davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star., 1934-10-02
Some Thoughts on the
New Deal Architecture
To the Editor OF The Star:

10 the EDITOR OF Inc 0tdI.
Your recent analysis Of Mr. Nor
genthau'S proclamation that there will
be no more construction Of the sturdy,
enduring, mausoleum-type of build
ing in Washington under his direction
was very gratifying. That Mr.. Nor
genthau will have no truck with stone
and mortar, solid walls and firm foun-
dations is surely commendabie. ANY,
thing resembling permanence and
solidarity would be almost reasonable
to the cause Undoubtedly he is
acquainted with our folk lore and fairy
stories. so he will not build Of straw
TO be puffed and blown down; and it
will be interesting TO see what man
ner Of fabrication he will employ.
Surely that dignifled chaste temple
housing the new Supreme Court cham
Der was a mistake This might much
better have been fashioned of beau
tiful black India rubber, allowing the
President to contract or expand re-
calcitrant court as exigencies demand
ed. The Archives Building, in low,
marshy spot, obviously never should
have had basement, but should have
been built on the airy stills Of abstrac-
ton furnished SO abundantly by the
brain trust. The Agriculture Depart
ment Building would have been much
more appropriately done in adobe.
Then much OF it could have been
ploVed under after the experimental
ton is over And a mighty well fer
tllized piece of ground il would make
TOO. Exceptional opportunities to eX-
press the spirit of free trade are Of
fered in the Commerce Building. An
immense amount Of good will could
be engendered by a judicious choice
of materials from our delightful,
friendly neighbors. The first floor
would be best of Swiss cheese, the
second of & pebbly construction of
Russian caviar, the upper floors of
Japanese gewgaws and Belgian lace, or
any such material on the free list. A
pleasing note could be struck by hav-
ing the corridors of this building fol-
low the general plan Of the plenary
sessions on trade agreements. The
Treasury Building would be much bet
ter off with 10 foundation at all. Sim
ply conjure up a few sky hooks out
of the Arabian Nights bookkeeping
and attach.
1t is hoped the Washington Monu-
ment will be left intact, so that when
the time comes, the boys" may have
a suitable springboard for their jump
into the wide, wide world.
MATTHEW TOWAR.
Evening star., 1934-10-02
"Unavoidable" Traffic Deaths.

The great difficulty of the problem
of preventing accidents in the streets
of Washington is demonstrated by
the fact that despite the intensive
campaign of education that has been
in progress in this city since late in
July new all-time record of fatalities
for single month was written in
September, when sixteen deaths due
to traffic occurred. This, however, is
not officially attributed to reckless
driving. Eleven of the deaths, it is
pointed out by Sergt. Thomas, in
charge of the educational work in the
streets, were due to negligence on the
part of the victims themselves. All
but the latest casualty, he notes, have
been held to be unavoidable"
An unavoidable" accident, pre-
sumably, is one that occurs when the
driver of a vehicle is observing the
rules and the victim by his own fault
is hit. Undoubtedly the burden of
responsibility rests upon the pedestrian
when he seeks to cross a street else
where than at an intersection or
when he enters the traffic lane at a
crossing despite a warning signal.
Evening star., 1934-10-02
More Positive Method
OF Philosophy Needed
To the Editor OF The Star:

