Connecticut Digs Into Past History Observes 300th Anniver sary of Its Settlement. Washington.—Connecticut Is bub bling over with enthusiasm during the celebration of Its tercentenary. Every town In the state Is digging up Its past history. Recent anni versaries observed In connection with the tercentenary are the Bris tol sesqulcentennlal and the two hundred and seventy-fifth year of the Hopkins Grammar school In New Haven. ‘‘Netherlanders, not the English, were first on the Connecticut scene,” says the National Geographic so ciety. “They sailed up the broad Connecticut river, mapped part of the coastline, and later established a trading post near the present site of Hartford. “But rumors of tbe fertile lands and nrild climate of the Connecticut valley bad reached the Plymouth colony. Settlers from Massachu setts hurried down from the north, set up a rival post on the river, and In 1635 founded the three towns of Wethersfield, Windsor, and Hart ford, nucleus of the colony. “The fundamental orders adopt ed by this little group marked the beginning of constitutional govern ment In this country. Later, when Connecticut delegates played an Im portant part In the shaping of the federal Constitution, their stnte be came known as yie ‘Constitution State.* Included Wide Territory. "Under the charter of 1662, grant ed by Charles U, the Connecticut colony included Rhode Island, and stretched westward from Narragan sett hay to the Pacific ocean 1 The Wyoming valley In north central Pennsylvania, and the Western Re serve In Ohio (near the present city of Cleveland) were considered part of Connecticut even late In the Eighteenth century. The New Ha ven colony, founded In 1638, had not been consulted when this char ter was procured, and It took three years to persuade its people to unite with the Hartford group. Hartford was made the capital, but from 1701 to 1873 New Haven shared the honors as Joint capital. “Geography molded Connecticut’s fate. It Is a little state (the third smallest In the Union), broken Into smaller units by topography. The wide valley of the Connecticut river, running north and south through the center of the state, separates the rough uplands of the eastern and western portions. Long after the coast and central valley was settled these highlands remained a wilderness. They consist of a series of hills and ridges, high in the north and low near the coast, paralleling the southward course of rivers and streams. “Rocky hillsides and narrow val leys made large farms Impractical In Connecticut. Only the Connecti cut valley was particularly suited to the raising of staple crops, such as tobacco. So the state became a land of small, Independent farms and diversified crops. Agriculture In Connecticut was never easy. Many Important Industries. "That Is why the people turned to Industry as the best available source of wealth. Here, again, ge ography cramped them. The state has water power, but few minerals. The old Granby copper mines, never very profitable, were turned Into a prison during the Revolution. Salis bury’s Iron mines were more suc cessful. They have been worked for two centuries, furnishing ore for Revolutionary cnnnon balls and for the anchor of the Constitution. “Lacking raw materials Connecti cut has concentrated on the manu facture of brass and copper prod ucts, machinery, firearms, ammu nition, typewriters, and Innumer able small articles; tableware, tacks, machetes, coffee percolators, rubber boots, needles, pins, hooks and eyes. “Bridgeport’s Industries lead them all and New Haven Is not fur be hind. The latter owes quite as much to Ell Whitney as to Ell Yale. After the Inventor perfected the cotton gin he returned to New Ha ven. Another New Haven man. Charles Goodyear, discovered the process for vulcanizing rubber. “A century ago Connecticut was a seagoing country. Shipbuilding, whuling and China trade brought wealth to coastal villages and river ports. Many of the vessels that car ried forty-niners around the Horn were built at Mystic. Essex launched the Oliver Cromwell, first ship In the U. S. navy; and Wethersfield built the Desire, first American ves sel to cross the Atlantic. But times have changed. New London Is now a submarine bnse, and the fishing Industry confines Itself chiefly to the oysterbeds on Long Island Sound." Peon Pays 60 Centavos for Use of Another Name San Salvador.—A new racket has been reported from La Union, I’a clllc port of El Salvador. An Indian peon Inquired at the pogt office recently for mall for Salome Haltmayer. When asked If he was of Swiss nationality, he repllled that bis father's name was Juan Anastaclo Baruca and his mother was Sebastina Galtan, but that he had purchased the name of Haltmayer for 50 centavos. "I bought the name," he added, “from a Nicaraguan gentleman, who told me that It was a very distin guished name in Switzerland and cheap at 50 centavos. There were Find Strange Holes on Nebraska Farms York, Neb.