Evening star. [volume], October 27, 1939, Page A-12, Image 12

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

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With Sunday Morning Edition.
THEODORE W. NOYES, Editor.
WASHINGTON, D C.
FRIDAY....October 27, 1939
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herein also are reserved
The Dies Committee
In publishing a list of some 600
Federal employes who belong to or
are on the mailing list of the Ameri
can League for Peace and Democracy
the Dies Committee has stirred up a
tempest of no small proportions.
Criticism of the committee's action,
part of which springs from within its
own membership, is two sided.
First, exception is taken to the
committee’s assertion that the league
is a “Communist front” organization,
whatever that may mean, and. sec
ond, it is claimed that the commit
tee’s failure to distinguish between
actual members and those who are
merely on the mailing list does an
injustice to the latter group.
The record is far from clear on the
first point. The term “front organi
zation” is indefinite, although as
used in this instance it would seem
to imply that the league is a shield
behind which its membership active
ly engages in subversive communistic
activities. If the committee intended
to convey that impression, it has
drawn an inference for which ade
quate support cannot be found in the
evidence which has been made pub
lic. There has been considerable
evidence, however, tending to show
that the American League Against
War and Fascism, which was trans
formed by change of name into the
League for Peace and Democracy,
was largely controlled by Commu
nists. Earl Browder was vice president
of the League Against War and Fas
cism. and the change of name does
not relieve the present league of a
communistic coloration, regardless
of whether it is or is not a “front”
organization.
It must be conceded, of course,
that any American citizen has a right
to join such an organization if he
sees fit to do so, but when the mem
ber is also an employe of the Federal
Government it is ridiculous to con
tend that there is anything in the
Bill of Rights which can or should
operate to keep knowledge of his
membership from the general public.
The rank and file of taxpayers, in the
aggregate, are the real employer, and
it can hardly be denied that they are
entitled to knowledge of the activities
of their employes, especially when
those activities are political in char
acter.
In this particular case it is regret
table that the committee did not
make a distinction between members
and those who merely happened to
be on the league’s mailing list. The
failure to make that distinction has
worked an injustice, and the com
mittee should endeavor to rectify it
by identifying those on the list who
are members and those who are not
But it does not follow that the
work of the committee as a whole is
to be discredited because of this one
blunder, despite the rather obvious
efforts of certain of the league's of
ficials to accomplish that result. The
task of the Dies Committee is a dif
ficult one, and it has not received any
noteworthy co-operation from othei
departments of the Government
The committee has been repeatedly
accused of “red baiting.” apparently
In the expectation that its usefulness
would thereby be ended, but the
members have refused to be turned
aside from their investigation, and
have pursued it to the best of theii
abilities. In the face of many dis
couragements, the committee has
achieved some important results
and, granting that it has made mis
takes, it still should be supported ir
Its effort to direct public attention tc
those who clamor for the protectior
of America’s free institutions whik
striving to encompass their destruc
tion.
Homespun
An effort to preserve the musii
of the American Negroes has beei
launched in Washington, with :
projected expansion on a nationa
scale once the basis for the move
ment has been established. For thi
present only the foundation of a li
brary of such music is contemplated
but the full development of the ide;
Is one which should be carried ou
as a contribution to the Nation’
culture.
America possesses three basic type
of folk music, yet only one of then
is entirely native and in the lan
guage of the people. The music o
the hill peoples, particularly in th
Southern reaches of the Appalachia!
Mountains, while it has been devel
oped largely as a native product, re
mains, like their peculiar idiom, pri
marily an inheritance from Eliza
_I_
bethan England. That of the Indian,
as strange to modern ears as Chinese
ecclesiastical chants, is foreign except
in the most precise meaning of the
word native. Only the music of the
Negro, linked with another conti
nent only by it rhythm, is truly
indigenous and wholly understood
by the mass of Americans.
Yet, except solely for the weight
of its volume, it is the one most in
danger of extinction through loss
due to the passage of time. For many
years organizations of earnest per
sons have been tramping the lost
valleys of the Southern mountains
to record the songs of the hill folk.
