HURRICANE HAZARD 8 By R. H. WILKINSON © Bell Byndicate.~WNU Service ingly, “that hotels catering to seasonal trade are Inclined to charge high rates for what they offer, Why, take here in Miami, for example. The season can hardly be called longer than three months, four at the most, During the remaining eight, or nine months all these hotels are vacant. There is absolutely no rev- ene for maintenance cost, taxes, in- surance and the dozens of other ex- penses such a project entails.” Beside me, Col. Joel Tucker chuckled at some memory my words revived. The colonel and I are friends of long standing. Today we were seated on the veranda of his winter home at Miami beach looking out over a brassy sea, overshadowed by a leaden, cloud- less sky. It was early May. The tour- ist season was past, An atmosphere of desolation and forlornness hung over the city. The day was hot, though the mer- cury was considerably less than the average northerner is apt to think of it being in Florida, between May and November. A gentle breeze swept up from the water, and was cooled In the shade of palm trees and oleanders be- fore reaching the veranda, To the right the top stories of the famous Beach hotel were visible above a fringe of cocoanut palms. It was sight of this man-made structure that had prompted my remark, for Boris Flake, its owner, Is a close friend of the col- onel, hence one with whom I am In- clined to sympathize, Colonel Tucker set fire to a long black cigar and crossed his legd atop the veranda railing. “Back in 1926." he sald, “the city of Miami was nearly wiped off the map by a hurricane. You remember It Worst storm on record, Hundreds of buildings whisked away as If they had been so many cardboard boxes. Thou- sands of dollars worth of property ut- terly rulned. The extent of the dam- age reached an astounding figure. “It was a sethack to Miami and Jacent cities. It meant years of to rebuild what had destroyed. And worse It meant the greater undertaking of dispelling In the minds of had in the habit of coming to Florida during the winter, the Idea that such a storm was apt to repeat itself during the tourist feason, pers announce swept by a “I IS small wonder,” I sald mus ad- work been still who outsiders, heen Even now your Miami is hurricane every ti northern pa that being me the wind blows at a slightly greater than normal Up In New England you can have high tides, blizzards and 100-mile-an-hour gales and thes’ er called any than storm. “However, velocity. il nev. be more a bad Miami was confronted with the job of overcoming the hur ricane hazard. She had to convince you northerners that there was a sea. son for hurricanes and that season he gan In late August, and ended in late October. And, second, she had to do something to assure the folks who sometimes stayed down here during the summer months, that in the event of a second storm such as that In 1026 there were shelters that could withstand the ravages. “Boris Flake bulit the first hurrl- cane-proof hotel, (And incidentally there haven't been many built since) It cost him thousands of ydollars, In fact several thousand more than he had anticipated. When the thing was done he discovered his finances ex- hausted and his creditors pressing. Hopeful of realizing a profit on his In. vestment, however, he held on during the winter season of 1027, only to dis. cover that either the storm of the previous year had scared off the tour ist trade, or Miami wasn't going to be the popular winter resort that natives had bragged about. At any rate, busi ness wasn't so brisk that winter, and by the end of the season his financial condition hadn't improved to any marked degree. “The outlook seemed pretty black. Boris decided to stay on the ground during the summer, however, and spend his idie time In concocting some plan whereby he could retrieve some of his Investment. An old hand at the hotel game Is Boris; thoughts of admitting defeat were too humiliating to be considered. “During August of that summer Boris got a break. Weather authori. ties predicted that a hurricane of great velocity was making up In the Caribbean and was heading straight for Miami, The report got around that the city was again doomed. Govern ment officials advised every one to either get out of the city or take shel: ter in some building that could with- stand the storm. “Folks began to look around for such a building, and It wasn't long be. fore they discovered that Boris’ Beach hotel was the only structure in town guaranteed hurricaneproof. The re. sult was quite astounding, and satis fying to Boris, Before he realized what was happening more than half of the rooms in his hotel were engaged by frightened