Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-01-10

The President quite sensibly kept
| himself clear of the Senate squabble
over committee vacancies, the filling of
] which has been an impending problem
ever since last March, and which, after
temporizing, cajoling and threats, came
to showdown this week. The fight of
| the Old Guard to keep young Bob La
Toilette of the all-powerful finance
| committee collapsed when White House
| support was not forthcoming La Fol-
| lette's victory is a signal triumph for
| the left wing of the Republican party
| and further evidence of the changing
order in the Senate. The Old Guard is
succumbing slowly but surely to the
Young Turks on the one hand and the
sons Of the wild jackasses' on the other.
In an effort to eliminate the favorite
| alibi of maritime rum runners, that
| they did not hear the warning gun,
ordnance technicians are seeking to
| develop the use by the Coast Guard of
a warning bomb. calculated to emit
| blast which will shatter any eardrum
within the radius of a mile. Admiral
Billiard, commandant of the Coast
Guard, who has had to stand consider
able gait since the So-called massacre"
Of the crew of the rum runner Black
Duck in Narragansett Bay by Coast
Guard patrol during the Christmas
holidays. says the warning bomb idea
has been terminating for many months
| and is still in the experimental stage.
He is confident that in almost every
| case the present warning signals are
entirely efficient, but is quite willing to
install further warning devices which
will put that issue beyond the range OF
dispute.
**
It requires $40 pages of microscopic
type to set forth the cash account Of
the secretary of the Senate for the fiscal
year which ended last June 80. This
interesting booklet is just now ready.
Senate Document, No. 40. Expenses of
the vice presidential automobile, rang
ing all the way from so cents for a can
of solder to $40 for the chauffeur's
overcoat, occupy six pages. The carpet
for the office of the committee on en-
rolled bills cost $708.62. A lady named
Brown was paid at the rate of ~ cents
apiece for washing and ironing 1913
towels. Just under nine million speeches
passed through the folding room, at the
rate of ST. per thousand folds. Total
disbursements for the Senate, as listed,
run a little over three million dollars.
X y y
International good will broadcasts, to
be inaugurated by the Columbia Broad
casting System, starting with an adj
dress on the evening of January 81 by
Sir Esme Howard, the retiring British
| Ambassador and dean of the Washing
| ton diplomatic corps, and continuing
| weekly during 1880, mark new adj
vance in the ever-advancing march of
| radio programs. High hopes are held
by the sponsors and participants that
! the good will messages will be both en-
| tertaining and inspiring of international
confidence and understanding. Column
bias short-wave transmitter, W2XE, at
New York will carry the message over
seas.
Believe It or Not" Ripley seldom
| makes mistakes, but when in a recent
cartoon he set forth that Judah p. Ben
i jamin had served as Senator, Attorney
General and Secretary of War under
| two American Governments, though
not himself a citizen of the United
| States, it provoked incredulity and in
vestigation in Government circles here.
Secretary of Labor Davis now opines
| that his own research indicates "a pro-
nounced possibility of error" in Ripley's
observations concerning the eminent
| Mr.. Benjamin, who was United States
Senator from Louisiana before the Civil
War and held his other Offices under
| the Southern Confederacy. He was born
| In the DANISH west 1noleS, OUT acquired
his American citizenship when his
father was admitted to citizenship at
New Orleans in 1926. Judah P, age Is,
was then a student at Yale University.
Naturalization laws then in force pro-
vided that minor If dwelling in the
United States at the time of the nat
uralization of his parent shall be con-
sidered a citizen of the U. S."
| y X X
The latest installment of the report
of the Department of Commerce sur
vey Of the economic structure Of New
England is just off the press, highly
informative and Illuminating document.
New England business, according to
this expert diagnosis, has suffered from
undue conservatism, from undue MOD
esty in failing to boast Of its many
assets, from inherited wealth. from
sitting of business leadership and from
lack of courageous city planning. The
| experts conclude, however, that funda-
mentally New England Is sound and
that industry there as whole has
adopted a policy in keeping with the
progressive spirit of the times, and
New Englanders are awakening to a