davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star., 1935-03-09

Thirty centuries ago the Egyptians
were operating stills and probably pro-
ducing alcohol.
But they knew too much, or not
enough, to drink the product.
These are the conclusions Of L. Z
Warren. Department Of Agriculture
chemist, presented the other night
before the Washington branch Of the
American Chemical Society. which he
has reached after an exhaustive study
of the practical chemistry Of the
Egyptians as revealed by papyrus
manuscripts. wall paintings and ar
theological remains.
Ordinarily, discovery of the art OF
distilling is attributed to the Arabians
or to the medieval alchemists. 1t
became q lost art with the decline Of
Egypt. Mr.. Warren's chief evidence
for Egyptian distilling is a passage in
q manuscript now in the British Mu-
scum describing the penalty Of the
peach" Egyptian priests who re-
vealed secrets Of their orders were put
to death with some poison derived
from peach stones.
When all the possibilities are con-
sidered, Mr.. Warren told the chem
lists, the only poison which fits the de-
scription is hydrocyanic acid which
could have been obtained in sufhcient
quantities only by distiling the peach
stones. They might have been Ter
mented, but 1t would have required
an enormous amount of the juice to
have killed any one, whereas q few
drops Of the distilled product would
have been enough.
There Is also evidence that the
Egyptians were distilling oil OF tur-
/ pentine. The basis of some Of the
varnishes used In their tombs has
been shown to be beeswax. Oh OF
turpentine is the only practical SOL
vent for beeswax. Proof that tney
| actually made alcohol is still incom-
plete, although there is some evidence
that they used alcohol lamps to light
the dark interiors of the tombs while
the wall decorators were at work.
Whether or not Egyptians had
learned to distill alcohoEand MI.
Warren believes they hardly could
have helped discovering 1t once they
had learned the distillation process
they were accomplished winemakers
| and brewers. A strange kind OF beer,
he finds, was the favored drink OF
the laborers. It was made OF toasted
bread crumbs which were soaked In
water and the extract mixed with
matted barley.
The worlds oldest civilization, MIR.
Warren told the Warrington chem
lists, also had mastered beauty chem
istry." Instead of using rouge, the
grand ladies Of the court painted
their faces green, using ground mala-
chite. . green copper ore. mixed with
hippopotamus fat or goose grease.
They also used mercury sulphide and
antimony sulphide for painting their
| eyebrows black. The latter was poison
and they knew it, but the demands
! Of beauty were stronger than those OF
health.
In the field of biological chemistry,
he pointed out, the Egyptian priesta
had more than SOC different drugs for
use % medicines, poisons, etc. About
20 Of them are still IN the American
Ipharmacopea. $500 years later. More
J over, thsy had nads couaidsrahls
Evening star., 1935-03-09
Rate by Mail-Payable in Advance.
Member of the Associated Press.
Unsatisfactory Compromise.

AS so often happens when an effort
Is made to evade an issue by compro-
missing with principle. the Senate sub
committee handling the Treasury-Post
Office appropriation bill has succeeded
merely in damaging the principle.
The compromise on the issue raised by
the McKellar patronage rider reflects
no credit on the subcommittee and
will leave no one satisf1ed-least Of all
those who regarded that rider as a
dangerous blow to the principle OF
merit system and civil service pro-
lection.
Senator McKellar was anxious to
get rid of some 700 prohibition agents
who, he claimed, had been appointed
under the preceding administration
and were being carried over into a
Democratic administration. The fact
. is that all these agents. regardless OF
their politics or the politics of the ad-
ministratioa under which they were
selected, had passed competitive civil
service and rigorous character exami-
nations when originally placed under
the civil service Controller General
McCarl ruled that not only these en-
ployes, but hundreds Of others, would
have to take new examinations as pro-
vided for in the McKellar rider or lose
their pay. Some of them declined to
take the examination and some OF
them failed to pass it.
But the principle at stake was
whether, by rider on an approprla-
ton bill, those already possessing
civil service status should be placed
in jeopardy by being forced to take
a new examination. Secretary Nor
senthau, with others, has severely
condemned what has been generally
construed as a grave threat to civil
service protection should the precedent
established by the McKellar rider be
permitted to stand.
Well, it apparently stands. The
compromise reached by the subcom-
nittee provides that those affected by
the rider shall receive the pay for
the latter half of the current fiscal
year-denied them under the rider
but that about $50 of them are to
lose their positions at the end of the
fiscal year. Lose their positions
why? Because they failed to pass a
new examination which they were
forced to take on the assumption that
they were political appointees.
For the first time in fifty years, Mr..
Morgenthau pointed out the other
day, Congress has seen fit to encroach
upon the jurisdiction of the Civil
Service Commission in the administra-
ton of the civil service laws and reg
ulations. That encroachment is un-
fortunately approved, even though the
approval came in through the back
door. by the unsatisfactory COM
promise just announced. Once the
barrier Of principle is broken down,
other even more direct encroachments
are to be feared.
Evening star., 1935-03-09

