Evening star. [volume], April 24, 1937, Page A-8, Image 8

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

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
THE EVENING STAR
With Sunday Morning Edition.
WASRINGTO N~d7c.
SATURDAY —.April 24, 1937
THEODORE W. NOYES...Editor
The Evening Star Newspaper Company.
11th St, and Pennsylvania Ave,
New York Office: 1111 East 42nd St.
Chicago Office: 435 North Michigan Ave.
Rate by Carrier—City and Suburban.
Regular Edition.
The Evening and Sunday star
65c per month or 15c per week
The Evening 8tar
45c per month or 16c per week
The Sunday Star___5c per copy
Night Final Edition.
Night F nal and Sunday Star_76c per month
Night Final Star__55c per month
Collection made at the end of each month or
each week. Orders may be sent by matl or tele
phone National 6000
Kate by Mail—Payable in Advance.
Maryland and Virginia.
Daily and Sunday_1 yr.. $10.00; 1 mo.. R5c
Daily only _1 yr., $6.00; 1 mo., 50c
Sunday only-1 yr.. $4.00; 1 mo.. 40c
All Other States and Canada.
Daily and Sunday. 1 yr., $12.00; 1 mo.. $1.00
Daily only_1 yr., $6.0(1: 1 mo., 75c
Sunday only_1 yr., $5.00; 1 mo.. 60c
Member of the Associated Press.
The Associated Press Is exclusively entitled to
the use for republieatlon of all news dispatches
credited to It or not otherwise credited in this
paper and also the local new’s published herein.
All righ.s of publication of special dispatches
herein are also reserved.
Republican Leadership.
At a time when politics—party politics
—seems to have gone into a nose dive,
except in the case of the New Deal party,
which is supreme, Ogden Mills, former
Secretary of the Treasury, complains of
a lack of Republican leadership. The
17.000.000 voters who opposed the re
election of President Roosevelt and a
continuance of the New Deal policies,
he maintains, are just “17,000,000 disor
ganized individuals," although they are
the “heirs of American tradition.’’
The Republican party is described as
“disorganized" because of repeated de
feats at the polls during the past six
years. Where issues have been raised,
the Republican party has had the less
popular side. The Republicans have, in
fact, been defeated because the majority
of the people became convinced that the
G. O. P. was not giving them a square
deal. This conviction was, of course,
stimulated by the opposition party. But
whether they were rightly or wrongly
convinced, that was the opinion of the
majorffy of the voters.
When the people become convinced
that the New Deal Democratic party is
not giving them what they want, or is
giving them something they distinctly
do not want, the Democratic party will
be “disorganized" also, and some other
party, presumably the Republican party,
will be well organized and take command
of the Government. In the meantime,
the best the Republican party can do is
to help keep the people informed of
what is going on. That is a job which
the press has always on its hands, and
also the members of Congress through the
sounding boards of the Senate and House
debates. No selection of leaders by the
G. O. P. will make any material differ
ence. Issues are of far more importance.
Issues of major interest are raising
their heads—issues which may be very
effective in the campaigns of 1938 and
1940. These issues are excessive spend
ing, high taxes, overwhelming debt and
the usurpation of power by one branch
of the Government. These, it may be
said, were put forward as issues in the
last campaign by the Republicans and
they got them nowhere. But now the
shoe is beginning to pinch. Either the
administration must continue its huge
spending program or it will lose favor
with those whose hands have been filled
with money from the Federal Treasury.
If it continues its spending, there is
danger of unpopularly high taxes or in
flation or financial crash. In other words,
the day of reckoning is drawing nearer.
The President's proposal to add mem
bers to the Supreme Court in order to
obtain the kind of decisions he desires
has driven a wedge among the people
who have been supporting him. It is
not Republican leadership that is caus
ing the administration leaders concern.
It is the issue which has arisen which
worries them.
One thing seems reasonably certain.
The people are not going to follow any
Republican leadership which seeks to
take them back to the conditions which
existed when the Republicans were last
in power, conditions both before and after
the crash in 1929. The people are de
manding greater advances socially. They
will not be satisfied with what they had
in the past, before the New Deal took
command. But they may become dis
gusted with the bureaucratic regimen
tation of the New Deal, with its waste of
money and its imposition of high taxes.
- ■ » *
Dupont tax returns become a subject
of discussion. The patriotic citizen will
hope that strike organizers wall not
Interfere with the work which creates
incomes and makes taxes possible.
Every now and then a college professor
Studies agriculture with a view to estab
lishing a record as a city boy who has
made good in the country.
