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Show NEWS REVIEW OF - CURRENTEVENTS Officials and Senate Drys Dispute Over Enforcement. En-forcement. y By EDWARD W. PICKARD P)ISSENSION among the dry leaders of congress and dissatisfaction dis-satisfaction with President Hnov-' Hnov-' -er's law enforcement commission marred the good will toward men that is supposed to characterize the Christmas season. United States District Judge Paul J. McCormick Mc-Cormick of Los Angeies, a member of the commission, who had been sitting on the federal bench in New York, started the fireworks when on his return home he found occasion occa-sion to make some very caustic remarks re-marks concerning the prohibition problem. "A man's home is his castle," said the jurist, "and the practice of entering en-tering It in the course of prohibition prohibi-tion enforcement without legal procedure pro-cedure should be abolished." The national commission, the , .judge said, already has determined Y. that two major problems require , . immediate settlement: One Is the i - solution of prohibition enforee-ment enforee-ment and the other is the j-emoval "J of "governmental lawlessness" and restoration of constitutional rights to citizens. "Speaking as an Individual," Judge McCormick pronounced fanaticism fa-naticism one of the most serious enemies of prohibition. He said fanatics were to be found in the ranks of both wets and drys. William ,T. Harris of Georgia, one of the leading drys in the senate, was roused to immediate action and demanded that (he President remove the Los Angeles jurist from the commission. "Judge McCormick's statement showed that just what I feared was being done is being done," said Senator Harris. "It really Is an encouragement to violators of the law and it shows Judge McCormick to be such a partisan against the prohibition enforcement law that, no matter how honest he may be, he is unfitted to hold office on the commission. Unless the commission commis-sion stops its secret sessions and comes out in the open, its usefulness useful-ness Is Impaired to such an extent ex-tent that Its report will be given rno weight. The prohibition forces of the country''" will be greatly disappointed dis-appointed if the President does net remove this man, who has encouraged encour-aged anti-prohibitlonists as well as violators of the law." Harris was joined by other senate sen-ate drys urging that Mr. Hoover ask the commission to make an early report on the liquor question. Senator Glass of Virginia wants to hear from the commission soon, but he docs not think Judge McCormick McCor-mick should be removed from that body. "I do not participate in Senator nnrris' view of the matter at nil," said Senator Glass. "It is not my Idea that the commission was appointed ap-pointed to find out something that would please any particular group in congress, but was appointed to ascertain the facts, regardless of what conclusion the facts might Bipnlfy. "If Judge McCormick or any other member of the commlslson, or the commission as a whole, lias found out whnt Judge McCormick seems to Imply, It Is the business t of such Individual members of the commission and of the commission ns a whole to report the result of his or Its Investigation without re- sped to whom It would please or lisplease. That was the purpose I of the Investigation and I am not going ij join with anybody In calling call-ing for the resignation of any member mem-ber of the commission merely be-cause be-cause be may fall to find what I could have wished him to find." Senator William 13. Borah of Idaho, another dry leader, expressed the opinion that a report from the crime commission would be of little value In obtaining better dry law enforcement conditions. Whnt Is needed, he said. Is an improvement in the personnel of enforcement officers. of-ficers. "If the commission report," Borah said, "they will not tell us anything any-thing we do not know, either n's to . the law or as to the facts. We still will be back to tne proposition that with the present personnel j nothing will be accomplished." This brought a sharp retort from Prohibition Commissioner James M. Doran, who declared lhat such a "sweeping condemnation" of the prohibition unit "is unfortunate and bound to have a disheartening effect upon the morale of the service." serv-ice." "To say that prohibition cannot be enforced with the present personnel," per-sonnel," the prohibition director added, "comes perilously near to saying that it cannot be enforced at all." f N'E more killing by prohibition enforcement agents marked Christmas day. Coast Guardsmen at Buffalo fatally shot Eugene V. Downey, Jr., son of a policeman, In a motor boat on the Niagara river. They declared he did not heed their signals to stop, but it was said they found no liquor in Downey's boat. The man was arrested recently in connection with liquor smuggling and was out on bail. CHRISTMAS joy at the White House was almost ruined by a fire that completely wrecked the interior of the executive wing of the mansion. Mr. Hoover helped in the removal of his personal and business papers and then stood in the cold for two hours watching the firemen fighting the flames. The cause of the fire was found to be an overheated fireplace chimney in the office of Secretary Newton. Lieut. Col. U. S. Grant III, director di-rector of public buildings and public pub-lic parks, estimated the damage to be approximately $50,000. Inspections Inspec-tions showed that, although it will be necessary to completely rebuild the structure, there was no irreparable irre-parable damage. At the time of the conflagration Mrs. Hoover was hostess of a children's chil-dren's party in the White House dining room. While the President and the other men present hurried out, Mrs. Hoover, in order not to frighten the children, had the Marine Ma-rine band strike up a lively air and then presided over the celebration without a hint of what was happening hap-pening a few hundred feet away. On Christmas day there was a happy family party In the White House, followed by a dinner to members of the