For several years the Smithsonian
Institution and other scientific
groups have been recording on films
and phonographs the songs and rit
uals which only a few of the Indians
remember. In this time the music
of the Negro, a surprising amount of
it unwritten, has been dying out with
the passage of the older generations.
So much of it remains, however, in
all its beauty and spiritual strength
that an organized effort to preserve
it as an essential element in the
alloy which is American culture is
welcomed.
Navy Memorial
On this Navy Day, when the Na
tion pays tribute to the officers and
men composing its traditional first
line of defense and to the naval he
roes of other days, there stands in
the National Capital, unfinished and
neglected, the Nation’s only perma
nent tribute to its heroes of the sea.
For five years the Navy and Marine
Memorial has stood on Columbia
Island behind a thicket of unkempt
weeds and shrubbery. Partially com
pleted, it lacks the green granite
base and landscaping necessary to
carry out the unique concept em
bodied in this distinctive and beauti
ful monument.
The as yet unfinished memorial
had its beginning nineteen years ago,
when a citizens’ committee was
formed to undertake the creation of
a memorial to be dedicated to Amer
ica's sailors. Since that time more
than 2.000,000 American school teach
ers and students, nearly 100.000 offi
cers and men of the Navy, patriotic
societies, and many individuals have
contributed a total of $340,000 to this
worthy cause. Many of the contribu
tions represent tributes from rela
tives and friends to those who have
gone to sea in the service of their
country and have not returned.
Few monuments in our history
have had more concrete evidence of
Nation-wide approval and support.
Though this support has been gener
ous and widespread, it has not been
quite sufficient to complete the proj
ect. If it is to be completed, it is ap
parent the work must be done by the
Federal Government. Congress dur
ing the past session enacted a meas
ure authorizing completion of the
memorial but failed to back up its
action by appropriating the neces
r- r, f
It is to be hoped that before an
other Navy Day comes, Congress will
have provided sufficient funds to
complete the Navy and Marine Me
morial in a worthy manner and that
the work, if not completed, will at
least be well advanced by that time.
The Nation's Health
The problem of protecting and en
hancing the health of the Nation,
j only in recent years a matter of
| major politics, grows the more press
i ing as each passing day sees further
| contributions in other lands to the
j breakdown of the people as individ
uals. There are so many elements
involved in the problem and so little
precedent to follow that it is not sur
prising if disagreements, some of
them violent, arise. Yet the very dis
putes are symptomatic of the need
for agreement. In the words of
Senator Wagner, author of a bill to
create a Federal health program,
speaking in the National Radio
Forum, “the ramparts we watch must
embrace all the instruments for eco
nomic and human adjustment we
have so recently and so carefully
forged. * * * The protection and
advancement of these instruments
are as essential to our democratic life
as the safety of our geographical
frontiers.”
iiru;i~ _: _a_ _i a _ n. .
" '•“VIC AO 1V.HOU11 I.U UiC
means, including the wisdom, at the
present time of the Federal Govern
ment offering the States grants in aid
to carry out their own health pro
grams—the first year’s cost, as in
cluded in the last session’s Wagner
bill, was to have been eighty million
dollars—there can be no disputing
the need for a comprehensive and co
ordinated national program.
An example of such needs is
brought home to Washington by a
paper read by District Health Officer
Ruhland at the convention of the
American Public Health Association
last week. Based on answers received
to questionnaires sent to all States
and to all the larger cities, Dr. Ruh
land’s views were concerned primarily
: with the indigent sick. But parallel
i findings apply to more than half the
i population. The answers revealed a
1 wide diversity of public health activi
■ ties and a surprising lack of vital
; services in many communities. They
- indicated the pressing need for a
, systematic co-ordination.' Only two
i thirds of the cities stated they main
ly tained services for treatment of com
3 municable diseases, for maternal and
child welfare and tuberculosis, only
3 five out of twenty-one had cancer
l clinics and only six offered orthopedic
■ treatment. An equality of rights
f exists, but equality of means certain
; ly does not, even among sovereign
i States.
Equality of social and economic
• opportunity, as pointed out by Sena
• tor Wagner, cannot be brought about
■ so long as an equal opportunity to
>
health is absent. It is most necessary
that a co-ordination of such oppor
tunities be sought through co-opera
tion of the professions interested,
and of the Federal and State gov
ernments.
