Evening star. [volume], May 05, 1937, Page A-8, Image 8

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

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THE EVENING STAR
With Sunday Morning Edition.
WASHINGTON, D. C.
WEDNESDAY_May 5, 1937
THEODORE W. NOYES..Editor
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A Good Start.
In the opinion of many, the initial re
port of the Washington Criminal Justice
Association on crime and criminal prose
cution in the District is chiefly important
for the spirit in which it has been made
and the success already achieved in en
listing the sincere co-operation among
all agencies concerned in attaining the
goal of efficient law enforcement.
As the figures in the report plainly set
forth, “it is obvious that the position of
the Nation's Capital, from the viewpoint
of criminal activities, is not an enviable
one.” But the report wisely refrains
from blaming any single official or agency
for the conditions revealed, contenting
itself for the time being with a presen
tation of facts, W'hich in themselves point
to the weak spots, and a few recom
mendations for remedy.
The Criminal Justice Association dis
claims the role of "an apprehending,
prosecuting or judicial body.” It does
not pretend to “assume the performance
of the duties of accredited officials
charged with the administration of
justice.” In studying the activities of
the various public officials and agencies
Intrusted with the administration of
criminal justice, its aim is to bring to
their attention and to the attention of
the pubhc any practices which it con
siders “contrary to the best interests of
the community, to the end that necessary
improvement will be effected.”
This the first report has done in a way
that leaves no jealousies and antago
nisms among officials who might have
been, had the procedure been a little dif
ferent, placed “on the spot” and in the
position of defending themselves. That
has been the mistake of some of the
sporadic efforts at improving law en
forcement in the past. Instead of co
operation among the officials con
cerned, some of the past efforts at
remedy have resulted in much “passing
the buck” among officials, to the con
fusion of the public and of little benefit
to law enforcement in general.
The report does not attempt to place
the blame on individuals so much as on
a condition which leads to public in
difference and resulting lackadaisical
enforcement. The proposed remedy, in
addition to suggestions for better co
ordination among law enforcement
agencies and the interested co-operation
of officials, is to stimulate the interest
of the community in the operation of
its law enforcement machinery. This
first report has pointed out general con
ditions which indicate that the machin
ery is not properly functioning. The
reports which follow will doubtless
become more specific, and the public
will become more insistent in its de
mand for all the details.
Voting machines are favored by many
citizens. There are, of course, fears that
gamblers who dabble in local politics
would study them to see whether they
can be made to slice out a campaign
rake-off.
Our Miniature Army.
While Congress has under discussion a
War Department budget calling for
roundly $400,000,000, which includes a
heavy percentage for non-military pur
poses, figures have been compiled in
Washington graphically illustrating the
modest magnitude of the United States'
land defense system, compared to those
of other countries, large and small.
Some 55,000,000 trained men are avail
able for military service throughout the
world. If peace-minded Americans fear
that record-breaking appropriations may
make a swashbuckling “militarist” out
of their Uncle Sam. they will be com
forted to know that the United States
Army, with an estimated 474,378 in the
regular establishment, National Guard
and trained reserves, represents less than
one per cent of the host of men in forty
eight countries, enumerated as ready to
“spring to arms overnight.” Man-power
in regular armies aggregates 6,513.824.
Ours will reach its authorized peak of
165,000 men on July 1. On that basis,
this country will rank tenth among
regular forces, below Russia, Italy,
France, Germany, the British Empire,
Poland, Japan, Rumania and even Spain
—or the Spain that existed before civil
war. In total trained men, regulars
and others, the United States stands
even lower in the list—nineteenth. There
is little in this showing remotely to
justify the occasional thought that
America maintains an army not only
in excess of needs, but one which might
some day seek to display its prowess in
aggressive warfare. Nothing in our
national past or pacific present, of
course, warrants any such misgivings.
The figures do throw disquieting light
on the unparalleled extent of world mili
tary preparations. Nearly everywhere
nations are piling up armies outstripping
pre-World War strength. Soviet Russia
has the largest force, with 1,545,000 regu
lars and 19,490,000 trained men, Italy
comes next with 6,294,395 trained troops,
of whom 1,331,200 are regulars. Other
regular establishments, in the order of
their rank, include: France, 658,777;
Germany, 650,000; British Empire, 384,
780; Poland, 332,427; Japan, 282,000;
Rumania, 222,000; Spain, 199,546;
Czechoslovakia, 164,000; Turkey, 133,000;
Yugoslavia, 131,508; Belgium, 91,441;
Greece, 79,796, and Brazil, 66,072.
