Omaha daily bee., 1919-03-16
EDGAR c. SNYDER.

@&A&A ~ 9&N 4 LINN
Washington, March ls.-(Spe-
cial. while the adjournment of
congress and the absence of the
president in France creates an ON
nous calm in Washington the ac-
tnal reduction in the number of peo-
pie in and about the capitals limits
IS but trifing.
Secretary Tumulty shepherds the
Shropshires on the White House
grounds, the only protection wool
or mutton has had under this adj
1hinistration. Meanwhile the world
ly employees of the capitol trundle
their trucks and carry their bur
dens down the echoing halls and
corridors of the great marble struc-
ture that syrnbolizes the govern
ment of more than a hundred mil
lions Of. people.
Only the sombre-g oWned judges
serving their life or good behavior
sentences are now functioning. Law
making and law-enforeing depart
ments are gone. t.a
The newspaper correspondents
representing their various daily
papers turned their faces to yester-
day to grasp in perpective the
mighty doings and stupendous
achievements Of the congress whose
life went out on March 4.
To give due estimate to this con-
gress will require volumes at the
hands of future historians. For a
brief article we can permit our car
wheels to touch only the high places
as we pass.
Voted On War.
On convening two years ago the
05th congress resolved the country
into the greatest war of all time and
entered the conflict on the largest
and most far-reaching scale of all
the nations involved. The congress
responded to all the requests of the
I executive department with such zeal
and harmony that now, after the
lapse of two years, one line of criti-
cism is become more intense di-
reeted against the congress for Civ
. ing with such ungrudging hand the
coin and authority which was de-
manded
II is thought by many that these
should have received more consider
alton, with the result of reducing
the expenditures, making extrava-
gance less possible and lessening the
departure from the constitutional
8 methods observed in other wars and
times of peace.
Known as ''War Congress-"
The 65th congress will be known
7 as the war congress" Following
the suggestion of the executive and
the action of the congress there
were these activities: First, the peo-
I pie throughout the country respond
ing with men and money. The peo-
pies response was almost perfect.
( The men called into action proved
4 their superior capacity, courage and
execution all the way from the
homes of the land, through the can
tonments, over the seas and in the
world-famous battles where Ameri-
can might broke the German army
line and destroyed its morale. The
articulation between the homes and
the battle front is the one factor on
which a critical public is fixing its
eyes and which will have to undergo
a storm of investigation at the hands
of the Goth congress.
A Nebraska man, Congressman
Jefferis of Omaha, who has been APP
pointed a member of the committee
on expenditures in the War depart
ment, will have opportunity for the
most effective public service of any
man in congress.
The congress failed to pass many
Of the large appropriation bills and
unless provision is made before July
the usual process of the govern
ment may not proceed. Appropria-
tons. are largely made only for the