Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-12-20

can't resist visiting the old ship. he
spent a lot of time renewing ac.
quaintance with familiar haunts in
both the departments of War and
State. Root will be SO years old in
February, but had difficulty in max.
ing, some of his former departmental
associates believe it. Some of them
aver he doesn't look a day over 60.
me New York lawyer says that free
dom from worry Is what's enabling
him to age gracefully. Anxiety while
secretary of War, a post he design.
ed. piled more years on him, Root
says, than anything he ever tackled,
and he claims to have relinuuished
the Secretaryship of State amid pro
found relief that grave responsibility
was. at length, a thing of the past.
II X r y
Marion de Vries, former presiding
Judge of the United States Court of
Customs Appeals at Washington,
never takes constitutional down
Pennsylvania avenue without looking
wistfully at the Howard House, cor
ner of Sixth street, one of the Capt
tails landmarks. De Vries and his
brother, freshly graduated from the
University of Michigan in 1883. came
to visit Washington. 1t was the day
of four-wheel cabs and colored cab
bies. The old railroad station near
Pennsylvania avenue was the one at
which the brothers De Vries arrived
at night. They asked q venerable
cabby to recommend a hotel. He
spoke up for the Howard House.
"How muchll it cost to take us
there?" Marion asked. Bout $3.50,
boss" the dusky charioteer replied.
The brothers hoped in. They drove
around many corners and were finally
deposited at the Howard House. Next
morning, when they looked out of
their hotel window, they saw that the
depot was just across the way, about
100 yards. Judge de Vries is a great
fiscal expert. He is credited with au-
thorship of the flexible-tariff section
Of the Fordney- McCumber act. He
practices law. in Washington now.
The name Of a Coolidge from Mas.
sachusetts-Julia Coolidge of Brook
line-fgures as defendant in a tax
suit just brought by the Department
Of Justice on behalf of the internal
revenue commissioner. The lady died
in 1921, and the Treasury Is trying to
recover from her executors the sum
of $36,799. They made return for
Federal estate tax purposes, but did
not include the value Of certain prop
erty which the decedent in her life
time had conveyed to trustees and
certain other property which she had
conveyed to her children. The lower
courts decided an initial action in the
executors favor, but the Treasury is
now taking the case to the Supreme
Court on the ground that the decision
was Sin error" The issue at stake
involves important provisions of the
revenue law. from a constitutional
standpoint.
Ireland's army band may visit the
United States next year, according to
Michael E. HennesSy, sagaciOus po-
litical writer of the Boston Globe.
Mike" visited the ancestral heath in
Erin a few months ago. Among the
honors showered upon him by Presi-
dent Cosgrave was a special concert
by Army Band No. l." The organi-
Zation is conducted by Capt. Brassee,
a German turned Irishman, and who
formerly led the crack band of sthe
Kaiser's army at Potsdam. Hennessy
SAYS that the combination of a Prus-
sian leader and Gaelic musicians has
resulted in an ensemble without its
superior in Europe. The Bostonian
had expected that Brassee's band
would blare out for him a program
consisting mainly of 1.-THE Wearin' O.
the Green" THE Harp That Once
Through Tara's Halls" and est. Pat
rick's Day in the Mornin'." But, in
stead, it concentrated on the classics.
Mike was asked to make speech
to the melody men in green. He told
them how an American bandsman,
who once played the cornet in a coun-
try town, became President Of the
United States-WarrenrG. Harding.
tCopyright. 1hos)