Evening star. [volume], November 23, 1939, Page A-8, Image 8

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

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With Sunday Morning Edition
THEODORE W. NOYES, Editor.
WASHINGTON, D. C.
THURSDAY_..November 23, 1939
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Executive "Conciliation"
Judging from published reports,
It was a strange form of concilia
tion that John M. Carmody, Federal
Works administrator, practiced dur
ing the closing hours of the recent
labor crisis which confronted the
cafeterias in twenty-seven Govern
ment buildings. An article in yester
day’s Star throws a new light on the
settlement reached last week be
tween the United Cafeteria Workers’
Union, an affiliate of the Congress of
inuusuicu wxganxzauons, ana me
Welfare and Recreational Associa
tion, a Government-sponsored, semi
official organization which operates
the cafeterias in Federal depart
ments.
There are approximately seven
hundred cafeteria employes of the
association, and nearly six hundred
of them who were members of the
union were threatening to strike for
higher wages and for other conces
sions wrhen Mr. Carmody intervened
as conciliator. Agreement finally
was recorded on all points except a
demand of the union for continuance
of a check-off system that had
proved unfair to non-union employes
and obnoxious to the welfare asso
ciation. This unconscionable form of
check-off provides for the deduction
of one dollar per month from the
pay of each employe—union or non
union. In the case of union em
ployes the deduction goes to the
union for fees and dues; in the case
of non-union employes it becomes a i
compulsory contribution to charity, j
In effect, the levy is a penalty on j
non-union employes. Apparently it ]
is designed to make it as expensive
for them to stay out of the union as ;
to join.
The trustees of the Welfare and !
Recreational Association—all of them
prominent Government officials—
vigorously objected to this unusual
wucu-iv-uia picui ucutuoc ui i.id iiictiii
fest injustice to non-union employes.
A deadlock on the issue ensued, and
the threatened walkout became im
minent. Then, according to reliable
reports, Mr. Carmody informed the
trustees of the welfare association
that President Roosevelt was insist
ing that there should be no strike.
Mr. Carmody was told that the sole :
issue remaining was the check-off,
and he is said to have replied that
the association should take whatever
action was needed to prevent a
strike. A majority of the trustees
reluctantly acceded. They reversed
themselves on the check-off and
signed an agreement that quite un
derstandably was hailed by the union
as “a great victory.”
During the conference with Mr.
Carmody the trustees asked specifi
cally whether the President wanted
the association to capitulate on the
check-off question. This question
did not receive a direct reply, but the
trustees presumably were given the
impression he did. Under the circum
stances, it is difficult to believe that
Mr. Roosevelt was fully aware of the
real issue at stake in the final
negotiations—an issue that involved
placing the stamp of executive ap
proval on an inequitable and inde
fensible type of check-off to be con
ducted by a quasi-governmental
agency. In fairness to all concerned,
the full story of the roles played by
all parties to this “conciliation” (a
conciliation that appears to have
taken the form of official pressure on
one side only) should be made avail
able to the public.
Airport Project
Washington National Airport, at
Gravelly Point, expected to be one
of the world’s finest air terminals,
now is entering the final phases of
constructibn.
President Roosevelt has announced
that Colonel Sumpter Smith, former
chairman of the Air Safety Board,
Civil Aeronautics Authority, has
Deen relieved oi an omer ouues ro
devote his full time to the airport
project as chairman of the Wash
ington National Airport Commission.
Army engineers, in charge of the
great hydraulic fill which is creating
a landing area a mile and half long,
estimate that their work is approxi
mately ninety per cent finished, with
16,000,000 cubic yards already in
place of a final total of between
17,500,000 and 18,000,000 cubic yards.
One of three great commercial con
tract dredges already has been re
leased from the job.
Test piles now are being sunk for
the first of an impressive group of
airport buildings, and detailed work
4
ing plans are being completed for a
terminal building which is expected
to be not only a world model but
one of the architectural wonders of
the National Capital.
After thirteen years of unremitting
effort on the part of local aviation,
civic and trade organizations to
bring about the establishment of an
adequate air terminal for Washing
ton, news of the splendid progress
now being made on the project
should be cause for rejoicing. The
lack of proper air terminal facilities
long has been a civic “black eye"
for the National Capital. Soon it
will take its rightful place among
world leaders in providing facilities
for this rapidly progressing form of
transportation and communication.