Costa Rica and Switzerland enjoy the
distinction of maintaining the world's
smallest regular armies—respectively, 730
and 309 men, but Switzerland has 600,000
seasoned reserves. Costa Rica boasts
that her pay roll contains many more
school teachers than soldiers. Consider
ing the size and wealth of the United
.States, our Army, despite its cost, must
be reckoned as one of the most modest
in existence. Its dimensions betoken the
American people’s wish to keep out of
war, but attest their determination, by
adequate preparedness, to remain on
that ’’respectable defensive posture”
recommended by George Washington in
the farewell address.
A Flexible Court.
What will constitute the Supreme
Court of the United States if President
Roosevelt's bill authorizing him to ap
point a maximum of six additional
justices of the court is enacted into law?
This question was propounded by Sena
tor Borah of Idaho during the hearings
on the President’s court bill before the
Judiciary Committee. Thus far it has
not been definitely answered. For under
this proposed measure the Supreme
Court might consist of a Chief Justice
and eight associate justices, as at pres
ent, or it might consist of a Chief
Justice and nine or more associate jus
tices, up to fourteen. The number
would be determined by the personal will
of individual members of the court who
reach or have reached the age of seventy
and one-half years. If all of the justices
who have reached that age immediately
retire, the court membership would re
main at nine. If all of these justices
decline to retire, then the membership
would be fifteen. Congress, which under
the Constitution has the right to say
how many justices shall constitute the
Supreme Court, will have turned over to
the individual justices themselves the
power to fix the membership of the
court.
Representative Pettengill of Indiana
has brought the issue squarely before
Congress and the country. In an ad
I dress in the House on Monday he chal
lenged the constitutionality of this slid
ing scale for Supreme Court member
ship. He argued that it was unconstitu
tional for Congress to delegate these
powers to the individual justices, to leave
the right to fix the membership of the
court to the desires of one or more
members of the court. It is an interest
ing constitutional question. And Mr.
Pettengill carried his argument to a
logical conclusion when he said that in
the event the President’s plan, or any
other sliding scale for the court mem
i bership, is adopted, a decision by such
a court could and would be challenged
on the ground that the court was not
properly constituted.
The proponents of the President’s pro
gram, including the Attorney General
and others, have declared that the Presi
dent’s bill was entirely constitutional;
that the Congress has always had the
power to fix the number of justices who
shall serve on the Supreme bench. They
have pointed to the fact that Congress
has six or seven times exercised this
power, changing the number of justices.
In each of these changes, however, Con
gress has definitely stated what number
shall constitute the Supreme Court. It
has said that there shall be a Chief
Justice and a fixed number of associate
justices. That is a vastly different propo
sition, however, from what is now pro
posed by President Roosevelt and his
supporters.
It is the contention of Mr. Pettengill
that the delegation of such power is
clearly unconstitutional. He has found
decisions by the Supreme Court itself
to uphold this contention. Further, he
points to the chaotic condition which
might arise if a citizen appealed to a
court consisting of nine justices, had
a hearing before a court consisting of
eleven justices and a final decision by
a court of fifteen. He points also to a
possible case where a litigant might win
his case before a court of nine justices
and lose on a rehearing before a court
of twelve.
Senators who are supporting the
President’s Supreme Court program are
inclined to laugh off, if they can, the
suggestion of unconstitutionality made
by the Indiana Representative. It is
a question that may arise to plague the
country in the future if the bill is en
acted into law. It should receive the
most careful consideration.
Money has been spent by Mr. Ickes
and Mr. Hopkins at a rate that appears
to recognize competition as the life of
relief.
Be Careful!
Last week end took from Washington
homes two boys who could ill be spared.
One was killed by a railroad train; the
other died as the result of the explosion
of a glass bottle into which dry ice had
been introduced. Fun, natural enough
to young people, was the objective in
both instances, and tragedy, sheer and
stark, was the outcome. The whole city
sympathizes with the bereaved parents.
But how shall such sorrow be employed
constructively? How shall the grief
which so many feel be used to prevent
further death and injury? The prob
lem is staggering in its implications.
For solution of it, education on a vast
scale is necessary. Youth must be taught
caution. Otherwise, day by day, year by
year, the record of losses is bound to
increase.
Yet no friend of the younger genera
tion desires that it should be frightened,
made timid or timorous. It is normal
for boys and girls to choose to take
chances. Youth always Instinctively is
venturesome, and it is patently right
that it should be. Progress in large part
depends on being fearless of fear.
