Evening star., 1926-06-20
Capital .Sidelights

lHur suAy from NORWICH University,
at Mortified, VT, from which institu-
tion he received his B. S. degree in
1894 and his A. M. degree in 1896.
Representative Gibson is one of the
most earnest friends of the National
Capital on the House District com
mittee. and has been chairman of the
special subcommittee which conducted
hearings for two months on municipal
administration and then, admitting
that they "had only scratched The sur
face" recommended the appointment
of q special joint committee to make
| ., thorough and systematic examina
tfon during the Summer.
He is a boyhood schoolmate and
playmate of President Coolidge. They
spent one year together at Black River
Academy before Mr.. Gibson went TO
Norwich University.
This institution where he received
| his preliminary instruction which
stood him in such good stead as com
manding officer for two years over
seas of the l72d Infantry, and which
has now conferred on him the hon
orary degree of doctor of laws, is one
of the oldest military institutions in
the country. 1t ranks next TO West
Point. IT has been on the preferred
list of military institutions under the
War Department for a very long time.
1t educated some of our best generals
not only in the Union Army but also
of the Confederacy.
x
Just as Maj. Gen. Gorgas won en-
during fame by cleaning up the
Panama Canal Zone of mosquitoes
| nd fIfr ~
been vexing the marines at Quantico
are 10 be exterminated. Specialists
from the Bureau OF Entomology of the
Department of Agriculture have re-
Gently been in conference with Etficers
Of the Marine Corps, concerning the
advisability of attemrt rting to control
the QuanticO mosquitoes by applying
arsenical dust TO breeding places by
means of airplanes.
That the Cumberland pike was the
real start Of the Federal good roads
system that now networks the entire
country, with a total expenditure Of
$54S 900 900 of Federal funds and four
times as much, or more than $1,000.
900 ,000, by the several States. was EN-
| phasized by Senator Oddie during con
| sideration of the Federal aid highway
u.
Backtracking this legislation. he ex
! planned that:
Federal aid was inaugurated under
the Federal aid road act OF 1916. This
was not, however, the first participa-
! tion by the Federal Government in
road building. AS early as 1903 Con
gress planned the Cumberland pike,
| running from Cumberland, Md, to
Nandalia, Ill. few years later il
a ~ . ho lP .
with Federal funds alone, at a. cost of
about $4,000 900.
Shortly after the pike was con
structed, it was turned over TO the
States. which in turn passed it on TO
, toll companies. And then for half
a century the much vaunted local
control was given an excellent try
out The only free highways for
years were impossible III unreasonable
weather. The free highways We're in
fact the byways.
I'm S93. two years after the States
began a real program of road constTuc-
tion, Congress appropriated $4,000 TO
esta bliSh the Office of road inquiry
which proceeded to inquire for eight
years
What is a Democrat" Among the
many recent efforts to word a succinct
definition there has appeared in the
Congressional Record the following,
written by former Senator Robert l..
Owen Of oklahoma:
"One who believes in freedom Of
speech, in freedom of the press in
freedom of religion. in the equal rights
of every person to life, liberty and to
the pursuit of happiness. and who be-
lieves in the principles OF the ConStitu-
ton of the United States properly in
terpreted. one who believes in the
fullest protection of property rights,
but who does not regard the property
rights of one class of citizens as supe-
rior to the rights of life and liberty
of another class of citizens.
He fav0rs just laws bearing equally
on all classes with special privileges
10 none. He favors a tariff for reve.
nue., knowing that a tariff for revenue
properly drawn is higher than the diff
ference in the cost of production at
home and abroad. He opposes tariff
schedules which prevent Importation
and pr0tec. American monopolies from
reasonable competition. He favors
the strictest economy and the lowest
taxes consistent with efficient admin
istration. He favors a government
truly responsive to public opinion. He
opposes unfair trade practices and the
abuses of private monopoly. He op-
poses all attempts of self-Seekine in
terests to control the operations of
the Government to private advantage
at the expense of the public.
He opposes the Republican part y,
because he believes that that party,
in spite of a large, liberal membership
believing in democratic principles. is
really dominated by the influence of
national monopolies to the disadvan-
tage of the majority of producers and
consumers.
"a Democrat may be g. Catholic or
Protestant, Jew or Gentle. of any
race whatever and q Democrat may
either favor the Volstead act or oppose
the Volstead act. He is a liberal as
opposed to ultra ra-conservatism.
There are many shades of democ-
racy, but the great body of democracy
is composed of the moderate liberal
elements of the country whose con-
structiye purpose was demonstrated
when they had power from 1913 to
1915"
x X v X
In support of legislation for the
Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania
County, Virginia. battlefields me-
mortal Representative Schuyler o.
Bland has prepared a history of this
territory with interesting comments
upon the heroic exploits that tram
spired there in the early days of
American patriotism, copies of which
are going into thousands of schools
throughout the land and especially
throughout the Old Dominion.
Representative Bland calls at
tention that the very names of Spot |
sylvania and Fredericksburg are re-
minders of their colonial ancestry, |
for Spotsylvania was named after
Alexander Spotswood, one of Vir- |
ginias most energetic and capable |
colonial governors. who had been |
wounded at the Battle of Blenhein, |