Evening star. [volume], March 15, 1937, Page A-10, Image 10

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

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THE EVENING STAR
With Sunday Morning Edition.
WASHINGTON. D. C.
MONDAY _ March 15, 1937
THEODORE W. NOYES. Editor
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herein are also reserved.
Playing for Time.
Confident that delay is helping their
cause, administration leaders on Capitol
Hill are making no effort to expedite a
vote in the Senate on President Roose
velt's Supreme Court bill. This may be
good tactics. It is more than a tacit
admission that the opposition to the
measure is far stronger than, probably,
the President had any idea when he
gave it to an astonished, amazed, and—
In part—thoroughly disgusted Nation.
A tremendous campaign is today get
ting under way to give the President
his will in this matter of packing the
Supreme Court. Indeed, it is already in
progress, and the pressure that is being
exerted on members of the Senate and
House is remarkable. Bait of one kind
or another is dangled before their eyes—
and threats if the bait is not accepted.
A Democrat from West Virginia, Senator
Holt, made a flat charge that the admin
istration is using Federal patronage to
try to wun over Senators in this fight;
that a high official of the Government
had come to consult him about an im
portant office for which he was asked
to recommend an appointee. Senator
Holt pointed out that for a year prior
to this he had been given no considera
tion in any appointments by the admin
istration—because of his break with it
over the administration of the W. P. A.
In his State.
It is not a pleasing or an admirable
picture, if Senator Holt's charge is true.
A question of vast importance to the
American people is to be settled, perhaps,
because the administration is able, by
epecial favors, to wun over a Senator or
two, or enough to give it a majority in
ine Senate of the United States in sup
port of the President’s court bill. The
quid pro quo method of winning elections
or of putting through legislation may be
adopted by those who believe the end
justifies the means—but it does not
follow that in the end it elevates the
country or makes for the happiness of
the American people.
Clearly the administration leaders are
hopeful that as the wreeks go by a great
popular uproar in support of the Presi
dent and his program will bolster the
cause of the court bill in both houses of
Congress. So far, however, the uproar
has been on the other side of the question.
Frankly Senator Ashurst, chairman of
the Judiciary Committee, has admitted
that when the bill was first sent to
Congress “we were at the bottom of the
well.” It is his belief that the country
will react more and more favorably to
the President’s program as time pro
gresses.
The administration is seeking to line
up all the groups it can in support of the
measure; to bring all the organized pres
sure it can through these groups on
individual Senators and Representatives.
When there is added to this kind of
pressure the patronage club, swung by
experienced hands, the weight of the
administration attack becomes tre
mendous.
Those who look upon the President’s
program as destructive of an independ
ent judiciary and as destructive of the
Constitution itself in a stealthy manner
understand that they have a formidable
fight ahead of them. They have no
favors to offer. They can only promise
the people the preservation of an in
dependent Federal judiciary, not sub
servient to the executive or the legisla
tive branches of the Government.
A radio program of patriotic speeches
sometimes has to yield to a commercial
demonstration of rhythm and rhetoric
which leaves doubt as to whether those
who write the songs of a nation are
honestly efficient in promoting its cul
tural aspect.
Gas Company Plans.
In submitting plans for reconstruction
of its financial structure to the Public
Utilities Commission, the Washington
Gas Light Company has placed two
irons in the fire. One is the financial
program. The other is a proposal to
pay a lump sum of $1,250,000 for pur
chase of the Hyattsville and the Alex
andria gas companies. The two now are
tied together, though there are two
separate petitions involved, for part of
the proposed issue of preferred stock
under the financial reconstruction would
be used for payment of the two sub
urban concerns.
This is an old story to the utilities
commission—and to the public. It should
be remembered, however, that the Wash
ington company and the two suburban
companies all are controlled by the same
foreign interest. This is the Washington
and Suburban Companies, the Massa
chusetts trust which represents the
Chase Bank of New York and associated
financial interests. The trust has ten
dered a plan—not yet consummated—to
dispose of its eighty-four per cent of the
present common stock in the Washington
company. The story has been that the
banking interests are willing to take
their losses and quit their control of the
city's gas works. Naturally, they seek
to cut their losses to the lowest possible
figure.
Logic, if nothing else, seems to dic
tate that the commission should con
sider first, as a separate and distinct
proposal, the plan of the Washington
company for reconstruction of its finan
cial structure. But the commission no
doubt will find it proper and wise to
hold off for distinctly separate and later
consideration the second proposal, the
payment by the Washington company
of $1,250,000 for two suburban concerns
now owned by the parent trust. The
details of that plan certainly should be
discussed at a public hearing.
