Evening star., 1933-08-23

With repeal of the eighteenth amend
ment now universally predicted before
December l. Capitol Hill hears that
President Roosevelt may summon Con-
greSS in special session before the end
of the year to tackle various matters
incidental to abolition of the noble ex-
pertinent Nobody seems quite to know
why such session is either desirable
or necessary, but the story is kicking
around the House and Senate Office
Buildings just the same. The only rea-
son anybody can think of for conven-
ing Congress before its regular assem-
bly, time in January would be to deal
az once with questions affecting tax
alton of. and revenue from, the coming
flow Of legalized hard liquor, the great
est boon now in sight for Uncle
Sans hard-pressed exchequer Occa-
sion might simultaneously be taken to
enact as speedily as possible certain
amendatory. emergency legislation that
may have been found necessary in the
light of the hectic experience of the
Summer and Fall The special session
rumor may only be what F. D. r. calls
one of those August stories" All and
sundry connected with the recovery
program are increasingly thankful for
the mercy that Congress has not been
on Washingtons hands this Summer
Opinion is general that matters might
have been seriously gummed up if the
Hill had been in eruption. There would
almost certainly have been demands for
investigation of this, that or something
else that rubbed certain people the
wrong way.
To speak of President Roosevelt hav-
ing vacation" in times like these is a
bit of joke. At Hyde Park his work
shop looks out upon the ripping Hud-
son and his ancestral acres. instead of
the White House lot and the Washing
ton Monument, but otherwise it is busi-
ness as usual for the Commander in
Chief of the Grand Army of Recovery.
In other words Mr. Roosevelt can ex-
pect only about as much vacation
during the campaign against depression
as the general Of a field army gets from
transferring his headquarters to some
other sector Of the battle zone. It's the
perfection of modern means of COM
munication that deprives the President
of the United States of any real respite
from the deadly drive of White House
duty. He practically lives on the long
distance telephone, and the moment he
hangs up the receiver somebody from
Washington is just as likely as not to
| zoom down on the front lawn in an
| airplare for an emergency pow-wow.
Laughter as Franklin Roosevelt's
| principal armor against the rigorS OF
| executive office was the subject of a re-
| cent sermon in New York City. The
Rev. Philip c. Jones. preaching in the
| Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church,
said: I'VE welcome eagerly President
who can smile in the midst of tense and
urgent days and whose hearty laughter
| can only have its origin in robust
spirit. great and serene Glenn Frank
| puts it correctly when he says that the
| ready laughter of Roosevelt is not the
reckless rollicking of an irresponsible
| mind; it is rather the tonic relaxation
! of a mind which knows instinctively
! that unnecessary tension is the enemy
| of clear thought. I submit that the
Presidents will to be light-hearted is
an important plank in national recov-
cry
| Benito Mussolini is certainly casting
| goo-goo eyes at Uncle Sam this Sum-
mer. First came the Balbo armada
| This was followed by the present So
| journ in Atlantic harbors of two Italian
naval training ships with names of con-
spicuous appeal to Americans -Cristo-
| foro Colombo and Amerigo Vespucci
These picturesque sail-rigged craft had
| only arrived in New York last week
when two other Italian men-of- war
dropped anchor in the North River
| the submarines Balilla and Millelire
accompanied by mother sloops. The
Fascist subs" are the first foreign un-
dersea craft to put into American
| waters since the World War. They were
ON patrol duty near Greenland and Ice
land in connection with the Balbo ex-
| pedition. Mussolini has two frank OBJ
4 jectives at Washington-war debt revi-