The Washington herald., 1921-04-17

Asia youngster acquired the
point Of view Of the Orient, Of
course, but also learned that
Of diplomacy and Of many men
from many lands. After ten
years Of this could not have been provincial
nor could I have failed to view questions
from something Of world vantage. II was
q remarkable school"
TNHE big secretary chuckled Il was good
= to hear him. ] had first seen him in a
crowded banquet hall where he spoke. His
voice was like the rumbling Of thunder
through mountain canyons The chande.
iers ratified with its reverberation.
Then I had seen him greeting the EN-.
ployes of his department early in his ad-
ministration. He shook hands with 5000
Of them in a single afternoon. Mrs. DENLY
was by his side, a slim little woman but
physically fit, who had known Washington
official life as a girl, for her father was
Henry T. Thurber, secretary to Grover
Cleveland. She was as urtired after the
days work as her big husband They are
genial folks who scatter many smiles about.
They have at home q little girl of five and a
boy Of eight
Mr.. DENLY told me about his return to the
United States after twelve years absence,
of hurried course at the law and of the
coming of the Spanish American war.
He had been a member of the naval re-
serve in Detroit, had seen much Of navies
in the Orient. The navy was his first love.
He enlisted as a seaman, saw plenty Of uc-
tive service aboard the U. s. s. Yosemite.
where, after much stoking Of engines and
scrubbing of decks, he became q gunner's
mate.
These round .hatted, flare -trousered men
OF the navy were not then called "gobs."
That term developed in the recent war and,
strangely, had its origin in that China which
Mr.. DENLY knows 50 well. Cob" in fact,
IS the Chinese word for sailor and crept into
the language through the Far Eastern feet.
1t has not often happened that a secre-
tary OF the navy has slept in the hammock
Of an enlisted man, has polished the
mechanism Of the long range guns in the
turrets OF a battleship. has maneuvered
with a battle feet when it played the game
OF war on the invisible checkerboard Of the
seas. 1t Is obvious, however, how much
more real the problems Of the service win
seem to such man than to one whose
nautical experience has been obtained in
the cabin Of so-called seagoing hack.
Edwin DENLY practiced law in Detroit,
went to the state Legislature, served three
terms in the Congress Of the United States
covering the period of 1905-1911. He says
that this was all very excellent training for
that ultimate service, the delivery Of the
marine chat" He seems to put more
. store by his "gob' and boot" activities
than to those other seemingly more i'm
portant experiences.
ON THE day Mr.. Harding was in
" augurated he walked from that ceremony
into the Senate chamber, handed that body
his list Of cabinet officers and got them con-
frmed within half an hour. He was able
to do this because Of his intimate knowledge
Of the procedure Of the body In which he
had 50 recently served. What he did was
an example Of the effectiveness Of an under
standing between the executive and the leg
islative branches Of government. Mr.. DENLY
II is held, and Mr.. Weeks, his neighbor In
the War Department, also with long leg
islative experience, should be able to func.
tion the more efhcientiy because Of thos'
years on the hill.
"At Paris Island" said Mr.. Henby, com.
ing back to his favorite experie6ce, II mus
have talked to 10000 men. These recruit
/ came up in groups Of . husdred before the.
had taken the oath. We could not iknov
the past Of I'LL these men. and We wanted I