SEEN and HEARD'
around the
NATIONAL CAPITAL
By Carter Field
FAMOUS WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT
Washington.—It is u common say
ing In Washington that nobody un
derstands the administration’s sil
ver policy except President Boose
velt and Secretary of the Treasury
Morgenthuu. At the present mo
ment the government Is paying
something like 32 cents an ounce
above the market price for all new
ly mined silver obtained In the
United States This fo'lows the ac
quisition—by commandeorlng—of all
the silver held some time bsok at
60 cents an ounce, which now
stands the treasury a net loss In
excess of five cents an ounce, not
counting Interesi
Yet the once famous silver bloc
In the senate and house makes no
outcry. It seems Hi have forgotten
all ntmut the alt Inclusive claims of
benefit which would follow the en
actment of the fanmus stiver pur
chase law—making tt mandatory on
the treasury to leny silver on the
world market until the world price
had reached $1.20 an ounce, or un
til the ratio of silver to gold In the
treasury’s metnllic reserve behind
our paper currency had reached one
to four.
Real silver enthusiasts — those
who agreed with Wltltaiii Jennings
Bryan's 1RIW theory—are frothing
at the mouth They think they have
been betrayed by stupidity or worse
In the treasury’s handling of the
situation. They think Morgethau
was so smart In trying to bny world
stiver cheap fhnt he defeated the
real purpose, and put the price
down Instead of up.
Meanwhile, of course, there are
two elements to which the silver
theorists do not give sutllclent
value. One Is that this Is an elec
tion year. Most of the sliver bloc
members are Democrats, and many
of them are running for re-election
Hence If they broadcast at this time
their real thoughts about Morgen
thau It might tend to discredit the
administration, and make their own
re-eleetlon Just that much more dtf
flcult
Have No Backing
The other point is that the silver
theorists have no hacking at the
moment—as they did when the sil
ver act was passed —from the silver
producers The stiver producers
now are receiving some 82 cents an
ounce In excess of the world price.
Kven the most enthusiastic sliver
theorists among the actual silver
producers In the Onlted States
doubt seriously If the most Intelli
gent manipulation fey the treasnry
would have resulted In the present
world price being 82 cents higher
than It Is now Hence they do not
feel they have any complaint Quite
•the contrary
It Is rather stgultlcant lliut on the
very day that Secretary Morgenthau
announced that the silver policy
was working very well, shares of
beneficiaries of the high price for
silver mined in this country shot
up. one of them, Hunker Hill and
Sullivan, more than 10 points!
Critics of this silver subsidy, on
the other hand, insist that It Is
merely a gift to special Interests,
more narrowly restricted In Its ben
efits than any subsidy ever granted
or ever even promised In this eoun
try, and should be stopped.
The chief point Is that there are
bo few mines In tills country of
which silver Is the chief product
that they merit no special eonsld
eratlon at all The hulk of silver
mined In this country Is obtained
as a by-product of lead, copper and
zinc. Hence, they Insist, the In
creased price for domestic silver
does not actually result in miners
being given employment. It merely
spells a larger protit for the mine
owners If this Is not true, they
contend, then tip- case Is still worse,
for the silver subsidy leads to over
production of the more Important
metals.
All of which is rutber depressing
■when one remem tiers the grand
dream of the treasury's revaluing
silver, us It did gold, once it had
pushed the world price up high
enough, and realizing a profit of a
billion or so'
Piling Up Tax Load
Careful estimates as to the addi
tional taxes to be Imposed before
the present congress adjourns, and.
more Important tiefore election, tig
ure the minimum at $7<N>.(XNMN)U.
This Is figuring the cost or the
new agricultural soil erosion scheme
at approximately the same as the
old AAA plan around SAAO.tM 10.(100
a year. It Is figuring the cost of
the soldier bonus at around
000,000 a year $100,000,000 for in
terest and SftO.otNl.oOO for amortizu
tlon. This works out whether the
soldiers hold their government
bonds or whether they cash them
In. because In the latter case the
government would merely borrow
the money and the interest rate
would be about the same.
This of course Is the mtutmum
It bus no connection with balancing
the budget. It merely would pro
vide revenue sulticleut to meet the
additional expenses and keep the
present unbalanced relation of ex
penditures and receipts at about
the same ratio
Taxes to correct the whole sltua
tlon, to bring the balanced budget.
to make the federal goverumeat
live within its income, will be post
poned, every one agrees, until after
election.