Only last October the commission
found it in the public interest to reject as
too high the proposed payment of
$1,375,000 for the two suburban con
cerns. The present offer is but $125,000
less than the rejected original. The
Hyattsville company paid a quarterly
dividend of twenty-five cents per share in
1936, but the Alexandria company has
never paid dividends and has been un
able to pay interest on the greater part
of a debt of $800,000.
As to the purchase of the suburban
concerns, the commission should be, and
no doubt will be, actuated only by the
best interests of the the public and the
Washington operating company.
--—-- » >—.....
“Undeclared War.”
If the League of Nations, in those
winged words of Grover Cleveland,
likely to be widely remembered in this
week's centenary anniversary of his
birth, had not lapsed into innocuous
desuetude, it could not ignore the pro
test submitted at Geneva during the
week end by the Spanish government.
Detailing a purported insurgent plan for
Italian troops to capture Madrid, while
Italo-German squadrons advance against
the coastal cities of Barcelona and
Valencia, the Loyalists formally accuse
Italy and Germany of waging undeclared
war in Spain with regular land and sea
forces. Similar representations have
been made to the London neutrality
committee, with a request for investiga
tion and restrictive action.
It goes without saying that these re
monstrances will lead to no practical
results in either Geneva or London. The
Spanish government's doom is too nearly
sealed, the insurgents’ military and
naval arrangements too far advanced,
for any eleventh-hour diplomatic inter
vention to alter the existing state of the
conflict. Whatever merit there is in the
accusation that the Fascist dictatorships
are formally at war in and with Spain—
and it would be difficult for Rome and
Berlin to disprove the indictment—noth
ing short of counter measures in force by
countries friendly to the Loyalists could
thwart the Italo-German purpose. Such
a recourse would mean general European
war, and that is unthinkable. Any
League efforts to heed the Spanish pro
test would, moreover, bring to the surface
the circumstance that French and Rus
sian nationals and equipment in formi
dable force are also conspicuous in the
Spanish hostilities. The Italo-German
pot would not wait long before calling
the Franco-Russian kettle black.
Be this as it may, there is no question
but that the chief offenders in the “little
world war” that has raged for eight
months in the Iberian peninsula are
Italy and Germany, which plead in
joint self-justification of their support
of Franco the necessity of preventing
communism from gaining a foothold on
the Mediterranean. Madrid alleges that
the Italians have landed four divisions
of their regular army, three divisions of
Blackshirts and a regular army com
mander in Spain. German forces in
the guise of volunteers have also reached
the country in masses and operated as
more or less regular units. It is on the
basis of these established facts, plus the
presence of Italo-German squadrons on
the eastern and southern coasts, that
the Loyalists denounce “a scandalous
violation” of international law.
Too much blood has already been
shed in Spain to permit the republic
to expect salvation from belated pro
test against undeclared war. History
nevertheless, when it reviews the tragedy
enacted during the past year, is certain
to pronounce condemnatory judgment
on the rivalries, intrigues, duplicity and
pusillanimity of statesmanship that let
Europe make the once fair land of Spain
a battleground for a devastating clash
of “ideologies,” from which the Spanish
people emerge as the principal victims.
That Blue Eagle is supposed to be still
hovering somewhere in the mythical
distances like that creature of aboriginal
fancy, “the Thunderbird.”
Small Claims Court.
Judge Nathan Cayton's plan for crea
tion of a small claims court branch, or
a “poor man’s court,” within the Munic
ipal Court has produced a rather curious
division of opinion among the lawyers.
The judges of the Municipal Court, under
the plan, were empowered to make it
effective by a change in the court rules,
without legislation. But a majority of
the judges is apparently unfavorably in
clined. The Committee of the Bar Asso
ciation to which the plan was referred
favored it and voted for its adoption.
The directors of the Bar Association
likewise favored the plan and recom
mended its adoption. But the Bar Asso
ciation itself rejected it by a substantial
majority.
This division over a proposal, the
underlying principle of which finds
almost universal agreement among
lawyers and laymen alike, apparently
ends hope for its voluntary adoption
without legislation. The bills introduced
by Senator King and Representative
Norton, therefore, should serve the pur
pose of placing the proposal before dis
interested referees who, after hearing
the arguments pro and con, can adopt
or reject the plan on its merits.
