The Brooklyn Daily Eagle from Brooklyn, New York • Page 22

BROOKLYN DAILY EAGLE, NEW YORK, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 1933 BROOKLYN DAILY EAGLE LAST BOTTLE! TH pointed out that they were losing money on their commuting business. Why should they lose on it; supposing that they found it worth the committee's "impeaching Its own witness," as though the committee were formally prosecuting him. Adherents of Broussard, on the contrary, have complained that the committee did not bestir itself enough in order to find out the truth, but showed inclination to sit back and let them do the work of bringing in the evidence. and buck passing, which is no credit to a sup- a XYTT1 A TJ1 posedly law-abiding commonwealth. i Io JLJ vXtlli By John Erskine while before? The answer seems to be other forms of revenue have dwindled, but tnat the railroads' charges on account of their (Jpbts have kept right up.

There are scantier so of revenue to bear the cost of Interest payments, so more of the cost must fall on commuters, who generally have to stick. Having made their beds in Subarbanburg. they must lie In them. Michael Monahan-A Type. Michael Monahan, born in County Cork, critic and essayist, close friend of Padraic Colum and the late Bliss Carman, may not have rivalled the humor and the literary skill of Charles Lamb or William Hazlltt, as his admirers claimed.

That Is a matter of opinion. But he was a type of the scholarly Irish-American Journalist whose thought greatly influenced the development of the American newspaper for several decades, and a type that is rapidly disappearing. Mr. Monahan's death at the age of 68 closes a career begun as a reporter on the Albany Prpss, continued as news editor of the Albany Argus, under the control of Daniel Manning, and matured In half a dozen published volumes which compelled attention. One of these was a biography of Joan of Arc.

But Monahan won his fame largely as an anti-feminist. He wrote in 1914: We, the American people, are now. to all Intents and purposes, living under a gyn- The symbol of government is a powder There is an aching void for women literary artists In the laundry or in the kitchen At that time the suffrage movement still seemed almost a Joke. Six years later votes for became an accomplished fact. But Monahan never swerved from his opinion, though he grew less caustic in his expressions.

He held to the last that the entry of women into Journalism was responsible for the "emasculation and degradation of the press." He used to explain: "The epicene editor will deny It in falsetto, but honest men know that I speak the mere truth." Queerly enough he had married iman writer, and though the' father of twelve children, he agreed to a separation on incompatibility grounds. Michael Monahan, a faithful Roman Catholic churchman, had his eccentricities, but his personal charm was recognized by all who knew him. President Nicholas Murray Butler was right, we think, in refusing to withdraw an invitation Dr. Luther, German Ambassador, to speak at Columbia. We ought not to follow the examples of Nazi impoliteness.

snake farm at Haffkine Institute near Bom-is advertising for 5,000 ophidians, mostly cobras. Science sees hope of a cancer serum In the snake venom. Tis a pleasant reflection that lore cobras are corraled the fewer barefoot natives in India will die from snake bites. Eyewitnesses have sworn to the identity of nine oi tne rrmcess Anne (Maryland) lynchers. Prosecutor Robins refuses to arrest them and Governor Ritchie has asked the Circuit Court Judges to remove Robins.

The sentiment of Maryland's Eastern Shore tolerates much delay A Defender of the Libraries Rejoins to Several Complaints zuiiur aruoKiyn uauy Eagle: In last night's Eagle John Alden attacks the libraries, or, rather, the librarians. Mr. Alden complains that the discipline is too strict. Most persens prefer to read in a quiet room. Mr.

Alden can test this by talking a while at a library table. Other readers at the table will glare at him before the librarian asks him to remember that others wish to read in quiet. His complaint that as a taxpayer he Is not accorded proper service is familiar. All readers in libraries are taxpayers most of them taxpayers of the city where they are reading. The libraries must do the best they can for the majority of readers, which means that the individual cannot have material and service Just as he wishes.

Mr. Alden complains that the Decameron Is kept on back shelves and Infers this is done to protect the morals of the public and also to conserve the books for the librarians' own reading. Amatory literature is kept on back shelves because it would be stolen at once were It on open shelves. Libraries do not have the money to replace books continually. Mr.

Alden overestimates the charm of these books. Librarians are busy and could not spend the time as he alleges if they wished. Mr. Alden's play upon the words "civil service" betrays his lack of knowledge of libraries. Few librarians In the country are under civil service none in New York are.

