Evening star., 1936-01-13
ANSWERS TO
QUESTIONS
By Frederic ]. Haskin.

L ~ Esc~cs ~ De kuSNbss
reader can get the dnswer to any
question OF fact by tDrittng The Washing
ton Epening Star Information Bureau.
Frederic J. Haskin, Director, Washing
ton, d. C. Please tnclose stamp for reply.
O. Has the mouth organ any value in
teaching music and love of music to
children?-C. A.
A. Max Kaplan in the Etude writes
that it has many possibilities. He says
that ear training, sight reading, notation,
elementary theory, ensemble playing-in
fact, all the fundamentals Of musician
be taught with the aid Of the harmonica.
Q. Please give some statistics on the
total number Of people in the United
States who Travelled In 1885 and the
amount Of money spent, also the amount
spent on European travel-R. C.
A. More than 50,O00,000 persons took
trips in 1885 and the total travel expendi-
lures for that year were more than
$1,000 10000 More than 10000 people
took voyages to Europe and the total
sum spent in foreign travel Is estimated
at $3.50, ,000. 900.
@. Please give the receipts OF the Baer-
Louis fight at Yankee Stadium-E. G.
A. The receipts crossed $948,352, with
an additional S52,0 from radio and mo.
ton picture rights.
@. Who were the original members of
President Roosevelt's brain trusts. H.
A. The group included Basil D. O'Con-
nor, Justice Samuel I. Rosenman, Ray
mond Moley. Rexford Tugwell, Adolf
Berle, and Charles w. Taussig. Ex-
officio members were Col. Louis McHenry
Howe and Gen. Hugh 8. johnson.
@. How many earthquakes were there
in 1885 in the United States?-H. H.
A. All told, there were Is serious earth
quakes in the United States.
@. What is necessary for q broadcast
for children to be on the approved list
of the Women's National Radio Com
mittee?-H. M.
A. Radio scenarios must have a dig
nifty of presentation; freedom from OBJ
jectionable slang; no talking down to
children yet refraining from Stilted Ian
guage. They must contain genuine tn
formational material that offers stimu-
lating mental exercise and must be free
from too-exciting incidents which are
likely to arouse a nervous reaction.
@. Is Fannie Brice, the comedienne,
married?-I. L.
A. She is the wife of Billy Rose, song
writer and producer of the current
Broadway hit. Jumbo"
@. Are Christmas trees forbidden in
Russia?-J. M. H.
A. Christmas trees are banned, but the
use of fir trees for New Year is becom-
ing general.
@. When did George Washington
public career begin?-T. H.
A. Edward Boykin's Autobiography OF
George Washington" dates it as begin
ming in october, 1853, when Gov. Din
widdie appointed him to bear a message
to the French on the Ohio, warning them
against further encroachments on his
English majesty's colonial possessions. II
was the prologue to the French and
Indian War.
@. How many miles of railroads has
New Dealand?-J.-F.
A. New Zealand has about 3,450 miles
Of railway, practically the entire mileage
being owned and operated by the gov
ernment. The greater part Of the mile
age is on South Island.
@. Should a woman holding the office
be addressed as postmaster or postrnis-
tress?-A. p.
A. The Post ONCE Department says
that in its correspondence with women
who are serving as postmasters it uses
the word postmaster rather than post
mistress.
@. How many Jews and how many
Arabs are there in Palestine?-C. G.
A. The American Hebrew says that
there are approximately 350000 Jews and
10000 Arabs in Palestine.
@. Please give some information about
Binet, who devised educational tests.
F.
A. Alfred Binet d857-191D was a
French psychologist and director of the
laboratory of physiological psychology at
the Sorbonne. Prior to 1905 he had made
numerous investigations Of the mental
deficiencies exhibited by children. At
this date he was asked by the school
authorities of Paris to undertake the
study of children in the public school
systems. He devised a series of tests.
with the cooperation of Thomas Simon.
The characteristic of these tests is that
they are arranged in such a way as to
determine the intellectual age of the
child. They have been widely used both
here and in Europe.
@. Did the first public high schools in
this country prepare students for col
lege?-A. D. c.
A. In 1921 Boston established the first
public high school in the United States.
This school, patterned after the acad-
emies, did not at first prepare for COL
lege; it offered, rather, variety of
courses of the modern (non-classicaD
and practical type. In 1927 the MaSsa-
chusetts Legislature passed a law re-
quiring towns of certain size to estab-
lish high schools. Few of the towns
acted upon this law until Mann became
secretary of the State Board of Educa-
ton, but by 1850 Massachusetts, had "a
public high schools-probably more than
all the other States combined. The high
schools later undertook to prepare pupils
for college and thus combined the func-
tions both of the old Latin grammar
schools and of the private academies. In
the country as a whole the high school
made little progress until after the