Illinois Valley News, Thursday. July 8, 1948 • o la '¡plomat by Roger C. Whitman S Ä idf f s a "■■“ »I1 ''jtm tjsikoa '¿ivnon Newt Analyst anil Commentator WASHINGTON.—Back in the partially-deserted capital after one and before another political convention in these days when Washington’s tiger heat drives those who are not too driven otherwise out to the mountains and beaches, I took a short ride with a friendly official who, like most of the press and radio, has to stick out a good share of the summer in the city. We passed some of the last few fine old residences and a num ber of embassies and legations. S hutters w ere draw n, orange-red paint was sm eared in a p attern I never have been able to understand on ironw ork of high picket-fences and window bars. Some windows were boarded up. "If it hadn’t been for you.” I re ­ m arked to my com panion sitting be­ side me in w hat he alludes to as ‘the taxpayer's lim ousine.' "I m ight not have been in Wash­ ington this sum ­ mer. I m ight have been loaf­ ing at a m oun­ tain- lakeside or elsew here . . . " "How so?" he inquired. "D on't you re ­ call." I asked, "th at you were a new spaperm an yourself once and, corollarily speaking, m et a lot of interesting people? 1 was one of them. T hat m eeting killed w hat 1 thought then was to be a brilliant diplom atic career.” The story begins rig h t across the street from the office I now occupy on E ighteenth street, in a fine old brick house which I saw first in the year 1914. The c a rria g e drive in front of it is blocked now by the curbing, probably because the tra f­ fic officials thought no autom obile could safely m ake the tu rn which a "spanking pair" negotiated so easily three decades ago. A sign on the lam p-post In front of the house says “no parking at any tim e.” A brass plate over one of the windows, still barred with the gracefully-curving Ironwork of another century says: ••Colum­ bus U niversity.” th e plate it r e ­ placed used to say “Form er Home of Secretary of State Lansing.” In 1914 it was some two hours after leaving that red brick house that 1 began “putting off”—(putting things off is a great a rt and one that has reached a high point of refinem ent in W ashington. 1 always have practiced it.) If I hadn't put off thqn, I m ight have become a diplom at. As it was, all 1 got was deadlines the rest of my life. It happened this way. I had just returned from an extended period in E urope w here I had been going through the motions of acquiring an education. In the process 1 acquired the am bition to become a member of the foreign service of the state departm ent. 1 planned to rise, by easy stages, on pure m erit, or course, to the position o f am bassador to the C ourt of St. Jam es. Beyond that, as a cabinet officer says following a change in adm inistration, 1 had no plans. I did have four out of five nec­ essary qualifications which I knew from experience on the Qua! d O r s a y a n d e ls e w h e r e a s s u re d a nuccensful diplom atic career. I he four which I possessed were a to p h a t, a tailcoat, striped p in ts and a pair of spats. The filth I was confident 1 could soon acquire easily since 1 had an excellent letter to the laltier-in law of the secretary of slate, who had been a secretary o( state himself and an im portant pillar of Wash­ ington society. 1 was sere that undei such auspices 1 could acquire that sine qua n o n — a wife rich •nough to keep a diplom at in the style to which he is supposed to be accustonu-d I recall that afternoon very well. 1 rang the bell to that door—well, it was a different door of course— there are four there now with brass handles worn shiny by am bitious C olum bians—but at least the door w hich that afternoon was to be my portal to a brilliant career was right there in the same frame. It opened, 1 handed the silk ixat and ebony stick to the servant and in a few moments 1 was being w arm ly greeted by a gentlem an w earing what Sam Blythe once called the most diplom atic whiskers In W ashington, John Watson Foster I saw that my striped pants and tailcoat which had just enough of a c o n tin e n ta l cut to m ake a proper Im pression, as well as the bow- from the-w aist I bad learned in B erlin, were doing th eir work and I m ade m ental note of the less u n attractiv e unattached females. So a fte r tossing off a bon mot or two. I left, feeling th at my career was slrtu a lly launched It was still fairly early, so 1 de cided to drop in a t the National Press club to which my old school­ m ate, David Law rence. had given me a guest card. As the w eather was fine. I decided I m ight as well walk and give C onnecticut avenue a chance to adm ire my distinguished stripes and tails, although tailcoats and