Evening star. [volume], March 25, 1937, Page A-10, Image 10

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

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THE EVENING STAR
i i With Sunday Morning Edition.
WASHINGTON. D. C.
THURSDAY__—March 25. 1937
imEODORE W. NOYES .Editor
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Where Angels Fear.
a Tn their zeal to pack the Supreme
Court for the validation "now" of New
peal measures, some of the proponents
of that plan exhibit a recklessness in
their generalizations which leads them
to rush in where more deliberate angels,
With good cause, fear to tread.
- Addressing the New York Economic
Club last night, Robert H. Jackson, the
Assistant Attorney General, referred
sweetly to the President's plan as one
designed "simply to recondition the
Court and its personnel.” He devoted
most of the remainder of his speech to
a showing of why such a reconditioning
is necessary, intimating that the jus
tices are not only too old, but that the
court itself has repeatedly blocked what
the New Dealers regard as progress.
."Powerful interests” seek the court as a
•‘wailing wall.” Privilege and anti-social
forces "seek the shelter of the court.”
As a direct result of the court's decisions
^•we tonight face large scale problems
In labor relations” and have no “peace
ful technique for dealing with them.”
And then this:
•> Our experience would have grown
with the problems, if the Supreme Court
of the United States had not, against
the protest of some of its most re
flected members, arrested our develop
ment. Let us cite specific examples. In
J1920 'Kansas created a Court of Indus
trial Relations to hear labor disputes and
fix wages and terms fdr future employ
ment in certain industries. I do not
know whether it would have succeeded,
nor what facts its efforts would have
developed. We were not permitted to
learn whatever lesson it had to teach.
The Supreme Court held that the law
violated the due process clause of the
Constitution. Who can say how valu
able that experiment might have been
to us now?
The inference here, read with the
context, is that the Kansas Court of
Industrial. Relations experiment was held
invalid “against the protest of some of
its (the court’s) most respected mem
bers.” But the four decisions by the
Supreme Court affecting the Kansas law
were unanimous decisions. Justice
Brandeis wrote one of the minor deci
sions. He and the late Justice Holmes
concurred in all of them. Five members
of the present court participated in the
early decisions, six members of the
present court participated in the last
one. And the last decision was twelve
years ago. The present justices who
participated were, in other words, twelve
years younger than they are today.
Mr. Jackson is not candid in stating
the purpose of the Court of Industrial
Relations. Nor does he tell why the
law, in its applications considered by
the court, was found invalid. The
Kansas law was an experiment in com
pulsory arbitration of labor disputes,
does organized labor today favor com
pulsory arbitration and denial of the
rfght to strike? Here is what the Kansas
law provided, in the words of the late
Chief Justice Taft:
.Section Seven gives the industrial
court power, in case of controversy be
tween employers and workers which
may endanger the continuity of service
(In certain industries), to bring the
employer and employe before it and,
after hearing and investigation, to fix
the terms and conditions between them.
The employer is bound by this act to
pay the wages fixed and, while the
Worker is not required to work, at the
Wages fixed, he is forbidden, on penalty
of fine or imprisonment, to strike against
them and is compelled to give up that
means of putting himself on an equality
with his employer which action in con
cert with his fellows gives him.
And later:
Under it they (the employer and
workers) have no voice in selecting the
determining Agency or in defining what
that agency is to investigate and de
termine. And yet the determination is
to bind them from agreeing on any
change in the terms fixed therein, unless
the agency approves.
Is that the sort of statute which Mr.
William Green and his fellows, panting
in their new found enthusiasm to pack
the Supreme Court, want to have de
clared constitutional under Mr. Jackson’s
“reconditioned court” and reconditioned
personnel? Presumably so. The action
of the court comes under Mr. Jackson’s
“specific examples” of “arrested de
velopment" at the hands of the Supreme
Court.
Too Many Casualties.
Commonly, it is remarked that life is
cheap. But that sentiment is not quite
fair to human conscience. Neither is it
strictly accurate. Indeed, a careful
study of public opinion prompts the
belief that people are pretty definitely
convinced that there are too many
casualties, too many accidents in the
modern world.
For example, the general reaction to
the news of yesterday's bus disaster at
Salem, 111., is one of sorrow and regret.
