Evening star. [volume], January 11, 1940, Page A-10, Image 10

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.January 11, 1940
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"Grim Days Ahead"
It was a grim coincidence that
while Prime Minister Chamberlain
was broadcasting to the world from
the Mansion House in London on
Tuesday, the intensification of the
war, which he foreshadowed espe
cially by sea and air, should have
set in almost simultaneously. Before
the day was over German planes
launched the most ferocious offen
sive of the. winter in British North
Sea waters. Striking from behind a
veil of mist, the raiders bombed and
machine-gunned at least fourteen
ships, sinking two or more of them.
One of the British losses was the
10,000-ton liner Dunbar Castle,
wrecked by a mine supposedly
planted by a German plane. Dutch
and Danish vessels were among the
casualties of the day and night.
Thus the enemy was even more
prompt than the Prime Minister
imagined in precipitating those
“grimmer times” which he warned
Britain now lie ahead. Yesterday
the British replied in kind to inten
sified German air operations. The
Royal Air Force carried the combat
Into German territory, sending war
planes over Heligoland and over
German mine-laying bases in the
Frisian Islands. What appears to
have been a pitched battle took
place over the island of Sylt, with
both attacking and defensive planes
engaged In force. Berlin claims
that three British planes were shot
down at Heligoland, out of a squad
ron of nine attackers. The Germans
further assert that their bombers
sank eight vessels in British coastal
waters. London acknowledges the
loss of two ships.
In the course of his uncommonly
Impressive review of the war at the
Lord Mayor’s luncheon, Mr. Cham
berlain once again presented com
parative figures of conditions at sea,
which are well designed to induce his
countrymen to face without flinch
ing not only what has happened
thus far, but the worst that may be
yet to come. “The oceans of the
world,” he said, “have been swept
clear of German shipping. The Ger
man fleet, which at the beginning
of the war was less than a quarter
of our own, has lost by capture, by
sinking and above all by scuttling,
228,000 tons, and the rest of it is
either bottled up or confined to the
Baltic.”
As to the British tonnage losses,
the Prime Minister explains that on
the whole these have been relatively
meager. “If we subtract from our
losses our gains by captures from the
enemy, by new ships or by transfers
from foreign flags,” Mr. Chamber
lain points out, “we have lost to date
122,000 tons, which is less than one
per cent of the merchant fleet that
we possess. And every day, every
day now, there are passing to and
fro upon the several oceans of the
world no less than 11,000,000 tons of
British shipping.” That is a truly
remarkable array of figures, and
It appears that there is no present
likelihood that Britain’s command
of the seas is in danger of impair
ment. What the Prime Minister
terms “the inexorable pressure of
sea power,” acting upon the enemy,
is producing ever-increasing diffi
culties for Germany’s whole econ
omy and for her ability to carry on
the war.
It remains true, of course, that
while the British Navy is contriving
to meet, ever more successfully, the
menaces of the submarine and the
mine, it has not yet had opportunity
to demonstrate its capacity to cope
with airplane bombers as weapons
of attack on naval and mercantile
craft. As this week’s events indicate
a quickening of German initiative
In the realm of air offensive, the test
in question may be imminent. But
Mr. Chamberlain’s words reveal Brit
ish readiness for anything the Nazis
plan in the way of a supreme throw
to overcome the iron grip of the
blockade. Until its fingers can be
taken from the Reich’s throat, Hit
ler’s gnawing ambition to “destroy”
the British Empire will remain an
empty dream.
Roots of Weakness
The latest defeat inflicted by the
Finns upon the Russians on the
“waistline” front ranks as one of
the most disastrous of the war now
raging in Northern Europe. From
Finnish reports of the spoils taken,
the men slain and the prisoners cap
tured, the Russian Forty-fourth
Division appears to have fled in
confusion, leaving its equipment
lying where it fell on the battlefield.
The captured materiel In Itself
would outfit a good-sized Finnish
force. It Included, the Finns say,
102 cannon, 43 tanks, 10 armored
cars, an airplane, 20 tractors, 278
different cars Including 16 anti-air
craft cars of four guns each, 75 auto
matic rifles, an assortment of other
arms and, in addition, 1,170 horses
and 47 field kitchens.
