Evening star., 1925-05-24
Current News Events
Summary of Important National, Foreign and
Local Affairs Specially Arranged for the
Convenience of Students.
History.

History.
Confronting what appeared TO be E
solid and insurmountable wall OF OPP
position from the United States, the
international conference for the con
troll of traffic in arms and munitions
last week avoided meeting the issue
and marched around it. The plan op
posed by the United States delegates
was to have the league council appoln'
a central body which would puollSt
statistics and other information or
the traffic in arms. 1t was decided tc
abandon this plan and as substitute
have statistics published by each ma
ton.
One of the stumbling blocks to ratl'
fication of the treaty concerning arms
traffic has been the fact that coun-
tries bordering Russia felt they coulc
not ratify the pact until Russia ratl
fed il and Russia declined to attend
the conference. The conference, now
ever. last week eliminated Russia from
the list of countries whose ratlncaloT
of the treaty was necessary 10 MAKE
n effectiye. and an amendment was
adopted providing that certain provl
sions of the treaty would not be
operatiye in Persia, Poland and Ru'
mania until Russia did ratify the
treaty.
Gerardo Machado was lnauSurateo
Cuba's fifth president when ne TOOK
the oath of office in Havana Wednes-
dan with him was sworn into office
Carlos de la Rosa, vice president
Present at the inaugural ceremonies
were special missions from 20 coun'
tries.
A race between a boat ana the
crack trAin of the New York Centra
over a course between New York and
Albany was won last week by the
former, when the Teaser beat the
twentieth Century Limited by 20
minutes. The speedbeat, owned py
r. f. Hoyt of New York, Is 80 feet
long, and with a 500 horsepower en-
sine is capable of maintaining a
speed of so miles an hour.
The part played by Townsend
Harris. first American Minister to
japan, in establishing a policy OF
friendship between the two countries,
was recounted and praised last week
by the Japanese Ambassador, Tsuneo
Matsudaira. Speaking of exercises
at the College of the City of New
York, the Ambassador described the
troubled conditions which Mr. Harris
found in Japan in 1856, and declared
IL was largely due to his patience and
foresight in the beginning that the
good relations between the two coun-
tries have always existed.
Italys army reform bill was passed
last week and one of its interesting
features is that it makes the COM
mander of the army superior to the
commanding officer of the navy in
time of war The step was taken
Of thn hannnSa f.
ficers maintained, any future inva-
sion of Italy would come from the
Alps, as it has always come, and that
the wars of the future will be waged
on land.
Last week North Carolina cele-
brated the 150th anniversary of the
signing of the Mecklenburg declara
ton of independence, which took
place May 20, 1775. The document,
which was signed upon news from
Concord and Lexington that the red
coats" had fired upon the Minute
Men, is said to have blazed the way
for the rest of the Colonies in de-
claring themselves free from the rule
of George III.
Another conference under the aus
pices of the League of Nations
opened last week in Geneva with an
American delegate present. Miss
Grace Abbott, director of the Chill
dren's Bureau of the Department of
Labor, was offered, but declined. the
post of vice president of the leagues
commission for the protection Of
women and promotion of child well
fare. The council is meeting to pre-
pare a welfare program. In declin-
ing to accept the position Miss
Abbott explained that her instruc-
tions did not permit her to take the
office.
While the international council
was meeting in Geneva delegates to
an American gathering of the same
nature-the National Child Welfare
conference in New York-ended their
meeting with bitter comments toward
the Governor of the State of Wash
ington, who refused to send a dele
gate to the meeting on the ground
that he regarded it as "altruistic
twaddle indulged in by women who
leave their homes to cats and
canaries and neglect their children"
William p. Totten of Seattle came to
the conference as an unofficial dele
gate and apologized for the States
attitude. which brought from the
Washington Governor statement in
which he characterized Mr.. Totten as
a "self-designated, free riding, junk
citing delegate
With ships laden with liquor leay-
ing rum row on the Atlantic coast
because of their inability to break
through the Coast Guards tight
blockade and land their wares, the
dry" forces of the United States
carried their campaign to Canadian
borders last week, and turned into
their own service so cars which had
been seized from bootleggers. The
new orders which allow cars seized
to be used by the Government will
materially strengthen the customs
patrols along the border, as the cars
are powerful and speedy, heretofore
unavailable for use by the Govern
ment because of their cost. A gen.
eral campaign of cleaning up the