Evening star. [volume], May 22, 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.
SATURDAY__-May 22, 1937
THEODORE W. NOYES_Editor
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The “Ever Normal” Vote.
“Jim" Farley is having trouble main
taining his “ever normal” Democratic
storehouse. The chairman of the Demo
cratic National Committee has slipped
a cog. Despite all his strenuous efforts
for the past few months, and despite the
huge store of Democratic Senators in
the present Congress, normalcy has
taken wings. The revolt of the Demo
cratic Senators against the Supreme
Court packing bill has been an amazing
development—and probably amazing to
Mr. Farley. It is an unusual experience.
Getting Democratic Senators to go along
with administration measures has been
one of the things for which the na
tional chairman, not to mention the
President, has been justly famous.
The other day Mr. Farley suggested
that Democratic Senators might have
an uneasy conscience when they go to
the White House asking support for pet
legislation, after having voted against
the President's court bill. It was an
unfortunate suggestion. It aroused the
Ire of those Democrats who had an
nounced their opposition to the bill as
perhaps nothing else that has occurred.
If anything, it solidified the Democratic
opposition to the court bill, although
obviously that could not have been the
Farley objective.
The quid pro quo is nothing new in
politics. But it is not always advisable
to drag it into the open. Undoubtedly
that kind of operation has been relied
upon to aid in getting a sufficient num
ber of Democratic Senators to rally back
of the President in this court issue fight.
Any shifts now, from the opposition to
the administration camp, will be eyed
askance.
As a mere matter of political acumen
it may be interesting to consider the
future course of Mr. Farley and the
President toward the Democrats w-ho
have differed with them on this court
issue. What are they to do about the
Democratic Senators who have defied
them? Will It be good politics to seek
their defeat when they come up for
renomination and re-election? It does
not seem possible that political leaders
famed for astuteness, as are Mr. Farley
and the President, will follow- such a
course. The late President Woodrow
.Wilson undertook to bring about the de
feat of a comparatively few Democratic
Senators who clashed w-ith him. The
result was not signally satisfactory,
although Mr. Wilson succeeded In caus
ing the defeat of isolated individuals. It
Was the beginning of a disintegration.
If Mr. Farley and the President con
tinue to insist upon the court bill, with
its provisions for increasing the Supreme
Court, they may find an increasingly
difficult situation, from a party point of
View. In the first place, they will put
old friends, men who have supported
them through thick and thin, on the
apot. In the second place, they must
think of the program of the President
for the remainder of his administration.
The bitterness engendered in a knock
down. drag-out fight over the court bill
is not likely to be dissipated in a hurry.
The “ever normal" Democratic vote in
the Senate may become a thing of the
past.
In case of more Supreme Court nom
inations, opinions might be solicited
as to how the Judges thus added to the
bench would vote on various cases that
are listed as presenting possibilities of a
tie. It would make no difference, but It
Should be enlightening as to results.
Russia Reaches the Pole.
For the fifth time man has reached
the North Pole. A Russian flying party,
headed by Professor Otto Schmidt, has
made the point of ninety degrees North
latitude and no longitude by a flight
from Rudolph Island, which is one of
the group called Franz Josef Land. The
expedition was the climax of a long
continued course of preparation, under
taken with the view of establishing a
Moscow-San Francisco air route. The
actual polar point was attained, it is
reported in a dispatch from Moscow, the
plane flying above it and around it sev
eral times in a search for a suitable
landing place, which was found at a
point about thirteen miles from the Pole.
In a short time, according to present
plans, four other planes will follow from
the Rudolph Island base, and four men
will be established on the ice, to remain
about a year. If the project is carried
through planes will fly from Rudolph
Island from time to time in the prepara
tion of the contemplated air course
across the top of the world.
Peary in 1909 by sledge, Byrd by air
plane in 1926, Amundsen-EUsworth
Nobile by dirigible in 1926 and Nobile by
dirigible in 1928, reached the north
polar point. Cook claimed to have pre
ceded Peary a short time before the lat
ter's attainment of the Pole, but his
claims were rejected, and the credit and
the honor of Initial achievement of the
“top of the world” went to Peary.
