davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star., 1935-08-06
Fixing Gas Rates.

When the Potomac Electric Power co.
was fighting rate reduction and valua-
ton orders of the Public Utilities Com
mission it succeeded admirably in tying
both into knot of litigation that might
have defied unraveling for years to
come. The company spent lot OF
money defying rate reduction, the pub
lie lost lot of money that would have
been represented in rate reduction, and
nobody gained anything except i'll will.
Then the sliding scale formula OF rate
reduction, by a court order, was put into
effect and continued later by agreement
with the commission. The companys
business has increased, its rates have
been reduced every year since 1925 and
1t has made a name for itself through
out the country as a utility that not
only makes money, but reduces its rates
every year without a court battle. The
company and the community have
gained through the arrangement.
The situation regarding valuation and
rates of the gas company today is not
unlike that which involved the Potomac
Electric Power Co. previous to 1925.
The gas company has appealed the
utilities commissions valuation order.
Instead of rate reduction, the company
has made temporary eight-and- half
percent discounts. According to Mr..
Roberts, the company has spent upward
of s6oO,Oo0 in its valuation fight and the
end is not yet in sight. AS long as the
valuation fight proceeds new rate orders
will merely signal new litigation.
Mr.. Roberts has proposed the adop-
ton of sliding scale arrangement, COM
parable to the agreement with Pepco,
for fixing gas rates. AS prelude, the
company would reduce rates now by an
amount equal to about $4,000. Added
to the prevailing discount on bills OF
eight and half per cent, the reduction
to the consumer would amount to about
fifteen per cent. He imposes other con-
ditions, which the company is consid-
ering.
Certainly this method is preferable to
the continued and wasteful litigation
that marks the company's resistance to
regulation. 1t will, of course, require
agreement on matters on which the
company and the Public Utilities Com
mission are pretty far apart now. With
the company claiming valuation for
rates at about sS0,OOo,ooO and the COM
mission holding out for valuation OF
about $17,OOO0Oo, the gap is not easily
bridged. But more difficult things have
been accomplished before.
The Public Utilities Commission as
sumes the correct attitude in awaiting
the gas company's overtures regarding
Mr.. Roberts proposal. The gas COM
pany should be the petitioner. 1t would
seem that the company has more to
gain than lose in beginning negotiations.
Evening star., 1935-08-06
Change Constitution
Lest the Nation Perish
a the Editor of The star.

To the Editor Of The Star:
Who does not recall the campaign for
funds to preserve the old frigate, the
U. S. 8. Constitution? Yet hardly
would We think of sending that ship
out to sea to do battle with the present
armada of the world. The picture of
any such fight is ridiculous past the
point of laughter.
The old U. s. s. Constitution belongs
in a museum, does 1t not, as far as it
has any practical present worth? And
we preserve it, as we should, as an in
tereSting memento of our past. Thus
it has its value to stimulate us perhaps
to even better efforts, to remind us of
our humble beginnings and our original
thirst for liberty and independence.
And the U. s. S. Constitution was a
most invaluable implement in obtaining
our liberty and independence. But times
have changed-need it be remarked
since then, and the liberty and inde-
pendence of our country and its millions
of people must be safeguarded with
modern methods and equipment-else
we perish. ROWLAND F. DENISON.
Norwich, Conn.
Evening star., 1935-08-06

blossomed with youth on Summer night
parade, soft waltz tunes crept from
the encircling trees and merry laughter
rose and fell in the gentle tide of melody.
But the dream changed, as dreams
are apt to do. The hands of an unseen
clock sped back to Good Queen Bess'
glorious days, and the thinker beheld
Hampton Court and under its towers
Elizabeth with Raleigh and Drake, viii
Shakespeare and hundred other stars
of her reign--girls in farthingales
weighted with embroidery and young
men in tunics and slashed trunks Of
costly silk. That muddied cloak which
Sir Walter sacrificed to the conven-
ience of his sovereign truly was worth
the reward it brought-what museum
exhibits it's like in the epoch of the
Palm Beach suit!
The reverie collapsed with the first
notes of the symphony, but the re-
membrance of it fingered, though it was
only an adventure of the mind and be-
longed to a civilization which has been
swept away to make room for improve
ments like streamlined motors. super
heterodyne radios. mechanical refrigera-
tors, the A. A. A, midget money and
shorts"
Evening star., 1935-08-06
Shooting Stars.
BY PHILANDER JOHNSON.

