Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-02-04
WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS
BY FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE.

Now. according to Washington tea
table chatter, it's the Senate ladies'
organization that's looking into the
qualifications of it's members. They
met in executive session" at the
White House on February I for the
transactions of biennial business" at
the invitation of Mrs. Coolidge. What
took place there has not been dis
closed. But ii is an open secret that
the ladies of the Senate" for some
time have been considerably agitatad
over the question of eligibility to their
delightful and exclusive set. Theoreti-
cally, only the wives of Senator's or of
one-time Senators may belong to the
club, which meets regularly for lunch
con in one of the Senate restaurants.
Latterly discussion has arisen as to
whether the relative of a widowed
Senator, serving as his official host
ess, is entitled to membership. A
question also has come up about a
lady who enjoys access to the charm
ed set because she married man
who was an ex-senator. The Senate
ladies never adopted bylaws, so the
constitutional problems whichVe
bobbed up will have to be settled on
merits and not by rule.
X X
Mrs. Thomas r. Marshall OF In
diana, widow of the late Vice Presi-
dent was the founder of the Senate
ladies' organization, which has be-
come a real factor in the political life
of the Capital. 1t was brought into
existence during the war for the pur-
pose of sewing and knitting for the
Army and Navy. Members found the
recurring contacts SO pleasant that
it was decided TO perpetuate the club,
and it has been a going concern ever
since. The ladies bring their own ra-
tions-picnic style-although now and
then one of them entertainS in more
formal fashion at her own residence.
The only rule is "once a member. al
ways a member" There are no lame
ducks. The wife of the Vice Presi-
dent is ex-officio head of the organiza-
ton. Mrs. Harding, while in the
White House, retained her member
ship as the wife of former Senator.
Mrs. Coolidge, acknowledged to be the
most beloved member the club has
ever known, is an almost unfailing at
tendant. Former active members, even
when they return to their own States,
live up to their entertaining obliga-
cally for the purpose.
X X x i;
Frederick Augustine Sterling, slated
to be the first American Minister to
the Irish Free State, iS\a Missourian
by birth, but claims Texas as his resi-
dence. He has occupied his present
post, the counselorship of the EN-
bassy at London, for nearly four
years, serving there under three Am
assadoYs-Harvey, kellogg and
Houghton. Sterling's promotion to
Dublin will be in line with the De-
partment of States policy of promot-
ing meritorious career men" under
the new foreign service law. He en-
tered diplomacy, after graduation from
Harvard and eight years as a rancher
in Texas, in 1911 as a secretary at
st. Petersburg. After that Sterling
saw duty successfully in China,
France and Peru. He is so years old
and once was chief of the Western
European division at the State De
partment.
There's the seed of a merry row be
tween the Army and Navy in connec-
ton with a bin introduced by Repre-
sentative John Philip Hill, Republican
of Maryland. concerning the future
rank of major generals of the line.
| The bill which is before the military
affairs committee of the House, would
give these Army officers, when assign
ed to certain specified duties, equal
rank with adnirals in the Navy.
Curtis d. Wilbur, Secretary of the
Navy, has addressed IL remonstrance
to Representative NORM, chairman OF