Indianapolis Times, Volume 42, Number 18, Indianapolis, Marion County, 31 May 1930 — Page 4

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An Indictment of the Supreme Court nr jrsncE ouvfß wendh.i holmes (Bit dittcntin* opinion in tfc* Mltootirl Inheritance tax cate. May S. 1980.) Although thl, decision hardly can be called a surprise, after Farmers Loan & Trust Cos. vs. Minnesota, 230 U. S. 204, and Safe Deposit & Trust Cos. vs. Virginia, 280 U. S 83, and although I stated my views in those cases, still as the term is not over I think it legitimate to add one or two reflections to what I haW said before. I have not expressed adequately the more than anxiety that I feel at the ever-increasing scope given to the fourteenth amendment in cutting down what I believe to be the constitutional rights of the states. As the decisions now stand, I see hardly any limit but the sky to the invalidating of those rights if they happen to strike a majority of this court as for any reason undesirable. I can not believe that the amendment was intended to give us carte blanche to embody our economic or moral beliefs in its prohibitions. Yet I can think of no narrower reason that seems to me to Justify the present and the earlier decisions to which I have referred. Os course the words “due process of law” if taken in their literal meaning slave no application to this case; and while it is too late to deny that they have been given a much more extended and artificial signification, still we ought to remember the great caution shown by the Constitution in limiting the power of the states, and should be slow to construe the clause in the fourteenth amendment as committing to the court, with no guide but the courts own discretion, the validity of whatever laws the states may pass. In this case the bonds, notes and bank accounts were within the power and received the protection of the state of Missouri; the notes, so far as appears, were within the considerations that I offered in the earlier decisions mentioned, so that logically Missouri was justified in demanding a quid pro quo; the practice of taxation in such circumstances I think has been ancient and widespread, and the tax was warranted by decisions of this court, Liverpool & London 5c Globe Ins Cos., vs. Assessors for the Parish of Orleans. 221 U. S. 346, 354, 355. Wheeler vs. Sohmer, 233 U. S. 424. (I suopose that these cases and many others now join Blacks tone vs. Miller on the Index Expurgatorius—but we need an authoritative list.) It seems to me to be exceeding our powers to declare such tax a denial of due process of law. And what are the grounds? Simply, so far as I can see, that it is disagreeable to a bondowner to be taxed in two places. Very probably it might be good policy to restrict taxation to a single place, and perhaps the technical conception of domicil may be the best determinant. But it seems to me that if that result is to be reached, it should be reached through understanding among the states, by uniform legislation or otherwise, pot by evoking a constitutional prohibition from the void of “due process of law” when logic, tradition and authority have united to declare the right of the state to lay the now prohibited tax. Mr. Justice Brandeis and Mr. Justice Stone agree with this opinion. Strangled in the Dark When certain elements in congress can’t defeat a reform in fair fight, they try to strangle it in the dark. That is what they did Thursday—not once, but ' twice. The reforms killed for this session were the Muscle Shoals and anti-injunction bills. After a battle of many years, the Norris bill for government operation of Muscle Shoals Vas passed by congress, only to be killed by Coolidge with a pocket veto. This spring the senate passed it again. It went to the house, where it was sidetracked by the G. O. P. dictatorship. When that fact became a scaridal, the house dic- ' tators replaced the Norris measure with a fake bill—that is, one which they knew could not possibly pass the senate or become law. That bill, providing for private lease of Muscle Shoals, now has been forced through the house. The senate and house thus are deadlocked, and the reform delayed until next year or later by the simple expedient of preventing the house from acting on the Norris bill, which it already had passed once. The same purpose was achieved by a different ruse in knocking out the anti-injunction bill. This legislation has been actively before the senate judiciary committee for two years. Ilolonged hearings and investigations have been devoted to it. All sides have been heard and the bill written and rewritten. Month by month the opposition obtained delay. Finally, public protest was locused on the issue by the recent successful senate fight against confirmation of John J. Parker for the United States supreme court. Public pressure during the Parker fight became so strong that even the senate apologists for Parker dared not defend the yellow dog injunction. They pleaded the fallacious excise that he was bound by judicial precedent. Most of them deplored such injunctions. Their great argument was that th\s generally admitted evil of restricting the peaceful rights of labor organization should be corrected—not by the courts, but by congress. That is precisely what this bill seeks to do. It applies the principle urged not only by both sides of the senate in the Parker fight, but also pledged by both Republican and Democratic platforms. So, obviously, there was no way to kill this reform in open fight—not, at any rate, without a lot of senators being smeared. Thursday they found a way. The judiciary committee was ready to vote on reporting out the longdelayed bill. A poll showed a tie, which could have been broken under public piessure in favor of the bill. But a surprise vote was taken to refer the bill to the attorney-general. That kill* it for at least another year. It should be noted that the bill's legal aspects had been debated thoroughly and passed upon by the ablest lawyers and judges of the senate, and that during the entire two years no suggestion ever had been made of the unusuaJi course of sending it to the attorney-general. Senators Norris. Borah. Blaine and Ashurst did their best, but were unabl<* to prevent the trickery. The country, which was sc much aroused over this same issue in the Parker case, will want to know and remember the names of the senators who have killed the flhipstead anti-injunction bill. They are: Dmeen (HL), Gillftt .Mass), Robinson (Ind.), Steiwer (Ore). Waterman (Cola). Hasting* (DeL), Overman (N. CJ, and Stephens (Miss.)

