Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-01-06
BY WILLIAM HARD.

Mr.. Hoover returns from diplomacy
in Latin America tomorrow to face more
and deeper diplomacy in Washington.
His biggest and most immediate problem
here is what to do now about the pas
sage of farm bill in this session Of
Congress or about postponing the pas
sage of that bill in order to call an
extra session of Congress next Spring.
The best and most intimate opinion
here is that on this problem Mr.. Hoover
will rise to the height of diplomacy and
do nothing.
Most of Mr. Hoover's closest friends
in Congress want no farm bill under
Mr.. Coolidge. This is not because of
any slightest hostility to Mr. Coolidge.
1t is only because they calculate that
Mr.. Hoover, as President, will have to
bear the burden of administering the
farm bill and that therefore, as Presi-
dent, in a special session of Congress,
he ought to have a chance to make
cooperative suggestions to Congress as
to the complicated and difficult pro-
visions which the bill must contain.
Called western Farm-B Boy"
Many of the special friends of the
farmer" among the Republicans in the
Senate and in the House of Representa-
tives have view which works out to the
same result. They garnered votes for
Mr.. Hoover in the last election by tell
ing their farming constituents that Mr..
Hoover was much more sympathetic"
than Mr.. Coolidge to the farmers de
mands." They called Mr. Hoover a
western farm-boy." They promised the
farmers-so to speak, 'farm-bOy
farm bill" They now want to make
good on that promise. They there
fore are against a Coolidge bill in this
session and in favor of Hoover bill
in an extra session.
Thus there are two forces working
for an extra session: The force OF a
certain special friendship for Mr..
cial promise made to the aggrieved
farmers in the West and Northwest.
These two forces meet by a dramatic
coincidence in Senator William Edgar
Borah of Idaho. He rendered more and
greater service to Mr.. Hoover in the
last campaign than any other man in
Washington. He has special friendship
for Mr.. Hoover and he also has stood
forth as a special champion of large
and elaborate relief" for the farmer
under Mr.. Hoover's presidential sway.
He now demands an extra session in
unrelenting and incorporating terms.
Logical Candidate.
He is at the same time the man
whose services most suggest that 1t is
| he that is the logical candidate" for
| the post of Secretary of State and for
the position Of primacy in Mr.. Hooyer's
cabinet.
Mr.. Borah, however, Is utterly with
| out any itch for cabinet ONCE. He is
behaving in a completely characteristic
consistent manner. He Is q thousand
times more interested in an idea, or q
theory, or a notion, or a principle, than
he is in personal preferment. He is
| not looking for any reward" from Mr..
Hoover. He wants Mr.. Hoover to
choose the best possible cabinet, ire
| spective of past services to him and
irrespective of all so-called paying off
| of debts" Far from being a "candi-
date" for the Office of Secretary of
State, Mr.. Borah is not even an as
plrant TO 1t. He is seeking not an
ONCE or a title, but an effective part
IN the practical success of an admins
tration which he so greatly helped to
lift into power.
1t is for this reason that he so
strongly underlines and emphasizes his
demand for an extra session. He CAL
| culateS that the farmers will respond
| to Hoover farm bill' as they would
never respond to Coolidge farm bill"
ana that new bright legislative page
Tor agriculture would be the best and
biggest send-off toward popularity that
the Hoover administration could have
In certain quarters Mr.. Borah'S in
| SiStence upon an extra session has been
| interpreted as a sort of challenge" to
Mr.. Hoover. In Mr. Borah's own mind
| it bears no such color at ALL Mr.. Borah
| conceives himself to be acting not in
dictation to Mr.. Hoover, but in mere
loyalty and good will to him.
Here, then, is problem in diplomacy
which not the whole of Latin America
could equal or rival in influence upon
Mr.. HooverS fortunes.
Coolidge Wants Bill Passed.
Mr.. Hoover's key friend in Congress-
MY. Borah, on the crest of the wave
of his power in the Senate-has set his
heart upon postponing the farm bill and
upon having an extra session sum-
moned into action. On the other hand.
Mr.. Coolidge, Mr.. Hoovers ex-chief and
/ the present President of the United
| States, has firmly fixed his ambitions
upon ending his administration with a
farm bill passed and signed
| That is certainly legitimate and laud-
able, and Mr.. Coolidge has been ex-
] tremely considerate and accommodate
ing about the details of it. He has been
perfectly willing to let the farm bill
state that its provisions would not go
into effect until the arrival of some
certain date In the Hoover administra-
ton. He has been perfectly willing
that is-to defer the naming of all ap-
pointees under the bill until Mr.. Hoover
should have come into office. Thus Mr..
Hoover, even If the bill should be passed
now, would name air the members Of
the Federal Farm Board which the bill
will create.
! These concessions by Mr.. Coolidge
have shown friendly spirit. Mr.. Hoover