Evening star., 1933-12-15
WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS
BY FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE.

President and Mrs. Roosevelt have
| just had new honors thrust upon them.
They've been admitted to the Hall of
Charm" Miss Margery Wilson of New
York. who calls herself charm ex-
pert" places F. D. R. at the head of
her nominations for the Hall with
the following citation: Because he has
shown 12O0oo,OoO frightened children
that there isn't any bogey man undo.
the bed. We think of him first as a
wise. wholesome man-afterward as
President" OF Mrs. Roosevelt Miss
Wilson says: Her honest unself-
consciousness in constructive activity
has quelled her critics. She has all
the charm of gay and vigorous bon-
fire burning up dead leaves swept up
in national housekeeping She is
charming because she clears the air Of
pomp and pretense, and is followed
because she is leader" This is the
tribute paid to Mrs Coolidge: Her
charm fingers in the atmosphere of
Washington like a Barrie wrath. She
was the simple. bright personality n
the White House for many year. She
is ever the same gracious, natural per-
SON." The President and the First Lady
are included, with Mrs. Coolidge, in
list of 1.-The 10 most charming persons
in the world today" The others are
Ed Wynn, Lady Astor, the Prince of
Wales. Emily Post, DR.. Albert Einstein,
the Queen of Siam and Benito Mussolini.
At an A. A. A. code hearing this week
a young Viking-Capt. Magnus Mag
nusson. native-born Icelander-made a
dramatic plea for men who go down to
the sea in fishing ships. Capt. Mag
nusson is owner and skipper of the Bos-
ton steamer Hekla. He came to Wash
ington to advocate higher minimum
code prices for deep-sea fish. The cap
tain held A. A. A. officials spellbound
with an account of the terrific expert
ence he and his crew of 18 recently
survived when their ship was driven by
a fierce northeast gale onto the treach-
erous bars of Sable Island, known
among mariners as the graveyard of
the Atlantic, The Hekla battled with
the clements through tempestuous
night until dawn brought calm and re-
lief. Capt. Magnusson said that if the
A. A. A. codemakers had gone through
that ordeal they wouldn't begrudge the
North Atlantic fisher folk an extra
penny cr two a pound for the cod, had
dock and halibut brought to market
from the billowy deep. The captain
called at the White House to thank
President Roosevelt for his proverbial
interest in the welfare of our Seafaring
population. The observation-disclosures
got his masters certificate after serving
as mate on American transports during
the World War.
x x x
As a contribution to current monetary
literature, the Duke Endowment has re-
printed q paper read before meeting
of members of Congress at Washington
on April II, 1876, by the late DR.. Andrew
D White, longtime president of Cor
nell University. The pamphlet is en-
titled Fiat Money Imitation in France
How It Came, What 1t Brought and
How 1t Ended" Friends of sound money
circulated DR.. Whites paper during re-
current economic crises in the United
States, and anti -infationists evidently
feel the present hour justifies the cir
culation of another edition. The orig
inal paper was prepared during the
1876 greenback craze at the request of
Gen. James A. Garfield, then an Ohio
member of the House of Representa-
tives and later President of the United
States. 1t is history of how the
French, beginning with their Revolution,
and subsequently through the ages, had
recourse to paper money In times of
economic stress, and narrates the dis
ast-ous results which ensued. as the
author says, from such folly"
y X X y
According to a lawyer constituent
of this column, mere matter of
punctuation in the 1888 banking act
regulating interbank control vitally
changes the meaning of the passage
affecting ipterlocking directorates be-
tween member banks of the Federal
Reserve system and security houses