davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star., 1932-12-19
Farming for Profit Again
Offers Task in Congress

remedied" the Fort Worth Star-Tele-
gram holds that the best the farmers
can hope to receive is no relief aglta-
ton or resolution III Washington That
paper concludes: The farmer Is the
Nations Oldest forgotten man That
being the obvious case, ne has earnen
the right to be forgotten as subject
from consecutive bumper crops Of that
raw stuff Just as he now is suffering
from his ether bumpers. His is the
most worthy appearing moratorium on
the executive and congressional
docket"
Much attention is given to the rec
ord of the Farm Board. The Boston
Transcript says IN this connection:
When the board kegan business IN
the Summer OF 1920 It had been pro-
vided by the Govern ment with re-
volving fund of s50o0OO,0O III It's
annual report to Congress. made public
recently, it reports net assets OF Sl40,-
100000 when all its outstanding loans
are appraised on a conservative basis.
Here is a shrinkage of S360,000,0 900.
More than three -fifths of the revolv-
ing fund has revolved out Of existence.
The Grain Sterilization Corporation
the operating agency of the board. had
96,OO0.OO0 bushels of wheat on hand
a. the end Of the fiscal year, 1t cost
the board or, in other words the
United States Government. S205 000,-
900. At the prizes prevailing on June
80 last it was worth S5l 100000. There
was here loss Of Sl54 100000. The
loss in cotton dealings is placed at
S85 100000. In addition. it is explained
that liberal reserves have been set
aside against possible losses on loans
outstanding to affiliated cooperative
associations"
Evidently" in the opinion OF the
New York Sun THE boards revolving
fund doesn't quite reyolve. since S3l7.-
100000 of the original total appears To
be missing. If the Federal Farm
Board were a private business institu-
tion having behind it such record
of colossal failure, it is inconceivable
that its members would expect to be
refinanced so they could continue In
business. Nothing that this bureau
can do to promote cooperative mar
keting could not be done about as well
by the Department of Agriculture. In
stead of giving it more money, Congre=s
ought to liquidate 1t, salvaging what
ever can be used by permanent Fed
eral agencies. sending the board to de-
served oblivion"
Condemnation Of the Farm Board
also comes from the Texarkana Gazette,
while the Spokane Spokesman Review
speaks of the proposal to refinance farm
Indebtedness with the conclusion:
While the Federal land bank system
was set up with the best purpose in
the world = to relieve agriculture it
has failed largely of its purpose from
the impetus it gave to increased bor-
rowing. Wartime prices for farm
products speeGed the mortgage move
ment, but when the end Of the war
brought def1ation of farm prices. the
debt-ridden farmers were caught as in
trap, and governmental efforts TO
release them have been disappointing.
Nearly half of the farm mortgages now
in force were placed around l9l8-l922,
the period of peak values"
Evening star., 1932-12-19
WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS
BY FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE,

Mr.. Hirosi Saito. who has acted as
japanese charge daffaires at Washing
ton since last Summer, during the alb
sence Of Ambassador Debuchi, will leave
for Europe as soon as Mr.. Debuchi re-
turns this week One of the brilliant
younger men of the japanese diplo-
matte service. Mr.. Saito has been pro-
moted to be Minister to the Neither
lands, but he expects that Geneva dur
ing the immediate future may be the
scene of more Of his activities than The
Hague. Japan has stationed nearly all
her European Ambassadors and Minis
tiers at League Of Nations headquarters
10 act as joint board of strategy i'll
the Manchurian affair.
