Indianapolis Times, Volume 42, Number 206, Indianapolis, Marion County, 6 January 1931 — Page 6

PAGE 6

ICHtPPJ~HQW*JLD

The Eighteenth Amendment Few citizens, if any, will be surprised by the unanimous decision of the United Circuit court of appeals in New York Monday that the prohibition amendment was adopted constitutionally. When an opposite decision was handed down recently by Federal Judge William Clark in Newark, not many persons believed that other courts would agree with him. Although the United States supreme court has not yet passed on the government’s appeal from Clark's opinion, it generally i3 assumed that the high court will uphold the constitutionality of the amendment. It seems fairly clear that the United States supreme court in the national prohibition cases did pass upon the specific point raised by Clark, but to prevent any misunderstanding it is well that the issue has been raised belatedly, so the high court at the earliest possible moment can remove any existing doubt. For that reason it is to be regretted that counsel supporting the Clark decision Monday asked the supreme court to postpone its hearing of the government’s appeal. The question is fairly stated, we believe, in Monday's opinion of the circuit court of appeals: "It Is argued that after ratification of the tenth amendment, no amendment giving the national government additional power over the people of their rights can be adopted save by the people in convention. The eighteenth amendment was adopted by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several states.” But as the circuit court of appeals points out, “all (amendments), even the first ten, were proposed and ratified in like manner to the eighteenth.” So far as we can see, Judge Clark did not prove that the method of ratification by state legislatures is unconstitutional. What he did prove, we are inclined to believe, is that the alternative method of ratification by popular convention is the better and more democratic method, even though it is not the only constitutional method. Unless we are mistaken, the key to Clark’s opinion is not any effect it will have upon the prohibition amendment, but its possible effect upon the public attitude toward the Constitution and future amendments. As Clark himself said in his decision: “Even if this opinion meets with a cold reception in the appellate courts, we hope that it at least will have the effect of focusing the country’s thought upon the neglected method of considering constitutional amendments in conventions.” We hope so, too.

Banking Law Changes Within the last ten years, 5,600 banks have failed, tj ng up deposits of nearly $1,000,000,000. For the first ten months of 1930, there were 742 brnik failures in the United States, with deposits of $300,000,000. This is the distressing report of Controller of the Currency John W. Pole. One thousand banks closed during 1930, tying up deposits in excess of $600,000,000 and involving large capital losses to men and women who regarded bank stocks as a legitimate and safe form of investment. This situation. Controller Pole tells congress, makes remedial legislation of “great present importance.” Nearly 96 per cent of the bank failures occurred in the agricultural sections of the south, the middle west and the west. Those who have suffered most in these failures, the controller said, are persons of small means—country' business men, farmers and savings depositors. But the losses have not been confined to rural communities alone. Many depositors in large and small cities have seen their savings either lost entirely, indefinitely tied up. or greatly curtailed. The controller makes definite recommendations for strengthening the nation’s banking structure. He would have the facilities of the stronger national banks in the larger cities extended in the industrial areas, through branch banks. He would impose greater restrictions on group banking and investment corporations of banks, a development of the last few years. • Whether Controller Pole’s recommendations meet the present situation is for congress to decide. Banking and currency committees of the senate and the house are about to start inquiries into the entire banking structure. Need for amendments to the national banking laws seems clear. * The national banking system was established in 1865. Major changes were made in 1900; in 1908, when the Aldrich-Vreeland law was enacted as a stopgap for the federal reserve system, which was created in 1913, and the more recent McFadden law of four years ago. In each instance there have been exhaustive. congressional studies. It is to be hoped that congressional committees will recommend needed changes with a minimum of delaj.

