Show ON THE BEAM with al truly a city unlike any other city we have ever visited Is baltimore Rs its a lovely place spraul ing over nearly acres and its steeped with american disori cal events of years past that are of interest to every citizen oi of this country perhaps the most unusual thing about the city that notes Is the block upon block of apartments each with its spotless front stoop most of them marble it was explained that in building the structures marble maible was much cheaper than any other material as it Is found in abundance nearby its a custom in baltimore tor for housewives to use soap and water at regular intervals to keep their marble sto stoops shining aps ops we W were surprised that baltimore Is not the capitol city of maryland though we were told taid that nearly half of the states official business on the state baltimore Is rich in history it was founded in 1729 and was named for the calverta Ca lverts lords ot of baltimore in ireland it has a highly diversified industrial structure manufacturing all types of consumer goods including food stuffs clothing chemicals and many many other items at the headquarters of beautiful chesapeake bay the city has always been closely associated with the sea and in addition to being identified with shipbuilding and repair it also plays an important role in the fishing industry our first convention activity was a reception by general motors presided over by our friends of many years G douglas St engeland his hia lovely wife julia this was follo followed by the annual banquet at which we listened to one of the finest mens meas choruses it has ever been our pleasure to hear the baltimore ohio glee club principal speaker of the ee beening evening ning was herbert brownell jr af attorney torney general of the united states who spoke on modern modem constitutional problems with expected inauen dos and back biting thrown at our friend joe mccarthy again we seemed to be in the minority but well bet its only for the present as there are several congressional committees slated to report on a few things that we believe will raise the mccarthy stock several points all sessions of the convention were held at the lovely lord baltimore hotel with publisher panels and other important meetings highlighting the sessions one trip of interest and one that we missed because of an NEA board meeting was that aboard the S S latrobe of bethlehem steel co for a harbor cruise A tour of the sparrow point plant of the steel company compan followed riding back i on U the bus our driver called attention to an interesting point in the city of baltimore old shot tower dating back to 1828 it is a massive pile ot of brick feet in height with a spiral stairway leading to the top from this point molten lead was dropped into a pool of water at al the tile base the lead forming into bullets in its descent baltimore Is also known as the monument city in ill westminster churchyard are the grave and monument of edgar allen alien poe poet and author A unique gun and powder magazine stand in historic fort me ate henry mute reminders ot of the bombardment bar bard dment met of 0 the fort by the british navy in 1814 which inspired francis scott key to write the immortal stars spangled dauner danner the kay memorial erected at fort foit me ale henry honors tile the author and there are hundreds of 0 other monuments and statues in the city which pay tribute to persons ol of prominence in baltimore and maryland one could spend days in the city visiting the many points and places ot of interest both historical and present day another of our our hosts during our stay in baltimore was the western maryland railroad co which entertained at luncheon and film presentations of interest to the con and so after three days our annual convention was concluded on june 19 next week w well start on the tour of points of interest around the state |