Evening star., 1933-08-11
WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS
BY FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE.

While political strife RACES in Havana,
Cuba Is fighting for her economic life
at Washington. The occasion is the
reassembly here this week under Agri-
cultural Adjustment Administration
auspices of the Sugar Sterilization
Conference. which first opened June
q. Her sugar crop being the Islands
all vital sustenance, Cuba seeks an
augmented quota for it in the
American market, in competition
with domestic cane and beet and
the sugar which Hawaii, the Philip
pines and Puerto Rico sell us. In
keted here an annual average of 3.262,-
600 short tons of sugar. In 1882 the
volume fell to 1,647 900 tons, drop of
roundly so per cent. The quota now
tentatively proposed would permit
Cubans to sell about the 1882 volume,
or LOO 900 tons. accounting for some
thing less than one-third of the total
of 4,515 900 hereafter to be imported
| into this country, as against the do
| mestic supply of 1885, 900 tons. The
Cubans demand quota Of 2,525 900
tons and have threatened to withdraw
from the conference rather than ac-
cept a lower figure. Cuba argues that
| the more of her sugar we take, the
more of our wares she can buy. Amer
ican exports to the island slumped in
recent years at about the same rate
| that Cuban sugar sales to us shrank.
DR.. John Lee Coulter Of the United
States Tariff Commission Is the A. A. A.
sugar administrator.
BLACK Jack" Elliott, California oil
independent" and the man who put
through the McAdoo-Garner Chicago
| convention deal that resulted in Roose-
| velt's nomination, is q vital factor in
oil code negotiations. When Walter
c. Teagle STANDARD Of New Jersey
was selected to represent the big oil
corporations on the johnson industrial
advisory board Elliott was chosen to
speak for the independents. He is
orators into rival factions-Standard on
one side and Sinclair on the other
thus preventing adoption of the code
formulated by the American Petroleum
Institute. Elliott's feat was considered
victory for the independents. chiefly
East Texas and California interests.
Twenty-Five years ago an A. P. re-
porter in Washington, Elliott was Gar
ner and later McAdoo campaign man
ager in California. He may be the
Democratic candidate for the Senate
in 1884 against Hiram johnson.
+ 4 X \
| Joe Sinnott, veteran doorkeeper Of
the House of Representatives, testifies
that never since the war have there
been so many members Of Congress
visible on Capitol Hill during the
recess as in this Summer of Roose-
welt recovery and repeal. N. r.. A.
and patronage are what mainly
1 1rAx &xHa fNh
admit that, because Of deserving Dem
ocrats with ardent designs on the Fed
eral pay roll, life in washington just
now is far more comfortable than
among the folks back home. Repre-
sentative Wright Patman Of Texas, the
/ veterans friend, says he's in Washing
| ton because he can at least sleep at
night up here. which Is more than he
found 1t possible to do in Texas, with
needy constituents dogging his foot
steps by day and running his rest after
dark. It's estimated that: the average
Democratic member Of Congress has at
least thousand applications for jobs
on file.
Washington's diplomatic corps is soon
to have o second Minister named Al
faro, the present envoy Of that name
being the accomplished Minister and
former President Of Panama, DR.. RI
cardo j. Alfaro. The new Alfaro Is
Capt. Colon Eloy Alfaro, who will soon
be here as Minister Of Ecuador. Capt.
Alfaro once attended the United States
Military Academy at West Point and
later served as q lieutenant Of Hussars
in the German Army. Before entering
the diplomatic service he was director
of the Ecuadorean Military Academy at
Quito. He has been Minister to several
Latin American countries, including
Mexico and Panama. His father, Gen.
Eloy Alfaro, Is q former President Of
Ecuador.