Loyal Quebec
It was a great Dominion Liberal
premier of French extraction, Sir
Wilfrid Laurier, who served at Ottawa
continuously from 1896 to 1911, and
who once declared that Canada
would never be drawn into “the vor
tex of European militarism,” except
by her own free will as a self-govern
ing member of the British Empire.
Voters in Laurier's native province
of Quebec must have had his famous
dictum in mind on Wednesday when
they went to the polls to pass judg
ment on questions raised by the
Canadian government’s recent deci
sion to stand by the mother country
in the current European war.
A general election had been called
by the Quebec provincial premier,
Maurice Duplessis, to protest against
the alleged infringement of Quebec
autonomy by the war measures of
the Mackenzie King federal govern
ment. French Canada voted em
phatically against the suggestion
that it should stand aloof from the
rest of the Dominion in the empire’s
supreme crisis. M. Duplessis’ tre
mendous majority in the Quebec
Parliament, seventy-one seats out of
eighty-six, was wiped out, and his
cabinet was riddled from stem to
stern by defeat of its members in
their respective divisional constit
uericies.
The pro-war Liberal landslide, with
several districts still to be heard
from, shows that the party has won
at least sixty seats, which is more
than sufficient to control the pro
vincial legislature. Premier Duplessis
himself escaped disaster by only a
scant majority. His defeat is per
sonal, as well as political, for he had
risen with rocket-like rapidity from
obscurity to an apparently invincible
position in the public life of Quebec.
He represented this week’s election
as “French Canada’s fight for sur
vival.’’ The opposition contended the
campaign, in fact, was an attempt
to camouflage the low state to which
Duplessis’ Union National party for
tunes had sunk by raising a racial
question where no such issue actually
existed.
Indicative of the passions aroused
by Quebec's threat not to march
shoulder to shoulder with the Do
minion in Canada's war effort, the
provincial representatives of Prime
Minister Mackenzie King’s govern
ment announced they would resign
from Parliament if the Union Na
tionalists were not rebuked at the
polls this week. Such a necessity is
now averted. Canada presents a
llnitnr} f vnrt f
Although Ottawa announced at the
time of the Dominion’s declaration
of war on Germany that the govern
ment did not contemplate conscrip
tion, Premier Duplessis contended
during the late campaign that a vote
for him would be a vote against con
scription.
Quebec’s decision will produce dis
may in Berlin. Goebbels' propaganda
machine would have made great
capital out of French Canada’s "dis
loyalty.” It would have been ex
ploited as prima facie evidence that
the British Empire is a house of
cards ripe for collapse with the first
adverse wind.
That Third Term
Secretary Wallace’s incongruous
third-term pronouncement, paradox
ical though it seems, has injected a
comedy note into what otherwise has
been a rather heavy chapter of the
political daybook.
Happily enough, the statement has
been received more in amusement
than in anger. Without a doubt, Mr.
Wallace, who is not given to levity,
spoke in all earnestness, but his sense
of timing was so incredibly bad that
those persons in Washington who
normally succumb to chills and fever
at the mere mention of a third term
for Mr. Roosevelt have simply been
unable to muster the appropriate de
gree of indignation.
Senator Vandenberg, a leading Re
publican presidential candidate, was
content to score the statement as
‘‘another enthusiastic error” for Mr.
Wallace, and that has been the tone
of most of the criticism from Capitol
Hill. The - reaction at the White
House, where every effort has been
made to soft-pedal politics while the
neutrality program is under consid
eration, w'as somewhat more severe.
The President’s secretary, Stephen
Early, without doing anything to lay
the third-term bugaboo, indulged in
a bit of knuckle-rapping at Mr. Wal
lace’s expense, and made it clear that
me eauiuei/ uuieei s remarks, ana
more particularly his timing, were in
no wise sanctioned by Mr. Roosevelt.
But that apparently is to be the
end of the Wallace incident. Unless
the President unequivocally removes
himself from third-term considera
tion the issue will be revived, and it
will be bitterly fought out, but for the
moment the sharpshooters on both
sides are content to hold their fire,
satisfied that Mr. Wallace is guilty of
nothing more than the egregious
error of going on a rampage in his
own china shop.