After reading Mr. Alden's poem I happened to read an account of a visit to New York by a German. The latter marvels that he could go into a library and get a book with so little trouble. The stranger temporarily within our gates is more Just and gracious. WILLIAM W.

SHIRLEY. Woodside, N. Nov. 18. Cannot Understand How Eagle Agrees With President So Often Editor Brooklyn Daily Eagle: It amuses me to read your editorials every night; right or wrong whatever the President "litters" he is right.

Other editorials criticized his speech in Georgia but your editorials praised It. We read the editorials for constructive Ideas and not to read a strictly biased opinion. CITIZEN. Brooklyn. Nov 22 Panegyrists of Russia Failed To Convince One Eagle Reader t.ni'.or urookiyn Daily Eagle: That The Eagle lends Itself, unbelievably at times, to the publication of some of the most Insensate drivel, particularly in its columnar departments, Is understandable, and one suffers In silence But when It gives space to letters like those of Messers.

Tom McGlvern and A. Adler It Is very sad and quite unpardonable. Both of these epistles purport to answer and perhaps controvert note printed on Nov. 15 and wnltcn by Mons. Belford.

Mr. McGlvern ndwicates Russian recognition fShade of St. Patrick) and apparently maintains that if it is proper to trade with Russia, It is proper to recognize her. This is, of course, an unwarranted conclusion. All horses are animals.

All animals nre not, therefore, horses. You deal with your bootlegger and other tradespeople on amicable terms, but you FRIDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 24, 1933. PRESTON OOOOFEIXOW. IRRIS CRIST, id Managing Editor W. MISTER, CLEVELAND KODGERS, Editor ARTHUR HOWE MAIN OPWCK: Adams Streets, TELEPHONE MAI: 4 Tribune Tower Foreign Rates Postpaid: tered at the Brooklyn PostoHlce as Second Class 1 of special dlspatcm Monetary Realities To Be Faced.

It was said of the Bourbons that they never learned and never forgot. Without violating ither truth or proprieties it may be said of our elf-styled "sound money" forces that though they do not learn they forget too easuy. in um fuss and fury that have been kicked up these few days past, what with the resignation of Professor Sprague and the petulant spanking he apparently wished to administer to the President, the Baruch article with its several inconsistencies, and the wide circulation of literature dating from the days of Orover Cleveland, there is a plaintive note of standpatism Strangely remote from the realities of the day. There may be, of course, diverse opinion as to the best and quickest way to achieve the objectives that the President and all sane citizens of this country have in view. With such opinions there is no reasonable quarrel so long as they adhere to the verities and to practical considerations.

But If there is anything clear in the whole muddle, it Is precisely that the Issue Is nowhere Joined and that the opposition is talking, not in terms of what is being done, but of what may be done. Between these is a world of difference. The monetary problem today is not purely an economic one. It Is fraught with the widest sociological Implications. It carries, too, the burden of vast relief measures and, possibly, of an international adjustment and restoration.

On Tuesday, Professor Sprague violently and, with regard to the problems faced, unreasonably, attacked the position of United States Gov ernment securities. It was gratifying to observe that, after a fairly sharp decline, these securities rallied substantially in the markets. At no time was It clear Just what the eminent professor sought to accomplish by his onslaught creation of a distrust that could bear only evil fruit. It Is patent that, if he battled for "sound" money, depreciation in Government securities Is Just about the surest method of forcing res to flat currency. If the Government cannot row, it must print money.

Financed it must The problems are not those of academic nomics. They are Intensely practical. If there are any thoughts In the minds of people that the various costly relief measures can be abandoned or nullified, it were best to disabuse them immediately. The country simply would not stand for it. Thus, President Roosevelt, like President Cleveland, is confronted by a condition and not a theory.

If it be thought that currency manipulation, as practiced at present by Washington, is either novel or strange, it would be well to examine the records of some thirty-odd countries that have been "managing" their currencies for periods running above three years. In no case has there been any evidence of an uncontrolled inflation or flagrant resort to unsecured money. The old system of laissez faire has simply broken down; a new one, perhaps one that cannot now be foreseen in all its details, must be constructed. But there Is surely little warrant In what has happened to turn this system over to its old masters for another spill. Underlying these considerations are two factors of paramount importance.