Nineteen persons, including six women
and a four-year-old child, died in the
crash and resultant fire. The cause was
the blowing out of a tire, but the ex
planation, as usual, was speed. Travel
ing fewer miles per hour, the machine
could have been controlled. But, In
point of fact, the vehicle was moving
downhill with such force that the im
pact with the bridge abutment ‘‘hurled
the bus’ heavy motor clear of the
wreckage.” The explosion, naturally,
followed.
Analyzed to its basic elements, such a
story shows an adventurous violation of
a fundamental principle of safety. Re
sponsibility, it seems, ought to increase
with the number of lives involved. A
certain normal instinct requires of the
operator of a motor car a decent regard
for those who ride with him. Thought
ful drivers appreciate that circumstance
and govern themselves accordingly.
And the same observation justly may
be registered for the owners of bus
lines as a class. But, competing as they
do with air transport and railroad com
panies, they are not cautious enough
about the risk inherent in accelerated
schedules. The recent tragedy of the
Tamiami Trail in Florida proved that
conclusively.
Yet passengers also are at fault.
The speed problem traces back to the
propensity of multitudes of people for
hurry. A strange psychology for “sav
ing time” has developed in the human
mind during the past half-century. The
old axiom which affirms that “the more
haste, the less speed” has been rejected
by a generation which wants to “go
places” in panic rushes. And it is
logical that such madness should be
paid for at a fearful price.
However, the public is learning. Even
last year, when 38.500 automobile deaths
were chronicled, the National Safety
Council reported: “Nineteen thirty-six
will go down in safety history as a year
of marked advancement in all kinds of
safety activity, but also a period in
which more travel, more employment,
and high temperatures presented tre
mendous obstacles in the path of acci
dent reduction. Many cities, many
States and many industries, by carry
ing out well-rounded safety programs,
demonstrated that national control can
be achieved when known remedies really
receive a Nation-wide application.”
Perhaps, the Nation is becoming
“safety conscious”—if only because it is
weary of reading of sudden death on
the highways.
Fascist Birthday Fury.
March 23 marked the eighteenth anni
versary of the founding of Fascism.
Mussolini seized upon the occasion to
indulge in a be’lligerent outburst directed
at Italy’s foreign foes and detractors,
especially those who happen to occupy
public office, pulpits and editorial sanc
tums in Great Britain. Before the
tirade ran its course, II Duce adjured
the frenzied throng in the Piazza
Venezia to cultivate the virtues of a
long memory and never forget the “siege
of sanctions" imposed upon Italy in an
effort to halt the conquest of Ethiopia.
“The Italian people know how to wait,”
he thundered. “We waited forty years
to avenge Adowa, but we avenged it!”
Having shouted this defiance» in the
same breath in which 'he referred'in -
ferentially to recent eyents in Britain,
the conclusion is inescapable that it is
that country on which he is calling down
maledictions and which he threatens
with retribution in days to come.
Various developments in the recent
past have stirred the dictator’s blood to
the boiling-point. Emperor Haile Selas
sie was invited to attend the coronation
of King George. In Parliament and also
by no less eminent a churchman than
the Archbishop of Canterbury Fascist
massacre reprisals at Addis Ababa for
an attack on Viceroy Graziani were de
nounced as barbarous atrocities. Musso
lini’s proclamation of a protectorship
over Islam, during his spectacular trip
across Libyfy aroused the ire of the
British, because of its undisguised chal
lenge of their own overlordship of the
Moslem universe. To cap the climax
of these successive indignities, as Musso
lini views them, came the rout of
Franco’s Italian “volunteers” north of
Madrid, depicted in the British press as
“a second Caporetto.” Finally, there was
London’s official remonstrance against
reported dispatch of thousands of ad
ditional Italian troops to Spain, in
violation of the February non-interven
tion pact, and Rome’s truculent refusal
to withdraw any Fascist soldiers now
fighting there.
Due allowance must be made for
Mussolini’s bellicose ebullitions on fes
tive occasions, but Tuesday’s explosion
leaves no shadow of doubt that Anglo
Italian relations have again entered a
phase of strain which bodes no good for
peace, especially in the Mediterranean,
where the interests of the two countries
directly clash. The January entente is
obviously a dead letter. II Duce’s ad
monition to the Italian people “to
remember and prepare!” dooms Europe
to tenterhooks for the indefinite future.
It is not difficult to discern in the dic
tator’s fulmination that he takes note
Britain’s determination, through expan
sion of her armed strength, to prevent a
repetition of the humiliation suffered at
Italy’s hands in 1936. Perhaps this
realization explains the latest eruption
of the Mussolini volcano.
Present Change.
