Political Notes: Mar. 17, 1923

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Theoretically the best sailor of them all should be the head of the Navy Department. Secretary Denby proved himself at least as good as any. When the transport on which he was traveling to the fleet maneuvers met a heavy storm off Hatter as, the Secretary stuck to the bridge.

Claudius H. Huston, assistant Secretary of Commerce, resigned his post to become President of the World Commerce Corporation, dealing in oil, grain and other commodities. It is said he will get a raise in salary from $5,000 to $100,000.

"Which legs does a fly use to clean its middle pair?" "How many ounces of grass does a grasshopper eat in a day?" Miss Claribel R. Barnett, librarian of the Department of Agriculture, answers these questions and many like them, put by perplexed letter writers.

Pennsylvania and journalism rank high in United States diplomacy. Pennsylvania seems likely to have three ambassadors: Henry P. Fletcher is already serving at Brussels; Cyrus E. Woods has been appointed to Tokyo; Alexander P. Moore to Madrid. Journalism already has Harvey at London and Child at Rome. Moore will make a third.

Mrs. William J. Harris, wife of the Georgia Senator, recently collected $200 from the government. It was back pay due to her father, General " Joe " Wheeler, for his services as an Army officer before he joined the Confederacy in the Civil War.

During his recent illness Attorney General Daugherty gave up smoking and he does love his pipe. " I just wanted to see how much of a man I was," he told reporters. "In three weeks I'm going to be strong enough to spit in a mad dog's eye."

Cyrus H. K. Curtis, prince of publishers, is a tiny old man with white elflike fingers. His Philadelphia Public Ledger consistently supports the President, and it is rumored that he either has been, or soon will be, offered an ambassadorship. Meanwhile the erection of the Benjamin Franklin Hotel in Philadelphia is costing him $10,000,000 while he cruises on his yacht in southern waters.

Royal S. Copeland, New York's new Senator, is a doctor, a health officer, and a reformer in more ways than one. He disapproves of large girths in the Senate. "At 50," says he, " a man who is five pounds over-weight generally works at about 60% efficiency."

Francisco Paneho Villa, ex-thorn in the flesh, is listed as one of the five largest producers of grain in Mexico. He has paid American manufacturers many thousands of dollars for farm equipment used on his estate at Cunutello, Durango. And according to his country's embassy at Washington, he is piously keeping his promise to keep out of the political drama.