Indianapolis Times, Volume 43, Number 229, Indianapolis, Marion County, 2 February 1932 — Page 4

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A Chance to Demonstrate Within the next few weeks Indiana congressmen will have an opportunity to show the people where they stand on various solutions for the relief from the present depression. Perhaps the acid test will come upon measures providing for federal relief for the unemployed and large expenditures for public work, especially road building, which is accepted as the easiest and quickest way of putting men to work. Both parties are divided on these questions, the progressives standing for a large measure of direct relief and the conservatives against any use of public money for these purposes. Fortunately for the people, the majority of members of congress from this state are Democrats who are relying for re-election upon the dissatisfaction of the people and the probability that the present administration will be blamed for the disaster. It is fortunate because the votes of present members of congress will demonstrate to the people whether these members of congress will vote for or against the policies of the administration in dealing with these subjects. The administration, of course, is opposed to any federal relief measures other than those which are administered through banks and other huge financial organizations. In the senate, the same division does not exist, but the candidates for that office will have their chance of promising the people how they will vote. If given an opportunity to succeed Senator Watson. The necessity of some relief in Indiana is being emphasized each day by appeals to the Governor. Mayor Petro of Mishawaka made it plain that there will be suffering in his city unless the relief is prompt. He asks for use of gasoline tax and auto license fees in this emergency, but that would require a special session of the legislature, which does not appear to be probable. If that source is cut off, federal relief seems to be the only solution for the northern part of the state. The miners of Indiana are already under the scrutiny If not the protection of the Red Cross. This is the time when congressmen can make more emphatic appeals to the people than in campaign speeches. The votes of Indiana members will be watched with more than interest. They will be crucial. The “Realities” About Housing New era, higher wages, shorter hours, abolition of poverty, a chicken in every pot, a car in every garage —that was the picture we were seeing in 1928. In terms of housing, the typical America was, aa the magazine Fortune puts it, “an Eldorado of plumbing, a paradise of sleeping porches, a shining, polished shimmer of brass pipes, iridescent watercloset seats, oil burners, vacuum cleaners, electric stoves, garbage incinerators, washing machines, and two-car garages, running from golf club to golf club,” from coast to coast. Much disillusionment has come upon us since that dream of an abolished poverty was in the ascendancy —but nothing in the way of “realities” is more striking than those presented by the current Fortune. By permission of the publishers the facts set forth are being reprinted on another page of The Times today. We urge that you read them. For it is only through a realization of the facts that action on this most fundamental of all our social problems will come. We say most fundamental, because the housing problem is the problem of the American home. It should be borne in mind that the survey by Fortune is not a “depression” survey. It runs back before the depression and it shows that at no time, not even in the years of the long boom, was American housing, looked upon en masse, anything but awful. It shows further that America, while preening herself on her far-flung prosperity, and on being the richest nation in the world, actually was in worse chape than was Europe, and doing less about it. Wc today live in hope of a return of prosperity. We talk about overproduction being the cause of our present predicament. No one can read the finding of this survey and retain the slightest trace of a belief in the overproduction theory as it relates to housing. There is plenty wrong, but it’s not overproduction. And no one can face the facts without visioning the tremendous opportunity for social improvement that lies in the house field, when prosperity does return. Feed Them—Or They Starve Sneers about a dole will not feed hungry men and etarving babies. There is only one question that matters in such emergency. It is not who is to blame. It is not how to prevent unemployment next time. It is not how to receive prosperity. All such questions must be answered. But they apply to the future rather than the present. Even if we could snap our fingers and bring back full prosperity next spring, that would not care for the hungry this winter. Call it dole or call it charity, the American policy is and always has been to feed the hungry. When private charity has proved too slow or has been exhausted, the country always has turned to public relief. Private charity has failed. For two years public charity has carried the burden. The government figures show that more than 70 per cent of relief extended since the depression has been from public treasuries. We are not confronted with a theory, but with a fact. Whether the hungry are fed by private charities or by cities or by the states or by the federal government, or by one or all, is not important. But that they be fed—somehow and by some one—is imperative. It is imperative from every angle; imperative for the sake of justice and of mercy, imperative for the sake of law *and order. So the one immediate question is whether federal relief is necessary to prevent starvation. The answer has nothing to do with philosophies of government, conservative or radical; nothing to do with the bickering and maneuvers of political parties. The answer can be given only by experts who have been handling the relief problem on the spot, the officials and the social workers who know the facts. The experts have answered. Almost unanimously, the trained relief workers, who have appeared before

