Evening star. [volume], November 19, 1938, Page A-10, Image 10

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

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
^pic ptoeniitg ptar
With Sunday Morning Edition.
THEODORE W. NOYES. Editor.
■-A
WASHINGTON. D. C.
SATURDAY..November 19, 1938
Tho Evening: Star Newspaper Company
Main Office: 11th St and Pennsylvania Ave.
New York Office- 110 East 41nd St.
Chicago Office. 405 Norih Michigan Ave
Delivered by Carrier—City and Suburban
Regular Edition.
Evening and Sunday 05c per mo. or 15c per week
The. Evening Star_45c per mo. or loc per week
The Sunday Star_ _5c per copy
Night Final Edition.
Night Final and Sunday Star_?5c per month
Night Final Star . _ .. 00c per month
Collection made at the end of each month or
each week Orders may be sent by mail or tele
phone National 5000.
Rat* by Mail—Payable in Advance
Maryland and Yirrinia.
Daily and Sunday_l yr., $10,00: 1 mo. 85c
Daily only _1 yr.. $0.00; 1 mo.. 50c
Sunday only_1 yr.. $4.00: 1 mo. 40c
All Other Btatea and Canada.
gaily and Sunday 1 yr.. $11.00; 1 mo„ $1 no
mly only _1 yr.. $8.00; 1 mo.. T5c
6unday only_1 yr.. $5.00; 1 mo., 60c
Member of the Associated Press
The Associated Press is exclusively entitled to
the use for republication of all news dispatches
credited to it or not otherwise credited in this
Taper and also the local n-ws published herein.
All lights of publication of special dispatchea
herein also are reserved
Thomas Jefferson Memorial
The Star, traditionally devoted to
the preservation and the enhance
ment of the natural beauty of the
Nation’s Capital, learned with pro
found regret, as a result of President
Roosevelt's final pronouncement on
the subject, that the Jefferson Me
morial must come into being on an
unsuitable site at excessive cost and
that certain cherry trees of the Tidal
Basin, between eighty-eight and two
hundred of them, must be destroyed
or removed and transplanted to ac
commodate the memorial.
Since long before the birth of a
majority of its present generation of
readers, The Star has fought to pro
tect the parks of Washington. It
has been consistent in its opposition
to the riverside location of the mon
ument to the third President. It has
argued against wanton or unneces
sary destruction of any tree within
the borders of the District.
It should be remembered in this
connection that expert authorities
have from the first been consulted
in the interest of a wise solution of
the problem. The Star has not at
tempted to dictate to Congress or to
the Memorial Committee or to the
Commission of Fine Arts or to the Na
tional Park and Planning Commis
sion or to any other official or official
body charged with ultimate responsi
bility. It has carefully refrained
from setting itself up in judgment of
those charged with the decision. Up
to the last it had hoped that they
would provide an appropriate site
for the Jefferson Memorial and pre
serve the cherry trees in the place
which they have adorned.
Now the subject is closed. There
is no use in further debating it.
The enthusiastic popular opposi
tion to the riverside location and the
unnecessary destruction of trees has
not, however, been entirely fruitless.
It helped to bring about a modifica
tion of the original plan as to site, as
to size and cost of the memorial and
as to extent of tree destruction. Op
position to the new site on the south
side of the Tidal Basin, though it has
failed to prevent the construction of
the memorial at a site unsuitable
and at a cost unnecessary, will. The
Star believes, result in the destruc
tion of a minimum of trees, the re
moval and transplanting of a max
imum, and the planting in compen
sation for the trees now’ to be de
stroyed of a greater number on a
conspicuous and appropriate loca
tion elsewhere in Potomac Park. And
after endurance for many months
during the construction period of the
ugly disfigurement of one of the
Capital’s most attractive show-spots,
The Star hopes that in landscaping
the environment of the memorial
many more trees will be planted, and
that from the chaos of the immediate
future a beautiful memorial build
ing will arise—a great monument to
a great man—to the attractiveness
of which as a work of art nature
will add her own magic touch in the
creation, in landscaping around that
monument, of natural loveliness
which will eventually obliterate the
bitterness of the recent controversy.
The Pendulum
A decidedly optimistic view of the
future of business is taken by leaders
of banking, finance and commerce
as a result of last week’s elections.
