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BRISBANE THIS WEEK Watch Your Eye-Lena Frightened to Death All P 088C88 Language Eating Bark and Earth Important news for life insurance companies. A tendency to old a^e or Arthur llrtabnne really are. early death Is In herited. according to Dr. Felix Bern stein of Columbia n il l v e r s 1 t y, who talked to the National Academy of Sclertce In Chi cago. A scientist can tell how old you are, physically, by examining the lens of your eye. It al ways shows signs of hardening before fifty ; the extent of the hardening de ckles how old you The rest of your body ? brain, heart and all the rest ? -grows old about as rapidly as the eye-lens does. Leaving out accidents and attacks by disease t-'crms, there Is a sort of "predestination" in the length of life. Two brothers, fifteen and ten years of age, with a young friend, were go ing to an entertainment last Christ mas night. George Bond and Carl McMurty of Poplar BlutT, Mo., thought it would be amusing to frighten the children by running after thorn, telling them, "You will never live to get there." The two older boys "got there." The litt'e ten-year-old boy, James Ainley, dropped dead of fright as the men pursued him. A sensible Jury decides that the two men shall spend tlx months in Jail and pay $100 fine for their "Joke." The jury might well have made it ten years, for It was stupid manslaughter. There is iothlug more brutal, cruel or more completely worthy of a genuine "ya hoo" than frightening children. Secretary of Interior Ickes. who also possesses the gift of forcible speech, calls Senator Long "a rant ing demagogue," describes, more gently, one other well known broad caster, and rebukes, without men tioning his name. Doctor Townsend, whom he accuses of arousing false hopes In the "underprivileged." Senator Huey Long, his language never failing him, able to speak his mind freely In the senate, addressing that august body, describes the secre tary of Interior as "Lord High Ch'im berlriin Ickes, the chinch-bug of Chi cago." Secretary of Agriculture Wallace he called the "Lord Destroyer, the ignoramus of Iowa." We complain of our depression with good cause. We might find qi r consolation in reading about r ise*able inhabitants of Formosa, i,,erty of Japan, inhabited chiefly by Chinese, who made up SO per cent of the sufferers and victims in the recent earthquake. In Formosa, metjv women and chii dren have been stripping the bark from elm trees and eating it and they may be seen on barren fields, pulling up wild grass by the roots, washing and eating the roots, as well as the grass itself. Many have died from eating bran mixed with earth and water, the earth causing death by In testlnal stoppage. Those poor creatures have a real depression, with no rich govern ment to pour out billions for Jobs, relief, dole, etc. The American Philosophical society, fathered In Philadelphia learns from Doctor Slipher, director of the Lowell observatory at Flagstaff, Ariz., that to people on the planet Mars, if any are there, our earth Is a blue planet. If those Martians will continue watching us. until some European or Asiatic country sends a few thousand planes In our direction, they will see this corner of the earth a deeper and darker blue than ever. What a lesson we shall learn some day if we continu'. with our eyes shut! Newspaper editors, that ought to know something about prosperity, gafh ered in New York from all over the country, tell you they see a "business pickup," better times are coming. That Is a cheerful predict lou. Some boys In high schools, and big ger boys in Colleges, recently organ I red a "strike" to express their horror of war. War is horrible; it should be, and eventually will he, unnecessary. Hut there Is some good In all evil, and young students and others should re fleet on luist wars and what modern civilization owes to them. Germany wants colonies, and Is em barrassed by the fact that this would mean taking in a great many black ladles and gentlemen thnt by no stretch of the Imagination could be called "Aryans." The German government announces that, while It could not ad mit negroes to German citizenship, ma Britain does in her colonies, black co lonial negroes would be "KchuUbcfoh lene," with every right except the right to adopt Aryan atrut. ? KIm? FtitturM Syndloat*. In?. VVNtJ d?rvto?. Chinese War Minister Honors Our Marines Unique Sea-Ferrv Seen in England Visitors to Devon, England, who wish to go from Illghury to the hotel on | Burgh Island ? n distance of one-quarter of a mile? are transported on this I strange sea-ferry. It has a caterpillar drive with a 24 horse power engine. General Reviews Guard at Peiping Presents Award to Graduate of School For the first time in history a Chinese minister of war held a review and in spection of American troops on Chinese soil, when flen. IIo Ying Ching. China's war minister, reviewed the United States Marines of the American lega tion guard at I'eiping. General Ying-T.ing, center, is shown presenting the tirst certificate for pro ficiency in the Chinese language t?