davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star., 1935-08-13
Evading Realities.

The Senate committees quick turn
about and precipitate flight from the
realities of taxation was unexpected only
In that it happened little earlier than
had been anticipated. On Saturday
afternoon it appeared likely that the tax
bill would at least be reported to the
Senate as written up to that time.
Week-en of deliberation and conSulta-
ton were apparently enough to start the
runaway. The result is to add one other
farce to those that have already marked
the curious legislative history of this
tax bill.
The significant difference between the
tax bill passed by the House and the bill
Tentatively agreed on Saturday after
noon by the Senate committee was that
the latter was a revenue raising meas
ure, whereas the former was not accepted
seriously by anybody as revenue-rals-
ing bill and was mainly punitive. To
this political gesture, potentially HARM
full enough, the Senate responded with
what turned out to be another gesture.
This was a gesture in the direction OF
really raising the revenue that the tre-
nendous governmental spending pro-
gram now demands.
What appears too likely now is that
Senate and House will enact tax bill
that conforms generally to the pattern
product-a measure, in other words, that
will contain punitive taxes on wealth
and size without remedying any OF the
abuses of tax-avoidance pointed out by
the Internal Revenue Bureau and with
out raising anything like the amount of
revenue that the Government should
seek to bolster its borrowing program or
begin the balancing of its actual budget.
Common sense should dictate one OF
two courses of action: To give up thought
Of early adjournment and to settle down
TO the grim business of framing tax
bill that will produce revenue and bring
home TO the people realization OF the
cost of government; to go home now
and come back in January, or earlier,
with the same determination in regard
TO revenue legislation but with more time
and less fever in making it effective.
The real danger now is that Congress,
In trying to make good political bluff,
will enact crafty patched-up tax meas
ure capable Of great harm to recovery
now under way and incapable of raising
needed revenue. And the added dan
ger is that fear Of levying taxes directly
affecting the people who must shoulder
the cost of government-and that means
most of then-will be as great few
months or year or so hence as it is
now. That will leave ruinous imitation
as the alternative.
Evening star., 1935-08-13
STARS, MEN AND ATOMS
Notebook of Science Progress in Field,
Laboratory and Study.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

was told by Seminole Indians that there
is another stone faced mound of the
same sort in the middle of the Ever
glades. The probability is, Mr.. Stirling
points out, that such mound formed
the substructure of religious edifice
and may also have served the purpose
of a burial mound
y y \
The tongue is extremely sensitive to
electricity which causes both a tingling
sensation and four pure tastes" accord
ing to a note in the British scientific
journal. Nature, on the work Of Prof.
David KatZ.
When a current is passed through
the tongue the sensations of sour and
salty" are experienced at the anode
and the sensations of sweet" and bit
ter at the cathode. The tingling sem
Sation is probably due, Prof. Katz holds,
to the generation of gas. The tastes
do not depend on the metal used.
He advances the theory of the tongue
as the most primitive sense organ, de-
irving from the days when all life was
confined to the waters. Its original
function may have been the perception
of wetness. protective sense to save
the organism from getting outside a
liquid medium. This function 1t has
preserved to large extent, for taste
may be considered as a highly spe-
cialized perception of wetneSs.
The rural dweller in the United States
has, on the average, four or five years
longer life than the city dweller, ac-
cording to a set of life expectancy tables
just prepared by the Statistical Bureau
of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Co.
At birth a white male has an expecta-
ton of life of 5673 years if an urban
resident and 6209 years if not dwelling
in a city. The corresponding figures for
white females are 81 .05 and $500. Cor
responding differences between urban
and rural populations are found at
other ages.
There may be some small source OF
error, the report points out, through
the impossibility of making proper
allowance for country people who die
in city hospitals, but. broadly speaking.
there is little doubt that the figures
represent an actual longevity advantage
for country people.
Evening star., 1935-08-13
Local Tax Investigation.