Stock Market Speculation iNewcomb Carlton, president of Western Union, evidently thinks there is something wrong with operations of the New York stock market, for he says that if speculation were made more difficult for the small investor, it might prevent recurrence of the ruin of thousands of them. “No man.” he said, "within my knowledge has become permanently wealthy as a result of dealing in margins and the slack has been taken up in almost every case by the small gambler.” Gambling Is gambling, whether on the New York stock market, the Tia Juana race track, in a Chicago gambling joint, or by the little fellows who risk their nickels and dimes on policy all over the country. Calling it stock speculation doesn't make it anything more or less than gambling. Nearly everybody in every walk of life gambles in one way or another. In fact, most business is a gamble. Statistics by Dun and Bradstreet show that the great majority of people who go into business fail. That is, they bet their money they can win hi that business, but they lose. All the laws ever passed to prevent gambling haven’t put a dent in the human instinct to gamble. Their purpose generally has been to save the money of the little fellows who can’t afford to lose. Professional gamblers as a rule don't care whether losers can afford to lose or not. Many thousands who couldn’t afford to lose went broke in the late stock market crash. Nobody will give their money back. ' Practically all of them are suffering from the sifter effects of that wild gambling debauch which caused more damage to the nation in a few months than all the race track and other kinds of gambling do in a lifetime. H Sc It is v vastly more important that gambling on the stock market be regulated than It is to pass laws trying to stop other forms of gambling. No gambling should be permitted that has such a widespread vicious influence on the prosperity and happiness of a whole people.

The Indianapolis Times (A SCBIPPS-HOWABD NEWSPAPER! Owned *n<l published daily (except Sunday) lv The Indianapolis Times Publishing Cos., 214-22*) West Maryland Street. Indianapolis, Ind. Price in Marlon County. 2 cents a copy: elsewhere. 3 cents —delivered by carrier. 12 cents a week. BOYD GURLEY. ROY W. HOWARD. FRANK G MORRISON? Editor President Business Manager PHONE—Riley 5651 TUESDAY. JAN. S. 1931, Member of United Press. Scripps-Howard Newspaper Alliance. Newspaper Enterprise Association. Newspaper Information Service and Audit Bureau of Circulations. “Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way.”

Rolph and Mooney-Billings This week James Rolph Jr., veteran and picturesque mayor of San Francisco, takes office as Governor and as such becomes custodian of California's skeleton, the Mooney-Billings case. Clement Young, who might have made himself immortal by being just, passes into oblivion. The cup of decision which he held waveringly for four years passes now to his more fortunate rival. What will Rolph do about it? Governor Rolph is a liberal. He loves people, not only those of his own class, but the down-and-outers as well. Recently he allowed the unemployed openly to parade San Francisco streets and present their complaints to him on the steps of the city hall. His campaign slogan was “Live and let live.” Governor Rolph can act immediately to effect the pardon of Thomas Mooney. He can commute the sentence of Warren Billings, regardless of the stupidly reactionary supreme court judges. He knows the case as well or better than did Young, for he has lived with it for fourteen years. He can help wipe out the blot on the state he loves and whose typically western spirit he personifies. He can halt the world-wide agitation against California and its “justice.” Governor Rolph also is a good politician. Well he might look back over the years that have seemed so long to Mooney and Billings. He will learn that since Mooney and Billings went to their cells not one California Governor has been re-elected. William D. Stephens, Friend Richardson, Clement Young—all failed to do justice to these two laborites. All were retired after one term. Will Rolph join them in four years, because he was afraid to do right?

