Evening star., 1933-05-26
WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS
BY FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE.

The June IS deadline for war debt
payments is now only three weeks OF,
with a pregnant silence on this sub
ject on both sides of the Atlantic. MI
Roosevelt has let 1t be known that he
has virtually abandoned any idea OF
seeking from Congress presidential au-
thority to revise the debt contracts or
to waive the installment payment now
falling due More than that. the White
House intimates that no proposition or
request has yet been received from any
of the individual foreign debtors with
respect to the June Is payments.
France, having defaulted on the Decem-
Der payment, is not doing any worrying
about the June inStallment. She has
already crossed the Rubicon. The next
move, so far as France is concerned. is
up to the U. S. A. 1t Is Great Britain
that is ION the spot now. So far as
Washington opinion Is concerned. the
surprise will come not il England de-
faults on the June is payment. but II
she makes the payment Debt revision
negotiations are likely to be Mr.. Roose-
velt's preoccupation in the late SUM
mer and Fall after the London Economic
Conference, and while Congress Is en-
joying It's wtll-earned vacation.
X
The Roosevelt administration has
taken on another professor, this time as
an economic and financial adviser. He
is o. NJ W. Sprague professor Of bank
ing and finance at Harvard. Oliver
Mitchell Wentworth Sprague, no less, a
native of Massachusetts,. an A. B. and
M. A. and PHI. D.. all earned at Har-
ward. In 1880 the Bank OF England en-
gagged him as economic adviser. The
Bank of England is coldly realistic in
stitution and is not given to hiring its
high priced help because of the curl
Of their hair or their smile or the way
they wear their clothes. For three
years Prof Sprague has been living in
London and serving the Little Old Lady
OF Threadneedle Street In satisfactory
fashion. His acquisition by President
| Roosevelt was hailed as great streak
Of good fortune for the U. s. A. Prof.
Sprague accepts at heavy financial
sacrifice" He is credited with being
the greatest living expert on the in
tricacies cf foreign exchange. He does
not belong to the infiationist school.
There is a good deal of raillery 60
ing around some good-natured and
some otherwise. respecting Mr. RoOse-
velts penchant for PROFESSIONAL ad-
yisers. Certainly no administration
ever had SO many, and the point OF
the jest seems to be that professors as
class are supposed to be THEORISTS and
idealists rather than practical states
men. It may be pertinent 10 recall
that Henry Cabot Lodge was a pro-
fessor prior to his entry into public
life; that Woodrow Wilson and Chief
Justice Hughes and the late Chief JUS
tice Taft and Justice BrandeiS were
! college professors at various stages OF
their careers; that Senator Simeon D.
FeSs Is primarily professor. that DR..
julius Klein the Hoover expert in the
Department OF Commerce. was a pro-
| fcSsor. not to mention Ray Lyman VIII
bur, who is back on the academic job
after an interlude of four years as Sec
retary Of the Interior Thus 1t does
not seem that Messrs. Moley. Tugwell,
Morgan and the rest Of the SaVants now
| laboring In Washington need necessar-
| lily be ashamed of the handle TO their
names of Prof"
After the final roll call in the Senate
| in the impeachment trial OF Federal
Judge Harold E. Louderback Of Cali
fornia, and with the formal announce
ment by Vice President Garner OF the
! Judges acquittal, six members OF the
Senate hurried forward to grasp the
| judges hand and offer their congratu-
lations They were Huey Long OF
Louisiana. Reynolds and Bailey OF
North Carolina, Hatfield of West Viz
ginia. Goldsborough of Maryland and
Vandenberg of Michigan. On the first
four articles of impeachment, each re-
lating TO a specific charge of miscon-
duct, Judge Louderback had on his side
and in his favor the ma ajority Of those
voting. On the fifth and final article,
which was in the nature Of blanket
indictment, the vote was: Guilty, IS;
not guilty, "a; not voting 10. This
was a ma jority for conviction, but far
short of the two-thirds required for his
removal. Judge Louderback said that
he regarded the outcome q 4 complete