pie Abating plat* j' With Sunday Morning Edition. THEODORE W. NOYES, Editor. WASHINGTON. D. C. SATURDAY_*_December S, 193* The Evening Star Newspaper Company Main Office: 11th Bt and Pennsylvania Aw. New York Office: 110 East 42nd St. Chicago Office, 435 North Michigan Ave Delivered by Carrjer—City and Suburban Regular Edition. Evening and Sunday 65c per mo. or 16c per week The Evening Star_45c ner mo. or 10c per week The Sunday Star_ _6c per copy Night Final Edition. Night Final and Sunday Star_75c per month Night. Final Star _ __60c per month Collection made at the end of each month or each week Orders may be sent by mall or tele phone National 6000. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance Maryland and Virginia. Daily and Sunday_1 yr., $10.00: 1 mo.. 85c Daily only _1 yr. $6.00; 1 mo.. 60e Sunday only_1 yr.. $4.00; 1 mo. 40c All Other Statea and Canada. Daily and Sunday. 1 yr., $12.00; 1 mo.. $1.00 Daily only _1 yr.. $8.00; 1 mo.. 75c Sunday only_1 yr.. $5.00; 1 mo.. 60e Member o( the Associated Press The Associated Press Is exclusively entitled to the use for republlcatlon of all news dispatches credited to It or not otherwise credited In this paper and also the local news nublished herein. All rights of publication of special dlspatchri herein also are reserved. ■-- - ■ "..^.-- - War at $4,000,000 a Day Next week it will be seventeen months since the “North China” in cident outside of Peiping applied the match to the conflagration which has raged in the Far East on a scale which Japan did not remotely con template. The price she is paying for aggression has just been revealed at Tokio. The Konoye cabinet was au thoritatively notified that next year’s war bill calls for the largest budget in the Empire's history. It indicates that Japan must continue indefi nitely to spend $4,000,000 a day on the conquest of her stubborn foe, in addition to the ordinary expenses of the government, including the army and navy. The 1939-40 budget totals 3,894, 000,000 yen. The yen currently is worth about twenty-seven cents, which is about twenty-three cents below its normal, pre-war value. The coming year’s expenditure will be 380,000,000 yen in excess of 1938-9. Even these staggering figures do not tell the whole story of how war is sapping Japan’s vitality to the point of exhaustion, for the $120, 000,000 of monthly outlay in China must be met by supplementary appropriations. Already the govern ment nas raised 6,800,000,000 yen ($2,836,000,000) by this recourse. Something more than one-third (2,000,000,000 yen) was provided shortly after the war began, in July, 1936, when General Arita and the other advocates of military conquest expected the “ever victorious” forces of the Mikado to sweep everything before them. On March 7, when the war was only eight months old, an other 4,800,000,000 yen of supple mentary funds was requisitioned. Now an additional 5,000,000,000 is foreshadowed. Estimates in well informed Tokio quarters place Ja pan’s actual war outlay in China to date at between 8,000,000,000 and 9.000. 000.000 yen. Piling the impend ing 5,000,000,000 onto that makes it probable that two years of the at tempt to subjugate China will have involved expenditure of roundly 13, 500.000. 000 yen, or, in our money, the fabulous sum of $3,645,000,000. It is announced that Tokio will shortly appoint a “financial commis sioner” to the United States, obvious ly for the purpose of obtaining loans or credits. If he embarks upon that venture, it will reveal that whatever else the war has ■ 1 Of Stars, Men M And Atoms Notebook of Science Progress In Field, Laboratory And Study By Thomas R. Henry. Cryptic records of a lost million y_.s of life's history now are being decoded by Smithsonian Institution paleontolo gists. Dr. C. Lewis Gazin, Smithsonian paleontologist, has just returned from a site first opened last year In Western Utah, from whose tom and battered rocks he recovered teeth and bone frag ments of warm-blooded creatures who preceded the present mammals on earth and may have been indirectly ancestral to them. The rocks were laid down in that crucial period between the end of the Cretacious era and the extinction of the great reptiles about 80,000,000 years ago, and the dawn of the Eocene, approxi mately 60,000,000 years ago when, as if in a great explosion of new life, the modem types of birds, mammals, fishes and flowering plants first appeared. It was a time when the lowly mammals, freed from the competition of the dino saurs, were becoming earth’s dominant creatures. Far back in the Cretaceous there were crude mammals and mammallike rep tiles, weak, clumsy, creatures, who cut very little figure in the turbulent life of the time. Then the stage was cleared for them and for the budding of that great April of time, the Dawn Age. The approximately 20,000,000 years between the end of the Cretaceous and the begin ning of the Eocene is now called the Paleocene. The classic locality has been the San Juan Basin in New Mexico. In the San Juan