Evening star., 1925-01-18
At the Capitol.

Ihe Senate disposed of the Muscle
ohoals Issue last week by adopting
the Underwood plan for private oper-
alton OF the power plant and sending
IL TO the House. where it will be dis
cussed again. The House has passed
a oll which accepts the offer of
Henry Ford to operate Muscle Shoals
under lease from the Government
The closing hours of the fight in the
Senate witnessed parliamentary
tangle which resulted in the greatest
CONFUSION. Having adopted the I'm
derwood bill once, the Senate substi-
tuted for it the Jones bill, providing
for commission to study the dis
position Of the plant Then il adopt
ed the Norris bill for Government
operation, then again adopted the I'm
derwood bill, which brought the SEN
ate right back to where II started
The Underwood bill was finally adopt
ed however, and sent to the House
where there will be more wrangling
Digging into a plgeonhole where
an unratihed treaty with Cuba has
been reposing peacefully for the last
20 years, the Senate began last week
debate which probably will last for
some time, and which will decide def
nitely the ownership Of the Isle of
Pines, located about 20 miles off Cuba
After the Spanish war, when Cuba
was granted her Independence the
Isle of Pines was made the subject
of special treaty which ceded the
island to Cuba The treaty was never
ratified, however, and meanwhile
many Americans have gone to the
island, made their homes there. in
vested their money in property and
retained their status as citizens of
the United States. under the impress
sion, they say, that the island even
tually would be determined the prop
erty of the United States. If the
treaty is ratified the island goes to
Cuba. If unratified it will retain its
present status as United States prop
erty- Secretary Hughes favors ratt-
fcation. and Senator Borah, chairman
of the foreign relations committee of
the Senate, is opposed to ratification.
AS the fifth anniversary Of the
VoIstead law rolls around a move
is made in the House to make jail
sentences mandatory for those con-
victed of its violation. The House
| Judiciary committee favorably re-
ported on such a measure, but it IS
not popular at the White House.
President Coolidge does not believe
| that all violations of this law are
serious enough 10 warrant jail SEN
tences, although he does believe in
a strict enforcement OF the law and
! jail sentences for some Of the more
| grave offenses.
OF interest to Washington espe-
| cially, and of general interest to all
| the real estate men in the country,
| a subcommittee of the House and
Senate committees on the District of
| Columbia has been conducting hear
| ings the past week on the proposed
| rent bill for the National Capital,
which would place the disputes be-
| tween landlord and tenant in the
| hands of the Rent Commission, which
would be empowered, under the
police power" OF Congress, to fix
| rentals The Landlords or real estate
men in Washington and throughout
the country are opposing the bill on
| the grounds of its being unconsti-
| tuticnal and a radical departure from
the sanctity of contract. The tenants
| are seeking to prove that there is
necessity for such Legislation, and
! they have the hacking of President
! Coolidge, who believes there is a con-
| dition here which should be remedied
He is not expressly in favor of the
present bill, as he Is leaving the form
| of legislation best suited to meet
present difficulties up to Congress.