Thanksgiving
Whether the American people ob
serve Thanksgiving today or a week
from today does not matter very
much. Their gratitude is not con
strained to any calendar. Free, at
peace and reasonably prosperous,
they are conscious of their blessings
during every thoughtful moment of
their lives. It is proper, of course,
that they should unite in formal
acknowledgment to the Deity, yet
the instinct of gratitude is so
active in their hearts as to require
little stimulation. Such critics as
may pretend to believe that the
citizens of the United States are
unappreciative of their good fortune
need only to travel over the country
to find correction for a pessimism
O It AfrotVlfiv miinftifin/J
Even in the depths of a great de
pression there was no despair among
Americans. They knew without
being told that poverty in the Euro
pean and the Asiatic connotations
of the word is unknown under the
Stars and Stripes. Economic dis
location might create panic in the
larger cities, unemployment long con
tinued might bring conditions of
famine to metropolitan neighbor
hoods, drought or flood might im
poverish thousands of families of
farmers; but these afflictions, the
people understood, were temporary
ills. Prodigal nature, rich beyond
the dream of any poet, would make
good the loss. Faith in the inex
haustible wealth of the Nation, not
excluding its human capital, contra
dicted the occasional skeptics who
loudly preached disaster.
But there never has been anything
selfish or Pharisaical about the Amer
ican reaction to events abroad. The
troubles of the Old World have not
left American sympathies untouched.
Help has gone out from the United
States to every quarter of the globe.
No call of distress has been neglected.
Nor is there any danger of a change j
of attitude toward suffering any- |
where. Sorrow for the strife in the
Orient and in Europe is a phe
nomenon which is discernible in every
American home Nn Ampriran man
or woman is capable of wanting war
under any sky. Hope for the ter
mination of each prevailing struggle
is part of the prayer of every Amer
ican soul.
And it is this aspiration for hu
manity at liberty from contention
that must be stressed at this hour
in the experience of the race. Grati
tude to God cannot be limited. It is
the solemn petition of America to
the Almighty Father of all mankind
that soon the blessings of tranquillity
may be shared by every community
on earth. Perhaps never before have
Americans so reverently joined in
Thanksgiving.
Plots in Holland
Gestapo charges that the Munich
beer cellar bomb explosion was
plotted by British secret agents at
The Hague is one of those fantastic
claims which are easy to make and
impossible to prove or disprove. The
hospitality of Holland, kept up for
both political and commercial rea
sons, easily can be abused by either
the allies or the Germans. Hitherto
the bulk of suspicion has been di
rected at Nazi agents.
The Netherlands has kept open its
German frontier. There are places
where entry from one country to an
other is merely a matter of walking
across an unguarded pasture. In its
extreme anxiety to avoid an incident
Holland has scrupulously avoided
placing a sentry line actually on the
border. Consequently it is as easy to
get out of the Reich into the Low
Countries without being challenged
as, for example, to get into Canada
from the United States.
The consequence is that the Dutch
cities are crowded with Germans,
some with properly visaed passports
and some with no passports at all.
A mnnth acrn thp ArnctorHam
estimated that there were more than d
10,000 in that city and its immediate ,
environs. For the most part, they
believed, these were bona fide refu
gees. But there was no way of dis
tinguishing the actual from the pre
tending victim of Nazi persecution.
In addition, of course, there are a
good many Germans who pass back
and forth with perfectly good pass
ports and on perfectly legitimate
business. Such are the commercial
travelers. Holland is Germany’s door
to the west. That some of these Ger
mans are. engaged in sinister plots
has been taken for granted by Eng
lish newspaper correspondents in
the Dutch cities. One hotel in Am
sterdam has been mentioned often
specifically as a center of Reich spy
activities, although nobody seemed
to have any convincing evidence for
the charges.
That both the British and the
French also have secret agents in
Holland is highly probable. The
Netherlands is a safe listening post.
