Evening star., 1927-04-20
WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS

The third.term issue is likely to be
put up to Mr.. Coolidge In much the
same fashion as the Catholic question
was presented to AL Smith, and to
which the New York governor has
so explicitly responded. The plan is
to address to the President an open
letter from the pen of some eminent
and entirely disinterested person, in
quiring as to his personal views of
the unbroken precedent that no man
shall serve more than two terms as
President Of the United States. he
will be asked whether he subscribes
to the doctrine advanced by some OF
his supporters that the reasons Tor
observing the precedent no longer
exist and that it Is time to break It,
or whether he regards another four
years as simply a second term and
that therefore he is not violating the
precedent II he is reelected. The
sponsors Of the open-letter idea figure
that Mr.. Coolidge would find it diff
cult to avoid reply in the face OF
what has just happened In the Mar
shall-Smith letter episode. They know
full well that the President will not
relish being called upon for a public
declaration, and they are rather glee-
full over the prospect of smoking him
out, The third-term issue beclouds
Mr.. Coolidge's 1928 presidential pros
poets in the same way as the religious
issue has haunted AL Smiths candi-
dacy.
Sir Esne Howard, the British Am
bassador seizes every possible oppor-
tunity to travel about the United
States and to acquaint himself better
with places and people. In so doing
he is setting a good example Tor ms
diplomatic colleagues Foreign dipio-
mats assigned to Washington have
not in the past been given to touring
the vast expanses Of this country.
Usually New York and Newport are
about all of America they see, outside
of the Capital. Ambassador Howard
sets out next week for a transcont1-
mental swing around the circle of a
months duration. He will visit New
Orleans, Los Angeles, San Francisco,
Portland, Seattle, Victoria, Vancouver,
Winnipeg, st. Paul and Chicago.
X y
The daily mailbag of the new Fed
eral Radio Commission bulges with
over the world Offering suggestions,
criticism and warnings. Some letters
expound fantastic theories. The COM
| mission is cautioned against permit
| ting any Encouragement of radio re-
| ceiving sets to permit short wave
| length reception, because IL this Is
| done, it is claimed that America will
| be exposed to Russian propaganda
broadcast direct from Moscow.
| Another letter advises the commits
| sion that the prevalence Of crime and
| the increased use of narcotics is due
| to an unsteady state of the nervous
| system of the population" The writer
attributes this condition to the
changed electric state of the atmos-
phere," which he believes radio broad
| casting has induced. He urges the
| appointment of a commission Of eX-
perts to cope on scientific basis with
| this menace. A group of Gloucester
| fishermen write concerning the merits
and demerits Of their local broadcast
| ing station. and a radio fan in far
away Borneo expounds his theories Of
electric dissonance.
| X "
Senator Charles l.. McNary of
Oregon is said to be cherishing the
hope of becoming the running mate
of President Coolidge in 1928, thus
joining the Pacific and Atlantic
Coasts on the Republican ticket and
tying together the two extremes of
the farm relief problem. IL some
one other than Mr.. Coolidge tops the
| M 4 Lxr %
take second place, very likely even
more ready. Though the President
was the most irreconcilable opponent
of the McNary farm bill and the
Coolidge and McNary the theories of
farm relief have been very far apart
indeed, nevertheless the friends of
both profess to believe that there's
no insurmountable incompatibility
and that personal differences will be
NF1 Hf -