Evening star., 1920-02-27

AZ n rule, members OF Congress. be-
Ing practical politicians" are not re-
firing unassertive and dodgers OF no
| toriety or publicity but occasionally
you find such one. On til" ground
floor Of the Capitol, under the very
dome, tucked away in corner Is a
door with a sign on it which merely
| SAYS Private Office, and very lew OF
! the 435 members know where that otilcr
! Is. even the colleagues from the same
state Tho member who occupies this
office has been in Congress during six
sessions. twelve years. and tells me that
he has never made speech in tn"
House. never taken advantage OF the
privilege OF extending rema rks in the
! Hccord' has never sent any franka-
/ BILE matter into his district unless in re-
ply to a direct request for it, stu more
remarkable. he says he never asked
man to vote for him Yet those who
are intimately acquainted with the way
he stands back home say that he
| could have been mayor of one of the
| largest cities in the country II he had
said the word This man is Representa-
| tive James McAndreWs. democrat. OF
| Chicago. whose autobiography in the
| Congressional DIRECTORY is one OF the
| briefest in the volume.
| Prefers Garden to Court.
| Representative James L. Mann. form
crly republican House leader, isn't at
! all abashed by the accusation that he
has been spending much. il not most. of
! his time in his garden Representative
Thomas l.. Rlanton. democrat, of Texas
| thought to embarrass tho veteran Chi
,caEo legislator by saying in the course
OF debate; The gentleman from llli-
| nos. who is the best posted man. I
guess. in the United States on most all
of the subjects that come up here in
| Congress. admits that he has not been
| around courthouseS for years. Some of
. US have been around the courthouses a
ll:ttle more frequently and recently than
| he has been. POSSIBLY when he has been
otherwise busy studying the various
plant growthS In his garden-''
| With a chuckle Representative Mann
Iinterjected-"and / | would much rather
be in the garden than in court
Active at Library.
! The Congressional Library is doing
much more active and varied work thar
any other rational library. even IL In
point of size Of its collections, II Ia
/ second to the National Library Of
! France in Paris and the British Museum
/ in London, which is the national library
, nf England These French and English
/
! reither does any Of the service that in
/ the case OF the Congressional I-ihrary
i is a distinctive national service In either
heneflting other libraries by the system
Of Catalogue and classification and SO
| on. nor are they maintaining such q
So rvico az the Congressional Library IA
connection with the legislative reference
service I" Congress, nor In maintaining
Il copyright office.
Yet under It's great Ellded dome the
| & n ihy,r
| lie use ard references and for poaterity
nearly Two million itsnls. including a7ln,
/ 600 printed books and pamphlets. 1856 600
maps. 400. 900 etchlngr. ~ngrnvinEs. pho
! togranhs. etc: $50. 900 pieces Of music
and hundreds OF thousands OF manu-
scripts.
DIR. Prtnnm Intensely Human.
! 1'r. Herbert Putnam. the iihrur.an-
! custodian of this great institution Ia
! Intensely human. as was shown In his
! testinony before tho Hous" apDro-
! prts:ions committee when chairman
/ Wood brought out til, fact that New
! York. H-ooklyn. Newark, y. J.: Cieve-
, land. Chicago and st. I.nt..s WIRE all
paving their municipal librarians a
much larger salary thar Congress
PAYS It's world-famous librarian.
| Il have felt difiident." he exclaimed.
about permitting any question to
| b" raised about my salary for two
| reasons: One Is that l know OF So
! many men in the government service,
| holding enormously responsible posi-
i tionS and doing superb work in them
who are receiving no more than I. The
other is. l am pretty closely in con-
tact with over 400 people in my work
| who are having a very hard struggle
to got along. l feel rather shame
| faced when ! see a man with a family
OF three or four struggling on a sal
avy OF 81 900 wear
"As long as that condition exists
feel tina should hesitate In coming
before this committee and taking up
| the question OF having my sa'ar;
raised" In appreciation OF more than
twenty years OF urbuldiny ser.icr
! the committee voted him an increase
| in SALARY
Maps Costly to 1. :.
Uncle Sam has felt the higher COS
! Of living in many ways. one Of the
annual Items of expense Haa beer
/ $co.0O0 to the general land Office for
, printing 10000 large wall maps Of