Evening star., 1930-06-25
WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS
BY FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE.

Herbert Hoover had on his six-ounce
gloves and his fighting face when he
aSSailed the veterans bill at yesterdays
White House press conference. The 10
or 80 odd newspaper men who fore
gather at these semi-weekly pow-wows
are the only ones privileged to see the
President-on occaSion-in battle trim
He certainly hit out with both fists and
breathed RooseVeltian defiance when he
lambasted the veterans measure as
lust bad legislation" The day was
muggy, the Executive mind was sorely
troubled with raft of tribulationS and
a somewhat lugubrious cabinet meet
ing had just adjourned But Hoover
never appeared before the scribes in
more belligerent mood and guise. In
those torrid three minutes while he was
reading his blast against the bill, he
cut anything but the figure of Presi-
dent whose political fortunes are in a
slump or who is particularly upset about
it. Rather. the Californian was an Ajax
defying the lightning.
X X X
Mr. Hoover's critics on Capitol Hill
need it be said that their name nova
days is legion? Prise to remark that he
habitually gets mad too late" Their
point is that the President is too prone
to cry after the legislative milk has
been spilled. On the present cantan-
kerous occasion, they'll tell you that he
might easily have avoided the mess if
he'd let it be known long ago just
what kind of veterans legislation he
would or would not approve. Anti
HooveriteS declare that the President
was Similarly asleep at the switch in
connection with last years long-draWn-
out fight over the debenture in farm
relief legislation. He is accused of let
ting responsible Republican leaders
proceed on the theory that a deben-
ture provision might be acceptable at
the White House, only to wade into the
fight toward the tail-end with mani
festo six or seven weeks late.
X X x
Senator Pat Harrison, Democrat, of
Mississippi, is going. to breathe more
easily after midnight tomorrow, for
the hour will then be past when any
body can file against him for renomina-
ton. There's been no indication that
any MissiSSippian dreams of so ven
turesome step. denomination in the
| Magnolia State is, of course, equiva
| lent to election. That means that Pat,
still a year to go before he's so, is
headed for a third term in the United
States Senate, a record which probably
hasn't been equaled in our Gay ard
generation. The silver-tongued scourge
of Congress, who last night lit into
the "Hoover-G -Grundy tariff" on a coun-
try-wide radio hook-up, is at his best
when he's fitting at his pet aversion,
| the Republican party. But it's hard TO
say on which side of the Senate aisle
! he has more friends, for Pat is a past
master of the gentle art of striking at
political foes without wounding them.
X X X
When George w. Wickersham, chair
man of the National Law Enforcement
Commission, stepped into the EXecu-
tive Offices one day this week to see
the President about the commissions
manicured budget, observers couldn't
help noticing the New York lawyers
/ brisk gait and debonair demeanor.
WickerSham is 70 years young. He has
the appearance, the pep and the en-
thusiasm of man 20 years his junior,
The law enforcement chief ascribeS his
| physical excellence to. a rule of conduct
long ago laid down and religicuSly
maintained-to reach an appointed
goal by a slow and steady stride in
stead of sprinting toward it. Wicker
sham says he learned that secret as
an Alpine mountain climber and finds
it has its virtues in public life.
Senator George Higgins Moses, Re-
! publican, of New Hampshire, Is one of
the few men who have the nerve TO
face the microphone without notes. The
brilliant Old Guardsman from the
granite hills hardly ever broadcasts
from manuscript, no matter what the
subject The other day he introduced
M. Simopoulous, the Greek Minister to
the United States, in the Columbia
Systems "Conclave of the Nations, -
and ratified of four eloquent minutes
about Hellenic glory as breezily as II
he'd boned up on the subject for a
month. Moses was American Minister
to Athens once upon a time and still
knows his Grecian onions thoroughly.