Evening star., 1925-12-27
Capital Sidelights

wishes from the Capitol to every cor
| ner of this broad land. Each of the
435 members of the House and the
| 90 members of the Senate sends out
anywhere from 200 to 10000 greeting
cards each Yuletide.
! There is competition annually tG
| see who viii have the most distinctive
| Christmas card. This year the homer
| goes to Edmund +. Erik, clerk to the
I House committee on foreign affairs.
| who has sent out some $500 copies Of
not only the most different" but
| largest Christmas card ever sent
! through the Capitol post office at this
season. During the last l6 years.
, since he has been we'll known figure
at the Capitol. Mr.. Erks greeting
cards on all occasions have attracted
attention.
Mr.. Erik explains that when a boy
he heard a man say that 'there are
! Just two things in life w""th while.
| and money is not one of them-one
is time and the other is friends" He
! believes the right way is to show your
friends that YOU appreciate them
while alive.
The debt that we owe to the great
! mon that made many 81 crifices in de-
! NelopinG the Nation and Government,
whose advantag ges we SO much enioy
! has been growing upon Mr. Erik for
y
! little thought we give to these ad-
! Va ntages and the men who pa assed
/ them along to us. So he thought that
| this year he'd send out a little re
minder at this impressive season
His card is 20 by 25 inches on il
| are reproduced the facsimiles OF the
| fundamental documents of our Nation
! under the caption, The First Born
! Documents of Popular Constitutional
Liberty all taken from the original
! documents in the Congressional Ii
/ brarY. They include the compact
! signed in the cabin of the Mayfower
the log Of the MayhoWer. the Declara-
/ tlon OF Independence. the Constitution
! of the United States. Iincoln's Gettys-
! burg address, NaShington's farewell
| address, the Monroe doctrine and
! Virginia : hill Of rights. Besides the
! old script reproduction. the card Is
| illustrated with famous pictures Of
| the Mayiiower a seq. the emba rka-
/ tion of the Pilgrims. signing the
| Declaration Of Independence. the
| landing Of tho Pilrrims The Lincoln
! Memorial in Washington. Wa shinston's s
F., mansion at Mount Vernon. the great
| seal Of the United States. and AZ the
! bottom an outline map Of the United
/ states. across which Is the legend
"A Government of the People by the
! People, for the People" "
! To drive the MESA &c home 10 those
VIII" receive his card Mr. Erik :
| greeting to his friends illun1jna ted
and enlbellished With stars and stripes
IN red. white and blue. SAYS:
These documents are the precious
| heritage Of free institutions and
| American ideals, which have come
! down To MS from out Of The service
| and sacrifice Of those who with the
love Of God in their hearts. reared
! a government on the foundations Of
freedom, equality, justice and hu-
/ manity
With confidence in the right. un-
! daunted in their might. they con
! CelNed ana dedicated legacv-the
! greatest nation on Gods green earth.
! While enjoying all these things and
! ElorHinG in our bigness and greatness.
am in no sense unmindful but ap-
! preciatlve in realizing the fact that
after all the goodness. the sunshine
| the contcntment and happiness. the
! things worth while have come to me
| IN knowing a friend like YOU.
! I am taking this gladstone occa-
| SION /" tell YOU about i, with tho
assura nee that AL these blessings are
mutually shared and 60 out to YOU
When any happiness is YOUR lot
rejoice with YOU"
on waving ribbon device across
the bottom of the card are quotations
from Columbia. the Gem of the
Ocean America and the Star
/ SpanEled Banner''-''The shrine Of
each patriots devotion. a world offers
homage to thee: My country. It's of
thee, sweet land OF liberty. of thee
sing" and In God is our trust.
Ger the land Of The free and the home
Of the brave"
II took three months To got the
fa"similes and other copy" for
this card, which has been copyrichted
and il has cost Mr.. Erik more than
50 cents apiece for them by the thou
sands.
Speaker Lonsworth's Office hits YOU
square in the eve with the warm red
or Christmas greeting. Some of his
close personal friends wanted 10 make
/ NICK a Christmas present. so they
had couple Of handsome red moroc-
60 leather chairs made. OF course
the red would clash with the famous
Alice blue motif at home and such
large mannlsh chairs would take up
TOO much Of the space needed for
! Baby Iaulina'S myriad toyS-So they
give broad dash Of color Ia his office
IN the Capitol-iust where his friends
wanted f'im To enjoy them in leisure
moments.
Speakers lobby an oil portrait Of
Frederick II. Glllett. who was Speaker
in the last Congress and who is now
member Of the Senate This por.
trait was painted in the Capitol Build
ing during Mr.. Gillett's term as
Speaker by Edmund c. Tarheu of
Massachusetts. Pricr to its being &C.
Cepted by the Federal Government il
was exhibited in several notable eX-
hlbltionS in various parts of the
country.
Charles T.. Fairman, curator of art
works in the Capitol. is an authority
on this collection OF f'fortraits Of the
former Speakers. which now number
81. The origin OF this collection seems
to have been accidental rather than
intentional. Prior TO 1850 there were
three rooms at the south side of the
hall of the House of Representa- tives.
In the act of March g. 1879. an appro.
priation was made for the alterations
In these rooms. which were the room
of the Speaker. the room of the ser.
geant-at-arms of the House, and the
room occupied by the reporters of the
! House. This altera ton was instituted
for the purpose of improving the ven
tilation Of the House, and when the
, rooms named had been converted into
one large room large openings were
made in the north walls Of the room Sc
, that ventilation might be secured from
, these rooms and the Speakers lobby
into the hall of the House of Repre-.
sentatives. There had existed for some
time in the Speakers room small por-
traits of former Speakers framed in
. oval frames. The portraits were
: quite small in size, some in oil and
! some in lithoCraph. and others were
pf f1c~N-sa win rNFrSs nf