phoebe. This bird Winters
in the United States south of Phila
delphia and many of them are here
abouts in such a comparative mild Win
ter as this.
STARS, MEN AND ATOMS
Notebook of Science Progress in Field,
Laboratory and Study.
BY THOMAS R. HENRY.
The Smithsonian Institution has just i
received for study and identification of
specimens part of the celebrated Sesse ,
and Mocino collection of the flora of
Mexico which recently came to light in
Madrid after more than a century.
Identified by visiting American botan
ists, the collection was sent by Spanish
officials just before the outbreak of the
revolution to Dr. Paul Standley of the
Field Museum of Natural History in Chi
cago, foremost authority on the plants
of Mexico.
Dr. Standley has distributed it to
American institutions specialising in va
rious plant families represented.
The story of this collection is one of
the most colorful in the history of bo
tanical exploration.
In 1787 Charles III of Spain sent to
Mexico a botanical expedition headed by
Dr. Martin Sesse y Lacasta, the most
eminent of Spanish botanists, for the
purpose of making a complete collection
of Mexican flora and setting up a chair
of botany in the National University at
Mexico City.
Lectures of Sesse and his companions
aroused the interest of a young Mexican
physician. Dr. Jose Mariano Mocino. He
became so absorbed in botany that he
gave up his practice, obtained an appoint
ment as a member of the expedition, fend
for more than 20 years engaged in almost
constant exploration. He covered all of
Central Mexico and made trips as far
south as Guatemala and as far north as
California. At the risk of his life he
ventured time and again into almost in
accessible spots for rare floral specimens.
In 1804 Sesse and Mocino went to Spain
where they started to work up their col
lections. Sesse died five years later and
Mocino was made director of the Cabinet
of Natural History in Madrid. About
this time Madrid was invaded by the
French. A change in government meant
nothing to the devoted Mexican doctor,
absorbed in the plants for which he had
risked his life so often.
He was popular with the invaders and
they did not disturb him. Then the
French were driven out and the ven
geance of the Spaniards, Incensed at his
‘‘traffic with the enemy,” fell upon the
head of Mocino. He was thrown into
prison and placed in chains—to be res
cued only by the return of the French
Army.
Once again the French were driven out.
This time the botanist took no chances.
He loaded his precious manuscripts and
drawings into a mule cart and, old and
feeble as he was, walked beside It
throughout the hasty retreat across the
mountains. He finally arrived safely in
the French city of Montpelier—but
nearly blind and penniless. He might
have starved had it not been for the
friendship of the celebrated Swiss botan
ist, De Candolle.
The latter, however, borrowed his
drawings and took them with him to
Geneva. Mocino, in the meantime, was
negotiating to return to Spain and finally
was assured that he would not be both
ered. He wrote to De Candolle asking
for the immediate return of his drawings.
The result was one of the most extraor
“”T - -t—» - -
anv. De Candolle asked for volunteers—
anybody In Geneva with any artistic tal
ent—to copy them as a patriotic duty.
The volunteers came—society girls, col
lege students, ministers. Altogether 120
of them were put to work and com
pleted the job in 10 days.
With his drawings returned, Mocino
started back to Spain. In Barcelona he
was taken ill and died—giving his draw
ings to a physician who had befriended
him. This man apparently attached no
value to them and they disappeared.
Had it not been for De Candolle’s copies
they would have been lost completely to
science.
Meanwhile, the manuscripts of Sesse
and Mocino and the plants they had
collected remained at Madrid. Nobody
attached any value to them or paid any
attention to them. It was not untill 1888,
nearly a century after the collections
were made, that the manuscript was
published in Mexico City. Meanwhile,
most of the plants had been rediscovered
and described, so that Mocino and Sesse
were deprived of their hard-earned glory.
The specimens, however, remained at
Madrid. Many of the species described
in the manuscript could not be identified
with any known in Mexico at the time
of the publication and it was Impossible
to match the descriptions and the speci
mens. Perhaps there are species still
unknown to science which may have
become extinct since Mocino's day. It Is
noteworthy that Mocino was especially
interested in medicinal plants and spared
no effort to obtain everything to which
curative properties were ascribed by
natives.
The Smithsonian has received the pas
sion flowers, ferns, nettles, asters and
smilaxes. Other families represented In
the collection have been sent to other
museums. All the work will be carried
on under the supervision of Dr. Standley.
Approves Sloan’s Refusal
To Confer on the Strike
To the Bdltor ot The Star:
As a small stockholder In General
Motors, may I comment briefly upon
your editorial in Wednesday’s Star In
which you express the opinion that the
president of that company made a mis
take in declining to attend the confer
ence called by the Secretary of Labor.
I think the company is entirely cor
rect both In refusing to confer until the
strikers vacate the company’s plants and
in declining to attend the conference. You
say that while the right of the strikers
has not been tested in the courts it is
difficult to believe that the decision would
be anything but that the occupancy is
not only illegal but highly unfair and
dangerous to the public Interest. That
being true, as it obviously is, why should
the company permit the trespass to ac
complish its object without such a test?
As for the proposed additional confer
ence, it could have accomplished nothing
beyond enabling Mr. Lewis to make good
his much-advertised boast that he would
force Mr. 81oan to meet him face to face.
C. V. BURNSIDE.
A
ANSWERS TO
QUESTIONS
BY FREDERIC J. HASH IN.
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. A replica of Andrew Jackson's home
was used as the President's reviewing
stand for the Inaugural parade. Is the
original In existence?—E. S.
A. The Hermitage has been carefully
preserved as a museum by the Ladies’
Hermitage Association of Tennessee.
