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Show half their time to unnecessary contacts, con-tacts, and a considerable portion of the national energy la wasted by the dominance in America today of a fleeting fleet-ing vision, a thirst for sensation and a relentless need for motion." This public deliverance of the secretary sec-retary of state concerns Itself with two things the time spent by public officials In doing work that ought to be done by subordinates, and the alleged al-leged sensationalism of the press In dealing with matters of government. So far us the first section of Mr. Hughes' remarks Is concerned, he of course Is everlastingly right The right or wrong In the second section Is or certainly may be open to argument. argu-ment. Everybody who visits a government department and fucceeds In Eeelng the chief thereof knows about the "time waste." It may be thnt an American ambassador home on business of state Is engaged with high matters In the office of the secretary. Twenty times during the conference of moment the door will be opened and an underling will come in with something which he says must be signed. The train of thought and of conversation is broken and the secretary and the ambassador are forced time after time to readjust their mentalities and to try to join once more the links of the subject. Important Business Often Delayed. Because of the "unnecessary contacts" con-tacts" which the chief of a department depart-ment of government must make each day public business of high importance impor-tance at times has been compelled to wait on business of low Importance for weeks. It Is known In Washington that officials of the United States government gov-ernment doing duty in foreign countries coun-tries have been called home for conferences con-ferences and have been compelled to stny in their hotels awaiting the leisure lei-sure of the State department VNi give them audience. The present secretary of state has found t:me to talk to every returned one, but it wasn't so in the recent past with another party administration. Today, however, a returned ambassador ambassa-dor may get his State department contact, con-tact, but then he must wait on contact with a higher office which It is necessary neces-sary to make before full sanction can be stamped on the program of action "formulated In the department of foreign for-eign affairs." Everybody who has read the rage letters knows that Ambassador Page was brought home from England for a conference and that he could not get It. The seeming neglect of the ambassador on his return generally has been put down to resentment because be-cause of his freely expressed opinions In letters to the State department and to the administration. In view of the known condition of things In the departments de-partments of government, the waste of time made necessary by the Importunities Im-portunities of underlings and noncon-sequentlal noncon-sequentlal visitors, it may be that the reason given for keeping Mr. Page at a distance was only half the real reason. Criticism of Correspondents. As for the second matter In which Secretary Hughes more than touched In his speech at Providence, "the thirst for sensation and a restless need for motion," this In a way is a criticism of correspondents who send out dispatches based on guesses which they make on less than the spur of the moment There Is plenty of reason for this complaint of the secretary, for it Is a complaint and nothing else, and nobody probably deplores it more than the Washington newspaper man who tries to write at least fairly well-thought-out matter and what may be called seasoned stuff. Take a case In point Within a few days a dispatch which was printed widely went out from Washington to the effect that the Hughes proposal for an economic conference to help straighten out European financial matters mat-ters was more than likely to be revived re-vived and to be put to the test of congressional con-gressional approval. This dispatch was based apparently on nothing else than the fact that Lloyd George had expressed ex-pressed sorrow that the Hughes plan had not been acted upon. Coincident with the sending of this dispatch others went out from other sources carrying official denial of any Intention on the part of the administration adminis-tration to give consideration to the Hughes scheme for a world economic parley. Headers of newspapers throughout the United States had the chance to read, cheek by Jowl, one article declaring one thing and another article carrying official denial of Its truth. Probably the departments In Wash Ington are too timid about publicity The result naturally Is guesswprlt. Guesswork Is had business. IG1PJA1ITY II HDUSESLEDDER ONLY FIFTEEN NOMINALLY AND SOME OF THESE ARE LIKELY TO STRAY FROM FOLD. WHIP WILL HAVE HARD TASK President Coolidge Evidently Trying to Satisfy the Desires of Those Republicans Re-publicans Whose Loyalty to the Party Is Rather Shaky. By EDWARD B. CLARK Washington. A count of the house of representatives as It will be constituted consti-tuted when the members meet in December De-cember proves that the Republican leudei-s must "walk wary" lest they undo the party. Is the house In reality real-ity a Republican house? It would take a test vote on some strictly partisan measure to supply the answer. On paper the number fifteen will represent the majority of the Republicans Repub-licans In the next house. This is a small margin and as some so-called Republicans are likely to leave the reservation on the slightest excuse for removing themselves, the majority of fifteen may go the way of early day mist. . The following figures tell the story: There will be 225 Republicans of the name In the house; 207 Democrats; one Socialist; one Independent whatever what-ever that means, and one who was elected as a Farmer-Laborite. Special elections to come are certain to bring the Republican majority down to fifteen. fif-teen. Some of the members who were elected as Republicans think along Ln-Follette-Brookhart lines. Conservative legislation, such as It is presumed Calvin Cal-vin Coolidge, if he should follow the bent of his mind, would be likely to suggest for enactment, would have a hard time of Jt Id securing the sanction sanc-tion of the Reputfllcans acting as a body. When the table of membership Is looked at and there Is realization of the unsteadiness of the Republicanism Republican-ism of some of the Republicans, it Is easy enough to understand why what ordinarily Is considered conservative Republican doctrine probably will be looked upon as something else by some of the progressives who constitute no Inconsiderable part of the house body. Hard Task for the Whip. The Republican "whip" of the next house, If he shall succeed In holding the unruly In bounds, will deserve well of his Republican comrades and of the administration. There was a time when the party whip had little to do, but those were the days of overwhelming overwhelm-ing majorities, when the party leaders could look with equanimity on a revolt of thirty to forty of their followers, knowing thnt there were enough left to do the voting Job well and surely. There are some vacancies In the house, but It Is virtually a foregone conclusion that six of the seats will be won by the Democrats and three by the Republicans, and this result has been taken Into consideration In giving the membership figures set down above. A Democratic victory where Republican Repub-lican victory was expected, or the reverse, re-verse, woald be of small moment when the general situation Is considered. Whether the majority Is fourteen, fifteen fif-teen or sixteen makes little or no difference. dif-ference. The rond to the goal of party accomplishment through the house of representatives will be rough in any event Coolidge Tries to Please Them. ' Everything that has been done by the President up to the present time shows that he is trying to satisfy the wishes, if not the requests, of those Republicans who, It is feared, might Jump the fences unless heed Is given to their pleadings, which on more thau one occasion have taken on the form of demands. An Inquiry Into the wheat situation in the Northwest, now In progress, Is a case In point An attempt Is to be made this winter win-ter by a minority of the majority to secure changes in the transportation act The West and Northwest particularly partic-ularly do not like that part of the act which virtually guarantees the railroads rail-roads a certain return. There are a good many out-and-out government i ownership advocates in the lower j house and there are some In the upper j house. If legislation which some per- sons look upon as being radical once I shall get started In the house, no one can tell what may happen, because there are radical Democrats just as there are radical Republicans, publican leaders will attempt to do Is to placate their brethren In some way so thnt they will remain with the conservatives on matters Considered crucial to party success In the coming election. It will be a trifle easier to hold the Republicans together because the election elec-tion Is to come on next year. Even those who seemingly only cull themselves them-selves Republicans reiillze that the party name will mean something to them In a general election and that if the nominee for the presidency goes down to defeat he Is likely to carry with him the Republican 'candidates for the house, een If nt heart they are opposed to the p-nernl udmlnlstra-the udmlnlstra-the endeavor. The tli'!!- That tin. ciiriiT:,flv(. ,.. Hughes Compl.vns of Time Waste SerreMry f y,.,,,, UU-t ,,. w.,.'(.(, "f fnlh.wln,- in ,i sp, ,., I, at I'f'V i'.Tlr p. ft. |