> a i marine graduate of the school which Col. P. M. Rixey, commandant of the legation, founded. At the i ieht ts Colonel llixey, and at General Ching's right hand is Major Erwin. Only Marine Post Office Is Operating Again ^Krith the opening of trafllc on the Gront Lakes the only floating post ofllce In the world started Its season. Licensed by the Post OMice department to pick up and deliver mull as the lake boats travel through the Detroit river, the boat has for years taken care of the sailors' tnall. A mail sorter Is seen at work on this vessel, the George I'.ecker. Blind Golfer Shoots a 75 <>'. F. Russell of Dulutli can't keep IiIh eyes on the ball because he Is blind. Bospite this handicap, he plays a par G3 course In from 75 to SO strokes. He poRReRROft n nmooth nnd powerful Hwlnfc, perfect touch nnd n fine RonRe of direction. A Rpoolnlly trnlned end dy In neeosRnry. lie tnkoR KurrpII In tow About the courRP, Judges the dlR tnnee, polntR out the trnpR. kIvoh hint the proper club nnd plncen rhe club hend behind the hnll. HiirroII enjoy* the g?nio, JoRheR with hln pnrtnerR, and pl^ya hi* ptroken In turn, necmlnjr ly obllvlov* U abe dnrkneRR nil nround him. Tamara Is Engineer of a Freighter Russian Girl Takes Mans Job on Vessel When the Soviet freighter Kalinin recently nrr. ?d In the United Ht'ate* from Russia, one of the crew wnn Tamara Cheenlchtenko who holdfl a certificate a* an engineer, first, elans. The Soviet government his Instated that women enter nil lines of activity, and take up work usually done by men only. Evidently It upstart* nre not supemtl- I (Ions. Thoro tiro f<-w womon manning American ships nnd mk n mnttor of fact, b woman on a freight whip Ih considered unlucky. according to hii old Vankee trnditlon. W oodfn Indian RfftirM Onllon, Ohio.? Minnehaha no longer greets Onllon pedestrians. One of the In Ht of clear store Indiana on display In tVilR part of the state, ahe rat I re I from servlc* when Louis Idlh-r, who haa operated n cigar store hero frtr 4fl years, closed Hip doors nnd retired Minnehaha ha* been stored nwny. SEEN-' HEARD around the National Capital By CARTER FIELD Washington. ? Gra'* . crossing elimi nation Is one phase of work relief that can be started 15 days after the President says "CJo !" despite Mr. Roosevelt's own recent warning that j this was one type of project that would | be the slowest in petting under way. j The only reason foi the l.Vday delay Is that this length of time is required for advertisement fur bids. Despite the I're-idt nt's expressed J concern about dela on grade cross- | lngs incidental to the acquiring of the , land, approval of the projects, and selection of only important highways I crossing mainline railroads, the fact Is that all difficulties have been solved by the public roads bureau of the De partment of Agriculture. Slightly more j than one thousand projects are ready for olds. 7"0 more will be ready Inside ( a year, and 2.302 additional will he ready within two years. So officials of the bureau are champ ing at the hit. and wondering why the j President takes such a pessimistic atti tude. The President's point about acquir ing the land Is not involved, for in the first thousand projects, now ready, op tions on the land needed have been ac quired by the states in which the pro.i ects arc located, and the states under stand thoroughly that the state treas uries must pay for the land, with the federal government pay'ng for the work, materials and overhead. The total number of projects for the first year is 1 . for over a thou sand of whichNhe land options are in hand. The total cost would be S1^4. :U4.0(X>. Tne total number of additional projects to be ready within a year Is 2. .'