Evening star. [volume], August 10, 1940, 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.
6ATTRDAY.August 10, 1940
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Industry and Defense
Exceedingly disturbing are certain
defense program delays revealed yes
terday to a joint congressional com
mittee by Secretary of War Stimson
and Assistant Secretary of the Navy
Compton. For example, only 33
of 4,000 warplanes for which Con
gress provided funds in June have
been contracted for. A $10,000,000
order for five-inch naval guns has
gone begging. Vital plant expansion
is being delayed in several sectors.
Other discouraging obstacles have
been encountered by the War De
partment and the National Defense
Commission in their efforts to trans
form appropriations into manufac
tured war supplies in the shortest
time possible. Secretary Stimson
exonerated his department, the com
mission and private industry of
blame for this alarming situation.
The fault, he declared, lies in the
profit restrictions which Congress
has imposed on holders of certain
Government contracts, in reluctance
of business to risk large plant out
lays in emergency work which may
end suddenly and leave private
interests holding the bag, in uncer
tainty on the part of private industry
as to the course of pending and
future tax legislation. The airplane
production lag has been due chiefly
to the fears regarding tax levies. Mr.
Stimson said. The naval gun con
tract was refused by six contractors
because of the eight per cent profit
limitation of the Vinson-Trammel
Act. One aircraft company declined
to invest $18,000,000 in a plant
enlargement project because it did
not feel justified in loading itself up
with a long-term amortization pro
gram for what may be a short-term
production period.
Private industry has manifested a
fine degree of co-operation with the
Government in many phases of the
defense program. It has shown wil
lingness to assume every reasonable
and normal risk which a prudent
business policy will permit. But, as
Secretary Stimson and Assistant
Secretary Compton pointed out, the
risks involved in undertaking, with
out special safeguards, certain large
Army and Navy manufacturing proj
ects are extraordinary indeed. Busi
ness, in all fairness, cannot be
expected to assume the whole bur
den of these abnormal risks- The
testimony of Mr. Stimson and Mr.
Compton constitutes an impressive
argument for such measures of relief
for business as are contemplated in
tax legislation now under consider
ation at the Capitol. Provisions
have been inserted in the pending
excess profits tax bill to lift profit
restrictions of the Vinson-Trammel
Act and to permit new defense plant
costs to be deducted from taxable
profits over a five-year period. The
usual amortization period is about
twenty years. Until these and per
haps other steps are taken to assure
business that it will not incur un
reasonable risks of ruinous losses if
it signs up for emergency jobs, the
national defense program is bound
to lag. Congress should lose no time
in giving this assurance to private
industry.
County Welfare Merger
An indication of some of the re
sults which can be expected from
the long discussed and recently ef
fected merger of welfare activities in
Montgomery County is contained
In a report to the county commis
sioners. The former county super
visor of public assistance informed
the commissioners that the consoli
dation of county welfare activities
with functions of the State-main
tained County Welfare Board would
save Montgomery about $11,500 a
year.
Principal saving will be in the cost
of general public assistance. When
administered by the State agency,
the county is required to pay only
half of the amounts expended, which
last year totaled about $15,000. Fur
ther savings will come through the
elimination of the office of super
visor of public assistance, which car
ried a salary of $2,700 a year, and of
a clerk who was paid $900.
The transfer of the welfare activi
ties was made on April 1, so that the
new setup functioned in the last
quarter of the fiscal year. A few
former functions of the supervisor
of county aid will be handled in the
future under the direct supervision
of the county commissioners. These
include the statutory requirements
that the commissioners oversee out
lays for State hospitalization, pauper
burials and commitments to State
institutions.
Under new State laws requiring
that welfare outlays be made by
county groups under State super
vision, the Montgomery County
supervisor of public assistance be
came a superfluous post. Elimina
tion of the office was promised by
both political parties in the last
campaign and by the County Civic
Federation. The change promises
not only to afford a small but wel
come saving to the taxpayer but also
more efficient operation.
