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THE EVENING STAR With •■■day Mamins Kdltlan THEODORE W. NOYES. Editor WASHINGTON. D. C. WEDNESDAY. January (, 1*3* Tho Evening Star Newspaper Company Main OlBre: lllh 8t. and Pennsylvania Ave. New York Office: 11(1 East 41nd 8t. Chicago Office: 4115 North Michigan Av*. Delivered by Carrier—City and Suburban Regular Editian Evening and Sunday.05c per mo. or 15c per week The Evening Star_45c per mo. or 10c per week The Sunday Star 5c per copy Night Final Edition Night Final and Sunday Star _.T0c per month Night Final Star 55c per nouih Collection made at the end of each month or each week. Orders may be seat by mail or leie ahone National 5000. Kate by Mail—Payable in Advance Maryland and Virginia Dally and Sunday...! yr., $10.00; 1 mo., K5c Dally only-1 yr., $0.00: l mo., floe Sunday only __ _1 yr.. $4.00; 1 mo., 40c All Other States and Canada Dally and Sunday 1 yr., $l".oo; l mo.. $l.uo Dally only-1 yr., *0.00; l mo.. 15c •unday only-1 yr.. *5.00; l mo., 6uc Member ol the Associated Press The Associated Press is exclusively entitled to the use for repubUcation of an news aispatcnes credited to it or not otherwise credited in inis paper and also the local news puoushed herein. All rights ol publication ot special dispatches 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.