citizens, At this point he awoke to the situation and auctioned off the remaining beds at prices that were higher than his winter rates, “For more than two weeks the beach was filled to eapacity, while the pre. dicted = hurricane went prancing around the Atlantie, and finally gheered off the coast by reason of some climatie fluke, and spent itself at sea, “But Boris was grateful. I'he money that be had taken in was clear velvet, i Moreover, the incident served as a | splendid advertisement. The name of the Beach was emblazoned on the front pages of newspapers all over the country as the only hotel in which hundreds of people sought refuge against the anticipated hurricane, “Boris opened up the next December and did a normal business throughout the winter, However, by spring he was still in the red and his creditors were | pressing harder than ever, If it hadn't | been for the fact that the next August | another hurricane was predicted and | the Beach enjoyed a repetition of the previous summer's business, he would | likely have had to board up the doors | and windows. But with the profits re- | celvéd from frightened hurricane es | capers, he managed to stall off the | creditors, and was able to open up for his third season.” The colonel paused in the telling of his tale and looked out across the lawn and over the fringe of cocoanut palms toward the top stories of the famous Beach hotel. I saw the twinkle In the old man's eyes and sald: “Boris was never closed out, then? The hotel Is prosperous now; a paying proposi- | tion?" ¥ Colonel Tucker nodded. “No,” he sald thoughtfully, “no, Boris never had to close up. But it was the summer trade that kept him going; still is, as a matter of fact. He couldn't compete with the other hotels during the winter because his overhead was so great.” He paused, and the twinkle developed into a smile, “Every August, now, | folks move into the Beach and stay there until after the hurricane season is over. Boris makes a regular busi. ness of the trade, sells his rooms out in advance and has never falled to have a full house “Which means,” I suggested, “that, every summer, weather officials pre- diet a storm making up in the Carib. bean and heading toward Miami with disastrous intent. That hardly seems possible.” Colonel Tucker nodded amusedly. “It isn't possible, and yet the rumor somehow around.” He paused abruptly, looked at me with a shrewd expression in his eyes. There was also in his tone a of reprimand. “Didn't I just tell you that Boris was an old and accomplished hand at ‘the he laughed. gets note hotel game?" Suddenly “Excuse me, I forgot we three are all good friends. You the weather officials don't always report the come storm during Au- » soe, ing of a destructive gust. But Boris does. Estonia, Finland, Poland post-war states in the Baltic region have added to their coln- ‘rom Estonia appears a new one- Several of the uminum bronze to re- er coln minted The obverse shows an ancient the Viking reminiscent days when the Estonlans, along with the Norse and Finnish sea-rovers, kroon piece in al place the one-kroon silv I in 1083, ship of f the of type, were the scourge of the more peace able nations to the west The reverse bears the shield of the country with the Inscription "Eesti Babariik” and the date. Finland has Issued a large 20-markkaa also of aluminum bronze The obverse shows the well-known Lion of Finland encircled by a wreath of pine needles and cones, with the date at bottom. The reverse bears the denomi- nation and the inscription “Suomen Tasavalta” The metal, aluminum bronze, used for these pleces is a new alloy for colin. age purposes and has been commonly used since the World war as a substi. | tute for silver, especially In those coun- tries which have suffered severe cur rency depreciation. It was first ex- | tensively employed by the French for the Chamber of Commerce tokens of 2, 1 and 3% franc pleces Issued In 1920, | The metal is a golden color when new, | but changes to a brassy hue with use, The proportions of the alloy in the Finnish colns are 82 per cent copper, 8 per cent aluminum and 2 per cent nickel, New and 10 zloty pieces from Poland show a bold profile of Marshal Pilsudski, emphasized by the lack of any Inscription other than an almost microscopic date placed beneath his shoulder, The reverse shows a small | crudeiy fashioned Polish eagle in a | burst of rays and surrounded at some distance from the edge by the Inscrip- | tion “Rzeczpospolita Polska,” with the value at bottom. Marshal Plisudski's | portrait appeared on stamp Issues some | years ago, but these are the first coins to bear the portrait of Poland's na- tional hero, plece, 5 “Most Accurate” Clocks