As a matter of fact some com
mentators talk about the new farm
program costing $1,000,000,000 the
first year. This figure Is obtained
by adding In only two temporary
Items of expense—one the loss of
revenue from the processing taxes
outlawed hy the Supreme court de
cision The other relates to possi
ble return of processing taxes al
ready collected
Together these two Items may run
to $000,000,000. But that would mere
ly he added to the deficit For tax
purposes ft woidd he figured that
the Interest on that sum or about
$15,000,000, should he added to the
annual tax
Increase in Excises
Most of the new taxes, to raise
this $700,000,000 minimum, will tie
of the excise variety. That Is tbe
thought not only In the White
House and Treasury department,
hut on Capitol Hill. The general
pattern will follow that of the proc
essing taxes, but will be on a much
brooder base. There Is no desire to
rouse resentment, for example,
about taxing the poor man’s break
fast table to the tune of five cents
a pound on bacon.
To raise tbe money necessary,
however, a great many more artl
cles must be taxed than were af
fected under the processing taxes,
especially as there Is eager desire
to avoid very loud complaints on
any particular tax.
Every one In the treasury has
been amazed during the last two
yenrs at the fact that, whllp there
were plenty of complaints about
the processing tax, there was noth
ing like the organized onslaught
against It which attended the mere
proposal of the sales tax. And yet
the processing taxes, and for that
matter the new taxes to be Imposed
later Mils year, were and will he a
fair target for the bitterest shots
ever tired at the sales fax.
In fact. It Is a selective sales tax.
nut selective in precisely the oppo
site direction from whnt waR pro
posed when there was so much op
position.
Advocates of the sales tax, which
was so heavily defeated a few years
hack, tried to meet objections by
concessions They specifically ex
empted such products ns bread and
pork, on the theory that they were
the poor man's food Whereas bread
and pork carried more than their
share of the processing tax, thus
running squarely against the old
political axiom that It was suicide
to stnx the poor man's breakfast
fable
Business Improving
With business obviously not only
much better, but continuing to Im
prove, so that business experts ttre
already figuring thut 1SM0 Is going
to be tremendously better thnn
IMHfi. President Roosevelt Intends
to Concentrate on that Issue to meet
the attack tie fears most—thnt ter
rifle Increase In government spend
ing as a result of New Dualism Is
dangerous and threatens serious
trouble.
Roth Roosevelt uirn Secretary of
the Treasury Morgenthau believe
the present tax structure will yield
far higher returns to the treasury
than any outside critics figure
They believe that as business in
creases. pushing up corporation and
individual Incomes, an almost un
believable flood of money will roll
In, especially as better times push
Incomes Into higher rax brackets. •
There Is Just enough truth In this
to make hu argument possible Hut
the President will lay his stress on
the actually Improved conditions.
Insisting that the New Deal Is re
sponsible for lifting this country
out of the slough of despond, espc
dally by tbe very experiments that
were outlawed—the NKA during
Its high tide of wage boosting and
hour cutting, and the AAA with Its
golden stream which quickened
farm buying of industrial products
Which makes it look as though
the Republicans will lie crying, "We
are drifting toward a financial
abyss." while Roosevelt will tie an
swering. "Rook at that terrible hole
we pulled you out of."
Kxeept, of course, that while all
Presidents spilt Infinitives, no Presi
dent ends sentence with a prep
osition
Bvery one now agrees that the
budget message of January deceived
a lot of commentators with Its rosy
outlook It was pointed out at the
time that the President did not In
clude relief, nor make any allow
ance for the bonus
Replace Processing Tax
As a matter of fact. It Is not fulr
to speak of the new taxes that must
he Imposed to pay for the farm pro
gram as "additional" In comparison
with the President's message. For
that message was obliged to as
sume that the processing taxes
would continue. So that actually
about *'>00,000.000 or *000.000.000 of
new taxes will merely take the
place of those knocked out by the
high court.
Copyright.—WNU Servloo.
Ant Oddities
Fight to the Finish Between Red and Black Ants.
Prepared by National Geographic Society,
rWashington, U. C.-WXU Service.