There is the urgent necessity of millions of our people to obtain help now, and work as soon as possible. Congress will meet in January, and it will be a body decidedly addicted to rather radical ideas with respect to currency. The Haves must pay the cost in whole or in part. The President prefers that they pay in part. Congress may not be so reasonable.

Parenthetically, the Bourbons paid in full. Oddly, there is little appreciation of tills difficult situation, or, at any rate, few of the recent outbursts take it into account. Call it fighting fire with fire, or anything else of the kind, the need to do the fighting is here and it cannot be sidestepped. Does any rational individual now believe that by simple decree the gold experiment can be ended, stabilization enforced, or any other of the opposition shibboleths take their place in the scheme of things? It is the President who has shown the realism, the full appreciation of the situation; the opposition has Its head somewhere in the 1922-1930 clouds Senatorships in Louisiana. Louisiana has provided the Senate's committee with a hard nut to crack in the matter of the primary election of 1932, In which Senator Overton defeated Broussard.

The hearings began early this year: more have been held lately. The more is heard, the less progress seems to be 8enator Overton demanded the other day that the committee follow the rules of evidence, as though he were on trial. He protested against To make matters worse, there seems hardly to exist in the State a single individual who does not take sides Intensely, either against Huey Long, Overton's champion and supporter, for Long and against Broussard. Since Long is the center of the turmoil and since not he but Overton is the subject of investigation, the com mittee remains one remove from the actual of the matter. Senatorial Investigation has done some good in Pennsylvania, Illinois and other scenes of electioneering abuse.

It would be a great pity if he present investigation should be nonplussed iy the difficulty of getting straight testimony in Louisiana. Our Family Welfare Campaign. Mr. James G. Blaine, in his address at the Hotel Bosscrt on Wednesday before the leaders of the campaign of the Citizens' Family Welfare Committee in Brooklyn, put the need for this campaign clearly.

Stating that the govern mental agencies would care for the support of most of the distressed, he added, "for about one family in every eight, something additional has be done In the way of human engineering, if lese people are to share in recovery." Those who are to contribute to the $400,000 sought in Brooklyn must bear in mind the pur pose of the campaign and the need for It. Pub lic assistance Is to keep the destitute fed, clothed and sheltered until the time comes when they their own keep. That will not meet the whole need for all. Some will require than that, for some have particular disabilities difficulties compelling them to have thing besides meals, clothes and a roof In order live on and hold their ground. This community has never ignored the fortunates that need this special attention, surely will not ignore them now.

The Grand Pension Rush. There is no room for misunderstanding the concerted rush of Tammany place-holders for retirement on pensions with 75 applications in single day. Pensions are desirable, but they would not be denied under any administration. Present retirements will cause vacancies in key positions, which Mayor O'Brien will fill. The appointees, as Tammany lawyers construe the law, could only be removed on charges, after hearings.

It Is hardly conceivable that they would have had time to do anything on which charges could be based between now and January. One application is independent of such inter pretation. John H. Delaney, chairman of the Board of Transportation, announced some time ago his intention to retire. His services, in the of subway construction and co-ordina-have been almost universally commended; his knowledge of the whole complicated system is unique, and his decision to retire will be a matter of general regret.

Other pension applicants have served the city well. But the situation will handicap the incoming Mayor. He will face it, we are sure, with his customary energy and resourcefulness. Our own opinion is that the Mayor ought to have the same absolute power a Governor has of removing a sheriff. That was virtually the "power of removal" that Seth Low, as Mayor of old Brooklyn, secured from the Legislature fifty years ago.

It Is vital to the responsibility of any municipal chief executive. "Passing the buck" is one of the gravest evils of city government. Mr. Morgenthau's Compromise. It was hardly necessary for Henry Morgen- thau, Acting Secretary of the Treasury, tc nounce that his order, virtually prohibiting news contacts between Washington correspondents and Treasury subordinates, was issued without any consultation with President.

Roosevelt. every correspondent knows, the President has made a new record in his frank, gracious and Informal relations with the press of the United Mr. Morgenthau wanted to find out what was going on in his department as soon as possible, especially as "leaks" valuable to speculators in dollars were in evidence. He went about It In the wrong way. Of the Washington spondents It may be said that they "take nothing lying down." They are supported by their principals, and their appeal to the President might have been expected.