Whether the Russian plan of main
taining an all-air route of travel from
Moscow to San Francisco by way of the
Pole is ever accomplished, this initial ad
venture in the establishment of a base is
undoubtedly a feat of importance. It
is not, however, assured that this can be
done, merely by the present attainment
of the polar point. There remains the
question of whether the party now to
be left on the ice during the Winter can
survive, and after that comes the prob
lem of the maintenance of even an ap
proximately scheduled service over the
roof of the world for practical transport.
This Immediate achievement, severthe
less, is notable and deserves the highest
praise as a demonstration of scientific
planning and daring enterprise.
Ambassador Szc.
Washington Is about to lose an old
friend, and the diplomatic corps one of
its seasoned, popular and able members,
with the impending retirement of Dr.
Sao-Ke Alfred Sze, Chinese Ambassador
to the United States. The National
Capital has a special interest in Dr.
Sze, because, man and boy, he has been
identified with the city's life for the
better part of a generation. Following
his graduation from Central High School
in the late nineties and later from
Cornell University with the class of 1901,
the veteran Chinese envoy has spent
roundly twenty-three years in the foreign
service of his country', some twelve or
thirteen of them at Washington. Dr.
Sze had two separate tours of duty on
the Potomac, preceded on both occa
sions by assignments as Minister to
Great Britain. Two years ago he be
came the first Ambassador of China
ever accredited to this country, having
previously held the rank of Minister.
He now goes home with the unique
record of having represented China
abroad probably for a longer period than
any other man who ever carried her
diplomatic credentials.
America’s traditional interest In
China, exemplified by the proclamation
of John Hay's open door policy at the
dawn of the century, found an effective
reciprocal exponent in Ambassador Sze.
It fell to his lot through the years, often
under difficult circumstances, to inter
pret to the English-speaking world the
aspirations of the struggling young
republic and maintain western faith in
its destiny. That he has notably suc
i ceeded in this endeavor is a high tribute
to his professional talents and personal
qualities, and merits for him the endur
ing gratitude of his government and
fellow countrymen.
As chief of the Chinese delegation at
the 1921-22 Washington conference on
armaments and Pacific affairs, Dr. Sze
played a prominent role in the Sino
Japanese negotiations, conducted under
American auspices, which led to the
restitution of Shantung and to general
regularization of China's relations with
her powerful neighbor. Subsequently,
as his people's spokesman at the League
of Nations, Dr. Sze had still wider op
portunity to present and plead China’s
case internationally. Among his con
crete achievements at Washington in
recent years was the conclusion of im
portant agreements between the United
States and China respecting silver and
wheat and other economic interests.
Dr. Sze and his accomplished wife
enjoy a wide circle of friends and ad
mirers, who sincerely regret their de
parture and wish them Godspeed in
whatever sphere their future activities
may be cast. Sino-American friendship
is stronger for the constructive contri
butions made by Alfred Sze to the cause
of mutual understanding and good-will
between the two countries.
A Gratifying Victory.
The power of eminent domain given
to the Alley Dwelling Authority might
be viewed as the foundation of the prin
ciple on which it is proceeding in the
conversion of blighted areas in the Dis
trict to new uses. Deprived of that
power, the Alley Dwelling Authority
might still be able to function, but only
to a limited extent. Certainly it would
never become the effective agency in rid
ding the c’ty of sore spots which, in time,
it will become. For that reason it is grat
ifying that in the first test of the Author
ity’s power to condemn property Chief
Justice Wheat of District Court has
upheld that power without equivocation.
A point made in the case by the plain
tiff was that the use to which a certain
group of alley dwellings was to be put by
the Authority was not a public use; that
after acquisition the Authority could sell
or lease the property or take over its
management. But the Government’s
answer, in which the court apparently
agreed, was that whole purpose of the
Alley Dwelling Authority act is to rid
■certain areas of the District of condi
tions prejudicial to the community’s pub
lic health, safety, morals and welfare.
To accomplish that purpose, it may be
necessary to condemn property. And
after condemnation the Government is
free to make whatever use it chooses of
the property thus acquired.
As the Alley Dwelling Authority is pro
ceeding on the theory that some alley
property is better fitted for other pur
poses than dwellings, and that its con
version to other uses is sometimes best
accomplished by sale or lease, the fact
that it has won in this first test of its
powers is vitally important to a continu
ation of the good work it has begun.
New names are constantly added to the
lists of writers on subjects relating to
U. S. political events. News is not so
simple and may require more explana
tion.
A Necessary Privilege.
