davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star., 1934-01-30
A Pay.Cut Sufferer
Asks Only Fair Play

To the Editor of The Star:
have been reading with interest
from time to time various letters on
the pay cut sent in by your readers.
One from A. j. Shane has moved me
to take up my pencil and 90 likewise.
At present I am in bed with a severe
cold and temperature. No, am not
under my doctors care-our bill is al
ready big enough without adding
more to it.
It seems to me that if the Govern
ment clerks pay is to be based on liv-
ing expenses instead of value of Serv-
ices rendered. then it would be only fair
to take into consideration the size Of
the employees family. Naturally 500
for five people will not provide what it
will for one or two. We have two boys
in high school and one years old.
A. j. Shane's suggestion that one OF
those so strongly in favor of the cut
year is excellent. I strongly suspect
he wouldn't last the year.
Three years ago we started buying
q very modest little house here in
Clarendon. We have no furnace, only
stoves for heat; no bath, but running
water. However, we do have all out
doors for the youngest member. Since
suffering two pay cuts. we have fallen
behind on our house payments and are
in arrears on taxes.
I do not want sympathy. do not
want charity. What I want Is fair
play from q Government that Is en-
forcing fair play from private business
enterprises. B. B. VINCENT.
Evening star., 1934-01-30
Horticulture Rated as
One of the Fine Arts
Toine Editor of The Star.

To Inc Editor of The Star:
The American Civic Association has
just celebrated in Washington its thir-
tieth anniversary, and had as the hon.
ored guest DR. ]. Horace Mcfarland of
Harrisburg. DR.. Mcfarland is one of
the founders of the organization and
was its faithful president for over 20
years.
DR.. Mcfarland has quite recently
been further honored by being pre-
sented the gold medal of the Massa-
chusetts Horticultural Society for his
outstanding devotion to the culture of
roses. lifelong hobby. Here. then. are
two services to art by one who Is not
yet claSsed as an artist.
There are two motives which mA(e
mankind to activity: First-For the
protection and nourishment of the body.
and this absorbs most Of the time of
the average man. Second-The pur-
suit of those things which add beauty
and JOY to life and noQlS n the soul.
such as music, drama, poe ", painting.
sculpture and architecture, including
landscape architecture. In this cate
CORY I give first place to horticulture.
as it is the flower which man first
takes to his heart and cherishes as
long as he lives.
In the same field he may raise Vege-
tables for the nourishment of his body
and flowers for the delight of his soul.
As soon as the garden is divided into
two parts the care of the flower gar
den becomes horticulture.
What the American Civic Associa-
tion stands for is the betterment of life
in the many lines of soul nourishment
and not the least of which are the
flowers of the field"
1t is quite natural, then. that DR..
Mcfarland should stand full height
in both of these endeavors, which we
call the fine arts, for he is an artist.
H. K. BUSH-BROWN.
Evening star., 1934-01-30

heaven or hell, and the multitudes ex-
haust their lives in pursuit Of It for
the relief of their necessities. physical
and spiritual.
Hood sang of it as bright and yel-
low, hard and cold" but he knew full
well its power also to light q comfort
ing fire. Rivarol declared: "Gold, like
the sun, which melts wax and hardens
clay, expands great souls and con-
tracts bad hearts" and the metaphor
Is apt. Decker described the minted
ore as heavens physic, life's restora-
tive" and again the simile is defensible.
But an ancient proverb, employed by
Spenser and Lydgate as well as by the
Bard Of Avon. holds that "all that gilt
ters is not gold" And Young observes
Of the authentic commodity that 1t
"glitters most where virtue shines no
more, as stars from absent suns have
leave to shine" while Carlyle notes that
in fools hands the purest product
Of the mine Is a liability:
Midas longed for gold. He got gold,
so that whatever he touched became
little the better for 1t.
However, Gay rose in the metals be-
half in the philosophical lines:
Because my blessings are abus'd.
Must be cenSurd d, ours d, accuSd?
Even virtues self by knaves is made,
A cloak to carry on the trade.
And Samuel johnson, abundantly
acquainted with its lack, quoted the
axiom: ITO have gold is to be in fear
and to want it. to be in sorrow" Per-
haps his mind was in tune with the
unnamed sage who was willing to con-
cede that money is the root OF all
evil" so long as he might have a good,
large root Of it growing. well protected.
In his own backyard.
1t vas Cotton who indicted sophistry
on the subject by preaching:
Those who worship gold in world SO
corrupt as this We live in have at least
one thing to plead in defense of their
idolatry-the power of their idol. 1t is
true that, like other idols, it can neither
move, see, hear, feel nor understand;
but, unlike other idols, it has often COM
municated all these powers to those
who had them not. and annihilated
them In those who had This idol can
boast Of two peculiarities: it is wor-
shipped in all climates. without single
temple, and by all classes, without a
single hypocrite.
But 1t was Joseph Napoleon who
searched through to the heart Of the
mystery and discovered that: Gold is.
in it's last analysis, the sweat Of the
poor and the blood Of the brave" To
modern men, at least, it Is only SYM
boil of these intangible values-labor
and courage 1t would be helpful II
those who use the word carelessly might
be persuaded to remember that signi-
dcance.
Evening star., 1934-01-30
Veterans Bureau Critic
Corrected as to Errors
To the Editor of The Star:


