Evening star., 1931-06-22
WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS
BY FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE.

Probably it would be ungracious to
suggest that Mr.. Hoover's plans to res
cue Europe from economic chaos spring
from selfish motives. The fact remains
that the Presidents dramatic action Is
one of the shrewdeSt strokes OF politics
standing to his credit-some say the
shreWdest of all. 1t deserves that de-
scription from several angles. In the firSt
place. it takes the wind out Of certain
sails which the Democrats relied upon
to breeze them into victory next year.
The Hoover administration was 10 pe
raked fore and act on a vast variety
of counts. On none were the Democrats
prepared to view with greater alarm
or point with more vitriolic Scorn than
on Hoover's callous indifference to the
heartaches of an ailing universe. Inat
issue, as far as any uSefulneSS 10 Cne
Democrats is concerned, has now
pretty nearly gone where the woodDlne
twineth not. Hoover has completely
turned the tables on the opposltlon.
The Democrats may yowl that he stole
their foreign-policy clothes while they
| were in swimming, but he has Selzeo
the leadership of the crusade for world
economic recovery at a pSychologlcal
moment all the same. The effect on
the Presidents fortunes, acknowledged
by friend and foe to have Slumpeo
almost to the brink of ruin, cannot be
fully gauged at this early hour. That
Hoover stock, like Wall street prices
is now due for bull movement can
hardly be doubted.
Both the Republican and Democratic
parties are influentially represented IN
the list of congressional sponsors issued
at the white House on Saturday as back
ers of the war debt moratorium scheme.
With Republican Senators like Smoot,
Borah, Watson, FesS, Capper, Morrow,
Moses, Reed and Vandenberg, and DEM
ocratic Senators of the caliber CT Rob
inson. Glass, Swanson, AshursT, Harri-
son. Hull, King, tha two Washes and
Wagner, lined up in Hoover's support,
the advice and consent OF the upper
House are well nigh guaranteed. House
concurrence would sem: to be equa!iy
assured with power welding Republl-
cans TilSon, Bacharach, HaWley, Dar-
row, Ramseyer, Smell, Mapes, Wood and
Treadway and Democrats Crisp, Byrns,
Collier and Cullen saying aye .aye. Crisp
of Georgia represents House Democrats
on the World War Debt FundinT Com
mission. Capture of Owen d. Young S
assent was Glass A politics. The Pres
id.nt looked before he leaped this time.
Little birds, doubtless Democratic spar
rows, are whispering. that Young mad a
good deal to do with the Hoover pro-
posal.
No Republican Progressive except
Senator Jim" .Couzens Of Michigan
appears to have got onto the morato-
rum bandwagon so far. He's one of the
eNlons whom Hoover converted by tale-
phone during the hectic week end. AS
the Progressives openly and almost
gloatingly boasted at their Washington
conference in March that they'll hold
the balance of power in the Seventy
second Congress, their attitude toward
the Presidents help-Europe program
assumes interest and major Importance.
Within their ranks Is one man, Sen
ator Howell, of Nebraska. who spits
FIRE every time somebody suggests easing
up on our war debtors in any way,
shape or manner. Prediction is fairly
safe that the spirit will move Hiram
johnson of California, too, when the
administrations proposals reach the
Senate. It may be that Washington
is in for another Capitol Hill siege as
bitter as the irreconcilable fight against
the Treaty Of Versailles and the League
of Nations.
When the tale is told in detail--and
it is sure to have place In history
two men are likely to figure conspicu-
ously as those who brought the mora
torium matter to head. In the order
of their functioning, these are Frederic
NJ Sackett, former Senator from Ken
lucky and now American Ambassador
to Germany, ana Andrew w. Mellon,
Secretary Of the Treasury. Sackett spent
an unobtrlsive week in washington, oS-
tensibly on leave, early in May. Events
in Berlin we're at the breaking point
when he left his post. They waxed in
intensity while he was in the United