Evening star., 1932-12-21

Whether because Of the dawning
consciousness that there will be no
beer by Christmas" or for that mat
ter, "by March," or whether for other
causes. the great and loudly heralded
beer debate in the House yesterday got
were yawning spaces in the public gal
leries. Excitement was among the
numerous absentees. The floor was
filled with more than the usual number
of members, but attendance fell con-
siderably below expectations. Spokes-
men on both sides of the question were
dull and listless. If anything, the
House showed most signs of life when
opponents of the Collier bill were
addressing it. Something savoring Of
an oh-well- what's -the-use lassitude
seemed to depress the vets. When
repeal was squelched two weeks ago;
Beer now undoubtedly will be voted by
the House, but only its most Sangulne
| "fcamenters" expect its approval in the
Senate, while relatively few are opti-
mistic enough to think Mr.. Hoover will
sign a beer bill. "Off the record" the
vets have buried their hopes of beer
and repeal alike until the Seventy-third
! Congress and Roosevelt are on the job.
* X
DISTINGUISHED representatives Of the
European and Asiatic press flocked to
the Senate yesterday, expecting the
| branch of Congress charged with CO.
ordinate authority in foreign affairs TO
plunge headlong into a discussion OF
President Hoover's momentouS message
on war debts, disarmapent and the
World Economic Conference. What
did they actually find in progress!
Nothing more or less than one-man
flibuster by lame duck Senator from
Wisconsin on the burning issue OF
whether the street car companies Oh
Washington should merge or commune
as individual concerns: inc. tnSloenSaay Greay
Britain. France, Germany and Japan
witnessed one Of those painful exniDl-
tions when business vital to 500,00O OILS.
franchised citizens Of the District OF
Columbia was being debated ana de-
cided without the participation OF q
single authorized spokesman OF tnat
community. Incidentally, too, the ior.
eirn scribes saw the worlds greatest
deliberative body" frittering away
preciouS time at critical nouI r+h ".
question which anyWneIe s.e ,o,,nciI
would be tackled by a town coun'A'
X 4 X X
1Jouse snapshots during the Collier
beer hill debate: Six-foot-four senator
Hiram i Bingham of Connecticut, tne
heer DEVILS advocate on the other sloe
of M the Capitol, hobnobbing with 4-ioot-
S, 4o-year-old House page boy 'ona1ny aIdey
nota look out for that guy with gun"
1ost week Former Georgia
REPRESENTATIVE ISer willie" Upshaw, &C
companied by his crutches. sltting inar al
the body Of the House as ~, 1ofnve nve
neeIed on the situation, getting spanked
hv the chair for illicit applause.
Col. John Philip Hill Of Marylano.
another ex-member, keeping an equaly
yigiIant wet eye on proceedings.
Representative Florence Kahn OF Can-
fornia, flashing displeasure from her
keen grey eyes as the wineless peer
bill got under way.
Rear Admiral Cary T. Grayson, chair
man of the Roosevelt and Garner
Inauguration Committee, is getting
foretaste of what awaits the incoming
Democratic President. He's run ragged
by men and women w.o want Inaugural
Committee jobs. Every mothers son
and daughter Of them has q deserving
Democrat record which calls for the
admirars special consideration. TO
begin with, the Inaugural Committee
hasn't q ghost of notion how much
money it's going to have at its disposal:
In the second place, the number OF
paid positions available will, under the
best circumstances, be very limited.
Grayson says that II he could place
shoulder to shoulder all the people
anxious to hire out their services in
connection with March 4, 1888, he'd
have the makings of an inaugural pro-
X X
Herr Adolf Hitler, militant leader Of
the German Fascists, has just stationed
an official spokesman in Washington