Evening star., 1936-07-05
Thousands Are on
Their Way to Europe,

Their Way to Europe.
In 1880 the passport division reached
It's peak, when 225000 passports were
issued In 1881 the number dropped
considerably, but rose again this year,
when % per cent more passports were
issued this month than in June, 1885,
Mrs. Shipley said the interesting
thing was that all classes Of travellers
we're going abroad in larger numbers,
which showed that there must be
more ready money in circulation. In
September. 1885, she made survey
of passport and citizenship work in
Europe, visiting all European ports
except the Scandinavian. Mrs. Ship
ley studied the various methods and
rules for preventing fraud in the issu-
ence of passports. the manner of
filing the information and the amount
of information kept. She was the only
woman delegate from this country to
The Hague in 1880, when the confer
ence was held for the codification of
international laws. There we're four
other woman delegates from other
countries to the conference.
One knows so little about the work
Of the passport division and its ef-
fort to accommodate its service to the
convenience of the citizens. Form
stance, there are $500 clerks of courts
who take applications; American con-
sular officers, governors of territories,
all of which are directed by Mrs. Ship
ley's division.
The State Department
Portraits.
Mrs. Shipley says there is not a
nook or corner in the State Depart
ment Building in which she is not in
terested. After 20 years there she
loves the historic side of the old place,
which is so beautiful in its .classic
architecture and decoration on the in
side, and so "monstrously homely" on
the outside. The portrait of President
Washington, by Charles Wilson Peale,
who is said to have painted the first
President from life ID times, looks
down from the walls of the Western
European division. This portrait was
purchased when John Quincy Adams
was Secretary of State, and the tradi-
ton is that it was enthusiastically
praised by the officials who still re-
membered Washington. They would
be sadly disappointed if they could see
1t now. In 1910 it was repaired and
cleaned by process that must have
been very bad, for now it does no credit
10 the artist.
The portraits of former Secretaries
scattered throughout the department
are not all works of art, but time has
kindly softened and mellowed some of
the canvaseS. The portrait of Henry
Clay by Edward Dalton Marchant, and
that of John Quincy Adams by Jean
Baptiste Adolphe Gilbert, were said by
the some time Secretary of State, James
G. Blaine, "* the best that have
ever been seen in the department. :"
The portrait of Hamilton Fish, Secre-
tary in 1869, Is not unlike his descend
ant. Representative Hamilton Fish.
Discovery of State Department
Catalogue of Art.
On one of her still hunts for some
historical bit of information which
she had come across in her division
and wished to verify, Mrs Shipley
discovered a most interesting des-
criptive catalogue of the collection of
portraits in the department. Mr.. Adee
had told her the two Healy portraits
of Daniel Webster and Lord Ash
burton, which had always hung side by
side above the fireplace in the diplo-
matte anti-rocm-where ambassadors
and statesmen cool their heels while
waiting to be ushered into the presence
of the Secretary-must always remain
in that position, as it was a sacred
tradition of the department. 1t was
the two portraits which caused the
treasure hunt for more information