The National tribune., 1910-02-24
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Mr.. Bell has called attention in the
work of Prof Langley, is the coeliicient
of air pressure"
The brothers were in Washington
only for the presentation, after which
they were entertained at luncheon at
lDr. Bells residence, with Secretary
WaIcott, of the Smithsonian IIlstitu-
ton. During the afternoon Orville
Wright left for Dayton. and Wilbur
took an evening train for the South,
where he will look over sites to be used
by the brothers for aviation schools.
| A. S. Roddenberry has been elected
to the House to succeed the late Repre-
sentative James NJ. Griggs in the Second
Congressional District of Georgia.
|
Secretary of State Knox is firmly of
the opinion that our representatives
abroad should be useful as we'll as or
namental, and is busily engaged at the
present time in smoothing out d lot of
the curlicues-largely society oycres-
cence which have come to be the prin-
| cipal part of the equipment Of our FIN
bassadors and consular officers They
have Jagged in their duties, and have
received carefully-worded letters direct
! from the Secretary of State, in which
he has told them in plain English to get
| a hustle on themselves and get busy.
The order is very comprehensive, ana
the Secretary very plainly iEtimates that
no excuses will answer. He wants them
to become more active along the lines
of the commercial interests Of the coun-
try. where we come in contact with the
commercial interests of foreign coun-
tries, and very plainly tells our repre-
Isentatives abroad that they have been
decidedly lazy. not TO say inefficient, in
this respect. In other words. Secretary
of State Knox is just everlastingly stir
ring things up, and everybody will cry
bravo" excepting those who are
stirred.
There are always very fine times
about this season of the year in the
various Departments over how and
when the rooms in the Departments
| shall be ventilated. The advocates of
"purfeckly puah air. want the windows
wide open, the doors ajar and set with
their wraps On and their feet in nuf-
| fiers, while the more Orchid-like ladies
want the windows closed, the doors
shut, carpets on the floors and the room
to stay at about so degrees all the time.
| There is never any halfway means
about the ventilation of the rooms.
| There is constant war on between these
| two factions, and the Chiefs of the Bu-
reaus do not walk on petals of roses in
trying to take the middle path between
the two. Just now things have grown
so serious out in the Census Office that
the matter was carried to the White
House. Now, be it known the Census
Office is a long, row-looking sort of a
craft that would make a good garage
or an Indifferent stable. but for human
cattle is the limit 1t is only one story
high, spreads pretty much over half Il
block, has a glass roof which makes
one freeze in the Winter and roast in
Summer, and IS simply impossible for
people to work in: but the Government
wanted something cheap for its 1900
census. and this is what it got.
Mrs. Wainwright and Mrs. Hanson,
who represent a fraternal society. hear
ing that the building was poorly venti-
lated and the clerks up there made i'll
because of this, invaded the premises
and strOlled thru the rooms. AS a re-
suit of the visit they called on Mrs. Taft.
and asked her to speak to the President
regarding the ventilation or this poorly
constructed brick barn. AS a result of
this visit 10 Mrs Taft Secretary of Com
lnerce and Labor Nagel. under whose
jurisdiction the Census Bureau comes,
has informed Director Duran, of the
Census Office. to have installed several
+ ventilating fans at the expense Of the
Government. The right and proper
thing to do would be to put UP a decent
/
census could be carried on. 1t has come
to be a work of such magnitude that a
great many of the clerks are retained
from one decade to another, and they
really ought to be properly housed, but
Congress still follows out its original
idea of renting inferior buildings from
private citizens. rather than construct
its own buildings upon perfectly sani-
tary principles. The Government has
paid out for rent Of these insanitary
buildings in the last 10 or Is years
enough money to have put up magnili-
cent buildings for every arm of its SER
vice, which would be up-to-date in
every particular and would have beau
titled Washington. It's the old penny
wise and pound foolish proposition.
| Mr.. Robert E. Peary, Civil Engineer,
| L. S. N, is naturally much delighted
with the signal manner in which the
| Senate honored him in passing a bill
which will promote him to the rank of
/ Rear-Admiral with immediate retife-
ment. Mr.. Peary says that he feels it
| is a great distinction to be so honored
! by the Senate, and he says that If he is
/ finally retired he will devote the rest of
! his life to studying Arctic and Antarctic
problems and in helping the American
people to achieve further success along
these lines The bill to promote Mr..
Peary has already been reported to the
House, and will probably be taken up
very soon there.
Speaking about the proposed trip to
| the South Pole, Commander Peary said
| he thought IL was a splendid plan for
I the Pcary Arctic Club and the National
Geographic Society to get together on
such an expedition.
The Roosevelt will not have to under
! go any changes, according to Command
er Peary. Ii has been said that more
space for storing coal would have to be
made on the Roosevelt but Commander
| Peary said that no larger amount of
coal IS necessary to travel from Cape
Horn 10 Coats Land than was necessary
when he made his trip from Newfound-
land to Greenland.
Mr. Peary has given the SO. 900 pre-
scented him in New York at banquet
TO help along the South Pole expedition.
| Capt Robert Bartlett, who was Mr.
! Peary's chief assistant in the North
Pole dash, has wired from New York
his resignation as Commander of the
steamer Southern Cross. which is sched-
uled to go to the Seal-hunting grounds
next month. Capt. Bartlett, in his tele-
gram, says that ne resigns to take com
mand of the RoOsevelt in the American
Antarctic expedition.
Former Vice President Fairbanks was
the guest of honor at a delightful stag
luncheon given by the German Embassy
in Berlin one dag last week. There
were 16 covers and the other guests IN
cluded Herr Dernbers, Secretary for the
Colonies; Herr Won Gwinner. Director of
!. the Deutsche Bank; Herr Won Trot zu