The Washington herald., 1918-02-13
Sly Shots at the Solons.
BY THE OBSERVER.

They have finally ruled that no
knitting bags shall be taken into
the Senate galleries. What relief!
Hundreds OF women for several
weeks past have been driven to des-
peration by the attitude OF Senate
doorkeepers in dilly-dallying with this
important subject
There are six vacant seats in the
lower House at this moment And
one Socialist comes very nearly hold
ing the balance of power. There
are 2il Democrats and 212 Republi-
cans-and with the two progressives
voting with the Republicans and the
two independents and the Prohibition
ist with the Democrats, the score
il 2I5 to Z5. The only vote left
is that OF Congressman London, the
Socialist.
Don't forget to look in the news
column for the report of the St Louis
meeting of the Republican National
Committee. The doings there take
high rank I'm political affairs just
now. Americanism dominated-and
then came partisanship. No conflict
between them. either.
The chairman of the House Agri-
cultural Committee is from a State
which ranks about twentieth in the
line Of agricultural productions, and
eight OF his fellow members are from
States which are as low or lower than
that. Some Of the most important
agricultural States have only minor
ity representation.
Back home, when the campaigns are
in, some of the members mako a plea
for votes on the ground that they
were in the upper or lower House
halls during every moment Of de-
bate, or that they didn't miss roll
call. Important, Of course, but not
conclusive as to their fitness. We are
bound to say.
Have you ever heard OF "a hair
in the butter?" Have you ever
thought that long hair in legislation
has sometimes been to the detriment
of the people? Think Of some of
our statesmen who persist in wearing
their hair down their hacks! What
has been the general trend Of their
proposals?
The revelations with respect to the
Hog Island shipyard continue TO make
US alert Somebody evidently had a
hand in distributing funds there who
never had been in a competitive race
to drive liberty bonds to high
mark Let this be a lesson to them
and to all other spenders Of our pub
lie funds.
The utter impossibility of the Pres
ident correcting the abuses in a num-
Der of different departments at the
same time is seen from the fact that
while he is concentrating on the
War Department, the Shipping Board.
or that part which had charge of
the Hog Island enterprise. needs a
thorough overhauling, and cannot re-
ceive attention for some time to
come, in all probability. The most
efficient fire chief in the world could
h't attend to a dozen different fires
at once. But eleven other fire chiefs
deemed by the principal fire chief
to be fitted for the work, could very
fort and treatment of the problems in
There is every indication that Joe
Folk is getting ready to obtain the
measurement Of one William Stone
for the Missouri Senatorship. The
famed shoes may not be as sticky
in the future as they have been in
the past-if they are. Joe Folk will
be sadly disappointed.
The Postofflce Department bids fair
TO become a storm center before long.
The people of the country have stood
more than they would in peace times,
but even the spur of war cannot pre-
vent them much longer from show
ing their Indignation at some of P.
NJ. G. Burleson's tactics.