IKE humans, there are all
kinds of ants—busy ants and
ants tliut live on the accom
plishments of others.
One often feels sorry for some of
the Industrious species of Formica,
solid citizens, but really the “for
gotten ants,’’ because they seem to
be preyed upon by every sort of
warrior ant and their nests are near
ly always shared with various
guests and purusltes.
Two kinds of ants, very differ
ent from eacli other, sometimes live
together amicably, eacli occupying
a separate part of the same nest
and contributing te the general wel
fare.
The little -shampoo ant (Leptotho
rax emersonl), discovered by Dr.
William Morton Wheeler of Har
vard in the peat bogs of Connecti
cut, lives In the nests of Myrmica
canadensis, a much larger species.
When the Leptothorax- worker
needs food, it approaches the Myr
inica worker and proceeds to sham
poo nnd lick it. The Myrmica ob
viously enjoys this, for it regurgi
tates food to the Leptothorax.
One day in Brnlzil a scientist,
was Investigating nn ant nest con
sisting of a mass of earth six
Inches In diameter In a fork of a
tree. He tapped tills nest gently
with his forceps, and the surface
was immediately covered with
small, reddish-brown ants of the
genus Dollchoderus. When he
gouged into the nest to find the va
rious forms, a swarm of Odonto
machus rusjF’d out and one of them
Rtung him. Odontomnchus was a
dozen times ns big as the Dollch
oderus and provided with strong bit
ing Jaws and a red-hot sting.
Finding a Rare Ant.
Often ant hunters get as hi* a
thrill from a successful search for
a rare ant ns a hig game hunt
er from the capture of giraffes or
elephants. There is about ns much
physical exertion involved, too,
turning over thousands of stones
nnd logs, digging into the earth,
chopping hard wood, and peeling
bark from Innumerable dead trees.
Luck Infrequently plays an im
portant part. In 1901 Father
Schmitt, a Jesuit missionary, sent
to the great myrmecologlst, Forel,
of Switzerland, a single specimen
of a new nnd extraordinary ant
from Haiti. Forel described it nnd
named the genus after his good
friend, Carol Finery of Bologna,
and the species after the Jesuit
(Kmeryella schmltti). The lone spe
cimen was long the only representa
tive of Its kind in collections.
In Haiti at the end of a month's
work a student found one siilitnry
worker along a roadside, lie had
no tine-tooth comb with him, but
for two months lie tried every oth
er method he knew of to discover
the nest of more of the workers.
Then one evening he went for
a stroll just before dinner and no
ticed on the path a millipede, or
thousand logger, moving in an un
natural way. Bending over, he saw
that the millipede was dead and
was being carried by nn nut. The
ant was Emeryella!
It took nil his strength of char
acter to keep from seizing both ant
nnd prey at once, hut he smoked
his pipe as calmly as he could and
watched the ant till it leisurely
entered a small hole at one side of
a flat stone.
When the stone was turned over
there was an entire colony of some
sixty workers. Later, In the same
locality, he found n similar col
ony, nnd specimens of these have
now been distributed to all the im
portant ant collections In muse
ums all over the word!.
No Female of the Species.
There were no females In either
nest; so It is not improbable that
this species lacks a special female,
and that one of the workers func
tions ns egg-layer. At night there
came to light In the student’s quar
ters a reddish ant. which from its
general character was assumed to
be the male of the species.
He had talked about Kmeryella
schmltti so much flint It became
well known to the scant white pop
ulation of the island under the
name of "Mary Ella Schmitt” and
when he finally reported his dis
covery there was a great celebra
tion among his fellow Americans,
railroad men vacationing at Port
au-Prince.
Another missionary priest, Pere
Salle, had sent to the museum in
Paris from Haiti a curious nest of
vegetable fiber, not unlike a wasp’s
nest.
A scientist, while rummaging
about among the specimens, found
it and tapped it on A piece of white
paper. Several dead and dried ants
dropped out. They belonged to the
genus Maeromischa, the most ex
quisitely formed of the ants and
with beautiful metallic coloration—
purples, greens, and reds. The ge
nus is Interesting, too, because it
alone of the ants of the West In
dies has developed Into numerous
species. About thirty are known
from Cuba alone.
Fire Ant Is a Stinger.