^^■
Many of us are intrigued by cur
rent fashion-note captions such as
“Nonchalance” and “Casual Non
chalance.” How about “Casual In
souciant Nonchalance”? It is their
next move.
A prominent playboy sends for a
Hollywood beauty to come East by
plane “because the war news was
boring him.” If only more of his
fellow sufferers from ennui could
afford to do UkewlMl
J_ L
Great Britain's Record
In India Is Defended
Cites Benefits Accruing to
Natives From English
Innovations
To the Editor of The Star:
Some have been perhaps unduly irri
tated by commentators who claim Brit
ish ancestry, but present a Russian or
Irish complex. From my own back
ground of American citizenship I ven
ture to write from personal knowledge
and experience the facts regarding Brit
ain and her colonies.
As an American, I am told to be neu
tral, and I propose to obey my country's
laws while I hold to my mental freedom
as an American citizen, to think in
accordance wdttv facts and with right
principles. I claim as an Individual
privileges and rights accorded to Brow
der, Bridges and Kuhn and their fol
lowers. They advance revolutionary tac
tics. I hold to our present democracy,
with added justification in the light of
events in Europe and Asia.
May I speak in general terms and
also regarding certain typical personali
ties with whom I came in contact, 1881
to 1887, again in 1913 to 1914, and last
year, 1937-8, when I paid a short visit
to India. I went first as an ‘'ambassa
dor" of Christ to work among the women
and children in South India. There
many races and tribes with diverse lan
guages and religions dwelt in peace un
der British-Indian rule.
In 1913 I went again as a representa
tive of the International Council, a re
ligious, nonpolitical league, under Dr.
John R. Mott, a great Christian, Ameri
can statesman. They even appointed a
woman on the council, and I had the
honor of serving 12 years and attending
sessions in America. Britain and Hol
land, where Dr. Mott's spirit opened the
doors of hospitality even of royalty. The
Queen of Holland was most gracious in
her greeting at Apeldoorn. From Hol
land I went to India to encourage the
effort for building women's Christian col
leges for girls who were prepared by
mission schools to enter. Hindus and
Moslems did not educate girls. Then,
on to China and Japan, where the same
Qnnnol li-oe
The policy of Britain in India as I
saw it was to improve education and
economic conditions and to protect her
interests as well. My friendship with
certain British officials led me to appre
ciate their difficult task and their re
markable ability and fair dealing. Such
men as Sir Charles Bernard. Governor
of Burma: Col. Luxmoore and Sir Freder
ick Nicholson of Madras illustrate the
type which helped to rebuild India.
Deeply sympathetic with the people and
their needs, capable of furnishing reme
dies which included practical production
on the land of depressed groups, they
have been followed by equally capable
men who have encouraged industries.
To elaborate, may I give some accom
plishments of one of these men, the one
I knew best in Madras, responsible for
improved conditions throughout India!
Sir Frederick Nicholson, an Oxford man,
went to India under the civil service 10
or 12 years after the mutiny. While in
terested in helpful education through
schools, from village to university, Sir
Frederick was practical in developing re
sources. In addition to the vast irrigat
ing plans, including the greatest reser
voirs in the world, which have made
gardens from deserts, he noted other
local assets in his district of Salem. He
found there a variety of clay of value In
making pottery of high grade. With his
co-operation, the people there developed
this and became prosperous as their pot
tery found a wide market.
Later, on the viceroy's staff. Sir Fred
erick saw the need of development of
agricultural banks adapted to needs of
people of rural districts, which claim
90 per cent of India's population. So
there came a modern financial system
which Secretary Wallace might do well
to study.
i irucuu imu been possioinues ior
development of fisheries along Indian
coasts and had traversed the world
studying methods suited to the tropics.
Strangely, he found in Gloucester. Mass.,
what he needed in the methods of build
ing boats where fish could be cured at
low cost. After six weeks W'ith us in
Beverly and visits to other centers, he
returned to India and began his plan
for fisheries. It was his last great public
service, for he was soon to retire. He
passed away, 90 years of age, four years
ago. As I visited Lady Nicholson last
year in her home in the hills where Sir
Frederick died, I learned more of the
value of this development. Millions of
dollars from sardine fisheries alone on
the southeast coast have been added to
the incomes of the people.
