Norwich bulletin., 1922-12-12
WASHINGTON AFFAIRS
(speciaI to The Bulletin. )

pItshed. In fact, 1t Is an open Ques- l tion in the minds of many senators and | representatives whether such a sweep l ing measure as is proposed by Chair l man Langley of the house committee on 1 public buildings is wise at this time. | Langley is strongly in favor of bill that will make the government own every federal building in use for post offices or similar purposes, and under the terms of his proposed bill every city or town in the country in need Of new post office building or an addition to It's present building would get one, even though the initial cost to the taxpayers would be not less than one hundred mil lion dollars. In other words, Lang ley takes very seriously and without thought of a moments delay. the plea Of Postmaster General Work and that Of First Assistant Postmaster Gtbleral
 Bartlett of New Hampshtre, that the government should own its 1ederal or flee buildings, and not lease them from private organizations or individuals. MT. Langley stoutly advocates no delay in carrying out these opinions of high of- flcials, and would make the question one of immediate action not one Of theory. If Langley has his way the house will pass such a measure at this session, by an omnibus bill covering the entire coun- try.
 Speaker GtIIett is not ready to express an opinion at this moment, but 1t IS | understood to believe the house will not
 pass such a sweeping measure at this session, carrying as it does, tremen-
 dous expenditure of public money at the
 time the country is trying to reduce its tax burden. In fact, unless Langley swings a big influence in his committee
 1t is an open question if the bill isn't
 left to die there and fail to get re-
 port. AS this is the last session of the 67th congress all bills not acted on be-
 fore tho 4th of March at 12 noon. die automatically, and must be reintroduced
 at the next congress. Senator Fernald in discussing the matter today said to your correspondent: T am not ready to l express an official opinion now. In & 1 general way I endorse the idea of the lgoyernment owning It's buildings instead of leasing them. But I should first want Co get the opinion of President Harding as to the Advisability of such move } Ht this time. and I should also want to know how it impressed the secretary oi tho treasury to pass s1oo,oo0. 1000 measure that is not absolutely neces- sary. We are now trying to reduce the expenses of the government and reduce the burden of our tax payers. l should want to know more about the effect oi } such a bill before I made any state ment regarding 1t. It is matter oi expedisncy in my mind, but 1t is pol icy of such importance that 1t cannot be
 determined by snap judgment, and
 want to investigate 1t before forming an opinion. Sooner or later believe il can be done, and when that time comes } if am in office, shall try to see thai | New England gets it's full quota of nee 3 essary buildings"
 3 The chief chaplain of the army, Col . Axton, has recently made a repor } which gives some interesting facts alont the line of church attendance by sol . diers and the religious status of men fl camps and posts as compared will church attendance of civilians. The re
 port states, among other things, tha there are 636 chaplains in the army
 that they are divided into men iron |, all scots from, Roman Catholic, al ? Protestant denominations, Jewish an' ' less well known religious organizations The Salvation Army has chapl2ins o s its own. The Roman Catholic churcl . has the largest representations, with if | chaplains next comes the MethodiSti
 with 12s, then the Baptists, s4 and tn
 Protestant Episcopal with 76.. The oth
 CT denominations run from 70 down to a Col. Axton refers with enthusiasm t 3 the church going habits of soldiers a s camps and posts. He said in part: 9Th s total voluntary attendance indicates tha f every man in the army attends churc . voluntarily 12 times each year. The al tendance of men at posts and camp greatly exceeds that of the country g .- large" In enumerating the attendanc l. for the past year Col. Axton states tn
 Catholics attending services totaled 2SS I- $50; while the total Protestant attend v ance was 9S9,326 for he same period. l. The only ripple of excitement in th a New England delegation this week wa .e when the car driven by Hon. Schuyle h ] Merritt, member of congress from th 4th congressional district, was run int
 by another car, badly smashed by tt
 collision and pinning MT. Merritt an F. Representative Treadway of Massachl l" setts underneath. Neither man was hu n but not until passers by tore open tt v top of the Merritt sedan and pulled u ,e men out, could they be rescued. M , Merritt in commenting on the acc 2. dent later said one bright spot was u le fact that when the crash came, Treat 'e way was underneath, for Treadway aeI more than six feet tall and his weigl or corresponds to his height. Glad tol wasn't the under dog" remarked M
 Merritt with 8 smile. MT. Merritt , car was pretty badly smashed, and u
 other car kept on its waywArd cours " till it struck lamp post, wrecking u n" post and further damaging the car, b lt its two women occupants escaped wit esi out injury in spite of the collision. Congressman Rogers of MassAehuset
 is still trying to find out why 1t Is tn
 Canada Is getting thousands of tons
 anthracite coal from the United Stat while our own people are suffering n- lack of coal and paying such high pri n- es. MT. Rogers has asked an embar
 be placed Oh such exportation and
 now looking into the price Canada pc CT lple are paying for such coal. He is n re willing to make definite statement t ls This investigations are finished but sa
 today he has reason to believe they a
 paying far less than are the Americ lN people, even though the coal is export "- from here.
 CsngresmAn TIIson viii give . sm
 dinner Tuesday night in honor of s.
 Iretary of War John W. Weeks. T ut guests will be men of prominence ht 'ut who are especially interested in ct he tain methods of war emergency pI
 paredness, and unquestionably the af
 dinner talk will turn to that topic. ,re Tilson believes, as does the secfets ,e- lot war, that the United States shc' ha take the lesson of the past to heart a
 thSNSA A6esh OS oAARaSPSAS " " Ae@ As
 arms and munitions and other imp
 Iments and needs of war emergen Ige Much of the legislation to come beft to congress in the near future will toy of on appropriations for army and ma ,us and Col Tilson is greatly interested
 see the adequate preparedness plans
 through, and to know first hand, the
 titude and opinions of Secretary Wee -S in whose ability and judgment he
 great confidence. One of Col. Tilsu est strongest plans has been for a standA m. ization of all implements and inst
 ments used in the manufacture of '