Evening star., 1925-06-21
History.

After four weeks spent in latitude
S7.44. about 100 miles from their goal,
the North Pole, Raold Amundsen,
Norwegian explorer, and his five COM
panions returned suddenly and dra-
matically to civilization last week,
when they put into the harbor at
Kings Bay, Spitzbergen, aboard a
rusty little seal fisherman's boat, after
having been rescued from the ice by
its skipper. They failed in their hunt
for the Pole. but they fought fight
for their lives which will go down into
history as one of the immortal feats
of Arctic heroism.
Preceding by a day the dramatic
return of Amundsen, the party headed
by Donald b. Macmillan, under the
auspices of the National Geographic
Society and the Navy. left Boston on
the first leg of their Northern journey
aboard the steamship Peary. They
will not attempt the discovery of the
Pole, but, with the three airplanes
furnished by the Navy Department,
hope to establish once and for all the
truth or falSity of the existence of an
undiscovered land in the Arctic circle
Macmillan had offered to turn over
his resources to the rescue of Amund-
sen. His original plan. however, will
now be followed. He expects to keep
in touch with civilization by radio
most of the time during his absence.
The Governments efforts to cancel
the lease by which the naval oil re-
serve at Teapot Dome, Wyo, went
TO Harry F. Sinclair and his Nam
moth OIL Company, and at the same
time to prove there was fraud which
involved former Secretary of the In
n in "a tran Itin
dealt staggering blow in the courts
last week when Federal Judge T.
Blake Kennedy. at Cheyenne, Wyo.,
declared the lease was valid and that
the allegations of fraud by the Gov
ernment were not sustained
The decision eXonerated former Sec
retary of the Navy DENLY for his part
in signing the lease, and declared that
the late President Harding acted
within his rights when he ordered
jurisdiction of the oil reserve trans
ferred from the Navy Department to
the Interior Department. 1t also alb
solved Rear Admiral j. X Robson,
chief of naval engineering, and sew
eral officials of the Interior Depart
ment who acted on the lease, Of all
blame.
The Government. which thus far
has won in th California courts its
+. Doheny were invalid, VIII appeal
the case, which eventually will be de-
cided in the United States Supreme
Court.
Negotiations toward the security
treaty between European nations,
which already have consumed four
lay. dispatches from Europe indi-
Gated last week. The proposals be
tween Germany and the allied nations
have been made public, and reveal
differences which, it is expected. will
require some time before they are
ironed out. The manner in which
the public has received the publica-
ton of the proposals indicates that the
security plan will be successful in the
end.
Senator Robert NJ La Toilette. for
many years a leading and a stormy
figure on the battlefield of American
politics, died at his home here last
week at the age of 70. A special train
bore his body to Madison, Wis, where
ii lay in state in the Capitol where for
two terms he served as governor. The
late Senator dedicated his life to
principles which made him many enc
| mics, but which, observers declare,
I have assured him a position of promi
nence in the history of the Nation.
He was a fighter from the time he
won his first political victory as
young man in Wisconsin until his
heart failed him in his last illness
His enemies termed him a clean
fighter who lost all thought for him
self in the cause he espouSed.
An attempt TO pacify the differences
between Chinese factions and end the
friF Fn at1I
peace in the Orient failed last week
when a conference between represen-
tatives of the foreign diplomatic
corps and Chinese delegates at Pekin
were broken off because of divergent
views. Meanwhile. the situation has
been growing steadily worse. The
| nationals of several countries have
been reported stoned and attacked in
the streets. Others have taken refuge
! aboard foreign ships.
Replying to the sharp warning of
Secretary of State Kellogg a week
ago, President Gales of Mexico,
| through a newspaper statement, took
exception to the language of the Sec
retaryS statement and declared that
Mexico does not accord to any for
eign country the right to intervene in
her domestic affairs, nor Is she dis
posed to subordinate her internal rela-
tions to the exigencies of another
| country" President Gales expressed
regret that Secretary Kellogg made
mention of impending revolution in
Mexico, because 1t tends to cast some
alarm in the world
1t is the belief here that the CORE
spondence between the two republics.
which has been conducted through the
newspapers and not through the usual
diplomatic channels, will cease until
there are further developments. The
State Department, officially, will take
no notice of the Gales statement
The statement of Mr.. kellogg
aroused some resentment in Argen-
| tina, where the Latin-American Union.
over the signature of it's presid n,
declared that the attitude of the Sec
retary shows that want of respect
| for the sovereignty of our peoples
which is characteristic of the White
! House, whatsoever be the Pan-Ameri-
! cam principles which it pretends to
support regarding the legal equality
| of nations" The statement was also
| characterized by the Latin n-American
Union as "insolent imperialism.
| At it's closing session last week in
! Geneva the American delegates to the
| international conference for the con-
! troll of traffic in arms and munitions
signed the protocol outlawing poison
| gas and meteorological warfare.
| Eighteen nations signed the conven-
! ton limiting traffic in arms previously
agreed to and 81 nations signed the
| gas protocol. The arms convention
| requires export licenses or publicity
| for all shipments of arms which could
be used for warfare.
A movement to convert the birth
! p1oca of Woodrow Wilson in Saunton