Evening star., 1930-12-15

That important and industrious
branch of the White House charged
with the duty Of keeping an ear to the
ground Is persuaded that, whatever
Congress thinks of the Hoover relief
program, the country approves 1t.
Newspaper editorials form the basis of
this belief. On a single day last week
229 favorable editorial utterances piled
up. They originated in all parts OF the
Union and represented all shades of
politics. One of the earliest and
strongest concentrations was in the
New York World, leading Democratic
organ Some of the Presidents news
paper supporters think his choice Of
phraSeology might have been happier,
but there is virtually unanimous agree
ment that in standing guard at the
Treasury door against reckless raids on
the peoples money, HooVer'S position Is
unaSsailable. This observers atten-
ton has been drawn to bit of canny
Coolidge wisdom on this score 112
years "B. C."-before the crash. Ad-
dressing the annual business meeting
of the government, "CaP' said, early in
1923: 1.-The steady increase In State
and municipal governmental costs can
not continue longer without disaster.
1t is a red flag, warning us OF .,.;Is the
danger of depression and repetition
country at the close of 1920"
X y
All sorts of stories are afioat about
the background" of the feud between
the White House and Congress. One
circumstantial yarn is to the effect that
Col. Arthur Woods, the Presidents un-
ernployment chairman, submitted to the
cabinet seven or eight concrete propo-
sails for graphing with the 1obless situ-
alton on grandioSe lines. The plan Is
said to have called for disgorglng OF
public funds on a colossal scale, which
would have put hundreds of thousands
of idle hands to work all over the
country and kept them at work for the
better part Of year. Col. Woods al
legged recommendations were Scrapped-
so the report goeS-on the ground OF
their excessive cost. Another tale Is
that in reading the riot act to Con-
greSs, Hoover had mainly in mind the
project to cash the soldiers bonus GER
tiflcates, aggregating a total estimated
as high as $3,000,000 900. The bittereSt
criticism of the President in. House and
Senate cloakrooms is that he is pur-
suing fiea-bite and drop-in-the-bucket
policy on emergency relief. This has
been the keynote of discussion on the
floor in both branches, too.
\ X X X
washington newspaper men who at
tended Gov. Clifford Pinchot's invita-
ton press conference on Saturday came
away convinced that the Pennsylvania
there and then SHE'D his big, black
sombrero into the 1892 presidential ring.
Pinchot foreshadows power as the para
mount issue two years hence, but in
dicated that prohibition will not be
wholly ignored. One of the journals
tic wags who went to the Governors
Seance says that Penn's new @. o. P.
boss has now hoisted alliterative colors
to the breeze: Power, Prohibition and
Pinchot"
Mrs. Medill Mccormick Chats what
Representative Ruth Hanna Mccormick
is now calling herselD beamed like
anything but defeated senatorial cam
didate as she proudly introduced her
willowy young daughter Katrina to
Capital society the other day. The
throngs of friends at the reception got
the impression that Ruth" looks bet
ter and feels better than she has for
long time, now that her two strenuous
campaignS-primary and election-be-
long to the ages. Mrs. Mccormick will
throw herself into the farewell weeks of
| her congressional duties and then, so
her friends are assured retire to private
life. 1t isn't likely to be altogether
| isn't built that way. Her big home in
Georgetown is sure to be the scene of
high, even If unofficial, politics In the
| days to come.
| \ 4
The late Senator Lee S. Overrnan of
| North Carolina was the last surviving
member of the Senate conferees who
put the final o. K. of Congress ON the
/ Volstead act. A few hours before his
| death last week the noble old Roman,
who looked the part of Senator as
if chiSeled for it, told some friends of
Mabel Walker Willebrandt that he had
stood unflinchingly for section 20 of the
| enforcement act. 1t is under that do
mestic wine-making provision of the
| law that the California grape concen-
| trate folks are now preparing to operate.
X X
Every once In a while Associate JUS
tice Oliver Wendell Holmes of the SUI
preme Court dimes quietly at q down.