Evening star., 1933-01-16
WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS
BY FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE.

When is Huey Long going to be
spanked. and who's going to do the
spanking? That the operation Is in
prospect is regarded a foregone conclu-
sion Opinion differs only as to the
time and the person who will undertake
the chastising role. In light of current
events, Senator Carter Glass would seem
to be cast for the job. He has the in
testinal fortitude and the ability to DO
1t handsomely. to say nothing OF the
inspiration. Senator Joe Robinson would
seem to be anointed for 1t, in his ca
pacity of Democratic Senate leader, but
the Arkansan, who long ago elevated
Long to the dignity of pet aversion.
might shrink from the suspicion OF
seeking to wreak personal vengeance.
Perhaps 1t will remain for President
Roosevelt, when he is such, to tell the
LouiSianan where he heads In. Ger
tainly If "Hooey" become professional
and chronic sniper at legislative pro-
grams which have his party's sanction,
It would be difficult for the Democratic
administration to sit back and let the
master Snowman of the Senate play
ducks and brakes with the Nations busi-
ness, as he Is now doing.
~ ~
1t was precisely such ruthless pro-
cedure as the present filibuster which
led Vice President Dawes eight years
ago to Shiver the timbers of the Cham
Der by proposing drastic revision Of the
Senate's unlimited debate rules. No
other parliamentary institution any
where on earth permits the SenSeless
horseplay of which "the worlds great
est deliberative body" Is now the help
less victim. It's the kind of thing that
justifies dictators of the Mussolini stripe
in branding representative government
as "the bunk One of WaShington's
distinguished foreign newspaper men,
sitting in the press gallery last week
while Huey Long was clowning, ex-
pressed wonder why the Senate con-
tinues to tolerate filibusters. The only
answer seems to be that no Senator Is
willing to put an end to a practice
which he conceives may some day serve
q purpose of his own.
From the United States embassy in
Paris copies have now reached Wash
ingtcn of specimens of French debt
conscience letters" received from
French citizens by Ambassador Edge,
following the December default of their
governments debt payment. Here's
typical text:
your Excellency, feel that a
state must pay its debts, as simple
citizen should. If I am not in er-
ror, the payment that was due in
Washington on December Is repre-
sents a sum of 10 francs for each
French citizen. As my family con-
siSts of six persons I am sending
you enclosed a check for 60 francs,
which thus eases my conscience. /
understand very well that such
small sum cannot be counted in the
debt. but I should like to ask you
to be kind enough to give it to some
good cause for American citizens In
France (students, war veterans, the
American Hospital, etc.. Believe
me, Your Excellency, your faithful
servant and that Of the great Amer
ican nation you represent"
Raymond P. Brandt Of the st. Louis
Post Dispatch, president-elect of the
National Press Club, is accounted prob
ably the most cultured" scribe who
ever was awarded the blue ribbon of
Washington newspaperdom. He won his
A. B. at the University Of Missouri, later
became q Rhodes scholar at oxford,
where he received his B. A. couple
of years later. Soon after quitting
those classic English shades, Brandt
enlisted for service with the American
Army in France, and, after the armis-
tice, served in Herbert Hoover's Amer
ican Relief Administration in Austria,
and subsequently in Russia. Writing
isn't Brandt's only accomplishment.
He's a clever cartoonist and amuses
himself by Willing away time in the
Senate press gallery with drawings of
dignitaries in action on the floor.
Talk persists about recognition of
Russia soon after Franklin D. Roose-
welt enters the White House. From a
usually well informed quarter comes
the statement that the opening wedge
for recognition will be the stationing
Of an official United States tfade COM
missioner at Moscow. Some of our
more internationally minded wiseacres