—In the western part of York county near Brad shaw large holes are appearing in the surface of the earth. Some of the holes are about 5 feet across, with a "room” JO or 12 feet square beneath. One is about 15 feet across with the hole underneath about 20 feet deep. There are many smaller boles. These are found on the Carl Larson and Martin Johnson farms. Some think the earthquake last March caused them. Others advance other theories. Pio neers say such holes "came and went” the same manner about 35 or 40 years ago. others more expensive, and I have friends who are now Demetrlo Bonaparte, Balbino Edison and Ja cobo Washington, but they had to pay from 80 centavos to a peso for their names." $1,265 in Coins Almost Too Much for Bandits Bartley, Neb.—Bandits who loot ed the State Bank of Bartley were so thorough that they almost were unable to escape with their loot. Included In the $5,000 total was $1,200 in silver coins and $05 in pen nies, totaling to such a load that the bandit who attempted to carry it as he fled had to be supported by a companion. Pawnee Death Rate Cut; Births Gain - . Roosevelt and its tows, as It started the service. SEEN-'HEARD •round the National Capital *=——By CARTER riELD==» Washington.—Grave concern is felt by high administration officials over the lack of eagerness of so many people, all over the country, to get off relief rolls, even when fairly good Jobs are offered. It is Impossible to obtain accurate fig ures about this phase of the situa tion, all the bureaus, administra tions, agencies, etc., being very much publicity shy about this dis turbing development. It Is known, however, that reports from all over have been received, and that President Roosevelt's hopes of getting everybody off the relief rolls as speedily as possible have run up against a very stiff resist ance. In many cities young men eligible for the CCO camps are refusing to take the examinations. In one large city families are Insisting they do not want their boys to be trained as soldiers—that they hear beer is sold at the camps—that their boys would have to associate with low charac ters. Professing entire Ignorance of the situation In that city, the CCC officials here Insist they do not be lieve the objections cited by the parents are genuine. They say that the talk about military training was very widespread when the camps were first started, hut that It broke down of its own weight a short time ago. They believe the sole and only reason is unwillingness to get off relief rolls. In other cities, In fact In most cities, enrollment In the CCC camps has been way below what was ex pected, and the answer Is believed by officials here to he just unwilling ness to get off relief. But in every Instance officials say to Inquiring re porters from the city In question: “Please don’t mention that you talked to me about this.’’ Incidentally the Veterans’ bureau has been having Its trouble along the same line. A Real Problem The whole question brings up the point whether the United States is now going through what England went through a few years back. In England the dole brought some In teresting consequences, and, as they occurred before the depression hit this country, there was quite a self righteous feeling in this country that Britain was bringing her trou bles on her own head by pamper ing the dole collectors. Then came the depression, and the New Deal. Whereupon it be came progressive in this country to Insist that it was the duty of the government to take care of the cold and hungry, atid reactionary to point to Britain’s troubles on the same sort of problem. Now It Is being realized that it is a problem involving fundamental traits of human nature, and that the United States is not very differ ent In the character of its people from Britain, No one, not even the most bitter critic of the administra tion on Capitol Hill, is advocating that people should be allowed to starve or freeze. But a very Inter esting mental transformation is be coming apparent in New Deal cir cles. For example, a high official of the Federal Emergency Relief admin istration was told that his agents In a large middle western city had threatened to take families off re lief if they refused to permit their sons to go to the CCC camps, or If able-bodied men in the families re fused to take Jobs which were of fered. "I have not heard about that,” he said shortly. “You see