To the Editor OF The Star:
When yet schoolboy, this writer
once complained about his teacher to
an illiterate, but otherwise very SEN
sible friend, who said: My son,
don't mind him, teachers are apt to
be childish, seeing that they asSo-
ciate so much with children" Later
in life, l learned in metaphysics, of
mind and it's workings, that men be-
come like what they study most. In
view of these facts, it is not strange
that public health service doctors,
guided by a method devised by Co
lumbia professor, are studying GRIM
inalS? Does the general public real
ize that if these practices are al
lowed TO continue, public and pro-
fessional men will become inoculated
with such mental conditions as 70
render them dangerous to themselves
as we'll as to others? Why this mega
tive process in everything that we
do? Why investigate crime and GRIM
inals, instead of virtue and the yir-
tuous men? Why not reward the
doers of good as an incentive to 9TH
ers, instead Of merely Furnishing the
evildoers? Why not lecture on the
principles and rules that result in
mental and moral health, instead OF
everlastingly making researches into
the causes of disease and drunken
ness? 1t is like the Worn-out meth
cd of preaching about sin instead OF
depicting the beauties of SaintlinesS.
We need a more positive method OF
philosophy. The method exists, but
there are not enough public-s spirited
men to sponsor such cause. 1t is
operating in every field of national
experience right along, and every
days neglect to consider 1t as the
paramount factor makes confusion
more confounded. England has her
Hyde Park, but we have no forums
where advanced thinkers can en-
tighten the benighted leaders of the
people. In the name Of a forum,
usually one person (nearly always a
prominent personage) is invited to
give a lecture. But, then, who are
those so-called great figures? Are
they not mostly students of same
schools and same text books? Do
they not repeat the same platitudes
in varying garbs? Are We so in
tolerant that we cannot listen to orig
inal thinkers any more, as Henry Clay
and his fellow CongreSsmen did
many an evening in the very House
of Representatives? c. PHILIPS.
Evening star., 1934-10-02
Trade With Canada.

Speaking in New York the other
day, Vincent Massey, former Canadian
Minister to the United States, de-
clared that the people of the Do
minion welcome the prospect of re-
ciprocal trade arrangements with this
country. Mr.. Massey, echoing that
sentiment, pleaded for the creation
in Canadian American relations of
"at least one island of commercial
sanity in q tariff-made sea-"
1t is probably hankering for the
Utopian to dream of a day when,
just as there are no Notifications on
either side of the Canadian American
frontier, there will also be no tariff
barriers to impede the natural flow of
goods across that border. But every
element in the situation justifies Mr..
Massey's vision of some arrangement
whereby tariffs would at least fade
into relative insignifcance in the
Evening star., 1934-10-02
Life Will Always
Be a Competition

To the Editor of The Star:
AS an example of current academic
thinking, Glenn Franks final article
in The Star seems typically futile.
Because he does not see that We have
not and never will attain life OF
such plenty that We have only to let
the masses" have what they want
does not see that we do not have all
the necessary tools in our hands for
emancipating the race"-he condemns
with one breath those very planning
and taxation schemes which he ad-
vocates with the next!
Life will always be struggle to
survive "a competition. On that
basis the attempt to make artificial,
dictated wage scales and hours of
labor spread the national income"
instead of holding to the naturally
competitive distribution of wealth, Is
futile and not in the interest of "the
masses A broader distribution of
purchasing power can only be &C
complished by added development of
undisturbed private ownership OF
capital income except as to public
utilities. which cannot be competi-
tive), rather than by forced additions
to income from labor Cwages). Thus,
and thus only, through the develop
ment of the capital resources of the
community by individual thrift and
intelligence, can we broaden the field
of labor while reducing the number
of those who labor, not from choice.
but from necessity. Thrift and in
telligence cannot be communized; so
it is only in this indirect way that
real wages can be soundly and per-
manently advanced, because in this
way labor attains better competitive
position and cannot be bought for so
little.
The attempt to spread the national
income" by taxes, as if We had only
to dip our hands into the bowl of
plenty and scatter it about, is ar
other implication of the fallacies
arising from this fatuous vision of
plenty that can only destroy in
stead of construct our welfare. Taxes
are essentially def1ationary, i.e, they
destroy the monetary capital that
gives liquidity and hence value to the
fruits of productive labor, and there
will be no stability or security as
long as this and other theories of dis
cretionary or planned" as opposed
to competitive, ownership and distri-
button persist. Taxes must be used
to adjust money or price conditions,
and not capital conditions, before we
shall have that one tool, viz, a stable
medium of exchange, which is essen
tial, not to a utopian emancipation"
from Qualitative" or quantitative
poverty, but to fair and hence max
imum and optimum motivation Of in
duStry.
1t is not our purposes or motives,
but our methods, that need correc-
ton. Motives are immutably the
same, yesterday. today and forever.
Methods are not
ALDEN A POTTER
Evening star., 1934-10-02
Making War Intolerable.
rom the Birmingham Age Herald.

