Evening star. [volume], March 26, 1938, Page A-8, Image 8

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

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
: THE EVENING STAR
With Suit; Morning Edition
THEODORE VV. NOYES, Editor
WASHINGTON, D. C.
SATURDAY...March 26, 193*
* — -
The Evening Star Newspaper Company
Main Office: 11th Bt. and Pennsylvania *w.
New York Office: 110 East 42nd St.
Chicago Offlca: 436 North Michigan Ava.
Delivered by Carrier City and Suburban
Regular Edition
Evening and Sunday.«5c per ino. or 15c per week
The Evening 6tar..„45c per mo. or 10c per week
rha Sunday Star__6c per copy
Night Final Edition
Night Final and Sunday Star....70c per month
Night Final Star_65c per month
Collection mada at the end ol each month or
each week. Orders may be sent by mall or tele
phone National 6000.
Bate >by Mail—Payable in Advance
Maryland and Virginia
Dally and 8unday—1 yr. $10.00; 1 mo. 85c
Dally only-1 yr. $8.00; 1 mo.. 60c
Sunday only__1 yr. $4.00: 1 mo. 40c
All Other States and Canada
Dally and Sunday.1 yr. $12.00; 1 mo. $1.00
Dally only_1 yr. $8.00: 1 mo. 76c
Sunday oniv__1 yr. $6.00: 1 mo. 600
Member of the Associated Press
The Associated Press is exclusively entitled to
the use (or republicauon o( all news dispatches
credited to It or not otherwise credited m this
paper and also the local news published nerein.
All rights ct publication ol special dispatchaa
herein aiso are reserved.
Tax Relief at Last.
The Senate Finance Committee has
placed tax relief for business above the
punitive and unstable theories of taxa
tion advanced by President Roosevelt
and his assistants. It is particularly
heartening that the committee has taken
this step by a large and substantial*
majority. Ever since the Roosevelt
depression set in, now half a year ago,
American business, big and little, has
demanded tax relief, particularly the
repeal of the undistributed profits tax
and modification or repeal of the capital
gams tax. The Senate committee, dis
regarding the demand of the President
that the principle of the undistributed
profits tax be retained, has thrown that
tax out of the window and substituted
a flat corporate rate of taxation which
can be understood. It junked the com
plicated capital gains and losses tax
written into the new revenue bill by the
House and substituted a simplified
structure.
The corporate taxes proposed by the
Senate Finance Committee may bring
in more revenue by a number of millions
of dollars than the estimated return
under the House provisions. But the
principal gain for business lies in the
fact that the Senate committee has
overwhelmingly put itself on record in
favor of the relief of business from the
constant fear of punitive and unsound
taxation advanced by those who believe
that taxes should be used to reform and
to punish those who oppose them and
their ideas.
The ultimate outcome of this fight
between the President and members of
Congress over taxation is not yet en
tirely clear. The utmost pressure will
be exerted in the Senate itself, doubtless,
to overturn the action of the Finance
Committee. However, with the commit
tee voting 17 to 4 against the President
in the contest over the principle of the
undistributed profits tax, the chances
for victory by the committee majority
in the Senate are extremely good.
In the House the administration was
able to put through its revised tax pro
gram by exerting a great deal of polit
ical pressure. Sentiment among the
members for the repeal of the undis
tributed profits tax was very strong,
nevertheless, in that body. Even in the
House the President found it impossible
to have written into the bill as it passed
that body the so-called penalty tax on
closely held or family owned corpora
tions. That provision was knocked out.
When the tax bill is-sent to conference,
containing, as it may, the flat corporate
tax instead of the undistributed profits
tax the tug of war will come. With a
growing sentiment in the House against
the tax ideas of the President, the Senate
may be the winner.
President Roosevelt, it has been
hinted—even threatened—may veto the
tax bill if it does not suit him, meaning
If it has been stripped of the kind of
taxation he desires. He has that pow’er,
and then Congress could, if it so desired,
pass the bill over his veto by a two-thirds
vote. Failure of taxation by the veto
route, at this time, will not be helpful
either to the country or to President
Roosevelt, however. The country, already
In a depression, is not likely to regard
with favor a President who opposes his
own will to Congress and to a strong
sentiment among the people in this
* matter of tax relief.
Gentlemen who attend administration
banquets are expected to be aware of
gastronomic niceties and to express them
clearly. If arguments are to arise they
can be taken into the open where the
entire world may participate. *
Baby Bonds.
An analysis of publicity on the Gov
ernment’s so-called baby bonds again
shows that the New Deal cares little
about consistency.
