The Washington herald., 1920-02-08
Folks and Things
Around Washington
Labert St. Clair.

This department beams all over at
being able to announce the signing
Of the. Hon. Obadiah Dubb, formerly
Representative from the Indiana
sassafras belt. as a staff contributor
for the current political year. Mr..
Dubb is widely yersed In the ins and
outs OF politics, having gone In ano
out of Congress on all tickets At pres
ent he is neutral and as such will
report his findings in prying around
Washington. He win keep one ear on
the ground and one eye on the ball in
Washington during the pre-conventicn
days, and IL his sassafras root crop
reaches his expectations by half, he
will attend the national conventions
and from them give his readers the
oenefit Of much inside stun
Now that Hiram Johnson is the
first Presidential candidate to ac-
tually take the stump, perhaps
these personal facts may be Of in
teresf: He lifes kids, dogs, fo,y-
ers. baseball and speakers Of few
words. He dislikes long winded
local committeeman. clammy hand
shakers. street cars and walks over
fifty feet. When he ran for Vic.
President on the Progressive tick
ct. he lost some ten pounds In
weight from his frame and got
bunions weighing almost that much
on his right hand through greet
Ing local committeeman.
Claude Kitchin, former Democratic
floor leader Of the House. tells Of a
sure-shot plan for winning elections
which was worked one time down in
North Carolina. Votes that were de-
sired were dropped into one box, and
1t was kept Votes that II was thought
the prevailing party would have no
particular use :or were dropped into
another box and then, at the close OF
the day, this box was dropped into
river. The prevailing party won
by a handsome majority, showing
clearly that the people had confidence
in its works.
The genial face of Ollie James, for
mer Senator from Kentucky and per-
manent chairman of the last Demo-
cratic convention, who died while in
Congress, will be greatly missed in
political circles this year. James, a
thorough-going Democrat, was popu-
lar with men of all parties, and the
stories they tell about him are many.
Joe Tumulty, who was one Of James
closest friends. was talking the other
day OF how James once engaged In a
political discussion with him, and ex-
pressed wish to be a. Republican
for. just few months.
II was at the time of the Claf.in
failure in New York. back in the early
days of the first Wilson adminisra-
tion, and James was bemoaning the
incident and wondering how It would
effect his Senatorial candidacy in 1918.
I'll tell you. joe" he said.
These Republicans will declare
that this failure Is due entirely to
the rule of the Democratic party.
And they may get away with it,
too"
"Oh. Ollie" Tumulty replied, "I
wouldn't worry about that. Clafiin
himself has said that he failed be-
cause he had more business than he
could handle. The condition that
affected him is worldwide"
rs that sol" James shouted. I'D
like to be a Republican for a few
minutes and meet you on the stump
on that topic. Do you know what
I'd say?"
N"No. Ollie" Tumuity answered.
what would you say?"
I'D say" responded James, "tha,
the election of the Democratic party
not only had ruined the business of
this country but that 1t had caused
worldwide ruin. That's what ia
say"
Representative Phil Campbell, of
Kansas. who Is said to rese mble
Bobby Burns, and who wears
stocks, nut brown suits and such,
has fine sense Of humor, regard
less.
One day Campbell was saunterins
down the street when, he was ap-
preached by two bootblacks who
shouted ."shinep loudly at him.
Pretending to be deaf and dumb,
he made numerous signs with his
hands and face. One of the boot.
blacks responded in kind, and the
other said:
Il guess he can't either talk or
kear. eh?' :.
Nav" replied the other. continu.
ing 10 make signs.
WELL went ON the second boot
black "I'Il saw he amt No hi odxn,,,a