top-hats, per se. caused very little consternation In those days. FIRST AID to the AILING HOUSE As I walked, I Idly speculated on w hat course I would take if knee- breeches were insisted upon w hen 1 was presented a t court. Meanwhile, I observed the strolling young ladies who, though probably unable to support an ambassador, were never­ theless quite as attractive as any of the better-qualified ones a t the re­ ception. I had ju st about decided not to m ake an issue of the knee-breeches thing—a fte r all I had been on the stage for a short period in my career and a couple of pairs of long stock­ ings underneath would do for my calves what nature hadn’t—when I found myself a t the club. A tall, black-haired gentlem an arose and gave me a dignified g reet­ ing. I had thought it best while I was considering my diplom atic ca­ reer to accept a tem porary position w ith the Associated Press—a posi­ tion I received a fte r some rath er tail talk on the p a rt of David L aw ­ rence and a kindly letter from S u ­ perintendent Roberts of the Paris bureau for whom I had w orked The gentlem an who greeted me a t the club was one of the staff which I was to join, assigned to the state departm ent. And he was the man I alluded to—the friendly o f f ic ia l- in the early paragraphs of this column. Right there, or shall we say in the course of an hour or two, there developed the beginning of a beautiful friendship and the be­ ginning of the end of any illusions concerning a diplom atic career. 1 applied for m em bership in the club, never w ent to another “at hom e” in the fine old brick house on E ighteenth street. From th at tim e on it has been deadlines instead of receiving lines. Although I didn't realize it at the time I really w asn't properly equip­ ped for a diplom atic c are er—my spats were black. The diplom atic w orld has not been altogether neglected in the course of m eeting deadlines, but when I entered that allegedly rom antic demesne as I still do in the course of my job, it is by way of the back door, an entrance which, I have discovered, often provides a m uch more revealing view of the su r­ roundings. Perhaps it isn't polite to refer to the chancery entrance that way, but it is certainly not the front door. As it turned out, not m any weeks a fter I had given up my dream s of becoming a M achiavelli or a M etter- nich, 1 found m yself a caller a t six or eight embassies a day—I was put on the diplom atic run because a w ar had broken out and it was q uite as im portant for belligerents and nervous neutrals to provide news from their points of view as it wa? for us to collect it. The butlers in must of the cm bassies before World War I would as soon adm it a reporter as they would a rug peddler or a scissors- grinder. It required considerable working over to bring them into line. And what a change today! The am ount of tune, money and energy expended by foreign nations in g et­ ting inform ation to the Am erican radio, press and public is one of the m ajor items on their W ashington budgets' • • • Irm lhrr Jnubonr For Stimson An old fashioned d entist thinks the R ussians have H itler's jaw. The dentist, Dr. Plaschke, says he read in a G erm an dentistry m agazine th at his form er a ssistan t, now in Ru in custody, had Identified n jaw which the R ussians w ere toy­ ing with as H itler's. Dr. P laschke claim s the a ssista n t couldn t positively identify it, but he him self feels it m ust be H itle r’s b e c a u s e the m agazine ridicules the w rk as old fashioned. Plaschke aay* he did a n old- fAshioncd job on H itler when he m ade a bridge of I t teeth In 1934. Plaschke also c laim s to have studied d entistry a t the I'n lv e r alty of P hiladelphia in 1908. Their m ethods have probably advanced tim e then, but H itler w as old fashioned about som e things. All v e can do is hope the bridge pained him. And re m e m b e r th at that jawbone, if it’s authentic, slew m ore men than the one from a sim ila r source that Sam son used when he went a fte r the Philistines • • • One of ihe features of the Re publican convention w a, ■ m am - m oth ,c a p p le breakfast. The dele­ g ates furnished the acrap STAGE"SCREEN RADIO s f l S ä S Tests of Silage Show Minute Trace in Milk F a rm e rs a re being told to use DDT dfcst o r sp ra y for control of E uropean corn borer. T his ra is e s a question. C an corn d u sted or sprayed with DDT be used for silage for beef or d a iry c attle w ithout d a n ­ ger to the anim als, or to people who Use the m ilk? T ests in W isconsin show ed th ere was a tra c e of DDT io the m ilk of dairy cows fed silage m ad e from canning factory pea vines w hich had been dusted with DDT. The am ount of DDT w as so m inute, how