While mo6t New Deal agencies merrily
continue their spending program and
) their spokesmen often "smear” advo
cates of thrift, the Treasury Department
preaches the virtue of saving through
baby bond posters displayed in every
post office. Furthermore it was with
obvious pride that the Secretary of the
-Treasury announced that sales of the
bonds, which are sold at 75 per cent of
VMir worth at maturity, have reached
^iT584.000,000 on the basis of that value.
'tie number of purchasers exceeds
ifcoo.ooo.
The bonds have obvious advantages.
They are non-fluctuating. Being regis
tered, there is small danger of their being
stolen. They tend to give an ever
increasing number of Americans a per
sonal financial interest in their Govern
ment. At present market values they
yield a larger return than most other
Government securities.
«. Likewise they hsj^ certain disadvaa
tages. They are not negotiable. They
pay no interest until they mature at the
end of ten years, hence widows and el
derly persons, who need an income now,
do not find them an attractive Invest
ment. Some financiers feel that money
placed in a bank or building association,
which usually is invested locally, does
more good to a community.
Without a doubt the bonds have
proved popular with the public. Sales
have averaged $1,730,375 a day since
they were placed on the market, March
1, 1835, and only 8 per cent of the pur
chasers have exercised their right to
turn them in for cash before maturity.
About 85 per cent of the purchasers were
individuals, small investors buying them
out of Income. Nine per cent of the
sales were to banks, but this does not
prove that the bonds are unpopular with
such fiscal institutions. Each bank is
limited in the amount it can purchase.
Moreover banks in general have to keep
most of their funds in securities from
which they derive an income prior to
maturity.
The extent of the baby bond sales
proves again that thousands of Ameri
cans need little encouragement to prac
tice personal thrift, regardless of what
policy is followed by their Government.
It shows, too, that they still have confi
dence in the financial stability of the
Government. It is the solemn duty of
all public officials to see that such con
fidence has not been misplaced.
Christian Charity.
Even our isolationists are unlikely to
protest against the program of collective
action just initiated by the United States
on behalf of political refugees from Aus
tria and Germany. According to a later
statement by President Roosevelt, the
scheme also contemplates refugees from
Soviet Russia, Italy and strife torn
Spain. That humanitarian effort springs
from the brutal oppression to which
Austrian Jews have been subjected since
the plague of Naziism reached the
Danube. It is intended, too, of course,
to ameliorate the plight which has made
life for Germany's Jews a living hell
since 1933.
Washington has appealed to twenty
nine countries, embracing most of the
civilized world, urgently calling for co
operative effort to facilitate the emigra
tion of the victims of Nazi persecution.
While these are principally of Jewish
faith, they also include Catholics and
Protestants. The neo-pagan, sadistic au
thors of cruelties which only find their
parallel in medieval baiharism, play no
denominational favorites. "Aryan" or
non-"Aryan." any who fail to acknowl
edge Der Fuehrer as the all-highest come
automatically under the ban. But, be
cause Nazi excesses are visited most sys
tematically and widely upon Jews, it is
they w'ho are chiefly envisioned by Presi
dent Roosevelt and Secretary Hull in the
appeal addressed to Great Britain,
France, Italy, Switzerland, the Nether
lands, Belgium, Sweden, Denmark, Nor
way and the twenty sister American re
publics. As the proposal on its face is
an indictment of Hitlerism, tlie invitation
to Italy is of particular interest. Unwit
tingly or otherwise, Uncle Sam has put
the Berlin-Rome axis on the spot.
What the Washington Government
projects is increased immigration, within
existing quota laws and demonstrable ab
sorptive capacity, of German and Aus
trian refugees into lands willing to wel
come them. No state aid is contemplated.
Any financing of the "emergency emi
gration” would be undertaken by private
organizations within the respective coun
tries. American Jewry has given a not
able and bountiful account of itself in
this field, in connection with Palestine.
It is undoubtedly because of the limited
ability of the planned Zionist state to
sustain the hordes of oppressed Jews
created by European conditions that the
present scheme is launched.
America is or. logical ground in taking
the lead in this timely exhibition of
Christian charity. Its action accords
with the fundamentals which gave birth
to this Republic and our subsequent tra
ditions. Many material considerations
need to be weighed before the plan can
be effectuated either here or abroad.
Under the combined German-Austrian
quotas, for example, only about 15.000
persons could be brought into the United
States before June 30. Another impor
tant contingency is the extent to which
German laws against permitting emi
grants to take money with them would be
relaxed to meet the embargo imposed by
many nations, including our own, against
aliens who might become public charges.
