Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-04-18

~ ERLINER FAGEBLATT.-A Gu
- riouS little school has just come
to occupy public attention. 1t
IL is located at Bielitz, in a for
mer Austrian district of Poland.
This school has enrolled only nine pu-
pills, whereas six instructors are on
daily duty to teach them. The normal
attendance has been greatly reduced by
the current poverty and arbitrary re-
visions of the curriculum resulting
from changes in the government. The
commissioners of public instruction,
conscious of the absurdity and expen-
SivenesS of this establishment, are con-
sidering whether to do away with this
school altogether.
* X "a
Boy on Roller Skates
Injuries Woman Pedestrian.
Ell Nuevo Diario Caracas.-While the
elderly Sonora Eduvigis Leon was pro-
ceeding along the sidewalk at the cor.
ner of the streets Santa Teresa and
Cruz Verde, there suddenly burst from
the gateway of one of the neighboring
courtyards a small boy mounted upon
pair of roller skates, and moving at
top speed. Indeed, the velocity of the
skater was so excessive that 1t was i'm
possible for him to avoid a collision
with the old lady, who was violently
knocked to the ground. sustaining
bruises on her left forearm and knee.
Sonora Leon, who is SO, and a native of
Boca de- Squire, in the State of Mi
randa, was conducted to a pharmacy,
where her injuries were treated, after
which she was able to continue her
promenade.
x X <
Squandering Will Not
Aid National Depression.
Nation and Athenaeum, London
There has been much confused think
ing and much confused talking lately
on economy In some aspects the sub
ject is certainly difficult, and we shall
not attempt to deal here with the more
abStruse features of the problem. 1t
may, however, be useful to point out a
few comparatively simple truths which
are sometimes overlooked.
First a word should be said about
private economy. Quite lot of people
are deeply concerned just now as to the
course which they ought to pursue with
respect to their private fortunes. The
public spirited gentleman who writes to
us to complain that his salary is
too large Is, no doubt, an extreme
case. But there are many who are in
quiring whether they ought to spend
or to save, to economic or to be lavish
to invest in gilt-edged securities or in
speculative markets. They want to be-
have as decent citizens should, but
they are uncertain as to the balance of
public advantage in these alternative
courses
There is, we think, a plain general
answer to all these inquiries. Wise
spending and wise investment are both
needed by the community. The pri-
vate citizen will be well advised to con-
suit his own interests-by which we
mean the interests of those who are
dependent upon him-and not to con-
fuse his actions by attempting through
his own individual efforts to alter the
trend of trade. The squandering of
10000 private fortunes would be mere
drop in the bucket of the trade slump,
but it would have disastrous reactions
on the lives of 100000 people whose
welfare was linked up with those for
tunes. In a time of difficulty like the
present it becomes especially important
to observe the ordinary rules OF good
behavior-to avoid ostentatiouS and
self-indulgent expenditure, to spend or
invest wisely and with foresight, to
avoid waste. and so on. Beyond that
we doubt whether there is anything
that the private citizen can do to pro-
mote trade revival.
The question of public expenditure IS
far more complicated There is, OF
course, the familiar and important dis
tinction between productive and nom
productive expenditure. 1t may be wise
for the state, as it is for the individual
business man, to spend money freely
for development purposes at a time
when strict economy is necessary in all
forms of expenditure which yield no
return. There Is no inconsistency in
the Cornish fish wife who grudges six-
pence for her husbands tobacco, but is
always ready with money for the boat
and gear. The term productive ex-
penditure" is. however. used to describe
two very different 1agms Of state en-
teFprise 1t obviously applies to such
undertakings as the post oEice and the
telephone service, which may be ex-
pected to yield fair rate of interest
upon the capital invested in theln. But