Various reasons have been ad
vanced for the collapse of Russian
military strength under the impact
of numerically far inferior Finnish
armies. Today’s Russian armies are
fighting with little more success than
did those the Poles and Finns routed
a score of years ago, and there is a
close and discernible relationship be
tween the crumbling of Russian
armies in the field and the commu
nistic system, a relationship which
can be traced to the nature of the
ideology which seeks to undermine
world civilization.
The test of any system of society
is the material and spiritual goods
which it provides its people. By this
test Soviet Communism has utterly
failed. If the stories Russian prison
ers tell of conditions in the Soviet
Union are true of • conditions
throughout the country the Russian
worker and peasant are in just as
miserable plight as their fathers and
mothers under czarism. Russians
captured by the Finns are said to
have told of privation and suffering
within Russia and of being driven
into battle at the points of their
officers’ pistols.
Morale is as vital a factor in mili
tary operations as superior technical
developments and wealth of natural
resources. But personal courage
springs from a nourished body and
soul, possession of something worth
fighting for, and confidence in lead
ership. These things fit (the individ
ual to fight not only as a cog in a
machine but as an independent unit.
These things the Russians lack.
Parks Are to Be Used
The series of Star articles dis
cussing what other cities have ac
complished in development of their
park systems emphasizes recreational
use of the parks above other things.
Every effort is made to encourage
such use. Baseball diamonds, tennis
courts, bathing pools and beaches,
picnic grounds and lodges—every fa
cility, in short, that will attract peo
ple to the parks and increase their
enjoyment, is provided.
In Washington some progress has
been made in this direction in recent
years, but we still have far to go.
Golf courses, tennis courts and some
pools are regarded as “concessions”—
and run at a profit to the concession
naire. Lack of funds, cumbersome
red tape and statutory prohibitions
hamper adequate maintenance and
Improvement. There is much em
phasis on "front,” great energy In
building high-speed boulevards of
smooth concrete, but little effort and
less direction toward full recrea
tional development of the parks. In
other cities the taxpayers demand
and obtain park development for
their use and enjoyment. In Wash
ington the taxpayers furnish most
of the money for acquisition, devel
opment and maintenance of the
parks. But the manner in which
they are developed, the excellence
and wisdom of the maintenance
policy, are beyond any effective local
control.
Washington has high hope that
Secretary Ickes will continue to fol
low up the interest he manifested in
finding out what is wrong with local
park development and maintenance
by effecting the remedies which have
been pointed out. One of these is for
administration of the Washington
park system in a manner that will
make possible its full enjoyment and
recreational use by the people of
Washington.
Virginia Assembly
Seldom has a greater number of
pressing problems of State govern
ment been presented at one time to
the Assembly of Virginia than are to
be considered at the session which
opened in Richmond yesterday. Al
though exhaustive studies have
been made by agencies of the State
government and by special commis
sions appointed by the Governor,
many of these questions involve
highly controversial features.
One of the more far-reaching pro
posals emphasized in Governor
Price’s message to the Legislature
calls for reorganization and modern
ization of the State government.
Closely allied is a plan for establish
ing a closer contact, in an advisory
capacity, with local and county gov
ernments and the complete abolition
of the fee system of compensating •
public officials within the Common
wealth.
Fairly unanimous opinion may be
expected on suggestions for consoli
dating the primary and secondary
roads of the State into a single sys
tem and developing them over a
twenty-year period.. Similarly, pro
posals for increasing the State police
force to strengthen the traffic safety
laws, reforms in the penal system,
establishment of means to eliminate
pollution of streams and tidal waters
and the adoption of stricter regula
tions to provide greater safety in
mines and industry may be expected
to receive general approval.
But revision of the election laws
and attempts to prevent diversion
of gasoline tax revenues to general
funds are bound to meet with strong
opposition from organized groups.
Responsible leaders of Virginia long
have charged that the poll tax and
the absent voters’ privilege have been
flagrantly abused. The Governor
now proposes reduction of the tax to
a dollar a year, with a strict law
J
which would prevent Its payment In
bulk for large groups of voters.
