Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-01-05
FARM ISSUE HELD
DUTY Of CONGRESS
Hoover's Trip to Capital In
dependent of Legislation,
Correspondent 0pines.
BY MARK SULLIVAN.

BY MARK SULLIVAN.
BY Radio to The Star.
ABOARD U. s. S. UTAH, en- route to
Hampton Roads. Va. January AIS
respects farm relief legislation, so much
under discussion in connection with
Mr. Hoover's return to Washington, the
central fact is that during the recent
presidential campaign Mr.. Hoover made
a statement of his position and his in
tention. The statement was to the
effect that he regarded farm relief as
imperatively necessary before the end
Of another crop year, that he hoped the
existing Congress would pass such leg
iSlation at the session now being held,
and that if the present session should
not act, he would call special session
of the new Congress soon after his
Inauguration on March 4.
This leaves the subjects of farm re-
lief and of special session contingent
upon farm relief wholly in the lap of
Congress and the gods. The differences
that Mr.. Hoover's return to Washington
is connected with any concern of his
about farm legislation are wide of the
mark.
From the point of view of the self
interest of an incoming President, there
are advantages and disadvantages in
having special session of Congress,
and ordinarily the two about balance
each other.
Predicts Special Session.
The confident guess of CORE
Spondent momentarily distant from the
scene is that the present Congress will
not enact farm relief within the At
working days left of its life, and that,
therefore, a special session Of the new
Congress will be called by Mr.. Hoover
soon after March 4.
1t is possible, of course, that the
events may turn out otherwise In any
case, concern about whether the pres
ent Congress passes or does not pass
legislation is neither a primary nor a
secondary motive for Mr.. Hoover's re-
turn to Washington.
For that there are wholly sufficient
and convincing reasons. Mr.. Hoover
must appoint a cabinet of 10 members
and many minor officials. In that
process he must confer with many men,
With some of the men he must confer
more than once. In addition to the
appointments he must make, there are
other matters about which every in
coming President should consult party
leaders and others.
In meeting all these needs, Mr..
Hoover could cause many men to make
the long journey from Washington to
Florida at the precise time when their
attendance on congressional and other
duties is extremely urgent. On the
other hand, Mr.. Hoover by himself
passing week or 10 days in Wash
ington can clear these matters up in
a. minimum Of time and with maximum
convenience to everybody.
Furthermore, Mr.. Hoover is the own
er of a house in Washington from
which he must soon engage in for
midable moving and which must be
disposed of.
The fact that something like a sem
sation has been made of Mr. Hoover's
return to Washington rests on queer
assumption, which, If it should go on,
might soon become an equally queer
tradition. The assumption Is that
there is something dangerous or i'm
proper or otherwise dubious about a
President-elect being in Washington
during the closing weeks of the out
going Presidents regime
Incident Dates Back to Taft.
This queer notion arose out of an
incident that occurred when William
H. Taft went to Washington and passed
some time at friends house. In the
always seething gossip of Washington
1t came to be said that more leaders
we're calling on the President about-to-
be than on the one whose power and
glory were about to depart. From this
it came to be said that Roosevelt was
irritated and that Taft'S staying in
Washington was a cause of the SenSa-
tional breach between the two men
which subsequently became the much
more sensational breach in the Repub-
lican party.
In all this there was much fantastic
nonsense. The breach between Roose-
welt and Taft had begun considerable
time before, and arose out of causes
more substantial than Taft'S stay in
Washington. Doubtless it is true that
by the time Taft came to Washington
the respective partisans of the two men
were in a mood in which anything
either man did, however innocent, was
construed as a cause of offenSe. How
ever that may be, there is not the
faintest analogy between the Taft
Roosevelt and the Hoover-Coolidge
situations.
Moreover, 1t is probably undesirable
in the public interest that the notion
about an incoming President staying
away from Washington should crystal
lie into a tradition. We should soon
have newly-elected Presidents lurking
furtively about the outskirts of the
country until the last trains that would
get them to Washington on the morning
Of March 4.
The notion is based on the babyish
idea that an outgoing President and an
incoming one cannot meet without the
one glazing with jealousy and the other
looking apologize. Actually, in the
public interest it is most desired that
the process of President handing over
the affairs of the country to his sue
cessor should be attended by frequent
and friendly meetings. Certainly this is
so when the two men are of the same
political party
Copyright. 1929
- A.