Evening Star editorial page, July 25, 1936 (Landon acceptance)

THE EVENING STAR With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON. D. C. SATURDAY.July 25, 1»36 THEODORE W. NOYES......Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company. Business Office: 11th St and Pennsylvania Ave. New York Office: 110 East 42nd St Chicago Office: Lake Michigan Building. European Office' 14 Resent 8t London England. Rate by Carrier Within the City. Regular Edition The Evening Star _4Be ner month The Evening and Sunday 8tar iwhen 4 Sundays)_-_....BOO Per month The Evening and Sunday Star <when S Sundays)__85c per month The Sunday Star____--5c per copy Nlrht Final Edition. Night Final and Sunday Star--70c per month Night Final Star_55c per month Collection made at the end of each month. Orders may be sent by mail or telephone Na tional 6000 Rate by Mail--Payable In Advance. Maryland and Vlrdnla. Dally and Sundav„_l yr $10.00; 1 mo.. 85e Daily only_1 yr- Sfi.OO; 1 mo.. 50c Sunday only_-_1 yr- $4 00: 1 mo.. 40c All Other States and Canada. Dally and Sunday.-1 Tr.. $12.00: 1 mo. $1.00 Daily only_1 yr $8.00: 1 mo.. 75c Sunday only_-1 vr.. $5 00' 1 mo. 60c Member of the Associated Pres*. .The Associated Press ts exclusively entitled to the use for republlcatlon of all news dispatches Credited to it or not otherwise credited In this paper and also the local new* nubllshed herein All rights of publication of tpeclal dispatches herein are also reserved. Pant Ion on Foreign Policy. Presumably, as in the case of other fundamental issues, Governor Landon Will seize later campaign occasions to amplify his views regarding the United States' foreign relations. His acceptance speech, like the party platform, deals only briefly with international affairs. The nominee contents himself with a terse recital of the Republican record in "the advancement of justice and peace" Without indicating any future program along those lines. It was understood at Cleveland that Senator Borah's influ ence was responsible for giving the for eign affairs plank an essentially na tionalist or isolationist hue. The Idahoan Will not discover anything in the Topeka address that runs counter to his-con ception of what the United States should do--or not do--to ameliorate conditions In the sadly disordered world beyond our shores. ^utjui-ouuiiaun uuo atutuuc v>i aiwi* Hess faithfully reflects the present tem per of the American people. It does not differ in any vital respect from the position assumed by the Democrats. The political heirs of Woodrow Wilson, even in advocating the re-election of a dis tinguished member of the World War President s administration--studiously refrain from proposing adhesion to the League of Nations or its adjunct, the World Court. Both parties obviously have come to the conclusion that it is the preponderant determination of the country at this juncture to attend strictly to its own knitting and concen trate on the solution of its many and Still grave domestic problems. Governor Landon nevertheless does well to recount tersely the consistent efforts made by the United States not only under the Republican initiatives he cites--efforts continued under subse quent Democratic supervision--to strengthen the world's peace and eco nomic structure. It is a record of which the American people have no need to be ashamed. The Governor recalls how Republican Presidents sent delegates to The Hague conferences and how one of them, Theodore Roosevelt, took the lead in terminating the Russo-Japanese War. He refers to President Harding's con vening of the Washington Conference for reduction and limitation of naval armaments and to President Coolidge's leadership in securing adoption of the Kellogg pact outlawing war. In pur suance of the policy typified by these successive activities. Governor Landon pledges the United States' readiness to "take every opportunity to promote among the nations a peace based upon justice and human rights." He enun ciates forthright American doctrine in Insisting that this country will join in no plan that would sap its "independence of judgment" or commit it to any proj ect that might embroil us in a war, in the starting of which we had no part. Furthermore, the Kansan emphasizes America's mistrust of "a false peace built on the foundation of armed camps"-- his way of saying that the United States does not look upon excessive armaments as a guarantee of a warless world. Common sense, the hallmark of the Landon candidacy, finds characteristic expression in the Governor's plain 6poken definition of American foreign policy. Civil service examinations for post masters should relieve unemployment among college professors who have not made the grade in the contest for brain trusteeships. One of the most pathetic sequels of a kidnaping incident is an effort to utilize the notorieties it may necessarily involve for the purposes of small politics. Youth and Crime. An important factor in the fight against crime in the United States