Evening star., 1933-03-01
WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS
BY FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE.

COW before becoming assistant political
director of the French foreign Office in
Paris. He is regarded as one Of the
most astute career diplomats on the
Quai d'Orsay list. President Roosevelt
remembers him as an old crony of VIII
sonian days.
From New York word reaches Wash
ington that one Of President Rooseveits
early appointments may be that of DR..
Thomas Parran, jr, as surgeon general
of the United States Public Health
Service. If appointed, he would sue
ceed the present surgeon general, Hugh
S. Cumming, who reaches the retiring
age of GA this year. The change, it goes
without saying, would in no respect re-
fleet upon the able veteran who has
headed the U. s. P. H. S. since 1920.
Parran's appointment is said to be mott
waited by the Roosevelt plan of consoli-
dating, for economy and efficiency pur-
poses, virtually all of the Federal Gov
ernments medical activities under one
administration, including the Public
Health Service (now under the Treas
ury), veterans hospitals, institutions
like st. Elizabeth's Hospital and others
scattered throughout the country. DR..
Parran. whom Gov Roosevelt is said to
be considering for the job, has been an
assistant surgeon general of the Public
Health Service since 1926 and came
favorably under the President-elect's
notice in connection with official duties
at Albany. He is youngster-only 40
** ~
Though he is leaving official service,
F. Trubee Dawson, retiring Assistant
Secretary Of War for Air, is not leaving
public service, to which his late father,
Henry p. Dawson. dedicated and edu-
Gated him. The presidency of the
American Museum of Natural History, at
New York, is the activity to which Mr..
Dawson will forthwith devote himself.
None Of his friends think Dawson is out
OF politics for good. On the contrary,
despite his recent unsuccessful effort to
be elected Lieutenant Governor of New
York State, he is considered to be one
OF the young Republican leaders upon
whom the G. o. P.'s hopes in the imme-
date future will rest.
Already it's being suggested that the
arrival of Miss Frances Perkins in cabi-
net rank will conjure up a knotty seat
and other official functions in WASH
ington. Where is her husband, Mr..
Paul Wilson, going to sit. provided he
decides to share his distinguished wife's
residence at the Nationau Capital, either
temporarily or permanently? Mrs.
Gam. Vice President Curtis official
hostess, never was invited anywhere
without her husband. Is Mr. Wilson to
be or not to be invited when Miss Per-
kins Is hidden to festive board?-that
Is the question-and if he is, where are
they going to put him?
+ ~
Something which Geneva considers
the equivalent of an American legation
has at length been established at the
League of Nations. Hugh R. Wilson,
our Minister to Switzerland and un-
Official observer at the League, has
found 1t necessary to leave his official
base at Bern and be at Geneva SO
often that he recently decided to take
q house in the League city. Since the
beginning of the Disarmament Confer
ence in 1882 Mr. Wilson has spent the
bulk of his time in Geneva. American
importance at the League took on new
form with the recent accession of Ar
thur Sweetser of Boston as chief of
the information section. For years he
had been assistant chief under M.
Pierre Comert. Comert was retired fol-
lowing the election of another French
man to the secretary-generaShip of the
League, which made 1t necessary to
give the information section plum to
some one of different nationality.
(Copyright, 1889