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Show Washington Comment Washington's normally joyous Labor day holiday was inexpressibly inexpressi-bly saddened by the horrible airplane air-plane disaster which occurred Saturday practically on its doorstep door-step and carried to their tragic end 25 persons, 17 of whom, including in-cluding Senator Lumleen, were residents of the nation's capital. Indeed, it seems that the last weeks of August brought a series of farewells, though not all of them, fortunately, were so definite defi-nite and eternal as Senator Lun-deen's Lun-deen's passing. In a comparatively comparative-ly short space of time, three cabinet cab-inet members disappeared from the official scene. Mr. Farley was the last to go, preceded by Harry Hopkins, who, in turn, followed Mr. Wallace. Perhaps the least regretted by the Democratic party stalwarts was Mr. Hopkins, whose position of power and influence in the White House has been long resented, and his high-handed tactics tac-tics at Chicago during the convention conven-tion did not enhance his prestige with this particular group. For his health's sake, Mr. Hopkins will, it is rumored, take charge of Mr. Roosevelt's new ; library and privatepapers collection at Hyde Park. We all know what has, temporarily, become of Mr. Wallace Wal-lace since his "acceptance" speech last week, and also are aware of Mr. Farley's proposed plans for, the future. Jesse Jones, the president's presi-dent's choice for Mr. Hopkin's ; former portfolio, came to the : R. F. C. in 1932 as a Herbert Hoover appointee, and seeirns ideally fitted for the secretaryship secretary-ship of commerce, but will prob-' prob-' ably encounter difficulty in congress con-gress if he tries to hold two jobs, as he proposes. ! Few presidents, even those serving serv-ing their second terms, have had so many changes in their cabinets as Mr. Roosevelt, iSecretartes Hull, Ickes, and Perkins are the only survivors of the original cabinet. There have been two secretaries of treasury under the Roosevelt regime Wtoodin and Morgenthau; three secretaries of war fDern, Woodring and .Stim-son; .Stim-son; three secretaries of navy Swanson, Edison and Knox; three attorneys general C'u mining's, Murphy and Jackson; two secretaries secre-taries of agriculture Wallace and IWSckard; and three secretaries of commerce Roper, Hopkins and j Jones probably. And, of course, there will have been two post- j masters general at the very least, i (Continued on last page) A Washington Comment (Continued from first page) if, or when, the present administration adminis-tration goes out of office. (Which reminds us of the current story about the European immigrant who insists that when he gets to America he is going to vote for Roosevelt, and, on being told that it will be at least five years before be-fore he can become a citizen, says confidently: "That's all right, he'll still be running!) Apropos of cabinet shifts, there is one which will not take place, the gods willing. "Secretary Hull is being selected by some political writers as the choice of either Roosevelt or Willkie for the portfolio port-folio of state, let the votes fall where they may at the polls come November. Mr. Hull's friends, however, claim that he is longing to retire to private life next January Jan-uary under any circumstances, but such is his caliber that you may be sure he will never quit his job at a critical time if asked to remain. re-main. Outside of the marriage license bureau, the W&shington birth record re-cord bureau is doing the most business these days. People are scrambling to get proof of their citizenship in order to maintain, or secure, employment in aircraft corporations, plants, and other private industries which have contracts con-tracts with the government under the national defense program. Also, immigration authorities have tightened up on regulations for United States tourists returning from Canada, and actual passports pass-ports are required for every other country. In addition, prospective candidates for the army and navy are asking for proof of their citizensh'ip and there is nothing I So quickly conclusive as a copy of a birth certificate. Possible draft j victims can also thereby prove j they are beyond the age limit, etc. At any rate, the bureau of vital I statistics is busier than it has ' ever been, with work more than doubled and the tiny office practically prac-tically swamped. The marriag-6 license bureau shut up shop at the end of the month with business breaking all records over a period of 20 years. |