Among the Important matters to
come up for consideration is the
condition of the public schools. An
increase of two and a half million
dollars will be sought, principally to
Increase the number of teachers and
to Vaise their salaries. Efforts
to attain full enforcement of the
State’s compulsory elementary edu
cation law also will be made. This
program includes an expansioh of
vocational training and adult educa
tion in an effort not only to better
the condition of those now living in
the State, but to attract higher
types of new residents, and, through
them, new businesses and Industries.
Night Parking
For many years sporadic but I utile
attempts have been made to solve
the problem of all-night parking, a
situation which is peculiar to Wash
ington among the larger cities.
These efforts have been ineflfctive,
not because automobile owners would
not prefer to protect their invest
ments by keeping their cars in
garages or on suitable parking
spaces, but solely because sufficient
facilities do not exist.
A new phase of the search for the
solution to the problem will be
entered on February 7, when the
Zoning Commission holds public
hearings on a proposal to require
henceforth that all new apartment
houses, hotels and other buildings
used by large groups provide off
street garages or parking areas. Thus,
over a period of many years a grad
ual elimination of all-night parking
will be accomplished.
During the past five years an ac
cumulation of restrictions has mate
rially reduced the space along public
curbs available for this use. For
nearly five months of the year it is
completely prohibited on most of the
important thoroughfares under the
provisions of the snow-removal reg
ulations. Almost monthly a few
more streets are added to the list on
which parking is forbidden all or
part of the time. This, with the
gradual population increase and ad
ditional automobile registrations,
makes the need of planning for the
future more pressing. „
Expensive as the Zoning Commis
sion’s proposal would be to private
builders, and thereby to individual
tenants, it is an expense which must
be borne eventually. With many
streets ii\ densely populated sections
of the city now “saturated” so far as
parking facilities are concerned, the
day of accounting is at hand.
Two methods are available. Dras
tic and sudden prohibition of all
night parking may become unavoid
able within a comparatively few
years. The result would be a distinct
burden to thousands. On the other
hand, gradual restriction, assisted by
the means now advocated by the
Zoning Commission, can accomplish
the same result in a reasonable time
without imposing undue hardship on
the average individual.
A Pathetic Appeal
So far air raids on Britain have
I done negligible military damage, and
i many are inclined to wonder why
the Nazis bother to make them. The
answer is just now coming to light,
and it also explains why Scotland
has been so persistently selected as
the scene of activities. It is all ex
plained in the typewritten list of
emergency instructions issued by a
large hotel somewhere north of the
Clyde, giving a detailed account of
what to do when the raiders come.
The most important instruction
comes right at the end. Word for
word, it reads as follows: “Dining
room customers who wish to go to
the shelter should tell their waiter,
who will present their’ bill imme
diately.”
Evidently with fiendish ingenuity
Hitler has ordered his minions to
strike the British Isles in their most
vulnerable spot. Visitors to Scotland
are strongly urged, in the name of
common humanity, to alleviate this
stark norror oy neeaing tne iocai
ground rules. Even though obsessed
by the unquestionably laudable am
bition of saving their own lives, they
should neither carelessly nor with
malice aforethought add one iota to
the sufferings of the Scots. Let
them emulate the glorious code of
sea captains, and do their duty be
fore leaving. Let them remember
that they can die only once, but that
a Scottish proprietor with an unpaid
bill dies a thousand deaths. Pay
that bill. The waiter, if tipped, then
gladly will lead the way to the near
est shelter.
The Moscow newspaper which is
the organ of the Red Army discloses
that this force is using a textbook on
“Operations in Winter Conditions.”
This proves afresh to all patriotic
Russians that the Finns are a lot of
double-crossers, for the volume in
question was written by Finnish
generals.
Scientists declare that if the arctic
region could be painted black there
would be a notable rise in its tem
perature. In fact, they claim to have
proved their thesis by sprinkling a
square mile of snow with coal dust.
Brrrr! Think how cold Pittsburgh,
Detroit, Chicago and Cleveland
used to be.
Whether the human body is really
a fuel-burning engine remains a
moot point with scientists. In any
event, it positively will not run prop
erly on alcohol.
