Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-08-30
WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS
BY FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE.

Squaring a circle, generally rated as
mathematical impoSSibility, is no
more difficult than the problem which
confronts Mr.. Hoover and his advisers
in their efforts to discover an accept
able formula for naval limitation and
disarmament. 1t is a problem to which
the President and Secretaries Stimson
and Adams and Undersecretary Cotton
have devoted many daylight hours of
conference at the White House this
week, and which has kept the lights
burning late in the State Department.
Public sentiment in the United States
demands naval parity. Public senti-
ment in Great Britain demands main
tenance of Britain's present naval
cruiser strength. The existing disparity
in cruiser strength between Britain
no dispute or disguise. 1t has seemed
self-evident that parity can be obtained
only in one of two fashions: Either
the United States must build up to
Britain's level-a procedure which from
our standpoint is the converse OF dis
armament-or Britain must reduce her
fleet to the United States level-a course
to which 1t would be political suicide
for any British government to agree.
So Mr.. Hoover'S problem Is to devise a
formula which will achieve naval parity.
but which will neither require us to
build many additional cruisers nor Will
require Britain to junk any OF her
cruisers. The solution requires the
wisdom Of Solomon and the ingenuity
of Edison.
The Hoover Commission on the Con-
Servation of the Public Domain an
nounced this week is the latest addition
to a long list of present and prospective
Trrh
President is setting up in rapid success
sion. First came the Law Enforcement
Commission and then the Federal Farm
Board. The Commission on Child We'll
fare, the Commission on waterways
DEVELOPMENT in California, the commits
sion on the bridge across San Francisco
Bay, the commission to reduce expend-
itures In the military establishment
are others fresh in the public mind.
Mr.. Hoover's proposal to conserve some
200 100000 acres of the public domain
bv passing it on to the States for flu
ture irrigation and reclamation by the
latter has not met with any enthusi-
astic response from the Western Sem
ators of the States most Immediately
concerned. Indeed. some OF them, in
GLIDING the aggressive Borah, lost no
time in tearing the program to pieces.
claiming it to be i'll advised and mex
pedient.
Two bad boys of the Coolidge re-
gime, Rear Admiral Thomas P. Ma
gruder and Col. William Mitchell, are by
way of being indicated by the Hoover
administration. Admiral Magruder got
in bad by outspoken criticism of naval
expenditures as wasteful and suggesting
operating economies. He was relieved of
his command and relegated to the
waiting list" Now the admiral Is not
only restored to active duty, but some
of the economies he advocated are to
be put into effect. Col. Mitchell charged
the United States with tagging badly IN
the development of aircraft and assailed
the expenditure of large sums for naval
surface craft. He asserted that vessels
of the superdreadnaught type in the
next war would not be worth the pow
der to blow them up. Col. Mitchell was
urt-martialed. Now the Hoover adj
ministration is giving serious thought
to the advisability of abandoning fur
ther construction Of superdreadnaught
both in the interest of peace and
economy. anu because Of the very
their doubtful utility.
y X X 4
The refusal of Bobby Jones to permit
his name to be put forward for nominal
ton as Congressman from Georgia, to
succeed the late Representative Leslie
]. Steele. deprives the House of Repre-
sentatives Of an opportunity to lower Its
collective golf score. According to Alex
SANDY Armour, the professional at the
Congressional Country Club, there are no
"real good" golfers in Congress. So far
as the PRO" knows, no M. G. can break
80 consistently on course. Congress
is F,,iJ oF would. ha Golfers Had E0bhv
Jones come to Washington he would
have had his hands full giving free
coaching in golf to his colleagues.
X 4 X y
Some interesting arrangements OF
the pictures in the White House have
recently been effectuated. The portrait
Of Calvin Coolidge, which formerly oc-
cupied conspicuous place In the State