The Brooklyn Daily Eagle from Brooklyn, New York • Page 8

THE BROOKLYN" DAILY I1VC.LK. NEW YORK. WEDXED AY. FEBRUARY S. 8 may a--k lud'rontiy for the rrstnettta of nfigh- ITS BEEN A HARD WINTER.

BUT A THAW IS FORECAST PnM tur Vaa Aadaa hi 1M1 Mam RH Mrrt4 pending for Lis safety oo coot'-ant alermee and control of his machine, cannot, prudently run the nk of a sudden famtiruj spell when three nuk Lp in the air. The ordinary needs of at -anon do not rail few flying into altitude where the air it too thin for safety. Wtu the demands of bate no doubt brought about an ira-provemrnt in aneroid barometers, those instrument remain but uncertain guide at high altitudes. Their reading may vary considerably from the actual height. i mm in t.1 If "J- Commends Editorial Regarding 1 1 i vwiii aih.

imvi arii 5 waiters turn a ill NjrfliBif.it Japan Defies Ban on Kissing; Police Regulations Ignored; Word Coined to Meet Condition themselves, at a meeting, the week before. Therefore, the 30 clean white plates that were set down, more or less ostentatiously, by the waiters at the end of the ice cream course came away from the tables as empty as when they were set down. The explanation vouchsafed the boys was: "Oeorge, we can't let you pass the plate here. It's against the rules, you see, because of the ah, principle of the thing." Smith-Straton Controversy Editor Brooklyn Daily Eagle: Your recent editorial approving Judge Crain's decision sustaining the writ of habeas corpus obtained by Charles Smith, president of the American Association for the Advancement of Atheism, in his controversy with the Rev. Dr.

John Roach Straton was commendable. Oh, well, a such boncc nuisance that interfere ith it. Each is the of improvement. The dog ran around freely and barked as he mould. Vr-C before the first town came Into existence.

Dog owners no doubt looked on the first developments of town Ufe as nuisances. But now. on the contrary, the town treat the dog as a nuisance, licenses him. munlea bun and en occasion set the dog catcher on his trail Little by little we edge over to make room for the radio as an element in the scheme of things. Mr.

RockefelW show the undimmed clearness of his vision by noting the course of progress and moting 1'a it cf his own accord. STRENGTHENING THE MORELAND Aa. In building his obstructions to the advance of the investigation into the Queens sewer dealings the astute counsel for Borough President Connolly picked two lines of resistance. One of thera barred progress on statutory grounds; the other barred them on constitutional grounds. Governor Smith has now moved to break through the statutory entanglements.

To this end he has recommended to the Legislature that it give the Moreland Commissioners pow er to hold a private investigation as well as the necessary public hearings. Embodied in the Knlght-Dun-niore bill this grant of power has quickly passed the Assembly. Its early enactment appears to be expected at Albany. The bill "has certain further features, relative to the mandatory placing'of investigation expenses in the present case on the City of New York, which may result in some modification of its provisions, rather than in its defeat. Once enacted the measure will remove the difficulty, raised in the proceedings before the Appellate Division, as to the lack of statutory authority for private Investigation by a More-land Commissioner.

It will not remove such constitutional objections to the proceedings of Justice Townsend Scudder in the present investigation as may be found applicable. The possibility remains to Mr. Connolly's counsel of opposing the activity of Justice Scudder under an amended Moreland Act as contrary to the Constitution's prohibition with regard to Supreme Court Justices. The State Constitution forbids them to hold concurrently any other office in the State government. The question will therefore arise whether Mr.

Connolly's counsel can convince the higher State courts that Justice Scudder in exercising the amplified powers now to be granted will in effect assume a second office under the State government. The broader the powers placed in the hands of the Governor the less the probability that the courts will, generally speaking, sanction his delegation of them to an agent without the re sponsibility of a State office covering the agent's acts in the matter. The persons most energetic ally bent on bringing the Queens sewer transactions to light, Mr. Buckner among others, recognize that the measure now in the Legislature does not of itself solve constitutional difficulties. Where Constitution and a statute clash the Con stitution hac the right of way.

