Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-07-19
WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS
BY FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE.

George w. Wickersham was Attorney
General in the cabinet of william How
ard Taft, of whom Theodore Roosevelt
said on q famous political occasion that
Taft meant well, feebly." The COM
monest comment on Law Enforcement
bombshell Is that he means well.
vaguely" Nobody-wet or dry-is will
ing to take the witness stand and say
just what Mr. Wickersham is driving at.
Another criticism of the encyclical to
the governors conference is that the
suggested division between Federal en-
forcement and State enforcement is as
scribed as a universal reaction" to
Wickersham's proposal is that it can,
and will, get exactly nowhere. Merely
mention the word modification" of the
eighteenth amendment and the Vol
stead act. as Congress is now consti-
tuted, and you encounter on all hands
the conviction that any tampering with
the liquor laws is about as remote a
probability as an airplane landing on
the moon-even more so.
X
One Of Congress most distinguished
and potent drys, who became
cause of his confidence In the Cali
fornian's prohibition views. is disap-
pointed that Chairman Wickersham
didn't tilt straight at what the states
man in question holds to be the Eth
opian in the enforcement woodpile. He
thinks that what is fundamentally wrong
with enforcement is the inactivity OF
United States attorneys in the various
Federal districts. He goes further, and
affirms that with few exceptions district
attorneyships in the States are not in the
hands of the right kind of men, for
prohibition purposes. They are far
from being fired, he declares. with the
evangelical zeal necessary. He does not
think they should be prohibition IA
natics, or take their cues from the Anti
Saloon League cstechism. But he is
convinced that In countless ]urisdic-
tions. where liquor-law violations are
chronic and unchecked, the fault can
be traced to district attorneys ofhces.
y
It's an open secret that a good many
of President Hoover's dry supporters are
chafing under the failure OF enforce
heard lamenting that conditions are no
better than they were under the Cool
idge administration. They acknowledge
that Mr.. Hoover has really only got
going, and that his first four months in
the White House have found him pre-
occupied with a variety of trials and
tribulations. But time is flying, from
the drys' impatient standpoint, and the
prediction can be hazarded that sooner
or later they'll be clamoring for re
suits" at Mr. Hoover's hands. Some of
them haven't forgiven him for under
rating the importance of prohibition In
his Associated Press speech at New
York. when he tabulated Volstead vio-
lations as accounting for an tnsignin-
can't per cent of the Nations crimes.
There's a tiny blue-eyed beauty Of
tender years over at Fort Myer,
home of the Sd Cavalry, U. s. A.,
across the Potomac from Washington,
who claims a christening distinction
of which she and her parents are very
vine and she is the daughter OF Capt.
Mark A. Devine, jr. Helen was bap-
tized at Monterey, Calf, in 1925 by
Father Ramon Mestres (Now Mgr. Mes
tres), the priest who married Herbert
Hoover and Lou Henry in 1899. on
the eve of their honeymoon trip to
the Far East. Helen is the grand
daughter of Col. David L. Stone. -ex-
ecutive officer for the Assistant Sec
rotary Of War.
The nearest thing there is on Cap
itol Hill to waving red rag at bull
Is for somebody to make q noise that
sounds like the League of Nations.
Hence and therefore, the appointment OF
David Hunter Miller Of the New York
bar to be editor of treaties" has ex-
cited the irreconcilable Old Guard no
end. For, be it known, Mr.. Miller was
in woodrow wilson's encourage at Paris
and drew the final draft Of the League
covenant. There are Senators who
already have persuaded themselves into
the alarming conviction that Miller's
real Job at the State Department Is
to bootleg Uncle Sam ifssO the League OF
Nations Corroborative evidence of their
fears d seen In the fact. that he's