Evening star. [volume], March 31, 1937, Page A-10, Image 10

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

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
THE EVENING STAR
W'lth Sunday Morning Edition.
WASHINGTON, D. C.
WEDNESDAY_ _March 31, 1937
THEODORE W. NOY'ES .Editor
The Evening Star Newspaper Company.
l.tn St and Pennsylvania Ave
New York Office: 110 East 42nd St
Chicago Office: *35 North Michigan Ave.
Rate by Carrier—City and Suburban.
Regular Edition.
The Evenin'? and Sunday Star
05c per month or 15c per week
Bie Evening Star
*5c per month or 10c per wpek
The Sunday Star_ _5c Der copy
Night Final Edition.
Nlgut P'naJ and Sunday Star_ 7nc per month
Night Final Star___65c per month
Collection made at thp end of each month or
each week. Orders may be sent by mail or tele
phone National 6000
Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance.
Maryland and Virginia.
Dally snd Sunday_1 yr.. $10.00; 1 mo.. RSc
Daily only _ 1 yr.. $0.00; l mo.. 60c
Sunday on,y- 1 yr.. $1.00; 1 mo.. 40c
All Other Stales and Canada.
Pally and Sunday. 1 yr.. $12.00; 1 mo. $1.00
Dally only_ 1 yr. $s.oo; 1 mo.. 75c
Sunday only-1 yr.. $5.00: 1 mo.. 50c
Member of the Associated Press.
The Associated Press a exclusively entitled to
tie use for republicatlon of all news dispatches
credited to It or not otherwise credited In this
paper and al.,0 the local news published herein
All rights of publication of special dispatches
herein are also reserved
The District Bill.
While the District bill for 1938 con
tains much to commend it and reflects
In addition to their hard work the
sympathetic, intelligent interest of
Chairman Collins and his subcommittee
in the welfare of the local community,
many of its provisions are open to chal
lenge on principle and should be chal
lenged.
Even granting the need for certain
functional reorganizations within the
District government, legislation on an
appropriation bill is not the proper
method of making such changes effective.
This bill contains an extraordinary num
ber of legislative riders of great impor
tance. Some of them are no doubt
meritorious. That is not the point. Ex
pediency is the only defense for includ
ing such legislation in an appropriation
bill and expediency is in itself a grave
threat to wise and carefully considered
legislation.
If it is proper to transfer hospital
Jurisdiction to the Health Department;
If it is proper to suspend the act for
aalary promotions and reallocations as
It applies to employes in the municipal
government; if it is proper to amend
the gasoline tax legislation to permit
diversion of gas tax revenues to other
uses than those for which they were
Intended; if it is proper to abolish the
office of people's counsel and to create
the new office of bonding commissioner,
the only test of such propriety lies in
the established legislative processes.
What is back of the proposed changes?
Who is back of the proposed changes?
What is their purpose? What defects
or disadvantages in the statutes are they
designed to remedy? These questions go
unanswered in legislation on an appro
priation bill. When one legislative rider
is countenanced because it is popular,
the door is opened, especially in the
District bill, to any number of unpopu
lar and unwise legislative riders. That
principle should be recognized. Have we
not had our fill of riders—red and other
colors?
Of equal importance, though in an
other field, is the bill's treatment for
the time being of the fiscal relations
issue. It Is naturally gratifying to Dis
trict taxpayers and others who have the
welfare of the Capital City at heart that
the Appropriation Committee agrees,
after thorough examination of those who
compiled it, that the so-called Jacobs
report is inequitable, unworkable and
provides no solution of the complex
problems raised through divided finan
cial responsibility and undivided finan
cial and governmental control in the
National Capital. Recognition by Con
gress of the manifest defects in the re
port’s premises, reasoning and conclu
sions carries with it hope for a really
equitable and workable solution of a
problem that is of as much importance
to the exclusively controlling Congress
es to the unrepresented taxpayers who
live here.
The present bill's temporary solution
of the immediate problem of balancing
the District budget is a continuation of
the current lump sum of $5,000,000 and
Bn increase in the local tax burden of
about $6,000,000. To the people of the
District this seems a very one-sided so
lution Indeed. Its full significance,
however, will depend upon the nature
of the proposed tax measures which Mr.
Collins will introduce. In this respect
the report's recommendations are im
portant. The announced objectives of
new revenue-raising devices are an
"equalization" of the tax burden as be
tween property and other taxpayers and
s "modernization” of the tax system to
produce more revenue.
di course, me people oi tne District
understand that ‘modernization’’ and
•’equalization" are euphemisms for tax
boost and that the fundamental pur
pose of the tax boost is to reduce the
Federal contribution. The proposed tax
bills, of course, must be subjected to
thorough examination to determine their
purpose, their effect and the equity of
their provisions.