From the Birmingham Age Herald.
German scientists have just been
credited with the discovery of poison
gas which, sprinkled on the ground,
renla:szs for eight days deadly to all
persons passing that way. Thus i'm
pregnable barriers could be built up
against invading armies or fleeing
populations by an unseen death cling
ing to the ground.
The first reaction to such news is
one of revulSion. One wonders how
long civilization can last in the use of
such methods of war. Is the world
facing tidal wave of destruction by
scientific warfare? Is man creating
FrankensteinS to crush himself?
But more hopeful thought follows.
Why not let the scientists work up
more and more deadly ways of fight
ing? Let them discover how to ami
hilate cities with breath. Let them
learn to drop death from the clouds as
falls the gentle rain of Springtime.
Let them learn to shoot soaring flames
across valleys. Let them find a way
to wipe out cities with streams made
lethal with germs placed in them hum
dredS of miles away Let the labora-
tories pour forth their far-dealing en-
gineS of death until man can find no
escape from them
Thus will death in war become so
inescapable that nations must keep
peace or die. Then the only alterna-
tive to concord will be humiliation,
Man will stack his guns or he will
perish. War will become so fatal to
combatantS and non-combatantS alike
that it will be uncomfortable. Peace can
be evaded only in the grave. The
choice will not be between peace and
war; it will be between peace and
death.
1t is folly to hold the hope that such
frightful methods of warfare will not
be tolerated. There is no umpire,
not even the vaunted public opinion
of the nations at peace, that can
enforce rules Of combat upon coun-
tries locked in internecine strife. The
world cannot make war humane. All
that scientists have discovered to
make war horrible will be resorted to
by people made desperate in war.
There is hope, therefore, that the
scientists in their laboratories are
actually increasing the likelihood of
peace. They may be doing more to
promote harmony than smooth
tongued diplomats. Ultimately, per-
haps, they will make war so frightful
as to be intolerable.
Evening star., 1934-10-02
Stop.Co Lights Needed
At a Busy Crossing
To the Editor of The Star:

To the Editor of The Star:
A new record of deaths of 16 owing
to District traffic has been made for
the month of September When
Traffic Director Van Duzer was in
troduced into Office I sent letter
to him as to the necessity of stop-go
lights at Mount Pleasant and Irving
streets northwest. AS there was no
action on the directors part for
months, wrote him again. again and
again. He gave excuse after excuse.
Finally. after over year, he Informed
me that there was no money on hand
to install the lights.
At Mount Pleasant and Irving
streets northwest there are stores at
three corners and two street car stops.
The automobiles going north and
south on Mount Pleasant street at all
hours of day and night never lessen
their speed or blow their horns on
approaching Irving street, though
pedestrians may be crossing. The auto
traffic at these four corners, going
north and south (east and west on
Irving) on Mount Pleasant street
especially in the morning up to 10
o'clock and afternoon from $3.50 to
6 O'Clock, is very considerable. Irving
street is tWo-Way street from Four
teenth street to Mount Pleasant street
and is no wider than Harvard street
or Columbia road, which are one-Way
streets with go-stop lights at their
corners.
The auto traffic on Irving street
70 Loot mt
streets is fully 70 per cent greater
than on either Harvard street or
Columbia road, one-Way streets. This
is an outrage. Pedestrians are cross
ing almost continuously at these four
corners. That no one has been seri-
ously injured or killed up to date is
simply providential. I came near
being hit by speeding auto on Mount
Pleasant street three times when
crossing. On one of those occasions
1 had small child with me; was in
the middle of Mount Pleasant street,
crossing from west to east; a rushing
autoist came from the south going
north; he, of course, saw us, but did
not lessen his speed. I reversed a
heavy cane I was using and drove
that scofflaw, hog-autoist to the
gutter, where he stopped. I said to
him. We are entitled to the right
of way, half over the street on our
way, and you come at us full speed to
injure or kill us. If you had not
Swerved to the gutter I surely would
have smashed your windshield and
you too if I could" Let the police
warning car" locate itself on Irving
street northwest just east of Mount
Pleasant street, where it cannot be
seen by these Mount Pleasant street
speeders, in the early morning and
late afternoon if it wants a true pic
ture of conditions as I set forth in
this letter. Then Director Van Duzer
may be forced to install these stop-go
lights instead of bringing a psychol-
ogist to Washington to consult about
auto drunks and semi i-drunks.
w. E. RYAN.
Evening star., 1934-10-02