It is to be hoped that the urgency of
the situation will evoke general readi
ness to view liberally these various prac
tical aspects of the problem.
As James G. McDonald, League of Na
tions High Commissioner for Refugees
Coming from Germany, has stated,
“when domestic policies threaten the
demoralization and exile of hundreds of
thousands of human beings, considera
tions of diplomatic correctness must yield
to those of common humanity."
To keep the last word in the family
is one of the most valuable of political
accomplishments and is not so difficult
when the family la a large one.
Unemployment Payments.
Sponsors of both the Federal and Dis
trict laws to set up the social security
program conceded freely at the time of
their consideration that an element of
trial and error reasoning was necessarily
present and that there would be prompt
legislative Improvement of such pro
visions as might be found in need of
change.
In nearly three years of experimenta
tion with the District unemployment
compensation law the local administra
tive officers have found several aspects
of the law which might be revised with
resultant good effect to employes, to the
contributing employers or to the ad
ministrative set-up.
One of these possible modifications
would affect the local tax rate, now
established ^ a paraiansnt figure et
p
3 per cent of each eligible employer’*
pay roll. Since the Federal rate is also
established at 3 per cent and credit
granted for local taxes paid may not
exceed 90 per cent of the Federal levy,
the result is that District employers
are paying the required 3 per cent
to the District fund, but are being
credited'with only 2.7 per cent against
the I^deral tax. Paying the additional
0.3 of one per cent to the Federal Gov
ernment, the employers thereby con
tribute a total of 3.3 per cent of their
covered pay rolls.
In all but one State^the local rate has
been set at 90 per cent of the Federal
rate, the effect being that 2.7 per cent
is payable to the States, with the 0.3 per
cent due the Federal Government bring
ing their total only to an even 3 per cent.
Most States had such rate relationship
specified in their acts; a few, including
New York only recently, have amended
their laws to that effect.
Although officials of the local admin
istration are convinced that the 3 per
cent local tax is yielding considerably
more than is needed for benefits as now
scheduled, reduction of this below 2.7
per cent would bring no actual benefit
unless the Federal rate also could be
revised downward. The reduction to
2.7 per cent, however, would involve no
conflict with present; Federal law and
would relieve the employer taxpayers
of an appreciable and unnecessary per
centage of their tax obligation.
It is to be hoped that the District
board, freely acknowledging the valued
co-operation of Washington's business
interests, will do them the service of
supporting an amendment to the tax
rate and urge Congress to bring the Dis
trict in conformity with the States.
The voice of Kentucky is still heard
with interest. Some day it will be ex
pected to contribute information as to
what becomes of a financial system that
mines gold only for the sake of locking
it back in the earth.
The United States of America has
contributed some wonderful'discoveries
to the wealth of nations and will assert
the right to use some of them in self
defense if need be.
--.. » TTf- t —
It is not always possible for an ad
ministration to raise salaries, but the
payment of secretarial w:ages several
times for the same work can usually be
managed.
It is stated by Dr. Arthur E. Morgan
that the President can dismiss him. but
not without arousing a great deal of
curiosity.
If this country has been experiment
ing with feudalism it is still several
jumps ahead of the swastika, which
assumes to reassert an ancient and
mysterious authority.
-- —» --
Japanese cherry blossoms again assert
themselves as flowers that bloom in the
spring and have nothing to do with the
case.
. Shooting Stars
By PHILANDER JOHNSON.
The Genius Fad.
A person once was satisfied his daily
task to do,
And turn to thought or pleasure when
the time for work was through.
A few braved many a hardship to attain
artistic praise,
But everybody wants to be a genius
nowadays.
Each little girl expects to be a motion
picture star.
And wear her hair in ringlets and
possess a motor car.
Each little boy has fancies In precisely
similar ways.
For everybody wants to be a genius
nowadays.
I
Everybody learns to dance or sing a lit
tle bit.
Everybody acts upon the stage and
makes a hit.
No one seems to like a plain, straight
forward job that pays.
Everybody wants to be a genius now- I
adays. j
—
AU Fancy.
*T believe in the wisdom of the plain
people.”
“So do I,” answered Senator Sorghum.
“But so few of us are content to be re
garded as plain people!”
Jud Tunkins says the work of the
police would be a whole lot easier if the
people who commit crimes would be con
siderate enough to leave behind the
same kind of clues that the detective
story writers use.
Might Be Worse.
The moth is an unfeeling brute,
I candidly affirm;
Yet, though he eats my Sunday suit,
I'm glad he's not a germ.
