Evening Star Newspaper, September 9, 1928, Page 85

THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, SEPTEMBER 9, ‘]928—PART T 3 Washington Archers Hunt Wild Game With Bows and Arrows BY GENE DAY. F any motion picture company se- lected the environs of our National Capital as the setting for some new ] movie entitled “When Archery Was in Flower,” there would be no dearth of local bowmen and lady arch- ers for such production. The first weapons used in the latitude | of the District of Columbia—bows of yew and arrows of birch—are again gaining popularity. If you doubt this, stroll through the grounds of the Bmithsonian Institution late in the af- | ternoon, any Tuesday or Thursday and you will see there the modern represent- atives of the ancient art of archery wyring with one another in target- sncoting contests. In the historic days when a subsidiary detachment from the notable John Bmith expedition, established at James- towh, Va., came up the Potomac and Janded in tite vicinity of what now is Georgetown the voyagers saw a great herd of curious, humpbacked cattle grazing in a valley. Even as they wat~bed, they observed friendly redskins stalking tho bison, seeking to ge* close enough so tirat they could shoot stone- barbed arrows at them Today not far removed from where the Indians, aboriginal inhabitants of the District of Columbia, shot buffalo, deer and bear with homespun bows and handmade arrows modern sportsmen fell rabbits, squirrels and other small life of Maryland, Virginia and District of Columbia woodlands with similar weapons. Archery as a means of amusement has more followers than ever before around Washington. The records of the director of Public Buildings and Public Parks show that more than 400 archers have used the grounds reserved for that purpcse near the Weshingron Monument. on the Mall near the Smithsonian Institute and in Rock Creek Park during the current $c2con. Practically 21l the leading ¢icis' schocls around Washington fea- arch>ry as one of their worthwhile sports. The young ladies are taught hew to handle bows and arrows, and some of them have acquired marked wroficiency in the pleasurable pastime. Central High School has a girls’ archery club, while some of the girl stadents at Maryland and George ‘Washington universities have taken up th.s venerable diversion. Members of lecit Girl Scout and Campfire Girl | troops are also interested in bow and | arruw thooting. | * ¥ % “.‘{E rowomac Archers,” the lead- 11g organization of its kind in ‘Woashington at present, has the larg- est memborship roster since its re- vival some years ago. Originally this club was formed in 1879, as a result of a certain Army officer and several Gov- emmeat scientists becoming interested in the sporct. Col. Join T. Pickett, the officer in question, happened to bs walking one day along a corridor in the United States Patent Office when he noticed several friends—patent examiners— arguing vigorously about bow and some arrows which one of them held. Col. Pickett, who was an amateur archer of considerable experience and skill, stopped a1 ° joined in the rather heated discussion. Capt. Bartlett, one of the patent ex- aminers, had received the primitive weapons from a Western inventor, who had submitted documentary data with the models and requested patent pro tection on that particular type of raw- hide-backed bow. Col. Pickett showed Capt. Bartlet” and his associates how to hold the bow, string the arrow and take the proper stance for a long-flight shot. Eventually he invited the group to his home lawn, where he set up a straw tarzet and taught them the rudiments of bow and arrow shooting. The notab’e Potomac Archers organ- {zed in 1879 was the logical outgrowth of that elementary archery practice, As time passed Capt. Bartlett, in par- ticular, became an enthusiastic bowman, and ultimately interested his close as- sociate and colleague, L. W. Maxson of ths Patent Office, in the time. Maxson, a m2n of powerful physique, 8 former oarsman at Yale University, develeped into a most proficient archer. From those early days until the present not another archer in the District has acquired such r-markable skill in the ancient art. The former athlete by hard practice and natural ability bscame 50 adept that finally he won the Amer- ican archery championship. His flight shot, free style. of 200 yards, made in 1831, was not surpassed until 1924, when the record was raised to 304 yards. Last Winter Howard