The Indianapolis Times (A hCk i i’i’s-u ow a hi) NKwararEß) Owned and published dally (except Sunday) by Tbe Indianapolis Times Pnbllshlne Cos.. 214-22 U West Maryland Street, ludlananoils, lud. Price in Marion County. 2 cents a copy: elsewhere. 8 cen—delivered by carrier. 12 cents a week. Mail subscription rates tn Indiana. $3 * ear: outside of Indiana. 6R cents a month. BOTH (JI'RLEI. KOI W. HOWARD. EARL D. BARER. Editor President Bualoeas Manager PHONE—K py fIWU TUESDAY. FEB. 2. 1932. Member ot United Press Brrlppa-Howard Newspaper Alliance. Newspaper Enterprise Association Newspaper Information Service and Audit Bureau of Circulations. “Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way.”

the La Follettp senate committee, have testified to the need for federal aid. These experts were not handpicked to prove some theory. They came directly from the trenches of misery, where they have been fighting the war against hunger for two years. They called for help. Men like Allan Burns, head of the National Organization of Community Chests, who was chosen by Hoover to do the work of the President’s emergency unemployment organization, testified to the need for federal relief. In addition, Senator La Follette has asked the mayors of the country whether their relief funds are sufficient to prevent starvation. Those mayors for the most part are members of Republican or Democratic party machines who can not be accused of too much sympathy with progressive legislation. Nor, as spokesmen of local community pride under pressure of business interests, can those mayors be accused of wanting to advertise the failure of their cities. Yet 305 of these mayors, responsible for local relief, can not find enough funds to feed their people, and have appealed to congress for help. Their cities in need cover a population of 9,711,100, and 285 of these cities reported that they have exhausted their borrowing power. They no longer can float bond issues. The United States government has fed the Chinese, the Belgians, the Russians and other foreigners; it has fed American victims of fire, flood and famine; it has subsidized shipping and aviation and wine industries, and handed giant corporations a tariff dole; it has come to the rescue of farmers, of veterans, of bankers and railroads. Now let the United States government help to feed the unemployed. A Fundamental 111 Passage or defeat of the anti-injunction bill now on the senate calendar will determine largely whether want and insecurity shall be for workers a temporary or a permanent thing. If courts continue to override social and legislative standards, depriving workers of the right to bargain collectively, and forcing upon them the iniquitous yellow dog contract, then, so far as labor is concerned, the future is dark indeed. The power assumed, by numerous judges in the last thirty years in defense of capital as opposed to labor is a tyrannical power. Men with nothing to sell but the skill of their hands and the strength of their backs have no way to obtain wages that mean security, a family, a decent place to live, health, unless they join together in their bargaining. America has recognized this again and again, and pronounced collective bargaining a reasonble and proper procedure. The anti-injunction bill simply would affirm this judgment and prevent federal judges from violating it. All of us are concerned intimately with the wellbeing of labor. We are all richer and safer, when workers have money enough to spend for the products of our farms and factories. The anti-injunction bill is an attack upon one of the fundamental ills of our economic system and therefore more potent as a protection against depression than many of the lesser measures more easily recognized as such. The Official Verdict This is a borrowed editorial on the tariff. It is important because of its authorship, as to which you are invited to guess. It says: “The spread of the world crisis seems to have been accompanied by a revival of the old war psychosis, which has led to an exaggerated economic nationalism. Nearly every country seeks to achieve economic self-sufficiency by promoting exports and restricting imports, although a one-sided trade has not been yet invented. “International trade is hindered by high taxes, direct prohibitions, quotas, and foreign exchange restrictions, making it necessary in some cases to resort to the primitive method of direct barter. The interaction of such restrictive measures naturally contributes to reduce the volume and value of international trade.” The source of this quotation? “Commerce Reports,” published weekly by the bureau of foreign and domestic commerce of the United States department of Commerce. It is the last paragraph in an exhaustive study of international trade in 1930 and 1931, published in the current issue. It thus is the last word of the administration responsible for the Smoot-Hawley act, which started the tariff war. Europeans expect to fly from Berlin to New York in six hours. That’s enough time for the traveler to get the charm of Berlin off his mind, but hardly enough to get it off his breath.