His Master’s Voice The recommendation just announced by the investigation committee of the Association of American University Professors relative to pedagogy and public utilities will be regarded generally as fair and statesmanlike. It calls for the fullest publicity regarding “any close connection between public utilities and the academic profession.” The need for sucli publicity is indicated in a further section of the report in which it is pointed out that many an otherwise cramped and impecunious pedagog receives as much as SIO,OOO annually for “research” into public utility problems. It may be going too far to urge the invariable truth of the old scriptural adage that where a man’s treasure is there will his heart be also. But in cases where Dr. X labors along for $3,500 a year as assistant professor of economics, public speaking or electrical engineering and receives SIO,OOO for not over-exacting research in behalf of the utilities, there can be no doubt of some palpitations of gratitude for the honorarium which enables the recipient to discard his Ford and purchase a Cadillac V-16. It probably would be best if, in all controversial academic subjects, professors were paid sufficiently to live decently and then were forbidden to receive any other benefactions. But such condition would be hard to bring about. Further, it never could be airtight. What about the professor who had inherited railroad stocks and bonds, from which he derived more income than from his salary? What if he had married a wife who drew SIO,OOO a year in dividends from Mr. Insull’s companies? For the time being, a great step forward will be taken if the professor who grabs off a cold ten thousand a year from the benevolence of the utility companies is labeled fairly. If it is known that he speaks as a ward of a great electrical concern, he will do little harm. But as long as he pretends to speak as Professor X, Pli. D., great and impartial authority on public finance, tax problems and applied economics, the dice are all loaded to the detriment of his students and the public which respects him. It has just occurred to the office sage that the back who ran toward the opposite goal took too much to heart the saying, “Turn about is fair play.” “It’s the same old stories,” said the architect as he laid out plans for another apartment house.

REASON ■ ’SSs 0 •

THE other day the w r ar department sent some military planes over to New York and they covered it with a smoke screen so thick no hostile bombing plane could have seen the place. Butthis does no good, after all, for a hostile plane easily could smell Tammany. a a Word comes from London to the effect that 130.000 Americans visited Great Britain the last nine months of 1930, an increase of 3,000 over the same period the year before. It would be interesting to know how many of them had seen the Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon. a a r What do you think of this? Down at Cincinnati a man was arrested for stealing a pair of shoes and the judge asked him whim he did it and the man said he wante to give them to his mother-in-law’ so Christmas. The judge let him go. It would have been wrong to put that man in a prison; they should have put him in a museum. a an SILAS H. STRAWN. Chicago lawyer, just home from abroad, says Europe thinks it would help her economically if we should cancel her debts. When it comes to pure altruism and .utter unselfishness, you have to pin a large blue ribbon on dear old Europe! a a a The papers made a lot of the fact that the newly elected senator from North Carolina delivered a speech four days after he was sworn in. This doesn't take any courage and it wasn't anything new. But it did take nerve some thirty-two years ago when the late Albert J. Bevridge broke down the icy precedent that a newly elected senator should be seen, not heard. a a a BEVERIDGE was lected to the senate in 1898 and went to the Philippines, then only a few days acquired from Spain. He made a trip over the islands and came home, and a few days after he was sworn in, he arose to address the senate and the senate walked out on him. a a a But that didn't stop Beveridge, and when he sat down the absentees had missed a mighty good speech and their arctic precedent had been melted, never to congeal again. It seems strange to recall that the day after he spoke, older senators actually arose and abused him for it. a a a In addition to writing "John Marshall,” the greatest biography in our language, Beveridge took newly elected senators out of mothballs; he brought the constitutional guarantee of free speech to the United States senate, and that enough for one man. to do* ,

