Evening star. [volume], January 05, 1938, Page A-10, Image 10

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

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THE EVENING STAR
With •■■day Mamins Kdltlan
THEODORE W. NOYES. Editor
WASHINGTON. D. C.
WEDNESDAY. January (, 1*3*
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herein also are reserved.
Thunder Over the Mile.
Strife between the Egyptian boy King
Farouk and the militant Wald tNational
i*t; party has graver facets than a
mere political conflict with the throne.
To John Bull's dismay, the hand of
Mussolini is suspected to be lurking
somewhere in the background of a con
troversy that can easily lead to an
Anglo-Italian duel for supremacy at
Cairo.
Late In December Mustafa Nahas
Pasha, veteran premier and leader of
the predominant Wafdists in Parlia
ment, proposed royal assent to a law
permitting a cabinet to remain in oflftce
only so long as it commands a ma
jority. The King disapproved, but of
fered instead to establish a supreme
court with power to interpret the con
stitution and agreed to abide by its
findings. This compromise having been
rejected by the Wafdists, the King de
posed the Nahas government and ap
pointed the Liberal Constitutional leader,
Mohammed Mahmoud Pasha, premier to
form a ‘'Constitutional'’ cabinet. Mon
day night, amid tempestuous scenes, the
Chamber of Deputies and the Senate
both defied the King and his new pre
mier and by overwhelming majorities
voted down the royal decree suspending
Parliament for a month.
That is the purely domestic political
Bide of the crisis. It has an interna
tional aspect of far wider significance.
The Mahmoud cabinet contains out
spokenly pro-Italian ministers, evidently
a hangover from King Fuad's days. The
late monarch never concealed his sym
pathies with Italy, where he spent many
years. The British, having long feared
Fuad's inclinations might undermine
their traditional predominance on the
Nile, hoped for gradual disappearance
of Italian influence with enthronement
last year of Fuad’s 18-year-old English
educated heir.
Mussolini makes no bones of his am
bition to magnify Italy's authority in the
Arab and Moslem worlds. Only a year
ago, during his spectacular visit to Libya,
which sits astride Egypt’s flank, II Duce
proclaimed himself "grand protector of
all Islam,” much to Britain’s alarm.
Strengthening of the Italian garrison in
Libya and undiminished Fascist propa
ganda throughout the Near East have
Intensified London's anxieties. Hence
the slightest hint of pro-Italianism at
Cairo conjures up disquieting possibili
ties for Britain, ever concerned with that
vital link in the Empire's life line, the
Sues Canal, which lies within Egyptian
territory.
Little enthusiasm for American life
*« shown by Rudyard Kipling, but the
settings of his poems to music again
brings reminder that it is vastly superior
to Asiatic life.
Associate Justice Black went into office
With some opinions of his own and shows
by a minority discussion of Indianapolis
water rates that circumstances have not
changed them.
There are admiring constituents who
approach Carter Glass and shake him by
the hand with the assurance that some
of the great phases of political life may
begin at eighty.
Investigations have been frequent, but
they cannot be managed in such a way
u to render them commonplace.
The New Astronomy.
The United States went lntp debt
126,000,000,000 for its part in the World
War.
It has gone into debt $21,000,000,000
for the depression and its aftermaths.
The total Federal debt is now $37,
019,677,682.
The total public debt—national, State
and local—is $56,000,000,000.
There are 62,000,000,000 atoms in the
head of a pin.
It is 3,000,000,000,000 miles from the
earth to the nearest star.
Any one of these figures has about as
much actual meaning as any other of
them. Billions., trillions, quadrillions,
etc., are for the most part outside hu
man experience.
But the first four, at least, are quite
pertinent actualities. They are extract
ed from the address 6f Senator Harry F.
Byrd of Virginia, recently delivered
before the Academy of Political Science
in New York. Senator Byrd went on to
cite some other figures which reduce his
astronomical magnitudes to something
within the range of comprehension. The
per capita income of the United States
last year was $469. The per capita share
in the public debt was $430.
That Is, the total Income of every
body In th* country for a y»ar would
a little more than pay off what tha Fed
eral. State and local governments owe.
The Increase In the public debt In six
years has been more than four times
the total value of all property and sav
ings In the State of Virginia, publlo
and private.
Senator Byrd gleaned his figures from
various reliable sources. It may be
assumed that they are substantially
correct.