Just Every Day Sense BY MRS. WALTER FERGUSON

OUR system of education has many flaws. Perhaps the greatest one is that we train emotions out of our boys and cultivate them so assiduously in our girls that as women they often become sentimentalists. A man generally is ashamed if something moves him greatly. He believes that it reflects upon his masculinity to give way to his finer feelings, and thgt he must steel himself against such reactions. But he likes to have his wife sob over a movie, or enjoy a sugary novel with trembling lips and tear-filled eyes. Yet if woman is not a well-balanced person with the softer sensibilities predominant (and this is what men argue) can man be a complete and perfect being lacking them entirely? i think not. Emotion Is as necessary to the well-rounded individual as reason. tt tt tt A GOOD deal of our difficulty with marriage comes from this educational divergence regarding the profounder emotions. The husband, believing them an emasculating influence, tries to cast them off. Thus he appears to make no effort to understand his wife and what he calls her childish whims. The woman, on the other hand, feeling the need of sympathetic companionship, thinks her husband is a cold creature, incapable of sensing the depths of her nature. And here we have a perfect situation for the breeding of unhappiness. Both are to blame, because both have been trained wrongly. The typical middTe class business man thinks a love of poetry or classical music or fine painting is effeminate. He links these objects with womanly folly. He flouts them as attainments imworthy of his sane and logical soul. In this he shows a stupid lack of understanding of himself and his relationship to life. And may it not be this attitude on his part that is responsible for the present plight of the nations? If we would save the best of ourselves, we must teach our boys as well as our girls to realize the worth of the beautiful, of art, of fine craftsmanship, of music and all the subtler realities. With his eyes fixed always upon gold and the material things it represents, lsw can the American man hope to build a better, saber and safer civilization for his children?

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

M. E. Tracy Says:

Once More We Stand Face to Face With a Brazen Lust for Empire, a Government Gone Mad Over the Idea of Easy Conquest. NEW YORK, Feb. 2.—The most important and disturbing news continues to originate in Asia, where one act of madness succeeds another with astounding rapidity, and where we find the responsibility which is so grave that people naturally shrink from naming it. It is no longer the comparatively simple question of Japan’s alleged right to clean out banditry in Manchuria, or of her still more doubtful right to attack Shanghai because of the Chinese boycott. Japan stands convicted before the world as an outlaw nation, not only because of the pledges she has broken and the treaties she has violated, but because of her wanton violation of some of the oldest and commonest rules of civilized war. * tt tt War; Named or Not JAPAN claims she is not at war because no official war has been made, as though the name were more important than the game, and as though the burning of cities and the unnecessary slaughter of civilians were excusable through lack of a document. Passing over this offensive bit of hypocrisy as too childish for comment, what about the assault on Shanghai after every demand had been accepted, or the still more ruthless firing on Nanking without warning? And if the butchery of people is not war in the absence of a formal declaration, and governments are privileged to indulge in it, as long as they refrain from calling the business by its honest name, of what good are those treaties and pacts which were supposed to guarantee that certain preliminary moves would be made and certain warnings given before the killing actually began? * * * World Is Mocked THE civilized world finds itself confronted by a problem which includes more than the integrity of China, or the protection of persons and property in the so-called international settlement. The civilized world finds itself openly ignored, defied and mocked. Its advice has gone unheeded, its institutions have been treated with contempt and its confidence has been insulted. , # tt tt New Monster Rises NOT only has the peace movement been dealt a mortal blow, but a venture has been conceived which, if allowed to mature, will deluge this world in blood. Once again, we stand face to face with a brazen lust for empire, with a government gone mad over the idea of easy conquest, with a breed of statesmanship that is willing to scrap everything for national glory. This new monster in the making is much closer to us Americans than was the Prussian war machine. As a matter of fact, it is right on the other side of our own backyard. tt tt tt Foray Long Planned IT is sheer folly to dismiss the present outbreak as a spasm on Japan’s part, as a fit which will pass once it has spent its force. It is nothing of the kind. It is but an incident of a carefully formulated program, a program which has been in the making for at least forty years and which will not be abandoned, save by force of compulsion. Barring successful interference by China herself, which seems incredible, or by a coalition of other countries, which no one likes to contemplate, Japan will make herself the mistress of eastern Asia within the next century, will consolidate and modernize the Orient, not in a missionary sense, but for definite, purposeful use in carrying out her own vaulting ambition. The Oriental Threat WHAT should be done about it, especially by us Americans? I, for one, do not pretend to know, but I do know that we can not afford to blind ourselves to the actuality and its probable consequences. When and if Japan gains control of China, the Orient will be a vastly different factor in world affairs than it is now,-or than it has been for the last 100 years.

