Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1944-10-08
Fifty Years Ago

The fourth meeting Of the newly or
ganized Columbia Historical Society was
held at the home Of It's
Historical president, DR.. j. M. Toner,
Society 1445 Massachusetts avenue
NV, October /. 1894, and
The Star for the following day reported
the session at length. Marcus Baker
was the speaker of the evening and his
subject was the traditional boundaries
Of the District. In the discussion which
followed the featured address it was
disclosed that Congress sent to Mai.
L'Enfant. the original city planner Of
the Nations Capital, q check for s400
which he returned with the suggestion
that II his services were not worth more
than that. they were worth nothing"
q
A special cable from London to The
Star OF October 3. 1894, told of conflict
between the French re-
Anglo French public and Great Brit
Trouble ain. THE sudden sum-
moning of the members
OF the cabinet for q special council
tomorrow" 1t was alleged, has been
generally accepted as being CONNECTED
with some serious dificulty with France
regarding Madagascar" But an oficial
statement issued In Paris insisted that:
The relations between the two gov
ernments were never more tranquil"
~ 4.
The Star Of October 1, 1894, an
nounced that: "Ex-secretary of State
John w. Foster. who makes
Statesmen his home here, Is back from
Returns q trip around the world"
He was devoting his talents,
supposedly, to careful study Of the
printed volumes Of the Bering Sea
court Of arbitration Of which he was
one OF the representatives. Half a CEN
fury later his nephew. John Foster
Dulles. was to be adviser on interna-
tional affairs to Gov. Thomas E. Dewey
at al time when the latter was an ag-
gresstve Republican candidate for the
presidency. Such are the human links
which bind one period Of history to an
other in an endless continuity.
Whence comes the modern practice Of
military censoring OF communications
In transit between ma
Origin OF tons? One possible an
Censorship swer may be found in the
following excerpt from
the editorial page Of The Star for Octo-
Der 8. 1894: "A feature Of the Chinese
japanese war which may cause the
United States Government to arise In
its place and make a few remarks Is
that which affects the security of the
mails. Dispatches published today quote
an agent Of the Pacific Mail Steamship
Co. as saying that letters sent by officers
Of the United States cruiser Baltimore
to their families while the vessel was at
Chemulpo were inspected by the jap
anese. The letters said Mr.. Van Buren,
(the agent In question: necessarily had
to go by way Of Yokohama and the
Japanese took on themselves the privi-
lege Of opening the letters for fear they
might contain information Of nature
which might be detrimental to japanese
interests"
The Star Of october 8, 1904, reported
the passing Of the last of q great quin-
tet" Of American men Of
4 Greet letters - Oliver Wendell
Mon Goes Holmes. poet and philos-
opher, famous physician
and medical innovator. He came to his
end at IS. peacefully, quietly, calmly"
while his only surviving son, the future
beloved associate Justice who bore his
name plus "junior." sat silently by his
bed In his home In Boston. TO out
ward appearances" said dispatch from
that city, "there Is nothing about the
residence on Beacon street to indicate
that the domestic serenity within has
been ruthlessly and suddenly broken"
All that had happened was that the only
personality that could be mentioned
eQuitabiy with Emerson, Longfellow,
Whittier and Lowell was gone. reriodi-
cally, he Is rediscovered In "old IRON
sides" and ELSIE venner" and The
Breakfast Table" essays, and his inamcr-
tAlity Is assured to . degree surpassed
BY none Of his contemporaries except
Abraham Lincoln. America was very
rich in the ase to Yhich- no belonged.