Every now and then the Mount Wilson
Observatory of the Carnegie Institution
of Washington finds a new spiral uni
verse a few qulntilllon miles further
away in the depths of space—say a bil
lion light years or 6,000,000,000,000,000,
000.000 miles away from the earth.
It is all very interesting—but what is to
be done about it?
Six octrillion really has no more mean
ing than six billion.
Astronomy paralyzes the average mind.
It is, alas, getting so that public
finance does the same.
Tribute to Mr. Glover.
The Columbia Historical Society, meet
ing last evening to pay homage to the
memory of Charles C. Glover, discharged
a pleasant civic duty. It was and always
will be a privilege to remember the per
sonality and services of the banker
philanthropist who has been called, with
abundant reason, Washington's greatest
benefactor.
But Mr. Glover himself never solicited
appreciation. Some one, as he saw it,
was needed to lead, to organize, to labor
for the improvement of the Nation's
Capital. The work required doing and,
with the instinct of a natural-born
builder, he wished to perform his share
of the task. Gradually he became the
architect of a large portion of it—not
because he demanded the assignment,
but rather because he was especially
gifted for it.
Mr. Glover was endowed with many
talents, including a genius for making
his dreams into realities. He was a
visionary who possessed power to achieve
his ideals. Rock Creek and Potomac
Parks, a number of the city's most con
; genial suburbs, the Corcoran Gallery of
| Art, Washington Cathedral, the Chil
dren's Hospital, the Public Library —
these were indebted to him while he
lived and continue to be obligated to
him now that he has his rest.
More particularly, however, the com
munity recalls Mr. Glover with unfading
gratitude as one who symbolized the
social and cultural significance of busi
ness. His achievements for the city
trace back to the skill which he man
ifested in the art of stimulating honor
able commerce and industry. A prag
matist, he knew that wealth is imperative
to progress. No society, he understood,
can rise by processes of negation. He
preached and consistently practiced the
philosophy of constructive optimism
faith in himself and in his fellows, loyalty
to his own conscience and that of his
neighbors, confidence in the capacity of
humanity to win the victories it must
have if it is to survive.
Dean Swift, of course, never heard of
Mr. Glover, but he forecast him when,
in the “Voyage to Brobdingnag," he
wrote: “Whoever could make two ears
of corn, or two blades of grass, to grow
upon a spot of ground where only one
grew before would deserve better of
mankind, and do more essential service
to his country than the whole race of
politicians put together.”
The Treasury Watchdog.
In accusing certain Federal establish
ments of flouting laws and regulations
regarding accountability for receipts and
disbursements, Acting Controller Gen
eral Richard N. Elliott has bared in his
annual report a condition that calls for
corrective measures.
Congress cannot escape entire responsi
bility for the situation that has developed,
for much “blank check” legislation has
been enacted, particularly in the past
five years, and this sort of thing does
not encourage good business practices.
There are readily apparent reasons
why an agency the principal function of
which is the disbursement of money
should have the responsibility for saying
where it goes, providing it enters no other
channels than those which reasonably
could be assumed to be proper. There is
ho reason, however, why there should
not be an accounting for such distribu
tion, even though there are instances
when this partial safeguard comes too
late. It at least affords a protection
against recurrence.
Congress shortly will take up the re
organization bill, which includes as one
of its major proposals that to do away
with the General Accounting Office as a
“watchdog” for the legislative branch
of the Government. The Elliott Veport
is a powerful argument against this.
Henry Ford has made a profound im
pression with his weekly concert, but has
not applied himself to the task of keeping
music, with its temperamental variations,
out of business.
As efforts are made to get business
going with normal briskness, question im
mediately arises as to whose monopoly
is going to be favored.
Barber Shop Justice.
Small wonder respect for law falls to a
low ebb when justice la administered
from a barber shop.
The serio-comic episode of the arrest
and fine of a man and his chauffeur
after a barber shop trial at Kingsville,
Md., serves to illustrate the need for
several changes in the State’s statutes.
Primarily, it shows the Importance of
dispensing justice from a more becom
ing background. The State’s highest
court at Annapolis holds its sessions in
a room of impressive beauty. The magis
trate-barber of Kingsville obviously
recognizes the principle of clothing a
court with dignity, for he doffs his white
barber coat for a conventional black
coat before trying eases. It would be a
atep In the right direction if he rtrried
the Idea further and heard hie cases In
his home or an office Instead of on a
bench in the corner of his shop where
it is necessary to remind justifiably
confused “customers" to take off their
hats because they are in a courtroom.
