Evening star., 1926-05-08

! BUDAPEST NJ. jeremiah
! Smith-born, so his veracious pass
| port tells, at Dover, y. H.-came TO
/ Budapest as the agent of the League
/ of Nations and in general repre-
sentative Of the sound If old-fash
| ioned financial idea that two and two
necessarily made four, it was nat
| urally first of all necessary 10 give
him a title. It was difficult hut not
! impossible, and in the end he was
decorated for all time with the mag
nificently adequate '1nfallible One,
! Mister"
The business of Mr. Smith Of
| Dover was complex. This was the
! task to restore the finances OF a
state which had fallen a prey 10 the
| European delusion that money was
governed by astronomical rather
/ than liquid measure. He followed
the extravaSances of war, the mad
| ness of the red bolsheyist era and
/ the highly feudal monetary concep-
tions OF the post Soviet time. His was
the Job to apply the principles Of Cal
vim Coolidge to the country OF Kos
suth and all the great heroes and pa
triots of the most romantic realm on
this planet
! History tells. Budapest history.
made in the music halls. that for
many weeks and months. passing al
! most into the fixed and enduring
form of lines III Shakespeare or
"Charley's Aunt" the one joke sure
| to provoke a laugh waS-"Yes. but
what do you do?" All Budapest roared,
perhaps still lroars, at these words
in proper Magyar. But the story is
this:
! ut, A. Ur.eol;b1o 0,,o Nt;e.a,.
had seated himself for a time on the
hill from which one conqueror after
another has looked down upon the
Danube since the days when the Ro-
| man himself sat there. he bestirred
, himself and passed through many Of
fees, government offices. and inter
rogated many officials, government Of
fcials. Always. so the legend goes,
| the conversation was like this: What
do you do?" inquired Smith OF Dover.
| N. II. II am" responded the official,
with all the many courteous hand
shakes and bows and polite words.
; which are the small currency of
chairman Hungarion life, II AM"
there followed many titles, many
words, describing rank and position.
| No" responded Smith of Dover.
! who managed at least one Harvard
|
| him, withal mo, it is written on
this paper which 1 hold in my hand,
who you have the honor TO be, but
! what, | ask you, what do YOU do"
| Then, if as frequently happened the
answer was vague, there came this.
But beginning next Monday. you do
something else. not this" In word,
! the third assistant keeper of the Off
| cial roll of it-matters not-what was
fired" canned" "zincked," by Smith
| of Dover. Whereat the common
people who frequent revues in Buda-
| pest, and laugh at their betterS as
they do elsewhere, laughed and still
| laugh.
| Rut in the end a subtle revenge was
nrepared. It was written in the pro-
tocol that the "Infallible One, Mister.
| should he provided with a house to
cover him against the cold nights
| when the wind blows over the Car
pathians from Russia, and even from
| Asia. But no house was available
until in the end he was offered moth
| ing less than a wing OF the royal
| palace itself. 1t might have tempted
a less loyal son OF Dover. TINS place
| looking over the river and guarded
| by sef1tries who salute without inter
ruption, and with the Zip" which
John Pershing taught. But the lure
was hung in vain.
Consider then the sequel: For the
wise government to which Smith con
| tinues to pay allegiance ruled in its
wisdom that Americans living abroad
should pay taxes at home on the basis
Of the renting value of the premises
| which they inhabited, and had he &C.
cepted hospitality in the palace of
the Hapsburgs. temporarily absent.
! the "Infallible One, Mister" might
have been called upon to pay in pro
| portion to the renting capacity of a
building hardly smaller than Buck
ingham Palace or the Capitol At
| Washington.
X 4 X
Always as the American wanders
| through Europe, in obscure corners
little known to fame or front pages,