Not Entirely Unhappy.
When the Summer time has started
in TO simmer
And the cooling breeze has halted far
away:
When the dawn gives forth a super
heated glimmer,
And the sun keeps getting hotter
through the day;
When the mind is filled with dreams
of a vacation
On mountain heights or by the ocean
foam,
You are sorry for the luckless situation
OF the fellow who's obliged to stay
at home.
But he doesn't have to hustle in the
morning
To catch a train to bear him from
the town.
He doesn't hear the locomotives warning,
And quail beneath the ticket takers
frown.
He isn't jostled, fretted and detested
BY the others who are rushing forth
to roam.
There is comfort in the freedom un-
molested
Of the fellow who's obliged to stay
at home.
Evening star., 1935-08-06
Indorses Presidents
Taxation Proposals

To this Editor Of The Star:
Various articles and editorials in your
paper to the effect that the Roosevelt
tax proposal was "hasty" and "ill-con-
ceived" and satisfactory to no one" are
inconsistent with the sentiments Of the
overwhelming mass of the population of
this country. Spokesman in Congress
and the large newspapers of the coun-
try championing the cause of the poor
rich man know nothing Of, or are not
concerned about, the sentiments of the
people know. The truth of the matter
is that such spokeSmen and newspapers
are expressing the views of a very mill
tant and powerful, but also a very de-
cided minority, and the people whom
I know have been little heard from as
yet.
have no quarrel with those who may
object to the proposed taxes in rela-
lively minor details, but to those who
would oppose them in substance, or
altogether, I would say that it is as
fair a proposal as was ever made. Tell
the farmer, who has been struggling for
a lifetime at honorable labor in the
most basic and necessary of industries
in an effort to pay for small farm, of
the pitiful plight of the poor, suffering,
rich man, who now must content him.
self with a million and a half a year
whereas formerly it would have been
considerably more. Surely he would be
moved to tears. Or tell the sad story to
the laboring man who puts the materials
together and does the actual building.
No doubt he would be similarly affected
No, the astonishing thing is that such q
e,tnnacfin,1 frnodo 1pnn
What are some of the pointless argu-
ments they use? First, they say that
the proposed taxes will not be enough to
pay the deficits and reduce the public
debt. OF course, any reasonable, we'll
informed man will probably agree that
that is true and be prepared for what
is coming, but using the same line Of
reasoning, it is wonder that some one
has not thought to suggest that because
taxes on those with incomes of $l00, 900
a year and over would not of themselves
be sufficient to meet the expenditures of
our Government. therefore such incomes
should not be taxed at all.
Secondly, they say that the tax base
will have to be broadened. In all proba-
bility that is So but again 1t has nothing
to do with the honesty and fairness of
Tie pTeSeHL pIOpOSdl, anu tllcIe Is HOLH-
ing to prevent subsequent action in that
direction at any time.
Thirdly, they say that the poor rich
man cannot afford such taxes. Tell that
one to the farmer, too. I am sure you
can picture him nodding his assent.
Your articles and editorials are all
right so long as they do not purport to
speak for people I know. Those people
are solidly behind the President.
JOHN H. LINTON.
Evening star., 1935-08-06
War and Peace Tolls.

New York is engaging in a campaign
against motor casualties, even as Is
Washington and as virtually every other
city in this country has occasion to do
For the traffic problem in America is
today one of the most important outside
of the field of economics and business
recovery, that confronts the people. In
the course of New York's campaign it
is resorting to posters which are to be
distributed by thousands throughout the
city for display. One Of them has just
been described in the news reports. 1t
presents two pictures, the devastation of
war and the destructivenesS of the badly
driven motor car. 1t bears this legend:
"War-A. E. F., Eighteen months. Killed
5O,31O wounded 1854" This is accom-
panied by the following: Peace. Motor
vehicle accidents, eighteen months ended
June 20, 1885. Killed $1,000, injured
1904, ,00O"
There is the contrast the tragic dem
onstration that Americas traffic toll Is
heavier and more deadly than the toll
of war. Something may have been
gained through the sacrifices of the war.
Historians will argue about that for a
long time to come. But there is no ques-
tion on the score of the traffic casualties.
There was no profit in them, no gain,
no advantage and no contribution to the
public welfare. Just needless loss, a
waste of life and limb and health. And
the cause of it was mans selfish, heed
less haste, the thoughtless urge to get
somewhere in a hurry.
Evening star., 1935-08-06
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

