The Washington herald., 1919-06-15
BY MONTAGUE GLASS
DISCUSS BEING UP IN THE AIR

/ water, Mawruss, the people which
saw in IT the first step towards the
Aquitania and Levinathan, wasn't so
plentiful neither"
Probably the feller which lent
the money on the jewels wasn't SO
enthusiastic about it at any rate,
Morris declared. because as hrst
class A number one security for a
loan. Abe. crown Jewels amt got
very much OF an edge on them
sympathetic pearls which carries
such a tremendous overhead for
electric light in the store windows
where they are displayed. Take for
instance the Austrian crown jewels.
Abe. and see in the paper where
for years and years, everybody took
| the Austrian emperor's word for 1t
that they contained more first water
diamonds than could be found in
stocks of all the Fifth avenue jewel
ers and Follies of from 1910 to 1919
chorus ladies combined, and the
| other day when the provisional gov
ernment tried to sell them Austrian
! crown jewels to buy food for the
starving Austrians, understand, for
what was thought to be rubies. dia-
shSANo pCdtiy "SieH
twenty to 100 carats apiece, Abe.
they couldn't get an offer of as much
as a bowl OF crackers and milk"
What do you suppose happened
to the originals, Mawruss?" Abe
| asked.
What should of happened to
/ them?" Morris asked rhetorically.
Il bet yer that not once but hun
| dreds OF times. an Austrian emperor
has taken one of the ladies Of the
Vienna Opera House ballet to the
vaults of the Vienna Safety Deposit
and Storage Company and just to
show her how much he thought OF
her. when she said: My amt that a
gorgeous stone he has said: DO
you really like it?' and pried it out
Of its setting right then and there
And / also bet yer that when the
ballet lady got a valuation on il the
| next day" Abe said. 'the pawn
| broker says to her: Amt this a
diamond which the emperor pried
out of his crown for you. and when
she said. yes. he says that the fixed
loaning value of an Imperial pried-
out diamond was slS, and from that
time on. the ballet lady would be
very much off all emperors."
| 1T seems to me that in all the
other countries of the world where
Kings and Emperors still hold onto
their jobs. Abe, it wouldn't be o
bad thing for the government to
check up the crown jewels on them
in case of emergencies like revolu-
tions or having to pay war indem-
mites" Morris remarked. (which ]
wouldn't be surprised II right now
the German people is figuring on
raising several million marks on the
German crown jewels towards pay
ing the first billion dollar INSTALL
ment of the war indemnity. and
when the government appraiser gets
port that they are not even using
that kind of stuff in decorating soda
| fountains even.
In that case the German government
will probably try to arrange a swop,"
Abe said, trusting to luck that the
allied governments having agreed to
take them crown jewels at the value
placed on them by the Kaiser, will
not discover their real value until
I they've changed hands, Mawruss, in
which event the German government
will claim that the substitution took
place after the allies received them
and did the allies think they could
get away with anything as raw as
| that"
Even the Germans amt got such a
| nerve, Morris commented