Evening star., 1927-12-04
CONTINUED from First Page)

Senator White. And as the abashed
Mr. Jinks resumed his seat the Sena
tor continued. I'm always reminded
of a definition that l think old Tom
Reed once gave: a statesman is a
dead politician AS for you, let's talk
this thing over bit. my boy. and
maybe I can give you pointer or two
was a youngster here once myself
In those days it wasn't like it Is now
but sometimes think it might be bet
ter If it was. In my day new Con-
, gressman was TO he seen, but not
heard AS it is now, you youngsters
can go over there in the House and
make speech on the opening day of
Congress. and maybe get away with
it. But I've never noticed 1t helped
much--helped either the country or
the Congressman.
'You spoke Of getting assigned to
the ways and means committee, and
YOU intimated that it wouldn't dis
please YOU to he put on the appropria-
tions committee. You hinted that
you'd like a little job on the agricul-
tural committee. Well, YOU and about
434 others feel the same way, but I'm
afraid you're not going to have a
whole lot Of picking to do. But never
mind. II YOU get on the committee
for the disposition Of useless executive
papers or the committee on claims or
industrial arts and eXpositions, don t
!. let that bother YOU. Better things
will come.
"But here YOU are in Congress.
You've got respectable, comfortable
lob. with a decent salary. probably
more than YOU made back in Ola. and
. lot of prestige and honor to help
things along. Now that you're on
the job YOU want to make good. Your
job is staying in Congress. Whether
you are successful depends pretty
much on YOU.
"Now. l suppose your idea of being
a good Congressman is to stay on the
floor, answer every" roll call. object
whenever you get Il good chance.
never cut u committee meeting. take
part in every debate and treat the
boys to some honest-to goodness ora
tory whenever there's hull. / see
you've got Il speech already prepared.
Well, go down to some hardware store
and get yourself a good, strong, tin
box, with n lock to it. Put the speech
in the box, lock it tight throw the
key in the Tidal Basin and the box in
the Potomac River. And do that with
all your speeches for the next couple
OF terms. You'll get along better.
a guess YOU want to make record
answering roll calls. There's no harm
in it, but l doubt whether the country
gives much of hoot whether you
answer all the roll calls or not. l
guess you've been studying up on
parliamentary law so you can help
the Speaker out when he gets in a
, snarl You'd be surprised. but most
of the boys think that they're not so
bad. yet out of 435 of them, wouldn't
count on more than 20 to help the
Speaker or anybody else when it
comes to parliamentary law"
X + X
There are just two things you've
got to do. One is be regular. The
other is take care of the folks back
home. Do both well and some day
the country may allude to you offhand
as d statesman. BY being regular
mean be good. Try to get desk off
>in some quiet corner on your side of
the House chamber and vote the way
you're told to vote, do the little jobs
you're given to do and don't speak
out of turn. Be regular. Attend your
committee meetings, don't always dis
agree with the chairman, don't think
the man who does the most talking
knows the most. and don't be afraid
to take on hard job even if it does
mean you won't get your name in the
papers. Don't say anything until you
know what to say, and if you think
the partys going off on the wrcng
track, remember the party's a whole
lot bigger than you are and you can't
stop it. Just climb up and tuck your
self away in some coZy corner on the
band wagon, and ride it with the rest
of them. If you've got something to
tell the House, some facts to give the
members. some point to make, say
your piece and sit down. After a new
Congressman treats the House to one
4 or more long spells of oratory youll
notice the newspaper boys in the press
gallery all have to smoke about the
time he gets the floor and the rest of
tilc iiltlIlDSis Will dFOlu like d
pole cat. Let man get a reputa-
ton for Grating simply because he
likes to crate and he's through. All
the House wants from you in debate
is facts. A man who can state new
fact is worth a whole package of
orators.
''Sit tight and learn. Do what
you're told to do. If you think it S
right. so much the better If you
think it's wrong, come over and talk
to me, or go TO your leaders and talk
to them, but don't talk out loud. If
you're steady and quiet. and regular,
there'll come day when the leaders
will remember you as a dependable
fellow that's nice to have around, and
then YOU can begin talking about Jobs
on the appropriations committee or
ways and means. Ten or Is men over
there in the Capitol run that House.
Forget about being a statesman for
four or five years.
But don't forget your home work.
What you do here in your Office is
more important than any hundred
speeches you can make on the floor.
7 You can introduce 40 bills, but they