Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-10-09

total number of births in Toxic
during 1929 was 1881 less than
~ the figure for the previous year,
according TO statistics made pub
lie by the city authorities. The figure
for 1929 was 51,789, approximately
twice the number recorded IS years
ago.
Despite the decline, Toxic is still the
most prolific capital city in the world.
The birth rate for 1929 was "a births for
each 1000 inhabitants. while the city
with the second highest rate-namely,
New York-has only 81 births for each
1000. Londons birth rate is l6 and
Berlin's 10 for each 1000 persons.
~
Dread Of Expenses Keeps
Men From Matrimony.
Neues Wiener Abendblatt, Vienna.
The young man who has just
received the anxiously awaited Eyes
word" from the object of his affection
ate alteration rarely remembers that
the jeweled circlet that he slips joy
fully upon the lady's slender finger is
but symbol Of the price that a man
in olden times had to pay for a wife
and, as it were, receipt that the trans
action had been duly contaminated.
In this respect at least, a wife may
If we except the sums which a man
has TO spend throughout the rest of his
life in keeping his spouse bejeWeled and
appareled as richly as the other women
she beholds. Indeed It Is the dread of
these subsequent expenses that keeps
many young man from matrimony.
though he would have no objection at
all to the purchasing of betrothal
band. Even the fact that q prospective
father-inlaw is ready to go deep into
his pocket in the matter of dowry does
not entirely persuade the vacillating
lover. But in the old days the maiden's
father, instead of being under expense
when his daughter was married, was
the recipient of costly gifts himself
A wife in Southern China used to
COST and perhaps still does, from So
to 500, a roasted boar's head and a
couple of fried chickens. Indians on
! the American plains were satisfied to
get a few ponies for their marriageable
| daughters, while the heads of African
families demanded leopard skins. cattle
or goats. Tribal chiefs in both hemi-
spheres likewise were partial to pay
ments in rum or tobacco. Even in mod
ern Europe, among the Rumanian Gyp-
sizes, a prepossessing damsel, sought in
marriage, fetches her father as much
as 10000 or $4,000 lei Ga lei is worth
19 cents at par). and prices as high as
| ID 900 lei have been reached.
n y y
Physicians Move 10
Combat Fake Doctors.
FL Dictamen, Vera Cruz.-The presi-
| dent of the Association of Professional
Physicians has called a meeting Of all
authorized practitioners in this port to
combat the injuries being done to their
| interests by unnumbered charlatans
| and herbalists, who for some time now
have been monopolizing the attention
and patronage of the sick and infirm.
Though these unqualified doctors are
not permitted to practice under the
| state and federal laws, nevertheless by
Disgusting the nature and scope of their
activities they are enabled to gain the
| confidence and control of the purses Of
many poor and ignorant patients, whom
| they promise to cure of all diseases.
| from cancer to tuberculosis. Some Of
them use connections made from roots,
| herbs and the livers of snakes. Others
use no drugs or potions, but modestly
| claim q supernatural power which en-
! ables them to cure all n1aladies simply
by the contact Of their hands. Elastic
surgery Is the name ascribed to one
branch Of these impostures, in which
structural and organic defects are
pledged TO be corrected by simple ma
nipulation or the application of new
tissues. In many cases the unlicensed
operatives rendered the condition SO
much worse that the patients we're
soon beyond the help Of the legitimate