Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-11-09
WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS
BY FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE.

It may flare up in Congress during
the Winter, but the chances are that
the Hoover-Navy League squabble, I'M
necessary and unseemly, will soon be as
forgotten as last months weather. One
more crack at the front pages-whether
Navy League President Gardiner does
or does not make the public apology
President Hoover said he would expect
and then the episode will take its
place among the unremembered Follies
Of 1881. Here in Washington, where
men and women devote time and en-
ergy to national defense and naval pre-
paredneSs in particular, the admins
trations cheeseparing policy evokes Bit
ter opposition. Out in the sticks, where
salt water Is never shifted and they
know the Navy only from pictures, 1t
isn't so easy to get people steamed up.
They'll read in the report Of the jury
which acquitted" Mr.. Hoover that at
this moment STA, 10000 is being spent
on warships now under construction or
contracted for. That will convince the
average citizen that the fleet Is not Gas
Mr.. Gardiner chargedD being restricted,
reduced and starved" by the PRESIDENT.
~
Whether the investigating boards
verdict of mot guilty" would have been
rendered if the board had contained
fewer adminiStrationiStS like "Blll
Castle and Commodore" Jahncke Is
another question. Even the thick-ano-
thin Republican organ, New YORK
Herald Tribune, raked President Hoover
fore and aft for Manipulating jury
composed predominantly of his subordi-
mates. His action in that respect was
pilloried as "indefensible and insup-
portable" It is also a question
whether the White House would have
emerged from the Navy League
probe" with flying colors II the Gar
diner attack had been concentrated on
the administrations failure to proceed
investigators find that the United
States has at present more treaty ton
mage under construction than any other
nation" That was part OF the bar
gain America so StrenuouSly drove at
London. Great Britain and Japan, belng
far ahead of us in various categor1eS
of ships, especially big-gun cruisers,
agreed to stop building while we caught
up with them.
DR.. H. Foster Balm, former director OF
the United States Bureau OF Mines al
Washington, entered upon new )ob on
November /, when he became general
research secretary OF the Copper and
Brass Research Association at New
York. DR.. Balm relinquished the secre-
taryship OF the American Institute OF
Mining and Metallurgical Engineers TO
accept his present connection. HIS geo.
logical explorations have ranged all
| over the world, especially in the Far
East. In 1915 and 1916 DR.. Balm was q
member of Herbert Hoover's Relief
Commission in Belgium. He was di-
rector Of the Bureau of Mines through.
! 1923-24. Indiana claims him as one OF
her distinguished native sons.
"Thad" Caraway was called the
meaneSt and keenest man IN the SEN
ate" Many an opponent, and often
the ArkanSan's opponents were felioW
Democrats. feared to tilt with him pc
| cause of Caraway's ruthless invective.
| Out Of the chamber-in the cloak room
the Senate restaurant, his own ONCE
or elsewhere OF stage-the burly
Southerner was human, soft-spoken
and frequently genial. He was most
dangerous when walking around the
chamber, head bowed and hands
plunged in trousers pockets, seemingly
obliviouS Of what was going on. Inen,
| all Of a sudden, Caraway would cut IN
with snarling or ironical sally that
generally left scar. One MEMBER o.
the Senate who will not erashrine his
memory in laurel Is Hiram johnson.
The Californian never forgot that Sen
ator Caraway evicted him from the nne
old colonial mansion the Johnsons 50
long occupied at Riverdale, Md. which
the ArkanSan purchased behind tner
backs.
| y
Another impending change in the
Washington diplomatic corps is due De-
cembeg i when Maj Gen. Prince