A Dubious Procedure
It is difficult to believe that the
Democratic National Committee,
upon mature reflection, will approve
the announcement by Charles
Michelson, publicity chief, that the
1940 Democratic campaign books
will be issued this year despite the
plain intent of the Hatch Act to
ban such pernicious political ac
tivity.
Mr. Michelson, on the dubious
technical ground that the 1940 cam
paign book was established before
the Hatch Act was passed, takes the
remarkable position that the Demo
crats are justified in nullifying the
wholly laudable purpose of Congress
and of the people to outlaw high
pressure money-raising drives of this
sort.
In other words, he proposes to
carry out what undoubtedly would
be a criminal program if instituted
after enactment of the law, his sole
explanation being that this year’s
book “got under the wire,” and that
its issuance is therefore immune to
prosecution. From a technically
legal standpoint that may be correct,
but there is not the slightest doubt
that the Democratic National Com
mittee, if it goes ahead with this
project, will be doing violence to
the spirit of the Hatch Act and its
objective of placing American poli
tics on a higher plane.
If Mr. Michelson is in doubt on
that score, he could do no better
than to consult this administration’s
Attorney General, Robert H. Jackson,
who, on August 5, wrote Senator
Hatch that “I am in sympathy with
every effort to curb the use of money
in politics, and am unwilling to ap
prove any plan which defeats the
spirit of the act.” That language,
although directed to a Republican
undertaking, would seem to be
peculiarly applicable to the cam
paign book project.
In the same letter, Mr. Jackson,
taking up the campaign book issue,
interpreted the Hatch Act to mean
that its penalty provisions apply to
those who “buy books or advertising
space” in them. If the Attorney
General is correct in that analysis,
it would seem that Mr. Michelson
is on very shaky legal ground in con
tending that the books may be pur
chased without violating the statute.
The time interval between the sale
of advertising space, which possibly
excludes that phase of the project
from the scope of the lajv, has the
opposite effect with regard to sale
of the books after passage of the act.
In the light of Mr. Jackson’s in
terpretation, it is reasonable to con
clude that any attempt to sell the
books by the national committee
would invite the commission of a
criminal offense on the part of the
purchasers.
It may be doubted that responsible
members of the Democratic party
will sanction any such procedure.
—■ - -
British Leave Shanghai
The latest result of the Japanese
pressure brought on the English,
whose government feels that it has
occupation enough in conducting the
European war, is the withdrawal of
British soldiers from the Shanghai
International Settlement and North
China, which means Tientsin. As
far as the United States is concerned,
the immediate consequence of this
step is that it leaves American ma
rines as the only International Set
tlement troops under the direction of
a country friendly to the British and
their anti-axis cause. And for the
moment, at least, the axis cause in
Shanghai is the Japanese cause. The
French in their concession in Shang
hai have little to say except reflect
the wish of Germany.
The British Far Eastern policy is
not clear. Philosophically, the policy
apparently is motivated by appease
ment. Last year the British made
concessions to the Japanese in the
row over Tientsin. Last month they
gave in to the Japanese over the
Burma road. Now they seem to
accept the prospect of continued
Japanese control of the Shanghai
area of China by removing their
troops. It is true that both in the
Burma road controversy and in the
present step, the war on the other
side of the earth was offered as the
reason for the British action. But
there are other reasons, according to
the news from London.
An Associated Press dispatch from
London in The Star yesterday states
that the original purpose of keeping
troops in China was “to protect Brit
ish lives and property from banditry
and Chinese violence.” British offi
cials added that with the develop
ment of the Chinese-Japanese war,
“any practical reason for the exist
ence of these troops disappeared”
and that the government had
decided that “so useful a force could
be employed to better advantage
elsewhere.”
The import of these words is that
the British government feels obliged
to accept Japanese management of
the areas which Japan has wrested
from China. There will be no Chinese
banditry in a territory held by the
Japanese. But the opinion of the
United States Government is that
the Japanese in their Chinese un
dertaking have behaved ruthlessly,
if not quite like bandits. The pres
sure of the Japanese government
and the Japanese Army upon west
ern interests in Shanghai is far more ,
weighty than the old problem of
Chinese bandits.
