Norwich bulletin., 1920-04-27
WASHINGTON AFFAIRS

said one or the active WorKerS III con gress today. The most we can do is to see that the ship don't go to pieces on the rocks. We must steer it the best we can till the storm of unrest which is sweeping the world subsidies"
 Congress has accomplished much con- structive work in the eleven months it has been in session under republican con trol, in spite of partisan statements to the contrary It convened the 18th of May, 1919, and with the. exception of a few days off at Thanksgiving and
 Christmas time, it has pounded away at it's big task of reconstruction, with out days let-up. It has tackled and | adjusted some of the biggest problems that has confronted the nation in half a | century Some. one said today that the | railroad bill alone. would have been re- garded as sufficient accomplishment | for any one congress, viewed from any | standard other than that of the stu | pendous war time legislation which im- | mediately preceded it.
 Turning back the railroads of the | country from government control to pri- 1 Vate ownership was the most difficult job of ''unscrambling which had to be fac ed by congress- The president stated that they should go back on a certain date, but offered no suggestions of how it could be done without jeopardizing the interests of the roads themselves and | the industrial conditions of the country | as well. In the midst of it all comes strikes of appalling magnitude, making | labor conditions one of the most inn | portant phases of the pending legisla- tion.
 More than 2O00 railroads in the coun- | try had to be considered in the plans l Roads that run all the way from highly | successful to two streaks of rusty iron across the country, must be provided for, 1 all in one bill Without adequate trans | portation the country would starve and
 go unclothed. Except the labor ques- l tion could be dealt with, strikes elimin- 1 ated and roads put on a secure running | basis the industries of the country would quickly go to smash. Raw material | finished products, food fuel and all the
 necessaries of lfe must be transported
 from one point to another, the interests of labors. and the public, the railroads I and the producer had to be protected and it was a big job with which the inter state commerce committees of congress
 found themselves face to face, and only q few months in which to accomplish it.
 But they did it, and the situation was saved. It seems to be pretty well un- derstood that had the president ap- pointed the railroad board at the time ] he was authorized by congress to do so,
 the last strike would have been averted : For that board was one of the features of the railroad bill.
 P Not only has the railroad bill been passed-regarded by many as the great
 est piece of constructive legislation
 drawn for many years-but one or the
 other branches of congress has already
 passed the budget bill, called by many
 the greatest stride towards economy ot
 government and reform in twenty years
 It has also returned to private owner . ship the telephone and telegraph lines t which the government controlled during : the war; it has passed the land bill l. thus settling trouble which has existed
 since the days of the Ballinser-Pin controversy; it has amended the war
 l risk insurance act, and made better pro t visions for wounded soldiers througl r the vocational training acts = beside l. passing many of the great appropria r. tion bills and having the army and oth n CT important bills well along toward V completion. >The republicans feel tha- a they have already made a record whic N prior to war time standards, would hay Il set the country aglow with enthusiasr
 over the constructive work they hay re accomplished. During the war, with n l. partisan opposition to any measure, m standard was fixed that peace times an "a economy would not warrant IS a stead ,t gait l. Congressman John Q. Tilson, or til = Third Connecticut district, who was u
 recognized ordnance expert of the mil e- tary committee during the war, tn H. week made this startling statement C ;i- the floor of the house: "WIIle the Uni as ed States spent seven billion dollars f. if ordnance material and air plane SUI i,, plies that had not materialized when u - war closed, we fought the war vii lpIO l,oJ ell ordnance purchased from Great Brita h. and France. When the war came on ty us in 1917 it was the popular belief tn ,le not many men would be required of U of but that our great and important pa
 of the joint .ask would be to furni
 munitions, which we were supposed ;d provide without stint. Exactly the I be verse happened. American men we as most needed. We sent men in surprisil on numbers, and strangest of all they h to to fight with foreign made rnunition, m Then Col Tilson proceeded to prove l
 statements with official records and fac
 TiIson spoke of the Springfield rife 'ie the "best in the world'' and praised t i've work done by the munition factories zen the United States, he laid the blame lat not being able to furnish munitions go proper quantity to the utter lack of pl zen paredness in which the country found nd self at the beginning of the war He ga
 an interesting exhibit of the vario
 kinds of munitions used in the war a
 referred to the important part played
 pistols and revolvers as a part of S i, dier equipment. He urged preparedn, ray et.ndine arr,1, lr,,n1E7;er +tat ;n +,,s s'ii
 ture, as in the past our wars must / fought by citizen soldiers. For tn ills sakes there should be elementary m ral tary training. We of this day sho,
 not drift back into the fools paridise
 which the war found us, on the grou ,n,t there will be no more wars"
 nan In ten minute speech in the ho, Congressman Tilson also eulogized '' great work done by the 26th Divis ., and especially by ~the 102nd Infant lol- from Connecticut. The occasion was ces anniversary of the 26th holding a sec all at Seicheprey, which was the first DC
 erful German attack directed agair
 a sector held entirely by Amerit uss troops. Col Tilson said in part:N '@ me- z6th Division, by marching, by motor di- Dy railroad was moved to the north
 Toul and on April 18th, with hardly
 day of rest and without a single day ,n1v real training by division, began to t ~ over a sector of its own, relieving ieie First Division which was sent to anot ac- region. The 102nd Infantry held
 right of this sector. The 12th rifle e
 pany of the 1e2nd had an average t is only 1S6 men per company instead of the men they were allowed under organi ade tion The 102nd had about 35 rifles
 100 yards of front, instead of the
 American, the 50 French or the ,o,,+ British rifles which is customary to al - to 100 yards of so-called quiet fro co c 7o11 101 fN ,1ofa