it is a purely local problem. The man on the ground handling the relief situ ation has authority to handle the matter in any way he Bees tit." “You mean If he turns families off the relief rolls for such reasons as that, it is entirely up to him?” he was asked. “Exactly," he replied. “Would the local officials make a report to headquarters here about it?" the questioner persisted. “Nothing of the kind need be re ported," he replied. And his whole manner indicated, what some of his underlings told the writer in confidence, that he did not want any such reports! Cut Huge Fortunes President Roosevelt’s objective Is the reduction of all large fortunes to a maximum of $7.000,000—all large incomes to a maximum of $G0, 000 a year, lie said tlds in ft con versation a few days ago with a very rich Democrat, who inci dentally had been a big campaign fu«d contributor, and the gentle man is still sputtering about it. In another most interesting con versation with a Wisconsin man who had backed him when Roose velt really needed backing, in the pre-convention days, the president advised Ids caller to "go back to Wisconsin and make your peace with the La Follettes. They are our kind of people.” Which of course is purely cor roborative of what the President has been saying about his tax pro gram—that It has two objectives, a better social order, ns well as rev enue. Meanwhile business men as a whole are aghast at the prospect, for they see in the drive against bigness almost surely further boost ing of the rates to apply against all corporations which have big earn ings. Most business men do not agree with the wisdom, entirely aside from their selfish interests, of this policy. Most of them admit that there is some merit In the conten tion so often made in private conversations by Justice Brandels against bigness in privately owned corporations. Frequently, they ad mit, many of the faults which char acterize all large scale government operations creep In when a corpora tion attains unwieldy size. They even admit that instances can be cited where the mere size of the corporation Increases the cost of whatever unit it may manufacture, or the item of service it may ren der. Take the Automobile But they Insist that for the most part these Instances are the excep tions, and not the rule. A favorite Illustration of the reverse is the au tomobile. Anyone who knows any thing about manufacturing admits that if the automobiles of this coun try were produced by say 200 man ufacturers of fairly even size, the cost per automobile to the pur chaser would be more than double. The best illustration of this is the Ford car now manufactured by a fairly good sized plant In Strass burg, France. That car costs the purchaser in Paris about $1,700. This is not due to the protective tariff, for the car is made in France. Actually, of course, If the cars were made in the big Ford plant at Dear born, they would pay 100 per cent tariff and still save the purchasers a good deal of money. It is the French quota system on imports which forces their manufacture on a small scale at Strassburg. Manufacturers contend that if Ford ears were produced by sep arate plants of small size in this country, each owned by a different owner and operated Independently— in short if the policy desired by the administration in this use of the taxing power against bigness were forced into effect—the cars would cost purchasers in this coun try more than the $1,700 charged in France. For it so happens that wages in the Strassburg plant are lower than in the Dearborn plant. All of which helps to explain whnt some critics of the plan mean when they insist it is a “distribution of poverty’’ not a “distribution of wealth.’’ One Real Danger Only one phase of the huge “share the wealth”—level off the big for tunes” and “pass prosperity around” —taxation program of President Roosevelt seems in any real dan ger. This is the sliding scale tax aimed at big corporations. There seems no doubt whatever that the big levies on inheritances, and the boosts in the upper income tax brackets, will be approved by con gress, substantially as desired by the President Already a trickle of protests has begun arriving from holders of com mon stocks in the big corporations. A few of them have already real ized that heavier taxes on the com panies in which their savings are invested hits them, and them alone. For the bondholders, and the pre ferred stockholders, will continue to get thetr Interest and dividends, If they are earned. Additional taxes will hit the equities, not the debts, of these corporations. If the big companies should do anything like as thorough a job In rousing their stockholders