Indianapolis Times, Volume 43, Number 165, Indianapolis, Marion County, 19 November 1931 — Page 6

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A Special Session The demand of organized farmers of the state for a special session of the legislature to remodel the tax law is as timely an it will probably be futile. Not only the farmer but the owner of city real estate feels the unjust burdens of the present tax system and should have immediate relief to prevent what may amount to confiscation. But the same interests which prevented the passage of new tax laws at the regular session may be expected to prevent the calling of a special session at this time. The excuse will be that the cost would be enormous. The reason is that the powers that really rule the state do not want new tax laws. The present system was devised when real estate ownership and incomes meant the same thing. The man who had the largest and most productive farms had the most income and paid accordingly. Practically the entire population lived on farms. Wealth had not taken on the form of corporate securities. Incomes meant,the result of labor, not of shrewdness or inheritance. Today the demand is for a fair tax distribution through the measuring rod of incomes. It is the fair way and the most practical way. Unproductive real estate can not pay. Unemployed labor can not pay. The taxes must come from those in position to pay. When proposals were made at the regular session for Income tax laws, the statehouse Was crowded with repr?v,entatives of those who would be compelled to pay a fair share to the state. They were successful in killing all such measures. Now that the fanners are aroused to the situation, something may be expected from the next session. In the meantime the marching parades of indignant and rather desperate farmers are interesting. The Town Hall Citizens who have not yet discovered the weekly meetings of the Town Hall are missing a chance to get in touch with the world. Each Friday morning at the English theater some outstanding authority, someone who has added to the general store of knowledge either through travel, research or thinking, presents the results of his investigations. In these days when it becomes more important to solve the question of what to do with leisure time, and it will be a problem when the five-day week is universally adopted, then Interest in education should be stimulated. The Town Hall furnishes the opportunity for those who desire to progress. Democrats’ Opportunity Democrats in congress have an opportunity for intelligent public service in the present tax controversy. If today’s lineups are maintained, they will control the house and its committees and will divide control with Republicans in the senate. They will have the power to write tax legislation to help balance the budget, and distribute the nation’s wealth more evenly. Republican spokesmen, up to now\ have led in the tax discussion, and Democrats for the most part have been silent. Evidently Democrats are concerned about the political theory that a party sponsoring tax increases is penalized at the polls. They are in a splendid position to play politics with tax bills if they choose to do so. But Democrats who want their party to mean something and to lead, will forego questionable advantages that might be gained by playing politics with taxes, and will set about preparing an Intelligent and liberal program. Toothpicks and Trestles In an effort to defame Theodore Dreiser and divert attention from his damaging discoveries in the coal mining fields of Kentucky, the mine operators sanctioned, if they did not instigate, an effort to convict him of moral turpitude. Toothpicks were placed against his door in a Harlan hotel. A woman was said to be in his room. The toothpicks were said to have been undisturbed in the morning. Therefore, Dreiser was guilty of immorality. We may let Dreiser make his own explanations. He already has done so. Whether they are convincing or not, we shall not presume to say. In any event, it is hard to escape the conviction that this whole business is a most trivial red herring dragged across the track of the real import of the controversy. These toothpicks appear pretty insignificant when lined up alongside the coal-trestles whioh symbolize the almost unbelievable human brutality and injustice which authoritative investigators, other than Dreiser, have proved to exist in the Kentucky mine fields. Low wages are pakl. Long days of work are exacted for those employed. Safety devices in the mines often are quite inadequate. Many are unemployed. Miners and their families frequently live under conditions far worse than those which prevail in the feeding and housing of the company mules. Those who protest and demand more civilizec: conditions are jailed or shot with reprehensible frequency. It may be admitted that general mining conditions in the soft coal industry—in Kentucky and elsewhere —are not satisfactory. The industry is in a bad way. But the strategy of the operators is open to grave question. Let them state their economic case frankly and invite public investigation and adjustment. As long as they try to keep the facts from the public, and jail or intimidate the most reputable and decent investigators, they are not likely to impress impartial observers with the fairness or justice of their case or their methods. Tven a highly respectable student from Union Theological seminary, sent down by such distinguished men as Sherwood Eddy and Kirby Page, was seized and jailed last summer. Theodore Dreiser has done a real public service through his trip to Kentucky. It was necessary that somebody with a robust international reputation should go down to Kentucky and break through the ring of steel and lead which the operators have thrown about this industrial area —somebody that they did not dare to shoot or jail. They did not dare to go beyond attempted defamation of character in Dreiser’s case. It la unfair to accuse Dreiser of publicity hunger. He ia in no need of publicity. Even if he had been, he could have said or done something spectacular without leaving his comfortable New York apartment. What he has done is to go to great personal inconvenience to turn the spotlight on Kentucky coal a* has no one before him. His trip may open the way for a visit by Senators like Borah and La Follette. Public apathy before incredible injustice and brutality at last may be dissolved. Even the disgraceful efforts at defamation may