More than 50 years ago in India, Great
Britain watched the Khvber Pass where
Afghan hordes would make a pathway
for Russia to enter. While even then
some Indians complained of British rule,
the very hint of Russian invasion struck
terror to their souls.
We shall not enter into the war in
Europe by sending our boys; that is not
our part, but surely the people of the
United States are not with dictators who
are attacking freedom and faith and
who will not be stopped without the
co-operation and understanding of all
democratic countries.
Britain has made mistakes and has
learned from them which we sometimes
fail to do. As she endeavors with
France to atone for Munich, shall we aid
with our understanding, sympathy and a
fair deal, or shall we follow the propa
gandists who through fear, or disloyalty
to our own best interests, preach loyalty
to forces that threaten all democracy,
including the Christian faith, through
which democracy was born. ,,
MRS. HENRY W. PEABODY.
Boston, Mass.
f\ _nn
Asks Why Sell to Japan
And Not to Britain.
To the Editor of The Star:
It Is ridiculous, as well as inconsistent,
to sell munitions of war to Japan and
not to Britain, simply because the for
mer has not “formally declared war" on
its peace loving neighbors. If hurling
American-made bombs on the virtually
helpless Chinese, while slaughtering men
like sheep, doesn't constitute conflict,
what on earth does?
If we were sufficiently civilized, the
whole wretched business of promoting
bloodshed, by commercial interests, in
the production of war materials, would
cease. Who remembers the text: “Do
unto others as you would have them do
unto you? ” E. K. GOLDSBOROUGH.
October 17,
i
THIS AND THAT~ I
By Charles E. Tracewell.
Passersby gaped the other day when
they passed a home In a suburban sec
tion.
There on the front lawn stood a scare
crow which would have done credit to
any farm.
No doubt it was there to keep the spar
rows from eating freshly sown grass seed.
Old in the country, this is a new idea
for city lawns.
It is probably the only scarecrow in
town.
* * * *
Keeping the birds away from grass seed
is almost a hopeless job, at the best.
In such an up-and-down season as this,
it seems as if it is never too late to scat
ter seed.
“Scatter” is just a word, in planting.
Of course, you really don’t scatter.
You take pains.
Homeowners who just throw grass seed
around never get the good results secured
by more careful persons.
* * * *
One thing painstaking people have
learned in recent years is that almost any
time of the year except the dead of win
ter is a good time to put in grass seed.
The perennial problem of the home
lawn is quite as perennial as all that!
In the old days it was believed that
springtime was Ihe only time for this
chore.
Then it came to be widely recognized
that early autumn was even better.
Now it is coming to be understood that
any time will do, provided there is a
stretch of at least 2 weeks of compara
tively good weather.
“Good weather,” in regard to grass,
means mild weather with intermittent
rains.
What is “mild” is any person’s guess,
but germinating grass has its own idea,
and it is not exactly man’s idea.
The growing things of the earth, from
the earth, earthy, do not demand steam
or hot-water heat to do well.
Air can be so chilly it will make a hu
man’s fingers wince, still the temperature
will be just right for the growth of grass
blades.
* * * *
It cannot be gainsaid that season has
something to do with it, after all.
No one would say that grass seed
germinates as well, or grows as well after
ward. in winter as in summer.
Time alone has something to do with it.
The rate of growth, while far below that
of the better season, is still enough to do
good to a lawn in which bare spots have
shown up.
In such queer seasons as we have had
recently, with hot and cold alternating,
without rhyme or reason, there is every
chance of seed coming up in due time.
Whether it will have enough good
weather to do good thereafter Is another
matter. Without doubt some of it, even
when looking well, cannot get estab
lished strongly enough to go through
the winter.
The point is that it is worth taking a
chance on, if you believe in the continu
ous rejuvenation of the lawn.
* * * *
An interesting writer on health sub
jects recently published a book in which
he said, in effect, that most adults allow
themselves to stop growing, whereas
they should take a tip from the famous
lexicon of youth, and try to keep on
growing. If cod liver oil, he asserted, is
good for youngsters, it should be good
for their elders. And so on. While
admitting that the growth of adults must
necessarily be confined to renewal, rather
than increase in weight, etc., he offered
the hope that in the days to come ways
and means would be worked out for
keeping up the growth process in middle
aged and older people.