There was nothing at all unneu
tral about the recent gift of 25,000
pairs of skis from the Swedes to the
Finns. Just holiday remembrances
for admirable friends.
Of Stars, Men
And Atoms
Notebook of Science Progress
In Field, Laboratory
And Study
By Thomas R. Henry.
Modem society may be suffering from
the social counterpart of "an almost In
conceivably terrible” mind disease.
The madness syndrome of the era, of
which the outbreak of violence charac
, terized by the present war can be con
sidered a natural consequence, bears an
alarming similarity to schizophrenia,
sometimes translated as "soul splitting,”
according to a pronouncement of psy
chiatrists of the William A. White Psy
chiatric Foundation here.
At the same time the foundation, which
includes some of the most eminent mind
doctors in the United States, announced
the appointment of a committee for "the
formulation and execution of certain
measures looking to the more effective
utilization of psychiatry in the national
defense due to the implicatioris of the
world situation.”
Schizophrenia, generally a malady of
youth which allegedly is on ‘the increase
in both Europe and America, is charac
terized by a splitting of the intelligence
and the emotions to the point where the
two seem to have no relation to each
other.
“We live in a world,” says the pro
nouncement of the foundation of which
Dr. Harry Stack Sullivan, professor of
psychiatry at Georgetown University is
president, “In which the techniques for
power have multiplied enormously. Man,
in his control over the physico-chemical
universe, almost surpasses the omnip
otent phantasies of any seer or prophet
of bygone times. It is one of the traves
ties of the passing epoch that the tech
niques of beauty and goodness have kept
no pace at all with this almost explosive
progress. To the psychiatrists this is the
picture of schizophrenia, but a schizo
phrenia almost inconceivably terrible be
cause it is the grave mental disorder of
an epoch.”
Bcmzopnrema most irequeuuy appeals
in late adolescence or early adult life.
Western culture itself is in the same
"juvenile stage,” the pronouncement
points out. It is the stage of intensive
competition and active struggle for
power—the same phase which in the in
dividual life immediately follows the pre
adolescent years from 9 to 13 which are
filled chiefly with visions of the future,
i In the individual the contrast of the
two stages of life may be one of the fac
tors in establishing the disease. One
manifestation of schizophrenia is with
drawal from contact with the outside
world, full of trouble and unanswerable
problems, into a self-made world of
dreams which becomes the true reality.
Out of this dream state the patient oc
casionally emerges with explosive vio
lence, and schizophrenia victims are likely
to be among the most dangerous of all
the insane, although most of the time
they are oblivious to their surroundings.
This symptom of withdrawal from the
troubles of the world, the psychlatrid
pronouncement stresses, is one to be
avoided if a society would avoid sinking
deeper into the schizophrenic syndrome.
The individual dementia praecox patient,
it says, can keep up his dream world
while he is fed and sheltered in an insane
hospital provided by the tax money of
his saner fellows. The earth provides
no such asylums for schizophrenic
' nations.
| “To cultivate non-participation with
: one’s fellows,” says the pronouncement
1 published in Psychiatry, official organ of
the institute,” is to pave the way to
fantastic analogies of paradise within
some sheltering asylum. Such refuge
from reality is not a homologue of repose.
Its realization is an anti-biologic coun
terpart of death which includes a pass
ively destructive aggression against an
already overburdened society. The citi
zen who would have his state withdraw
from the world is generalizing—project
ing on a universal scale—a passively
destructive impulsion to which he has
come through personal frustrations.”
The pronouncement denies, from the
psychiatric standpoint, the oft-repeated
assertion that by standing entirely aside
from the European war the United States
may become the haven for the culture of
the old world which may be destroyed.
“Greatly as we feel imperiled by the
enormously one-sided accomplishment of
western culture in the realm of power,”
says the pronouncement, “we know that
there are impulses at work in many
people which will liniueiice uie uiieuuon
of the next great epoch. Our disquiet
arises from the possibility that we are
before the end of western culture. To
one who is alive to this threat of the
current world situation, there is no solace
in fantasies about building an asylum for
the culture itself.