The Indianapolis Times (A SCRirPS-HOWARD NZWSPAPER) Owned and published daily (except Sunday) by The Indianapolis Times Pnblffehing Cos., 214-220 West Maryland Street, Indianapolla. Ind. Price in Marion County, 2 cents a copy; elaewfcere, a rente—delivered by carrier. 12 cents a week. Mail gubscrlption rates In Indiana. 13 a year; outside of Indiana. 05 cents a month. BOYD GURLEY, BOY W. HOWARD, EARL D. BAKER, Editor President Business Manager PHONE—Riley 5651 THURSDAY. NOV. 1. 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.”

not be without their valuable social results. They have already given a degree of publicity to Dreiser's visit which no report on industrial conditions ever could have produced. The boomerang already is in evidence. * Perhaps more important is the proof that we need a readjustment of our moral standards. We shall not question conventional sex morality. Let us concede for the time being that Judge Jones and the Harlan snoopers are correct here. Yet is is evident that the conception of morality should be extended beyond sexual issues. It is not unreasonable to demand that the man who starves, exploits, and shoots down poor but honest workers be regarded as a moral outcast. Certainly, his offense is as grievous as the violation of the Mann act or the True Name act. “Protecting” the H^me The Sentinels of the Republic are organized to prevent encroachment by the federal government on powers and prerogatives of \the states. They are against such interference, for instance, as federal aid to the unemployed and starving. They claim credit for the defeat of the Sheppard-Towner maternity act, and the child labor amendment of 1924. This winter they are concerned about governmental interference in the home. In a radio address this week, sponsored by the Sentinels, a prominent physician attacked the children’s bureau, the woman’s bureau and other bureaus working under the “welfare” clause of the Constitution, declaring that “socialization and centralization at Washington of the practice of medicine and the care of mothers and children is far more dangerous to the lives and liberties and .to the health of our people than any other form of government ownership or operation.” But in 1912 when the children's bureau was organized, 300,000 babies were dying in their first year ! of life. The number is about half that now. In 1912, 100 of every 1,000 babies born alive were j dying in their first year of life. In 1926 the number had been reduced to seventy-three. It is lower now. Every year the children’s bureau gives to thou- | sands of mothers in all parts of the country detailed ■ information on the hygiene of infancy and maternity, instruction as to what the mother should do before a birth, instruction as to necessary elements in a child’s diet, methods of preventing rickets, and postural defects by simple home treatments. Without the children’s bureau thousands of healthy youngsters playing about the country today would be weak, sickly, deformed or dead, either because their parents could not afford medical advice or could not obtain it. If work such as this is home interference, the Sentinels are welcome to make what they can of it. A Test of Sincerity Twenty years ago it required a small political revolution to upset the dictatorship of Uncle Joe Can- I non over the house of representatives. Today it will require only, a little courage and sincerity on the part of the Democrats to complete the overthrow of Cannonism’s successor, the triumvirate dictatorship of the house Speaker, rules committee chairman, and majority leader. The Democrats probably will organize the house. Whether they do or not, they may, by combining with the score or so of progressive Republicans, oust the system made famous by the Longworth-Snell-Tilson combination. The Democrats profess to be the liberal party. An opportunity to prove it will come with the opening of congress. Liberalization of house rules calls for at least these three reforms: 1. Right of a committee majority to call a committee meeting. § 2. Floor procedure that will bring before the house a buried bill on petition of 100 or 150 members. 3. Measures to prevent the opposition of one member from defeating a bill on unanimous consent or private calendar days. For years a score of members of the dominant party, under control of the Speaker, the chairman of the house rules committee and the majority floor leader, have been able to stifle legislation at will. Many good measures have died in committees, although a majority of voters and their representatives favored them. The time to end this is at the opening of congress next month. The first reform in the Democrats’ program should be to liberalize the house rules. Crime, says a scientist, is caused By glands. Second story men are probably victims of monkey glands. Anyway, Theodore Dreiser will henceforth be more careful about toothpicks in public. A London rubber company pays girls to test wearing qualities of shoes with rubber soles. American : co-eds should take advantage of this to make some J profit on the way back from automobile rides.

