Evening star., 1926-05-03

"Self-government in Business" is
to be the basic subject of the four
teenth annual meeting of the Cham
Der of Commerce Of the United States
in Washington from May 10 to 10.
The captains of trade and finance will
try to arrive at some definition of
the Governments position with re-
gard to regulation of business. the
relation between the States and the
Federal Government and local and
State taxation and budgeting. The
trend Of consolidation in American
business is also to receive extended
consideration. Names of country
wide fame figure on the list Of those
| who will tackle these big and burn
ing issues. They include Herbert
Hoover, Edwin T. Meredith. Julius II.
Barnes, Gov. Albert c. Ritchie, DR..
, julius, Klein, Fred I. Kent and John
w. OLeary. president of the national
chamber. The woes of the farmer
! will be sympathetically considered at
| the forthcoming conclave of big bust
ness. 1.-The Agricultural outlook, and
What Of the Corn Belt?" is one of the
agenda topics. Another Is entitled,
"Industry's Stake in Cooperative
Marketing"
X ~
When the Shoreham Hotel, ceIe-
brated Washington caravansary, closes
| it's doors June !, one of the Capitals
/ well known characters will auto
| matically retire from business. He's
barber named Ralph Young, who
has been cutting the hair. trimming
the whiskers and shaving the chins
of national and international digni-
taries in the basement of the Shore
ham for more than 80 years. An occa-
sional President of the United States.
several Vice Presidents. Supreme
Court justices, members of Congress
galore and q whole dynasty Of for
eign ambassadors have passed
through Young's hands. Col. Fitz-
hugh Lee, on his return from a pre-
war inspection of conditions in Cuba.
reported to Young before he saw
President Mckinley. A United
States Senator once asked Young. be-
tween latherings, for a talking-point
| in a speech the solon had to deliver
that day on the merchant marine.
"Sav that the United States is the
| biggest department store in the world
and has no delivery wagons" sug-
gested Young. The Senator did so
and made a hit.
DR.. Nicholas Murray Butler remon-
strates with this observer against the
use of the words "drys" and "wets"
to designate prohibitionists and anti
prohibitionists. The president OF
Columbia thinks the terms are
"vulgar," and meaningless. besides
The cultured leader of the modifica-
| tionists evidently is Of the opinion
that many citizens opposed to the
eighteenth amendment are, in their
personal habits, dry, and therefore
should not be called wet. There are,
Of course, thousands OF teetotalers
who are against prohibition on consti-
tutional grounds. Senator Edward l.
Edwards, Democratic wet, of New
Jersey, comes prominently within that
category. DIR. Butler is one of the
| worlds acknowledged masters OF
English. But his protest against the
use Of "drys" and "wets" probably
comes too late to purge the American
language Of them. They are bright,
| brief and breezy idioms, and are
unmistakably here to stay. Wayne
b. Wheeler, grand kleagle of the
drys, used both terms frequently dur.
ing his impassioned final plea for pro-
hibition before the Senate committee.
y u *
Washington's most celebrated prac-
| tical joker-he once welded great In
fiuence in the White House-had
| great fun the other day with dignified
member Of the World War Foreign
Debt Commission. The parsonage In
question had a weakness for high So
ciety. While one of the big debt settle
ments was before the Senate his hotel.
| room telephone rang, and voice
Stimulating that Of a certain foreign
ambassador asked IL the commissioner
| "and Madame" were free for dinner at
the embassy the following evening.
| Certainly. with pleasure, how charm
| ingv' calculated the delighted Ameri-
can debt t-negotiator. "At what hour
does your .excellency diner" he queried.
Thereupon the envoy" again in un-
! mistakably native accents, said he
would have TO phone again with that