Hill, archery pro- fecsional of Opa Locka, Florida, in- | | vards in a regulation state tournament. Mr. Maxson won the American archery championship 17 times during as many | years. Bicycling's bid for popularity and the rising interest in tennis, which swamped | the District sport calendar during Theo- | dore Roosevelt's first administration, I shunted archery into temporary obliv- jon. The Potomac Archers went to seed as a local amusement organization. This seed did not germinate and flower again for a half decade. Then the organiza- tion was revived. It has enjoyed ever- increasing popularity from then until now. It aspires to outstanding poten- tialities. Scan the roster of the current Poto- mac Archers and you will note that its membership is recruited from the arts, | science, business, commerce and indus- try. Sportsmen in general, and nim rods in particular, react enthusiasiic- | ally to the thrills of archery, once they | have shaken hands with this scientific | sport, which is exciting enough to at- tract the young and not tco violent for the aged. | | e }MANY of the Potomac Archers are 1 not content to confine their | marksmanship to ornate targets made | of rye straw. When the leaves are turn- ing and the zest of autumnal tempera- tures puts renewed life into the Sum- mer- sick residents of Washington, these bowmen pack their archery para- phernalia and lunch kits in their auto- mobiles and speed to highland and lo land of the timbered districts of near- by Virginia and Maryland, where they hunt rabbits, squirrels, foxes, bobcats and whatsoever bird life may be shot legally. With the same avidity with which Washington’s army of amateur sharpshooters begins to spill lead with the advent of the opsn gunning season in these parts, the archers take to field and forest in quest of game scalps. | The archers use heavier, barb-edged, metal-tipped arrows for hunting than those which they employ in target chooting. Where such wild game as bears, panthers, wildcats or mountain lions are sought bows of stronger pull are also used. For a number of the Washington archers are not _satisfied | with the bags of small game obtainable in these parts, and are venturing far afield into the untamed wilderness of the Dismal Swamp, amidst the tree- crowned highlands of the Adirondacks, to that homing heath of modern hunt- ing, northern Maine, and to the Great Smokies. The Shenandoah National Forest, some 100 miles from our Nation- al Capital, also offers shots at occasion- al wild turkeys, a few bears, wildcats and deer. V. A. Sisler, jr., secretary and treas- urer of the Potomac Archers, and Hugh Moffet, jr., two of the best bowmen in Washington, recently inaugurated the current shooting season by an unherald- ed trip after bears to the Dismal Swamp. This duo of dauntless archers is the second to brave the dangers of Virginia's largest unmapped wilder- ness, armed only with bows and ar- rows, in quest of Bruin. They were the first archers to attempt bear “still hunting” in the expansive, desolate swampland which covers an area of some 1,500 square miles. A pair of adventurous archers from Norfolk preceded them by several months into the Dismal Swamp. These Virginians, however, were hunting with dogs. They eventually treed a big black bear, but were denied the oppor- tunity of bending bows against Bruin, because that wily animal sought refuge in a hole high up in the tree trunk and refused to come out before dark. Hunters and naturalists familiar with the Dismal Swamp estimate that approximately 10,000 black bears still roam that waterlogged wilderness. ‘Which explains why hunters from all parts of the East and South visit that shooting paradise each Fall in search of big game. The bears range in size from 150 to 950 pounds, indicating that certain features of the ertswhile wild and woolly West are closer to Wash- ington than most of us suppose. In addition to choice bear steaks for hungry hunters, the Dismal Swamp offers a variety of moving targets, such as panthers, wild cats, bobcats, Vir- ginia deer, rabbits, squirrels, muskrats, beavers, wild turkeys, herons, cranes and eagles. Archers are more certain Target-Shooting Matches Are Tame Compared With Hunting Trips After Bear in the Dismal Swamp, Great Smokies and ) hobby, the two archers finally made & | target and began to practice once & week on the Mall near the Smithsonian Institution—the same plot used by the original Potomac Archers and reserved Adirondacks—Championships