There is no definite indication that
these leaders see, or necessarily hope
for a return to the conservative Re
publicanism of the chicken-eating
twenties. Today's optimism is based
more upon the evidence that the
Nation prefers the checks and bal
ances offered by a strong minority
to unopposed government by one
group.
The prevailing sentiment in the
business world is that the pendulum
at present is swinging toward the
right. But there seems no doubt it
will not reach so far in its new direc
tion as to wipe out the important
gains made along social, labor and
business lines during the past six
years. On the other hand, the pen
dulum apparently w'as stopped by
the recent elections in its sweep
toward the left before it had over
reached its traditional orbit, and
crossed the line which separates
liberalism from radicalism.
With the failure of the administra
tion to purge strong conservatives
out of the Democratic party, and
with the increase in the number of
Republicans in Congress, legislation
covering business necessarily must
take a milder tone than would have
been possible otherwise. There is
also a greater chance for the modifl
r
cation of acts too hastily applied in
the stress of the emergency.
Judging by the reaction of the last
week, it would seem that one thing
was needed to win back the confi
dence of the commercial world, an
effort which has been made by vari
ous devices over a period of nine
years. That is a return to a two
party system of government, which
in spite of its faults of compromise,
offers a square deal for the greater
number. America for several gen
erations has made a fetish of the
middle of the road. The parade is
swinging toward that line.
Auf Wiedersehen?
Whether Ambassador Dieckhoff is
to shake the dust of Massachusetts
avenue from his feet forever, or
whether it is merely a case of auf
Wiedersehen, the German envoy’s
order to present himself in Berlin
intensifies the strain which has
arisen in German-American rela
tions. It is an obvious reprisal for
1 the summons of Ambassador Wilson
to Washington. The Nazi diplomat
has been recalled to report t6 his
government on “the queer attitude”
of President Roosevelt and the Amer
ican people toward the carnival of
brutalitarianism now rampant in the
Reich.
Fortunately, Dr. Dieckhoff has
lived in the United States long
enough to make his task in Berlin
an easy one, if, for once, Nazi re
strictions against free speech are re
laxed, and he is permitted to tell the
truth. He will say, if he cares and
dares to indulge in a practice which
has not flourished under the brown
shirt tyranny, that there is nothing
“queer” whatever in the wave of
horror, protest and repugnance
which has swept across this country
during the past week. He will say
that it is as old as the Declaration
of Independence and the Bill of
Rights. He will say that Franklin
D. Roosevelt is not the first President
of the United States, but only the
latest, to voice his fellow citizens’
resentment of inhumanities like
those which Hitlerism has visited
against Jews and Christians alike.
Dr. Dieckhoff will say, if he con
tinues to report the facts to the
Wilhelmstrasse, that the mouthings
of Goebbels’ gagged press, to the
effect that American indignation
springs from “Jewish propaganda,”
are sheer moonshine. He will in
form Hitler, Goering and Von Rib
bentrop that Monsignor Corrigan,
rector of Catholic University, spoke
the simple truth when that distin
guished churchman broadcast this
w'eek that “others before us have
raised the powerful voice of Ameri
can conviction in protest; others
after us will swell the volume,” and
added: “It is well that they do so,
for the world should not forget nor
cease to protest with earnest sin
cerity and growing vigor until it be
cleansed of the poisonous cancer
even now gnawing at the very vitals
of organized society and just gov
ernment.”
And there is another item which
Hans Heinrich Dieckhoff might use
fully unlimber when he unpacks his
brief case in Berlin. That is, that the
Government and citizens of the
United States have no grievance
against the German people. They
do not hold the German nation re
sponsible for the crimes against
civilization committed in their name
during the past five years. They be
lieve, on the contrary, that if the
“queer” American system of a free
ballot prevailed in Germany, the
great race from which Goethe,
Schiller and Carl Schurz sprang
would rise in its might and make
short shrift of Hitlerism and the
evils for which it stands.
A Fine Delegation
There will be wide approval of the
personnel selected by President
Roosevelt to represent the United
States at the Eighth International
Conference of American States at
Lima next month. It is a delegation
of “all the talents,’’ as Frenchmen
sometimes describe their periodical
coalition cabinets composed of men
of many parties and predilections.
