The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-06-16
SCRAP BOOK FOR TO-DAY


 
 Latin-A1ner4can governments are of- ten traglc-com1c affairs, and hardly so strong and permanent as to he 1iI[- ened to Gibraltar, but IAatfr-American olpiomacy Is not a quality to excite cach1nnatton. At Wash1ngton and in the courts of Europe the southern re- publfcs have often been represented by diplomats who could. and did. o11t- diplomat the shrewdest of European ana American statesmen. And the very prince of Spanish-Ameri dip lomats Is Francisco Leon de la Barra who recently announced his retirement from the post of minister of foreign affairs in the Huerta-FeIix Diaz in stead of government. De la Barra IS still a comparatively young man, as he will pass the half century mark today. It is understood that he en- tertains ambitions to become president Of Mexico, but, being young, a diplo- mat, and having due regard for his health and an entire skin, he has de- cfded to wait a while. Running for president in Mexico Is not, Just at this time, the most healthful occupation in the world.
 De Ia Barra was born on June 16 1863, and was educated at the College of the City of Mexico, later studying law at the Escue1a Nac1onaI Jurispru- dencia. After several years as a law yer and a, member of the Mexican Con gress, he began his diplomatic career under Portfrio Diaz as minister to South American countries, and later to Belgium and Holland. In 1908, he was appointed Mexican minister to the United States, but was recalled in 1911, when Czar Portf1rio gave into his hands the portfolio of Minister of For eign Affairs. A few weeks later Diaz resigned, on condition that de Ia Barra become provisional president The diplomatic de Ia Barra, after the cleo tion of Madero, landed on his feet as skflfully as a feline. and became friend, supporter, adviser and Italian agent of the new executive of the per- turbed country. He returned to Mex ico from Italy in April of last year, still proclairning himself a AIaderist. After the last revolution, however, de la Barra landed right side up with care, and was made foreign minister of the Huerta-Diaz regime. Quite different was his fate from that of other leading Maderists, who were shot while trying to escape
 Suave, polished, polite, fluent of speech in French and English as we'll as Spanish, de Ia Barra is the type Of diplomatic excellence, blowing hot and cold, carrying water on both shoul- ders.
 Sir Melville Leslie Maena ghten, the distinguished English detective who has just resigned his post as chief of the criminal investigation department of Scotland Yard, will celebrate his s1xt1eth birthday today. His youth and young manhood were spent in Bengal, and he was tI1frty-f1ve when he returned to England to begin his remarkable career as an arch foe of criminals. In 1899 he became chief constable, and in 1903 the head of the Scotland Yard detective bureau One of the first of the many cases solved by Sir Melville had to do with the terrible crimes of the mysterious "JacI the Ripper who killed seven women in London Q quarter of a century ago. Only recently the retiring chief of the London detectives admitted that he had discovered the identity of the in- sane ripper, and that the fiend es- capped the meshes Of the law by com hitting suicide He refused, however. to make public the name of the man who for months terrorized London. / One of the most democratic of men who ever sat on a throne is Gustav V of Sweden, son of the immortal Oscar II, and great-grandson of Mar shal Bernadotte, founder of the pres ent Swedish dynasty. Gustav cele- brates his ffty-ffth birthday today, and the day will be celebrated as a
 
 by many Swedes on this side of the Atlantic.
 Sitting on a throne, in regal state, surrounded by fawning hatterers may be pleasing to some monarchs, but not to Gustav. He prefers a bench. and is never happier than when discussing Socialism, the relations of capital and labor, woman's suffrage, and other vital topics, with his workingmen friends. He has a number of boon companions among the ''proletariat,' some of them enthusiastic Socialists. and the discussions in Gustav's garden where the informal meetings are held, are always earnest and at times acri- mon1ously argumentative. Gustav dis likes nobody so much as the men who always agree with him, and, in this respect. he has no reason to find fault with his workfngman friends.
 No other living morarch' goes about so freely among his subjects as Gus tav. Nearly every day he takes long walks through the streets and parks guards, and with no thought of dan ger. Shortly after he came to the throne, in 1907, the King spent a day toiling as a stevedore, carrying coal from a ship, in order that he might gain f1rst-hand Knowledge of the con ditions of such laborers. He also has worked at other trades, in periods of labor troubles. The result has been the passing of laws vastly improving the status of Swedish workmen.
 The Bernadottes have always been a remarkably brilliant and gifted fam fly, and Gustav and his sons are quite able to live up to the traditions of the house. The Crown Prince Gustav Adolph, who married Princess Margar- ct of Connaught, eldest daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Connaught, is an able, forceful and staIwart young and SDOrtSnnan. deed, love of outdoor pastfmes and athletic sports is a characteristic of all the members of the Swedish royal family. The Crown Prince, and his English wife as well, are expert ski runners and excellent skaters, and the C.cnMn Rrincsss is alsn a era clz fe1acer