he live to himself alone. It IL Q 30
cial scheme Of existence in which all
races. all nations. all classes. all per-
sons are but integral parts. and hu-
manity will rise or fall In the ratio
Of increasing recognition Of that
fundamental verify. The common
lot." the common struggle and the
common victory. It appears. should
be better, recognized and the policy
Of states, communities and individ-
uals adjusted accordingly.
Evening star., 1935-03-09
Continuity.

The basic fact Of history is that Of
continuity. On occasion, Of course,
it may seem to an observer that hu-
manity achieves a definite break with
the past, but actually no such event
ever happens. Instead, life flows like
a river-an integrated tide in which
each constituent atom is related to its
kind
To illustrate the principle as 1t ap-
plies to cultural evolution, the geneal-
ogy of Italian painting, compiled by
Adolfo Ventura, may be cited:
Leonardo learned from Verrocchio:
Raphael from Perugino and, indi-
rectly, through Timoteo della Vite,
from Francia; Michelangelo from
Bertoldo and Signorelli; Correggio
from Bianchi-Ferrari, Mantegna and
Costa; Giorgione and Titan from Gio-
vanni Bellini.
Individually these artists were
acknowledged masters and made their
own distinctive contributions to the
universal treasury of esthetic achieve
ment; but none of the number was
isolated from the instruction and
the discipline Of constructive social
pressure-each had a teacher, each
labored within the normal boundaries
Of his place, his time and his art.
And the same rule prevails in the
field Of science. A glance at the
copious notes which Charles Darwin
wrote into his Origin of Species" and
Descent Of Man" will suffice to show
that even he was indebted to his fel.
lows. He quotes scores Of other re-
searchers, acknowledges his obligation
to q long list of forerunners and con-
temporaries.
But the endless chain of IDEAS
perhaps can be more effectively DEM
onstrated by reference to the circum-
stances Of the birth of Sir Isaac New
ton practically at the moment of the
death of Galileo-the one seeker after
truth came into the earthly scene
just as the other departed. It also
can be shown, directly and tangibly,
by the connection between James
J Watt. Sir HuInphry Davy and Mi
chael Faraday-together they consti-
! tuted a brotherhood of philosophers
spanning the period 1876 to 1867. A
comparable fraternity was that of
William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor
Coleridge, Robert Southey, Charles
Lamb and Thomas De Quincy-they
polished their genius In letters CO.
operatively.
An elemental law may be detected
in the circumstances. As man does
not live BY bread alaps, neither does
Evening star., 1935-03-09
A Rhyme at Twilight
By
Gertrude Brooke Hamilton
Hearth Fires

In the afterglow Of strident hours,
At the end of the daily battle,
The cars are moving through the town
Like herds Of homing cattle.
Roseate flames on many hearths
Burn bright in the tender cleaning
To warm the ones who come driving In
From the money marts and the
roaming.
Only homing men can know the lure
On nights when snow Is falling
OF glowing lamps and tended fires
And children's voices calling.
Evening star., 1935-03-09
SHOOTING STARS.
BY PHILANDER JOHNSON.