Just Every Day Sense BY MRS. WALTER FERGUSON

THERE is no bewilderment and no suffering like that which eats the heart of the wife who suspects her husband of unfaithfulness. Picture to yourself her situation. Compelled to remain a: home "with her children, she sees her husband fare forth daily Into a world whose temptations appear multitudinous to her imagination. She thinks of him as surrounded by sirens, all of whom are eager to supplant her in his affections. Or, in many cases, she has positive proof of his misbehavior, and experience has taught her that she can net rely upon his promises. Hers we must admit, is no pleasant role. And the necessity of playing a passive part in the drama merely augments the tragedy for her. It is one thing to strike an attitude and defy the fates, but it’s quite another to realize that you must stand by the babies and keep up your patience. Meanwhile, the kitchen sink is an excellent place for the fancies to run riot, and washing dishes and diapers does not give you a superiority complex, much as these occupations have been lauded as becoming ones for the wdfe. u u e I AM willing to give husbands the benefit of all doubts. I believe that their wives should be exactly that generous, but it's hard to understand how men can be so thoughtless and callous when a little extra effort, a fond word or two would turn pain into happiness. Few of them are blessed with the ability to see life from the wife’s point of view, or perhaps they merely are too stubborn to exercise the ability. Yet here lies the crux of most matrimonial troubles. Here is the reason why women have left their firesides in droves. A good many of them wanted to keep their eyes on the miscreant male. While I do not seek to excuse women from their responsibilities. I do believe that if men used onetenth of the fair-mindedness and charm at home that they expend in their business and social life, half the difficulties of marriage suld pass away. 4 . *

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

M. E. Tracy SAYS:

As Usual, Politicians Are Scared, Arguing That the Public Will Turn Against the Party Which Raises Taxes. NEW YORK, Nov. 19.—The south and west are feeling much better, as every one knows and now we begin to get some cheerful reports from the east. Just as an example, pay rolls are up in the anthracite coal districts of Pennsylvania, some of them higher than for several years; September building permits in the Pittsburgh area rose 42 per cent above those for the preceding months, and steel operations have increased from 3 to 10 per cent. The Canadian bureau of statistics believes that exports demands for next year \tyl more than take care of the wheat surplus, while Henry Ford feels sure that prosperity just is ahead. * * M Politicians Are Scared THE situation really would look bright, were it not for the , Manchurian mixup, the British j tariff, the federal deficit and a few other things. You just can’t get away from a deficit, however, or what it implies. This government will be in the hole some two billion dollars by next June, and still running behind. That means, not one of two things, as some people try to imagine, but both—a cut in expenses and higher taxes. As usual, politicians are scared, arguing that the public will turn against the party which raises taxes, just as though the public didn’t have sense enough to realize that back bills must be paid. bub Ramsay Proved Point PEOPLE don’t like high taxes, but there are things they like even less, such as wasted money, an unfair system and, above all else, a timid, impractical attitude which gets nowhere. The people are not unmindful of the existing situation, or what is necessary to get out of it. They are prepared to back purposeful, constructive measures and pay their share of the cost. What irks them most at this particular moment is a type of leadership which goes on the theory they must be wheedled and cajoled into doing the obvious thing. Ramsay MacDonald proved how sensibly people react to plain talk. Why not try it in this country? bub Water by the Mill LAST Monday was the day on which Japan was supposed to withdraw her troops from Manchuria, but she didn’t. Instead, she made preparations for a smashing drive, which she staged the very next day, and which netted her speedy triumph. The League of Nations is all stirred up over it, but that doesn’t help the least bit. It was a mistake for the league to name a day in its order, or request, when it had no power to enforce its will. Far better had the league said, “within a reasonable time,” or “by next spring,” or something of the sort. But that water has gone by the mill. # n a More Jobless for U, S, UNLESS all signs fail, the British are out to show us just how a tariff works on the other side of the ocean. The bill which now is before parliament, and which probably will be passed before the end of the week, gives the board of trade power to impose duties of as much as 100 per cent on such imported articles as it finds in unfair competition with home products. Experts figure that this will include about one third of the manufactured goods which American firms have been selling in England. Many American firms will try to hold their trade by building branch plants. Some seventy-five applications already have been made for permits to do so. While American firms might be able to hold their trade by such a method, it would be at the price of substituting English for American workmen, and that won’t help the unemployment situation here.

