Evening star., 1925-02-09

These are days of melancholy IS
we'll az high pressure on Capltol hili,
for men who have been in Congress
topether. in some cases for years, are
preparing to part company. NOT only
lame ducks will be hobbling from the
scene in House and Senate, but mem
bers who voluntarily relinquished the
opportunity to remain In once: ms
means interrupted friendships formed
long ago and cemented by time, de-
snite the externalities Of partisan
differences. Some of the closest ties
in Congress always exist between
Republican and Democrat Men
snarl at each other across the aisle,
but az often can be seen making their
way to the cloakroom arm In arm
Even tho La Toilette rebels, reao
out of the G. o. P. in tho Senate ana
to be subjected to the same castlga-
tion in the House later IN feoruary,
maintain their personal intimacies
with their old friends. So the ap-
preaching end Of the Sixty-eighth
Congress brings pangs to more than
one political bosom In some In
stances it will mean never again
for men who have fought and work.
ed together term after term. go
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-
believed to hold the balance of power
in the approaching election for
Sneaker of the House. The rival Mad
den and Longworth forces, in accord
with time-honored custom, are claim
ing that the Penn delegation, II not
at least equally divided in Its ahec-
tions, is Overwhelmingly" in favor,
respectively, OF the Illinoisan and the
Ohioan Until the votes are finally
cast and counted nobody Will know
Just how Pennsylvania solid Re-
nublican delegation pumped. But
there seems general agreement that
the 225 Republicans who will decide
the issue are almost 50 evenly divided
that Penn's big total will be of de-
cisiye influence. Voting for Speaker
is viva voce. Everybody stands up
and confesses his choice out loud.
Representative Fred A. Britten OF
Illinois Madden's F'och, and Repre-
sentative "Jim" Begg Of Ohio. Long
worth's Pershing, are the glad-hand-
INCEST men in Congress nowadays.
X II X
Mai. James Franklin Bell, U. s.; A,
Engineer Commissioner Of the. Dis
trict OF Columbia, says he likes his
lob because he loves q scrap. Scrap
ming. either with disfranchised citi-
gems or hard-shelled Congressman, is
one of the duties incumbent upon
District Commissioners, SO Maj. Bell
has a plenty Of his favorite pastime.
From the time of his graduation at
West Point in 1898 up to and includ-
ing a strenuous career as engineer
liouidation officer of the American
expeditionary forces in France Bell
has been scrapping. Thus he finds
familiar and congenial employment
on his present detail. One of the En-
xineer Commissioners ideals is to
cement a better feeling between Con-
rress and residents of the District.
He is inclined to think that criticism
of "the Hill Is often extreme and
unjustified. Bell contends there are
dozens Of members of both houses
with intelligent, sympathetic and in
dustrious interest in the District and
doing their best for it amid chaotic
and often discouraging conditions.
-. X * x
When the American Association
for Advancement of Science was in
session in Washington in January an
authority set forth that UNUSUAL
height is coming to be the outstand-
ing physical trait Of thA -AmAxica1