It is a commonplace sophistry of
current fashion that “we live in chang
ing times.” But there is nothing par
ticularly remarkable about such a cita
tion of an invariable rule of life. Every
generation is conscious of mutation.
Charles Kingsley summarized the uni
versal reaction when he wrote: “All
but God is changing day by day.” Much
earlier in point of time Dante, learning
the bitter lessons of varying fortune,
had declared: “The customs of men
change like leaves on the bough, some
of which go and others come ”
But the law of “omnia mutantur," as
Ovid described it, is itself a constant
factor in the universe. “Nothing per
ishes” is its concomitant principle. And
the thought, so phrased, is worthy of
remembrance at a moment when a
bewildering sequence of events has con
fused the minds of millions of people.
Indeed, it is imperative, in the interest
of social sanity, that the public should
realize that the “fierce extremes, ex
tremes by change more fierce,” represent
nothing to be discouraged about.
Granted that war and revolution,
poverty and famine, crime and the tra
duction of the legitimate purpose of
government in many lands during the
last quarter century have combined to
create anarchy throughout the earth
today, the basic values—the elemental
motives—of the human race have not
been destroyed. It still remains a
natural instinct of civilized nations to
want peace, to desire prosperity, to
practice justice and co-operation.
Of course, there are prophets of
despair who fill the patient ether with
a misanthropic doctrine of disaster.
Equally true it is that there are multi
tudes of gullible listeners for these
apostles of nihilism. It follows that on
occasion the useful institutions which
mankind has developed through ages of
labor will be jeopardized and imperiled.
The present moment may be one In
which society itself is in danger of
suicidal madness. False leaders have
educated the masses to believe that they
are entitled to a “more abundant life”
unearned, unmerited and undeserved.
Now, perhaps, the harvest of the weeds
they have sown must be reaped.
But tne penauium will swing dsck in
its normal course. It happens that
modern civilization is not built upon
sand. Instead, it is established on a
rock which cannot be shaken—the nat
ural integrity of the human soul. To
doubt that monumental truth would be
to doubt everything, to surrender every
thing, to suffer everything. France tried
the experiment in 1793, when it traded
Louis Capet for Napoleon Bonaparte.
America ought to be too wise to risk
the same error. Yet, if the gamble were
ventured, the outcome would be assured.
Change would tread on the heels of
change. Eventually normal conditions
would prevail.
Secretary Wallace took precautions to
quote from his own writings and make
his own interpretations, thus evading
the unfortunate self-contradictions ex
perienced by some of the most eminent
persons involved in the Supreme Court
discussion.
When Secretary Wallace referred to
the great patriots produced by Virginia
some of his hearers were disappointed
by his failure to dwell with emphasis on
the name of Carter Glass.
Radio buzzes with news. Now and
then a commentator ventures to say ‘T
think” or ”1 believe,” even at the risk
of being summoned as an expert before
the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Politics is little different from what
it was in the old days, when the
phrases “We point with pride” or ‘ We
view with alarm" could be turned on or
off as the momentary line of argument.
If the announcement of new Supreme
Court membership is to be regarded
as ‘‘handwriting on the wall,1** there
might properly be a political sMite an
nouncing a waiting list.
An address before college men in
North Carolina found Senator Rush
Holt prepared to help with a youth
movement on his own account.
Shooting Stars.
BY PHILANDER JOHNSON.
Non-Interference.
For service we're patiently waiting,
We know that it soon will be here,
So we listen with faith unabating
To each message of confident cheer.
The earth has been rollin’ and pitchin’,
But as on the proceedings I look,
I’m goin’ to keep out of the kitchen,
’Cause it’s no time to bother the cook.
Of course, I could offer a reason
For trying some flavoring new,
Or using some different season
That would spoil the whole work when
it’s through.
I’m not going to be a quick stepper,
With purpose that may be mistook,
To throw in more salt or more pepper;
It’s no time to bother the cook.
Interrogation Merger.
“You are not starting any more in
vestigations.”
“No,” answered Senator Sorghum.
“We have asked questions until we know
all the answers. The big question now
is to decide what to do about them.”
Jud Tunkins says national resources
may be like the pocketbook you leave
at home and then find you are short of
car fare.
Use and Beauty.
“What do you think of the Spring
styles?”
“I admire them very much,” said Miss
Cayenne.
“For their beauty?”
“Rather for their usefulness. They
are a reliable means of relieving some
of our best minds of worry over more
serious matters.”