{02. at a total cost of S277.riil7.riOO. So that within a year work could be started on a total of 4,0."iS projects, at a total estimated cost of Slfil.Ssi.r,00. lit addition there Is much oilier pro jected work which Is ready to cro Just waiting for White House approval now that the work relief bill is a law. The bureau of roads is also ready to start at the flash from the White House on road contracts. These are parceled out on the time honored for mula laid down by law, as between the states, so the tlgnres are not so Inter estlng. Takes to Mining The government Is about to engage In the mining business! It will cer tainly go In for some other minerals. Outside the precious metals, the gov ernment proposes to mine only metals which would not complicate the ex isting mining situation, or ?ompete with products already in the surplus class. For example, there would he no mining of copper, had or zinc. Most Important of the metals under consideration, besides gold and silver. | are tin. quicksilver, chromium, nickel, tungsten, antimony, and manganese. Incidentally, there "s plenty of politi cal dynamite in the last, perhaps j enough to eliminate It. Not directly I hut Indirectly. The idea Is. if man | ganese mining were deve'oped on a big scnie in this country, there might be a move later on to put a sharp tarifT on it. whereupon the steel com panies would have to pay higher prices than at present, which in turn would make iclr competition with P.elgian steel ? Its cost lowered in the 1'nited States by the recently approved recip rocal trade treaty ? more difficult. In addition to these metals, two other minerals are under consideration These are special grades of mica and graphite. 1 There Is a hill pending In the sen ate, introduce J by Senator .Tames P. | I 'ope of Idaho, which would allocate a hundred million dollars from the work relief fund for mining. This bill Is not expected to pass. Put while this is down the same street, the bill i Is not necessary If the administration wants to act. It has plenty of authority i under exlstln, law. The projects could be gotten under way as pure work re lief on force account, as operations not arranged by contracts are called Experts Approve The gold and silver mining, decision to enter which has practically been made, are almost ideal from the gov ernment standpoint. The experts advis Ing President Roosevelt Insist there Is no doubt whatever that mines could be worker! by the government ? for gold and silver ? which would produce enough not only to pay the wages of the men employed, and the total cost of operation, hut actually to yield a small profit besides. And the heauty of the plan, they point out i<t that there would be no element whatever of competition witn private business. The government would Just take the gold and sliver arid put It In the treas ury. If there were no profit nt nil. no harm would he done. If there were a profit It would he turned hack to the work relief fund for employment In other directions Some of the other metals mentioned, especially tin and nickel, are regarded as vital from a national defense stnnd point. This country Is deficient In them. Mining experts are most ant lou* fo undertake development In this direction. The main problem of course is that there Is n very large stranded mining population, located for the most part near at hand to the points proposed for these government operations. The men are skilled miners, so that no training would he necessary. They would he far hnpplef, earrylng on their accustomed work, It Is argned, than In working on grade crossings or on pub lie roads, for example. Anyway, the#* Is not a lack, but a surplus, of men deeding Jobs who could be put to work on grade crossings and roads. So far the mine experts insist proj ects are In ns good shape as any for putting men to work Immediately. All that would t>o needed would be the Presidential O. K. And they expect that very shortly. Cotton a Problem With the AAA under fire from so many quarters, Kim; Cotton remains one of the most important world prob lems, threatening to save or wreck the I administration's plans tc> lift the farm er tip to that "parity" of purchasing power which President Roosevelt is so fond of discussing. Most southern statesmen wave aside so-called threats to American supremacy in cotton. They contend that nowhere else in the world can | cotton he produced successfully to : compete with the United States. | Either the cost Is too high per pound, i or the quality is too low, they insist. The threat involved In Brazilian ex pansion In cotton growing has been discussed at length in these dispatches, Including the confidential view of the present Brazilian administration which is that the Cnlted States efforts to hold the price of cotton up will crash, as did their own with respect to enlT"o. and therefore they are not too optimistic. 