Evening star., 1932-11-13
Capital sidelights
BY WILL r. KENNEDY.

Politics makes. strange bed-fellows"
is being borne out ini the makeup OF
the House in the new Congress, where
all sorts OF characters" and a quite
general cross-section of American life
will be found. There are two former
United States Senators coming into the
House, both able men and valuable
asset in legislative deliberations, but
quite an antithesis to each other. One
a finished product of the aristocracy
and wealthy class of the United States,
the other an immigrant from Warm
land, Sweden, Of the rugged farmer
class James Walcott Wadsworth,
Civil War veteran breveted for gallant
service at Five Forks, was elected to
Congress so years ago and served for
Is years. Now his son, James Walcott
Wadsworth, the I'd, famous Yale athlete
and Spanish War veteran, who served in
the Puerto Rican campaign, who served
with q notable record in the Senate
from 1915 to 1927. is coming back into
political life at the Capitol. But Mag
nus johnson had no hereditary urge
toward Congress. For more than 40
years he has been son of the soil in
Minnesota, taking active part in the
organization and management of CO.
operative marketing exchanges. After
holding many offices in the interests
of the farmers in local and State poll
tics, he was Farm-Labor candidate for
Governor 10 years ago, and after being
defeated was elected to the United
States Senate for the unexpired term of
that grand old Swede, the late Senator
Knute Nelson.
We already have in the House the
cowboy king, Richard NJ Kleberg,
whose place" covers 100000 acres of
land and who ships each year from
$4,000 to $4,000 cattle. One field is
surrounded by 80 miles of fence and
it takes a train three hours to cross
his domain. When the old rambling
ranch house was burned down 20 years
ago noted architects were called in and
designed a stucco and marble place,
with dining room that seats 100 per-
sons and so many bed rooms that they
are numbered for convenience as in a
hotel. The ranch is so big that 1t is
divided into seven sections under as
sistant managers. An airplane Is used
to make trips about the ranch.
The proof readers insisted that we
had made typographical mistake when
we made up our table showing that
Monrad G. Wallgrern of Everett, Wash,
had been elected as a Democrat to the
House.
Such is fame-for this is the same
Monrad c. Wallgrem who two years ago
won the Pacific Coast championship as
billiardiSt in the balkline 1872 contest
and followed that up by winning the
national championship.
Representative Frank Llewellyn Bow
man of West Virginia. who comes of a
long line of Welsh clergymen, has been
defeated by Jennings Randolph, q for
mer athletic director.
And SO 1t goes. We have a varied and
interesting assortment of new Congress
men coming in.
The ancient King of Persia who.
when enraged and piqued by his Queen,
planted the seeds of the postal system
OF today by sending letters into every
province Of his vast empire informing
his subjects that it was his imperial
will that every man should bear rule
in his own home, could never have
foreseen the tremendous growth of the
United States postal system, Representa-
tive James M. Mead, chairman Of the
House Committee on Post Offices and
Post Roads, tells us.
Last year it took nearly 400, 900 per-
sons to collect, deliver and account for
the mail, he points out. The larger
groups included 1000 clerks in the
principal post offices, $4,000 city letter
carriers, $4,000 postmasters, AZ, 900 rural
carriers, $1,000 railway postal clerks,
4.900 watchmen, messengers and
laborers, $500 motor vehicle employees.
1900 assistant postmasters, 1000 village
delivery carriers, while more than
100000 employees were engaged in the
airmail, international mail, inspection.
contracts, substitute and special services.
This activity" Representative Mead
emphasized, which transports your let
ter from convenient mail box to some
far corner Of the globe. keeps going
"a hours a day; it covers every street.
avenue and roadway in every section of
our republic; 1t travels by land. water
and air, and it serves every county,
city, town, village and individual In the
entire United States"
The mail goes through regardless of
all obstacles, he points out, Illustrating
that during recent severe Winter it
was necessary for mail carrier to
have 80 head of horses to maintain the
service in his mountainous territory.
Progressive as the service has been,
however, we have what has been called
a Jack powered" conveyance In the
postal system. Out in Colorado the mail
has been transported from the post office
to the railroad station for 81 years in
buckboard wagon drawn by q Jack
mule, but the NAH goes through.