The Indianapolis Times <a bcbifps-bowabd newspaper) Owned and published daily lexcept Sunday) by The ludlauapolia Tlraea Publishing Cos. 214-220 West Maryland Street. Indianapolis. Ind. Price In Marion County. 2 centa a copy: elaewbere. * cents delivered by carrier. 12 <-ent a week. BOVD GIRLV2. BOY W. HOWARD. FRANK O. MORRISON. Editor President Boalneea Manager *" PHONIC Hlley 8651 _____ BATPRDAY. MAY 81. 1930. Member of Halted Preaa, bcrlppa-Howard Newspaper Al’U'nce, Newspaper Enterprise Association. Newspaper information Serrice and Aud't Bureau of Circulations. “Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way.”

Depressions Past and Present There is much debuts relative to the volume and intensity of the present business slump. Some represent it as but a slight temporary flurry. Others pronounce it the worst depression in a generation. The question is important or more reasons that mare controversy. What to do depends to a large degree upoD what actually exists as the problem to be attacked. In Facts and Workers Issued by the labor bureau for May, the depression is compared with the decline of business in 1920-21, 1924 and 1927. The most important index used Is that of general Industrial production compared by the federal reserve board. In the 1920-21 depression general production fell off 33 per cent. In 1924 it dropped 21 per cent. In 1927 it was lowered 10 per cent. In the present situation the declined Is about equal to that in 1924, namely 21 per cent. Other Indices are examined to check on this. Judging from the award of building contracts, its seems that the volume of building fell off more in' the present depression than In any of the three earlier ones. On the other hand, wholesale prices have dropped less this time than in 1920-21 or 1924. The accumulation of unsold commodities was about the same in 1920-21 and 1924 as at present. Department store sales have fallen off about as much as in 1920-21, but much more than in 1924. Factory pay rolls have declined less this time than in either 192021 or 1924. Unemployment may have increased less in this depression than in either 1920-21 or in 1924. Wf do not have complete figures. On the whole, then, authors of this investigation conclude that the present depression is less serious than that of 1920-21, as serious as that of 1924 and far more serious than that of 1927: “To sum up, then, in ro aspect in tl .is present depression as severe as that of 1920-21, except possibly inthe actual physical volume of building and department store trade, and in the amount of unemployment, concerning which we do not have complete figures. The depression has, however, been as great as that of 1923-24 in a number of other respects. It is geater than that of 1927 in every respect. "One difference, however, should be noted—the drop was much faster this time than at any of the others. It occurred in from three to five or six months. That undoubtedly made the shock more severe. “We are assuming, in saying this, that ( the bottom already has been reached and that we are“on the upjrade, or at least that things will get no worse. If this assumption is mistaken then the present depression may take as long to reach bottom as the previous ones, and it also may be more severe in the size of the fall." Such substantial investigations as these should go far to curb reckless generalizations about our present problems. They show us what we have to deal with, even if they do not suggest specific remedies. Too Near Perfection A young man who is just learning anew sport, anew art or anew profession is generally advised to watch the leaders in that line and see how they do things. Ordinarily that’s good advice; but it occurs to us that in golf there are times when it doesn’t work. Take, for instance, Bobby Jones. In the recent British tournament, Bobby teed off on a 430-yard hole with a 300-yard drive that landed plunk in a deep sand trap. Then, unflustered, he proceeded ts sock the ball out of the sand, drive it to the green, 130 yards away—and watch it trickle into the cup. Despite the fact that his drive landed him in a trap, he had made a par four hole in two strokes! The novice, instead of learning anything from a performance like that, is apt to be Just plain dismayed. Such a stunt looks so superhuman that the beginner might well think there was no use even to try to copy the great Bobby. Will You Be One? The report on automobile accidents for the last year is out at last, and its figures are extremely depressing. No fewer than 31,000 people were killed in this country by automobiles, and more than 1,000,000 more were injured. This represents an increase of 10 per cent over the preceding year. The dreadful significance of those figures is hard to assimilate until you study them a bit. For example, during the next hour there will be three Americans killed by automobiles, and 115 more will be hurt—many of them crippled for life. Who will those doomed people be—those who are to die or be crippled within the next sixty minutes? Well, one of them may be yourself. Or it may be that your car will be the instrument that strikes one of them down.