M T £9£ Y 0 . WORLD WAR \ ANNIVERSARY pfkm

BOLSHEVIKI ORDER February 2 ON Feb. 2, 1918, the Bolshevist government announced that British and other foreign embassies would not be allowed to draw on funds deposited in Russian banks until the Bolshevist government should be allowed to have completed disposal of Russian funds in the Bank of England. Ten E-’ glish ships, each with a displacement of more than 1,600 tons, were sunk by German submarines in the week ending Feb. 2, 1918. The Teutons were repulsed at Monte di Val Bella in the Italian campttgn.

Questions and Answers

When was the last eclipse of the sen, and where was it visible? It was a partial eclipse that occurred Oct. 11, 1931, and was generally visible in the southern part of Africa, southern part of the Atlantic ocean, and the central and southern parts of South America. The duration of the partial eclipse was three hours and forty-eight minutes. Is Robert Williams, who played the leading role in “The Platinum Blond,” dead? He died Nov. 3, 1931. The cause ■ of death was peritonitis, which set [in after rupture of the appendix.

Maybe We Could Build That Corner Ourselves

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DAILY HEALTH SERVICE Common Colds Are Highly Infectious

This is the second of fire articles on prevention and treatment of the common cold Since colds are prevalent at this time of the year, these articles are of particular interest. BY DR. MORRIS FISHBEIN Editor Journal of the American Medical Association and of Ilygeia, the Health Magazine. EXTREME cold is not responsible for the occurence of colds, since this condition seldom is seen among the Eskimos. One group of investigators found on entrance into an Eskimo settlement that there was not one cold in the settlement. However, within seventy - two hours after the arrival of the expedition, which included several members who had colds, every one of the inhabitants developed a cold. It is obvious, therefore, that this contact with the infection probably is the most important cause in its onset.

. IT SEEMS TO ME

A DIFFICULT but extremely useful duty is up to the American people at this very moment. The best service which we can perform in the face of the Chinese crisis is to sit tight. Frankly, it must be admitted that treaties have failed and that the League of Nations is insufficiently potent. Some may argue that we were too slow in citing the precedent of pacts and that the weakness of the league is a responsibility which lies at our door. But all that is in the past. It can not be altered now. Spattered blood, like spilt milk, demands a present practicality. To say “do nothing” may seem the counsel of defeatism and despair, but it has in certain cases a constructive value. For my part I would even have an end to the sending of official notes. They solve nothing and only tend to increase the tension. tt it The Japanese Back Home JAPAN has gone quite mad, and the only justification for its acts lies in the fact that civilization itself is afflicted with a psychosis of fear and a complementary savage mania. The land of the rising sun has been kidnaped by its military machine and is being held for ransom. Under such circumstances, any show or threat of force only serves to increase the aberrations of the patient. The cure must come from within. It is well to remember that within Japan liberal and radical forces exist which in time will come into power on account of the excesses of the militarists. This is not a particularly consoling doctrine, since it must be admitted that these internal solvents are slow in coming to effective function. But that’s all there is. Certainly no sane American can be willing to suggest that we should take military or naval steps to check the mad rush of Japan. War would be the worst possible of all solutions. And yet it is well to remember that it is by no means impossible. Once an army gets out of hand, as the Nipponese has done, there is no scaring it off from an objective. A nascent host gets in a temper where it is quite willing to fight the world if necessary. Any overt act upon our part will suffice to solidify Japanese public opinion behind its generals and admirals. The fever must run its course without the intrusion of foreign bodies. tt it The Twain Often Meet BUT it is well to forget our fixed ideas about oriental psychology as something mysterious and wholly different from that of the rest of j the world. Japan stands guilty at the moment of gross and uncalled for aggression. But surely no ocj cidental ought to contend that the course of imperial adventure is something unknown and unheard of in Europe or America. Since we have all been sinners, it is not fitting that we should take a moral attitude too proud and stiff necked. Japan has seen a chance to grab territory and has availed herself of the opportunity. Such action is not only wrong, but tragically wrong. And so it was

The general belief of investigators is that the overheated and dehydrated air of homes and offices in the United States has been responsible for lowering the resistance of the mucous membrane of the nose and the germs which are almost constantly present among human beings begin their work of infection. Everyone has experienced the development of a cold following a night in a sleeping car, a swim in the pool, or a shower bath immediately after the body has been overheated by exercise. It is also recognized that there are some people who have colds much more frequently than do others. One authority finds that about 15 per cent of the population have one cold a year, others have repeated colds. Usually those who have repeated colds are found to have chronic in-

when we did that and England and Germany and France. It is imperative that the war—and there is no point in using any other word—should be localized as far as possible. I am fearful of some inciting incident. Bombs may well drop in the wrong place, and

