The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-05-30
COURT BARBER
 IS IN TROUBLE HairdresserS' Union Has Griev-
 ance Against Him HOLDS A BIG MONOPOLY Union Charges That Haby Uses the Kaiser for the Exploitation of His Advertising-Emperor
 Public Property.
HOLDS A BIG MONOPOLY
By MALCOLM CLARKE.

! By MALCOLM CLARKE.
 Berlin, May 29.-The German Hair
 dressers' and .Barbers' union has griev-
 ance against Herr Francois Haby, who
 enjoys the imposing title of Imperial
 Court Barber.
 Herr Haby is the artist who designed
 the Kaiser's famous perpendicular mous-
 taches b years ago and incidentally
 changed the physiognomy of masculine l Germany. In token of that achievement
 Haby invented a ''moustache bandage,"
 guaranteed to train hirsute adornments
 along imperial lines. He gave 1t the trade
 mark title of "Es ist erreicht' (''It is
 consummated) and no Germans dress
 ing table is complete without it.
 His majesty's patronage has made Herr l Haby famous and rich, but the Hair | dressers and Barbers' union complains
 that he is unduly exploiting for his own
 uses through advertising, an asset which | belongs to the entire community-that is, | the person of the Kaiser. At the unions l forthcoming annual meeting in Wies- l baden formal steps will be taken to
 break Herr Haby's monopoly of the Elm 1 peror William as an advertising feature | 1 Investigated at the East Prussian gar l rison of Allenstein. It is believed that a 1 deep-laid foreign plot to secure possession
 of German field artillery secrets will be
 unearthed For the past year and a half l parts of field gun mechanism have been 1 disappearing from Allenstein from time ] to time.
 During artillery maneuvres last month l a civilian approached a gunner of the | Third battery of the Seventy-third artil- 1 lery and offered him $50 for the recol | spring of a field piece. The gunner l feigned assent made an appointment for | the delivery of the spring, and informed
 his commanding officers. The civilian
 was arrested as he was in the act of
 paying the money. He declined to give l his name
 The gunner has been promoted, and
 $225 has been credited to his savings
 bank account, payable when his service i is ended.
 Dr. Richard Strauss will. for the pres 1 ent write no more comic opera of the
 ''salome' and Electra pattern. His | next work, which will be called Sylvia l and the Star" will overflow with light and melodious music. The new piece is being written in collaboration with Hugo l von Hoffmansthal, the librettlst of "Elec-
 tra." The action takes place at the end l of the 18th century.
 Herr Hoffmansthal had induced Dr. | Strauss to compose his next opera on | another theme snatched from antiquity | and "Semiramis" was tentatively agreed 1 upon. Dr. Strauss had, indeed, already | set to work on the "Semiramis" idea but
 when he called upon Hoffmansthal few | weeks ago to furnish the scenario the librettst announced that he had changed | hls mind and proposed a work of an
 essentially lighter character. Dr. Strauss | saw the force of the argument that his 1 critics would thus be disarmed of one | of their most persistent weapons, viz, the accusation that Strauss can only pro- | duce ''perverse'' music and Sylvia and
 the Star technically described as a play 1 opera" is to be the result.
 | Both composer and the librettist are l already hard at work and 1910 will
 probably see the premiere at Dresden.
 Day by day new announcements are made which reveal the extraordinary
 progress of aerial navigation in Ger many. Tonight telegrams from Fried | richshafen state that large shed capa-
 ble of accommodating 12 arships of the Zeppelin type will be built there for the l Zeppelin company. The shed will be cir l cular and will have a diameter of ap- l proximately 700 feet.
 | This announcement indicates that | Friedrichshafen is intended to be the | principal port of Germany's aerial fleet, | just as Kiel Is the principal port of Ger | many's navy
 Dispatches from Friedrichshafen an- | nounce that the Zeppelin company have
 offered a prize to any inventor who can l construct hulls of airships with any ma | terial lighter than aluminium. If it were | possible for the hull of Zeppelin airships 1 to weigh only wo-thirds of the weight
 of the present huh it would be possible | for these airships to carry 40 persons | nreSlnf r,ac | in all.
 Berlin is laughing at the fate which
 has overtaken its crown prosecutor, who
 has just been fined for violating the mo- 1 tor car regulations. It appears that his
 chauffeur had been in the habit of blow /, ing the horn of the prosecutors car so | that it emitted a trumpeting sound in-
 stead of the short, staccato "toff-toff," l prescribed by thoughtful police ordi-
 nance. The official whose daily duty 1t | Is to bring other lawbreakers to justice
 was haled before magistrate and muct- | ed In the maximum penalty.
 The crown prosecutor will hereafter have to describe himself as a punished | person if he ever enters the witness box
 in a law court, or reports for military lservice, or encounters any other of the
 numerous occasions when one is re- | qured to tell the story of ones past life | in Germany.
 l The Kaiser is ever ready to stand as | godfather to a seventh son born to
 family. This seventh son is never lost l sight of. He receives handsome presents l from time to time.
 l Families of seven sons are not rare | In Germany. A couple named Hausch | of Wissingen have just been presented | with their tenth son. The Kaiser stood | as godfather to the seventh, Prince Will l fam of Hohenzollern to the eighth, and | the Crown Prince to the ninth. 1ne fate
 of the tenth has not yet been decided | singular love drama Is reported from | Leipzig. In wood near the city a IT, | year-old youth and a girl. 13 years of
 age. were found unconscious. They had | poisoned themselves. A note beside the | bodies set forth that they had decided | to die because they loved each other. | The youth died in the hospital and the | girl is dying.
 | According to the Lokalanzeiger, the | Crown Prince Danilo of Montenegro is again in St. Petersburg, seeking to ob- | tain money for military objects. The