Evening star. [volume], February 20, 1938, Image 15

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

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
GENERAL
NEWS
V ^
SPORTS
PAGES 4 TO 7
. I
WT A CUTXmrpAV T\ nnr»TT a nn ■<
0. C. BILL HEARINGS
NEAR CONCLUSION;
REPORT DUE SOON
Measure Likely to Reach
Senate Floor by End
of This Week.
INCREASE IN DEFICIT
APPEARS PROBABLE
Reque*t of Commiisioners to Fat
Lighting Charge on General
Fund May Be Followed.
By J. A. O’LEARY.
The 1939 District appropriation bill
probably will be ready to report to
the Senate by the end of this week, !
after several more days of hearings, '
starting at 10 a.m. tomorrow.
Although no decisions will be reached
until the hearings close, about Wed
nesday, Indications are the House
measure will be materially changed in
detailed provisions. While Chairman
Thomas, Democrat, of Oklahoma, is
anxious to, hold the total down in
view of the city's tax situation, it ap- i
pears likely the revised measure will
increase the expected deficit to be
met by jidd*d taxation.
Under the House bill the deficit,
necessitating the pending tax bill, was
about $2,000,000, in the general fund.
The Senate subcommittee, it is be- '
lieved, will follow the request of the
Commissioners to have street lighting
charged to the general fund, which
j would add $765,000 to the deficit in
that fund. The House turned down a
move to transfer lighting to the high
way fund, on the ground it would con
stitute diversion of that fund, and
similar opposition has developed in ;
the Senate hearings.
May Restore Other Cuts.
There also are signs the Senate may
restore some of the House reductions
in budget estimates for other general
fund items.
If the $765,000 for street lighting is
charged to the general fund, as now
seems probable, there is more likeli
hood of the $650,000 being restored
under the highway fund to start the
new Pennsylvania Avenue Bridge,
southeast, since there would be ample
balance in that fund to cover the
bridge item.
Chairman Thomas has indicated he
may urge postponement of the Dupont
and Thomas Circle traffic underpasses, |
which call for $480,000 and $530,000. ,
respectively. If they should be elimi
nated there would be a large balance in
the highway fund, which, under ex
isting law can be spent only for speci
fied purposes relating to highways and
traffic administration.
One of the remaining days of hear
ings will be devoted to discussion of
whether the $900,000 allotment for
unemployment relief in the House bill
should be increased. A number of
organizations and civic ^ groups are
expected to take part in that hearing. j
Training School May Be Kept.
It is believed the Senate subcom- ,
1 mittee will provide for continued oper- j
ation of the National Training School
for Girls and the Children's Receiving
Home. The House bill contemplated
housing the training school inmates
at the Lorton Reformatory and send
ing children to the house of detention
instead of the receiving home.
It also is probable the Senate will
approve the supplemental estimate for
a new $400,000 city reservoir, to be lo
cated In the Soldiers’ Home Grounds,
since the bill as passed by the House
, left more than a sufficient balance in
the separate water revenQe fund for
this project, Officials were not ready
to submit the reservoir estimate until
the House had acted.
As the bill passed the House it car
ried a total of approximately $45,
076,0000, covering all three funds—
general, highway and water. To this
must be added, however, the $765,000
for street lighting, which was left out
entirely when the House declined to
approve its transfer to the highway
fund. What the totafi will be 'when
. the bill is reported to the Senate will
depend, however, on a number ol
other proposed increases and decreases
being considered.
TOWERS IS NAMED
AERONAUTICS AIDE
Commander of Aircraft Carrier
Saratoga Will Swap Jobs
With Bead.
Capt. A. B. Read, assistant chief of,
the Bureau of Aeronautics in the
Navy Department, and Capt. j. h. I
Towers, commander of the U. S. S.
Saratoga, will swap posts next June, i
In announcing the orders
the Navy Debartn
to the outstand
ing aeronautical
career of Capt.
• Towers, who has
held an air pilot’s
license longer
than any other
man in the Navy.