Carter Glass of Virginia gives an ex
ample of the eloquence upon which en
during careers have been founded.
» « - ■ ■ ■ ■■
“Everybody’s Business.”
It sometimes is said with certain justi
fication that "what is everybody's business
is nobody's business." But such a doc
trine contradicts the essential theory of
democracy. It is, in sober fact, a citizen's
duty to be concerned with the policies
and practices of government. In the
United States, if not elsewhere in the
world, they are his affair—and he is
false to his trust if he neglects his
obligation.
The present moment offers a case in
point. President Roosevelt and his
friends are insisting that they have a
mandate from the people to “reorganize”
the Federal Judiciary in behalf of their
philosophy of reform. Senator Carter
Glass of Virginia and other opponents
of the plan, however, deny the validity
of the claim. The issue between the two
groups cannot be decided by either. In
the end the chosen representatives of
the voters, “in Congress assembled," must
bring in the verdict.
But the members of the national legis
lature are not free agents. Rather, they
are merely the delegates of their con
stituents. Some, realizing the transcend
ent importance of the pending question,
have asked the “folks back home” to
indicate their views. All, without excep
tion, are making careful study of the
mail pouring into their offices. In effect,
a poll is in progress. It is natural and
proper that it should be so.
And it may be hoped that no American
worthy of the name will wish to abstain
from registering his opinion. A penny
post card is a small expense, yet it may
serve efficiently enough as a ballot. Every
citizen can afford the money and the
time required. Without reference to
party lines or other barriers, fifty million
men and women—including even the dis
enfranchised residents of the Nation's
Capital—should be heard from. Those
who endorse the administration, of'
course, are privileged to register their
approval; those who take the contrary
position likewise are entitled to record
their objection. The crisis is "everybody's
business.”
Terrorism.
Terrorism is a terrible weapon.
That it has been employed in the pres
ent wave of "sit-down strikes" is charged
by both sides. Men are terrorized, say
employers, into joining the vertical
unions. They are terrorized, say leaders
of the workers, so that they are afraid to
join the unions.
The very nature of terrorism is such
that there can be no objective sifting of
these charges and counter-charges. To
be effective it must operate in the dark,
so that responsibility cannot be fixed
on anybody. It is outside the law. The
constituted authorities are helpless to
cope with it.
Terrorism is a weapon forged by the
gangster. It is largely responsible for
the malodorous success of the "rackets"
which furnish the gangs their livelihood.
They perfected the system. Resourceful,
vicious, unscrupulous, they found a way,
aided by crooked politics, by which the
individual could be deprived of protec
tion in his rights as an American citizen.
The terrorism of the racketeers in Amer
ican cities, especially during the depres
sion and prohibition, became a scandal
throughout the world.
The rackets are being eliminated. It
is slow, hard, dangerous work, but
eventually, it may be hoped, the gangster
will be driven out of his dark holes into
the daylight, where he must fight fair
with the forces of organized society. It
will be harder to eliminate the weapon
he perfected. There has, of course, al
ways been terrorism of a sort and in
most walks of life. But it has been a
spasmodic, disorganized terrorism. Only
within the past few years, In the United
States, has it been reduced almost to a
science.
Perhaps it is inevitable that terrorism
will be answered with terrorism. From
the short-sighted point of view, that may
seem the only way to answer it.
But whoever employs it, union leader
or industrialist, must realize that a ter
rible responsibility is upon him. He is
building up a force in the world with
which the institutions of law and order,
to which he owes in large part the
society in which he lives, are almost
helpless to contend.
These charges constitute, perhaps, the
most ominous feature of the present tur
moil. The specific issfies will be settled.
Labor and capital will get back on a
basis of mutual understanding. But
will men so easily unlearn the habits
of terrorizing their fellows which, so It is
charged, they now are learning?
■ ■ > <>» i —
The Virgin Islands have made rum a
source of prosperity. When Herbert
Hoover mentioned them in disparage
ment, he did not know that rum would
be restored to the market in a manner
to establish the occasional cocktail party
as a stimulus to trade.
College professors are giving examples
of oratorical persuasion and recall the
eloquence of Marc Antony with the im
plied query, “What did Marc Antony
have that I haven't got?”
, ,
“Haves” and “Have Nots.”
No question in the entire category of
vital world issues outstrips in importance
and urgency the problem under discus
sion by the International Committee on
Raw Materials, sponsored by the League
of Nations and now in session at Geneva.
The deliberations of the committee are
purely exploratory in character and con
template no immediate political action.
