Evening star., 1925-02-08
IN HOUSE FAREWELL,
CALLS FOR COURAGE IN OFFICE
Need Wise Legislation to
Cope With Problems,
Veteran Declares.
Recalls Noted Company
With Which He Has
Sat IN Congress.

A graphic picture of the changes
half century has brought was unrolled
before the mental gaze of his col
leagues yesterday by Representative
Isaac r. Sherwood of Ohio, the oldest
man who ever sat in Congress. who Will
be 90 years old next August. Repre-
sentative Sherwood first came to Con-
gress 90 years ago, when Uncle joe
Cannon, who retired two years ago.
made his legislative debut. OF the PAP
Representatives. and "A Senators in that
Forty-third Congress. Representative
Sherwood told his colleagues, "only two
are alive-Joseph G. Cannon and my
self. AS Oliver Wendell Holmes would
remark. L am the last leaf upon the
tree. still shaken for the fall"
1T touches me with deep sadness" he
continued, that of all the 316 men of
that Congress only one of my colleagues
is still alive. There were historical char
acters in that Congress. called to deal
with both ethical and fundamental ques-
tions growing out Of the great war:
questions that stirred the blood and
commanded the most potent mental
endeavor.
Recalls Famed Colleagues.
Just across the aisle sat in constant
conflict two intellectual athleteS-Gen.
Benjamin Butler OF Massachusetts and
S. S. Cox of New York, formerly of Ohio.
who continually measured the strength
and potency of their raSping scimitars.
Halfway down the aisle sat Gen. James
A. Garfield, afterward President, then
chairman of the committee on appro-
priations In front, in his wheeled chair,
sat Alexander H. Stephens of Georgia,
vice president of the Confederacy
In of Main Of
his party, was Speaker. There We're So
Union soldiers in that Congress and q
Confederates. There were seven distin-
guished major generals, among the more
notable Gen. Hawley of Connecticut,
Gen. Negley of Pennsylvania, Gen. Gar
field of Ohio and Gen. Butler of Massa-
chusetts.
Gen. Grant was just starting on
his second term. l remember the ap-
preparation for the salary and clerk
hire and upkeep of the White House
that year-1S73-74-was s42.500. AS
an evidence of our immense growth
in material prosperity and official
generosity, we this year give our
President the tidy sum of $500, 900
as the items foot up-including the
Mayfower
Grant Lived Sill ply.
Gen. Grant had no bodyguard, no
military STATS and no White House
police. L remember meeting Gen.
Grant walking down Pennsylvania
avenue alone. Gen. Grant was an ex-
pert horseman. He was not only at
home in the saddle, but he was
double team driver, the only Presi-
dent from Washington down to
Roosevelt who knew how to drive
pair of trotters at speed.
Members of Congress were sal
aried at $1,000 a year. We were al
lowed no secretary-we had to rent
our offices out of our salary, and we
had to take our pen in hand to an
swer kicking letters from constit-
uents. There were no typewriting
machines. The Speaker had no
parliamentary expert. He, decided
every contention without explanation
or parliamentary palaver. We had
no Kinds Precedents." We had no
rules committee. We had no steer
ing committee running to the White
House to find out what legislation
the President favored. The first
article of the Federal Constitution
fixes that duty solely with Congress.
I'VE had no tariff experts to con-
fuse the rudimentary Congressman
and no calendar Wednesday. We had
no Secretary of Agriculture, hence
the farmers were contented and rea-
sonably prosperous.
Times Have Changed.
The country had no automobiles.
no wireless, no airplanes, no canned
music. Prize fighting was not then
our popular entertainment. We had
no moving pictures. Tainted actresses
were not then our popular stars of
the stage. We had no jazz music. The
glorious old war songs of heroic
memory and patriotic inspiration had
not been supplanted by Capt. Jinks
of the Horse-Marines," Hail, Hail,
The Gangs All Here" and similar jar
gon and the grand plays of Shake
speare, and plays of high moral i'm
port had not been supplanted by the
vulgar and smutty vaudeville
I'VE had no electric cars. Edison,
the wizard of the electrical world had
not yet appeared. We had no pre-
paredness for war talk on this floor.
Those two crime breeders, the Boot
League had not yet appeared. Utah
then a territory was represented by
the distinguished Mormon Elder Can
non. His four wives, sitting side by
side in the members gallery, without
cosmetic adornment, were the OBJ
served of all observers, as quiet and
as uncomplaining as four planted
oysters in Lynnhaven Bay. This was
40 years before DR.. Cook discovered
the North Pole and AZ wears before