Evening star., 1932-10-30
Capital Sidelights
BY WILL p. KENNEDY.

BY WILL p. KENNEDY.
How wild is wild Bill" Donovan, Re-
publican candidate for Governor Of New
York? What made him wild? How did
he get that name?
Here's your answer from George r.
Farnum, who was closely associated
with the same wild Bill" when they
were both Assistant Attorneys General.
at the time that President Hoover came
into Office. He says:
The valor of his deeds as a soldier,
the vital enthusiasmS of his nature and
the dynamic tempo of his life earned
the affectionate tribute that such
sobriquet implies" DEPRESSING a mo-
ment, 1t should be emphasized that
Col. Donovan was a real soldier. He
was a captain of cavalry in the New
York National Guard and developed
into assistant chief of staff of the 9th
Division in the American Expeditionary
Forces. Later he was successfully pro-
NOTED to the colonelcy of the famous
old Goth New York Regiment. He was
wounded three times and awarded the
Congressional Medal of Honor, the Dis
tinguished Service Cross, the Distin-
guished Service Medal, the Legion Of
Honor and the CroiX de Guerre with
palms and silver star
After the war, just 10 years ago, Col.
Donovan was a candidate for Lieuten-
ant Governor of New York, SO his
present campaign IS not a new expert
ence for him. In the meantime he has
suffered. however, a bitter disappoint-
ment, for he confidently expected to be
selected by Mr.. Hoover four years ago
to be Attorney General of the United
States.
But George Farnum tells us that
wild Bill" impressed him "emphatical-
ly as the exact antithesis of what his
nickname conveys. A more cool-headed,
self disciplined and temperamentally
equilibrated individual 1 have seldom
encountered. In fact, think his
extraordinary self-mastery has played
no unimportant role in his success and
is one Of the keys to the power of his
PERSONAL y"
And Farnum carries George Wind
hams metaphor that Arthur Balfour
knows there's been an ice age and
thinks there's going to be another" to
a happier conclusion by saying that Bill
Donovan'S nature, on the contrary,
always has about 1t some real sugges-
are fundamentally friendly and SYM
pathetic, his attitude frank and cordial.
There is something trresistibly in
gratiating in the charm of his per-
sonality. There are no studied man
nerisms, but the reflex Of sincere emo
tions of his heart, which, while they do
not compromise his mental poise or
disturb the fine balance of his judg-
ment, serve to harmonic all his mental
processes.
We are touching history every day
without giving it thought. Sight
seers going through the Capitol building
hardly notice a fight of stone steps
heading to the basement labyrinth oc-
cupied by the House folding room.
which distributes annually hundreds of
thousands of books and pamphlets, and
which is presided over, decade after
decade. by one of the most genial. help
ful veteran employees. Martin Mckee.
His father-in-laW, John Connolly, who
died in 1910, was a fine soldier. On
the night of the assassination CT PreSi-
cent Lincoln and the attempt on the
life of Secretary Seward, Connolly, who
was special messenger 10 Gen. Hardle,
inspector general Of the United States
Army, was held up by a man in front
of the White House After being looked
over carefully he was allowed TO pass.
He learned later that he was mistaken
for scme one sought by the conspira-
tors. as a few minutes later ii vas
heralded generally that the President
had been shot.
Mr.. Connolly maintained that the
man who accoSted him that night was
John Celestina, the supposed assassin Of
Secretary Seward, and kept the latter's
photograph among his memorabilia.
Mr.. Connolly was a well known figure
in the National Capital a quarter of a
century ego. He had served in the
Indian campaigns with Gen. Hardie in
Washington Territory and California
and was stationed at The Dalles and
IariouS other points in the late sos.
After service in the Civil War he came
to Washington and continued to serve
under Gen Hardie. who was then in
spector general He resided in one of
the old houses across Seventeenth street
west from the old State War and Navy
Building, known as the Warder Building
Some sidelights are thrown on the
magnitude and multlfarious activities OF
the United States postal service for the
American people by Representative John
T. Buckbee Of Rockford. Ill, who is
himself one of the leading argricul-
turistS and horticulturists of the coun-
try. He took his technical training in
these subjects in Austria. France, Hol-
land. Denmark. Sweden, Belgium. Italy
and Great Britain-sO he has consider
able of an Old World background. He
is head of one OF the worlds best
known seed houses.
Mr.. Buckbee declares that in his
opinion the United States Post Office
Department is the greatest business
building organization in the world. The
postal establishment, however" ne en-
phaSizeS, lis neither an industrial nor
commercial organization. II
manufactures nothing and it buys and
sells nothing except service Yet mil
lions of complete commercial transac-
tions are carried on daily with the use
of all classes of mail in the postal serv-
ice" he explains.
Many services are rendered by the
Post Office Department" he points out
that are free services and from which
no revenue whatever is turned in as
postal receipts. These services include
the sale by postmasterS of internal rev.
enue stamps: the preparation by post
masters for mailing for an author OF
copyright matter to be sent to the
registrar of copyrights; the administer
ing by poStmaSterS of oaths to pensioners
and their witnesses in the execution OF
pension vouchers; the posting of weather
reports. and other Government reports
in post Offices. and cooperating with
the various States under the plant
quarantine act to prevent the intro
duction and spread of plant disease and
insect infeStationS.
The mails also carry free reading
matter for the blind and permit free-n-
county privileges for newspapers and
periodicals. The postal service had
had g very material part in the pioneer
development of roads and railroads in
new sections of the country through
the establishment of star and rural
routes and railway mail service on the
railroads.
The service for which the Post Office
Department expends upward Of 100000
annually is sold to the public in the
form of more than $1,000, 100000 OF