The issue between Ballinger and Pinchot under President Taft seemed to be recalled, but Mr. Morgenthau had not dreamed of such a thing. The compromise announced by the Acting Sec retary, considering the vital matter of what is called "face-saving," is satisfactory. All leglti- news may be given to correspondents by subordinates without asking the consent of a public relations man." But the subordinates ire still forbidden to discuss policies. Responsible correspondents have no use for ind no connection with market Juggling or mar ket Jugglers.

But to them news contacts within the Treasury or any other department signify the opportunity to establish a correct back ground for what is to be written for the informa- lon of the American people. Mr. Taft ignored this fact when he supported Ballinger against Pinchot, and perhaps thereby sowed the seeds of distrust which matured in his political undoing. Erie Commuters. For eleven months In succession commuters i the Erie Railroad have paid the eltra fifteen percent charged on their monthly tickets with the sanction of the Interstate Commerce Commission, but they have not become reconciled.

Some of them, at least, continue to fight the charge. Their organized group has filed complaint with the commission. The complaint casts light on the motives for so determined an opposition. Its chief point might be boiled down to the question. "Why, when our other costs have come down and when our Incomes have come down still ore.

and when the Eric's costs have come down io, are we required to pay more than before?" The Erie and, indeed, other railroads have been proud, for a while at least, of their resemblance to some of the animals which they hunted in the forest. If Actaeon was turned into a stag, perhaps the transformation in his day was not so difficult as it would be now. But the newly arrived Greeks soon came into contact with the refined Persians, whose skin was clear and smooth, and who wore no hair on their body except on the head. At first the Greeks poked fun at these feeble looking creatures, but afterwards they envied them, and In private took what steps they could to imitate them. YOU must have noticed that on Greek statues there Is no hair at all except for beards and the ordinary head-tresses.

This smoothness of the body Is partly the register of an Ideal, and it is partly a realistie portrait. The Greeks of whom we know anything with a fair degree of certainty spent much of their time oiling and scraping their bodies, plucking the hair out of It, and tinting it to a fashionable shade. They, like us, loved dark tinted bodies. Many people resent the idea that in the course of time the white race may amalgamate with darker shades and achieve a permanent tan, yet we spend an immense effort every Summer to put on at least a temporary tan, and in the hard Winter months the most persistent of us purchase our tan at the drug- I've no doubt at all that Helen of Troy arched her eyebrows, and wore extra lengths of eyelash. I know she painted her eyebrows and her eyelids, and applied rouge or its equivalent not only to her lips but to other appealing parts of herself which the editor would not like me to mention here.

The only way we have changed, after all these ages Is that now the Health Commissioner protects us from our mistakes. In ancient Greece the pursuit of beauty was at your own risk. Copyright. 1033. bv John Br.lclne.

It Never Repeats. France savs her rleht. t.n m.rin i oni.n history. And what will America say when France calls on her again to help make new European history? Patent Law Folly By John Alden Uilhbb Tru't- nl be sold to the Magyars Ntws.J This striking jest from Budapest Wakes methods analytic, And censure draws on patent laws From many a thinking critic. Monopoly In Hungary Has many illustrations.

And this is one quite like what's don In many other nations. Great capital may buy up all These rights, and unprevented May then refuse the public use Of what has been invented. And genius, poor, must thus endure The sheerest of extbrtion, While for a song exploiters strong Pile pe" from law's abortion. Which problem scheme, as sages deem, An aspect rather droll dons; Some day, some way, good angels may Bring sanity to Solon. Sir Herbert Samuel In his broadcast announcement that his 33 Liberals would no longer retain government seats in the House of Commons starred bad policies on unemployment, housing and lack of zeal for some degree of disarmament.

He didn't mention the treatment of Jews as aliens in their homeland; but we are quite sure it did not slip his mind. He la the very soul of discretion. do not, then, have to invite them to dinner to meet your wife. Primarily Mr. Adler cannot know what "pleases" God if he thinks that the closing of churches, the starving of millions, the "liquidation" of the family are likely propitiations.

Of course, the people "abandoned" the churches. Who would not (With few exceptions) when any one who even mentions God respestfully finds himself without food? john McCarthy. Brooklyn, Nov. 20. The Horse, That All Unknowing, Re-enacts Will Carleton's Poem Editor Brooklyn Daily Eagle: The story in The Eagle of Nov.

