Evening star., 1935-03-01
WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS
BY FREDERIC WILLIAM WILE.

Washington waits with bated breath
for the result Of the executive-legis-
lative battle of the century-the ad-
ministration VS.. the Senate on the
work relief bill. As usual on the eve
Of a heavyweight championship con-
test, there is tall talk among parti-
sans Of both sides. The air in either
camp is correspondingly thick with
claims and counterclair1s. Now that
President Roosevelt is back on the
firing line there will prospectively
be no delay In indication of his plans,
if any. for taking the offensive against
the insurgents at the Capitol. If he
does not move openly and aggres-
sively in the way of public action of
some kind, it will reveal a conviction
that he feels the country is with him
and that matters can be permitted
to take their normal course. Never
theless, nothing but an actual show
down on decisive roll call, either on
the prevailing-wage amendment or
the bill itself, will show who the victor
really is There is a gathering i'm
preston that the expected avalanche
Of sentiment against the controversial
wages proposal has not materialized.
AS the zero hour approaches, impair
tial observers incline to the belief
that the issue Is toss-up and wholly
m the Ian of the pods
Former Senator Clarence C. Dill,
Democrat. of Washington, who has
returned to the Capital, has been re-
tained as counsel to represent West
Coast lumber interests In the State
Department hearings connected with
the proposed reciprocity trade agree
ment with Canada. He will shortly
present a brief on. their behalf to
Secretary Hull. The proposed treaty
with Canada is one of the most diff
cult Of all of the reciprocal pacts the
United States hopes to negotiate, be-
cause the Dominion seeks to enter
the American market with products
of which there are large quantities
IA OIlC 0IntCu oUdUCo, dIlo WlllC1l
this country is an extensive exporter.
The chief bones of contention are
lumber, cattle and fish. News print is
another troublesome item. With re-
spect to lumber, a special difficulty
is that Canada, as result Of the
Ottawa agreements providing for i'm
perial preference, has largely crowded
the United States out of the British
and Empire markets. American lum-
Der interests will confer in Washing
ton on March under the chairman
ship of DR.. Wilson Compton, manager
of the National Lumber Manufac-
turers Association, with a view to
working out some tariff plan which
will be permanently fair to both
American and Canadian lumbermen.
It is admittedly tall order.
Washington newspaper men seem
at length to be succumbing to the
brain-trust atmosphere. At any rate,
the blue ribbons of the profession
just bestowed by the scribes-the
Craftsmanship Of the Standing Com
mittee of Correspondents in the press
galleries of Congress and the presi-
dency Of the White House Correspond
ents' Association-have both been
awarded to Phi Beta Kappa men.
Thomas L. Stokes of the New York
World Telegram and graduate Of the
University of Georgia, heads the con-
gressional writers, and Albert L. War
ner of the New York Herald Tribune
and alumnus Of Amherst, has been
House news mems organization. Still
further evidence that the reporters of
the Washington scene recognize and
reward culture in their ranks is the
election Of Mark Foote Of the Booth
Newspsper Syndicate Of Michigan to