— - .- ' > >-- i ...
Only Seventy-seven!
If any doubter be troubled by the
theoretical decline of credit for men
past the prophet's three score and ten,
reassurance for him might have been
had at the Folger Library last evening.
The speaker for the annual Shakespeare
festival was Prof. George Lyman Kit
tredge, emeritus chief of the English de
partment of Harvard University — a
scholar only seventy-seven years of age!
An audience which packed the library's
Elizabethan theater to its walls sat in
almost breathless silence for more than
an hour while a mind as bright and
sharp and keenly competent as ever was
known in the Nation's Capital made
merry with the critics and commenta
tors of the Bard of Avon. No reporter,
however willing, could chronicle the
scene with the skill that he would need
for such a delightful task. The spectacle
required the language of the heart, as
yet unorganized In formal grammar, for
the reproduction it merited. In effect
Prof. Kittredge fenced with his op
ponents — Schlegel, Coleridge, Franz
Horn and George Brandes, all “great
men” as he called them. The art with
which he “took them on” was that of
one born to the rapier, but also of one
trained to its use. He "pinked” them
fairly as well as gracefully. They meta
phorically fell around him on the tiny
stage while the crowd suppressed its
applause for a definitive outburst at the
end.
Afterward the champion of Shakes
peare's integrity made light of his per
formance. "Common sense,” he said,
“is all that is necessary.” Nothing he
had bothered to mention wanted apology.
He had submitted every venture of the
“gossips” to the rational and logical
ordeal, simply, unpretendingly but dev
astatingly. And more than a few of
those present went home encouraged.
If Prof. Kittredge could smash the cruel
notion of arbitrary uselessness for ma
turity so easily and so convincingly, there
was hope even for people of fifty, or
thirty, or even twenty! The question,
it seems, is not: How old is a person?,
but, rather, patently enough: How ef
ficient, how ardent, how sincere, how
sane?
War Debts as Usual.
When a person has a big debt of long
standing owing him and it remains un
curtailed, it is comforting to the creditor
to know that the debtor at least has the
obligation in mind and intends at some
time, however remote, to liquidate it,
either in part or in whole. As debtor
and creditor nations in this respect do
not differ from individuals, Uncle Sam
derives satisfaction from fresh indica
tions that John Bull’s war debt to the
United States, now amounting, inclu
sive of arrears in principal and interest,
to a round $5,000,000,000, is not forgotten
in London.
The perennial question was once again
the subject of discussion in the House
of Commons this week. Cursory as was
the attention bestowed upon it, Chan
cellor of the Exchequer Chamberlain
took occasion to reaffirm British readi
ness to reopen debt discussion whenever
circumstances warrant the hope of a
satisfactory result. Such statements
leave matters exactly where they have
been for two years. They do denote
that Britain does not desire to be re
garded as repudiating her debt, although
all concerned have long understood that
she hopes eventually to find this country
agreeable to drastic downward revision.
There are no signs on either side of any
early resumption of negotiations. British
economic recovery is in substantial prog
ress, but the nation is determined for
the indefinite future to devote its finan
cial energies exclusively to the all
absorbing problem of rearmament.
Thus the American people must con
tent themselves, as far as their chief war
debtor is concerned, with renewed ex
pressions of his good intentions, qualified,
though they be, by formidable ’‘ifs.’' The
Roosevelt administration, despite the
United States' still mounting fiscal re
quirements, is obviously proceeding on
the theory that no Treasury relief is to
be hoped for from resumed war debt
payments, even on the “token" basis to
which Great Britain temporarily ad
hered. Meantime there are these peri
odical and welcome manifestations,
among both the British and the French,
that they mean to normalize their af
fairs with the United States at the
earliest feasible moment. They can
not be blind to the fact that war debts,
however continuously Washington re
frains from loud-pedaling the issue, re
main a disturbing factor in those rela
tions. Perhaps when Belgian Premier
Van Zeeland is at the White House in
June, as the emissary of the London and
Paris cabinets in exploring the possibili
ties of an economic conference, he will
obtain a close-up of the American view
point about the billions which Europe
owes us and learn of our expectation that
one day a start toward their repayment
will be made.
John Bull has been making a study
of American customs and perhaps plays
poker enough to suspect that a report of
heavily mined harbors may be what is
known in ancient vernacular as Alpha
Beta—standing in erudite initialdom for
“A Bluff.”
If the District of Columbia permitted
betting on base ball, it might rival the
cash clean-up of the Maryland race
tracks, numerous as they are. Base ball
holds a high place in public esteem as a
sport that can be conducted without a
rake-off.
