The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-04-12
WASHINGTON HAS
 STATUE PROBLEM Are There Too Many in the
 National Capital? REPARTE IN SENATE Many Prominent Members of House Will Retire Voluntarily at End of Present Terms-Pennsyl-
 yania's Road Building
 
By RALPH NJ. wHIrnsIDE

ington these days for Washington lives, moves and has it's being in politics. Still there are some things outside of politics in the nations capital which are worth while.
 The matter of statutes for distin- guished public men, for example, Is worth a little attention. To the casual observer. the Capital City would seem to be pretty well supplied with this particular style of ornamentation. Thers are iconoclasts indeed who go as far as to say the city would really be bet ter off from an artistic viewpoint if she could get rid of some of the effigies which now occupy her streets and squares
 However that may be- 1t is a fact that many famous or near famous Americans are still statueless, so lar as Washing ton is concerned, and Congress is con- stantly being urged to supply the detlci- ency
 The Senate committee on library has record of no less than eight requests for statues while the House commit tee doubtless has as many more. A bill appropriating s100,000 for a statue of Alexander Hamilton already has passed the Senate This was pet of Senator Lodge who is one of Hamilton's biogra- phers, and 1t was just slipping through the Senate one day when Sem ator Bacon of Georgia arose and pro- rosed as an amendment bill appropri- ating s100,0O0 more for like statue of | Thomas Jefferson. Lodge gave one of | his quizzical smiles and accepted the amendment, and the bill went through. | This may prove fortunate or fatal in the end as the House must In common decency either approve both memorial | projects or reject both.
 | The sum of s50.000 is wanted for a statue of Matthew Fontaine Maury, the American naval officer whose scientific work descriptive of the sea, is among ! the classics A memorial to the signers of the Declaration of Independence sis asked for, with an appropriation of $lO,- o00 for plans alone. The modest sum of $500 is suggested for a small statue of Capt Charles Wilkes, who Is chiefly celebrated in popular recollection for taking Mason and Slidell. the Confed- crate commissioners, rom the British mail steamship Trent Tn 1s6l
 Admirers of Maj Andrew s. Rowan, 1 United States army. who Is still living, have put In q bill appropriating s500O for some memorial of his famous eX- ! ploit in 1898, when he "carried the mes sage to Garcia" It Is sought also to memorialize with a monument. at an expense of sl00,00O Gen. Nathaniel Lyon. one of the most gallant of union commanders. who was killed at Wilso's 8 creek, Missouri, and bequeathed nearly all his property, about s3o,000, for d monument to Mai Robert Anderson, whom the country always will remem- ber as having been In command of Fort Sumter when thu opening gun of the great Civil war was fired upon 1t, April 12. 1861
 l Grave and reverend the Senate may be- but instances of repartee and the upper chamber Here Is an ex- ample:
 During the pension debate Senator Borah was comparing a case under consideration with the record to show that it was not more deserving than other cases where lower rate had ben given.
 "Now here is msn," said Senator Borah, ''who draws but $50, and he lost his jaw"
 1 Tt might not be a bad thing if some senators lost ,seir jaws" re- marked Senator Bradley of Kentucky, But, of course, senator, I do not mean you" added MT. Bradley, laughing. l "If the senator from Kentucky had lost his jaw he would probably not now l be in the Senate" remarked Mr. Borah ithoughtfully. Laughter).
 Probably no Congress Tn the last 30 years has seen so many members or the House retire from political life vol . untarily as will go out of their own volition at the end of the Sixty-second lcongress." remarked pr. Frank A. Mountca stle, lawyer of Atlanta, Ga, the other day. "The attractions of congressional life do not appeal 10 men as they once did. There will be legs than eight, and perhaps more, members of the present House who will not seek renomination. Representative Ben ICravens of Arkansas was the first 70 lannounce that he would not be candi.
 date again. His announcement was followed by that of Representa- tive Law
 renee of Massachusetts. Then came Representatives Brant1y of Georgia 1i.-
 teton of New York. Kent of California. iOlmsted of Pennsylvania. Martin of Col
 orado, Moore of Texas and lastly Pujo
 of Louisiana.
 "The striking part about the retire
 rnent of these men is that Congress can
 iii afford to lose them. All are able linen and a credit to the body in which
 they serve. Representative Brantley
 one of the most brilliant men in the
 House in many years. ~as served seven
 terms. MT. Lawrence Is serving his thirteenth year, and Is recognized IS one
 
 side, while MT. Olmsteo, regarded as one
 of the best parlian1entarians on ths
 noor has been fin the House for an equa
 length of time. The brilliant Repre- isentative I.ittleton has made his mark
 in his first term.
 Perhaps the high cost of living which makes IL hard .or members Ol to maintain their position ir
 Washington on their salary, is responsi- bic in a measure for this wholesale re- itirement, but it is more likely that theS are anxious to get back to the law
 which, after afi. is more attractive thar q seat in Congress"
 l "Pennsylvania has done more to pro. mote the cause of good roads than an, i commonwealth in the united States ] declares T.. M. Bigelow, director of tn. state bureau of public roads of Pcnr 1 sylvania Tn the next two years we 1 shall spend s5o.000,o 900 on the improve l ment of highways. a greater amount i than any state ever expended in the history of the republic. Besides tnta i s5o00o.o00 10 hc appr- priated by the state, tho townships and counties will expend an amount almost az large It ia useless for me to go into an argumen, i for good roads. They speak for them 1 selves. and am surprised and chagrined l that here at the very F.; cps of the na- tional capital. almost. there are found | the worst roads in America
 ] "Pennsylvenia is going to point the way towards an upward and onward movement for the cause of good i roads. IL Is the purpose of the state to make an appropriation that will en- courage the counties and townships tc 1 join in the general movement Eosidae