Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1912-06-05
Physical Endurance of Taft Is
Extraordinary.
is DUE TO HIS TEMPERAMENT
Beautiful Lawn Party at the White
House for international Red Cross
Delegates-Pian of ComptroII-
er Murray to Check Bank
Declarations.
BY GEORGE CLINTON.

only political addresses but certainly
so or more speeches on occasions non
political. Mr.. Taft is an extraordinar
lily big man physically, and yet the
strain Of hard work does not seem to
tell upon him as it does upon other
men who carry much less weight.
Friends Of the president ascribe his
continued good condition to his buoy
ant disposition. In other words, his
temperament stands him a friend dur
ing his hard work.
There have been one or two lawn
parties at the White House this year,
and before the spring season closes
there probably will be on or two
more. At one party the guests of hon
or were the Visiting delegates to the
International Red Cross convention.
The president and Mrs. Taft, standing
under the trees on the south lawn of
the White House, received distin-
guished guests from all over the
world. The president had just re-
turned from a weeks campaigning and
was to leave again at midnight, but
he stood the three hours social siege"
as if he had been resting instead of
working. Physically, the president of
the United States is a wonder to that
part of mankind which gets a chance
to see him.
At the Red Cross Reception.
The lawn parties at the White
House are the most picturesque social
events of the year in Washington. 1t
is not probable that those who do not
actually view the scene can realize the
extraordinary beauty Of the grounds of
the White House in May and June.
There are many trees, much shrub
berry and in some places profusion Of
flowers. At the back is the house itself,
a fine specimen of colonial architec-
ture, pure white and impressive, with
each of its great pillars adding line
of beauty. The day of the reception
on the lawn given for the Red Cross
people was perfect. The thermometer
was at 20, and the sun was in a cloud
less sky. The ladies all wore white,
while the men, or most Of them, for it
was largely an official reception, were
in uniform, many of them being in the
picturesque garbs of the Latin-Ameri-
can countries and Europe and the
countries of the far east.
Present at that reception, unknown
10 most of the guests and bearing her
self with extreme dif1dence, was
woman who had just returned from
China. She has been connected for
years with a school maintained by the
Protestant Episcopal church in the
heart of the flowery kingdom. When
Givil war broke out in China recently
and the Young Chinese started on
their crusade, the woman who was a
guest at the White House reception
left off her teaching in the college and
went into the field as a volunteer Red
Cross nurse. She had many hard ex-
perfences, but not as hard as 1T was
expected that she would have. China
ordinarily is not considered thorough
ly civilized, but even in the midst of
the madness of civil strife it was
found that both factions Of the Chi
nese observed the Red Cross regula-
lions as implicitly as would the coun-
tries Of the west.
To Stop Bank DefaIcations.
Comptroller of the Currency Law
renee o. Murray has made
study of some of the methods
by which banks occasionally are de-
frauded by their employees. He has
had a number of specific cases put
before him and as a result of his in
vestigations he thinks that such I'M
fortunate occurrences as these and
many that have preceded them may be
avoided in the future if the national
banks will cooperate with his office
in the plan which he has just suggest
ed to them This is nothing more nor
less than the simple device OF sending
to his office a carbon copy of the semi
annual report made by the examining
committee Of the board of directors OF
each bank-the report which states In
black and white what the directors
think Of their own bank.
When Mr.. Murray assumed ONCE
about 5000, or between 80 and 40 per
cent of the national banks, had no by
laws and therefore made no provision
for examining committees. They now
all have adopted bylaws suggested Dy
the comptroller and are fitted out
with regularly appointed examining
committees. When carbon copies OF
the reports are sent to the comptroller
a study will be made of them which
will be supplementary to the study
made in the bank. In this way 1t Is De-
lieved that the depositors and stock
holders will have a double check
against loss from defalcation and
forgery.
Some Specimen Cases.
Here are some of the cases which
moved the comptroller Of the currency
TO act:
George ". Coleman, bookkeeper Oh
the National City bank OF Cambridge
Mass. kept a small PERSONA account
on the individual ledger. He would
.ekite" his own checks through Bos-
ron curb broker and abstract them
from the mail as they came back from