Whatever opposition to the Scudder proceedings the Connolly counsel may choose to offer on constitutional grounds the higher courts will still have to deal with. OUR WAR IN NICARAGUA. It is obvious that we are not being told the full truth about the war in Nicaragua. General San-dino and his forces are making a much more effective campaign with a larger measure of popular support than we have been led to believe. For six months we have been treated to dispatches telling about his complete defeat, the routing of his forces, the dispersal of his arfny and finally his death.

Yet no sooner do we settle back comfortably in the supposition that peace Is at hand than dispatches arrive telling of new activity. As is usual in wartime our official reports enly tell of American successes. For news that Sandino is once more alive and that his routed army is once more in action we must depend upon unofficial sources. This morning's dis patches report the population fleeing from two important cities less than one hundred miles from Managua in fear of an attack by Sandino. Over 2,000 inhabitants are reported to have left Jinotega and Matagalpa.

Raids on the territory across the lake from Managua and less than fifty miles from the Nicaraguan capital are also re ported. It is unfortunate for American interests that the authorities at Washington are torn by con flicting emotions. On the one hand they would like to dispatch a sufficient force to Nicaragua to undertake the extremely difficult task of rounding up Sandino and other irregulars and putting them out of action. On the other hand they don't like to admit that we are carrying on a war in Nicaragua without the consent of Congress. The result is that we hare an inade quate force handling the situation.

OUR RESPIRATION CEILING. Instructions issued by the chief of the Army Air Corps, Geaeral Fechet, set for fliers what might be called a safety ceiling of 15,000 feet above sea level. Beyond that elevation no member of the Army may climb, except in special emergency one cannot easily guess what emergency would often take him higher or when equipped with an oxyjen supply for breathing. We have built airplanes that work smoothly at higher levels, but apparently we have not im proved human lungs. The celling now established is for the flier, and it lies well below that of the more powerful and agile airplanes.

Certainly in attempting to set the height at which aviators can find enough air to breathe General Fechet has had to fix an arbitrary limit. Thousands of human beinys in the high place: of the earth spend their lives at elevations of 15,000 feet or higher. At the observatory on Mont Blanc men live and work for months at a time several hundred feet above the height beyond which the flying instructions forbid aviators to rise even for a few minutes. At Potosl, in the Andes, a large mining town, has existed for cen turlcs at about 13,000 feet. Members of the ex pcdltlon to climb Mount Everest encamped tor considerable periods at 21,000 feet, and In their attempts to reach the summit climbed thousands feet higher.

Regular railroad service Is main taincd in Peru at an altitude of 18,000 feet. In setting the limit at but 15,000 feet the Army has taken the course of sticking to the safe side of the risk. While men may grow accustomed to altitude, the sudden rise to a great height has a way of catching the human physique by surprise, and producing the form of collapse known as mountain sickness. An aviator, dc- By ALFRED E. FIERES.

city that has gone to Special Correspondence of WYDKSSDAT rv EKlNa, rca. t. a.1 tarn aa l.M Ma. I Maltar. THE 1ATKO PRCS MVS.

Taa Aaar.ata: Praaa la atltlaa' I tla Maa far rapubllratiaa) at all Mtl fliapalthaa (rditd mr net charwiaa crao'iiaa' la tha papar. ml alaa the varal awae of eavataaeeue aytltar4 feerem. All lla af raput'Ucatiaa ainal are aliac rtsearved. Thia apr taa e'rrelatiaa A rarr thae that aar aher Eteaiag I'aaar mt iia naae tha rane4 talve aa aa Advertietag Medium la Avparaat. HERBERT F.

til NMSON. Taaidaat. HtlllOKD II. ITeefdeat. WILLIAM VAN AM.

ICS HUT EH. fcacltlarT. II ARRIS CRIST. Traeeurer. MAIN orrK'E; Eagle Btiitdiac.

Waafcingloa ang Jehaeee. I jet Mam. (I BSOF.IPTI0V Tnraa Oate Five caata Sjadar. By Mail roaiaa' (Oute.de llrakla). m.

lata. na.lr aa uajr lit at I'ailr eelr I at lit la 1 uadar aalr Meaeer isarmaa Tnuradaa tt'aeae Newel 1 fceturdar (Churth Netireet 1 se i Tueadav. Vtedneeiler or Kridar. I a i Eoreiga Ratee Poatpaid: riaiir aa.i Huaday is Puadair aalr Header A GREAT REFORM GETS UNDER WAY. With all the Justices concurring the Appellate Division of the 8upreme Court, First Department, yesterdiy ordered a sweeping investigation of ambulance chasing, as practiced by members of the Bar in New York and Bronx counties.