“The shadows followed Attila. Yet
there were islands inhabited by peoples
of the Greco-Roman world to which
no Hun voyaged. The Renaissance, how
ever, was not led by descendants of these
untroubled citizens. They and their
culture vanished. Only a tenuous thread
from the main body of western culture
reached through human vessels from its
first heyday to its revitalization.”
Godless Nations Doomed
To Failure, Writer Holds.
To the Kill tor ot The Star:
Many reasons are being put forth for
Russian defeats in Finland. The Os
servatore Romano, official Vatican
organ, Vatican City, in listing its seven
reasons, fails to mention the most im
portant of all, namely, that Stalin,
Russia’s Neronic, dictator, signed an
official decree in 1932 ordering Almighty
God to get out of the Soviet empire,
not any later than May 1, 1937; “and
the very conception ‘God’ will be banish
ed from the boundaries of the Soviet
Union,” the decree is said to read. We
have not heard that he succeeded in
purging the Almighty, but at least he
is not asking His advice or help. On
the other hand, more than three-fourths
of the people of Finland are publicly
Confessed believers in Jesus Christ.
Russia has taken hold of a “red-hot”
wire. Stalin is challenging God through
Christian Finland and consequently his
helpless hordes are destroyed by the
thousands and we realize that “not in
numbers shall be your strength, but in
the power of God.” No nation which
defies, denies or Ignores the King of
Kings can prosper. G. S.
January t.
Jk.
I THIS AND THAT
---- —. , - \
By Charles E. Tracewell.
“BERWYN HEIGHTS, Md.
“Dear Sir:
"A New Year resolution to write a
letter to you is being kept hereby.
“Bird watching is not a new sport with
me, but bird feeding is. I have indulged
in it only since I became a truly rural
resident.
"In August, with the help of my small
grandsons, I established the Manna
House.
“We used a crate, one of those with one
wide and two small panels at the ends
and three-inch slats on sides and bottom.
“We took the slats off the sides and
lapped them over the spaces on the bot
tom ;t braced it across the top and put on
an A roof, which we shingled with pieces
cut from composition shingles.
"Then we painted it dark green and
set it on well-braced two-by-fours under
the big gum tree in the yard.
* * * *
“The feeding tray is about 20 by 24
inches. About 4 feet high. We put an
old 4 by 5 photographic tray in one
corner for water. This isn’t entirely
satisfactory and I shall try the pie tin
on the ground, as you have suggested.
But the feeder does business. And howl
“Not being supplied with other feed,
at first we put out bread crumbs. Our
first visitors were catbirds, a family of
five.
“They came every day and all day for
several weeks and then quite suddenly
were gone.
"They and the jays were our first reg
ular boarders. The Jays are still with us.
Cardinals, too.
“A Jay and a cardinal perched to
gether on the edge of the feeder in this
last snowstorm is a picture to remember.
* * * *
"We had towhees but they are gone.
Robins and other thrushes, too, but not
often in the feeder. I should explain
that the feeder is on the very edge of
our lot and the ones beyond are wooded.
"We scatter feed about the ground as
i well as keep the feeder supplied.
"When the snow came, and I was
anxiously looking the situation over, won
dering where I should put the extra, a
cardinal flew down and peered sugges
tively under the front steps.
"I acted at once. Some snow had
blown into the feeder but I put the
mixed grain and sunflower seed on top
and scattered it not only under the steps
but under a pile of boards and beneath
the big oil tank back of the house. In
a very short time the snow about all these
places was embroidered with bird tracks.
And a very pretty patterp it makes.
* * * *
"I haven't the sort of window sill
feeder I want yet, but the makeshift is
well patronized. Titmice are feeding
there this minute.
“The jays like the fat from the Christ -
j mas goose which I fastened to the oak
i outside the dining room window. Many
| juncos, the titmice, and the white
--
throats feed all day. The cardinals are
most in evidence early and late. There
are others, but not in numbers.
"A word about the phoebes and pewees
and I am finished. I noticed that you
named them as the same. But surely
they are different. The phoebe we used
to find nesting year after year among
the timbers of an unused shed in the
North.