The Shanghai International Set
tlement is & part of the system of
extraterritorial rights in China
which the United States has said it
is willing to relinquish after negotia
tion with a recognized Chinese gov
ernment. The Settlement dates from
1863, when British and American
concessions in Shanghai were joined
to form it. The French have main
tained since 1849 a separate conces
sion largely under the control of the
French Consul General. What the
United States wants today is what
it has wanted since the Settlement’s
birth—the “open door” in China.
What the United States fears from
Japan is a desire to close the open
door. The British withdrawal puts
new obstacles in the way of keeping
the door open.
Art in Wartime
The peril to art in time of con
flict has been recognized for many
centuries. Indeed, there is every
reason to suppose that from the be
ginning of armed strife those pos
sessed of creative genius must have
realized that the values which their
talents called into existence were
endangered by prevailing violence.
The first battle would serve to in
struct the esthetic bystander in the
risk involved for all activity, all en
terprise dependent upon social seren
ity.
Long before Shakespeare’s day it
was agreed that peace is in truth
the “dear nurse of arts, plenties and
joyful births.” But even now, after
so many years, the lesson must be
learned again. Each generation, it
would seem, requires to be taught
the cultural cost of institutional tur
moil. Strangely enough, however, the
modern scientific development of
organized slaughter has not been so
fatal to the fruits of esthetic en
deavor as mighfr'have been expected.
If the belligerent forces have not
consciously tried to spare galleries,
museums, libraries, schools and
churches, there is on the other hand
no evidence that they deliberately
have adopted a policy of destruction
with regard to these sanctuaries.
Commenting upon the ordeal
through which art currently is pass
ing, Francis Henry Taylor, director
of the Metropolitan Museum in New
York, calls attention to the control
which dictators may exercise over
painters and sculptors, architects,
writers, musicians, actors, profes
sional critics—all of whom unhappily
lose their freedom under tyranny.
The creative powers of whole nations
may be enlisted for propaganda pur
poses, with the result that they are
enslaved to politics and to the whims
of politicians.
It should be conceded, of course,
that it is the right of any artist to
plead a cause which may be dear to
his heart. Charles Dickens was a re
former. Had his pen been halted
arbitrarily the world would have been
the poorer for the restriction. He
frankly preached disturbing doc
trines, and it was precisely because
they were disturbing that they were
valuable to society at large. Such
an “agitator” would not be tolerated
in a theoretically perfect totalitarian
state. There is no room for the un
buried spirit of Luther in Germany
today. Nor is there place for Dante
in Italy. The horror of present con
ditions, though, is better to be found
in the banishment of Erasmus from
the Low Countries and Voltaire and
Victor Hugo from France. Even the
gentle soul of Hans Christian Ander
sen is exiled from Denmark in 1940.
Think what this means. Does it
not signify a menace to life itself—
to the survival of the human species
—in the earth which the Greatest
of Artists designed to be beautiful
for His children?
Crime Wave
Usually crime out in the sticks is
of a petty nature, the most common
version of it being chicken theft.
That this is not always true has been
proved in Williamson County, 111.,
which is something of an exception
to the rule. The latest offense there
concerns a resident who had a dock
stolen, creating a puzzler for the
police.
The local constable looked the sit
uation over. Sure enough, the dock
was gone. He scratched his chin
whiskers and wondered what Sher
lock Holmes would have done. It
was a most baffling case. If it had
been a duck, now, instead of a dock,
he would have known what to do.
He had a reliable list of unreliable
citizens who specialized in appropri
ating poultry, but nowhere on it was
the name of any one with that big,
broad outlook so necessary for the
successful dock stealer. There seemed
no clue to the trail of the missing
pier, when, as so offen happens, a
clue developed automatically. An
other citizen frantically reported the
theft of a pet bridge of his, which he
said could be identified if found by
its length, which was sixty feet.
“That cinches it,” said the consta
ble. “The case is as good as solved,
now that we know the criminal’s
tastes. All we have to <io is to set a
watch on the county courthouse and
pick him up in a day or two when he
tries to move it.”