• The underlying principle of the legis
lation Is to bring more easily within the
reach of the poor or uninformed litigant
the sometimes ponderous and awe-in
spiring machinery of justice. As the late
Chief Justice Taft has written, the real
blessing of the bill of rights was to secure
“a fair hearing by independent courts
to each individual. But if the individual
in seeking to protect himself is without
money to avail himself of such pro
cedure, the Constitution and the pro
cedure made inviolable by it do not prac
tically work for the equal benefit of all.
Something must be devised by which
every one, however lowly and however
poor, however unable by his means to
employ a lawyer and to pay court costs,
shall be furnished the opportunity to
set this fixed machinery of justice going.”
A number of the States have adopted
with apparent success the small claims
court substantially as now proposed by
Judge Cayton. Judge Cayton, by the
way, does not find fault with thfe Mu
nicipal Court as it now functions. His
study of its processes has convinced
him of “the high type of judicial service”
which it has rendered. But he sees in
the proposed small claims court a
“splendid opportunity and even a chal
lenge for still further improvement in
the administration of justice.” Briefly
stated, the plan contemplates a simpli
fication of present court procedure, the
creation of an informal atmosphere for
“the poor man in court” by judges who
shall be able more effectively to take the
role of friendly conciliator than is pos
sible under iron-bound rules of evidence.
It is to be doubted if there is any
opposition to the broad purposes of Judge
Cayton’s proposal and the legislation
now proposed. Opposition seems to be
based on the belief that the Municipal
Court functions at present in a manner
adequately meeting the needs of the
poor or uninformed litigant; that the
new plan, in other words, is unnecessary
and possibly too sweeping in its disregard
of established procedure. The Bar Asso
ciation recently announced a plan to
provide legal counsel, without charge,
for litigants otherwise unable to obtain
such protection.
The introduction of legislation, followed
by adequate hearings, should provide the
best means of giving Judge Cayton’s plan
the thorough examination it deserves.
When President Conant of Harvard
falls down and breaks his collarbone
irreverent students, who naturally resent
pedagogic discipline, may approve of his
learning by experience the meaning of
the old Indian chief's title “Pain-in-ttfe
Neck.”
The courteous and well informed Sec
retary' of State has done everything pos
sible to explain the lack of intentional
offense to German officials. It would be
unfair to expect him to devote too many
hours to a passing incident which defies
rational analysis.
There is a tenasncy to flippant au
dacity among antagonists of the present
form of U. S. Government which dis
regards a significant phrase in the Dec
laration of Independence: “A Decent Re
spect to the Opinions of Mankind.”
In diplomatic discussion it might be
assumed that an “insult” which requires
both translation and expurgation is not
entitled to rational consideration, even
as an insult.
" ■ ■ ' --— > *-—
Shooting Stars.
BY PHILANDER JOHNSON.
Taste That Does Not Change.
A reckless boyhood friend I knew.
Upon his slate he often drew
A picture of our teacher dear
With features twisted and severe,
And by our laughter long and loud
We made the artist truly proud.
It held a meaning very small,
This portrait which amused us all.
The teacher smiled and said, “Some day
They’ll turn unto a wiser way.
The teacher with respect they’ll hear
Nor cultivate an idle sneer.”
Time hurried on. These lads were known
In busy life as men full grown.
The kindly hopes that teacher knew,
Alas, have never quite come true!
Still where the drama calls the throng
To passing hours of speech and song,
We will disdain the thought that's best
And love the superficial jest.
Popularity.
“Popularity is a great asset.”
“It is,” agreed Senator Sorghum. “But
it’s a misfortune to acquire too much of
it early in life. The most popular young
man I know remained a ukulele player
the rest of his days.”
Josh the Genius.
“So your boy Josh is a genius.”
“I’m inclined to think so,” answered*
Farmer Corntossel.
“But geniuses seldom get rich or
famous while they live.”
“Well, I’m afraid that’s pretty much
how it is goin’ to be with Josh.”
The Melancholy Motorist.
’Mid changes I must go my way
And face new forms of sorrow.
I know the parking rules today.
What will they be tomorrow?
Jud Tunkins says the only real big
boss he knows of comes into evidence
with his wife’s announcement that it is
time for house cleaning.
“Much study,” said Hi Ho, the sage
of Chinatown, “may keep a scholar so
interested in the past that he gains little
knowledge of present events and none
of their future significance.”