People’s Voice

Editor Times—Acting on the invitation of the Literary Digest, seventy representative newspapers have speculated on the possible chances certain outstanding men have in becoming presidential candidates in the forthcoming Democratic and Republican primaries. The names of these men appeared in the Jan. 16 issue of Literary Digest, along with several items commenting on this event, and presented an interesting and able group. Able in politics, able in business, able in finance, able in public life. But, in scanning this list, the thought comes: Which one of these men satisfactorily and ably can fill the obligation demanded of the greatest official position in the United States? Which man will, when he takes the solemn oath of office, lay aside every thought and action for personal gain and live through his term of office with this thought uppermost, “For the people”? Which one will depend on Christian principles for his administration of office and be just in every measure to which he assents or dissents? And which man, from this array of notables, should he become our chief executive, will demand from his subordinates in office the right to fulfill, as far as he is able, through the power that is his, every promise made to the people, and set the balance on the scales of human welfare so that the poor will receive their just share as well as the rich, and make his name revered in every loyal American home? Which man will be physically able to command respect and obedience from those who would work against him, a loyal two-fisted leader of his people, guided by God and the Constitution? Which man among all these men will have the sagacity, leadership, and statesmanship of a Washington, the aggressive, fighting spirit of a Jackson, the humanity, wisdom, gentle kindness, and sacrifice of a Lincoln, and the fearless, outspoken Americanism of a Roosevelt? The qualifications of the man we need now. Which one of these men would 1 1 select to place in this exalted ‘position? Which one would you : select? CITIZEN, U. S. A.— What is the source of the proverb: “Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a , sinking savor; so doth a little folly him that is in reputation for wisi defrti and honor”? It is from the Bible, tenth chapi ter first verse of Ecclesiastes. What is the address of George j Bernard Shaw? He lives at 4 Whitehall Court, S. I W. 1, London, England.

section of their sinuses or chronic disease of the tonsils. The students at Cornell university who had at least four colds a year constituted 25 per cent of the total student body. Some investigators feel that temperature, smoking, lack of sleep, constipation, lack of exercise, diseased tonsils and obstruction in the nose are the most important factors in lowering resistance to colds, whereas others assert that a lack of sunlight and a lack of proper vitamins in the diet may be the responsible factors in lowering resistance. A physician for the employes at the stockyards in Chicago believes that acidosis is a predisposing factor and that the way to build up resistance to infection is to eat an alkaline diet, consisting largely of fruits and vegetables and to avoid a high protein diet, which tends to the formation of acids.

by h ™T

a wire fence around an international settlement is small protection against stray machine gun bullets. tt tt tt No Maine This Time BUT we know now that instead of remembering the Maine, we should have forgotten it. There ought to be among us a common and announced resolution that we will not fight, no matter what may occur beyond the broad expanse of the Pacific. Indeed, there should not even be a display of force. And in the matter of neutrality, we ought to go well beyond the Wilson formula and make it include not only thought and deed, but also extend to the matter of munitions. Even though industry lags, we must not oil our lathes with the blood of victims, however remote from our foundries. Our chance to serve as soon as possible in the role of mediator depends upon our ability to wait and avoid any appearance of bristling It is not fantastic to insist that we have no quarrel with the Japanese people. The war, like every other one, has been fomented by the brass hats. The Japanese peasant and worker has no more to gain than the farm boy in Kansas. Often China is cited by advocates of preparedness as an arch example of the folly of being unprepared. It seems to me that they choose a singularly inappropriate example. China always loses in the field and conquers in the end. In its vastness and fecundity it swallows up the invader. The military adventurer, be he Manchu or Japanese, falls at last into the greatest melting pot the world evei has known. China has outlived all the empires. It isn’t either exciting or very satisfactory to say that under the circumstances our best role Is one of passivity and silence. That is far from the ideal role. And at that it is just about one thousand and a half times as satisfactory as participation in a war 5,000 miles from home. (Copyright. 1932. bv The Times)

