The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1931-01-02

inaugurated vast pension system
for all partly OF wholly disabled vet
Grams not already receiving compen-
sation, no matter what their illness
or when contracted. Soon after the
enactment of this law the President
put into effect the consolidation Of
the three bureaus that had been in
charge of veterans of all wars and
appointed Gen. Frank T. Hines as
chief.
Some Of the recommendation Of the
Wickersham law enforcement commits
sion were adopted by congress, the
most important being the transfer of
the prohibition bureau from the treas
ury to the Department of Justice. The
change was made on July 1. Col. Amos
w. w. Woodc0ck took command of
the new bureau and former Commits
sioner James M. Doran was made
head Of new industrial alcohol bu-
reau under the Treasury department.
When William Howard Taft re-
signed as chief justice of the Supreme
court on February 8, only five days
before his death, President Hoover
Immediately named Charles Evans
Hughes to succeed him. The appoint
ment was confirmed by the senate with
26 votes in opposition. Then Associ-
ate Justice Edward Terry Sanford
passed away and Mr.. Hoover picked
Federal Judge John ]. Parker of North
70 hn Il oh on
negro organizations rose in opposition
and the senate rejected the nomina
ton by vote Of Al to 80. The Presi
dent then named Owen ]. Roberts for
the place and he was accepted.
Prohibition and the Election.
Prohibition us a political issue in
creased in Importance as the months
passed. A poll conducted by the Lit
erary Digest indicated that the coun-
try was largely in favor of repeal of
the Eighteenth amendment or at least
of modification of the enforcement
law. The liquor question was great
factor in the prediction campaign in
many states and had decided effect
on the results when the people went
to the polls on November 4. The voters
Of Illinois, Rhode Island and Massa-
chusetts in a referendum were against
prohibition by large majorities.
The election turned out to be very
much of landslide for the Demo
cratic party. The Republican MAORI;
ties in both senate and house were
almost wiped out for the next con,
gress, and many states and cities
elected Democratic officials to replace
Republicans. Naturally the more rabid
opponents of the administration saw
in all this a severe rebuke for Presi-
dent Hoover and his policies; but
sane opinion was that it was the nat
ural result of unfortunate economic
conditions.
With large appropriations available,
the farm board worked for the relief
Of agriculture by promoting and fl
nancing various cO-operatives; and
later in the year undertook, with some
success, to stabilize the price of wheat,
which had fallen rapidly in all world
markets. In this latter operation the
board was forced to accumulate some
thing like lO0000000 bushels of wheat,
the future disposal of which was an
unsolved problem. Chairman Legge of
the board campaigned increasingly for
reduction of wheat acreage.
Among the diplomatic appointments
by the President were: Ralph FL.
Booth, minister to Denmark; Fred Nj.
bearing, ambassador to Peru; John N.
WHY'S, ambassador to Poland; Han
ford w. MacNider, minister to Canada;
w. Cameron Forbes, ambassador to
Japan; w. NJ. Jardine, minister to
Egypt; Herman Bernstein, minister to
Albania; Nicholas Roosevelt, minister
to Hungary, and J. Reuben Clark, Jr.,
ambassador to Mexico.
Taking of the fifteenth decennial
census began on April 2. The final
figures, announced in November, gave
the population of the United States
as 122,775,046. The increase for the
decade was about 1851 per cent.
On November %, President Hoover
appointed William N, Doak of Vir-
ginia secretary of labor to succeed
James J. Davis. who had been elected
senator from Pennsylvania.
The short session of congress opened
December 2, and the Presidents mes
sage was largely concerned with meas
ures of relief. Following to a great
extent his recommendations, congress
appropriated more than one hundred
millions for an emergency construc-
ton program designed to aid the I'M
employment situation, and also set
aside large fund for loans to farmers
who had suffered from the drought.
Mr.. Hoover transmitted to the senate
the revised protocols of the World
court and asked early action on them.