Lingering Insult

On the register of many a Euro pean hotel a column is still provided for "Remarks." Therein occasional goaded Britons will note, "No jam, muffins poor." But in general the jottings are of a honeyed tone: "The water here is as pure as in Akron"; "Perfect service, splendid view"; "I had a real hot bath."

Six months ago the proprietor of a small Italian resort glowed at the following tribute from the daughter of Frederick Ebert, late saddle-maker-President of Germany, and her husband, Doktor Wilhelm Jaenicke, son of the Kaiser's one-time bootmaker and now an attache of the German Foreign Office. "Your hotel is so pleasant that we have temporarily forgotten that Hindenburg is President in Germany."

Some few days later a German Nationalist passed by. To him the "tribute" seemed seditious. Snipping it out of the register he forwarded it to the German Foreign Office, and Herr Doktor Jaenicke has been in hot water ever since. He was arrested and confessed his "crime" (TIME, June 8), but the court proceedings dragged on until last week, when his "sentence" became known. The presiding judge reprimanded him severely, and fined him 100 marks ($25), one-third of his monthly salary at the Foreign Office.

In official circles it was considered that Attache Jaenicke had got off easily. During the trial he explained rather lamely that his "remarks" we.e intended "purely as a tribute to the hotel proprietor. . . . "Hindenburg the man was not in my mind. I simply happened to be thinking of Hindenburg the candidate, who I then felt represented might rather than right."