Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-06-09
Capital Sidelights
BY WILL p. KENNEDY.

House leader, added a couple more
laurel leaves TO his wreath as ma jority
leader during the past week. A big
man, who for half q century has been
able to take care Of himself on any
occasion. and who on occasion can be
right quick tempered, took with a
smiIe-a characteristic smile-rather
bitter criticisms Of his official pro-
cedure from two smaller man Thereby
he won the higher regard of his COL
leagues than if he had amused the
by taking offense and allow
ing his official duties and conduct to be
married by hard feelings.
When the House got itself into a snarl
over the census reapportlOnment bill
as a result of group feeling supporting
amendments that would veX antagon-
istic interests, and with the big ma
jority of members anxious to avoid a
record vote and in desperation that
such a vote was inevitable, it was I'D
to Tilson to try to find a way out.
First of all, after consulting with the
Speaker and other responsible leaders,
he sprang a surprise on the House so
as to allow time for bitter feelings to
cool off and a compromise to be worked
out. Then with q very small group of
tactical advisers he worked out a way
to avoid the record vote.
Before he could spring this new coup
he was publicly taken to task by Rep
resentative Beedy of Maine for not
having taken his colleagues into his
confidence about the jump adjourn
ment Mr.. Beedy reSenting being placed
in the attitude of being a rubber
stamp" When the Speaker offered him
an opportunity to reply Mr.. Tilson
brushed the incident away with a
chuckle. saying: The gentleman from
Maine has scolded the House for its
action. l hope that he is satisfied. /
do not see that what he says hurts the
House at all"
Then when Leader Tilson had made
his second surprise move to avoid the
record vote by striking out OF the bill
the entire section on reapportionment
containing the two feared amendments
and then reirserting other language,
with the amendments omitted. Repre-
sentative Hoch of Kansas, advocate of
one of the amendments. objected IF
any strong-arm methods are to be used
to prevent the House from passing on
this amendment" Still preserving the
integrity of his position as leader, with
the counsel of his party advisers, and
maintaining his unrIiffled demeanor, he
arose and registered objection Ito the
gentleman's statement as to strong arm
methods" He had previously explained
the matter frankly to his colleagues,
saying:
There is no need to dodge the ques-
ton. The principal thing it does is to
eliminate the two provisions that were
put into the bill the other day" Here
he was interrupted by applause. That
is the effect. frankly stated. and that
is the object of the amendment.
He proved himself a real leader in
an emergency and won the higher re-
gard of his colleagues.
n
Representative Tinkham Of Massa-
chusetts waited ID years for his hey
DAY in the House when by the Negro
Observation-Disclosures amendment he
achieved what Representative Whit
tington of Mississippi called n BOOM
erang-a phyrrlo victory"
When first elected to Congress and
before he came here for service, Mr..
Tinkham, with extensive political serv-
ice to city and State, carefully sur
veyed the field for an outstanding is
sue which he would fight for as a ma
tional legislator. He studied the Con-
stitution and many commentaries
thereon, seeking the advice of the late
Senator Lodge as to the best COM
mentaries. In all of these he found the
comment that the great evil was the
failure to enforce the fourteenth and
fifteenth amendments. "TheTe," soil
loquized Mr.. Tinkham, els my issue. I
ought to be able TO persuade the great
American Congress to wipe out the one
blot on our governmental system and to
correct the one weakness in our Consti-
tuition"
So he delivered his maiden speech in
the first Republican House caucus he
ever attended upon this subject and
has been harping on it ever since. His
colleagues did not begrudge him this
transient day Of success in having his
tentatively placed in the
bill. It caused them some anxious
and Mr.. Tinkham a few glor-
ious hours of satisfaction.
sic transit gloria mundi."
X X
BY his persistent, quiet, determined
fight to get legislation through at this
extra ordinary session of Congress for
esta blishing the National Capital air.
port for Government departments and
the local municipality of the District
of Columbia, Representative Charles L.
Underhil Of Massachusetts, Is but con-
ttnuing his effective work for develop
ment of the Capital City.
Some years ago, when almost every
one had given up hope that the Gov
ment would some day take over and
reclaim the dfsreputable area south of
avenue and at the very
front door OF the Capitol Building. on
9A lear I1n tHA1l =
hand" for many years, Underhill started
a campaign.
In several vigorous speeches he de-
scribed in vivid language the outlook
from the Capitol on Chinese dives and
gypsy fortune-telling joints and other
resorts. Then at a COM
mittee hearing he asked the engineer
officer in charge of public buildings and
grounds to submit an estimate of cost
for cleaning up the area at the west
front of the Capitol.
Consequent upon this crusade, and
with the hearty support OF leaders and
through the work Of Chair
man Elliott of the House committee on
public buildings and grounds, who
adroitly engineered the public building
program, We now have the entire area
along Pennsylvania avenue in process
Of development-the most pretentious
city rebuilding program ever attempted
in any great city.
When hope seemed darkest for early
action on the National Capital airport
Underhill refused to be dis
He won over the House
leaders, the appropriations committee.
and as result the President has ap-
proved and the Budget Bureau sub
mitted the estimate.
X X X
It's going to be pretty hard to know
by Just what title to address Repre-
sentative Ernest w. Gibson of Yer
mont.
BY virtue of distinguished service In
the World War he is a major in the
Reserve Corps OF the United States
Army.
BY virtue of many years service with
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