But they go to the root of matters very
directly associated with preservation of
peace. On the information and views
developed and the resultant recommen
dations may depend in very definite
degree whether the conflict between the
“have” and the “have not” nations is to
be amicably composed, or whether an
other great war must be fought to effect
a more equitable distribution of those
essential things on which modem eco
nomic civilization depends.
The League recently issued a tabula
tion disclosing that the British Empire,
the United States, France and the
Netherlands among them control some
sixty per cent of the world's principal
supplies of raw materials and food
stuffs. The list includes coal, petroleum,
rubber, cotton, iron, copper, lead, zinc,
tin, aluminum, nickel, sulphur, wool, tea,
cocoa, cereals and other commodities.
The quartet of nations in question thus
constitutes the main group of so-called
“have” states. The “have not” countries
are headed by Germany, Italy and
Japan, all three of which justify their
more or less openly avowed territorial
expansion programs on the ground that
they cannot continuously accept the role
of dependence on foreign supplies for
the necessities vital to the sustenance of
their growing populations and the
maintenance of their industrial life.
Germany’s demand for restoration of her
former colonies, Italy's annexation of
Ethiopia and Japan’s policy of aggres
sive penetration in China are all ex
pressions of a kindred determination on
the part of the “have nots’’ not to
tolerate indefinitely the monopoly of the
good things of the earth now enjoyed
by the more fortunate “have” peoples.
The Germans and the Italians are
not participating in the Geneva meet
ing, though Japan, despite her with
drawal from the League, is taking part.
The United States is represented in the
person of Dr. Henry F. Grady, former
chief of the Trade Agreements Division
of the State Department. He is stress
ing the American view that “discrimina
tion in all economic, as well as com
mercial, matters’* is the chief evil to be
overcome. Mr. Grady is appropriately
pointing out that a world-wide return to
equitable conditions is the underlying
purpose of Secretary Hull's reciprocal
trade program.
It cannot be doubted that American
support \vould be assured for any inter
national arrangement, devoid of en
tangling political commitments, that
contained promise of a fair adjustment
of the raw materials question. The
existing situation bristles with inde
fensible and trouble-breeding Inequali
ties. Statesmanship should not prove
Incapable of ironing them out. Mean
time the "have nots” will not improve
matters by pursuing a policy of trucu
lence or submitting “demands" accom
panied by browbeating threats of force if
they are not gratified by other means.
Charges of purposes to pack the Su
preme Court have gained enough mo
mentum to cause inquiry as to a list of
eligibles to new appointments. The
result of present agitation may be to
transform what was contemplated as a
preferred list into a black list.
Rudimentary politics may be provided
with material for interesting study by a
State Legislature. The Maryland law
makers at Annapolis are plainly puzzled
by the fact that there are not enough
political jobs to satisfy everybody.
-> » -...
European‘politics is naturally embar
rassed by the fact that a diplomatic rep
resentative may seem to be concerned
less with a peace policy than with a
quit claim.
Youthful modesty Is expected of a
man in the position of Rush Holt, who,
when a voice in patronage was suggested
to him, blushed and exclaimed in hesi
tant accents, "This is so sudden!”
Children can be relied on to play
nicely at a White House Easter Monday
celebration. Only the grown-up with
moron tendencies forgets that eggs were
intended to be rolled; not thrown.
_-. ... ■
A flutter in public affairs has been
created by a list of decisions handed
down by the U. S. Supreme Court which
give the Nation's politicians something
to think about as well as talk about.
A Postmaster General must expect to
have his troubles. Mr. Farley is having
even more than Mr. Burleson, who at
least did not have airmail stamps to
complicate his calculations.
Shooting Stars.
BY PHILANDER JOHNSON.
Favorable Bias.
Like mountains looming to the sky,
Like seas with storm o'erspread,
Like specters that affront the eye
With shapes of awful dread,
Like tempests dashing fierce and bold
While fields and cities quake,
Appear the errors, I am told,
That other people make.
Like ripples on the flood of years,
Like raindrops on the deep,
Like zephyrs sighing through the tears
That March and April weep.
Slight agitations billowing o'er
The tide on which we float
Are those small blunders — nothing
more—
Which in ourselves we note.
Making an Impression.
“Your long speech did not make very
interesting reading," said the cruelly
candid friend.
“It wasn’t meant to,” replied Senator
Sorghum. “I try to make my speeches
long enough to appear important, but
not sufficiently interesting to invite crit
icism.”
As Times Change.
“When a family seemed pinched In
circumstances the first thing we asked
was whether a woman’s husband played
the horse races.”
