Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-01-23
ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS
BY FREDERIC ]. HASKIN.

What do you need to know? Is there
some point about your business or per-
sonal life that puzzles you? Is there
something you want to know without
delay? Submit your question to Fred
eric j. Haskin, director of our Wash
ington Information Bureau He is
employed to help you. Address your
inquiry to The Star Information
Bureau, Frederic j. Haskin, director.
Washington, D. c.. and inclose 2 cents
in coin or stamps for return postage.
@. Is the official communication
which an American consul makes to
the Department of State called dis
patch" or "despatch"?-D. E.
A. The spelling despatch" is used. A
communication from the Department of
ton"
@. What value may be placed upon
day in high school?-L. B. T.
A. 1t has been estimated that the
daily value of education in an elemen-
tary school is So; In high school, $40,
and in a college, 500. This study was
based upon survey of less than a
thousand people and for that reason
it is subject to inaccuracy.
@. Where was the first play given
in America?-F. l..
A. The first dramatic performance
ever given in America occurred Sep
TENDER Is, 1852, at Williamsburg, Va.
@. When were guns first used in
England?-M. H.
A. The early history of guns is large
~ matter of conjecture. Explosives
were used by the Chinese and the
ancient Greeks. In the course of time
the use of Greek fire became extended
and tubes were placed in the bows of
war galleys from which flaming ma
terial was discharged. The first record
of guns in England is a picture with a
description of a vase-shaped hand gun
for firing an arrow, dated 1926 In 1889
cannons were used by the English at
the siege of Cambria.
@. What Is meant by the expression
Il ask this announcement to stand for
the day" when a member is reported
absent when roll call is taken in Con-
gress?-A. A. C.
A. The announcement Is often made
so that, as other roll calls are held on
that day on other questions, 1t will not
be necessary to state again the reason
given for the members absence and
IalIure 10 vote.
@. When will the orange blossom
festival be held in Florida?-E. D. "
A. 1t will be held at Winterhaven
from January % to 26.
@. When did newspapers begin tC
carry advertisementS?-N. E. d.
A. In the seventeenth century small
advertisements appeared in newspapers
for books. tea, coffee or medicine. A
heavy stamp tax hampered the growth
of newspapers and advertising in Eng
land until 1855. In America, advertise
mentS appeared in the early colonia
papers. Brief notices told of new goods
just imported from England, coffee
slave sales, runaway slaves and servants
or lost cattle. Newspaper advertising
on large scale dates from the eStab-
lishment Of the New York Sun, in 1888
followed shortly by the New York Her.
aid, the Philadelphia Public Ledger anC
the New York Tribune.
@. When was coal first used as fuel;
&C. M.
A. The value of coal does not seem
to have been known to the ancients, mol
is it known at what time it began tt
be used for fuel. Some say that it wa:
used by the ancient Britons; at al
events, 1t was an article of household
consumption, to some extent, during
the Anglo-Saxon period as early as
AID. 852