"There is no mistaking its emphatic
call. But although we never found a
pewee’s nest, I believe that they build in
bushes. I have heard their call but
could not be sure that I heard the right
bird. This is according to Reed, whose
book; "Song and Insectivorous Birds East
of the Rockies,” we found most useful
and when the children were small and
getting to know the birds.
“Our book is much worn and I would
like to get a new copy. It is pocket size
and gives note, nest and range. Its
colors are very good. It was published
by Doubleday, Page, in 1915. This in
formation is for the one who asked
about a book. And here I make another
resolution: To ask at book stores if this
book is out of print. I’d like to have
copies for my grandchildren.
“Yours truly, E. P. B.”
* * * *
The confusion as to phoebe and pewee
is more apparent than real.
The bird most of us know as phoebe Is,
indeed, the phoebe, but among its other
common names are the following, each
in use in some part of the country:
Phoebe bird, pewee, bridge pewee,
water pewee, barn pewee.
The pewee known to most of us is,
indeed, the pewee, but more often de
scribed as the wood pewee.
Both the phoebe and the pewee are
flycatchers, the former 7 inches in length,
the latter 6!4 inches. Both birds are
gray above, yellow-white below.
Those who come from certain sections
of our land naturally enough call the
phoebe the pewee, or the bridge pewee,
; or the barn pewee. These names refer
i to its habit of utilizing the structures of
man for nesting sites. ,
Ornithologists And this habit of great
interest. The bird has more or less given
up using natural sites, in order to take
to man-made beams, which are believed
to offer some protection, by scaring away
natural enemies, such as owls. But at
the same time the bird has not seemed
to realize that a nest against pajpt is
very, very conspicuous.
Our correspondent’s idea as to scatter
ing feeding at different points is a good
one.
Birds are not particular where they
find food. The sure thing is that they
will find it, wherever it is sprinkled.
Under shrubs, porches, beneath trees, In
fancy or plain feeding stations, on the
sidewalk, front porch—it makes no
difference where seed and grain are put.
The main thing is to put it out.
I Letters to the Editor
Defends Soviet Russia
Against Press Criticism.
To the Editor of The 8t*r:
I have no hopes that this letter will
change the attitude of the press. I
only write it as an expression of my
very strong disagreement with the re
cent pro-war articles and editorials
which have been appearing in the
columns of what we had previously ac
cepted as being anti-war papers.
The same people and the same news
papers which could rouse little, if any,
indignation over the rape of Ethiopa,
the bombing of Guernica in Spain, the
slaughter in the bull rings of Badajoz
and Seville and many other towns in
Spain, the bombings there of many
acknowledged non-military' objectives;
the invasion of Austria by Germany, Al
bania by Italy, Czecho-Slovakia. Poland,
China and all the various border read
justments that came as a result, seems
to have suddenly gone mad with hys
terical ravings over the Finnish-Soviet
incident.
The press seems to have taken an at
titude that we are at war with the
Soviet Union. “You may have any point
of view you want,” they say, “but if it
isn’t the same as ours you are a
scoundrel, a Bolshevist, an alien, and
probably even an atheist and you should
be investigated by the Dies Committee,
the Department of Justice, and then
thrown out of the country."
We are supposed to believe that the
Municbeers of 1938, the non-interven
tionists in Spain of 1936, and the
"Don’t-Lets-OfTend-Them-Boys from
Geneva” for the past 20 years, and, also,
the “Keep-the-Door-Open-for-Us-Too
Boys” of China have all suddenly be
come the defenders of the faith, the
seekers of the Holy Grail of democ
racy. Only the Soviet Union, which
helped Spanish democracy to defend
itself, which is helping -China today,
which called for collective aption on the
part of the “democracies’"'to stop the
various acts of aggression—only the
Soviet Union, we are told, is killing
democracy.
Now we are getting none too gentle
hints that sympathy and funds for Fin
land are not enough, but that Finland
needs arms and men.
This letter is an explosion against
this hypocrisy. It is not nearly as long
as I would like it to be, but I hope
that it is at least loud enough to be
heard by others and taken up. E. Y.
Insists That Fashion
Is a Dictator.
To the Editor ot The Star:
Now this dictator, Fashion, is usually
spoken of as a dame, but if she is fem
inine, she surely has a strong arm. We
may not shout “Hell Fashion,” but waist
lines and hemlines certainly go up and
down at her decree.