The practical suggestion has been
made by Auditor Donovan that the Dis
trict be permitted to draw advances
from the Treasury to meet appropriations
demands until the District’s own tax
revenues become available. There is no
reason why this should not be done and
the situation demands that something of
the sort be done.
Previous to abandonment of the fifty
fifty ratio in appropriations and substi
tution of the sixty-forty ratio, the Dis
trict used to obtain Treasury advances
to tide it over the interval, after the
beginning of the new fiscal year, until
its own cash became available. As a
part of the compromise agreement on the
sixty-forty ratio, however, the District
was ordered to accumulate a cash reserve
which would enable it to meet demands
at the beginning of each fiscal year from
its own revenues. The sixty-forty agree
ment was soon ignored by Congress, but
the additional obligations imposed upon
the District were not.
Now the District is faced with a bare
larder at the end of the fiscal year and
the new revenues from new taxes to be
Imposed will not be collected for many
months after enactment of the tax legis
lation. The District will need the cash
to meet its bills. A provision should be
included in the appropriation bill making
it possible to draw on the Treasury and
pay back the advances as the taxes begin
to yield their revenue. This will cost the
Treasury nothing and turn about is only
fair play. There are times when the Dis
trict has on deposit in the Treasury
many millions of dollars which draw no
Interest whatever.
The punctuality and ease with which
the American people reacted in favor of
its cherry trees as against a marble monu
ment to Jefferson shows how much good
is already resulting from encouraging
visitors to study the U. S. Capital City
on their own account.
There is much to be learned about
flying machines and time for their study
is abundant. Even as an implement of
war the airship may present an uncer
tainty as to who are to be accounted
as friends.
Every now and then, as in the A. A. A.
tax decision, an obligation to repay over
due tax collections is not strictly defined.
This fact relieves the tension of the men
engaged on the delivery route, in these
hours of sudden notice.
After listening attentively to all that
was said by great folk at the coronation,
this country continues to have its own
opinions on various matters to be arrived
at by the same old friendly ways.
Shooting Stars.
BY PHILANDER JOHNSON.
Unsuspecting Victim.
Young Mrs. Flifkins loves to go
To see a temperamental show,
Where, with magnificent display,
A famous -‘Actoress" holds sway.
She diligently represents
Grief, Hate and kindred sentiments.
But she is most impressive when
She hits a tantrum, now and then.
She prances up and down the scene
And is an idol of the screen.
Our interest she w'ill soon engage
In awful but artistic rage.
Jack Flifkins has a simple heart.
He thinks his wife just dotes on Art.
He never dreams she has in mind
The Art of Quarrels most refined.
She studies temperamental wrath
That cows the man who blocks the path
Of woman wild, with drops and curves
That indicate a state of nerves.
She notes them all—the latest kinks,
In fierce but ladylike high jinks.
And then, Alas!—likewise Alack!—
She tries them out on poor old Jack.
The Quest.
"Are there many people now looking
for work?” asked the casual visitor.
"Not everybody ” sighed Senator Sor
ghum. "Some of the constituents who
look me up appear to desire only a
position and a salary.”
The Standard.
It is clever to endeavor
Promises to misconstrue,
But we can’t go on forever
Shirking obligations due.
There's a standard we are finding
As the world keeps growing old
That is even still more binding
Than the measurement called gold.
Though the documents may hover
Where on pen and ink we call,
"Word of honor,” we discover,
Is the one test after all.
Jud Tunkins says safety first is a
grand idea that is now worked out so
fine that a radio entertainer carries his
applause.
“Human misfortune,” said Hi Ho, the
sage of Chinatown, “cannot be cured
by censure. The human race has only
itself to blame for all the unpleasant
j things that have happened to it."
Thorns Out of Date.
Now June draws near with gentle style
Wearing a rainbow for a smile.
Let roses grace a pathway rough.
We surely have had thorns enough.
“When you tells your troubles these
days,” said Uncle Eben, “you's lucky
to git polite attention, let alone sym
pathy.”
Piscatorial Prevarication.
Prom the Hartford (Conn.) Courant.
Connecticut's Ashing season has
opened, and Abbing is once more a
healthy outdoor sport.
Pocket Provender.
Prom the Bay City (Mich.) Time*.
When Nazis can’t eat all they order at
the cafe, they are ordered to keep the
leftovers in their pockets to eat later.