THE INDIANAPOLIS* TIMES

M. E. Tracy

El Paso Has Double Share of. Problems — Both American and. Mexican. EL PASO, Tex., Jan. 6.—Problems cease to be purely American in this man’s town, which is the chief gateway to Mexico and through which passes the bulk of our trade and exchange with that country. If it’s not anew revolution down yonder, it's anew American tariff bill; if it's not anew American tariff bill, it’s another smuggling ring, and if it’s not another smuggling ring, it’s the Rio Grande cutting capers with the boundary line. An El Paso merchant just has been arrested in Mexico on the charge of smuggling $40,000 in gold out of the country. Mexico forbids the exportation of gold, while we forhid the importation of hooch. sun Bridges Are Mints JUAREZ saloons would be doing a much bigger business were it not for bootleggers and toll bridges. Both bridges spanning the Rio Grande are owned by the El Paso Power Company. Americans are charged 2 cents for the privilege of walking, or 25 cents for the privilege of driving a car, while Mexicans are charged 2 or 25 centavos, respectively, for the same privilege. El Pasoans claim that the toll is sufficient to liquidate the cost of the bridges every three or four years. Outside of that, they want to know why they should be taxed twice as much as their neighbors across the river for exactly the same thing. If one paid each way, the difference would even itself, but one can’t do that. One has to buy a round trip. The El Paso Power Company admits that it make a good profit out of the tolls, but claims that it barely breaks even on the street car line, which it runs into Juarez over the bridges, and explains that the idea of collecting the same amount in Mexican money at one end, which is collected in American i money at the other, goes back to a j custom of long standing. # u u Great for Bootlegger ' BUT, as the El Paco Post points out the power company disregards this good old custom when it comes to establishing street car fares and electric light rates. In El Paso, street car riders pay 6 cents, while in Juarez they pay 12 centavos, and in Juarez, consumers of electricity pay exactly ! the same rates ds prevail in El Paso, 1 whether they figure it in cents or j centavos. As to the bootleggers, they enjoy not only the usual advantages which go with an international border, but the unusual ones which the capricious Rio Grande provides. The Rio Grande forever is changing its mind, turning that way and leaving a hunk of Mexico on this i side, or turning this way and leav- 1 ing a hunk of the United States on that side. Right now there is a little island, I or peninsula, just below El Paso j which, though attached to us geo- | graphically, remains hitched to; Mexico politically. What rum runner could ask for more, or smuggler or aliens, or high- ; binder in other forms of illicit and j illegal traffic?

Smugglers Thrive DON’T imagine for one moment that hooch represents all or even a major part of the problem which worries river guards and border officials. The smuggling game plays no favorites, but includes anything and everything which promises to turn a dishonest penny-drawn work, gold, gin, or Chinamen. It has Been suggested that the United States build a wire fence along the border, tangled, barbed and charged with electricity, like those on the Western front —3,000 miles of it at $2,000 the mile. Personally, I can’t enthuse over the idea, not because of the cost, but because the banditti who risk their lives for $25 worth of lace, or a dozen bottles of whisky, hardly would hesitate to use rubber gloves and wire cutters. It also has been suggested that the Rio Grande be dredged, straightened, riprapped, and otherwise compelled to stay in its place, which sounds sensible, not only as a way to prevent smuggling, but as a means of providing work at a time when work is needed. And why not settle the toll question by building a free bridge, or better still, a bridge which would become free after it has been paid for through tolls. If an international bridge at Buffalo to symbolize the friendship existing between us and the Canadians, why not a similar structure at El Paso to symbolize that existing between us and Mexico?

MM M M M J

SUMNER’S BIRTH Jan. 6

/'vN Jan. 6, 1811, Charles Sumner, v> famous American statesman and orator, was born in Boston. Following his graduation from Harvard law school and his passing the bar, he became a WTiter and lecurer on law . He took no part in politics, however, until 1840, when he identified himself actively with the anti-slavery movement. In 1845 he delivered in Boston a notable Fourth of July oration which offended prominent Whigsand finally led to his withdrawal from their party. He then became a leader of the Free Soil party and in 1850 was elected to succeed Daniel Webster in the United States senate. Here he waged an uncompromising war on slavery. In one of his speeches he so enraged members of congress from South Carolina that one of them, Preston S. Brooks, assaulted Sumner at his desk in the senate chamber. This attack, which incapacitated him for four years, led to the disease which ended his life. How is lard oil made? It is the limpid, clear, colorless oil expressed by hydraulic pressure and gentle heat from lard.

BELIEVE IT or NOT

hatched trom the same egg

DAILY HEALTH SERVICE Reward Doctors for Curbing Anemia

BY DR. MORRIS FISHBEIN Editor, Journal of the American Medical Association and of Hygeia, the Health Magazine. A S a result of the vote of a large of scientific men, the Popular Science Monthly recently awarded $5,000 each and a medal to Dr. George H. Whipple, dean of the School of Medicine of the University of Rochester, N. Y., and Dr. George R. Minot, professor of medicine in Harvard University Medical School, for having made the greatest current achievement in science for the benefit of the public. On several occasions in the last five years the discoveries of these two men have been referred to in these articles. The principle of the use of liver in the control of pernicious anemia was developed by Dr. Whipple and the application of this principle to the treatment of