"A man whose opinions are for sale,”
said Hi Ho, the sage of Chinatown,
“must talk much and loud in his efforts
to peddle them.”
The New-Fashioned Garden.
In an old-fashioned garden twas pleas
ant to stray,
Where perfumes with sunbeams went
drifting away;
Or to linger awhile in some lone leafy
nook , ~
And dose *neath the spell of a favorite
book.
But the garden henceforth is for dream
ing no place.
Nor a haunt for any blossoms of elegant
grace;
When I seek it I’ll carry no book, but a
hoe,
To assist the tomatoes and cabbage to
grow.
• ________ *
*1 likes a man dat knows mo’ dan I
do,” said Uncle Eben, “so long as he uses
long words tryin’ to Tell me sumpin’
instate’ lee’ tryin’ to Ml mo sumpix^”
Corrects an Article in Star
Concerning Czechoslovakia
To the Editor of The Star:
Under the heading “Serious Defects in
Czech Defense” in The Sunday Star of
March 20 a writer tells us a lot of inter
esting things that are not so. Czecho
slovakia. according to him, is “a nation
born in Pittsburgh, Pa." That statement
was probably intended as a witticism, but
it is only a piece of nonsense. The Czechs
and the Slovaks have been settled in
their present home since time immemo
rial. Czechoslovakia was not “bom” as
a new state, it was simply reconstituted.
All of its present territory was included
in the old Moravianlcingdom of Rostislav
and Svatopluk. When the kingdom was
broken up by a Magyar invasion in 907,
Moravia became a part of the kingdom
of Bohemia. In 1526 Austria, Bohemia
and Hungary, three independent coun
tries, united under the House of Haps
burg for mutual protection against the
Turk. In the World War Austria-Hun
gary became an ally of the Turk; its
raison d’etre disappeared, and the mon
archy disappeared with it, breaking up
into its original constituent parts.
In this country, according to the same
writer, Czechoslovakia is known “chiefly
through the trade mark on cheaper
crockery.” A recent publication of the
Department of Commerce, “Foreign
Commerce and Navigation of the United
States for the Calendar Year 1935, Vol
ume 1," shows on page 191, items 5350.1
and 5350.2, that in 1936 this country im
ported from'Czechoslovakia 172,775 dozen
of domestic crockery valued at $223,747.
From 28 other countries we imported 5.
064,218 dozen valued at $2,948,583. A
simple division Will show that Czecho
slovak crockery averaged in value $1.29
a dozen, while crockery imported from
other countries averaged 58.2 cents a
dozen. The “cheaper” crockery evidently
came from other countries and was
doubtless imported because Americans
wanted cheaper crockery. It should also
be noted that in 1936 crockery represented
less than 1 per cent of our imports
from Czechoslovakia, which totaled $23,
294.828.
From the article quoted the reader
learns also that the bulk of Czechoslovak
industries, “including Skoda’s main plant
at Pilsen, is located along the German
frontier.” Well, in a sense, all Bohemia
is located along the German frontier, but
the distance from Pilsen to the nearest
point on the German frontier in the Bo
hemian Forest is more than 76 miles in
a straight line.
What the article says about the plans
of the French general staff and the de
fenses of Czechoslovakia is likewise inter
esting and just as reliable as the rest.
J. J. KRAL.
Historic Background of
Persecution of the Jews
To the Kdltor of The Star:
When we come to trace the history of
prejudice against the Jew and to seek
its cause, we are led by many labyrin
thian paths through shadows of doubt
and mystery to a remote antiquity. To
ascertain the real beginning of Jewish
persecution, we must antedate the
Christian era by several centuries. We
must go back to the days of ancient
Egypt. Social discrimination and ostra
cism seem to have been keen and bitter
even in those early days.
To my mind the ghastly feature of
Jewish persecution is the fact that it was
probably created and brought to earth
in serious form by the refusal of the
Jews to yield the divine unity of Jehovah
to the polytheistic demands of ancient
Rome. Jewish monotheism, which civili
zation today prizes as its most precious
jewel, was then sought to be destroyed.
The civil and religious differences be
tween Jews and Romans were at once
fundamental and fatal. The Romans
founded the world's greatest physical
empire. The Jews founded the earth's
most illustrious kingdom of the spirit.
The Romans would brook no earthly op
position, and the Jews would submit to
none but God. On the other hand, the
religion of the Jews and their law were
identical. To submit to the worship of
Roman gods was not only an act of
treason to Jehovah but was also an
abrogation of Jewish nationality and a
repeal of all Jewish laws.