Even the lemon meringue?
Optimism.
Prom the Winston-Salem Journal.
He’s an optimist if he borrows the
i money to pay for his marriage license.
Judicial Retirement Law
Of Doubtful yalidity
To the Editor of The Star:
The second clause of Section II, Article
II, of the Constitution of the United
States, sets forth that the President
“shall nominate and, by and with the
advice and consent of the Senate, shall
appoint * * * judges of the Supreme
Court,” etc.
The bill for reorganization of the
Federal judiciary, sent to Congress with
the presidential message February 5,
1937, follows that language of the Con
stitution as to judges, “The President
* * * shall nominate and, by and with
the advice and consent of the Senate,
shall appoint,” etc.
But in the law approved March 1,1937,
for retirement of justices of the Supreme
Court of the United States, it is enacted
that "the President shall be authorized
to appoint a successor to any justice of
the Supreme Court so retiring from regu
lar active service on the bench,” etc.
It is quite evident that the President
must first nominate judges to sit on the
Supreme Court of the United States,
but can appoint only by and with the
advice and consent of the Senate. The
wording of that retirement law raises
grave doubts as to its validity, for it does
not seem to conform to the language of
the Constitution. *
A justice of the Supreme Court of the
United States now has notified the
President that he desires to avail himself
of the rights, privileges and judicial
service specified in the act of March 1,
1937, entitled “An act to provide for re
tirement of justices of the Supreme
Court.”
If the act of March 1, 1937, be null and
void by reason of non-conformity to re
quirement of the Constitution as to ap
pointment of his successor, can that jus
tice of the Supreme Court retire under
an invalid law?
And if the law be invalid, he could not
legally receive his salary after retire
ment, could he, if, also, no disbursing
officer of the United States Government
may pay out money under an invalid law
without being held personally re
sponsible?
The seriousness of the present situation
requires that close attention be given to
that retirement law of March 1, 1937,
to determine definitely whether it is a
valid and operative law for the purpose
intended.
JOSEPH W. CHEYNEY.
Dublin Affair Shows That
Irish Have Long Memory
To the Editor of The 8tar:
The Irish have a long memory. I note
where in Dublin King George II's statue
was blown up. It was this same King
who. at Dettingen in 1743, defeated the
French. And so what?
Why, with the French there was the
famous “Irish Brigade" that two years
later gained great renown at Fontenoy.
These fighting men were sons and grand
sons of those "Wild Geese" who left their
country after that fateful day on the
waters of the Boyne in 1690. where their
chief. King James II, had run away.
“Change Kings with us, and well fight
you over again.” Such was the Irish
answer to an English taunt.
Under the brilliant Patrick Sarsfield,
and assisted by some French forces, the
Irish continued the war, but the defeat
of Aughrim put an end to their efforts.
Then came the treaty of Limerick (the
broken treaty) as its result.
Ten thousand followed Sarsfield into
exile rather than live in a land where
all hope of national freedom was lost.
“When the wild wail of the women who
stood watching their departure was
hushed, the silence of death settled down
upon Ireland. For 100 years the country
resigned itself to a peace of despair.”
(Green.)
This is of the past. But these memo
ries endure. Look into history, and what
has been hidden from you will assume
shape. You’ll know the answers. In any
case, it'll take your mind off relief and
taxes. FRED VETTER.
Nature an Experienced
Keeper of Time Sheet
To the Editor of The Star:
Has our precious individualism so
nearly disappeared we must now turn
to inanimate things, and conscript our
clocks?
Legislation should be first for the bene
fit of those who toil. It would appear
daylight-saving time is desired mainly
by those seeking recreation.
In the hot Summer adequate rest is a
necessity. Let those who need to sleep
in the cool morning hours. Let those
who desire more daylight arise earlier.
They could not play golf in the wet
grass, to be sure. But there are
compensations.
There is no more exquisite hour than
early morning, when "jocund day stands
tip-toe on the misty mountain top.”
The week-end gardener, those who
arise early for health or pleasure, the
ones who slumber, all benefit during the
cool, early morning hours, and no one
should be denied the privilege of utiliz
ing this time as each may desire.
Most offices are air-conditioned now
and office work can be done efficiently
and with comfort during the hottest part
of the day.
The country is so large daylight-saving
time would not be practicable for the
entire area and would just add to the
confusion resulting from natural differ
ence in time.