The fire ant (Solenopsis gemina
ta) is such a good traveler that one
variety or another is found through
out the warmer parts of the earth.
It gets its name from the painful,
burning sting it can inflict. A col
ony contains vast numbers of work
ers. They have Recently been re
ported ns going great damage to
young quail in the southeastern
states.
Eire ants nest in almost any kind
of locality and are extremely pro
lific. Even flood cannot daunt the
tire ant, for it has been reported
in Hrar.il that when the water rises
and washes out a colony, the ants
form a ball, queen and brood in
the middle, and this living ball
floats away to a tree or to higher
ground.
The tailor ant (Oecophylla smar
agdinu) and a few other ants
(I’olyrhadina) are unique among all
the earth's creatures, so far as is
known, in that they use their
young as tools in nest construc
tion.
Kew adult insects spin silk, but
the larvae of many have this abil
ity to enclose themselves in silken
cocoons, from which they will later
emerge as fully formed adults. Oe
cophylla utilizes this accomplish
ment of its young in making its
nests. Scientists have often torn
one of the leaves that form its box
slmped nest and then watched the
proceedings.
At first there is a wild sortie on
the part of the ants, all in fight
ing mood. They cannot sling, but
they bite annoyingly. After they
have given up trying to find and
destroy the intruder, worker ants
seize larvae In their mandibles ami
bring them to the damaged por
tions. Other workers seize t lie
edges of the leaves and pull them
together, while those with the larvae
pass them back and forth, stimu
lating the grub to exude silk, which
sticks and holds the pieces of the
leaves together.
Live in the Tree Tops.
In the Solomon islands this pug
nacious Oecophylla abounds. On the
Island of Mulaupaina an ant hunter
had for two weeks the unusual and
delightful good fortune for a nat
uralist of being able to collect
among the tops of high trees. A
plantation company was felling the
original forest, clearing the land
for coconuts. One enormous tree
after another was felled, and
as soon as It came down he would
go among the upper branches and
collect.
Oecophylla was abundant, and he
reported that there was scarcely
a moment of daylight during those
two weeks when an ant was not
biting him on the neck, lie would
instinctively reach up and seize
the little creature, break its neck
between his thumb and forefinger,
and go on collecting.
Hut once, ns lie crushed one of
them, he noticed tlmt it was un
usually hard. It was another ant.
a l’odomyrma, rare and desirable.
After that it was necessary for him
to seize each attacking ant and care
fully examine it before destroying
It, so as not to crush a valuable
specimen by mistake.
BRISBANE
THIS WEEK
_
The Crown Remains
Veterans Reach the Top
The Useful Red Cross
Oxygen Is Life
Rehind the gray walls of Wind
sor castle, on the hill above the
Arthur Ilrlabiinr
Eton school,
where young
England learns
discipline and
cricket, King
George’s coflin
was lowered into
the vault to lie
beside his fa
ther, King Ed
ward VII, and
his grandmother,
Queen Victoria.
T h e magnifi
cent crown of
England was
taken from the
coflin before it
disappeared and placed netore tne
nltar. Kings go; the crown remains.
The services were broadcast, new
feature of a royal funeral. The
simple Church of England burial
service, read by the Archbishop of
Canterbury, was heard far over the
earth, wherever Britain’s 400,000,
000 subjects live.
Veterans having successfully
climbed the long, long road, the
government began the biggest “pay
off" job in history, the printing of
two billion 'four hundred million
dollars’ worth of bonds, to be dis
tributed among 3,518,191 World war
veterans. The mere distributing
cost alone will be $7,000,000.
Now government wonders what
new taxes can be invented to pay
the two and one-half billions.
Interesting news from Ethiopia
sent by an Americun correspondent
says the residence of Haile Selas
sie’s son has on the roof a large
red cross, although it has nothing
to do with the Red Cross. Associ
ated Press sends news of a Swedish
“field hospital,” captured by Ital
ians in the South, carrying ammu
nition on five trucks adorned with
Red Cross flags and insignia. The
“field hospital” automobiles con
tained, in addition, 27 cases of
munitions. In modern war, the safe
plan seems to be bomb everything.
The war drums of the Ethiopian
hero, Has Desta Demtu, were cap
tured. He will miss them.
"The Blood Is the Life," accord
ing to an old Hebrew saying, und
oxygen is the life of the blood. No
oxygen means death, in three min
utes or less; too little oxygen
means premature death, inferior
health meanwhile.