A suggestion of rational discrimination,
however, may be offered. There are, ln
controvertibly, some risks which it is
foolhardy to attempt. The power of an
on-rushing locomotive or of carbon
dioxide in confinement is too great to
challenge with impunity. And the
vicarious satisfaction of such competi
tion is too slight to gamble for. No
“stunt” which represents a moment’s
fun for a lifetime of disability or sudden
destruction is “fair game.” The odds are
too heavy.
A Wise Committee Action.
A definite move toward the rejection
of the proposed location of the Jefferson
Memorial, at the Tidal Basin, was made
yesterday when the House Committee on
Library, which has jurisdiction, voted to
report favorably a resolution forbidding
the use of that site. Chairman Keller
of the committee states that a com
prehensive report will be drafted that
will recite the objections to this site and
the estimated excessive cost of the
proposed memorial at that location.
This should dispose of the matter. It
should furthermore lead to a renewed
study of the project by the memorial
commission for the selection of another
situation, whether a change in the design
is undertaken or not. A suitable and
commensurate memorial to Thomas
Jefferson should be erected at the Capital.
On this score there is no dissent. There
is even a strong public sentiment for
it. But the location of the memorial
should not entail the sacrifice of one of
the Capital’s chief charms, a park which
has become famous throughout the world
for its beauty.
The matter of cost is altogether within
the province of Congress to determine.
Similarly the adoption of a design is a
congressional prerogative. Advisory sug
gestions and recommendations are not
in themselves conclusive. In this case
there is merely an interruption of the
procedure, in the action of the House
committee which, to be final, must be
indorsed by the House itself, of which
there should be no question.
» *ttr *
How far society has departed from the
old "horse and buggy days” is illustrated
by the consternation shown when labor
difficulties voice a threat that maybe
for a while there will not be any more
automobiles.
Music has charms, but the United
States Supreme Court refuses to har
monize in any parody which runs "Home,
on the Rearrange.”
Women are clever politicians who
sometimes attain their most powerful re
sults by allowing the men to wear the
uniforms.
In case of a subway for the District
of Columbia, Dupont Circle will be a
point of significance and will still honor
the name of a great old admiral.
Too much may be expected of a Post
master General, if, in addition to serving
in his official capacity, he is expected to
be a Past Master of Politics.
Shooting Stars.
BY PHILANDER JOHNSON.
Those Alleged Happy Boyhood Days.
Id like to be a boy once morel
You’ll often hear it said
As men maturer cares deplore
When years have swiftly fled.
I'd like to be a boy again
And hear dear teacher bluff
And vainly struggle to explain
A lot of Wisdom Stuff.
Which nothing but Experience
Can truthfully reveal.
I long to feel with glee intense
That stone bruise on my heel.
And stomach aches and smarts and
stings
Of chastisement deserved
And all the various other things
That leave a boy unnerved.
I long with jocund song to go
The rising sun to view,
And Echo answers soft and low
“You do Tut! Tut! Pooh! Pooh!”
Futuristic Politics.
“Why do you show so much hesitancy
about the way you vote?”
“I'm looking to the future,” said Sen
ator Sorghum. “If anything goes wrong
with a plan I am under political obli
gations to favor, I want to be able to
remind my constituents that I had my
doubts about it all the time.”
Jud Tunkins says you mustn’t expect
too much of a man whose idea of econ
omy is to save enough money to put a
good bet on a horse race.
Change of Form.
We wonder why, when children show
As fathers tell, such wondrous wit,
So often as they older grow
They get completely over it!
“To believe you are right,” said Hi Ho,
the sage of Chinatown, “means but little
benefit to any one unless you can bring
your belief to proof.”
Home Life.
“You attend many bridge games and
lectures.”
“I enjoy them,” admitted Miss Cay
enne.
“Don’t you think a woman’s place Is
in the home?”
“Yes, but not necessarily her own
home.”
Unrestricted Planting.
The statesman tells of crops and rains.
The fanner’s way he notes.
He plants his speeches with great pains
That he may harvest votes.
And as with industry and grace
He goes about the State
He knows no limit to the space
That he may cultivate.
“It looks like a mistake," said Uncle
Eben, “foh a man to make too much
money, if he don’t know nuffln to buy
wif It except trouble."
‘ t
NEW BOOKS I
AT RANDOM
BY MARGARET GERMOND.
RAINBOW FISH. By Ralph Bates.
