Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-01-18
Capital Sidelights

ago. was not exactly on all fours with
the present conflict between the Presi-
dent and the Senate of the United
States, 1t established the rule that
after papers have been transmit
ted, the action is final, according to
Representative Robert Luce Of MaSSa-
chusettS, author of standard works on
legislative bodies and legislative pro-
cedure.
I'm that year (182O)," Representative
Luce writes, Congress furnished a no.
table instance of the questionable use
to which may be put restrictions on the
time Of moving to reconsider. BY a
trick rarely equaled in parliamentary
procedure, Henry Clay saved his Mis-
souri, compromise, or at any rate, guard
ed it from danger. The bill had passed
the House March 2. On the morning
of the Sd, John Randolph, having voted
with the majority, moved reconsidera-
ton. Clay, as Speaker, ruled the mo-
ton out of order until the ordinary
business of the morning, as prescribed
by the rules of the House, should be
disposed Of
''When at last that business was out
of the way and Randolph renewed his
motion, Clay informed him the bill had
gone to the Senate. The fact was that
the clerk had hurried the bill to the
Senate while Clay was ruling Rapdolph's
motion out Of order. It Is not Surpris-
ing that this helped to flame the quarrel
in which the compromise involved the
two men, developing into the bitterest
enmity and almost costing Randolph
his life. The practice of the House
was later changed so as to allow the
motion to reconsider to be made at any
moment within the prescribed time"
X r y
The significance of the approaching
Sesquicentennial Celebration at York
town has been brought to the attention
of Congress and the world at large by
Representative Schuyler 0. Bland, who
represents the yorktown and jamestown
district in the House. He pointed out
that the exposition at Philadelphia COM
memorated the 150th anniversary OF the
adoption of the Declaration OF hide
pendence. Bunker Hill, Bennington, the
independence of Vermont, Saratoga and
the surrender of Burgoyne, the capture
of Vincennes by George Rogers Clark,
the Battle of Kings Mountain and the
work of the Continental Congress at
York, Pa, have also been comment
Grated, he said, In an appropriate man
ner. He pointed to the recent tercen-
tenary celebration Of the Massachusetts,
Bay colony, In which Congress notably
co-operated.
In 1882 exercises will be held through
out the United States to commemorate
the 2O0th anniversary Of the birth OF
Gen. George Washington.
The browning event of Washington s
military career was the victory which
he won at Yorktown. This glorious
elimination Of Washington's military
service came exactly four months and
three days before his flftieth birthday
anniversary The 150th anniversary OF
the surrender of Yorktown and the
permanent establishment of American
independence will precede by four
months and three days the Nationwide
celebration of the 200th anniversary OF
the birth of the great soldier whose
genius created this Nation, Representa-
tive Bland emphasized.
The year Of the celebration OF the
200th anniversary Of Washington's birth
will also be the 325th anniversary OF
the establishment at jamestown, Va, OF
the flrst permanent English settlement
in the New World.
These reasons impelled the Congress
Of the United States to create q ma
tional commission to prepare and re-
port a plan and a program for the
commemoration of the siege and sur
render at yorktown. This Sesquicen-
tennial commission consists of five Sen
ators of the United States and five
members of the House Of Representa-
tives. The Senator'S are: Swanson OF
Virginia, chairman: Reed of Pennsylva-
mia, Bingham of Connecticut, Town
send of Delaware and Wagner of New
York. The House members are Repre-
sentativeS Bacon, New York; Fitzgerald,
Ohio; Stobbs, Massachusetts,; Byrns,
Tennessee, and Crisp of Georgia, who
Is vice chairman of the commission.
The commission has recommended q
four-day celebration, with exercises
along the same general lines as the
centennial celebration at Yorktown in
1881, consisting of educational and
commemorative exercises, aSsemblages
Of patriotic societies and military and
naval reviews and parades.
Congress has meanwhile authorized
the creation of the Colonial National
Monument, which will consist Of
jamestown, part of Williamsburg and
the battlefield at Yorktown, with q
highway connecting those points.
\ n X X
Representative Bland recalls that the
livered the grafton at the centennial
celebration in 1881, standing upon the
last scene of Washington's glorious
military endeavors, when he said:
"'While the Coliseum stands, Rome
shall stand was the familiar proverb
of antiquity. We associate the dura-
bility of our free institutions with no
material structure. Columns and
obelisks, statues and monuments, con-
secreated halls and stately capitols may
crumble and disappear; the little ST.
Johns Church in Virginia, where
Patrick Henry exclaimed, Give me lib
House, where James Otis 'breathed into
this Nation the breath Of life; the Old
South Church, Faneuil Hall, in Boston,
Carpenters Hall and the Hall of indie
pendence, at Philadelphia, one after
another, may be sacrificed to the i'm
provement OF thoroughfare, or fall be-
fore the memorable elements; but when
the character and example Of Wash
ington shall have lost their hold upon
the hearts of the people, when his pre-
cepts shall be discarded and his prin-
ciples disavowed and rejected, we may
then begin to fear, If not to despair, for
the perpetuity of our Union and Of our
freedom"
The same thought was expressed near
ly so years later by another great orator
of the American people. Representative
James M. Beck of Pennsylvania, speak
ing on the floor of the House as Repre-
sentative on the 197th anniversary of
birthday, when he said:
LET us reverently thank the God
of our fathers that Washington'S influ-
ence is still a shining light. It illumi-
mates as none others the soil of Ameri-
ca. It is today, as it has ever been, a
vital force. From his grave in Mount
Vernon he still guides the destinies of
the American people. When the seas
are smooth, we little feel his presence,
but when the ship of state plunges into
a storm and is threatened by angry
seas, his mighty shade is again our
helmsman.
..rI,l,o Artl,,rin,n lnnnrnd tolls that