Evening star., 1935-07-31
What's What
Behind News
In Capital
Congress Pays Tribute
to Ben Cohen's Legal
Hair-Splitting.
BY PAUL MALLON.
.HE fight against Ben Cohen was
o fight against the brain trust,
all right, but there was more
- knhiNA
NV pAUu MAxI.nN
behind Il than that.

behind 1t than that.
Outsiders must have been just =
little puzzled to note that such major
issue arose about permitting the New
Deals foremost legal craftsman to sit
in on the congressional conference
which Is to decide the final form OF the
holding company bill. MIR. Cohen
wrote the bill for Congress in the first
place. He has been admitted to con-
ferences ON previous bills he has writ
ten. Furthermore, no one has cared
enough about who attended such con-
ference meetings during the past las
years ever TO make a point about 1t
strong enough to show in the rule
books.
II all may seem strange unless you
know some things which were not
mentioned or were only limited at in
the debate.
Tribute to Hair Splitting.
The fact Is there ere some things In
previous laws which Mr.. Cohen has
written that the Congressman did not
find out about until after the laws had
been passed. 1t also is true that some
of the stancheSt administration sup
porters on that Conference Commit
tee are not capable of defending the
administrations position efficiently
without Mr.. Cohen.
You may suspect that Mr.. Cohen
could easily remain in an adjoining
room and that he could coach the ad-
ministration conferees from there.
That would have been all right. but
they did not feel safe unless he heard
all that was said and done.
The hustle. therefore. pas an un-
Intentional tribute to the mystity-
ing sharpness OF Mr.. Cohen's legal
hdir-Splitting, but just little too
strong to be good.
Our diplomats exchanged knowing
winks when they read the news that
Britain has secret plans to build tre-
mendous new battle fleet. They have
heard that one before.
You may have noticed that the news
was credited to the London Herald.
No one else had it. The fact is, the
Herald was government organ when
Macdonald was in power. II has been
playing many governmental tunes
since Macdonald retired.
What our men suspect is that the
British government wanted such q
story to get out for bargaining pur-
poses in the coming negotiations with
the French and Italians. No one here
| hn1tayya1 nrifaiy1 is OniT1O IN
embark on any such S750, 900 900 pro-
gram.
Near to Rupture.
The inside slant Of our authorities
on the increasingly tense anti-NaA
sentiment in this country is this:
Aroused sympathizers on both sides
are probably unintentionally bringing
Berlin and Washington near to rup-
ture. Both pro and anti Nazis are
propagandizing The ants have pre-
ponderant appeal to citizens Of this
country because Of the prosecutions of
fellow religious sects in Germany.
But it is the view Of those who control
our international destiny at this time
that only failure and danger can come
from any attempt to express the pop
ular side Of the question with forceful
diplomatic action.
You may expect to see this caution
expressed publicly by the executive
branch Of the Government If there Is
a Senate investigation. Furthermore,
you may expect some quiet efforts
from the executive side to block a
Senate inquiry on the ground that it
would endanger an already strained
situation. At least this is the present
view, subject to change.
| 1t iUiu be denied noto but there
| is pdlid cause to beliepe that the
State Department and the German
Embassy here hare been co-operat-
ing in an apparently intelligent
way to prevent the situation from
| getting out Of hand.