THE ANIAS AND ARIAS

There has been a revoluion in Lithuanta, according to the latest reports, which are very brief and say only that General Smetons, supported by the Army, has taken over the Government, and thrown its former members into jail. Yet this item has a prominent place on the front page of the papers, taking the space temporarily deserted by the intrigues of the Roumanian Government and the illness of their King.

The doings of little countries have a peculiar interest for the people of the United States. Secure in our giant strength and steadiness of government, we stand like a Titan watching with amusement the troubles of the minor states, forgetting that for four long years in the '60s the rest of the world watched daily for news of the destruction of this young republic.

Whatever its undoubted advantages, there is nothing romantic about the Government of the United States. Our rulers we think of as business men with derby hats and cigars; the gold lace and glory is never in the public eye. The little countries must supply that for us--the ones whose names end in aria and aria, where government is a piratical adventure and not a staid, if piratical, affair of business. A Balkan Queen, making a grad progress through the States, probably attracted more notice than would the Queen of England, had she been the guest.

And so, although most Americans are hazy as to the whereabouts of Lithuania, and although there could be six revolutions to the minute there without affecting us, there will be plenty of readers to follow the stormy career of bold General Smetons, and to read of the opposing Cabinet Ministers, whose fate in such cases is always a hard and intriguing one.