This action was in response to the petition for such an inquiry recently presented to the Appellate Division in Manhattan by Charles E. Hughes, representing a joint committee of the Association of tha Bar of the City of New York, the New York County Lawyers Association and the Bronx County Bar Association. The granting of this petition is a complete victory for those members of the legal profession and others who have for some time been urging the Bench and Bar to attack the evil of ambulance chasing and end it. The Appellate Division in Manhattan, In responding to the request for an inquiry, has gone even farther than tome lawyers hoped. The opinion written by Presiding Justice Victor Dowling sets forth that the Supreme Court has full power to conduct the most searching probe into the practices of lawyers in negligence cases, and intends to delegate sufficient authority to a Supreme Court Justice to subpena witnesses and examine books, as well as lawyers and their employees, who are alleged to be engaged in illegally procuring cases.

This means that every phase of ambulance chasing and also the methods of defendants in fighting suits in negligence cases will be probed to the bottom. As Justice Dowling says, such an investigation is without precedent in New York, but the Appellate Division does not regard that as a sufficient Justification for refusing to move. On the contrary, it is convinced that the conditions as set forth by the petition fully warrant drastic and unprecedented measures. The Eagle is particularly gratified by the action of the Appellate Division in Manhattan. For some months this newspaper has urged the Bar associations to take the initiative in curbing ambulance chasing, suggesting the identical course r.ow followed in Manhattan.

A great reform is now assured in New York and Bronx counties. The Brooklyn Bar Association has been urged to take similar action here. Recently Mr. Michael Furst, president of the Brooklyn Bar Association, declared that if the Appellate Division in Manhattan granted the petition there the Brooklyn Ear Association would present such a petition to the Appellate Division in this department. The way is now clear for such a step.

THE NEW TREATY WITH FRANCE. It was a gesture of international amity to arrange the signing of our new arbitration treaty with the French Republic for the sesquicenten-nial of the signature of the first treaty between the two Powers. On February 6, 1778, the Frank-lin-Vergennes Treaty was signed in Paris. This was almost immediately after the news of Bur-goyne's collapse reached Europe. For France, however, it was the only logical sequel of what had been done privately by the efforts of Beau-marchais to assist the colonies.

Nobody knew better than Benjamin Franklin that France had its own selfish interest in weakening England. But in effect, though not technically, the treaty was one of offensive and defensive alliance and was immensely valuable to the cause of our Revolution. The present treaty, yet to be ratified by the United States Senate, broadens the terms of the former Root treaty and interlocks with the Bryan treaty which provided against hasty re sort to war. It defines more closely the subjects excepted from its operation. It formally recog nizes the Monroe Doctrine by placing controver sies involving that doctrine outside of the ar bitration field.

But it pledges us to nothing in case of war between France and any other nation. Statesmen here and abroad recognize wisely the existence and probable permanence of friend ly sentiment toward France among Americans generally. No difference about debt settlements is likely to affect this sentiment. There are mutual debts of gratitude with which dollars and francs have very little connection. RADIO ASSERTS ITSELF.

Trouble with a radio outfit of a Lake wood neighbor has stopped the hands of an electric clock on the estate of John D. Rockefeller. The owner of the clock has had the current turned off solely, it is true, out of desire to oblige the man with the balky radio. And radio owners generally will do Justice to Mr. Rockefeller's will lngnesi to oblige.

But what will clock owners say? Electric clocks powerful enough to spoil radio reception their neighborhood may not be numerous, but electric devices of other sorts, using sufficient power to bother the man next door when he seeks to tune in, are plentiful enough. Radio resembles the person who sits down next us in a crowded public conveyance. At first he perches on the edge of the seat, apologetically. In a few min utes he wriggles his way farther back; he has brgun to acquire the security of established tenure. And in a few minutes more his elbow lll be in our ribs, if we do not make more room for him.

At first radio, ns the newcomer, had to assume the apologetic attitude; now it trows surer of Itself; In another few years It TOKIO, Jan. 17 Despite the pfo-hibition of Puritanically inclined I --V --iV -J-i I I ii I0M lijSijV To an American-born Japanese girl is accorded the honor of having been, the pioneer of overt kissing in Japan. She came here to bo married, her, fiance, also born In America, having; preceded her. He was unable to meet her on the boat, so met her In the crowded railway station. The two) were soon in each other's embrace, kissing passionately and profusely.