is the collection and study of statistics relative to lawbreaking. In the establishment of the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the Department of Justice a long step toward such a study was taken and results are now appearing, in terms of a fuller knowledge of the conditions which make for criminal enterprise. In a recent report of the work of the bureau statistics are presented relating to the ages of criminals. It is ascertained that of every 100 persons arrested in the United States during the first six months of this current year, 18 were under 21 years of age, this fact having been de termined by the examination of 219,868 arrest records of those whose fingerprints were forwarded to the bureau by State pnd municipal law enforcement agencies throughout the Nation. The records also Indicate that during the past four years, until the last half of 1935, arrests of individuals 19 years of age outnumbered those of any other single age group, but during the last half of 1935 there was a shift in the majority of individuals arrested to the ages 21, 22 and 23 years. This shift raises the question whether A the 19-year group continued Its crim inal tendencies and became second of fenders, or denotes an improvement of economic factors lessening the temptation of the younger group to engage in crim inal practices. The trend ij being studied to ascertain its significance and to deter mine whether it is of temporary or per manent character. One fact is significant. During the first six months of this current year about one-sixth of the persons arrested in the United States had a pre-majority arrest record. Approximately 35 per cent of all persons arrested were .less than 25 years of age. Evidently the training of American youth is at fault. What are the factors of this failure? Lack of proper educa tion? Lack Of proper home training? The negligencejof parents, the evil influr ence of environment or the pernicious suggestiyeness of amusements? It is not the function of the Federal Bureau of Investigation to probe into these causes or to seek remedies for this lamentable condition. Its job is to conduct the sta tistical research and to take a hand in the pursuit and capture of those who violate the Federal laws. But its revela tions, through its studies of the crime figures and facts, are of value to the disciplinary agencies of the States, the educational authorities and the' indi vidual parents, upon whom, in the final analysis, rests the responsibility for the proper care and training of the younger generation. Good Omen. Announcement by the United States Steel Corporation of a uniform plan for overtime compensation for labor in ex cess of eight hours a day or forty-eight hours a week will doubtless derive much of its significance from the activities of the Committee for Industrial Organiza tion. The steel corporation announce ment lets it be known that adoption of the plan follows conclusion of con ferences with employes under the col lective bargaining system which has been in effect in the steel industry for many years. It is this system that the C. I. O. would displace. Certainly the steel corporation's pres ervation of its collective bargaining sys tem will not be damaged by a plan which holds out the promise of higher wages and uniform working hours for its employes. But it is to be doubted that the proposed unionization drive under the C. I. O. had a great deal to do with the overtime wage announce ment. limb jjiau wao 111 cimtb uui 111^ Lite boom days of the war, being dropped in 1921. During the war it resulted in material wage increases for employes. No such immediate prospect is seen now. While the average work week in the steel industry has risen from the low point of thirty hours during the de pression to slightly above forty, under the present impetus of reviving busi ness, there is still lacking the demand that will shove the average work week above forty-eight hours, when time and a half pay becomes effective. Steel is now employing almost half a million men --the greatest number on record. But production, while showing rather con sistent increases, is but seventy per cent of capacity. The steel industry is doubtless antici pating the day when continued de mand, under business revival, will put labor at a premium, or, as Governor Landon said in his Topeka address, when "the problem will not be to find work for the workers, but where to find workers for the work." Since 1879. ac cording to the American Iron and Steel Institute, employment in the steel indus try has increased at the rate of 3.1 per cent per year, as compared with an average annual rate of 2.7 per cent in other industries. The overtime policy just announced, then, is a good omen in more than one respect. The steel indus try is getting ready for business. There are times when a landscape Is most agreeably shown in etching tones by fog. There will never be any comfort, however, for a farmer in viewing the scenery through a duststorm.