New York: E. P. Dutton & Co.
Ralph Bates, whose two previous novels
have given him rank among England’s
foremost post-war writers, has wandered
far from his former interests and
gathered a strange assortment of men
for the leading roles in a story that
hauls a dragnet through the backwaters
of the social constituency and brings to
the surface a peculiar collection of hu
man wreckage.
Pathetic representatives of the socially
submerged are these wretched refugees
who are victims of the disintegration of
their moral fiber and who have been
gradually driven to seek sanctuary and
forgetfulness in the only occupation in
the world which holds a promise of
complete loss of identity. Sponge diving
off the Greek islands literally guarantees
escape from the law, but it is with the
effort to escape from memory that
“Rainbow Fish” is primarily concerned.
Robert Freeth, first in the acquaintance
of the reader, is a young Englishman
whose hatred of the sordidness of his
childhood home causes him to seek re
lease from his misery by joining a
troupe of traveling players. In Paris
his glorious experience in freedom comes
to an abrupt and tragic end.
Captain Skinner is master of a tramp
steamer belonging to a Greek company
engaged in the profitable business of
wrecking ships for the twin purposes of
stealing their cargoes and collecting their
insurance. He can sail no other sort of
ship because a jury once convicted him
of an intentional wreck in Syrian waters
in which four men lost their lives.
Freeth is on Captain Skinner’s ship when
Gianni Malatesta, a Sicilian anarchist
fleeing for his life, stows away while the
Swift is at anchor off Catania.
James Whirter Legge is an English
writer disappointed by his failure to at
tain success in his chosen medium of
literary expression and gradually be
coming insane because memory continues
persistently to remind him of the hor
rible fact that he has murdered two
women. On a mail schooner bound from
Piraeus to Skarpa Island, haven of those
for whom sponge diving is the last
resort, he makes the acquaintance of
Asher Weisendonck, one-time London
barber whose get-rich-quick schemes had
been too flagrant even for Greece.
Charles O'Phelan is a product of
Dublin and the victim of Irish revolu
tion and riot.
These and others of equal wretched
ness are the cursing, fighting men hauled
by Mr. Bates from the depths of their
hopeless and foul existence and presented
in a succession of sketches which in the
whole comprise a vivid and intense study
in human derelicts. Brief outlines reveal
the native and social backgrounds of
the characters, against which are set
forth the motives which cause men to
give free rein to the momentary de
rangement of their passions. With these
two factors established, the story then
proceeds along its major theme, which
is an exposition from the inside of the
mental, emotional and intellectual re
actions of these men who work and
subsist in a world apart, haunted by
memory, hunted by the law and hounded
by the consciousness of an eternal doom
from which there is no escape.
The story reaches its climax in the
enforced voyage of these men on a ship
which the captain has been ordered by
its crooked owners to wreck.
It is an odd story, both in content
and in style of presentation. But it gives
impetus to a growing faith in the endur
ing quality of the work of Ralph Bates,
whose mild, quiet manner belies the
intensity of his nature and the pas
sionate sympathy wrhlch he feels for the
victims of a society which possesses little
understanding of the limited powers of
human endurance in stress of emotion
and little knowledge of the sufferings
endured by the oppressed.
There can be no comparison between
this book and "The Olive Field," which
was a novel designed to give a clear-cut
view of the causes underlying the present
revolution in Spain. Mr. Bates is now
and has for some time been on the
battlefront of Spain.
9k ik ik ik
THE TAIL OP THE COMET. By Mary
Cable Dennis. New York: E. P.
Dutton & Co.
George W. Cable, father of the author,
and Alfred Dennis, her husbind, are the
subjects of this delightful book concern
ing two of America’s outstanding literary
personalities. The work does not attempt
to be seriously biographical, but contents
itself with the simple and undramatized
recollections of family life in that espe
cially colorful era in American history
which witnessed the rise to a glorious
climax and the passing of a great and
picturesque generation in the deep South
and the dawn of a new age with the new
century.
Life in New Orleans in the days when
Lefcadio Hearn, Mark Twain. Oscar
Wilde, Joel Chandler Harris and others
whose fame had not yet reached the
heights were familiar figures in political,
literary and social affairs, afforded a
glamorous background for the writings
and for the activities of George W.
Cable in the movement for social reform.
Mrs. Dennis devotes the major part
of her recollections, however, to the per
sonal side rather than the public side
of her father’s life. She recalls him as
an affectionate father and husband, as
a loyal neighbor and stanch friend, as
a conscientious worker and as a man
who loved and possessed a rare under
standing of the Creole people.