Their bliss was soon rudely broken, a The Eagle. definitely in outdoor as police officer clapping the young man none too courteously on the shoulder1 and bidding him and the girl follow; him to the station. Here they cx plained to the desk sergeant, who, however, decided that theirs was an act of indecency committed in publio (police officers have minor magisterial powers in Japan'i und committed both to the hoosegow for 39 days. Japanese girls, however, interceded with the chief of police and the two were let out after a few hours Imprisonment. which he the hero lame over JAPAN, today, has.

no proper word for "kiss." There is a word known as "seppun," but this really means to touch the Hps to sacred Images. Therefore, a word had to be coined and "kissu," from the English "kiss," was made to serve the purpose. Formerly, mention of this word before a respectable lady would bring a flush of shame to her cheek and anger to any men about. Today, however, it is a word often used when ladles meet at tea parties. As regards the police injunctions, which have not yet been repealed, what the modern laddies and lassies here say is best expressed in that famous motto of the Black Prince: "Honl soit qui mal pense." Beauty.

Thousands or women in this city flrt losing their health and Impairing tha physical well-being of the future generation Ir: a vain search for false beauty. Health Commissioner Kegel of Chicago. There a beauty, gentle maid, That craves no screens; Of which you need not be afraid, In vitamlnes. It goes with health and open air And habits wise: With simple life, and simple fare, And exercise. Not false this beauty, gentle maid, Which never fails; It seeks the sun and shuns the shade, 'And scorns all veils.

On strength, ant! vitalism brave, "As on veracity, Believe not that your brothers hav A sex monopoly. The ruddy cheek, tho flashing eye, 1 Is larger by The figure lithe and free, Old Father Time more years defy Than any artistry. His touch Is naught to brood upon, 1 It never will bo rude; From maidenhood he'll lead you ori 1 To gracious matronhood. lengths as Boston in the way of keeping its books clean would naturally turn sooner or later to the principle of clean plates. You've got to admire their thoroughness, whether you subscribe to their principles or not.

police, kissing has vaded Japan and the new THE BOY SCOUTS' EIGHTEEN YEARS. Eighteen years old today, the Boy Scout movement in America has in a sense got it growth. The Boy Scouts of America now number some 900 member. While that is but a small part of the entire boy population of the country, it actually an enormous number few association! in this or any other nation have a longer roll. But in point of membership, the organization will undoubtedly go on growing for years to come.

When we say that It lias got it growth, we mean this in another sense. The years that have passed have brought fullness and deflmteness ot purpose to the movement. Its ideas have submitted to the test of time. Many thousands of mature men can stand forth today and show the type of manhood that Scout service has helped to produce. The movement has gained the confidence of parents and teachers to a re markable degree.

At 18 years of age, it stands high in the general regard. Justified by a fine record of sanity and steady purpose. To be a Boy Scout is still an adventure, still a wholesome manifestation of growing, daring youth. The movement continues to speak to boy hood in its own tongue and to utter the call that the boy heart understands. Juvenile still in this precious respect, It has grown up in experience and in the knowledge of its mission grown up to a vigor that gives promise of a long life for good.

SENATE OR TRADE COMMISSION? It may be conceded that Senator Walsh of Montana is actuated by the highest motives In urging the resolution empowering the Senate to investigate, through a committee of five mem bers, the affairs ot public utility corporations doing an interstate business. Mr. Walsh's record in the Senate is one of distinguished service, and in this instance it may be presumed that he thinks the adding of one more to the already full list of Senate Inquiries meets an imperative public need. If this work could not be done hi any other way there would be no reasonable objection to a Senate investigation. But it can be done in another way, through the Federal Trade Commission, and this alternative is worth serious consideration.

