The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1920-06-01
LESSON ON
CONGRESSMAN
Smith D. Fry Calls His Infant Ciass
in Politics to Order Again While
Praising Mr.. Ken
nedy.
TBy Smith d. Fry.l

! position as chairman of the commit
i tee of rivers and harbors, OF the
! house Of representatives, and seems
to be really glad that, his last term
! of service is drawing to close; for
| as you must know, this climate az
fleets the health of our congressman
every time he comes to the national
| capital. ..s
1t is unfortunate for the first con
gressional district that Representa-
| tive Kennedy's health has been so
Affected that he has concluded to
| retire from the congress. his re-
! tirement is loss not only TO our
congressional district and to the en-
| tire state Of Iowa, but his colleagues
in the congress regard his retire,
! ment as a national loss. You must
understand, (and pitifully few people
do understand) that practical exper'
fence in the congress increases the
value of representative far be-
yond the possibility of computation
in dollars and cents.
BY way Of illustration, every con
gresham has salary of $1,000 a
wear. and every new congressman is
worth that much to his district mere
ly 10 lOOk dItei LiSi iAAAA AN
wants. But, as a new congressman
is worth a salary OF $500 year, a
man of the experience of fourteen
years, at the conclusion OF which
CONTINUOUS service he attains an i'm"
portant craftsmanship of standing
committee, is worth fifty thousand
dollars year to the congress aud to
the country Just as veteran law
yers charge, and receive, extra large
professional fees, SO the experienced
member of congress ought to have
larger salary, because his exper-
fenced services are worth greatly IN
creased compensation.
Now, because we are obliged to
nominate and elect a new congress
man, the infant class in politics WILL
come to order. 1nasmuch as we
shall only have a few minutes on
this lesson, we must have attention
So. Jimyi and Jennie will cut off that
billing and cooling; and those gray
and bald old boys on the back seats
will keep quiet. OF course they know
it all; but please don't interrupt
these young folks who believe that
thew know: it all Here is the first
question in the catechisn: How
many counties are there in our con-
gressional,s DISTRICT and what are
their, names? 2-c+1 -, 70 rlt,o T't
Whate Don't know? Well, here is
the answer Paste it in your nat
for future reference. There are
seven counties in this district. They
are Des Moines, Henry, Jefferson.
Lee. Louisa, Van Buren, and Wash
ington counties The population is
more than 10000. The entire state
of Nevada has less than half of that
population. To nominate and elect
the congressman from such an i'm
portant congressional district is
task as well as a duty for every c1tl'
zen. Have you given 1t the consld-
ration that the subject deserves?
May be it will be helpful to have
the counsel Of one who has been
student Of congressional Affairs for
almost half Of a century, right at the
capitol, in close touch with senators,
representatives vice presidents,
speakers of the house, and, as the
praver-book says: "All others in au-
thority.' 1t ought to be OF some
value to you, particularly when it
comes from one who does not per
soually know. the. candidates, and is
interested only. in giving =, Informal
tion out of the. pages Of the book of
actual experience.
No man under forty years OF age
should ever be sent to the national
house of representatives, chiefly FOR
the reason that he has not yet
learned sthe lessons which can only
be learned in the, great volume or
wisdom, the book OF experience.
Few men under fifty years of age
know enough. Of the rights OF man,
their fellow man, to make progress
in the. great house Of representa-
tives; body composed of leaders OF
men. leaders in their own communl-
ties and commemorative. The man
under forty years of age, II. sent to
the great halls Of national legisla-
ton, usually takes his place as
freshman at college. If he under
takes to be a leader among tried
leaders, he gets ''hazed and IN
such a big, magnificent, intellectual
fashion that he never RECEIVERS from
the humiliation.
During the more than forty years
of experience Of the writer OF these
lines it, has been constantly apparent
that the men of the north and the
men of the south who forged to the
front were the veterans Of the civil
war. Military. experience was their
training ground; and there is no
better school of training than the
army for men who must deal with
their fellow men in the higher walks
of intelligence the ~ places where
legislation is conceived and skillfu!ly
brought to fruition.
The house Of representatives is
the fighting ground of genius. There
are the trained gladiators Of exper-
fence. The world is battle ground.
In this country the house is the
place where the old guard wins the
final bloody angle Of the engage
ment. More, than forty and under
fifty years of age is the ripening
period of power in the man who can
best represent the plain people in
the halls of legislation. Competent
lawyers make the best lawmakers
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