The Caledonian-record. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1920-current, 1921-08-20

, Ohio is the only other state to ex-
coed Nelmont's quota.
The House has been cleaning up
a number of odds and ends in the
way of minor bills that had been
on the calendar of the Military At
fairs Committee, and the debate
upon one Of the least of them all,
an act authorizing the Secretary of
War to exchange with foreign ma
IONS so desiring samples of arms
and equipment in use by the Army
Of the United States, had been
dragging along unfortunately with
q plethora of pros and cons that
when later reduced TO cold type
filled some ten pages of the Con
gressional Record. Congressman
Frank l.. Greene of Vermont, u
member Of. the Committee, was
Oh guard" as he usually is when
ever military matters are upper
most. Finally came his chance to
sum up the. situation with respect
TO .llis particular bit Of iegisla-
ton, and this is how he did it in
picturesque phIaseology.
~ am perfectly willing to admit
in, the privacy Of this room, or un-
der these circumstances, that this
bill is not very important bill.
There IS no question about that.
It was brought out here lnciden-
tally in the course Of the grist that
the Committee on Military Affairs
is cleaning up. No one had any
anticipation that it would provoke
anything like the amount OF APP
prehcnslon and alarm that seems TO
be all at once manifested by 50
many patriots here. wonder
really, as Il matter OF fact, wheth-
er we soothsayers can actually
! look each other in the face this
! afternoon without laughing. |
wonder whether we are not really
engaged on little bit of skylark-
inr business that masks itself UNI
| der the more cumbersome, pomp-
Gus, and ponderous terms of par
liamentary law and usage, but
which is really a little bit of schol-
boy fun.
Il cannot think that men whose
heads are high enough TO be seen
! above the multitude in a district
so that they have been elected to
come to this supreme council OF
! the Nation have any particular I'M
| easiness or alarm about some ms
| torical relics of a war being tucked
| away in a museum case somewhere
on the face of this earth, and |
not believe they do. That is eX-
actly the purpose of this bill, the
avowcd and distinct purpose of the
bill, and nobody with any kind OF
a microscope can read any other
purpose into its language. 1t Is
| intended exactly as the gentleman
/ from New York has suggested, to
permit the Secretary of War to
Join with representatives of other
i nations in similar capacity in the
exchange of historical relics of this
last World War and of the existing
| military establishments of the sew
| eral countries, so that the mus
Gums of the various countries can
he supplied while yet there is time
in order that their cases may con-
tain for all the generations to
come evidences of some of the cur.
ious things used in the long ago.
The school children and the adults
will 90 there and look at the ex-
hibits just exactly as you and go
down to the National Museum now
and gaze with good deal of curl
ositv and sometimes with wOnder
on some of the relics left from the
Revolutionary War. The matter
is perfectly simple one. :.
ar Il few folks see all kinds OF
mysterious things in it, ii fey
smell all kinds Of Negroes in all
kinds of woodpiles. why, 20 ahead.
There are lot of men who spend
four weeks before u fight shadow
boxing, and then get licked in the
fight. II you want tn indulge IN
shadow boxing, go TO it. There IS
nothing to hit, though you might
throw your arm out,
"This Congress is a national ms
titution and, in spite Of tie modes
ty which we politicians inherently
possess, we know we are being
looked at by the people, and when
they see that such q trivial thing
as this, which is only one OF the
conventonalities Of extending