Evening star., 1924-12-07
Capital Sidelights

belLiHS tle WHlp nanQ on lnSurSent
Senators and ruling them out of
the G. o. p. string comes easy
to Senator Charles Curtis, the new
Senate leader, because in the days
when he was q professional jockey
he was well known for his ability
to ride outlaws" where other Jockeys
failed. In those days he was ia
miliarly called "the Indian" on the
tracks of Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska
cults.
He rode horses from the time he
was s years DID, and when he was
16 quit the professional tracks, after
inducing a prominent horse owner
to release him from a contract to ride
his string at the centennial eXposi
tion in Philadelphia His grand
mother had said TO him that if he
ever wanted to amount to anything
he must quit the saddle and get to
school In five years he was admit
ted to the bar, and now he has sue
ceeded the erudite scholar in poll
tics" Lodge, as leader of the Senate,
after having been it's very effective
whip" and he has just weeded out
some goats" that got in the Re
publican herd.
Also, too, as leader of the Kansas
delegation he is having a powerful
say on who the next Secretary of
Agriculture will be.
* = <
An amazing incident about a fell
low educator of note is recalled by
Senator Simeon d. Fess Of Ohio when
reminiscing about A. r. Spofford, the
great character who made the
Library of Congress the world-famous
Institution 1t is today, and who served
in the Library from 1864 until his
death in 1908. In the days when
this Library was still under the
Capitol dome, a gentleman appeared
asking for certain Information on
the ordinance of 1887. Mr.. Spofford
took down volume after volume,
passed it over to the research man,
and Ss the research man took the
volume he said: 1T is not in this.
| have examined this before"
Mr.. Spofford finally said: II regrel
that ] cannot help you" but as the
man started to go away. Mr.. Spofford
called him back, wait a minute"
he said, IF you care to take the
timc you might go to Marietta, Ohio,
and look up Prof. Andrews, who is
the best informed man on the ordi-
nance OF 1877 that | know of If
he cannot give it to You I do not
know where you can find It," The
researcher bIushed and replied, Il
am Prof. Andrews"
+ 4 = 4
Another little anecdote nlustrat-
ing the personal service that
Librarian Spofford gave is vouched for
| by a veteran employe who was an
eyewitness. Senator David B. Hill Of
New York visited the Library, looking
| for something in relation TO Black
stones Commentaries. and spent more
| than two hours in the research. On
| his way out he happened to pass
| Spofford, who asked him If he had
| found what he wanted. Senator Hill
replied that he had not. Mr.. Spofford
! wanted to know what Il was, and
| when Senator Hill told him he asked
| him TO wait u moment. suggesting
that he might be able To help him
! within five minutes he handed the
Senator Il volume with the page
! marked on which was the information
| the Senator sought
x y Z =
| Marccllus O. Shield. chief clerk of
! the House appropriations committee
| who is up to his neck in work pre-
! pairing the biggest accounts in the
world-the Government supply bills
! amounting to three to four billions of
4
| has let the secret out that when he
/ was a boy, making penny change in
little candy shop in Sycamore. Ill,
| he was so Inaccurate that he finally
! lost his job because there was not
| enough salary coming to him TO meet
the shortage in his accounts for that
week.
This elusive small change weakness
| followed him when he set up in busi-
| ness for himself during the Spanish
! American war, selling newspapers at
! the railroad station
| Then he made a New Year resolu-
! tion to devote himself to overcoming
! this shortcoming, and perhaps some
| day be a great tinancier.
/ Yet he admits that he was appoint
/ ed to an assistant clerkship in the
appropriations committee, not because
/ of any particular aptness for figures,
! but because he and the son of the
! then chairman of the committee.
/ Representative James A. Tawney of
| Minnesota, had been good pals on
| camping outings.
SHIELD first came to Washington
| about 20 years ago as a delegate to a
| fraternity conference. and liked the
! city so we'll and was so well i'm
pressed with the educational ad-
vantages offered in the Capital that
/ he has since made it his home.
! = X 4 X
| The biggest communications sys-
| tenn in all the world, considering the
| amount of business transacted, the
/ territory covered and especially the
| number of persons served, is the
| United States Postal Service whose
| budget for the next fiscal year has
/ been worked out by the Budget Bu-
| reau and is now being put into bill
/ form by clerks of the House appro-
priations committee preliminary to
| hearings which will start in a few
| days.
| Postmaster General New, in chat
! ting with a group of visiting post
masters and prominent business lead
! ers, pointed out that the first post
| office on American soil was in the
Massachusetts colony in 1889, and
Is years later a postal service was
/ set up in Virginia.
| Under the colonial law each plant
er was required to provide mes
senger to convey the dispatches as
/ they arrived to the next plantation,
under a sort of relay system. The
penalty for failure to carry the mes
sages along was forfeiture of hogs
! head of tobacco.
! A monthly mail between New York
and Boston was started in 1872 by
the government of New York.
| William Penn established a post
office in Philadelphia in 1888 with
weekly mail deliveries to various
places not far from the city. About
| the same time mail routes were
opened between Philadelphia and the
larger towns in Pennsylvania and
| Maryland.
| The Post Office Department dates
I the beginning of the present United