Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-12-31

| Tor embassy DulldlngS IN foreign cap
| itals. Congress also passed the bill
abolishing the Railway Labor Board
and creating means for settlement of
rail disputes by arbitration; the
measures providing for assistant
secretaries in charge Of aviation in
three departments, and a bill carry
! ing S75,000,0 900 for Federal aid road
| construction. In March the Senate
unseated Brookhart Of Iowa in favor
of Steck, Democrat, and in June
Brookhart was nominated by the Re
publicans of his State to succeed
| Cummins.
| Farmers, both of the wheat and
| corn belts and of the cotton States,
| continued their demand for RELIEF leg
| islation, but the economic doctors
could not agree on either the diagnosis
or the remedy, so nothing Of moment
was done for agriculture by Congress.
/ The subject was thus q chief issue in
! the Fall elections, sharing prominence
| with prohibition enforcement ana
| modification. AS the result of the bal
| loting the Republicans almost lost con-
| troll Of the Senate of the seventeen
| Congress and their majority in the
| House was much reduced. Their hold
| on the upper house was retained only
! by the election on November % of
| Gould in Maine to succeed Fernald.
| deceased, and the expected adhesion
of Shipstead of Minnesota, whose
Farmer-Labor party had dissolved.
Campaign Scandals.
| The primary campaign for Ware in
| Pennsylvania and Smith in Illinois
! had created such a scandal that a
senatorial committee, headed by Reed
| of Missouri, spent much time inVesti-
! eating the charges of corruption and
slush funds, and the Democrats prom
1sed to try to keep Ware and Smith
| from taking their seats when the new
| Congress should assemble.
Both vets and drys claimed victo-
| ries in the election. The question of
! prohibition, in the form of referen-
| dunn, was on the ballots in eight
| States, the question varying. In New
| York, Illinois, Wisconsin, Nevada and
| Montana the vets won. In Missouri,
| Colorado and California the referen-
! dunn proposals were defeated. AL
| Smith was reelected Governor of New
| York and thereby made good his posi-
! ton as q potential Democratic nomt-
| nee for the presidency in 1928.
| Congress opened it's short session
| on December and next day President
| Coolidge's message was read to it.
| Conceding that there would be time
| for little more than the necessary APP
preparation legislation, he yet made
many recommendations. The more
important were: Tax relief by reduc-
ton of income tax payments due in
March and June, 1927; relief for the
farmers without attempting to fix
prices; early transfer of the Philip
pines from the military to the civil
branch of the Government; branch
no yalyincr 1ocyicla 10
troll under Department of Commerce;
enactment of such prohibition en-
forcement legislation as the Treasury
might ask; development of reclama-
ton projects, Muscle Shoals, rivers
and harbors generally and q lakeS-to-
the-sea waterway; railroad consolida-
ton and coal control legislation.
Mr.. Coolidge made no mention of
the World Court. but one of the first
measures introduced in the Senate, by
Trammell of Florida, was a resolution
for repeal of the Senate's ratification
| of the World Court protocol.
Philippine Conditions.
Concerning the Philippines. It should
be recorded that Carmi Thompson had
spent much of the year in the islands
investigating for the President the
conditions there and the controversy
between Governor General Wood and
| certain element of the native popu-
lation. In his message the Presiden1
said the islands should not be turned
back to the people until they are both
politically fitted for self-government
and economically independent" but
he suggested that at no time would
the United States abandon completely
responsibility for their defense.
President Coolidge and his family
spent the Summer vacation at a camp
In the Adirondacks. He delivered pub
lie addresses July at the Sesaufcen
tennial Exposition in Philadelphia, at
the Red Cross convention In October
and in Kansas City on Armistice dav.
In March his father, Col. John c,
Coolidge. died.
The American Legion held its con.
vent1on In Philadelphia, elected
Howard p. Savage Of Chicago com.
mander-in-chief and decided to have
its 1927 session in France. The ma
tional encampment of the G.. A. r.
was held In Des Moines, Iowa, Frank
A. Walsh OF Milwaukee being chosen
commander-in-c chief. OF all the great
gatherings of the year. the most
spectacular was the Eucharistic Con-
gress held in Chicago in June and
attended by Catholic prelates from
all parts of the world.