No little significance is attached TO
the arrival in this country of NJ
Michailski of the editorial staff of the
Moscow Izvestia, official organ of the
Russian Soviet government, for the
purpose of becoming its resident Wash
ington correspondent. To some OBJ
servers his arrival looms as a shadow
cast before coming events, viz, relative
ly early American recognition Of Russia
NJ. Michai!Ski has represented Izvestia
in various European capitals, but is a
newcomer to the United States Izvestia
is the storm center of Soviet-British
diplomatic controversy. Great Brit
ain demands that the Russian govern
ment apologize for the newspapers
charge that the British Secret Serv-
ice is intriguing against the Soviet
and is bent. among other things upon
preventing Russo-American rap
prochement
-
r. ~
a former and distinguished Secretary
of State. whose name is immortalized
in a certain momentouS international
treaty. His main purpose in coming
to Washington from his home city in
a remote part of the country was to
plead for the retention in her present
position of middle-aged Senate COM
mittee clerk. whose job, because Of the
economy wave. is in jeopardy. The
One-time cabinet officer spent nearly
a half day in the Senate Office Build :
ing lobbying for the lady and left
town with the assurance that his
Kn1ghtly mission was a success.
x +x
Moriah, Essex County. NJ Y. comes
forth with the claim of being the ban
ner Hoover town in the country AL
though 1000 of its 5000 inhabitants are
unemployed and receiving public relief,
Moriah gave Hoover for President in
1882 a majority of 686, compared to
the $40 he got in 1928-an increase of
over 100 per cent. The towns one large
industry has been shut down for nearly
year, but Moriah did not lose faith
in the President.
y X \
Senator Carter Glass of Virginia. who
continues to be the best bet for the
Roosevelt secretaryship of the Treasury,
is an omnivrous student of the classics.
Although his thoughts and energies
these days are absorbed in banking and
repeal legislation, his reading habits
have not been detected from his IA
vorite themes, one of which Is the
Shakespeare-Bacon controversy. The
Senator's read nearly everything extant
ON the subject. but somebody told him
there are couple of new books on it,
so he sent his secretary, RiXey Smith,
securing Washington last week to dig
them up.
fCopyright. 1922
Evening star., 1932-12-19
Beer Strategy.

The pending beer bill is at one and
the same time an anti-prohibition and
. tax measure. The very fact that it
Is tax measure opens up for both the
drys and the vets wide field Of
strategy. The drys may undertake to
break down the beer bill, for example,
by adding to it an amendment provid-
ing for a general manufacturers sales
tax, in the hope that the Democratic
House would not agree to such pro-
posal and the beer bill would flop be-
tween the two houses of Congress. If
the drys adopted such plan, it would
have to be attempted in the Senate.
Under the House rules, when the beer
bill is taken up in that body tomorrow
only "germane" amendments will. it is
said, be in order. 1t will be ruled by
the chair that proposals to levy other
kinds OF taxes will not be germane to
the beer bill But when the beer bill
reaches the Senate, if it does, the door
for such amendments will be wide
open.
The suggestion that a general manu-
facturers' tax be tackled onto the beer
bill may appeal not only to the drys
in the Senate. but also to the vets,
They may argue that since President
Hoover is believed to be ready to vote a
straight out measure for the return of
30 per cent beer, he might not be so
ready to veto beer bill which carried
with his recommendation for a general
manufacturers tax Indeed. it is re-
ported that some of the vets already
are planning to offer the sales tax
amendment when the bill reaches the
Senate Finance Committee. Wet Demo-
cratic Senators-real dyed.in the wool
Democratic vets and not the more
recent converts-may be compelled to
decide whether they are willing to ac-
cept . ples tax In order To get beer
legislation.
There Is q real desire on the part Of
Evening star., 1932-12-19
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

II there seem to be fewer gocd new
books this Winter. there are . great
many good old ones.
And when we say old books we mean
old books We mean things which have
been tried and tested in the great fiery
furnace Ct time, until they have come
out clean.
Here Is Emmy Lou" for instance.
Scores of years have not produced a
finer story Of a little girl child.
Her book and heart" will remain
alive for long time, one thinks, as he
locks down at the good cheap edition
on the counters.
This is but one specimen Of what we
mean by good old books
The stores are crammed with them
never so many before. They range in
price from Is cents. we believe to al
m st anything one wants to pay or can
Day.
The feature. however lies in two
things. the profusdon, and the low price
Of so many of them.
Evidently the publishers Of America
thought. back there in 1923 and 1929
that this great land could swallow an
absolutely unlimited number of god
books.
And they were right!