The letter appearing in your issue of
January %, 1884. criticiZing the ad-
ministrative cost of veterans affairs as
excessive, contains statements which
were in error. The writer asserted that
last fiscal year only 1924 ,996,328 ac-
tually went to the veterans in CASH"
The fact is, this precise sum was paid
in pensions during that period to vet
Grams of wars prior to the World War
For the same period. $315,563013 was
paid in pensions to the veterans of the
World War and their dependents.
Space prevents complete itemizing OF
the various additional benefits paid.
These can be found on page 68 of our
annual report and will show that over
S700, 100000 was disbursed directly to
veterans and their dependents during
the last fiscal year.
Your correspondent took exception
to the designation of an employe of the
Veterans Administration as in charge
of press relations. The large number of
press inquiries received daily makes it
necessary that such detail be made. an
assignment which is customary in other
agencies of the Government. The OBJ
servation may be made also that pub
lished misstatements by uninformed or
misinformed persons. such as your cor
respondent above mentioned. call for
correction.
j. STEWART RICHARDSON.
Chief. Press Relations.
Evening star., 1934-01-30
Chevy Chase Car Riders
Call for Better Service

To the EDITOR OF Ihe star.
The public transportation problem in
Washington is becoming serious. I be-
lieve that this is an oppOrtune time to
arouse popular interest and action on
this problem. Recent merger of the two
street car companies certainly has not
improved the service to any appreciable
extent, at least in the area with which
! am familiar.
Whether the property owners realize
1t or not. present inadequate pubic
transportation facilities. combined with
a serious parking problem with respect
to private cars. is having an adverse
effect on the general value of real es-
tate in the District of Columbia. Par
ticularly is this true in the Chevy Chase
residential section.
Previous attempts made by few
public spirited citizens to get the street
car companies to do something about 1t,
and to arouse more drastic action on
the part of the Public Utilities Commis-
sion. apparently have failed. During
coming months there will be confer
ences with respect to these matters and
there will be studies made which may
affect the people of this city for some
time to come.
Many of us feel that there is no prob
lem of greater interest in this city to-
day which will merit your attention,
and urge you to give it your serious
consideration in line with your previous
good record of public service. than the
problem of public transportation.
Particularly do we feel in the Chevy
Chase area that the street car company
has failed absolutely to improve condi-
tions. Connecticut avenue is rapidly
becoming a bottle neck as far as traffic
is concerned. One street car line lead
ing into the area in question is made
quate. 1t is true that there is bus
line. but the excessive fare of Is cents
dlScourages most people in their patron
age of this particular service. The
buSses are uncomfortable in spite of the
fact that they are called de luxe" In
this connection I would like to know
by what right the company charges q
much larger bus fare on this line when
all other bus lines in the city have q
fare Of 10 cents. Are the people of the
Chevy Chase district singled out for
special exploitation? In spite of the
excessive fare charged, have been told
by great number OF people that these
busses are far more uncomfortable and
less desirable than the busses which
operate for 10 cents on Sixteenth street.
Many people have abandoned the use Of
this bus in favor of the street car.
II am correctly informed, petition
Of l40 citizens in this area for another
bus route, submitted about four years
ago, If not ignored. at least was not
given proper consideration.
am wondering Just how long this
condition will be allowed to continue.
JOHN RUEL MANNING.
Evening star., 1934-01-30
The Austrian Danger Spot.