The Commissioners, in appointing a
group OF municipal officials to study
local taxation, will be careful not to
put the cart before the horse. Before
proposing new sources of local taxation
or new devices for soaking the local
taxpayer, they will find whether the
anticipated shortage of local revenue
expected to result from enactment of
the social security measures is due to
the fact that the local community is
undertaXed, or whether it is due to the
fact that the local community has been
forced to assume not only the normal
burdens of municipality, but the ex-
traordinary burdens of National Capital
maintenance and development as we'll
1t would be relatively easy matter
for the assessor, the corporation counsel,
the auditor, the director of highways
and a member of the Public Utilities
Commission to put their good heads
together and devise local income tax
bill, inheritance tax bill or new tax
bills plaStering automobile owners and
to demonstrate that any or all of them
would work; that is, that the money
would be paid by voteleSS taxpayers and
sent to the Treasury by the tax collector
But before they do that the Commits
Sioners or their committee of tax
authorities should inquire not only into
the real estate tax burden, but into
the total tax burden Of the local COM
munity, compare it with tax burdens
of cities of comparable size and en-
vironment and demonstrate what has
been amply demonstrated before-that
the people of the District are already
taxed as heavily as the people of COM
parable communities While a shortage
of revenue to meet Capital City budgets
may be demonstrated at the same time,
the results merely show that the exclu-
sively controlling National Government,
and not the local community, is re-
sponsible for the deficit.
AS for the social security measures
and their added cost, If the unemploy-
ment insurance bill is enacted without
the unique provision that the District
government contribute and is modelled
on the few laws so far enacted by the
States, no additional drain on local gen.
eral tax funds should result The
measure should be supported by the
pay roll tax levied on employers. That
is the way the States plan to support
their measures.
The cost of old-age insurance will be
borne, according to the theories of the
legislation, by pay roll taxes and income
taxes levied against employers and
employees.
The cost of old-age pensions and aid
to the needy blind is not yet definitely
known. But it will not be relatively
high.
The Commissioners tax study should
rightly include an investigation of
sources of local revenue. But that study
will not necessarily demonstrate the
need to plaster higher taxes or new
taxes on the local community. 1t will
require the production of facts not now
revealed to justify any such procedure.
Evening star., 1935-08-13
Clark Amendment and
The Proposed Substitute

To the Editor Of The Star:
With reference to the Clark amend
ment and the proposed substitute, I
find 1t difficult to reconcile the claim
that these will aid in preserving private
pension plans with the fact that un-
earned annuities will be paid under the
Government plan. If an employer re-
moves his employees from the Govern
ment plan and thereby loses the benefit
OF the unearned annuities, just how is
he encouraged to provide more liberal
benefits? OF course, it is expected that
unearned annuities will be paid up to
about 1880. and that thereafter the an
nuities will be somewhat less than those
earned, since the whole scheme must
balance. Perhaps some far-sighted en-
ployers are now concerned over what
their pension costs will be after 1880.
Following the same line OF argument,
1t must be that the proposed substitute
will be of very little assistance in pre-
serving private pension plans. since un-
der it the employer would lose only a
small part Of the benefit of unearned
annuities.
After all, perhaps it's the heat.
JOSEPH B. GLENN.
Evening star., 1935-08-13

Yet certainly some specimens sleep
or do what to all appearance is sleep.
The fact that fishes have no eyelids
makes it difficult to say they sleep in
the human sense. But certainly they
remain still, even in the daytime, for
comparatively long periods. If it is not
sleep it Is something equivalent to it.
Often fishes will seek the refuge of a
clump of plants and remain behind it
for an hour or two. The best we can
say, since they are not i'll, is that they
are sleeping. 1t is possible that fish
sleep may not be exactly the same as
human sleep. Probably not. 1t must be
some equivalent, however, and for the
same reason and purpose.
A light sleeper can hear the frog in
his pool at any time of the night he
may awake. Therefore, he comes to
believe that these curious creatures must
do what sleeping they do in the daytime.
He is thankful there is just one of
them. One Is interesting. A full chorus
would be something Of nuisance.
The song of the frog, unlike some
other music, grows upon listener. 1t
is OF very limited scope, but its musical
pattern is good, if simple. Perhaps 1t
Is the very simplicity which makes it
good.
There is enough variation to keep it
from becoming monotonous. 1t is with
the frogs music as with the drums of
mankind, great deal can be achieved
in small compass.
The range, as musicians say, Is not
great, but the infections are so varied
m
listener will come, III time, to listen
for them.
Then he will realize that instead of
being monotonouS, as many think, the
music Of the frog is real in every sense.
It is not the strings of Natures orches-
ira, rather the tympani and OF these
rather the kettle drum than anything
else
We never listen to our pet frog without
thinking of a kettle drum player of
long ago.
He functioned in one of the great
orcheStraS which made an annual ap-
pearance in the Washington of war time.
Those were the days when Fritz Kreisler
had to be guarded when he appeared
here. Somebody, or some group of some
bodies, thought he ought to be pro-
tected, at any rate. CThe ensuing con-
cert, of course, proved that no such
guard was necessary
The background set was a house with
two rather large windows. Usually an
artist plays before simple curtain drop.
All during the concert the figures of
two guards could be seen behind the
house" curtains of the windows.
The movements of these men in time
held an irresistible fascination for per-
sons seated in such places in the theater
that they could be seen. Fortunately,
for Kreisler and his artistry. the guards
were not visible from every point in the
house.
The frog in the pool has little COM
petition, at least, out our way.
A large brown rabbit, nibbling flowers
in the moonlight. pays no attention TO
him.
Small night-singing birds, whatever
they are, cheep away undisturbed.
The frog every now and then, as If
in sheer amphibian joy, goes plunk,
plunk, or occasionally plunk. plunk,
plunk. as if some one were softly strik-
ing an old empty bucket with padded
stick
Evening star., 1935-08-13
Building an Issue.