Earlier in the war, before the present
strange leniency in German censor
ship, information on conditions in
Germany appearing in both London
and Paris newspapers carried Dutch
datelines. Many, of these stories since
have been abundantly confirmed.
The Dutch capital would seem to be
a rather illogical place for a British
plotting headquarters when one con
siders the immensely superior advan
tages of Amsterdam or Rotterdam.
All this adds tremendously to the
difficulties of the Dutch government,
leaning backward to avoid an inci
dent. It has the recourse of closing
its borders, which would mean still
greater distress to the already dis
tressed business of the country and
which might be interpreted by the
Reich as an unfriendly act.
Resisting Japan
Since last June the Japanese have
blockaded British and French con
cessions in Tientsin.
Limited supplies of food and other
essentials have been permitted to pass
the barriers, but only after exasper
ating delays occasioned by the ex
haustive thoroughness with which
the Japanese inspect every article
entering the concessions.
Most pressing at the present mo
ment is the shortage of fuel caused
by the Japanese restrictions on ship
ments, even from the other side of
the river at Tientsin. While snow
blankets the city, Americans are in
extreme discomfort through their
inability to get coal.
mi* i _ *:i i i. i • . *
xnxo onuauuii wa^ me auujctl UI
some pointed remarks from Acting
Secretary of State Sumner Welles,
remarks which ought to give the
Tokio government pause if, as it
repeatedly has asserted, it hopes to
obtain a new commercial treaty with
the United States.
Passing on the reports from Consul
General Caldwell at Tientsin, Mr.
Welles declared emphatically that
the American Government feels that
Americans have full right to carry
on trade from the foreign conces
sions. The Japanese government has
been so informed again and again.
With the expiration on January 26
of the 1911 commercial treaty draw
ing near, it is incumbent upon the
Japanese to moderate their attitude
toward Americans, which is the only
basis on which a new treaty reason
ably can be negotiated.
While Great Britain and France are
forced to give increasing attention
to the war in Europe, the United
States is left as the main champion
of the open door in China and as
the spearhead of resistance to the
fulfillment of Japan’s purpose to
dominate China’s economic relations
with the rest of the world.
Make Thanksgiving Real
The Community Chest campaign is
to be continued until Tuesday. Need
for such a decision was indicated
last week. It was announced yes
terday when it became known that
only 88.84 per cent of the funds re
quired had been subscribed. Pledges
reported fall $223,000 short of the
minimum goal. Approximately 18,000
Washingtonians who gave in 1938
have failed to respond to this year's
appeal.
In the circumstances. The Star has
but one suggestion to offer. It is
this: Let every family which today
assembles for the annual Thanksgiv
ing least snare its blessing. If a !
collection were taken up at each !
dinner table in the District of Colum- i
bia, a considerable sum would be '
realized.
Some, if not all, of those who al- j
ready have contributed could enlarge !
their gifts without unreasonable j
sacrifice. To others who have neg- j
lected the appeal entirely, a final !
plea to co-operate is offered:
Give generously and be happy in
the privilege of giving.
Frozen Assets
For fifty-five years F. E. Gimlett,
self-styled hermit of Arbor Villa,
Colo., was hampered every winter in
his mining operations by a gigantic
snow bank covering most of his prop
erty. Then, just the other day, he
learned of a legal decision to the
effect that all forms of moisture
draining into an irrigation canal be
low him belonged to the canal. Be
coming tired of working his mine, he
decided to work the Highline Canal
Company instead, and qualified as an
irrigation expert by sending them a
bill for $2,750, representing “fifty
five years storage on one snow bank’’
on his land.
When the lawyers get their teeth
into this case they will have plenty
on which to chew. The Highline Canal
Company, says the hermit, is like
any other business, in that it must
have a supply of raw material to
keep going, and that in the case of
a canal said raw material is water,
without which it would not be sol
vent. A canal without water, he
claims, would be as unthinkable as
Sears without Roebuck or Aber
crombie without Fitch. Water being
thus established as an essential com
modity must be subject to storage
charges. Winter after winter, he
said, he had kept their goods in cold
storage in a well-ventilated ware
house, and spring after spring de
livered it in good condition to the
canal on an automatic release order
when the temperature rose. Lawyers
for the canal company will counter
with an awe-inspiring mass of legal
Latin words, which may be roughly
translated for the layman as “horse
feathers,” and will remind the hon
orable court that the property in
dispute has no value, being merely
a frozen asset tied up tight in bank.
