Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-10-19
DE- JAMES 2. CROMWELL.

OA6SSeQ. fLuJnS are un1OrRet-
~ table. If you have one working
for you in Washington, you can
always give q quick, intelligent and &C.
curate answer to anybody who asks you
VINO your Representative is. Living out
SIDE the districts where the various
fSuthS hold forth, have never enjoyed
the privilege of knowing the exact iden-
lily OF the person waging my battles for
me on the floor Of the House. When ]
vote Tor John or George, Harry or Will
nam, that Is the end of it. NV candi-
date and invariably part company on
election day, and it passes entirely out
OF my mind that he is down there on
the banks of the Potomac holding the
bag. For all know, the invisible DOW
ers that be might be subjecting me to
tnat early American torture, taxation
without representation. take it on
faith that they aren't.
Ruthian constituents have no such
problem. Not only do they know posi-
lively that they are being represented
IN washington, but they can tell YOU
the full name of the person who is doing
1t. The other day conducted an ex-
pertinent to see If this is not so. At
Fourteenth street and Sixth avenue, Just
within the southern boundary of the
Seventeentn congressional district, I
asked neWsboy If he could tell me the
name Of his Congressman. Sure" he
said. Ruth Pratt" At Ninety-sixth
street and Central Park West, the ex-
treme northwestern boundary. / tried
the question out on an elderly woman.
and she, too, scored a buIls-eye. So
uio 10 other persons at different points.
One Political Set-tO Has 1T.
In a similar vein there is a 100 per
cent awareness throughout the seven
teenth that a spectacular battle now
wages to take the toga of statecraft
away from the woman who was the flrst
OF her sex to be elected to Congress
from this State, just as she was the first
woman member Of the city Board of
Aldermen. Neither Ruth Pratt nor her
TWO men opponents are leaving the
voters In the dark on this score. In the
various campaigns taking place over
the lan0 this Autumn there may be a
lew OF greater national interest. but
certainly none with a livelier back
ground OF all the human elements which
90 10 keep the voters keyed to their
nlgneSt pitch. This Is the one political
~fcto which has 1T.
ave Is a battle royal which clearly
Eetutes the idea that there is nothing
new unoer the sun. The Ruth Pratt
aeyWooo Broun-Louis Brodsky bid for
support is distinctly a premiere behind
which there are no precedents. There
= lady, there is a tiger and into the
arena where these two strange adver-
sarieS stand, face to face. bounds the
large and billowy figure of a newsnaner
columnist, not to rescue the lady from
tne claws OF the jungle beast, but to
CaIry on hank attack all his own.
0st"een the yelps Of the Tammany tiger
@no the wisecracks of the Socialist
writer, plus the fact that A womon is
tne heroic figure, 1t must be admitted
points. A mas us
Voters Offered Amazing Ra re.
A. Is it to be the lady, or the tiger. or
the numOr1st? It Is not often that the
voters OF any district are offered such
an amazing range of choice. And the
200 people OF the Seventeenth are duly
appreclauve OF the fascinating political
performance which Is being nut an for
their benefit. It is a Constituency as
varlegated as the candidates themselves
1aklng the districts population bv and
large, there Is no one stratum Of hu-
mainly you will find missing from its
ranks. IL has its Jewish quarter. its
Italian settlement, its Negro colony.
Every nationality, every race, every
1890, every sphere of life from the
nlgnest to the lowest estate is repre-
sented within its boundaries. The one
positive feature about it is that it does
encompass the great Fifth avenue CEN
Ter OF wealth and fashion. Because Of
mat fact some one once dubbed Il the
six stocking district Today that
eppellation would apply equally as well
70 any other portion Of the city where
stockings are worn, but the name ciings
priority.
It Is not the so-called silk stocking"
vote alone which brings victory to polit-
zeal aspirants in this cosmopolitan ter.
rloory. The balance Of power lies in
those sections which are socially. If not
geographically, outside OF the Fifth ave-
nue. sphere. And nobody knows this
better than Ruth Pratt. Through five
unbroken years Of ONCE holding three
as member of the Board Of Aldermen
from the Fifteenth Aldermanic District
which Is part Of the Seventeenth Con-
greSstonal-and two as Representative
IN Congress, she has carefully refrained
from any word or gesture which might
be construed as indicating that she was
the spokesman for any one quarter.
Hers has been q revealing incumbency.
Adhering to the theory that the sue
cessful candidate is obligated to repre-
sent the district as whole rather than
merely to serve in the interests OF the
winning party, she finds herself at this
critical moment delightfully."- I'M
shackled. With equal emphasis, she
can say to the friends and foes Of yes
terday that she worked for both.
Has Advantage Of Being Incumbent.
Though Mrs. Pratt has the advantage
Of being the holder of the ONCE at
issue, with a record Of things already
achieved as an argument to weigh
against hnV - I,o&
they would do, she has never thrown
more energy into any campaign than
she is putting into this. AS near as it
Is possible to come into personal con-
tact with the 70,000-odd voters Of the
Seventeenth, she Is doing 1t. Her ex-
perienceS of previous years have proved
the effectiveness of the direct canvass.
When she went before the voters in
1925 as a candidate for alderman the
opposition pilloried her as a fine lady
from Fifth avenue who could by no
stretch of the imagination be in SYM
pathy with the problems Of the work.
ingman. To take the word of the SOAP
box orators, one would have been ready
to believe that II somebody had told
Mrs. Pratt the poor people were without
bread she would have recommended
that they eat cake in good Marie An
toinette style.
mere YVES an impression WHICH mao
to be corrected, and Ruth Pratt used
her own methods TO gain that en-. She
went straight to the voters, not merely
as g public speaker uttering the usual
cut and dried platitudes, but right into
their homes, where conversation could
be carried on without restraint. She
Avoided the old familiar tricks OF cam
paigning. 1t was not through currying
favor with Mrs. Murphy or Mr.. Cohen,
faxT the f0HIg1QA hnoAR M chill
dren. that she sought to win the votes
~ Ilaoea xvOr,aan She heliavad that AGra