The same issues of local news
papers that carried stories about a
new drive by Prince Georges County
against gamblers told of how the
authorities of that district had with
facility disposed of 660,000 Japanese
beetles. If hoodlums were only as
vulnerable as bugs—and there are
some who contend that they are!
Toluene, an ingredient of the ex
plosive T. N. T., is now being made
from petroleum. A new boom in the
oil industry is to be expected.
i j i
Of Stars, Men
And Atoms
t
i Notebook of Science Progress
In Field, Laboratory
And Study
By Thomas R. Henry.
How a footnote in a typewritten col
lege thesis by a young Catholic scholastic
nearly 35 years ago led to the prepara
tion a few years later of the most deadly
of all war gases was revealed at the
Catholic University of America here to
day following the death in Massachu
setts Sunday of Dr. James F. Norris,
credited with a leading role in the dis
covery of lewisite.
Back in 1907 Julius Neuwland, working
for a doctor of philosophy degree in the
university laboratory, made a combina
tion of acetylene and arsenic terchloride.
He wTas studying the reactions of the
colorless gas acetylene with all sorts of
substances. His interests were purely
academic. Years later his basic experi
ments led to the first synthetic rubber
made in the world and are of funda
mental importance in freeing the United
States from dependence on natural rub
ber from the East Indies in the present
world situation.
The combination with arsenic ter
chloride was only one of scores which he
made. The young priest got a whiff of
the resulting gas. While it was not
enough to knock him out, it was enough
to convince him that the material was
dangerous and—1907 being a time of pro
found *peace the earth over and Father
Neuwland being a man of peace, who
never had dreamed of devising means to
kill his fellowmen—of no possible prac
tical importance. In his thesis, duly filed
in the university archives, he described
all of his acetylene experiments, but
apparently forgot all about this one until
it was too late to incorporate it in the
main body of the paper.
Aftpr virjtr Vnc orvon
Father Neuwland left Catholic Univer
sity, eventually became professor of
chemistry at Notre Dame, won world
wide acclaim for his synthetic rubber,
and finally dropped dead about five years
ago while on a visit to the same Wash
ington laboratory in which he accident
ly had hit upon the deadly gas. By 1918,
deep in other researches, he had com
pletely forgotten the experiment which
had caused him such an unpleasant few
moments years before.
After America entered the war a unit
of the Chemical Warfare Service, com
posed for the most part of enlisted men
who had had graduate training in chem
istry, was established at Catholic Uni
versity. The captain was Dr. W. Lee
Lewis. The job of the unit was to inves
tigate new forms of toxic gases, numer
ous suggestions for which were being
received by the War Department. Few
of the proposed gases were found to
have much merit.
Then Rev. Father Griffin, professor of
chemistry at the university, under whom
Dr. Neuwland had done his graduate
work and who had been chairman of the
committee of chemists that passed on
his thesis, happened to recall the foot
note. The old thesis was resurrected
from the college archives and Capt.
Lewis assigned his men to work on the
problem. It was soon apparent that this
combination—known chemically as beta
chloro-vinyl - di - chloro - arsene—was a
more deadly gas than any which had
been used in the war. It consisted of a
combination of a single molecule of
acetylene and a single molecule of ar
senic terchloride. The two substances
were mixed in various other proportions
and there are now several forms of
lewisite, each valuable for certain pur
poses. None, however, is quite so potent
a killer as the original material described
by Father Neuwland.
The name of the captain in charge of
the unit, to whom was due the major
credit for its development, was given
the new gas. Father Neuwland claimed
no credit whatsoever, since he had
sensed no possibilities in the material
he had found. A gentle, cloistered man.
former associates say, he probably would
actually have resented his name being
attached to any deadly weapon.
The results at Catholic University were
considered a military secret, but they
were communicated freely to the French
and British chemical warfare services.
In England there was considerable ex
perimental work and there the gas actu
ally was described publicly for the first
time. This has led to the mistaken im
pression that it was a British discovery.
About 50 pounds of lewisite were man
ufactured at the Washington college, in
order to determine the most practical
means of producing it. Then a fac
tory capable of making the material in
tons was set up in the Midwest. With
the sudden ending of the war all which
had been manufactured was destroyed.
