CAPITAL NOTES

Creaking Cabinet

The formal Cabinet meeting may be on the way out as an important Washington institution. President Kennedy has long believed that Government has become too big and complex for a board-of-directors kind of approach, and nothing about his first full-dress meetings with his Cabinet changed his mind. "Why should we waste the time of all those men to discuss problems that affect only a few of them?" asks a key Kennedy adviser. Kennedy likes to work best at small luncheon get-togethers, probably will downgrade Cabinet meetings to briefing, orientation, ana purely political skull sessions.

"K" for Kaution

The word has been passed at the State Department that henceforth it would be well to discard the term "Mr. K." for Khrushchev, since there now happen to be two Mr. K.s in the forefront of world affairs.

The Word for It

New staff glossary at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue: the White House--"Endsville," the President's Oval Office--"The Cage," John Fitzgerald Kennedy--"The Tiger."

Humurrowesque

Deep-toned ex-TV Pundit Edward R. Murrow, the new boss of USIA, has already begun to make his presence felt. Staffers departing for the evening now somberly bid each other a Humurrowesque "Good night--and good luck."

Off to Oslo?

Chiefs of NATO nations have received invitations to meet President Kennedy at the next NATO Council meeting to be held in Oslo this May. Such a first trip abroad as President would be the most practical way for him to greet all allied leaders at once and in an offhand way--without the panoply and expectations of a formal "Western summit." Before he goes he will have made his first major foray into personal diplomacy on U.S. soil, welcoming British Prime Minister Harold MacMillan on a "working" visit to Washington, beginning April 2.

Stamp Plan

Minnesota's Senator Hubert Humphrey, watching the President's TV news conference, sat up when Kennedy announced four of five projected pilot food-stamp programs for needy families in distressed areas. The food-stamp plan, after all, was Humphrey's baby; he had pushed it through Congress in 1959, though Ezra Taft Benson had let it languish. But Humphrey's pleasure faded when Kennedy failed to name Minnesota as one of the food-stamp areas. The President mentioned only Pennsylvania, Kentucky, West Virginia and Illinois. Humphrey quickly got on the phone, found that Detroit would be area No. 5, and set up a big howl. Never mind, he said, that the Administration had named only five trouble spots; his bill had authorized six--and where was Minnesota? Answer: Minnesota became area No. 6.

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