The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1918-02-16
CONGRESS SHAKES
WITH FEAR Of
SPEECHES. DAYS
Bv DAVID LAWRENCE.
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the members are rather disciples Of
st. John Chrysostom, who remarked
that he who wounds with the tongue
makes a deeper wound than he who
wounds with the teeth.
Treated As Luxuries.
But speech-making is after ell a
luxury. Senators and Representa-
dives treat it as such. They tolerate
each others effusions in a spirit Of
benevolence inherited from genera
Sion after generation OF national
Fsviors. TIose who are guilty OF FILL
'sng up the Congressional Record with
their owB modest chronicles OF sub
limated thought would doubtless be
among the first to admit that it could
be dispense with-that is, II the other
fellow, meaning the man who is get
ting ready to run in opposition at
the next primaries or election day il
similarly prohibited from using the
printing presses Of his native city TO
annoy a peaceful constituency with
arguments for the amelioratiOn of an
chastisement of a profligate member
who voted to spend $500 more for
q postoffice building in distant Cali
Eornia when the brick was many tinlNs
decayed on the postal headquart'- s
OF his own home town.
Many remarkable reforms have
been instituted since the war began.
Some have been introduced with an
unconscious, or rather innocent, atti-
Eude that would seem to characterize
Americas present-day leaders as sim
Eularly subtle. Non-essential indus
tries they eliminate not by the direct
process of listing the manufacture OF
pins, for instance. as hardly q war
industry. while the fabrication of
needles is a munition Of the fret or
der. but they reach trades useless to
war by indirection. So may II pos
ably come to pass that the shortage
In print paper. which has been grad
uAlly affecting even our bulky Sun
day journals of yesterday, may con-
Ceivably cut down the size OF the
Congressional Record. or. perchance.
cause to be created for that ancient
gazette an editor who might COM
bine the functions OF condenser or
elaborator as the shipments of our
modern parchment decrease or in
crease, respectively.
Official Bulletin IL Praised.
Up at the executive end OF Penn
Bylvania avenue is issued in sprightIy
fonts of midnight type the Official
Bulletin condensed, vest pocket
edition OF the diurnaI works OF Pres
Ident Wilson and his Cabinet Long
has there been need on Capitol Hill
of something similarly suited to
handy reference, even though upon
occasion the expansion must needs
be 10 the dignity OF Overcoat pocket
Eize.
Specifies days by themselves may
mean nothing to the average milk
bnsn in Omaha or the banker in lower
broadway, both of whom are Amer
jean citizens, but the era OF economy
which might thereby be introduced.
economy in q product expended so
freely and with so little regard here
Aofore to the Postoffice Departments
budget or the Government Printing
offices ink and paper bill. might lead
20 the further hope that when the
fsys OF peace return. extravaganza
will have become like the war a mat
fer of HISTORIAN example OF things
rs they should not be. Whoever is
responsible for the shortage OF white
paper at the Government Printing
Office. whether he or the company
concerned has a sense OF hUmor or
bot, must be numbered among the he
foic many who have striven hard in
she past to save the world from de-
tnocracy's superfiuous utterances.