The story of the life of her historian
husband Is told more briefly, but as a
work of personal recollections of men
and of incidents in that remarkable era
of romance, when life was more of an
adventure and less of the undramatic
grind than it is today, is refreshing
and entertaining and perhaps a bit
stimulating if reac} with an appreciation
of the beauty of a civilization that can
never be erased from memory by the
inexorable march of modernism.
One Doubtful Proposal.
From the Helena (Mont.) Independent.
There is one proposal in the Presi
dent’s plan for reorganization of the
Government that will attract more than
a passing glance from Western members
of Congress. It would relieve the United
States Army Engineers from all further
responsibility in connection with rivers
and harbors and other public projects,
such as the Fort Peck Dam, and center
that responsibility in the hands of a new
department of public works.
Members of Congress report they have
already received numerous letters and
telegrams opposing this feature of the
President’s program, particularly from
areas where the Army Engineers are now
carrying out big improvement projects.
The Mississippi Valley States are espe
cially concerned, over this proposal.
The United States Army Engineering
Corps has built a great reputation for
efficiency, economy and Integrity. Not
one project handled by the Army has
“gone sour” and the officers have han
dled billions of dollars ol public money
and there never has been even a hint of
scandal. There is no finer body of men
on earth than the Army engineering
staff.
THIS AND THAT 1
. BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.
The greatest failure In the average
rock garden is the use of stone pieces
which are not large enough.
Slabs, rather than rocks, should be
used in practically all situations.
Nothing is more common than to see
a rock garden so overgrown with its
flowers that its rocks do not show at all.
The only way to avoid this is to use
materials which are large enough and
heavy enough to withstand these effects
of growth.
Where the newcomer to rock garden
ing usually makes a mistake is in the
belief that the rocky parts of his garden
must stick up.
So he selects small stones, appalled
by their comparatively large size in re
lation to the little new plants he sets
out in the earth pockets.
What he cannot realize is how the
plants will grow, if they like their situa
tion, and how the rocks will be smothered
in them.
Then the peaks of rocky material,
sticking up over the tops of the plants,
will seem rather absurd, so that the
honest mind, looking at them, will
wonder why they are there at all.
Properly selected and placed, rocks
never have that effect on the beholder.
They seem at all times, whether in
the new or old garden, to “belong” as
by divine right.
It is divine right, of course, if anything
is divine right—a real right of eminent
domain, in a sense.
Certain plants like a rocky place to
grow.
How they love to cuddle alongside,
seeming to derive strength and even
nourishment from the apparently hostile
material.
Rocks, to genuine rock garden plants,
or those we call so, are in a sense hosts.
They supply them with moisture and
a certain amount of shade. Even some
form of nourishment comes from the
rocks, as a part of their substance is
very slowly dissolved out over the years.
Above and beyond these material ad
vantages which the rocks give to rock
garden plants there is the psychological
side. It is coming to be more and more
recognized that intelligence resides in
all things. Not human intelligence, of
course, but intelligence. The most in
animate things we know are abounding
and coursing with life, filled with the
energy of the spheres. If life, then in
telligence, for even the most unintelli
gent seeming things are not so, but
stuffed and crammed with understand
ing, provided that man has the key to
open their mysteries and understand
at last what they have to tell him.
* * * *
Select rocks right, for the new rock
garden, and when it is old it will show
the results by a well-balanced and at
tractive arrangement, rocks with plants
giving that true effect so often sought
and so seldom achieved.
It may be believed that this unwanted
result is brought about mostly through
fear of too large rocks.
Slabs, as we have said, are necessary,
not peaked and jagged boulders. A few
of these, perhaps, may fit in, according
to location, but in the main the rocks
used should be from three to four feet,
or even more, on a side.
This will permit the step-like arrange
ment seen in the better rock gardens
and also prevent the entire growing over
of the hard materials, for it will be im
possible for even the most thriving
plants to completely cover them.
A situation which naturally permits
the placing of these slabs in somewhat
step fashion is best, but even Its lack
will not preclude a proper rock garden,
for the terrace is not the essential thing,
but the growing of plants which really
prefer rocks near them.
If such plants are used, as they should
be, they need rocks around them, but
seldom will this mean Just being placed
among rocks laid on the ground.
Rock garden plants, properly inter
preted, and regarded, are simply those
plants which do well in real rocky for
mations, much of which by Nature is
slab-like.