Which Are Credited to the Capital. HUGH MOFFAT, JR.. SHOOTING AT A BEAR WIiH His bOw \ WD ARZOW 1N THE DISMAL SWAMP, hunt with dogs, as this matter of stalk- ing large game in that internetted wilderness necessitates a mastery of woodcraft possessed usually only by an creased the flight shooting mark to 391 of a full game bag each day if they Indian or professional hunter. Messrs. Sisler and Moffett were un- “Hnd with the aid of trained hounds. able to bring home the bacon—or rather the bear—because of very un- favorable weather and their attempts to stalk Bruin instead of hunting his They saw only one bear—a big fellow —but he was on the oppesite side of a picturesque lake and out of accurate archery range. These archers ‘motored from Wash- ington to Portsmouth and proceeded thence by motor boat to Lake Drum- mond, where they had headquarters during their five-day hunting trip at by | purpose. the Government for that express Other archers became inter- ested in th> target-shooting contests. | the only house and hunting camp in that neighborhood. | Hunters are not permitted to camp in the Dismal Swamp during _th> Summer and Fall fire season. This rule caused a change in plans on the | part of the Potomac Archers, who had | intended to worm and cut their way in a canoe into ths most remote jungl of that historic Old Dominion swamp. The fact that they could make only | short daily excursions into the wildes | ness militated against their meeting one of the bear family. The difficulty of travel by boat or canoe in the Dismal Swamp is illus- | | trated by the fact that these bowmen | spent four hours one day in cutting a passage for their canoe that was only | cne mile in length. | | * %ok ok | JF vou go hunting in the Dismal | © Swamp country wear high leather boots ag armor against snake bites | That unsurveyed marsh country, where Dred Scott found a harbor of refuge | | decades ago, has its full allotment of | reptiles. Water moccasins predominate, | with plenty of rattlesnakes also on the job in the higher and drier districts. | | water in that uninhabited tract. | lake water, although black as aft: dinner coffee, is pure and palatable. From the headlands and hinterlands | of the Dismal Swamp to the highlands of New York and the forested hunting grounds of Maine extends the “game | preserve” where Potomac archers com- pete against the craft and cunning of the wild animal denizens. | Maj. H. H. Stickney of the Corps of | Engineers, U. S. Army, plans a hunt- ‘mg trip with archery equipment this Autumn in the Adirondacks after deer. Maj. Stickney is an experienced deer hunter, having a record of more than 1125 scalps during his many years of | hunting in the New York mountains. | He is an expert shot with the hunting | rifle, but the current trip will be the | first that he has essayed with bow and arrows. As he is one of the most pro- ficient of the Potomac Archers, the [cham:es are that he will bag the legal limit of deer during the coming excut- sion. | Within the year, W. H. Willner, an- | other archer-nimrod of the local bow club, intends to visit the Northern wilds of Maine in quest of deer, bear, moose or whatsoever other species of game life chance to cross his path. Mr. Willner plans a canoe trip through the virgin stretches of “our most norther- ly State. A mighty bow arnd heavy hunting arrows will be the only weapons which he will carry. W. W. Diehl, vice president of the Potomac Archers, has mapped out the most interesting vacation trip for the | Thanksgiving holidays as yet scheduled |on the engagement books of Washing- | tonians. Mr. Diehl intends to visit the timbered crests and valleys of the Great | Smokies in northern Georgia, where one of our newest national parks will ultimately be located. It may be that two other Potomac archers—Messrs. | Willner and Sisler— will accompany Mr. Diehl on this hunting jaunt in one of the Southland's best gunning areas. ‘These nimrods, however, will go gun- | ning with bows and arrows instead of high-powered rifles and shotguns. | Bears, deer, wildcats and wild turkeys will be their quarry. W. O. Robinson, of the Potomac Archers, a sterling archer, has done some hunting with bow and arrows in northern Virginia. He has bagged sev- cral rabbits on the hoof and a crow m the wing. These conquests required ;00d marksmanship, as you will readi- v admit. if you know anything about rchery hunting. Mr. Robinson's spare- ime hobby is the making of fine bows of