Evening star., 1924-03-16
Capital Sidelights
BY WILL r. KENNEDY.

or serious reaoing Is pfActfcal STUN, ana
call Representative James T. Begg
OF Ohio, enc Of the outstanding, clear
minded, plain-spoken young men In Con-
gress, as witness.
Jim" Begg had soGe struggle to get
his start In lie. He was born and
raised on farm. Since he was four
teen he has absolutely made his own
he had passed the teachers examination
and was not old enough to teach. Then
he went to work on a farm, and con-
tinued at that work for four years.
But one day, while he was husking
corn on a cold. frosty morning. he
heard the school bell ring He thought,
That man is getting $50 a month, in
side where 1t is warm, and he wears
decent clothes: am getting $25 for
working hard out here in the cold and
wear overaIls' Right then and there
he decided to quit the farm, get more
education and At himself to do some
thing that would require brains rather
than Drawn.
He bought some text books and car
the fields to work. When the team
needed a rest, Farrnboy Jim took his
book from his pocket and perused it
Result, the next spring he again passed
d
certificate and taught in his homo school,
Allen county, Ohio, for three years.
Then he decided that If he expected
to accomplish anything worth while he
needed more education. SO he quit
teaching school and started college, hav-
To accumulate that $1,000 he saved
every cent he could out OF what ne
earned and bought and sold anything
he could get his hands Oh. He can
sal E<x- nd
enough in two months to pay his ex-
penses at college during the next year.
A peculiar fact is that part or the ter
ritory over which he canvaEsed Is in
the district he now represents in Con-
gress
He did his preparatory work and col
lege work and earned his degree in
three and a half years. Then he went
back to the teaching profession and
spent fourteen years as supef1ntenoent
OF schools in three different cities. Co
lumbus Grove, his home village; Iron
ton and Sandusky, Ohio.
Again he decided that IL he intended
to educate his children and achieve
position Of any prominence in nth the
world he must quit teaching school
This he did at the age Of forty. He
then went into chamber Of commerce
work, and one year Thereafter was
elected to Congress from the thirteenth
Ohio district being the first republican
to represent his county in forty years,
and the first congressman out OF his
home county of Erie in sixty-seven
years.
For = number of years he has been
dabbling in business, being connected
with several Industries and q couple
Sf banks. He is president OF the
First Joint Stock Land Bank in
Cleveland. Ohio.
The District schools and the Public
Library in the National Capital have
decided friend in Representative
Frank II. Funk Of Bloomington, ILL.,,
who is one Of the ablest members on
the subcommittee which drafted the
appropriation bill for the District of
Columbia, because he has a unique
school on his own 2,500-acre farm
near Bloomington, and recently gave
the school q library.
This is q rural school. a real cross
roads school, but unlike all others in
that class, which are, for the most
part. one-room shacks. this school, of
which Representative Funk is patron.
employs five teachers. has three
year high school course, three cover
ed trucks to bring the children to
school, has gymnasium and COM
munity hall which cost $4,000. and
moving picture shows and community
entertainment
Representative Funk contributed
three acres OF land for the school
playground and agricultural expert
ment plots. Last year, when this
school wanted a library. Representa-
tive Funk donated 1000 books, in
cluding Encyclopedia britannica and
other recognized works of reference
Invariably in getting rid of surplus
war supplies the United States gov
ernment has lost money. 1t will be
recalled that a deal for disposing of
certain surplus goods at Perryville.
Md, was one of the scandals aired in
the investigation OF the Veterans Bu-
reau- Also the former director Of
sales of the War Department is one
of ten to be tried in the District Su..
preme Court this spring on war fraud
charges, the prosecution claiming
that the government was defrauded
of nearly $s,ooo,0oo m the disposition
OF lumber
1t is refreshing. therefore. to hear
director of sales for the Quartermaster
Corps, before the House appropria-
tions committee. in which he stated
that "one particular lot of some s00,-
voV SShho VI pIHedpPio thhS " AS Ood6 aI
at between II and IL cents was resold
for 27S per can"
Xxx *
An interesting illustration OF how
the chemical warfare service is help
ing agriculture with airplanes Is an
agency. thus bringing into play In
peaoe-time industry the two newest
and most powerful branches OF mod
ern warfare, was told to Congress the
other day by Brig. Gen. Amos A.
Fries. He explained that the sprtn-
king of chemicals on plants from air
planes has extended commercial pos
sibilities in attacking. insects that de-
stroy growing crops.
The interesting incident that he re-
called happened in connection with
the experiments of the air service and
the agricultural department OF the
state Of Ohio.
"They reported to US that the liQ-
cids could not be sprinkled from an
airplane." said Gen. Fries. I'VE said
that we could do 1t: that we were
sure we could do 1t, although we had
not attempted it theretofore. They
said the liquid material used was
Atomixed so finely oA being dropped
by the airplane that It remained sus-
pended in the air like fog and would
not fall to the ground. The chemical
warfare service overcafne this fea-
ture by applying air pressure to force
the liquid In the opposite direction Of
the airplane's flight"