Mother Earths troubled map is re-
plete at the moment with grim posi-
bilities-a revolutionary" cabinet crisis
In Paris, a threatened Anglo French
tariff war, a new disarmament deadlock
at Geneva and the Soviet Unions
avoWed fears of a clash with either
Japan or Germany, or with both-but
probably there is no more immediate
danger spot, in Europe at least, than
Austria. Chancellor Dollfuss minces no
words in foreshadowing the imninence
OF grave events.
Addressing leaders of the Peasants
League at Vienna on Monday, the
diminutive statesman, who is waging SO
gallant a fight to preserve his enact
ated country's independence, declared
that trouble on the Nazi front is brew
ing" and that Austrians are face to
face with fight to the death to save
themselves from the Hitler yoke. He
appealed to the peasants to risk life
and limb" In defense of the homeland.
1.-THE critical hour is approaching" DR..
Dollfuss said, and he fixed the moment
Of the anticipated Nazi offensive as the
approaching first anniversary Of Chan
cellor Hitler's assumption of power in
Berlin.
Similar warnings of crucial con-
hict with Nad power in Austria come
from Prince Won Starhemberg, chief OF
the Heimwehr, or home defense corps,
which is notoriously saturated with
NaI sentiment The prince admon-
ished his subordinate leaders to take
the law into their own hands without
compunction wherever it is necessary to
suppress Nazi sedition. No sign is lack
ing that the supreme Austrian authori.
ties believe decisive conditions are ap-
preaching. They are obviously pre-
Evening star., 1934-01-30
COmmends Resolution of
ID. A. r. on Immigration
TO the Editor of The Star.

10 the Eoitor OF The Star:
I am in no way affiliated with the
Daughters Of the Revolution. who re-
Gently had a convention here. but 1
am heartily in sympathy with the reso-
lutions which they adopted with re-
spect to immigration. If their resolu-
tion to exclude all immigration for a
period of two years were adopted it
would remove for that period every
basis which the Japanese now have for
the claim that our immigration laws
discriminate against them.
II their resolution for recurring aliens
to be ingerprinted and registered were
enacted into law it would make it easy
to detect and deport aliens who are here
IN violation OF cur laws. Aliens law
fully here would be benefited by such
a measure. for it would make it easy
for them to prove their right to be
here. President Hoover issued an exec
utive order requiring aliens hereafter
entering the country to be fingerprinted
but Miss Perkins. our Secretary of La
Dor. Cancelled that order after announc-
ing to the press that she intended to
follow so-called humane" policy.
President Theodore Roosevelt. in
speaking once at Harvard University.
referred to the public rdisservice rem
dered by officials who were afflicted with
seems that those who are now enforc-
seems that those who are now inforc-
ing our immigration and deportation
laws are afflicted with the infamma-
tion referred to by him.
The resolution of the Daughters of
the Revolution against admitting polit-
ical or religious refugees from Europe
is a wise one. Our immigration law
was enacted on the theory that this
country was no longer to be a dumping
ground for other nations, but rather
that our country was to be preserved
for our own people and their descend
ants. F. WILSON.
Evening star., 1934-01-30