___
Mistaken Identity.
A stock-in-trade fixture of literature
and the drama—including the movies
and radio—is the confusion, sometimes
tragic and sometimes comic, following
misidentification. But examples of such
contretemps in real life always are pos
sessed of a power of attraction denied
to those which, however cleverly, are
imagined.
For instance, John D. Rockefeller,
jr., on a certain occasion was halted by
a traffic policeman who demanded his
driving permit. The multi-millionaire
philanthropist confessed that he had
left the card in his other suit. “Your
name, then?” inquired the officer. And
Mr. Rockefeller told the truth. The
resultant rumpus was adjusted at pre
cinct headquarters, where a reporter
assured the desk sergeant that one of
the most widely and deservedly famous
of living Americans was not “kidding.”
Again, there is the story of the ad
mirer who wished to pay his compli
ments to the celebrated painter Winslow
Homer. Meeting a pedestrian in the
neighborhood of the artist's home, the
stranger said: “My friend, I will give
you a dollar if you will tell me where
I can see Mr. Homer.” The “native”
retorted: “Let me have the dollar first.”
And when the pilgrim had “ponied up,”
the recipient of the fee declared with
a grin: “I’m him!” He proved his claim
by escorting the non-plussed visitor to
his studio.
Beethoven, the composer, bothered by
too many heap-worshipers, frequently
had recourse to a similar expedient. He
i
was stopped on the road by a tourist
who recognized him from his portraits.
But the object of his adoration denied
the allegation. “You refer to my broth
er,” he insisted. “We resemble each
other in appearance.” Inquiry disclosed
the fact that the trick had been em
ployed repeatedly by its inventor in
the Interest of escape.
And now comes a contemporary illus
tration. A “nonchalant young Briton”
whose name is Edward Windsor regis
tered “some weeks ago" at a Paris hotel
and “began running up right royal
bills.” Payment being delayed, the man
agement sued for “fraud." The case
was thrown out of court “because Mr.
Windsor never told anybody that he
was the former King.”
An air of genial persuasion, which
has not been without influence in the
Nation’s affairs, has been attributed to a
legend that Postmaster General Farley
went to Ireland once upon a time for the
purpose of kissing the Blarney stone.
This mystic bit of masonry is almost
inaccessible and the obliging proprietors
of Blarney Castle long ago placed a
stone to which they gave the same title
within easy reach of all tourists willing
to take a chance on the theory that
promiscuous osculation does not promote
pyorrhea infection. Among the decep
tions often practiced by the orator, even
the Blarney stone must be submitted to
cold critical consideration.
Maryland race tracks are expected to
make indirect contributions to the State
relief fund. Many sporting adventurers
go broke on the ponies. In ancient
Chicago days there was a professional
gambler known as honest Bath House
John who won almost the reputa
tion of a philanthropist by giving a man
who lost all he had, enough money back
to assure him carfare home. A tax for
relief might be a means of enabling the
track promoters to make a slight rebate
to those who have played the ponies not
wisely, out too much.
Collegiate cryptics may become super
abundant. Initials are ceasing to com
mand respect in the Roman alphabet
and no ‘'frat-’ has pledged itself to
patriotism on a broad scale that would
warrant Upsilon, Sigma, Alpha as sig
nifying U. S. A.
— *- -iir t
Appeals to youth have often been made
in politics. One of the difficult tasks in
calling on Youth to work out the salva
tion of the future is the reminder that
after all there is no Santa Claus, ex
cepting as the generous conscience of
the individual can create one for him
self.
*—■' ■ *■ 1
The music provided by Henry Ford in
his public programs is of the highest
order. But the possibilities of the
chromatic scale reveal but little com
pared to what he can do with a scien
tifically managed wage scale.
Shooting Stars.
BY PHILANDER JOHNSON.
Bright Conversation.
When Money Talks about the way
It's going to behave next day
We swiftly change from grave to gay.
No more Depression’s specter stalks
When Money Talks.
We listen when we get the chance
To anything about finance
And spurn the ragtime and romance.
At frivolous themes the radio balks
When Money Talks.
Like music, w'hen it seeks to please,
All languages it speaks with ease
As frozen wealth seeks to unfreeze.
Stock prices gleefully it chalks
When Money Talks.
Something to Be Encouraged.
“Do you resent opposition to your
ideas?”
“Not a bit," answered Senator Sor
ghum. “A little opposition is to be en
couraged so as to remind the home folks
that I am still a plain fellow citizen,
willing to argue and not trying to be a
dictator.”