If a Maryland magistrates’ association
is formed—and an organization meeting
has been called—it might well adopt
rules regarding proper places for justices
to hold court. Moreover, such an asso
ciation, or the Legislature, might find it
worth while to set up more specific
qualifications for magistrates. It seems
incongruous that a State which requires
examinations for file clerks often names
magistrates, who can Impose heavy fines
on the public, purely on the basis of
political preferment. Of course, file
clerks get salaries while magistrates are
paid through fees. And that may be the
root of the whole trouble.
Finally, the barber shop case again
brings up the question of changing the
fine for speeding. Passed in the days
when sixty miles an hour was almost
unheard of, the $100 minimum fine now
appears excessive, especially in view of
the State Legislature's action in raising
the speed limit from forty to forty-five
miles an hour and lowering the fine for
breaking that regulation from $25 to $10.
Altogether, the barber court incident
leads to the conclusion that Maryland’s
speed laws and lower court procedure
would be improved by a clean shave.
A war in Spain holds modern atten
tion, while the construction of a new
civilization is attempted along the Asiatic
Coast. The temptation to regard local
quarrels as world wars should not cause
Indifference to the words of great Amer
icans who called attention to the im
portance of minding our own business
and of preparedness to mind it effec
tually.
In a political sense the new year of
1938 has not been a happy one; yet it
has the elemen^ of happiness which
conies with the recognition of new re
sponsibilities with the determination to
meet them intelligently and with care.
Japanese officials demand that Amer
icans keep out of Asiatic warfare. There
is no desire to participate in the warfare,
even to the extent of contributing more
automobile junk or aiding the traffic in
silk stockings.
Suggestions for the cure of cancer con
tinue to arise in various parts of the
country with no suggestions for keeping
the strange ailment out of current pol
itics.
Next month brings the birthdays of
Abraham Lincoln and George Washing
ton with reminders of utterances that
sound above the speeches devoted to
self-interest.
A methodical census discloses the fact
that there are nearly nine million persons
living in idleness not counting those who
have managed to secure compensation
for imaginary services.
Lights have been long kept burning to
celebrate the coming of the new year.
The genius of an Edison cannot be
forgotten.
Colleges have specialized in athletics
without showing how the record of a
football team will assist in mapping a
battleship.
Shooting Stars.
BY PHILANDER JOHNSON.
Standardization.
It leaves us just a bit surprised
To see how we've been standardized!
A human being all serene,
In comfort runs like a machine.
He hits the time clock morn and night
To show that he is working right.
The hands, the heads and even hearts
May be replaced like motor parts,
And so, no matter what is gone,
The big machine goes whistling on.
The individual is content
To know how each force shall be spent;
In bliss our lives we’ve analyzed
Since we have all been standardized.
Irate Artificiality.
“You sounded as If you were speaking
in anger,” said the friend. “An orator
often has to sound that way,” answered
Senator Sorghum. “There are many
persons who, if you appear to be keeping
your temper, can’t believe you are
thoroughly in earnest.”
Jud Tunkins says he knows several
politicians who are liable to need relief
more than the farmers.
Discontent.
His was a way of discontent.
Afar he sought to roam.
When to a distant clime he went,
He longed to be back home.
When to his home he had returned,
A very little time
Elapsed before again he yearned
To seek a distant clime.
Optics and Romance.
“Do you believe in love at first sight?”
“Yes,” answered Miss Cayenne. “I
also believe in permitting your affections
to look off once in a while, to avoid
getting nearsighted.”
“I have said .many wise things,” said
Hi Ho, the sage of Chinatown, “for it is
the custom of leisurely inclination to
make speech take the place of perform
ance."
The ley Highway.
Often there comes a bitter freeae
Beyond the snowstorm and the thaw.
Till now we have had none of these—
And that is why we say “Hurrah!”
“How often you has read de Bible,”
said Uncle Eben, “ain’ as important as
how much of it you tries to pay ’tention
to.”
4
NEW BOOKS I
AT RANDOM
BY MARGARET GERMOND.
OUR O-MEN. By Irving Crump and
John W. Newton. New York: Dodd,
Mead & Co.
In the service of the United States
Government, operating primarily in ob
scurity, there are fourteen agencies in
cessantly engaged in thwarting the
schemes of lawbreakers and in tracking
and capturing those members of our vast
criminal population who run afoul of
Federal laws. The average American if
asked to enumerate them would be hard
put to name more than three and would
probably not be able to give more than
a vague definition of the duties of two
of the most widely known units. Thanks
to the rapid and sensational rise to
prominence of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation of the Department of
Justice, even small children are now ac
quainted with some of the methods and
with the results achieved by that or
ganization. Popularly know'n as G-men,
these courageous operators of the F. B.
