The Washington herald., 1920-07-25
In the Lirnelight
By George Perry Merri

Court, Is not the only eminent
American Jew who is to ngure
prominently in the upbuilding of the
Zionist state in Palestine. Judge
Julian Mack. Prof. Felix Frank
furter OF the Harvard Law School.
Nathan straus, Jacob De Hass, and
Bernard Flexner and Mrs. Mary
Fels have been elected at the con-
ference Just held in London to serve
In important advisory positions.
Recognition OF Mrs. Fels is not at
all surprising. woman's share in
contemporary and future govern
ment. especially in State starting
with high idealistic aims governing
social as well as political relations,
naturally called for the choice of
some representative OF the alleged
weaker sex" Her incessant actiyi-
ties and generous gifts plus her
clearly defined opinions on large
policies of state, made her selection
natural IL not inevitable.
Honor for n Great scotch Surgeon.
Election of Sir William MacEwen,
of Glasgow University, as president
of the International Medical Asso-
citation to serve until 1928, shows
the rank that he has won by his
record as surgeon during the years
that have interyened since he Joined
the faculty of the Glasgow school
in 1892. The leading medical and
surgical societies of many of the
European countries have steadily
multiplied the honors heaped upon
+himi and now he wins the supreme
place.
John ii. Fahey's Rise to Fame.
/ Reading of the recognition just
given by Italy to TIE American dele
gates of the special commission sent
out by the International Chamber of
Commerce to study industrial condi-
tions in Europe, discloses that the
chairman, John II. Fahey. naturally
is figuring prominently in the con-
ferences and in the banquets. Few
Bostonians of this generation have
shown less provincialism and paro-
chialism and more genuine nation
alism and internationalism. Back IN
the SOS he was a journalist fighting
against yenal men in, the city's
higher financial circles-men who
were playing the game OF New
Iork's high financiers" utterly in
different TO the best interests of
New England. Fahey finally was
put out of business because Of his
candor and honesty. and then he
turned to helping create a Chamber
of Commerce that would act in local
self-protection, and also to bring
into being a City Club that would
amalgamate the many racial and
religious Interests of the city in q
way never before attempted. He
became interested in creating the
Chamber OF Commerce of the United
States, and from that passed on to
leadership in calling together the
group that has recently organized
the international Chamber of Com
merce. His Celtic imagination has
not turned to writing of verse but
rather to weaving strands of inter
national goodwill and cooperation
in field where it is much needed.
Philosopher of Transportation,
The obituary notices which a
mans business associates write
about him always interest me. They
are seldom fiowery in language or
gushing in spirit. They have a real
ism that is attractive just because
made by men who deal with con-
crete things. I have been impressed
anew with this while reading what
the Association OF Railway ENecu-
ties said about the late Frank Trum-
bull. He began railroading when he
was IL years old. and he knew
every rung of the ladder by which
he rose in the transporta ton world.
ltIlt he EnAU he laN. g1o
Of railway operation. To quote his
fellow administrators: His intel
lectual interests were. however, far
wider than any individual corpora
tion. He became a philosopher OF
transportation and a broad minded
student of its relationship to the
government and the interests Of all
the people" How valuable a.
philosopher of transportation"
would be in the government service
today. had we a department of trans
portation, with its head sitting in
the Cabinet!
The Passing Of the NasderbIIts.
The death of William h. Wander
bilt, viewed in the light of the
way in which he spent the last
years of his life, calls attention TO
the paucity of direct leadership of
our large railway systems by the
descendants of the men who used
them as pawns with which TO create
vast family fortunes. In this realm
of dynastic power as well as in the
State the principle of heredity does
not work well. The fathers create
and the children disintegrate The
best railway administrators in the
country today are men from the
ranks. James J. Hill, e. H, Hartman
Cornelius Vanderbilt and J. Pier
pont Morgan, whatever you may
think of their ethics, were powerful
personalities. The nineteenth CEN
tury New Englsnders, who. follow
ing the civil war, built and man
aged some of the best of the roads
of the Middle West, were con-
struCtive personages. Their de-
scendants still draw dividends. but
that is all.
i Events of Todav III