Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-02-25
WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS

Gone is the last vestige OF hope, or
fear. as case may be, Of any special
session Of new Congress. Excepting
only the second deficiency bill. pur-
posely held back for last-minute in
clusion of needed funds all appropria-
ton bills have passed both the House
and Senate. All save the naval ap-
preparation bill have reached actual
enactment Eleyenth-hour filibusters,
If any start now, can jeopardize no es-
sential money bills. Gone, therefore,
is the weapon Of the insurgents where
by they said they could If they would
force Mr.. Hoover'S hand and compel
an extra session. The events confirm
| the original diagnosis last December
that every one in Congress IS talking
an extra session. Nobody really wants
an extra session and nobody really
expects an extra session. The reSidium
of legislative accomplishment of the
| final session of the Seventy-first Con-
gress, as viewed by the White House,
represents measurable attainment OF
the administrations detectives which
were not aimed too high. and Mr..
Hoover, with a sigh of satisfaction and
! relief, intends to go South next week
Tor that long iongedtur FISHING eS-
guFSiun
Arthur A. Ballatine of New York
who succeeds Walter Hope as Assistant
/ Secretary Of Treasury. in charge of ifs
cal affairs. L; one more example of the
Hoover penchant for going after a top
grade expert and prevailing upon him
| TO temporarily put aside large and lu-
crative private affairs and enter the
Government service. The new Mellon
aide leaves a law partnership with
Elihu Root to return to Washington,
where he served a valuable apprentice
ship in Treasury Department affairs
during the crucial war years, when bill
lions in bonds and billions in taxes
we're Spouting forth like an Oil gusher.
Mr.. Ballatine served as advisory coun-
sci TO the Treasury on taxation mat
tiers and later as solicitor of the In
ternal Revenue Bureau. He is a spe-
cialist in the taxation field of the law,
whose rise in his profession since his
graduation from Harvard, 25 years ago,
has been notable A son of Ohio, he
practiced law in Boston for a dozen
years or so until he moved to richer
New York field.
The complete collapse OF the loudly
proclaimed drive to unSeat PennSylVa-
MAS junior Senator, James j. Davis,
has left Senator Gerald p. Nye of
North Dakota, chairman of the Sena-
torial Hundred Thousand Dollar Ex-
pense- Account Committee which has
been investigating campaigns here and
there through the country for nearly a
year, in the same predicament as the
King in the nursery rhyme who marched
his army up the hill. then marched
them down again. Chairman Nye'S
committee will this week lay before the
Senate the results of its labors in its
highly publicized Pennsylvania election
inquiry, but without affirmative recon-
mendation and thereafter wash its hands
of the business. From the standpoint of
Senator Davis and the Republicans in
the Senate, all is we'll that ends well.
y X X
President Hoover told the four hun
dred diners at the annual banquet OF
the White House Correspondents Asso-
citation at the Willard Hotel last Satur-
day night that it was a real pleasure to
meet newspaper men when they were
not lin interrogative mood" The guests
could have inferred from the tenor OF
some of the skitS that the White House
neWsmen when on interrogation bent
had not often found the President lin
responsive mood" The Hoover press
conference injunction this is for back
ground purposes only was parodied as
the successor 10 Lne departed WHINE
House spokesman" line of the Coolidge
DAYS. Incidentally the dinner provided
the opportunity for the New York broker
| who to win a wager must dine with
President Hoover, motor with the Prince
Of Wales and golf with John D. Rookie
Teller and Bobby Jones, all within a
twelve month, to accomplish the first
of his four-ply hazard.
n X
Reference was made recently In this
column to the parlor game of Murder
introduced in Washington by Sir Will