No matter on what day you eat
your Thanksgiving turkey, one hun
dred per cent Americans still insist
that “dressing” is put on food and
what goes inside it is “stuffing.” After
all, the latter word is as euphonious
as the former, and a deal more accu
rate.
i
Of Stars, Men
And Atoms
Notebook of Science Progress
In Field, Laboratory
And Study _ <
]
By Thomas R. Henry.
The gas mask, now a required part of
nearly everybody’s wardrobe in Prance
and England—so much so that one feels
positively naked on the streets without
one—is more than a century old, it is 1
shown by an item gleaned from one of
his foreign chemical journals by Dr.
James H. Hibben, chief of the chemical
division of the United States Tariff Com
mission.
According to this note an English
miner named John Roberts demonstrated
a very efficient device before the Royal
Society of Arts in 1825 and received an
award of 50 pounds for his ingenuity long
before anybody dreamed of whole popu
lations with such masks strapped over
their shoulders.
Roberts’ invention consisted of a
leather hood completely enveloping the
head and made airtight at the neck by
straps and wadding. The hood had two
airholes protected by glass or mica, and
a breathing tube, the orifice of which
was filled with a moistened sponge and
covered with coarse woolen cloth. The
luiiuci was iu husuiu gasses aiiu uie lat
ter to catch solid particles and smoke.
The inventor gave two demonstrations
of his apparatus. For one of these a spe
cial airtight cubicle was constructed
filled with smoke and fumes from moist
shavings, wet hay and several pounds of
sulphur. Roberts remained in this com
partment for 40 minutes while the tem
perature rose to 150 F. He was none the
worse for the experience and claimed
that his only discomfort was due to the
heat.
* * * *
/'Another tree disease, this time af
fecting the sycamores, is spreading
rapidly down the Atlantic seaboard.
It has reached the proportions of a
killing epidemic in Philadelphia and
Baltimore. Lately it has been found as
far South as Washington and as far
North as Newark. Isolated infections
also have been found in Williamsburg,
Va.; Charleston, W. Va., and Vicksburg,
Miss. The disease forms elongated cank
ers on the trunks or branches. Dark
streaks spread through the wood from
these cankers and soon the tree dies. One
way in which the disease is being spread,
according to Dr. J. M. Walter, forest
pathologist of the Department of Agri
culture, is through the use of infected
pruning tools. Over one-third of the
cuts which he made in healthy trees with
purposely contaminated saws produced
oonlr ore
* * * *
Three star-cloud moons, each com
posed of billions of stars, accompany the
great Milky Way galaxy, in which the
sun and its planets are like a dust speck,
in its billion year revolution, according
to observations just reported to the Na
tional Academy of Sciences here by Dr.
Harlow Shapley, professor of astronomy
at Harvard University.
They would appear like galactic
moons, Dr Shapley says, in photographs
taken with powerful telescopes from
some possible abode of intelligent life in
the Andromeda nebula, first of the outer
star systems to be recognized and distant
about a million light years from the
farthest borders of the Milky Way
galaxy.
They would be pictured by astrono
mers in the Andromeda nebula, he says,
as small, spheroidal galaxies, or giant
globular clusters of stars, Dj\ Shapley's
report chiefly concerns newly found and
very curious clusters of stars, the so
called Sculptor and Fornax systems,
which fill an hitherto unrecognized
place in the evolutionary sequence of
gigantic stellar aggregations. They are
members, together with the Milky Way
and Andromeda galaxies, the clouds
of Magellan, and a few other aggrega- ,
tions of billions of stars, of the local
galactic system. All lie within the
distance which can be traversed by light,
moving at the rate of 180,000 miles a
second, in a couple of million years. The
new systems are of about the size of the
average galaxy but have low total in
trinsic brightness and are devoid of the
supergiant stars which are found in the
other systems.
By means of a study of the Cepheid
variables which have been found in both
these systems the Harvard astronomers
have been able to arrive at some com
parative figures as to their distances.
