Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-09-27
Capital Sidelights
ny WILL ?. KENNEDY.

IN GkiG pAbnW&S On pNOSACOSs AA0AAA
way for the new $15,ooo,000 municipal
center In the National Capital, we find
them tearing down o historic structure
that long stood rs o monument to the
days-anteceden to agricultural and
business depression and the can-crops-
for-the- hungry drive-when Uncle
Sans free seeds produced $50, 900, 600
food value and every home could have
a vegetable and flower garden.
The seed warehouse, where the me-
chanical work of weighing the seeds,
filling the packages and mailing them
was performed was located at 3S9 Penn
sylyania avenues where nothing now re-
mains but a hole In the ground partly
Allied with broken brick and stone ano
plaster. But even before this structuLe
became the free seed warehouse Wnlcn
sent forth some 100000 packages OF
vegetable seeds and 10,O0O packases %
flower seeds to every part OF the coun-
try to make the entire United states
bloom and produce million fold, thlS
building was historic. 1t was erecteo
in 1914 and was the scene OF recep-
tons banuuetS and inaugural balls IoL
Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren, ano
Abraham Lincoln. The building mao
three floors In front and five floors IN
the rear. The second and third noors
had 20 feet Of headroom. Tne tnlro
Aoor, which was the banquet nan, wa
suspended by iron bars. This was oone
90 That there would not have 70 DC
S,,pnorting pillars from the second moor,
which was the ball room.
The President entered the ball room
nv going down q narrow winding stairs
and through q small door not more
than 5 feet in height on q stair land
inc It Il recorded that it was an In
teresting spectacle to see Andrew jack
son and Abraham Lincoln bending
their tall frames to duck through this
small doorway. In later years, when
used as the seed warehouse, the third
floor was braced from the second moor
with large timbers. During the Span
ish- American War the floor collapsed
due to the fact that In Q pace 20
by AZ feet boxes Of ammunition were
niIed without any thought OF their
weieht until about 435 tons was toe
much Of Q load and the doors fell
through.
Secretary Robert p. Lamont Of the
Department Of Commerce ana all MS
bright young assistants, who are en-
deayorinR to make America tndustrially
safe and economically prosperous FOL
the manufacturers, exporters, business
men in all lines and for theb great
American army Of workingmen, are
much surprised and elated over what
little French girl did Tor DanDury
Conn.
The oficial figures compiled by the
- ~
1,5O4,70S dozen hat bodies, TO q value
of $23,060 900 made in the United
States in 1929, Danbury factories pro-
duced Is per cent.
Now enters the snappy little French
girl. Revival In Paris OF an Onenbach
operetta of the second French empire
literally lifted that relatively small but
hat-specializing New England city out
Of the depression that Is vexing OIL
industrial and political leaders and sci
the hat factories running day and
night.
Reports that have reached the ON
cials Of the Department Of Commerce
here disclose that the popularity Of the
operetta brought into fashion the cocky
little feathef-trtmmed hats which have
been named for the Empress Eugene
Beginning In Paris, the fad spread
quickly to America, where the wide
awake hat manufacturers were quick 70
meet the demand for the modified derby
shapes of fur-felt on which milliners
could sew bright feather and whole
salers promptly deliver to besieged re-
tailers.
Why did this little French girl espe-
cially set up Danbury? The specialists
Of the Federal department point out
that 1t was because of the fact that of
ID factories in the United States equip
ped to I'LL this demand, Danbury has
10, including the largest. They ex-
plain that this country's capacity for
women's fur-felt shapes is about IL, 600
dozen day, Of which the Danbury dis
trtct produced some 10000 dozen q day.
Textile mills In New England have
also reported to the Federal specialists
that they are experiencing an improved
demand for velvet and satin fabrics.
which the specialists figure II also due
to the Empress Eugenie mode. This
Empress fashion, the nlodistes say, uses
more materials than fashions Of recent
years.
So three industrial cheers and a mill
whistle serenade for the advent of the
little French girl.
y
Pink lemonade-the "sine qua non"
OF our circus days-is going to be pre-
served for the delectation of imbibing
future generations, and not as a syn
thetic product, but pure citrus juice,
Enlistment. Uncle Sam has seen to
that.
He IL having his citrus fruit spe-
cialists make an intensive study of a
rare specimen tree found in California
Wnlcn grows pink lemons, 30 that there
may be mass production Of the raw
material Tor our future supply Of pink
lemonade.
The pink lemons were first exhibited
at the National Orange Show this year.
They came from tree in Burbank
and, as far as is known, the tree is
a bud sport, or freak, of the variegated
Eureka lemon, which was developed
from q limb variation of the Eureka
lemon discovered In 1911. There varie-
gated eureka lemon trees are grown
chiefly Tor ornamental purposes On
the pink lemon tree as the fruit ap-
proaches rtpeness 1t develops into q
decidedly pink color in the rind. flesh
and juice.
Uncle Sans bright young horticul-
time and oft before IN making two
blades OF grass grow where only one
had previously shot up and 50 It Is q
foregons conclusion that they win work
the multiplication table until there are
enough pink lemons to supply us all,
not only. on circus days, but on party
days and any old day at all-untfi the
lemon crop is "in the pink Of per-
lection"
As . start toward this pink heaven
they have taken bud wood from the
single and original pink lemon tree. in
serted 1t into sour orange seedlings
and are awaiting the result as q first
test as to whether they have hit a
method Of propagating pink lemons.
The Federal specialists only adnnission
so far is that the pink lemon Is
another illustration Of the occurrence
Of striking bud variations Ia this va
r1ety Of citrus fruit.