The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1921-06-30

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II is also curious that 10 members
of the present house, which was
elected last November and met for
the first time when the extra session
of congress began on April Il, are too
coy to tell their ages. A computation
based upon the birth dates given by
the remaining 1926 discloses that the
average age of the house members is
49.4 years
None comes nearer than six years
to the constitutional minimum re-
quirement of 25 years Representa-
tive Vincent NJ Brennan of Detroit,
Mich, is 81 years old, having been
born on April %. 1890. Representa-
tive Thomas J. Ryan of New York
city is also 81. These are the two
youngest members Mr. Ryan does
not give the day of his birth, but
merely mentions the year, 1890 It is
rumored however that Mr. Ryan is
several weeks the younger.
The constitution naturally does not
place any maximum limit on the age
of house members Uncle Joe" Can
non. who was a friend of Abraham
Lincoln, who was twice speaker Of
the house. and who has the longest
record of service in that body, far
outdistances every other sitting mem
Der in age He is in his seth year.
Two members are so years old, two
are 49, and then their ages gradually
fall until the largest number-27- is
found at the age Of 81 years.
There is one each of the following:
A clergyman, rancher flour miller,
lumber dealer, railroad locomotive
engineer, proprietor of forwarding
and trucking business, labor organ
izer. iron moulder restaurant propri-
etor and manager of public utilities
Their Own Biographers.
There is a great diversity in the
character and literary style of the BIZ
oeraphies printed in the congression-
al directory. They are in every in
stance really autobiographies, al
though some members would have
you believe that they got somebody
else usually their secretaries, to pre-
pare them It is a safe bet, however,
that none is printed without being
carefully revised by the member. Not
q few are laudatory accounts, sew
aral hundred words long, of the pre-
yious career of the subject. but many
are confined to brief statements of
The date of birth-unless the member
wants TO keep that a secret-and the
congress in which he has served.
Tn the last congress the shortest
, f~,~ he fcTT
John w. Rainey Chicago"
Tn the new directory, just off the
press, Mr. Rainey gives evidence of
still further modesty His biography
reads:
John w. Rainey."
The next shortest in the new di-
is this:
James P. Buchanan, democrat
Benham Tex"
Uncle Joe" Cannon, who can boast
IF the longest record in public life.
both in and out of congress, of any
house member, has one of the short
est biographies It contains about
100 words
Miss Robertson's Age and Platform.
Miss Alice Mary Robertson, new
'epublican member from Muskogee,
Okla, shames the 10 men who do not
disclose their ages by announcing in
D very short biography that she was
born on January 2. 1854. She IS the
only member who prints the platform
IN which she was elected. Here it is
in full 81 am Christian; I am an
american: I am a republican"
Representative Manuel HerricS, of
Perry. Okla, uses the directory to
advertise the products of his farm.
He remarks that he is a farmer and
,attle raiser, Specializing on Her
ricx's Giant Yellow Corn and Copper
'aced Hereford Cattle"