Iberian Melange. The progeny of Tubal, fifth of the sons of Japhet; the Phoenicians, voyag ing from Tyre; the Carthaginians, led by Hamilcar, Hannibal and Hasdrubal, uselessly challenging the might of Rome; Pompey, Caesar and Augustus, followed by the Vandals, the Visigoths and the Saracens; the Emirs at Cordova and Pelayo in Asturias and Leon; Charles Martel at Tours, turning back the Ori ental tide in 733; the invasion of Charle magne; Roland at Roncesvalles, calling in vain for the aid of his master. Castile and Aragon, new stars among the nations; Henry of Besancon in Por tugal, driving out the infidels; the Cid Rodrigo and his exploits valorous; Moors, from Africa, displacing Saracens in the struggle against the Christians; five hundred years of racial war until Ferdinand and Isabella occupied Gran ada in 1492. Meanwhile, the blood-red shadow of the Inquisition and the expulsion of the Jews: then Columbus discovering the Western Hemisphere "by accident"; the House of Austria, Charles V and Cardi nal Ximenes; Philip n, the conflict with Prance, victory at St. Quentin, persecution of the Protestants, the building of the Escurlal, Morisco revolts, the naval triumph over the Turks at Lepanto, the loss of the Netherlands to William of Orange, and, in 1588, the destruction of the Armada, unwisely sent against England and Elizabeth. The Bourbons succeeding to the throne at the close of the eighteenth century, Gibraltar taken by the British, Cardi nal Alberoni's reforms, the conquest of Naples, Trafalgar and the invasion of Napoleon, Joseph Bonaparte as king, Sir John Moore at Corunna and Wellington at Puentes de Onoro, Ferdinand VII re stored, Riego's revolution, the Carlist troubles. Queen Christina and Godoy, General Prim and Isabella II, ten dec ades of civil strife, gradual colonial de cline, ending in surrender of Cuba and the Philippines to the United States, ■'l the futile endeavors of Alfonso XIII to rule a people, temperamentally turbu lent. Also, the happier record of Cervantes, creator of "Don Quixote"; the painters Velasques and Ooya, not to forget El Greco; George Borrow and his travels with the Bible; the latter-day novelists, including Plo Baroja; the composer, Granados, untimely dead. But who shall summarize in a single word the meaning of Spain in the an nals of the human race? Romance and color, ardent love of beauty, jnusic and laughter, chivalry--these are the obvious synonyms for the Iberian contribution to the story of mankind. Of course, there are shadows, too--Cortez and Pizarro among them. The net influence, however,'is a plus value. Por example, a tourist on^a mountain road near Albu querque meets a Mexican of Indian descent with a donkey laden with wood for a kitchen Are. Off comes the laborer's hat. "Buenas dias, senor!" he says and bows. Some unremembered grandee of long ago taught his ancestors the grace, the charm and the noble gentleness of that salutation. On his trip to this country the affable Dane wh6 wed Ruth Bryan Owen is de scribed by keen sartorial observers as having worn a raspberry-colored shirt. There are so many black shirts and even red shirts mingled in the political color scheme that fashion might welcome the raspberry shirt a® significant of a pleas ant state of mind. By wearing a white linen auit, Gov ernor Landon smashes the tradition requiring a silk hat and a Prince Albert coat for a statesman, regardless of the climate. A great deal might be learned from a press conference that would eliminate formal restraint and allow the reporters to do all the talking. Even history has its professional rival ries. There is a tendency to take the spotlight away from Thomas Jefferson and give it to Patrick Henry. Civilization is progressing, but no civilization has been able to introduce rioting as a systematic feature of re sponsible government. Shooting Stars. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Gilbertlan G-Men. "I hold that on the seas The expression, 'if you please,* A particularly gentlemanly tone im plants-" "And so do his sisters and his cousins and his aunts." --H. M. S. Pinafore. If a G-man has to shoot In a Dillinger's pursuit, He should scrupulously heed the social fol-de-rols And bow to the Pollies and the Dollies and the Molls. When some dueling is due He should murmur. "After you!* And be laid to rest, with some flowers on his chest, Sent around by the Pollies and the Dollies and the rest. Plunking Out the Bad News, "It's marvelous what you can do with machinery," said the inventor. "Look at an adding machine!" "I don't like to," said Senator Sor ghum. "It's all right when you can keep feeding your favorite figures into it. but it s poor company when your calculations have been thrown into reverse." Instruments of Terror. A brave man does not fear a gun Or motor cars that madly run. Yet there's one mechanistic toy That leaves his life bereft of joy. When skies above are blue and hot And earth's a superheated spot, If fear in some brave man you'd atir Just show him a thermometer. Man and His Apparel. "Do you envy the great financiers of the world?" "Sometimes," said Parmer Comtossel, "but we've got our clothes mixed." "What have clothes to do with the subject?" "It's just as hard for a man in a high hat and patent leather shoes to run a farm as it is for one In overalls and top boots to run a bank." "Generosity," said Hi Ho, the sage of Chinatown, "is a noble sentiment. Yet when it bestows on some people benefits of which others are deprived it may be blamed and called injustice." Jewelry. We cannot soothe all discontent That hurts us nearly every day, By an appeal to sentiment Placed delicately on display. We know when some misfortune frets The soul, where hope is almost gone, "Kind hearts are more than coronets"-- But are not worth so much in pawn. "One of de arguments dat can't give any satisfaction," said Uncle Eben, "was carried on in a hospital ward by two drunks dat smashed each other up in a motor collision."