Capt. Towers was
one of the first
three naval offi
cers to be as
signed to avia
tion in 1911, and
received ins true
* tion under Glenn
Pew naval of- c«»
fleers are better known in Washing
ton than Capt. Towers, who was as
sistant chief of the Bureau of Aero
nautics in 1929 and was appointed by
President Hoover a member of the
National Advisory Committee on Aero
nautics. He has served in an aviation
capacity with American embassies in
London, Paris, Rome and Berlin, and
with the legation at The Hague.
He was born in Rome, Ga„ Janu
ary 30, 1885, and graduated from the
' Naval Academy in 1906. In June,
1937, Capt. Towers was assigned as
commanding officer of the aircraft
carrier Saratoga. Before then he
had served a tour as chief of staff of
aircraft with the Battle Bhpm
v«) XU-UXiUAUX ^lU, 1300, ip
Dancing Taboo in New Multi-Shower, Multi-Feature Gvm at Eastern High
Complete with seven shower rooms, 24 electric clocks, a
compressed cork ceiling, the new Eastern High School gym
nasium is expected to be ready for action February 28 when
Eastern is scheduled to meet Episcopal High School in a basket
ball game. An additional feature is a 24-foot sliding door that
divides the main floor into separate sections for activities of
boys and girls and folds back against the wall when the whole
uciuy uocu. uunLCS
STATUEOFBEAOLE
South Dakota to Present
Memorial to Hall of Fame <
This Week.
A statue of Gen. William H. Beadle.
Civil War soldier and pioneer educa
tor in the Northwest, is being placed
in the Hall of Fame at the Capitol
this week by South Dakota.
Funds for the statue were provided
by the students and teachers of the
State in recognition of his service to
education in that section of the coun
try. He advocated the township sys
tem of school organization. An in
scription on the statue reads:
‘ Gen. W. H. Beadle, 1838-1915, Edu
cator, Conservationist, Statesman and
Soldier. Through his leadership
twenty million acres of school lands
were saved to posterity in South Da
kota. North Dakota, Montana, Wash
ington. Idaho and Wyoming. Pre
sented to South Dakota and the
United States by the teachers and
children of South Dakota, 1938.”
The statue will be unveiled at exer
cises in Statuary Hall at the Capitol
at 4 p.m. Wednesday. The presenta
tion will be made by Gov. Leslie Jen
sen. and accepted by Vice President
Garner. The South Dakota congres
sional delegation is being assisted in
making the arrangements by Barrett
Lowe, chairman of the Beadle Cen
tennial Commission.
Prior to the ceremonies the South
Dakota Society will give a luncheon,
and after the exercises a dramatiza
tion of the life of Gen. Beadle will
be broadcast by the National Broad
casting Co. at 6 p.m.
Speakers at the unveiling exercises
will include Senators Bulow and
Hitchcock and Representatives Hilde
brandt and Case, all of South Da
kota, and W. W. Howes, who is First
Assistant Postmaster General and
president of the South Dakota So
ciety. Observances are being held
throughout the State this year in
honor of the 100th birthday anniver
OOIJ VJi UCU. J3CUU1P.
---
Y. M. C. A. TO SPONSOR
LECTURES ON HYGIENE
®t- Carl A. Wilzbach of Cincin
nati Delivers First of Seriea
Wednesday at Lions Club.
Dr. Carl A. Wilzbach, executive sec
retary of the Cincinnati Social Hy
giene Society, will deliver the first
of a series of lectures here at 12:30
p.m. Wednesday at, a luncheon of the
Lions Club iff the Mayflower Hotel.
His subject will be "A. Common Sense
Health Program.”
Wednesday at 8 p.m. he .will speak
before young peoples groups at the
Chevy Chase Presbyterian Church on
“Preparation for Marriage” and
Thursday at 10:45 am. will speak be
fore students of the Woodward Boys’
School on “Becoming & Man.” Again,
he will speak on “Preparation for Mar
riage” at 8 p.m. Thursday before stu
dents in the George Washington Uni
versity auditorium.
At 12:30 p.m. Friday he will speak
before executives of character-building
agencies on “Co-ordination in Public
Health” in Barker Hall of the Y. W.
C. A. and at 8 p.m. that day will speak
at the Chevy Chase Presbyterian
Church to a group of young married
persons on ‘ Making a Go of Marriage.”