as the utilities did, there is little doubt that this phase of the program would be in serious danger. For there Is nothing like the spontane ous appeal to this levy that there Is to the proposal to tax big for tunes, both when in estates and in incomes. Some lawyers are contending, however, that the big Inheritance taxes are unconstitutional. They contend that the object of the tax is not to raise money for the needs of the government, but Is purely social in character, with the object of lev eling off fortunes. This, they con tend, runs counter to the Constitu tion. Not much attention is apt to he pnid to this by the senntors and rep resentatives. “Sock the rich" has always been a popular slogan, po litically, and the theory ttiat it Is good politics to vote for such legis lation is strongly held. Question of Politics Lots of men in both house and senate will vote for these levies who do not really approve of them. Hence the comparative certainty that they will pass. Opposition to them might prove very hurtful at the next election. The opposition is based chiefly not on any theory that it is a bad idea to cut down the big fortunes— though there are a few who insist that many big fortunes have proved fur more beneficial to the public ut large than if the same amount of money tiad been spent by the gov ernment—but on the old Mellon theory of efficiency. Andrew \V. Mellon, when secre tary of the treasury, frequently con tended that lower percentages of taxes of the high brackets would bring more money into the treasury than higher percentages. He pointed to the fact that every time taxes were reduced on big incomes, re ceipts from big incomes increased. Critics of the Mellon regime al ways insisted that the reason for this was merely because it occurred during a rapid rising tide of pros perity. Copyright—WNU Servlc* Okefinokee Swamp Okefinokee Swamp, Mystery Land of Georgia. Prepared by National Geographic Society, rWashington, D. C.-WND Service. OWN in the southeastern cor ner of Georgia lies the great Okefinokee swamp, a prime val wilderness rich in treasure for the fnodern biologist. Myst&ry and enchantment live In its coffee-col ored waters, its moss-liung cypresses and sunlit piney woods. The Okefinokee owes a great measure of its unique charm to its “prairies"—wide, unspoiled expanses filled in large part with a tropical abundance of aquatic plants and flanked with dense “bays” of state ly cypress. On these one may de light his soul amid scenes of un earthly loveliness that have changed virtually not at all since the Sem inole warriors poled their dugouts over them. The Okefinokee prairies are not land, but water! In these morasses are many areas of open water, varying from lakes a quarter of a mile in diameter to "alligator holes” a rod in width. They are also dotted here and there with wooded islets—the so-called prairie "heads”—of cypress, slash pine, sweetbay, and other trees, the taller ones hoary with moss. The snowy blossoms of the white waterlily gladden many acres of the deeper water, and the golden, glob ular flowers of yellow pond-lilies, or "bonnets,” glow in a setting of huge green leaves. In the shallows yel low-eyed grass, its tall steins sway ing, forms a sea of pleasant color. The small pitcherplant is hardly true to Its n«He on the Okefinokee prairies, for fts spotted greenish tubes reach a yard into the air—a height unheard of elsewhere; the parasol-like flowers of greenish gold, each on a separate scape, stand a little below the summit of the leaves. Resort of Hunters and Trappers. For generations swamp hunters have pushed over these prairie wa ters, standing up in their slight boats and bending rhythmically with graceful thrusts of their long poles. The skilled boatman is able to make better progress over the prairies than the bear he chases. Old hunters knew well how to drive a deer out of a prairie head in the direction of a waiting companion. In winter the trapper camps for weeks at a time in these heads, tending his line of traps and taking the pelts of raccoon, otter, wildcat and opossum. To pass from the sparkling sun shine of the prairies into the gloom of the adjoining cypress bays is a striking experience. The huge trees, buttressed by "knees.” stand In close ranks in a foot or so of water. Their green crowns. 