“Yes,” replied Miss Cayenne. “Now
the first thing we ask is whether a man's
wife plays bridge.”
Wealth and Happiness.
Oh, wealth does not bring happiness;
No truer word was ever spoke.
And yet this fact man must confess:
He can’t be happy if he's broke.
“To say that wars will never end,”
said Hi Ho, the sage of Chinatown, “is
to aver that the nobility of men and
women and the affection of children
were given us all in vain.”
Many men give themselves credit for
attending to business when they are
only visiting around, exchanging funny
stories.
________ ^
Expensive.
Oh, talk is cheap, we’re often told,
With grim disapprobation—
But not the kind that is unrolled
At an investigation.
“Politeness can’t be put on all of a
sudden,” said Uncle Eben. “Some men
tryin’ to be polite makes you think of
a swallow-tail coat hurried on over a
suit of overalls.” 4
1 *
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
BY MARGARET GERMOMD.
VERY HEAVEN. By Richard Aldington.
New York: Doubleday, Doran & Co.
As a theme for the problem novel,
modern youth in this post-war world of
economic unbalance and social upheaval
is becoming somewhat stale. The sub
ject has been, in fact, so thoroughly cov
ered by writers from every school of
thought that there is little material left
for treatment by even so eminent a critic
as Richard Aldington.
When all is said and done, the prob
lem of the youth of today is no greater
in proportion to the state of civilization
than it was for the youth of any other
era. It has always been and will always
be the privilege of youth to condemn
the views and ridicule the ideals of the
parent generation. It is perhaps in
tended in the divine scheme that youth,
overwhelmed by the self-conceived be
lief that a timid, convention-tied world
is aching to receive the benefits of its
superior wisdom, should brandish the
scepter of heroic leadership until a bit
of practical experience dries out some of
the wetness behind the ears and sets
in motion the processes of fundamental
analysis and sane reasoning.
In the present state of economic and
social revolution youth has undoubtedly
suffered disillusionment, disappointment
and despair. But similar woes, as dis
tressing in degree and longer in dura
tion, were laced and endured by many
previous generations of youth with far
greater fortitude than is being displayed
by the young men and women who to
day are shouting their demands from
the housetops. There has never been a
time when there was no work to be
done. But a little study reveals the
rather bald fact that modern youth is
not so much interested in work as it
is in the amount of pay it will receive
lor its services. Hard work at an unin
teresting job for small pay is too trivial
to be bothered with. What is demanded
is a comfortable, not too exacting • posi
tion" attached to a sizable salary. Such
an attitude has made modern youth its
own worst enemy, and it is not surpris
ing that if in recent months the wail
of the disgruntled has become tiresome.
It is to the problem of such a youth
that Mr. Aldington devotes his new novel.
Chris Heylin, a likable young man who
has been compelled by the collapse of
the family fortune to leave college and
return to the home fireside, is a familiar
type. The author builds his case upon
the theme that the ugly world into which
Chris is required to fit himself is "the
very heaven it is to be young today.”
As the exponent of Mr. Aldington's
own bitter antagonism to the pre
vailing social, economic and religious
order, projecting venom into the artery
of sham and pretense which feeds the
rotting body of a make-believe land of
moral and spiritual righteousness, Chris
merits a round of applause. But his
savage, brutal assaults upon these false
concepts of a supposedly intelligent
civilization are the studiously evolved
convictions of an intellectual rather than
the half-digested gleanings from the
wisdom of modern sages that the average
college student could master. And Chris
can by no stretch of the imagination be
rated as more than average.
As the disappointed student who real
izes that his dream of converting a stupid
race to a new philosophy of freedom
and happiness, young Heylin is typical
of the usual victim of frustration—un
compromising and bitter against the
world in general and his parents in
particular. And as the hard-up young
man sincerely in search of gainful oc
cupation he is distinctly representative
of the arrogant, useless product of his
age, bristling with self-approval, confi
dent of his superiority, contemptible in
his attitude toward the only available
means of self-support and literally oozing
incompetence.
Today's world undoubtedly seems a
cruel place to those who. like Chris, are
so ill-equipped to meet the demands of
a rapidly changing social and economic
system. The point that Richard Alding
ton. along with other critics of the new
order, has missed, however, is the fact
that post-war youth has been educated
to a belief in a new set of shams and
pretenses that, in comparison with the
falsity of the system which he con
demns, tower beyond the capacity of
human comprehension. It is the same
old world, crumbling in spots as it has
crumbled before, carrying its human
freight at higher speed with the conse
quent wreckage which lack of clear vision
entails, swaying precariously when
shaken by the vibrations of economic
earthquakes, but eventually righting it
self and settling down to the simple
formula of indulging in a much-needed
dose of common sense.