The addresses here will be under
auspices of the Young Men's Christian
Association and the Lester E. Ward
Sociological Society.
TRACKS TO BE REMOVED
Work to Go-Ahead on 9th Street
, Between G and X.
Street car tracks on Ninth street''
between G and K streets, now unused
will be removed during the coming
“working” season, in connection with
plans to repave the street, under an
order issued by the Joint Board of
the District Commissioners and the
Public Utilities Commission.
Bus service has been substituted for
ncie, nowever, ine jacuiiy says.
Patriotic, Veteran and Civic
Groups to Mark Birth
day Tuesday.
Led by Its patriotic, veteran and
civic organizations, the Capital will
join Tuesday in a traditional observ
ance of George Washington's birth
day.
Chairman Sumners of the House
Judiciary Committee is to be the
anniversary speaker at the annual
meeting at 10:30 am. of the Asso
ciation of Oldest Inhabitants of the
District in the Old No 19 Engine
House, Nineteenth and H streets N.W.
Pilgrimages to the tomb of Wash
ington at Mount Vernon, a special
show in the riding hall at Port Myer
and a banquet of the Military Order
of the Purple Heart, founded by Gen.
Washington, will be other features of
the local observance.
All Federal and District Govern
ment offices and the public schools
are to be closed.
Purple Heart Order Banquet.
National officers of the Military
Order of the Purple Heart will be
among the honor guests of the Dis
trict department of the order at the
banquet Tuesday night in the Kene
saw Hotel, Sixteenth and Irving
streets N.W.
Maj. J. Stewart Richardson of the
Veterans' Administration will act as
toastmaster, and speakers- will be Earl
Goodwin, news writer and radio
speaker, and Capt. Fred C. Kochli,
national service officer of the Legion
of Valor. Department Comdr. E. B.
Petty will preside.
In tribute to the horsemanship of
Gen. Washington, officers in charge
of the Washington's Birthday Horse
Show at Port Myer Tuesday evening
have arranged a program intended to
teft the mettle of both horses and
riders.
Maj. A. W. RofTe. in charge of ar
rangements, has sought to provide
something new and different in the
jumps and the manner of negotiating
them. All entries will be permitted to
school their mounts over the courses
irtuv twice pijui iu ixit; buuw.
Judges (or Show.
Judges for the show will be Col.
Warren W. Wliitside, commanding the
Front Royal Remount Depot; Col. W.
W. Gordon, Army War College; Harry
H. Semmes, joint master, Riding and
Hunt Club Hounds, and Sterling W.
Larrabee, master, Redlands Hunt.
Members of District Post, No. 17,
Irish War Veterans, will make a pil
grimage to Mount Vernon, leaving
their headquarters, 1132 Eighteenth
street N.W., by automobile at 10 a.m.
Representative McGroarty, Democrat,
of California will speak at the tomb.
All Irish societies and veterans' or
ganizations are invited to join in the
tribute.
Members of George Washingtili
Post, No. 1, American Legion, will
make their annual pilgrimage to Mount
Vernon, assembling at 10 a.m. at Con
necticut avenue and H street N.W.
Comdr. John F. Dull will place a
wreath on the tomb.
A George Washington celebration
was held last night by the Interior
Department Recreation Association in
co-operation with other Federal em
ployes' recreation associations in the
cafeteria of the new Interior Depart
ment. The program included an all
States dance and an inspection of the
building.
ASSIGNED TO AIR SCHOOL
Seven Army Air Corps officers now
on duty in Washington, four in the.
War Department and three at Bolling
Field, have been assigned to duty as
students at the Air Corps Tactical
School, Maxwell Field, Ala., for the
1938-9 course.
Officers assigned from the office of
the chief of the Air Corps are Majs.
Rowland C. W. Blessley, William B.
Souza and James A. Mollison and
Capt. Donald F. Stace. Bolling Field
officers in the group are Capte. Ar
thur L. Bump, jr„ and George W.
McGregor and First Lt. Stanley K.