The trouble with a Senate investigation is the extreme difficulty of keeping it free from political prejudice and of preventing undue emphasis being placed upon the possible evils of utilities operation without a corresponding emphasis being put upon what Is good. To say this is not to argue that all public utilities corporations are honestly and wisely managed or that none of them should come under scrutiny by a Government agency. But it would be almost inevitable that in a Senate inquiry effort would be largely directed toward the dis covery of abuses without much balancing from the other side of the ledger. The effect of this sort of thing upon investors and intending in vestors in public utilities corporations might well be the breeding of an unwarranted distrust which would entail loss upon individuals and be disastrous to the legitimate enterprises of the corporations themselves. It may be pointed out that the Federal Trade Commission has already made an investigation of utilities corporations in the light and power field.

The Commission has gone into the history of these enterprises, tracing their develop ment, the steps taken to regulate them, the re turns on their investments and the question of their holding companies. The quotations made from this report by Senator Walsh at the hearings before the Interstate Commerce Committee indicated that the Commission cannot be charged with prejudice in favor of the corporations. If anything, it leans the other way. The Commis sion has a corps of investigating experts capable of eliciting all of the facts relating to the efficiency and stability of the utilities corporations and who could be trusted to show the need for further regulation, if such need exists. An in vestigation of this character, ending in a report to Congress, would serve all the legitimate pur poses of a Senate inquiry, with the added advantage of not being at all affected by political influences.

The Senate now has before it a formidably long list of resolutions calling for investigations, Some of these relate to matters which can be handled only by Senate committees. Others deal with questions in which the interest of the Senate is at least equal to that of the House of Representatives, so that priority in moving for an inquiry is sufficient reason for Senate action. If only a part of these Inquiries or investigations finally become effective the Senate will have Its hands full, considering also the amount of time its members are supposed to devote to legislation The examination into the methods and business of the public utilities corporations could, there fore, be very well remitted to the Federal Trade Commission, which has already done much of the preliminary work and could be trusted to do what work remains. War over tenement house legislation may nearly dwarf politics in Albany, even In a President year. Legislators of thrift and enterprise can be bipartisan or even nonpartisan on occasion A congress of all religions in Geneva next year to oppose war is an admirable idea.

Brahmlnlsts, Buddhists, Taoists, all know where they stand Only Mohammedans and Christians will counte nance weasel words from such a gathering. Was it a fellow named Shakespeare who wrote "McAdoo About Literary research the part of Governor Smith's friends is stirred by the reading of the Californian's recent speech But no man is legally compelled to stay mum even if he stays extra dry. Detroit really seems to have an economist for Mayor. He has cut $45,000,000 off the estimates for running the city, and has ordered all waste ended. Which is a reversion to type.

For year before he became Senator, James Couzens gave Detroit that sort of administration. well as indoor pastime is gaining adherents by the thousands. A mother can now be seen kissing her child in the most approved Occidental fashion, Action while in lovers' lanes and snug soda fountain or beer hall corners, boys and girls indulge in osculation, more Post-Dispatch, bankers of Texas offered to create a sensation and demonstrate that they are no longer tied down by old conventions than because of the delight inherent to kissing. $5,000 for every dead the banking fraternity loud with applause A popular author recently wrote a brethren. This ex book in the course of declared, might be worked up a climax where the feared term direct met the heroine in a The public generally, I think, believed that Judge Crain's disposition of the case was a sensible one, criticizing as it did impartially Dr.

Straton's lack of good sense in seeking to prosecute Smith for sending the doctor letters with which he disagreed, and Smith's lack of good sense in persist ing in attempting to convert the doctor to atheism. I understand that District Attor ney Banton has taken an appeal on behalf of Dr. Straton from Judga Crain's decision, but to the disinterested observer it would seem that the St. When the a reward of bank robber, everywhere time of district attorneys these days might be more profitably employed in a thorough prosecution of milk, school building, water and sewer graft perpetrated by Tammany grafters who have violated undisputed and not merely illusory provisions of the law. To persist in prosecuting Smith, who happens to be a veteran of the World War also by the way, and to overlook the overwhelming evidence of Tammany graft with which the city and State are being looted at present is assuredly "straining at the gnat and swallowing the camel." While I am personally an agnostic as a believer in Darwin and Spencerand not an atheist, I fully subscribe to your courageous assertion that Is it as much the right of an atheist to endeavor to extend atheism as it is the legal right of Dr.