M TODAY jb& IS THE- ' ; WORLD WAR \ ANNIVERSARY

RESTRICT ENEMY ALIENS Nocvember 19

ON Nov. 19, 1917, President Wilson issued a proclamation requiring all enemy aliens to register and barring them from airships, balloons, airplanes and any ocean, bay, river- or other waters within three miles of the shore line of the United States except on public ferries; and barring them in the same sense from the District of Columbia and the Panama Canal zone. The German government was informed of these measures and assured that no abuse of their countrymen here was contemplated. A memorandum of German sailors in this country held as prisoners of war, civilians interned as dangerous aliens, and crews of former German merchantmen detained here was also sent to Berlin. The number, of unnaturalized Germans interned in the United States at this time did not exceed 600. Lloyd George, speaking in the house of commons, said that five submarines had been destroyed in one day, Nov. 17.

Daily Thought

And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.—Matthew 23:12. The devil may be bullied, but not the Deity.—W. R. Alger. Will human flesh petrify? Flesh, either human or animal, will not petrify. The bones of the human body, however, will ossify or harden to the degree of petrification.

Not Playing Such a Big Part These Days!

DAILY HEALTH SERVICE Metabolism Test Aid to Diagnosis

BY DR. MORRIS FISHBEIN Editor Journal of the American Medical Association and of Hvgeia, the Health Magazine. 'T'HE basal metabolism of a living being is the rate at which his body carries on its chemical industry. A low basal metabolism means that the heat produced out of the materials for the development of energy taken in is less than the average of that of mankind. The basal metabolism is determined by putting the person at rest on arising in the morning and without any breakfast, and then measuring the gaseous interchange in the lungs. By means of conversion tables, this measurement is changed to a standard figure, which is called the basal metabolic rate. The ordinary

IT SEEMS TO ME

THE traditions of Harvard are, for the most part, wide and deep. But in the matter of tact, I find Cabot college a little narrow. My favorite radio sports announcer, Ted Husing, has been put upon the Cambridge blacklist because he used the word “putrid” in 1 referring to certain maneuvers of the Crimson eleven. As I remember that particular broadcast, Husing did not r*in the offending adjective on any particular personality, but merely employed it to describe certain ineffective forward passes. And it doesn’t seem to me that a football play, let alone a player, should be so thin-skinned. Myself a violent Harvard partisan in the matter of football, I found Ted Husing leaning emotionally in the direction of Dartmouth. At least, so it seemed. But after victory had been snatched from defeat I felt at peace with all the world, including Ted. BUM Not in Its Own Backyard IT can not be maintained logically that a college football team represents a wholly private enterprise. If there are to be broadcasts at all, a certain amount of latitude of expression must be granted to the man who performs the enormously difficult task of following the action on the field. And, speaking for this listener, I would not have the radio reporter wholly impersonal. If he must say nothing until he has considered the shape and tone of the phrase, he can not, by any possible chance, keep abreast of the ball at such times as it begins to move fast. If Harvard, or any other college, cares to say that football in its precincts belongs to the student body and the alumni and to no others at all there might be something of logic in the position. But this stand entails certain reticences which no stadium owner cares to pack upon his back. For instance, if a particular radio announcer may be barred at the gates, even as disgruntled managers have barred dramatic critics, then news commentators are likely to be subject to the same censorship. Private athletics seem to me an excellent ideal for universities. But without ballyhoo and blurbs, it will not be possible to pay the interest charges on the huge amphitheaters which have grown up all over the country. Even a Harvard-Yale encounter would dwindle were the newspapers of the land to treat its occurrence with thunders of silence. * * * It Was Asked For ONCE a college admits and encourages press agentry, both on its own part and co-operating sports writers, the day of exclusiveness is done. In bidding for headlines, one may not set limitations upon the precise w r ay in which all your performers are to be treated. On many occasions I have cited against intercollegiate football the unfairness of exposing young men to the rough treatment of critical appraisal by the press. It seems to me unfortunate that some lad of 119 should be named to the millions as a bonehead because he errs in j judgment during a football eni counter. But i£s nonsense to place the en-

variation is from a figure of minus 7 to plus 7. An occasional person apparently healthful will have a figure as low as minus 16 to minus 25. Some people simply tend to produce less heat in their bodies than do others. It has been found that basal metabolism during sleep at night is consistently lower than during the normal waking hours. The observation is important because some people fall asleep while their basal metabolic rate is being determined. It seems likely also that undernutrition may be associated with a lowered basal metabolic rate. Thus, Dr. Bernard M. Jacobson has found that it is low in starvation, as, for example, in professional fasters, and that a low rate sometimes occurs also in people with diabetes who have been compelled to be undernourished. The chief incidence of lowered

