The Connecticut labor press., 1920-05-15
CONGRESS PLANS
 JOYOUS JUNKET AT PUBLIC EXPENSE
200 Members and Families Going to Orient on Trans
 port.
MAY MEET TYPHOON
Many Will When They Get
 Back to Constituents This Fall.


 country's business, which they have neglected to play politics since the armistice closed the great war nearly 200 members of Congress and their families are going to solve the high cost of a summer vacation at govern ment expense Arrangements are be- ing completed for the most luxurious legislative iunket ever enjoyed by members of the Senate and House. The only fly in the ointment is the fear that a storm of disapprova1 may be voiced by their constituents and the subsidized press.
 No doubt many of the national legis- lators have conceived this junket as their last chance to get anything out of Congress, because they see defeat general election.
 Political Washington is all excited in anticipation of the event. Women of the Congressional set are busy with their dressmakers creating suitable >suninrery gowns for the excursion, and those of the male gender are planning to make sure that Congress. will ad- journ in order that the junket may be pulled off on schedule time.
 This proposed Congressional trip to the Orient will be a bipartisan affair. Eighty-fve democrats and 65 republi- cans of the House have thus far regis tered their intention of taking the trip by making reservations for accommo- dations on the United States transport Mount Vernon, which will sail from San Francisco on July 5, within day or two after adjournment of the na- tional Democratic convention which convenes in San Francisco June 28. That is given as the reason why more democrats than republicans have elect ed themselves to be oriental junketeers.
 IN WET TERRITORY"
 Most of the lawmakers expect to take their families with them and 1t is estimated the total number of gov ernrnental joy-sailers will exceed 700. The first stop IS to be at Honolulu, where IS minutes will be officially de- voted to inspecting the wonderful for tifcations of Pearl Harbor and then a \ week of pleasure listening to the sooth- ing strains of the ul<u1ele and enoying the gyrations of the native hula-hula dancers. --. .z-
 The next stop will be at Guam, a United States naval coaling station, and then the party will proceed to the Phil ippines, which is still "wet territory" 
 the United States Constitution. The stay on these tropical islands may ex- tend over two weeks or more, depend ing largely upon the physical resiliency of those members of Congress who vote one way and drink another.
 From the Philippines the joyous party will proceed to Tokio, Japan, where plenty of sake is to be found. Thence to Hong Kong in China and Seoul in Korea and possibly into Vladivostok, where congressman expect to get hrst hand information on sovietism and vodka
 HAVE STATUTORY RIGHTS"
 Secretary of War Baker says this junket is possible because a member of Congress has a statutory right to travel on an army transport, and the Mount Vernon is in that class. He further states that the number of members of a congressn1an's family that may ac- company him is limited only to the number the congressman deems neces- sary to assist him III his work on the Journey.
 The Mount Vernon was formerly German liner and is big ship, requir- ing a crew of 600 men to operate, and its cost to the government during the LllP VIII DC DClWNCtA apOy0NO dii0 pAOSOOO a day. The ship has sbeen used for some time in returning American sol diers from Siberia, but as all of them have been brought back the war de- partment had contemplated bringing the vessel through the Panama Canal and placing it in the Atlantic serv1ce, where it would be a source of revenue to the government.
 CUTTING DOWN H. C. L.
 Members of Congress, however, feel confident of their ability to "coerce" the war department into keeping it in Pacific waters until the date scheduled for the oriental joy trip. transport, other than members of the House and Senate, who will pay noth- ing, will be SIPS day, which, of course, includes room and bath, three meals a day with music and cabaret novelties provided by the guests and crew. This is about one-tenth of what it would cost to spend vacation this summer in the regular way at the sea- coast or in the mountains, and IS at least 400 per cent. under the high cost of living in Washington.
 Envious constituents back home may find solace in the thought that typhoons are of frequent occurrence during the heated season i'll the Japan and China seas The political typhoon is sched- uled for the first Tuesday in November |
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