REASON

JOSEPHUS DANIELS went too far In his Dallas, Tex., speech when he said that President Hoover is wet just because Ambassador Morrow is running for senator from New Jersey on a wet platform. Morrow's platform doesn’t mean that Hoover is wet; it merely means that New Jersey is wet. a a a One reason England has less crime than America is because she excludes undesirables. She wouldn't even let Harry Thaw come ashore, because he killed a man twenty-five years ago, yet criminals by the thousands are admitted and bootlegged into the United States. a a a THE divorce rate is increasing in Chicago and Robert Sweitzer, the clerk of Cook county, predicts that by 1968 divorces ijsill exceed marriages by two to one. When that time comes the Chicago papers will get out an extra whenever they discover that a husband and wife are still living together. mam Baseball fans all over the country are pulling for Washington to win the American league pennant because they admire Manager Walter Johnson. Had Jonnson spent his days pitching for a stronger team than Washington, he would stand forth as the greatest hurler the game ever knew. a a a Nicholas Murray Butler’s recent pro-English speeches, coupled with the Manchester Guardian's revelations that on several occasions he sat in conference with British statesmen, considering issues of vital importance to England, makes one wonder which country Butler really belongs to. a a a JOHN BULL has had a bad mess on his hands in India with this rebellion, caused by the manufacture of salt by the natives, but how much worse it would be if the natives we.e making pepper! a a a Mrs. Cnarlotte Updike sues for divorce from the former Indianapolis congressman who now has a job at Washington, saying he failed to support his family. A public officer who fails to keep his folks should cease to be a public officer. i

Ru FREDERICK y LANDIS

THE INDIAN/ t-OUS TIMES

SCIENCE

BY DAVID DIETZ Carbon and Oxygen, Heretofore Thought of as Simple Substances, Really Are Complex. CO-OPERATION between a group of astronomers at the JJlt. Wilson observatory and a group of mathematicians at the University of California has resulted in one of the most notable achievements in the realm of the structure of matter. The discovery is of the utmost importance in the fields of physics and chemistry. It is that carbon and oxygen, heretofore thought of as simple substances, really are complex substances, a mixture of several substances which all show the same chemical properties. Stated technically, their discovery is that oxygen and carbon are both isotopes. To understand the importance o 5 this, we must made a brief excursio into the field of atomic theory. According to the atomic theory, qgch chemical element is composed of a different sort of atom. Hydrogen is composed of hydrogen atoms, helium of helium atoms, and so on. According to the electron theory, atoms are composed of electrons. The simplest atom is hydrogen, with a nucleus of one positive electron around which one negative electron revolves. * n it