The Guffey coal bill, setting up COM
mission for administering "code" for
the bituminous coal industry, has finally
been reported, favorably though grudg-
ingly, to the House by the Ways and
Means Committee. Indeed, the bill
could not have been reported at all if
two Democratic members of the COM
mittee had not been willing to vote
"present" instead of no." although it is
reported they were opposed to the meas
ure. The very fact that the President
was able to have his way in this matter
by SO narrow a margin adds to the evi-
dence that the New Deal is slipping fast
In the house of its former friends, the
hugely Democratic controlled House of
Representatives. For the Guffey bill has
all the earmarks of the New Deal 1t
Is the kind of measure that two years,
O year or even six months ago would
have gone through with a whoor.
The coal bill, If the demands of the
President are met, is to be put through
the House and Senate before Congress
adjourns. One of the reasons advanced
by the President for the passage of the
bill is to bring a test of it's constitution
atty before the Supreme Court. He has
urged the House members to vote for
the measures passage, despite any rea-
sonable doubts they may have as to the
constitutionality. If he succeeds in hav-
ing the bill passed, this test is expected
to come in the courts, even though some
OF the House supporters OF the bill now
insist that the bill has been so amended
as to be within the Constitution as in
terpreted by the court in the Schechter
case.
President Roosevelt may be unwilling
at this time to say what plans he has,
If any, for amending the Constitution SO
as to give the Federal Government
greater power to deal with social and
economic problems Nationwide in scope.
But certainly his request for the pas
sage of bill of which Congress may
doubt the constitutionality seems to be
laying the groundwork for the erection
of an issue that eventually will have 10
60 to the voters. Add to this the fact
Evening star., 1935-08-13

Lightning on the stars and the island
universes may account for the origin of
the mysterious cosmic rays, the powerful
radiation from outer space which con-
Stantly is bombarding the earth.
This hypothesis is advanced by DR.,
Thomas H. johnson, research associate
of the Carnegie Institution of WASH
ington. in the current Journal of the
Franklin Institute. With it he derives
method for measuring cosmic
distances.
Something similar to the electrical
disturbances displayed during thunder
storms and volcanic eruptions in the
atmosphere of the earth, he holds, prob
ably takes place on a much greater scale
in the stellar atmospheres. Negatively
charged clouds of dust and condensed
vapor, high above the surface of a star,
would draw positively charged atomic
ions from the surface and project them,
like the beam of q cathode ray tube,
into cosmic space.
The nuclei of helium and hydrogen
atoms, the chief constituents of the
stellar atmospheres, thus would become
through interStellar space these posi-
lively charged particles would hit small
bits of matter. thus generating sec
ondary rays which would be the OBJ
served negatively charged component of
cosmic radiation.
Now, DR.. johnson points out, the
lower limit OF the density of matter
through which the passage of a cosmic
ray will knock out an electron is ap-
prOximately 10 grams per cubic cent?
meter. The density Of matter in the
space between the stars Is estimated
as about 400 Septrillionths of q gram
per cubic centimeter q fraction which
would be represented by one over four
followed by 26 cyphers. From this it
can be calculated that in order to ira
verse as much matter as would be
necessary to produce a secondary ray,
q cosmic ray would have to travel from
a billion to 10 billion light years..
This indicates, DIR. johnson points
out, a source for the mysterious radia-
ton beyond the Milky Way galaxy itself
and gives dimensions for the universe
which At well into the expanding uni
verse theory.
A large, stone-faced mound, different
from any other known aboriginal relic
in the United States, was among the
finds Of Mathew w. Stirling, chief of
the Bureau of American Ethnology of
the Smithsonian Institution, in a recon-
naissance survey of Indian sites on the
extreme southern tip Of Florida and
the Florida Keys.
The survey was undertaken in con-
nection with q project for q thorough
study Of the aboriginal life and history
Of the Florida Peninsula, especially at
the time Of the first arrival of the
Spaniards. Up to the present the
southern tip, occupied in the discovery
days by the Tekasta band of the Calusa
Indians, has remained practically unex-
plored territory for the archeologist.
Mr.. Stirling found on Key Largo
mound about IL feet high, presumably
of similar. structure to the common
sand mounds" Of the Florida Indians,
but with the outstanding popularity
that it was faced with stone. So far
as known this is unique, at least in the
United States. There are roughly
similar structures in the Southwest and
others In Central America, but they were
not built ~ true mounds. Mr.. Stirling
Evening star., 1935-08-13
Children Now Lacking
In Character Training