I. won the confidence and esteem of the
American people at a time when respect
for State, cqunty and local law enforce
ment agencies w'as at low ebb—and for
good reason.
But how about the other thirteen units
of G-men—some of them almost as old
as the Government itself—that operate
with all-seeing eyes and all-hearing ears
to safeguard life and property and to
place behind the bars those who engage
in criminal practices against society?
They live just as dangerously and operate
in some instances on even more baffling
cases than those brought to the in
evitable climax by the F. B. I. men. Their
activities have on the whole spread over
a far greater span of years and their
records of accomplishment contain hair
raising experiences that surpass the most
exciting episodes in classic mystery thrill
ers. That they have seldom been sen
sationalized is perhaps due the belated
arousing, of public sentiment against
lawbreaking as an organized industry.
The authors of this splendid survey
of our Federal law enforcement agencies
and how they operate have gone into the
records and brought forth outstanding
cases to illustrate the specific kinds of
criminal investigation entrusted to the
handling of the fourteen separate serv
ices. Briefly they outline the duties and
the jurisdiction of the G-men of the
Bureau of Internal Revenue, the Secret
Service, the Federal Narcotic Bureau,
the United States Customs Service, the
United States Bank Examiners, the Coast
Guard and the Alcohol Tax Unit, all of
which operate under the Treasury De
partment. Seven other units, operating
under other departments, include secret
agents of the Bureau of Navigation and
Steam Inspection of the Department of
Commerce, the Federal Bureau of In
vestigation of the Department of Justice,
the United States Post Office Inspectors,
the General Land Office and the Bureau
of Indian Affairs of the Department of
the Interior, the Bureau of Immigra
tion of the Department of Labor and the
Forest Rangers of the United States
Forest Service.
Chapters dealing with several of the
outstanding cases handled by the Fed
eral Bureau of Investigation relate the
story of Red Boyle of North Carolina
extortion fame, of George Dixon Sujyna
mie, murderer, of the Fort Whipple Res
ervation of the Navajos: of the Urschel
kidnaping, of John Dillinger, Baby Face
Nelson, "Ma” Barker, Alvin Karpis and
others, and of the arson ring that op
erated on the Fort Sill Military Reserva
tion.
Tales of the tracking down of crim
inals by the G-men of the other agencies
include the case of the sinking of the
freighter Rose Murphy, the thwarted
robbery near Fort Worth. Tex., of a
crack express train of the Texas & Pacific
Railroad carrying more than $100,000
in cash; the final round-up of the
famous tri-State gang, the breaking up
of racketeers who fake professional roles
and victimize aged people who live in
small villages, the famous case of “Little
Augie” and Eli-Giurion, leaders of an
international drug ring; the sorry story
of Molly Wendt, smuggler of heroin, the
murders committed by rum-runners on a
Coast Guard cutter, the capture of
Charles McCullough, bootlegger and alien
smuggler, and Ram Singh, also engaged
in smuggling aliens, and the story of
Harry Mills, engraver, who became the
tool of a notorious counterfeiting gang.
Some day public sentiment will be suf
ficiently aroused to demand that the
same high standards of service and
efficiency maintained by these diligent
Federal agencies shall prevail in all
quarters of the country. Such books as
“Our G-Men" contribute valuably to
knowledge concerning Uncle Sam's
watchdogs and encourage the belief that
acquaintance with the steadily widening
activities of these Federal agencies will
be influential in bringing about State
and local reform in law enforcement
methods.
a * * *
COUNTY COURT. By Roy Flannagan.
New York: Doubleday, Doran & Co.
Roy Flannagan is a Virginian, born "in
the shadows of the Grecian columns of
the university,” and living in Richmond
most of his life. For his newest novel
he has selected a small Virginia town
named Juliaville and staged a scene
based upon the one-time popular custom
of “shooting up” a court when a trial
was in process.
Anna Fry, who came to Juliaville from
Cole County as the wife of Webb Fry,
is on trial for his murder. The court
room is packed and most of those pres
ent believe she is guilty. A State police
man is on guard to prevent a shooting if
possible, for a group of Anna's relatives
from Cole County are present, visibly
armed and believed to be intent upon
serious business.