tire blame, or any large part of it, upon the shoulders of reporters. Naturally the same rule applies to both news and radio commentators, with the added thought that the broadcaster has less chance to weigh and polish his language. B B ft Kindly Comment Welcome THE whole nature of intercollegiate football makes it inevitable that the fierce light of publicity should beat upon it. And in all truth I have never heard from any quarter a single objection as long as the publicity was made up of paeans of praise. Only when the knife is turned does the howl of protest rise. You can not have gate receipts and censorships at the same time. If Harvard chooses to go into a sort of Union cJlub attitude and admit only such spectators as can get by the committee on admissions, well and good. But just as long as it freely Invites cash customers and sporting writers to come and do their stuff, it must be prepared to take the bitter with the sweet. Indeed, dur-

Questions and Answers

By whom are justices of the peace appointed and what are their duties? In the United States, justices of the peace in some instances are appointed by the state executive, and in other instances they are elected by popular vote. Their powers and duties vary in the different states, but in most they have jurisdiction in minor cases, both civil and criminal. The extent and nature of their powers are defined by state statutes. Do blue crabs live in salt or fresh water? Normally the edible blue crabs inhabit salt water, but are often found in water that is slightly brackish, and occasionally in pure fresh water. They can live for some time out of the water. If fresh water crabs or fish are taken from their natural habitat and placed in salt water, they have a tendency to shrivel. They live under such conditions only a short time. When salt water crabs are placed in fresh water, they have a tendency to swell. Have there been more home runs hit in the National League in the last five years than in the American League? For the years 1926-1930 inclusive, there were 3,178 home runs hit by players in the National League, and 2,615 by players in the American League. Who murdered Philip II of Macedonia? Pausanias. a youth of noble blood, who stabbed Philip as he was walking in procession during the marriage festivities of the king s daughter. What was the first steamship to cross the Atlantic from the United States to England, and how long did it take? The Savannah, a 350-ton, paddle wheel steamer, built at New York, left Savannah, Ga., on May 24, 1819, and reached in twenty

basal metabolism seems to be associated with a question of thyroid deficiency. There are, however, other glands of internal secretion, such as the pituitary and the adrenal, -which may be deficient in their activity and thereby produce a lowered basal metabolism. Lowered metabolism is also found In occasional cases of anemia and in nervous disorders of the psychasthenic type or neurasthenic type. The measurement of the basal metabolic rate is a significant test which means a great deal to the examining physician. Taken into association with the other observations that he makes of the general condition of his patient, the basal metabolic rate may indicate to the physician the special parts of the body to which he must direct his attention.

RV HEYWOOD B 1 BROUN

ing some seasons it must even take the bitter with the bitter. It is mere cry-baby stuff to invite free criticism and then identify some of it as insulting. A rough game is certain to breed rough language. Harvard not only should rescind its official ban against Husing, but lay down a red plush carpet and invite him back again. He might enjoy himself more the next time. Not Altogether Natural THE most familiar argument against pacificism, as you may have seen from time to time in this column, is the assertion that war rests upon fundamental factors in human nature. Patterson McNutt tells of a Georgia Negro who served his two years at St. Nazaire lifting heavy bales and crates from the docks to waiting trucks. And when he returned to his home somebody asked him what he thought of the World war. “Well, boss,” he answered, “it seemed to me that it took a lot of work to keep it going.” (Copyright. 1931. by The Times)

days, during eighteen of which she used her paddles. How many golf balls are manufactured annually, and what .is their value? 1929 there were 1,655,847 dozen golf balls manufactured in the United States, valued at $6,444,727. How far from London, England is Liverpool and in which direction is H? Liverpool is 175 northwest of London. What was the first United States army division vo enter the battle line in the World war? The First division, which entered the battle area on Oct. 21, 1917.

