Evening Star Newspaper, September 6, 1925, Page 52

Pass-Key 15,000 New Locks BY STERLING HEILIG. PARIS, August 25 HE Bank of France is moving into a4 vast new office building which it has erected, as a second annex for -confidential work-and the most locked-up | building in the world. In a word, the order is for 15,000 | Jocks and keys, each absolutely dif- | ferent and non-pickable in nature. vet all of the same type and size—ta the point that you canpot tell if this or that little key opens a private | drawer, a filing case or the door of room. In this confidential everything is under 1l doors, floors, windows ns, ¢ and coffers of criptions. every lock is different and by its | nature cannot be picked, responsibil- | .ity for each, of course, goes with the key. Many doors of floors, halls and rooms, like iron window shutters, etc, are unlocked in the morning, and re- | main unlocked all day. But one key is responsible for each, in the routine of things. On the other hand, there are room doors that remain always locked, like the ‘“cages” of men registering nego- tiable papers and sorting loan applica- tions. So, the private offices of direc- tor and high offic like those of | quantities of specialists. What is under lock and ke Here, do not think of payving and veceiving tellers, safe vaults, stored zold, or bank note issu Think, | yather, of classification and bookkeep ing. of conferences and reports on ions dealing with collateral nv igations of loan applications rediscounting for banks of cities It is an immense routine of bu ness secrets, explaining the sensa- tional order for 15,000 absolutely non pickable locks, each different from a the others, vet all of the same type | and size. There words, One little pass-key for the director | ys are quite current in smithing. W the 3ank of France requires is something enormously more complicated in pass keys. - - Two other pass-keys, for two other extremely high_officials, open, each, | about half the 15,000 locks. The other half remain closed to them! Then there are 125 particular pass. keys which open series of about 100 | locks each These are for chiefs of | departments—each to be master of the locks of his own service, for which he is responsible. x Xk * INALLY, the order specifies a cate- | gory of pass-keys for janitor a certain highly responsible caretake —dealing entirely with floor door hall doors, room doors, windows, etc But there are room doors, hall doors, and even windows which only their | one individual key will open—except-| ing only the little pass-key of the di rector and perhaps the two pass-key of those two high official i uch a complicated order, it is said, | vas bid on—or, in any case, followed | up—by only one contracting ‘sor-| rurier,” which does not mean exactly | locksmith, but rather “lockist,” and| applies, in this case, to a specialist who does not manufacture locks and keys, but accepts, combines and places com | plicated orders for them Why did not the Bank of France make its own combination of pass office building lock and key— | gratings, | d drop-cur- | ses, cages | ape is a reason to repeat the| | our | enoug | enters. Will Fit keys? Its officials, like the architects and building contractors, are not spe- cialists of locks: and they shrink from a_combination so technical and com- plicaited. There must be no forgetting or_overlooking, Why, then, djd not the actual lock and key. manufacturer who executes the ~arder~ make, ifs _combinations? There are very great firms, like Fichet, Fontaine; etc., capable of suggesting and drawing ‘up any. plan_as well as of filling it. ., “We may have to one_of Fontaine's chief I asked him about it work. We have 3 to make the locks and keys The Fontaine house, which makes a remarkable key, contemplates 10,- 000,000 changes. 'Thus it has been able to plot out in advance extraor- series of locks up to 10,000, 0,000 and even more, all dif- fer ach unique in the world,” erve” them, on demand, for great concerns like the Bank of France, the Credit Lyonnais, the vast and numerous buildings of the orbonne, the National Printing Office and the department store of the Galeries Lafayette and its storehouses, workshops and dependencies. Of course, such ‘“reserved” series is never likely to be attained, but nobody else gets these loc There are others. Also the average demand fs moderate, it yet,” said foremen when “But it is not responsibili ke ik REAT - hotels and adopting the system. Terminus, St. Lazare, has ictually in use. The Crillon has 350; the Palais d'Orsay, 400; the Ritz, 600; the Lutetia. 