Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-03-15
Capital Sidelights
BY WILL p. KENNEDY.

uncle sam, through various Govern
ment agencies, is endeavoring to pro-
tect the American people from becom-
ing gullible victims of financial sharp
shooters. For example, the Post ONCE
Department for many years has had
as one Of the important branches of
its work an entire bureau devoted to
detection and denying the use Of the
mails to hundreds of concerns endeav-
oring to defraud the public.
Another such protective agency is the
Food and Drug Division of the United
States Department of Agriculture, and
a third is the Federal Trade Commits
sion In fact. almost every department
or bureau of the Federal Government Is
vigilant every day in the year to pre-
vent the investing, the purchasing, the
consuming and the ailing public from
being duped.
The letter files of nearly every mem
Der of Congress contain many letters
from constituents who have been "stung"
or who have been fortunate enough to
dodge the wileS and snares of the I'M
scrupulous fake advertisers.
y y
In their zeal to shield the health and
well-being of the people, Government
scientists are oftentimeS misunderstood
and accused of taking the Joy out of
life or Of not being sympathetic with
tho pleasures of childhood, For ex-
ample, the great Department Of Agri-
culture, on the recommendation of some
Of its scientists. has just warned against
dangerous dolls" Here Is the explana-
ton:
Mexican dolls, like American dolls,
are supposed TO be innocent, but when
they are made from the husks and silk
from Mexican corn, they may be a
source of danger to the agriculture Of
the United States. Plant quarantine
inspectors of the Federal department,
charged with preventing the entry from
Mexico of borers and other pests OF the
corn plant, recently examined a doll
found in hand luggage about to cross
the border into the United States. Al
though they found no borer in the dolls
husk skirts or silk hair, they did find a
fungus that causes the brown spot dis
ease Of corn. This disease Is the sub
ject of another quarantine against
plants from Southeastern Asia and the
adjacent islands.
X
One of the innovations" recently set
up by Congress was to substitute for the
old custom of setting apart some par
ticular day for memorial exercises at
which some particular deceased member
would be eulogiZed, and having such
memorial days frequently occurring, the
new custom of having a joint memorial
service in COMMUNICATION of all the
members who die during a session.
Then, in addition to the definitely ar
ranged program for such memorial OK
ercises each member Is allowed the
rr{HyfIaoa NJ 0ayfar dincJb HE ram arkS fY,
the Record to say what his heart
prompts about any colleague.
There has just been printed a spe-
| cial issue Of the Congressional Record
which contains the report of the me
mortal exercises" on Thursday, February
10, in commemoration of Senators
Overman, North Carolina, and Greene
Vermont, and Representatives Porter
Pennsylvania; Lampert, Wisconsin;
KieSs, Pennsylvania; Stedman, North
Carolina; Hammer, North Carolina;
| Curry, California; Wingo, Arkansas;
Quayle, New York, and O'Connell, New
York. Included in this program is the
brief Official tribute penned by William
| Tyler Page, clerk of the House, and the
/ set addresses made by chosen speakers
from each Of the States which had lost
member by death. This special Rec
ord contains also more than 100 speech
4
ciative colleagues.
For any one interested in this sort OF
literature the Record of Friday, March
Is, is well worth preserving.
One of the new statues of famous
generals who hold a high place in the
history Of this Nation, which 1t is ex-
pected will be placed strategically in the
Capital City development within the
coming year, so that it may be feature
Of the George Washington Bicentennial
celebration and inspire the youth OF
countless tomorrowS, is that Of Mai
Gen. ARENAS Ward, first commander in
chief Of organized resistance by the
Colonies at the beginning of the War OF
independence. It is proposed that this
| monument shall be placed in a special
reservation facing the American Uni
versity.
Representative Robert Luce of Massa-
| chusetts, chairman of the House Com
mittee on the Library, which has juris-
diction over such monuments, has been
| trying for several years to get this mon
ument properly placed. The Bicenten-
NAL year of 1882 is considered especially
appropriate since Gen. ARENAS Ward
not only was first to command the Rev.
dictionary Army, but was second to
Washington, served usefully in the
Continental Congress and two of our
earliest Federal Congresses and gave
the active years of his life to the serv-
ice of his country.
Representative Luce has several times
made stirring statements to his COL
leagues in Congress regarding the debt
| this Nation owes to Gen. Ward.
colonel of Massachusetts militia who
| had gained experience and won promo
| ton in the T1conderoga campaign against
| the French in 1853, he was removed by
Gov. Bernard in 1865 because his course
as a member of the General Court had
led the Governor to think him too dan
gerous a man to hold such command
Eight years later, when the break
with England was approe ching, the
officers of the regiment threw up their
/ commissions and proceeded to organize
| independently, with Ward as colonel
The outcome was that when the
Provincial Congress chose three general
officers to command the militia in the
event of its being called out by the
Committee of Safety, Ward was named
second of them, and as the man at the
head of the list never acted, Ward led
the army that gathered on the outbreak
of hostilities.
He was i'll in bed when the express
rider galloped through his town OF
Shrewsbury Mass, in the central part
of the State, with the news of Licking
ton and Concord. But the next morn
| ing at daybreak he mounted his horse
and set out for Cambridge, where he at
once took command, thenceforward con-
Quoting the siege of Boston until the
arrival of Washington, a fortnight or
so after the battle of Bunker Hill.
The Continental Congress had chosen
Washington for the supreme command.
| BY the testimony of John Adams it is
known that Ward was the choice OF
the greatest number" but his title to
first place was sacrificed by the New
England statesmen to meet the over