Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-02-20

Prohibition has been the subject of
debate in the Congress of the United
States for 10 years, but never has 1t
produced discussion of higher caliber
than that waged this week by Senators
Borah and Reed (MissourD. Had such
flint flashed in the times of Webster,
Clay and Calhoun, we should probably
be reading about 1t in our schoolbooks
nowadays. The eloquent thrusts of the
Idahoan and the Missourian compare
very favorably with the finest flights
of oratory in the Senate's history. The
prohibition fireworks stamped Borah
and Reed Individually as the master
swordsmen of Congress. Who is to take
the Missourian's place on the Demo-
cratic side Is a question. joe Robin
son of Arkansas will come nearer do
ing so than anybody else. Like Borah
and Reed. the Democratic minority
leader speaks extemporaneously and
never uses manuscript. Jim" Reed
faces lucrative law practice and in
tends plunging into 1t without delay.
Any time he wants to done the mantle
Of Robert G. Ingersoll and take the
platform professionally he doubtless
can command his own terms.
X n u
Because of his Quaker faith there is
lively discussion as to the exact form
in which Herbert Hoover will take the
oath of Office on March 4. He has the
privilege, under the Constitution. of
either swearing or affirming it, When
Hoover was indicted into the secretary
ship of Commerce on March S, 1921, by
Edward w. Libbey, chief clerk of the
department, he signed the oath, which
read, II, Herbert Hoover, do solemnly
swear Cor afflrm) that will etc, and
then when Mr.. Libbey addressing him.
said, do you, Herbert Hoover, solemnly
swear COR affirm that you WILL" etc.
the Californian answered, simply, II
do" Quakers never swear oathS, either
in law courts or under other circum-
stances; they affirm. The option as to
swearing or affirming was put into the
Constitution by the founding fathers
because of Friends inhibitions about
swearing. James Ford Rhodes, in his
History of the United States" says of
President Pierce. when he took the
oath tin 1889, he did not, as is ordi-
nary. use the word swear but accepted
the constitutional alternative, which
permitted him to affirm that he would
faithfully execute the Office of Presi-
dent"
Voteless Washingtonians are going to
take advantage Of the presence of
| thousands of enfranchised Americans
at the Inauguration and plead the
cause of national representation for the
District of Columbia. In general, their
| plans will follow the program enacted
| on election day last November. Cam
| paign headquarters will be maintained
at the most prominent corner in the
txsk l. In, Moi ,,n1
Press Club Building, at Fourteenth and
F streets. In addition, the radio and
the movies will be utilized. A special
appeal will be placed in the hands
of individual out-of-towners In the
form of an attractive folder depicting
Washington's suffrage plight. 1t has
| been this observers personal expert
ence that the average man or woman
out In the United States has only to
become acquainted with the situation
in order to secure enthusiastic approval
of the Districts claims.
II \
Are Congress and the Nation at large
on the wrong track in planning to
celebrate the bicentenary Of George
Washingtons birth in 1892? To Mrs.
Henry F. Dimock, Washington society
leader, who is president of the George
| Washington Memorial Association, has
| just come an animated protest from
a Connecticut Yankee. He says there's
| no doubt that George was born in
| 1882. but points out that 1888 is the
proper year for the 200th anniversary
OF that event, because "the year 1851
lost the months of January, February
and the first "a days of March" There
fore, the objector contends, "as the year
+! 1851 had no February, Washington
could not have had birthday in that
Rssr," The change from the julian