A Tip to "Cusaers." Prom the Kalamazoo Gazette. While you are cussing out the Gov ernment as the worst In the world, re member there are half a dozen nations in Europe that would slap you in Jail for just doing that Both in the Bag. ftoo the Cbarleaton (W. Ya.) Daily Mail. There are two bags, and according to Mr. Hamilton and Mr. Farley the elec tion is In both of them. Prophets. Prom tha Miami Daily New*. A good many Republicans would feel more comfortable if they could only get the fight experts to pick Roosevelt. <a X Jefferson as Agitator And as Administrator To the editor o( The Star: Glamorous romanticists can weave a spell of enchantment around the acqui sition of Louisiana by the United 8tates during the administration of Thomas Jefferson. But contemporary history gives it quite a different setting when the reason Is known. Inhabitants of the Northwest Terri tory (ancestors, probably, of the so-called modern "economic royalists") were'uslng the Mississippi River as a commercial convenience. The outlet was through the Port of New Orleans. The 8panlsh commandant threatened to close the port to American shipping: Then the militant ancestral commercial element threatened to seize the port if he did. The news naturally spread to Wash ington. It created a serious problem for President Thomas Jefferson. He was forced to act and act quickly. Starting to negotiate with 8paln for continued use by Americans of the com mercial outlet through New Orleans, he found that 8paln secretly had retroceded Louisiana to Prance. Being a matter of commerce with for eign nations or among the States, it could be settled best If Louisiana became American territory. Jefferson learned that Prance needed money for war pur poses and was willing -to sell Louisiana for a moderate price. To avert inter national complications and threatened hostilities, this commercial uprising was quelled by purchase of Louisiana by the United States. The temporary government for part of It--the Territory of Orleans--was formed by President Jefferson appoint ing the Governor, secretary. Legislative Council of thirteen residents holding real estate therein, judges, district attorney, marshal and all general officers of the militia. If Congress was In recess at the time, the incumbents were to be nom inated for consent of the Senate at the next meeting. Thus the great apostle or liberty Thomas Jefferson* approved and ex ercised over the newly acquired Territory of Orleans the power of Governor, Legis lature. court and militia. All the great departments of civil government and military' control there were centered under authority of one man. It was also a property government, so far as his real estate-owning Legislature was concerned. Probably no territorial acquisition of the United 8tates had less freedom than the Territory of Orleans under such a temporary government. Some day the worshipers of the Sage of Monticello will leam to differentiate between Thomas Jefferson the agitator and Thomas Jefferson the office-holding administrator. His championship of the rights of man was sublime. Jut in an administrative capacity his high ideals were sacrificed, by conformity or ap proval. to Government procedure through laws that did not uphold his espousal of liberty for all men. Jefferson's all-embracing preliminary government of the Territory of Orleans, with his real estate-owning makers of the law's, was far, far distant from the principles enunciated in the Declaration of Independence and perpetuated under the Constitution of the United States. JOSEPH W. CHEYNEY. Judge Mattingly's Comments Praised To the Editor of The Star: I take it that your editorial policy does not prevent the publication by you of views at variance with your own. and am therefore requesting the publica tion of these views. I believe a serious mistake was com mitted in publishing your editorial of Monday entitled "Judicial Duck Soup," criticizing Judge Mattingly for what you call "his ill-advised lecture on com munism" to two persons found guilty of "distributing communistic handbills at the ball park." Instead, I think you missed a splendid opportunity to pay him a well-merited compliment for his wisdom, good judgment and patriotism, and his unwillingness to be beguiled by the oft-repeated communistic propa ganda that communism should not "be taken seriously." Those who have given the matter serious study know that it is most serious. It is creeping through the world like a slimy snake. The peoples of Russia. Mexico. Spain and France all thought it couldn't happen there. They know better now, but too