The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-05-07
PARIS LAWYERS ARE UNDER ARREST Judicial Authorities Look
 Into Scandal SALON DISAPPOINTS Critics Think Spring Collection Is Very Poor--American Artists
 Have the Best in the
 Exhibition
By GEORGE DUFREsNE


 a lawyer of the Paris court of apbeal, Maitre Guillaume yalensi, and M. Gle menti, the president of the National Humanitarian league, has been arrested
 They are both charged with fraud and illegal traffic in decorations. valensl belongs to wealthy Corsican | family and is said to be nephew Of General yalensi, who has position at the court of the Bey of Tunis. He has not practiced much at the Paris courts | and has been concerned chiefly in out side work connected with philanthropic societies.
 | The police first heard of the matter through a business man in the Eau bourg Montmartre. Valensi offered to procure this man the Academic palms, | for which he would have to charge, he said, s1200 commission. The merchant was, therefore, surprised at not seeing his name in the latest promotion order | he became suspicious, and informed~the authorities When valensi called at his house the other day with the di ploma of official of the academy, he found there several policemen, who arA rested him.
 l In his pockets were found some other diplomas--among which was the Tuni- sian Order of the Nicham Iftikar. To | the questions of the magistrate Valensi replied that the diploma of official of the academy had been given to him by NJ. Clementi, who had received 1t from someone related to a politician of high | rank Clement, when arrested, pro- | tested ...s innocence. and declared that the diploma had been duly signed. Valensi is a leading man in the "Or- l of of This "order,' 1t was asserted, was form ed to give financial help to French sol | diers in Morocco. It was supposed to have its head offices in Fez. For sums varying from s1.25 to $40 a year one could be made either simply a mem- Der, or an officer, or a commander, of the order and received decorations | according to his rank. "A regulation was made that members were to wear l the decorations only at private meet ings. The ribbon was red, like tEat of the Legion of Honor with scarcely per- | cepitible green sign on it. Many off cers of the "order" had high sounding g l titles; Valensi was vice president. Some time in June last, as adherents | to the "order" were not growing very | rapidly in number, Valensi determined on great coup. He started a branch of the order in the north of France. | and advertised for a certain day, the
 visit of Lille of Maid Said Garder, de- scribed as a representative of the Sul- l tan of Morocco. The "Kald" and an- other Moorish official appeared, each
 wearing burnous, and with them "his excellency' Valens in red fez.
 They were received at the railroad sta ton by the local authorities and num-
 Der of Lille adherents of the "Order of the Golden Crescent of Morocco" The | affair created great excitement in the
 town. At Valensis hotel the Moroccan
 flag was flown from the balcony. | Speeches were made at a banquet by the
 "Kaid' in broken French. and his FIX | cellency" Valensi, and subsequently a number of decorations were distributed 1 The prefect of police in the town was nominated an officer of the Golden Cross | of Italy"
 After the banquet the "Moorish' party l went for 8 motor drive to Roubais, and
 the remarkable affair came to an end.
 M Cruppi is certainly to be congratu- | lated for the very thorough way he pur- sues evildoers at the Quai d Orsay. He | was once public prosecutor, and the old instincts are doubtless strong in him. It l required some courage to call to account a high official like M. Frantz Hamen and have him arrested.
 | NJ Hamon, officer of the Legion of Honor, and the financial chief of the Quai d' Orsay, considered himself quite l as big a man as a minister. Ministers come and go. but the Hamons remain. manipulating the public expenditure at their own sweet will.
 Naughty and defiant, he refused to ap- pear before the council of directors who were charged by the foreign minister to demand explanations. As a result he was immediately .'shadowed''; seeing which, he gave himself up to justice. Other events have diverted public atten- tion somewhat from the scandal. Il To my mind, there has been nothing like it since M. Bashant ex-minister of public works, was condemned at the as- sizes for fraudulent compiicity in the Pan- anna affair.
 Tho spring salon is great disappoint- ment this year and critics all agreed that
 a poorer collection has never been got ten together since Messonier founded this salon in 1890.
 l One mapvels at its insipidity, at its med OCT ty, at it's prententious and gilt edged trfckery. It is amazing.
 There are the usual array of monstrous canyases, but, oddly enough. they are less terrible than usual. It is a positive relief
 to como across the 'panneaux decoratifs
 of Gaston Latouche, for instance. It ls true that he is always the same; there
 is always a golden coach, entering golden ,
 at least. 1t Is the high note of exaltation \ in life; there is freshness and Joy and youth in the expression of 1t. And one I is grateful to Gaston Latouchs who con- tinues to believe in Pan.
 There is another painter on the big
 scale. Menard. whose work is wonderful in its way. This year he has synbolized
 labor. A naked slave is driving a plough
 drawn by oxen in rugged country and the atmosphere Is classic with the noun
 tains. the olive groves, and the tarn re-
 1ecting the shadows very clear and clean in its impressiveness.
 The portraits are tho worst They are particularly uninspirinE this year. MT.
 painting in Q garden. is easily first. Bel dini's portraits are famous. and to be painted by his is tantamount to belong ing to the smart set'' His women, long and sinuous in their lines, re impish and
 elfish to . degree. They live. certainly.
 but it is the breath of ether-subcutane-
 ously injected. M. Roll, the president of
 the society, ts a great disappointment
 He has an uninterestinE and synnbolical portrait of somebody, whom 1t does not
 matter. and his second work represents e
 lady in q state of nature sitting upon .
 rug. The nakedness is as unnecessary as
 the lady. And M. Gervex, who is always
 called In to execute a president, or . ban |uuet of mayors, has turned his official
 talents to social celebrities this year. with
 the usual result.
 Some humorist has defaoed portrait of