The Homicidal Front Page.
I stand near by the newsman’s wares.
To bring my paper he prepares.
I really do not find I need
Closely the foremost page to read.
From quite a distance I am thrilled,
Because of those who have been killed!
“When I feels dissatisfied wif my
looks,” said Uncle Eben, “I goes to de
zoo an’ offers thanks foh bein’ so much
handsomer dan de hippopotamus.”
Supreme Court Without
Nullifying Authority
To the Editor ol The Star:
Dictator! King! Reactionary! So echo
the cries of resentment Irom all parts
of our land. But pause a moment and
reflect on this outburst. Just who is
the dictator—President Roosevelt or five
members of the Supreme Court? In
deed, only one such man is needed to
refute all legislation passed by the
people’s own representatives.
This has lately been in evidence
through the five-four decision handed
down by our highest, court on one of
the fundamental measures of an ad
ministration so recently given whole
hearted approval by the Nation.
Is it not contrary to all the principles
of our hard-won Constitution to have
one branch of the Federal Government
set up as inviolate and superior, not only
to one other section of government, but
to both divisions? Certainly this was
not the spirit of the founders of our
country. If it were so they would have
provided for it. But no, they were far
seeing, intelligent men and recognized
the evil of dissension and superiority in
the Federal Government. Think you
that if it were intended for one branch
of government to be the superior, it
would be the only one over which the
people have no power? Supreme Court
judges are appointed, not elected, for
the duration of their lives during good
behavior.
It is common knowledge that the
people have rejected men for iiigli Gov
ernment offices who have later been
placed on the bench of the Supreme
Court, there to frustrate the efforts of
the men in whom the public had laid
its trust.
Furthermore, the original composers
of our greatest document made no pro
vision for the exercise of this imaginary
privilege. Where in the Constitution of
the United States of America is the Su
preme Court given the power to declare
unconstitutional laws passed by Con
gress and the President? Why is their
decision binding on the law making and
executing bodies? It would seem as
though the tribunal, in declaring these
laws void, was actually performing an
act not granted to it in the original
declaration, or added to it in any amend
ment, is acting unconstitutionally. But
who can decide whether or not the court
is abiding by the Constitution? The
Congress? The President? No. There
is none to control the actions of the
least democratic division of our National
Government. CARTER EDMONDS
Child Labor Conditions
Are Not Actually Hopeless
To the Editor of The Star:
Jay Franklin’s diversion on the slow
ness of ratification for the child labor
amendment as related to the Supreme
Court issue points to the dearth of argu
ments for the President’s proposal, for
it assumes first that the late election
constituted a mandate for anything the
President suggests, common sense or
even the “Democratic” platform to the
contrary notwithstanding, and second,
that a similar mandate exists for the
child labor amendment as now drafted.
All of which is not true.
No one favors avoidable employment
of children who should and could other
wise be developing better minds and
booie'. But all that glitter in legisla
tion on t ui: subject is not gold in prac
tice. Conditions as to cnild labor are,
moreover, not as hopeless as pictured.
The calamity howler seems to assume
that with many jobs formerly requiring
hard physical labor by men now being
done by machines that are so simple they
can be run by women and children, we
men will all be “mill daddies” if politics
doesn't interfere.
This again doesn’t fit in with facts,
for the proportion of women and chil
dren in industry is constantly getting
less. Less than one child in twenty be
tween the ages of 10 and 14 is working
today, compared with one in five at the
turn of the century. In 1890 about
twenty-five per cent of all employed
women were in the manufacturing and
mechanical trades, but in 1930 only
seventeen per cent of them were in
these trades. Why all the politics?
The serious and properly political prob
lem before us today is that of unemploy
ment in all classes of labor as it arises
in depressions caused, not by techno
logical displacements, but by financial
distortions that interfere with adequate
distribution of the products of industry
in trade. This problem will not be
solved by an intellectual process that
confines itself to pillorying industrial
leaders who happen to have the temerity
to express their opinions.
ALDEN A. POTTER.
Supreme Court Should Have
Veto Power Like President
To the E<M or of Thp Star:
In regard to the Supreme Court issue,
there should be, I believe, an amendment
to the C< institution denying the Supreme
Court the power to declare an act of
Congress unconstitutional. The Supreme
Court should have about the same power
as the President’s veto. The court should
be able to go over a bill and pick out the
good points and the bad ones and send
the bill back to Congress for recon
sideration If Congress did not legislate
upon the returned bill within 10 days
it would automatically become null and
void. However, if Congress did go over
the bill and correct everything it saw
fit to correct it would again submit it
to the Supreme Court, If the Supreme
Court vetoed it again Congress would
take it back, recorrect it if necessary and
if it passed with a two-thirds vote it
would become a law.