Jud Tunkins says when a feller gives
you a kind word these days you always
hope he isn't goin’ to spoil it by tryin’
to sell you somethin’.
“However unimportant our words may
be,” said Hi Ho, the sage of Chinatown,
“w£ love them like children and seek
to give them prominent place when
they are our own.”
Vocalitles.
We speak in accents grave or gay
And try to do it well.
But when at last we’ve had our say
There is still more to tell.
As sorrowing suspicions lurk,
Men go and take a walk,
Inquiring, “Was life made for work,
Or was it made for talk?”
And even at a base ball game,
The solemn truth to tell,
The pleasure is that you can claim
A chance to rise and yell!
“Business must go on.”
“Of course,” answered Mr. Dustin Stax.
“It’s a little like aviation. A crash won’t
stop it, although you may have to depend
on new people to do the high flying.”
Doctors and Delays.
Some doctors are exceeding wise,
But need much preparation,
And so the patient as he sighs
Awaits a consultation.
Some doctors will with earnest zeal
In long discussion hover,
And hope that nature will reveal
The cures they can’t discover.
“Satan is supposed to be lyin’ in wait,”
said Uncle Eben. “It looks to me like
any hidin’ lie does is foh de sake of
dodgin’ de folks dat crowds around tryin’
to git Introduced.”
New Plan Suggested to
Lessen Traffic Congestion
To the Editor of The Star:
Everybody talks about traffic conges
tion. And nearly every one has a plan
for relieving the situation. But how
many of them pan out?
Here is one that really will work. In
Takoma Park live six residents who are
employed at the A. A. A. on Fourteenth
street. Each of these men has a car,
but each of these men does not use his
car to take him to work. Instead only
one man gets his car out. Mr. A., we’ll
call him, drives around and picks up
the other five men in his vicinity and
then takes them to work. In the eve
ning they all meet outside the office
and he drives them home. The next
morning Mr. B. uses his car and picks
up the other men and repeats the
process. The third morning Mr. C. does
the chores, and so on until at the end
of the week each man has used his
car only once.
In this way each man got to the office
on time and was driven home just as
promptly. There was no lessening of
efficiency and there was a great increase
in comfort; each experienced a great
saving of time, money, wear and tear
on the car and, best of all, a lessening
strain on their nervous systems.
But the outstanding part is that five
cars were taken off the streets that
were driven unnecessarily. This was
of immediate benefit, even to the man
who had to do the driving that day, for
since there were five less cars to con
tend with it is obvious that there would
be five more parking spaces available
at the office and consequently he would
have less difficulty in finding a place
to park.
Therefore it is evident that such a
plan stands to benefit all who are con
cerned. All that is necessary to im
prove our much cussed and discussed
traffic situation is a little co-operation
on the part of those who have it in their
power to help as I have mentioned.
Such a scheme is sound, both in prin
ciple and in practice. And it works for
these Takoma residents. So why not for
you and you and you?
DANTE AMOROSE.
Wliat Is the Definition of
“Pernicious Propaganda”?
To the Editor of The Star:
A paragraph in The Star of April 20
stated that “the Senate Interstate Com
merce Committee recommended today
a $150,000 investigation by the Federal
Trade Commission of ‘propaganda’ by
private power companies against public
ownership,” and I am unable to see how
such a movement at this time can pro
mote the best interest of all concerned.
What is “propaganda”? Are we to
understand that all Government propa
ganda is good and all public utility
propaganda is necessarily bad?
Does the Government take the stand,
for instance, that newspaper advertising
by electric power and light companies
in promoting their industry is pernicious
propaganda that must be suppressed?
If so, what becomes of the business
and freedom of the press?
Am I, as an investor in the stock of a
public utility company, in danger of
being placed on a witness stand and
given “the third degree” if I dare to
speak or write in defense of my invest
ment which, I expected, would become
part of my old-age pension?
Privately owned utility companies pay
large taxes while those that are being
captured by the Government will. Of
course, be tax free. Therefore, in view
of our increasing governmental expendi
tures, it seems unreasonable to remove
such a large and important group of
taxpayers to the free list. But am I in
danger of being punished for “pernicious
propaganda” if I publicly, or even pri
vately, call attention to that deviation
from sound taxing policy?
Is it considered “unpatriotic propa
ganda” if I point out the obvious fact
that there never would have been such
a Nation-wide hook-up, as we now have,
of our multitude of power and light pro
duction plants if holding companies had
not been promoted by investors in their
securities? T. R. FULLALOVE.