Lewisite has no peacetime uses and is
dangerous to leave in storage. It is a
heavy gas, adapted for use in attacks on
cities. There is no longer, of course,
anything secret about it—unless im
provements have been made of which
there has been no announcement. The
basic formula was revealed to the world
when the first World War ended.
Suggests Traffic Flan
To Avoid Tunnels.
To the Editor of The Star:
Having just completed a motor trip
to Omaha, returning by way of Chicago,
Detroit and Pittsburgh, I noticed that
these great cities, congested by their
industries of all kinds, do not allow the
boulevards of their restricted residential
districts to be destroyed or marred by
trucks or buses. In Washington, how
ever, such ponderous vehicles clog Mas
sachusetts avenue, one of the handsom
est streets in the world.
Why not have arterial roads meet at
an appropriate place north of Washing
ton between Rockville and Silver Spring?
Here traffic from the west and the
north and the east could join like the
shafts of familiar ice tongs, then divide,
one highway of four lanes running east
of the Union Station and the other fol
lowing Wisconsin avenue through
Georgetown to a parking depot near the
old Navy Hospital. The east road
would serve Annapolis, the Navy. Yard,
Capitol, Supreme Court, Library of Con
gress, House and Senate Office Build
ings, etc., while the west would take care
of people going to the airport; Alexan
dria, Mount Vernon, the cherry blossom
display in season and points south.
My suggestion would relieve conges
tion in the morning and late afternoon
and spare our wide avenues and streets
for normal traffic without the horror and
expense of bottle-neck tunnels.
August 7. STELLA H. STAPLETON.
THIS AND THAT
By Charles E. Traceioell.
How grateful on the face are the cool
winds of that first morning after a hot
spell!
Then it seems as if a great care has
been lifted from the mind as well as a
fever from the skin.
An American wants to get out the car
and go somewhere. As the thermometer
shows 60 degrees, instead of 80, to begin
the day, he instinctively feels that this
would be the very day to go places.
If he does not, however, but plods his
way down to office as usual, nevertheless
he has a different outlook on life, all
because the temperature of his skin is
less. '
The elation of his epidermis translates
itself into better thoughts in his head,
and these tranquilize his whole being
No more salt tablets, no more succes
sion of baths, no more fussing and fum
ing %t the heat and the world in gen
eral.
He begins to wonder about those salt
tablets. Who said they were good for
you, in a hot spell, and are they, really?
Maybe they might be a good thing for
a man at a furnace, or digging in the
street, but most persons neither operate
blast furnaces nor dig in the streets.
Science, however, says salt is good, and
so we all obediently begin to take it,
whether we notice ourselves any cooler or
not. Probably it is Just one of these
things we take for granted in our amaz
ing and disconcerting modern world.
* * * *
There is nothing particularly modern
about this fine, cool morning after the
succession of hot mornings.
It is as old as America. The Indians
knew it, and the Mound Builders be
fore them.
And soon now we will have Indian
summer, sure enough, that tranquil spell
of weather, sometimes quite hot, which
succeeds the first chill of autumn. Some
thing about this cool summer morning
which reminds one of fall.
There is one version of how the term, |
"Indian summer," came into being, j
which is not altogether complimentary j
to the Indians.
It says that the Indians were rather
lazy’, after all, not in the least the ener
getic fellows Cooper painted them. But
they were lazy with a difference.
When it was hot, they grew wide awake
and went on the warpath. Then the j
settlers could watch out.
When it became cold, they grew torpid j
and were content to huddle over the j
fires.
Maybe that wasn't such an unusual
reaction, after all. Most of us can sym
pathize with the Indians.
But the settlers, in their little log '
houses, came in time to realize w’hat
the placid spell of warmth meant.
It permitted the Indians to thaw out
so quickly and completely that they be
came murderous, and were likely to raid
the cabins. ,
Indian summer, then, to the early set- j
tiers of the Middle West, became a thing
not of beauty and placid existence, but
above all a time to be careful, to watch
out for suddenly organized and executed
raids.