Headed, naturally, by Secretary Hull,
who has won eminent prestige
throughout Latin America, the next
name on the delegation is that of
former Governor Alfred M. Landon,
President Roosevelt’s Republican op
ponent in the campaign of 1936—a
gesture of political sportsmanship
which does credit to the Administra
tion. As a typical and successful
American businessman, Mr. Landon
is well qualified to serve in Peru, for
inter-American questions of eco
nomic magnitude will figure on the
conference agenda. Ranking next to
the Kansan will be Assistant Secre
tary of State Berle, who has had
long and valuable experience in Latin
America. Our Ambassador to Peru,
Mr. Steinhardt, and our Minister to
the Dominican Republic, Mr. Norweb,
will be helpful coadjutors of Judge
Hull, because of their expert ac
quaintance with the Spanish lan
guage, with the Latin American
temperament and with present con
ditions south of the Rio Grande and
the Isthmus.
Special interest attaches to the in
clusion among the Lima delegates,
for the first time, of a representative
of our outlying possessions in the
Latin America area, Chief Justice
Emilio del Toro Cuevas of the Su
preme Court of Puerto Rico. The
American academic world, because of
the stress the United States now lays
on cultural ties with the sister re
publics, will have two worthy spokes
men on the delegation in the per
sons of the Rev. John F. O’Hara,
C. S. C., president of the University
of Notre Dame, and Charles G. Fen
wick, professor of international law
at Bryn Mawr College. Father
O’Hara’s appointment is in obvious
compliment to our good neighbors,
because without exception they
are preponderantly Roman Catholic
countries.
Noteworthy, too, is the selection of
Miss Kathryn Lewis, daiighter and
executive assistant of John L. Lewis,
president of the United Mine Work
ers of America. To keep the C. I. O.
A. F. of L. balance even, Mr. Roose
velt has named Dan W. Tracy, presi
dent of the International Brother
hood of Electrical Workers, as Miss
Lewis’ co-delegate to speak for
American labor at Lima. Another
woman who will be an associate of
Secretary Hull is Mrs. Elsie F. Musser,
who was also a delegate at the pre
ceding Inter-American Conference.
State Department career stand-bys
like Legal Adviser Green H. Hack
worth, who will be a delegate; Dr.
Herbert Feis, economic adviser;
Laurence Duggan, chief of the Di
vision of American Republics, and
Michael J. McDermott, veteran press
officer, complete the roster of the
men and women who jointly carry
the latest message of good will from
the “Colossus of the North’’ to our
friends on both sides of the Equator.
The Lima conference promises to
be of farther-reaching significance
than any of its seven predecessors,
because of the new importance of
Western Hemisphere solidarity, in
the light of the international situa
tion and the lessons and warnings
implicit in it for democracy in the
New World.
Labor Leadership
Decision of the C. I. O., in its new
and permanent form, to make John
L. Lewis its first president is neither
an unexpected nor unnatural choice.
Under his direction, this wing of
the labor movement has grown in the
past three years to become one of
the most powerful factors in Amer
ica's industrial and economic life.
That its course at times has been
extreme and not well advised in the
opinion of many persons, is unde
niably a fact, but it is equally true
that in great measure the movement
achieved its fundamental purpose,
namely, the organization of mass
production workers.
As both the leadership and the
rank and file of the C. I. O. must
realize, however, its accomplishments
are nothing unless they are main
tained; to be maintained they must
be constructive and beneficial in their
effect on the Nation's economy.
The meeting of such a requirement
must preclude continuation of any
such bitter antagonism as has
marked past relationships between
the two great wings of American
labor.
It is the responsibility of Mr. Lewis
and his associates, therefore, to chart
their future course carefully, with
the rights and the best interests of
all in mind. Particularly should
they strive to compose their differ
ences with the A. F. of L., regardless
of the failure of past peace nego
tiations.
Traffic instruction is being given
out in Chicago to youngsters in kid
die cars. Some adult motorists ought
to be demoted to just such foot-pow
ered vehicles.
Constance Talmadge, former silent
film star, is suing her third husband
for divorce. Whoever gave this lady
her first name may have had a
prophetic sense of humor.
Shooting Stars
By Philander Johnson
Well Meaning.
He meant well, but he didn't know,
Oh, words of deep pathetic woe!
He caught a hornet wandering by;
He thought it was a butterfly.
Live wires he would boldly test
Because they looked just like the rest;
He'd trust a mule and walk behind
Because it looked so meek and kind;
A toadstool he would pluck with care,
With mushrooms growing everywhere!
Fate always played him curious tricks,
He had a passion for gold bricks.