Plans A-plenty.
Some novel plans have we,
A risk we will not shirk,
We’ll try ’em out and see
How they are going to work.
If one results can’t bring,
Another we shall try;
A plan is still one thing
On which we’re never shy.
“There is one partnership,” said Hi
Ho, the sage of Chinatown, “that is
dangerous to dissolve. Money and
brains should never try to work inde
pendently.”
. -— I
Mechanism Draws the Line.
The cash register uttered a wail
As, neglected, it stood on the shelf
And said: “Don’t blame me if I ftlil
To do business all by myself.”
“De world is growin’ better,” said
Uncle Eben, "but f’um all I kin hear It
certainly do have some growin’ pains.”
4 4
Harrison-Fletcher Bill a
Revival of the Blair Bill
To the Editor of The Star:
Your older readers will recall the Ill
fated Blair education bill, which was
intended to extend Federal aid to sup
plement local educational provisions in
the most needy States. Perhaps no
measure at that time was more thor
oughly discussed or received a larger
share of public attention and Interest.
Senator Blair was an eloquent and fluent
speaker. He was so obsessed with the
importance and necessity of his measure
that he forced its consideration upon
the Senate and the public in and out of
season. When the bill was finally de
feated in Congress it was said that Sen
ator Blair killed his own measure with
his eloquence.
Auer tne defeat or his measure, sen
ator Blair was not returned to the Senate
by the voters of his State, but his belief
in the patriotism and efficacy of his
measure still persisted. I clearly recall
a conference of interested persons at his
home on Capitol Hill, which took counsel
as to the wisdom of further procedure
in this behalf. In pursuance of this
counsel I called upon the chairman of
the House Committee on Education to
suggest the introduction of some meas
ure calculated to carry out the purposes
of the defeated Blair education bill.
Thereupon, the chairman advised me
that the matter of education belonged
wholly to the States and that the Fed
eral Government had no right or juris
diction whatsoever over such matters. I
then asked him why should Congress
have authorized a Committee on Educa
tion if the Federal Government had no
such jurisdiction. He stated that there
was no good reason for its establishment
and maintenance. I thereupon asked
him what he considered to be the func
tion of a chairman of a functionless
committee, to which he responded that
neither the committee nor its chairman
had any function. The outcome of this
interview but illustrates the prevalent
feeling and attitude of that day and
time. The Blair bill was defeated by
provincial jealousy. The benefited
States themselves felt that it was a
gratuitous intrusion upon States’ rights,
while the more wealthy States, which
must needs contribute most of the funds,
were perfectly willing to vote the needed
appropriations. But the general atti
tude is different in this day of the New
Deal, whose b«neficient program does not
balk at State lines.
The Harrison-Fletcher bill is but the
reincarnation of the Blair education bill,
brought down to date and adapted to the
needs of the present day and time. Just
as in case of relief of the sufferers from
the duststorm, drought and flood, such
boundaries and barriers are entirely
overlooked. Ignorance imposes a greater
affliction upon the community and the
Nation than any or all of these national
calamities. The remedy mast be as wide
spread as the affliction which it is in
tended to cure, whether it covers part or
all of the national domain.
The sponsorship of the present bill
Indicates the new, national, liberal spirit
and its enlarged provision clearly shows
the determination of the Nation as a
whole to stamp out the widespread curse
of ignorance. KELLY MILLER.
Only Cure for the Speed
Mania Is Control of Power
To the Editor ol The Star:
The average person only puts about 25
miles per day on his car for the year
round; he drives to work in the morn
ing and home at night; on Sundays it
is usually a short drive out in the
country; once a year he takes a short
vacation and puts several hundred miles
more on the speedometer. Therefore,
what in the name of common sense is
the necessity for building so much power
and speed into automobile engines;
actually making them instruments of
death in the hands of irresponsible
drivers, instead of devices of real pleas
ure and joy.
The real cause of all accidents, namely,
the driver of the automobile, will always
be with us; you just can’t get rid of him.
So the next best thing to do is to force
him to slow down, and the only way you
can do this is to install adequate speed
governors on all automobiles.
In my opinion a maximum speed of 30
miles per hour is plenty fast enough for
any type of automobile to travel any
where and any time, a safe, comfortable
and controllable speed. If anybody is in
a bigger hurry to go places than that let
them take a railroad train or an air
plane.
Regardless of what statistics are sup
posed to prove or what anybody says to
the contrary, the majority of accidents
are caused by too much speed.