But not exactly in the way they
thought. Today that same public, even
in time Of depression, is buying those
Volumes but at tithe OF their former
price.
The dear publics appetite fer good
books Is large, it requires multitudes,
and if any one doubts this statement
let him go to the nearest place where
books arc sold and see for himself.
wi IN &c
Christmas time and that this happy fact
accounts for the apparent intellectual
curiosity of the public.
We prefer to believe that. while this
has its influence. without a doubt, as
it rightfully should. the public has
awaked at last TO a rea!izaticn that a
good book is a good book. no matter
how much 1t costs or DOESN'T est.
Not that there will not always be
plenty of room for rare editions,
''firsts,' autographed copies, elaborate
bindings, and the like.
All these factors play their part in
the cosmos Of book writing, publishing,
buying and reading
The real worth of a book, however,
lies in what it does to the reader.
And this it may do no matter what
sort of a cover it has. or how small its
covers and large type. for these things
are mechanical. after all and have
nothing to do with the spirit Of book
The spirit Of book is what it does
to the spirit of reader Indeed, one
may feel that nothing quite proves the
existence Of the human soul more than
a good book
Books, like souls. are intangibles. in
that the good they do is invisible but
often deep and permanent. Where
fore one should choose good books,
worthy in fact and name Not all that
is offered is good" in the sense that
We Use the wcrd. in the sense that any
che sincerely uses it.
Nor is there anything arbitrary about
the term "a good book 1t does not
presuppcse any enc definite moral code
any more than it permits an absence OF
morality These things are relative
good book is definite it carries its own
valuation with it and demands the most
honest opinion a reader has
How few human beings seem TO have
honest opinions about anything! Large
" they are sWayed BY desires and re-
pressions. one fighting against the
other so that in the end the man
scarcely knows what he thinks about
anything
Evening star., 1932-12-19
Friend of Books.

What finer thing may be said OF
any man or woman than that he or
she ha, been a lover of literature.
friend of books? An appreciation OF
life itself, Of all sentient things, OF
art and history, is implied in the
phrase. An interest in events. past and
present, and in dreams for the future
is indicated. There are no artificial
boundaries, no frontiers, no parochial-
isns, to bind the receptive, rowing mind
OF such a soul. Through the windows OF
printed pages the spirit looks out over
a universal scene in which the un-
trammeled democracy of endless time
and lmitless space prevails. Each
volume is ticket for a voyage away
from the commonplace and the matter
ot-fact, a passport to the infinite. the
beautiful and the true. The traveller
grows rich in memories and hopes, ex-
periences and anticipations. Living be-
comes a wonderful game. and death is
nothing to fear or distrust.
Francis Bacon said that good books
are true friends. His view was amply
justified Robert Louis Stevenson be-
lieved that, Every book is. in an in
innate sense. a circular letter to the
friends of him who writes it." How
wide correspondence, then, and how
many comrades one must have who is
a citizen of a comprehensive library!
The guides and mentors of ages past.
but while memory functions never
gone, address the reader over the tides
of the years. and the gifted inhabi-
tants Of lands he never sees save in
imagination grasp his hand across bar
riers which serve but to contribute
zest to their salutation. process Of
continual refinement goes on In the
nature of the bibliophile under the in
f1uence of his acquaintance with all
that mankind has done, thought, gained
or been" which, as Thomas Carlyle de-
clared, is lying as in magic preserva
ton in the pages of books" KindlineSs
and sympathy increase. and tolerance
and good will prosper in the heart of
the untiring scholar. Age, coming on
means only an expansion Of charity
and underst tanding. In the end, having
lived so long with Immortality, the last
volume is closed without a pang and
In no distress.
OF worldly wealth, trinkets OF gold
or metal disks in bank, the booklover
may have little. but. on departing. he
leaves a vast estate OF spiritual treas
ures garnered up to inspire those who
will come after and tread like path
to a like destination. Men and women.
and perhaps little children. thinking
back over an eXtinguished name will
sum up in a single sentence almost the
very best that they may say Of the
absent comrade when they speak of
him as one who was friend Of books
Such tribute is an honorable epitaph
for anv man or woman.