* * * *
Victor Herbert felt the spell of the
time, when he penned his “Indian Sum
mer” rhapsody.
It is a curious thing that the purveyors
of swing music, so-called, were so long
finding this piece of music and translat
ing it into terms of modern popular
musical America.
Those of us who have loved the music
of Herbert for many years will be just a
bit peeved that the smart boys over
looked this one so long, and we woll not
be completely satisfied until they bring
out “A1 Fresco” and many others in*
“swing arrangements." Far from be
lieving that such a “jazzing up” harms
good music, we feel that it translates it
into the only sort of musical terms which
thousands of young people understand.
In time, after they have heard these
wonderful melodies in this manner, they
will go back to hearing them as the com
posers wrote them. Then an even great
er measure of delight will be theirs.
Somehow, on such a cool morning, the
mind turns brightly back to the old days
of the light opera and musical come
dies. In those days, unless our recollec
tion plays us false, there were no long
hot spells, making the face feel as if one
had a fever all the time.
Come to think of it, what happens
when the temperature of the air gets
up to 100 degrees is that there is, actu
ally. a fever temperature on the face.
The inner temperature will be 98.6,
or normal, as we say, but the outside
temperature will be 100 degrees, a fever
in any medical language.
» * * *
What happens, we suppose, in hot
xveather, to make us feel so “poorly,” is
that the humidity and the temperature,
combined, minus a breeze, permit the
skin to assume the inner temperature of
the body. And this is something this
integument does not do placidly. It
sends up protests to the mind and it is !
this which makes one fuss and fume.
The lack of a breeze—"The Breeze
and I,” as the song says—is what really
makes, the skin hot, and so uncomfort
able.
Just a bit of a breeze, a tiny one,
surely, would save the skin from its
tantrums.
But in hot wreather, city weather,
there is no breeze. At the shore, and
in the mountains, where there is a ;
breeze, there seldom is a spell of weather j
in which the skin gets really hot.
It is the skin which bears the brunt of
the heat, and which helps us to bear it
at the same time. Not enough praise is
given the human skin, we are convinced
of that. It is not just a glove we wear,
as some seem to think, but a wonderful
organ, which must stand all the mosquito
bites and the heat and the sweat and oil,
and at the same time keep us from
having fever within.
Letters to the Editor
Wider Age Limits
Urged for Draft.
To the Editor of The Star:
This is the time for every American
citizen to wire his Representatives and
Senators and insist on the immediate j
passage of the Burke-Wadsworth bill, in
its original form, applying its provisions j
to all men between the ages of 18 and 64.
I am 60 years old, but I am physically
fit. able and willing to do my part in any
crisis that may face this country. Men
of my age, and those between 35 and 60, !
are more directly and indirectly re
sponsible for the conditions that exist in
the world today than the men between
the ages ot 18 and 31. We also have
greater obligations to this Government
because we have enjoyed its free insti
tutions for a longer period than they.
We are not worth a “tinker’s damn" if
we permit ourselves to be excluded from
this draft for service. It is cowardly for
Congress to include only such ages of
men as are not found on its roster.
These fellows between 18 and 31 will not
be found in Congress. We will have to
look for them either in schools and col
leges, or out somewhere trying to start
life in a world that we have messed up.
Of course, they will have to be included,
for they will have to fight harder, and
fight more dangerously (if fighting is
needed), because of the part we have
played in shaping the world as they have
found it.
Yes, it will cost a lot of money to reg
ister the man power of the United
States from 18 to 64, inclusive, but the
numerical strength of the Nation, as
reflected by that registration, will pub
lish to the world a fact far more val
uable for national defense than the
same amount spent in building a fleet
of battleships. This registered man
strength of the Nation will cause the
South American countries to have more
faith in us; it will carry to the bandit
nations of Europe a rightful fear of us,
and 1t will give to this Nation an inter
ested cohesiveness of man power needed
to stamp out the mutterings of these off
color groups who would have us appear
weak and cowardly in this time of stress.