Mystery — Thrills! Tired of reading about “the depression?” Want to get away for an hour or so from the everyday things of life? Here’s a packet of eight of our Washington Bureau’s bulletins packed with the stories of adventure, mystery and thrills. The titles are: 1. Admiral Richard E. Byrd. 5. Famous Bandits. 2. Famous Pioneers. 6. Famous Pirates. 3. Great Detectives. 7. Famous Spies. 4. Great Detectives of Fiction. 8. The Story of Lindbergh. If you want this packet of authentic, interesting and thrilling bulletins, fill out the coupon below and mail as directed. CLIP COUPON HERE Dept. B-20, Washington Bureau, The Indianapolis Times, 1322 New York Avenue, Washington, D. C. I want the packet of eight bulletins on ADVENTURE and enclose herewith twenty-five cents in coin, or loose, uncanceled United States postage stamps, to cover return postage and handling costs: Name Street and Number City state I am a reader of The Indianapolis Times. (Code No.)

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

-FEB. 2, 1932

SCIENCE BY DAVID DIETZ

Lightning Will Be Used by German Experimenters in Neio Attacks on the Atom. SCIENTISTS still are looking forward to the day when they will be able to disintegrate the atom. At one time, it was thought- that such a disintegration would let loose a vast store of energy and that the day would come when atomic energy would replace more conventional sue-s and lower sources. Today, physicists are pretty well agreed that it will use up more energy to smash an atom than the smashup will release. Nevertheless, there are many reasons why they still wish to accomplish it. The chief reason is that they feel that they will never understand completely the structure of the atom until they have succeeded in taking the atom apart. Until the discovery of radium there was not a great deal of curiosity about the interior of the atom. But Rutherford’s analysis of radium showed that the radium atom was disintegrating spontaneously. He showed that the radium atom gave off three kinds of rays, only one of which, the gamma ray, was a ray in the sense that X-rays are. He showed that the beta rays were electrons, while the alpha rays were ntill heavier particles. These alpha particles turned out to be the nuclei of helium atoms. u it Target Practice WITHIN recent years, Rutherford—he is now Lord Rutherford and director of the Cavendish laboratory of Cambridge university, England—has shown that alpha particles or helium nuclei can be knocked out 0* the atoms of a number of elements by using the alpha rays of radium for the purpose. The experiment might be likened to an artillery bombardment. A supply of radium is the gun. The alpha particles which it releases are the projectiles. Occasionally one of these projectiles hits an atom of the substance under bombardment. When this happens, the atom which is hit is shattered by the blow and alpha particles in turn are released from it. Hits, however, are few. Rutherford once estimated them at one out of every 10,000 shots. Now radium is both scarce and expensive. An ideal atomic gun would require more radium than there is to be found in the entire world. Accordingly, scientists have turned their attention to high potential electric currents as a means of disintegrating the atom. Steinmetz developed such a current, a miniature lightning bolt in effect, in his experiments with “artificial lightning.” Other experimenters, including Dr. Tuve and his associates at the Carnegje Institution of Washington, also have developed such powerful electric currents. These experimenters also developed powerful electron tubes in which the currents could be used. A current of electricity is really a stream of electrons in motion. Therefore these tubes furnished high-speed electrons which could be used in atomic experiments just as the alpha particles are used. The electrons, however, are not as heavy as the alpha particles. u tt a German Experiment LAST year, Dr. De Graaff at Princeton university, invented a simple device for achieving h ? gh potention electric currents. It made use of moving belts of silk to accumulate electric charges upon large brass spheres. His invention was regarded as an important step forward in the assault upon the atom. Now an even simpler method has been suggested by two German experimenters, Doctors Brasch and Lange. Their idea is to make use of lightning itself, or more exactly, to make use of the electrical charges which exist in the atmosphere during a thunderstorm. It is the accumulation of these charges which, of course, leads to lightning discharges. Benjamin Franklin experimented with atmospheric electricity in his historic experiment in which he flew a kite during a thunderstorm. Incidentally, the experiment was far more dangerous than Franklin realized. Several experimenters who attempted to repeat it in Europe were killed. The United States weather bureau which makes use of kites, never dreams bf flying them in a storm. Brasch and Lange built a steel tower on a mountain top. Then they hung a cable between two insulated towers on a nearby peak. By an arrangement of insulators they ran out two wires, one frem the steel tower and one from the cable, the two wires ending in brass spheres about fifty feet apart. Due to an accumulation of atmospheric electricity on the cable, they were able to get sparks fifty feet long between the two spheres. They plan to use these sparks to operate electron tubes in experiments upon the atom. DAILY THOUGHT And there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest. —Luke 22:24. Wind puffs up empty bladders; opinions, fools.—Socrates.