Evening star., 1935-12-14
ANSWERS TO
QUESTIONS
By Frederic ]. Hoskin.

question Of fact By prttino The WdshtnJ-
ton EueHt1g SStdr Information Bureau.
Frederic J. Hdsh:n, Director. Washino-
ton, D. c. Please tnclose stamp for repIu.
@. Does the sky get brighter as avia-
tors ascend?-P. L.
A. The higher one rises from the earth
the less bright the sky. Thirty or 40
miles up 1t would be almost black.
@. What kind Of museum did John d.
Rockefeller, jr., give to Palestine?-L. H,
A. The Palestine Archaeological Mu-
scum, recently completed at a cost Of
$20O0,OOO, is the gift of Mr.. Rockefeller.
1t is destined to he a storehouse of in
formation on the country's historic past.
The collections include specimens from
excavations in Palestine, the famous
Galilee skull and relics of Hebrew
monarchy.
@. What was the name Of the actor
who gave the expositions on snoring in
Broadway Melody Of 19362"-H. p.
A. His name is Robert Wildhack.
@. When did Capt. Taylor Branson
become leader Of the Marine BandP
IT. C.
A. He was appointed May /, 1927.
@. When did the first Jews come to
the United States?-L. K. G.
A. The American Hebrew saws: In
1854, "a years after the Mayflower landed
the Pilgrim fathers at Plymouth, Mass,
the Santa Caterina arrived at New
Amsterdam (the present New York; with
% Jews on board, who in all likelihood
came from Brazil, which country the
Jews left when it passed from the pos
session of the Dutch to the Portuguese,
Shortly before the arrival of this band
Of Jewish pilgrims, the first Jews known
to have arrived at New Amsterdam. came
on the ship Pear Tree. These were Jacob
BarsimSon and Jacob Aboab. It is quite
likely that even before this many indi-
vidual Jews may have found their way
to some portions or other Of the country.
@. How does the quantity of beer sold
now compare with the amount sold 20
years ago?-B. F.
A. So far this year 100000 barrels Of
beer have been consumed, compared to
45,UUO,OOO barrels in 1915.
Q. Please give a biography of Fannie
Farmer, the authority on cookery. -
E. L. r.
A. Fannie Merritt Farmer was born
in Boston in 1857. III health interfered
with her plans for a college education
and she turned to the study of cooking,
graduating at the Boston Cooking
School. She became assistant director
and later director of the school until
1902 when she opened Miss Farmers
School of Cookery. For 10 years she
contributed a page on cookery to the
Women's Home Companion She edited
the Boston Cooking School Cook Book
and published several other volumes on
the subject. She died in 1915.
Q. Please tell something about the So
cial insurance system in Austria-T. H.
A. In this respect Austria occupies a
very high rank among the nations O..
the world. Almost two-thirds of the
total population (about 100000 people,
come under the compulsory health in
surance. Under special legislation sep
arate insurance institutes have been
created for that purpose, namely the in
surance institutes for working people
(number Of persons insured about 900,-
0Oo), for private employees (237 ,000), for
government employees Q50,000), for the
railway staff 166000), for municipal
employees (40,000) and for agricultural
workers (300,0 ,000). AS the dependents Of
the persons directly insured also come
under the scheme, the total number Of
people who derive benefit under the COM
pulSory health insurance is about 4,000,-
600. All workers and employees engaged
in industrial enterprises are, besides,
subject to compulsory accident insurance
and the private employees come under an
old-age insurance as well. There is also
a public unemployment insurance, to
which all work giverS and work takers
in private enterprises have to make con-
tributions and the annual expenditure
under the latter scheme amounts to over
230 million schillingS. The cost of all
branches of social insurance for persons
in private employment exceeds $50 mil.
lion schillings annually.
@. Who wrote Two Years Before the
MaSt?"-H. r.
A. Richard Henry Dana. It gives an
account of his voyage around Cape Horn
to California as young sailor Of %.
@. From what time does the Moham-
medan calendar date?-R. G.
A. 1t dates from July Is, 622 AID, the
day Of the Hegira.
@. Please give biography of Herbert
Feis, economic adviser to the State De.
partment.-E. @.
A. Born in New York City in 1893, Mr..
Feis is the son of the late Louis j. and
Louisa Waterman Feis. From l9l7-l919
he served overseas as a lieutenant in
the United States Navy. After gradual.
ing from Harvard in 1921 he became as.
sociate professor of economics at the Uni
versity of Kansas from 1922-1925. From
1926 to 1929 he was head of the depart
ment of economics of the University of
Cincinnati, and from 1929 to 1881 a
member of the staff of the Council on
Foreign Relations In 1922 he married
Ruth Stanley Brown of Mentor, Ohio,
granddaughter of President Garfield.
@. What color walls reflect the most
nght?-T. A.
A. White walls reflect about IS per
cent or more of the light that strikes
them; cream ones reflect 10 per cent, and
walls Of other colors range down to the
lowest, black, which reflects only about
8 per cent.
@. Are inmates of a Federal prison
such as Alcatraz allowed to take corre-