There is no prettier flower in tn.
garden than the aster.
And none harder to raise.
Who can remember when the annual
aster was to be found in every yard?
1t wasn't very long ago.
Every one grew aSters then. You will
go FOR miles to-day without seeing a
one of them.
Even many gardeners who regard them
as the best of all ANIMALS reluctantly
leave them out of planting plans.
Now this is really too bad, for truly
there is no flower finer, in its way.
X X 4
The old-timers spoke Of the garden
variety as the Chinese aster. Calliste-
phus hortensis is the plant from which
our garden varieties were derived. G.
Chinensis Is the original Of the So
called China aSter.
From these two parents have sprung
the various types advertised in the seed
catalogues.
Between the wilt. the yellows, the
root lice and the aster beetle, however.
this old favorite has been almost driven
out of our yards.
While extreme good fortune may re-
cuIV Ill a IlOHs dAOlib WAOAh D
attention, probably the surest way to
grow asters successfully today is to
plant in ground never before used for
them.
The finest specimens we have seen
in the past 10 years were so grown. The
next year, in the same situation, they
were failure.
Few plants show the multiplication
of enemies better than the old-faSh-
ioned aster.
1t is common discussion among home
gardeners, how no one in the old days
bothered about insects, or fungi, yet
had beautiful flowers.
Today all is different although some
plants, Of course, are harder than others.
Roses suffer largely from the black spot
and from fungus growth.
The gladiolus seemed immune until
about three years ago. when an infeS-
tation of a small insect popularly called
the 'thrip" spread all over the United
States.
Often some one asks why this is so,
why pests spread so rapidly today.
The answer we believe, is simply that
the widespread interest in gardening.
especially as city avocation for tired
business men and others, has led to
the purchase of plants from all parts
of the country.
Thus infected material has been car
ried from coast to coast, whereas If all
persons bought such plants and shrubs
as they needed from nurseries close at
hand. comparatively small area of
infection would result, in case any re-
suited at all.
Modern enterprise reaches out in all
directions.
Universal travel by automobile, too,
may have played part. 1t is easy TO
carry plants from one area to another.
Whatever may be the causes it is an
undeniable fact that the home grower,
especially of flowers, must contend now
adays with inimical factors utterly un-
known a generation or two ago.
The sad part of it is that even with
unremitting attention, it is not always
possible to grow plants satisfactorily.
Take the garden, or annual, aster.
The four forms Of attack directed
against it by Nature are often more
than the plant can survive, even with
the best help Of man.
The 'yellows" explains itself. The
plant, often just about to bloom, be-
Evening star., 1935-08-06
Stone Walls and Iron Bars.

When Richard Lovelace wrote his IA
nous poem, ITO Althea From Prison"
in 1912, he was incarcerated for having
presented to the British Commons pc
tition in behalf of King Charles I. In it
he penned two lines that have become
part of the current language Of the
English-s speaking people. stone walls
do not prison make, nor iron bars
cage" Latter-day involuntary guests OF
the State have proved the truth of that
epigram. Prisons have been broached
so often and so easily that there is little
assurance of custody. Jailbreaking has
become almost fine art. Scarce week
passes without some delivery of con-
victs, followed by intensive pursuit and
usually tragedy. The stone walls have
yielded to the tunnellers and the iron
bars to those who have been surrepti-
tiously supplied with cutting tools or who
have contrived them out Of the odds and
ends of materials secreted by them. John
Dillinger broke Jail with the aid, it is
understood, of merely wooden gun"
though there is suspicion that he was
abetted from the inside.
Now comes a proposal from United
States Marshal John j. Murphy Of Mas
sachusetts and one of his deputies, John
Hall, that the iron bars of detention be
replaced by iron tubes, or pipes which,
kept filled with water, give warning
whenever breach is made in them by
an alarm set of by the change of pres
sure. Stone walls will remain, of course,
but the iron bars will be at once
means of detention and of detection.
Furthermore, it is proposed that a system
of supplementary pipes be introduced
into the cells from which, upon the fall
ing of the water pressure when the cell
grill is broached, will come streams Of
tear gas, steam or some other choking
Evening star., 1935-08-06
Presents a Different
Definition of Capital
To the Editor OF The Star:

To the Editor OF The Star:
Your effort to define capital as
money" indicates a lack of under
standing of fundamental economies
Capital is that portion of previous pro-
duction which endures to render useful
service, as contrasted with the portion
consumed.
Abstract human productive ability Is
capital in prenatal condition, just as
this same universal raw MATERIAL
from which all wealth is mainly made
is consumer goods and services in the
abstract.
A factory building or a machine is
capital. A bridge, road, park or other
useful public improvement is capital
owned collectively. which pays dividends
direct in the form of satisfactions, in
stead of in money, exchangeable for
satisfactions! Money is a medium of
exchange. It is but minor item of the
Nations real capital.
The principal capital is the latent
ability of our 100000 potential pro-
ducers to create, by manual or mental
toll, perhaps $3.50 900 900 900 of new values
per annum. Such asset-on 20 times
earnings basis-is worth perhaps three
trillion dollars potentially. When
enough of us will learn that we will
stop wasting productive ability in in
voluntary idleness. We will buy, collec-
lively through current taxation, that
portion of our own maximum output
which we currently fail to buy as indi-
viduals and as lesser groups than the
whole Nation.
Then there will be no more involun-
tary idleneSS and no more depressions.
The Nations potential income. in excess
of $50, 1000, 900 900 a year, vii be con-
tinuously its actual income.
LEWIS L. BAXTER,
Evening star., 1935-08-06
Costumes of Yesterday.

One of the most popular attractions
Of Washington is the display of gowns
worn by wives of the Presidents, shown
in the Old National Museum Building
of the Smithsonian Institution. Crowds
of people inspect the exhibition daily,
and the experience prompts a convic-
ton that women always have been
attractively dressed. Some basic ele-
nsnt of good taste is involved. The
feminine half of creation, it seems, in
variably has been possessed of certain
peculiar skill to be charming. Whether
one prefers the mode of Martha Wash
ington's day or that of Grace Coolidge
is. of course, matter of personal pre-
dilection; but it appears to be abun-
dainty evident that either lady would
have looked lovely in any costume-a
whole century of time divided them,
but Martha could have worn Graces
laces and Grace could have worn
Martha's velvets and brocades.
Yet a Washington man with some
thing of the poets spirit in his heart
recently called attention to the power
which the clothing of less drab and
commonplace eras of history undoubt-
edly had to dramatize a crowd. He
referred especially to the thousands
assembled to hear the National Sym
phony Orchestra at sunset concert
on the bank of the Potomac. Suppose"
he said, that all these multitudes of
people were attired In the fashions of
the crinoline age: wouldn't they make
a pictured" And those hearing him
smiled, not unappreciatively. The no
ton prompted exercise of the imagina-
ton. Somewhere against an all-but-
forgotten proscenium of the mind there
rose a pageant of romantic evenings
long ago. In thought Lawrences por-
trait in the Wallace Collection came
alive, and Queen Victoria, young and
rarely beauteous, stepped down from
the frame to take the hand of tall and
handsome Prince Albert. They walked
through paradisial garden to greet
as guests Eugene and Napoleon, as pic
turesquely personable as themselves in
raiment colorful as their own. The lawn
Evening star., 1935-08-06

but few are powerful enough to disturb
the molecular structure of the particles
it contains and, in consequence, are
powerless to change heredity. The body
may be attacked by germs, ravaged by
disease. impaired by injurious habits,
or broken by accidents without any
apparent effect upon the only physical
thing which the individual passes on to
his children.
Because of the almost complete I'M
changability of genes, the Carnegie in
vestigators point out, children are ge-
netically protected from the physical
and mental defects and handicapS
acquired by their parents. On the
other hand, they are denied the oppor-
tunity of profting genetically from the
advantages accumulated by their an
cestors who have lived wisely.
But this does not mean, they insist,
that environment is of no Importance.
Environmental factors determine the
way in which the genes express them
selves in the development of an Or
ganism. A fortune environment may
enable an individual with a poor in
heritance to live long life. On the
other hand, conditions may be so bad
that one with the best possible in
heritance may succumb to them.
Evening star., 1935-08-06