ever, th a t it was not considered d a n g e r­ ous. On corn, an a pplication of 30 pounds of dust (containing 5 per cent DDT) p e r a cre m ight am ount to two ounces of DDT p e r ton of sil­ age; th a t is, if all the du st stayed on the corn, which is e x tre m e ly un­ likely. E ven th a t m uch would re su lt in only about a g ra m of DDT daily in the ration of a cow or steer. DDT toxicity studies a t a p riv ate re sea rc h fa rm indicate no d a n g e r to a nim als from considerably la rg e r am ounts. E ven so, if any fa rm e r fe ars a tra c e of DDT in m ilk from silage m ade from sp ray ed o r dusted corn, he can feed the silage to steers, heifers or dry cows. Twice-Day Record With a record-sm ashing total of 1,118.8 pounds of b u tte rfat, C rest­ view T oitilla Susan, p u rebred Hol­ stein d airy cow owned by Lake- field F a rm s, C larkston, M ich., has established a new all-tim e V. 8. b u tte rfat figure for cows being m ilked tw ice daily. •‘S u san ’’ pro­ duced close to 1,400 pounds of ta ­ ble b u tte r during the y ear. Herds and Flocks FaR pigs have a d v a n ta g e s over spring litters because they a re fa r ­ rowed under m ore fav o ra b le condi­ tions. Sows and gilts h ave been on su m m er p a stu re soaking up sun­ shine during pregnancy. Iow a State college swine specialists say fall pigs usually com e stro n g er and m ore pigs a re saved. T urkey ra is e rs a re being advised now not to put baking soda or salt in drinking w ater for poults, because use of these in excessive am ounts causes a condition known as "w a te r belly.” Burn the c arc ass of every anim al (hat dies of anthrax. D on't open the c arc ass Soak it w ith kerosene, cover it w ith a load of cobs or straw , put a load of m an u re over them and set fire to the pile If possible, burn a n th ra x c a rc a sse s rig h t w here the an im al d ie,. C a stra te pigs any tim e a fte r they are a week old. A fter castra tio n , keep them on clean g ra ss pa stu re w here th ere a re no m udhnles, to r e ­ duce dan g er of lockjaw infection. C au tion U rged In F e e d in g S alt to P o u ltry F lock E x tra salt will control cannibalism for a sh o rt tim e a fte r It is added to the ra t n of chickens, according to Pennsylvania S tate college U s­ ual am ount is two teaspoons per gallon of drinking w ater. Salt should be fed only long enough to stop cannibalizing. except the sm all am ount contained In the m ash. Tbtsling larg e q u a n titie s actually harm ful. O FAR the U nited S tates has taken only a m ild in te rest in the coming O lym pic gam er to be h e ll this sum m er in London. It has been taken for g ranted th a t the U. S. will mop up again as usual. E ven m ore so this time, w ith our athletes well- fed and m ost o th er com petitors re ­ portedly underfed. So if we win, well, w hy not? The U nited States team should w in in a romp. It shouldn’t be even close. It should be no contest. T h at s the early setup. No cred it if you w in— pretty aw ful if you lose. A t the B erlin gam es in 1936. we had several talks w ith train ers and coaches and sta r athletes from o ther nations. Here was th eir verdict: “The U nited States Is a nation of acrobats—not athletes. You can't w in from 400 m e te r, and on beyond this distance. You h a v , no ru n n e r, w ith any stam ina— runners who can travel a mile and longer. “You a re m arvelous a c r o b a ts - like circus perform ers. You can sprint and pole v a u lt and hurdle. These a re all acrobatics. They m ake no dem and on stam ina or courage.” It still takes a n ath lete to ru n and jump. The answ er is th at we have won too seldom a t testing distances. We have no ru n n e rs from the m ile to the m arathon w orth naming. Once again, w e'll probably win the pole v ault—rated a feat of acro­ batics and not the w ork of an a th ­ lete by foreign nations. It is cer­ tainly on the easier side th an it is to get ready for 1,500 or 5,000 or 10,000 m eters. The U. S. has nev er been m uch Interested in stam ina—which I, even m ore im portant than speed. Speed gives out quickly. Stam ina carries you all the way through. When you sift all the angles, the United S tates h asn 't done nearly as well as our ballyhoo ex p erts have figured out the case. W ithout our Negro stars, this country would have been som ething of a joke. In place of m opping up in London, we still can be som ething of a joke —despite the w inning edge we have in food, the m ain basis of condition. We have every advantage this way. It will be interesting to see what we can do w ith it. • • • S By INEZ GERHARD his first technicolor M AKING in "Rope," Ja m es S te w a rt plays a role u n lik e the shy, bashful young m en audiences have come to expect from