Evening star., 1932-12-15
The Political Mill
By G.. Gould Liscoln.

Although Congress u shortening its
Christmas vacation IN an effort to get
on with its work. the prospects for dis
position Of important matters does not
appear good. The House today or to-
morrow Will pass the frst OF the big
annual supply billS, tho Post Once and
Treasury bill. and will have another
submitted to It by the indefatigable
Committee on Appropriations. The Sen
ate has struggled with the Philippine
independence bill for more than week
in true Senate style-plenty OF debate
and 30 far no action. The Senate DEM
ocrats. aided by . couple Of progressive
Republicans. the two Senators from
Wisconsin. La Toilette and Blaine. and
the sole Farmer-Labor member, Ship
stead, have virtually turned thumbs down
on all presidential nominations, where
the terms Of appointment run beyond
March 4, except routine nominations
for the Army and Navy. The talk OF
beer before Christmas" had dwindled
to whisper Of disappointment. The
House turned its back on straight re-
pea Of the eighteenth amendment On
the 1rst day Of the session, although
by . narrow margin. And 20 It goes
and is likely to 60.
president-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt
Is putting In the final days Of the year
on the affairs Of New York State. He
retires from ONCE with the arrival OF
1888, and then, 1t Is expected, he will
get down to the business Of picking a
cabinet. Those who are close to the
incoming President say that perhaps
with one exception. there Is no Ger
tainty yet about the personnel Of the
Roosevelt cabinet. Gov. Roosevelt is
reported to have had between two hum
him for consideration for cabinet posts
When he has nothing else to do he
Will sit down and work out this cabinet
puzzle. taking into consideration the
quahncations OF the gentlemen In Ques-
ton, the geographical relationship Of
one to the rest and the political I'm
pllcations. He may have few names
OF his own to add to the list. A Presi-
dent may know pretty well what he
wants, but he cannot always get It, even
In the matter Of cabinet. For ex-
ample. there are men who have been
prominently mentioned for cabinet ON
ceS and who doubtless would be well
coined by Gov. Roosevelt-if he could
pursuade them to take office. But con.
dltions are such In the country today
That some OF these gentlemen cannot be
spared from their businesses. If reports
De true, that Is the case Of Owen D.
Young, who has frequently been mem
TONED for Secretary Of State or head
OF the Treasury Department.
xx
President Hoover must face the solu-
ton Of the foreign debts problem for
the next three months. It remains to
be seen whether politics will halt at the
waters edge and whether the Demo-
Gratis Will back up the President in this
serious situation regarding the debts.
There has been nothing so far to indi-
cate that he will have the Democrats
OF the Congress with him in anything
he may do. However. there exists still
public opinion in the United States and
IT may yet have its effect on Congress,
II the people themselves get back of
any move made by the President. It
looks more and more, however, as
though the debt situation would have
TO be considered by the Congress, even
though that body may wish to avoid it,
and has indicated through its leaders
that no new agency to deal with the
matter of revision would be set up. The
attitude in Congress up to the present
has been: LET the debtor nations de-
fault II they think that the better
policy. We will not grant further post
ponement nor any discussion of the
debts which might be construed as in
dicating a willingness to cancel or re-
duce Debts further" Now France and
one or two others are not to pay today,
much to the surprise Of the members
Of Congress.
The default creates, in q measure, a
problem for Congress. 1t cannot well
afford to fold its hands and let the
Of course, discuss the matter with the
defaulting nations. But that Is al he
can do. Congress Is the determining
factor In whatever is finally achieved
IN this matter. At all events. it Is now
clear to what extent France and some
of the other nations are prepared to
go to bring about, If they can, some
readjustment of the whole debt struc-
ture. II the United States fails to rise
to the bait Of default, France may be
compelled to make some kind Of . move
herself. There has been talk Of re-
taliatory measures to be taken against
defaulting debtor nations But the soft
pedal has been put on this talk up till
now. 1t seems sure. however, that the
American people will not be quite as
quiescent as that If nothing is done
to bring about plan for further pay
ments. It does not seem to have seeped
into the consciousness of Europeans
that the Americans are not willing, be-
cause France and other nations have
agreed to cut to the bone German
reparations for the war, to wipe of the
debts owed this country, a large part
Of which was incurred after the war
had ended.
Discussion looking to reorganization
OF the Republican National Committee
Is In full swing. But reorganization 90
far Is getting nowhere. All the sugges-
tions so far made regarding new chair
men of the Republican committee have
not registered with the progressive Re-
publicans. They see no virtue In turn
ing from Everett Sanders, the present
chairman, to Senator James E. Watson,
for example. or to Charles D. Hilles,
the committeeman from New York.
They are demanding new DEAL" but
not the kind Of a deal that the Old
Guard opponents of the Hoover ad-
ministration are seeking. One of the
men suggested for the Craftsmanship
Col. Frank Knox, publisher of the Chi
cago Daily News, was q Bull Mooser
back in the days Of 1912. He might be
more acceptable to the progressiveS than
some Of the others proposed for chair
man. although a lot of water has rim
under the bridge in the last 20 years.
\ \ \ X
Chairman Sanders has, 1t is said In
some quarters, no intention of getting
out. Certainly he might not be in
clined to leave the Craftsmanship to
turn it over to Senator Watson, accord
ing to reports. They are both Hoosiers.
Back In 1924, when the Republicans
were seeking a running mate for CAL
vim Coolidge at their national conven-
ton in Cleveland, the Coolidge leaders
undertook to pick Everett Sanders, then
a member Of the House. for the vice