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Show This Week , by ARTHUR BRISBANE The Akron Disaster Rocsevelt Common Sense A Bill of Mystery The Dead Man's Hand As much of the world as hears the news talks of the AUron disaster, followed fol-lowed so swiftly and tragically by that of the non-rigid air ship J-3. This country has owned three great dirigibles, dirigi-bles, and two have been wrecked with heavy loss of life. Congressman Pish of New York de mands investigation of a report sup posed to have been made by two secret service agents, nccusing of sabotage. Intended to make the Akron unsafe a certain Austrian officer whose name is given, employed on construction of the Akron. Why any Austrian or other foreigner foreign-er should he interested in destroying that ship is not easily imagined. Lieutenant Wiley, second In command com-mand of the Akron, who survived, says "the ship took a sharp lurch and the control wires of the upper rudder were carried away." The crash followed. follow-ed. Apparent weakness of the rudder wires, on which control and safety of the ship depended, might arouse suspicion sus-picion of sabotage. But the ship was surrounded by lightning flashes on all sides when destruction de-struction came, so that there is no need of any sabotage hypothesis. Now, the Akron, lighter than nlr normally, but much heavier than water wat-er with the gas bag deflated, lies at the bottom of the ocean. It is not probable that the truth will ever be known. Americans take pride in the admirable admir-able discipline maintained on the airship air-ship by men facing death. Orders "given in a low tone," instantly and efficiently obeyed, including this, at 300 feet altitude: "All hands stand by for a crash." A great majority of Americans hope that this second great air disaster will not diminish government interest In airships of all types, lighter than air, or heavier than air. It is man's business busi-ness to conquer the air and it Is the business of our government to make this nation the most powerful in the air. There is pleasing common sense In Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt's statement state-ment on beer: "When It Is legal to serve beer In any Government house, it will naturally natur-ally be proper to do so for any one who desires It at the White House." Mrs. Roosevelt, a good citizen, hopes that legal beer will discourage bootlegging boot-legging and adds this sound thought to her expression of opinion: "I. myself do not drink anything with alcoholic content, but that is purely an individual thing. I could not dream of forcing my own convictions on other people as long as they live up to the law of our land." If some prohibition enthusiasts had possessed Mrs. Roosevelt's commoa sense, this country might have escaped escap-ed Its crime wave and bootleg era, much to its advantage. With much haste, and with no definite defin-ite information given to the public, the House of Representatives passes a bill fixing criminal penalties for "unauthorized "un-authorized publication of official documents." Congressmen are being asked whether wheth-er this new bill might be used to cover cov-er up mistakes or corruption of government gov-ernment officials, whether the bill could conveniently help to cover up waste of public money, or commit secret agreements with other countries, coun-tries, made without letting the people know about them. Those that established tbis government, govern-ment, with a good deal of common sense, were especially Interested In protecting the right of the people to know what was being done by the government, which, after all, belongs to thein. A photograph from the Japanese-Chinese Japanese-Chinese war region shows a Japanese soldier bearing on his back a dead comrade, carrying him to the rear. The Japanese General Tadashi Kiwa-liara Kiwa-liara stops the living man, with his burden, and shakes hands with the dead soldier, congratulating him on having died for his country. You probably would not see that outside of Asia. It emphasizes the pat-rlo'ism pat-rlo'ism of the Japanese. Hut it does not bring the dead man back to life or take care of his wife and children. Four Ibitons, the Marquis of Clydesdale. Clydes-dale. Lieut. Col. j. V. Stewart Black, Flight Lieut. D. F. Mclntyrc, and a photographer named Bennett, have flown over .Mount. Everest, highest pi ak in the Himalayan mountains, highest peak on earth. Mighty is the airplane. With It you may cover In an hour the territory over which AIosi-s wandered forty years. Dr. Hermann Von KchronW of St. Louis, consulting timber engineer, says the oldest living thing Is a cypres?, cyp-res?, tree In Mexico near Oaxaca City, called the Tree of Tule. The tree Is 110 feet high and 117 feet In circumference circum-ference 40 Inches abov'i the ground. According to the expert, It Is 1,000 years old. California's giant trees may be older. The natui all.'it l!un'oiigliH once said they "hud bark a foot thick when Christ was born." I Xl.rHZ. br King Natural Smijitati. Inc ) L t- |