A lawn differs materially from the
human body, but it may be rejuvenated,
too. and by a much simpler process.
This is by continuously planting fresh
seed. Once this idea gains access to a
human mind, it blossoms in quite fresh
grass blades at points hither and yon
in the yard.
A passerby might never notice them,
but in the aggregate they go to make
the whole lawn look fresher and greener.
If these new' blades do not last very long,
at least they “do good” while present.
Some of them may tough it through the
cold, and be ready for renewed growth
in spring. It is worth trying.
* * * *
The temptation is to select cheap mix
tures, but these are always very costly
in the end, since they often contain
timothy and the like, as well as many
weed seeds.
Just as haste is waste, so cheapness Is
often expensive when it comes to lawn
grass seed.
No one who views the suburban scene
whole will begrudge the English sparrows
their share of the freshly planted seeds.
They do not get, perhaps, as many
seeds as they seem to be getting.
If things look pretty bad, recourse to a
scarecrow may be had.
Just how well this works, we do not
know, but have an idea that English
sparrows are not fooled in the least by
the fake. Maybe crows are, but the
sparrows are too smart.
Indeed, the other afternoon we noticed
several sparrows walking around—eating
seed—at the very base of the object, and,
what was more, there was one perched
on the right shoulder of the straw man,
chirping as sweetly as these birds can
into that worthy's ear.
Letters to the Editor
Asks Consideration of
Highway to Patagonia.
To the Editor of The Star:
The European war has given us an
unrivaled opportunity, economic and po
litical. in South America. Our people
are already beginning to think of this
hemisphere as our own particular
‘'oyster." Might not this be the time to
re-examine that forgotten construction
project which was to give us a super
highway from El Paso to Patagonia?
Imagine the enthusiasm of our dormant
construction industry. Imagine the new
hope which would permeate our army
of unemployed. Imagine the flood of
dispossessed farmers and enterprising
youngsters rushing to reopen the Amer
ican frontier. It would stimulate in
dustry as no war could; it would shrink
our relief rolls; it would give our younger
generation an opportunity such as cnly
our grandfathers remember; and it would
make secure for all time our dominance
of this hemisphere.
Latin America is in the doldrums and
therefore in a co-operative mood. Euro
pean markets have all but disappeared.
Europe's manufactures are all but un
procurable. We are being presented
with an unrivaled opportunity to win
the good will of the Americas with profit
to us all.
GEORGE SUDERMANN.
Hillsboro. Kans.
October 20.
Urges Prompt Amendment
Of Neutrality Law.
To the Editor of The Star:
Writers in your columns have main
tained that the Neutrality Act should be
upheld and the "cash-and-carry” clause
rejected on the ground that it would
antagonize Germany. As though any
one could antagonize the Hitler regime
more than it already is antagonized
toward America; Their official press
has had nothing but snarls for our
Government, President and people, call
ing us names such as gangster nation,
etc. What is their regime, anyway?
Does it represent the bottom or the
top of culture in Germany? Inasmuch
as it is already the enemy of the entire
civilized world, the suggestion is brought
to the reader's mind that such articles
may be part of the Nazi propaganda
carried on in this country. I think they
are. It seems to me that the so-called
Neutrality Act as Messrs. Borah, Nye
| and others would have it, is nothing
short of a non-aggression pact between
the United States and Hitler's bloody
regime.
The isolationist movement resembles
very cioseiy England s appeasement pol
icy, resulting in repeated blows to British
prestige, caused the English to live under
constant nerve strain and pressure
caused by threats and intimidation and
finally culminating in a war which might
have been avoided by the exercise of
firmness at an earlier stage. Is that
not enough of an example by which we
can profit? Our isolationists and their
supporters should study the experience
of the English appeasers and not re
peat their fatal mistake. Let them
beware of giving even the slightest ad
vantage to the barbarous Hitler regime.
And, after all, will the present Neu
trality Act really save America from in
volvement in the war? Certainly not.