- « --
Taxation Driving Too Many
People Out of Business
To the Editor of The Star
A few days ago the proprietor of a
small roofing business in a nearby town
discharged his employes, closed out his
business, took what money he had
saved and left for Florida, saying:
“I am going to quit. The premiums
upon the compensation insurance for
my employes amounts to $900 per year.
Now with the social security and unem
ployment tax and the taxes on my
trucks, etc., it amounts to so much
that I have to earn a very large sum
for taxes alone, before I begin to get a
cent for myself. I am going to pull
out and get a small place in Florida.
I may not earn as much money, but I
will be free of all this worry.”
There should be a lesson in this for
sit-down strikers, slow-up strikers and
the rest of the agitators who are nagging
the life out of business. Neither Miss
Perkins, John L. Lewis, nor even Mr.
Roosevelt himself can make two and
two equal more than four, and if a
business is going to be subjected to de
liberate waste at the hands of the men
who are getting their living out of it,
then it will be only a question of time
until the workmen will find themselves
out of a job. FRANK G. CAMPBELL.
American Influence Will
Remain in Philippines
To the Editor of The Star:
I take your recent editorial as a mani
festation of the interest of the people
in your section of the country in the
Philippines. I presume that your read
ers are proud of the splendid work done
in the Philippines by the United States.
Although the American chapter in Phil
ippine history may end in the near future,
the Filipinos wish to continue to have
friendly, cultural and economic rela
tions with the great American people,
who have been their unselfish teachers
for almost 40 years. The United States
has made her impress upon the Filipinos
so deeply that even Philippine political
independence can never wipe out her
tremendous influence. American civil
ization and democracy have rooted in
the Philippines and are there to stay.
If and when independence finally
comes I hope that the American people
will find no necessity for ending the
mutually beneficial United States
Philippine trade relations. The comple
mentary economy between your country
and mine has brought tremendous ad
vantages and large benefits to Americans
and Filipinos. QUINTIN PAREDES.
Missouri Politics.
From the Chicago Daily News.
Though two bullets were fired Into the
home of the Republican candidate for
Mayor of St. Louis, Republicanism in
that city is not a capital offense.
Spain’s War Rule.
From the Duluth News-Tribune.
The safest rule in the Spanish war
seems to be to kill any one who speaks
the same language as you do, because
he Is sure to be an enemy.
r
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.
The stranger sat down beside Temple
ton Jones.
“That hat of yours,” he began.
The mild Jones bristled.
Who wouldn’t, under the circum
stances?
What was his hat to the stranger? He
shortly was to find out.
“It's terrible looking,” ventured the
fellow. “You must have been out in
the rain a great deal.”
“No,” explained Jones, somewhat sur
prised at the pleasantness of his own
voice. “It is just 10 years old, that is
all.”
“So that’s it,” went on the other.
“Well, you better get rid of it.”
Our hero, being an honest man, had
to admit to himself that the fellow prob
ably was right.
* * * *
Ten years is a long time for a hat,
after all.
It would be interesting to know, he
mused, how many other headpieces of
a like vintage there were in town.
His own was broad and generous in
lines, with a band of a type not seen
for a long time.
Its construction was good, its material
better.
“It’s been a good hat in its day,” he
ventured to his new comrade.
The man took a swift glance.
“You ought to get a new one,” he
said.
Jones had him there.
"I have three new ones," he replied.
"Why don't you wear one of them?”
"To answer that,” Jones began to
explain to his questioner, "would require
a delving into psychology, the trend of
past ages, as well as the tempo of this,
and, above all, a real insight into human
nature.”
"Quite an order,” mused the other.
"It would be necessary to go into the
mind and find out why all people do
things, before it would be possible to
settle exactly why I continue to wear
this hat.”
"I think I see what you mean,” said
the stranger, "but this is a case in which
action would be better than words.”
* * * *
"Action?”
"The ash barrel, of course.”
"But this is an old and dearly-beloved
hat," explained Jones, very carefully.
"I like this hat.”
don't," said his new-found friend.
"If I were to put it into the ash bar
rel, as you say. somebody would find it,
clean it up a bit, put a new ribbon on
it and sell it for new.”
“You have been reading," remonstrated
the other.
"I sometimes do.”
"Well, that's all hokum. Nobody
would fix that one up.”
* * * *
"As a matter of fact,” patiently went
on Templeton Jones, "I seldom wear
any hat at all during the Summer.”