late! Com munism does not wish to be taken se riously by others than its dupes and paid agents, until it is too late to suc cessfully combat it. This is why the boring-from-within methods are resorted to in all countries. It is so serious that Pope Pius is constantly warning all pilgrims who visit him that mankind is "neglecting to do its duty" against this "immense peril." Two other important factors appear to have been overlooked in your criti cism of Judge Mattingly. First, that Judge Mattingly was, and is, obligated by an oath of office to support the Con stitution of the United States, and, con sequently, with his knowledge that com munism seeks, by insidious and deceptive means and also by resort to force and violence when deemed necessary, to over throw this Republic, he was not at liberty to treat communistic handbill* distrib uted In violation of law as no more serious than other handbills not in themselves objectionable. Second, that it was a distinct part of his Judicial duties, in determining the amount of sentence to be imposed, to consider, ex plain and condemn the seriousness of the violation. GEORGE E. SULLIVAN. Judge Mattingly Upheld In Communism Case To the Editor of The Star: I say three cheers for Judge Mat tingly and would like to be one to join others in contributing $1 each for the purchase of a medal of honor for him to show our appreciation for his cour-' age. The rapid growth of communism in this country is due principally to the pussyfooting of good, true Americans. I never yet have poured a spoonful of sour cream in a pitcher of sweet cream without contaminating the whole. MRS. C. C. SNIFFEN. Italy's Heel and Toe. From the Sacramento Bee, Haile Selassie says the Ethiopians never will consent to live under the heel of an aggressor. It would appear in this instance, however, that the heel has not been employed nearly so much as the toe. Frightfulness. From the Kansas City Stir. "II Duce Plans to Send Second-String Opera Companies to Ethiopia." Some body ought to remind Mussolini of the perils of the. undue severities of vindic tive victors," as may be found no farther back than in the treaty of Versailles. Social Standards. From the 8tockton Independent. Time is mar st hand when people will be bragging about having had a mess of potatoes for dinner. Social dis tinctions may yet be fixed by the use of aristocratic articles of food. a fl THIS AND THAT I

BY CHARLES E. TRACBWBLL. une oi me cnarms oi me smau garaen to the city man Is the pure strangeness of It. A plot of ground Is adventure, some thing out of the ordinary, to him, and It always stays so. If he handles It properly. If he cannot go to far places, at least he can Journey Into this twice a day If he pleases, all day Sunday If he feels so minded. The yard may not seem much to others, but to him It is something very out of the ordinary of hip life. The surer grip he has on this central fact the more he will appreciate his garden. The city man, whether strictly In the city or In the suburbs. Is a man who in sensibly has grown away from the soil. He has come to accept his parks, squares and circles and such large tracts as Rock Creek Park as having been pro vided for his enjoyment. All the work in them has been done by others.

The home garden, large or small, is the place he goes into "on his own," where nothing happens, in the main, ex cept by his will. If he wants roses, he plants them. If he has a secret hankering for sweet peas, he tries to grow 'em. His mind may turn to lilies, often difficult subjects, or the stately delphinium, another hard-to raise flower. It is all up to him, and he knows it, and in that knowledge finds his first real contact with the soil. It will not do to sneer politely at the man with a few feet of ground on the assumption that acres are required for a human to be completely In touch with Mother Earth. The small garden, in some ways, is the Ideal garden--especially for the city man. If objection is raised that there really is no difference between the city man and the small town man or the country man we reply that the city man is distinct from all other types on earth. Whether he is city born or came from village or farm, the city insensibly does something to him in the end. Just how long this will require is another matter. One will succumb quickly. Another may require years before he is changed. But at last one and all come to accept too much and not do enough. It is the city. No one is to blame, if blame there is, and some feel there is. It is the city, and there is no getting away from It if you stay long enough.

