New Britain herald., 1916-04-27
'TOM' REILLY BACK
 TO SEE OLD FRIENDS
Meriden Man Visits Scenes Of Former TriumphS in Washington
Especial to the Herald.)


 Washington, April 27.-Former Representative Thomas l.. Reilly of Meriden has been here for a day or two and shook hands with old friends, including Representative Kitchin of North Carolina, democratic leader of the house. MT. Reilly is understood to have told friends that he fully ex- poets to defeat Representative Tilson for reelection this year.
 According to some members of the democratic national committee Fred B. Lynch of Minnesota is more likely to succeed Chairman W. F. McCombs of the committee when he retires inn mediately following the democratic national convention at St. Louis in June, than is Homer S. Cummings of Connecticut, present vice chairman of the committee. However, the seIec- ton is not regarded as settled. The choice will rest with President Wilson with whom MT. Cummings is quite friendly.
 Oakey's Petition. , Representative Oakley presents to house petitions for prohibition meas ures "by request" which under the practice and custom here means in eff fects that he is not responsible for them.
 His latest petition presented to con- gress by request comes from Dr. J. F. Barton of Hartford and is in favor of enacting into law the Gillett bill pro- s hibiting rum exports to Africa. The bill was referred to the committee on alcoholic liquor traffic, of which the late N. D. Sperry of New Haven was chairman for a number of years.
 TiISOn On Public Roads
 Representative Tilson asked some questions during the debate on the public roads provisions of the agricul- tural appropriation bill which brought out information about the eXperi- mental work on highway construction conducted by the public roads office of the department of agriculture. His questions and the answers of Repre- sentative Lever of South Carolina. chairman of the agricultural commit tee and in charge of the agricultural bill, were as follows:
 Mr. Tilson. I wish to ask a ques- ton in regard to the building of sam . pie roads, as distinguished from the dissemination of engineering iuforma- ton. The gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Mann) has spoken of the roads in the vicinity of Washington, and inc gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Lever) has referred to road down in Arkansas as being built under the pervision of this departm ] wish to ask the gentleman how extensively phas work of this kind been carried on, realizing the factthat the climatic and soil conditions are different in diff ferent parts of the country, and that the same kind of materials that is used in Arizona for example, might not be the best material in Connecti- cut or in Pennsylvania, and vice versa.
 MT. Lever. The gentleman must have misunderstood my statement, or I did not make it entirely clear. The roads actually built by the Office of Public Roads in the Department of Agriculture are those roads near at hand, to which the gentleman from Illinois (Mr Mann )has referred; one out here by the District line, at Rock ,vil1e, Md, and one at Bradley Lane, Md; and then they have one under way in Alexandria County Va. These roads that have been built in this Ii- cinity have been constructed for the purpose of testing out various and sundry kinds of materials that are recommended for road building.
 Mir Tilson. But you can only test them out under the climatic ana other conditions that prevail in the vicinity of Washington.
 MT. Lever. Let me go a little fur ther. These roads are really the field laboratory of the Office of Public Roads and they have been concentrat-