Order has been given by U. S. Grant,
Sd, to keep the Washington Monument
open on Christmas day The action
tends to give old friend Santa Claus a
rating not only as saint, but as
patriot
Evening star., 1932-12-19

in France? In the United stAtes7-
NJ. B. S.
A. In France, about I8,50o 900 900
cigarettes were sold in 1881, and In the
United States about l20,O00,oOO, 900.
@. Who was Machia velli?-B. j.. NJ
A. Nicholas Machiavelli was a Flor
entine statesman and historian, born
l467, died 1927. In an age when
statecraft was largely intrigue, he sue
ceeded so well that his name has be-
come synonym for deceit.
@. From what countries is the value
Of cur imports greatest?-T w.
A. Imports from Canada, Brazil.
Germany, United Kingdom and Japan
were valued at more than $l00.000,00
each for the calendar year 1881.
@. Were men serving in the Army
in 1920 considered in war service?-
w. J. D.
A. The formal termination Of the
war between the United States and
Germany was July 2, 1921. Therefore,
service between the dates of November
IL, 1918, and July @ 1921. would be
considered war service. Men serving
during that time are not entitled to
compensation unless they were in the
service before November IL, 1918.
@. Has Iceland any railroads.&c. S.
.. There are no railroads there. but
q preliminary survey has been made
for line from Reykbjavik TO the
southern loWlands.
@ What vas the origin Of the
British cooperative Trading System?
L. r. E.
A. This organization was founded In
Manchester, England, I843 after an
unsuccessful strike had been carried
on by the mill workers of Lancashire.
About 40 strikers were organized who
contributed about 25 cents a week ul.-
III Sl40 had been acquired, when CO.
operative store was opened. Four un-
employed employees conducted the busI-
resS without salary. BY 1921 the
capital stock Of the cooperative organ
.za,ion in England was S4O0, 900 900,
and the four unpaid employees had
grown TO 100, 900 paid employees.
Q. When are the Goodvood races
held?-D. D.
A. They begin on the last Tuesday in
July ana last four days They are held
In England in private park belonging
to the Duke Of Richmond and are very
! select affairs.
Q, How many pounds are there In a
ton of gold?-H r.
A. Precious metals are always
weighed b. Troy measures A Troy
pound is a unit of weight equal 10
1926 ayoirdUpo.s pounds. There
would be 243054 piu1 Troy pounds in
a short ton. If gold were ever meas
ured by the ton.
q Are Margaret Sanger. Of birth
control fame. and Margaret Sangster
one and the same person?-D. R. E
A. They are not Mrs. Sanger, ad-
vocate of birth control, and editor and
publisher OF the Birth Control Review.
was. before her marriage Margaret
Higgins. She married. first. William
Sanger. by whom she had three chill
dren. and second j. Noah H, Slef Of
New York City. where she at present
resides Margaret Sangster is reli-
gious writer.
G. What are the longitudinal and
transverse threads of fabric called?-
NJ B.
A. The longitudinal threads are
called warp. caIne. twist. and organ
zine The transverse threads are called
weft, shoot, Voof, filling, and tram.
@. Is much photographic apparatus
manufactured in the United States?-
D. c. F.
A. Estimates indicate that approx
mately s95.O0O,00O worth Of photo
graphic apparatus and supplies is man
ufactured in the United States an
nually.
Evening star., 1932-12-19

The net result is a strange blindness
| in q human being. built on fixed no.
tions plus the inability to receive any
other notions. The world Is large
notion, split up into many very little
ones, among which the mind Of man
has something Of a choice, but only
that If he has the desire to see all
nor be afraid"
Many persons either have no such
desire, or are afraid, or both. They
seem constitUtionally unable TO face
that what they do not like neverthe-
less often is quite as large and life
like as what they do like.
1t Is curious state Of mind; there
| is nothing much to do about 1t; In
reader from having any definite ideas
as to what actually constitutes good
book"
! And one must know what good
book is, for. surprisingly enough. there
! is no such a thing as bad book
| in the sense of the opposite to q
| good one.