Complex OTHER atoms are more complex, having nuclei composed of both positive and negative electrons. Thus helium has a nucleus of four positive and two negative electrons, while two negative electrons revolve around this nucleus. Now study has revealed that the weight of an atom is due to the positive electrons. The negative electron is so light by comparison that its weight can be neglected. Asa result, if we start with hydrogen atom and call its weight one, since it contains one positive electron, the other atolhs ought to have weights which are multiples of hydrogen. The weight of helium should be four, and so on. There should be no fractional atomic weights, since apparently a fractional weight would indicate that an atom contained a piece of positive electron. But the most careful experiments revealed the fact that there were fractional atomic weights, many of tnem. Did this mean that the electron theory was wrong or that the explanation could be found elsewhere? A beginning of the solution of the puzzle was made in 1910 when Prof. Soddy, then at McGill university, revived a suggestion which the late Sir William Crookes had made many years earlier. This was that all the atoms of a chemical element might not be necessarily alike, but that a chemical element might be composed of a mixture of atoms which behaved alike chemically, but differed otherwise. a u tt Discoveries SOON after Soddy’s suggestion, Professor Thomson of Cambridge university invented a method of analysis which demonstrated that the gas neon consisted of two kinds of atoms, which were alike chemically, but which possessed different atomic weights, in other words, consisted of different numbers of electrons.

The apparent fractional atomic weight was the average of the weight of the two. The World war interrupted further investigation at the time, but in 1919, Professor Aston, also of Cambridge, showed that many elements consisted of more than one kind of atom and by 1926, Aston and others had demonstrated that thirty-one of the ninety-two chemical elements were such mixtures. These mixtures were given the name isotopes. It was found, for example, that mercury consisted of six isotopes, while the gas, xenon, consisted of nine. Until 1929 it was thought that, with the exception of helium, carbon and oxygen were the two elements most likely to consist of only one kind of atom. However, there were certain irregularities in the band spectra of these elements, which could not lie satisfactorily explained. The spectrum is the scientific name given to the rainbow which is formed when the light from any source is passed through a prism. A band spectrum is one which contains many spectrum lines so close together that they merge into bands. These bands are due to the vibration of combinations of atoms known as molecules. Harold D. Babcock of the Mt. Wilson observatory and Doctors W. F. Giaquo and H. L. Johnson of the University of Galifornia, undertook the study of the band spectra of oxygen. Dr. Arthur S..King of the observatory and Professor Raymond T. Birge of the university, studied the carbon band spectra. The investigations have revealed that both carbon and oxygen are isotopes.

'How WellDoYbu yCnovftourßibk?

FIVE QUESTIONS A DAV ON FAMILIAR PASSAGES

1. Complete these pairs; Adam and . . .; David and . . Mary and . . Ruth and . . .; Aquila and . . . 2. Where does the Bible refer to a little cloud like a man’s hand? 3. To whom did Jesus apply the term “that fox?” 4. What son of David rebelled against him? 5. In what parable is the phrase, “A great gulf fixed?” Answers to Yesterday’s Queries. 1. Shem. Ham and Japheth; Generis 6:19. 2. Gold, frankincense, and myrrh; Matthew 2:11. 3. Deities, male and female, worshipped by the heathen tribes of Canaan; Judges 2:13. 4. Mary s hymn of praise when she visited Elisabeth, beginning “Magnificat” (My soul doth mag-

Daily Thought

Unto the pure all things are pure.—Titus 1:15. a a a Purity in person and in morals is true godliness.—Hosea Ballou.

Doctors Correct Puzzling Foot Pains

BY DR. MORRIS FISHBEIN, Editor Journal of the American Medical Association and of Hyiceia, the Health Magazine. OF all of the discomforts to the human structure, none is so completely disturbing and fatiguing as painful feet. The department store worker, the traveling salesman, the policeman, or motorman, who develops agony after a few hours of standing, rapidly becomes tired, and is thereby at the same time inefficient. Numerous accidents, no doubt, result from the fact that it is not possible for the person concerned to keep his mind on anything but the pains and aches which infest his pedal extremities. The obvious causes of painful feet are such distortions and growths as hammer-toes, corns, bunions, warts and similar swellings. In these cases

