Evening star., 1923-01-27


vulge the secrets of any confession
made to them by their clients. Doc
tors and priests. too. are immune
from the forced betrayal OF confess
sions- Newspaper reporters. whether
legally immune or not. have well
recognized law of their own pro-
fessional ethics which requires that
tho reporter should cheerfully go to
jail In contempt OF court rather than
betray a confidence This fact Is so
well recognized in practice that OFF,
cials OF the highest station never
hesitate to confide in q reputable
newspaper man state secrets not to
be released until authority be given,
which they would not dare trust to
anybody less bound by tradition and
honor.
It seems. therefore. a strange situ-
alton II a director of a patriotic So
ciety should be adjudged not safe
guarded by law or court against be-
ing forced to betray his source of in
formation against communists and al
legged traitors, or how he came into
possession Of discriminating docu-
ments. 1t would seem, to a layman,
that the essential fact OF interest to
to the courts would be only whether
the Information and the documents
proved to be trustworthy and essen
tial to the furthsring of justice. The
detection of crime 10 often dependent
upon liaison with some pals OF the
suspected ono, and the ends of justice
are best served by questioning only
the truth and reliability of the evf-
dence. rather than the means by
which II was obtained and by which
future evidence might be similarly
secured.
An oyster demonstrated the ideal
course OF action for just such a situa-
tion as above referred to. The oyster
was lying awake in the warehouse
when a rat ran across it and mad
vertently permitted the oyster to shut
its mouth just when the rats tail was
in 1t. That oyster simply had to keep
it's mouth closed until the rat had
squealed it's own doom. Humans did
the rest. Many a detective and sleuth
OF the amateur tribe may emulate
that Hampton. Va. oyster. Why. IL
that oyster had opened it's mouth just
once the rat might have gotten away
and warned other rats by the hun
,
pearl In the she'll. nobody would
have been enriched without sacri-
fidng the oyster. BY keeping his
mouth shut at the right time that
heroic bfvalve will start a new breed
of oysters trained to catch rats. and
we shall have pedigreed. thoroughbred
rodent oyster terriers with snap and
bulldog tenacity. Look to the future
bench shows of prize rat-catching
oysters! We may have field tests with
competing oysters racing after ter
ribly frightened. scampering rats.
Every timid lady will protect herself
against terrorizing mice by leading a
brace OF trained oysters by a>fishline
whenever they promenade the infested
rublic streets And all this comes
mouth shut hard. We have long been
familiar with oyster cocktails. but
now welcome to the oyster rat-tails.
The House of Representatives de-
bated for an hour one evening this
week the appointing of a standing
committe of seventeen members to
which all legislation referring to
world war veterans will be sent No
decision was reached. owing to the
absence of a quorum. but eventually
such a committee Will be appointed.
There are few issues affecting more
people than the legislative proposi-
tions affecting 100000 veterans and
their dependents-not less than 10
per cent of the entire population.
X X u
Washington now has the distinction
Of having more wheels per capita
than any other city in the world. and
laIl
side the capita either. We gained
37.6 per cent last year, while the
whole country gained only 1877 pei
cent. At the present rate of increase
we may soon need a municipal pipe