It is my humble opinion that the
marvelous contributions of the Jewish
people as a whole to the spiritual and
intellectual wealth of the world entitle
them to the gratitude and homage, not
the hatred and persecution, of mankind.
Truly, if gratitude were a supreme virtue
of nations, as it should be of individuals,
there would never be any organized gov
ernmental persecution of the Jews. The
civilized nations of this earth are too
deeply and everlastingly indebted to the
Jews to be able ever to cancel the obli
gation. They should at least treat them
with humanity and accord them those
considerations which are the absolute
essentials of happiness in a civilized
State. WALLACE JACK KIMBALL.
Service Bandsmen's Pay
Is Out of Proportion
To the Editor of The 6tar:
It seems that while very little thought
is given the welfare of the men on the
ships of the United States Navy, a
selfish clique in Washington are as al
ways looking after their own interest.
An outstanding example is the bill
(H. R. 9461) introduced for the relief of
the leader of the United States Navy
Band. Now the leader of said band al
ready receives two or three times as
much pay as the Navy bandmasters who
serve on board of our ships away fu>m
their families. *
If at this time any money is avail
able for increases of pay, we should
think of the men on our ships first.
These men have no one in Washington
to look after their interest, while the
gang in and around Washington are
always dabbling in politics.
Another thing; why should so much
money be spent on bands in Washing
ton? What good are these bands to our
national defense?
Just now the United States Fleet is
engaged in war maneuvers in the Pa
cific Ocean, but where is the United
States Navy Band? Ah, it is in Wash
ington furnishing free music to large
radio companies. We spend over a mil
lion dollars per year maintaining three
huge bands in Washington. That
money could buy many needed comforts
for the men in the fleet who are so
badly underpaid. MAX VIKTOR.
Upper Marlboro, Md.
Corrects Quotation as
To Use of Paregoric
To th« Kditor of The Star:
In The Star of March 22 I was quoted
as saying “in my fifty-three years of
experience in the drug business I do not
recall paregoric ever having been taken
for its narcotic effects.”
What I said was that ordinary cough
syrups, containing such a small amount
of a narcotic as to remove them from the
stringent restrictions of law governing
the sale of narcotics, were not used for
any narcotic effect.
Paregoric has often been used for the
effect of the opium it contains and as
the Board of Pharmacy is advocating
more control over the sale of this pre
paration you can see the ridiculous posi
tion the statement as printed places me
In. AUGUSTUS C. TAYIOR,
President XX a Board at P)0nancy.
THIS AND THAT
By CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.
Books and . music go hand in hand—
and, thanks to modem science, we can
carry them that way.
in the right hand, a book, and in the
left, a phonograph record.
The album of records comes closest to
a book.
An Individual record, from such an
album, seems much as if a page were
lifted from a book atid brought to
audible life before us.
Once you have fallen in love with the
gleaming black surfaces of our new rec
ords, you hat e a new enthusiasm in life.
This is not only for the music there
from. but also for the disc as an indi
vidual thing in itself.
* * * *
Record surfaces have grown quieter,
over the years.
It seems to some of us that they have
become much blacker and glistening,
too.
Not all records are alike, of course; the
better quality of material and workman
ship speaks for itself. Such discs do
not collect dust as much as others. In
a normal household they can be put
away for weeks, and come out at last
without a speck of dust upon them.
The booklover, perhaps, of all per
sons, finds the records interesting,
partly for the reason pointed out, that
they are so much like books.
They form an extension, as it were,
of his book shelves.
The analogy is carried forward by the
fact that the best way to keep records
is in albums in cases.
Bookcase manufacturers have missed
a bet here, it seems. Had they made
their standard book sections just a few
inches deeper, and perhaps a bit taller,
they would have provided perfect ac
commodation for phonograph record
albums.
As it is, the disc enthusiast must pur
chase especially constructed cases for
the purpose or have them built to order.
A * * *
The use of albums gives to the indi
vidual records a certain dignity which
they do not possess by themselves.
This is a strange thing.
A movement of a symphony is great,
in itself.
A single disc which contains the sec
ond movement, let us say, from Beetho
ven's second symphony, provides the
listener with beautiful music.
Yet when this record appears with
others, containing the entire work, the
owner has something more, not only in
regard to musical extent, but also as to
spirit and intent of composer, leader and
orchestra.
Shall we not include, too, in a pecu
liar way, the recording engineers, as
they are called?
Surely they have a great deal to do
with the way the music comes off the
records.