Like an auto laundry is this modern shower room for the
boys. After soaping up in an anteroom with several overhead
sprays, the. lads will enter the right-hand aisle, the water grad
ually getting warmer till it reaches it highest temperature at
the far end. Coming back down the left-hand side, the water
gradually gets cooler and cooler until they reach the end and
A pull of the hand will bring these spring-balanced grand
stands into readiness. Seats for more than 1,500 can be pre
pared in 15 minutes. Special rooms and shotvers are available
for the Community Center. Citing the shower accommodations
in the new building, Assistant Principal T. J. Holmes laughed:
“Ant! student, at. Pastern, nihn needs a hath and dnesn’t net nne
step out into a drying room. The girls have individual showers.
. ... .. , . -j_ .
Sufferers From Cataplexy
Dare Not Laugh, Clinic Is Told
Dr. Dickens Describes Strange Condi
tion in Which Emotion Causes Pa
_* __
dvrid a act
By THOMAS R. HENRY.
The strange story of men who can’t
laugh was told at the annual post
i graduate clinic of George Washington
University Medical School yesterday
by Dr. Paul F. Dickens, associate
professor of medicine.
He showed moving pictures of one
Washington victim of this weird con
dition of cataplexy, in which any emo
tion may cause the patient to lose
control of the muscles and topple over
| helpless on the floor without losing
consciousness. Laughing is a suffi
j cient emotional expression to bring
on such an attack.
The man pictured by Dr. Dickens
couldn't tell a funny story. When he
got to the point of the joke he would
topple over. Such falls may result in
severe injuries. Such a man can't
afford to become angry.1 or feel intense
sorrow. Fright will cause just such
a collapse, a fact which gives a pas
sible clue to its genesis.
Cause e( Disease Unknown.
Nobody knows wjiat causes the dis
ease. Certain, animals, however, have
the instinctive reaction of "playing
dead” when they are in a tight fix.
The opossum is a well-known ex
ample. It may be that this reaction
is very deeply seated in the make-up
of mammals. In man and most other
higher species it Is subordinated so
that it seldom actually Is manifested.
In the course of evolution the mam
mals have found better ways of deal
ing with emergencies. But such a
reaction, once acquired, apparently is
never lost, but buried. In these cases,
it may be. the repression machinery
of the nervous system is out of gear
so that the long disused reflex comes
into play again.
The animals which "play dead." of
course, do not laugh. This seems to
be an emotional expression reserved
for men. For the lower animals life is
altogether too serious a proposition
for laughter. But man's emotions,
after all, are derived from those of
the lower creatures, however they
may be refined. The cataplexic reac
tion is to an emotion, however pleasant
or unpleasant, because originally any
emotion was apt to be a response to
danger.
This explanation, however, is only
a possibility, Dr. Dickens explained.
There is no rational treatment for the
condition, but administration of thy
roid extract had good empirical re
sults in this particular case.
Attended by Narcolepsy.
Cataplexy is invariably attended by
another strange condition known as
narcoplepsy. Victims of this condi
tion suffer from irresistible drives to
fall asleep several times during the
day. Wherever they are they drop
into profound slumber instantaneous
ly—a very dangerous procedure if one
'happens to be driving an automobile
or walking across a busy street. The
case shown by Dr. Dickens was that
of a Washington clerk, who would fall
asleep at his desk. Another case was
that of a farmer near Washington,
who would fall asleep while plow
ing, drop the plow handles and lie
down in the furrow.
The sleep lasts from two or three
minutes to 15 or 20. Once the vic
tim awakens, he goes on with what
he was doing, just as before. There
is no break in one's cha.in of thought,
such as would come with ordinary
slumber. For this condition also there
is no accepted explanation. Not all
narcoleptics are cataplexies, Dr. Dick
ens said, but all cataplexies are narco
leptics.
The remarkable effects of insulin
and metrazol ip the treatment of the
I) IlCtpCStSt
praecox, if cases are treated early
enough, were described by Dr. H. D.
Shapiro of the George Washington
faculty. In one case the patient is
thrown into convulsions and coma by .
repeated shock does of insulin, for- j
merly used chiefly in the treatment
of diabetes.
Change In Personality.
About 50 per cent remissions have
been obtained. Dr. Shapiro said, in
cases of brief standing. After in
sulin shock, he said, tjjpre is a re
markable change in personality. The
silent become talkative and the ex
cited become quiet. The problem is
to make this change permanent.