The Dionne quintuplets are mar
velous in their health. The marvel
ous habies sleep outdoors every
morning and afternoon; on one oc
casion the temperature tvas 30 de
grees below zero.
I_
All five walk, all iiave gained
weight during the past month, and
have new teeth. Annette has three
new ones, twelve in all. All have
beautiful big eyes, high foreheads,
pretty faces and look as French as
the Marseillaise; get plenty of oxy
gen, but wrap up well.
Lloyd George says the new king,
Edward VIII, has the magnetism
of his grandfather, Edward VII;
that he comes to the throne with
such great troubles ahead as few
kings have ever encountered, but
"his courage and his sure instinct
will not fail him.”
_
The unnecessary air disaster in
Hawaii, two United States bombing
planes destroyed in collision while
plying “in formation” and six men
killed, causes aviators to say that j
they object to night formation fly-!
ing. They may well object; noth-1
ing more densely stupid could be j
imagined than sending up planes to
fly at high speed, almost wing to
wing, i.ivitlng disaster and death.
Even in these busy times there
ought to be somebody sufficiently
intelligent to stop that nonsense, at
night, and in daytime also.
Mr. John Horan of Milwaukee,
called by his fellow workers “Soda
Ash Johnny,” first used soda ash
to clean locomotive boilers, a dis
covery that should have made hint
rich, but did not.
“Soda Ash Johnny,” a proud man,
refused to let his son accept a pen
sion, told the authorities: “I am
still able to work, and no boy of
mine is going 'on the county.’ ”
It will surprise y 1 to hear that
the son, aged sixty >.x, lias applied
for an old age pension.
The statement that imagination
Is worse than reality applies to
everything—death included, let us
hope.
When a colony of nudists move
on San Diego, Calif the strongest
protest comes from San Diego’s
Braille club, an organization of
blind people. They could not actu
ally know whether the colonists
were dressed or not, but they do
not like the idea.
Consider how men have perse
cuted, tortured and burned each
other for religious differences, in
matters that they could neither see
nor know.
© King Features Syndicate, lae.
WNU Service.
"QUOTES"
COMMENTS ON
CURRENT TOPICS BY
NATIONAL CHARACTERS
Opinions expressed in the paragraphs
below are not necessarily concurred in
by the editor of this newspaper.
AAA BENEFITS
Uy EDWARD A. O’NEAL
Head of tne American Farm Bureau
Federation.
THE program launched by organ
ized agriculture must go forward.
The American farmer will continue
to fight for economic parity. Under
the operations of the Agricultural
Adjustment act the agricultural
march toward parity, by giving
farmers a purchasing power, has
stimulated business revival through
out the country.
We are going to look to congress
to take specific steps which will pro
vide by legislation the mechanism
by which agricultural parity is to be
continued.
It is up to congress to provide that
legislation within the provisions of
the Constitution.
THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
By MR. HOOVER
THE most ominous note of all was
the President’s warning that the
power he has assumed would be dan
gerous in other hands. “In thirty
four months,” he says, “we have
built up new Instruments of public
power. In the hands of the peo
ple’s government, this power Is
wholesome and proper.”
It just happens that the ideal up
on which our government urus found
ed and hitherto conducted is that It
is dangerous to the people to have
any man possess such powers, or to
allow any man to thus aspire to per
sonal government Instead of a gov
ernment of laws.
The question is, not that these
powers, having been created and
now In the hands of the good, might
be transferred to the hands of the
wicked, if the New Deal is not con
tinued. It Is that they never should
be possessed by anybody in these
United States.
A DEFENSE OF CAPITALISM
By JOHN S. THOMAS
President of Clarkson College.
WE LISTEN with rapt attention
while our Intelligentsia tell us
that the chief interest of business
men is to bring on periodic collapse;
that our farmers are failures; that
we who work are oppressed; that
we who do not are pauperized; that
our statesmen are stupid, venal and
hired; that criminals rule our cities;
that we owe ourselves so much mon
ey we are bankrupt, and that what
we do not owe ourselves, we have
lent to Europe.
And poor old capitalism! Capital
ism has not a leg to staud on. Be
ing tried for life, she seems not to
have a friend left in court.
