Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-11-20
WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS
BY FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE.

Visits of foreign statesmen, like that
which Signor Grand has Just concluded
IN Washington, cannot be measured in
terms OF concrete political results
They are seldom intended to do any
thing but lay foundations. How deep
and how well such foundations are
planted depends upon the skill and per-
sonality of the man who essays the
task. Mussolini was wise in the selec-
ton OF the workman he dispatched to
the United States. His young foreign
minister proved himself a master
craftsman. II candor, charm and ca
pacity are the tools a statesman needs
when he sets cut to build international
friendships, Grandi Is well equipped to
erect walls of good will for Italy His
mastery of the English language served
him effectively in Washington. What
the immensely shrewd Laval might have
accomplished here, could he have dis
pensed with the services of interpreters,
Staggers the imagination, seeing as how
he found French sufficient for his all
conquering purposes. At Geneva in
February the full significance of Signor
Grandi'S trip to the United States will
be unfolded. That Italy and America
will march shoulder to shoulder there
Is at this hour the strongest-perhapS
the only-promise of success at the dis
armament conference.
Now that it can be told, the super
elaborate measures for the protection
OF Grandi were not of his ordering, nor
Of the Italian authorities in the United
States. Mussolinis right bower (who
may be his successor some day. faced
the foreign foe too often during the
war and lives in too exciting an atmoS-
phere in Rome all the time to harbor
any anxieties while the honored guest
OF a friendly nation. 1t was nervous
Uncle Sam who feared the possibility
of danger for Signor Grandi and de-
termined to run not the remoteSt risk
for his safety. Should harm, or even
personal embarrassment, befaH ItalyS
foreign minister while on our soil, it
would be a matter Of the ineradicable
chagrin to the United States Govern
ment. That's why every available pre-
caution will be taken, while Grand is
with us. TO see that no fly, anti-Fascis.
or otherwise, sullies the ointment of his
content over here. Secret Service Chief
Bill" Moran and Washington Police
Superintendent Happy Glassford,
having successfully done their stuff in
the National Capital, sped the parting
guest with signs Of respectful relief.
During the London Naval Conference,
Herbert F. Wright, an attache of the
American delegation and then State
Department ofaclal, was mistaken for
Signor Grand, at the Lord Mayors
dinner, and actually announced in
place of Mussolini's bearded lion. Their
same cut and color Of foliage. Last
week, when the powers that be were
bordering whether Grand should
board the Macon in New York Harbor,
be taken of at the Battery and get his
confetti welcome in Lower Broadway,
Charley Williamson, who covers the
State Department for the Associated
Press, and Mike McDermott, news chief
there, hit on q brilliant idea. Let
Herb Wright" they brain,wayed, be
driven to the City Hall alongside
Jimmie Walker. No harm could come
10 Grand, then" DR.. Wright Is now
q professor of International law at the
Catholic University in Washington.
x
The other night, while the courtly
Senator James Hamilton Lewis was TAX
ing o constitutional through the pea
cock alley of the Washington Hotel,
which he inhabits, he encountered a
charming woman OF his acquaintance.
Bowling sweet and low, in the inimitable
Jim Ham fashion, the Senator said:
Madame, what can do for you in
Washington" Quoth the dame:
Nothing, fear. Senator. You're a
Democrat"
\ y
Up in the studios Of the Columbia
Broadcasting System, whose walls are
hung with portraits OF American ana
foreign notables who speak there reglts
larry in the National Forum which CO.
lumbia conducts with The Evening STR,
there's q brand-new picture Of 0fn.