Newark leader. ([Newark, Ohio]) 1917-1946, 1925-01-16


National Capital
(By PETER KEEGANl
THERE is much wailing and gnash-
ing of teeth on Capitol Hill and
elsewhere in official Washington over
the disclosures in the Scott divorce
case. Most of it results from the
threat of Mrs. Cott, wife of the Mich
igan Congressman, to spring new SEN
sations concerning drinking and
gambling among officials in the
course of her efforts to win divorce
from her husband There are any
number of legislators who will vote
dry as a matter of record and then
not hesitate to take a drink or two,
but they do not like to have their
names and photographs published in
the newspapers. 1t leads to embar
easements when they have to go to
their homes to run for reelection.
A S sequel to the Scott expose, op-
ponents of the dry law are seek
ing the enactment of legislation MAX
ing it specifically incumbent on Gov
erment officials to observe the Vol
stead Act as we'll as all other laws.
All such agitation does not originate
with the vets, either, as witness the
visit of John D. Rockefeller, jr., and
Judge Ebert H. Gary to the White
House to urge President Coolidge to
call upon all officials to rigidly obey
the laws that they pass or that they
are sworn to uphold and enforce.
TN the meantime, the whole problem
of prohibition enforcement is being
given an airing by Senate Commit
tee, but the public is not being let in
on the affair as the inquiry, unlike
similar Congressional Investigations,
is going on behind closed doors. 1t
had been understood that the probe
would be open to all, but a demand
for secrecy was made by Senator
Watson of Indiana on behalf, accord
ing to reliable reports, of the Admin
istration.
RUMORS continue to crop up in
Washington that Frank B. Kel-
logg, American Ambassador to Great
Britain, is to retire from his position
in London, but they are met by We
hement and repeated denials from
Kellogg himself. 1t begins to appear
that Kellogg does not want to get out
of the diplomatic service, but that
persons with more influence than him
self are determined that his resigna-
ton will be made available to the
President. James M. Beck, one of The
leading lawyers in the world and the
present Solicitor General of the
United States, is looked upon as
likely successor to Kellogg.
THE venerable Oliver Wendell
Holmes, son of the famous New
England novelist and essayist, is now
the senior member of the United
States Supreme Court as result of
the retirement of Joseph McKenna,
the other day. Justice Holmes will
be 83 years old in March, but he is
as spry and active and his mind is as
keen as when he graduated from the
Harvard Law School after the Civil
War. He still carries in his neck part
of a bullet that wounded him when
leading his company in charge
against the Confederates in 1862.
Holmes and Justice Louis Brandeis
are looked upon as the two most Glib
eral minded" members of the great
court.
SOME real old fashioned oratory was
heard in the Senate when his
Democratic colleagues pounced upon
Senator Nathaniel Dial of South Car
olina and mauled him around for his
caustic criticism of the present day
policies of the Democratic party.
Dial, who was defeated for re-elec-
tion in the primary election in his
that the Party had deteriorated and
that it lost the presidential election
last November because it "ought to
have lost" He started to offer some
amendments to his remarks the next
day, but the storm that greeted him
when he arose in the Senate caused
him to withdraw the whole speech.
No apology has been offered, how
ever, by Senator William Cabell
Bruce of Maryland, also Democrat,
whose criticism of his own party was
just as vitriolic, if not more so, than
Dial's.
THE budget bureau has succeeded in
looping off $4,000 from the es-
timated cost of the inaugural cere-
monies on March 4. The congression-
al committee in charge of the affair
had estimated the total expense at
$4,000, the same as four years ago,
but the Administration has cut it to
$4,000. The local committee which
will arrange the public portions of the
celebration plans the most elaborate
ceremonies in history.
CHILD LABOR AMENDMENT
The Legislature will be called upon