Made Declared to be the four most ac curate clocks In the world, novel time. pleces are being exhibited by the Reichs Institute for Physics in Berlin, where they were made. They are op- erated by the vibrations of a quarts crystal, and are sald to deviate from | the right time only 0.002 seconds In six | months, The crystal Is hung In a vacuum glass tube which Is placed in- side 4 box surrounded by a second box, The walls of both boxes are composed | of copper tubes, alr, aluminum and feathers, which keep the temperature within unchanged. An electric current Is sent through the crystal which wW- brates 00,000 times a second, and these vibrations Influence an alternating cums rent which keeps the clock going, Deciding on Name U, 8. A, The name United States of America was agreed to by the Constitutional convention on August 7, 1787, In con sidering the report of the committee of detall, The selection of this name wns logical, since It was composed of states which were uniting, and the whole country was commonly termed America, T= present vogue for linen is noth- ing short of sensational, Whether you go dining, dancing, swimming, fiy- ing, motoring, golfing or shopping, or play tennis, there's a linen for every occasion from rustic crashes and peas ant and colorful Tahitian prints to alluring novelties in stripes and plaids and in sheer lovely effects for high-style evening wear, Midsummer days are proving that linen suits, especially in white and nat- yral tones, are of first interest among best dressed women for about-town wear. A linen suit and a wardrobe of blouses and the problem of being smartly appareled durl weaves ng the daytime hours is solved not only for the Imme- diate moment but for well on. into the fall, very newest in wine beetroot, since the linens are shades, in Dubonnet red, in purple and orange tones. Just now, while the weather Is warm, it's the white and natural linens are lending their | groomed feene, that mmaculate ang well appearance to the summer The trio of stunning suits ple- tured represent the very creme de Ia creme in linens as now featuring on the style program. The young woman seated shows that she knows fashion In that with her sult of moygashel linen, In natural col- or, she Is wearing a dark blouse, the same being brown with white polka dots. You are doing the right thing this season if to wear with your white and natural linens you choose dark accessories. The coat is single breast. ed with buttons all the way up to the collariess neckline. A novel idea 1s introduced in the placement of deep large pockets above the belt line. Rag- lan sleeves add a final touch of smart. ness to this linen classic. The other two sults are also of moygashel lines It Is rather inter. esting to know In this connection that King George sends the flax grown ob his royal estate at Sandringham, Eng- land (supposed to be the finest flax in the world) to Moygashel, Ireland, to be woven, because the workmanship there is so fine—quite a royal pedigree for these linens, The two-plece centered in the group has a tight basque with no belt to disturb the natural line. It is of white linen with navy button and tle. double binding to the cont which gives a vestee effect Is new and smart. The sports flap pockets are chile, too, Handstitching around notched collar and the pockets gives a dis ive touch to the white linen sult to the The stitching and the belt are The coat is dou. is fis fitting cont he he right, in matched coloring. ble-breasted, and a polka dot shirt worn under it A very fashionable thing to do Is wear a linen coat or jacket your white linen skirt Lilac colored linens for these coats are the rage with beetroot or Dubonnet red close seconds, bright g eonlored with Then, too, novelty linens with nubby surface or loose porous weave are in good style for suits and for coats These heavier sults are mostly In oys- ter white, Very “nifty” ones are shad- ow-checked in gray and some stunning weaves are in herringbone patterning flecked with brown, There are lovely embroidered linens shown for dressier wear and sheer striped linens are made up into fasci- if they were stately silks. With the new fall tweed suits designers are cre- ating clever blouses of fine handker- chief linens in colorings related to the costume entire, © Western Newspaper Union. SMART BEACHWEAR By CHERIE NICHOLAS This beach ensemble is out of the ordinary, It Is fashioned of purple fishnet lace over a linen foundation. Which agaln proves that lace goes ev- erywhere this season. The ensemble consists of a pair of shorts and blouse with a wraparound skirt. The large hat is of purple straw, 4 SHOE COMFORT IS season of pleasant week ends and after