Evening star., 1922-12-08
THE WAYS OF
WASHINGTON
BY WILLIAM PICKETT HELM.

Down in Foggy Bottom. that stretch
Of reclaimed land just east OF the Lin
coin Memorial. the Navy Department
is building a vault. To all appear
ances it is just an ordinary big. fire.
proof vault. not 50 large. perhaps. as
hundreds Of other vaults. not 80 ex-
ing.
But in one respect, 1t is different.
For in this vault will be placed q
million and a quarter feet Of motion
picture f1lm-about 235 miles-which
will tell. to coming generations. the
story Of the American Navy of today
and Of the past twenty years.
The film III to be stored away in
darkness. 1t will keep indefinitely. A
hundred years. or two hundred. hence
it will show as clearly on the screen
as it shows today.
What a story it will tell to those un-
born generations! The thought stirs
the Imagination. What will be con-
ditions in the world when the film
is shown q century hence?
Will there be navies then so power
full and great that our mammoth
fighting ships of today will be weak
and puny in comparison? Or will war
have been banished from the world.
making the display OF today's floating
fortresses a relic of times that the
future will regard as semi-barbarous?
Whatever the conditions of that
dim day, there will be much to show.
There will be-probably. for as yet
the film of this particular scene is
in private hands-the great white
fleet with which Theodore Roosevelt
awoke the world to Americas
strength.
That fleet, as it sailed from Norfolk,
as 1t came within sight Of the Golden
Gate, as 1t rode at anchor in the har-
Dor at San Francisco. as 1t steamed
homo again from its long cruise
that is a picture still in existence: /:
one the department wants to get for
its collection.
And Fighting Bob" Evans. long
since gone to his reward. His pic
ture is there, too.
So also are pictures of the hero
Of Manila bay.
Those pictures go back almost to
the infancy of the art. They are not
SO good as some that follow.
Notable among these is the story
of the Navy in the great war. Of
this. there are many reels. Some
were made under fire Of enemy guns.
many others. too, were made at great
risk to the camera men. All Of them
tell their own story of the American
Navy during those eventful years.
The War Department has the story
of what our armies did in France. but
those pictures are in the departments
possession and presumably will not
be stored with the pictures of the
Navy.
Going back bit. there is the story
Of Vera Cruz. The Navy has films.
taken in battle. showing the Amer
lean occupation of the port. One Of
these films was taken by little fel-
was declared, managed to get back to
Germany and Join the army. He was
killed in battle, his American en-
ployer being in the opposing French
detachment.
Wagner, with his camera, boarded
battleship forty miles out from the
Virginia capes. He had the permis-
sion. of course, of the Secretary OF
tho Navy. A tug carried him out on
long chase Of the battleship and the
transfer of Hans and his impedimenta
was made in a heavy sea and at con-
siderable risk.
There are pictures of four Presi-
dents among the Nays collection
Roosevelt. Taft, Wilson and Harding.
A hundred years hence they will be
flashed on the screen-two hundred
even longer, perhaps.
Their value and interest then will
be comparable to the interest which
would attach now to a motion picture,
say. Of George Washington. or of Lin
coin delivering his Gettysburg ad-
dress.
Scores OF pictures of Theodore
Roosevelt are in the collection.
Nearly all Of them show him at public
functions. Only two motion pictures
were ever taken Of Theodore Roose-
Welt at Oyster Bay. One Of these was
made by the late Hal Reid. the play
wright (and father OF Wallace Reid.
Tho other was directed by a news
paper man whom the colonel liked.
That ono was taken in 1912.
They have asked me to get you
at home" tho newspaper man ex-
planned. 'They want to show you in
private life.''
Tho colonel smiled. Il have never
permitted it," he said. and don't
like the idea now. There is q privacy
about a mans homo that should not
be invaded"
Tho reporter was sorry. He had
almost promised to mako good on get
ting the picture, he explained.
VERY WELL" said the colonel.
That's different. I'll give you good
one"
And he did, even to chopping down
q tree in front Of the camera
A Maryland Corner