On a small photographic plate they
appear close together, even as if one
were superimposed upon the other.
Actually, the new studies show, one is
about twice as far away as the other.
Tn tVic coma rorvnrt Qhonlot- roonrflc
the discovery of three hitherto un
recognized supernovae in outer galaxies.
These are stars which suddenly flare up
until their brightness exceeds that of all
the aggregate of all the billions of stars
in the system. This represents the
greatest output of energy ever con
ceived and the cause of a titanic star
explosion still is a matter of much
speculation.
In any one star system, such as the
Milky Way galaxy, they are extremely
rare. Only one possible explosion of
this sort has taken place in the visible
heavens during human history.
Throughout the millions of external
galaxies, however, several such blasts
can be observed each year and an
approach made to a statistical study of
the phenomenon.
Court Procedure Urged
To Prevent War.
To the Editor of The Star:
We have scientists who aim to save
and preserve human lives. Heaven
should be reserved for them as a re
ward; for the scientist who aims to de
stroy, hell can be his only reward. Why
all the propaganda and agitation to
encourage wars, when no more effort
would be required to encourage the per
manent organization of a successful
League of Nations? It can and should
be done. Antiquated political leaders in
many countries are still teaching com
ing generations that it is more blessed
to kill and destroy than it is to co
operate through a court for the defense
of the masses. Er*n such a "ridiculous
and impossible” feat as world disarma
ment could eventually materialize, with
more safe and sane political leaders.
When the majority of citizens desire
peace, they should not be goaded into
wars by war profiteers and vampires.
November 30. R. KAY.
I
THIS AND THAT 1
By Charles E. Tracewell.
Nature’s hitch-hiker is the brown
xeeper, a little bird which got in the
lews recently by being mistaken for a
lummingbird.
This particular specimen was brought
’rom Detroit to Washington, when its
Identity was discovered. The payoff
:ame when the tiny creature, instead of
leing released here, was taken back to
Detroit!
That specimen would have been right
it home in suburban Washington.
Only yesterday we were greeted by a
Drown creeper hitching up the tree by
the front door Just as we emerged,
told it really was hiking.
This friendly, fat little bird is not
ifraid of man, but goes about its busi
ness of finding the minute insects and
their eggs missed by other and larger
songsters.
* * * *
The creeper, like so many birds, is a
songbird by courtesy only, although its
four slight notes, which are seldom
beard, are not unmusical, perhaps.
It is a fairly common winter visitant
here.
If you have trees in your yard, you
ire very likely to have one, although
you will have to look sharp. Some peo
ple mistake them for wrens. This fall
we have heard of an unusual number of
Carolina wrens hereabouts.
It is probable that a small feeding
ai/ousty**, iiaiicu luic i/i uxixv ui a uct:
and kept stocked with meal worms, would
attract that particular bird, as well as
the wren.
Next to the air, a tree is its favorite
place.
It finds its favorite food in the crevices
of any fairly uneven bark. The locust
Is particularly suited, and here creepers
will be found, not in numbers, for that
is not the way they come, but one by
one.
Some observers do not find it an in
teresting bird, but what do they want?
Surely it is not spectacular, it does not
boast a glittering coat, nor does it have
any peculiar antics, but in the main it
may be called intriguing.
* * * *
Trees also serve the bird for nesting,
but not in the way of average songsters.
Its nest it prefers to place behind
some segment of bark which has be
come loose.
For this it chooses a balsam fir, if
it can find one. To make up for its
small eggs, it lays 5 to 8 of them.
A young brown creeper is as large as
its parents, which is not very large, the
adults seldom measuring a quarter of
an inch beyond 5^-i inches. This places
it as among the smallest of our birds.
Even a hummingbird is not much smaller
from end of bill to end of tail, the way
the "official” lengths are taken by
ornithologists. No wonder the kind
aviators mistook the creeper for one of
the hummers.
* * * *
The bird sports the scientific name of
Certhia familiaris americana.
In addition to the favorite name, brown
creepier, which identifies it to most
watchers, in different parts of the land
it becomes in conversation the common
creepier, American creepier, American
brown creeper, tree creeper, little brown
creeper.