Let the Lindberghs, the Lewises, the
Greens and all others of their kind
clamor to Congress in the name of
groups made up largely of non-American
stock, but also let Congress hear the
voice of Americans who are not afraid,
and who love these institutions with an
inherited love that cannot be destroyed.
August 7. GEORGE B. DAVIS.
Severance of Relations
With Aggressors Urged.
To the Editor of The Star:
The aerial invasion of England must
be achieved in a month, or never. By
that time the British Isles will be im
mune to conquest from the air, pro
vided that the co-operative neutrality
of the United States Is unstinted.
Defeat of the plan to subjugate Eng
land by airplanes might not, however, ex
haust Germany's resources of depreda
tion. While a naval assault, reduction
by hyper-artillery, thrust, and a Zeppelin
armada are excluded from the probabili
ties, among the possibilities are devices
as bizarre as they might be practical.
The supreme danger to England and
to civilization in the German threat,
the dire prospect of a militarized world
dominated by despotic governments
professedly hostile to the rights of man
as defined in the English Bill of Rights
and In the Constitution of the United
Letters to the Editor must
bear the name and address of
the writer, although the use of
a pseudonym tor publication is
permissible. The Star reserves
the right to edit all letters with
a view to condensation.
States, compels men of vision and of
serious thought to marvel if America’s
neutrality is moral.
To be neutral in thought in this
universal conflict and crisis is not pos
sible for any American. Our Nation
seems to be baffled: to assist the British
Commonwealth is, to go to war is not,
desired.
The Nation can extricate itself from
this situation by the performance of a
simple act, and by that act save England
and the world.
By their acts of lawlessness, Ger
many and Italy deny to the Americas
and to the w-orld the right of inter
national eminent domain in Europe;
they constitute themselves by their
predatory war a universal nuisance that
the guardians and trustees of civiliza
tion ought, in fulfillment of their duty, to
abate; and, by their pronouncements,
they purpose to establish force as the
supreme arbiter in the earth, and by
the humiliating defeat and subjection
of the nations governed by the people,
to erect despotisms that must in their
nature challenge, meditate the defeat
of, the United States Constitution.
For these reasons, among a host, the
United States would be justified in end
ing its diplomatic relations wdth the
German and Italian governments and
in proclaiming to the world that those
governments forfeit their place in the
society of nations and civilization.
Such a proclamation would dissolve
the complete fabric of neutrality, and
no act of this Government could be
called unneutral, for the reason that
Germany and Italy would possess no
legal standing with us: their govern
ments would be deemed outlaws, and
their forces pirates.
Such a decision by our Government,
while not engaging the United States
in the European war, would make pos
sible the fulfillment by America of our
duty to the free nations of the earth
and to civilization by employing a naval
force to release the British naval
vessels from convoy service so that
they could devote their energies to the
defeat of their and the world's enemies.
Inaction by the United States is equal
to an army fighting for the complete
dissolution of law; action by the United
States would spell defeat of the lex
talionis by justice and freedom.
June 25. EDWARD CONN.
Pleads for Wisdom
Of George Washington.
To the Editor of The Star:
Just a few lines on the war situation
as seen here in the deep South. None
of us wants war; our prayers are against
it. But what are our wants and prayers
against the will of such tyrants as Hit
ler, Mussolini or Stalin? We have seen
them destroy civilization after civiliza
tion. They are at our back door now.
We must and will help England to save
herself and ourselves. Give us the wis
dom of a George Washington and the
strength of his little army at Valley
Forge that we may save ourselves and
Christianity!
St. Martinville, La. E. A. DAVIS.
August 5.
Haskin's Answers
To Questions
By Frederic J. HasJcin.
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. How many homes have been fore
closed and sold by the Home Owners’
Loan?—M. M. M.
A. About 165,000 homes have been fore
closed by the Home Owners’ Loan Corp.,
of which 100,000 have been resold.
Q. What is the price of beer in Eng
land since the war?—J. H. M.
A. Taxes have recently raised the cost
from 13 cents to 15 cents a pint.
Q. Please give a brief history of the
hymn, “Lead, Kindly Light.”—A. O.