The small garden gives complete re freshment from the spirit of the city, for it is the real thing, as far as it goes. It is the spirit of the country--the country toned down, undoubtedly, but the real thing after all. Hence the city resident finds in his garden something more than a handful of flowers, a few shrubs, maybe a tree, a fence or a hedge. He discovers principles which rule the earth, no less. It is a curious thing to witness faces on hard city streets and realize that many of those faces belong to men and women who actually believe that flowers come from florist's boxes, just as some city chUdren honestly believe that milk comes from bottles. The small garden--sometimes one may feel the smaller the better--saves one from all that. It actually puts one in touch with the real things of heaven and earth, the many-sided adventures which are ever new, though completely old. f a winaow do* wiu ao h u noming better is available, but a small yard is best. Yes, even better than a large yard. The big place is best only for a certain type. If one is sure he is this type, and has the money, then the bigger the better. Your average human of city inclina tions will do best to be satisfied with a small place, for gardening of the best sort is not for a day, or a week, month or few years, but ought to be for many years, when the long pull at times be comes tiresome. The best garden for the average city person is one in which there ts enough to do, but not too much to be done. There is a subtle distinction. The typical city person may look longingly at acres, and scores of acres, but he will have enough sense to realize that their care is an all-day Job. Why, even the lawn, if large enoug{i, will take several days to cut. Hence the small place is better suited to many--we had almost said most--if there is not in the habits and inclina tions of the subject a real deep-seated urge for the work in hand. A little of this work, a gentle potter ing, is about all the strict city man needs. In this amount, however, he will find much to help him over the rough places of life. A little is enough.

He will never get over the strange ness of the garden, though he live in it for half a century. Daily It reminds him of all that is not city. Its problems are not city problems, its itions not city solutions, ou leave the city when you go through the gate of the smallest garden. You not only leave concrete behind you. but civics and the like. Leave those to men whose minds run in those di rections. The garden brings up a new set of problems, in whose solution the city man finds himself a cousin of the great naturalists of times past, devoted men of all nations, who were called and looked upon themselves as "natural phi losophers,'' which they were. If you plant a packet of seed you are making first timid steps in their di rection. Linneas is your blood brother then.

Many a city resident catches himself feeling a bit strange that first time he plants annuals, or digs a hole for a rosebush, or trims a hedge, or handles a lawnmower. It is a true feeling, one which subse quent days and years will wear away, so that he will come to regard himself in the amateur gardener role as by divine right. Then it will be just as well If he re minds himself that this role is a strange, a novel one, at least for him, forever. He will be able to look at his yard with fresh eyes, reminding him always of the perennial youth of Nature, who long ago found the elixir of life for her self, if not for the rest of us. If this elixir is to be discovered it will be in the garden, and no place else. Old Ponce de Leon had the right idea about that. May the sheer strangeness of it all never desert us. but cling about our hearts and minds and hands, and re fresh us each time we step within the garden gate. STARS, MEN AND ATOMS

Notebook of Science Progress in Field, Laboratory and Study. BY THOMAS R. HENRY. William A. Archer, veteran Federal plant explorer, now is on his way to make an intensive search in the forests of southern Brazil. Uruguay and Paraguay for wild cousins of the peanut. There is a peanut's native land. It was a noteworthy source of food for the Indians before the coming of the Span iards. Specimens were carried to Europe by some of the earliest explorers and within a few centuries it had spread all over the world. In the United States alone, where extensive cultivation started shortly after the Civil War. peanuts con stitute a $50,000,000 annual crop. The trouble is that there is only one known species of peanut and it has been developed about to the limit of its ca pacities. The best hope of further prog ress is in crossing it with some wild rel ative of another species. It is known that there are several kinds of wild pea nuts in South America, but all may be onlv varieties of the single species from which the cultivated variety was evolved. Archer will send back to the United States everything he can find related to the peanut family, in the hope that it will be possible to get some new blood into the stock, with resulting differences in flavor, size, etc. An important char acter sought is speedy ripening. One of the difficulties complained of is that pea nuts do not ripen all together, so that some are on the point of sprouting while others in the same field still are too green to be harvested. In some parts of the South. Depart ment of Agriculture specialists point out, the peanut is more valuable as a forage crop than for its seeds. It has about the same nutritive value as clover. It may be, they think, that Archer can find some wild peanut variety which goes in heavily for leaves and stems, and which can be planted for forage alone. 