In the courtroom and in the town are
all of the old familiar characters of a
small Southern community, each one
bent upon getting the most out of the
limited social life of such a place, and
not any of them unaware of the sins
and virtues of their neighbors and
friends or the members of their own
families The result is a hodge-podge
of unmorality that savors of genuine
pure-mindedness w'hen compared with
the immorality and vice that infest so
ciety in the boundless freedom of Amer
ica’s big cities.
One character, however, is different.
He is known as “Captain Jinks,” re
garded by some as the town’s half-wit
and by others as a sage. He happens to
be the hero of the novel, despite the fact
that his parentage is unknown, that he
refuses to work and that all of the
women in the community are in love
with him. He plays a fiddle, chants
prophecies upon many things, including
the outcome of the trial; knows the
secrets of every member of the town and
in his own way influences the local sen
timent in all matters of importance.
Of course, all of the town secrets are
laid open in the course of the trial, and
the usual romances suffer or thrive as
the revelations place in their proper
category the persons involved. “Jinks,”
of course, being the exception to all
rules. He knows who killed Webb Fry
and eventually he tells, but not until
his creator has made a good story out of
old material and trimmed it with the
picturesque fiddler and chanter of weird
i Bangs.
THIS AND THAT j]
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.
Arlington, Va.
"Dear Sir: I read your articles with
much enjoyment, especially those on
birds.
"I gather from them that you love all
animals. I want to call to your atten
tion the article titled ‘Spinal Cord Cut,
Impulses Forced,’ on Page A-5, Star,
December 29.
"I am an animal lover and should like
to be able to help poor dumb creatures
that have the misfortune tp fall into such
fiends’ hands.
“I thought that, in your capacity, you
might be able to set wheels in motion
to end such practices.
“I am only Mrs. Average Housewife
and can do nothing, but you are well
known.
“Please give this your attention and
thought. Thanking you, I am, Sin
cerely, B. B. V.”
* * * *
The article was a dispatch from a sci
entific meeting. It told how two experi
menters had severed a dog's spinal col
umn at two points and thus divided the
animal into three living entities, with
appropriate responses to stimuli.
"The dog was kept alive under a re
spirator while these experiments were in
progress,” the dispatch ended.
This type of work, to which the lives
of 400 000 dogs alone pay tribute in the
United States annually, it is claimed,
goes on all around the world.
How many millions of "man’s best
friends” have died in horrible suffering
since investigations of this kind began
will never be known, because it is obvi
ous that they must be done in secret.
A gigantic toll of cats, rats, mice and
many other animals is taken in order
that men working privately may prove or
•disprove some theory or other.
The excuse for these chambers of hor
rors is that mankind is being and will
be helped.
Let us hope so.
* * * *
Our correspondent pays us a deep com
pliment in thinking we might be able to
do something about it.
Nobody can do anything about it.
Man s famous inhumanity to man is
exceeded only by his inhumanity to the
animals.
As long as man slays and eats mil
lions and millions of meat animals every
year
As long as he—and she—wrings chick
ens' necks, and every Thanksgiving
makes the annual stale Joke about
turkeys
As long as fur coats, the result of the
cruelty of the steel trap, are worn by
every woman who can get one
Nobody can do anything about it, be
cause it is but a drop in the bucket of
the great cruelty that isn't mentioned
because it seems so necessary to human
life.
♦ * * *
The torture of countless animals in
laboratories seems all the more cruel
because it is so coolly planned and ob
served.
The men who do it are "fiends" in
abstract, for scientific purposes.
Pure intelligence is seldom kind.
The mast cold-blooded man in the
world is the best thinker, perhaps*
a »
The man who experiments with dogs
in this fashion actually may be a rather
decent fellow in his private life. He
loves his home, and pats his own dog
tenderly, and no doubt would resent
mightily any fellow scientist taking Bozo
for a like “service to humanity.”
* * * *
There seems to many a real excuse
for the atrocities of war.
War is not nice, in any sense; it
means brutality all along the line, and if
men, in the heat' of killing, commit deeds
of cruelty, it is in line with what they
already are doing.
But for a man to tie a dog down
and ruthlessly experiment on it to prove
or disprove something he has in mind
seems brutal beyond anything warfare
brings.
He leaves a nice home, where all is
tenderness, and goes to a back chamber
in some university, where he devotes the
rest of his day to cruelties which, prop
erly presented to the public, would cause
a vast upheaval of rage in the Nation.