Why not abandon daylight-saving laws
entirely and let nature, who has had
rather more experience in such matters
than man, keep the time sheet?
M. P. WORSTER.
When the Members of
' Congress Are Unionized
To the Editor of The Star:
The clerks around the Capitol, Con
gressmen's secretaries and such are
forming a union, "civil service status"
and the rest of the stuff. So I note.
Next thing, the members the nisei ves'll
organize. But wouldn’t that prevent
their constituencies from nominating
and electing some one else? Not at
all. But such districts'll be declared
"unfair to organized Congressmen.”
When the newly elected one steps up
to be sworn in, he’ll be rejected as a
"scab,” and the former member’ll warm
his old seat once more. Congress is its
own judge of who is who and what is
What. FRED VETTER.
No Testing Device Needed
To Register Traction Noise
To the Editor of The Star:
Some time ago I read in The Star an
article concerning street cars. An expert
testified he could not state how much
noise the street cars made. He did not
test them. He would need no testing
machine if he would stand on Eighth
street southeast and hear some of those
repainted cars that used to run from the
Avenue at Thirteen and One-half street
northwest to Alexandria. Va.
GUS H. ZEITLER.
A Lingual Lapse.
From the Kalamazoo Gazette.
A keg of Mississippi water has been
sent to French students. What’s the
French for "Here’s mud in your eye"?
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.
Now that the mosquito season Is here
again, many persons should heed the
age-old advice, as difficult to follow as
It is good.
Don't scratch!
Insect bites are bad enough, in them
selves, but when they are made worse
by digging, rubbing and scratching, there
is resulting danger of Infection.
The world has seen much improve
ment in the general care of small cuts,
wounds and Insect bites during recent
years, as the advisability of antiseptics
has worked its way down through the
general populace.
A great deal yet remains to be done.
While the sight of a man staunching
a cut finger by applying to it a bit of
torn paper picked up off the street is
no longer met with—an actual case—
there still is much indifference along
these lines.
In general, however, it is no longer
considered “sissy” to take care of a
small cut or scratch.
Most persons today realize that germs
and other forms of inimical life are
much smaller than the cut!
Dangers from infection are perhaps
greater today than ever before. Maybe
it is an aftermath of the Great \Var, or
prevailing conflicts in other parts of the
world.
There seems to be a real growth in
dangerous and sudden infections, espe
cially of the throat.
It behooves every one to take special
precautions, and these must include
proper care of insect bites, including that
famous trio, the mosquito, the chigger
and the flea,
* + * *
Those who snicker are those who are
not molested.
No person with thin skin, whose
“taste” somehow appeals to the insects,
will ever find anything funny in the
idea.
It is serious business, this of being bit
by one or more of the forms of life
which some scientists declare are out to
conquer the world and will do so unless
man is on guard.
Tough-skinned persons have no idea
of the number of times one mosquito
can bite one susceptible person overnight,
or even while walking along a shrub
lined avenue.
Many suburban communities, owing to
the overgrowth of shrubbery, are para
dises for insect life, including the mos
quito.
The susceptible who happens to walk
that way may be bitten scores of times
within a block, whereas the tough-skin
ned person will not receive a single bite.
Hence the latter may be inclined to poke
fun at the other, as if his bites were a
sort of fraud.
The bites themselves, while dangerous,
are not as much so as the infections
which may result from breaking the skin
in scratching.
There would be no occasion to point
out this universally known truth, per
haps, if it were not for the equally well
known fact that the temptation to
"scratch 'em’’ is one which any adult
ought to be able to resist.
He will not be able to do so, however,
unless he thinks about the matter some
time when he is not subjected to the
temptation.
If he will get firmly in mind the neces
sity for leaving such bites alone, except
to sterilize them, if possible, he will go
a long way toward a good practical ideal
of everyday life.
* * * *
Even the mosquito susceptible will not
care to go around perpetually with cit
ronella or the like dabbed on his faithful
epidermis.
Maybe he doesn’t like the smell any
more than the mosquitoes!
He has no hankering to attract the
attention of his fellows through his per
sistent, off-the-records odor. Of all
’’smelly” things, citronella oil and its
modern derivatives, toned down for in
clusion in mosquito ‘’creams,’’ as they are
called, are among the very “loudest.” It
is no wonder that mosquitoes are sup
posed to fly away at the first smell.