Wind-blown seeds, seeds carried by
animals, stuck to their coats, and seeds
dropped by the birds in flight, lodged
in the earth pockets in such slabs cen
turies ago.
In the long past of history most of
these plants found lodgings to their lik
ing, even better than in the fields and
forests in which they first had their
growth.
It may have been that the lowland
homes of such plants finally grew in
imical, so that the only survivors of these
species were in the highlands, along
rocky outcroppings and seams hard to
get at by animals, including that arch
animal, man.
So in time these plants, which we
today call rock garden plants, or apines,
grew to like such habitats best of all.
The closer the gardener duplicates
natural conditions the better, then, and
he cannot do so by simply placing rocks
on the ground and putting plants in the
ground around them.
A true rock garden, as the term and
conditions have come to be known, is
made by placing large slabs of stone in
formation so that not only is there some
earth between them, but also there are
pockets of soil actually on and in them.
The profile of a true rock garden will
show the rocks one above the other, not
one after the other on the level. This
will mean that they must be large
enough to give a shelf-like appearance,
but a fine distinction must be made—
this appearance need not be step-like,
and this will depend upon the size of
the rocks more than upon any other
factor.
uarK gray stones, or natural stone
color, is the best, for this is unobtrusive
and blends well with both foliage of
petals.
It will be realized that the building
of a true rock garden is never woman's
work. She may superintend, and direct
the placing of the rock formations, but
the actual handling of the slabs of stone
should be done by man power, maybe
two-man power—if the stores are heavy,
as they should be.
The first appearance of a properly
done rock garden will be very rocky, in
deed, in the actual, not the figurative
meaning.
Time will tell another tale. The plants
will nestle against the slabs, will draw
strength from their presence, will grow
at last to occupy all available space.
How real rock plants love their rocks
is shown by the way they often stretch
out their heads over them, when the
earth pockets permit them to go no far
ther in that direction.
Such is their love for their dear rocks,
that they stretch and stretch, until the
casual observer would think them to be
growing up from them. If the hand
sweeps back a mass of the foliage, how
ever, the stalks will be shown to be
growing far to one side.
WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS
BY FREDERIC WILLIAM WILE.
Three neighboring Southern States—
North Carolina, South Carolina and
Georgia—give promise of becoming
arenas of interesting political battles in
1938. Combat will revolve around the
respective ambitions of Senator Robert
R. Reynolds, Ellison D. Smith and
Walter F. George to succeed themselves.
The contests will be waged in Democratic
primaries, nomination in each case being
as good as a certificate of election. Rey
nolds probably has the easiest sailing,
although North Carolina's other "Bob,"
Representative Doughton, is periodically
named as an aspirant. The seasoned
ways and means chairman has so estab
lished a place in the House that there's
doubt of his readiness to risk it in a
senatorial campaign. He might not en
counter good sledding if the revenue situ
ation should condemn him to enact the
role of sponsoring higher taxes, which
would hit . North Carolina, generous
Treasury contributor, in vital spots.
Reynolds was elected in 1932 in the
teeth of almost unanimous press op
position. Next year, perhaps because
he's meantime become a contributor of
Washington news to more than 100 State
papers, the Senator thinks Tarheel edi
torial sentiment will be overwhelmingly
in his favor. As an ardent proponent
of the court program, Reynolds basks in
Rooseveltian graces.
* * * *
Farther down the coast, in contrast
to North Carolina, the Supreme Court
issue bulks conspicuously in the sena
torial picture. In South Carolina “Cot
ton Ed” Smith, out-and-out anti-New
Dealer, is almost sure to be opposed by
Gov. Olin D. Johnston, carrying White
House colors, with Smith seriously handi
capped by his opposition to the judiciary
program and other administration meas
ures. Smith, second ranking member of
the Senate, is up for a sixth term.
Though a famed vote-getter, the Dixie
veteran faces a fight for his political
life. Georgia may be the scene of a
three-cornered primary struggle. Both
Gov. Ed Rivers and former Gov. Gene
Talmadge are possible rivals of Senator
George. The latter, like Smith of South
Carolina, because of his opposition to
court-packing, can hardly hope for
Roosevelt-Farley backing, which would
probably be at Rivers’ disposal. Should
Talmadge enter the race, he and Rivers
might divide the Democratic vote to
an extent that would leave the Senator
out in front. George is one of the brains
of the Senate. Should he go with the
wind, it would be a real loss to the
Democratic majority.
