Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1935-08-30

Fixing by President Roosevelt in sign
ing the gold clause bill of the exact hour
at which he affixed his signature to the
measure is in line with executive prac-
tice which has been followed for a num-
Der of years past and not a legislative
requirement. 1t has grown up as pre-
cautionary means of avoiding future
legal complications should any question
arise as to whether a law became effec-
tive on a certain day or not until the
following day. Commercial or financial
dealings. foreign exchange transactions
or other matters in which the actual
hour of contamination Of the deal is
factor or where the time limit enters
into the consideration, might be affected
by the precise hour of the day at which
the law regulating these transactions
. became operative. AS the law at issue
was signed by the President at 6
o'clock on the evening of August 81.
suits against the Government to recover
under the gold clause would be valid if
filed up to that hour on the date six
months hence.
b 4 II
1t has been humorously remarked that
the large number of laws passed in re-
ords by individuals as well as by business
concerns large and small have been
rapidly turning this country into a ma
ton of bookkeepers." The number OF
such laws has been considerably in
creased by the past session Of Congress,
with the probability of more to come.
Their! is more truth than fiction in the
remark quoted above, it is pointed out
by many officials, for very few people in
the United States today escape the ne
cessity of making reports Of some sort
to the Government, either as to their
personal income or as to the quantity
Of products they grow or manufacture
and sell, and the prices they receive
therefor.
While ways and means are being
sought to make provision, in some meas
ure at least, for number of the larger
projects which were included in the third
deficiency DILL that went down to defeat
in the last-hour fiilibuSter in the Senate,
effort is being made also to find sources
of financing q number OF smaller pro-
grams which were cared for In that
measure. One of these is the Pan
American Institute of Geography and
History, which was scheduled to meet
here in October. An appropriation OF
$4,000 was requested for the purpose,
and it is the hope of the Pan-American
Union that some other available fund
may permit the holding Of this interna-
tioiial conference.
Significant dates in the development
of the postal system in the United States
are prominently engraved high on the
vast Semi-circular entablature stretching
more than a hundred feet across the
spacious western court of the Post Once
Department Building here. After de-
scribing the great service which this
branch of the Government renders to
the Nation, the inscription reads: Postal
money orders, 1864; foreign money or
ders, 1867; special delivery, 1885; rural
delivery, 1896; postal savings, 1911; VII
lage delivery, 1912: parcel post, 1913;
airmail, 1918" Most Of these advances
in the progress of mail communication
have come within the memory OF the
present generation.
That the Tomb of the Unknown Sol
dier, in Arlington National Cemetery, is
becoming with the passing Of the years
q shrine of increasing interest and de-
votion to the citizens of this country, as
wen as to many from foreign lands, Is
evidenced by figures which show steady
growth In the number Of visitors to that