A common remark of such patients,
he said, is: 'T feel as if I had been
reborn.”
Nobody knows. Dr. Shapiro said,
why insulin shock doees work as they
do. One explanation is that normal
thought processes follow certain chan-*
nels in the nervous system. These
channels become blocked in some way
by the abnormal thought processes
of the insane and the insulin tends
to clear them out.
Metrozol, a drug used hitherto
chiefly as a heart stimulant, is much
quicker acting and the treatment can
be given in the home or the phy
sician's office. It induces convulsions
similar to those of the epileptic, and
its use was due to the observation
that epilepsy and dementia praecox
seem to have an antipathy for one
another. It seems to act better. Dr.
Shapiro said, on patients of the ex
tremely depressed type who do not
react well to insulin shock.
Experiments now are in progress,
he said, to determine the effects of
metrazol in some phases of the maniac
depressive insanities and the value of
both in the very prevalent psycho
neuroses which are just on the border
line of insanitv.
--- I I
D. C. CARING FOR 3,028
UNDER OLD-AGE PROGRAM
Total of 3,471 Grants Made—217
(Requests for Aid to Blind
Approved.
* The District was caring for 3,028
cases under the old age assistance
program at the end of the last month,
according to a report to the Board of
Public Welfare by Miss Alice Hill,
relief director.
All told, the District has made 3,471
grants in old age assistance, but the
number has been reduced by deaths
among beneficiaries and by develop
ment of information that relief was
no longer necessary, Miss Hill said. '
The report covered the first two
years of the operation of the District
old age assistance program. During
the same period, she said, the District
had approved a total of 217 applica
tions for aid to the needy blind, of
whom 186 were receiving relief in
January. The figure for the needy
blind was reduced for the same reasons
as for the needy aged, she said.
Lecture on Snakes Tomorrow.
Dr. T. H. Githens of the Anti
Venin Institute will speak on “Pois
onous Snakes and Snakebite Treat
ment” tomorrow at 8 p.nj., before
the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club
and the Institute of Pharmacy at the
latter’s building, Constitution avenue
and Twenty-first street N.W.
His lecture will be illustrated by'
just doesn’t -want one.”
Would Require All With Pris
on Records to Register
' With Police.
A bill designed to make criminals
shun the Capital by requiring all men
and women with prison records to
register at Police headquarters was 1
being prepared by District officials !
yesterday for early submission to Con
gress.
Maj. Ernest W. Brown, superin
tendent of police, said the measure
would have the double effect of caus
ing many criminals to leave Wash
ington and deter others from coming
here rather than furnish police the
detailed information about themselves
that would be required.
Penalties provided for violation of
the lawr would give police a powerful
new weapon in curbing the activities
of suspicious characters, against whom
no action can be taken under present
laws, Maj. Brown added.
He said the bill was being drafted
by Corporation Counsel Elwood H.
Seal along the lines of an ordinance
recently put into effect with "satisfac
tory" results in Philadelphia. Copies
of the Philadelphia ordinance were
being studied by police and other
District officials.
The Philadelphia law requires all
persons living there who have served
prison sentences within 10 years any
where in the world to register at
police headquarters, furnish such
relevant information about their rec
ords as may be required by the super
intendent of police and notify police
within 24 hours if they change their
address.
Newcomers to the city subject to
the law are required to report at
police headquarters within six hours
of their arrival.
The Philadelphia ordinance provides
a penalty of $100 fine or 30 days im
prisonment for violation.
It specifies that the information
furnished to police shall be held as
confidential, “not to be disclosed ex
cept to police authorities for the pre
vention or punishment of crime or
_•_ ..
***v -v.vwv.wm V» ViUUCO.
f
--•
YOUNG WOMAN CLERK
HELD UP, THEN FAINTS
Found Unconscious on Bakery
Shop Floor After Armed
Bandit Flees.
Found unconscious on the floor of
a bake shop at 3114 Georgia avenue
N.W. last night, Beatrice Notara,
23-year-old clerk, told police, after
being revived at Emergency Hospital,
that she had fainted when held up
and robbed by a colored man, armed
with a pistol.
