Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-06-12
WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS
BY FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE.

II anybody wants to know what Old
Man Depression has done to globe
trotting as favorite American outdoor
sport, let him scan the passport figures
available at the Department of State.
Beginning with the fiscal year 1928,
when there were 124,844 passports for
foreign travel, steady annual increase
reached its peak in the year ending
June 80, 1930-the fiscal twelvemonth
in which the economic crisis began Dur
ing that year 209,2l1 passports were
ending June 80, 1881, the Passport
Division estimates that the total will
reach 156,362. That represents a de-
| crease of about Is per cent during the
past year. A few monthly figures tell
the story graphically. In May, 1890,
1927 of Uncle Sans credentials were
given to touring taxpayers. In May,
1881, only some $4,000 were applied
for, drop of nearly so per cent.
Secretary, Stimson's passport officer is
one OF the most accomplished women
/ in the Federal service, Ruth Bielaski
Shipley, daughter of Montgomery
County, Md. who began as a clerk in
the United States Patent Office in 1908.
Senator Borah is going to Idaho in
stead Of overseas for his Summer vaca-
ton, but his able secretary, Miss Cora
Rubin, Is about to embark on the grand
tour OF Europe. She will sail on June
Is, land at Marseille, then proceed, via
Paris and Berlin, to Moscow. Before
returning in the Fall, Miss Rubin plans
to cross the Mediterranean and visit
Egypt. She has been clerk of the SEN
ate Committee on Foreign Relations
ever since Mr.. Borah took its helm in
1924. Probably no woman in the
United States has so keen an insight
into those matters beyond our shores,
In all parts OF the world, which ever
and anon require the scrutiny of the
, august body which advises and con-
Sents." In Russia Miss Rubin hopes to
quench her thirst for first-hand knowl-
edge Of the noble experiment known as
the nve-year' plan and other things
Sovietish.
Washingtoniana: The president of
the Soroptlm1scs, business women's Or
ganization, Is named Goodpasture, and
she runs a cafeteria. An F street
drug store, or rather a midday restau-
rant that passes for such, now has an
orchestra as an added attraction for
the sandwich trade. Col
Charles r. Forbes, one-time director of
the Veterans Bureau, is visitor i'll
Washington. The Assistant Attorney
General of the United States, who
prosecuted Forbes, Judge John w. H
Grim, is now practicing law in the Cap
ital, having formerly been at the New
York bar. :. A certain Latin American
diplomat, accredited to the District of
Columbia tropics, takes his Summer
vacation in his own country, not far
from the Equator, to escape Washing
ton heat.
Weird proceedings involving the name
of William r. Castle, IT,, Undersecretary
Of State, will shortly take place in the
law courts CT Toxic. They concern the
publication in an obscure Japanese
Sunday paper of gossip current in Toxic
in 1880 to the effect that Mr.. Castle
paid the editors of three leading Toxic
dailies $750,000 for printing misleading
stories about the London Naval Confer
ence. Castle was the United States
special ambassador in Japan during
the conference. In a public speech at
Toxic, Mr.. Castle dismissed the yarn
as the product of somebody's fevered
imagination. Suit has been brought by
the managing editors of the Jipi
Shimpo, the Asahi and the Nichi Nichi
in their individual capacities. They're
not after money damages, but are bent
upon forcing the Nichiyo Yukan, which
published the libel, to issue a con-
spicuous disclaimer. Admiral Kato,
who resigned as chief of the japanese
naval general STAFF on account Of the
London treaty, says he doesn't know the
source Of the Castle tale, but heard 1t
repeated by Navy men,"
X X y X
AS II New York State already didn't
have enough Democratic presidential
favorite sons for 1882 with Smith,
Roosevelt and Young, the name OF a
fourth possibility is being talked about
in washington. It is that Of Frank L..
Polk, Undersecretary of State during
the closing months Of the Wilson adj