Do your friends return the books
they borrow?
If so, you must have a rare set of
acquaintances, and are to be con-
graduated
Most friends of books come to the
point, after time, where they reluct-
antly decide to give up loaning their
precious volumes.
This is a sad decision to make, be-
cause to such people there is no
greater pleasure in life than loaning a
good book
Something there is about such shar-
ing which intrigueS the man or woman
of good will
A book is never quite so good book
as when it is shared with another.
X
This is why it is a source of real re-
gret to any booklover that the time
must come when he finds it eXpedient
to put thumbs down on the pleasure of
loaning his favorites.
Think of it, one of the few pleasures
of life, like fresh air, which cost moth
ing!
We speak, of course, only of that
chosen band of human beings who buy
books.
The. publishers and the booksellers
know that there is great mass of hu-
man beings who never buy book from
one years end to the other
Strangely enough, many of these are
well-educated persons, really inter-
ested in reading
Through some perverse something or
other they manage to read without
paying.
If the publishers and the sellers of
their wares could undertake some sort
of campaign" 10 reach this class, they
would jump the sales of books, new
and old, many millions of copies per
year.
The true booklover-we must insist
upon it-buys books first, then he
reads them.
He is not satisfied to read books be-
longing to others all the time, eve.
if these Others" be loaning libraries
either public or commercial.
He has no quarrel to pick with
lOaning, in fact, loves to loan his
own, as We have stated, but he pre-
fers to buy book" now and then
Personal ownership, to have and tC
hold, means great deal to him.
Such man. or woman, either, for
that matter, likes to share books.
He demands, however, that his
precious volumes be given some con-
sideration.
The greatest of these considerations
after all, is that they be returned to
their owner within a reasonable time
X
Just what constitutes a reasonable
time differs with the loaner and bor-
rover
No two cases are alike
Times and circumstances make a
great Geal of difference.
A week is too long for some persons
Others may be able to keep a book
year without finally depriying the
owner Of it.
As a general proposition it is safe
to say that no borrowed book ought
to be kept by the borrower longer than
two weeks.
1t must never be forgotten that the
book loaner often is to blame. He
insists that a friend take that along
with him. Nothing will do but that
the friend comply whether he really
desires the book or not. He doesn't
want the book, but he must take the
book. When he gets it home, the
chances are very great that he will
not read it. This gives him a guilty
Evening star., 1934-10-02
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES Z. TRACEWELL.