The President’s plan is inadequate. At
best it is only temporary. It might
possibly work out all right in the present
crisis but this would not necessarily
hold true In later years. The Supreme
Court should only be changed to better
conditions permanently and should not
be at the mercy of the administration
in power. Such an important change
should be a permanent one.
STANLEY H. PROFFITT.
—-> «
Pedestrians in Peril From
Quick-Starting Street Cars
To the Editor of The Star:
Crossing a track immediately in front
of a standing street car you are in serious
danger. Just about that moment the
motorman may start it. I have seen
them turning the lever while their head
(including the eyes) were facing toward
what was going on behind. And so I
would say, have a bar (rail) running
across at both ends of the car, about
five feet from the ground. Then you
have something to grab and to hang
on to until—within a few seconds—the
car comes to a stop. As it is, there is
nothing to clutch. You simply go down,
and what is left of you stays down.
•‘Safety first.” FRED VETTER.
Growing Older.
From the San Jose Mercury-Herald.
The Census Bureau reports the Na
tion’s population is “slowly growing
older,” which will be regarded as flat
tery by those aware of receding hairlines
and bulging waist lines, but with in
credulity by those who buy shoes for
growing youngsters.
THIS AND THAT |
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.
n.tep your ears weu tunea tnese days
for the songs of the birds.
Even if you are not interested much
in the feathered songsters, you will get
a great deal of amusement out of listen
ing for their Spring cries.
This is where the "tuning” of the
ears comes in; one must listen definitely,
if one is not particularly in love with
the birds.
Even the most obdurate soul, however,
who has no time for anything but mak
ing a living, will find something helpful
in these songs.
Songs right out of the great heart of
nature—no man-made instrument has
imitated them successfully.
Phonograph records of bird songs, even
when the real thing, will make no im
pression whatever on a house cat.
“What is that noise?” the animal seems
to ask, if it notices the sounds at all.
Mostly it pays no attention whatever to
bird songs on the records, whether by
real birds or from the throat of the
master imitators.
* * * *
The great difference, no doubt, is the
amount of sound.
A real bird song, even the softest and
sweetest, is very loud.
So attuned to all outdoors are they
that the listener, especially if Indoors,
fails to realize their magnitude.
If the same clear whistle were to sound
in the living room it would fairly split
one’s ear drums.
Yet outdoors it seems to the listener
even soft, or at times faint, so great is
space.
* * * *
Listen to those clear whistles of the
favorite cardinal or redbird.
How cleanly they cut the air, how
far they travel, yet how soft they im
pinge on the ear!
The soft notes of the song sparrow
can be heard for many yards.
The raucous cries of the bluejav defy
all space.
The crow, floating overhead sometimes
about 7 o'clock in the morning, sends
down his challenge over many square
blocks. Yet so limitless is outdoors, that
his cries blend well with clouds and
streets and trees and houses, becoming
part of them, indeed, not just something
which passes between them.
* Jk ak *
From now on the cries and songs of
the birds will grow louder, just as the
colors on their backs and wings become
stronger.
Notice the increasing red in the brown
of the male English sparrows, especially
on back and wings.
These rus.sets tones are growing more
visible each day. Those who do not like
these sparrows ought to look for these
changes, in order to give themselves
something to admire about them.
It is absurd, from an intellectual
standpoint, to go through life with 100
per cent hates of anything.
We pity all persons who "hate” cats,
as they say, because the domestic cat
really has many fine points.
We may pity, too, and sincerely, all
the English sparrow haters, for they are
missing all the good points which these
11* tie fellows possess.
One may be glad, and felicitate one’s
self, not only on a determination to
find good points in persons and tilings,
but also in the success, in almost all
cases, in finding them, and ameliorating
the viewpoint.
one hundred per cent haters are ill,
although they may not know it. One
of the legitimate protests of the present
age against some of the older fiction is
that such stories painted their heroes all
heroes and their villains completely
villains.
Real life is not often that way; the
“lousiest” sort of person, as the modern
slang phrase has it, possesses one or two
good traits. The villain is not all villain,
and the hero not all heroic. Who has
not known some "nasty-nice” person
whom one rather wanted to “kill,” ac
cording to the expression, rather than
to admire?