Let’s take immediate and definite steps
and abolish this speed mania by install
ing adequate speed governors on all
automobiles and thereby stop this kill
ing, and incidentally make the penalty
for failure properly to obey the law so
severe and mandatory that it will be
thoroughly effective, and applicable to
all. Human life must not be toyed with.
ERNEST J. KENDRICK.
A Damaged Motor Car
Fender and a Dead Dog
To the Editor of The Star:
I wonder if the driver who hit and
killed a fine dog on our street the other
day thought once of the tears and sorrow
he was leaving behind him. Evidently
not, for he went blithely on his way, not
looking back to see who or what he
had hit. He had no time to waste giving
aid to an injured dog, child or whatever
it might be.
Just a dog? I hear you say. So was
Old Dog Tray, but Stephen Foster saw
fit to immortalize him in song and we
still sing of him.
When the driver returned on the same
road a few hours later, traveling the
same unsafe speed, I could not but be
glad of the large dent in his right front
fender. There came to me the hope
that th« dent will remain on his car as
long as the ache remains in the hearts
of our neighbors. R. WRIGHT.
Modern “Digests” Reflect
A High Degree of Skilf
To the Editor of The Star:
The Star’s book reviewer (M. C.-R.)
seems to have it in for these “digests.”
As that writer has it, any “clerk” can1
shorten a book or an article. I don’t
think so. That calls for the ability to
get at the nub of the matter and the
gift of writing. And so most any lime
and cement bookkeeper would hardly do.
You might as well say that he could also
review a book.
H. L. Mencken, some years ago, hap
pened to compare a 1,500-word piece in
the Readers’ Digest with the original
4,500-word article in his American Mer
cury. That made him sit up, so he says.
It was all there, even the turn of phrase.
These many digests serve a useful pur
pose. One couldn’t even begin to survey
all the worthwhile magazine literature.
Between them they do. Of particular
value are these “foreign digests,” giving
excerpts from the European and Asiatic
publications. This field has been covered
ever since 1844 by Littell’s Living Age.
But, reprinting complete articles, it can
not do it full justice. .j
Of course, such periodicals are "short
A
THIS AND THAT |
BY CHARLES E. TRACBWELL.
Busy people who have little time to
read may be interested in the plan of a
local executive, who finds it expedient
to keep books stowed away in his desk
for those odd times.
In this way he manages to get through
iflany books in a year which he other
wise would not have time for.
These books are always non-flction,
so that nothing is lost by the haphazard
manner of reading. While some per
sons profess to be able to read novels in
this way, our busy executive is not of
their number.
He confesses that he likes to take his
fiction "straight,” which means at one
sitting, if possible, not more than two
or three, usually, in most cases, as he
is a rapid reader.
No doubt there is a great deal of time
in the life of even the busiest person
when a little reading may be indulged in.
Just a few minutes now and then and
before one knows it the book is read.
* * * *
A reader thus makes a serial, in a
sense, out of even the most difficult
volume. This has its interesting aspects,
but far greater than that is the plain
fact that in reading in snatches, as it
. were, one must work a little harder.
In a work of fiction the story follows
on, no matter how long one has been
away from it, but in a volume on eco
nomics, ethics, philosophy or any of the
hundred and one matters conveniently
listed as "miscellaneous” the reader
usually must read backward as well as
forward.
The famous thread of the argument,
in other words, is not so easily grasped
again if one has read but a few pages
several days before.
Then a little judicious reading back
ward is essential.
This enforces slow reading.
* * * *
There can be little doubt that many
persons tend to read too quickly.
The pace of the age demands speed
in all things.
Fortunate is he or she who refuses to
permit this pace to intrude itself into
the mental life, especially that which
has to do with the reading life.
Not only are the eyes injured, some
believe, by the practice of “skimming”
through a book, but certainly the grasp
of the written matter is not as good as
if the reader goes slower.
To read the words is one thing; actu
ally to understand what one has read is
distinctly another. Every one knows
how that is. Only the most boastful
reader of books but would admit, at
least in private, just how much he has
read without really understanding it!
Often a greater degree of intellectual
honesty is demanded than the average
person possesses for the reader to come
to this sensible realization and decide
at last that he has been reading too
swiftly for his own good.
* * * *
Every’ one has read stories of certain
great men and how they excelled at
reading the longest volume within the
hour.
Whole paragraphs at a glance—so we
are told and must believe.