The reason no such upheaval ever
comes is because by the time the affair
gets into the scientific papers it is just
a “case,” all buttressed by the ultimate
hope that some suffering man or woman
may be helped.
He pats his own Bozo on the head,
and then goes into a charnel house where
the howls of somebody else's Fido are
hushed behind stone walls.
* * * *
And there doesn’t seem to be anything
that anybody can do about it.
Certainly nothing has been done.
If any one protests, he or she is re
garded as a crank, or a sentimentalist,
as if the gentle Jesus was not regarded
by Trajan as a crank, and as if sentiment
were some strange human malady which
tended to slap ones own grandmother
in the face. *
* * * *
No. there isn't anything that anybody
can do about it, especially a man.
Jesus tried it two thousand years ago.
If thei% is ever anything done about.
it, a woman is going to do it.
Women could do it, but will they?
The time has not yet come, perhaps.
Women as a group are just beginning to
feel their own power.
The cynic Schopenhauer said that they
are but children of a larger growth.
Yet certain organizations in our own
country show what they can do when
they get together in the cause of good.
* * * *
As men, as a group, have had their
Jesus and their Napoleon, so women, as
a class, some day may produce a woman
who will combine the love and gentle
ness of the one with the power and
drive of the other.
Then, and then alone, something may
be done about it.
The reign of law in human affairs
so far in the centuries has meant the
reign of force.
Some day the reign of law may work
on a different principle and mean the
reign of love in all its theoretical power
and glory, except then it will be actual,
not just a dream.
Then everybody's Fido will be safe
at last. •
W ASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS
BY FREDERIC WILLIAM WILE.
President Roosevelt may be waiting
until he sees the whites of their eyes at
the Jackson Day dinner. There seems
hardly any other explanation of his
punch-pulling exhibition at the Capitol.
Certainly the message to Congress was
lacking in old-time fighting form. After
the jibes and jeremiads of Jackson and
the irksome immoderation of Ickes. the
restraint of Roosevelt rubs business the
right way. But relief and satisfaction
on this score will not be complete until
P. D. R. has got the Jacksonian address
off his chest. His assertion to Congress
that "the work undertaken by Andrew
Jackson and Woodrow Wilson is not
finished yet” sounds like a clear hint
that Old Hickory's anniversary on Jan
uary 8 will be made the occasion of a
fresh blast against "malefactors of great
wealth.” accompanied by the horrible de
tails. The President's address on Mon
day left plenty of uncovered ground.
The recession got a mere passing phrase.
The Nation's new army of 11.000.000 un
employed wasn't mentioned. There were
glittering generalities about co-operation
with Government, budget-balancing and
taxation reform, but oppressive silence on
the brass tacks of all three of those
propositions.
*****
Theodore Roosevelt. Justifying his
break with William Howard Taft, once
said the trouble with "Bill” was that “he
meant well feebly.” Democratic peoples
beyond our shores who have been look
ing to the United States for leadership,
especially since the two-fisted Chicago
speech of October 5. are likely to think
Franklin D. Roosevelt means well feebly,
too. The preamble to his message to
Congress—500 words devoted exclusively
to "a woifc where stable civilization is
actually threatened”—is pretty weak
medicine, compared to the "quarantine”
proposal launched exactly three months
ago today, with its demand for “a con
certed effort by peace-loving nations.”
Unmistakably two different hired hands
helped the President pen the Chicago
broadside and his mild report on the
state of the Union. After this weeks
pronouncement even the impending
recommendation of more Navy isn’t likely
to kill the impression that Uncle Sam
is still isolationist in fact, if not in
theory.
* * * *
Representative J. William Ditter, Re
publican, of Pennsylvania begs humbly to
dip his oar into the national name
calling contest initiated by Assistant At
torney General Jackson and Secretary
of the Interior Ickes. Being a minority
member of the House Committee on Ap
propriations, the Pennsylvanian says his
nature is essentially poetic. Hence the
following Ditter ditty:
Count that day lost
• Whose low descending sun
Sees from thy lips
No bitter name respun.
* * * *
Information just received frpm highly
authoritative quarters in the Par East
warns all concerned at Washington not
to bank too confidently on early mili
tary collapse of Japan through exhaus
tion of war sinews. The stated reason is
that, in anticipation of the China cam
paign, the Japanese laid in a two-year
store of essential supplies, especially oil.