Heads may be'surmounted by a stove
pipe or a pancake (or even “in the bag”)
without the firing of a shot. We suffer
the tortures of the inquisition for curls
and then to counteract their softening
effect, we daub on the war paint and
fare forth with awful-looking claws or
talons.
We spend our good money for clothes
to freeze in when warm clothing would
cost no more and maybe less. Then If
we must get out In the fresh air we hold
our breath and dash from one hot house
to another.
We may not reach pinnacles of fame,
but we must topple around on pinnacle
heels. We must go with our toes out
■cooping up dirt—not from poverty tad
r
Letters to the Editor must
bear the name and address of
the miter, although the use of
a pseudonym for publication is
permissible. Please be brief!
not because Stalin, but Style says we
must.
Drunk with power and not content
with our present miseries, Dame Fashion
goes back into the past and annexes the
pinched waist—oh. me, dare we not
I whisper one complaint! Still unsatisfied,
she demands that our children be pun
ished, too—yes, they, too, must be frozen
and we have nothing to say about it. If
our innocents get sick we call the doctor
and apply anything but warm clothing,
because the dictator says “no.”
If you are dining in a restaurant, you
make a light under your nose and raise
your swastika of smoke to the dictator.
(Plenty of subjects for the comic strip
if the dictator didn’t frown so.) You
may be making another kind of cross
for your fellow diner, for smoke mixed
with his food may be very disagreeable
to him, but that does not matter. There
was a day when courteous gentlemen,
before smoking, asked ladies in their
company if it were objectionable to them.
But under the dictator courtesy is in a
concentration camp.
The cocktail may be a bitter pill 'to
you and you may have seen with your
own eyes where it led some of your
friends. You don’t want to risk your all
like that, but before the voice of caution
is loud enough to be heard, it is scorned
and shares the fate of courtesy.
And so on and on—and we Americans
condemn others for their blind allegiance
to dictators. ESTELLA S. HAINES.
January 2.
States Case (or War and
Navy Department Workers.
To the Editor of The 8t»r:
The adverse ruling of the House Ap
propriations Committee with respect to
increasing the pBy of civil service em
ployes accentuates the many in
equalities found in the civil service.
This is especially so in the War and
Navy Departments, where administra
tive positions are nearly all filled by
Army and Navy officers. Since the
Civil Service Commission permits only
those who act in administrative capaci
ties and who have direct supervision
over others to attain the better pay
grades, the civilians in these depart
ments can only hope for crumbs, or for
an opening on the “outside” or transfer
to a non-military branch of the Govern
ment where civilians have a chance.
The youngster who graduated from
West Point in 1929 now sports a cap
tain’s bars and the first lieutenant of
that year is now a major and the buck
private has at least received three
“fogies” totaling a 15 per cent increase
in pay; he may even be a sergeant. Pay
increases of soldiers and sailors and
their officers are automatic, and in ad
dition, every expansion means that hun
dreds of officers are promoted and the
relative standings of those not promoted
are moved up so they are that much
closer to promotion. Not so with the
civilian employe. Chances are that his
rating is the same as in 1929 with about
the same pay.
Since an officer seldom remains on
one assignment for more than two years,
it is the civilian personnel who keep
the machinery running in the interim,
who break in the new officer, who dis
creetly cause the stuffed shirt to think
such and such were his original ideas,
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 lor reply.
Q. What percentage of the motion
picture theaters in the United States
have double features?—E. K. B.
A. Film Daily says that approximately
60 per cent of operating theaters con
sistently play double features.
Q. When did Jenny Lind first sing in
New York City?—P. W.
A. The first concert in America of the
singer occurred in Castle Garden on
September 11, 1850.
Q. Is it true that the vitamins are
lost when peas are frozen—T. 8. R.
A. Experiments show that the vitamin
loss is less in frozen peas than in fresh
ones harvested one day and delivered the
next.
¥
Q. What has become of Maurice
Chevalier?—G. T. B.
A. The actor is in France where he is
appearing in a revue called “Paris Lon
don” at the Casino de Paris.