We can be saved fr4m being drawn
into the conflict between the “Ger
maniac” Hitler and the western powers
by a firm policy of neutral determination
to stand on that side where right is,
i.e., the rightful preservation of peace,
civil liberties, civilization and culture.
It depends upon our being able to give
peaceful nations all our moral support
and hilp and deny any kind of help to
aggreaaor nations. The dismemberment
r>
Letters to the Editor must
bear the name and address 0}
the writer although the use oj
a pseudonym tor publication is
permissible. Please be briejl
and domination of Czecho-Slovakia
opened the eyes of the whole world—
even those of the strongest appeasers in
England and France—to what to expect
in any country ceded to the Nazis. May it
serve as an enlightening experience to the
anti-American isolationists here! We
want peace, but not a dishonorable one
based on a fictitious Neutrality Act that
closes our factories and ports to friendly,
decent nations. The Hitler regime ex
pects all neutral countries such as Rus
sia, Yugoslavia and Rumania to ship
war and raw materials to Germany,
and at the same time through their
propaganda are attempting to stop us
from supplying England and France and
thus gain a cheap victory. Let no one
help them. W. A. LEAHY.
October 15.
Commends Star Editorials
On Neutrality Issue.
To the Editor of The Star:
In the mail yesterday I received your
pamphlet entitled "A Compendium of
Recent Editorials on the Most Vital
Issue of Our Times."
I find these editorials clear and con
vincing as to the dangers of the present
so-called neutrality law and the sound
ness of the cash-and-carry plan. Last
session I voted to retain the embargo,
sincerely believing that the sale of war
materials would lead to loans to foreign
countries and eventually to our partici
pation in their impending conflict. Your
editorials and the President's splendid
message have convinced me that the
danger of participation lies rather in
the present loosely drawn statute than
in the proposals made by the President.
I believe that when the American
people understand the situation they
will favor a change. I am sending your
pamphlet to leading people in my dis
trict that they may have the real facts.
I am firmly convinced that the people
oi mis country are unalterably opposed
to giving further credit to the European
nations and also will refuse to take part
in any conflict on foreign soil. They also
want us to enact legislation curbing
war profiteering so rampant in the
World War.
It is my opinion that Congress should
remain in session during these trouble
some and serious times to meet any
emergency which may arise. The pres
ence of the three branches of Govern
ment here in Washington, D. C., sup
ported by the people back home, should
keep us out of foreign entanglements
and tend to solve our own domestic
problems. KNUTE HILL, M. C.
October 15.
Fire Escapes On Old
Buildings Urged.
To the Editor of The Star:
I am a stranger in the city and in the
short time I have spent here I have been
a constant reader of The Star. I noticed
that your paper covered Fire Prevention
Week in its columns.
I am living in a 3-story building which
is without any fire escape of any kind.
This is an old building and I feel that
its one small entrance would not be
ample in case of fire. I have noticed
that there are several more buildings
in the same condition as this one.
I am writing to you because I feel
that your paper was interested in Fire
Prevention Week. Therefore why not
have a week in which safeguards are set
up to protect the lives of those who may
be trapped in a burning building?
PERRY W. MOOTHART. |
October 35.
t
i
Haskin's Answers
To Readers' Questions
By Frederic J. Haskin.
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. Which division of the United States
Army was the first to fight in France?—
L. C. R.
A. At the time of the World War the
1st Division was the first American force
in the trenches and the first in battle.
This division entered the line October *
2!, 1917, in the Luneville sector near
Yancy, each unit being attached to a
corresponding French unit. At 6:06 a jn.
October 23, 1917, Battery C of the 6th
Field Artillery fired the first American
shot in the War. Sergt. Alex Arch of
South Bend, Ind., was in command of
the crew that fired the shot.
Q. Where is the aun dial which is In
scribed with the words “It is later than
you think”?—E. M. H.
A. There are said to be several bearing
that inscription. One of the most famous
is at Abries in the village of Vallee de
Queyras in the Dauphine Alps.
_______ •
Q. How many airplanes are there in the
United States?—M. L. W.
A. There are 10.902 commercial and
private certificated aircraft in the United
States and 1,012 uncertificated aircraft.