Readers of The Times Voice Views

Editor -Times—l agree with ail you say about the Grundy "robber"’ tariff, but do not think there is any need to get “all het up” over it, because it is probable that in a very few years the tariff on most fac-tory-made goods will become ineffective, just as the tariff on most farm crops now is ineffective. There now is a tariff of 42 cents a bushel on wheat, but it is ineffective, because the farmers of this country produce more wheat than we can consume. The surplus must be sold in the world’s markets at the world’s price, and that has the effect of bringing the whole of the crop down to the world price. So it is with all major farm crops and so it will be in a few years with all the major products of our factories. In this country, in the last sixteen years, there has been a fundamental change in industrial conditions. Before the World war we manufactured little more than we consumed at home. During the war and for several years after its close we did most of the manufacturing for the whole world, because European manufacturers were without capital to carry on. Millions of men left the farms, to ?et the high wages paid in the factories. Farmers were compelled to equip their farms with laborsaving implements—tractors, tworow cultivators, combines The census will not show it, because all towns and villages of less than 2,500 are classed as suburban, but it is a fact the farms of this country are being operated with little more than half the man power that was required twenty years ago. The percentage of our population that must depend for a living upon work in the factories is far greater than it was twenty years ago; and if all are given full time employment, our factories will produce far more than we can consume here and the surplus that must be sold abroad will bring the whole down to the price prevailing in the world’s markets. So let them pass the Grundy robber tariff, the sooner the better. The sooner wage earners learn that no tariff, be it ever so high, can | give them full time employment, j the sooner the manufacturers real- ! ize that if their factories are to I run full time they must sell a ! part of their product abroad in j competition with the factories of ! other countries, the better it will j be for all of us. HORACE CHADWICK, Morristown, Ind. Editor Times—Your editorial of | May 27, "Signs of a Flood,” evidently was written on the spur of the moment. It is misleading and does not give any true light on the prohibition poll of The Literary Digest. The Digest distributed 20,000,000 ballots, and recorded only 25 per cent or 5,000,000 of these. I should like to know whether all the recipients were voters, if women received as many ballots as the men, although the evidence is that they did not, what proportion went to the city and rural population, and upon what basis the number of ballots for each state was determined? You point to the accuracy of the Digest's presidential poll’s predictions. I grant that and the ballot box substantiates it. Its 1922 prohibition poll did not stand the ballot box test. That poll showed 39 per cent enforcement, 40 per cent modification, and HI per cent for repeal, and set in the follow ing con-

Proceed at Your Own Risk!

DAILY HEALTH SERVICE

'the removal of the corn, bunion or wart, or the correction of the ham-mer-toe will relieve the trouble. The vast majority of people who have painful feet complain of pain somewhere along the inner border of the foot and are themselves unable to find out that anything is wrong with the foot. Tender spots may be present, but it requires scientific study to determine why. In many instances completely flat feet are quite painless. The waiter or porter who shuffles about on flat feet probably suffered with pain at some time in his career, but that period has passed and his feet have adjusted themselves to new conditions. Dr. Eric I. Lloyd points out that babies, anthropoid apes, savages and ballet dancers have feet which not infrequently are as flat as the hand and which are painless.

gressior.al election, three drys were elected to one wet.

That poll recorded Massachusetts; Ohio, South Dakota, and California as wet, but in the subsequent actual elections these states were dry. States holding binding referenda after this poll showed the vote favoring prohibition exceeded the Digest’s proportion by 50 per cent. What is your classification of the 15,000,000 who did not vote? It is an old axiom of practical politics that when no critical decision is pending, the majority in power, in this case the supporters of prohibition, will remain silent. In the 1930 polls, with more than 3 to 1 remaining silent, it is a rather impassive observance upon a recent remark of the president of the association against the prohibition amendment that the whole people of the United States are 4 to 1 in revolt against the law. You are too quick at conclusions to lump the modification and repeal vote as wet. I do not intend to make a comparable error by lumping the modificationists with the drys, but he who voted for modification while refraining from voting for repeal, has committed himself as being in favor of the eighteenth amendment, and thus is in favor of a national policy of federal control of the liquor traffic. The fundamental proposition of the drys is that federal control is necessary for the protection of society from the evils of the liquor traffic. Liquor has not one single word that can be said in its favor. If you have a better method than the present, bring it out. Modification and repeal sentiment rest on dissatisfaction with present enforcement or on the opinion that enforcement is impossible. For this the poll is a useful protest. Will Rogers said, “The poll is largely from New York, Chicago and points wet. Wait till returns from America start coming in.” However, the people insist on freedom from the evils of liquor, and negative disapproval of present methods do not show the way to better conditions Lastly, as a matter of policy. The Times should be “for” something that has for its motive a higher standard of morals, instead of always being “against” something. It is your duty to our city and the people thereof to strive to put liquor under the ban of law’, instead of striving to accord it the support of law. The natural conclusion of the whole rabble, rousing arguments against prohibition, is that the wets would be against prohibition if it really did prohibit. Would The Times? Very sincerely, OSCAR B. SMITH. 5143 North Arsenal avenue. Editor Times—With the statement of Justice Taft that the administration of law was a disgrace to the country, and its condemnation by bar associations—national and state—there is no doubt as to the need of a reform in our courts. Why not begin at Home in our state conventions? It can not be denier that Indiana courts do not have the confidence and respect of the people of the state. Their opinions are too often technical, political, prejudiced, and based cm obsolete foolish precedents. Shall men yho have been tried on the bench and found to be partial and prejudiced be renominated?, I favor the appointment of judges, as I believe *. poor Governor would Select better men that the people elect. But under our system,