him. He is suave, sophisticated, a univ ersity professor w hose slight­ ly graying h a ir resem bles S tew art's own. The A lfred Hitchcock th rille r w as done in beautifully subdued color w ith a technique new to pic- Q U E S T IO N : T h ere a re fin g e r m a rk s on th e h e ad bo ard of m y bed, probably cau sed by p e rsp irin g h an d s. How can I rem ove th ese m a rk s ? A N S W E R : C lean th e su rfa ce by w ash in g w ith th ic k su d s of m ild soap, n o t ju s t th in , w a te ry soap­ suds. Follow w ith a clean, d am p cloth and ru b dry. T u rp en tin e m ay also help. If th is does n o t w ork, t r y ru b b in g th e m a rk s w ith a s c ra tc h ­ less sc o u rin g pow der and a little lig h t oil on th e ball of y o u r fin g er. Q U E S T IO N : Could you give m e a n y in fo rm a tio n on tile f.jc rln g T C an I do th e w o rk m y se lf? A N S W E R : W h a te v e r tv p e you choose, re m e m b e r th a t a so d color w ill show d ir t v ery quickly. M ottled colors s ta y clean-looking m u ch longer. I t Is p e rfe c tly possible fo r a hom e ow ner to la y tile, provided he Is h an d y w ith tools and h a s a good guide book. A n y k in d of tile m u s t be se t in th e p ro p e r "b ed ” no m a t­ t e r w h e th e r It is clay tile, a sp h a lt, ru b b e r o r a n y th in g else. ! 'tax JAMES STEWART Q U E S T IO N : S h -t I c n e n a tc h p la s te r t h a t h a s come o ff in a base­ m e n t? tures by w hich an e n tire roll of film , 950 feet, w as shot w ithout in ­ A N S W E R : If it's o rd in ary p la s­ terru p tio n . "Rope” m ay w ell be the t e r th a t Is used for living room s, i t best pictu re m ade by the famous w ould be b e st to rem ove all of I t In stead of tr y in g to p a tc h It. T h is Hitchcock. • • • ty p e of p la s te r Is affe c te d by d am p ­ P ed ro A rm edariz, said to be L atin n e ss and Is n o t intended fo r use In A m erica’i forem ost actor, has been a b a s e m e n t signed by W alter W anger for one of Q U E S T IO N : H ow can I polish the m ale sta rrin g roles in “T ulsa,” bad sc ra tc h e s off m y g lass tab le a t Eagle Lion. Susan H ayw ard and to p ? R obert P re sto n w ill co-star. A rm en- i A N S W E R : T h a t ty p e of polish­ dariz, w ho has ju st com pleted three ing can n o t be done a t hom e. I t is a p ictu res for Jo h n Ford, won the Job fo r a d e aler In p late g lass who M exican A cadem y A w ard for his h a s the equipm ent. role opposite D olores Del Rio in "The P e a rl.” • • • Absent-M inded People Young m others w ho w ant to C hicago tr a n s it rid e rs leave m ore e arn m oney m ight tak e a tip from than $500,000 w orth of goods on M ary L ansing, heard reg u larly as s tre e tc a rs , buses and elevated lines e v ery y e ar, A m erican M unicipal "Ju lie Collins" on CBS' "The association reports. One of the la r g ­ G uilding L ig h t” M ary is a spe­ est sum s e v er lost was one m illion cialist on baby w ails—learned by dollars In negotiable bonds left on listening to her own children. “ L ” tra in by a South A m erican • • • An im pressive car is usually a b an k er. M ost unusual item forgot­ te n w as a box of w hite m ice. young actress’ first purchase w hen she signs a good co n tract in H olly­ wood, b u t T eresa W right is different. In 1941 Sam uel G oldw yn took her w est for "T he L ittle Foxes.” She bought an inexpensive coupe. Since j then she has risen to stardom , won a n Academ y A w ard and established •One w orld scries w eakness is that h erself as one of the screen's b e tte r too m any slars had no chance to actresses, now sta rrin g in "E nchant­ show a t the big show. ed.” So she has bought a tw o-door Napoleon Lajoie, one of the g reat­ car and given the seven-year-old est, never was Sten in this classic. one to h e r father. And he was som ething to see, the • • • m ost graceful ballplayer th a t ever D avid N iven says th at used tea lived. And one of the gam e's g re at­ leaves, placed aro u n d the bushes, est n a tu ra l hitters. m ake roses " p re ttie r th an anything.” T he ju ic e o f a lem on in a g la s s of W alter Johnson came to his first He m ay be right, b u t m ost of us g>'t w ater, when taken first thing on a ris­ w orld series w hen he was on his b e tte r result» w ith good fertilizer! ing, is all th a t m ost people need to way over the m ystic hill. The N iven's d e p artu re from Hollywood insure prom pt, norm al elim ination. earlie r W alter Johnson w ould have is scheduled for Ju ly ; he goes to N o m o r e h o r » h l a x a t i v e s th a t irrita te joined M athew son w ith three sh u t­ E ngland to m ake "The S carlet P im ­ the digestive tr a c t and im pair n u tri­ outs. tio n ' Lemon in w ater is