One is reminded of that classic of yes
teryear, “Peck's Bad Boy,” in which the
indomitable bad boy placed a sign on
the grocer’s offering, “Ten cents a smell,
and one smell’s enough.” (Yes, that
seemed very funny, in the old days.
Maybe if the old readers were still 10
years old, they still would think it
funny.)
Or
As with the common cold, there will be
a multiplicity of remedies suggested.
Everybody has a mosquito bite remedy,
most of which, by the way, are worthless,
or almost so.
It must be remembered that although
human beings are surprisingly alike, in
fundamentals, they are very dissimilar
in their reactions.
One person loves the sunshine, the
next withdraws from it.
One likes beefsteak, one does not.
One prefers blonds, the next likes
brunettes.
wnen it comes to allaying the fire of
insect bites, what is one person's cure is
another's poison.
Alcohol, bicarbonate of soda, various
rubs and lotions—there are hundreds
which may be tried.
Perhaps the best “cure,” after all. is
simply to let the bite alone. It will "itch
itself out,” in time, if let alone.
This procedure requires one great in
gredient, however, which may be recom
mended to all. whether bitten by mos
quitoes, or not bitten by them.
It is will power.
Will has been the subject of writers
and preachers for centuries, but it is
also something which comes home to
the bosom of the "man in the street.”
The power which comes with the
proper exercise of will is not simply
theoretical, but is a very practical thing,
too, one which may be used to good
advantage in a thousand matters, from
the greatest to the least.
Not least, by any means, is the mos
quito or other insect bite, especially when
sustained by one of the great tenderskin
clan.
The desire to scratch requires real will
power to resist, but it pays dividends, not
only in permitting the "fire" to "draw”
itself, but also in creating more power
to resist a wide range of inimical tempta
tions in the everyday life.
Successful living is built up this way,
rather than through official schooling.
Show us the man who can refrain from
scratching a mosquito bite when it really
itches, and w-e will show you a man who.
if he is not yet an executive, at least
ought to be made one.
ANSWERS TO
QUESTIONS
BY FREDERIC J. HASK1N.
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. Will any changes be made in the
social security act by this session of
Congress?—C. P.
A. It ts not expected that any funda
mental changes will be recommended
by the Advisory Council which has re
cently been appointed. Proposed amend
ments are designed to improve the ad
ministration features of the act.
Q. Have any jockeys ridden three
Kentucky Derby winners?—M. H. W.
A. Two jockeys have ridden three
Derby winners. Isaac Murphy, Negro,
rode Buchanan in 1884, Riley in 1890
and Kingman in 1891. Earl Sande rode
Zev in 1923, Flying Ebony in 1925 and
Gallant Fox in 1930.
Q. How much dust is there in the air
normally?—L. G.
A. The normal dust count over a city
such as Washington, D. C., is about 6,400
particles to the cubic inch.
Q. How many Walgreen drug stores
are there?—H. G.
A. The Walgreen Company operates
513 drug stores in 180 cities and thirty
three States.
Q. How do earthworms help to fer
tilize the soil?—H. H.
A. Aside from making the soil more
porous, they consume the leaves of cer
tain hardwood trees and draw the leaves
into their holes. There the leaves either
decay or are digested and deposited in
contact with or near mineral soil. This
process is said to aid in breaking up the
mineral soil through chemical reactions
and helps to prepare minerals for tree
food, thus making it easier for trees to
pump the needed minerals into their
elaborate system of cells, fibers and
leaves where are manufactured the mate
rials from which wood is made.
Q. What is a vanity book?—S. E
A. This expression is used to define a
book which has been printed by the
author at his own expense.
Q. What is Aristotle's dictum?—B. C.
A. Dictum de omm et nullo is the
maxim that whatever may be affirmed
or denied of a class may be affirmed or
denied of every member of it.
Q. What was Alma Gluck s name be
fore she began her career as a singer?
—H. W.
A. Her maiden name was Reba
Fiersohn.
Q At what time of day does the
mind work best?—H. T.
A. Psychologists generally agree that
the threshold of highest mentality is
reached about 11 a m. The mind is be
lieved to be less active when fatigued.
Q What is Sir James Barrie's recipe
for an editorial?—E. H.