, one could sit down upon occasion.
The horrible thought came that some
efficiency man (there were still few
Of those) would seize upon the oppor-
tunity to make regular rest periods"
every half hour or every hour, or some
thing
That would not do at all.
X X n X
Then Jones wondered what the exec
utives would do without their big pad
ded chairs.
He knew that there was q wide
spread belief among employees that ex-
ecutives did no work.
If executives stood, too, along with
the hands," such a silly belief could
not prevail
1t might be good for the big shots
while they were thinking up minor and
major strategy to stand up to it.
No one, of course, would want to de-
prive them entirely of their fine big
chairs. These chairs meant something
And, perhaps more to the point. they
were vastly comfortable.
*+&
From his full height of feet 8
| inches Templeton Jones looked down
on his own fine chair now standing
idle.
1t was a good chair, Of the strictly
executive, almost banker, type. Jones
loved every curve of his old Office chair
it was SO wide. SO deep, 50 comfortable
on all points.
Beneath it there was a mighty spring,
aided and abetted by several little
springs.
The duty of the big coil was to per-
init the sitter to tilt himself backward
without injury
The duty of the several small springs
was to assist the large one to permit
Jones to tilt back without injury.
A great deal of thought. good in
ventive genius, had been put on Jones,
it can be seen.
Somebody. somewhere. had invented
a chair, and somebody else, or perhaps
several of them, had built it.
Far across the land It had been
shipped, then carefully set up in dis
play room.
At last it came squarely into the
fine paneled Office of Templeton Jones,
esq. for that gentleman to sit in.
The only trouble. Jones thought
somewhat ruefully. was that he couldn't
sit In it.
He had been standing with his
weight on his left foot, he decided to
put 1t over on the right.
Between the right and the left, and
then both of them at once, standing
as soldier does. Terpleton Jones
found out that he got along very well.
He discovered that one worked up
more bodily heat punmeling the keys
of a machine while standing than
while sitting down, but this was not TO
be wondered at. since typing really Gre
ated a great deal of heat.
Some one once estimated that II a
person sat in a tub Of cold water and
began typing the water in the tub
would be raised to the boiling point in
no time at all.
Jones remembered disbelieving this
statement upon first seeing it, but he
was more inclined to put up with it
now.
AS he clacked away at his keys the
perspiration ran down his cheeks.
Perhaps there was great deal to be
said for the universal custom Of work
ing while seated after all. Jones
looked at his chair and sighed.
Evening star., 1934-01-30

pared on their own part to resort to
extreme measures to avert catas-
trophe. Between the lines Of their
publicly expressed concern turks trans
parent anxiety that they are none too
sure Of their ground.
Today Chancellor Hitler has sum-
moned his all-Nazi Reichstag in special
one-day session to consider purely in
ternal political reforms within what is
left Of the once autonomous several
German states. Herr Hitler would be-
stow a great boon upon nerve-wracked
Europe If he seized the occasion for
some reassuring indication Of German
policy toward Austria. The chancellor
has preached peace tmpressively on
numerous occasions and Solemnly ded-
icated the third Reich to its presersa-
ton. He has just given convincing
proof of pacific intent by signing ten
year pact with Poland. The moment
the heal of the Nazi state brings him.
self to assure Europe that Germany
harbors no@designs upon the independ-
ence of Austria. he will remove what
is undoubtedly one Of the most dis
quieting of existing menaces to world
peace.
Nazi power, unobstructed, could, Of
course, crush little Austria like the
eggshell which she Is But such an at
tempt would unquestionably find Ger
many arrayed against Italy, France
and Czechoslovakia as WELL That is a
prospect that will probably give Berlin
pause in its ambition to bring about
"Germanic union" through subjecting
Austria to actual or virtual domination
by the Nazi Reich.
Evening star., 1934-01-30
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL,

Suffering from an old-fashioned
complaint, Templeton Jones found 1t
easier to stand up than sit down.
Standing up to 1t Is rather strange
for a man who normally earns his
living sitting down.
Jones found the work came of bet
ter than he expected.
Could it possibly be that this was a
natural way Of working, even a type
writer?
Stand up to it like a man." Such
had been the injunction of the ages.
Jones stood up to 1t manfully, and
found it not as bad as he had antici-
pated.
Perhaps chairs ought to be abolished
in offices. after all.
Then Jones thought of a better
scheme
Let the desk chairs remain but re-
ouire that all the real work be done
standing.
Under such a modern dispensation
the workers would stand, the loafers
would sit.
Thus every one could see at a glance
who was working and who was not.
An Office could be run on the old
time minstrel show principle.
Gentlemen. be seated!"
Thus would the chief herald the
opening Of the days labors by half
hour devoted to cigars. cigarettes or
pipes and the gathering of national
and international news.
Then would come the solemn call to
duty:
Let us stand"
X X X \
Templeton Jones, whose work is along
the creative line with words, found his
thoughts came well while on his feet.
His ideas and his words, one with
the other, began to dance a stately
minuet.
1t seemed-at least to him-that
there was slightly more wit in what he
had under his hand, a bit more Of
vitality, just better writing than usual.
He wondered if he had been passing
up a great aid to thought all these
years.
He recalled that the great Victor
Hugo wrote standing up at bench,
able to look up and out a great sky
light at the stars over the British
Channel.
Clerks in English establishments, at
least according to many of their novel
lists, ordinarily worked in a sort OF
small well. with a desk quite high, to
which they had to stand.
Vaguely Jones remembered that GER
tain sorts of mental labor. including
that of bookkeeping. were done stand
ing. or at least that was his impress
sion. 1t was curious how little actual
knowledge one had of other mems
working habits and ways
He recalled the clerk in Dickens
Christmas Carol" who stood in his
we'll, issuing from 1t to receive the
froWns of old Scrooge
1t had seemed cruel. but maybe 1t
was kindness after all.
y
Perhaps standing office work would
be a general kindness. provided, OF
course that chairs were retained for
resting periods.
Yes, he would retain the chairs, Jones
thought
The modern office chair Is much
too good a piece Of furniture to do
away with.
Jones would keep it, so that every
Evening star., 1934-01-30
Aviation Preparedness.