yew, lancewood. osage orange and lemonwood, and carefully balanced ar- rows of birch and spruce. Credit for the revival of the Potomac Archers several years ago is due to Paul Garber, aeronautical expert of the Smithsonian Institute, and J. G. Pratt, a Government photographer. Previous to their acquaintance, these amateur archers practiced bowman- ship on their home lawns for diversion N AUL GARBER took up bowmanship during his youth, v * ok % troop cought the merit badgs which that or- ganization awards to its accredited archers who pass the rigid shooting tests. Mr. Garber failed to win the coveted emblem as a boy. but several vears ago, in the capacity of scout- master for a District troop, he estab- lished an excellent record in archery. A Manumuskin Indian of a once famous New Jersey tribe taught Paul Garber how to handie bow and arrows. 1t so happened that a cousin of Mr. Garber's owned a large New Jersey farm, where the late Buffalo Bill (Col. W. F. Coddy) stored considerable equip- ment during the eastern visit of his wild west show. The venerable Manu- muskin warrior was left as guardian of the equipment during a certain Summer | when young Garber visited at the farm. The red man made several bows and arrows and taught the youthful Wash- ingtonian how to shoot. Eventually the lad acquired suficient skill so that he surpassed his teacher in target shooting. This was because the Indian, typify- ing the archery ability of his race, shot from instinct, while his pupil gained scientific skill from practice and repe- tition of bowmanship métions. W. J. Ghent, a Washingion_author. current president of the Potomac Archers, was a member of the original organization which ranks as ene of the oldest clubs in the United Staf United Bowmen of Philadelphia, course, antedates the Potomac Archers, as it was founded several years befor the Mexican war. Mr. Ghent, an a« complished archer, has been interested actively in the ancient sport for many years. He speaks entertainingly about the bygone days when Col. Robert Wil- liams, jr.; D. F. McGowan, C. E. Mc- Nabb, E. Clement, F. 8. Sudworth and A. B. Casselman ranked among the leading archers of the District of Co- lumbia. Mr. Clement still preserves the historical yew bow which L. W. Maxson used in winning many American arch- | ery championships. Several years ago Stewart Edward White, Arthur Young and S. T. Pope of California voyaged to Africa on the most epochal excursion after wild game in the annals of modern archery. This trio of American sportsmen turned back the pages of history a couple of cen- turies by using bows and arrows as their dependable weapons in strife with the kings and queens of jungleland. During the five months’ journey they shot many gnus, antelopes, lions, leopards and the miscellany of beasts which wander wild on that continent. Arthur Young scored one of the arch- ery triumphs of the expedition, when he killed an antelope at a distance of 150 yards. This was a feat in bow- manship worthy of such an eminent ancient archer as Robinhood himseif. W. W. Diehl of the Potomac Archers has demonstrated that there are even today new and extraordinary uses for archery skill, despite the fact that the sport has been popular for some 30 centuries. One late afternoon, when Mr. Diehl was on his way to archery practice, he noticed a small crowd grouped on the Mall, watching what looked like two columns of smoke spiraling skyward from one of the lin- den trees. He identified the apparent smoke column as swarms of very small insects, which were circling above the tree top. some 90 feet from the ground. The Government scientist, desirous of securing specimens of the unusual in- sects, thought of the clever expedient of smearing glue on the feathers of several arrows previous to shooting at the swarm. He retired hastily to his office, prepared the “snare” arrows, and then returned in time to test his markman- ship in a unique way. Finally he was successful in shooting an arrow througi the swarm so that several of the insect mites stuck fast on the sticky feathers National entomologists classified th> specimens the following day as un- identified gnats. The use of the bow and arrow for obtaining specimens of insects that swarm in or near tree tops proved 8o practical that Smithsonian scientisis intend to repeat the “stunt” in future attempts to catch insect specimens which are shy of all baits and snares, and hence never previously have been and pleasure. Learning of their