Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-07-18
WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS
BY FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE.

One of President Hoover's current
woes, apart from the naval treaty snarl
in the Senate, is the appointment OF a
major general commandant of the Ma
rine Corps. The Leathernecks are very
close to the Presidents heart nova
| days, since Maj. Longs splendid de-
tachment Of 200 Marines built and be-
came the cuStodians OF the RApidan
camp Four officers Of high rank are in
the running to succeed the late Maj.
Gen. Neville. In alphabetical order,
they are Brig. Gems. Smedley D. Butler,
commandant OF the Quantico base;
Logan Feland, commandant of the De-
partment of the Pacific at San Fran
cisco; Ben Hebard Fuller, acting major
general commandant of the corps, at
Washington, and James H. Russell,
United States high commissioner IN
Haiti. A tremendous behind-the-
! competition is on at the White House
and the Navy Department, with friends
| and supporters Of each OF the four
brigadiers pulling wires and wiring for
| pulls in all directions. An appointment
| will probably be withheld. as is usual,
until 80 days after the death OF the late
| commandment. This may postpone q
Devil-dog enlisted men are plugging
| for Butler. The State Department Is
said to be boosting Russell.
| +
A clean desktop is the irreducible
| minimum demanded by the President
| before he starts West on his little va
| cation at the end OF August What Mr.
Hoover has particularly in mind is his
! determination to reconstitute the United
| States Tariff Commission and the Fed
| eral Power Commission before he goes
| on his holiday. It's an open secret that
| the White House is having its own
| troubles OH this score. The task the
| Chief Executive weathered In naming
the Federal Farm Board last year was
child's play compared to the difhcul-
| ties he's experiencing in finding the
right sort Of men for the tariff ano
1 power bodies. Any number OF eligibles
| have said NO. thank you," to the Pres.
ident's opportunities. Some present
alibis in the form of their inability to
leave their private business. Many
/ very rl1any-frankly acknowledge thel1
| refusal to subject personal regulations
esta blished during the lifetime of work
and success to the FIRE Of political gun
men" who specialize at washington In
pillorying nominees to Federal once.
Just before DR.. Ray Lyman Wilbur
/ SECRETARY OI LE1C 1ttJCllOtt AAAN INAASs
bur left Washington the other day toI
their Far Western Summer camp In
! the Sierra Nevadas, the tallest timber IN
the Hoover cabinet ordered new bed
TIA 10 be Z feet long and will be IN
stalled In Secretary Wilburs cabin in
the cabinet camp" on the Rapidan
Nothing he could And In stock In Wash;
/ inRton furniture establishments was oil
| any dimensions he could Use, so bed Is
to be made to order for him. What DR.
Wilbur does when he travels in Pull
man has not been publicly disclosed
One OF the Interior chiefs missions IN
the West, besides mentioning, will be
| to look over the initial construction
| operations at Boulder Dam, which nave
Just set In. The project, in Wilbur's
| words ..signalizes our national conquest
| OF the Great American Desert"
| y 4
Bill Schilling, jovial broad-shoul-
dered dairyman member of the Federal
Farm Board. made such an impression
on a recent missionary tour through
Colorado that an admirer at Crane
Junction has broken into rhythmic
rhapsody over him. Here are the open
ing stanzas of "Sagebrush Philosophy"
We've heard about q Federal Farm
Board for quite a spell,
Though IL one really did exist, wal
rather hard to tell.
But now we've seen Bill Schilling, anC
heard him laugh and talk,
We aren't scared to bet cents that he I
the biggest half ~
But, speakin' serious, mixed In with al
his jokes and fun,