rocks, piled on top of each other, are two mammal “horizons.” The first is the so-called “Puerco” horizon in whose rocks are found the scattered and broken fossil bones of varieties of mam mals utterly unlike anything now known on earth, crude, clumsy creatures, both flesh and grass eaters. Just above the Puerco is the so-called Torrejon horizon, in which are found the bones of much the same types of creatures, but showing evidence of considerable evolutionary ad vancement. Considering the slowness with which evolution works, there must have been a great time Interval between the tw'o. The great deposit of Paleocene fossils opened up by the Smithsonian Institution a few years ago in the Crazy Mountain region of Montana may fall partly into this gap, but most of the forms are such as can be matched in the Torrejon horizon. The rocks with which Dr. Gazin worked this summer seem to fall squarely into the gap. The mammals are further ad vanced than those of the Puerco and not so far advanced as those of the Torrejon. They are represented only by fragments which are difficult to interpret and these teeth and broken bits of bone will require much further study. There is one flesh eating animal, about the size of a collie dog. Another belongs to the race of Condylartha, believed by some paleon tologists to be a connecting link between the hoofed and clawed mammals, al though not directly ancestral to either. There are also fragmentary remains of insectivores, a race best represented at present by the shrews, who are believed to have remained closest to the original stock from which all mammals origi nated. All these Paleocene mammals, as de scribed by Dr. Gazin, were an awkward, stupid lot. Their brains were small, compared with those of even the “dumbest” mammals of today—hardly an improvement over the brains of the cold-blooded creatures who had gone before them. But the new race had capacities for development and adjust ment which their predecessors appar ently had lacked. All these creatures were extinct before the beginning of the Eocene. There is nothing alive today, says Dr. Gazin, which even remotely looks like them. The ancestors of the present-day mam mals were doubtless alive somewhere in the world at the time and were at least distant relatives of some of those whose bones are found in the Utah formation. These themselves, however, represented divergent lines ill-fitted to survive. They might be looked upon as discarded experiments of nature in devising types fitted for life in the modern world. The Paleocene formation explored by Dr. Gazin lies directly on top of Creta ceous rocks in which was found last year the bones of a great dinosaur, appar ently one of the last of the great reptile race. There is no discernable boundary between the two rock strata, and the great sweep of time which must have intervened ean be deduced only from the difference in the fossils. Dr. Gazin has named the new rock page of earth’s history the “Dragon hori zon,” after the Utah canyon in whose walls the bones -are found. It was first found three years ago by Drs. E. S. Spieker and J. B. Reeside, Jr., of the United States Geological Survey and the first systematic exploration was carried on in the summer of 1937. These Endure I have known Borrow; I have known laughter, Echoing up to the highest rafter; I have known sweet, and the bitter after. I have known falsehood’s thrusting dagger; sThe hurt of defeat and the boaster’s swagger; I have known hunger’s uncertain stagger. But I have listened, expectant still, To hear the spring wind, sweet and shrill, Singing over the woodland hill. And I have seen a white filagree Of mist, on the pale anemone, And a crescent moon in the apple tree. And I have walked a fragrant lane Through falling plum bloom in the rain And known a beauty that was pain. Z have learned this: That sorrow and weeping Scarcely abide the night’s deep sleeping, But the lovely things are for our keep ing! MARION H. ADDINGTON. THIS AND THAT By Charles E. Tracewetl. Mr. and Mrs. Templeton Jones had squirrels In the attic. Every night the rodents got in some how, and spent much time galloping around, when they weren’t eating wood work. It is amazing how much noise a scam pering squirrel can make. And how much wood they can eat. "Galloping” becomes just the right word, but if it had been Just noise it wouldn’t have been so bad, the Joneses thought. Why the rodents wanted to feast on the windowsills was a problem which only squirrel experts could solve. * * * * The Joneses laid no clais to being experts, in this regard, although pri vately they thought they were becom ing so. • Not every family, even those who claimed to love these rodents, had ’em in the attic. Mostly they had ’em in the trees, and the garden, and maybe in the bird feed ing station, if the family went to that expense. Only a few, however, had real live squirrels in the belfry, galloping around, keeping the family awake, and, what was worse, gnawing great slivers out of the sills. Templeton