Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-07-26

No professional diplomatist in WASH
ington can recall any international
transaction that was completed with
the celebrity of the Macdonald Hoover
deal" to curtail cruiser building in
Great Britain and the United States.
If q disarmament conference had
achieved such a result, merely as a
starter, after weeks or months of pre-
liminary preparations, it would have
been considered an accomplishment Of
the first water. Here is an open cove
nant, openly arrived at, II you please
to borrow Woodrow Wilson's language.
The cables bring news of the British
premier'S statement in the House of
Commons. They are laid on the Ameri-
can Presidents desk. He sends for
stenographer and dictates o counter
statement signifying American readi-
ness to match Britain'S cruiser-curtail-
ment program. In other words, there
was obtained within one space Of a
single afternoon a result which-left
to professional sailors and diplomats
probably could not have been reached
in whole season of ordinary official
exchanges. We are living in the age
of speed, indeed, and. internationally
speaking, Macdonald and Hoover seem
to be its prophets.
X y y y
Undoubtedly the high spot in Pres
ident Hoover's cruiser manifesto is the
statement that the United States and
Great Britain are proceeding on the
theory that they are henceforth to look
upon themselves as cooperating friends
and not as potential opponents. AS
soon as that principle becomes the i'm
movable bedrock Of Anglo American
relations, they will be on the way to
q permanently peaceful basis. Many
authorities In Washington, who rejoice
at the substantial progress in naval linn
have now made, regret that nothing has
yet been said about freedom Of the
seas" Until that thorny issue is
tackled and settled, bone Of possible
contention between John Bull and
Uncle Sam will continue to exist. Naval
parity" will not obliterate it, no mat
ter how many battleships or cruisers
the two navies agree to scrap. At pres
ent our views on that subject are poles
apart from British views. The conflict
between them nearly took us into the
war on Germany's side in 1914. 1915
and 1916.
For some reason which Washington
telephone officials are unable to fathom,
New York City recently opened new
exchange called 'Wickersham." The
chairman of the Hoover Law Enforce
ment Commission has no connection
with the legal department OF the Bell
system, so that can't be the reason why
ton correspondent has been thus i'm
mortalized. 'Wickersham" numbers
appear to be distributed through up
town regions of Manhattan, including
the roaring Forties."
X n y \
Mrs. Chao-Chu WI, the accomplished
wife of the Chinese Minister to the
United States, Is due in her native
country on a visit at this witching hour
of its affairs. When DR.. and Mrs. WI
left China more than a year and a
half ago, they were at the outset Of a
trip which was to have taken them
around the world and then brought
them back home. But in the course
of it DR.. WI was drafted for temporary,
then permanent, service at Washing
ton. Neither of them has in the mean
time seen the members of their rather
large family. Mrs. WI hopes during
the Summer to resume her acquaintance
| bring some Of them to the United
States when she returns to Washing
ton in the Fall. She took home with
her one thing she didn't bring here-a
fluent knowledge of English.
X y X \
John d. Rockefeller's reported pur-
chase of the Houdon bust Of George
washington In England inspires a faith
full reader Of these observations to
write an interesting fact about the
famous Houdon statue Of the first
President standing in the Virginia State
Capitol at Richmond. "It has a re-
markable human touch" the corre-
| Spondent says, "for when was there