The Waterbury Democrat., 1931-07-13
At 7he National Capitol DAILY WASHINGTON LETTER A Digest of Who's Who and Whats What
 By RODNEY BUTCHER
NEA Service Writer

N EA SCrNlCc WfltcE
 Washington.--Mr Ben Marsh, the l tall, gray veteran radical who dis plays more activity and gets more among the numerous persons in | Washington who devote themselves | to further social "causes," dashed | into this office with eyes agleam. At last, MT Marsh aVerred. he | had found himself affiliated with a | mass movement and this remarkable | discovery had given him the keenest | pleasure. MT Marsh is sometimes | thought to hold worlds record for | being in the minority.
 Occasionally, in fact, MT Marsh has been a minority all by himself. One of the things that has kept him l busiest for years has been his at- tempts to persuade progressive sen- ators to sponsor measures and pro- | grams which have frequently been | regarded by senators as two or three | hundred thousand years ahead of | the times.
 "Panacea" Promoter
 It is also believed that MT Marsh | for many years has held the cham piOnship for organizing petitions presented to and completely ignored
  cially presidents. Very often he has
 been supported by the signatures of
 widely known and respected persons,
 but the ideas and the proposals above the signatures have been | enough to horrify such conservatives as republicans, democrats and some times even most progressiVes. Mr Marsh, in short, is our most persist ent and perhaps most advanced pro- moter of what are contemptuously
 res,rrcd to by President Hoover as | 'panaceaS."
 Nevertheless everybody knows Ben Marsh and most people like | him. Even the progressives, with whom he is generally disgusted be- | cause of their conservatism and who | keep complaining that Ben spoils | the appearance of their parade by | flashing out 20 or 30 paceS in front Ben is 54 years old now and, as Mother Jones used to say of herself, | the longer he lives the more radical l he gets. His background includes lengthy public service as an expert on distribution of population and its congestion in New York state and as a charity worker with special | reference to children.
 For several years he has been se- l cretary and almost the entire work of an organization here known as
 the peoples Lobby, the president of which is Professor John Dewey. Seeks JOblcss Relief Getting back to that gleam in MT Marsh's eyes and his boast of really | being in on a mass movement at | last-he says that a majority of the American people want special ses- | sion of congress to enact program of unemployment relief. Otherwise he explains, he would not now be I able to produce a memorial to the
 president and members of congress signed by twelve hundred mayors,
 economists, labor leaders, educators
 preachers, priests, rabbis, Salvation Army officers sociologists, publicists
 community chest directors, Red
 Cross workers and other social
 workers"
 l The petition is an impressive rec
 ord of sentiment, but on behalf of
 6.OO0.000 unemployed whose savings
 are virtually exhausted and who face
 acute distress, it urges federal ap- l propriations of $3,000,0 100000 for I public works, $250, .OOO for direct
 relief and $250,00O,000 for subven-
 tion of state unemployment insur-
 ance systems. No one really expects | President Hoover to comply.