The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1910-12-17
NEWS NOTES FROM
Nations CAPITAL
Especial to Silver State.)
Court Decides what Is a Negro.


WASHINGTON, Dec. 17.--In Wash
ington. where negroes form one-third
of the population, the question of
what constitutes negro has been a
vexed one. 1t was brought to head
by the parents of Isabel Wall, an eight
year old child having one-sixteenth
negro blood who was refused admission
to white school ON the grounds that
she was negro. The parents insisted
that she should be considered white,
and the question was taken into court
Chief Justice Shepard, of the district
court of appeals, decided that any
child having an appreciable mixture
of negro blood without regard to the
proportion, is fcolored - It is un-
derstood that the case will be appealed
to the supreme court Of the United
States. The act of congress providing
for separate schools for white and COL
ored children will he attacked in the
appeal, which also urges that congress
shall define the meaning of the word
"colored.
Studying in the Open Air.
It is becoming something of fad
tui OuSuOu tHc COuntiy w A0fO OPCh
air schools. Washington has fallen in
line and has established school of
this character where the children, with
warm clothing and blankets in which
to wrap up their feet, are given in
structions with the windows open wide
and no artificial heat to vitiate the
air. The enrolment in this test school
is thirty, and when a spell of real
weather came with heavy fall of
snow and a big drop in temperature
only four of the children remained
away. On this particular occasion the
windows were closed to keep out the
snow, but the temperature was cool,
and the children were told that if they
would report to the teacher when they
were chilly they would be permitted
to 90 home. At one O'Clock, when
they were dismissed for the day, not
one of them had asked to be excused.
This experiment is in the interest of
delicate children predisposed, perhaps,
to pulmonary complaints.
Wanted to Be Diplomat.
The Honorable Arthur M. Beaupre,
envoy extraordinary and minister
to The Hague, has
been enjoying his annual leave of alb
sence, and before returning to his post
he visited Washington and paid his
respects to the officials oil the state de-
partment Mr.. Beaupre finds his pres
ent post very agreeable, but he says
that the real place for a man to make
a record is in South America, where he
won his own spurs in the service. 1t
is not recorded at the state department
that Mr.. Beaupre is desirous of return
ing to the Spanish American countries,
where the opportunities, according to
himself, are so great. He admits that
one meets great many nice people
at The Hague, which also has another
advantage in being so near to that
capital of the world, Paris. Apropos
of his appreciation of the French city.
Mr. Beaupre related little anecdote
of some distinguished gentleman,
whose name he did net think it neces-
sary to disclose, who made request of
Col. Roosevelt, when the latter was
president, that he be given an ap-
pointment in the diplomatic service.
OF course he did not expect that the
president would give him the very
best appointment at his command, so
he intimated that he would be content
to accept something less; to be more
particular, he specified The Hague.
q Holland,' he said, "is such an in
country, and The Hague is
really a very delightful place; it is so
near to Paris with its theatres and
opera and other attractions
The pleasant prattle of the appli-
cant was frozen on his lips when he
caught the oppression on the presi-
dents face. The idea was too much
for the Colonel, and what he said may
be imagined by those who know him,
but very discreetly, perhaps, has not
been made matter of record. 1t
need hardly be added, one would i'm
agine, that the applicant did not be-
come an ornament to the diplomatic
corps.
General Murray and Congress.
Brigadier General Arthur Murray,
chief of artillery, who, before this is
printed is very likely to be designated
IS the president s choice for the next
in the list of major generals,
is one of those army officers who
finds nothing incongruous about main
tanning his dignity when occasion de-
mands it and being sociable and in
formal when it does not. During his
as chief of the coast ar
tillery, the coast defenses of the Unit
ed States have been built up and narly
brought to completion. In order to
bring this about it has been necessary
to secure the approval of congress Tor
the expenditure of a great deal of
money for guns, mortars, disappearing
gun carriages, ammunition, search
lights, submarine mines and all the
numerous appliances and appurte-
nances entering into the complicated
scheme of modern coast defense 1t
developed largely upon General Mur-
ray to convince congress of the value
IF these defenses and of the necessity
Of liberal appropriations for them.
Some of the other high officials in the
army seem to look upon congress as
to keep aloof from. Posi-
bly, they feel that their dignity would
be humbled if they spent too much
time in the committee rooms or in ex