The ballet dancer has a foot like a hand for the simple reason that the muscles and ligaments are trained and developed so fully that she is able to create and maintain arches with the foot exactly as the average person does with the hands. The average person with a painful foot has had his foot confined in boots, his muscles and ligaments are ont developed, and the pain results from stretching of the contracted ligaments and muscles. When a physician is called on to train such painful feet he devotes his attention particularly to restoring the foot to i.ts normal suppleness and to training the muscles so that they will take care of the demands upon them. Suitable exercises, such as lifting a pencil with the toes, standing on the toes, walking on the toes and heels alternately, are simple and aid greatly.

the courts are in politics, and the people have the right, publicly, to discuss merits and demerits of judicial candidates as well as those for other offices. So I desire to do so in reference to Judge Willoughby. He has been on the supreme court bench for twelve years. Ih 1924 he was elected on the first count by one vote. Then on the corrected returns he was defeated by several hundred votes. At the same time Coolidge carried Indiana by more than 200,000, and the Republican state ticket was elected by around 150,000 plurality. This is an “off year.” There is no presidential kite to ride on. Voters are dissatisfied and party ties never hung as loosely. The supreme court is two years behind on the docket. People are crying out for relief. The records show that during the last few years the cases disposed of by each supreme court judge was a year. This costs the state more than SSOO for each case for salaries alone. The judges get SIO,OOO a year. Judge Willoughby belongs to a “trio” that has rendered several decisions on a three to two basis. Their decision of the question of "search and seizure” has been condemned by the supreme court of the United States. Judge Willoughby is a wet. as well as his campaign manager, Arthur Gilliom. They have a right to be “wet,” but when public officials like Willoughby and Gilliom carry out their bitter personal prejudices in their public acts, it is time to call a halt. Further, it is reported that Judge Willoughby plainly has stated that if he is nominated he will wage an active campaign against the Anti-Saloon League. This is a challenge to the “dry” vote of the state and the “drys” are in the majority. Prohibition is a legislative question and not a judicial one. It should not figure in the nomination of judges. But the most serious objection to Judge Willoughby was his vote with the "wet trio” in the Shumaker contempt case. That decision strikes at the fundamental principle of a free people and was a violation of the Constitution which guarantees the “freedom of speech and the press.” The press and patriotic people should not stand for that decision that deprives them of the liberties of a free government. Lastly, can the Republican party afford to put such a man on the ticket? It will have a hard fight this year and should not be burdened by weak candidates. If Judges McDonald and Coulter, opponents of Willoughby, do not measure up to the high requirements of the office, let the delegates pick a strong man like Judge Montgomery of Seymour, ex-su-preme court judge, able, impartial, honest. WILL H. CRAIG. Noblesville, Ind. What is the queerest animal in the world? This is somewhat a matter of ipinion and definition, but Dr. William M. Mann, director of the national zoological park at Washington, said: "Few Americans ever have seen the duck-billed platypus or the echidna, those curious egglaying Australian animate which seem like reptiles in the process of becoming warm-blooded, but undecided whether to become birds or mammals. They are the greatest curiosities in the mammal world, and would be highly prized exhibits In any aoo.”