comes yellow overnight and topples
over. The flowers, Of course, do not
unfold.
The wilt is an allied disease. 1t, too,
can put out of commission a plant
which the evening before seemed in
prime condition.
Roct lice are colorless forms Of aphids
the so-called lice), which do their
work underground.
An attempt may be made to control
them by boring a hole about 2 inches
from each plant and pouring down a
solution of nicotine sulphate.
Even when this seems to succeed
the resulting plants and flowers are not
up to standard.
Various sprays have been recon-
mended for the other ailments. The
aSter beetle is immune to everything
except hand picking and immersion in
kerosene or other noxious fluid.
1t cannot be gainsaid that, even II
one succeeds half way with the aster,
he has failed miserably, in contrast with
the fresh beauty of perfect flowers.
Properly grown, without disease of any
kind, there is no flower, certainly among
the better known ones, of more genuine
beauty.
1t can hold up its head in company
with the faireSt examples of the florists
skill
When the home gardener succeeds
in getting some real blossoms, they will
rivet the eye of every one, no matter
how many varieties of flower he has
or how expensive the others may be.
In their exquisite tones Of lavender,
pink and white Eyes, there are tones
in white), they are unrivaled.
They combine touch of the common
with a touch of the exquisite. Hence
everybody loves them. Nobody is too
high or too low for the aster. 1t
was found in the humble dooryard, and
in the conservatory of the rich.
Now, alas, one seldom sees 1t unless
in new ground.
Those who move into new homes
ought to think of the aster before all
the roses in the world, for in fresh
soil they will have very good chance
to succeed.
Good cultivation. plenty of air and
some lime are good, but not enough
in themselves to insure success.
Yes, it is true that a wilt-reSisting
aSter has been put on the market with
what success we do not know. Even
at best, however, there are three other
terrible enemies.
The perennial, or hardy, aster is best
known in its form of New England
aster, Aster Novae-Angliae.
This, too, is a member of the COM
posite family, but there the resemblance
ends.
1t grows to feet high, its purple
and lavender flowers blooming in
Autumn.
There are many varieties of it, but
perhaps none Is better than one just
named.
Practically nothing seems to harm it.
The trouble, some say, is to keep it from
spreading all over the place. This has
always seemed a queer complaint. AS
if one could not pull them up!
Those who have given up the garden
aSter, as too hard to grow, should try
the so-called New England form, by all
means
1t will not be the glorious annual,
however, whose name means star" the
flower which Gretchen used to tell her
love to Faust.
Evening star., 1935-08-06

Railroads are considering a reduction
of rates. Tax payers provide fine high
ways. but they are so crowded with COM
mercial vehicles that passengers seeking
comfort might easily be persuaded to
return to the tracks.
Evening star., 1935-08-06

A naval race is form of competition
that must lack the enthusiasm which
attaches to sporting event. The win
ner is the one who can defend himself
and still keep from going broke.
Evening star., 1935-08-06
A Rhyme at Twilight
By
Gertrude Brooke Hamilton
Good Fellows Together

Good Fellows Together
When the trout leap highest and tang
is in the air
Three men fish together in a far-off
mountain lair.
One an orator conspicuous for his gifted
tongue,
One a jurist on whose wit the higher
courts have hung,
One well known for good story in the
banquet hall,
In the rating of their city fluent takers
all.
In the mountain fastnesS, drinking
water from a spring,
These three noted takers listen to the
brides sing.
An old law between them is to seldom
speak aloud,
Stunning witticisms that won plaudits
from the crowdl
Evening star., 1935-08-06
The Match Test

From the Worcester CMass) Gazette.
Workers in Japanese match factories
are now being paid bonuses for good
work. And the first fellow to make one
match light out of five gets gold
medal.
Evening star., 1935-08-06
Helpful.

Have you found your son helpful on
the placer"
Kind o." replied Farmer Corntossel.
1.-THE hired help seems more willin' to
stick around an cut the grass since
Josh undertook to teach EN- to play
golf"
Evening star., 1935-08-06

Hitler is being reminded that it is
impossible fo- any government however
powerful to persecute everybody all at
once.
Evening star., 1935-08-06

The Filipinos are on their way to
independence, with no assurance, how
ever, that they can protect themselves
from foreign entanglements.
Evening star., 1935-08-06
Too Absurd!

From the Charleston g. CO. Evening Post.
No one imagined that Mussolini would
go to the trouble of shipping 10000
italian troops to Africa and then bring
them back without Q war.
Evening star., 1935-08-06
Alert Attention.

AIert ALtentI0n.
What gave you your start in public
life?" asked the biographer.
"1 haven't time to think about that
now," replied Senator Sorghum. What
I'm looking out for now is the way I'm
liable to get my finish"