Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-08-31

The White House is sorely puzzled at
| the ease with which stories start and
| the rapidity with which they sprea d
! that the President has shifted his posi-
ton and is shortly to announce a right
| about face on this or that vital issue
| Of the -FOUR. Dcnials and more denials
/ fail to end these stories. Their persist
| cncy is amazing One such is the extra
session Of Congress business. Mr..
Hoover's opposition to converting Con-
| greSs in special session Is firmly
grounded. He has made his position
perfectly clear or that score. Yet each
/ week the secretariat are obliged to offer
! renewed assurances that the President
| has not changed his mind. Another is
! tie maintenance OF wage scales at the
pre-depression level. BY word end deed
Mr.. Hoover has vehemently opposed
| wage cuts Though wage reductions in
| private industry arc assuming the pro-
, portions OF an avalanche, the President
has not budged on this queStion-and
| will not Yet first from one quarter
and then another Genes a report that
| the administration has shifted its posi-
ton or is about to do so. A third ex-
ample Is prohibition. All Summer long
| the country has been in the grips of a
whispering campaign that Mr.: Hoover
was going to declare for the restoration
| OF real beer as a grand stand play to
pep up business as we'll as to alleviate
| the vices inherent in VolsteadiSm. All
/ of which is an Arabian Nights enter
| tainment for a White House prohibi-
| ton modiflca ton pronouncement Is not
even remotely within the realm OF pos
! sibilitieS.
Sunny Jim Watson, the Hoosier
| statesman. came to town last week and
| forecast events in the new Congress
! this coming Winter with glowing pre-
| cis;on. Congress can be safely counted
| on not to attempt to revise the tariff
| law. not to enact dole law. not to in
| crease taxes, according to the Repub-
lican Senate leader. Affirmative legis-
lative action dealing with the railroads
and with the banks, he thought, was
within the realm of possibility. Drastic
| curtailment" of the Farm Boards funds
| and prerogatives was clearly indicated.
Watson put in a good word for the
! fve-day-week plan for industry. Rigid
| economy to balance the budget. and
Federal funds distributed through pri-
vate agencies to feed the hungry. II
that became necessary, were other high
| lights of the Watson forecast.
* x ~
Ratification by Congress of the one
year debt moratorium Is assured but
not without plenty of oratoricsl fire.
works Senator Hiram johnson Of
/ California is going to muster all the
irreconcilables he can and ring the
/ cha nges on the international bankers
md upon Hoover policies that favor
D lrope at the expense of the United
'.tates" Approval of the one-year
moratorium will he only incidental to
| the larger question OF whether the NOR
! atorium Is to. be further extended.
whether in the end it is to become per-
! manent. No student OF finance now
supposes that Germany will be able to
J resume reparation payments next July.
| Recent events in England have shown
the ramificstions of the German situa-
| ton. Mr.. Hoover has asSented to the
proposition that the collapse of Ger
many would bring financial and pos
! sbly social debacle abroad which in
! turn would be ruinous in more ways
/ than one to the United States. He &C.
/ cepted that viewpoint in initiating the
mora torium. It's extension next year
will almost certainly be as vital as was
its in!tia ton this year. But if he says
so to Congress he will unloose a
| hornets nest there. and yet he cannot
pledge that there will be no extension.
| ~ X
| An hCeIeSCIIS o'oiy Sohs Iie
rounds of the Capital anent the selec-
| ton OF the new chairman of the Re-
! publican National Committee, who will
be named next Spring. If not sooner. 1t
! Is to the effect that the odd Guard
| are pressing Mr. Hoover very hard to
: agree to permit one of their own num-
I Der to have the che irmanship. In
| III ory the committee itself elects its
| own chairman. In actu9 lity he Is hand
picked by the President or the presi-
| dental nominee. Commit seman Hills
of New York. David Mulvsne Of Kansas
and Ralph williams Of Oregon are the
trio of veteran orgs nization regulars
who are preferred to Mr.. Hoover, ac-