And yet his heart was very kind;
Exceeding active was his mind,
And still his troubles seemed to grow.
He meant well, but he didn’t know.
_
Overstayed.
“I am surprised that you should seek
the honor of a presidential nomination.”
“Why shouldn't I?” inquired Senator
Sorghum.
“Because you are a newcomer in the
field. You have not been before the
public long enough.”
“Well, there's one thing you want to
remember. A man who stays before the
public too long is very likely to get be
hind the times.”
“Some men,” said Hi Ho, the sage of
Chinatown, “are so dishonest, that if they
were paid for breathing they would choke
to death trying to cheat.”
Grateful.
“I love my country passing well,”
The officeholder cried with glee;
“I ought to love it, truth to tell,
Since it has been so good to me.”
Wasteful Suggestion.
“The day is passed when the farmer is
represented as a man who sits on a fence
and chews a wisp of hay.”
"I should say so!” answered Farmer
Cornstossel. “I’d like to see a man’s
folks allowing him to chew up anything
as valuable as hay is getting to be!”
Millions of Miles.
Some day perchance we ll talk with Mar
tian men,
And yet no earthly need this project
teaches.
Why go as far for conversation when
We’re just recovering from the cam
paign speeches?
“Don’t be too trustful of a man,” said
Uncle Eben, “jes because his talk is pleas
ant. De music on bo'd a ship sounds
good, but It ain’ nigh as important as da
blowup «f a fog hom.” ^
Of Stars, Men
And Atoms
Notebook of Science Progress
In Field, Laboratory
And Study
By Thomas R. Henry.
It is northward just now that the
course of empire is taking its way—but
“empire,” like an army, must travel on
its stomach.
Perhaps the most notable example of
this northward progress is the indus
trialization of the frigid Kola Penin
sula above the Arctic Circle by the
Soviet government, which seeks to take
advantage of the rich mineral resources.
Cities have sprung up, but cities need
truck gardens and in that region the
temperature sometimes sinks to around
25 F., the killing frost stage, in early
August.
So the government has set up an Arc
tic plant breeding station there and
from this station have just come re
ports of the first success in breeding a
potato highly resistant to freezing. At
elevations as high as 5,000 feet in the
Andes the Russian plant explorer S. V.
Juzepezuk found a wild potato, which
did not seem to be injured by anything
less than a killing frost during its blos
soming season. With dark green leaves
more than twice as thick as ordinary
potato leaves growing in a rosette which
almost hugs the ground, this vegetable
withstood cold of 18 F. without apparent
injury in North Russia.
It bears tubers, however, only under
the 12-hour day of the equatorial regions
and only barren roots under the 24-hour
day of North Russia's summer. It pro
duced, however, an abundance of seed
balls, according to the account just pub
lished in the Comptes Rendus of the
Soviet Academy of Sciences by L. A.
Dremliug, one of the staff of the polar
station.
Six years ago, after many futile at
tempts, the first successful cross was
made between this wild potato and a
variety of the potato of agriculture,
Solanum tuberosum. The cross was less
frost resistant than the wild plant of
the high Andes, but still it withstood
temperatures of 27 F. without injury.
The hybrid remained, however, a short
day potato. Transferred from the
Soviet Potato Institute garden at Mos
cow to the Kola Peninsula, it produced
seedballs, but not tubers. The next step
was to make a cross between this hybrid
and another variety of Solanum tubero
sum, thus producing a triple hybrid with
two-thirds of its genes those of the do
mestic vegetable.
This was accomplished only with great
difficulty. The experiment finally suc
ceeded, according to Dr. Dremliug's ac
count, only when the cross was made
at the end of August when the tempera
ture was steadily close to the freezing
point. Only a very few seeds were ob
tained, only seven of these produced
plants when planted the next year, and
only two of these plants yielded any
tubers. The tubers themselves were
about the size of hickory nuts.
When these were used as seed pota
toes the next year, however, the results
were quite different. The plants which
sprang from the cuttings resembled the
Andean ancestor in their dark green,
thick leaves growing in a ground-hug
ging rosette. They flowered in profusion
and bore seed balls. The tuber produc
tion under long-day conditions remained
inconsequential, but when the plants
were grown in cold frames in which the
light could be regulated, they produced
good yields. They withstood tempera
tures of 25 F.