mutual collected. Farmer Wins Throne, Shines in Diplomacy, Modernizes Nation BY HIRAM MOTHERWELL. FTER clearing away four emper- scare reigning princes and dukes as a result of the World War, Europe is about to recognize a By “universal petition” of his people and by acclamation of his Parliament, Ahmed Bey Zogu, President of Albania, in‘o a monarchy and has assumed the throne. The chief European governments have ors, seven kings and some two- new monarch. has transformed the Albanian Republic diplomatically agreed to the creation of the new royal house, sorely needed to | provide brides and bridegrooms for the future younger generation of the rela- tively few remaining reigning dynasties. Credible rumor assigns to the new King as bride the little Princess Gio- vanna, daughter of the King of Italy (if the former can manage by royal fiat to disentangle himself from his present engagement). In any case, the personality of this new Horatio Alger hero, who rose from mountaineer farm boy to a kingly throne at the age of 34, is one to provide new excitement for jaded Europe. A few score miles back from Scutari on the Adriatic Sea, you come into the mountains of Mati, one of the most inaccessible portions of the Balkan Pen- insula. Every half mile or so, on one Scorning Turkish law and bureau- crats, these mountaineers govern tneir lives according to the ancient traditional folk law, the sacred code of Lek. He who is injured has a right to exact a similar injury from the offender. If one is killed, his brothers and sons to the last made relative are obliged to exact vengeance upon the family of the of- fender, which must reply in kind, until after years ot guerrilla warfare the feud is ended with a besa, or truce. These Mati mountaineers, the hard- iest of all in Albania, carry rifles as we carry wrist watches. They say they can | kill at a thousand yards, and too often | they do. They can march endless dis- | tances in heat or cold, unshod or with feet wrapped in burlap. Bravest and hardiest of the men of the Mati is their feudal lord, Ahmed the Hawk. When I went to meet nim in the presidential palace in Tirana, I ex- pected a kind of mountaineer Attila, or at least a barbarous version of Mus- | solini. Instead, sitting behind a clean desk was a slender, supple young man with blond hair and short, silky mus- tache, clad in best suit, necktie and collar immaculate, trousers unostenta- tiously pressed. Exactly like so many young men whom I saw at Ciro’s tea dances the week before. His voice was soft, almost timid. Then I looked into his eyes for a hint of the dashing | of the jagged hills, you will see a small | square house of rough stone and plaster | foundation and flimsy wood superstruc- | ture, an affair of two or three rooms, | or perhaps one, the dwelling of a peas- | ant family But once in a while you will come | upon a big, long house, built in much the same way, only more substantially. | Its basement offers shelter for the sheep | and cattle and (if the inhabitants hap- | E0oties may contain Rail & dozen rooms, | He had designed & spienald parade unl- Which are ample for the housing of the { form for himself of white broadcloth, Jord of the estate. his wife of wives, his | trimmed with ever s rmfl; x;d,n;«};:;et children, their wives and children, un- | 2nd black braid, and a tall round hef attached uncles, aunts, brothers and | With a two-foot D‘“m',“;‘“%}:hfl;“:‘ sisters of the lord, and a goodly number _ Since that time his wardrobe bas 80| of guests. If the estate is a rich one, + cumulated enormously. He has ordere the house may contain two or thres’ DOt only a new crown from the Iallan beds, of which one is for the master, Official crown maker in Milan, but a| and one for the honored guest—or as §old saber, zold‘enksp*urs; and a scepter. many honore W | into it ST AHMED ZOGU is not modest. He Such a house was the ancestral home was _undecided whether to call of his royal highness, Ahmed Bey | himself Zogu I or Scanderbeg IIIL Zogu. There is nothing surprising in | That illustrious name was that of one this. Over across the mourtains in | of the real heroes of the secular strug- Nish, Constantine the Great was born gle between the Christian west and the in a tavern where his mother was bar- | Mohammedan east. Scanderbeg I block- maid. And a bare hundred miles to the | ed the Turkish advance northward for =orth stands the four-room stone hut ! full 25 years and was called by the the one on the left next