Evening star., 1925-02-08
Capital Sideligghts
by WILL p. KENNEDY.

need not have recourse to any book
of 100 choice selections Of five min
ute speeches, when a casual glance at
the Congressional Record discovers
such a gem of historic summary and
glowing tributes to the leader of the
lost cause" by one of his officers, now
and many years a member OF con-
gress, as the following:
'It is neither on the greatest fields
of battle or places where the most
calamitous bloodshed has taken place
that the recollection of future ages
is chiefly riveted.
The vast theaters of Asiatic con-
flict are forgotten, the slaughtered
myriads of Timour and Genghis Khan
lie in neutrality-suspicious. graves.
Hardly a pilgrim visits the scenes
where on the fields of ChaIons and
Tours the destlnies of civilization and
Christendom were fixed by the skill
of Aetius CIR the valor of Charles
Martel. 1t is moral grandeur which
produces a durable impression. 1t is
patriotic heroism which permanently
attracts the admiration Of mankind.
''The Pass of Thermopylae the
graves at Marathon will warm the
hearts of men through every succeed
ing age. The Chapel of Tell, the field
OF Morganten still attract the gen
erous and brave from every civilized
state. The name of Wallace, the
plain of Bannocburn have rendered
Scottish story immortal in the an
nails of the world.
The day may come when the mem
ory of the fields of Gettysburg and
Chancellorsville, of the Wilderness
and Spotsylvania Court House shall
be dimmed by the obscurity of re-
volving years and recollected only as
ctNa of
then the enduring fortitude, patri-
otic self abnegation and unrivaled
military genius of Gen. Robert f.
Lee will stand forth in undecaying
luster amid the wreck of ages and
survive unshaken above the foods of
time"
This spoke Representative (and
Major) Charles T.. Stedman of North
Carolina.
Uncle Sam printed and delivered
1888, ,243,379 printed stamped enve-
lopes last year, and Representative
Elmer Thomas of Oklahoma figures
that the Government by selling these
below the price that similar printed
stock commands in the open marke ct,
lost on this one item $2,S10,310.
4 :, X
John +. Ancona of Reading. Pa
walked into the office of William
Tyler Page. clerk of the National
House of Representatives, the other
day and they greeted each other
promptly and cordially, although they
had not met for 40 years. Mr.. An
coma was stationery clerk to the
House in 1874 when Mr. Page first
came to work there as a boy Mr.
Pages Office now occupies the entire
suite which was formerly used as of
fees for the clerk of the House. the
disbursing clerk and the stationery
clerk.
Representative Thomas d. Nc
Keown of Oklahoma told this little
story during debate in the House A
farmer living in the town of Mill
Creek, Okla, shipped four carloads
of horses to East st. Louis, Mo. They
were sold and the price received ap-
piled on the freight There was q
balance due of s136. The railroad COM
pany sent the farmer a bill for that
amount. The farmer was an unedu-
Gated man. When his little daughter
read the letter to him, asking for
sl36, he dictated to her this reply:
Dear Railroad Col haven't got
any money, but l can ship you some
more horses
Every member of Congress likes to
brag about his district. Representa-
tive Thomas J. Lilly of West vir-
ginia is one of the most recent to en-
tertain the House with a summary of
some of the boasts of West Virginia
He claims that: Our coal area is the
greatest of any State in the Union,
being 1890 square miles. while the
area of the entire State Is only "a
022. We have the finest grade OF
bituminous coal in all the world. Last
year we produced coal and coke to
the amount of about 1912, 500, 900.
from 1926 coal mines, employing
more than 100000 persons. who re-
ceived in wages s290.000, 900
Last year we had in operation and
producing 1858 oil and gas wells
with production valued at about
$99,000,000. Our coal and its by-prod
ucts are transported into almost
every civilized country in the world
We have the greatest undeveloped
water power east of the Rocky
Mountains or the Continental Divide. ).
This was part of the swan song'' of
Representative Lilly
''the leader of the South in reforesta-
tton," In speech by Senator Rams
dell, In which he emphasized that 10
States have established State forests
totaling about 5,500,0Oo acres, and
have planted about 10O,0 900 acres with
young trees. Then he quoted from
Joyce Kilmer, the American soldier
poet, who died to free the world:
think that shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree
Against the sweet earth's flowing breast:
A tree that looks at God all day
And lifts her leafy arm to pray;
tree that may in Summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain:
Who intimately lives with rain
Poems are made by fools like me-
But only God can make a tree
X X X
While the Supreme Court room in
the Capitol is visited as special
point of interest by practically every
tourist, few of them realize that from
an historic point of view 1t Is prob
ably the most important portion of
the Capitol. There jefferson twice
delivered his inaugural address and
took the oath Of off1ce-both times in
the presence of Chief Justice Mar
shall. There the Senate confirmed
the treaty with Napoleon I, by which
we acquired the Louisiana Purchase"
There was read the Monroe Doc
trine'' when it was sent to Congress
by President Monroe. There Webster
of Massachusetts, and Hayne of South
Carolina engaged in their famous de-