Evening star., 1925-03-27
WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS
BY FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE.

Much of the wild country in India
and the East, over which Col. Teddy
Roosevelt plans to hunt and roam,
was traversed % years ago by Joseph
C. Grew, Undersecretary of State.
Just after leaving Harvard in 1902,
Grew started for the other side of
the world and spent more than a year
IN its jungles. His thrilling expert
ences later were embodied in a book
called Sport and Travel in the Far
East" About everything the Orient
boasts i'm the way of big game, except
elephants. was laid low in the course
Of the young Massachusetts man ex-
pedition. Tigers and bears and mark
hoors, the latter a species of large
wild goats with huge spiral horns,
were Crews principal booty. He
hunted afoot for 500 miles across the
Himalayan range in India, trayersed
the Malay Peninsula, rambled through
Johore and Cashmere, and tried his
aim in China, Australia and New
Zealand before he finally entered
diplomacy in 1904.
Reports of Benito Mussolinis grave
illness recall the condition in which
this observer found the Italian die
tator at Rome in the Summer of 1924.
The Fascist cZar was suffering from
a. midsummer cold when he received
the writer in his ornate Office in the
Paiazzo Chigi one hot day in August.
Two colored silk hankerchiefs were
in constant action for the purpose of
keeping the premier's head clear.
MussoIini was in unmistakabIe dis
tress and correspondingly bad humor.
l recalled to him that President Cool
idge, not long before, had success
fully used chlorine gas to kill an un-
seasonable cold, and suggested that
Mussolini might find relief by mobii-
izing the Italian Chemical warfare
Service. WAS your President a SOL
dier in the World War?" the premier
asked 1 said he wasn't. well,
was" the. dictator snapped back. No
more gas for me-"
y x x
David H. Blair, commissioner OF
internal revenue, made a practical
suggestion the other day at a birth
day luncheon in honor of DR.. William
Matber Lewis, president OF George
washington University. Commis-
sioner Blair said he doesn't under
stand why we celebrate only tne
birthdays of men who have departed
this life. He thought the party given
for DR.. Lewis ought to inspire men
TO get together on the. birthdays OF
| their 1TlenQS Willie lhC'h
still alive-the flowers for the Nv
ing idea in another form.
n X !. X
Nathan Hale, Revolutionary nero
--,,, no ;min ortaiized. in the new issue
sI,nited states postage stamps pres
ontlv to be placed on saae unheT the
rsyised postal rates. 1t is ha,i
cent issue In sepia. a variation Oh anc
so-called buffalo brown SHADE, Inc
,,sa Of the portrait of the 22-year -oia
aatriot whom the British invaders
Ranged in New York City was sus-
gested TO Postmaster General New oy
George Dudley Seymour, Ne"
Haven. Conn. lawyer, who has writ
ten several works on Nathan Hale
including ''Hale's Last Words De-
rived From Addison's Cato ana
.Hale's Alleged Betrayal-the Evl-
dence Examined"
Nearly everybody was surprised on
March "a to learn that Andrew w.
Mellon is 20 years old. He is the
daddy of the cabinet, although Secre-
tary Kellogg IS nearly in his class.
being, on the verge OF 69. Secretary
Weeks and Secretary Work are each
65. Dr. Jardfne, the new Secretary of
Agriculture, is the baby of the cab
met, with S. years to his credit. Sec
retary Hoover, Is approaching 81.
President Coolidge himself will be
only So on the next 4th OF July. The