80 feet or more overhead, shut out all but a few stray beams of sunshine, causing even at midday a sort of twilight. Here and there a winding channel or "run" permits the hunter to push his tiny boat between the tree trunks; but in the greater part of the cypress bays there is tall, dense undergrowth that makes even foot travel a slow and arduous un dertaking. The bear, having the double advantage of bulky strength and a tough hide, is the only large animal that can readily and rapidly break through such a tangle. Welcome rifts in the cypress bays In the heart of the swamp are formed by long, narrow lakes, most important of which are Blllys lake, Mines lake, and the Big Water. Though each of these is several miles in length, their width aver ages scarcely 50 yards. They are merely expansions of "runs” on the headwaters of the far-famed Suwan nee river. On entering one of these lakes the swamp boatman lays nside his push-pole and takes up the pad dle. He is also apt to cast out his Ash line, for the waters shelter multitudes of warmouths, large mouthed bass, and other toothsome fishes. Good Fishing There. More than thirty species of fishes inhabit the Okeflnokee. Persons who love simple pan-fishing, with an old-fashioned reed pole, find here their heart's content. At Suwannee lake this sort of angling surpasses that In almost any other part 01 the country. When one consider! that the lake is barely a quarter 01 a mile long, with an average width of perhaps 30 yards, a year’s catch of more than 40,000 fish (recorded in 1925) is astounding. Farther within the swamp, at Bil lys, Mines, and Buzzard Roost lakes, or on the Big Water or the Suwunnee canel, there is likewise rare fishing. The bulk of a day’s catch with hook and line is made up* of such basses as the warmouth, the “stump-knocker,” and the “sand-flirt er," with a goodly proportion of mudfish and catfish. Those who elect trolling are more apt to land jaekfish and large-mouthed bass. The great state of Texas can boast of 30 species of frogs and toads; the Okefinokee region, with one-two-hundredths the area of Tex as, has 20. With varied habitats to suit the requirements of different species; with unlimited breeding places in the cypress ponds, cypress, bays, and prairies; with abundant rains in normal years, and with a warm and humid climate, the Oke finokee is a veritable frog paradise. Alligators and Birds. Men still living can speak of the* times when it appeared as if “a feller could walk across Billys lake on ’gator backs.” To this dny the Okefinokee remains perhaps the best stronghold of our famous cor rugated saurian. Suwannee lake In particular, where the alligators are protected, provides unequaled op portunities for making intimate studies of the habits of wild indi viduals. Of the approximately 180 species of birds recorded in the Okefinokee region, scarcely one-half remain during the summer and breed. While some of these summer resi dents move southward with the ap proach of cool weather in the au tumn, their places are more than filled by hardier species coming from the northern states and Can ada to find a congenial winter home In the swamp. By far the largest mammal of the swamp, and perhaps the most in teresting, Is the Florida bear. From early times It has attracted the swamp hunters—not so much be cause of any particular value of Its hide and flesh as by reason of the thrill that comes from matching; wits and strength with so formid able an animal. An additional rea son for the pursuit of the bear te Its numerous depredations on the hogs that range through the piney woods and the swamp borders. At n hog’s prolonged squealing the residents become Instantly alert. Guns are hurriedly lifted from pegs on the cabin walls, the dogs are called together with the hunting horn, and the chase is on. Primitive Life of the People. For generations the sturdy, self sufficient, and gifted people of the Okefinokee have led a rather iso lated and primitive existence, some of them on islands within the swamp and others along its borders. They represent some of the purest Anglo-Saxon stock left in our coun try, though a few of the families have a slight mixture of French Huguenot and even Seminole Indian blood. In ancestry, speech, folksongs, and general social ways there is a marked affinity between the resi dents of the Okefinokee and those of I the Appalachian mountains. In each case there has been comparative Isolation, tending to preserve the cultural heritage from Britain of several centuries ago. The pic turesque regional vernacular con tains various elements representing survivals from the Elizabethan age that have dropped out of general American usage. The old-fashioned square dance, or “frolic,” still holds sway here us i a leading form of social recreation. The fiddle, the handclap, the foot beat, and the "calling of the set” by the leader all lend their aid to the rhythmic performance. The late fall days—the season of “hog-killin’' an’ cane-grindin’ ’’—see these social expressions at their height