The story of Christopher Heylin is far
from dull. It is brisk and interesting and
characteristic of the unyielding spirit of
youth. In theory it is an unmerciful
indictment of the agencies through
which youth has been brought to its
present plight. Actually it is an in
dictment of youth's incapacity to con
form to an unhappy world which it
cannot in a day or a year transform
into the Utopia it expected to create with
a college degree and an imagined store
of worldly wisdom.
* * * *
MARRIED PEOPLE. By Mary Roberts
Rinehart. New York: Farrar &
Rinehart.
This group of short stories attests to
Mrs. Rinehart’s inherent belief in wife
hood as a vocation and in the impor
tance of applying to the business of
marriage the same principles of effi
ciency and integrity that would be car
ried into any other profession. Each
story is a variation on a husband and
wife problem which is familiar to any
observer of the strains and stresses of
misunderstanding' which afflict a man
and a woman who have pledged them
selves to live in peace and harmony
for ever and ever.
One story deals with the bugbear of
fading youth; another with the estrange
ment brought about through extrava
gance and gay parties. Discontent of a
husband who is fascinated by another
woman is the theme of the Rossiter
family; a runaway wife who is saved
from suicide by a determined nurse
sounds a note of pathos in a story that
touches two generations; the difficulties
of a second marriage forms another
topic and a genuinely likable policeman
whose adventures In a radio car con
tribute to the enjoyment of the whole
supplies a bit of contrast in the story
of the Ballards. Ten stories in all, and
each one true to the Rinehart tradition
of faithful portrayal, sympathetic un
derstanding and warm-hearted loyalty
to the ideals of harmonious marriage.
Economic Embarrassment.
From the M»con (Ga.) Telegraph.
But if the scientists go through with
their proposal to grow farm crops with
out soil, thus doing away with farms,
where can an already troubled Govern
ment turn to give away all that money?
Find an Expert.
From the Saginaw News.
Philadelphia is financing a promotion
trip to “sell" the Port of Philadelphia.
Why not turn the task over to a good
Brooklyn Bridge salesman?
r
| THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.
This already gives signs of being an 1
exceptionally good lilac year.
Few flowering shrubs hold the affec
tion of people like the lilac, which came
to England from Persia several cen
turies ago, and hence to America.
Now we have the so-called common
lilac, in purple and white, a direct de
scendant; the so-called French hybrids,
and several species lilacs not so well
known.
Leaf and flower buds, already on com
mon and French lilacs, indicate good
blooming not so many weeks from now.
This is good news to thousands of
home gardeners, who tend to regard the
lilac as one of the most capricious as
well as most beautiful of blooming
shrubs.
* * * *
Just why some lilac bushes will bloom,
and others will not, is a question for the
experts, and even they are greatly at
variance in their opinions.
Some growers think age has some
thing to do with it, especially among the
common kinds, which are notoriously
poor bloomers in many yards.
It is a queer shrub, at best, being
loaded down with pannicles, in neglect,
and absolutely bare of them under high
ordinary cultivation.
Some years, however, are ‘‘good’’ for
lilacs. Our opinion is that this is one
of them, and that we all may look for
ward to our bushes doing their best
for us.
Fortunately, flare-backs in the weather
mean nothing to the lilac family. They
endured the cold Winters of New Eng
land successfully. On old deserted farms
they “bloomed their heads off” for gen
erations, becoming veritable small trees.
* * * *
A scale insect, which appears as white,
almost cottony growths along the
branches, is much more likely to harm
lilacs than the weather, however cold
it may be in Spring.
It is too late to spray for these, how
ever, since the leaf buds have begun to
swell. This pest ordinarily does not do
much damage, however, unless the shrub
is covered with it. A dormant spray of
what is called miscible oil < oil which
does mix with water> is the best treat
ment, if put on in February.
There is also a borer which attacks
the lilac. One treatment is to close the
hole it makes with mud or other plaster
like compound. This is supposed to
shorten the life of the borer. A good
way to handle this pest is to examine
the shrub closely, determine where the
borer is. to the best of your ability, and
then prune off the attacked branches,
cutting back to good sound wood.
There is another disease which is
said to attack the French hybrids, par
ticularly if they are planted too close to
rhododendrons. We know a dozen of
these lilacs which were planted six years
ago within a few feet of a good growth
of the ‘‘rhodies.'’ without suffering from
the juxtaposition, so the attacks are not
inevitable, evidently.
+ * * *
Shy blooming, however, is the one in
escapable ‘‘disease.” if we may call it
such, of the lilac family.
