The Washington times., 1937-02-05

Minister Mac
White received
S3 such re-
quests. They Michael MacWhite
came from as far west as Cali
fornia, as far north as Maine and
from down south by the Ric
Grande.
Last year st. Patrick's Day fell
on Sunday. So Mr.. MacWhite
was able to accept three invita-
tions for a Saturday, Sunday anc
Monday celebration.
NMaking bright little speeches
that tell all and tell nothing is
part of the job of a foreign diplo'
mat in the United States.
The French ambassador, Andre
de Laboulaye, gave more than a
hundred addresses in the four
years of his soon-ending reign in
Washington.
Ambassador de Laboulaye says
that he looks forward to private
life in France-without speech
making.
Grover Whalen'S world fair ban
quet on Wednesday night brought
to town men who have, literally,
built up America.
One of these visiting magicians,
Richman Harold Shreve, was the
architect of the Empire State
Building, the SkyScraper that
nearly touches the stars. Mr..
Shreve is on the world fair board
of design.
1 asked him what building of all
the buildings in Washington he
would be proudest to have planned.
Which would he like to think of as
representing his own creative
imagination?
Unhesitatingly, he replied:
"The FOlger Library. It's the
most perfect thing in Washing
tOn."
I had another question-what
did Mr.. Shreve consider America s
best contribution to architecture?
He answered:
'NOt the newspapers, but the
One-family frame house. There
are thousands of them in this
country that meet the needs
comfortably and artisticaIIy of
average families. Here wood
has been utilized in house build
ing more successfully than any.
where else in the world"
Although Mr.. Shreve thinks the
public buildings in Washington
are magnificent, ne's convinced
that never again in any city will
so many massive structures be
grouped in a triangle like the one
formed by Pennsylvania and Con-
Stitution Avenues.
Smaller, more widely separated
centerS with an abundance of open
space will be the more Satisfac-
tory and beautiful arrangement.
Much as the Capitol, the White
House and the State Department
group were before they were
united by Constitution Avenue
buildings.
Getting the worlds biggest
world fair together seemed no
trouble at all to Wednesdays buoy.
ant banqueters at the MayfloWer.
The pretty ladies who came in
at the end of Grover Whalen's
dinner and heard the Big Men
talk thought the trick would be
done by magic carpets, plus magic
dollars.
Very pretty ladies, they were,
indeed. The eyes of the men
wandered often from the floor
show to the balcony. And why
not, with Madame de With, wife
OF the Netherlands Minister, Ma
dame Prochnik, wife of the Aus
trian Minister; MarqueSa SAINT
'OrsoIa, wife of the Italian Mil
itary Attache; Madame Prado,
wife Of the Secretary Of the Bra
lillian Embassy; Mrs. Lawrence
Wood Robert, jr., Mrs. Harold
Hinton, Mrs. Emory Sands and
Mrs. Charles w. Denman waving
cheerfully down.
Mrs. Pat Harrison, wife Of the
Senator from Mississippi, knows
about floods and ways of people
in flood countries. She says that
no one in the path of flood ever
thinks the water is going to over
take him. Families, warned for
dayS of their great peri1 will watch
the water creeping inch by inch
toward the river banks and levees
and be certain that it will never
oVerfloW-on them.
Mrs. Harrison has just had a
letter from her sister in a small
Mississippi town who with her
husband and children lives "be-
side the levee." Her house will be
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