4 A weight scale which detects differ ences as little as four 1,000,000,000,000, 000.000,000,000,000s of a gram, Itself about a 30th of an ounce, is now "weighing atoms" in the University of Chicago physics laboratory. This hypersensitive weighing instru ment has been developed by Dr. Arthur J. Demster. It is a "mass spectrograph of a new type for use in the analysis of solid substances. Using the material to be analyzed as an electrode. Dr. Demster produces a hot spark. Atoms from the spark are drawn through a slit and suc cessively, in a three-quarter circle arc, through an electric and magnetic field and onto a photographic plate. Bending the paths of the atoms by the electrical and magnetic fields depends on the strength of these fields and the ve locity and weight of the atoms. The latter is interpreted from lines made on the photographic plate. With this equip ment Dr. Demster has already discovered a series of hitherto unknown isotopes, or variant forms of elements. He has dis covered, for example, that there are two isotopes of silver, heavy and light silver, differing slightly in atomic weight. The Instrument shows up five isotopes of plat inum and only one of gold. Other extremely precise measuring in struments set up in the department's lab oratories include one which will detect differences of as little as a millionth of an inch, an engine which will rule as many as 75,000 parallel lines to an inch, and a mlcrophotographle apparatus by A which it is possible to take pictures of living cells enlarged 30,000 diameters. The space-measuring device enables Prof. Arthur H. Compton to survey the distance between layers of atoms in a crystal. The technique involves send ing x-rays ricocheting between the atomic layers and measuring the change in wave length of the rays as a result of their passage. The ruling machine, recently devised by Prof. Dean Gale, is used to produce I the gratings which are vital to all spec i trum work.

Wild ducks and geese are getting a new deal. The Federal Government now has more than two million acres under development as refuges for these birds. Two years ago there were only 700,000 acres. These refuges are located along the four main north and south routes of the birds--the Atlantic, the Mississippi, the central and the Pacific. The land con sists for the most part of swamp area worthless for agriculture, although some of it has been utilized for unprofitable farming in the past. This has resulted in ruining it for the migrants, but so strong is the force of Instinct built up through thousands of generations that the birds continue to follow their an cestral routes. The work of restoring the old water fowl feeding and stop-over grounds is being dope by 23 Civilian Conservation Corps camps, with nearly 5,000 workers, under the direction of Biological Survey workers. These improve the refuges by building islands in many of the large, shallow water areas and dams to store and control water. In the northern areas the islands are used by the ducks as nesting grounds, while in the central and southern regions they serve as food growing sites. The islands also prevent waves and wind from tearing up water vegetation before it is firmly rooted. TO provide food for the water fowl the C. C. C. workers are planting field crops and also seeds of aquatic plants in shal low water. Food for upland game cm or near the refuges Is provided by planting food-bearing shrubs and trees. Prescription. Prom the Yakima (Wash.) Republic. A doctor down in 8anta Barbara says we should eat five meals a day. The prescription is going to be hard to take. A lot of us are having plenty of trouble to rustle three. Tow-Line. From the Bay City Times. Europe, with its turmoil, luckily is far away. But the dread thought dawns that the Queen Mary might arrive here and find she forgot to cast off. Pre-Sheared Sheep. From the Grand Island Independent. The scientist who has developed a lamb without wool probably got the Idea from Wall Street. Hush! From the Hartford Courant. A Viennese psychologist holds that the present spirit of nationalism is a product of noise. Every effort should be mada to make the world so quiet that one can i hear a dictator drop. 1 A ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS MY FMBDBMIG J. BASKIN.