cabinet and their families. TpERRIFIC gales with rain and - cold carried disaster nnd death to the Atlantic const of Europe from the Orkney islands to Spain on Wednesday. The worst accident reported was the loss of the Norwegian Nor-wegian steamer Aslaug near Vigo, Spain, with its entire crew of 24. Many other steamships were reported report-ed In trouble. One went aground near Blankanese, Germany, blocking block-ing the River Elbe, and two were driven on the rocks off Porspol, France. p RESIDENT YRIGOYEN of Ar-' Ar-' gentina narrowly escaped death at the hands of an assassin. Three bullets were fired at his car as he was on bis way to his office in Buenos Bue-nos Aires but none of them hit him, though his chief bodyguard was wounded. Police in another car opened tire on the assassin, killing him. He was identified as Gunlterio Marinelli, u dental mechanic, me-chanic, but his motive was not discovered. dis-covered. The police decided he was not the ngent of an organized band, though they have arrested a number num-ber of suspected anarchists. President Pres-ident Yrigoyen took the attempt on his life more calmly than anyone else, going on with his work as usual. CEXATOR BORAH, chairman of the senate foreign relations committee, and the United States Department of the Interior appealed ap-pealed to Russia for htlp In searching search-ing for Carl Ben Eilson and Earl Borland in the wastes of Siberia, nnd the Soviet foreign office replied that an airplane had been dispatched dis-patched to hunt for the missing American aviators who failed to return to Alaska six weeks ago from a flight to aid an icebound fur ship. They nre believed to have been forced down near North cape. The foreign office announcement said also two other airplanes would be dispatched immediately to aid in the search .of the airmen. Sum-yon Sum-yon Shestakov, national air hero of Soviet Russia since his flight from Moscow to New York, was selected se-lected to head the rescue expedition. expedi-tion. Three powerful cabin planes and five experienced Canadian avi ators were conveyed to Alaska from Seattle on a Coast guard cutter cut-ter to help in the search. PEXEEAL RICO, military com- mander at Nogales, says in a report to the Mexican government on the recent exec-ulion of Gen. .Carlos Bouquet, that Bouquet made a signed statement that he had been commissioned by Jose Vascon-celos, Vascon-celos, defeated candidate for the presidency, who now Is in the United States, to recruit revolutionists revolution-ists on the Mexican -Pacific coast and he had gone to Nogales to receive re-ceive orders, money and munitions from a revolutionary directorate established at Tucson, Ariz. RWIN B. LAUGHLIN, our nerw ambassador to Spain, presented his credentials to King Alfonso on Tuesday, was introduced to the queen and exchanged formal calls with Premier Primo Rivera. The king received the American ambassador in the uniform of a captain cap-tain general, with red trousers, a blue coat and many decorations. He made a striking martial figure. The simple evening dress of Ambassador Ambassa-dor Laughlin and his staff was in contrast with the gorgeous uniforms uni-forms of the Spanish court. r RITZ RUBIO, President-elect of Mexico, visited Washington last week and was accorded all the honors due the head of a state during dur-ing his three days' stay. He made a formal call at the White House, and President and Mrs. Hoover departed de-parted from long established precedent prece-dent by returning the call at the Mexican embassy. On Friday Senor Ortiz Rubio and his wife were entertained en-tertained at a state dinner at the White House. ( NE of the great - disasters of the dying year, if measured by loss of life, was the foundering of the Chinese steamer Lee Cheong, plying between Hongkong and Swabue, in a heavy storm. Two hundred and fifty passengers perished, per-ished, as did the members of the crew and 44 Indian guards. Only two men escaped, by clinging to a raft. WAR In Manchuria between China and Soviet Russia appears ap-pears to have come to an end. The foreign commissariat in Moscow announced that Simanovsky and Tsai Yun-Shen, plenipotentiaries of the Soviet union and Mukden governments, gov-ernments, had signed a protocol at Habarovsk, Siberia, restoring the status quo ante on the Chinese Eastern railway and immediately restoring Soviet consulates and commercial organizations in the Soviet So-viet Far East. It was stated thnt peace would follow on the frontiers, to be followed fol-lowed by withdrawal of troops of both sides. All prisoners are to be released and the Chinese promised prom-ised to disarm the White Guard Russians. Rus-sians. Full restoration of diplomatic diplo-matic relations will not be brought about until after a conference that will open In Moscow on January 25 for settlement of all outstanding questions. fl ERMAN Nationalists made a dismal failure of their latest attempt to prevent adoption of the Young reparations plan. In a public pub-lic referendum their bill "against the enslavement of the German people," which would have the Young plan rejected, failed to obtain ob-tain more than one-fourth of the vote required to give It effect. TJie reichstag last November defeate-d a similar measure by an overwhelming overwhelm-ing majority. CONSOLIDATION of the rail-roads rail-roads of the country into 21 systems, two of them Canadian owned, is the tentative plan announced an-nounced by - the Interstate Commerce Com-merce commission. In Washington it was said that the fact that President Hoover favored fa-vored legislation to promote railroad rail-road consolidation was enough to ensure the opposition of the radical radi-cal senators and that they probably prob-ably would be able to block the legislation even if it got through the house. LJ ENRY D. CLAYTON, who while -1 a member of congress framed the anti-trust act that bears his name, died at his home In Montgomery, Mont-gomery, Ala., after an illness of three weeks. He was seventy-two years old and was serving as a judge of the middle federal district of Alabama. (1, 1&29. Western Newspaper Union.) |