Evening star., 1926-09-10

George Washingto1's home and
tomh at Mount Vernon broke all rec
ords for visitors last month. NO
fewer than $4,000 patriots. mostly OF
the automobile-touring variety, pass
ed through the turnstiles of the estate
once inhabited by the Father OF Ills
Country. That is several thousand
over the highest number ever record
ed in any month since the Mount
Vernon Ladies' Association of the
Union became the possessor of the
establishment in 1853. AS visitors pay
an admission fee of 25 cents-"a shill-
ing" is what H. II. Dodge, the vet
eran superintendent, calls it-a hand
some annual revenue Is derived for
the upkeep of the estate. Income is
devoted to no other purpose. Mr.
Dodge, who has been the custodian
for more than 40 years, gives Mount
Vernon's visitors clean bill of health
for respect and reverence. Vandal-
ism by souvenir hunters, he says,
never takes place. Not everybody
knows that it became necessary for a
private association to take over Mount
Vernon after the Federal Govern
ment and the commonwealth of Vir
ginia successfully evinced no inter-
est in preserving it as a national
shrine.
X X
The heavens around Aberdeen, Md,
and all points adjacent will reverberate
with the thunder of 16-inch guns on
October 8. The occasion of the
sham barrage will be the eighth an
nual meeting of the Army Ordnance
Association at the Aberdeen proving
ground. Guns ranging in caliber from
our gigantic coast defense weapons
to Springfield rifles will be fired off
in exhibition tests. Airplane bombs,
including the sort the American Army
was ready to drop over German towns
and cities had the war gone on a bit
longer, will also be exploded They
contain two tons Of INT. The 16-inch
guns will be shown in action, hurting
their death-dealing projectiles a dis
tance Of 30 miles. Modern anti-air-
craft guns will blaze away at targets
towed by airplanes. In the evening
there will be a series of night firings.
Soldiers and civilians from all parts
Of the country are going to Aberdeen
to witness the first hand demonstra-
ton Of Uncle Sans preparedness in
the realm Of artillery.
Senator George H. Moses has been
beaten a rival who was an outright
Coolidge man. But Moses resents be.
ing labeled an anti-Coolidge Republi-
can. One Of his proudest claims to
political fame is the patenting of the
banner 1924 campaign slogan, the bur-
den Of which was that the G.. o. P. IS
strongest asset was 1.-The calm and
cautious Christian character Of Calvin
Coolidge" Moses, as an irreconcil-
able. sees red every time the World
Court or the League Of Nations is
| mentioned, but on most administration
policies and Republican party meas
| ures he's as regular as they make
'em. One of the inside cogs of the
Coolidge machine in Washington,
Jimmy" Reynolds, has grown up
with Senator Moses. They were born
| in the same month, roomed next door
| to each other at Dartmouth, and were
graduated in the same class. They
remain bosom friends.
X y X X
There'n be a pretty race in Nevada
now between Senator Oddie, Republi-
can, and Raymond T. Baker, Demo-
| crat. Between Oddie and Baker
there's q feud that dates back to the
days when the Senator was Governor
of Nevada and Baker was warden of
| the State prison. 1t became Gov.
Oddie's painful duty to remove Baker
from the penitentiary job. and, while
they have continued to recognize each
other in Washington, there is cer-
| tain quality in their relations that can
properly be designated as a strain.