23 of the old Are horse that won fame and a new name by a wild dash after a fire department car recalls poem by the late Will Carleton. "Flash, the Firemen's Horse." in many respects your news story corresponds almost in detail to the verses written many years ago by the Brooklyn Carleton is only a memory now, but no doubt there are still living persons who recall his Farm Ballads, Farm Festivals, City Balr lads and other books of verse which had a real vogue In the '80s. It is not so long ago that Editor and Publisher republished In full-page form one of Carleton's poems, "The Edi- Will Carleton was one of America's minor poets, it is true, but manv a tear has been shed over some of his verse, "Over the Hill to the Poor House" among others. POETICUS. Brooklyn, Nov Feels Sure Blended Whisky Will Not Be Inferior Product Editor Brooklyn Daily Eagle: Your editorial in Saturday's Issue on "blended" liquor in some of its aspects Is a little misleading.

The implication that the new drinker would be offered an inferior product is not quite true; 85 percent of the liquor consumed before prohibition- was blended goods. "Cutting" and "blending" are not synonymous. Blending itself is a fine art and consists briefly In the scientific marrying of whiskies of various ages. While some "blends" will be accomplished by the simple use of spirits or alcohol, the more responsible distillers will offer only blends of straight whiskies, and the post -prohibition drinker will find these blends palatable and potent, lacking little other than the strictly medicinal properties of the more matured products. Bottled in bond goods, of course, must be at least four years old, and one can visualize the price Inflation that would accompany any attempt to limit sales to fully matured goods.

On the other hand, some of the blends to be offered will contain whisky up to 17 years old; but, of couse, In a proportion consistent with the selling price. If blending will increase the present supply of matured liquor tenfold, It will increase employment on the serine scale. We shall need ten times the bottling forces, trucks, freight cars, bottles, cartons, cases and labels. As long as blends are made of straight whisky the distilleries must work at full force making new liquor for blending with the old. Uncle Sam, too, will stand by and collect his taxes in a greatly increased proportion.

WILLIAM R. KEEVERS. Brooklyn, Nov. 18. 1 protected from harmful dyes for their eyelashes and their eyebrows.

Some of the concoctions they use might Injure the sight, if applied in the wrong spot. There remain, however, the commissioner assures us, enough safe ways of painting your eyebrows and your eyelashes to satisfy any ambition for beauty. This news item set me thinking about man's long attempt to Improve his personal appearance. My researches don't go further back than the Homeric Greeks, but I've no doubt that a still more ancient world was busy as we still are, trying to make hair grow where It wouldn't, and trying to stop it from growing where it would. I've no doubt that long before Homer, men and women were coloring their hair and their bodies, painting toe and finger nails, and arching their eyebrows In whatever was the fashionable curve.

We usually think of beauty culture as a specialty of the women, but In ancient Greece the men practiced it with great seriousness. Some men still do. I think they practice it more intelligently than the women. Greek men were concerned for the appearance of their bodies, and made a religion of athletics, quite as much for the purpose of beauty as for the winning of prizes and the breaking of records. IT WOULD be interesting and perhaps illuminating, if we had a complete account of what human beings from age to age have thought about hair.

Borne places, at least at certain times, have thought that long hair on almost any part of the body was a thing of beauty, and an outward sign of intelligence. The gray beard was supposed to indicate wisdom. Of the beardless youth nothing was expected but inexperience. It has also been thought a great offense against nature to cut off the hair from any part of the body. This opinion has been divided at certain times between a reluctance to cut off the hair from some parts, and an insistence that it must be cut from others.

When I was a boy the average conservative doctrine was that men must have their hair cut, and women must not. It was also thought entirely Bafe of men to shave their faces, but dangereous for men or women to shave any other part of the body. It was still a popular superstition that a man whose chest was covered with fur, or whose arms and wrists were shaggy, enjoyed an unusual endowment of physical strength. He might be thin as a rail, and hardly strong enough to put one foot In front of the other, but If he was covered with hair we were convinced that he was essentially strong. On the other hand, if hair sprouted on a woman's body.

It wasn't considered strength at all, but just 1 luck. Many of these" ideas of ours, both those In favor of hair and those In favor of getting rid of It, are inherited from the ancient Greeks, and perhaps from people still older, of whom I am ignorant. Our Homeric Greeks came, down from the North, and dispossessed an earlier Mediterranean civilization. These Northmen were a rugged, weather-beaten lot, with complexions of a very primitive kind. They seemed to have admired a strong crop of hair all over the body, and most of them, both men and women, enjoyed this hardy, b(ute-liice equipment.

They seemed to have.