Evening star., 1937-10-29
WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS
BY FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE,

this weeks abortive Washington peace
conference, rival leaders heard, pre-
sumably to their dismay. that the men
and women who pay the brass hats
salaries in the form of union dues are
sick and tired of the politics and hair
pulling which keep labor house divided
against itself. The impression prevails
that certain highly placed nabobs in the
movement-both wings of it-are more
interested in preserving their jobs, power
and prestige than in lighting the pipes
Of peace. An authority whose business
it is to keep impartial tab risks the view
that if the whole scrap could be left
to the boys in overalls, who carry din
ner pals and live on pay envelopes. the
vendetta could be ended in "a hours.
4 r
Although word drifts down from Man
haitian Island that inside betting odds
are to l on La Guardias reelection
and even money that he will have as
good as 800, 900 majority, plenty of Wash
ington New Dealers are convinced that
Mahoney is going to win. Their con-
f1dence apparently springs from Far
leys support Of the Democratic cam
didate. Sunny Jim isn't accustomed to
back the wrong horse, although he did
so during the preceding three-cornered
New York mayoralty race. This time,
with straight-out. single Democrat in
the field. the Postmaster General, a
regular Of regulars, would be wholly out
Of character except as a supporter of
the party nominee. Tammany's real
ization that one more siege in the wilder
ness would almost doom the Tiger to
extinction, plus New York's normally
gigantic Democratic vote, heartens mem
bers Of the Presidents party to believe
that, New Dealer though he be, La
Guardia is on the way out.
Telling figures redolent of recovery
brighten the annual national automobile
show in Gotham this week. According
to the American Petroleum Industries
Committee. every third family of the
10000, 900 families in the United States
will have purchased an automobile, new
or used. during 1887. Sales of new cars
are expected to reach about 100000,
while used sales, which for 10 years
have greatly exceeded those of new ma
chimes, are expected to top 100000,
totaling approximately II 500 900 trans
actions for the year, gain Of about
100000 sales over 1896. To bring
American highways up to the require
ments of current traffic, over $4,000 miles
of modern roads we're completed with
Federal money during the latest fiscal
year. The total is somewhat higher than
the 1894 peak and considerably above
1886. Uncle Sam spent $337, ,0000 900 on
highway building in 1867.
X X
Impending arrival of the remains of
"Ted" Mariner, American Consul Gen.
eral in Syria, recently murdered at his
post, recalls that one of the earliest
United States foreign service officers to
die under heroic or tragic circumstances
was Joel Barlow of Connecticut, ap-
pointed Minister to France in 1911. In
vited by Napoleon, then in the midst OF
his Russian campaign, to meet him at
wilma to discuss "a proposed Franco
American treaty, Barlow arrived there
to find the French army in retreat from
Moscow. Becoming involved in that
chaotic movement, the Minister died of
cold and privation on December rs,
1912, at Zarnowice.
my Son Jimmie" Roosevelt is a chip
of the old block as collector. Instead
of going in for stamps, like Papa, F. D.
RS son has chosen manuscripts for his
hobby, and Woodrow Wilson letters and
documents as q speciality.
(copyrisht, 1879