The Wilmington morning star., 1940-03-14
WASHINGTON
DAYBOOK
By JACK STINNETT

~ ~
conner: In the capital, that epidemic of Chinese
collie, Confucius Say, is at its worst. . 1t
took a literary taxi driver, warping through
sodden traffic in a downpour, to put Washing.
ton weather in a peanut shell claimed he
was quoting Mark Twain: "If you don't like
Washington weather, wait a minute"
Both the President and Mrs. Roosevelt have
coats Of tan that make the stay.at-homes look
anemic. Secretary of State Hull is Cat the
moment) the most inaccessible of the cabinet
members . Postmaster Farley the most &C.
cessible.
There are two schools of thought here: %
FDR will run again; () FDR won't run
again. That provides the chief topic of CONVEX.
sation. The consensus seems to be this week
that if the President doesn't run, the Demo-
cratic nominee will be Cordell Hull. Next week?
III let you know.
Platinum Blonde
Today's history lesson: The best unknown
landmark around town is the statue on the
capitol dome . % newsmen and congressman,
attending a dinner at the Press Club the other
night, guessed 1t was everything from Liberty
to a forgotten chief of the Narragansetts. The
right answer is Freedom. The figure, almost 20
feet tall, was done in Rome in 1857 by Thomas
Crawford, father of novelist F.. Marion Craw.
iOIu, dLu lOullI OA IL OOHle III 1000. Inc
powers that be were about 70 years ahead of
the times, too. Miss Freedoms a platinum
blonde. The platinum is set on bronze-light.
ming protection.
When Sumner Welles was skipping over the
continent in the role of the state departments
human question mark, he got close enough to
the western front to see the boys in the Maginot
line and Siegried lines doing their laundry.
Wonder If he stopped to pun about THE wash
on the Rhine"
Washington has one screwy street name I'll
enter in a freak street contest with any city
in the country. It's 1917 street.
The House Of Representatives has a bloc the
Senate doesn't have. It's composed of city boys
on one side, country boys on the other. That's
because most legislative districts are either in
the city or the country. There are times, too,
when the division of interest that way over
rides party lines. One thing they seem to be
in perfect agreement on, though, is the quality
Of the house restaurants bean soup. It's the
best in the land (recipe on request) and I'll
vote with the house any time they want to
declare it so publicly.
Capital Crime
There's a battle going on now against a
District of Columbia crime wave; Seems funny,
doesn't it, there should be a crime wave in
the city that houses national headquarters of
the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Secret
Service, the postoffice inspectors, the Depart
ment Of Justice, and probably more private
investigators than any other city in the world.
Wonder if the politicians favorite dance is
the pork-barrel polka.
The National Zoos latest acquisition is En-.
peror Dugan, an Antarctic penguin, and the
first of his breed to be brought north of the
equator. Dugan's favorite pastime is %strutting
in front Of a mirror, but thatt not what makes
the Emperor the strangest bird hereabouts.
Note to Senator Tobey of New Hampshire:
Within a few hours after you let loose your
radio blast on the Census Bureau questions,
the Census Bureau prepared for a flood of de-
mands with 5000 mimeographed alibi letters,
explaining why those two, questions were being
asked. When only 200 requests came in for the
letters. Census Bureau officials began asking,
Weren't the folks listening or didn't they
care?" Don't ask me.