The Waterbury Democrat., 1941-04-15
Phoney Contest
 Questions
BY FREDERICK M. KIRBY, Director, Waterbury Democrat WyashinstOn Service Bureau

Americans are the greatest "con- testants" in the world. The urge to get-rich quick by winning pig prize in Q contest" is almost unl- yersal. And at any particular mo. ment, every day of the year, several ''contests" are under way. In fact there are national magazines devot- ed solely to the interests of habitu- al "contestants." Most such recent contests take the form of questions and answers. Are the questions ask. ed in such contests always fair ana accurate? Usually, but not always. Errors creep into contest questions as into everything else human.
 The would-be solvers Of contests are often mislead because the au. thor of the contest used a "phQney' source for his information. A recent contest illustrates this fact. For each of the questions asked, four answers were suggested and the contestant had to take his choice. The trouble was that the only cor rect answer to some of the ques- tons was the simple word "None, but the promoter of the contest didn't know 1t. An exmaple IS the question asking which Of four per sons originated the proverb, where there is life there is hope2" Four names were given, including the name of Cicero, which was evidently the answer intended. But the cor. rect answer is "None," or None of the four" True, Cicero does quote the nroyerb in his "Epistle to Att GUS" Book 9, 10. But he adds the word "dicitur"-"It Is said"-shoW-- ing he Is quoting a proverb and not making one. Most proverbs are folk sayings, older than written litera- ture, and hence anonymous.
 Another question asked in re- cent contest was Under what de- partnent of the U. s. Government is The Section of Fine Arts'?' The suggested answers were: Interior, Labor, Commerce, Treasury. The trouble is that none of the four are correct! Until July 1, 1889, the Sec ton of Fine Arts was under he Treasury Department. Since that date 1t is The Section of Fine Arts, Public Buildings Administration, Federal Works Agency, which Is not one of the Executive Departments.
 Another misleading contest ques- ton was the listing of four, dress de- signers, with the query as to which one designed the Duchess of Wind- sor's wedding gown. None of he four listed designed 1t.
 Another, and one which comes much closer home, is the story about Washington at Valley Forge throwing his cloak over a man and saying, "You deserve 1t more than do." The choice of four names ev- idently applied to Tom Paine, be- cause the rest of the question sing led him out, as one who "died in l80o." But there is no historical warrant for believing that Wash- ington actually did give Thomas Paine his cloak. The tale is not re- lated in nay of the leading biogra- phies of Thomas Paine, the two vol- tune work by Moncure Conway, the works of Gould, Pearson, Greet, and others. Nor do biographies of George Washington, even pious "Parson" Weems (author of the cherry-tree legend and other myth ical yarns) sustain any legend of George and his coat.
 Another question propounded by the author of a recent contest dealt with the number of times U. s. "sol- diers" have been sent to foreign soil" The intended answer was twelve, but 1t is necessary to in- clude U. s. Marines as soldiers" in order to make the answer correct, and the question dose not define United States" so hta 1t is unclear whether the U. s. as 1t existed after the Declaration of Independence or the U. s. under hte Articles of Con- federation or only the U. s. since the adoption of the Constitution, is intended.
 If one is participating in a contest of this kind, he Is better off if he is not a careful student, or not in- clined to be too meticulous in seek ing ahsloute accuracy. If so. one is likely to find that many questions as asked, are impossible of accurate