To the Editor Of The Star:
Still comparatively young woman.
can recall that a few years ago mans
word was as good as his bond" and in
business transactions people had old
fashioned ideals of integrity. But to-
day, unless q contract is written down
in black and white, many are evasive
and their word apparently means moth
ing to them. Promises and agreements,
If made only verbally, are broken con-
tinually, and 1t seems that standards
have broken down to large extent.
In my estimation. 1t is time parents
inculcate in their children old-faShioned
ideals of honesty and integrity which
many Of us were taught in our child
hood. Much of the crime wave Is due
to the fact that children do not get
character training in the homes as they
did some years ago. Thousands OF
children, too, are not in any Sunday
school today. So If children do not get
character training in either homes or
churches they will not get it anywhere,
and this Is why fraud and dishonesty
seem more common today in business
contacts. DOROTHY A. DAVIS.
Pittsburgh, Pa.
Evening star., 1935-08-13
THIS AND THAT
. BY CHARLES E. TRACEHELL.

The college song said that the bullfrog
in the pool was green old water fool" !"
which was good rhyme. but fairly poor
biology.
II there Is any creature suited to its
environment, its two environments, as a
matter of fact, it Is the frog, in any
of its species.
There is one out our way and every
night we hear him go "plunk, plunk, )"
rather than "ker-plunk," as it so often
is given.
In air and water he Is able to keep
fresh and cool all Summer long, a
virtue which mere man may envy him.
The female Of the species has little
to say.
1t is the male frog which goes plunk,
plunk, as II some one were beating with
rusty bucket.
No frog is such q fool as the old song
made out.
It's life and development have in
trigued scientists for decades.
From its sticky chains of eggs, through
the vast changes of the tadpole stage,
to full-f1edged frog, this creature has
al intrigue all JUS own,
The ordinary home owner, who may
be no scientist, still may have a frog
or two in q pool in the back yard.
Sometimes these amphibians hop
across land from somebody's else's pool,
in one of these strange journeys the
creatures make from time to time.
Then the water gardener gets an in
tereSting addition for nothing.
A good-sized frog can and will eat
goldfisheS Of fairly good length. So
care must be taken to have large fishes
In the pool, unless one does not mind
the disappearance Of smaller ones from
time to time.
Fishes are good swimmers, however,
SO even the little gOldf1Shes have Q very
good chance for survival.
1t will be we'll however, to keep just
one frog per pool.
One is enough.
Not more than a pair should be kept,
at the most, and one Is better.
We cannot think that such a creature
is lonesome. He loves his environment,
and If this environment does not pro-
vide a mate, perhaps he doesn't mind.
Like ali the creatures OF SJrlcL Nature,
he accepts life as he finds it.
~
The two or at most three, notes which
comprise his vocabulary come in time
to have a most amusing sound, which
would not be at all amusing If there
were two, three, half dozen Of them.
The human listener finds the notes
chime in with the mood of the night,
not the night of the night clubs, but
the night of Nature in the open.
Especially the night of the suburban
areas. 1t is a subdued Nature, q re-
stricted and well hedged Nature.
1t is Nature in one of her better
moods, many will like to think.
The rawness which sometimes en-
cumbers her is for the nonce laid aside.
Here is little pool, here one frog, here
a dozen goldfishes, placidly swimming.
Even in the dark. by the light of
the moon, their colored sides would
strike the eye.
There is perhaps more life astir in
Nature than a sleeper suspects
The fishes in the pool do not sleep at
night, as many think. but alternate quiet
with some swimming. Perhaps the
latter is brought about by the accidental
touching of fms in the dark.
Evening star., 1935-08-13
SWaStika,