IT SEEMS TO ME BY H BROUN D

AT last New York has had presented to it an excellent play. I don’t mean by this the best play of the season and certainly not the smoothest, but the one which handles the most vital problem in the lives of most of us. It is a little closer to me because I am talking of a newspaper play, and yet quite palpably the newspapers, their procedure and their practices affect us all. Some of the critics have complained that Louis Weitzenkorn might have written a better play if he had sat down and calmly considered the material within his fists. But that’s a rather silly objection, because in cold blood he could not have written “Five Star Final.” This is a tragedy hot off the fire. Mr. Weitzenkorn quite obviously—possibly all too obviously—has a Concern. Himself a tabloid newspaper man and eventually a tabloid executive, there rests upon his conscience a sense of guilt and perturbation. ana Managing Editor Tells All HIS play is the approximation of what one might say if he went to confessional. He is bitter against a phase of the newspaper business because he has been a part of it. But it hardly can be said that he bores from within. I’ve seen no play this season which held my interest so intensely after the first twenty-five minutes. It has been said by the reviewers that Louis Weitzenkorn, in dealing the public, has adopted the staccato with tabloids and their relations to and heavily underscored methods of their very journalism. That is true enough. But I can't see the objection. Quite possibly there are other ways in which the writer might castigate our illustrated papers. Nevertheless, one of the indicated and logical methods is to set a tabloid play to catch a tabloid paper. There is in “Five Star Final” some of the overemphasis, some of the headline raucousness, which distinguishes this type of journalism. Yet, no matter how unfriendly one may be, he hardly can contend that the newer forms of newspaper reporting are dull, "they may be cheap. They may be vulgar. They may even be villainous, but they are not stodgy. a a a Coming Close to a Critic IWAS not only moved but disturbed by the show at the Cort theater. It isn’t quite true that this is simply an indictment of the tabloids. The story concerns the manner in which anguish and tragedy come into the lives of two somewhat humdrum people because a managing editor recalls to an avid public the events of twenty years ago. A woman who killed a man and won an acquittal has settled down to calm domesticity with anew husband and her illegitimate daughter. The husband is aware of the past history, but the daughter has never been told. She is about to marry an equally unsuspecting young man who comes from a somewhat prom-

On request, sent with stamped addressed envelope, Mr. Ripley will furnish proof of anything depicted by him.

human beings was the work of Dr. Minot. Previous to these discoveries, pernicious anemia was considered an invariably fatal disorder. Dr. Minot experimented on animals, principally dogs, whose diets closely resemble those of man, and found that the liver, the kidney and the heart tissues contained chemical substances which stimulated the formation of red blood cells. Dr. Whipple first began his work thirteen years ago when he was professor of research medicine in the University of California. It occurred to Dr. Minot to adapt Dr. Whipple’s investigation to the treatment of patients with pernicious anemia. When Dr. Minot began to feed liver to patients with the disease in 1924 and continued through 1925, he began at first with a quarter of a pound a day and in-

