Evening star., 1937-06-06

presume that the nrSt number he
wrote was 789 52346l Juggle and re-
duce 1t TO 523,l64,987. Subtract the
second from the first and get 266 .358,-
474.
Now suppc- that the persons age
is "a. That number added to the
above gives us 266 353,498 Add up
the digits in the figure and you get
81. BY looking at the subject, it is
POSSIBLE to see that s. is not correct.
Subtract 9, and you have AZ This
obviously Is wrong, so take away 9
more. You get 33. Here you believe
you are close, but not close enough.
Subtract another 9, the result being "a
This seems in the right range, as Is
obviously would be too young
Say "TWenty-four' and you'll be
right. II you're smart enough to guess
within 9 years each time. you'll always
be right too.
Personally, we'd rather just ask for
look at the birth certificate.
CENSUS.
SPEAKING Of ages. as We certainly
were. the people who told the
truth to the census workers back in
1900 may go forth rejoicing now, for
the business of verifying ages for
F. O. A. B. pension claims is much
simplified for them.
The records Of the 1890 census
would have been more desirable for
this job. from the Government point
Of view. but most of them were de-
sToyed or messed up in fire years
ago while stored in the basement Of
the old Commerce Building
/ Business of transferring $4,000 600
! names from census portfolios was done
| in ST. Louis under the direction of a
/ Mr.. Gerald Ryan, who should by now
know the exact meaning of the Holly
| wood term colossal In writing
| the cards. which give the name. sex,
color. family relationships, citizen
| ship and birthplace Of the citizenry.
some tUo billion separate items were
| Transcribed. About $500 clerks worked
7 hours a day for more than A year
( at the task. while 500 others acted as
] SuP'i Ni'oiS vi lloIiOINd SupkISS-
| Today all the cards are in the new
Commerce Building in 1900 fireproot
cabinets, which if piled upon top Of
one another would make a stack four
times as high as the Empire State
! Building filled with a darned sigh.
more people.
Despite the incredible number Of
items fled a clerk can flip out your
personal card quicker than magician
| can Jerk rabbit out Of hat, or as
fast as you can say Jack Robinson. if
/ that happens to be your name. Sould
/ you chance to wander around among
the name files very long, you'll prob
ably get fair idea of your personal
importance in the scheme of things
| in the United States Of America. Very
good for your perspective-or bad
for it-depending upon how you think
about these matters.
|
SLIPS.
| This may not come under our
department. eractly, but d lady
| correspondent has informed US
rather dngrily that the r1anutac-
turers OF Sins (loughinoly knoun
| as pettico0ts Uhen lre 1Uere GIRLS
| haze failed to take notice OF the
| fact that dresses are shorter this
season. Result, chronic cases of
| slips shoUinQ beneath the hens
OF milodys Summer trocks. She
! thought something ought to be
one about it, as the girls are get
| ting fed up. So do ire.
| 4
DESHABTLLE.
THE sequence of these stories may
not be quite right, but skip it,
| please. Not long ago we had a yarn
about mighty Viennese Don Juan
who went whipping off on a crusade
Of amour without discovering that
he had put the wrong trousers-a
pair much too small for him-in his
luggage.
| Hearing of this a certain famed
Washington chemists came forth re-
| Gently with a similar incident in his
| otherwise sedate life-similar, that is,
| in small way.
~ M