Evening star., 1932-05-23
WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS
BY FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE.

AS in the Lindbergh tragedy, be pre-
pared from now on for almost anything
! In connection with legislative develop
mentS in Congress. With the unex-
pectedness Of a thunderstorm, the tariff
has burst into the situation to an extent
which at this writing is incalculable.
Senators fear that tax economy and
relief bills all may be held up indefi-
nitely if politics is played with the
tariff. following the inclusion of import
duties on oil and coal in the Senate
revenue bill. The question of adjourn
ment or recess is now wholly up in the
air. Nobody knows what's going to
happen. This week should be the
crucial test. If Senator Tydings with
his 500 tariff amendments and Senator
Norris with his equalization-fee amend
ment mean business, they can throw
monkey wrenches enough into the ma
chinery to keep Congress on the job till
at the thought. Rightly or wrongly
business has got it into its head that the
chief contributory causes of continuing
chaos are the public's uncertainty as to
where Congress will break out next and
the endless delay in balancing the
budget.
First honors for the neatest descrip-
tion of Capitol Hills procrastination
come pretty near to belonging to Sen
ator Otis F. Glenn, Republican, of
Illinois Addressing the Senate the
other day, Mr.. Glenn recalled that Nero
is said to have fiddled while Rome
burned. THE United States Congress. -
declared the husky Illinoisan, a stanch
Hooverite, "is whole symphony Or
chestra fiddling while America burns. u
Senator Glenn might have continued
truth and added that Congress is also
an orchestra that insists on playing re-
gardless of its leaders, with the in
evitable result that it produces far more
discords than harmcnies. And it is also
within the facts to assert that the
Nationwide audience earnestly wishes
the congressional orchestra would wind
| up its program, pack up its instruments
| (mostly of the wind Variety and &c
| home.
Another Senator-though in the
privacy of the clcak room instead OF
| the floor of the Chamber-harked back
to Rome for pat simile last week. Fol
many days this Spring-almost Nyery
day, In fact-Senator Howell Repub-
lican progressive of Nebraska, has raised
his voice in behalf of the downtrodden
farmer. Invariably Howell's peroration
is: Agriculture must be saved!" Sen
etor Vandenberg. young guard Repub-
lican of Michigan, buttonhOled the
Nebraskan after one Of his daily decla-
nations and said: Senator, you re-
mind mesof Cato. who never wound up
speech in the Roman Senate without
| laundering: Carthage must be de-
stroyed!'"
| How's this for an up-to-date stunt?
I Members of Congress have discovered
they can address their more or less
admiring constituents by radio from
Washington without either speaking
through a local station or going back
home to broadcast. This Is how it's
done. They go to WMAL in Washing
! ton. strike an attitude in front Of a
talking machine, speak into tiny
microphone rigged up inside 1t, and
within 10 minutes have recorded"
three or four grooved discs. These are
then sent to their home broadcasting
stations and thence sent spinning onto
the air as "transcriptions The art
is so perfectly developed that hardly
anybody but radio expert can tell the
|, difference between a TRANSCRIPTION
and an address spoken into the mike"
irr the ordinary way. Some members
of the House are keeping in touch with
their districts week by week by this
| method.
At an informal Senate luncheon
room caucus not long ago 1t was voted
that positively the 1uckiest member Of
III A. -