Evening star., 1935-12-20
ANSWERS TO
QUESTIONS
By Frederic ]. HGskis.

reader can get the ans1per TO dnV
question of fact BY Drtttno The Washing
ton EUentn0 Star Information Bureau,
Frederic J. HGsktn, Director, Washing
ton, D. c. Please inclose stamp for reply.
@. How many times has the President
spoken over the radio?-J. D.
A. Since the beginning Of his admin
istration, the President has spoken Sc
times.
@. Why are the Don Cossacks so
named?-M. s.
A. Cossack is a corruption Of the
Turkish ''Kazaks" meaning fighting war
riors. Don is the name Of the river
which flows through the region inhabited
by these particular Cossacks.
@. Are the movie scenes Of the Dionne
quintuplets inSured2-E. M.
A. Test scenes of the quintuplets are
valued at more than $4,000 900 in insur-
ance policies which cover every possible
damage.
@. What proportion Of the blind people
In this country can read by touch?-B. r.
A. Only one-fourth. Many have be-
come blind late in life and do not learn
the Braille System, and many others
lacked facilities, incentive, or had some
other reason.
@. How does the tax paid by person
in Great Britain compare with an aver
age Americans tax?-R. r. P.
A. Readers Digest quotes Robert Dun
can as saying: The Briton pays 5000
per capita income tax; our Federal tax
on personal incomes figures out So SO per
capita (both 1884 flgures). This is sup
posed to prove that we just don't know
what heavy taxes are. But the diScrep-
ancy Is not SO great as appears on the
surface. When the Rriton has paid his
taxes to the Crown, he has paid more
than three -fourthS Of all the taxes he
will pay to any one. When the American
has paid his Federal taxes he has paid
only one-third of all his taxes. ConSid-
ering everything, the total per capita
annual tax bill for 1933-34 turned out
to be $7437 for the American and S991I
for the Briton-about one third more"
@. How long is house cast in con-
crete, such as the Lone Star home in
New Orleans, supposed to laSt?-E. NJ
A. Underwriters estimate the minimum
useful life Of such house at 100 years.
@. How long has the Congressional
Filler between New York and Washington
been in service and how many passengers
has it carried?-G. B. S.
A. The Congressional has completed
so years Of service. In that period the
train has travelled 8,212,500 miles and
carried 100000 passengers.
@. Have one-cent pieces been coined
each year?-W. E. c.
A. They have been coined every year
since the establishment of the mints,
with the exception of 1915 and 1898.
One-cent pieces are not coined in every
mint every year.
@. What causes gummoSis in fruit
treeS?-G. K. B.
A. It Is caused by a number of factors,
the most important of which is Winter
injury. Winter injury is damage to the
surface of the trees bark caused by too
quick thawing after a cold spell. This
breaks the bark and may cause the sap
to exude in places. The remedy is TO
remove carefully all portions of damaged
or unsound bark and to protect the bare
parts of the trunk by some preservative
such as coal-tar creoSote.
@. Is the Missouri River or the Mis-
sisSippi River the longer?-D. H.
A. The two rivers are sometimes spoken
Of as the Mississippi Missouri which in
cludes the mileage from the source of
the Missouri to the mouth of the Mis-
sissippi, distance of 1920 miles. The
Missouri River from its source to its
mouth in the Mississippi is 2,945 miles
long while the Mississippi alone, from
its source in Minnesota to the Gulf of
Mexico, is only 2,486 miles in length.
@. Is it true that bathtubS were con.
sidered a menace to health at the time
of their invention?-G. L.
A. Americas first bathtub was built In
Cincinnati in 1912. 1t was of mahogany,
lined with sheet lead and was exhibited
at a Christmas party. Next day, local
papers denounced it as Luxurious and
democratic vanity" Medical men took
it up and pronounced the bathtub q
menace to health" In 1943 Philadel-
phia undertook by public ordinance tc
prohibit bathing between November l
and March Is. Two years later Boston
made bathing unlawful except when
prescribed by physicians. Bathtubs were
taxed $50 yearly.
@. Why was the Japanese beetle i'm.
ported into this country?-A. F.
A. Its introduction was entirely acci-
dental and the Government would have
given much to prevent it. During the
Summer of 1916 E. L. DickerSon and
H. B. Weiss of the New Jersey State
Department of Agriculture collected a
few beetles in nursery near Riverton,
N. j., OF a species with which they were
not familiar. They were later identified
by the Bureau of Entomology and Plant
Quarantine as belonging to the same
species as a beetle common to Japan,
but not heretofore occurring in the
United States. From the time of its dis
covery this insect has increased and
spread at relatively rapid rate in New
Jersey and Pennsylvania and in spite of
the combined efforts of the United States
Department of Agriculture and the State
departments of the two States in ques-
ton its spread continues.