Even entire pages at one glance—such
is the legend.
Well, maybe, but certainly they have
done an injustice to themselves; surely
they can get nothing but the superficial
meanings of what they have read.
A genius, indeed, might be able to read
so, but most honest readers of books
arc not geniuses. For them the slower
pace is necessary, and now come certain
persons to tell us that such slow reading
is better for the eyes, too.
Going backward every time one picks
up a book, at least to the extent of a
few pages, in order to tie the new with
the old is a very good habit, especially
in such works as lack the thrill of the
narrative.
Keeping a few good books, although
perhaps “heavy,” in the common sense,
stowed away in the desk for reading at
odd periods is a wholesome habit.
* * * *
It has a charm of its own in the very
fact that one keeps good books nearby.
Why should an office desk be given
over entirely to papers, carbons and the
like?
Let the proper functions of the desk
be the main thing, but permit some of
the best books to have an honored
place, too.
What are books, after ail, but mani
festations of mind?
And what is a desk, any desk, but a
place where mind is supposed to func
tion7
There is something eminently fitting
about a good book either on or in a
desk. Even the busiest person is not
always busy. (Not If he has any sense.)
The rhythm of work is something. He
who slaves away may amass a few more
dollars before he is taken off, but he
cannot take them with him; and there
is a large body of sensible opinion to
the effect that he who diversifies his
activities, even as his investments, is
much the better off.
* * * *
A good diversification is a good book.
None better!
A good book is a good diversification.
It is not imperative that every book
be read through as quickly as possible.
Indeed, that very common idea may
seem all wrong, from one standpoint,
and that is that it often seems to be
merely hurry, rather, to get through
than anything else.
It is as if the reader were tired before
he begins and really is afraid that unless
he hurries on with the thing he may
give it over entirely.
Many persons hold themselves so re
lentlessly to the pursuit that they give
the idea of a dog after a rabbit, when
they read, rather than of a human being
enjoying himself with a book.
* * * *
Those persons, particularly, who are
fond of books as physical things, who
like to feel them now and then, look at
them and rejoice in their closeness will
have a few at hand, wherever they are,
wherever they go.
There is always time for a good book.
An office desk is capacious. Surely
there is room in most of them for a
volume or two, say something which is
a little difficult, or extremely so.
A few pages now and then, and before
the reader knows it he has done some
thing that he has promised himself
to do.
This is a comfortable feeling, as well
as a real achievement. In even the
busiest lives there are many moments
spent staring at nothing at all. (A pipe
or cigarette or cigar helps!)
Why not read a good book?
STARS, MEN AND ATOMS
Notebook of Science Progress in Field,
Laboratory and Study.
BY THOMAS R. HENRY.
Nearly 600 original volumes and more
than 600 photographic copies of other
volumes of the world's strangest litera
ture now are in the Library of Congress.
These are the sacred books of the
Na-khi—a non-Chinese people of Tibe
tan origin who live in the Yunnan Prov
ince of Southwestern China. Only one
white man can read these books and he
now is engaged in the monumental task
of translating them and thus preserv
ing for posterity the record of one of the
world's fundamental cultures.
This man is the explorer-scholar, Dr.
Joseph F. Rock. He has collected the
volumes for the national library and now
is once more among the Na-khi and allied
tribes of the Chinese-Tibetan borderland
in quest of other material.
The Na-khi literature is unique. It
is significant not alone for its intrinsic
literarv and ethnological value, but for
the light it throws on the origin and evo
lution of writing. It is preserved in a
'curious pictographic script—a form
through which, it is likely, all written
language passed at some time. Here it
persists, vibrant with life and utility and
not as a fossil of culture. It represents
a considerable step beyond simple picture
writing—such as was practiced, for in
stance, by the plains Indians and some
excellent examples of which are pre
served in the Bureau of American Eth
nology. Thus the celebrated Sitting Bull
kept a diary in which he recorded, in
pictures, various notable events of his
life. But he alone knew what the pic
tures meant. Any one else could only
guess at the meaning. The symbols were
not standardized.
The Na-khi scribes have passed tnis
stage in the direction of true writing.
Their pictures have standardized mean
ings. They have not, however, any
phonetic values—except in a few in
stances. Each character serves as an
aid to the memory. The priest sup
posedly knows by heart the ritual which
is recorded, but he doesn’t have to keep
it continuously in his memory. The
pictures serve him as “prompts.” A
representation of a pine tree, for exam
ple, might be the cue for a whole line
about a pine tree, to be recited from
memory. The point is that it would
recall the same line to any Na-khi
familiar with the ritual—not something
different to each man, as would the
Indian picture writing. The Na-khi
priests are helping Dr. Rock to translate
this literature, page by page. He is the
only white man who enjoys their confl
dence.