The problem of obtaining a good yield
in the open field still remains to be solved
but it has now been advanced to the
next stage—the back-crossing with other
varieties of the domestic potato. The
Soviet botanists have high hopes that
one or another of the crosses will yield
a long-day potato w'hich will retain the
frost-resistant character of the wild po
tato of the Andes.
They have apparently, Dr. Dremliug
says, crossed the first great hurdle of
producing fertile crosses. The flowers
must be pollenated at close to freezing
temperatures. The cold resistant qual
ity of the triple hybrid is apparently
associated in some way, he says, with
the fact that it has double the number
of chromosomes in all its tissue cells as
does the ordinary potato. About the
same affects as are achieved with col
chichine by American experimenters, he
believes, are brought about by the hy
bridization in frigid temperatures.
Successful breeding of a frost-resistant
potato might well be the turning point
in the history' of the Far North, both in
the Old and New Worlds. The eyes of
Canada as well as those of Russia are
turned northward and the great Arctic
empire of Alaska remains largely virgin
territory. Canadian pioneers and mis
sionaries have grown potatoes success
fully “north of 60,” it was reported at
the American Association for the Ad
vancement of Science meetings at Ot
tawa last summer. But as yet the crop
is undependable and an early, severe
frost will ruin it.
Dogwood Preferred
To Cherry Trees.
To the Editor of The Star:
Women of Washington, women of
America: In this momentous era of
United States history, we have the honor
to be the mothers of the mightiest and
the most humane Nation on earth; the
Nation which vigorously protests, indig
nantly, the injustice and cruel abuse of
power by the sacrilegious dictators of
Europe.
It was Thomas Jefferson who wrote the
Declaration of Independence. It was
Thomas Jefferson who incorporated re
ligious freedom and tolerance into our
laws, thus making It nationally possible
for all in the United States to live and
worship according to conscience.
Can Japanese cherry trees possibly be
paramount in importance to the erec
tion <112 years after his death) of &
great memorial to honor, perpetually, the
name of one who has no peer in our
Nation's history? Are the cherry blos
soms more beautiful than the name and
memory of Thomas Jefferson?
Would not American dogwood blos
soms more beautifully and fittingly adorn
the environs of the Jefferson memorial?
American dogwood is very artistic and
beautiful and it is a native tree. We
love it.
Women of Washington, we are Ameri
cans. Let us vajye our own.
EDNA BISHOP DANIEL.
November 13. 1
t
THIS AND THAT
By Charles E. Tracewell.
A flock of half a dozen white-throated
sparrows created a commotion in the
leaves close to the feeding station.
These beautiful sparrows put on as
good a scratching show as any towhee or
fox sparrow.
They are Just a little larger than the
English sparrows, and are to be dis
tinguished not only by their scratching,
and their unique song, but particularly
by the large white patch covering the
chin and throat.
These are among the best of the spar
rows, universally loved, honored guests
at feeding stations everywhere, on their
annual down trips from Canada.
They mix familiarly with their English
cousins, as, indeed, they should, being
almost of a size, and, no doubt, mistaken
for them by thousands of inexperienced
observers.
* * * *
The white throat is the famous “Pea
body bird” of the New England States.
Of course, it doesn’t say Sam Peabody,
or call any other human name. Some
body just thought it did.
Its plaintive little lament is one of the
most difficult of all bird songs to attempt
to whistle..
It has been tried on the piano, and the
violin, but neither one really imitates
that inimitable song; it has a certain
quality no human can quite catch.
It is loud, clear and yet plaintive. Ask
the bird how he does it.
Like a good musician, he does not re
peat it t«o often.
* * * *
Those who welcome the white throats
at their feeders at this season may hope
that they will remain in the vicinity all
winter.
The slightly smaller song sparrow
stays with us, maybe these white throats
will, too. The white-crowned sparrow
has more white on the top of his head;
he is not to be confused with the white
throat.
It is pleasant to watch these various
members of a great bird family meet
and eat together in harmony every day
beneath one's windows.
It throws a strong light on a common
situation, and illuminates the contention
of real bird lovers that each variety of
sparrow—including the English—has its
place in the great scheme.
It is impossible to keep on throwing
strictures and even harder missiles at
the English sparrows, when all these
varieties meet on a friendly footing, and
are seen to be birds together, not
paragons and criminals together.
* * * *
Any one who says he loves the white
throat, but despises the English sparrow. '
does not admire the white throat as I
much as he thinks.
