The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-08-14
Capital Capers
BY GEORGE ABEL

THE state department is depleted these days
i and American diplomacy is taking a rest
from the international troubles which have late
ly made its job an arduous one.
Only State Secretary Cordell Hull and one or
two assistants remain consistently at work in
the old rocco building with its gingerbread
facade and its ancient cannon pointed menac-
ingly at some imaginary enemy.
Even Secretary Hull is taking week-ends off,
and shortly he and Mrs Hull will take real
vacation at a quiet Virginia camp-a vacation
which every one comedies is more than merlted.
Secretary Hull. more than any other cabinet
officer, has suffered uncomplainingly the tribu-
lations of Washington summer.
Undersecretary of State Phillips, who not
long ago took himself gaily away to the luxury
of his beautiful home in Beverley Farms, Mass
is now fishing languidly in the cool depths of
Lobster Lake, Me. Meanwhile, his Office is being
air-cooled, so he won't suffer from the heat even
when he returns.
Francis B. Sayre assistant secretary of state
land son-in-law Of the late Woodrow Wilson,, is
summering in Helsingfors, Finland. His next
stop is Leningrad. Russia. He writes precise,
cold letters about his voyage.
Assistant Secretary Wilbur Carr is on the
high seas en- route to Ireland to study electric
power and gaze in other than romantic fashion
at the celebrated river Shannon.
A NIABLE, twinkling Judge R. Walton Moore
N is keeping company at the state depart
ment with the other lone assistant secretary OF
state, Sumner Welles. Both Welles and Moore
are extremely busy They retire, exhausted to
spend week-ends in the surrounding countryside
Sumner at his magnificent estate at OXon Hill,
Md. and Judge Moore to his Virginia estate,
where thick grows the mint for mint juleps.
Energetic Thomas Hewes, special assistant to
the secretary of state is theoretically fishing off
Newfoundland and having according to reports
reaching his friends here) a glorious time.
Stanley Hornbeck chief of the division of far
eastern affairs has been out west and recently
returned. Jovial Michael McDermott chief of
current information, Just motored back from
Massachusetts, with information that New Eng
land has the finest swimming pool along the
Atlantic coast-a natural pool formed by the
ocean at Salem, Mass, Gust across from Mac
native town Of Peabody-please pronounce Phi
buddy').
YOUNG Vinton Chaplin, assistant to Under
i secretary Phillips, is holidaying in Maine,
as is jay Pierrepont Moffat, chief of western Eu-
ropean affairs-delight of Bar Harborites who
take four Jumps of sugar in their afternoon tea.
Jimmy Dunn. chief of protocol, ofdciated,
morning coated and correct, at funeral ceremo-
MES here for President Won Hindenburg of Ger
many Afterward he departed to relax for a
few days in Newport.
col officer. returns reluctantly from the north
shore to accompany the body Of Paul May,
deceased Belgian ambassador, to Europe, as a
, special representative Of Secretary Hull. Still a
third ceremonial one-to wit, the timld but re-
sourceful JEFF Patterson-goes soon to Breslau,
Germany to become United States consul there.
incidentally, friends expect that JEFF now
will build a schloss on the Rhine. Wherever he
goes he builds-always according to the mode
Of the country he's in
For instance he was stationed in Picking. He
remodeled an ancient Chinese temple and lived
in it. In South America he did the same with
a venerable Spanish casa. Then, returning 10
America. he constructed a Colonial home IN Co.
lonial Maryland which boasts furthermore. one
Of the few hanging stairways in this part OF the
country.
Herbert Feis, talented and tousle-haired eco
/ nomic adviser of the department. is still in Eu-
rope engaging in a series of economic confer
ences. Nobody has heard from him, and nobody
seems to know cat least. at the Department.
] just when he is getting back to the capital.