Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-06-07

Views vary as to why Sir Esme
Howard, without waiting for a hint
from any responsible official authority,
has put John Bull on the water wagon
in Washington. To begin with, the
British embaSsy's example IS by no
means likely to prove contagious among
other embassies and legations. Not for
publication and with corresponding
vehemence, many of Sir Esme's COL
leagues in the diplomatic corps express
frank disagreement with his scheme.
They say it embarrasses them and that
he had no right TO raise the question
without consultation in his capacity as
dean. Howard is an uncOmmonly astute
diplomat. He not only knows his job,
but he knows his America. after more
than five years of continuous service
here. The guess is safe that he looked
carefully before he leaped-as is the
British diplomatic way-and decided
that Britain's stock could only be
advanced by his dramatic action. Men
like Senator Borah, chairman OF the
Senate foreign relations committee, long
have held that the foreigners officially
in our midst could make no more
gracious gesture than the one tne
British Ambassador has just ventured.
But the several hundred GASES IN
Washington--the various premises in
habited by the diplomatic corps-are
not going to be dried up right away.
x X
Perhaps Sir Esme Howard, shrewdly
discerning the shadows that sometimes
betoken coming events, took time by
the forelock, with all the glory that
will accrue to him therefrom. In other
words, many members of Congress hold
1t will only be a question Of time before
legislative action to withdraw dlplo-
mats liquor immunity will be proposed
and bitterly demanded. The issue has
bobbed I'D before. Extreme drys insist
that it be settled their way. They
don't see beyond their prohibition noses
It never occurs to them that IN score
of ways countries which don't happen
to share our drink theories can retail
ate uncomfortably against our repre-
sentatives abroad. Nor is 1t matter
of any concern to 100 per cent Vol
, steadites that extraterritoriallty is an
ancient institution in the comfy OF ma
tions. Once abrogated with regard 70
liquor, there's no telling to what lengths
reprisals might go.
y X X X
M. Robert Serot, a distinguished
member of the French Chamber OF
Deputies, sitting for the Metz district
of Lorraine, is a visitor to Washington
| He came to the United States to &C
quaint himself with American public
| opinion regarding the still unratlf1ec
Mellon Berenger French debt settle
ment. M. Serot, a conservative poll
| tican, gave M Claudel, the French Am
bassador III Washington. the impression
| that he arrived here an opponent Of
ratification, but Americans who talked
with the deputy are convinced he vii
| 60 back to France less hostile to the
| settlement than he once may have been
| Probably M. Claudel had something tC
| do with his compatriot'S conversion
| The Young reparations revision !:
bound, in M. Serot's opinion, to modify
| the attitude of the French Parliament
toward the Mellon Berenger pact, but
he fears that the reduced payments
France is to receive from Germany
may complicate the whole situation.
4 X X y
| A year ago this Week--the eve Of bat
| tie at Kansas City-no group of mer
| and women sat nearer the Hoover
throne than DR.. Hubert Work, Col. VIII
liam j. Donovan, Mabel Walker Willie
| brandt, c. Bascom Slemp, William M
Jardine, Harry S. New. Curtis D. Will
bur, David H. Blair. ct al. Prediction
was general that practically each anc
he Cor she) wanted" when "the chief
was President Work, New. Jardine and
Wilbur constituted the cabinet group
that dared openly to be for Hoover al
a time when nobody knew with GER
tainty whether Coolidge was candi.
date or not. Yet they did not turn ur
in the Hoover cabinet, while Mellon
| and Jim" Davis, who failed to come
| out for Hoover before Kansas City, did
Its a merry mix-up, and no G. o. P
politician in Washington can account
| for the way the pre-convention and
prediction Hoover old guard is stead
liz yanishing from the picture Only