Miss Notara said she was alone in
the bakery when the colored man
entered, pointed the gun at her and
demanded money, all the while keep
ing a sharp eye on the door and two
companions waiting in a sedan at the
curb outside. She said she gave him
about $4 from the cash register and
$2 from her purse and then fainted.
A colored boy, passing by, saw the
girl lying on the floor and notified a
launrdy clerk next door, who called
police. She was treated at the hos
pital for mild shock, later going to
her home at 619 Irving street N.W.
Lighting Cost Shift Urged.
Transfer of the $765,000 annual cost
of the District’s street lighting from
the city’s general revenues to the
gasoline tax and highway fund was
advocated yesterday by the Wash
—Star Staff Photos.
LOIS SIMMS’ HUNT
PUSHED BY POLICE
More Friends of Missing Riv
erdale Heights Girl Are
Questioned.
Maryland police were still question
ing friends of Lois Eleanor Simms last
night, hopeful of uncovering infor
mation that might aid in solving the
mystery surrounding the disappear
ance last Monday of the 15-year-old
Hyattsville High School student.
Meanwhile search was being pushed
for a 19-year-old Riverdale l^py,
wanted by investigators for further
questioning Officers talked with the
youth several days ago after he sud
denly quit the Hyattsville school, but
did not hold him.
Henry C. Briscoe. Prince Georges
County policeman, said the boy denied
reports he had been "going around”
with Miss Simms. When police were
informed later that Lois had been
seen leaving his home several days
before her disappearance he could not
be found.
A number of the girls’ classmates
and friends were questioned late yes
terday, but they were unable to pro
vide authorities with any informa
tion of value.
The Riverdale boy. who was in the
senior class at Hyattsville High, left
school after relatives of the missing
student questioned him as to her
whereabouts. He told police he had
done so to escape the "ribbing” of
classmates.
Officers were told by the youth,
whose parents are in Florida, that he
planned to enroll at Tech High here.
He said he intended going to Wash
ington to visit friends and left word
where he could be reached. However,
according to police, he never ap
peared at the friends’ residence.
Both Mr. and Mrs. O. L. Simms,
parents of the girl, who live in River
dale Heights, and her older sister.
Miss Ruth Simms, 26, expressed fear
that she had been kidnaped or had
met with foul play, and an appeal
for aid was made to the Federal Bu
reau of Investigation Friday.
F. B. I. officials said they could not
clearly establish that the girl’s dis
appearance had any angle of a Fed
eral violation through which they
could enter the case and said they
could merely list her as a missing
n*rsnn
MAN PLEADS NOT GUILTY
TO BUS HOLD-UP CHARGE
Judge Holds Him for Grand Jury
Under $1,500 Bond—Revol
* ver. Held Hidden.
Stanley P. Samson. 34. of the 400
block of Decatur street N.W., was held
for the grand jury under $1,500 bond
after being arraigned before Judge
Edward M. Curran in Police Court yes
terday on • a charge of robbery. He
pleaded not guilty.
Walter Bierwagen, 4713 Third place
N.W., a Capital Transit Co. bus driver,
identified Samson as the man who
held him up on his bus at gun point
the night of February 3 after he
stopped at Kansas avenue and Decatur
street N.W., thinking Samson a pros
pective fare. Several passengers were
on the bus at the time. Samson is
alleged to have robbed the driver of
$3 and some change. Police said at
least one person, besides the bus driver,
had identified Samson in a police
line-up.
Policemen who arrested Samson on
February 10 said he attempted to hide
a .35 caliber pistol behind the scout
_ _ttODinson. i type of insanity known as dementia | live specimens and motion pictures. | ington Taxpayers’ Association. I car seat en route to the police station^
NaW F^ITIiIv/ Pesirm f* Amaaa DIi isa D iaIaa A A a i in
— ' W V V ■
NEW family names are being
created among Blue Ridge
mountaineers now living
, on th$ outskirts of the
Shenandoah National Park.
Some striking examples are re
ported in the technical journal,
American Speech, published by Co
lumbia Univaf-ity, by Miss Miriam
Sizer, mountain school teacher and
welfare worker.