A reader can get the answer to any question of fact by writing The Evening Star Information Bureau, Frederic J. Hat kin, Director, Washington, D. C. Please inclose stamp for reply. Q. How many States have the offlca of lieutenant governor?--W. S. A. Thirty-six of the 48 States have this office. Q. Is it true that a river purifies Itself of sewage within a certain distance?-- H. A. The popular idea that water puri fies itself every 200 feet or even every 10 miles is wholly without foundation and should be emphatically contradicted. The eventual purification of water con taining sewage depends on the rate of flow, the amount of pollution and the type of material through and over which the river flows. Q. What Is Intourist, Inc.?--J. H. A. Intourist, Inc., was established in 1929 for the convenience of tourists and prospective tourists in Russia. It is the state travel bureau of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, with a central office in Moscow. There are four offices in the United States and representatives in all of the major countries of the world. Q. wnen will tne next isoy scout world jamboree be held?--H. L. M. A. The next such congress will be held in the Summer of 1937 in Holland. Q. What became of the man who started from New York in a home-made canoe last Summer?--E. J. A. Hardy Nurmsen, who left New York City on July 4, 1935, for a trip through the inland waterways of the East, re cently returned in his canoe after travel ing 7,220 miles. Q. What fish oil provides the most concentrated source of vitamins A and D?--K. G. A. The swordfish provides the most concentrated natural source of these vitamins. Swordfish liver oil is some times 150 times as rich in vitamins A and D as cod liver oil. Q. How many auditions are given by the large broadcasting chains?--J. L. A. At one of the large chain studios the dilector of auditions and his staff listen to aspirants every day in the week except Saturday, Sunday and holi days. Approximately 4.000 auditions in a year are given. One national chain has 5,000 names in its files, representing voices that have been judged capable of radio performance. Less than 1 per cent of these ever get one radio part. Q. How does paper rank as an in dustry in the United States?--E. K. A. Paper is America's seventh largest industry. Q. Please give some Information about Marlborough House, where Queen Mary will make her home --J. L. A. Marlborough House was built for the first Duke of Marlborough 227 years ago from designs by Sir Christopher Wren. Murals by Laguerre cover 500 square yards of the walls. The site, granted on lease to Marlborough, had formerly been owned by Queen Cath erine, wife of Charles II. q. was ueua max ter, me poet, mar ried?^. R. A. In 1851 she married Leri Lincoln Thaxter, a Browning scholar. Q. Who discovered the "Codex Sinai ticus?'--W. H. P. A. "Codex Sinaiticus" was discovered by Constantine von Tischendorf, a Ger man Biblical scholar and traveler. He visited St. Catharine's Convent in 1844 and found 43 leaves of the codex in a basket which contained fragments of manuscripts used for lighting the fire. A second visit in 1853 proved fruitless, but on a visit in 1859 he discovered the remaining 346 'a leaves of the codex. Q. Please explain the difference be tween the American plan and European plan in regard to rates at hotels.-- T. S. B. A. The term "American plan" is ap plied to the custom of charging a flat daily rate for room and three meals a day. Charges made on the European plan represent only the tariff paid for the room. Q. When was the buried city of Pom peii discovered?--W. W. A. It was discovered beneath vine vards when some workmen were laying an aqueduct in 1594. It was almost 200 years before systematic excavations were begun. Pompeii was buried under vol canic ash by an eruption of Vesuvius in 79 A. D. Q. What is meant by kudos?--J. H. A. The word means glory, praise, re nown or fame. Q. Who invented the new type of tele scoping wagon tongue? What are its advantages?--E. K. A. It was developed by two engineers --Claude K. Shedd of the United States Bureau of Agricultural Engineering and E. V. Collins of Iowa Agricultural Ex periment Station. Using the new tongue, one man. with a mechanical picker, can conveniently pick, haul and crib a com crop. It also can be used advantageous ly when a wagon is to be pulled part of the time by team and part of the time by tractor or by truck, and for trailing wagons short distances with a tractor or with a truck when frequent couplings and uncouplings are necessary. The new device also eliminates danger of bodily injury to the operator of a trac tor In coupling a wagon. Q. Into whose care was Pocahontas' son given upon her death?--M. O. A. Her brother-in-law, Henry Rolfa of London, reared the son to manhood. A Rhyme at Twilight By Gertrude Brooke Hamilton A Heart Cry. They send me flowers--say that I am brave; And all the while the sob within my breast Will not be quelled. The only thing I crave Is your dear voice to sing my heart to rest. Ah, my beloved, it seems long, so long, Since I have heard the music of your song! To hear again, as twilight closes down. The songs that both of us once held so dear I think would hush the noises of the town And bring the peace of Heaven very near. The flowers are lovely, sweet too la the praise, But oh. for one hour of those song fllled days! i