The Na-khi also have a phonetic script,
somewhat similar to the Chinese. They
seldom use it, however, and few are fa
miliar with it. Dr. Rock has found that
the pictographs have come to possess
phonetic values. They can be used to
write out in full the names of the char
acters of the chants.
Recently evidence has been brought
out that the semi-pictographic Malayan
writing is also phonetic and may repre
sent a stage in the evolution of language
halfway between the Na-khi and the
Chinese.
But it is not alone as living fossils that
the volumes of this literature are of
value. The Tibetan highlands, from
whence this people drew their culture,
cuts” to knowledge. Well, so are the
articles in the encyclopedia. And this is
what the general reader needs and
wants. The literary gourmet and the
research worker—why, that is something
else again. These digests are all right.
FRED VETTER.
ever have been the abode of weird mys
tery. Strange spectres have intruded
into the imagination out of the fogs
and mists of the high places. For cen
turies the lofty, cold valleys have been
very mysterious, indeed, wrapped in the
fogs of a highly ritualized Bhuddism.
Only within relatively recent years has
the outside world started to penetrate
this mystery and Tibet still is the for
bidden land.
The Na-khi left their homeland before
the coming of Bhuddism and brought
with them out of the mountains the
Bon religion which preceded it. Only
after they had settled in their new home
did they come in contact with the cult
of the Lamas. The images and ideas
of their rituals are those who were bom
originally on the high plains and which
have come down from time to time
through the ages to shape the thinking
of other peoples.
It is these ideas and images which
are expressed in the unique literature
now in the Library of Congress.
In addition to the Na-khi pictographic
books. Dr. Rock also was able to secure
for the national library a set of the
almost unknown pictographic manu
scripts of the Zhir-khins, another non
Chinese people who live on the Shou-chu
River, flowing out of Tibet. These people
speak a very different language from
the Na-khi, but use a somewhat similar
pictographic system of writing.
The Library of Congress accession
consists of 24 manuscript books giv
ing the text of one of their religious
ceremonies. With the help of p Zhir
khin tomba, or priest, and a Na-khi
tomba who spoke the Zhir-khin lan
guage, Dr. Rock was able to go through
the whole ceremony and make a synop
sis of the contents of the entire text.
Bobbed Tails and Clipped
Ears for Sake of Style
To the Editor ot The Star:
Through your columns I would like to
protest the bobbing off of dogs’ tails and
clipping their ears for the mere sake
of style or show.
I am in no way averse to the using
of a surgeon's scalpel, where an opera
tion is necessary to the health of man’s
best dumb friend, but, without the
least shadow of a doubt, the clipping off
dogs’ ears, and bobbing their tails,
and plucking, for style or show, is not
only wanton cruelty to animals, but real
torture, and I personally think that
such practices should be done away with,
and strongly recommend similar treat
ment to those who are guilty of such
practices. ALLEN M. ERGOOD.
Hitler’s Flivver.
From the Cleveland News.
Hitler orders German motor makers to
make a good, cheap car. Sure, boys,
don’t be dismayed by a little thing like
steel costs due to armament building.
Multiplication and Division.^
From the Grand Rapids Press.
“Millionaires failed to multiply in
1936,” reports a statistician. And no
wonder—Uncle Sam kept them too busy
dividing.
Early Shopping.
From the South Bend Tribune.
Dowager Queen Mary of Great Britain
I has bought her 1937 Christmas cards.
That's avoiding the rush.
ANSWERS TO
QUESTIONS
BY FREDERIC J. HA SKIN.
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. Please give James J. Braddock’*
fighting record.—T. M.
A. He has had 26 knock-out victories.
22 decisions, 5 draws, 5 no-decisions, 2
no-contests, 1 knock-out defeat and 20
adverse decisions.
Q. How long before Justice Oliver
Wendell Holmes’ death did he retire
from the Supreme Court?—H. M.
A. Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes was
born March 8, 1841, and retired from the
Supreme Court January 12, 1932, in his
92nd year. He died March 6, 1935, two
days before his 94th birthday.
Q. How many visitors can the hotel*
and boarding houses in London accom
modate?—E. S.