feeling, and the longer he holds it
unread, the more guilty he feels about
it. The longer he keeps the book, the
Surer he is not to read it, and the
more guilty he feels about not read
ing it. The best and easiest way for
him, therefore, is never to return it.
4
Aside from the speedy return Of any
loaned volume, the booklover asks for
proper care Of his books while in other
hands.
This not only means that the COM
mon fault of bending down corners
to mark the place should not be in
dulged in, but that some real effort be
taken to keep the book perfectly clean.
The SureSt way to ensure cleanliness
of loaned volume is to supply it with
paper jacket before loaning. Even
those who commonly remove the jack
cts from their books will find it good
to keep them, probably on the shelf
behind the volumes, SO that they can
be placed upon book or books about
to be loaned.
No foresight, however, can prevent
| a borrower from spilling water or other
liquid upon a book, or Smearing its
pages with foodstuffs consumed while
going through it.
There are numerous other ways in
which books can be maltreated. 1t is
plain that he who borrows a book
ought to take special care that none of
these things shall happen to his
friends book.
X
If they do happen, as they unfor-
tunately often do, very good reason
is supplied the borrower to be slow in
return.
He knows that he has committed a
wrong, and yet he is unwilling to right
1t. Often he cannot, except at the ex-
pense of purchasing an entirely new
copy.
This is remedy often thought Of.
but seldom adopted, for reasons best
known to borrowers
Usually the hurt book is returned,
after many months, with hurried apol-
ogieS and loud assurances of enjoy
ment. 1t is hoped that the latter will
/ NONtI uP Cllc put VI LIN dCClQeLldlly
| spilled on page 90.
Even the most finicky person would
not expect that a loaned volume be in
quite as good condition as when he let
/ 1t go from him.
In such a world as this he knows
better than to expect the impossible.
Ordinary wear and tear, as he might
say, will not cause his heart to ache.
He may be crank about his books,
but not to the point of Stiffness. All
he asks is their ultimate return, within
a reasonable time, and that they be in
approximately the same condition as
when he saw them last.
Accorded normal care, book Is an
amazingly staunch proposition.
Its very shape makes 1t SO, it being
nothing more nor less than a box
So many things are just boxes The
home aquarium, with its bright SWIM
mers, its water and its green plants, is
just glass box.
The cage is just wire box
A book is a box of knowledge It's
covers protect the contents on two
sides, really on three, while the COM
parative smallnesS of the edges. top,
bottom and side, prevent much harm
from those directions.
Ordinary care. then. will keep any
book in good shape. The main thing
is the return of borrowed book within
a reasonable time, for the owner will
keep it better than any one else, even
another boOkloyer.
Evening star., 1934-10-02
Recreation.

The twentieth National Recreation
Congress. it safely may be presumed,
will engage the attention of thou
sands of people not directly involved
in the problem of what to do with
leisure. Many of those participat-
ing in the discussions are so busy
with work of one kind or another
that it is little short of marvellous
that they can find time to attend.
But there are literally millions of
men and women who are idle, and il
is for them that the congress is be-
ing held. The long depression has
thrown large fraction of the adult
population out Of regular industrial
employment. exhausted their savings.
disturbed their normal reactions to
life, impaired their resistance to
trouble. Something helpful. it is OBJ
viouS, must be done for them until
conditions improve and the labor
market again may absorb the surplus
of hands. A program of recreational
activity. certainly, should be developed
to meet the need; and there can be
no better way of proceeding than that
which the sponsors of the congress
have devised
FTnniPS ha
groups include: The Recreation
Movement and the Youth Graduating
From High School or College," What
Men and Women Want to Do in
Their Free Time" Keeping Alive
Through Drama" What Parks Are
Doing fer Abundant Living" "Volun-
teer Leadership in Recreation" Pub
lie Camping" "Comradeship Through
Social Recreation" Widening Hori-
IONS Through Contact With Nature, ,"
Hobbies" Recreation Engineering
Problems" "Zestful Living Through
Music" Recreation Program Building
in the Creative Arts and Crafts and
What Schools Are Doing to Prepare
Children for Abundant Living" The
scope of the inquiry is made manifest
by even such partial list of themes.
No important leisure occupation ap-
pears to have been omitted from the
agenda.
For the general public, however.
the significance of the meeting is
greater than any immediate pattern
of procedure which it may design. The
congress is a symbol of a trend in
national psychology. Time was when
thoughtful individuals sincerely be-
lieved that it was dangerous for the
populace to be permitted to enjoy any
freedom from toll. The old axiom
about Satan finding employment for
the idle was doctrine rigidly sup
ported. Now, with changing economic
circumstances, the issue is revived in
a new form, and sociologists, complet-
ing the circle, have come around to
the point where they again realize
that directed play is a social neces-
Sity. The alternative to a construc-
tive reCreational program is anarchy
and crime. No one supposes that the
present convention will evolve a COM
plete solution for the difficulty. That,
doubtless, will come only gradually.
The thing that is important is that
people want such help. So considered,
the Congress is a step toward the
more comprehensive fellowship which
is the American ideal Of citizenship.