Many persons who feed the birds draw '
up their own lists of permissible and un- J
wanted guests, and continue to harass
both themselves and the undesired birds ;
all winter long.
That is not the way to do it.
English sparrows are really very
charming birds, looked at honestly, with
out the mental clouding which has ac
companied the name ever since their
introduction into this country.
It is not this sparrow’s fault, we sub
mit, that it has thriven, and been able
to oust some of our native birds.
Research tends to show that the Eng
lish sparrows, along with the other mem
bers of the sparrow tribes, do a great
work in keeping down weeds.
Weed seeds, including the seeds of the
ragweed, are the favorite foods of all
finches, to which great family the spar
rows belong.
* * * *
The English sparrows, ably assisted by
the white throats and the song spar
rows, seem to be the chorus of the feed
ing station performance.„
The cardinals, bluejays, titmice, wood
peckers, mockingbirds, nuthatches and
chickadees, with a few others, are the
’’stars.’’
But where would the stellar perform
ers be without the assistance of the
chorus?
It is this background group of spar
rows which enlivens the entire scene,
making the entrances and exits of the
brighter birds stand out.
* * * *
Newcomers to the bird feeding game
this fall should take pains, if necessary,
to prevent themselves from falling into
the very human failing of hatred.
There are some very startling exam
ples around the world of what this atti
tude, let run, leads to.
But many persons, apparently, do not
realize that the same spirit is manifest
when a feeder of the birds draws up a
list of desirables, in his own mind, and
then trys to exclude all others.
This applies to four-legged creatures
as well as to two-legged ones.
* * * *
The lesson of the white-throated spar
row is plain.
It lives in amity with the English
sparrows. Who is the bird feeder, then,
that he or she should throw a stone?
Newcomers to the sport and art will
have to look closely, if they want to pick
the white throat out of the mass of its
English cousins.
It will be looking to good purpose,
however.
Few birds are better than the white
throated sparrow, which also boasts such
names as cherry bird, Canada bird,
Canada sparrow and Peverly bird, ac
cording to the part of the country in
which it is found.
The name makes no difference—the
bird is the thing, and it is precisely be
cause this is so that the English spar
row, as well as this undoubtedly more
desirable one, is worth liking.
The question is, further, is anything
worth disliking, especially in the bird
line, and particularly if it brings to the
one who holds the dislike some very
plain penalties?
Letters to The Star
Star Map of Metropolitan
Washington Appreciated.
To the Editor of The Star:
Permit me to compliment you and your
papier on the very well prepared and
useful map of Metropolitan Washington
which appieared in the gravure section of
The Sunday Star of November 13.
Perhaps I had the privilege of being j
the first to make practical and public j
use. for educational purposes, of this ;
map. Being slated to address the stu
dents of the Silver Spring Eastern Sub- |
urban School on November 14 on the
subject. "The Old and New Area of Silver
Spring.’’ I was able to use much of the
information which it contained, on the
day following its publication.
I feel that thanks are due to The Star
for this further service to the public.
BERRY E. CLARK.
November 14.
Pedestrian Control Called
Needless and Unwise.
To thf Editor of The Star:
Pedestrian traffic control, urged at a
time when the director of traffic is rec
ommending an increase in the spieed
limit from 22 to 25 miles an hour, appar
ently is not designed so much to save
pedestrians from mishap as it is to speed
up the movement of vehicles.
It has come to be recognized that most
accidents are due to unseemly haste in
driving. The traffic director has ven
tured the opinion the flow of traffic
would be seriously retarded if vehicles
were prevented from making turns while
pedestrians crossed on the green light.
Pedestrian traffic control would seri
ously retard the progress of walkers. It
would take a person afoot much longer
to walk from point to point if he were
required to stop at every intersection
when the traffic light wras red. His exas
peration at the delay might cause him
to “see red” in more ways than one, and
it is likely the sponsors of such a regu
lation w'ould And themselves "in the
red,” too.
The streets of Washington are
thronged with pedestrians going to and
from their places of business. A pedes
trian walking 40 blocks and interrupted
half a minute at each intersection would
take 20 minutes longer to make the trip
afoot than is now required.
Washington streets are not so thickly
Infested with moving vehicles that there
is no opportunity to slip safely across
the street on the red signal. When
traffic becomes so thick there are no
gaps in the line of moving vehicles pedes
trians will be automatically controlled
and regulation of walkers will not be
needed.