Jones wondered why they did it. Evidently they had free access, and could get in and out at will. The getting out was the most impor tant. Jones had read that squirrels, coming down chimneys when a family was away on vacation, had been unable to find their freedom again, and in their despair had wrought real havoc. No friend of animals could blame them, under the circumstances. But an expert had proclaimed the fact that squirrels would not chaw up a home if they could get out. Jit * * * “Pfui,” said Jones, or some such sound. He had squirrels, the squirrels had free access to the open air—as well as to his attic—and yet they insisted on doing any amount of destructive nocturnal work. Jones had always thought these ro dents slept at night quietly in their beds in the trees. Now he knows better. “Why,” he said, in describing their activities to friends, "they race around all night long, and when they aren't racing, they are eating.” "Eating?” ask the friends. "What is there to eat in an attic, even a fancy attic such as yours?” "Woodwork,” says Jones enigmatically. "Woodwork?" “Plenty of it,” continues Jones. “My squirrels will never go hungry', evidently, as long as the windowsills last.” Jones’ squirrels became something of a joke to hie friends, but they were no joke to the Jones family. The question was: What tq do? All the members of the family took pride in their playful rodents, with their great, bushy tails and amazing acrobatic feats in the great trees. Shooting them, then, was out of the question. Getting “rid” of them in any other manner was equally unthought of in the family. Some method would have to be thought of which would get results without cruelty, one way or another. * * * a So they trapped them. Overnight they became trappers, with a good haul for beginners. Three of the fattest young squirrels anybody ever saw, all roaring and fight ing to get out. What should be done with thenj? Such cleverness as they had exhibit ed, in getting into a well built house without visible loopholes, should merit some reward. They should be taken down to. the park, and let out in a new environment. There they would find plenty of great trees, which supply everything to these rodents. Why there particular speci mens ever wanted to leave them was something of a mystery, after all. Jones agreed partly with the experts—squirrels seldom get in without reason. A family council was held, with the usual split of opinion. One faction held out for the park. The other for the yard of a friend in a different part of town. “Until this can be decided,” said Jones, “I will take these fellows to the kitchen and transfer them to a cage, where they can think over their transgressions for a time.” Once in the kitchen, the fun began. The first squirrel made the transfer promptly, but it was that second one, with the extremely bushy tail, which upset kitchen routine. It leaped to the light fixture, and barked its fury. The maid screamed. Junior was bit on the hand. Senior fell on a small rug—why was that thing in here, anyway?—and tore down the blind from the back window, as the rodent played leap-squirrel over the range and the refrigerator. At last, amazingly enough, to the vast relief of Jones and family, it obediently entered the cage. * * w * “Well,” asked Jones, on his return from work that evening, “have you decided what to do about the squirrels?” “Yes.” replied Mrs. Jones, quietly. “Well, what did you do with them?” “I turned them loose.” “I thought you would,” said Temple ton Jones. “And after all my work. They deserve the park, at the least.” “They like our trees,” said Mrs. Jones, with some pride. “And our attic, too,” Jones said. “They’ll be back tonight to thank you.” Letters to The Star Says Church Cannot Be |t. Christian and Fascist. * To th* Editor of The Star: The actions of certain members of the clergy who insist upon entering the field of politics must be a cause of constant embarrassment to the Roman Catholic Church. Dr. Joseph F. Thoming has a perfect right to be a follower and advocate of a totalitarian form of government, but Dr. Thorning should not imply that organ ized religion indorses the barbarism of Gen. Franco in Spain, or that there is anything in common between Christian ity and Fascism. Strange it is that Dr. Thoming does not mention the fate of Catholicism (especially the fate of Catholic priests who engage in politics in Germany and Italy under Fascism. Dr. Thorning must realize that, far from helping the situa tion at home, he is only speeding the day when honest people will turn away in disgust from a religion that considers the Ideals of pagan Moors and infidel invaders more important than the teach ings of Christ. The Catholic Church can not support Fascism and Christianity at the same time. JOHN C. ROGERS. Alexandria, Va., November 14. Asks Investigation of Claims Procedure. To the Xdltor of The St»r: On April 23, 1935, I filed at Port Mc Henry in Baltimore, Md., a claim for dis ability incurred during war service (1918) in Prance. I was a private, Headquarters Company, 23d Infantry, 2d Division, A. E. F. I tried to secure an examination at Port McHenry, but I was told they were too busy. Finally I was compelled through inability to secure employment to migrate to Hartford, Conn., and se cured employment at the Chance Vought Aircraft Corp. I at once had my claim folder Transferred to Newington, Conn., and I was called there for the examina tion and was promised an opportunity to appear in person before the board for rating purposes. That right was denied me and I was patiently awaiting word to appear when I received a letter stating my claim was disallowed. I appealed my case to the Veterans’ Court of Appeals in Washington, D. C. In the meantime worked slowed up in Connecticut and I secured employment in California. On April 16, 1936, I drew the bonus and my wife and I left for Inglewood, Calif. I at once got busy and secured four spe cialists to give me an examination. They were unanimous in their findings. Then after much corresponding I finally got in touch with a former buddy, who was in Base No. 66 Hospital in Prance and occu pied a bed in the same ward with me. This buddy since being mustered out of service in 1919 has held many high posi tions in industry and I don’t think he would perjure himself for me or any one else. I presented this new testimony to the Veterans’ Facility in Los Angeles, Calif., and they threw my case out, as did Newington, Conn. I then carried it to Washington, D. C., for a final appeal. On October 27,1937,1 received notice I had been turned down again. In the meantime I appealed in vain to R. L. Jamagin, chairman of Vet erans’ Board of Appeals, for a new examination. Mr. Jamagin denied me this until after the Appeal Board turned me down in October, 1937. * I finally, after quite a struggle (my wife is crippled), succeeded in getting to , Hyattsville, Md., with jxactly $58. We Letters to the Editor must bear the name and address of the writer, although the use of a pseudonym for vublication is permissible. Please be brief! rented a one-room apartment In that town, and I got after the Veterans’ Bu reau again, and finally Mr. Jarnagin con sented to allow me to appear before a section of the board. Two doctors sit ting in that section saw then I had been telling the truth and arranged for an ex amination at Mount Alto. Their findings at Mount Alto concurred in part with the four doctors and my contention. During September, 1938, the Court of Appeals granted me compensation, effec tive September 30, 1938, instead of effec tive date of April 23,1935. Now I have an other appeal for retroactive action to the 1935 date, and this has been hanging fire since September 30, 1938. In the meantime I have not had em ployment and we were evicted by court order from the apartment at Hyatts villa, Md„ because we could get no relief. My wife and I have lost our residence in our home State and are in distress. We have appealed in vain for assistance to almost every charitable institution here in Washington. We are at the present in a tourist house and owe nearly $200 board bill. What are we to do? I have appealed in vain for my back pay at the Veterans’ Bjreau. It wouldn’t be quite so bad if the case were a new one, but the damage was done in 1918 and all these doctors know it. In the meantime, what are we to do, starve? LEON G. MACDONALD. November 21. Commends The Star For Zoning Stories. To the Editor of The Star: The Star is to be applauded for the part it has played in forcing the Board of County Commissioners for Montgom ery county to yield to public opinion and rescind today their proposal to pro test from prosecution violators of the suburban zoning laws and, in effect, to destroy the enforcement of those laws. The news articles of Jack Allen of The Star s staff ably covered a 'complex political situation, some of the ramifica tions of which are yet a mystery. Th^ articles made clear to the home owners the true nature of this well disguised proposal and the necessity for vigorous and immediate action. Without the benefit of such publicity the citizens might well have lost their fight. Cer tainly they would not have won it with such promptness. In Montgomery Coun ty there has never been to my recollec tion a better example of the effectiveness of vigorous newspaper publicity in speed ily correcting political evils. Mr. Allen and The Star have done a fine thing for the county and deserve the commendation of all citizens inter ested in honest government. December 1. FREDERIC P. LEE. Prohibition Cure for Pedestrian Plarue. To the Editor of The Star: By all means control of American < pedestrians. We are so prone to obey rules that it would not take more than the equivalent number of pedestrians at maximum traffic hoi^r as traffic police to hold them in check! With curb bits, evenl LAW VOGE, M. K. November 8. r Answers < To Questions j* By Frederic J. Haskin. 