Q. Please give the origin of the name
Haprburg.—J. F. 8.
A. The name is a contraction of
Habichtsburg, meaning hawk's castle,
and is taken for a castle built in the
11th century by Werner, Bishop of
Strassburg.
Q What is the legend of Hie hya
cinth?—M. P. B.
A. In Greek mythology the hyacinth
is said to have sprung from the blood of
the beautiful Spartan youth, Hya
cinthus, the friend of Apollo. Zephyrus,
jealous because Hyacinthus favored
Apollo, caused the latter’s quoit to strike
and kill the youth while the two were
at play. Grief-stricken, Apollo caused
a purple flower to spring from the drops
of blood that fell from the brow of Hya
cinthus.
Q. Please give the names of the two
other great elegies which are comparable
to Shelley's “Adonais.”—C. I. F.
A. Milton’s “Lycidas,” written on the
death of his classmate, Edward King,
and Tennyson’s “In Memorian” are the
other two great elegies. Tenhyson com
posed his poem in memory of Arthur
Henry Hallam and it was directly re
sponsible for his appointment as poet
laureate. Queen Victoria declared that
she derived more comfort from it than
from any other book except the Bible.
Q. Should a letter of introduction be
sealed?—W. S. H.
A. Letters of introduction and mes
sages carried by friends should not be
sealed.
Q. What is the box called in which •
person rides on top of an elephant?—
L. P. M.
A. It is known as a howdah.
Q. What is the oldest inhabited city
in the world?—D. Z. N.
A. Damascus in Syria, whose continu
ous existence can be traced for 4,000
years, is believed to be the oldest in
habited city in the world.
Q. What effect has science had on
religion?—G. S.
A. In an article appearing in the cur
rent issue of The Scientific Monthly, Dr.
Karl T. Compton, president of the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
says. “Science has continually forced
men to take an ever-wider and grander
concept of religion by breaking down
artificial barriers of ignorance and
superstition. Its whole tendency has
been to emphasize the fundamentally
spiritual character of religion as repre
senting the highest ideals and aspira
tions of mankind.’’
Q. Are all carillons made abroad?—
M. T. H.
A. American bell foundries have been
making carillons for years and there are
thousands of Installations in this coun
try. There are at least seven bell foun
dries in the United States.
Q. Did Lafcadio Hearn marry a
Japanese?—M. S. B.
A. The writer married a Japanese wife,
became a naturalized Japanese under
the name of Yakumo Koizumi, and
adopted the Buddhist religion.
Q. Where is the largest cotton plan
tation?—M. T. G.
A. It is said to be one at Scott, Miss.,
which consists of 35,000 acres in one unit.
Q. Please give some information about
Col. Ebenezer Zane —R. D. S.
A. Ebenezer Zane, American pioneer,
was born in Berkeley County, Virginia, on
October 7, 1747. Of Danish descent he
made the first permanent settlement on
the Ohio River in 1770, on the site of
the present city of Wheeling, building
there a blockhouse called Port Henry,
whence he repelled several Indian as
saults during the Revolutionary War.
He was a disbursing officer under Lord
Dunmore; held several military and civil
offices, and attained the rank of colonel.
The land where the city of Zanesville,
Ohio, now stands, formed a portion of
his property, and he assisted his brother
Jonathan and John Mclntire in laying
out that town in 1799. The locality was
called by them Westbourn, and the pres
ent name was not adopted until 1802. Ha
died in Wheeling, W. Va., in 1811.
and who write the letters for the brass
hats to edit and sign.
A check will show that the "turnover**
of civilian employes in these depart
ments is enormous. It would be in the
interest of national defense to remedy
this situation and Incidentally to remove
some of the “hang-dog" attitude of
hopelessness which permeates these de
partments.
FORMER WAR DEPARTMENT
EMPLOYE.
January S.
Notes Adherence to
Jackson Tradition.
To the Editor of The 8ter:
One thing which pre-eminently stands
out all the way through the President’s
Jackson Day dinner speech this yea#
was strict adherence to Jacksonian trao
dition which has it that Jackson ones
said, “Never explain anything, it is a sign
of weakness.”
ROBERT KERN WILLIAMS.
January •.