Pedestrians should be permitted to
exercise their own judgment as to when
and where it is safe to cross the street.
Pedestrians who cross the street at other
points than intersections maintain it is
safer than at comers where they are be
set by turning vehicles. Statistics show
more accidents occur at intersections
than in the middle of the block.
The attempt to foist pedestrian traffic
control upon walkers is another effort to
increase motor vehicle monopoly of the
streets.
Many pedestrians will not cross the
street upon coming to an intersection
where the light is green because of the
danger of the signal suddenly turning
red before they can reach the other side
of the thoroughfare. Such walkers wait
for the signal to become green again
before they will venture to cross.
Evidently it should b^ instilled In ve
\
I"- --
Letters to the Editor must bear
the name and address of the
miter, although the use of a
pteudonym for publication is per
mssible. Please be brief!
hide »perators that no law, human or
divine, permits them to kill their fellow
men. Tacetious motorists one time car
ried pla-ards on windshields announcing
“Anothe- Rowdy” or hypocritical stickers
labeled ‘Courtesy." It is time mechan
ized rowcvism had its day.
Pedestrian traffic control should not
be adoptee for the reason it will make
lawbreaken of most walkers. More re
spect for law is needed. No one is in
clined to wait for a green signal when
there is opportunity to cross on a red
one, especiaiy in residential sections
where a patralman may be lurking un
seen on a coraer and where there is no
heavy traffic flow during certain periods.
Droves of walkers cross in safety on
the red light ir the downtown section.
One has but to take a stroll along Penn
sylvania avenue when workers are
emerging from ofices at lunch time to
observe the phentmena. The tendency
to make arrests fer petty infractions of
traffic rules is all too prevalent. It serves
to incense the pullic against the en
forcement agency aad to make citizens
dissatisfied with the bcal government.
LEWIS L. YOUNG.
November 8.
»
Protests Giving African
Territory to Germans.
To the Editor of The Star:
During the past few months we have
had a demonstration of German culture
and in the past week another phase of
their so-called culture. First they dis
arm the Jews so that they could not de
fend their homes and families against a
mob of fanatics and taen they have the
audacity to make the Jews pay for the
damage done by a Gernan mob.
The Germans howl and cry about the
unfairness of the Versailles Treaty. I
wonder if the American people ever stop
to think how fair Germiny would have
been if they had won the war. Did they
give Alsace-Lorraine back to France after
the War of 1870? Now tiey want their
colonies back.
What did they do with the colonies
when they had them? Tiey kept the
poor native population in a state of
slavery and abused them ii the usual
German manner, so that the latives went
wild with joy when the Soith African
troops took charge. They wait no more
German rule there. It would be the
greatest crime of the centurj if Britain
and France give one acre of African soil
over to a brutal people like the Germans
have proven themselves to be
ROBERT WARDEN.
November 15.
Prophetic Words of
Robert Emmet Cited.
To the Editor of The Star:
Apropos of the motion picture, “Dawn
Over Ireland," soon to be shown here,
history carries us back to a time 140
years when the gallant “men of ’98,”
famed in song and story, were struggling
for Irish freedom. The illustrious Robert
Emmet in the delivery of his classical
last speech seems to have been touched
with the gift of prophecy. He said:
“When my country takes her place
among the nations of the earth then
and not till then let my epitaph be
written.’’ , MICHAEL T. HOB AN.
Answers
To Questions
By Frederic J. Haskin.
A reader can get tie answer to any
question of fact by writing The Eve
ning Star Information Bureau. Fred
eric J. Haskin, Director, Washington,
D. C. Please inclose stamp for reply.
Q. What is the r»cord number of
stolen bases in a word series?—T. M.
A. The highest number of stolen
bases in any world seies was 18 in 1907.
Q. Did Franz Schubert play the music
of other composers?—R. S. G.
A. It is said that there is no record
of his playing any music but his own.
Q. What is the name of the wild life
organization which is headed by Ding
Darling?—W. B. H.
A. Jay N. Da-ling is president of the
National Wild Life Federation. Its head
quarters are in Vashington, D. C.
Q. How long has steel been made in
Birmingham, Ala?—E. R. H.
A. The first st«el ever made in Bir
mingham from lo-.al ores was produced
in 1888. A small oien-hearth plant pro
j duced one ton of Seel as an experiment.
