Evening star., 1932-06-01
WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS
BY FREDERIC EILLIAN WILH.

II President Hoover were a rebble-
rouser or believed in red fire and the
other arts of political showmanship, he
could have staged dramatic spectacle
when he went to the Senate yesterday.
But he preferred his matter of fact way
Of doing things and let it go at that.
The setting was perfect for the kind
OF performance flamboyant statesmen
adore. The hour was critical. The
floor was packed with members as it
seldom is. The galleries have never
been fuller. The air was electric with
expectancy. If the White House had
bulletined the Presidents appearance in
the chamber couple of hours earlier,
Nationwide radio hook-ups could have
been installed. and Mr.. Hoover's earnest
message would have echoed throughout
the continent. The whole country actu-
ally listening In to the welding of the big
stick-what a chance The Chief Engi-
neer. to the frequent chagrin of his
friends. simply isn't built that way For
all that his manner ON the Senate ros-
trum indicated he might have been
addressing child welfare conference
on the virtues of public Fairgrounds.
x X
Time will tell whether the Presidents
(for his administration unprecedented
action in boarding the senatorial lions
iii their den is destined to benefit him
politically or not. Ardent Hooverites
point to the action taken to balance
the budget within IL hours of the Presi-
dents appearance. They call that prima
facie evidence that his warning sank
in and that the credit for the days
results is therefore his. Anti-Hoover-
ties contend that the signals were set
for winding up the tax bill anyhow and
that the President timed" his descent
upon Capitol Hill with that knowledge
and decided to cash in on it. Admins
tration opponents further point out that
the failure of Mr.. Hoover's plea for
general manufacturers sales tax con-
verts his whole stunt" into a fiasco.
The Finance Committees 12-to-8 vote
ana the Senates 53-to-27 vote against
the Walsh sales tax amendment are
touted by his adversaries as the real
measure of the Presidents success"
Friends and foes alike incline to the
belief that If Mr.. Hoover had climbed
the Hill earlier in the game, the end
might have been different.
~
Eyebrows were raised all over Wash
lngton today when the Capital read
Berlin dispatches announcing the ap-
PohitiheHI VI Lieut.. COl. franz Won
| Papen as chancellor to succeed DR..
Bruening. The German military at
| tache who was given his walking pa
pers from Washington by President
Wilson months before we entered the
World War left anything but savory
name behind him over here. Won
Papen figures conspicuously in the no
torious sabotage cases still pending
before the German-American Mixed
Claims Commission. The cases involve
the $40,000,000 damage suffered by
munition plants at Black Tom and
Kingsland, N. J. The United States
contended, and still contends, that the
explosions which blew up those estab-
lishments were of official German
origin and that Won Papen, who was
then military attache. had good deal
to do with them. The Claims Com
mission two years ago decided against
the United States, but Uncle Sam has
secured reopening of the cases on
newly discovered evidence. Associate
Justice Roberts of the Supreme Court,
who is now umpire of the commission,
will have hand in the final decision.
1.-THE Flame of Mexico" first moving
picture ever to be produced wholly be
yond the Rio Grande and which will
have its world premiere in Washington
this week, Is the work Of an American
woman, Juliet Barrett Rublee. Mrs.