Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1918-08-06
WASHINGTON GOSSIP-By Theodore Tiller
WASHINGTON, D

WASHINGTON, D. CAS- vacat0 01i.s
,Ceorgia,s senior senator has had bad luck Wlth
the recess of congress almost hall over senator
IHoke Smith has begun to recuperate from zen
Idavs illness which kept him confined to home ana
bed and disarranged all his plans Tor the vacation
period Probably ninety per cent OF the memOeI-
ship of the senate and house lelt Sn;
the recess-but such fortune for the georgia
senator. .. II. h,s;
clans was brought on partly by oVerWork inns
;nsti6as story about the wartime duties OF a
member of congress and Senator Smith In partlcu-
lar In wartime, acting as one OF two senators
for a great state is not the possibly easy 1oo II
used to be Such representation calls for constant
application to duty and saps reserve strength.
Although he already member OF I'VE I'M
portant senate committees, Senator Smith was re-
Gently added to the committee military anairs
On that committee within the past two months ne
has done some of the hardest and most enective
work of his career. He came in when the war de-
nartment was under fire, when its was not known
we had million soldiers in France and that, oe-
spite earlier delays, production was at last COM
ing into it's own.
Going on the committee when the aircraft
wrangle was at it's height, Senator Smith acted as
peacemaker in at least one committee controve[sy
when If was proposed to launch further assaults
upon the war department and give wide puohcley
to some of the earlier mistakes of that organlza-
ton. few conferences between the SENATE I'm
mittee and the council had convinced senator
Smith that things on the mend and America
was about to- get both feet into the war.
Subsequent developments pave 1ustlneo TINS
view and shown the wisdom of helpful cooperation
rather than destructive criticism OF the aomlnstIa
ton In smoothing out differences between the
administration and the senate, the Georgia senator
is deserving of commendatlon
Recently as chairman of the committee on ed
ucation and labor, Senator Smith conducted ex-
tensive hearings and steered through the sendIe
a hill promptly signed by the president for the vo-
cational training of soldiers and sailors inValded
by service at the front. This humanitarian war
measure, on larger scale and in d1nerent neld
adds to the vocational training work authorized by
the Smith-Hughes bill before we entered the war
"a bill for federal aid to the states IN vocational
training.
with thousands of Georgia boys in the service,
Senator. Smith has endeavored to handle person
ally the interests of mothers and tathers VINO nave
requested something of Washington. This work,
which is hard on any senator congressman,
ranges from applications for commission 10 IN
uuiries as to the fate of some boz in France.
The war has brought many changes IN the
normal business conditions to prevent these
changes working injury to Georgia and the, south
eastern section of the country. Not long ago, LOT
instance it was necessary for Senator smith 10
meet reports that labor conditions In the south
were so unsatisfactory that further army con
struction might be stopped there Other senator's
from the south have had to be on the alert against
possible discrimination.
AS to Georgia, not only there indications
that her war camps and activities will not be cur
tailed but the state may land an additional camp.
The short line railroad problem, for time
threatening ruin to the smaller carriers, has kept
Senator Smith internationally busy for weeks. II
now appears in the of satisfactory ADJUST
ment.
The original order issued by the railroad ad-
ministration increasing freight rates in Georgia
and southeastern territory would have Increased
Georgia rates, inside the state more than 20 per
cent and would have led to an increase on 1relgnt
water and freight rail haul of nearly hundred
per cent.
Senator Smiths familiarity with rate problems
enabled him to show the railroad administration
the inequity of these rates, which would have
severely crippled industry in Georgia, and TO bring
about modification that the uniform increase
would be about 25 per cent and not the very ex-
dered
Another effective bit of work performed by
Senator Hoke Smith his presentation or the
argument that the lower grades of cotton should
not be barred in government contracts At first
these contracts permitted the of no cotton be-
low the middling grade, although the lower grades
were of equal tensile strength. These spec1hca-
tions also being accepted by foreign coun-
tries which rejecting grades below standard
middling.
Taking this matter up with the department OF
agriculture and council of national defense,
Senator Smith eventually received a letter from
the latter organization saying the specifications
would be changed, and-theEe would -he-no further