THE, ; 
National Capital 
Events pea peg the Seat of 
By J. E. Jones 
~~ et ee 
The Breeze Bureau 
Washington, April 21, 1914 
Mexico—and the Rest of Things. 
Gee, whizz, what a rumpus we 
have been having here in Washing- 
ton! It is almost too much for even 
the seasoned ‘‘syndicate writer.’’ 
The eanal tolls question made quite 
a dent in the monotony that had 
been hovering about the Capital for 
several weeks, but when the pro- 
position to give Colombia $25,000,- 
000 as a sort of balm came chasing 
along, it was warm enough. These 
important affairs have now been 
shifted to the inside pages of daily 
newspapers, along with the all-im- 
portant details concerning the Ad- 
ministration anti-trust bills, which 
‘have come to light in the House. 
All of a sudden Mexico seems to 
have ‘‘blown up,’’ and even that 
famous headliner, Harry Thaw, who 
thas won a substantial victory in the 
federal court in New Hampshire, 
has been let down with ‘‘a stick- 
ful’’ of type. While the country 
buzzes with excitement regarding the 
latest and constantly changing con- 
ditions in reference to Mexico, the 
men in the Administration, and the 
“Members of Congress, are caution- 
ing against any action that would 
bean injustice to suffering Mexico. 
Huerta became so accustomed to in- 
sulting the United States, and “‘get- 
ting away with it’’ that he doubt- 
less was about the most surprised 
‘man on the western hemisphere 
when President Wilson pushed 
‘“‘watehful waiting’’ to the rear, 
and started steaming up our dread- 
naughts. 
In Re the Honeymoon. 
Senator O’Gorman of New York, 
‘appears to be having a hard time 
to keep step with the White House. 
Nearly every day the newspapers 
of the Metropolis are charging the 
Washington government with legis- 
lating against its great city, and 
the Sun editorially comments to the 
effect that a ‘‘crowded series of 
cumulative anti-business develop- 
ments’’ have attempted an ‘‘absurd 
curtailment”’ of the city’s banking 
territory, which it is now sought 
to follow up by ‘‘deliberately ham- 
mering’’ at New York, by prohibit- 
ing of interlocking directors in the 
‘anti-trust bill. It was reported that 
f 
NORTH SHORE BREEZE 
Senator O’Gorman found solace in 
the difficulties arising from the tolls 
and Colombia propositions, and 
facetiously predicted that ‘‘the 
Democratic honeymoon was about 
over.’’ In view of the fact that the 
second White House wedding is 
scheduled for next month the jest 
was considered personal, where- 
upon Senator O’Gorman denied 
that he ‘‘had ever said it.’’ ‘A Sen- 
atorial denial is different from other 
kinds—it is final. 
Touching the Wires. 
“As a-result of the abuse of the 
privilege of sending telegrams at 
the expense of the government, the 
United States Senate has been care- 
fully considering withdrawing this 
delightful perquisite from its own 
members. It has come to such a 
pass that a good many public men, 
who do not have to pay the bill, 
have grown into the habit of 
‘‘touching the wire’’ when the 
mails would answer just as well. 
The probability is that a maximum 
amount will be agreed upon that 
will cut down some of the profits 
around the telepraph office, at the 
Senate end of the Capitol. The 
rumpus all started last summer 
when a western Senator was discov- 
ered sending out telegrams by the 
earload, covering all sorts of politi- 
cal matters in his state. 
Our Niftiest Senator. 
The Senate’s greatest artist in 
dress is the Honorable J. Ham Lewis 
of Illinois. Mr. Lewis specializes in 
raiment, hair and interviews, and 
they all attract attention. He pos- 
sesses a beautifully trained head of 
hair, which connects at the proper 
point with a full beard that pro- 
trudes over a wider area than is 
usually alloted to common things 
like whiskers. Senator Lewis wears 
extraordinary ties, and depend on 
it that he arranges that the tip of his 
kerchief shall play peekaboo at the 
top pocket of his coat. Some of his 
rig-outs have ordinary millinery 
beaten, and are at least twenty 
years ahead of the millennium. 
The Giant of the Seas. 
Congressman Sparkman, in ask- 
ing for larger appropriations for 
rivers and harbors, called attention 
to the fact that ‘‘half a century ago 
an ocean-going vessel of more than 
300 feet was not in existence.’’ Pass- 
ing along the ‘‘vessels more than 
nine hundred feet long,’’ he com- 
mented that ‘‘the end is not yet.”’ 
The ‘‘Imperator’’ will yield its 
proud position as Queen of the Seas 
3 
next month, when its sister-ship, 
the ‘‘Vaterland’’ reaches the Ham- 
burg-American Line dock -in the 
North River. This floating palace 
is 950 feet long, 100 feet in width, 
and as in the case of the Imperator 
her hull has been constructed with 
a complete inner skin carried high 
above the water line, making her a 
ship within a ship. The owners of 
this boat say that she is ‘‘proof 
against collisions or similar acci- 
dents.’’ In this modern palace there 
has been recruited a complete fire 
department picked from German 
cities, and there are more than a 
sufficient number of life boats to 
accommodate all on board. 
One sometimes marvels at the 
great improvements in the Ameri- 
ean navy, and the old Oregon that 
brought comfort to the American 
people in the Spanish-American war, 
is now a back-number in compari- 
son to the modern dreadnaughts 
that are entertaining the Mexicans. 
But the ‘‘Vaterland’’ marks an 
epoch in shipbuilding far more im- 
portant than the growth in the 
navies of the world. Eight hun- 
dred passengers can be seated at one 
time in the dining room, and it is 
doubtful whether there is a_ hotel 
room in the United States more 
sumptuous in its parlors than the 
great public cabin, which is roofed 
with glass, uninterrupted by pillars 
or supports of any kind, and illum- 
inated by coneealed lights. So com- 
plete is this room that it is equipped 
with a theatrical stage. 
What would the Masters of Con- 
gressman Sparkman’s early hulks 
think of the modern Hamburg- 
American ship, with its four cap- 
tains and a commodore over all; 
equipped with swimming pools that 
put to shade some of those in the 
best gymnasiums; with smoking 
rooms as big as the porch of a sum- 
mer hotel; and with barber shops 
big enough for a small city. And in 
the first cabin alone there are more 
than 250 baths. 
The ‘‘Vaterland’’ is not only a 
ship rich in elegance and comfort 
for the passengers who can pay for 
the best, but its second-class cabins 
outrival the first-class of many 
trans-Atlantic liners, while the first 
eabins of the steamers of a genera- 
tion ago were inferior to the cabins 
provided for the immigrants who 
will arrive on the ‘‘Vaterland’’ the 
middle of next month. 
The highest mountain in Mon- 
tana, Granite Peak, with an altitude 
of nearly 13,000 feet, is in the Bear- 
tooth national forest. 
