Indianapolis Times, Volume 42, Number 21, Indianapolis, Marion County, 4 June 1930 — Page 4

PAGE 4

I C Ml - M otv AMO

The Stamford Witch Hunt What was perhaps the worst of the May day atrocities in the United States took place in Stamford, Conn. But for the activity of the American Civil Liberties Union in taking up the case and the efficiency of the New York Telegram in reporting the news of the trial, the police would have gotten away with their brutalities quite unnoticed. On May day the Stamford Communists held a meeting. It is said that they failed to obtain a permit from the mayor. This is required by an ordinance which is clearly unconstitutional, according to several decisions of the Connecticut supreme court. Eleven men, a woman, and a boy of 17 were arrested by the police Several of those arrested denied affiliation with the Communists. After the arrests were made, all save the woman and the boy were taken to the police station and severely beaten. They first were made to run the gantlet of two rows of policemen, who took a crack at them as they passed. Then they were taken upstairs individually and subjected to a terrific pummelling. Heads were cut open, some were knocked out, and all needed the attention of a physician. The police chief was present when the beatings went on. Fortunately for the accused, the American Civil Liberties Union was informed of the situation by the International Labor Defense committee. The union got busy at once. It was able to enlist the services of Raymond Wise, formerly assistant attorney-general of the New York district. He argued the case before Judge Justus J. Fennell at Stamford on May 23. The judge carefully excluded all evidence concerning the beating of the defendants by the police. Police Sergeant Paul Hayes declared on the stand that “the whole Red gang ought to be in Jail.” Thanks tc the capable presentation of the case by Wise, the accused escaped the severe penalties which otherwise surely would have been meted out to them. Eleven were convicted. Nine were given fines of from $lO to SIOO. Two were sent to jail for sixty days. It is significant that the two who got the jail sentences were not the men most active in the May day meeting for which the arrests were made. They were the two men best known as Communist organizers in Stamiord. Perhaps the chief contribution to common sense which the episode produced were the words of Wise in addressing the court: “If we have anything to fear from the Communist movement in this country, it is that the courts, the prosecutors, and the police are likely to help the Communists by taking an overzealous view of their activities.”

Cannon’s Contempt Bishop Chnnon apparently thinks he is above the law. That is a dangerous aberration for any lnan. It is especially dangerous for a politician who has been 1 ' in as many scrapes as Cannon. The fact that his activities just have been impeached by a prominent group in his own church, and that his position there is precarious, does not concern us. What his church may think of his bucket shop gambling, or of his campaign deals, is a matter entirely between him and his church. But his political activities as such are a matter of public concern. Asa citizen he has no less and no more right than any other citizen. If he is caught in shady politics he must pay the penalty. His attempt before the senate lobby investigating committee yesterday to raise the cry of personal persecution merely adds the count of cowardice to his other offenses. He refused to testify to the committee on his activities and use of funds in the anti-Smith movement of the last presidential campaign. That he used funds of the Methodist Board of Prohibition and Social Service, of which he is chairman, to launch the antiSmith Asheville conference was demonstrated by the committee. What he did with other campaign funds not reported remains to be cleared up. Giving Cannon the benefit of that charitable judgment which he denies to all who disagree with his own prohibition or theological dogmas, it still is difficult to understand why he is trying to hide his tracks. The senate should treat him just as it would any layman. Cannon should be made to account for hs political financial deals, or he should be punished for contempt. The Tariff Bill Slips s>retty soon it is going to be difficult to find any one among the 120.000,000 Americans who like the billion-dollar tariff bill. Day by day the protests grow bigger and bigger. That fs not surprising, of course, considering that the mere threat of such a law already has contributed to a 21 per cent fall in our export trade and cut the national employment figure almost as low as the January slump. Even before the the bill was written many were intelligent enough to foresee the danger and warn the country against a higher tariff debauch. Hoover was one of them. In his campaign and in his messages to congress he pledged himself against a general tariff increase. Why he has been less vigorus in opposition to the bill as public resentment has grown is a political mystery comparable to the blindness which killed the Taft administration. But the lack of presidential leadership has not stopped the public. Thousands of economists and business leaders today are using the arguments Hoover used a year ago. and they are getting results. So heavy has the barrage been that even the congressional advocates of the bill are beginning to apologize for il. Admitting its deficiencies, they fall back on the absurd excuse that the flexible provision —empowering the President on recommendation of the tariff commission to change rates up to 50 per cent—opens the way to improve it Apart from the fact that eight years' experience under the flexible provision of the existing law proves that this system makes a law worse and rates higher, the Grundy bill is so bad that a President changing rates day and night could not correct the thousandodd evils in it t The menace of this situation is beginning to frighten senators who originally supported the bill. The cases of Dill of Washington and Copeland of New' York are enlightening. These two Democratic votes are very important in the neck-and-neck poll. Although both joined in the log-rolling, and justified it on the grounds of protecting industries of their states in the general grab. Dill and Copeland now seem to have accepted the view that no amount cf local protection could compensate for the loss of prosperity. Asa sample of what members of congress and the President are hearing from the business men of the country, we quote from yesterday's protest by the Textile Converters’ Association, comprising the leading firms in textile distribution. Nine reasons are given by the association why the