Lack of fertilization has been said to
have much to do with it. Well, maybe.
I
It is a “trouble” of many plants, In all
gardens, and the use of fertilizer,
whether natural or manufactured, does
not always solve the problem, by any
means.
Improper planting is said to have
something to do with the fact that lilac
bushes often fail to develop flowers.
Sexes of adjacent bushes may not be
right, some persons say.
Whatever may be the cause, it is per
fectly plain that lilacs are among the
most difficult of shrubs to bloom—if
they are.
If the particular bushes happen to
find conditions just right for them, they
are among the easiest of plants to get
in flower.
So that it is impossible to Judge one
bush by another one.
The fickleness, as we call it, of this
glorious old shrub no doubt is one of
the things which endears it to us.
If we were sure of it, we would hold it
of no more value than our hardy bar
berry hedge or faithful forsythia. 'A
great many people, by the way, seem to
have a terrible time pronouncing the
name of the latter. Maybe it would help
them to know that it was named after
Maj. Forsythe, an Englishman.)
* * * *
This Spring a great white lilac in
the corner of the yard has flower buds
on it for the first time in six years.
How does this happen?
Maybe the reader can answer. We
cannot. The only certain thing is that,
from present appearances, many bushes
which usually do not bloom at all, or
only shyly, seem about to deliver a full
quota of their lovely pannicles.
Surely there is no flower head more
beautiful than this, and none with a
sweeter smell.
The true lilac odor, present in all spe
cies, though in different intensity, is
one of mankind's most beloved odors.
Attempts to put it into flacons cannot
be said to have failed, yet at their best
thpy lack something of the true outdoor
ness which is the inestimable boon of
this plant.
w * w w
“Sweet Is the odor of orange blos
soms,” sings the chorus in Mascagni's
best opera, but they would have been
nearer the truth had they said lilacs.
The lilac fragrance is one of Nature's
masterpieces.
It is impossible for the mind of man
to conceive of a better “smell” in the
outdoors, and one which does not lose
its attractiveness indoors, although per
sonally we prefer to leave all blossoms
on the shrubs.
An exception, of course, must be made
for city dwellers in apartments and the
like, who either have their lilac blos
soms in vases or not at all.
Those who are fortunate enough to
have a few shrubs in their yard should
try to leave as many blossoms on them
as passible, and not to be hasty in re
moving them after they have bloomed.
Withered blossoms have a certain charm
all their own.
In the gloaming is the best time, per
haps, to appreciate lilacs in bloom. Then
their beauty and fragrance are at a
peak; the eyes and nostrils of the be
holder given their greatest reward.
WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS
“History in the making" is a term [
which frequently is loosely applied to '
events of an inconsequential nature, i
Not so. however, as to the “overshadow
ing issue" of the Supreme Court which
now is shaking Capitol Hill, and the ;
Nation as well. This was manifested by |
the Nation-wide, in fact woHd-wide, j
interest in the decisions which were
handed down by the Supreme Court last
Monday. By telegraph and other means
of rapid communication this news was
eagerly awaited and scanned by count
less thousands in all parts of the land.
Realizing the vital significance of what
was transpiring in Washington that
day, these throngs of Americans in every
city, town and village throughout the
United States read with avidity every
word that reached them, discussed it
and pondered on its relation to the !
great issue at stake. Meanwhile, with j
the Judiciary Committee of the Senate j
still proceeding with its hearings on the \
question as to what the size of the i
court should be. Washington awaited
with keen interest the reaction from the
country at large and the ultimate ver
dict of the people as to their "opinion"
on the controversy. In Congress, pend
ing a decision on this all-important sub
ject. other important legislative proposals
are being held virtually in abeyance.
* * * *
Distinguished international lawyers
from a number of the American re
publics are now en route to Washington
and will assemble at the Pan-American
Union next Monday for a conference
which w'ill consider the work of inter
national law' codification and related
questions. They W'ill study topics raised
at the inter-American peace parley at
Buenos Aires last December. Various
treaties and conventions signed there
are now awaiting transmission to the
Senate by President Roosevelt. The'
juridical experts will take up and ex
amine resolutions and projects on the
co-ordination of inter-American peace
instruments. They will discuss, also,
among other things, the question of
defining an aggressor and of strengthen
ing means to prevent war, as well as the
question of pecuniary claims, nationality
and immunity of government vessels.
