Evening star., 1925-12-02
WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS
BY FREDERIC EILLI4W FILE.

President Coolidge writes his
speeches and his messages TO Con-
gress mostly in his study on the sec
ond floor Of the White House, where
he is able TO work in complete privacy.
The study, overlooking the south
grounds and the Washington Monu-
ment. used to be the cabinet room un-
til President Roosevelt established
the executive Offices on the western
side Of the White House. Coolidge die
tstes both his addresses and his state
pa apers to his stenographer and sell
dom finds II necessary To make
cha nges in the typewriter version Of
them. He is accustomed TO devote
himself TO SO intense prepara ton of
his thoughts in advance that he only
rarely alters phra seolOey from that
which has been taken down in short
hand.
Joseph p. Tumulty. Woodrow Viii
sons righthand man In the presi-
dency. once said that he got his most
significant political tips between the
lines OF items in the society columns
Of Washington newspa pers. AS Joe
Is one OF the pet aversions of the ku
klux klan, it probably has not es-
capped his eagle eve that the Klan, for
the first time in its history at the Ma
tional Capital, is breaking into the
society news. Initiated persons have
just observed that the general counsel
OF the klan. who makes his headquar-
ters in Washington, has begun TO fig
ure as a society host. Among his re-
cent guests Of honor was the junior
United States Senator from a certain
Western State. who is mentioned as
the next grand kleagle Of the Nlan in
that particular Commonwealth.
kx ~
One of the retired admiralS of the
United States Navy, who now puts in
his time making patriotic addresses.
has just returned from a speaking tour
through the heart of the country. He
comes hack confessedly downcast over
the bad odor into which the Mitchell
rumpus has brought the whole defen-
sive establishment Of the Nation. This
is the way he puts it. II take the
floor at a banquet or public meeting
and talk about the zeal and fine spirit
with which the Army and Navy are
handling the country's defense needs.
Along comes newspaper dispatch
from Washington showing that some
witness in the Mitchell trial-perhap ps
some stripping aviator-has told the
world that the Army and Navy are
being run by either fools or knaves. or
both. That makes my efforts rather
futile. for the average man or woma n
believes that the latest news from
Washington is the horrible truth.
When a man of the reputation of Ad-
miral Sims asserts on oath that the
higher officers Of the Navy are unfit
and uneducated,' the damage to the
Navy's prestige as whole is simply
incalculable.'
American tennis stars will have to
look to their laurels when the newly
appointed Swedish Minister to the
United States, Wollmar Bostroem,
takes up his duties in Washington.
Mr.. Bostroem has many times won
the national tennis championship of
sweden. That country's most emf.
nent star of the net and racket is
King Gustav, with whom Mr.. Bos-
troem has more than once battled for
championship honors. Sovereign and
diplomat are close friends. and their
intimacy dates from their meetings on
the tennis court. Mr.. Bostroem will
come TO Washington from Madrid,
where he has been stationed for sew
eral years. The retiring Swedish
Minister to the United States, Capt.
Alex F. Wallenberg. is a banker and
business man by profession, and a
member of family which ranks in
the realm of finance and commerce as