1 i n r they hasten on to add that they can produce good cot j ton at a pr >fit at <> cents a pound. This season the I'l Ited States ex i ported to (Jreat Britain ?"><>:>. 000 bales, I as against l,o:i(i.ooo hist season, and i 1.0 |...?WH> the season before. i This Is partly explained by two things. .Tapan has finally passed < Jreat Britain as a producer of cotton j textiles, and so has become the chief consumer of the raw staple. But the disturbing fact about the I two previous paragraphs Is that the i 1 nited States exported to the entire , Orient this season 1..'MS<tO0 bales, as | against i.<V\f>.ooo last reason and OOO i1h> season before. In fact, the total exports of cotton I this season from the 1'nited States | were hales, as against 0.0,'W. Ofwi bales last season, and (5,0-U>.000 1 bales the previous season. | Not an encouraging picture! Disturbing Facts j Two seasons ago the United States j produced 12.P01.000 bales of cotton. | Last season 12.T12.000 bales. This sea I son 0.010.000 bales. AAA restrictions. I What happened meanwhile in the j rest of the world? Indja's record for the last three seasons was -1.100.000, ?l.fiOO.tMKi and .TSOO.O<H) hales. China produced 2.2<H>.00() this season, 2.000, 000 hist, and 1, ST 1,000 two years ago. Russia, in fourth place, Is crawling up. The increase there is from 1.778. (WW) to 1 ,SR{t,(H)0 to 1.0.TT.fM>0 this spa Son. Egypt increased nmri than half a million hales over two years ago. Then comes Brazil, generally re garded as the real menace. Two years ago she produced only MTK.OOO hales. East year SOT. f >00 bales. This year I.L'.'m.imki bales. Next season? Peru increased in the three crops from 20."i.0lii> .ales to ,T_\~.0(>0 bales; Argentina from l.'O.OOO to 22.".0<i0; Mexico from P.Mtiin to 200.0tM>; '| he Sudan from IL'I.imki to ITO.OOO; Koren from 1 mo to l.'tO.OfiO; Manchuria from to iiiM.ouO; Belgian Congo from .'SS.Mun to oo.imo ; Turkey from Om.. ikmi to '.tn.niMi, mil] Cretee from 22, (KK) t > r,<i.0(Mi. I he really disturbing fact comes in adding these and othei foreign in creases in cotton production together. America has decreased her production K.OOO.Otxi bales in the three seasons. The rest of the world this season pro dured iLVIMMWin hales, as against 10, 010. Olio two years ago. I '('fenders of the AAA program In sist that the world this year has used np a large quantity of surplus cotton, and that prospects for nevf y0;,r JirP therefore bright despite tl.ii increas ing foreign production. Meanwhile the dust storms in Texas and Oklahoma, the two biggest cotton producing states, seen to promise further cur tailment this year even than had been planned, and correspondingly increased Incentive to foreign cotton producers to expand, the short American crop promising a continued high price, even if t Ik re were nn A A A Planning Now Taxe* A one per ent tax on all life In surance premiums and a lax on all movie admissions above 10 rents In stead of the present limit of Jf> cents - are among the levies that the treasury will recommend to congress sr. me time before this session adjourns. Some of the treasu experts who were or dered to the |..|i r.f figuring out fhe new taxes, liked the Idea of (he sale* tax. But President 1,'ooscvclt was con sulted about this, a lid at on re tiiTierl thumbs flow ii. One ihim.' I he treasury experts do not know the motives for theh he lm; ordered to get up this list of i-,xes. They are not sure whether this Is a bona fide list, which the adminisira lion will push through If possible any how, or whether t hi . |? n "bluff" llsf. Intended hy the President to he used as a club in his expected veto message on the soldier bonus. The reason for I heir doubt Is the suggestions they have received. Includ ing the two named ahove. Because their own thought seems to he that fhe taxes fhe administration seems to favor are calculated to si|r up more resentment than Aonld be Justified by fhe n mount of money they would raise. Especially fhe movie fnx This line of reasoning drives th? experts to figure thnf the President I* merely sreffing up a highly objection able line of faTes RO as to get th? country excited against the soldier bonus. OopyHsM? Mrvlo*