The National tribune., 1908-04-02

ment can give them pensions on most
any old claim Representative J. Sloat
i Fassett got a requests thao other day
which simply knocks the SOCKS off the
limit. This lady, constituent of his.
wrote that she wanted a pension be
cause her father had fought in some
war, but she could notsremenber which
one il was. She was pretty sure il was
in the War of 1912, the Mexican War
or the war of the rebellion, but there
was a tradition in the family that he
had fit for his flag in some war.
Mr.. Fassett wrote the, lady a polite
I note, saying that it would be necessary
for him to have some more definite in
formation concerning the soldier before
he could present the case to the Com
missioner of Pensions. In due time he
received the following reply:
My father the fair correspondent
wrote, was of medium hight, had black
hair and eyes. He could not close one
eye without closing the other. and didn't
know anything about music. 1 think
that this ought to be sufficient identifi-
!, cation for pension"
OF course. the Ways and Means Com
mittee of the House is the big" COM
mittee; but, really, you know, it never
has much to do except when a tariff
bill is under consideration, but it's Chair
man is supposed to be the House leader
of the majority side. The principal oc-
cupation of the present leader. the Hon.
Serano Payne, of New York, is to move
that the House do now adjourn" But
i the other day there was a little hear
ing" of some local import, and the com
mittee got its legs under the polished
mahogany of the committee room table,
and let on TO be doing business at the
old stand. Most of the committee mem
bers had been out at social function"
the night before, where it wasn't water
that flowed so freely, and the liquids
that did flow were not so blooming dry
as to be an antidote for insomnia and
So it happened that most of the mem
bers of the committee were just straight
sleepy. Soon there were well-defined
snores from several heads lowered upon
expansive shirt bosoms.
| Selling a big book, Representative
| Champ Clark, of Missouri, brought it
down on the table with loud bang.
Mr.. Chairman" he exclaimed, 81
move that this hearing be suspended
until the committee wakes up"
Chairman Payne raped for order,
and all the members of the committee
sat up and took notice, and remained
at strict attention during the balance
OF the hearing.
Representative Littlefield. of Maine.
has rendered his resignation to the
| Governor, and will retire from Con-
gress after this session. Representative
Littlefield is one of the brainiest men
| in Congress, and one of the most in
dependent and erratic so far as party
alignment was concerned. He never
could be trusted to do as the party d
rected, just for party expediency, but If
| he thought along different lines from
the party leaders he said so, and spoke
to that effect. Organized labor hated
him for his fearless attacks, and made
his reelection thing to fight for at
ell times. Judge Littlefield hated the
political fights, and as the Labor Union
of Maine had announced its dstermina-
| ton to fight his reelection, Judge
! Littlefeld decided to return to his law
practice, which he states is much more
valuable than salary as a member of
| Congress. --f. 44t.
Some woman writer, supposedly a
newspaper reporter, attended the Moth
ers' Congress in Washington, and then
went home and wrote some word" pic
lures of street conditions in Washington
after night, and the utterly unprotected
condition of woman on Washington
streets after night. The womans story
was made out of whole cloth, and a
tissue of mot Sos" unless she deliber-
ately went about seeking men to devour
her. Here is woman writer who
wants to assert right here and now that
in no city of the United States is wo-
man so protected from insult, so safe
from assault as on the streets of Wash
ington, day or night, and this statement
is made after 16 years newspaper work
in Washington and nearly 80 thruout
the United States. 1t is true that many
pocketbooks belonging to women are
stolen, and they ought to be. Any wo-
man who goes about at night with
swinging pocketbooks and ungloved
hands covered with near-gem rings sim
ply invites robbery. 1t is her own fault,
and she ought to be taught lesson
1t must be admitted that this does hap
pen altogether too frequently, not only
in Washington, but everywhere. The
fashion of wearing watches set with
diamonds, bracelets of barbaric splen-
dor on the outside of gloves or on bare
arms, and the ung1oved hands flashing
with rings is simply leading into
temptation" But mighty few Washing
ton women are ever accosted, spoken to
or at and 1t must be admitted that
there are a few thousand attractive wo-
men in the Nations Capital They can
go from one end of the District to the
other, thru the streets or on the cleo
trio cars, and never be molested I'll
strange women come to Washington and
act as tho they owned the town, or
think that because they are away from
home they can and do leave their man
ners behind them, then they may ex-
pect to be molested. No woman who |
knows how TO behave herself need ever
fear to come to Washington.
In the early days of his incumbency
of the Office Secretary Taft used to visit |
the Senate Chamber quite often. He |
has many friends there, and seemingly |
a good deal of business with Senators. |
Since the campaign for the Presidency
opened the Secretary of War very sell |
dom goes into the Senate Chamber He |
goes to the Capitol as frequently as
ever, but he arranges TO meet Senators
in their private committee rooms
Secretary Taft has announced that
Brig Gen. Charles 3. Hall. in charge
of the General Staff College at Leaven-
worth, Kan. will be promoted to the
grade of Major General on the retire
ment of Maj.-Gen. A. w. Greely, and |
that Col John b. Kerr, commanding
the 18th Cav. at Fort Oglethorpe. Ga,
will be appointed a Brigadier-G General /
vice Gen. Davis, promoted.
Gen. Hall is from Maine. and served
as Lieutenant in the 25th and 30th |
Me. during the civil war. He will re-
tire for age April 20.
The suggestion is made that Hoke |
Smith, whom the veterans have had
reason to remember, bankers for re-
election as Governor of Georgia, but
that he will have to fight for IL They