Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-05-02
POLITICS HELD BACK.
OF DRY MOVE DELAY
Congress Failure to Heed
Hoover'S Prohibition Wishes
! Laid to Fear of Results.

r Failure of Congress 10 heed President
.Hoover's wish for enactment of pro-
nibition enforcement bills is attributed
by political leaders to the reluctance of
Capitol Hill to play with dynamite be-
fore election. The White House, in the
emphatic message to Congress this week,
reminded the House and Senate that
urgent recommendations made by the
President first in June, 1929, and again
in December, remain dead letters. Mr..
Hoover hopes almost against hope that
action may ensue before the present
session is ended. Predictions are gen.
eral that the President is doomed 70
further disappointment, at least as far
as passage of his whole program is con-
eerned.
The national ferment over prohibit
ton is named as the principal cause
for congressional ly-dallyfng over the
administration dry program. With the
entire membership of the House OF
Representatives and more than one
third of the Senate coming up for
election in November, Republicans and
Democrats alike are watching their step.
They are watching 1t this "off year"
more carefully than ever, on account
Of the prohibition issue.
Avoid Unnecessary Risks.
Scores of candidates in both parties
believe their respective fates next Fall
depend on their political liquor records.
They want to run no unnecessary risks.
Their votes in Washington for or
against this or that portion of the
Hoover enforcement bills might be the
feathers, many of them think, to turn
the scales toward success or defeat at
the November polls.
The fact that Congress has not moved
along the lines the President now has
urged for the third time within year
is all the more remarkable because of
the prohibition complexion of both
branches. The House and Senate are
overwhelmingly dry. They never have
withheld approval of measures designed
to tighten the liquor laws. The Jones
'five-and-ten" statute was passed by
substantial majorities. Yet the Hoover
program, which is far less drastic and
virtually Is a program of purely admin
istrative measures, is held up.
Old Hands Blame Dry Fight.
Congressional old hands, especially
those in either party who will have to
bear the brunt of carrying House dis
tricts and Senate seats this year, are
convinced that the pending prohibition
"upheaval' is wholly responsible. On
their face, the proposals to transfer
enforcement from the Treasury to the
Department of Justice; to relieve court
congestion; to increase Federal prison
accommodations; to create a unified
border patrol, and to give the District
Of Columbia an adequate enforcement
law are innocent enough.
But with the electorate, as the politi-
clans view it, watching like hawks every
move at Washington the men and wom-
en- who want to perpetuate themselves
on Capitol Hill are going to keep their
hands of dangerous legislation as long
as possible. This may not be looking at
the Nations business from an idealistic
standpoint, they admit, but it's politics,
they say, and springs from the instinct
OF representation.
Administration Scouts Idea.
Administration spokesman do not
share the view that the Presidents
prohibition measures have been baked
by timid politicians. A variety of con-
greSsional business and a number of
unexpected complications on Capitol
ELL, they say, have conspired to produce
unavoidable delay,
From the White House standpoint
there Is nothing in any of the Hoover
bills which could not be approved by
vets and dryS alike without peril to
their political fences. Several of the
presidential proposals cut across the
jurisdiction of various committees. This
Is o circumstance which makes pro-
tracted delay and inquiry inevitable.
The tariff tangle was prolonged unex-
pectedly. Now the London naval treaty
has come along. with the sessions end
in sight. Mr.. Hoover felt it necessary
and useful to keep the record clear by
making final demand for action, but
he is represented as feeling that on
the whole the Hills other troubles were
such that enforcement legislation au-
tomatically was sidetracked.
This may be the White House view
At the other end of Pennsylvania ave
nue. safety first" is generally assigned
as the reason why Congress has made
haste so slowly in helping the President
to perform his thigh duty" in the realm.
Of law enforcement. r. w. w
(Copyright. 1890.