You see, everybody concentrates on
that idea of creeping, and this Is fully
justified by the bird's consistent action
in hugging the bark as close as it can
get.
This appiearance of closeness to the
bark is partly accounted for by the tail,
which is notched, and held down firmly
for a good hold.
The bill of the creepier is long and
curved, but not very strong, so that the
bird must be careful how it uses it in
finding hibernating insects and spiders
and their eggs.
Creepers do fine service in keeping
down these forms, so that they deserve
all the protection they get. There will
never be many creepers in a yard, but
one or two can account for many thous
ands of inimical forms of life in a winter.
* * * *
The upper parts of the brown creeper,
as its piopular name would denote, are
brown, streaked with gray white; the
linripr narfs Hull whit** The tntol **f_
feet of the bird is light, as well as brown.
Its friendliness is attested by anec
dotes of persons who have gone up to a
tree and placed a hat over a specimen,
which did not much mind the experience.
The bill Is sharp and slender, and
comparatively long, with a downward
curve which helps get the insects.
There are four other creepers in the
United States, named the Mexican,
Rocky Mountain, Sierra and California
creeper, respectively.
The common brown form is the only
one which comes to the District of Co
lumbia and nearby Maryland and Vir
ginia.
It is quite enough. The bird is a born
acrobat, thinking nothing at all of walk
ing around trunks and branches.
To see it on a cold morning, circling
some horizontal bough, is as much fun
as a trip to the circus—that is, if you
like birds.
One thing, however, it cannot do, as
its cousin, the white-breasted nuthatch
can, walk down a tree trunk head down.
This peculiarity is the trade mark of the
nuthatch, an unmistakable identification.
By their action you shall know them,
as well as by their appearance.
The hammering of the woodpecker,
the devil-down-head attitude of the
nuthatch, the close creeping of the chub
by creeper—these are trends to the wind
ward which no observer, no matter how
inexperienced, can overlook.
Letters to the Editor
Employment Seen as Weapon
Against Communism.
To the Editor of The Star:
Just now we are much concerned over
the spread of Communism in the United
States. Communism can gain little foot
hold among people who are contented
and have the means of supplying their
needs. We are alarmed at the prevalence
of crime. Crimes are rarely committed
by people who find themselves too busy
to plot and perpetrate them. Our best
minds are puzzling themselves over the
solution of all" kinds of problems, real
and imaginary. We have but one major
problem in this country, and all others
are involved in this one, and when it is
solved all others automatically disappear.
Our one problem is to put every able
bodied person to work. When that is
accomplished the allurements of Com
munism will not appeal to them, and
they will have no time to plot and perpe
trate crime. We are asked how we are
going to put everybody to work. Para
phrasing the observation of one of our
former statesmen, we have found that
the best way to do a thing is simply to
do it. This may involve some of the
spirit of daring which characterized our
early pioneers and patriots, but perhaps
one of our weaknesses is that, as a peo
ple, we are too cautious and calculating
and keep our eyes too constantly on the
cash dividends to accrue from every
venture, and are afraid to imitate the
“plunging' by which this Nation was
made the richest and strongest on earth.
We are met with the argument that if
everybody were at work we would soon
have a surplus of production, Why
worry about a surplus when we have
thousands who are starving and freez
ing? Why not so amend our system of
distribution that those who need that
surplus could get it? That surplus would
soon disappear if all had jobs that en
auiea mem to ouy au they need. In
addition, this would build up an inde
pendence and self-reliance that would
add strength and glory to our citizen
ship. This condition would also relieve
our people of an immense burden of di
rect relief, and ere long it would be a
case of the people supporting the Gov
ernment instead of the Government sup
porting the people, just as it should be.
Were we still worried by a surplus,
why not, about once a year, have a na
tional surplus "bargain day" and auc
tion off our surplus to the highest bid
der, making it especially convenient for
foreign bidders to be in the bidding?
Were no more realized from these auc
tions than the mere cost of production
it would be helping us solve our main
problem of keeping everybody at work.
November 20. DAVID A. TAYLOR.
Quotes Letter From
Friend in Rural England.
To the Editor of The Star.