The Indianapolis Times <A SC KI ITS- HOW ARD NEWSPAPER) Owned and published dally ‘except Sunday) by The Indlanapi.il* Time* Publishing Cos.. 214-230 West Maryland Street. Indianapolis. Ind. Price in Marlon County. 2 cents s copy: elsewhere. 3 cents delire red by carrier. 12 cents a week. POYD GURLEY~ ROY W HOWARD. FRANK G. MORRISON. Editor President Business Manager THOSE It I ley MSI WEDNESDAY, JUNK 4, 1980. Member of i'nlted Press, Seripps-Howard Newspaper Alliance. Newspaper Enterprise Association. Newspaper Information Serrlce and Audit Bureau of Circulations. “Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way.”

proposed law would be "disadvantageous, not merely for the industry here represented, but for every Industry at large and the country as a whole.” Those reasons are: “1. It betrays an unjustified fear of foreign rivalry and competition, instead of thinking in terms of international trade and good will. “2. It will benefit a small minority at the expense of the large majority of our citizens.” “3. It will tend to create ill will against us abroad, inviting and provoking resentment and reprisals at a time when every effort should be in the opposite direction, that of international amity. “4. It will cause retaliation on the part of foreign countries, thereby diminishing our sales to these foreign markets now so essential to the United States, with its enormous productive capacity. “5. It carries to an extreme a protective theory, restrictive of international trade, perhaps needed when we were a debtor nation, creating ard building up-our industrial enterprises, but no longer tenable, now that we are the world’s leading creditor nation and possess the world’s strongest and most efficient industrial structure. “6. It will not create new labor, but will tend rather to cause more unemployment by reducing our exports. “7. It will increase the cost of living to the average citizen, particularly the farmer and the average wage earner throughout the hation. “8. It will not aid the farmer, as his problem is not that of foreign competition in the domestic market, but is the problem of the disposal of surplus crops. “9. Under the already sufficiently high tariff law, the majority of our industries have shown enormous forward strides in the last eight years, proving a higher and more protective tariff unnecessary.” All of which only is repeating what Ford, Sloan of General Motors apd dozens of other corporation heads have said, what the 1,028 economists said, and what Hoover himself was saying a year ago. There is no answer to these facts. No answer, that is, except to kill this vicious bill.

When Jobs Make Jobs The public and private organizations that are planning on new construction work during the next six months have it in their power to give the nation a very strong boost on the climb back to prosperity. Offhand, the increase in employment which these projects can provide may not look very impressive. The ultimate effects, however, will be greater than appears on the surface. All departments of our national economic system are tied in together so closely that you can not improve one without helping to improve all. Frances Perkins, commissioner of the New York state department of labor, makes this clear in a speech recently delivered at a. conference of welfare agencies in New York City. “If a million men were put to work on public and private construction projects, let’s see what would happen,” she remarks. “Each man would, before very long, buy five pairs of sox, one pair of shoes, one suit of clothes and three shirts. Just think what this would mean to the clothing industry—orders for 5,000,000 pairs of sox, 3,000,000 shirts, a million suits of clothes and a million pairs of shoes. “And that is only a beginning. The families of these men have been stinting for months, doing ndthout things they have needed for nearly a year. As fast as these million men would be paid, they would buy in addition to the essentials of food and clothing for themselves and their families, furniture, radios and perhaps even automobiles. Their children again would buy candy and ice cream.” That makes the proposition clearer. Let these extra construction jobs once start and the business revival will get an immensely important stimulus. Not only will more men be employed: the money that they earn and spend will cause the employment of men in totally unrelated fields. It seems odd, in a way, that the sum total of national happiness should depend so largely on whether new highways are paved and new buildings are erected, but that is just the situation we are in. Considered as a group, our advance on the pathway toward the better life is to be,gauged in terms of so many million pairs of sox and shoes. There are moments when it appears that the new science of industry—the use of mass production, the maintenance of high wage scales, the strange new economy that calls for the elmination of poverty as a matter t>f self-interest may bring us into an era in human affairs incomparably more magnificent than anything ever dreamed of before. That is why the restoration of. prosperity is so tremendously important.

