Evening star., 1933-05-07
Capital Sdielights
BY MIL p. KENNEDY.

4
| Senate files is being done-has been
| done for more than six years-by one
| Of those "unsung heroes" who have put
| their hearts into tedious task, In the
cellar of the Capitol, in dust covered
| closets, up under the skylight close to
the dome, searching under coatings of
! coal dust and the filth of a century or
more. Col. Edwin A. Halsey. the Sem
ate secretary. gives unstinted credit to
| Harold E. Hufford of Indiana, file clerk
of the Senate, for his faithful and zeal
| Gus work during the past six years. in
rescuing from oblivion these most sac
red documents, many of which he
| found in obscure places being trampled
/ under foot.
| While all Senate documents have
| AIDES was not Systematically done, care
! fully filed and indeXed. The documents
were merely stored away in haphaz-
ard style, often times with unrelated
| documents heaped into the same
bundle File Clerk Hufford has put
| system into the filing, searched tire
lessly for missing documents. and now
has them carefully sorted over indexed
and filed in steel cases. He has the
/ work practically completed up to the
Sixty-f1fth Congress.
1
each paper in a packet-sorting over
thousands of bundles and boxes in
every nook and Granny of the Senate
| end of the Capitol and finding some OF
! the greatest treasures in most unex-
| pected places.
Among the papers Of the Senate Mil
itary Affairs Committee during the
period when Henry Wilson of Massachu-
sets, who succeeded the noted Edward
/ Everett, was chairman of that commit
| tee, are letters from famous officers ask
ing to be placed in command of the new
Negro regiments about to be formed
l862-63. One of these is dated Febru-
! ary IL, 1862, from Robert DEwald. for
merly a captain in the Prussian Army
then professor of music, German and
French in Indianapolis, who had served
with distinction under Gen. Kimball.
| Only yesterday Mr.. Hufford found a
I letter signed by John c. Calhoun, dated
1924, in box with papers of the Sixty
fourth Congress, 19l5-17. This Calhoun
letter was evidently withdrawn from the
Senate files for some purpose and when
returned 1t was not placed back in the
files where it chronologically belonged
but was tossed into the most conven-
lent receptable-out of place only a
mere matter of some 80 years.
1
heretofore largely dumped" they are
now being carefully preserved for ready
reference-and the important, though
dirty work of bringing this order out OF
chaos, had been done by this incon-
spicuous file clerk
rs it worth while" Mr.. Hufford wa:
asked, when found under the skyligh,
where it was hot and stuffy with Goa
dust all about, literally pouring over q
bundle Of old documents.
Its been my job" he answered, "ano
I've done it the way I thought it ought
to be done. I may lose this job. but ]
will leave it knowing that these files are
IN order and systematized, so that those
who are searching for source material;
and the records can find them
These files are consulted by historians
college professors and research students
writing books or treatises-by people
who are searching for foundation facts
to set history straight Mr. Hufford il
pointed to by Col. Halsey as the for
gotten man" who has been dirtying his
hands and using his special talents tc
bring the statesmen of the past and the
students Of future generations to 9
common meeting place.
x
The human side of mankind-great
and small-survives in memory wear:
after his great deeds have been pigeon.
holed and dust covered in the attic o
history. That has been eternallv true
since nomadic tribes sung their sagas
since Priscilla said to John Alden
Why don't you speak for yourself
Jchn'-since George Washington die
or did not throw a dollar across the
Potomac and tock hack at the cherry
tree
Take the Congressional Record-thc
daily newspaper Of Congress. chroniclins
what Is said and done in the legislative
chambers-it is an intensely human
document. Now comes Representative
Raymond Cannon Of Milwaukee pro-
posing that time and money be con
served by restricting the free distribu
ton Of the Record. OF course. the "ex
tension of remarks section has beer
abused-but it also contains ire
mendous amount of wonderful human
interest material and educationa
articles which cannot be found else
where. 1t gives a broad general knowl
edge Of life in many parts of our coun
try which the majority of the peopl
would not know about; just as the hear
ings before appropriations committee
present detailed facts about the opera
! tlOil VI tlle NIUNeTIlIIl6IlI lQdl are Qlgnl,
educative to students
| Few men have contributed more II
recent years to putting human interes
writings into the Congressional Recor,
than has Representative John ]. Boy
Ian of New York. He delights in thu
preserving to be read by future genera
tlons, the Sidehghts on great men, i'm
portant events and institutions. While
group OF close personal friends of tn
late Representative Will R. Wood ar
erecting a fishing lodge at his favorit
fishing ground not far from the Capita
as memorial, Representative Boylan
cooperating with Representative U.
Guyer. put into the Record a story C
how Mr.. Wood, late chairman of tn
Appropriations Committee. and of tn
Republican Congressional Committee
for more than 20 years, daily fed tn
pigeons at the corner of the House OfIicr
Building adjacent to the Library o
Congress.
After having had his breakfast an,
promptly at certain time each morn
ing Mr.. Wood would come to that corne
with supply of corn bread or othe
suitable food which he tossed on tn
pavement and plot of grass bordering
the walk. When in Washington h
never failed his pigeons, and most o
liiS IiiilS uC was QelduleO mere Dy I'm
portant official duties
Thus, many generations of FURNISHED
blue and purple pigeons learned to know
him" Mr.. Guyer explained, land as h.
talked to them he insisted that the,
'sassed' him back in pigeon language.
!, During the last lame duck session
Of Congress that will ever convene" h
continued, "Mr Wood worked as usua
like galley slave from o'clock in tn
morning until late at night. Then on
day Congress adjourned sine die ant
another morning the retiring Statesman
sadly but affectionately fed the pigeon
The loved, whispered good-by to them
Ever since the purple pigeons wal
in a pathetic vigil looking up with ex
pectant gaze at every passerby, hopin.
again to hear the voice of their oil
friend. But he has sailed on a shil
that never comes back. So, after q
| zf L. IT.