to the pigsty) | Pope “Defender of the faith.” ! in which was born his late royal high- | Mussolini, who has been engineering ness, Nicholas, King of Montenegro and Ahmed's royal career, doubtless was father-in-law of the King of Italy. pleased when consideration was given * ok % x Scanderbeg’s name. It is that of one 7HE Mati is a true tragment of an- who was an ally of Italy in resisting in- cient feudal Europe, whose social | vasion from the East. And, besides, evolution was stopped dead by the Turk | when Scanderbeg died he bequeathed and has never changed. Ahmed Zogu's ' all of Albania to the Italians. father was a bey—which simply implies | There is more than a superficial big landowner, although if you choose | parallel between the old Scanderbeg to call a bey a prince he won't object. (and Ahmed Zogu. At the age of 9 mountaineer. The eyes said nothing: | they were, I thought, full of the gull(‘i of the East. They reassured me that I} was not in Paris, but still in the Balkans. The mountaineer was already mak- ing his social career toward the throne. He had abandoned the red fez for the gray felt hat. On his coins and postage | Stamps were his head wreathed in ivy and his initials below, like Napoleon's. own country. By a curfous coinci- dence, according to the Ahmed legend, Ahmed Zogu was sent at exactly the same age to Constantinople by a jealous but cowardly older brother, and es- caped by the outbreak of the first Balkan war, at great peril to himself, to bring courage and leadership to the {:net“ l(é! the Mati, although he was then ut 16, The men of the Mati were willing, under a worthy leader, to take on any- body, Turk, Serb or Montenegrin, in order to keep invaders out of their mountains. And they made a clean job of it—partly, perhaps, because there was nothing in particular which the in- vader coveted in those mountains. When the tribes met in April, 1920, to make plans for expelling the Italian army of occupation, Ahmed the Hawk was there with his devoted tribssmen. The work was efficiently done, so far as a guerrilla army could do it, and inter- national politics did the rest, keeping Italian, Serb and Greek alike out of Albania and permitting the entrance of the infant country into the League of Nations. Ahmed Zogu emerged now as one of the outstanding figures in the new gov- ernment, A man who can command the absolute and undeviating allegiance of 300 fearless fighters and straight shoot- ers can get his price in Albanian poli- tics. Besides, this rich landlord, ca- pable of maintaining perfect feudal or- der in his own domain, was the ideal type of old Albanian that the feudal beys cherished. Against them were ranged the far more numerous city mer- chants, coastal tradesmen, oppressed peasants and young intellectuals. It is this cleavage that has been at the bottom of all the Albanian revolu- tions since 1920. Once when Ahmed was minister the city folk gathered their barefoot legions and marched on Tirana. All the rest of the cabinet fled, but Ahmed stayed at his post until the reactionary army from Elbassan arrived in the nick of time to save the capital. On another occasion a group of poli- ticians, who had managed to buy up the Albanian army with promises, seem- ed fairly in power, and the cafes were buzzing with local politicians preparing to make their deals with the new government. Suddenly, all unan- nounced, the men of the Mati arrived, Ahmend at their head. No one wanted to try conclusions with these 300 feudal zealots. Ahmend walked into the minis- terial palace. The local politicians changed their minds once more, and all The relation of the peasant to the local | the Prince of Kruja was sent as hostage bey is strictly (eufil in law and in'to the Turkish court, from avhose serv- spirit. ice he eventually escaped to: serve his was quiet. But the struggle between reactionary and democrat, landowner and shop- EUROPE'S NEWEST MO! THE LADDER FROM A FARM BOY. RCH, AHMED ZOGU, WHO CLIMBED From a drawing made by Marcel Maurel. keeper, between the old Albania and the new, became more bitter. At the head of the rebels was the stocky black- bearded priest, Bishop Fan Noli, head of the Albanian Orthodox Christian { Church. Fan Noli had been educated at Har- vard; Ahmed, at Constantinople. It was Harvard against Constantinople, and Harvard hadn't a chance. Harvard believed in democracy, and voting, and popular representation, and liberty, and the League of Nations., Constantinople trusted