Ur <lr
Of more than usual significance and
interest is the visit to Washington of
the governor general of Canada, Lord
Tweedsmuir, not only because of the
important position he occupies, but be
cause of his personality. Well known in
the United States as John Buchan, au
thor, long before he was appointed by
the King to his present post several years
ago, he will be welcomed by many friends
here who are better acquainted with
him through his writings than through
his public service in the British Parlia
ment and elsewhere. With his wife a
guest at the White House during their
two days in Washington, his return of
President Roosevelt’s visit to him at
Quebec last year will be accepted by his
host of friends here as the act of a "good
neighbor.”
* * * *
Japan’s army and navy are for de
fense. that she may enjoy a "feeling of
security”—and she is “not participating
in any naval race.” These were the
declarations of the Japanese Ambassa
dor, Hirosi Saito, in addressing the an
nual dinner of the Japan Society in New
York. The size of his country's appro
priations for army and navy together, he
asserted, "indicates unmistakably that
our policy is like that of the United
States, one only of defense.” These
appropriations would be “infinitely
larger,” he said, “if it were true that our
policy contemplated war with one or the
domination of another of our colossal
neighbors, or a naval race with either
of the other great sea powers.” The
types of ships Japan is constructing, he
explained, “are vessels capable of de
fending our shores in case of war, but
not such as can carry war across the
seas.” Turning from armaments to the
r
subject of commerce, the Ambassador
pointed out that Japan is a growing
nation and “there is but one means by
which the people can subsist upon the
confined limits of their island empire— j
this is by industrialization.” Then, after
citing the Japanese-Ameriean cotton
textile agreement as an “excellent prece
dent.” Ambassador Saito asserted that
“we can rest assured that our trade re
lations will always be mutually bene
ficial and profitable.”
* * * *
One of the interesting features of the
visit to Washington of Capt. Henri
Latham and the officers of the French
training ship Jeanne d'Arc. now in har
bor at Baltimore, was their meeting at
the reception given in their honor by
the Ambassador of France and Mme.
Bonnet with Rear Admiral Witthoeft
Emden, German naval attache here,
who was one of the officers of that
ubiquitous terror of the seas, the Em
den, which wrought so much havoc on
allied shipping during the World War.
Officers who served on the vessel were
permitted to affix the name to their
own. The officers of the Jeanne d'Arc,
on their annual cruise with the young
“middies” from the French naval acad
emy at Brest, manifested interest in this
chance meeting' here with a German
naval officer for whom they were “look
ing” eagerly during the war.
* * * *
President Roosevelt, who on March
31. 1933. signed the bill under which
the Civilian Conservation Corps camps
were established, the work being actually
inaugurated a few days later on April 5.
has sent a message of greeting and
congratulation which will be read at all
of the 2,002 camps throughout the coun
try at the "open house" celebrations
they will hold within the next few days.
Col. Robert Fechner, director of the
organization which has seen nearly 2,
000,000 young men pass under its care
during the past four years, has sent
them a similar message. On Saturday, !
Sunday or Monday next the men at the
various camps will welcome their friends j
and visitors and show them the work !
they are carrying on, while programs
of different kinds also will be given.
* * * *
If any one wants to know what an
American Consul or Consul General at
some distant post does on his day off,
listen to this plea from that representa
tive of this Government at Hong Kong.
He has telegraphed to the Department
of State that he has been receiving such i
a volume of correspondence frojn stamp
collectors in the United States who
want first-flight covers of the Pan
American Airways mail from Macao and
Hong Kong—many of which requests,
incidentally, are "accompanied by in
sufficient postage”—that it would re
quire the full time of one officer for
many days. This is impossible, it is
pointed out, in view of the under-staffed
conditions of the office and the heavy
pressure of routine work. In addition,
it is stated, "mail offered for the first
flight from Hong Kong will probably
greatly exceed the capacity of the plane.”
(Copyright, 1937.)
Not Buying Just Yet.
From the San Franciaco Chronicle.
After trying the Spanish war on for
size, flve European powers have agreed
to look further before buying.
Popular at Last.
From the Birmingham New*.
At last we can all be popular. A pub
lic speaker finds that dumb mistakes
make audiences like him.
The Un-Missing Link.
From the Indianapolis News.
The true missing link has been found
in Africa, indicating that the missing
link isn't missing any more.
K
ANSWERS TO
QUESTIONS
RY FREDERIC J. H ASK IN.
A reader can get the answer to any
question o) fact by writing The Evening
Star information Bureau, Frederic J.
Haskin, Director, Washington, D. C.
Please inclose stamp for reply.
Q In what year was a performance
of "Aida' given at the foot of the
Pyramids in Egypt?—H. L.
A. In 1912 an Impressive open-air
production of the opera was given there.
Q. Who guards the White House?
—M. H. B.
A. The White House has its own police
force of 48 men. This includes a cap
tain, a lieutenant, three sergeants and
43 policemen. There are also 10 Secret
Service men.
