Evening star., 1923-02-04
Capital Sidelights
NJ WILL P. KENNEDY.


human endeavor, from teaching school
to building railroads. from manufac-
turing pins and bicycles and cheese
to raising goats and blowing glass.
Their sound advice often IL Of prac-
tical value in legislation. To give an
example: When Representative Thorn
as L. Blanton thought to amaze the
House by pointing out that the res
taurant in the House end Of the
Capitol is costing the government
$4,000 a year, promptly uprose Rep
resentative Allen T. Treadway of
Massachusetts, whose whole life has
been spent in the hotel business, and
MISS Alice Robertson of Oklahoma,
VINO was elected while conducting a
restaurant. They gave expert opin-
ION that such a restaurant. serving
practically one meal a day. with un-
certain business. but which must be
prepared to meet any immediate de-
mand Tor service, cannot hope to
break even
Representative Treadway explain ID
that I'VE are not beneficiaries. We
are charged the going price for SINH
! lar food elsewhere. The trouble is
you cannot carry on a business of
this kind with one meal a day. No
experienced caterer would take the
chances, for he could not break even
at commercial prices. The ques-
tion is simply this: Is the time Of the
membership Of the House worth any
thing? II it is. you ought to have a
restaurant in the building where
members can go and get decent meals.
! The present method Of conducting
the restaurant (under the committee
on accounts) is the most satisfactory,
ana In the long run the most eco
| nomical for the government" said
Representative Treadway. Under the
old system OF letting out the privi-
| lege, he recalled, the food had not
| been good, and he called his col
| leagues to witness that since Chair
man Ireland of the committee on ac-
! counts had taken over "the un-
pleasant routine of keeping careful
watch. we have had a good restau-
And that expert testimony thor
| oughly satisfied his colleagues. The
House will continue to run the res
taurant for its members with decent
! food at going prices.
Renewing his youth about the Cap
itol these days is Gen. Isaac Sher-
| wood of Toledo, Ohio. who. when he
! makes his second come back to Con-
|
| four years old and the veteran of the
House, both by virtue of his age and
| by having served in the Forty-t third
| Congress when he and Uncle joe
Cannon were baby members together
Gen. Sherwood's career in the House
has has been chronometer on the
came here first. in 1873. the horse
| was still the principal means of con-
! veyance. and for years Gen. Sher-
| wood drove one OF the finest spans
OF horses. in this country. After he
came back again, in 1907, the horse
| was giving way to the automobile
| and he had to abandon his pleasures
| as a gentleman driver because there
were no more boarding stables, but
garages instead. When he comes
| planes flying across the continent and
i ocean. When he first came TO Con-
! gress Alexander Graham Bell had
| not yet invented the telephone. When
he comes back this year his first
/ speech in the House will be broad
cast by radio-telephone to all parts
OF the country-and in that speech
he Will memorialize the horse.
! The most complete and valuable
! collection extant of the publications
Of the United States governmen,
since its beginning. in 1889. is found
in the library OF the superintendent
| OF documents, at the government
printing office. Here are 100000 pub
| licattons issued up to 1909 and the
number has increased to more than
| 100000 since that date, showing that
in the last thirteen years Uncle Sam
\ issued twice as many documents as
he did during the first 121 years.
Public Printer Carter has recon.
| mended to Congress that by adoption
of modern methods of salesmanshiI
a loss in waste documents that woult
bankrupt any commercial concerr
could be turned into big profit II
| fact, he says, the sale of its publica
tions could make government print
ing almost self-sustaining If handled
as a successful advertiser promote.
his trade. For example, lawyer.
throughout the country would b.
| glad to know that the Official report!
OF the Supreme Court of the United
phlets and in the permanent bount
! volumes, can be bought from the SUI
perintendent OF documents at con
siderably lower price than has beef
charged heretofore by the privat,
An indication Of the keen interes
that the public takes in up-to- da t
government publications is shown b,
the subscription list for the Radi,
Service Bulletin, which jumped from
Another best seller" last year wa
the United States Official Postal Guide
of which $4,000 copies were sold, O.
1000 moro than had been previousl,
bought of any one edition issued by
private publisher who handled tn
guide for many years.
u Il
A moving picture producing com
pany of international reputation
which has in mind to create a literar,
revival by depicting Dickens tales ol
the "silver screen" has been 'hot'
after Representative Philip p Camp
bell of Kansas. who looks the par,
and who is leaving Congress-tem
porarily-on March 4. to play typica
roles. This is only one of a score o
enticing proposals made to Represen
! tative Campbell. The lecture platform
has made strong appeals to him. Blu
Mr. Campbell has definitely decide
to practice law in Pittsburg, Kan
whore he has maintained an offic
/ since 1883, with pranch once her
in Washington.
However. there is another offe
which has tempted him sorely an
which he will accept II he finds h
can spare the time from his law prac
tice. A very prominent publishini
house has importuned him to writ
the history of the last twenty year
in Congress. This is because MI
Campbell has had very intimate rela
tion with what has been going on II
the national legislature. For fourteen
years he has been on the House rule
committee, and during that period thi
! COMMITTEES took over the power for
merly exercised by Speakers Rec