REASON By F lasdis CK

WITH all these admirals and statesmen disagreeing as to what this London naval compact really means, the average citizen may be pardoned if he is unable to figure it out. n n This violent conflict is not limited to the United States, Japan's experts tossing the people of their country in a similar blanket of doubt. But while a Japanese admiral felt so humiliated by the results of the agreement that he committed harikari, none of our sea dogs is likely tc feel it so keenly. n n u SPEAKING of Japan, Chairman Johnson of the house immigration committee should think several time's before he favors letting Japanese immigrants into the United States on the same basis as Europeans. It is an unfortunate situation, but no good can come from reviving the matter, for such a proposition is sure to be defeated in the senate, if not in the house of representatives. tt U tt Since Japan naturally regards our exclusion of her people as a blow at her national pride, her demand at the London conference for an increased naval tonnage probably was tie expression of a determination to secure recognition of her national standing in another way. mm* In the next campaign those opponents of President Hoover who have accused him of having an English leaning, will not overlook the fact that he has created the post of ceremonials officer, the same resembling the job of lord chamberlain of the English royal h usehold. mam MR. WARREN D. ROBBINS of the state department will hold this position and while we know nothing about Warren, one can not gaze upon his full-length picture in the papers without realizing that he has a fine tailor. We've always wanted a suit that would fit like his. m m a Speaking of heroes, we doff our chapeau to pilot Samuel Samson of the air mail, who, when his engine died, turned his plane upside down to let the mail bags fall out. staying with the plane until the last minute before' saving his life with his parachute.

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

M. E. Tracy SAYS:

Our Problem in the Philip- • pines and England's in India Are Rooted in the Same Sycophantic Attitude. THE situation in India is rather hopeless, according to Dhan Gopal Mokerji, who returns to this country after a few weeks in his unhappy native, land. The people no longer fear British rale, he declares, and the campaign of passive resistance soon will develop into one of violence, without the restraining influence of Mahatma Gandhi. “Why is it,” he asks, "that Premier MacDonald, who was a pacifist during the World war, permits so much shooting in India? Can nothing be done to prevent the increasing insanity that is taking possession of the east? Is there no way to make the two contending forces •settle their difficulties without further bloodshed?” The Indian problem is a byproduct of the colonial system, of white civilization’s attitude toward the semi-barbaric world, of the imperialistic policy which has found expression, not only in conquest, but in missionary work. For four centuries, Christendom has claimed the right to convert and govern, never doubting the justice of such policy until recent years. We Americans have denied the charge of imperialism as represented by actual conquest, but we have contributed more than our share to the work of proselyting. Not only that, but we have permitted ourselves to be edged into control of the Philippine Islands on the ground that it was necessary for “humanity’s sake.” That ‘Christian’ Feeling BY no stretch of the imagination can the Philippine problem be likened to that of India, yet both are rooted in the same sycophantic attitude. Though trade plays a part, England would be vastly more willing to give up India, while we would be vastly more favorable toward Philippine independence, but for the general feeling that white Christians were ordained of God to lord it over every one. Maybe they are, but how will they make pther folks believe it, and if not, how will they continue to avoid war and revolution? Such questions are pertinent, especially since the senate committee on territories has recommended passage of the HawesCutting bill to grant complete independence to the Philippine islands, if, after a probationary period of five years, a plebiscite showed them to want it. Briefly, the bill has four major purposes: “To provide for drafting of a constitution for a free and independent government of the Philippine islands. “To provide, for a ratification by the Philippine people of the constitution so formulated and the selection of governmental officials under the new constitution. “To provide for a five-year period of test for the gradual change of the economic and political relationship between the islands and the United States. “To provide an opportunity following such experience to decide at a plebiscite whether the Philippine people disapprove of separation from the United States.” What Right Have We? A MINORITY report, signed by four members of the committee, describes this bill as “tantamount to a proposition for immediate independence,” and declares that disaster would result from its enactment, both in the Philippines and to American interests in the Philippine islands and the Far East. Still, if the Philippines want independence, why should we deny them? By what law of man or God have we the right to rule people against their will? According to our own standards and ideals, as set forth in the Declaration of Independence, are we not obligated to respect the demand for liberty? tt tt a Justice Is Stifled TO justify retention of control of the Philippine islands, whether the people want it or not, is to justify the doctrine of imperialism in its worst form. To make commercial interests or political considerations the excuse is to t*irow away every principle of abstract justice for which our forefathers fought and in which we pretend to believe. Os course, there is money at stake, and of course, the Philippines represent a military base from which we might operate in the Far East, but if that warrants their continued subjection, we have no right to question any nation because of what it takes or whom it suppresses.