He thought this would please the
other, but it did not; evidently the chap
was impossible to please.
i
"That’s all wrong,” said the man
"You should wear a hat.”
"But not this one
His antagonist ignored the interrup
tion.
"To go without a hat is dangerous,”
he said.
“How about all these young fellows who
never wear hats the year around.”
“All of them have sinus trouble, or
will have it.”
The man’s blue eyes glinted.
"Now look at me,” he said. "How old
do you think I am?”
Templeton Jones had long prided him
self on his ability to guess ages.
He took a good look at the fellow, and,
not wishing to hurt his feelings, gal
lantly selected a low figure.
* * * *
“I would say you are about 60,” replied
Jones, at last.
The man was visibly pleased.
"Seventy,” he said, puffing out his
chest.
"And never ill an hour in your life,
I’ll bet-”
"Never a minute,” said the stranger.
"Plenty fresh air, lungs like an ele
phant-”
“And always wear a hat-”
"Summer and Winter. Well, leave you
here. So long, old man.”
"So long,” replied Jones.
* * * *
The man was gone, and Templeton
Jones was left alone with his thoughts
and his hat.
He had been somewhat careless in the
matter of its cleanliness. Men like Jones
seldom worry much about such things
Perhaps they should.
He resolved to send it to the hatter's.
But part with it—never!
For Jones was, at heart, a hatless
man. Be it known that the world of
men is divided into two great classes,
the hats and the hatless. The members
of the former group love hats, and like
to wear ’em. Members of the second
great group despise hats, secretly, and
hate to wear ’em. Are you a hatter, or
are you not?
In time they learn to wear hats, but
each headpiece requires time.
That is why wrhen such a man be
comes adjusted to his hat he hangs
onto it with the grip of a hornet on a
finger, a bulldog to a rag or rope.
* * * *
Templeton Jones took off his famous
hat. The wind blew- through his hair.
The days would soon be here when he
could go hatless again. He would like
that. Hats were a nuisance, at best.
He thought of; all the hats worn by
all the men of all the ages, an endless
procession of men and hats, appropriate,
silly, futile, absurd, clumsy, hats in every
conceivable shape, of every possible ma
terial.
After all, there was a great deal to be
said for the hatless vogue, at least for
the members of the Second Group.
What was it the man had said. You
had better get rid of it?
"Nuts to you,” said Jones, falling into
the vernacular, regarding his old hat
with real fondness.
STARS, MEN AND ATOMS
Notebook of Science Progress in Field,
Laboratory and Study.
BY THOMAS R. HENRY.
A man or woman of 40 may be “just
growing up.”
Definite evidence based on thousands
of measurements that the stature con
tinues to increase during the fourth
decade of life is presented by Dr. Ales
Hrdlicka, curator of physical anthro
pology of the Smithsonian Institution.
The phenomenon appears not only in
Dr. Hrdlicka's own measurements of
American whites and Indians, but in
extensive measurements made of Union
soldiers during the Civil War and in
various European investigations. All
show that the stature may increase a
centimeter or more after the individual
has become mature.
“There is a universal notion.” says Dr.
Hrdlicka, “that when the adult stage of
life has been reached all growth of the
human body and its parts, except in
bulkiness, has been accomplished and
henceforth ceases. The very definition
of an adult is ‘a person grown to full
size and strength.’ Scientifically speak
ing, the view is erroneous. That the
notion has remained so long unchalleng
ed has been due to the difficulties and
scarcity of observations on adults. A
large amount of work has been done
on the child and the adolescent, but
the changes that may be taking place
in the human frame and organs between
the time the adult stage has been
reached and marked senile changes set
in have received little attention.”
The age of 24. Dr. Hrdlicka says, gen
erally is accepted as that of full maturity
of the human male. At about the time,
or shortly afterward, the joints pre
sumably have attained their permanent
condition. Growth from that point on
can consist only of “interstitial accre
tions.”
Apparently in men of all races, Dr.
Hrdlicka finds, the legs and trunk grow
at about the same length during adult
life. Some data acquired from extensive
measurements among the Pueblo In
dians. however, indicate that the case
is quite different with women. The
trunk grows at a slightly accelerated rate
over the lower limbs. When the changes
incident to old age set in the stature
of the trunk decreases faster than the
length of the legs. Arm length also ap
pears to increase slightly and then
decrease during adult life.
In both white Americans and Indians,
Dr. Hrdlicka finds, the hands and feet
tend to become larger during the adult
years. This growth may be slightly
greater, relatively, than that of the
whole body. Among the whites the
changes are more or less obscured by
close-fitting shoes. Among the Indians
the adult growth of the foot was slightly
more in women than in men, Dr.