1 A reader can get the 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 Please give some information about the clock in the Senate corridor of the United States Capitol.—W. J. H. A. The clock was bought by the Gov ernment and presented to the Senate in 1803, when the State of Ohio was admitted to the Union. The 17 stars on the front of the case represent the States which were part of the Union at that time, the seventeenth star repre senting Ohio. The clock keeps accurate time in spite of its 135 years of service. Q. Which of the Philippine Islands is the largest?—W. R. P. A. Luzon is the largest, with an area of 40,814 square miles. Q. Where is Ellen Terry buried?—J H. A. The body of the famous actress was cremated and the ashes were placed in St. Paul's, London. Q. How old is McKeesport, Pa.?—G. R. A. The city of McKeesport was found ed in 1765 by David McKee. It was chartered as a city in 1890. Q* How far does the diving horse at Atlantic City leap?—J. C. M. A. Gordonel, the famous horse which performs on the Steel Pier, dives from a 90-foot tower into a tank of water 20 feet deep. Q. From what poem is the line, “Closer is He than breathing and nearer than hands and feet”?—M. F. J. A. It is from Tenhyson'a “The Higher Pantheism.’* Q. Who first used the word "nihilism- ? —W. G. H. A. Ivan Turgenev, the great Russian novelist, coined the word In his “Fath ers and Sons.” Q. How many large cities has Ger many?—E. S. H. A. Germany has 53 cities with over 100,000 inhabitants; 47 between 50,000 and 100,000. _ i Q. Has Howard Spring, author of “My Son, My Son! ’ written any magazine stories that have been published in this country?—T. H. B. A. Mr. Spring has written an account of his childhood called “Heaven Lies About Us,” which will be published in several installments in the Atlantic Monthly, beginning in January. Q. Is there a superstition that an ame thyst prevents drunkenness?—T. J. K. A. There is a line in “The Golden Bough” that says: "The wine-colored amethyst received its name, which means not drunken, because it waa sup posed to keep the wearer of it sober. Q. When was the late Clarence H. Mackay married to Anna Case?—8. M. G. A. Mr. Mackay married Anna Case, concert soprano, on July 18, 1931. Q. Is the original manuscript of “Home, Sweet Home” in existence?—J. H. M. A. It is in the Sibley Musical Library of the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester, N. Y. Q. With how many nations does the United States have foreign relations? —D. S. A. With 64. The United States main tains 18 Embassies and 40 Legations. In addition, there are Consulates only in the following countries: Free City of Dantzig, Principality of Monaco, Pales tine, Philippine Islands ifor immigra tion only), Republic of San Marino and Syria. Q. How much paper and confetti was thrown at Corrigan, Lindbergh and Hughes in New York City?—B. J. H. A. Nearfy 2,000 tons of confetti were thrown at Corrigan in New York upon his arrival. Eighteen hundred tons were thrown at Hughes and 1,900 tons w;re • thrown at Lindbergh. Q. What States produce the most gin seng?—F. R. W. A. New York, Wisconsin, Missouri and Ohio lead in ginseng production. Q. Where in the South is there a Hindu temple?—J. K. M. A. There is one on the campus of Florida Southern College, overlooking Lake Hollingsworth at Lakeland. The temple is a memorial to the late Fred erick B. Fisher, who was *. Methodist bishop in India, and who brought It in pieces from Benares, India, to have it erected on the college grounds. Said to - be the only imported Hindu temple in the United States, it is 25 feet high, 5 feet wide and 9 feet long, weighing about 10 tons. It is hand carved from red sand stone and has been painted pure white and surmounted by the Christian cross. A reflecting pool has been built In front of the temple and a garden of meditation has been beautifully landscaped. Is membership in the American War Mothers’ Association limited to those whose sons were killed in action0 —F. G. S. A. The American War Mothers’ Asso ciation consists of “blue star mothers.” those whose sons returned unhurt; “sil ver star mothers,” those whose sons were wounded or disabled, and "gold star mothers,” those whose sons were killed in the service, or died from the effect of their wounds, between the dates April 6, 1^7, to July 31, 1921. Q. What great composer was once re fused admittance to the Conservatory in Milan because the faculty said he had no "special talent” for music?—M. B. R. A. Giuseppe Verdi, the most popular operatic composer of the 19th century. Q. How much canned fruit juice do people in the United States drink? Tomato Juice?—E. S. H. A. During the fiscal year 1937-38 Americans drank 80,000,000 gallons of canned fruit juices and more than 50, 000,000 gallons of canned tomato juice. Q. Who is the champion cowboy?—H. P. A. Everett Bowman of Hillville, Arts., who last year competed in 34 rodeos all over the country and won the largest , number of honors. _ Q. What is the averag^Jife of an ocean liner?—J. O. R. A. The average life of the ocean liner of today is 15 years. A ’