Straton or the Society for the Propa for their periment, branded with action, but action none esied bankers, sticking up of and the rifling Well, has laudable things? be the virtuous Has direct bank robbers, applied to and other organizations? The plain Direct Loula were Texas they it the it law answer to these Texas Bankers public its unusual been a number robberies. But, persons, one a crowded street and kissed her long and affectionately before the throngs of passersby He thought he would cause a sensa was surely virtuous less. It would, proph put an end to the cashiers and tellers of vaults. tion; the thing merely fell flat. Kissing had made far too great inroads.

If he had done that, say, five years done these highly ago, he would have won Has It turned out to recourse it seemed? action, when applied to night, inclusive of meticulous attention on the part of the police. worked differently than violators by the klan militant law enforcement facts are an adequate a a a CLOSE-UPS on the silver screen, with the hero and heroine locked each other's arms and stealing the honey from each other's lips were formerly barred as dangerous, im questions. Since the Association made reward, there have of spectacular bank what is more, two Deputy Sheriff, have killing two innocent wounding a third, In moral and barbarian. Film censors Instantly grabbed a pair of shears and indignantly clipped oft this offending finale, but the censorial wrath has fallen flat today, and clinches and half-clinches can be now enjoyed by those who like to see a pretty girl, Mary Pickford, for Instance, kiss a securing, the stipulated representing the victims as handsome actor. should be a warning of other States who th us of similar Good News Syracuse Herald.

What may be called the first food prognostics for the year 1928 comes from the Federal Bureau of Agricultural Economics, via Chicago. We are told that the entire pres Illegal methods of dis robbinj. The Texas direct action has that it is extremely attempt to crush out gation of the Faith, for instance, to endeavor to extend Protestant Fundamentalism or Roman Catholicism. I might add that both Fundamen the hope of reward by talism in the Protestant Church and Roman Catholicism belong to the bank robbers. Here, surely, past.

Modernism alone today com mands the assent or respect of think ing minds. J. C. MAHON. New York.

Feb. 6, 1928. desperate and couraglng experiment proved again Clean Plates dangerous Knickerbocker Press 1 effect, in fact, You never know when, where or how Boston's principles are going to crop up. But they do seem to have a gift, over there, of trotting them der a highly tion. For out at the most inopportune mo ments.

The banquet of the Boston Congregational Club the other night is an instance in point. There were 750 diners, and the 30 colored boys has just been and the only make the Joys who waited on them, confining their calculations strictly to mathematical principles, couldn't get any result but $75 from that number of diners, anyway they figured It. The way they floured it, of course, was to multiply 750 by ten cents, and anybody would know that that comes to $75, which, divided by 30 bays, would leave a fair and equitable tip for an evening Is a pneumatic confessed to Mexicans and to the bankers are contemplating bank in to crime by the themselves the Tprra A pneumatic Dating Ohio This is the according use of means which are essentially criminal. Its ent strawberry acreage has been to make mur percent than that of remunerative occupa Windjammers Hauta Tribune. 1 automobile bumpor placed on the market, thing now needed to of motoring complete a year ago.

Yet 1927 yielded a record-breakinj crop of 342,000,000 quarts. Add 6 percent, and we get a succulent prom-Iso of more than 300,000,000 quarts for the current year, or an average of three quarts to every mother's son and daughter in the United States, Including the babes in arms. As the babes are not in on the wonderful feast, we can put tho per capita allowance of the strawberry-catlnn multitude at a plump half-peck or more for tho months that loom ahead. In the face of this alluring portent who cures whether this man or that Is nominated for the Presidency Whatever change may be ordered at Washington, the country will be sale and contented if the supply of strawberry shortcake and the Jam aftermath is bountiful. A communint remnant of people who don't like strawberries may be ready and willing to plot political mischief, But there are not enough of them to be danijcrous.

telephone pole. by Statistics Stata Journal. year 1027'i, approximately, to the avorage way it on checks and things News, Indeed INfrk Star Iaile.1 Let Us Hope golden wedding in we've written of solicitous service. so far. But the club went to work and applied a principle that had nothing whatever to do with mathematics and very little to do with solicitous service.

And It reduced the $75 to zero right under the eyes, of the astonished Ocorgcs. They had, It seems, adopted a no-tlp policy toward waiters, all unbeknown to the 197B will stuff. It page. A companionate be will no mere social column belong on the first ITerra lfanta Alar Let us hopo Calvin more success cnnvlnrlnir a Coolldge has book agent he doesn't want, a thing,.