Evening star., 1926-03-22
WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS
RY FREDERIC WTLLIAH VILE

tions regarding some public remarks
of the French Ambassador, forthwith
disavoWed them. The painful result
was that newspaper men who had re-
ported the White House spokesman
in good faith were left out on a
limb They are in grave danger, they
feel, of being deposited on the same
kind of a preCarious lodging place on
the present occasion. The Washington
correspondents are not a unit on the
best method of reporting admnistra-
ton news. Some of them, objecting to
becoming the goats" whenever the
exigency requires, strongly advocate
a system of direct quotation of Off
cials, in order that responsibility on
every occasion may be fixed. Other
writer's think the existing system
whereby officialdom can disclaim re-
sponsibility has more advantages than
drawbacks.
No fewer than five ambitious Ala
bama Democrats aspire to Senator
Oscar w. Underwood's toga, which
will be laid off on March 4. 1927.
They will fight it out in the approach
ing primaries, the nomination. of
course, being equivalent to election.
John Bankhead, n son of the late Sena-
tor from Alabama and n brother of
Representative Bankhead, who is now
in the House, is n leading candidate.
His rivals include Judge j. J. May
field of the state Supreme Court for
mer Gov. Thomas f.. Kilby, Hugo
Black, distinguished lawyer, who
ranks as the ku KluX klan favorite.
and another man, less we'll known In
Washington, named Mullins. Senator
Underwood is maintaining strict neu
| or1x- hot In hoe
Democrat will win. The Senator's fu-
ture plans, beyond placid residence
across the river in Virginia, are unde
termined, though memoir writing is
in his mind.
Mrs. Mabel Walker Willebrandt,
Assistant Attorney General in charge
of prohibition enforcement laws, isn't
terrified by the big wet vote which
newspaper polls throughout the coun-
try are piling up. Notwithstanding
them, Uncle Sans ''Portia" processes
confidence that a referendum on the
eighteenth amendment would reveal
a heavy sentiment in it's favor
heavier even than existed when 1t
became the dry law of the land
Straw votes, Mrs. Willebrandt says,
never mean anything. She points out
that the people with a grievance are
the ones who vote and that those
who are satisfied don't trouble to
send in a ballot.
James Montgomery Beck. former
Solicitor General Of the United States.
is sailing for Europe in April as an
unofficial ambassador of the sesqul-
centennial at Philadelphia. He is
chairman of the Federal commission
which will have charge of Uncle
Sans exhibit at the exposition. Few
American public men, though he has
never held office abroad, are better
known in Old World capitals than
the lawyer whom many of his COM
patriots look upon as the country's
master orator.
X X X X
Over in the sculpture section Of
the National Museum there's bust
Of Calvin Coolidge on exhibition that
Is immensely more the real Coolidge
than the Laszlo portrait now hanging
in the White House state dining
room. The artist, a Russian resident
in Washington during the past few
wears, is Moses w. Dykaar. He has
portrayed the Presidents stern coun.
tenance, thin lips, aquiline nose and
general mien with such utter faithful
ness that one almost expects the
marble image to burst fOrths in an
economy program manifesto. The
bust was designed for a place in
the gallery of vice presidential mar
bles in the Senate wing of the Cap
itol.
Senator Carter Glass, Democrat, of
N,zsinia' recentk on the -aoor OF