inent family of the island of Manhattan. This situation must present a problem to anybody who has ever been engaged in reporting. Quite obviously the facts constitute news. If I go into the phantasy of imagining myself as a managing editor I must admit that the problem presented would be a difficult one. Asa professional journalist 1 would be compelled to say, "Here are facts of record which the public has a right to know.” Asa human being I would say, “I don’t want to ruin the lives of two persons whose past circumstances have slipped by and been forgotten.” a a a Calm Waters of Columning IT is fortunate for any newspaper man to come at last to the calm waters of columning, where he need not be much concerned by fact and occurrence. I will be frank In saying that if a friend of mine writes a book or a play whih seems to me more than usually deplorable, my inclination will be to say nothing about the matter whatsoever. But I used to be a newspaper man once upon a time, and I was distressed by the provocative quality in “Five Star Final.” The two characters enmeshed by tabloid revelation both commit suicide. And there is a scene in which the managing editor tries to lift this burden of responsibility off his shoulders by getting drunk. “Did you ever kill a man and a woman?” he asked the bartender. It isn’t quite a fair query. I don’t remember than anything I ever set down in the performance of what seemed to me my duty caused such disastrous consequences. Still I think it is not fair to blame the individual news gatherer for the most remote reverberations which his news accounts may occasion. I do know that once I contributed largely to the downfall of a certain actor. If I had it to do over again I would be milder in my criticism, and yet I spoke the truth as I saw it. I was not actuated by any personal malice. And once the newspaper man in any phase of journalism begins to pull his punches, the whole structure of objectivity may crumble. I never have been for the notion recently current that the daily press should neglect or play down happenings such as bank failures for the sake of public confidence. There ought to be a great wall between editorial opinion and the chronicling of events. No record is worth much unless it is full and without fear or favor . a a a And the Individual? BUT how about the individual? What right has any paper to pry into his private life? Here, I think, it may be said that a certain amount of arrrant curiosity is hardly the fault of journalism, but rests rather with our legal codes and customs. Marriage Is one of the most intimate of human relationships, and yet every day you see in your after-

17 Registered D. S. JLe \ l atent Office RIPLEY

creased it later to a half pound a day. Finally, in 1926, he announced that the feeling of liver to patients with pernicious anemia would prolong their lives by keeping the red blood cells constantly up to the required number. It is, of course, a mistake to speak of the use of liver as a cure for pernicious anemia. Apparently it does not overcome the basic cause in the human body which produces the disease. However, as long as the person affected continues to take liver, either in the form of whole liver or of liver extract, his blood seems to go on building up the red cells and he is enabled to live a useful life. The method of treatment has not been known for a sufficiently long time to indicate to what degree the treatment will affect the longevity of these people in general.

Ideals and opinions expressed in this column are those of one of America’s most interesting writers and are presented without regard to their agreement or disagreement with the editorial attitude o( this paper.—The Editor.

noon and morning papers the precise reason why Mrs. Doe wall no longer maintain a home with Mr. Doe. Why blarne the newspapers? The State of New York says that Jane may not be rid of John unless she will go to a public tribunal and tell in detail the time and place, hotel register, hotel clerk and just what happened to convince her that this was no longer a marriage worth preserving. It is not reasonable to ask that newspapers should be more civilized than the community which thev serve. When we have an age f which John and Jane may say, “Good-by! Glad to have met you,” without spreading details before court stenographers, then I agree that there should exist nooks and crannies in private conduct w hich are none of the public’s business. Till that day I think that I would argue that even tabloid journalism represents the current state of communal standards. It isn’t the press which debases the people, but the people who debase the press. However, by now I am getting quite a distance away from Louis Weitzenkorn’s new, live, and jerky tragedy, called “Five Star Final.” It has all the virtue and all the defects of yesterday’s newspaper. Or of tomorrow’s. It gave me a thrilling evening in the theater, and I recommend it to you. (Copyright. 1931. by The Times) What is the area of England, Ireland and W’ales? England is 50,874 square miles; Wales, 7,466 square miles; Scotland, 30,405 square miles; Northern Ireland, 5,237 square miles, and the Irish Free State, 26,592 square miles. What does the name “Ohio” mean? It is an Iroquois Indian name meaning “beautiful river.”

Modern Science Wonders Ancient civilization had its seven wonders; in the Middle Ages the skill of man achieved seven more wonders; but science today has created or discovered seven modern scientific wonders that the ancients or the people of the middle ages would have regarded as miraculous. The Telephone—Radio—the Aeroplane—Radium—Antiseptics and Antitoxins —X Rays—Spectrum Analysis—What do you know about these seven wonders of modern science? Our Washington Bureau has ready for you a bulletin covering in brief, but intelligible form the history and the accomplishments of science in the creating of these Seven Modem Wonders. Fill out the coupon below and rend for the oulletin. CLIP COUPON HERE Department 109, Washington Bureau, The Indianapolis Times, 1322 New York Avenue, Washington, D. C. I want a copy of the bulletin SEVEN MODERN WONDERS, and inclose herewith 5 cents in coin, or loose, uncancelled United States postage stamps to cover return postage and handling costs. Name Street and No City State I am a daily reader of The Indianapolis Times. 'Code No.)