The best estimate is that Nippon’s war
machine, even if deprived today of for
eign oil, cotton, scrap iron and copper,
could probably go on fighting for at
least another year and a half. These
conditions do not take into consideration
the economic chaos or political conse
quences that might overtake the coun
try if its food supply or raw materials
for industry were suddenly to be stopped.
The estimate in question refers exclu
sively to basic military needs.
* * * *
Another one-time page in the United
States Senate has made good in a big
way at Washington. He’s Thomas L.
. *
Younger, superintendent of the Senate
Office Building for the past th«ee years.
In 1913 Younger, who is a brother-in
law of Col. Edwin A. Halsey, secretary
of the Senate, was running errands
around the chamber floor in plus-iour
knickers. The 200 employes of the big
marble establishment which he now
supervises presented him at Christmas
with a magnificent gold watch as a token
of esteem of a kindly and efficient boss.
* * * *
One of the brilliant young officers of
Gen. Pershing's A. E. F. headquarters
staff in France, Col. N. W. Campanole,
has just been retired for disability in
line of duty. Campanole's last service
was as a military attache to the Carib
bean republics, where he ran foul of
revolutions in three countries—Ven
ezuela, Nicaraugua and Honduras. Re
sultant experiences were directly re
sponsible for his physical breakdown.
Col. Campanole enlisted in the United
States Army in 1899 for Philippine serv
ice. During the past 38 years he has
had tours of duty at many posts at
home and abroad. His outstanding
achievements during a long and active
career were as chief of the secret serv
ices of the Pershing punitive expedition
to Mexico and later of the A. E. F. He
was the youngest officer ever recom
mended for a Medal of Honor during
the Philippine insurrection. Later he
was a student officer in Japan and be
came an expert on Far Eastern affairs.
* * * *
Former Senator Robert L. Owen, Dem
ocrat, of Oklahoma, who drafted the
original Federal Reserve Act, thinks the
requisite to recovery is a congressional
mandate, directing and empowering the
Reserve Board, Reserve banks and the
Treasury to force frozen deposits into
circulation. Owen, now a lawyer in
Washington, says: “'The depressions of
1907, 1921. 1932 and 1937 were due ex
clusively to contraction of demand bank
deposits in circulation. These deposits
function as the reservoir of check money,
which transacts 95 per cent of our na
tional business. This money paid wages
and salaries, bought inventories, paid
taxes, interest, rent, debts, profits, in
surance and living expenses. Demand
bank deposits held dormant contract
the circulating medium. Nearly half
of them Is now' frozen, reducing the
money supply correspondingly. The
remedy is to induce such deposits to
circulate by a declared congressional
monetary policy to restore the normal
pre-depression price level, thus guaran
teeing the rising value of property, com
modities, real estate and equities. Legis
lative action to this end will give the
public confidence. Through the profit
motive it will restore demand bank de
posits to active circulation and provide
means for fullest employment of labor
and capital, thus achieving the highest
standard of living through abundance.
The policy of abundance is better than
the policy of scarcity.”
* * * *
Yesterday’s senatorial primaries in
Alabama were the curtain-raiser for
primaries to be held In 42 other States
between April 12 (in Illinois) and Sep
tember 13 (in Utah). Nine Democratic
Senators who opposed the Roosevelt
Supreme Court bill are up for renomina
tion, while 18 who supported the Presi
dent will face the guns of their re
spective electorates. Politicians are pre
pared to determine from the fate of
these 27 aspirants for self-perpetuation
whether or not the Democratic party in
1938 remains Roosevelt-controlled.
(Copyrlriit, 1638.)
Dangerous.
From the Albuquerque Journal.
Pinochle players are bragging about
holding 1,000 aces. Most of the rest of
us have found it unhealthy to hold even
m many aa five.
ANSWERS TO
QUESTIONS
BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN.
A reader can get the answer to any
question o/ fact by writing The Evening
Star Information Bureau, Frederic J.
Haskin, director, Washington, D. C.
Please inclose »tamp for reply.
Q. Where was the radio singer, Kate
Smith, bom?—R. J. G.
A. She was born in Greenville, Va.,
In 1908. The family moved to Wash
ington shortly after her birth and she
was educated in Washington, E. C.
Q. What is the diving record recently
established by a diver in Lake Michi
gan?—H. G.
A. A new low of 420 feet under water
was the record made by Max E. Nohl
In Lake Michigan.
Q. How many Mayors has New York
City had?—N. N.
A. Mayor La Guardia is the 101st since
1665.