A. While the author was writing edi
torials on the Nottingham Journal he
was asked for a recipe for the produc
tion of an editorial. His reply was: “Two
pipes equal one hour, two hours equal
one idea, one idea equals three para
graphs, three paragraphs equal one edi
torial.
Q. Is it very expensive to rent a car
in Europe?—W. K.
A. Small cars of low gas consumption'
can be rented in Europe for around five
dollars a day if hired by the month.
Q. How many passengers use the New
ark Airport yearly?—J. K.
A. In 1936 265.000 passengers arrived
and departed by way of the airport.
Q How many free Negroes were there
in the United States when the Civil
War began?—W. B. J.
A. There were about 440.000.
Q When was the first orchestral com
position of Wagner played in this coun-*
try?—J. H.
A. The “Overture to Tannhauser" wa*
played by Bergmann's Orchestra in Bos
ton in 1853.
Q. How tall is the News Building in
New York City and what did it cost?
—J. A.
A. The News Building is 438 feet 8
inches in height and cost $10,700 000, in
cluding machinery.
Q How many microphones were used
in broadcasing the coronation cere*
monies?—C. M.
A. Fifty-eight microphones were used,
thirty-two for the ceremony and scenes
at the Abbey, eleven along the route,
and fifteen by English and foreign com
mentators.
Q. Please give some information about
the Long Island home of the former Mrs.
Nicholas Brady, which has been given
as a Jesuit House of Studies.—J. L.
A. The estate of Mrs. William J. Bab
ington Macaulay < formerly Mrs. Nicholas
Brady! is called Inisfada and consists of
227 acres at Manhasset, Long Island, with
an eighty-seven room residence in the
Tudor-Elizabethan style. The mansion
was built in 1916-1919 from designs of
John Windrim and has been one of the
show places of Long Island. Among the
lavish appointments of the house are
gold-plated plumbing fixtures, a six
teenth century Ispahan palace carpet,
a seventeenth century palmetto rug upon
which stood the thrones of King Edward
VII and Queen Alexandra at their coro
nation, and a Brussels Gothic allegorical
tapestry dating about 1500. The house’
and 150 acres of land have been given
by Mrs. Macaulay as a Jesuit House of
Studies. She will retain the rest of the
property and the elaborate furnishings
will be sold at auction.
A Rhyme at Twilight
By
Gertrude Brooke Hamilton.
A Good Samaritan.
Driving along an isolated stretch
The winding road led down to an
old bridge
Spanning a creek. Beyond lay unknown
hills,
Dark purple in the twilight, ridge on
ridge.
I stopped my car. The loneliness gave
pause.
The whence and whither of my life
oppressed.
More like the running water ’neath the
bridge
Than the dim summit of a far hill’a
crest.
A load of hay rumbled along the road;
The farmer gave a neighborly hand
flip;
The odor of his hay was wholesome^,
sweet—
I turned my wheel, a whistle on my
Up.
STARS, MEN AND ATOMS
Notebook of Science Progress in Field,
Laboratory and Study.
BY THOMAS R. H EX R Y.
There are creatures which spend their
whole lives building their own tombs.
They constitute a group of bivalve
mollusks which is related to the clams
and oysters. They are very ancient
animals. Their self-made sepulchres
may endure for a hundred million
years or more to puzzle students of the
enigmatic pages of the rocks, but finally
proving valuable indices of the shifting
bounds of geologic time.
Some exceptionally interesting exam
ples of these tombs, whose builders lived
on the sea bottom which now consti
tutes coastal formations of New Jersey
and Maryland about 50.000,000 years
ago. have just come into the Smith
sonian Institution collections. They
are described in a recent report to the
National Academy of Sciences by Lloyd
W. Stephenson of the Geological Survey.
The tombs themselves are hollow,
pipe-like tubes, four to six inches long,
found in sedimentary rock laid down
on the ancient sea bottoms. The “pipes”
taper off gradually from bottom to top.
In the bottom may be found the empty
shell of the ancient tomb builder.
“In its habit of growth.” says Mr.
Stephenson, “this bivalve began at a
young stage to bore in the sand and
to construct a tube of calcium carbonate
around itself. As it bored deeper and
grew larger, it gradually increased the
size of its tube and eventually reached
a size such that it could not escape
backward out of its self-constructed
prison.