■"''‘l C DIAVr lp TH£' a

CHAMBERLIN’S FLIGHT June 4 ON June 4, 1927, Clarence Chamberlin left New York for his nonstop trans-Atlantic flight to Germany in the monoplane Columbia with Charles A. Levine, owner of the plane, as passenger and assistant pilot. Several hundred miles at sea the fliers encountered sleet and hail through which they moved for twelve hours. By the time they reached the English channel the weather was so bad that they subsequently lost their way over Belgium ad Holland. They succeeded again ia finding their way to Germany. Pursuing a course which they believed was in the direction of Berlin, the fliers brought the Columbia within a few hundred ieet of earth to pass a field where farmhands were at work. These laborers shouted to them, giving them the direction to Berlin. By this time the gasoline was running low and when, a few minutes later, Chamberlin saw what appeared to be a good landing field he made .a perfect descent at the outskirts of Eisleben, the town in which Martin Luther was bora. The fliers had traversed 4,000 miles and had remained in the air forty-four hours. During the flight Levine occasionally relieved Chamberlin, but neither obtained mure than a few moments’ sleep.

* Vr uusr X \ tie hi* / \ TO THIS / ) ANO YOU'VE > ) * \ <*OT HIM WHERE Y ' ’ YOU, WANT 1 ' " q>>‘<-r>oraT-

DAILY HEALTH SERVICE Use Care in Washing Ears

BY DR. MORRIS FISHBEItf Editor Journal of the American Medical Association and of riygeia. the Health Magazine. THE caution has been issued again and again that nothing smaller than the elbow should be put into the ear by any one except an expert in the treatment of conditions affecting the ear. It is safe, however, to wash out of the ear accumulated and hardened wax, bugs or materials that may have gotten into the ear by accident. Few people understand the best method of washing the ear. Besides its use for this purpose the mthod incidentally has the added value of usefulness for treatment of inflammation of the ear by the use of warm water. In the proper technic, a hot water bottle, holding about two quarts, or a large syringe may be used. Old hot water bottles which have been lying around in closets and which have been used for all sorts of solutions and for all sorts of purposes should not be used without thorough cleansing or repeated rinsing with boling water.

IT SEEMS TO ME By

WHEN anybody attacks in public print any denominational church he is accused of being antiChristian. There are plenty of intelligent men and women in America who hardly would be disturbed by such accusation. But I am not# willing to be branded as agnostic or atheist simply because I want to get after some practice or principle, which seems to me all wrong. My unwillingness to accept these labels lies in the fact that they are not true. I happen to be a Christian (that is, if you will extend the title to include Unitarians). And I want to help in establishing the legitimacy of boring from within. Plenty of Methodists are not in favor of everything.done by the McBrides and the Cannons. A few good Catholics are not in sympathy with their church’s stand on birth control. Not all Christian Scientists believe in the boycott which that body has practiced against certain books. Such people should be encouraged to speak out. Indeed, save in the case of certain rabid and partisan

t How WeirDoYou I < JCnaw n )/6urTSible? 1 FIVE QUESTIONS A DAY* K ON FAMILIAR PASSAOES R

1. Who called the wi';e “the weaker sex?” 2. What words were engraved on the front of the Hebrew high priest’s mitre? 3. Complete the quotation: “Love is strong as death.” 4. Who said “I know that my redeemer liveth?” 5. How long did Jacob serve Rachel’s father before he was allowed to marry her? Answers to Yesterday’s Queries 1. The unnamed woman who anointed his head with precious ointment; Mark 14:3-9. 2. The jawbone of an ass; Judges 15:15-17. 3. Reuben and Judah; Genesis 37:21, 22, 26, 27. 4. Peter; Matthew 16:19. 5. The parable of the good Samaritan; Luke 10:25-37.

