Evening star., 1923-09-01
CAPITAL KEYNOTES
BY PAUL Y. COLLINS

a touch of the Presidents finger on
telegraph key, located in the White
House, gave the signal which started
a pony race from st. Joseph. Mo-. to
San Francisco, last Friday. The race
is said to be in imitation of the pony
express of 1860. but in reality it diff
fers very greatly in its setting.
The original pony express had a
legitimate object. 1t was to serve
humanity. AT that time there was no
transcontinental telegraph service,
and the mail went around the Panama
peninsula, usually requiring two
months en- route. There is no incen-
tive today except that of gambling
sport, to see il the race can be run in
as short a time as 1t was run sixty
two years ago. When the test Is COM
pleted. what will be the practical
END! Horses are too slow for an age
when a substitute for horses crosses
the whole continent in a day. and may
soon be able to start from St. Joseph
after breakfast and reach San Fran
cisco In time for the aviator to have
shower bath and shave before din
ner. AS well undertake to rebuild
Noah's Ark and prepare for a food.
as TO revert TO horses in the age of
aviation.
*
The United States bureau of stand
ards is trying to keep up with the
times. 1t has perfected Il gauge that
will measure 1-250.000 of an inch. 1t
is said that it takes 25O,000 atoms to
make one inch, so this new tape
measure will set off one atom That
is too crude, however, for this age,
fnr tiCtS all
is miniature solar system with a
central sun" around which electron
planets revolve. just as the earth
revolves around the sun. Distances
of the electron orbits arc relatively
as great as the measure of planetary
orbits in our solar system
4 i
So that is the best the bureau of
standards can do. is it? Just mark off
a measure fine enough, relatively, to
stride from perihelion TO aphelIon?
When it gets down to real delicate
work, let us see rule that will get
the diameter of one electron. hydro
gen elecfron. not one of those great
gold electrons. Looks as though the
professors are working now a sort
of rule O thumb" measure on a gull
libie and unsophisticated public.
X 4
In contrast with the fineness of the
bureau of standards yardstick, go to
the movies, now, and see the insects
in their normal habitats. There is
! the bee. magnified as big as a. horse.
One can actually see the bee thrust
ing its sting. as big as a fence rail,
into its victim. One may visit an ant
II 30
intricate civilization of the ants, so
complicated that one feels the need
of social secretary while watching
| the activities and etiquette display ed
fighters. Offering their supreme sacri-
fices that the hill may be safe for
antocracy.
The greatness of the small and the
smallness of the great in nature
| may well inspire man with awe and
! admiration. What is man? He has
his ambitions-aS do the ants and
b..s. He gAzes in wonder at the in
, Fl: tiles of solar and interstellar space.
~ hich is not spanned even by light
travelling 10000 years, Yet no greater
| In marvelS than the universe of d
single atom of speeding electrons.
x
The official spokesman of the White
House set at rest last Friday the idea
| that because the United States had
at last recognized Mexico. It was
going into the business of recogniZ-
! ing other countries with less stable
governments. Specifically. II was Dc
| MED that there was any present pros
| pect of recognizing the soviet govern
| ment of Russia. The spokesman eX-
pressed the views of the President in
| saying this country would not be
| fair to its own citizens if it gave as
surance that the Russian government
| is willing and able TO afford security
! for business relations with it's citi-
Zenry at present.
| 1t is very different from recogniz-