Q. Is there a language called Ro?—
E. J. B.
A. Ro is an artificial language, intended
to be international. It was devised by
the Rev. Edward P. Foster of Marietta,
Ohio, about 1906. This language rejects
all existing words and roots and is based
on the analysis and classification of ideas.
Q. How long does It take to build a
battleship?—C. F.
A. It takes approximately four year*
to build a United States battleship.
Q. Is Mainbocher, the dress designer,
a Frenchman?—C. H. G.
A. He is an American citizen who went
abroad to become an artist, later making
a phenomenal success as a designer of
women's apparel. Since the war he has
established headquarters in New York
City.
Q. Who were the Four Horsemen of
Notre Dame?—A. L.
A. The following football players were
so called; Henry Stuhldreher, quarter
back; Don Miller, right halfback; Jim
Crowley, left halfback; Elmer Layden,
fullback.
Q. 'What is a carpet knight?—C. H. M.
A. This was originally the name given
to one knighted by the king on the
carpet before the throne and not on the
field of battle. Later it was applied in
a contemptuous sense to a soldier who
shirks active service.
Q. Was Poland ever ruled by the Ger
man states?—R. S. H.
A. Poland, an ancient kingdom whose
history dates from 966, was a great
power from the 14th to the 17th century.
It was apportioned in three partitions—
1772,1793 and 1795—among Prussia, Rus
sia and Austria.
Q. What foods contain the most iron?
—E. T. H.
A. Tests recently completed at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
show that molasses heads the list of '
iron-containing foods with about 6.1
parts of usable iron per 100.000 parts by
weight of molasses. Beef liver is sec
ond with 5.6 parts per 100,000, and oat
meal third with 4.6.
A Tr 4V\a iclortH An Tl*V»i r> Vn tVia Ctatlli
I of Liberty stands called Bedloe or Bed
loes Island?—H. P. S.
A. Both forms have been used here
tofore, but the United States Board of
Geographic Names has decided that the
site shall be known as and spelled Bcd
loes Island.
Q. How will Admiral Byrd earn' Ms
food supplies on the Antarctic expedi
tion?—J. G. H.
A. They will be carried on the North
Star, a motorship belonging to the De
partment of the Interior. The craft has
12.000 cubic feet of refrigeration space
and facilities for 300 tons of meats.
Q. What is the capacity of the Gov
ernment-owned helium plant at Ama
rillo, Tex.?—C. P. S.
A. The plant has a capacity of 24,
000,000 cubic feet of helium a year.
Q. Who invented the friction match?
—P. E.
A. The first true friction match ap
parently was invented by John Walker
of Stockton on Tees, Durham. England. ‘
1827. It was composed of chlorate of
potash, sulphate of antimony, with
enough of powdered gum to render it
adhesive when mixed with water and
applied to the end of the match, which
had previously been dipped in brim
stone. The match was scratched on
sandpaper. Later inventions were from
1829 to 1830 by G. F. Watts, Samuel
Jones and Richard Bell & Co. In 1836,
Dr. Alonzo D. Phillips of Springfield,
Mass., was granted the first United
States patent on friction matches.
Q. What author referred to the Rocky
Mountains as the ramparts of freedom
and Niagara Falls as the anthem of free
men?—E. W. C. j
A. The quotation from Wendell Phil
lips is as follows: “The Carpathian
Mountains may shelter tyrants, the
slopes of Germany may bear up a race
more familiar with the Greek text than
with the Greek phalanx. For aught I
know, aware of Russian rule may sweep
so far westward as to fill once more
with miniature despots the robber castles
of the Rhine. But of this I am sure,
God piled the Rocky Mountains as the
ramparts of freedom. He scooped out
the valley of the Mississippi as the cradle
of free States, He poured Niagara as the j
anthem of free men.”
O What makps chinchilla fin
soft?—E. S. J. S
A. It is because of its extreme fine
ness. The animal has a multiple hair i
follicle and there are as many as 80
hairs growing from a single follicle.
Q. How many chinchillas are used In
a fur coat?—E. J. R.
A. It takes from 120 to 140 of 8 by 10
inch pelts to make a coat.
Q. Where can I obtain instructions on
ridding the home of insect pests?
A. See Page A-2 of today’s Star.
J