"Engineer" is a bad name for them,
but that is what they are called, and it
is true that they handle acoustics and
physics and much more.
Their intent joins with that of the
composer, to give the listener what he
intended. The strange thing is that
sometimes a product is offered the public
which is not a good product. It will
remain a mystery why the companies
permit such records to get in the hands
of buyers at all.
* * * *
One thing is evident, that many per
sons do not recognize off-key rendi
tions when they hear them. Especially
this seems to apply to record listening.
They are so busy trying to "catch” the
melody and other well known musical
"ingredients” that they do not realize
the sour quality (flatness) of some of
the discs they listen to. This has Jong
been a failure of the records, and has
not entirely been corrected even by
electricity.
It is fortunate for the makers, in such
instances, that so many of their listen
ers are unable to detect the difference.
They are “pitch blind,” rather than deaf.
They are fortunate, perhaps.
It is unquestioned that the happiest
persons with gramophone discs are those
good souls who do not know good ones
from bad ones, in respect to recordings.
Thus the famous person who has
amassed more than 3.000 discs for him
self in 10 years—what shall we say of
him except that he is easily pleased?
A more critical listener and purchaser
could not find that many records, in all
the catalogues, which would suit his ear,
no matter if he had nothing else to do
and all the money in the world.
He is too critical?
* * * *
It may be. But the critical person Is
the true saviour of all the arts, not music
alone.
He it is, and she it is, who compels
the artist to do the best he can.
Without the critical purchaser, there
would be only a vitiated art, in any
branch.
Even the most inspired artist works
with one weather eye on the possible
admirer.
| * * * *
In the old days of acoustical record
ing, the piano was the "black beast,”
the "terrible child” of the recording
profession.
Try as they would, with the most emi
nent artists, the resulting discs were
anything but truly pleasing.
At best, they were simply the best
that could be done, at that time.
At their worst, they were terrible.
Yet many uncritical purchasers placed
these on their machines, and sat back
with a pleased air—especially if guests
were present—defying the world to say
that a disc which cost $2 and had a
"famous name” on it could be anything
other than perfect.
The piano, today, is one of the best
recorded instruments.
This gain, alone, if there were none
other, would more than justify elec
trical recording.
* * * *
Records placed in albums are protect
ed from dust, kept from bowing, and given
the dignity of a book.
If they are placed in unlettered al
bums, they have a certain air of mystery
about them.
Thus is the way we like them best,
and can recommend it highly. Even
books, one may think, might gain some
thing from a lack of lettering on their
backs.
Then one would have the charm of
preliminary discovery every time he took
them down.
STARS, MEN AND ATOMS
Notebook of Science Progress in Field,
Laboratory and Study.
BY THOMAS R. HENRY.
The brain is the thinking tool. It is
not the thinker.
True enough, one cannot do much
thinking without it, any more than one
can write very well without hands. But
it is not the hand that writes. Some
thing behind the hand uses it. Just so
it is not the brain that thinks. Some
thing uses it for thinking.
So contends Dr. Thomas V. Moore,
professor of psychology at the Catholic
University of America, in a paper just
published on the relations between con
sciousness and the nervous system in
which he reviews a great amount of ex
perimental evidence w'hich has accu
mulated in the last few years.
Just after the war American psychol
ogy turned strongly materialistic. The
Russian physiologist, Ivan Pavlov, had
just published the results of his far
reaching conditioned reflex experiments
with dogs. Stimulations from the out
side world—the smell or sight of food,
an electric shock, etc.—set up nerve im
pulses from the eyes, nose, ears and
other external organs to the brain. The
brain, in turn, transferred these im
pulses, modified and co-ordinated, to
the glands and the muscles where they
became actions and feelings. The brain
did this, supposedly, because it was made
that way. An animal, insect or man
became an automaton. It was even
contended—not by Pavlov, but by some
of his American followers—that there
was no such thing as consciousness. It
was only the sum total of the brain's
automatic reactions.
Some psychologists pretended, at
least, to take this seriously and pro
claimed, rather proudly, that neither
they nor anybody else had any con
sciousness. Consciousness was just a
delusion. A dog was no more conscious
because it bit when struck than a
jack-in-the-box is conscious when it
jumps up when the cover is lifted. This
led to a lot of confusion. It was just
calling a rose by another name, of course,
because even the most contentious anti
consciousness crusaders actually knew
that they themselves were “conscious.'’
The difficulty was to prove it rigidly to
anybody else.
In those days almost any operation
on the brain was likely to prove fatal.