.JAN. 6, 1931

SCIENCE -BY DAVID DIETZ—-

Solar System Enjoyed a Great Boom in 19SO, Despite the Depression on Earth. THE year 1930 will go down in the history of science as the year in which the solar system was expanded. Stocks and bonds may have hit a depression, but it was a boom year for Old Sol & Cos. Within recent years it has become commonplace to have the stellar system expand. Each time a new telescope was built, it brought greater and greater numbers of faint stars into view. The researches of such men as Kapteyn and Shapley convinced the world of science that the expanse of the sidereal universe was far greater than previous generations of scientists had imagined. Most scientists, however, regarded the solar system as fixed. There was the sun and his family of planets with their satellites. And. of course, the miniature planets or asteroids, the comets, and the meteors. The planets were eight in number and that was regarded as settled. Perhaps it is not quite fair to say that it was regarded as settled. Both Lowell and Pickering had suggested the existence of a ninth planet and even made calculations as to where it might be. There were astronomers here and there in the world on the lookout, for that ninth planet. But in all probability, most scientists were giving it little thought and were quite unaware of the lengthy search which the Lowell observatory at Flagstaff, Ariz., was conducting.

Front Page News TT was on March 13, 1930, that the solar system suddenly became front page news in the newspapers of America. That was the day that the Lowell observatory electrified the world with its announcement cl the discovery of a ninth planet in the solar system. They announced that they had discovered the Planet X of the late Professor Percivai Lowell, the socalled trans-Neptunian planet. whose existence Lowell had predicted. It was called trans-Neptunian because it was more distant from the sun than Neptune, which until then was the most distant of the known planets. Later the name of Planet X was changed to Pluto, a name thought excellent for two reasons. One wa.; that Pluto was the' god of outer darkness and this planet was on the very rim of the solar system. The other was that the first two letters of the name were the initials of Percivai Lowell’s name. P. L. After the first excitement over the discovery of Pluto wore off, a controversy arose over its nature. Certain astronomers said that It was not a planet at all, but only a comet. Still others insisted it was merely a small object like the asteroids. The asteroids are groups of miniature planets which revolve in an orbit between Mars and Jupiter. They have been regarded as either the debris of an exploded planet or the remnants of a planet which was “spoiled in the making.” Dr. V. M. Slipher, director of the Lowell observatory, came to the defense of Pluto, insisting that it was the Lowell trans-Neptunian Planet X. This view has been sustained. n n n Official Seal \N official seal of approval was placed upon Pluto by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific with the publication of a study of the object's orbit made by Dr. Frederick C. Leonard of the University of California. His studies indicated the planet was about the size of Mars, that is, about one-half the diameter of the earth. Very recent studies, however, have indicated that the planet may be as large as the earth. Dr. Leonard’s study revealed two interesting facts about the orbit of Pluto. One was that while all the orbits of the other planets lie in approximately one plane, the orbit of Pluto is titled so as to make an angle of about 17 degrees with this plane. The other interesting fact was that the orbit of Pluto is considerably more flattened or elliptical than that of any of the other planets. Asa result, when the planet is closest to the sun, it is just a little closer than Neptune. But at its furtherest point from the sun, it is much farther away than is Neptune. The average distance of Neptune from the sun is about 2,80" ,000,000 miles. Pluto, at is closest to the sun, is just a little closer than this. At its maximum, it is 4,600,000,000 miles from the sun. The average distance of Pluto from the sun is 3,700,000,000 miles. This is about forty times the distance from the earth to the sun which is 93,000,000 miles.

Daily Thought

Judge not, that ye be not judged.—St. Matthew 7:1. Make not thyself the judge of any man.—Longfellow.