All the time, of course, the mollusk
maintained its connection with the
water outside through a long syphon
reaching through the small end of the
tube through which came the water
from which, like an oyster or clam, it
filtered its sustenance.
Why did the creature thus spend its
days boring further and further into
the dark? Moralists might find a paral
lel in human behavior. The only rea
son that can be assigned is that of
protection. Even with the armour of
its shell—which did not cover all its
body—and the concealment obtained by
burying itself in sand the creature was
more or less at the mercy of its enemies,
sea creatures who scooped in the bottom
for their sustenance.
It sought security by secreting an
outer shell of calcium carbonate around
itself. As it grew, its self-constructed
quarters became cramped. It must find
more space, and the only direction in
which it could go was downward. Con
tinually, as it bored deeper and deeper,
it kept secreting the calcium carbonate.
How it bored is a matter of conjec
ture. This particular creature, sup
posedly, tunneled its way only through
loose sand. Some relatives, however,
even today bore their way into coral and
even solid rock. A relative is the ex
tant shipworm, which causes incal
culable damage by boring in wood.
Mr. Stephenson assigns the ancient
creature to the group of moilusks known
as pelecypods. Many relatives, it is
explained, still are living and are rather
widely distributed in shallow sea waters.
Their ways of life are so secretive, how
ever, that they are seldom observed and
little is known about their habits, their
boring mechanisms, etc.
The particular creatures described by
Mr. Stephenson are assigned to a new
genus, the kummelia, and are of par
ticular interest, since they show that
certain coastal formations belong to the
eocene rather than the cretacious geo
logical period. They were boring their
strange sepulchres in the days when
the age of birds and mammals was
. dawning.
Could the American Indian “read
wampum?"
There is a widespread tradition, fos
tered in some cases by Indians them
selves, that certain North American
tribes had a bead language in which
they recorded secret lore, ceremonials
and business dealings. Vari-colored
beads were arranged in strings or belts
supposedly in such a fashion that the
initiated could attach a specific meaning
to each bead or pattern of beads.
This belief has no foundation, says
J. N. B. Hewitt. Smithsonian Institution
ethnologist, who has succeeded in re
constructing the 15 strings of beads used
by Iroquois sachems while reciting the
“requickening address.” This was essen
tially the funeral ritual of the Six
Nations, passed down from generation
to generation from the semi-legendary
Deganawida, who. with Hiawatha, estab
lished the great league of the Iroquois.
While a sachem recited this address,
he held the strings of beads in his
hands. Supposedly he relied upon their
arrangement at least for “cues." Actu
ally, Mr. Hewitt has determined, they
were intended to serve for an entirely
different purpose. They were the
sachem's badge of office for this par
ticular ceremonial. They made the rites
official.
Mr. Hewitt, who is the foremost au
thority on the language, laws and cere
monies of the Iroquois, was unable to
find the slightest evidence that the
strings had any function as a medium
of record. The speaker depended en
tirely on his memory for the text of
the requickening address, he has de
termined. He finds the same true of
all other supposed Iroquois wampum
records. In some cases living Indians
will pretend to “read" these belts or
strings and maintain that the meanings
of the bead configurations were revealed
to them by their ancestors. In every
case he has investigated. Mr. Hewitt
says, it is clear that the “meanings’’
have been read into the w'ampum pat
terns. The supposed “readers" may be
sincere in their claims, but they actually
know nothing about the ways of their
ancestors.
The same holds, so far as he has
been able to determine, for all other
native American tribes. Bead writing
never existed. Long ago somebody may
have worked into a wampum belt the
figure of a wildcat. This now might
be interpreted as referring to some man
named “wildcat,” or to some memorable
wildcat hunt—but nothing was further
from the mind of the man who made
the belt.
The belief has been so persistent, Mr.
Hewitt says, that in some cases wampum
belts have been confiscated in the tfelief
that this would destroy records of
treaties or business dealings. In times
past such belts have been seized and
destroyed with the mistaken idea that
the Indians then would have no records
of their "heathen” ceremonies and
hence would be obliged to abandon
them.
One Factor Lacking.
Prom the Grand Rapids Press.
Retirement insurance now provides for
almost everything except lasting long
enough to get it.
It Had to Come!
Prom the Worcester Gazette.
A Congressman asserts that profes
sional base ball players are slaves of a
merciless system. Anyway, It's certainly
been Ruthless the post year or two.