Evening star., 1924-03-02
Capital Sidelights
ny WILL y. KENNEDY.


Quoting both the House and Senate
restaurants in the Capitol. as well as
being In charge of the dining rooms
In several of Washington's best clubs
and apartment hotels where members
of Congress and government officials
partake of the nourishment necessary
to preserve a sound body to sustain
the active mind required in carrying
on" for Uncle Sam.
! just as, when visiting the Zoo. fa-
vorite paStime Is to gather about the
cages and watch the wild animals
| eat, so popular indoor sport for
lsightseers in the Capitol is to stand
at the doors of the House and Senate
RESTAURANTS and gaze upon prominent
Legislators discussing pending meas
ures. while they eat.
| The menu at the Capitol il much
the same as at any first-class cafe for
dishes to be cooked on order, but
there is special lunche eon-from
soup TO nuts-at 60 cents; potatoes in
ten different styles and a score of
ready-to- combinations. There
are always three kinds of pie on the
menu. SteWed prunes. marmalade and
cream cheese are popular generally
(cream and milk) in bowl with gra-
ham or soda crackers is a favorite
| warm weather dish.
Mr.. Smith has found from expert
ence that while each member of Con-
! gress mas some particular luncheon
/ dish that he eats about three days a
| week, he looks for a change on the
other days. and SO Mr.. Smith, who has
proved to be the most popular man
ager OF the cafe for many years,
makes a specially OF providing some
unexpected dish on the "ready-to-
serve list every day in the week.
one day it may be chicken livers, with
brolied mushrooms and the next day
pigs knuckles with sauerkraut
| While the restaurants are open
practically all day, about 80 per cent
OF the service Is crowded into less
than two hours. which complicates
the work of the manager. but consid-
| ering this difficulty and the natural
impatience of the legislators to get
BACK TO their seats in the House and
| senate there are surprisingly few
| kicks. An unexpected roll call fire.
quently causes members to run away
| from d half-fnished luncheon. but
they invariably return within a few
minutes.
Most members Of Congress have fa-
| vorite tables and usually sit in the
| same place. The "star boarders' :"
table in the House restaurant is one
close to the door in u corner by the
cashiers counter. which is convenient
far 0sservason Gar by ~siters I1sit Here
House Leader Longworth, Represent
ative Tilson Of Connecticut, Chairman
Madden or the appropriations commit
tee, Representative White of Maine.
| Representative Bachrach of New Jer-
sey, Chairman Smell ot the rules COM
mittee and five or six others.
| Speaker Gillett has {. private dining
room. shut off from public observa-
ton. in which he occasionally gives a
luncheon to a score or more of his
colleagues. and generally arranges SO
! that every member of the House is
his guest at least once during the
| session.
Members of Congress almost to q
man have sweet tooth" III the
lcloakrooms are maintained counters
at which they can buy candy. cigars,
|ginger ale. cake and sandwiches.
! x x
! The possibility+-if not the probable
fty-that the next election will be
thrown into Congress for IL decision
has aroused interest in previous cleo
! tions where this has happened. Much
misinformation on such cases has ap-
peared recently in some newspapers.
Thomas jefferson and Aaron Burr re-
ceived an equal number OF electoral
| votes: there being no choice. the
| House of Representatives proceeded
to chooS~ a President in the manner
| prescribed at that time by the Con-
4
ten states cast their votes for jefferson
and four states New Hampshire,
Massachusetts,. Connecticut and Rhode
1Sland) for Burr. Two states, South
, Carolina and Delaware, voted blank.
! jefferson was thereby elected Presi-
dent and Aaron Burr Vice President
| for the term beginning March 4, 1901
| Again, on February 9. 1925. the two
houses assembled to count the votes
for President and Vice President. 1t
was found that John c. Calhoun had
received a majority for the Vice Pres
idency and was therefore elected. No
one of the four candidates for the
presidency, Jackson, Adams. Crawford
| ma jority. the senator's withdrew and
the House balloted on the three high
est On the first ballot John Quincy
Adams was chosen, receiving the votes
of thirteen states. while Jackson had
the votes of seven states and Craw-
ford the votes of four states.
| When Martin Van Buren was elected
President there was no majority for
| either OF the vice presidential candi-
dates. Richard NJ Johnson. who had
served as a representative and a SEN
ator from Kentucky and who had
been presented with a sword by Con-
gress for his services in the expedi-
tions and engagements in lower Can
ada in 1913. was elected Vice Presi-
dent by the Senate and served from
March 4. 1887, to March 8. 1871.
| In the famous Tilden-Hayes con-
troversy, dispute arose over the
electoral votes of Florida, Louisiana,
IOregon and South Carolina. This was
referred by Congress to the electoral
commission for a decision as to their
validity. The commission decided the
jvotes to be republican. The Presid ent
of the Senate then declared that
Rutherford E. Hayes of Ohio was duly
elected President, and he commenced
his term on March 4. 1877. This was
the first count on the part of Con-
gress, regulated by general law, in
the history Of the government under
the Constitution.
| William Tyler Page, clerk of the
House, had as visitor last week
Judge Donald P Mcpherson of Gettys-
burg, whose father. Representative
Edward Mcpherson, had appointed
Mr.. Page as a page In the House in
1881, since which date Mr.. Page has
been constantly employed about the
Capitol.
Judge Mcpherson was himself an
employe of the House in the: Fifty
first Congress. when Thomas +. Reed
lof Maine was Speaker and Edward
Mcpherson was clerk of the House.
Judge Mcpherson has very pleasant
recollections OF his services in the
disbursing office, which was in charge
of Edward OBrien of Plattsburg. n.
Y, whom he remembers as "a hand
some, dashing fellow. and a regular
Apollo Belvidere in society Rich
ard Theophylus was his assistant
old newspaper editor. He served as
| clark Of the House in eight Con