In these days when we have so much
to be thankful for in a free country so
far removed from the stem realities of
war, it might be of Interest to your read
ers to know how our English friends
across the sea "carry on” and “do their
bit” 4n a small country village in the
west of England.
A friend, whose only brother was
killed In the great war, writes from her
beautiful old country place, which she
had recently thrown open to receive eight
small children of the poorer classes evac
uated from London:
“Rationing Is to begin forthwith. One
time we hear 3 ounces of butter per
week, another time it is 7 ounces,
and, of course, there is no fish to help
out the meat ration. The fishing trawl
er* an all mine sweeping and the me**
k
Letters to the Editor must
bear the name and address oj
the writer, although the use of
a pseudonym for publication is
permissible. Please be brief!
of oil and petrol and poison from depth
charges in the North Sea would murder
most of the fishes, anyhow. I have got
all my coal in. The man has been very
good in filling up before the ration day.
I have paid over 40 pounds for it and
it must last a year. I shall probably put
down the car in January when I have to
take out a fresh license costing 20
pounds. I have petrol for only 30 miles
a week, which makes one shopping expe
dition to W- and to church on Sun
day. The buses are very much reduced
and run only two days a week.
“We are very busy with Red Cross
work parties in the hall la memorial
gift from her to the village), and I have
given a bed and bedding, etc., and fitted
up a dressing room as a casualty ward
and a group of girls attend there to learn
practical first-aid and nursing. We can
have no entertainment after 10 p.m.,
and then we have to pay a man to stand
outside the hall to listen to air-raid
sirens or other signals of distress. We
kept the hall's birthday on the 21st.
The party consisted of children, all free,
and adults, 6d, and games and danc
ing for all and “magnificent” refresh
ments, including a birthday cake which
I had to cut. It had two candles this
time. The party was from 7 to 10 p.m.
There is a dance in aid of the Red
Cross tomorrow, got up by a young man
who runs the local band. It is called
Black Out Dance’ and the notices are
black with white lettering and red
crosses, and say that gas masks are to
be brought and refreshments are given
on ration cards and French buffet of hot
rolls and coffee, with girls dressed as
mademoiselles dispensing them, and an
English bar where cheese sandwiches
and cider cup are to be had; the girls
wearing white with tri-color sash for
the French and a Union Jack for the
British.
There is to be a gas mask dance, pre
ceded by a contest with a prize for get
ting into it first. Oh! we make jokes
over everything, even at the birthday
party, when they sang the new war song,
the ‘Siegfried Line' (which our tommies
say they will hang the^r washing on
soon). I gave a prize for singing It best,
consisting of a bona fide clothes line
labeled ‘Siegfried.’ I also gave a poker
to attack A. R. P. wardens when they
called in the night and saw cracks of
light shining through the blinds.
‘‘We are all very busy knitting for
soldiers, sailors and airmen; and also
hospital supplies are being made at our
Red Cross parties." V. m,
November 21.
Poor Service on Car
Line Protested.
To the Editor of The Star:
A resident of Southwest Washington,
I use the wharves cars constantly, and
consider the service not only bad, but an
insult to the public. Like many people,
I buy the weekly pass, which, besides
rides, gives me hours of waiting, during
which time one can catch colds more
frequently than cars.
Also the discourteous treatment on
this route is particularly noticeable. We
pay as good money and are entitled
to as good service as any route in the
city. If there Is no improvement in the
near future I shall be compelled to
change my address.
November 20. W.M.L.
1
Answers
To 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. What was the first opera produced
at the Metropolitan Opera House?—O. H.
A. The opera house opened on October
22, 1883, with “Faust.”
Q. Where is the largest oil well?—
J. J. S.
A. The largest oil well is believed to
be the Cerro Azul No. 4 in the Tuxtam
region of Mexico, this well having pro
duced as much as 260,000 barrels in one
day.
Q. Is Hollywood, Calif., a part of Los
Angeles?—W. C. McG.
A. Hollywood was incorporated as a
village in 1903, but surrendered its char
ter in 1910 to become a part of Los
Angeles.
Q. Who Invented the solar plexus
punch?—J. B. H.
A. The solar plexus punch was used by
Bob Fitzsimmons in knocking out Jim
Corbett at Carson City, Nev., on March
17, 1897, in the 14th round. Bob Davis,
the famous writer, gave the punch its
name.
