Evening star., 1932-02-10
WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS

al Smiths friends are in virtual
agreement that he cannot be nomi-
| mated In Chicago in June. Roosevelt
| support from the South and West will
| have an even stronger veto power
against Smith than Smith support in
the East can have against Roosevelt.
Though the vision of great men with
| respect to their own fortunes fire.
| quently suffers curious blindness, most
OF AIS friends are convinced that their
| leader perceives the realities of the sit
his heart appreciates that the posi-
| olllty Is utterly remote that the con-
ventlon after careful consideration"
will decide that it wants him to lead.
| 1t follows, therefore, that Smith for
| the sake Of his own place in history.
must avoid, if he can, letting it be
said that he sought denomination and
! 1t was denied him. That perhaps ex-
! plains his insistence that. however
much lis friends advance his candi-
dacy, nevertheless, he is not a candi-
| date. That the real purpose of his
present statement is to lend his name
to the Stop Roosevelt" drive is too
patent for argument. The vitally i'm
', portant and arguable question. then. is
whether the Smith cohorts will in fact
be able to prevent Roosevelt's nomi-
| nation. That is the uppermost ques-
ton in the political world today and
| will be for some time to come. On
| that question there is wide diversity of
opinion. Certainly it is much too soon
to say with any f1nality that with
Smith in open opposition Roosevelt s
| Jig is up and his nomination impos-
sible. Yet that is being said by the
| extremists in the anti-Roosevelt camp.
fn
x * x
Talk Of the possible appointment of
Attorney General Mitchell to the Su-
preme Court bench is being revived.
Administration Senators have been re-
| ported this week as canvassing their
colleagues as to their attitude in the
event of a Mitchell nomination. The
| Presidents delay and deliberation in
filling the vacancy caused by the resig-
nation of Justice Holmes lends color to
| the theory that he desires to name Mr..
Mitchell if the way can be paved to
| confirmation. The friends and we'll
wishers OF Judge Benjamin N. Cardo1o
| OF New York who urged him strongly
as the ideal available jurist for the
| Supreme bench have become pretty
well convinced that his appointment at
this time is out of the reckoning. Va
|
| been proposed as successors to Justice
Holmes have failed to evoke large en-
| thuSiaSm here Meantime the Attorney
| General though under pressure to do
otherwise, has enunciated strong anti
! trust position with respect to the pro-
posed regional coal agency selling plan,
and is slated to face Senate commit
tee soon to explain in executive session
his position with respect to the suit
charging alleged patent monopoly IN
the radio industry.
x, = \
Mrs. Hoover wore conventional
black velvet gown at the Army-Navy
night At the White House this week,
the last and largest attended soiree OF
the Winter on the White House social
calendar But at the reception last
week the First Lady appeared in a
gown of cotton, thereby startling the
fashion experts and winning the
plaudits of the cotton textile industry,
| now waging an intensive campaign TO
popularize cotton in place of silk. Mrs.
Hoover's cotton evening dress Is belng
widely publicized in the trade papers
and her patriotism praised. The fabric
of the gown, produced in the U. s. A., p"
is described as - novelty dimity
quantity patterned with clusters OF
flowers printed in China blue. The in
spiration was provided by style worn
In the late '7O's by Mrs. Hoovers
mother. The material was very widely
in vogue during the days OF George
Washington"
State Department statisticians have
compiled a wealth of interesting status
| tics respecting the number and kind
of Americans travelling abroad. their
habits and pedigrees, as CLEANED
from the operations OF the pass
port Office. A total of 163, ,404 pass
ports were issued or renewed last year
As between the sexes the proportions
were six males to four females. AS be.
tween native citizens and naturalizeo
citizens, who journeyed abroad the line
up was about the same, six to four. Four
! out of every ten persons who secured
passports had had them before. For the
six others 1t was their first foreign jour-