Evening star., 1933-12-18

That Congress will be on his hands
in couple Of weeks doesn't seem to
| perturb President Roosevelt, even
though it's everybody's secret that the
| session will be marked from the outset
| by plenty of brickbats. 1t isn't ex-
! pected that F. D. r. will follow the
! occasional example of some of his
| predecessors and deliver messages to
Congress by word OF mouth. In radio,
he has a far more powerful means Of
bringing pressure to bear, should Con-
gress "act up" than personal appear
ances at the Capitol. At Albany Gov.
| Roosevelt. like Gov. Smith before him
| periodically addressed the people OF
New York State by air, whenever 1t
was found desirable to generate public
| support for legislative programs. Since
| he entered the White House, President
Roosevelt has acquired more pro-
| found respect than ever for broadcast
ing as a means Of influencing popular
sentiment. 1t may be taken for
granted that he will resort to the
microphone unhesitatingly during the
next few months should congressional
| developments suggest the usefulness of
| fireside talks to the country. The
President has broadcast 20 times during
his 10 months in offlce.
President Roosevelt has coined a
match for Al Smiths "baloney." 1t is
spinach" Lately the idiom has been
used at White House press conferences
to deny wild stories of various kinds
that crept into print. The recent yarn
about chickering's with Great Britain
and France to sta bilize the dollar along
with the pound and the franc was de-
scribed as Just some more spinach"
+ x y
Mrs. William Atherton Du Puy Of
Washington, who used to be national
president Of the League of American
Pen Women, has just finished her first
novel and shipped the manuscript to
the publishers. The book is entitled
Here I Am" and. traces the career of
modern and high-strung woman
through the exigencies of life on two
continents and to her final arrival at
what might be taken to be her goal.
Having completed the book, Mrs. Du
Puy has gone to Santo Domingo. in
the West Indies, where her brother,
S91man eenenai Of + eustoms & There fpq she VIII
start work Immediately on second
novel with a historical background,
the scene of which will be the home
town of Columbus after he went west
and settled down.
X X X
At the National Press Club the other
day two men met who, 35 years ago
operated as bitter rivals in war cor
respondence during the Spanish-Ameri-
can conflict. Each had a dispatch boat
under him. each had followed the
American Fleet and the American Army
and each had raced for one cable sta
tion or another as the only means OF
that day for getting news out. But in
those stirring times they saw each other
only through field glasses across the
tossing Caribbean waves. These men
are Harry Hickey, news ace Of the old
Scripps service. and George Bronson
Rea, owner of the Far East Review and
now counselor at Washington for the
Republic of Manchukuo. They confessed
to each other at the Press Club how
their respective war scoops OF 1898 were
achieved.
For the first time, the ornate caucus
room in the new House Once Building
on Capitol Hill Is being used for hear
ings Of the Ways and Means Committee.
Chairman Robert L. Doughton, veteran
North Carolina Democrat, finds the
place much too fancy, and, II he could
have his way, he would transfer the
hearings forthwith back to the less
splendiferous caucus chamber in the
old House ONCE Building. The new
quarters have a palatial, clublike at
mosphere, with q lounge and other
luxurious trimmings. While their acous-
tic qualities are superior to the foymer
premises across the street, Chairman
Doughton doesn't feel at home and
bankers for the simpler surroundings Of
other days, amid which tariffs and other
revenue laws for so many years were
fashioned.
4
During the congressional recess vari-