At least the surgeons thought so. But
within the last four or five years im
proved surgical techniques and greater
daring on the part of operators have
made it possible to cut away almost
every part of the cortex of the brain—
the supposed jack-in-the-box reactor—
with the patients surviving so that the
results could be noted. From the results
of these and a lot of other evidence Dr.
Moore is able to make a scientific case
for something like plain common sense.
Says Dr. Moore: “If a human being
suffers the loss of a whole hemisphere,
either right or left, or if he loses both
prefrontal regions and survives the
shock, his whole past experience seems
to remain intact and available for the
control of conduct. Even when the left
hemisphere is lost in a right-handed
individual this individual is capable
eventually of Rearranging the neuro
logical connections so as to acquire
again not only all movements of both
arms and legs, but speech as well. Even
sensations from the side opposite the
injury, which theoretically should never
again be possible, will in due season re
turn again with but few exceptions.
“Various habits that have been formed
are not always entirely lost by destruc
tion of motor or visual centers normally
involved in their performance. In some
animals it seems that practically the
whole cortex may be destroyed and still
habits acquired before the operation
may be to a large extent preserved. The
fact that some learned activities remain
in some animals after more or less ex
tensive removal of the cerebrum points
to the fact that the individual animal
learns, and that the subject of habit is
primarily the individual and not a cor
tical area.
“Can we conceive of a mechanical
system of connections readjusting itself
when half of the whole system has been
destroyed. Yet if we say that the brain
uses the organism and that the brain
is a purely mechanical, non-vital mech
anism, we must think of a way in which
a machine can be cut in two and the
remaining half pull itself together and
do the work of the whole. Evidently it
is the individual who uses the organism
and readjusts the cerebral connections
by powers possibly only to a living being
and inconceivable in a purely mechan
ical structure. Mechanism as a com
plete explanation of the living organism
has broken down under the stress of
clinical and experimental research.”
Hails Bills for Creation
of Bureau of Fine Arts
To the Editor of The Star.
Think of it, one hundred and how many
years, without a Bureau of Fine Arts, in
this wonderful United States of America,
and then two breakfast table ingredients,
“coffee-’ and “pepper,” Senator Pepper
from the Southeastern point, and Repre
sentative Coffee from the Far North
western point of those United States,
start a fine arts movement! Wonderful!
Wonderful!
Does it not make a real draftsman, a
creative artist, feel encouraged and hope
ful that surely some humans with money
will learn to appreciate a portrait and
the difference between a portrait drawn
from the human being, independent of
the assistance of a machine-made photo,
in getting the soul of the human on
canvas, and that which is a machine
made likeness only?
Think of this wonderful country's
Supreme Court justices’ portraits being
copied from machine-made photos for
that wonderful marble mansion called
the Supreme Court Building! Have they
culture? What is culture?
Real creative artists will be saying,
“God bless Senator Pepper of Florida
and Representative Coffee of Washington
State,” and they. Pepper and Coffee,
surely will start the thought that will
prevent Europeans, in the future, from
calling us the uncultured race of beings
that worship money only, if they get
their bill for a permanent Bureau of
Fine Arts through this Seventy-fifth
Congress. M. A. R. STOTTLEMEYER.
No Railroad Surplus Taxes.
From the Indianapolis News.
Even with the increased rates, it
would not appear that the railroads will
be burdened with much in the way of
undivided surplus taxes.
Who Won That War?
From the Nashville Banner.
- Coming generations will be pardoned
their bewilderment about just which
side won the war over taxation without
representation.
High Record.
From the Louisville Courier-Journal.
Scheduled airlines in the United States
flew 10,618,964 passenger miles for every
passenger fatality during the last six
months of 1937. Now let the motorist
and pedesjjtea tty to match that record.
ANSWERS TO
QUESTIONS
By FREDERIC J. HA SKIN.
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 stamp for reply.
Q. How many starting chutes are thera
at the Havre de Grace race track?—
W. M. D.
A. The track at Havre de Grace has
a 6-furlong chute and a mile-and-a
quarter chute.
Q. Has the title, “Gone With the
Wind,” been translated into other lan
guages?—V. W.
A. It has been translated into French,
German. Norwegian. Swedish. Danish,
Polish, Czech, Hungarian and Italian.
Q. How many bills did Nebraska s
unicameral Legislature pass last year?— '
B. H.
A. It received 581 bills and passed 228.
Q. When were the last of the great
herds of buffalo killed?—B. R.
A. During the winter of 1882 and 1883
the hide hunters killed the last of the
great herds.
Q. Does a man weigh the same at
street level and at the top of the Empire
State Building?—C. H. R.