♦ * * *
Speaking of China, it didn’t escape
notice that Secretary of Commerce
Roper’s recent dinner, at which the
Ambassadors of Soviet Russia and Japan
were ranking honor guests, was given in
the “Chinese room" of the Mayflower
Hotel. Ambassadors Troyanovsky ard
Saito happen to be cronies of former
days in Japan. Despite war clouds over
the Far East, they’ve remained bosom
friends here.
^ ^ ^
Presentations of American women at
the coronation court and other Bucking
ham Palace leveei are exclusively up to
the Ambassador to the Court of St.
James. White House and State Depart
ment traditionally keep hands off such
delicate affairs of state, though there's
no lack of political pull and push to
secure the coveted royal honor for
Uncle Sam’s Democratic daughters.
Aspiring presentees must submit their
1
claims and credentials to the London
Embassy for X-ray scrutiny of their
eligibility. One of the rigid rules during
the reign of George V and Queen Mary
barred divorcees. Whether the embargo
prevails under George VI and Elizabeth
is not officially known at Washington.
In Queen Victoria’s time a famous
American woman long resident in Lon
don had the reputation of carrying
enough guns to assure presentation of
practically anybody she sponsored. Such
days are gone.
* * * *
In sending Dr. C. T. Wang as Ambas
sador to succeed Dr. Alfred Sze, China
maintains the tradition of being repre
sented In the United States by graduates
of American universities. Ambassador
Sze took his degree at Cornell, preceding
what was destined to be a period of
nearly a quarter of a century in his
country’s diplomatic service, including
two separate missions alternately in both
London and Washington. Dr. Wang
was a student at the University of Michi
gan in 1907-08 and received an A. B. at
Yale in 1910. It was while minister
of foreign affairs in the then radical
Nationalist government at Nanking that
Dr. Wang in 1930 proclaimed unilateral
termination of extraterritoriality in
China, action ignored by the powers.
Eamon de Valera, architect in chief of
the newly declared “sovereign democratic
republic" of Eire, was born in the same
State and year as President Roosevelt—
New York and 1882. Author of the
Independent constitution and Eire’s pros
pective first chief executive, Mr. de
Valera had a Spanish father and an
Irish mother. He left the United States
in early youth for education and up
bringing in Erin and did not return to
native American heath until he came
here as first apostle of the Irish Re
public.
* * * *
Secretary Henry Morgenthau might do
well to corner Belgian Premier van Zee
land in Washington next month and
extort from him the secret of budget
balancing. Van Zeeland has not been
finance minister in either of his two
governments since March, 1935. but the
success of Belgium's devaluation and
various conversions of her public debt is
mainly attributed to him. Two years
ago the budget was threatened with a
deficit of 1,000,000,000 francs. Today it
is balanced, despite tax reductions
roundly totaling that amount. The gov
ernment has had to borrow only 2,500,
000,000 francs of fresh home money. The
gold stock of 4,000,000,000 francs is fully
restored to the old level. All these op
erations were carried out amid a big
program of public works for reduction
of unemployment.
Securities and Exchange Commission
Chairman James M. Landis is due to
retire June 6 to become dean of Harvard
Law School September 1. Reports are
current that his commission colleagues
want Landis to remain In office through
out the Summer because of a number of
important issues that may be hanging
fire and about which he has special
knowledge. P. D. R. is expected soon
after his return from Texas to indicate
who Landis’ successor will be. Talk
persists that the brilliant young lawyer
economist is In the top rank of possi
bilities for new Supreme Court justice
ships—if and when.
(Ooerriafct lM?->
>
ANSWERS TO 1
QUESTIONS
BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN.
A Trader can get the answer to any
question of fact by writing The Evening
Star Information Bureau, Frederic J,
Haskin, Director, Washington, D. C.
Please inclose stamp for reply.
Q. What racing greyhound is consid
ered the best?—G. B.
A. Mick the Miller is recorded as the
greatest racing greyhound that ever lived.
His exact breeding is unknown. He was ,
owned by Father Brophy, an Irish priest,
who, in 1929, took the dog to London
and entered him in a race there. The
dog won $50,000 in purses for his owners
and almost countless cups and trophies.
He was retired in 1931 and is quartered
at Walton-on-Thames for breeding pur
poses. He is now 11 years old.
Q. What proportion of purchases are
made in the United States on some sort '
of deferred payment plan?—N. K.
A. In 1936 deferred payments Were
estimated at $13,000,000,000, and formed
35 per cent of the total purchases.