Q. Are there any of the old-time min
strel shows still pUying?—J. K. L.
A. Lasses Whites All-Star Minstrels,
a tent show, is prthably the last of the
real minstrels. M\ White has played
with A1 G. Field, Ndl O Brien and Honey
Boy Evans, and is the composer of a
number of populir songs, including
‘‘Nigger Blues,” “If You Don't Like My
Peaches,” and "Cne-Eyed Sam, the
Gamblin’ Man.”
Q. Can you give in illustration of the
saving to citizens in the expense of
municipal governmtnt in places under
city managers and the old order of
municipal rule?—E. S. M.
A. A writer in a recfcnt issue of the
Kiwanis Magazine siys that in 93 cities
of the same populition and class as
Sgjginaw, Mich., the average cost to each
citizen is $45.83 per year, while in Sagi
naw, under an unusially competent city
manager, the annual cost to each citizen
is only $17.15. One of the reforms ac
complished by the Saginaw manager
was to rewrite a complicated city char
ter of 100,000 words to a simple docu
ment of only 7,000 plain words which
each voter could uncerstand. There are
at present throughoit the United States
475 communities under the manager
plan.
Q. What motion ficture actor owns a
rare sun dial?—L. W. H.
A. In John Barrynore's Japanese gar
den there is a rare sun and moon dial
which was imported from England and
is said to have cost $14,000.
Q. What is the inscription on the
Peace Bridge between Buffalo. N. Y,
and Fort Erie. Ontario?—E. G. H.
A. The inscription on the bronze
plaque at the Peace Bridge is as follows:
"This plaque marks the crossing from
the United States of America into the
Dominion of Canada of a delegation
from the Associated Country Women of
the World, and is dedicated to the rural
women of this continent and entrusted
to their perpetual care.” The bridge was
unveiled July 29, 1936.
$ Is there an aviation scholarship for
women?—J. L. K.
A. Zonta International has a loan
fund, which was instituted as a me
morial to Amelia Earhart. The grant
stipulates that the funds are to be made
available to graduate students in engi
neering for work in aeronautics.
Q. Where was the first circular saw In
the United States made?—W. B. R.
' A. The first circular saw in this coun
try is supposed to have been produced
by Benjamin Cummins, about 1814, at
Bentonsville, N. Y.
Q. Where did Clare Boothe, author of
‘‘The Women.” go to school?—H. K. L.
A. She is a graduate of Miss Castle's
School in Tarrytown, N. Y.
Q. What cow holds the world record
for butter-fat production?—K. F. H.
A. Sybil Tessie Lorna. a Jersey, of In
dependence, Oreg.. produced 1.000 pounds
of butter fat in 305 days.
Q. What became of the Ford brothers
who killed Jesse James?—D. C.
A. Bob Ford was shot and killed in
Creede, Colo., by Ed Kelly in February,
1892. Charley Ford, his brother, com
mitted suicide some years after he and
Bob had killed Jesse James.
Q. Who was Seneca?—J. M. H.
A. He was a stoic philosopher who
lived from 4 B.C. to 65 A.D. Born at
Cordoba. Spain, he grew up in Rome,
where he became prominent and aroused
the jealousy of Nero, who ordered him to
commit suicide. He left 42 books of
essays and 9 tragedies.
Q. How much money did Herbert
Hoover receive for his speech at Hartford,
Conn.?—W. J. H.
A. The Republican National Commit
tee says that Mr. Hoover receives no
compensation for his political speeches
and defrays all of his own expenses.
Q. Is syphilis a modern disease?—R.
S. D.
A. Dr. Charles S. Butler in his "Syph
ilis Sive Morbus Humanus" traces syph
ilis to the earliest recorded writings.
Nazi Persecutions
With stupid brutishness, they vainly try
To persecute a name—the name of
Jew:
They seem too dull to know that names
defy
All hurt, all pain, no matter what
they do.
Names are but patterned cloaks flung
lightly around
The shoulders of a man; but men
are men.
With eyes that see, and ears that hear
the sound
Of waters singing through a wooded
glen.
Yes, men are men, and each man has
a mind.
Responsive to the banners of acclaim;
Lashed by the savagery of humankind;
Broken by ignominy and by shame.
That men are brothers, wise men will
avow:
And hearts like ours are bruised and
bleeding now.
H. P. STODDARD.
*