400, etc It is a “pump” key, solid, with- out a-hole to filt up and clog with dirt; and the mathematical combina- factories are The Hotel 500 locks " | tions on which it must be established permit that no lock is ever reproduc- ed a second time. Each key is unique, except for the pass-keys of each system, made on order, and known only te those concerned. In a hotel the value of such a s tem. is less, because room -keys, of necéssity, get into all kinds of hands. A clever technician in the hotel- sneak line can always take & room and copy its key while living in it. By returning to the hotel and taking different rooms, such-a profesional “rat” could finally possess himself of perfectly good keys to, let us say, all the rooms of a particular, hotel cor- ridor He would have to bé a very exper: workman to copy a Fontaine. or Fichet key. No locksmith of Paris would undertake it, by common pru- dence—he would refer you to the manufacturing firm ich work. Hotels, nevertheless, dvantage in the system. High-cl: “rats” have been pretty well wiped out; and they are the only danger. Each hotel room lock being abso- lutely non-pickable and different from all others, while all of. the same type nd size, the responsible chambermaid s given, at once, responsibility toward proprietor and gu s and a guaran- tee for herself. Suppose she have five rooms to care for. (She is, of course, aided by valets and underchambermaids.) She can enter all five rooms with her pass-key —these five rooms and no others! Passkeys are established, in such hotels, to the assignment of five or more rooms to one responsible cham. bermaid. ; So the chambermaid's responsibility is at once fixed and limited—fixed, be- cause no one else has this or that room key but the guest and herself, but limited to the particular five rooms or_more which her pass-key No other rooms concern_her! Chaplin “Steered” | Into Screen Work BY PRESTON WRIGHT. | IFTEEN years ago, in a popu- lar-priced theater in an Ohio | city, I witnessed a bit of ex- ceedingly clever pantomiming by a young and practically un- | known E: ish vaudeville artist Somehow, however, he didn’t score | as heavily as he deserved. Midwes theatergoers of the type then present | knew little of the pantomimist's ar Without the aid of rough and point- | edly spoken words they could not fully | a pstick comedy which the younsg fellow’ Two or three years went by. Pass-| ing a Wilson avenue picture house | in Chicago, my attention was caught | by placards announcing the screen ap pearance of Charlie Chaplin in “The | Champion.” Friends had declared | Chaplin to be screamingly funnv. This seemed . good chance to find if | the statement were true | It was—completely so. Through- out the film the audience roeked with | laughter. But, most interesting fact | to me, I discovered that Charlie | Chaplin was none other than the sprightly Britisher whose pantomime | had so impressed me that earlier dz in Ohio. TTHE Chatlie Chaplin of “The Champion” already was a national favorite, on the road to world-wide fame and great riches and recogni- tion as a perfect and inimitable artist. The Charlie Chaplin of “A Night in| an English Music Hall” was obscure! «nd not fully: appreciated, and rated lower as af entertainer by the par-| ticular public he served than perhaps « dozen burlesque comedians of the | time. ! What drama of life linked the un- heralded vaudevillian with the genius of the screen? Joseph M. L | methods Schenck, whose prom. inence in the amusement world has | been earned by his own varied tivities, plus the fact that he husband of Norma madge, “dis- | covered” Charlie Chaplin and was in-| rumental in his transfer from the udeville stage to the screen. chenck, as general manager the Marcus loew chain of and picture theaters, booked in an English Music Hall” for his| houses.. And when the act came to| the Loew Theater in Philadelphia he got his first glimpse of Chaplin Mack Sennett’s one-reel comedies were included in the loew programs. Schenck realized instantly that Chap- Jn would fit into the Sennett produc- tions to perfection. He hurried to his office and rushed off a telegram to Mack in California. “Think 1 have discovered man | who will be great knockabout screen comedian for you, Sennett made speedy reply. Nat- urally he wasted a chance to see the phenom in action. That was easy. “A Night in an English Music Hall” was to leave shortly fow the West and in due time would show on the Soast. Sennett would have his chance. it was in 1913, when stage sal- aries were far lower than today, and vou would think that when Sennett, seeing Chaplin and being convinced, | offered him $150 a week he would| have accepted immediately. But | Charlie, who, then as well as now, was more interested in his art than | hix pay, was doubtful. Prolonged debates between the comedian and his manager, Alfred| Reeves, followed. Chaplin, in vaude- | % the | of | | about ville, was getting $50 a week. Reeves advised him to make the jump to| motion pictures and $150 a week. Finally C rlie agreed to do so. Alfred Reeves, by the way, was the brother of Billy Reeves, an Eng- lish pantomime artist who_ came over about the same time as Chaplin. In stage pantomime they showed equal ability, although Billy Reeves went higher in the American theater than did Chaplin, advancing. in fact, to the cast of the Ziegfeld * x x % strangely enough, when Reeves also went into the pictures his art did not while Chaplin h.d | no sooner good look at himself | on the s an his natural genius reacted. He developed pantomiming | to new standards of excellence. He realized two things: First, that while on the stage every movement and every gesture must be broadly accented in order that the audience