Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-11-21
WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS

The President this week began the
framing 1t with view to combining the
short session, 90 far as he has any
control Of the situation, to necessary
appropriation bills and "non-controver-
sial" emergency relief measures. He
has reluctantly come TO the conclusion
that continuance of the per cent tenn
porary income tax is impossible. He
has decided to retain In the pigeoilhole
Of his desk the proposal for American
adherence to the World Court on the
basis Of the Root formula. He is, Of
course, unalterably opposed to any
tinkering with the tariff now or later.
He disapproves Of the farm debenture
scheme as heartily as ever. He has
not yielded his opposition to Government
operation of Muscle Shoals. He favors
amendment Of the antitrust laws to
lessen their terrors to big business, but
may defer recommendations along that
line at present. AS for prohibition, with
the certainty that the Wickersham
Commission report will not be ready
until Christmas, or later, Mr.. Hoover
just yet. The present prospect Is for
message largely dealing with expan-
sion OF the public works, upbuilding Of
the merchant marine and foreign trade
and social welfare proposals.
$50
Presidential appointments which the
Senate will be called upon to confirm
and over which warm controversy
threatens will be exceptionally numer-
GUS and important at the short session
Of Congress. Prominent In the list OF
appointments already made, but not yet
confirmed, are the. members Of the re-
juvenated Tariff Commission. At the
top of the list Of new appointments to
come shortly Is the new Federal Power
comn1ission. y seems .;.s scarcely con- m:
the Power Commission will be of the
sort to commend themselves to Senators
Of the stamp OF Norris and BFookhart,
ShipStead and La Toilette, not to men,
ton the Democrats. The President
must sfettly announce his new Eeere-
tary of Labor, and II Postmaster Wal
ter Brown replaces Or" Tess as chair
man Of the Republican National Com
mittee, there must be new Postmaster
General. Senatorial confirmation with
out much fuss, of whatever figure in
the ranks Of organized labor the mantle
of the labor portfolio finally descends
upon, would seem to be O reasonable
expectancy, but after the experience
last Winter with respect to the con-
frmation of Chief Justice Hughes any
thing may happen.
4 +
Harking back to the late congress
sional elections, the cold figures hardly
justify the frequently heard appellatioh
of Democratic landslide" Thus Il ap.
pears that 80 States out Of the 40 made
no change whatever In the political
complexion Of their congressional reps
nke.kf T,n kaS&<
sector, with 1914 seats in the House at
stake, the Republicans lost only six, Of
which two were in Connecticut, one In
New Jersey and three in Pennsylvania
This compares with Democratic pre-
election claims based on impartial sur
veys," which listed a gain of seven seats
In the six New England States and a
gain OF is In the New York, New Jersey,
Pennsylvania and Maryland area. In
Ohio, Indiana and Illinois the Demo-
Gratis gained Is seats and picked up
six more In Missouri and six in Ken
lucky. These five States furnished SUBJ
stantially tIree.flfths of the entire
Democratic gains. The fact is that the
Democratic high command is concealing
real disappointment that the results, as
far as the House is concerned, fell so
far short of their advance hopes.
X
This has been year Of "close shaves"
for Repi esentative Charles l.. Underhill,
Republican, Of Massachusetts,, who sue
| cessfOlly passed through o serious alb
dolninal operation at the Naval Hos
pital here this week and now looks
forward to restored health and new
lease Of life. The Bay State veteran
Representative had a narrow escape at
| the polls November 4, when his po-
litical life was in serious jeopardy He
is dry from strong personal convic-
tons, whom no referendum can bulge,
| representing a district where the wet
sentiment strongly predominates. On
| the unofficial count he nosed out his
Democratic wet opponent by scant
margin of few hundred in a $4,000
total. Then ensued the unique spec
tacle Of hts opponent readily conceding
defeat and protesting against the re-
count which his supporters demanded.