Pride.
Here's health to the Prince who has
recently said.
As obsequious batteries grew,
Remember, pray when your losing
your head
That I am a mortal, like you.
Recalling the Image In which all
were made,
I'm claiming dignity due
To one who is weary Of empty parade
And is proud to be human, like you. "
Evening star., 1935-03-09

agreement with . writer is always an
interesting one.
In the preface to q book by . great
Russian, the translator asserts that
the way for the reader to get the
most out Of him is to concentrate on
what he agrees with, not what he dis
agrees with.
This undoubtedly Is true, as every
one knows who has read at all.
Yet the temptation to disagree !.
insistent, even to the point OF tots1
rupture.
Templeton Jones had this brought
out very strikingly the other day ir
regard to o work he was reading.
He found the book much to his lik'
ing until the last chapter.
Then he exploded with . loud bang
Jones found himself fuming in.
wardly, and he knew from many pas,
experiences that when he began tt
boil mentally he pretty soon woult
spill over into words.
It was always so.
It always Is so, not only with Jones
but with all readers.
It was at this point that Mr.. Jones
remembered the words OF the trans
lator. that one should not fret over
passages with which one cannot agree
but pay chief attention to what u
good In . writer.
Before he came to this wisdom
however, he had taken q pencil and
indited words of strong disagreement
on the margins Of the pages he dis
liked.
"Atrocious rot" he had written al
one place; Ut others he had indicated
his main disagreements with the
statements Of the author.
After he recalled the admonitions
however, he shamefacedly rubbed
out all his remarks with q big, sof,
eraser and left the pages to the au.
thor alone.
Why should he violently dispute
even in the secret places Of his owr
mind?
He knew, as all know. that 1t Il
impossible for two human beings tc
agree in every detail about anything
1t never has been done, and 1t never
will.
Surely this Is a good thing to keer
in mind, for by doing SO reader will
save himself from much perturbation
as we'll as from being unfair to the
writer before him.
Consider the ardent champion oi
feminism, who feels that the use ol
such words as man" "he" and his
indicates "man-mindedness" in
writer.
The poor fellow, in trying to con-
slider abstract subjects, simply ad.
heres to the common custom, with
out straining to find a safely neutra
mode of expression.
Even women writer's, when 81
thinking, use the word man" in q
perfectly indefinite way and refer tt
him and Ibis" without thought OF
sex.
Every one. from time to time. ha.
been offended at the use OF Il" anc
my" in articles.
Their use. undoubtedly, grows upor
one, so that often enough an article
may be fairly sprinkled with them
without a writer being aware Of any
lapse.
1t then has been the fashion, with
some persons, to encircle such words
often with truly laughable results
since the prominence then given such
usage makes them strike the eye q,
much too much Of q good thing.
One may submit that such a pro-
cedure Is rather unfair to writer
although no doubt at times it may
have good results.
The worst effect, however. undoubt.
edly Is on the mind Of "him-her" who
succumbs to the desire to concentrate
Evening star., 1935-03-09

The organized musicians might ex-
ercise more political influence If they
could withdraw their services from
all street parades that did not please
them.
Evening star., 1935-03-09

The reduction to the absurd is the
important element of formal reason
ing. 1t loses its value in case a pub
lie becomes bereft Of a sense Of
humor.
Evening star., 1935-03-09

Whether or not married people are
permitted to hold positions on the
pay roll, there should be absolutely
no mercy shown to any gigolos lurk-
ing in the ofing.
Evening star., 1935-03-09
Gesture.
From the Sacramento Bee.

| From the Sacftmento Bee.
The Kansas Legislature Is going to
vote on . bin to create . navy, which
probably Is just somebody's way Of
trying to prove Kansas Is not so dry
after all.
Evening star., 1935-03-09
A Spoil Sport.

From the Paducah tKyJ sun-Demoerat.
A Boston auctioneer opened trunk
and found flye hand grenades, thus
int@ruptiug . quaint practical Joke
"a some haSsass suAsher.
Evening star., 1935-03-09

Propaganda In school books would
put the play-loving youth at an ad-
vantage over the bright little young
ster who always knows his lessons by
heart.
Evening star., 1935-03-09

So far as Al Smith is concerned,
the record has become so complicated
that he may never call on friends to
look at it again.
Evening star., 1935-03-09
BOyminded.