in the rear seats and the| sgalleries may get the meaning, the atches the most delicate shad- ings and renders them plainly visible in_every part of the theater. Secondly, that since all comedy in the motion pictures of that day was excessively broad and palpable the | ctor who could get effects by gentle would stand out inevitably Public of him Charles E. demand quickly made a star Moyer, now York, tells me that when Chapli came to Ame from England— where he had taken to the stage by | reason of the fact that his father, | s, sr., and his older brother, were already on it—he ved his first engagement in the Orpheum Theater at Reading, Pa. Moyer was manager of the theater and he that during the week Chaplin wished to draw $40 in ad- vance. Moyer refused, because the sum represented the young man's ry at that time. mpromised on_$20. v Chaplin can write his' check and his associgtes say that if he cared to produce more pic- tures he could make it for 25 times that amount. (Copy Mor; CarsrThan P’h’ones. of New | THERE are mnow 2,000,000 more motor cars than telephones in use in the United States, according to sta- tisties recently announced by the Western Electric Company, A census L. this cefapany shows 17,740,236 motor cars in operation, as compared | with 369,454 telephones, or 100 mn-} tor for every 86 telephones in the United States. In France the proportion is even more startling. There the latest fig- ures show 573,967 motor cars in opera- tion, compared with 524,592 telephones, or 100 motor cars to every 81 tele- phones. Two New Elements. T is reported from Berlin that Prof. | ‘Walter Nonnack has isolated two, new elements associated with thé platinum-palladium group. The atomic numbers are 43 and 75, and the names of Masurium and Rhenium have been cen to the new discoveries. It re-| mains for other workers to confirm the report bafore it is finally accepted. D. C., SEPTEMB The Hub, Seventh é’z D Sts. Store Hours,8 to 6 P.M. The Hub, Seventh & D Sts. (W\\W\‘WWWM\ N 03 Kitchen Cabine Hardwood finish; cupboard tilting flour bin top- Refrigerator Top-lift style; one shelf in roomy food chamber. A Gibson ‘make. ON CREDIT! 3 $0).65 Flower or Plant Stand Ornam e ntal . iron tripod base, . with _ removable Pay As You Earn—Convenient Terms. dro = = - 69 AR SR SRR SR SRR R S AN R S RS RN SRR AR SaS RS AR S racks for pans, etc, $24.75 o~ O B This $169 Huguenot-Finish Walnut Be Four Pieces, Including 45-inch Dresser With Large Mirror A charming suite at a price that will meet your ideas of service, quality and modern design at a low price. As shown, a semi-vanity chiffonier, bow-foot bed and dresser. Decorated panels; carefully fmshed interiors . - iao. et Wrought iron base chment paper shade complete with cord and socket L ZAAAAAATHATATATT AT THTALA TSN SH AT LTSRN LEEA LT AR NS A SRR AR NN SRS 2R SN SRR AR SRR R AR SRR AR AR A RRA SRR AR AINNNY he HUB Will Be Closed All Day Monday, Sept. 7th, Labor Day These Furniture Specials on Sale Tuesday Our grandparents had a way of “getting along.” But this is 1925, and the dwellers in apartments, bungalows or pretentious homes discover the pleasures of life in comfortable and artistic surroundings. USE YOUR CREDIT. BUY what your heart desires and Pay H PR ENRERANNNN NN ARLRLARRRALRRARAAANNNNNNN g as You Earn! e e R R e Oak=Finish A e e e T T T L S R Rock 4 ocker Wood saddle back and arms. S35 SR AN AR A N S SRS AR S Library Table French leg design; well braced with lower shelf; fitted with manu- script drawer, $Q.75 Folding Cart Strong metal ‘frame, ¥ adjustable back and foot seat; Fernery Of fiber reed, com- ol ith metal container for potted NNN A Tudor design suite of generous proportions—brimful of quality and style. Genuine walnut veneer combined with solid gumwood. Braced legs Oak Buffet Golden oak finish; made with linen drawer, two small drawers, cupboard, and mirror back. on table, four-leg-front buffet, grill-front china cabinet, double-door server Stroller Panel body, imitation food, st h and comfo: and six genuine leather-seat chairs. Reduced to : 8 leather ble. Pay As You Earn—Liberal Credit. SR S SRR R RN R R AN S AR AN S A A A S SR SRR RS RN TARAFATARAALLATTALAAAATAALALAARLARALA THLAATAI ALALAARAALRL RN NANAAN NN Overstuffed Bed-Davenport Suite A practical and zood-looking _ group, covered in velour, Armchair, rocker and bed-davenport. Spring tight Three-Piece Overstuffed . Living Room Suite Three-Piece Fiber Reed Suite— Just 4 of These We are closing out this number at a price away below actual value. Strongly made of fiber reed in the popular Baronial ° A luxuriously made group, with loose-cushion seats of the most serviceable type. ‘As pictured—a Settee, Armchair and Wing Chair. Tassel trimmed; spring foundation. Most attractively priced brown finish. Well braced legs and arms. Settee, Armchair and Rocker, as pictured.. Easy Credit Terms. Liberal Credit Terms. ‘Hammock Chair Made of hard- $1£ wood, with foot rest and arms. Special close-out, 33V Off All- Summer Goods Lawn Mower This style mower, with 12- inch cutting blades, reduced to $5.98 All Mowers WASHINGIONS GREATEST FURNITURE STORE._ CASH = Seyenth and D Sts. N.'W.,