Hrdlicka's measurements showed.
As for the chest. Dr. Hrdlicka found
that “in the Indians it keeps on in
creasing slightly in breadth until approx
imately 40-50, and in white seemingly
even later. After that it decreases. The
depth and the relationship between
depth and breadth augment very appre
ciably throughout the period comprised
by the records, or up to 65 years of age.”
“There now exists,” says Dr. Hrdlicka,
“sufficient evidence to show that the
growth and development of the body
as a whole and of many, if not all, its
parts is not fully accomplished by what
is generally regarded as the reaching
of maturity, but proceeds more or less
into the adult stage. Not all the parts
advance at the same rate nor equally as
long and there are considerable in
dividual variations.
“The majority of the dimensions or
characters, headed by stature, progress
perceptibly on the average until well into
the fourth decade of life. Others in
crease slightly until .the fifth or even
sixth decade. Still others, such as the
dorsal length and breadth of the no6e,
the length of the ears, width of the
mouth, depth at the chest, keep on aug
r
meriting throughout most, if not all, of
adult existence. All these processes are
doubtless affected by physiological fac
tors, such as work and nourishment, as
well as by pathological conditions.”
When satisfactory norms of growth
for the individual organs are established,
Dr. Hrdlicka believes, they will be of
outstanding importance not only to the
science of anthropology, but also may
have a practical significance in medi
cine. Dishormonies appearing in the
growth curves of an individual may re
veal deeper lying anomalies in the'con
stitution as a whole.
J. Raglan Patchmore on
Washington Street Cars
To the Editor of The Star:
I saw mv old friend J. Raglan Patch
more this morning seated on a bench in
Lafayette Square. He informed me that
he had just drifted in from Chicago,
w'here he had delivered his Spring ad
dress to the Tribune on “Transporta
tion To and From the West Coast From
a Cattle Car Window.”
“And speakin’ of transportation.” said
he, “this here now local traction outfit—
it burns me up, and I seen where they
burnt up one of the old fellows yester
day—it’s a tarnation shame the way they
treat these veterans. I been keepin’
track for years on the sititation. This
here traction octobus owes me a heap
of back royalties, young feller, an' I’m
here for to collect. Maybe you don’t
realize it, but you’re lookin’ on a real
inventor of the old school.
“Did you ever know that this here
august Capital of our Nation had these
street cars before it had any buildings
and who, I ask you, added the final
touch to their glory? It was none other
than me. J. Raglan himself, who pat
ented the outstanding features that
made these here now trolley cars the
great success they are today.”
His old eyes flashed and his voice
trembled. “Who but Patchmore could
have invented these self-detachable
motors, these automatic crow bars for
opening the doors and the full set of four
types of wheels for each car—half round,
half square, saw tooth and hexagon?”
“Why back in Ben Harrison's term,
when these late models you see was
produced—there goes one now-” His
wrinkled face lit up with pride. Rather
than spoil the old man’s day I quietly
slipped away.
It was a wagon loaded with scrap iron
crossing the car tracks.
H. H. ARMSTRONG.
Why Not Lady Judges?
Prom the Macon Telegraph.
Would the addition of six lady judges
to the Supreme Court be of service when
It was considering the matter of chang
ing its mind?
Trailer Training.
Prom the Atlanta Journal.
It’s a horrible thought, but the chances
are that a considerable percentage of
the next generation will be bowlegged
from learning to walk in trailers.
American Peers.
Prom the Savannah News.
When a man has committed a low
down crime the court, selects "a jury of
his peers” to hear the details.
■ ■ » S-- ■ ——M.
Horse and Mule.
Prom the\ Shreveport Journal.
Another problem in this life is pre
sented by the man who claims to ha vs
horse sense—along with the stubborn
ness of a, mule.
V
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 Please give the names of some of
the women who have horses entered in
the Kentucky Derby.—W. H.
A. The list includes: Mary Hirsch,
Mrs. Ethel Mars, Mrs. Payne Whitney,
Mrs. Dodge Sloane, Mrs. G. J. Chatvaire,
Mrs. F. A. Clarke, Mrs. H. C. Herndon,
Mrs. W. H. Hurst, Mrs. C. Gregory, Mrs.
G. W. Loft, Mrs. Frank L. Navin, Mrs.
Louise Viau and Mrs. H. C. Phipps.
Q. What per cent of the applause
which is heard over the radio Is genuine?
—M. J. G.