Often one of these persons, put in
charge of something or other, will do
more harm than the good efforts of
twenty honest persons afterward can
clean up. Such a person so mixes con
cealed craftiness and guile with outward
innocence that he or she creates in the
mind of even the most trusting person a
feeling of unrest ripening into suspicion.
4r A
The birds, thank God, have no such
double characters.
They are what they are. and that is
one of the reasons why we may love
them unreservedly.
At this season of the year, obeying the
behests ot their mother nature, they
express their liking for the season by
sending forth new sounds from their
little throats.
According to their throats, so is their
song.
The more muscles in their throats, the
more complicated the sound box, the
better singer the creature is.
Many birds are technically song birds
which the average person at first would
not credit with being such. The crow,
for instance, is classed among the song
sters, as is the jay.
If you really like the birds, love to
watch them, and to listen to them, you
come in time to find something highly
musical in the deep-throated crow calls.
As for the shrieks of the jays, these
are musical, too, once you relate them
to the outdoors, and realize that the
music of nature is not our little system of
sharps and flats at all, but the universe
with all its sounds. Perhaps the belief
of the ancients that the spheres sang
together is more than just poetical
imagery, after all. It may be the truth.
* * * *
If we cannot hear the music of the
spheres in our gardens, It is fortunate
for us that these small creatures, known
as birds, come so freely, and sing so
sweetly.
Only a few days, now, and the morn
ing chorus, so eagerly awaited by all
friends of birds, will burst forth at day
break from the trees.
This is a sound many have to learn
to appreciate, just as the orchestra con
ductor said Americans would have to
hear Wagner until they did like him.
Especially if one moves from the deep
city to the suburbs or country, some time
may be necessary before one really likes
to be awakened by the joyous shrieks
of the awakening birds.
So in love with light are they, so in
love with light and love and life, thev
fairly veil their little h°&da cfi there,
perched in our trees.
Sing, bircnes, wake ail lazy mortals—
lazybones, indeed, too stogy to know, in
too many cases, that admiration some
times comes only by taking thought.
WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS
BY FREDERIC WILLIAM WILE.
Opening hostilities in the Supreme
Court battle—presentation of the ad
ministration's case before the Senate
Judiciary Committee—have, by pretty
ceneral consent, strengthened the
Roosevelt position. How the presi
dential ramparts will look after they’re
raked fore and aft by the big opposi
tion guns that will begin barking next
week is another matter. The commit
tee heckling to which both Attorney
General Cummings and Assistant At
torney General Jackson were subjected
is a foretaste of what portends when
the proposition is under fire on the
Senate floor. There’s lively curiosity as
to how long administration forces will
permit the bill to languish in com
mittee. If there’s any indication that
the enemy seeks to bottle it up. White
House leaders may resort to the par
liamentary recourse of seeking the com
mittee’s discharge, with a view to rela
tively early action in the chamber. Re
ports persist that Senator Ashurst’s col
leagues are preponderantly opposed to
the bill, which suggests an adverse re
port. Even the stanchest proponent
does not expect the measure to emerge
from committee except in amended
form, perhaps with Mr. Roosevelt's bless
ing.
★ * *
Congressional advocates of the pro
gram long in public service say they
have never khown of such far-reaching
efforts as are being made to influence
the public mind in the judiciary con
troversy. The propaganda in question
is assailed by administrationists as “im
proper” because it is alleged to consist
of "half truths and whole falsehoods.”
The shoals of pamphlets and state
ments drenching Representatives and
Senators reveal that not only have exist
ing national organizations of all sorts
joined in the drive against the bill, but
that an entirely new crop of commit
tees, leagues, women’s clubs and other
groups is springing into .life like mush
rooms all over the country. These con
ditions, of course, exemplify the un
precedentedly agitated state of the Na
tion’s mind over the issue raised by
Mr. Roosevelt. His opponents probably
justify their strong-arm missionary
methods on the ground that in his fire
side chats the President has an un
equaled advantage and one warranting
high pressure educational tactics in re
buttal. To date the Capitol has experi
enced no more intensive persuasive ef
fort than last week's lobby by labor's
Non-Partisan League.
