Evening star., 1932-07-20
WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS
BY FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE.

forth with assertions that the elephant,
not the donkey. is entitled Ito mix the
metaphor a Bit to the lions share
of the glory. If election time nears
leaving economic conditions just about
where they were before neither party
may be so anxious to pose as the
country's savior
No rest from the Washington date
line is in prospect for the newspaper
readers of the country just because
Congress has adjourned No fewer than
four first-class senatorial Investigations
are in immediate prospect, each impor-
tant enough to command front-page
space any day. Senator Borah heads a
committee which will probe st. Lawrence
waterway matters. Chairman McNary
of the Senate Agricultural Committee
is designating some one to head the IN
quiry into the Federal Farm Board,
Senator Norris having refused to serve
Senator Norbeck Is planning to resume
the Banking Committees investigation
of the stock market. Senator Couzens
and a group of fellow sleuthS will turn
the searchlight on the operations OF the
Reconstruction Finance Corporation. II
occasion offers. still a fifth senatorial
fishing expedition is in the offlng-
UlV6SGlSdIlOu VI 4uLiAo, AAlSeA-
gated by Senator Howell.
Sticklers for the letter Of the law are
abroad in the land, gravely suggesting
that Herbert Hoover has "nullified the
Constitution of the United States by
docking his presidential pay 20 per cent
and taking a cut of $4,000. They call
attention, in support of their claim to
section of article II of the Constltu-
ton, reading: The President shall, at
stated times, receive for his services
compensation which shall neither be in
creased nor diminished during the
period for which he shall have been
elected, and he shall not receive within
that period any other emolument from
the United States, or any OF them.
Julius G. Law, American Minister to
Honduras. has just returned to his post
at Tegucigalpa after an annual leave
of absence here at home. He says that
the Honduran banana industry, biggest
of its kind in the world, has been hard
hit by a mysterious blight, which has
wrought some such havoc as the boil
weevil in our cotton fields and the
grasshopper pest in the wheat and corn
belts of the Middle West. Agricultural
scientists think they have at length
coped with the evil. and that Honduras
will continue to tickle the palates OF
the globe with its succulent speciality.
The light cruiser squadron which the
United States Navy keeps in Central
American waters is known as the
banana fleet because 1t clears for action
periodically to protect American citi-
zens in Caribbean fruit-raising regions.
**
Another Washington scribe, Orville
Merton Kile, who writes of the soil. has
Just turned author. THE New Agricul-
ture'' Is the title of his new book just
off the press at New York Farm au-
thorities call it a thought-provoking
volume, which may we'll become the
basis of a new viewpoint in developing
our national agricultural policy. Mr..
Kile thinks larger scale farming is basic
solution of farm distress. THE average
160-acre general farmer" he says, docs
not deserve to make money today any
more than the village blacksmith or the
cobbler who persists in following an
outworn system in this modern ma
chine age. Such farmer is not in
step with the times and either wastes
his time on obsolete equipment or else
utilizes only a small portion of his time
in productive labor. Evidently great
deal of consolidation of farms into
larger units must take place before
modern methods Of efficient farming
can be practiced."
(Copyright. 1sa2l .-.