MAY 31, 1930

M. E. Tracy SAYS:

Nebuchadnezzar Stands Out in His True Light as the Result of Excavations in Ur of the Chaldees. SCIENTIFIC sharps, digging into the dust heaps where Ur of the Chaldees once stood, have unearthed another temple. They hail It as a great find; first, because or its excellent state of preservation; and. second, because it was built by Nebuchadnezzar. The old walls remain intact, we are informed, to a height of not less than twenty feet. Even their whitewashea surface is in good condition, and now that they have been roofed in with .canvas to keep out the drift of summer sandstorms, one can enter the structure with a feeling that he is seeing it in much the same light as did Babylonian worshipers, 2,500 years ago. Such discoveries do more than satisfy curiosity. For one thing, they give us a clearer perspective as to the depth and breadth of human history. For another, they warrant the idea that there are laws which govern the ebb and flow of civilization. • For still another, they suggest that there is a definite connection* between the future and the past. tt a m Dust tor. Centuries UR of the Chaldees has been dust for 2,000 years. Before that, it was a great and dominant center for even a longer period. One wonders whether the great and dominant centers of today will experience a similar fate. It is possible, of course, but barring a total collapse of civilize .on, posterity will not have to ust he pick and spade to determine w at they were like. We excavate the ruins of Ur a id ether ancient cities because that is the only way we can get accun te information about the people wiao occupied them. Twenty-five hundred years ago, or even at a much later date, men knew no way of making anything like a complete record of them activities. Whatever else may be said of modem civilization, it has learned how to overcome that difficulty. If London, Chicago or Melbourne were to become dust, the children of 5000 A. D. could get a vivid picture of what they were like through movie films and phonograph records, as well as books. tt u u History Will Endure THINK what it would mean to us if we could throw a picture of Nebuchadnezzar on the screen, or hear him talk out of a loud speaker. Except for such a cataclysm as would obliterate human knowledge, people 3,000 years hence will be doing that very thing with regard to us and our leaders. They will not be obliged to depend on lists of names, monotonous Chronologies, and fragmentary inscriptions for an understanding of the past, but will be able to see and, hear an ancient world carrying on its various activities. To us. the ancient world is something of a mystery we can get glimpses of only here and there. Comparatively little was known of this city of Ur and less still of this man Nebuchadnezzar until science went to work with pick and spade. Untold generations grew up with the idea that Nebuchadnezzar was a rather weak and wicked monarch whom the prophets of Israel found it easy to outwit and humiliate. His strange dream?, as interpreted by Daniel; his consternation at seeing Shadrach, Mesach and Abednego walk unscathed from the fiery furnace, and his seven years’ affliction at the hands of Jehovah became familiar household yarns, but Nebuchadnezzar, the skillful general, the builder, the monarch who tried to improve the lot of his people, was unknown until the modem world began to unearth brick stamped with his monogram and clay tablets containing records of his achievements. n tt PUTTING aside his right to be remembered as a conqueror, Nebuchadnezzar did enough as an engineer to deserve a place in history. First of all, he completed the double wall around Babylon which his father had begun. Next he lined the Euphrates with brick and mortar, as well as the great canal connecting that river with the Tigris. Next he built a conservation reservoir which is said to have been 140 miles in circumference and 180 feet deep tfext he built the famous Hanging Gardens for his wife, anew palace, and many temples. But most of that remained unknown until modern science dug into the ruins of Babylon, Borsippa, and Ur.

Trie—

WHITMAN’S BIRTH May 31. ON May 31, 1819, Walt Whitman, American poet, was bom at Westhills, L. I. Following his education in the public schools of Brooklyn and New York, Whitman learned the printing trade, taught school and wrote for newspapers and magazines. At the age of 20 he became editor and publisher of a weekly on Long Island, but when it failed, he decided to travel on foot. Returning from his wanderings, which took him into Canada, Whitman ti*d his hand at carpentry, building and selling workingmen’s houses. This occupation gave him the material that made up the first collection of his famous “Leaves of Grass.” The book amused rather than interested at first, but it remained for Emerson to give it its proper estimation. The remainder of Whitman’s life was given to the elaboration of th.s book. Although Whitman's poetry glorified democracy and the average man. it failed to become popular, mainly because it defied literary and other conventions. Whitman long has been recognized, however, by European and other critic*, as one of the outstanding figures in American literature.