Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-02-13
Capital Sidelights

watched by the proverbial too many
cooks" there were a number OF bright
spots In the debate Representative
Wefald. Norseman from Minnesota
who flies the Farm Labor pennant.
told the following story to illustrate
how the farmers In his section feel
ON the banking situation:
Last Fall. on Thanksgiving day.
In Norwegian community. the pas
| tor of the congregation was preach
! ing his usual Thanksgiving sermon.
For his text at that time he took the
/ Bible story of Job~~and ! think that
was a good and fitting story for
that community just at that time. in
| that town. where the little church was
located. where he was preaching.
| there had been two banks. and both
| Of them were closed up.
Those of you who know anything
about the Norwegian people know
| that they are a very serious minded
people and they are very churchly.
What they lack in humor they make
up in seriousness. | was told that
after the pastor had read the text
| aid was preaching a fine sermon on
the text, he called attention to how
differently the people felt at this time
| from the way Job felt In his aff1ie-
lions. He told them how Job had
lost his children and all his property
and how even his wife had tempted
him TO curse God. but that he re-
i NAMED true to God. and the pastor
praised him. Then he said:
How different 1t Is with us, If
| we do not get aa good a crop as we
think we ought to have. We grumble;
/ II we do not get as many bushels
Of wheat to the acre as we think
we ought TO have, we grumble; If the
| price Of potatoes Ia not what We think
! II ought to he, We grumbe. II We
happen to lose couple OF hundred
| of dollars I'm bank that fails. we
act as though the world were coming
| to An end
And right there and thN in that
congregation something happened that
| has never before happened in A Nor.
wegian church congregation either in
| the United States or in Norway. It
| was too much for one elderly lady.
/ Her family had lost their savings in
o,,e of the banks; she got right up,
| interrupted the pastor and said:
Pastor I call your attention to
| this fact: It was God who inflicted
punishment on Job. hut 1t was thieves
| and rasca1s who took our money
away from us
| n X X
| Because few members of Congress
know the history of the white ele-
| plant" appellation which is in such
common use, Representative Clarence
| F. Lea of California gave little lee
! ture on the subject. apropos of the
| Muscles Shoals and Boulder Dam con-
, troversies, chiding the rules commit
tee not to he An improvident master
| of the legislative program. much to
| the merriment of the House:
| Long ago natives down in Africa
owned elephants which they used for
hunting, travel and the transportation
! of their products to the white traders.
| All the elephants We're brown except
| one. and he was white. The white
elephant was just S strong and just
as intelligent as the other elephants,
| but he had a ma ster who was too i'm
| provident to train him to work like
! the other elephants and to provide
| him with harness and trappings for
work. The white elephant was. there
| fore, q burden instead of productive
animal. He was a useless elephant.
and they called him "the white efe-
! phant." The improvidence of the
owner became a reproach to the
white elephant" THE white elepha mt "
! was blamed when the real trouble was
he had an improvident master.
| + ~
The recent publication by the Gov.
eminent of the Constitution, with an
| rotations. in q bulky volume, reminds
W. Andy Smith, So years In service
ss representative of the Government
| Printing Office at the Capitol. and J.
Martin Mckee, ~ years foreman OF
| the House folding room. of a very
| valuable pocket edition Of the Consti,
! tuition that was circulated by a patri
! otto member many years ago.
When Roswell p. Flower, former
gress he had a we'll worn pocket copy
| of the Constitution, in which he had
| learned to read as a boy, and which
| he carried close to his heart. Actu-
ated by the hope that he would en-
courage other boys to live daily close
to the Constitution. as he had. Mr..
| Flower had million copies of that
pocket edition printed at his own eX-
pense, which he distributed among the
youth of the land.
r Here is an opportunity for some
present member -of Congress to me
morialize himself and notably promote
patriotism by having another edition
of the vest pocket Constitution printed.
The Government Printing Office Is
| now engaged upon one of the most i'm
portant jobs in It's history, from a
historic viewpoint.
The Department of state made
reuuisition for rebinding the original
parchment copies of the acts of Con-
gress from the first to the fourteenth
Congress, inclusive. These priceless
documents were written with pen
and bear the signatures of President
Washington. Adams. jefferson and
| Madison. They had been bound in
| II books. which long since had be-
come useless because of decay and
neglect. The parchments. however,
were in good condition.
On account of the unwieldy con-
| tainers that would be required to
bind them by sessions it was decided
| to assemble the sheets in 80 smaller
| binders. A fve-post. loose-leaf binder
of high-grade metal parts was espe-
cially constructed for this job. each
binder having separate lock and
key. The parchments were securely
sewed to heavy guards, the guards
punched and eyeleted to At the posts
of the binder In such a way that by
unlocking the binder the parchments
could he easily removed for photostat-
ing To protect the edges from dust.
| a strong canvas envelope was made to
| fit inside the covers and inclose the
entire contents Of each binder. A
canvas cover finished the volumes in
! attractive and serviceable style. much
| to the satisfaction of the State De-
partment officials. who approved the
plans in all details. The cost of this
work will he about $4,000.
The bindery also rendered the State
Department valuable aid in the pres
ervation of its treaties. and state
papers by making 1924 specially de-
signed boxes In which to file these