A. The London hotels have a capacity
of about 260,000 visitors, while London
boarding houses can normally accom
modate about 250.000.
Q. What substances are used in mak
ing the molded powder variety of in
cense?—H. B.
A. While there are slight difference*
in the ingredients for the molded
powder incense, several formulas give
benzoin, gum olibanum, styrax, balsam
and powdered bark of cascarilla.
Q. What is the origin of hot cross
buns for Good Friday?—E. T.
A. While there are several legends of
the origin of hot cross buns to be eaten
on Good Friday, most appear to be
founded on the following; The early
Greeks offered to Apollo, Diana and
other gods, at the Spring festival, cor
responding to Easter in the Christian
church, cakes or bous, round with small
horns—the round representing the
moon, on which was placed four quar
ters, representing the four stages of the
moon. The Christian church early
adopted the custom, the dough for the
buns being made of the same dough
kneaded for the host, or the bread or
wafer used in the sacrament of holy
communion. The bun was marked with
a cross indicating the passion of Jesus
Christ, and the buns were said to keep
12 months without turning mouldy, and
were sometimes hung up in the house
after Good Friday as a charm against
evil spirits.
• •
Q. When did Richard Halliburton
swim the Panama Canal?—H. T. E.
A. He swam it in 1928. He began on
August 14; reached Gatun Locks on the
15th, Pedro Miguel Locks on the 22d
and completed the swim from the At
lantic to the Pacific on August 23. The
length of the canal is 50.72 statute miles.
Q. Was iceberg lettuce originally a
California type of lettuce?—H. E.
A. While the original type was im
proved by breeding in California, it waJ
a New York variety.
Q. What is the total value of scjjool
property and endowments in the United
States?—A. L.
A. The estimate is $12,050,000,000.
Q. What is the origin of the term
Hebrew?—P. M.
A. Because he came from beyond the
Euphrates River, Abraham was called
the Hebrew, from a word meaning to
cross over, and this name was given to
his descendants.
Q. Please publish Edwin Markham’•
“The Circle.”—M. F.
A. “He drew a circle that shut me out
—Heretic, a rebel, a thing to flout. But
Love and I had the wit to win—We
drew a circle that took him in."
Q. Where and when was Harry Rich
man. the actor and song writer, born?
—E. F.
A. He was born in Newark, N. J,
October 10, 1895.
Q. Is it true that a flag flies day and
night over Francis Scott Key’s grave?
—W P.
A. The grave is in Mount Olivet
Cemetery at Frederick, Md„ and a
United States flag does fly over it day
and night throughout the year.
Q. With what publication is Stanley
Walker, author of “City Editor,” now
connected?—E. W.
A. Mr. Walker is editor of the New
York Woman, a weekly magazine.
Q. Are the fables attributed to Aesop
actually his?—L. A. L.
A. Aesop is little more than a shadow
of a name. He was a slave from Samos,
who probably lived in the sixth century
before Christ. His fables were of a
political nature in the time of the Greek
tyrants, when unveiled speech was
dangerous. Two hundred and fifty years
later Demetrius of Phaleron collected a
large number of fables and called them
by Aesop’s name. These were turned
into Latin by Phaedrus, but it cannot
be said definitely that any of them
originated with Aesop.
Q. How can a woman tell whether a
piece of silk is heavily weighted?—B. P.
A. If a sample can be obtained, burn
ing it will tell the story. If the ash
holds its shape and shows the weave tha
material is heavily weighted. Such silks
wear out quickly.
Q. What is the extent of the parking
lot business in the United States? How
manv lots are there in New York City,
Washington, D. C., and Philadelphia?
—C. R.
A. Parking lots in this country are
doing business to the extent of $18,000,
000 a year. New York City has 255,
Washington 78 and Philadelphia 156.
Q. Where is the new Public Admin
istration Center to be?—M. B.
A. The new building will be at the
southeast comer of Sixtieth street and
Kenwood avenue, Chicago. It will house
14 autonomous associations of public
officials.
A Rhyme at Twilight
By
Gertrude Brooke Hamilton.
Dusk by the River.
The sinking sun sends out long raya
That on the far hills quiver
The while the shifting sunlight playi
Golden along the river.
Behind the hills the sun descends,
Blue mists engulf them. Shadows,
Shrouding in dusk the river bends.
Come creeping from the meadows.
O blessed, blessed eventide,
When the town-bred Impulse ceases ’
And man takes off his mask of prida
And his white soul releases I
I