Oh, Swastika, you proudly claim
My rude but honest praise!
I know you only by your name,
And yet your powers amaze!
So wonderful you are to see
That often I'm beguiled
Into the fear that you may be
A pinwheel running wild.
Evening star., 1935-08-13
Shooting Stars.
BY PHILANDER JOHNSON.

Always Merry and Bright.
Some day III go a-fishing
Beneath a Summer sky
And live in idle wishing
While hours go drifting by.
I'll bait a hook and fling it
In an ecstatic style,
I shall-with JOY I sing it
Boondoggle for awhile.
III pick the Haunting thistle
And wish that I had not.
For spectral pigs I'll whistle
That I put on the spot.
Though nations are in panic,
I'll wear a pleasant smile,
And in a glee titanic
Boondoggle for awhile.
Evening star., 1935-08-13

Everything possible has been done to
prevent a spread of infantile paralysis
Its discussion may properly be restrained
to simple facts free from imagination
that might promote fear epidemic"
Evening star., 1935-08-13

When men quit work and 60 home,
what some call "a strike" Is not so
serious as it might be if the men did
not have homes to 60 to.
Evening star., 1935-08-13
X-RayS.

did you get any inside facts during
your investigations"
'I did, answered Senator Sorghum.
II showed some unpleasant things"
"Are your friends pleased?"
"No. An artistic photograph assists
hero worship. But you can't expect peo-
Pile to get sentimental over an X-ray
photograph"
Jud Tunkins says he can't afford pork
chops. Somehow or other his pocket
book seems to have got plowed under,
along with the rest of his stuff.
Evening star., 1935-08-13
A Rhyme at Twilight
By
Gertrude Brooke Hamilton
Idols and the Ideal.

Idols and the Ideal.
I have known such falsities all along the
way,
Flatterers and satellites lured my feet
astray,
Idols at whose shrine knelt proved but
dreams in vain;
Only you can make me trust my own
world again.
Oh, my beloved, give faith back to me!
Visions full of promise, of beauty and OF
grace
Left but disillusionment and an empty
space,
All the loves enchanting me never
reached my soul;
Only your ideal love may ever make
that goal.
oh, my beloved. keep good faith with
mel
Evening star., 1935-08-13

AS the reputed possessor of King
solomon's mines, it is perhaps only
natural for Ethiopia to expect to be
lined up among those to be soaked.
Evening star., 1935-08-13
Life of the Party,

'Who was the life of the party?"
II was" answered Father William.
Nobody noticed me. But paid all the
bills"
Evening star., 1935-08-13

a satisfactory apology for something or
other that it never meant to be offensive.
Evening star., 1935-08-13

Straight Drink, Crooked Driving.
From the Milwaukee Sentinel.
Though he drank straight whisky, his
driving was hszAs.
Evening star., 1935-08-13
Member Of the Associated Press.

The Associated Press is exclusively entitled to
The for republication of all news dispatches
credited to 1t or not otherwise credited in this
paper and also the local news published herein.
All rights OF publication Of special dispatches
herein are also reserved
Evening star., 1935-08-13
Scrambled Alphabets.

Ben Franklin was a printer bold:
So was Mark Twain, we have been told.
They plodded on with patient skill
A place on history's page to fill.
In sadness I admit this much:
They lacked the Scientific Touch.
They stood with faces all awry
When type was tumbled into "pi"
They passed to fame, but never knew
What Scrambled Alphabets can do.
Evening star., 1935-08-13

Some men," said Uncle Eben, who is
mighty smart bout maxim money don't
seem to do anythin' wifi 1t 'cept invest
In trouble"