Q. Please give a satisfactory material
for making relief maps in school.—D. S.
A. School Arts says that for school use
newspaper pulp, flour, salt and water
are most commonly used and are most
efficient.
Q When was the Wall street bomb
explosion and how many were killed?
—E. W.
A. The explosion on Wall street, New
York City, occurred on September 16
1920. Thirty were killed. 100 injured and
property was damaged to the extent of
$2,000,000.
Q On what date was Capt. Dreyfus
restored to rank?—H. W. J.
A. Alfred Dreyfus of the famous Drey
fus affair was restored to the army on
July 12, 1906.
Q How many laws have been passed
by the Congress of the United States?
—E. J. L.
A. The total number of measures en
acted by Congress since thp first session
has been 24.902; of these, 73 have been
declared unconstitutional.
w wnen aia tne uouxnoDors settle in
Canada?—A. H. B.
A. The Doukhobors arrived in Canada
in 1898 and 1899. and the government
allotted them land ifi the province of
Assmiboia, near Yorktown, and in Sas
katchewan, near Thunder Hill, and
Prince Albert. They came from Russia
and now number some 13.000.
Q What proportion of the world's
apple trees is in the United States?
-H. R.
A. There are approximately 450.000.000
apple trees in the world, of which one
fourth are in the United States.
Q. Is there any position which Is best
to induce sleep?—M. S.
A. Dr. Leverett D. Bristol says that
apparently there is not; it depends en
tirely on one's own comfort and ability
to relax.
Q. Where is the largest herd of cattle
in the United States?—W. S.
A. The King Ranch in Texas has the
largest herd of cattle in this country.
This herd numbers about 125.000.
Q. Give some facts about the dual city
of Bristol, Va.-Tenn—H. D.
A. The boundary between Virginia
and Tennessee traverses the main street
of Bristol and divides the little city as if
the two portions were a hundred miles
apart. Each has its own schools and po
lice and fire departments. The only
things in common are a Chamber of
Commerce and a Y. M. C. A. The popu
lation of 25.000 is about evenly divided,
and each side has its elite section and
its slums. The hotels, newspapers and
railway station are on the Virginia side,
but the Western Union Telegraph office
is in Tennessee. The boys of Tennessee
are the regional champions in the
Golden Glove boxing contest, but the
wrestling matches are held in Virginia.
Residents of Tennessee buy their cig
arettes in Virginia because the difference
in State laws saves them 4 cents a
package. A law-breaker can run across
the street, from one State into the
other, and refuse to come back without
extradition papers if he insists on his
rights.
Q. Has railroad employment in
creased?—W S.
A. Since 1933 railroad employment has
increased by 130.000 workers and has
now passed the million mark.
Q. Is the Philharmonic Symphony of
New York giving as many concerts as it
did five or ten years ago?—D. R. B
A. Not quite. In the season of 1925-6
it gave 115 concerts; in 1930-1 it gave
129 concerts, and this season is giving
92 concerts.
Q. Is there an organization in this
country interested in freedom of the
press?—L. F. G.
A. The American Civil Liberties Union
is organized to protect freedom of
speech, press and assemblage bv com
bating repressive legislation and the
acts of officials in violation of civil lib
erties.
Q What caused the death of Paul
Gauguin?—H. J.
A. The artist died of syphilis.
Q Are correspondence courses popular
in C. C. C. camps?—R. A. W.
A. Thousands of the enrollees are tak
ing such courses. Such courses are avail
able at reduced prices through the co
operation of many educational institu
tions. In a late report 21,183 men were
taking correspondence course instruc
tion.
Q who started the six-day bicycle
races in this country?—E. H
A. William Brady, the producer, is
said to have conceived the idea of a six
day race.
Q Which of Blasco Ibanez's books
caused him to be exiled from Spain?
—W. R.
A. His ‘Alfonso XIII Unmasked,”
written in 1925, led to his exile from
Spain.
Q. How many barrels of flour are
eaten by a person in a year?—J. G. W.
A. A little more than one barrel of
flour is consumed every year per capita
in the United States.
Q. Next to the rose, what flower is the
best seller?—T. P.
A. The sweep pea ranks second in the
florists’ trade.
A Rhyme at Twilight
By
Gertrude Brooke Hamilton.
Spring Song.
Cruel winds of Winter dying:
Songsters up from Southland flying;
Thru the ground fresh green things
shooting;
Music of the sweet bird fluting;
Woodlands palpitant with winging;
All of Nature stirring, singing;
Earth and air with new hope teeming—
Halcyon days of Springtide dreaming.
J