The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-02-26

Washington. February lsfk-(Special.)- )-
 The Congress of the unitp States cele-
 brated the birthday of George Wash ington by the reading of his farewell ad-
 dress in both houses.
 In the Senate the address was read by
 Senator Kern of Indiana. The designa-
 ton of Mir Kern for this duty by Vice
 President sherman was pretty compli-
 ment to the man who opposed him for the
 second highest office in the land in the
 last presidential election. Senator Will
 Hams of Mississippi had been designated to read the message, but on the day and
 at the time Senator Williams was busy
 on other matters that prevented him from being present on the floor.
 The address was read in the House by
 Representative Frank Clark of Florida.
 There was a marked difference in the ceremony in the two branches of Con gress. In the Senate only few mem- bers were present on the floor, and they
 gave but little attention to the reading. Indeed, some of them engaged in writing and reading at their desks while the ad-
 dress was being read in perfunctory
 
 In the House this was quite different
 Practically every member that was in the city was at his desk and the reading was
 followed with close attention. There was frequent applause and marked demon
 stration of approval followed that part of the address in which George Washing tol discaimed all intention to accept a
 third term as President.
 The demonstration was spontaneous and came from both sides of the House. The only members who did not applaud were the republican insurgents.
 After all, the real hero of this news
 paper game is the telegraph operator. It is comparatively easy for the core spondent to get his story, prepare it with care, file it in the telegraph office and leave the rest to the operator and his | thin strand of wire running sometimes | thousands of miles over hill and moun- | tain over watery valleys, through wild | forests. through dark tunnels and all the other fearsome and difficult handicaps to the home office of the newspaper. l When there is no hitch. and there Is 1 not often a hitch. everything-is' gay and
 serene. But when there is hitch 1t is | hopeless. s.-
 Take, for instance, last Wednesday in l Washington. It was one of the busiest l days we have had in weeks.
 There were two hours of storm on the l floor of the House when Captain Hobson of Alabama arose to point of personal privilege and denounced two of his col- | leagues and called for an investigation of l circumstances and conditions of his hav- l ing been denounced as coward by his | colleagues. It was big story. There | were other big stories In fact. 1t was | one of the biggest days that the corre- ! spondents have had for some time. Those correspondents serving afternoon
 papers in the south and west were able
 to get off their short stories with little difficulty, but there were rumors of bad
 wires through the south. Some of the
 correspondents failed to get all their stuff through but hope was held out to the night men who serve morning papers. The morning paper men prepared their
 stories, good, long, juicy stories, and filed them early.
 l Then 1t was'the inning of the telegraph operators. A few of the early short stories got through with difficulty. but the operators did not worry the corre- i spcndents with their tales of woe They
 struggled on with the wires. trying first this route then the other.
 | The correspondents were allowed to go home and to bed. They could do no good, and-they were not apprised of the fact | that some of their stories could never be delivered that night
 l Wires were falling like big drops of hail al. over the south. Birmingham and all of Alabama binked out early Then At lanta fell, Tennessee was Giped off the