CHIC SALE OFFERS HIS VIEWS ON DOGS You all know Texas. It’s the state that covers so much space they wouldn’t let it in the Union fer a long time because they couldn’t find a place on the map big enough to put it. Well, sir, a scientist named Charlie Baker is pokin’ around in Texas. Charlie finds that thousands of years ago the state: was crowded with little animals that looked like Pekinese dogs. This shows you the age of the argument on why is a Pekinese dog? Well, sir, I like big flop-eared hound dogs myself, the kind that’s good fer runnin’ rabbits. I admit the modern hound dogs are lazy, but it ain’t their fault. I think they are lazy jest because the rabbits don’t run as fast as they used to when I was a boy. As fer Pekinese dogs, they’ve practically eliminated the poodle. This is in their favor. Most women like them and most men don’t. I heard a long argument that ended by a feller saying: “Even if I was a flea *' * I wouldn’t want a Pekinese So a**. dog. (Conrrljtht John F. DiUe Cos.)

The Way It Works!

In the same way the tube attached to the bag should be properly cleansed before any attempt is made to wash the ear. The hard rubber tip of the tube should be boiled or thoroughly cleaned in alcohol. The bag filled with water may be hung on a nail at a height of about six feet from the floor. If the person to be treated is sitting on the bed or in a chair, this will give a fall of water of about three feet, which is sufficient pressure for the purpose. If more pressure is used, there may be a sense of pain from the force against the ear drum or the inflamed tissue. If a syringe is used, it should be held at an angle so that the water will not strike directly at the ear drum, but against the side wall of the tube leading to the ear drum. In washing out the ear, plain warm water may be used, and the warmth should be tested by dipping the elbow into the water. If it is too warm for the elbow, it is too warm for the ear.

parties which make a practice of baiting Catholicism, religion of all brands is handled much too tenderly in the United States. tt tt tt Faith Is Stifled T OBSERVED during the week I played vaudeville at the Palace that the dressing room contained a sign expressly warning away all performers from saying anything which might give offense to any member of any religious body. Were I an Evangelical clergyman I should feel that this sort of protection was stifling to the faith which I upheld. I would want my particular belief to be a thing as important and as current as the latest debate about the tariff. Nobody can possibly say,. “Yes, I would like to have my church talked about and discussed, but of course I would not want to receive anything but praise in these public forums.” Religion today is taken for granted, if at all, and that is a very tepid way of taking anything. Better, I think, to be assailed than ignored. tt a tt Pay as You Go THE first step in rehabilitation of Christian churches in America should be economic self-suffi-ciency. In the long run, religion does not profit by the fact that church property is tax-exempt. This principle seems to me at variance with the fundamental notion of separation of church and state. Moreover, it tends to make churches slack and lazy. It saps the energy of congregations. Religion costs too little. ’ - It is shocking to find how many reforms are blocked by the indif-

Daily Thought

Behold, the whirlwind of the Lord goeth forth with fury, a continuing whirlwind; it shall fall with pain upon the head of the wicked.— Jeremiah 30:23. a tt tt THE wickedness of the few make the calamity of the many.— Publius Syrus.

Sometimes it is desirable to add salt to the water, using about four teaspoonfuls of salt to sixteen ounces of water. Such a solution is nonirritating. The physician may prescribe various chemical substances which have antiseptic or healing action, or which may be used paricularly to dissolve foreign bodies. To have the water of proper temperature, it has been suggested that the water be put into the bag at a temperature of about 110 degrees F. After this is cooled by the bag and by running in the tube, the temperature will be between 104 degrees F. and 105 degrees F. when it strikes the ear. Anything warmer than this is likely to be painful. The head may be bent so that the water will run in and out. However, if there is much impacted wax, more force may be used to loosen it than is ordinarily necessary for washing the ear canal. In the case of inflammation in the ear canal, such washing three or four times a day is exceedingly helpful.

