Evening star., 1932-03-16
WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS

The scenes In the House chamber
last Monday were of almost historic
proportions. The first clear-cut wet
| the Volstead act attracted huge throng
and the air was electric with excite
ment even though the outcome was a
foregone conclusion. To some of the
members their vote Monday was a mat
ter of political life and death. They
knew it. The spectators knew it. The
public galleries were packed for hours
before the proceedings were scheduled
to start. The private galleries were
filled when the gavel fell at noon. The
corridors outside were jammed. More
than four hundred of the 435 members
OF the House were in their seats, an
attendance almost unprecedented. The
speechmaking was brief, the calling OF
the roll rapid and the result-187 for
the motion to bring out of committee
the resolution for resubmission of the
eighteenth amendment, to 227 against
the motion--was announced exactly on
the stroke Of /. Total elapsed time
one hour. The opponents of prohibition
| were jubilant first because of what they
regarded as the strong showing made
by the vets, second because every men,
Der of the House at last had been
obliged to show his and her real colors
on the prohibition issue. From now on
every member is tagged and in the
campaign this Fall will have to face
the music. 1t is noteworthy that q
switch Of 81 votes in the lineup in
the House would have spelled victory
for the vets in the Monday roll call.
X X
Barney" Baruch, New York Demo-
cratic financier, was one of the notable
onlookers in the House galleries on
Monday. BY his side was Mrs. Bertha
Bauer of Chicago, Republican National
Committeewoman Of Illinois, who was
defeated in a race for a seat in the
House on a platform promising real
beer. Alice Longworth, with lorgnette
as Of old, was another spectator. SEN
ator Hiram Bingham of Connecticut
| who regards himself as the leader of
the wet bloc in the Senate, was moving
about on the floor of the House during
the wet and dry showdown. Bingham
Is coming up for reelection this wear
and faces a stiff battle. Representative
Smell of New York Republican minority
leader of the House, who Is slated to be
permanent chairman of the Chicago
| Convention next June, voted mo" on
the roll call, thus standing fast to the
| dry position. Some commentators pro-
| fessed to see significance in SHELLS dry
position and his place of honor at the
! convention. They thought 1t was fur
| ther evidence that Mr.. Hoover intends
no compromise on the prohibition issue
| X X
The visit to Washington In January
Of Ivar Kreuger, king of international
| finance, was not chronicled in the press
though he contacted with many OF the
! important officials in our Government
and won their admiration and respect
The news of his suicide came as a per-
sonal shock. The Swedish capitalist
conferred at length with Mr. Hoover
| though that fact was successfully sup
pressed at the White House Mr.
Kruger was quoted by an associate In
this country as having told the Presi-
dent that In his Judgment the United
States Government ought to see to 1t
that its own bonds were maintained at
par or better in the open market; that
United States bonds were the premier
security Of the world and that 1t was
futile to expect other and inferior Sc
curities to rise in price so long as United
States bonds were sellinng al discount
The foreign visitor was also reported to
have said rather pointedly that he
came to this country to find out the
secret magic by which a government
was able to go on spending twice its
income and still stay solvent, and still
maintain its dollar at par. contrary to
the experience of every other govern
ment from the beginning Of the world
to date.
Senator Borah, who once OF twice n
the East has tourneyed 70 Boston to Cd
dress the Roosevelt Club Of Massa-