Evening star., 1939-03-07
Answers
To Questions
BIZ Frederic J. HdsEtn.

By Frederic J. HasEtn.
A reader can get the ans,Der to any
question OF fact by ,0rittng The Eue-
ming Star Information Bureau, Fred
eric J. H1skin, Director. Washington,
D. c. Please tnclose stamp for reply.
@. Why is no comic supplement is
sued with the New York Times?-E. j. P.
A. Arthur Hays Sulzberger says:
"When Mr.. Ochs first took over the
New York Times in 1896 the days of
so-called yellow journalism were at their
zenith He had no desire to compete
in sensationalism. Quite the contrary,
the opportunity to succeed with what
might be termed strictly newspaper
was the more apparent. Accordingly, on
the day that Mr.. Ochs took over he dis
continued serial story without even
permitting it to finish, and from that
day on the test Of appropriateness for
the New York Times is is it neWs?' This
paper has never published crossword
puzzle, serial story or comics, and the
sole and determining reason for this
is that they are not news"
Q. What was the largest bell ever
made?-L. S. H.
A. 1t was the 22O-ton Tsar Kolokal
of Moscow, which was never rung be-
cause before it was finished an l1-ton
piece fell from its side. The largest bell
in the United States is the Bourbon.
weighing 1874 tons, in the Rockefeller
carlton, Riverside Church, New York
City.
O. When vas the act passed which
stopped the manufacture of poisonous
matches2-E. K. L.
A. The Esch-Hughes Non-Poisonous
Match Act was passed in 1912. 1t placed
a tax of cents per hundred on matches
containing white phosphorus, which
made the use of this material COM
mercially impossible.
@. How fast does bullet travel?-E. B.
A. The speed of a bullet varies from
300 to 1000 feet per. second. The 30
caliber service rifle bullet has a speed
of 2700 feet per second. A revolver
bullet travels between 900 and 1000 feet
per second.
@. What is the origin Of the Binet
intelligence tests?-J. w. G.
A. Alfred Binet was a French psy-
chologist and director of the laboratory
of physiological psychology at the Sor-
bonne. Prior to 1905, he had made
| numerous investigations of the de-
| iciencies shown by children in the course
| of their development. At this date he
| was asked by the school authorities Of
Paris to undertake study OF children
| in the public school system to detect
the various forms of mental deficiency
which interfered with school work. For
| this purpose he devised a series OF
| tests with the cooperation of Thomas
| Simon Various versions of the Binet
| scale have been made by Terman and
| others who have continued the work.
O. How many retail drug stores are
there in the United States?-C. M. w.
A. The 1885 Census of Retail Business
showed 56,697 retail drug stores in the
United States with net sales Of $1,232,-
593,000
@. Where is the deepest gold mine?
w. E. H.
A. The deepest gold mine is the Robin
son Deep Mine of the Rand Gold Field in
South Africa. 1t has depth Of $500
feet.
\ Wy, = olyat :,
debut?-L G. H.
A. The famous actress made her first
professional appearance as Juliet at
Macauley's Theater, Louisville, KY, in
1875.
| @. Who wrote the old poem beginning
1.-THE clothes-line is rosary"?-F. P. D.
A. 1t is by Julia Ward Howe.
@. Why is ship referred to In the
feminine gender?-J. F. F.
A. In some of the older languages
such as Latin and Old German, from
which modern languages have been de-
rived, all inanimate objects were given
masculine or feminine gender In this
way the moon was feminine and the
sun masculine, and among other things,
ships and other vehicles were generally
spoken of in the feminine gender. Mod
ern languages have adopted this same
idea; hence, the reason for speaking
of ship and train as she"
| @. Why is calico so called?-T. M. j.
A. The name comes from Calicut, a
city in India, whence the process of dec
Grating cloth by means of hand stamp
moistened with dyes was introduced
into Europe.
@. Who invented the depth bomb?
R. A.
A. The depth bomb was invented in
1903 by w. T. Unge of Swedish nation
ality.
@. Does Germany have an old-age
| pension law?-G. v. L.
| A. In Germany an old-age pension law
was established as early as 1889. Today
| there are 20 million workers in Germany
| who will eventually receive the old-age
pension; 1t is contributory system.
@. Why is Virginia called the Old
Dominion?-O. B.
,;,Jr~