And all of this, mind you, In spite
of the fact that capitalism and the
principle of competition in business
working together in this country
since 1790 have given us the most
marvelous 140 years ever enjoyed by
any people, anywhere, at any time.
THE PARALLEL
By PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT
SOMETIMES at the close of a day
I say to myself that the last na
tional election must have beeu held
a dozen years ago—so much water
has run under the bridge, so many
great events In our history have oc
curred since then. And yet 34
months—less than three years—have
gone by since March, 1933.
History repeats in these crowded
months, as in the days of Jackson—
two great achievements stand forth
—the rebirth of the interest and un
derstanding of a great citizenry in
the problems of the nation and an
established government which by
positive action has proved its de
votion to the recovery and well-be
ing of that citizenry.
Here’s Record That’ll Make
Holmes Do Highland Fling
One of the greatest detectives
alive Is a native of French Indo
china, who Is known ns “The Blood
hound.” His captures average one
murderer every 25 days for the past
28 years.
He is credited with taking 400 of
the 1,200 men who are now serving
life sentences for homicide on I’ulo
Condore, the French “murderers’
Isle” In the China sen, from which
no one has ever escaped.—Collier’s.
....-ju
The Mind % 1
■» r LOWELL
Meter • henderson
© Bell Syndicate.—WNU Service.
The Completion Test.
In tills test eight Incomplete state
ments are made. Each one can be
completed by adding one of the four
words given. Underline the correct 1
one. 1
1. Harold L. Hckes Is the present
secretary of treasury, secretary of
war. secretary of the Interior, secre
tary of labor.
2. The capital of Nevada is—
Helena, Carson City, Reno, Denver.
3. Demosthenes was a famous—
Homan lawyer, Greek orator, Greek
Physician, Notre Dame football
player.
4. The color, chartreuse. Is—bril
endnarred’ *** b'Ue’ pa,e Kre0D’ lav'
5. I lie Rio Grande flows Into the
I acific ocean, Carribbean sea, Gulf
of Mexico, Bay of Blscayne.
6. The modern birth stone for Jan
uary is—bloodstone, hyacinth; pearl
agate. v ’
7. The Grand canyon Is located in
—Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona Ne
vada.
I lie state having most square
miles of water surface is—North
Carolina, Florida, Texas, Minnesota.
Answers
1. Secretary of the Interior.
2. Carson City.
3. Greek orator.
4. Pale green.
5. Gulf of Mexico.
8- Hyacinth.
7. Arizona.
8. Minnesota.
Old Shoe. Worth $50
A leading department store was
asked by an old client-a woman—
to credit a pair of shoes, unused
and In the same box they were orig
inally delivered to her. The shoes
were found to be a pair of high
ones bought twenty years ago for
,• The store gladly credited the
pair of unused shoes, as they had a
museum^ value. As such they are
worth $oO today.—Wall Street Jour
nal.
~ ■— --‘X
fCHAPPEDl '
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///chapping and roughness,!!
j fPpfy soothing, \\\ y
III cooling Mentholatum. \\\ '
I MCW *rl*d >ho ''l ^
I NEW mentholatum liquid I
f head cold.? 1
* n ohihneat j
comfort II
10SANGELES
-
Ohe Most
convenient
Vfaftest
accommodations
Finest ,
meals / Grill
Ebsy choirs sleep-inspiring beds ltA fin5
large rooms with luxurious fittings Coffee
Unsurpassed service and luxury on0P
ore yours at amazingly low cost
Mur
"^HOTEf.
CLARK
"How do S feel....
Rotten! why do you ask ?
“Because,
you are not yourself J”
rr is all so simple, too ! Hint tired, run-down, exhausted feeling quite
often is due to lack of a sufficiency of those precious red-blood-cells.
Just build up these oxygen-carrying cells and the whole body takes on
new life... food is really turned into energy and strength.. .you can't
help but feel and look better. S.S.S. Tonic restores deficient red-blood
cells... it also improves the appetite and digestion. It has been the
nation’s standby for over 100 years ... and unless your case is excep
tional it should help you, too. Insist on S.S.S. Tonic in the blood-red g
cellophane-wrapped package. The big 20-oz. size is sufficient for two f
weeks’ treatment... it’s more economical. ^ -pPt g g g C0.
