Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1922-12-01
Looking In on Congress From
the House Gallery
ABOUT THE MEMBERS
Bv CONGRESSMAN GUY U. HARDY
gv CONGRESSMAN GUY U. HARDY
copyright, 1922, Western Newspaper Union.
ABOUT THE MEMBERS

serving his tenth term, and for IA voou
he was a unique member of the hons
in that, during all of that time ~
never let n of his speeches appear ~
the Congressional Record. Since o.
Stunning leadership and speaking fo-
the party he let's his speeches 90 IN
The gentleman by his side is FInIs :
Garrett of Tennessee, who acts as ne.
sistant minority leader. Mr.. Carrot,
Is in his ninth term. He is n kaor
cutter, and can roast the Republicans
and their measures in q more polished
clever and entertaining way than am
other member on his side of the honQs
Only Lady Representative.
Yes, the lady on the floor is a mem.
Der. That is Miss Alice NJ. Robertson
of Oklahoma, the only lady member
and the second woman to be elected
to congress. She was born in Okla.
homa 66 years ago. Her father was a
missionary to the Cherokees. Miss
Alice has been teacher, a postmaster
of a first-class Office at Muskogee, and
In ecent years has conducted very
/. successfully the largest cafeteria in
Oklahoma. She is not what some are
pleased to term themselves, a new
woman She is q little old-fashioned
in a way, for she stands by her con.
victions and is not easily Influenced
by organizations outside of her state.
She was never a ~suffragist, and 1t may
seem an irony of fate that the only
woman in congress did not favor votes
for ONE Miss Alice is a popular
member. She accepts things as they
are, asks no favors on account of her
sex and has more good horse sense
and is less afraid to stand by her con-
victions than are most of her fellow
members.
That old boy up In the press gallery
is General Sherwood of Ohio. He was
a member Of the Sixty-sixth congress,
but was retired by the landslide. Gen.
eral Sherwood was elected to congress
as a Republican in 1872, the year Un-
Gle Joe Cannon first came in. Then
he came back In the Sixtieth congress
as a Democrat and served ID years.
The general Is eighty-seven years Of
age. When retired from congress he
took up newspaper work, his former
profession. When asked the other day
If he would run again, he said: mo,
! can't afford 1t. / have got to work
now and lay up something for old age
But late newspaper reports indicate
that he may have changed his mind.
Not the Place for oratory.
Who are the orators of the housef
Well, that is hard to say. You hear
many speeches in the house, but little
oratory. / know several gentlemen
who are noted orators in their home
states whom / have never heard make
a speech in the house. Those VINO
have been used to swaying the multi
tude with their oratory don't get very
far with 1t In the house and soon De-
come disappointed in their audience.
I must say the house is not a very
attentive listener. The members ger
fed up on speeches. They don't care
for ~eloquence. What they want are
facts. Order is not very good. Mem
bers come in and go out; they talk
and read; they listen If something OF
interest is being said, but they are mol
sitting there for entertainment ana
fowery speeches do not draw large au-
diences here.
A speaker Is often interrupted py
questions. Any member may rise al
any time and ask If the gentleman VIII
yield for a question. The gentleman
usually does yield, and he often ges
his set speech badly punctured anu
comes out with a fiat tire. Many mem-
bers read their speeches. president
Wilson and President Harding, when
appearing before congress, have d.
ways read their speeches, and Secre
tary Hughes read his great speech d.
the opening Of the limitation OF arms
conference, so 1t is not necessary .
sign Of lack of ability for a maj "
read a speech, as 1t is often done "
guarantee accuracy. However, VIC
have plenty Of orators for all occa-
sions and can furnish the COUNT!
with a good supply for the campaign.
Do the men in congress today ram
up to those Of the congresses OF years
ago2 Well, yes; I think 80. IL yOu
name your ideals of other days you.
list covers a hundred years. You ae
endeavoring to compare this one cOp
gress with fifty others. OF course'
do not care to back this congress
against the whole of American hlstorH
The congress is not made up OF @
perts or highbrows or bosses or supe.
men. We have no breed of ruling men
In this country. 1t is made up u
pretty good average of the citizensilp
it represents-men who meet tnea
folks back home on common groun'
and do not tower too high above tne"'