Q. Was Ibanez, the Spanish novelist,
buried in Spain or in France?—W. K. M.
A. He was buried at-Mentone, France,
in Spanish earth brought from Valencia
by his friends. It was proposed by the
Spanish Directorate that his body be
returned to Spain for burial, but he had
provided in his will that this should not
be done while Spain continued to have a
monarchial government.
Q. Please give some facts about the
University of the South at Sewanee,
Tenn —H. P. G.
A. This school occupies a wooded
domain of 10,000 acres in the Cumber
land Mountains, about midway between
Nashville and Chattanooga. It is the
only institution of higher education in
the South which is owned by the Epis
copal Church. It was founded in 1857,
but was destroyed during the War Be
tween tne States. It was reopened in
1866 with eight students and a few log
houses. The university consists of a
college of arts and sciences and a theo
logical school. Over 5.000 students have
wccu ciixuucu wicrc.
Q. How long does it take to make a
cigarette?—M. J. H.
A. At one of the largest factories
tobacco is converted into cigarettes at
the rate of 10,000,000 cigarettes per hour.
Q. What is the literal meaning of
pueblo?—J. M. G.
A. It is the Spanish word for village.
Q. How many people visited the rail
road exhibit at the New York World's
Fair?—R. T. H.
A. More than 7,000.000 persons attend
ed the exhibit.
Q. What are the real names of Billy
Rose and Bert Lahr?—E. J. H.
A. The full name of the producer is
William S. Rosenberg. Bert Lahr's real
name is Irving Lahrheim. _
Q. Please describe the game known as
“tarocchi.”—R. p.
A. This is said to have been the first
card game played in Europe. Tarocchi
had five suits instead of the four we
have in today's packs. Four of the suits
stood for the four main classes of people
in the Middle Ages—the nobility, the
clergy, tne merchants, and the peasants,
represented respectively by the symbols
of swords, cups, coins and staves. These
symbols or signs have come down to us
as spades, hearts, diamonds and clubs.
The fifth or trump suit outranked all the
cards of the other suits, as these cards
represented such elements of nature and
human characteristics as death, light
ning, temperance and thrift.
Q. Is there a national organization of
twins?—M. G. D.
A. The National Twins Association has
headquarters at Fort Wayne, Ind.
Q. Who are some of the tallest base
ball players in the big leagues?—W. J. H.
A. Clifford Melton of the New York
Giants is 6 feet 5ts inches in height.
Among the players who are 6 feet 4
inches are Hank Greenoerg, Schoolboy
Rowe. Alton Benton and Frank McCor
mick. Walter Brown is 6 feet 3 \ inches
and Paul Derringer is 6 feet 3’2 inches.
Q. Please give the name and location
of Helen Keller’s new home in Con
necticut.—J. G. H.
A. The Colonial-style country home
which Miss Keller has built at Westport
is named Arcan Ridge in memory of
the place in England where she and her
teacher, the late Anne Sullivan Macy,
spent many happy days together. The
house is a nine-room white frame build
ing with green shutters and will be the
home of Miss Keller and her companion,
Miss Polly Thompson.
Q. How many refrigerator cars are in
use on railroads in the United States?
—J. C. C.
A. As of June 1, 1939, the total num
ber of refrigerator cars owned by the
railroads but privately controlled in the
United States was 86,553. The total
number of refrigerator cars owned and
controlled by the railroads is 22,013.
Our Thanks
Let us give thanks because in our broad
land
No swift destruction sears the hasy skies,
To close forever young and fear-wide
eyes,
When shattered homes smoke eharred,
like bumed-out brand.
Let us give thanks because no stem
command
Dictates our lives till each sense bruti
fles;
Thanks that no corn, no blackened wheat
field lies
A fire-strewn hell—exploding waste of
sand.
Deep, heartfelt thanks because our
fathers' blood
Bought peace and freedom on a fruitful
soil;
Where children's children have been
clothed and fed.
Where spring’s bright bloom unfolds its
tight-furled bud,
And seed and harvest follow earnest toil:
Where through the years Man walks
with lifted head.
IVY UND6LXY.