Perhap the strangest is the
emergence of the Fat family tree
in one nrountain hollow a few
miles from Charlottesville. Many
generations ago. it seems, a resi
dent of the hollow bore the Chris
tian name of Lafayette, after the
Revolutionary hero. This was
pronounced “Layfate." Gradu
tlfir fhi "It*" m
./ ■ ^Ull IWJ Bd
the “fate’ transformed to "fat."
Now everybody In the hollow had
the same surname. If everybody
in Washington was named “Smith"
the name “John Smith” would be
of no more use in differentiating
an individual than plain “John."
Family names arose originally
when some effort was made to dis
tinguish Individuals. So arose the
system, familiar from the Bible,
of using such a designation as
“James, John’s son” to distinguish
a particular James from gU the
other men of that name in the
community.
The same system arose in the
Virginia hollow. “Fat” became a
. Christian name handed down from
generation to generation. * Some
Hm.iV !_a _-TalsM
!wii wi wu i vwe
or a daughter Susie. Since the
actual family name had no differ- ,
entiating value these children were
distinguished as “Fat’s John” or
“Fat’S' Susie.” These names be
came attached to them. It was a
simple matter to turn the termin
ology around into "John Fat” or
“Susie Fat1’ as the actual, and
valueless, family name came more
and m^re into disuse.
M* x Sizer tells of the emergence
of two new family names—Powell
and Stephens. She says:
“Two brothers, respectively
great-grandfathers of each group,
were named John Powell Jenkins
and Henry Stephens Jenkins.
Their numerous descendants, to
OwUfV MMllloUn ski 4«e44 w44eea la 44a.
r^mwny UlUC
continued local usage of the com
mon Jenkins surname and substi
tuted either; that of Powell or
Stephens. As a result the original
family name is being replaced."
Apparently, Miss Sizer found, the
name Jenkins is still used only
when members of the family must
sign legal papers. The names
Powell and Stephens appear on
their mail boxes.
A linguistic gem obtained by Miss
Sizer is the following:
“Um ma’un tsailed Dod um
wu’ud. He taalled Dod um ba ud
wu’ud. Dod put de in de moon.
Him tuffy an’ tuffy. Him tuffy
weat. Him tuffy nunk."
This isn’t Choctaw, Ethiopian,
mm »n«s— ■ ■ • <ms. si., a_■
IXIVI^W f ▼ (Will I I I
can which National Park Service
and Resettlement Administration
workers have had to get used to
from the most primitive moun
taineers in the Shenandoah Na
tional Park area of the Blue Ridge
Mountains.
It might be described as Ameri
canized pre-Chaucerian English.
The above linguistic gem, quoted
exactly, is to be credited to Ellis
Corbin, aged 10, of the Corbin
Hollow Corbins, whose ancestors «
came to Virginia early in the 17th
century. They were, then English
peasantry among whom the pre
Chaucerlan had survived, whereas
the literary language had become
greatly modified.
They soon became isolated la
an iwv*i
the old speech to successive gener
ations. Contaminations crept in
and were perpetuated. The quota
tion was taken down directly from
the lips of Ellis by Miss 8leer.
Translated, the story is as fol
lows: A man called Qod a word.
He called God a bad word. God
put him *in the moon. He suffered
and suffered. He suffered eat and
, he suffered drink (hunger and
thrist).
It’s a problem for any linguist
to unscramble. Take, for exam
ple, the last words: “He tufty
hunk.” "Nunk" is a contamina
tion of “dunk.” pre-Chaucerian
Anglo-Saxon for “drink,” which
still survives in the American lan
guage in such expressions as
NAmUm * -* »» ala
CAPITAL SUFFRAGE
URGED AT SESSION
OF CITIZENS’ UNIT
Federation Also Opposes
Board to Control All Rec
reational Facilities.
f
FIERY DEBATES MARK
THREE-HOUR MEETING
*
Leaden of Group Directed to Work'
for Local Franchise—Bee
omman/la/t kv TSnrk
local suffrage was urged for the
District, and the proposed creation
of a board of recreation to have con
trol over all play facilities was op-'
posed last night by the Federation of
Citizens’ Associations in a session
marked by a number of fiery debates/
Practically all of the three-hour meet
ing was devoted to the two topics.
