The Washington herald., 1914-02-02

e 49, - w.
~ FRED c. KELLY.
- Militasy A6airs IN ths Heuss = Rsp'
rssntsttvO are 1t least tvo usn. whe
Tor TIE ME Of them. cannot Get thslz
ears accustomsd to the sound Of largs
sans Of money.
ne two referred 70 are Nessrs. ''Wild
III" Gordon, Of Ohio, and Psrcy =.
ouin. Of Mississippi.
There may Be others on me COMMITTEES
VINO are awed by the nonchalant man
ner IN which men make mention Of many
mhhons' but none are % deeply or bois-
terouay Effected as Gordon and ouin.
When they hear talk Of three Or four
million dollars these two have 10 pause
tnsn and there for breath before they can
80 any farther. Scarcely Q meeting of
tne Military Affairs COMMITTEES takes
place without either ouin or Gordon. or
ootn. throwing . hgurative At right In
the midst Of the proceedings.
IL 70 possible that In time Quin and
Gordon will get used to big figures. and
Do able to say them with the utmost
tamiharty. A great many members de-
IN iAct Congressman 10 apt to become
% cahoused and blase about money
large sums in the same ofYhand way
that ir v mentioned by automobile sales
men.
Just the other day / was talking TO
memper about big government
project as we sat frugaily eating our
MONDAY rations In q popular-nriced
stand-up-and- help-your-ownseif lunch
room. i asked him what the proposed
undertaking would cost.
L.
gesture of . man who hates to mention
tribes. 1T wouldn't cost much Of any
thing. I don't know the exact figures,
but I don't think 1t would run more
than three million or three million and
= half At the outside.''
It's just Q matter Of habit. This
man makes q 50 hat last him at least
year and q half and thinks . haircut
under once a month IL extravagant
but he has been on a committee where
millions are referred to a. lightly az
car fare. A couple of million dollars
more or less Ii no more TO him than Q
mere idiom OF the language
But to get back to ouin and Gordon
They were brought up on farms and
can still remember when a millionaire
would be pointed out to them with just
ros. The idea of sitting down at .
table In q committee meeting and
spending q million or 30 just by a nod
Of the head seems to them like tread
ing on sacred ground.
Gradually they have grown more or
less used to appropriations that deal
only in Thousands. but when somebody
speaks of millions Quin or Gordon
nearly turn a startled handspring.
A short time ago the committee was
discussing the matter of appropriating
a little item of a few million dollars
for some new-fangled kind of pistols
for the army.
don, all that money just for pistols
Goodness gracious sakes alive. where's
SO much money coming from
A moment or two later the item OF
targets came up. There was a demand
for $4,000 or some such sum for
other targets.
Representative Quin Immediately
went almost into Mysteries
All that money" he cried in an i'm
FASHIONED voice. Just for something to
shoot at? Why, gentlemen. down
where I come from when We want to
shoot at a target We go out back of
the barn and shoot at a stump or an
old hat or the end of a bucket. And
we have some of the best marksmen
you'll find anywhere. Whoever heard
of paying MONEY for targets. Huh"
Gordo, wbus d.,reca,inp tn. expendi-
ture Of N many million, a. he hears
them talking about. gets lot Of pleas
ure out of his committee work. He finds
IL a good sporting proposition in much
the .ame vay that a woman enjoys bar
rain hunting, Gordon's game Is to fuss
and mound the table and see how much
he can save on every item Of the appro-
priations.
n the army wants two millions for
rifles Gordon insists that they ought
% -, Ill ,h. ,;a.. thew mead for may