Evening star., 1925-05-31
Capital Sidelights
BY WILL p. KENNEDY.

1t feels to walk on foot from a noun
tain home in the South to get an edU-
cation at Yale University and then
earn his way through by doing any
thing he could lay hts hands and will
to thereby earning an honest penny.
And House Leader Tilson is today
just the same determined, frank, hon
est, sincere felloW--and Is going to
tackle his new big job without any
frills or conceit or aloofness. He says.
My first name is John and hope all
Of the gopd fellows who have worked
with me and know me well will call
me John The omission of formali.
ties and conventionalities always
helps.'
And John" Tilson is out 10 get the
utmost help he can from his col
leagues in expediting the passage of
the legislative program. He explains:
This is not a one-man Job. or course,
l can move call of the House or to
adjourn all by myself. but to really do
the job of floor leader teamwork is
required. Since Jim Mann passed to
his reward there is no man left living
who could successfully do the job un-
aided. Sometimes l think that even
he would have been better off II he
had allowed others to help him.
He has been making a careful study
of his job and he has advised a way
to get better teamwork by encouraging
more members to know more about
more bills than ever before. He con.
templates the formation of something
Of an organization to do this work
thoroughly without imposing too much
of burden on any one in particular.
He is preparing for squally times,
too, and has his weather eye" care
fully focused. He says he realizes
that "we cannot hope that we shall all
always agree; that is, all see eye-to-eye
on everything. 1t would, perhaps, be
unfortunate if we did, but we should
all make every effort to agree on es-
sential things, just as far as possible
If there should come time, as there
may. when my own personal views on
particular matter are different from
those of the majority, it will make no
dinerence as far as my official acts as
moor leader are concerned. The ma
chinery of the House shall be used to
the best of my ability to carry out
the will of the majority of any policy
that may be finally agreed upon"
He is also steeling his heart to say
No and Yes" at the right time, re-
gardless of pressure and personal in
clination. He foresees that this can
not be helped, for he realizes that as
floor leader he will not be representing
himself alone but representing the en-
tire party membership.
Representative TilSon is a thorough
party man and is encouraging every
Republican member TO strive to the
best of his ability to work with other
Republicans for the best interests of
the party, explaining that this. in
our judgment as Republicans, is also
for the best interests of the entire
country
y y **
That the Supreme Court has held
unconstitutional only an infinitesimal
traction of / per cent Of all the laws
enacted by Congress and passed upon
by the tribunal is empha sized by Rep
resentative c. William Ramseyer of
Iowa, after going carefully over the
records with the authorities in the
Legislative Reference Bureau of the
Library of Congress
He calls attention that the total mum.
Der OF volumes OF Supreme Court de.
cisions is 266, with one or two more
to come. These volumes run from 100
to 12O cases per volume. so that the
total number of cases decided bv the
supreme Court is something over
10000. There were AZ cases in which
acts of Congress were held unconsti-
tutional
In contrast TO this Representative
iNoAioOSCi fCIlllS out IIldC from the
First Congress in 1889 to March 4.
1925. the end of the Sixty-eightb Con.
gress, total of 50060 laws had been
enacted. These laws are contained
in 56 volumes with $4,000 pages. a
All sorts of interesting memorabilia
and souvenirs and curios are to be
found in private collections in Wash.
lnUfnn O e t.. r. ,
and many institutional museums.
For example, Maj. Robert w. Shu.
feldt, L. S. A, retired, has an excellent
collection which includes the gold pen
and holder used by his grandfather
Abercrombie, who was WashfnSton's g
pastor in Philadelphia. This pen was
used to write letter Of confidence 10
Mrs. Alexander Hamilton when her
husband was shot by Aaron Burr in
their famous duel
Maj. Shufeldt also has a brick from
the Great Wall of China and the field
glass of Col. Makepeace of the British
Army, which he carried in the Battle
of Sebastapol.
What thoughts arise in the mind
when one examines such UNIQUE rel.
les. says Maj. Shufeldt, who, by the
way. has made very careful study
of the wonderful incunabula in the
library OF the surgeon general of the
Army.
Members of Congress and other
prominent Government officials arc
going TO historic williamsburg. Va
this week to assist at the LAYING ot
the corner stone OF a memorial build
ing to the so founders of the pionee-
Greek letter fraternity, the Phi Rets
Kappa, which originated at William
and Mary College 149 years ago
This building is to be completed for
the big celebration in December, 1925
Nashington's unique Phi Beta Kap.
pa Association, which has scholastic
honor men from all the great educa.
tional institutions OF the country as
members. under the leadership Of pa a.
President Representative r. Walton
Moore of Virginia. formerly a mem
Der OF the board of visitors of William,
and Mary College, is planning for
a reception in honor of the national
president of the United Chapters of
the Phi Beta Kappa. DR.. Charles r.
Thwing of Western Reserve IJnivers
ity. and Rev. DIR. Oscar NJ. Voorhees,.
the national secretary.
These two national officers will lead
the pilgrimage from the National Can
l'"! W lle pHthplacS OF this Oldest
and educationally most exclusive OF
all the Greek letter fraternities. which
is the first of a series OF pilgrimages
from all parts of the country.
X X
Uncle Sam has just signed up the
king of all base ball pitchers,-tbe
grand old man of the iron arm. who
smoke -balled his team to the world :
championship last season. The re-
douotable Walter johnson is starring
in an official Government movie" as
a perfect example of what the milk