4 «
Although Dr. Townsend, facing un
bowed the possibility of jail, says his
pension idea cannot be “imprisoned,"
the congressional consensus is that the
Californian’s “plan” is doomed beyond
redemption, at least as far as any
visible prospect of legislation is con
cerned. Meetings held at the Capitol
during the Winter developed that only
meager support exists for it. Probably
before the session is over bills favoring
the scheme, in one form or another,
will be trotted out. But at this writing
few politicians consider that Town
sendism any longer has a Chinaman’s
chance.
♦ * * *
You can get almost any kind of
figures you please these days as to the
outcome of the fight. One current esti
mate, said to emanate from authentic
Republican quarters, fixes forty-two as
the probable maximum of Senate
strength upon which the bill’s foes at
present can count. This concedes the
administration an outside total of fifty
four votes. But opponents say the
game is young and that today’s minority,
by the time the decisive showdown
comes many weeks hence, may be
transformed into a safe, if slender, ma
jority. For the moment the opposition
seems more concerned with organizing
delay than in mobilizing votes. Its
leaders are certain they can put off
final action for two months. They do
not abandon hope of preventing it
altogether at this session. The air con
tinues thick with talk of compromise
on terms that will enable many a
statesman now on the fence or even in
opposition to get aboard the Roosevelt
bandwagon. Assurance of administra
tion enmity in certain Democratic re
election primaries is also relied upon
to have its effect.
* * * *
Friends and foes acclaim Assistant
Attorney General Robert H. Jackson's
argument before the Ashurst committee
as by long odds the best plea so far
to come from any quarter. Here and
there it's even suggested that the young
upstate New York lawyer made out a
more convincing case for the plan than
his White House boss himself. From
the outset Mr. Jackson has figured in
the front rank of possibilities for one
of the new high court justiceships—if
and when. Some think his ambitions
run preferably in the direction of the
governorship of New York, with an eye
to the 1938 Democratic nomination.
Jackson's hometown background, in
Jamestown, N. Y„ is not confined to the
law. He has been a bank director and
utility official, including association with
street railway and telephone companies.
He’s no novice in the field of judiciary
reform, either, having served on the
New York State commission to investi
gate the administration of justice. Jack
son's chief rival for gubernatorial honors
is John J. Bennett, jr., who is serving
his fourth term as attorney general
at Albany.
★ * * *
Ambassador William E. Dodd, who
presented the United States’ protest
against anti-American excesses in the
Nazi press, enjoys high repute with the
German government, which has found
him a particularly forthright type of
diplomat. The Germans hold him in
special regard because of his scholarly
attainments and possibly also because
he did his post-graduate work at one
of their universities—Leipzig—where he
took his Ph. D. in 1900 with a thesis
written in German entitled “Jefferson's
Return to Politics.” A former president
of the American Historical Association,
Dr. Dodd has to his credit biographical
works on Jefferson Davis, Woodrow
Wilson, Abraham Lincoln and Robert E.
Lee. He is also joint author of a history
of the United States and translator of
one of Germany’s own standard volumes
—Lamprecht’s “What Is History?”
* * * *
In a book just off the press, “Dusk of
Empire,” by Wythe Williams, well-known
American foreign correspondent, there’s
the diverting suggestion that President
Roosevelt might go to Europe this Sum
mer to survey the menacing interna
tional situation on the spot in confer
ence with trans-Atlantic statesmen. Mr.
Williams, recalling that F. D. R. loves
the sea, believes he might relish the
opportunity of an ocean crossing for
peace talk on the other side, instead of
convening a round table in Washington,
as previously suggested. Stockholm, as
a neutral capital, has been considered,
Mr. Williams says, as the ideal place
for an overseas pow-wow on war pre
vention. Keen student of European af
fairs for twenty-five years, Williams
fears war may come any time after
Easter. He thinks a Nazi attack on
Czechoslovakia may be the spark to
Ignite the powder barrel.
(OopyrlHit, 1937.)
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 stamp for reply.
Q. What was the original sum total
owed the United States by foreign
powers before interest and refunding was
computed?—M. P.
A. The original debt was $10,350,479 -
074.70.
Q. What horse has run in the money
the most times consecutively?—H. J.
A. The honor goes to Kingston, who
was in the money in 74 consecutive
starts. In the record of Kingston, 138
starts are listed, with 89 wins, 34 place
and 11 show finishes.
Q. How is the seating of ambassadors
decided?—R. H.
A. The seating arrangement of ambas
sadors at public functions is according to
precedence—that is, by the length of
service at the post.