/ A book Is either a good book, or II
/ isn't. If it isn't. there is not much
use wasting ones time on it.
In looking over the profusion Of
books to be found everywhere, 1t is
essential TO know which are the good
ones, irrespective of price and length
| of years. This works both ways. a
book may be worthy. whether pub
lished yesterday or last century. 1t
may be worth while if 1t costs no more
than dime or eminently so If it is
priced at SIS or more.
These things one must decide for
ones self; the essential thing is to be
free from what we have termed book
SnobbiShnesS. which is sort of dis
ease centering in the impression that
only costly books are good, and cheap
books bad
One can buy the Bible for a few
cents. but 1t is as priceless in that
humble dress as if clad in morocco
A good book-after all, there is no
mystery about its any book that does
something to the reacer
If it takes him out Of himself or
really puts him into himself II it ele-
Yates his mind. if only for time; if
| it compels those ineStimable virtues
genuine interest. real enthusiasm, if
it alleviates the distress of living known
as ennui, or boredom; If it gives wis
dom, or the beginnings of wisdom
Then one may feel that a book has
done all that any one may expect a
human creation to do. and that it is,
therefore. and by reason of these things.
a good book in every sense of the word
Now it may be detective story, OF a
fine work of fiction, what We call a
novel, 1t NAV be scientific tome, or a
hobby book, book on tea as Miss
Repller's latest, or something by a
speciality author
1t makes no difference what 1t IS.
just so it strikes home to the heart
and bosom. as old LORD Beacon said.
There was fellow who kr.1w his books,
although he missed many fine ones be-
cause he lived too early, Just as all
Of US must do.
To think of all the great books the
good books if YOU please. which are to
be written IL the years TO GOMEZ
Who will write them?
What Will be their titles?
What will they be about?
Great books of the future tremble
into being on the stairs Of time and
will come down in good season. expect
ing good readers
Will the readers be ready then. as
the readers of now have tried to be?
We believe they will.
Evening star., 1932-12-19
The District and the Saloon.

Members of the House are reported
as OF the opinion that If Congress
anacts the Collier beer bill or one like
It and it becomes law with the Presi-
dents signature. there must be i'm
mediate and additional legislation by
Congress relating to the manufacture
and retail sale of beer in the District
Of Columbia.
This might be accepted as an addl-
tional guarantee against the return OF
the saloon in the District Of Columbia
The Republicans, according to their
party platform. would have the Nation
reserve power to cooperate in protect
ing dry States against wet States and
In preventing the return OF the saloon.
The Democrats, according to their plat
form. and the subsequent statements OF
the President elect. would deny this
reservation OF power to the Nation, con-
fning it instead to the States and,
through the separate and independent
action of the States, prevent the re-
turn OF the saloon, presumably assist
ing in the protection Of the dry States
through Federal control Of interstate
commerce.
The Republican platform says in this
connection:
The people should have an
opportunity to pass upon proposed
amendment the provisions OF Wnlch'
oi,,i,, in =
ment power to preserve the gains
already made in dealing with the evils
inherent in the liquor traffic. shal!
allow States to deal with the problem
as their citizens may determine. but
subject always to the power Of the Fed
eral Government to protect those States
where prohibition may exist and saIe-
guard our citizens everywhere from the
return Of the saloon and attendant
abuses.
The Democratic platform said:
We urge the enactment of such meas
ures by the several States as will &C
tually promote temperance, effectively
prevent the return Of the saloon and
bring the liquor traffic into the open
under complete supervision and control
by the States.
Republicans, therefore, are bound to
prevent the return Of the saloon IN the
District by action of Congress as Ma
tional Legislature.
Democrats are bound to prevent re-
turn Of the saloon to the District and
to protect the District against overflow
from wetter communities by action Of
Congress as the Districts only State
Legislature.
1t seems that the District should be
safely protected against the return Of
the saloon. since both Democrats and
Republicans in Congress, both as the
National and State Legislature, are
pledged against the return