Evening star., 1923-11-27
Criminals Reported Flocking
To Unrestricted Rhineland

"pulu De wise 10 nave
all police records made out in dupli-
cate, SO s to admit the copies being
fled elsewhere. beyond the reach of
the criminal classes, native and in
ternational, who are SO vastly inter-
ested in the disappearance Of these
documentary proofs of their mis-
deeds
Republics seem to be the order of
the day. The Ottoman Empire IS now
a republic. where it's executive COM
bines in his person the offices OF presi-
dent, prime minister. speaker Of the
national assembly and chieftain Of the
popular party; that is to say, a species
OF Angora Pooh Bah. Greece is to de-
termine. within the next fortnight.
whether or not her monarchy is to be
converted into n republic, and in the
Rhineland an eHdeavor is being made
to set up new republic TO serve as a
species of buffer state between France
and Germany. But despite this pop
ular trend toward democratic forms
Of government tmore than two dozen
republics having been established
within the last five years) there is no
The so-called "anointed of the lord"
For republics. which are often tnsti-
tuted merely as a temporary relief
from the strain of loyalty toward
monarchy, are, as rule. short-lived
nowadays, although Yuan Shi-Kai
Chinese republic. some eleven years
ago. expressed the hope that the new
republic would last over ten thou
sand years"
Thus the present French republic
is but seventy-three years old; that
Of Portugal dates from 1910. Those
of Germany. Austria, Hungary. Czecho-
slovakia and Poland are stiu, SO
to speak. in their infancy, be-
ing tho offspring OF the great
war. That of Cuba dates back
from 1898 and that Of Brazil was born
as recently as i'll 1889.
The oldest and senior of all repub-
lies now in existence is the United
States, for the present Swiss repub-
lie only came into existence some
years later. The former republics of
Rome and Athens, of Genoa and of
that Venice who was the queen of the
seas, have passed away. while there
are many who are firmly convinced
that ere many years have gone by
the present republics of Hungary.
Austria and Bavaria will have disap-
peared from the political horizon and
have made way to a monarchical form
of government.
Every woman reading these letters
will be interested to Iearn-if she
does not already know-that st. Ger
trude. abbess of the Convent of Nj
velle, in Brabant, in AID. $50, is the
patron saint of mice. In all old pic
lures which remain of her she is
shown arrayed In the garb of abbess,
with mouse on each shoulder and a
third floating about her head. The
day dedicated to her memory is March
Is. on which mice are supposed to
hold high revel.
That holy woman should have
been selected as the patron saint for
the mice is somewhat surprising
when one bears in mind the instinc-
tive antipathy manifested by the fair
sex for everything in the form Of
mouse, which seems to inspire them
with almost as much unreasoning
terror as it does an elephant. For. If
there is one thing more than any
thing else which fills these huge
pachyderins with the direct alarm. 1t
is these tiny rodents. Prof. Nigel
and discussed learnedly on this fem
mime idiosyncracy, insists that wom-
en- have IAN ancestral consciousness"
that mice are among the greatest of
germ carriers" While it is perfectly
true that woman's fear of mice is
hereditary and ancestral. the germ
carrying theory seems rather far
fetched. But so, too. Is the alterna-
tive explanation of the opportunities
offered to mice by petticoats. when in
search of refuge before the present
fashion of abbreviated skirts came
into vogue. For it is well known
that the more or less tight fitting cos
tune of men is a relatively modern
innovation and that medieval male
fashions were of an ampler and flow
ing character. Yet men have no such
instructive and hereditary hatred OF
the mouse as might have been ex-
pected IL that emotion were derived
from fear of sudden invasion of their
once ample and flowing robes and
garments. 1t is problem offering
room for no end of conjecture and
speculation. for the solution Of which
we must look to the fair readers of
these letters.