A. The words were written in 1833 by
the Rev. John Henry Newman while he
was on a ship becalmed In the Straits of
Bonifacio. At this time he was in ill
health and it was a period of great
mental distress. The music was com
posed by John P. Dykes as he walked
through the Strand in London, a cir
cumstance in striking contrast to that
under which the words were written.
Q. What is a tumblebug?—A. S.
A. The tumblebug is a familiar Amer
ican example of the group of beetles
known as the dung beetles, because of
their characteristic habit of laying their
eggs in balls of dung, which they roll to
their burrows. The most famous beetle
of this group is the Egyptian sacred
scarab, which was regarded by the an
cient Egyptians as a symbol of the sun
god.
Q. I would like to know the size of
England in some statement that is more
understandable than to say how many
square miles it contains.—O. N. H.
A. Trevelyan’s "History of England”
says there is no spot in the tight little
island that is more than 70 miles distant
from salt water. It is a little smaller
than Oregon.
Q. What is a Wardian case?—I. C. M.
A. It is a portable case with glass top
and sides and metal or earthen base,
for moisture-loving plants. It was named
for its inventor, the English botanist,
Nathaniel B. Ward (1791-1868).
Q. How many States impose cigarette
taxes?—H. F. M.
A. The Federation of Tax Administra
tors says that only four States have taxes
on packages of cigarettes. These are
Alabama, Arizona, Kansas and Okla
j homa. In Arizona and Kansas the tax
i is on per 20 cigarettes, which is the size
: of the ordinary package. Twenty-two
j more States have cigarette taxes, which
are imposed in various ways.
Q. Who said: "Never swap horses in
the middle of a stream"?—M. N.
A. The expression is attributed to W.
O. Stoddard, who in turn attributed it
to an ancient legend. The lines are
quoted as follows: “I am reminded in
this connection of an old Dutch farmer
who remarked that it was not best to
swap horses while crossing streams.”
Q. Is there any dust in a London fog?
—F. C. K.
A. In the average pea soup fog there
are approximately 819,358 dust particles
per cubic inch.
Q. What is Irish moss?—P. A. R.
A. Carrageen is a dark purple, branch
ing, cartilaginous seaweed found on the
coasts of Northern Europe and North
America. When dried and bleached, it
forms the Irish moss of commerce used
in making jellies, blancmange and as a
demulcent in pharmacy. It is pulled
from the rocks by an iron rake, by men
in boats, taken to the shore and spread
out to bleach.
Q. How long does it take to make a
Ford?—B. S.
A. In 1939 it required approximately
198.5 labor hours.
Q. How long has Sidney Hillman been
head of the Amalgamated Clothing
Workers of America?—S. J. J.
A. Mr. Hillman has been president of
the organization since its founding in
1914.
The Agency
Of the People
The Information Bureau provided by
The Evening Star is for the accommoda
tion of the public. There is no charge
except return postage on letters or a
small cost price on booklets. From
morning until night it answers questions
of fact. Use it.
Everyday Science Answers
Answers to hundreds of questions
about the stars, weather, animals, plants,
natural features of the earth, in simpli
fied language. Young or old, you will
find this 48-page booklet fascinating.
There is a real satisfaction in knowing
the how and why of so many ordinary
things. To secure your copy inclose 10
cents in coin, wrapped in this clipping.
— — — • — — — — » — — — • —• - ——«
Name
Street
City
State
Summer
She moves content upon the teeming
lands,
Heavy with spring’s bright promise:
Where rows of tassellng com wave
sibilant hands,
And honey bees are clamorous;
Here where the rippling wheat fields’
golden tide
Awaits the noisy reaper,
Down where the eurving meadow, cool
and wide,
Spills crimson trumpet creeper.
She climbs the slope where fruited
apple boughs
Trail in the clover’s blowing.
Where tall barns wait their load with
empty mows,
And fields are sweet with mowing.
But though serene she walks the hlll’a
green crest.
Feeds nesting thrush and plover,
Fling Autumn’s gaudy cloak on her
deep breast,
She turns a Gypsy rover.
IVY LINDSLET.
A