no man and omdy two things— guns and money. In June, 1924, Fan Noli's thousancs; from the cities and the coast over- whelmed the reactionaries of Elbassan and the Mati For he lacked two things. straight to Belgrade to get During the six months’ exile, Byzan- | tine wiliness was bullding Ahmed put up no fight And he wen! them. a govern- ment, while the nominal government, nourished only on democracy and -vot- Ing and high-minded Harvard principles | It is a charming ancient Mahometan (and well paid bodyguard: second, upon starved | village of some 5,000 inhabitants—with | the devotion of his feudal tribes: of government, was bein Ahmed was in touch with Serb, Italian | and British diplomats—and He was willing to behind whi willing to promise. he was to Ttaly. Ahmed Bey Zogu, Feudal Head of Ancient Tribe, Comes Into Leadership of Albania, Plans Royal Marriage and Appears Before World as Protege of Mussolini—Creates Cosmopolitan City. promise anything, everything. It has been asserted in responsible quarters that he promised all the oil in Albania, all the customs receipts, the timber land, the railway and port concessions, the banking concession, and the very sofl of Albania in perpetuity. All these things in the future, for two important things in hand! After six months of constructive work, he appeared one day on the Al- banian border at the head of his army. Again he was greatly outnumbered. But he commanded hundreds of Rus- sian mercenaries, veterans of the World War and the Wrangel campaign, who had been eating their hearts out in Serbia waiting for another fight. He had artillery commanders from the Ser- blan army. He had plenty of money; h> had machine guns. The Albanian soldier is as brave as any in the world, but he thinks that man against machine isn't fair. When Fan Noli's small peasants and trades- men heard the rattle of these machine guns, they simply walked home. The machine gun squad became the symbol of Ahmed Zogu's regime. After establishing himself as President he sent it on a sort of circus tour through all the cities and towns. The squad would appear in town one day, camp in the public square and wait for trou- ble. If trouble started premptly, a few cranks of the wheel and all was over. If not, the Zogu troops would poke the hornet’s nest a bit, by means of local requisitions and arrests. If they | produced no trouble, then the machis guns were routed on to the next town. | After a few weeks of this the na- tional assembly was very loyal to the ! new regime, and Ahmed began paying his debts. Within two months he had | given a slice of Albanian territory to Serbia, the prize Albanian oil conces- sion to a British company and the con- cession for the national loan and bank * AHMED had frequently stated in in- terviews that he admired America and wished to take her 2s model for: *i e i | his own country. His firz- step in this| B direction was to vote himself an Ameri- | an salary, $50,000 a year. His second ! vas to import a 40-piece American jazz band for state functions and othwe I The cost of that band today figures as a separate item in the national | budget. Sleepy old Tirana took on new life. two-story white houses, and n-m‘ lanes {ncl by white plaster walls. repose large gardsns and |of Parliament Hotse. shabbily elegant dwellings. The min- arets of the mosques rise above this restful skyline, and in the distance are the snow-capped mountains which sepa- rate Albania from the Balkan East. But when Ahmed the hawk took charge, old Tirana became translated indeed. Twenty-seven embassies and legations took up residence thore or in nearby Durazzo. American girls taught the President the latest jazz steps. The legation folk, with nothing else to do instituted daily teas and nightly dances. Ahmed celebrated Albanian national holidays with dances at the palace. The | foreign diplomats all celebrated their | own national holidays with dances at | the legations. Tirana soon became, in | proportion to its population, the most | cosmopolitan city in the world. | But there were two technical diffi- | culties which embarrassed the President in his new career of urbanity and fash- fon. One was that he was engaged to the daughter of his former prime min- ister, Shefquet Bey Verlatzi, richest citi- zen of haughty Elbassan. And in Al- bania an engagement means something. Specifically, it means that if you don't marry the girl, vou have mortally of- fended the family. And that “mortal- | ly” is to be taken