BOyminded.
II you're "boyminded," be advised,
And soon be psychoanalyzed
So that your tendencies may be
Set plainly forth for all to see.
We like to follow with the band
II you will help US understand
What boyish model you select
Your aspirations to direct;
A gentle, sweet Lord Fauntleroy
Or just rough-neck Peck's Bad Boy!
Evening star., 1935-03-09

Russian entertainers could do much
to relieve the gathering gloom in their
native land by entertaining in Russia.
Evening star., 1935-03-09

1t is impossible to be other than
optimistic when 1t is remembered
what winners Of Nobel Prizes have
done for the world.
Evening star., 1935-03-09
A Scholastic Deficiency.

From the worcester Evening Gazette.
That plan for exchange Of students
between this country and Japan would
obviously make more Of hit In uni
versity circles II the japanese were
better halfbacks.
Evening star., 1935-03-09
Sense Of Neatness.

Sense Of NeatneSS.
'What Is Crimson Gulch going to
do about these fellers who are carry
ing ON q continuous street fight?"
Keep 'em locked out in the street, !"
answered Cactus Joe. I'VE don't want
'em shootin' up our nice new jail"
Evening star., 1935-03-09

Jud Tunkins says he has just found
out that the pink slip is just piece
Of paper and not the old Mother Hub
bard wrapper grandma used to scold
about.
Evening star., 1935-03-09
Titles.

"How would you like to be q king
fish?"
"The title would not be big enough, d"
said Senator Sorghum. IF we're 60
ing to the aquarium for designations,
the fish commission will have to
propagate q dictator fish"
Evening star., 1935-03-09
Glowing Again.

CtOWulnS again.
Back to the clowning days Of yore
We travel and turn back the clock
To scenes that can do little more
Than bring about some sudden
shock.
Evening star., 1935-03-09

In prohibitions time we traced
The old idea ever gay
And for our comedy we placed
The seltzer syphon on display.
In dialogue, that does not hurt,
We seek for q hilarious shout,
And old-time humor to assert
We bring that ancient slapstick out
"a p'litical job," said Uncle Eben
don't allus put man on de roll o.
honor simply because he's on Dc pc,
roll"
Evening star., 1935-03-09

vOltalreS OeSC Oh oil pUSSlulC "o'AAo AZ
"Candide." If. under present condi-
tions in the British textile industry.
Mr.. Fisher, who is q woolen manufac-
turer. can be optimistic, his views are
at least of some interest. They are
quite definite. not merely pipe dreams,
however their prophecy may turn out.
He believes q new trade cycle Is unoer
way which will bring such prosperity
throughout the world as has never
vet been known. The gold standard
tradition came to an end, ne says,
when the United States abandoned 1t
in April, 1888. He dramatically pic
lures the nations Of the world strug-
Cling like inhabitants of the Inferno
to roll a Sisyphus ball which looks like
gold up hill and from time to time
being crushed by it as it rolls back.
Finally they give up the hopeless task
and let the ball 60, and behold! 1t COL
lapses and reveals in its center only a
tiny piece of real gold. He sees the
mountain of debt which Is crushing
the world being cut away. and prom
ises to pay in time and services re-
placing promises to pay IN money.
"And when the turn comes, nothing
can prevent the entire herd of hu-
manity riding to prosperity upon 1t.
the foolish and incompetent as well as
the careful and fsr-sighted." Mr..
Fishers ideas are not Of course en-
tirely original. but he expresses them
with picturesque vigor. The sugges-
ton for payment of debts in services
Is familiar in connection with the
European war debts.
n + 4
FOOD AND HEALTH. BY Henry G.
Sherman. New York: The Mac
milan Co.
Probably at about the time when
each inhabitant of the United States
possesses his own airplane and land
ing stage on top of his house or in
his back yard, he will also possess
his own chemical laboratory for the
analysis Of foods, to find those suit
able for himself and his family and
not incompatible with their personal
al1ergy. The old knowledge OF pro-
teins, carbohydrates and fats, with
their attendant calories, Is no longer
sufncient for those who vish to avoid
Evening star., 1935-03-09
THEODORE w. MOVES. Editor
The Evening Star Newspaper Company

