Show I 1 washington news by FRED HOLMES washington naton correspondent of the park record washington febuary 28 according to the late phineas taylor barnum past master of the and first to claim proprietorship of one of the multitudinous greatest shows chows on earth a sucker Is born every minute it if that were true in the days ot of the great showman possibly it is true now but it may also be accepted as true that the percentage ot of sucker born humans in ills his day who remained suckers for the r rest a st 0 of f their natural lives has been apar appreciably cl a decreased A number of united states senators alone are still unconvinced of this fact its e barnum is also credited by some with the remark that you can tool fool all ot of the people some of the time and some of the people all of the time but you cant fool 1001 all of the people all of the time 11 intense skepticism on this proposition pervades that Is to say until very recently seems to have pervaded the some same group of senators the public had no particular interest in senatorial indulgence in a game ot of battledore and shuttlecock over power commission appointments antics ot of tile the a athletes were tiresome from the start and nd the fact that the audience departed zore more or less in fix disgust does not seem at to have yet dawned upon the self cen contestants they insist upon carrying the game to a conclusion with the united states supreme court as ultimate is referee even if the show is stopped entrance tees fees will not be refunded at the box office 9 0 aw worthy wo r thy unemployed labor did not ask fa for r 9 a dole it wanted and still wants a restoration of normal business conditions and a chance to work but not only have some of our legislators no compunction about robbing yeter peter to pay paul but they see no necessity for determining in advance whether or not anything la Is owing to paul it may bankrupt peter tax tan payer but what difference does that make in my young life asks the simon legree of capitol hill there are none so go deaf as those who wont listen the there re are two principal ways of aiding those th whom god has by fire by flood by drought one la is by way ol of direct appeal to a generous hearted citizenry 7 which never has tailed failed in an amer emergency er ane other la Is by way of paternalism directed toward inevitable pauperization heriza ti 0 n but in our country paupers haupers are not and private generosity falls tar far short of perpetuating titles to senatorial togas be the handwriting on the wall what it may there are none so blind as those who wont look deaf and blind comes the astounding revelation that the public protest against the extravagant and unnecessary distribution d is tri of public money to able bodied and employed world war veterans vetera ns Is a surprise to many legislators they yielded to mob inch impulse in voting for the bonus believing that taxpayers would patiently endure the added burden tor for toe the sake of 0 relieving the needs ol of the veterans actually in distress but the public has discovered that only veterans are in distress while the bonus bill proposes to distribute money to veterans most of whom aro sound in health and profitably employed the bill was rushed through congress vIlt hout the slig slightest hest effort to sound out public opinion and in total disregard of the warnings of the treasury department end nd the president 0 W unquestionably many legislators were convinced on vinced that they could purchase with public money the gu goodwill good will ot of veterans whose votes would come in very handily at the forthcoming elections the great unorganized public that dumb and patient ox whose sole bole duty la is to grind out tax money was suppo supposed hed to be ignorant of the transaction or too stupid to protest in any event and the most sidesplitting touch of the whole shakespearian ilan comedy of errors Is that now that the protest Is 19 rising some of the tyros I 1 in congress think they have discovered an int zenious method ot of warding off air public criticism 4 A 41 A the artifice la is so antiquated that none but callow preparatory students in dem would try to use it now tell the public that the proposed outlay Is a mere matter ot of bookkeeping that the money la Is already available that no increased c taxes will III be necessary that all this alarm about huge distributions to veterans Is without any basis that the treasury by simply juggling its accounts can n lend to veterans without any actual drain upon the cash box that secretary mellon was wrong once when he be made an estimate of probable tax returns and therefore Is wrong now when he be thinks the paying out of a billion dollars will be a drain upon the treasury or a hardship to taxpayers 0 40 of course alie the right hand Is not to know what the left hand band boeth and the veterans are not to be told that they are to receive scraps of paper representing a juggling of accounts in the treasury the right hand must understand that actual cash will be received therein but the left hand the taxpayers which puts up the cash must be fooled into believing that the transaction Is mere bookkeeping shade ol of P T barnum look down upon an effort to put over this ancient piece ot of exploded political chicanery then hide your diminished head in shame president hoover has vetoed the misnamed bonus bill not tor for one moment did anyone doubt that he would do so BO by the time these lines are in print it will be known whether or not his veto and the strident tones of his MR masters voice have sufficed to stem the stampede on capitol hill washington Is inclined to think that they have not once started they run tin till they drop dead they used to say 0 0 and then once gain again the cat came back same old muscle shoals one may or may not be in favor ot of government ownership and operation of public utilities but over zealotry Is altogether too apt to result in overshooting over shooting the mrk mark the fervor senator has injected into his bill can be inferred from his statutory specifications for persons appointed to manage muscle s all I 1 members of the board reads the resolution shall be persons that profess a belief in the feasibility and wisdom ote etc so that by reason thereof the corporation may be a self sustaining and continuous success 4 0 10 any manager of muscle shoals who subscribes to that specification said representative fort must be either a socialist or a liar har it Is easy to visualize ithe the senate debating for days whether an appointee submitted for confirmation Is sufficiently firm in the faith 40 e 0 representative eaton evidently believes that the antidote of fanaticism Is humor la in describing the stipulation that one per cent of the fertilizer shall be given free