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Show Busy Washington Knows No Rest Even in Summer By BAUKIIAGE Veufj Analyst and Commentator. VVNU Service, 1610 Eye Street, N.W., Washington, D. C. WASHINGTON. As soon as Labor La-bor Day is passed the business f t " ' r r 1 l world settles down with a sigh of relief. The summer slump is supposed to be over. Most people, peo-ple, I suppose, consider that Washington In the summer Is even more dormant dor-mant and deserted desert-ed than the ordinary ordi-nary city. If you believe the accompanying ac-companying cartoon car-toon by Herblock which the Wash- No, Washington doesn't hibernate in the summer. Herblock's conception concep-tion of Ceneral Jackson, chin on chest, hunched up against his horse, like a lazy pup, is pure poetic license. li-cense. Herblock probably chose that particular par-ticular figure for contrast because it is one of the most belligerent statues in Washington. Jackson sits there in Lafayette park, across from the White House, (as he does in New Orleans) waving his saber, his rearing rear-ing charger with its front feet pawing paw-ing the atmosphere. And I imagine that if "Old Hickory" were here in this hectic period, his old flesh, blood, powder and brimstone self, he would have charged right up to the state department steps when he heard of American planes being shot down in Europe. The United States has gone a long way toward world leadership since the year 1781 when a little, 14-year-old boy named Andy Jackson, along with his brother "continentals" was fighting the armies of the greatest nation of the day Great Britain. Andy's two brothers were killed and he was captured but he lived to turn the tables when he led his Raukhage ington Post permits me to reproduce, repro-duce, you will be sure we sleep. ' But don't let Herb spoof you. True, It did seem that way for awhile but actually this summer it was pretty much "business as usual" In the Capitol, the house and senate office buildings, the offices of-fices of the White House and the state department and other execu- illjIllJli ?'i i'Thv-SI TO tive branches of the government, to say nothing of Washington's marts of trade, limited in comparison to other cities though they may be. Government isn't all congress, and the President and Washington aren't all government. A year or two ago, William Kip-linger, Kip-linger, gathering material for his book, "Washington Is Like That," ' stood in front of the Willard hotel at Pennsylvania ave. and 14th street and asked 20 people going by who l they were and what they did. Of the , 20, only five worked for the government govern-ment and none had jobs which were interrupted (except by vacations) in the summer any more than in any other season. I have no idea how many members mem-bers of congress or members of their staffs go down to the Capitol to work every day in the summer months but many offices on the "hill" are open. The regular departments are as busy as they ever are. The very week that the cartoon came out showing "Congress gone home," a sign on the White House door, "Back Labor Day," and another on the state department, "Gone to Paris," Par-is," the state department was making mak-ing public two of the most important impor-tant communications it has dispatched dis-patched in many a day. One was the ultimatum to Yugoslavia protesting pro-testing the shooting down of our planes and the other was the refusal re-fusal to accede to Russia's demand for joint control of the Dardanelles. At the same time, the investigation investiga-tion of the war surplus sales was going on; the other investigation into war contracts had just closed and the department of justice was taking up the work where the Mead committee had laid it down, and the decontrol board of the OPA was holding hearings in preparation for its first and highly important decision de-cision which put controls back on meats and other products. These were only a few of the activities ac-tivities not to mention the bubbling campaign kettles assiduously attended at-tended by political chiefs behind closed kitchen doors. "long-rifle" heroes to victory in the battle of New Orleans, 31 years later. "Old Hickory" must be a little confused as he gazes across to the White House, beyond it to the Potomac Po-tomac and the Pentagon and beyond be-yond that and the Atlantic to Europe Eu-rope today. As I pass Lafayette park in the twilight these days I seem to hear him rattling his sword and saying: "When these United States were in their swaddling clothes we refused re-fused to let the greatest nation of. the earth interfere with our sailors on the high seas. Who is this impertinent im-pertinent upstart who shoots our soldiers out of the air?" Let us hope, even if Andy sleeps, . that his spirit doesn't Profits or Wages Which Come First? Recently I received a postcard saying: "Thought OPA was supposed sup-posed to reduce prices, not increase them." It was signed "Dumbbell." Well, a lot of us dumbbells thought that was what it was for. But when congress tore OPA to bits and then reshaped it nearer to its heart's desire, it laid down specific orders for raising prices. The. law was written on the logical theory that you can't expect a farmer to raise, or a manufacturer to make, thipgs that cost so much in the raising rais-ing or the making that there is no profit in the game. Who is to blame for high prices? The manufacturers who made so much out of government contracts, or the workers . who got higher wages for making the things the government needed? If you know which came first, the hen or the egg. you know the answers. A new rival of DDT has been discovered dis-covered which not only kills pests but keeps them away for a week or 10 days. Of course, I wouldn't commit com-mit murder but I know a lot of pests whose absence for 10 days would be a Godsend. |