Ideals and opinions expressed n this column are those of me of America’s most inter- , tstine writers and are presented without regard to their agreement or disagreement with ihe editorial attltode ol this oaner.—The Editor.

ference or the actual opposition of the church and their people. Speak out for the abolivion of capital punishment and you will be met. by the fierce resistance of the fundamentalists. Argue for the mitigation of poverty through birth control and you will be answered by those who declare that it is against God’s intention. And it is, of course, the preachers who carry on the fight against evolution, a fight which would cripple American education if it were victorious. 8 8 8 Church Says ‘No’ IT was Canon Chase who provided the impulse behind the effort to thwart Mrs. Dennett in her endeavor to bring sex education to the young. In fairness I must admit that Chase might argue in all his sincerity that he opposed the leaflet because he felt that it would do harm. A priest couid say, as many have, that the dissemination of birth control Information would work misery. All right, gentlemen of the cloth, it,is your right to disagree with the merit of any specific program offered by any reformer. But you must offer something in its place. The church, I mean the entire Christian church, is pledged not to stand pat. In the beginning it was empowered to bring about o n earth the kingdom of God. Does anybody contend that this kingdom has arrived? Well, rectors, priests and preachers, what have you done about it? What are you going to do? (Copyright. 1930. by The Times)

Will Your Sayings Permit a Vacation This Year? Hundreds who have saved a part of their earnings each pay day are prepared financially for an annual outing when vacation season arrives. If you are unable to pay for your vacation pleasure in advance make up your mind to start skving now for next year. SI.OO Or More Will Open An Account. FARMERf TRUfr CO 1 550 EAST MARKET ST.

JUNE 4,1930

SCIENCE BY DAVID DIETZ

Nobody Really Knows, Despite th'e Wealth of Argument, Whether a Canal System Exists on Mars. AT least once each year, somebody gets his name in the headlines by announcing plans for communicating with the Inhabitants of Mars. All such plans, of course, assume that there are inhabitants on the planet Mars. Leaving aside for the present the question of whether radio waves might penetrate the upper layers of the earth’s atmosphere and cross the vast stretch to Mars, let us look ait the question of life on Mars. ,Talk of life on Mars gained its great impetus with the claim that canals existed on Mars. But two questions remain to be settled concerning these canals. They are, first, the question of their existence at all. a*: their nature, provided that Xuy go exist. For .even if Mars is covered by a network of dark lines, it does not follow, by any means, that they necessarily are canals dug by human beings. The argument as to the existence of the canals best can be summed up as follows: Nobody really knows. It is extremely difficult to get a good view of the planet’s surface because of the haze in the earth's atmosphere and because of the motion or trembling of the air. Asa result, it is only occasionally that the fine detail can be observed. tt tt St Network SOME observers, Lowell and Pickering for example, were certain that they saw a network of canals. Others, Barnard and Antoniadi for example, were just as certain that there was no network. Russell, the dean of American astronomers, feels that this extreme difference of opinion can be explained only on the basis of the personal equation. He says, “Between the formation of the image of a faint marking on the retina of the eye, and the conscious perception in the mind of a definite pattern which the hand proceeds to draw, there intervenes a process of extreme complexity, most of which is performed subconsciously and probably depends very largely upon the observer’s previous experience and training.” Russell adds that while a majority of astronomers feel that there is a vast amount of fine detail on Mars, they do not believe that there is an actual geometric pattern such as the adherents of the canal theory believe they see. Many readers will wonder why the question can not be settled by photographing the planet. There are two reasons why the photographic plate can not settle the argument. One is that the fine detail as seen through the telescope is so fine that the coarse grain of the plate interferes with their registration. The other is that the fine detail is visible only in brief moments of excellent “seeing.” A photograph must be a time exposure and so the photo never is as good as what the eye registers in the brief snatches of ideal conditions.

Tricks IT will be seen, therefore, that many astronomers regard the Martian canals as tricks of the brain and the eye, a mass of unrelated detail which the brain puts together into straight lines. But ever those astronomers who think there are straight lines on the planet do not agree entirely as to their nature. While some think they are canals, others think they are merely some geological phenomenon, cracks in the surface of the planet, for example. Aside from the canals, however, there is some evidence that Mars may support life. * The dark areas change color with the seasons and the polar caps grow smaller as the Martian weather becomes warmer. It is highly probable that the polar caps are ice which melts as the weather grows warmer. There also is definite evidence that the planet has an atmosphere and that the atmosphere contains water vapor. Measurements with the thermocouple, a delicate electrical thermometer, indicate fairly good temperature on Mars. The night temperatures are cold, falling to zero even at the equator. On the other hand, equatorial temperatures of 100 degrees are not uncommon. , Dr. Russell writes, “The attribution of the present seasonal changes to vegetation appears, therefore, to he decidedly the most reasonable hypothesis.” The chief difficulty In the way of such hypothesis Is the low night temperatures, temperatures below the freezing point of water. Whether there is animal life on Mars is a question which no one is prepared to answer.