CAPITAL NOTES

Needed: More for the Corps

Peace Corps recruiters are worried because only 8,000 volunteers have applied so far for President Kennedy's Peace Corps. They had hoped to receive some 15,000 applications by the end of May, when entrance examinations will be held in 330 U.S. cities. Then, after a rigorous screening, they would be able to enlist 1,000 corpsmen--just enough for a first-year pilot program. Now, faced with the prospect of obtaining far less than 1,000 acceptable corpsmen, Peace Corps officials may lower entrance requirements, cut back or stretch out programs planned for work-fertile areas.

Stemming the Flow

As one measure to stem the outflow of U.S. gold, President Kennedy banned the future sale of all non-U.S.-made goods in overseas military exchanges, including Scotch whisky. On Formosa, preparing for the visit of Vice President Lyndon Johnson, U.S. brass were vexed to find that they could not supply the standard L.B.J. ration of Cutty Sark. They flew some in from the nearest source--Hong Kong.

Vacation Plans

President Kennedy's target date for a month-long summer vacation is Aug. 1. The summer White House will be at Hyannisport, but the President will work at nearby Otis Air Force Base.

Going with the Grain

After Agriculture Committee Chairman Harold Cooley helped push the Administration's feed-grain bill through the

House recently, he vowed that he would not "mess with" the benefits that would be offered to his own North Carolina farm. But then he received a postcard from the Agriculture Department, saying that he was qualified for a Government check of $2,201.06. He changed his mind, signed up in the program.

Jack Btfsplk

While disappointments and problems were zooming around him recently, President John Kennedy told a White House liaison man: "I'm damned if I don't feel like that cartoon character in Li'l Abner who's always wandering around with a rain cloud over his head."

If You Try ...

Defeated for re-election in 1960, Oregon's former Democratic Representative Charles O. Porter stayed on in Washington, has knocked on almost every door in Washington in his search for a job in the New Frontier. Last week he finally landed one: a consultant's post in the Food for Peace program.

Rally Round the Flag

A pet congressional practice is to send constituents flags that have actually flown over the U.S. Capitol. With the flags provided at cost (ranging from $2.91 to $6.25), the service has become so popular that last year a fulltime flag raiser, employed by the Capitol architect's office at an annual salary of $4,400 did his duty 16,013 times, or an average of 61 times a day. Last week Capitol Architect J. George Stewart asked Congress to authorize one more flag raiser at the same salary.

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