Andrew Jackson and his wife are burled
there in a little garden tomb.
Q. How many people have gone to the
top of the Empire State BuUdlng?—H. T.
A. Since the observatories were opened
to the public in May, 1931. nearly thre
million people have visited the worlds
highest tower.
Q. When did Ann Harding first appear
on the stage?—J. K. L.
A. Miss Harding’s first performance*
was at the age of 15 when she appeared
in an amateur performance at the
Baldwin School, Bryn Mawr, Pa.
Q When were stock tickers first used?
—H. J.
A. The first stock ticker was Intro
duced in 1867.
Q Please give a list of books that were
best sellers in 1936.—C. H. M.
A. The best selling books of 1936 were
“Gone With the Wind,” Margaret
Mitchell; "The Last Puritan,” George
Santayana; "Drums Along the Mohawk.”
Walter Edmonds; "The Doctor,” Mary
Roberts Rinehart; "Sparkenbroke,”
Charles Morgan: "White Banners,” Lloyd
C. Douglas; “The Hurricane.” Charles
Nordhoff and James Norman Hall; “Eye
less in Gaza,” Aldous Huxley; "Anthony
Adverse,” Hervey Allen; “Whiteoak Har
vest,” Mazo de la Roche; “Wake Up and
Live,” Dorothea Brande; “North to the
Orient," Anne Morrow Lindbergh:
“Around the World in Eleven Years.”
Patience, Richard and John Abbe; “Live
Alone and Like It,” Marjorie Hillis:
"Man, the Unknown,” Alexis Carrel;
"Inside Europe," John Gunther; "An
American Doctor’s Odyssey,” Victor G.
Heiser; "The Way of a Transgressor."
Negley Parson: “Hell Bent for Election,”
James P. Warburg, and "Life With
Father,” Clarence Day.
Q. Where is the tallest tree in the
United States?—W. H.
A. According to James C. Shirley.
Yosemite ranger naturalist, the talles’
tree in the United States is Founders
Tree, a coast redwood on the Dyerville
Flat in Northern California. Its tip Is
364 feet above ground and it is 15 feet
through at the base.
Q. When was American sovereignty
proclaimed over No Man s Land in Colo
rado?—W. J. B.
A. On August 9, 1936, at Breckenridgc
Colo., Gov. E. C. Johnson unfurled th
United States flag and proclaimed Amer
ican sovereignty over 1.300 square mile.^
of mountain territory extending north
ward for nearly 70 miles. This had been
called No Man’s Land since the Louisiana
Purchase from Napoleon in 1803 at 3
cents an acre.
Q. How many licensed airplane pilots
are there in Alaska?—R. B.
A. As of September 30, 1936, there
were 69.
Q. Isn't the dictionary which says that
Arkwright invented the spinning jenny
in error on that point?—S. D. A.
A. It was in error, as it is stated in a
letter from G. & C. Merriam Co., pub
lishers of Webster's New International,
which has appeared in the Saturday Re
view of Literature. The letter reads in
part: “What Arkwright invented was the
spinning frame, which is, in fact, quite
a different spinning machine and one
that could do more work than the spin
ning jenny. Hargreaves Invented the
spinning jenny about a year before Ark
wright put his frame into use.”
Q. What organization awarded $5,000
to Edwin Markham?—R. S.
A. The Academy of American Poets
awarded the poet $5,000 for his Man
With the Hoe” and other verse.
Q. What are some of the hardest words
to spell?—W. H.
A. The following words are taken from
a list of 40 words that constitute spelling
problems to students, compiled by
Teachers’ College, Columbia University:
Aborigines, antennae, anaesthetic,
bourgeois, chrysanthemum, flourescent,
guerrilla, pyorrhea, intaglio, oleomar
garine, ju-jutsu, reveille, saccharine, sub
poena, ukulele, ventriloquist, vertices and
yeomanry.
Q. Where Is the fort In which Dr
Mudd was imprisoned for setting the
leg of John Wilkes Booth, the assassin
of Abraham Lincoln?—S. T.
A. It Is Fort Jefferson on Garden Key.
the southernmost of the Dry Tortuga-s
Keys, at the southern tip of Florida. It
was begun in 1846, but never finished.
It is now to be renovated, repaired and
improved under a W. P. A. allotment.
Q. How wide and long Is the Longueuil
Bridge in Montreal, Canada?—M. B.
A. It has a total width of 73 U feet,
and a roadway of 37 >4 feet, affording
room for four lanes of traffic. The main
span Is 1,937 feet, other spans range
from 90 to 245 feet, and the total length
of the bridge is 2 miles. The weight ou
the steel used In the superstructure L
about 30,000 tons.
Q. Why was Henry Stanley, the ex
plorer, called Bula Matari?—E. F. H.
A. Bula Matari, the Rock Breaker, was
the African natives’ name for Stanley.
Protests the Increase
Of Government Salaries
To the Editor of The 8ter:
Can any one explain to me why the
Government employes are demanding
an increase in salary? What will hap
pen to the rest of the employes in Wash
ington who work much harder and for
more hours, with salaries less than half
of that of a Government employe? If
the Government salary should be In
creased the cost of living will rise in pro
portion and the private employes would
suffer in consequence.
SIDNEY ADLER.
A Rhyme at Twilight
By
Gertrude brooke Hamilton
Encompassing.
Behind the boundless starry skies,
Beneath the verdant sod,
Deeper than ocean’s mystery lies
The Infinite of God.
Within the restless human heart,
Under man’* every mood.
Around him. of his life a part.
Is God’s Infinitude
L