How the Machinery Rims You read and hear a lot about the “Government” at Washington. How much do you know about how it works? Our Washington bureau has a group of bulletins on the various phases of governmental machinery that tells “how it runs.” The titles are: 1. The Congress of the U. S. 3. The President’s Cabinet 2. The Presidency 4. The Judicial System of U. S. 5. The U. S. Postal Service A packet containing these five interesting and informative bulletins will be sent to any reader. Fill out the coupon below and send for it: CLIP COUPON HERE Dept. B-14, Washington Bureau, The Indianapolis Times, 1322 New York Avenue, Washington, D C. I want the packet of five bulletins on THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITIT) STATES, and enclose herewith fifteen cento in coin, or loose, uncancelled. United States postage stamps, to cov**r return postage and handling costs: NAME STREET AND NUMBER.... CITY STATE I am a reader of The Indianapolis Times. (Code No.)

Xdeals and opinions expressed in this column are those of one of America’s most interwriters and are oresented without regard to their a^f£ e ?. ent . disagreement with the editorial attitude of this paper.—The Editor.

.NOV. 19, 1931

SCIENCE BY DAVID DIETZ

Asteroids Are the Remnants of a Large, Disintegratedf Comet, Contends an Ohio Astronomer. ONE of the great mysteries of our system is the origin of the asteroids, that group of tiny planets or “planetoids." as they sometimes are called, which revolve around the sun in the can betweea Mars and Jupiter. Until recently, their two theories generally were advanced to account for them. One was that they were remnants of a great planet which ‘ ■ blew up or exploded at some date in the dim distant past. The other theory was that they were material which normally would have formed a planet at the time that the solar system took shape, but that, for some reason, perhaps the great gravitational pull of Jupiter. failed to do so. A third theory for the origin of‘ the asteroids has just been advanced by Dr. N. T. BobrovnikofT of the Perkins observatory of Ohio Wesleyan university, Delaware, O. Dr. BobrovnikofT, who is one of the world's chief authorities upon the subject of comets, believes that the asteroids are the remnants of a very large comet which disintegrat- 4 ed. They might, in his opinion, represent the wreckage of several comets, but he thinks it quite likely that they all originated from one very large comet. U B B ‘Sky Detectives’ THE story of the asteroids is one of the most interesting in astronomical history. It is the sur- , prising tale of the “astronomical de-’ tective police.” In 1772, Johann Elert Bode pointed out that the distances between the planets increased in an orderly progression with the exception that there was an unusually large gap between Mars and Jupiter. This progression became known as Bode’s law. but received no particular attention until Sir William Herschel discovered the planet Uranus in 1871. The distance of Uranus from the sun was approximately that called for. by Bode’s law. So in 1800 Baron Franz von Zach,. dircetor of the observatory at Gotha, Germany, organized twentyfour astronomers into what he jokingly called the astronomical detective police. They divided the sky among them and began a telescopic search for the missing planet, which, according to Bode’s law, should be between • Mars and Jupiter. They worked all year with no success, blit on the night of Jan. 1, 1801, the first night of the nineteenth century, an Italian astronomer, Guiseppe Piazza, at Palermo, Sicily, discovered a tiny planet in the gap. He named it Ceres, after the traditional goddess of the island. Astronomers were surprised by its tiny size. But other surprises were* to come. Additional planets were discovered in the same region until today more than 1.000 are known. Ceres, the largest, has a diameter of 480 miles. Others have diameters of as little as ten miles and have been described as "mountains broken loose.” 808 Hoover's Asteroid NEW asteroids frequently are discovered. Astronomers accord the finder the privilege of naming it. At first they w T ere called after mythological characters, but those names soon were used up. Asteroids have been named after nations, cities, colleges, steamboats and pet dogs. Shortly after the World war, a Belgian astronomer, in grateful recollection of Herbert Hoover’s work in Belgium, named .. one “Hooveria.” Dr. BobrovnikofT points out that there are many objections to the older theories of the origin of the asteroids. He points out that the explosion theory is not good because the total mass of the asteroids is far less than that of any of the planets. He says that we must couple with the explosion theory some explanation to account for the total disappearance of most of the mass of the original planet. The theory that the asteroids are material which failed to form a , planet is not a good one, he says, because it is not possible to show mathematically how this could be. If these asteroids had failed to form a planet, then there is no reason why our moon or any of 4 he satelites of other planets should have come into existence. In regard to comets, he points out that it is a w r ell-known fact that many comets have disintegrated. A number of comets are known to /* have disintegrated into swarms of meteors. Avery large comet, he says, might have broken up into the asteroids. He does not think it unlikely that such a large comet might have existed. “Paraphrasing Kepler, we may say that comets differ from each other as much as do the fish of tha sea,” he adds. When was the San Francisco mint established? In 1854. How old is Paavo Nurmi, the long distance runner? He is 31 years old.