A. Generally the clapping and laugh
ing for a program is entirely produced
by the actual audience.
Q. What is the real name of Anna
bella who played in the picture, “Wings
of the Morning?”—J. S.
A. Her name was Anne Charpentier.
She is French, 5 feet 4 inches tall, weighs
116 pounds and is 24 years old. Her
husband is Jean Murat. “Wings of the
Morning,” made in England, is her first
English-speaking role.
Q. Is a woman’s blood ever used in
blood transfusions?—D. L.
A. Women sometimes give blood for
transfusion. Usually man donors are
available who have better blood supply
and stronger constitutions and are more
able to furnish blood. There is no rea
son so far as the blood itself is con
cerned why the blood of women should
not be used. 7
Q Is it the smoke or the heat thrown
off from the smudge pots used in con
nection with fruit orchards that pre
vents the fruit from freezing?—Jc P.
A. The Bureau of Plant Industry says
that the smoke thrown off by smudge
pots is an undesirable by-product. The
heat generated by the burning fuel
raises the temperature of the air suf
ficientlv to prevent the fruit from freez
ing. Oil is used because it is the most
convenient fuel for use in open pots. If
a process could be devised which would
insure complete combustion and do away
with the clouds of smoke it would be of
great value to the industry.
Q. Are many Negroes in this country
of foreign birth?—B. J. C.
A. Less than 1 per cent of the Negroes
in America are of foreign birth, and
they are mostly from the West Indies,
Canada and the islands off the Atlantic
Coast.
Q. W'hen were glass eyes first made
in this country?—R. F.
A. The first artificial eyes were man
ufactured by Pierre Gougelman in 1851
on Van Dam street. New York, N. Y,
from glass imported from France.
Q. Into what body of water does the
Chicago River flow?—H. C.
A. The Chicago River originally
emptied into Lake Michigan. Now
water from the lake is forced through
the river into the Illinois River and so
into the Mississippi River. Thus it may
be said that the Chicago River flows
backward.
Q. How much does it cost to keep a
farm horse?—Y. R. B.
A. The Department of Agriculture says
that the cost of keeping a farm horse,
including cost of depreciation, is approx
imately $100 per year.
Q. When was the Franklin automobile
first made?—R. W.
A. In 1902. Its manufacture has been
discontinued.
Q. How many families live 1n New
York City and in Chicago?—H. H.
A. As of January 1, 1930. there were
1.722.954 families in New York and
842.578 in Chicago. A family is defined
by the census as a group of persons liv
ing together and usually sharing the
same table. Single persons living alone
are counted as families.
Q. What professional fraternity has
the most members?—W. N.
A. Psi Omega, a dental fraternity, had
the most when the last list was pub
lished. Its membership was 18.760 Phi
Chi. a medical fraternity, was second
with 18.291 members.
Q What is the difference between a
color and a standard?—N. N.
A. A color is a flag carried by un
mounted units; a standard is a flag
carried by mounted or motorized units;
an ensign is a flag flown on ships.
O. What kind of plant is the loquat?
—E. M.
A. It is a small tree of the rose fam
ily, native to Japan and China, now
introduced into many subtropical coun
tries. Growing about 12 feet high, it has
thick clustered, evergreen leaves and
fragrant, woolly white flowers. The pear
shaped fruit is used for desserts and for
making jellies. The large seeds are used
in cookery for flavoring tarts and cakes.
Q. What is the National Archives?
—'W. T.
A. It is a public record office, designed
primarily to serve specialized groups
such as officials and scholars. Visitors,
however, find much to interest them.
Q. Of the number of people who have
been sterilized in the States where this
is done, what per cent is criminal?—M. E.
A. Only about 5 per cent. Most steril
izations are performed among the in
sane and feeble-minded.
Q. In what country are there the most
Jews?—C. B.
A. In the United States. Poland is
second and Soviet Russia third.
Q. When was Peabody Museum at
Yale University built?—J. H.
A. The museum was completed in the
Fall of 1924 and dedicated in December
of that year.
A Rhyme at Twilight
By
Gertrude Brooke Hamilton.
Purple Violets.
Violets! Violets! The scent is every'*
where;
Blowing thru the roadways, filling all
the air.
Clumps of purple flowerets nestling in
green leaves,
Dainty as the fairies imagination weaves.
Blooming on the hillsides, in the shel
tered glades,
Dewy tufts of fragrance as the daylight
fades.
Spring's beloved offering, tired hearts
to ease;
Stealing thru the senses with haunting
memories.
T t