to farmers to acquaint them with the product he said you might as well ship tree free coffins to undertakers at government expense to let them know there Is such a thing as death and representative oconnor of oklahoma observed with humor partly subtle and partly broad that at the other senate end of this building where sits the greatest deliberative body in that end of the capitol there Is a restaurant and they lost last year it if the government cannot run a restaurant ora barber shop bow are they going to operate muscle shoals W el some time ago the editor of a small town weekly criticized a correspondents letter for the reason that ho he did not want his readers to get the impression that washington was a 3 rin clans his solicitude for the breser preservation of ancient traditions of course Is to be commended his faith in and loyalty to a fallen idol ido I 1 doubtless Is to be admired but pigs Is pigs and facts are facts and today no super patriot Is worrying tor for fear political washington will be confused with a 3 ring circus what he tears fears Is that it win will be disparagingly compared with a lunatic asylum purposes so if the democratic party is 13 going to be wet in 1632 1932 the sooner booner the democrats let the world know tt it the better 40 aw transfer to the senate by the wickersham commission of prohibition data on oil some of the 16 states omitted irom from the material already sent to the capitol was assured by members ot of the commission while it was said at commission headquarters that data was lacking on OIL conditions in six states or so the remaining reports available are to be forwarded to the senators thirty two states were cov rd in the information sent last week the new material deals with some states where anti prohibition sentiment is very apparent such as new york and illinois omission of some of the available data irom from the original consignment was said at the commission to have carried through an inadvertence 0 0 Q branding as a contemptible lie ile suggestions gest ions that he might be involved in lobbying for a low sugar rate during consideration sider atlon of the tariff bill senator davis of pennsylvania appeared before the senate lobby committee and urged exhaustive investigation of the insinuations the pennsylvanian Pennsyl made a blanket dental denial that he be had bad ever lobbied tor for or against a sugar tariff or that he be had ever received any money or of value for any such alleged services in demanding full and complete inquiry into the published charges which did not however mention him in any way but chich said bald that a senator had taken between and as a gift for or alleged lobbying senator davis made it t clear that he believed he was the senator against whom the false rumors were directed all AH need for an extra session ot of gress has passed the threats of in insurgents sur have dwindled down to nothing I 1 tor for congress has acted upon every urgent measure before it only a few bills demanding immediate attention 10 it remain to be c considered 0 n sl dered congress has ample P 1 ie t time ti holdim to dispose of them chances ot holding ng up appropriation bills to force the president to call an extra session are now 1 negligible the house cleared its calender calendar of the annual appropriation bills when it passed the second deficiency bill the senate passed final judgment on supply bills tor for the Post postoffice office war and i agriculture departments as well as on the district appropriation bill these measures have gone to pr president a aident hoover tor for signature only the navy avy appropriation ti bill and the second deficiency bill billj awalt await final action the last deficiency bill may be held up tor for a lew few days to include any last minute items that might I 1 be needed to finance the government for or the coming year after amending it in such a way as to leave its acceptance in the senate and its submission to the states f tor or ratification in dout the house passed a vote of to 93 the norris morris res resolution n changing the constitution so as to end lame duck sessions ot of cengr congress ass the resolution requires the new congress to meet in january following its election in november it was the first time any constitutional provision approximating the proposal ot of senator norris had ever received the necessary two thirds majority in the house the wording ot of the house amendment differed in many respects from that which passed the senate a year and a halt half ago but the principal change and i the one which was regarded as most likely to kill the bill in conference was one sponsored by speaker longa longworth orth to limit the duration of the second session of congress under the proposed new regime W 0 president hoover led the nation in celebrating the anniversary of george birthday by attending services in the church where the first president worshiped accompanied by mrs hoover and their granddaughter peggy ann the president journeyed to 1 alexandria virginia across the potomac from washington and sat in the pew in christs church which once was occupied by george washington in going to alexandria home town the chief executive viewed from his bis automobile a far flung landscape being changed rapidly to do honor to the first president I 1 ap 4 the embargo proposed on russian convict products in the kendall bill amending the tariff act was overshadowed at the senate finance committees hearing on the measure by indications that the lumber mining and oil industries would seek general embargoes on foreign products in competition with american petroleum coal and lumber and by a idest test ot of cigar manufacturers against placing any embargo on imports of sumatra I 1 tobacco cos these developments reduced the chances of speedy action on the bill by the senate and it was thought that adl vacates of other types of embargoes might insist on art barring products rot not r ot contemplated in the kendall measure ithe th bill would exclude after april 1st ast all products handled abroad by forced i or indentured labor and tightens the rf restrictions strict ions to include products handled in transit or cr loaded on vessels by such labor 4 congress I 1 in n a if funai nal r rush t ish to w wind I 1 nd up its business for adjournment march ath Is all set to over ride president hoovers veto of the bonus loan bill to sustain his expected veto ot of the muscle shoals compromise and to put through the nori ris constitutional amendment abolishing the lame duck sessions like the present one otherwise the last session of ct the seventy first congress Is as good as over rave cave for the finishing touches to the necessary appropriation bills and dalliance dallance i with a few lesser measures whose fate Is i precarious |