A. The weight of a body is the force
with which it is attracted to the earth.
Weight, therefore, depends upon two
factors—the amount of matter which it
contains, and its position with respect
to the earth. The nearer a body is to
the center of the earth, so long as it
remains upon the surface, the greater is
its weight. Thus, a body of a given mass
will weigh more at the base of a tall
building, like the Empire State Build
ing, than at the top.
Q What is the name given to the
three chairs placed back of the pulpit
in churches?—N. H.
A. These seats are referred to as
sedilia. The singular is sedile.
Q. How is the telephone system man
aged in England?—R. G. L.
A. The telegraph and telephone sys
tems in Britain iwith the exception of
the Hull municipal telephone system»
are the property of the government and
are managed by the post office.
Q. What is the meaning of the word
opiophagism?—H. E. K.
A. Opiophagism means opium eating.
Q. What was the property loss from
the flood at Los Angeles, Calif.?—H. R.
A. In the Los Angeles metropolitan
area alone, insurance underwriters esti-%
mate the property loss at more than
$44,500,000.
Q. Please explain the winged bulls
which stood at the entrances to Assyrian
temples.—A. V. E.
A. They were not bulls. They were
intended to represent divine beings—
other gods of the holy places. The hu
man head attached indicated that the
creature was endowed with humanity,
and the bull-like body symbolized
strength. The word bull in the current
language of the country meant hero, or
strong one.
Q. What was the first workers’ union
in this country?—J. C .D.
A. The earliest known workers’ asso
ciation in the United States is that of
the Philadelphia Shoe Workers, who
were organized in 1792.
Q. What does the title khan mean?
—G. F. H.
A. It means lord or prince and is ap
plied to dignitaries of various rank, espe
cially in Persia.
Q. Are tramp trips on freighters pop
ular?—R. W. F.
A. The demand has become so great
for trips of this type that it is difficult
to secure accommodations. Cabin space
is limited, as cargoes and freighters sel
dom have room for more than 10 passen
gers. and reservations are often made
eight months in advance.
Q. Is there any city that has an all
Jewish population?—T. R. W.
A. Tel Aviv, Palestine, is the world’s
only all-Jewish city.
Q. Is it true that on the day Edwin
Booth was buried Ford's Theater col
lapsed?—C. H. B.
A. On June 9, 1893. the day that
Edwin Booth was buried at Boston, the
three floors of Fords Theater collapsed
during the making of repairs. A hun
dred men, chairs, desks and file cases
were hurled into the basement. Twenty- t
two men were killed; sixty-eight were
injured.
Q. What became of the Austrian
Hapsburg family?—M. E. T.
A. The late Emperor Franz Josef of
Austria-Hungary was succeeded on his
death by his grandnephew, the Emperor
Karl. The latter was forced to leave
Austria in April. 1919. and died in Ma
deira in 1922. His widow, the Empress
Zita, has since resided at the Chateau
of Steenockerzeel, Province of Brabant,
Belgium. Her eldest son, Archduke Otto,
is the pretender to the thrones of both
Austria and Hungary’. The seven other
children are the Archduchess Adelaide,
Charlotte and Elizabeth and the Arch
dukes Robert. Felix, Charles-Louis and* *
Rudolph. The late Emperor Franz
Josef had only one son, Ralph, who died
childless. The other members of the
Hapsburg family are more distantly re
lated.
Q. Is it correct to say more certain or *
most certain?—K. L. R.
A. Certain means fixed, settled, not to
be doubted. Therefore, if a thing Is cer
tain it cannot be more so, and to say
either more certain or most certain is
incorrect.
Q. How high can wild deer Jump—
E H H
A. Wild deer do not generally Jump
much more than eight feet high, though
they may Jump considerable distances
along the ground. There have been ’
recent reports of deer which have Jumped
fences ten to twelve feet high.
Q. For whom was the Princess Pat
Regiment of Canada named?—F. G.
A. The famous Princess Pat Regiment
is named for Lady Patricia Ramsey,
formerly H. R. H. Princess Patricia,
daughter of H. R. H. the Duke of Con
naught, seventh child of Queen Victoria.
Q. How large is the statue of William
Penn on the City Hall in Philadelphia?
_g g
A. The statue is 37 feet high and
weighs 53.523 pounds. It was modeled
by Alexander Milne Calder. * |
Q. Are there any books on the ne»^
five-suit bridge?—R. M. Jr
A. There are already a numbenf 0f \
books on the subject and more art/an.
nqjinoed for publication. f