Q. Did the youth hostel movement
originate in this country?—H. J.
A. Germany has had youth hostels
for 25 years. Herr Richard Schirrmann
started the first of these near Altena,
Westphalia, and by the time the war
began there were 200 hostels in that
country.
Q. What airlines received safety
awards?—W. M. H.
A. The National Safety Council pre
sented awards to Eastern Air Lines,
Northwest Airlines and Pennsylvania
Central Airlines for their outstanding
safety records.
Q. Where is the largest Unitarian
church in th world?—N. R.
A. People’s Church in Chicago is th#
largest. It has 2,500 members. ’
Q. What continent has the greatest
mean altitude?—W. K.
A. Antarctica, with a mean altitude
of 6,000 feet. Asia is next, 3,000 feet
mean altitude; then North America, 2,000
feet; Africa, 1.900 feet; South America,
1,800 feet; Australia, 1,000 feet; Europe,
980 feet.
Q How many States have laws calling
for the observance of Arbor day?—S. W,
A. Thirty-six. In six States it is a
legal holiday, and in three it is a legal
holiday in the schools.
Q. When 'was the American Radio
Relay League formed?—J. H.
A. In May, 1914, H. P. Maxim and '
another Hartford amateur, C. D. Tuska,
sat down and wrote a letter to each one
of the amateurs listed at that time in
the Government call book, announcing
the formation of the American Radio
Relay League, outlining its purposes and
soliciting membership.
Q. How hot is a redhot iron?—M C.
A. Iron glows red at a temperature of *
750 degrees.
Q. What is the greatest number of
eggs laid by any one hen in a year?
Where?—R. F. B.
A. The office of poultry husbandry
says that a Leghorn hen at Corvallis,
Oreg., in 1934-5 laid 360 eggs in 365
days, which is the greatest official record
known.
Q. When invited for a week end, how
long should one stay?—W. F.
A. The person giving the invitation
generally specifies the exact time that
is meant. Usually a week end means
from Friday afternoon or from Saturday
lunch to Monday morning.
Q. I want to find the quotation, “We
do not count a man’s years until he has
nothing else to count.” It is so pertinent,
to this discussion about the age of judges!
—S. W. H.
A. It is found in Emerson s "Old Age.”
Q In what cemetery in New York is
there a monument called the War Dog?
—W. J. H.
A. In the animal cemetery at Harts- *
dale, N. Y„ there is a monument in the
form of a German shepherd dog wearing
Red Cross insignia, a water bottle and
leather helmet lying at his feet.
Q What is the derivation of the word
Barcelona?—J. W.
A. The city in Spain is named after
the Carthaginian, Hamilcar Barca, who
founded it.
•
Q. Who appeared with the late Marilyn
Miller in "Sunny” about 1925?—W. J. H.
A. The cast included Joseph Cawthorn.
Clifton Webb, Jack Donahue, Paul
Frawley and Mary' Hay.
Q. How is Westminster Abbey heated?
—W. H.
A. It is heated by oil.
Q. What famous Italian artist was a
tailor?—C. H.
A. Annibale Carracci was taught the
tailoring trade, but under the instruction
of Lodovico Carracci he rapidly became
a great painter.
Q. After Lincoln’s death, in how many
places did his body lie in state?—H, ft.
A. In fourteen cities.
Q How much did it cost to care for a
man in a transient camp?—E. N.
A. The average cost of feeding and
lodging a man in the transient camps
was about 24 cents a day. These camps
were financed by the Federal Govern
ment.
Q. How large is Lake Champlain?—
G. E. A.
A. It is 125 miles long and varies ia
width from one-half mile to 15 miles.
Missed All Around.
From the Omaha World-Herald.
The girl who fired six shots at her
teacher because her grades were low
also flunked, it may be said, in marks
manship.
Sweet Consistency.
Prom the Cincinnati Times-Sta:-.
In Columbus the workers’ Allianc#
protests against soup kitchens, then
dines—at soup kitchens. That’s the kind
of world we live in.
A Rhyme at Twilight
By
Gertrude Brooke Hamilton.
The Summons
No more the wind is blustering: tha
softer Maytime breeze,
As tiny buds are clustering, just stirs
the leafing trees.
No rain of sparks is- showering from
pine logs as they bum:
The fireplace is flowering with daffodil
and fern.
The wide outdoors is beckoning: birda
fly aloft and aing;
, In joy that knows no reckoning we, too,
I are on tha wing.
1 i