Federation officials and members of
the Suffrage Committee were directed
to work for a local franchise, but it
was stipulated that any specific plan
that might be developed must be
brought before the body for approval.
The action was taken on recommen
dation by Wilbur S. Finch, chairman
of the Suffrage Committee. He urged
that federation officials be authorized
to act on their own Initiative or in
co-operation with other groups “to.
secure through appropriate congres
sional action the reorganization of the
District Government into a modem,
effective and economical municipal,
government, with adequate provision'
for the effective participation by Dis
trict citizens in the election and con
trol of such government consistent
with the congressional power of ex
clusive legislation over the seat of.
government.”
Finch Leader of Movement.
Mr. Finch, who is a leader of the
new civic movement for municipal
suffrage, declared there is a growing
willingness on the part of Congress to
i place complete control of municipal
affairs in the hands of District resi
dents. He added that members af
Congress desire to be relieved of re
sponsibilities for the city adminis
tration.
A. D. Calvert. Lincoln Park dele
gate. urging rejection of the resolu
tion, raised fears of local politics and
insisted that “when the District is
worthy of a better form of govern
ment. it will come about naturally
without any effort.”
In reply, William J. Tucker of Ana
costia. said that "when we get the
vote Congress will pay some atten
i tion to residents of the District." and
W. H. Seaquist of Manor Park pre
i tested that District finances now are
; Hnminata/f hat (ha i
j Bureau.
Praises Present Government.
M. M. McLean of Brookland in
sisted that the District has the best
government of any large city of the
country and voiced the doubt that its
efficiency and honesty could be
matched by substitution of an elected
form.
Fred S. Walker of Park View, Jesse
j C. Suter of the Society of Natives and
! James F. Duhamel of the Association
of Oldest Inhabitants were among
; many delegates who supported the
I Finch motion.
Opposition to proposed centraliza
tion of control over recreation facilities
under a new board was registered in
adoption of a motion by H. C. Phillips,
chairman of the Federation's Educa
tion Committee, which found that.the
proposal "tended to deprive the Board
of Education of its rightful and full
control of Us public school properties
of all kinds at all times.”
The Federation favored complete
control of all public school properties
and personnel, whenever and however
used, by officials responsible only to
the Board of Education.
Recreation Board Proposed.
The board of recreation is proposed
, in legislation which has been suggest
ed by officials of the National Capital
Park and Planning Commission. The.
Education Committee opposed the plan
on two major grounds:
"First, that the set-up of the board
would leave the general citizenry and
schools in a powerless minority, in
that a majority could easily be-mus
tered by the other official agencies,
and
"Second, that authority would be
given the Recreation Board to control
the buildings and grounds of the pub
lic schools, including the use of their;
assembly rooms, gymnasiums, swim-'
ming pools, stadiums and school play- *
grounds, and the dominance of those
.facilities during all periods of recrea
tion, with no responsibility to the1
Board of Education beyond some un-|
certain 'agreement' which the Recrea
tion Board might reach with the
Board of Education—an agreement ‘
that might conceivably be coerced or
influenced by a strong majority of
the Recreation Board.” ,
1 Mr. Phillips explained that as the >
bill now is suggested, the proposed
Recreation Board would consist of one
of the District Commissioners, the
superintendent of schools, the superin
tendent of National Capital Parks, the
chairman of the National Capital Park
and Planning Commission and one
District resident to be appointed by
the District Commissioners.
U. G. E. FORUM TO HEAR
LAMBERTSON OF KANSAS
Representative Lambertson of Kan
sas will be the speaker at the United
Government Employes’ Forum this aft
ernoon at 3 o'clock in the Garaet
Patterson Junior High School Audi
torium, Tenth and U streets N.W.
His subject will be “Justice for Low
Paid Workers in the Government.”
Edgar Brown, president of the
group, will report on the progress
made toward securing a $60 yearly
raise from Congress for employes la
the lower brackets.
—1 ■ • •
BAND CONCERT.
By the Navy .Band at 3 p.m. to
morrow in the Sail Loft. Navy Yard.
Lt. Charles Ben ter, leader; Alexander