The general staff's new aviation FIVE
year program Is announced before COM
pletion Of the first five-year program.
This first flve-year program, now some
seven years old, Is still a thousand
planes, more or less. short of realiza-
ton. But there are more significant
elements in the second five-year pro-
gram than mere paper plans for build
ing airplanes.
The new five-year program proposes
q new tactical weapon-an independent
air unit of 900 planes, complete within
itself as to bombers, attack and pursuit
planes, which would be handled as
unit at the discretion of the Command
er In Chief. Creation of such unit
presents the conception of a new first
line of defense and indicates grow
ing realization of the importance of the
airplane in modern warfare The new
unit probably comes nearer carrying
out Gen. William Mitchell's idea Of
separate air force than anything yet
projected by the general staff, although
1t does not suggest any consolidation Of
Army and Navy air forces.
Congress has given indications of be-
ing in an airplane building mood The
House Naval Affairs Committee has ap-
proved blanket authority for the Presi-
dent to build up naval aviation to a
strength commensurate with treaty
limitations, a plan that would involve
the construction Of eleven hundred new
planes at a cost of s95.0OO 900, and
practically double the Nays air force.
At the same time, Chairman McSwain
OF the House Military Committee has
introduced bill authorizing creation
OF Junior Air Corps Reserve as a
civilian component of the Army, in
which all qualified young men between
eighteen and twenty-one years old
could obtain the training to make them
pilots,
The general staffs five-year program
adopted seven years ago provided for
an Army Air Corps of about 2025
ships, with 1900 always ready for serv-
ice. This compares with the 2,184
"serviceable" airplanes that would be
available for the Navy, if the Navy air
force were expanded to treaty limits as
now proposed. But. like the Army's Air
Corps force of ships, the Navys air
fleet Is still largely in blueprint form
The Army Air Corps today has only
about 500 serviceable planes.
1t would be we'll if Congress decided
on an aviation policy that went little
further than making authorizations for
the Army and Navy air forces. These
authorizations, of course, are not of
great value unless they are backed by
the appropriations to carry them out
While adequate air forces should be
maintained for experimental and train
ing purposes, the idea Of governmental
aid In commercial aviation and assist
ance in training civilian pilots appeals
to many as the soundest form of avia-
ton preparedness. But whatever the
policy may be, one should be adopted
and the money made available to make
1t effective.
Evening star., 1934-01-30
Admission of Errors in New Deal Efforts
Regarded as Reassuring Sign of Progress

that's simply too crude to pass muster
and must be condemned.
In matters of this nature 1 do not
like to be specific. but there are men
in this country who have and scru-
pulously observe a high sense of po-
Etical propriety. That sort Of thing is
worthy of commendation, especially IN
face Of the all too common practice of
the exploitation of such connections
and the nepotism to the extent of the
inclusion of the whole, or practically
SC. of the entire family connections on
the Government pay roll.
JOHN w. HESTER.
Evening star., 1934-01-30

tive Office Such is not the case. Prob
ably it never was. But it is embarrass-
ing to an administration"
This business forms the sustenance
Of the predatory political machine as
viewed by the Miami Daily News. while
the Akron Beacon-Journal feels that
the resolute way the President has
started in to pitch his partys chiselers
into the outdoors will inspire new con-
fidence in his intent to keep the public
service on a plane of high integrity"
The Texarkana Gazette holds that the
lame ducks" have been responsible for
the development of the practice.
Evening star., 1934-01-30

Purchase of nitrates by both Russia
and Japan would. in view of peace pro-
testations. suggest an requirement of
munitions to be reckoned as frozen
assets. Lavishness of expenditure may
lead conservative japanese to follow the
practice in other countries and organize
financial investigation.