Evening star., 1929-06-26
WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS
BY FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE.

1t comes pretty straight from head
quarters that Sir Esme Howard's now
famous confab with Senator Boral1 was
concerned with prohibition. If so, it
wouldn't be surprising, for the booze
issue, day by day, is coming to be not
engroSSing international, issue. What
more natural than that the dean of the
Washington diplomatic corps should
want to talk 1t over with the chairman
Of the Senate foreign relations COM
mittee? With the I'm Alone affair still
unadjudicated by arbitration; with the
shooting affray in the Detroit River not
yet cleared up; with the British en-
bassy renouncing further liquor impor-
tations, while continuing to serve wet
dinners; with Charley" Dawes rocking
the dome of st. Pauls Cathedral by
threatening to dry up the American
embassy in London-what conceivable
Angio-American issues stack up in cur
rent importance with all these? It's
easy to accept Sir Esme Howard's as
surance that he and Senator Borah did
not waste their time on the freedom of
the seas, "either directly or indirectly"
when they had their heads together in
the Senate Office building.
One guess was that the British AM
bassador went to Borah to urge him to
visit Great Britain this year. John Bull
has long wanted q closeup of the Ida
hoan, despite the fact that he doesn't
rank as particularly partial to the Brit
ish or their international policies.
Borah has spaSmodic fits Of desire to
60 abroad. He has never been farther
of American soil in his life than the
front porch of the late Senator Henry
Cabot Lodges cliffside house at Nahant,
on the rock-bound coast Of MaSsachu-
sets. There was a suggestion that
Borah might 60 to Germany in August,
to address the International Adver-
tising Congress, but the Senate's plans
for Midsummer session made such a
trip impossible. Two or three years ago
President Coolidge offered to send the
Senate foreign relations chairman to
Europe ut Government cost, to roam
the Old World for q couple OF months
as an ofIicial observer Of men and mat
ters lover there" But Big Biz could
not be persuaded to make the trip.
X X \ \
Secretary Stimson rejoices over re-
ligious peace in Mexico for a reason
which hasn't been publicly discussed.
The accord with the Vatican will au-
tomatically put an end to the more or
less incessant number OF cases which
| have cropped up since 1925, involving
the rights Of Americans in Mexico.
Many members of the Roman Catholic
| Church establishment there, including
both priests and nuns, are citizens Of
| the United States. AS such, they en-
| Joy the privilege of their Governments
protection. The Mexican division of
the State Department has had three
pretty busy years making representa-
tions on their behalf. Along with their
| co-religionists Of both Mexican and
other nationalities, American Catholics
henceforward are destined to live In
peace beyond the Rio Grande, with
correspondingly less cause for the
| Washington authorities to 60 to bat
for them.
It will be another two weeks-July
| 10-before the country at large will be
able to lay hands on any OF Uncle
| Sans cute new currency. Members
| of Congress are luckier Not long ago
| through the munificence of a certain
Senator, each of his colleagues was pre-.
sented with an advance copy of the
attenuated 81 bill. In order that the
| House of Representatives should not be
overlooked, Assistant Secretary of the
Treasury Bond, who has bossed the
| gigantic Job of turning out the new
bills, sent 435 specimens Of the 81 is
| sue up to Sergt. -at-Arms Joe" Rod
gers, with authority to let members ex-
change them for old bills. The only
| samples of the reduced size paper
money so far put In circulation" are
the complete collection deposited by
Secretary Mellon in the corner stone
OF the new Department Of Commerce
Building.
X y X y
Max Hansmann, reader Of thes,
observations as far away as Keene Val.
ley, N. Y, writes:
your amusing Dewey story in TIL,
Evening Star Of June 10 mentions tht
year of the admiral's nearly fatal i'll,
ness in the Mediterranean as 1887
The actual year was 1883. At the grea
International Fisheries Exhibition II
London In 1883, there was an exhibit
Of the United States Lighthouse Board