Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1916-03-31

/ Win interest IN LuS CITY VI WASH
| ington, and presumably so in the
rest of the country where the worth
| of the directory as a human document
is understood. 1t is good reading for
it not only is instructive, but frequent
| ly amusing. Between its covers one
finds combination of what might be
! called human interest recitals
Now the last edition of the congress
sional directory containing the biog
raphies of the members, their com
mittee assignments. their time service
records. together with information
about the president of the United
States and the various departments Of
government, with its delicate blue COW
er and enameled white imprint is. If
one may indulge in a bromide, de-
light to the eye.
Some Are Really Modest.
Biographies OF members of congress
which appear in the congressional di'
rectory are prepared by themselves
or at least this is true in most in
stances Therefore the biographies
really are autobiographies 1t is pos
sible to Judge of mans tempera-
ment, and of good many other things
| concerning him by a perusal of the
| biography which he has prepared for
| the benefit of his fellow members and
for such others of the l00,0O0,O0O
American citizens who can lay hands
and eyes on the volume.
| Co,-,o ~ oonuwoee oro
modest Take Senator Harry Lane OF
Oregon for instance Asked for his
| biography in order that the world
might have something concerning him
| in print in an official record he wrote
| this:
Harry Lane, Democrat. Term ex-
pires March 3. 1879
This is all that one learns of the
| junior senator of Oregon from the
congressional directory.
Some of the members of congress
apparently do not care TO tell their
ages. Many of them it is supposed
omit all mention of the date of birth
because they do not want people to
know that they are getting old. but
| here and there through the directory
| you not only find aged ones putting
down in fair, plain hand the fact
that they were born long ago, but you
| occasionally find such a plain writing
one as Edwin S. Johnson. Junior sena
| tor from South Dakota, who is willing
to tell the world that he was born "a
long time ago"
Representative w. W. Griest of the
Ninth Pennsylvania district runs Sen
ator Lane of Oregon, a close race for
biographical brevity. Here is what
appears in the Congressional Directory
concerning the life and services of the
Pennsylvania:
"W. w. Griest, Republican; elected
to the Sixty-frst and subsequent con-
crosses"
! Members of congress who write their
| biographies at considerable length for
| the directory differ materially in the
| choice of subject matter Some of
them leave the reader in doubt as to
whether they are bachelors or married
men, whether they have children or
are childless. and whether or not they
have any warnings, aspirations, recre-
ations, or aims in life outside of those
which are encompassed within the
| lines of legislative endeavor
Some of the members of congress
probably would take offense if one
should put in print even without com
ment, some of the things which they
have written about themselves. The
| biographies in the congressional di-
rectory are sign posts pointing direct
| ly to the characters or at any rate the
temperaments of the men who have
written them.
New Bridge to Be Memorial.
Congress has committed itself to a
plan for memorial bridge to span the
Potomac from a point near the Lin
coin monument which is now building,
to point on the Virginia shore just
below the Arlington National GENE
] terry. Plans and specifications for the
great structure already have been pre-
| pared and it is believed that soon the
1lrst appropriation will be nrade to
start the work of construction
1t is proposed that an appropriation
for the bridge should be put into the
urgent deficiency bill which has just
passed congress, but the members of
house and senate seemed to be
against the proposition, and it prob.
ably will find a place in some other
appropriation bill in the near flu
| ture.
There is a good deal of sentiment
connected with this plan for a bridge
of commanding size and beauty across
the Potomac at this point. To put it
into a few words the sentiment back
of the thought is that the bridge would
be an exemplification of the reunion
of sympathies between the North
and the South for in a marked way