I1th st. and Pennsylvania Ave.
New York ONCE: 10 East 42nd 81.
Chicago once: Lake Michigan Building.
European once; - Regent ST. LONDON.
Evening star., 1935-03-09

@. Please describe the nfeboat sys-
TENS of the Normandie and Queen
Mary. McC.
A. The Normandie has 56 life
boats, 2 of them motorized and each
equipped with radio. The Queen Mary
has "a. each motorized and each
equipped with radio. The lowering
systems of both have been so simph-
fed that a child could launch the
boats.
Evening star., 1935-03-09

@. Is there an organization inter-
ested in American folk arts?-G. S.
A. There Is a National Committee
on Folk Arts with headquarters at
675 Fifth avenue. New York City.
Evening star., 1935-03-09

@. How long have buildings been
equipped with elevators?-G. NJ.
A. Simple hoists for freight ap-
peared about the middle Of the last
century. BY 1870 they had been
improved and adapted for passenger
service.
Evening star., 1935-07-13

street pattern, especially in Midwest
ern cities where block sizes are very
generous.
There is so much loss through
the inefficient maintenance OF the old
buildings that, even though they may
not be dilapidated or public menace
today they might be torn down and
rebuilt upon modern lines with at most
very small loss in terms of money
and an inestimable gain in living
values and permanent returns in city
taxes.
THE situation assumed Is typical OF
Chicago, where $4,000 families, nearly
40 per cent Of the whole population,
now live in wasteful detached two
family flats. These deep. narrow build
ings. facing streets running north and
south, are so related as to fill up the
generous size lot and block most of
the sunlight.
Fifty per cent more two-family
units may be arranged within the same
space. so that all rooms receive either
morning or afternoon sunshine. by
merely substituting modern broad
front attached flats Of approximately
the same living capacity in four rows
per block. running north and south
with the streets"
Evening star., 1935-07-13
Fiat Seen Important Factor
In Future City Housing
:Hybrid Dwellings, Solution of Nations S
Rehabilitation Problems, Says Henry
Wright, Noted City Planner.

The humble fiat may be the key
to future city housing. according to
Henry Wright noted city planner, in
published by the Columbia University
Press Hybrid dwellings, influenced
by this type of structure. which for
generations has resisted the encroach-
ment of the apartment and the single
family house. are seen by Mr.. Wright
as the solution of the nations re-
habilitation problems.
IF we review the situation with
respect to house or dwelling types
available for large areas in our cities.
we find that these areas are already
occupied mainly by the family of
structures known as flatS-Small or
medium size multi-family dwellings
providing for households ranging in
number from two to six Mr.. Wright
says. Bad as they have all been in
plan. they have survived like hardy
perennials in competition with their
popular rivals, the single-family house
and the apartment.
There must be virtue in 1t some
where to account for the survival
Might it be that this halting and in
effective job, done under a purely
commercial instinct. contains the
germs within it of a higher, more
humane type that could be consciously
evolved? Might the solution be almost
under our feet-might the way to
the future lie through the humble
fiat?
Something of Kind Needed.
Clearly something on the order of
the old-time fiat. or at least equal to
it in meeting average needs under
city conditions must be found Apply
ing modernized technique, the result
is the evolution of a somewhat new
type of dwelling. which is a close
relation of the fiat. BY crossing the
old worn-out strains of fiat. row
house, and apartment. new dwell
ing which retains their good qualities
but eliminates their defects is evolved.
I'VE might call it a hybrid, except
that. unlike the plant breeder, we
are able to cross our genera three at
time-fat. row house, apartment
and produce what he might call
.tribrid'''
Drastic and desirable changes in
the home, the fundamental arrange
ment of which has altered little in
the past 100 or even 1000 years, are
imminent through use of the wide
spaces made possible by modern con-
struction. predicts Mr.. Wright. who is
director of the town planning studio
of the Columbia School of Architec-
ture.
The group dwelling, he declares,