Q. Why does the children's song "Here
We Go 'Round the Mulberry Bush" say
bush when the mulberry is a tree?—
A. C.
A. While the American mulberry Is a
large tree, the French mulberry is a
shrub growing to a height of not over
6 feet. This may easily be the bush of
the old song.
Q. What caused the Boxer rebellion?
—S. A. S.
A. The Boxer uprising of 1900 was a
blind attempt, largely popular, but sanc
tioned by the extremists, to oust the
foreigners from China. The government,
in an attempt to provide for the na
tional defense against foreign aggression,
ordered the revival of the village train
bands or militia and put the plan into
effect first in the northeastern provinces.
Into these train-bands came manv of
the local rowdies and here and there
disorderly secret societies affiliated with
them. The members practiced rites
which they believed would make them
invulnerable to bullets and came to be
known to foreigners as Boxers—a loose
translation of the Chinese name for the
bands.
Q. Hew many passengers does the In
dependent Subway System in New York
City carry?—C. R.
A. It has 53 route miles of structure,
1.421 cars and carries a daily average
of 1,150.000 passengers.
Q. What is meant by dollar diplo
macy?—S. E.
A. The phrase is applied to the foreign
policy of a nation when its chief object
is to gain commerce and trade advan
tages under the guise of a desire to pro
mote international friendship.
Q. Was Claude Bowers, historian and
Ambassador to Spain, once a secretary
to a Senator?—M. C.
A. He was secretary to Senator John
W. Kern of Indiana from 1911 to 1917.
Q Can the English walnut and the
butternut be crossed?—A. W.
A. The Department of Agriculture is
now starting a project to create a form
of walnut unlike any now existing by
crossing the Persian or English walnut
with the butternut for hardiness and
flavor, then with the eastern black wal
nut and the Japanese walnut for sturdi
ness and fruitfulness of tree.
Q. Would London fogs be lighter If
the city were cleaner?—A. G.
A. They would be. Town fogs consist
of moisture, dust, smoke, soot and chim
ney gases.
_ #
Q. What is wrong with the term an
thracite coal?—T. F.
A. Anthracite is a noun aplied to hard
coal, so the word coal is superfluous.
Q. Who was the first President’s widow
to be given the franking privilege?—S. D.
A. Martha Washington. In 1800 it
was enacted “that all letters and pack
ages to and from Martha Washington,
relict of the late Gen. George Wash
ington. shall be received and conveved
by post free of postage for and during
life.’’
Q. What, is the Irish national anthem?
—G. J. M.
A. The Irish national anthem is “The
Soldier's Song" (“Amhran an t Salgh
diura" in Irish); words by Peadar
O'Cearnaigh, music by Padraig O'Aon
aigh.
Q. Did Bret Harte, the poet and novel
ist, ever work for the Government?—
W. H.
A. From 1864 to 1870 he was secretary
of the United States Mint at San Fran
cisco.
Q. Please give sortie information about
Borden’s early experiments in condensing
food.—E. G. H.
A. At the time of the gold rush to
California in 1849 Gail Borden turned
his attention to providing suitable food
supplies for emigrants crossing the
plains. He produced the pemmican
which Dr. Kane took with him on his
Arctic expeditions of 1850 and 1853. At
this time Borden invented also the
meat biscuit, a highly concentrated
food. In 1856 he secured a patent for
producing condensed milk by evaporation
in a vacuum and soon afterward estab
lished factories in New York and Illinois.
During the Civil War his condensed milk
was widely used in the Army and Navy.
Q. Did President Harding go to col
lege?-^. H.
A. He attended Ohio Central College
at Iberia from 1879 to 1882.
Q. What is a 4-8-2 fertilizer?—W. H.
A. This means the percentage content
of nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and pot
ash in the order named. A ton of 4-8-2
fertilizer thus contains 80 pounds of
nitrogen, 160 pounds of phosphoric acid
and 40 pounds of potash, combined with
mineral and organic substances such as
lime, oxygen, carbon and sulphates,
which make up the bulk of the material.
A Rhyme at Twilight
By
Gertrude Brooke Hamilton,
As of Old
In the chivalrous days of the past the
bold knight
Laid his spoils at the feet of hie love;
In the bout and the tournament and the
sword play
For his fair, gentle lady he strove.
The great world of today pays her tribute
as well;
In its marts she may win high success;
Or white-capped and zealous on missions
be sent
To alleviate human distress.
Or may dip into science and win honors
there;
Her ambition may reach any height...
But she still finds her best ancr her holiest
. fame
As the fair lady-love of her knight.