literally. Perhaps, as Ahmed began to see visions of a crown, he also began to see visions of a prin- cess of the blood. In any case, although he had commenced building a new road | from Elbassan to Tirana that his bride might come to him in comfort, he now delayed. on the pretext that he must first marry off his younger sisters. The second technical difficulty was that in playing the p~rt of a strong man he had been obliged to execute a number of his political enemies and, therefore, was in a status of blood feud with their families. More and more, then, he was obliged to keep his own palace heavily guarded. For this rea- son he kept his Russian mercenaries as a personal bodyguard They are to be found, day and night, surrounding the palace, clad in their elegant, black- braided, red yniforms. . So the strong man became more and more invisible and the parties at the palace less and less frequent. Ahmed is wise, for he has suiferad at least three attempts on his life—the latest in July of this year, for which three men were executed. On one occasion when he was minister of interior his assailant shot at him point-blank in the corridor He jumped | straight at the assassin, grabbed his re- volver, beat the lights out of him and turned him over to his own police. i A | UT personal courage does not explain ! Ahmed's presnt position as stronz man of Albania. An Albanian politician who has no other asset than personal courage is out of luck. Ahmed Zogu has an extraordinary adaptability and realism. He knows when to be smooth and when to be ruthless. His present | power rests primarily upon his personal All this comes back to money.' The normal revenues of Albania are around $3,000,000 a year. The normal expsndi- ture is a million or so more, plus what- ever the new King chooses to spend for his personal satisfaction. But the money is always forthcoming, for under the banking concession to Italy and the resultant Treaty of Tirana he is prac- tically guaranteed against overdrawing his bank account, and hence agains: revolution. Thanks to his close co-operation with Italy (which Jugoslavia and her patron France bitterly resent), Ahmed has been able to build roads, to construct a railroad from the capital, Tirana, to its seaport, Durazzo; to develop port facili- ties. to organize the national finances. and to set in motion the exploitation of the economic resources of the country. For all these capital expenditures (in which must be included the jazz or- chestra and the golden spurs) Albania is in debt indefinitely to her western neighbor. But however questionable the means, and however fraught with danger to international peace, the re- sult is the substantial modernization of Albania. To become a king is not easy. Ahmed has maneuvered it with the consent and under th direction of Mussolini. France has cobjected from the beginning, be- cause this new monarch can be noth- ing but a creature of Iialian policy and thus a menace to France's ally, Jugo- slavia, to the east. For two years Prance’s veto has baen effective in pre- venting the consummation of His Hope- ful Highness' anticipations. But now France has entered into a close entente with Great Britain, from which she re- ceives much, but for which she must also concede something. One of these concessions was undoubtedly the per- mission to Italy to play her Balkan policy unhampered so long as it does not threaten war. As for Jugoslavia, the nation most directly concerned. she is at this mo- ment in no position to make any in- ternational gestures, being engaged in a life-and-death struggle for existence ;:g acrssult of [thp Raditch murder and e consequent acute str Croat and Serb. SEES eiveen At the moment when France was neutralized and Jugoslavia was helpless Mussolini nodded to Ahmed the Hawk. But Europe is diffident of Mussolini in his role of king-maker. It is tno Na- peleorie. Phosphorus and Life. FVERYTH[NG that lives drews the ~ elements necessary to its life from what surrounds it or envelops it. 'I'nese elements are found in a free staw for instanct, oxygen or in mun forms or water. Two of the funda« mental elements are carbon and nitro- gen. These, with phosphorus, are in- dispensable to the maintenance of life. Phosphorus is found in the state of flung militia ($12 & th whether | third, upon the dependabilify of his they work or not). ph?aph(;r(le“ nclvli. cnml;lned with differ- ent metallic elengs; in ble ground 1&- common form is phosphate of cal clum.