Q. When did Vergil five?—A. F.
A. Publius Vergilius Maro was born in
70 B.C. and died in 19 B.C. He was
considered the foremost poet of his time.
Q. How long have the names of Mar
ten and Hennessy been associated with
the manufacture of cognac?—W. H. J.
A. In 1715 John Martell established in
Cognac, France, the business which stiil
bears his name. In 1765 the firm of
James Hennessy & Company was
founded. Another James Hennessy a
member of the French Senate, is toda;
the head of the firm.
Q. Is the new Queen of England a
musician?—E G. H.
A. Queen Elizabeth is an accomplished
pianist and has a lovely singing voice.
Q When was candy first made by ma
chine?—L. F. G.
A. About 1825 foreign manufacturer
began to use some machinery in their
factories, but the actual Introduction ot
machinery in candy-making dates from
1840. The first machine of this char
acter to be brought to the United States
was imported by Sebastian Chauveau of
Philadelphia in 1845. In 1846 Oliver R.
Chase invented a machine for the mak
ing of lozenges.
Q. Who originated the C. & O. adver
tisement depicting a sleeping kitten?—
A. R.
A. L. C. Probert was the originator of
the picture; the inscription, "America's •
Sleepheart," and the slogan "Sleep Lika
a Kitten.” He also named the kitten
Chessie.
Q. How many planes are using auto
matic pilots?—W. G.
A. More than 400 gyropilots are now
in use in commercial ancf private aircraft
throughout the world.
Q Where is the Clinch River?—E. J.
A. The river rises among the hills in
the Sowh'ioctprri part of Virginia,
oa-ses into Tennessee, flows through tne
valley between Clinch Mountain and
Powell Mountain and unites witn the
Holston at Kingston, to form the Ten
nessee River.
Q. How long has cork been used as
stoppers for glass bottles?—N. W.
A. Its use dates baok at least to
the fifteenth century.
Q. Why is Rochester, N. Y„ sometimes
called the Flour City and sometimes the
Flower City?—J. W.
A. During the early period, wrhen the
Genesee Valley was the chief wheat belt
of the country, Rochester was known
as the Flour City. With the decline of
milling and the rise of the nursery in
dustry this sobriquet was changed to
the Flower City.
Q. Are many homes being built at
Coral Gables, Fla.?—K. M.
A. Homes to the value of $1,500,000
have been built in the Coral Gables area
in the last twelve months.
Q. What are the necessary require
ments for a student to enter the National
Farm School in Pennsylvania?—L, F.
A, Worthy Jewish boys between the
ages of 17 and 21 wdth at least one year
of high school education who are in
terested in agriculture as a vocation are
eligible. The course comprises 36 months
and in addition to the training the»
students receive board, room and .other
perquisites.
Q. Who said, ‘If I had more time 1
would have written you a shorter letter"?
—A. J. M.
A. It was Pascal who wrote on De
i cember 14, 1656, “I have made this letter
rather long only because I have not had
time to make it shorter."
Q. Why was the datb of George Wash
ington's birth changed from February
11. 1731. to February 22, 1732, when the
calendar was changed 11 days?—M. W.
A. When the Gregorian calendar was
adopted in this country in 1751, not only
were the 11 days added, but New Year
day was changed from March 25 to
January 1. Thus February 1731 became
February 1732.
Q When did the Saturday Evening
Post reach a circulation of 1.000,000?—
E. W. S.
A. According to the late Edward W.
Bok, the Saturday Evening Post showed
a circulation of 1,000,000 in 1908.
Cheek on Bartenders.
From the Kansas City Star.
A Chicago bartender has been arrested,
for selling a customer a glass of brass
polish. And justly. Bartenders should
be taught that since repeal a new gen
eration is growing up that can’t drink
brass polish.
Chiang Kai-Shek’s Pledge.
From the New Orleans Times-Picayune.
Gen. Chiang Kai-Shek received an
other vote of confidence from the Kuo
mintang—possibly an expression of their
confidence that he won’t let himself be
kidnaped again.
A Rhyme at Twilight
By
Gertrude Brooke Hamilton.
Elusive Happiness.
It slips thru fingers like a shining fish
Seeking deep waters, there to disap
pear;
As difficult to grasp as a bright wish
That, unfulfilled, ends only in a tear.
Then from a sunset, or a baby’s smile,
Wind in the pine trees, or a light
caress,
A freshness sweeps across the heart.*.
The while
One knows a moment of pure hap
piness.