Evening star., 1933-02-19
Capital Sidelightss
BY WILL p. KENNEDY.

The mule boy in a coal mine who
worked his way to Congress, whose body
is dwarfed but his mind broadened by
study and experience - Representative
David j. Lewis of Maryiand-emphasizes
how the upbuilding of our system for
education of the masses and for public
health service ard disqualification are
important in bridging the enlarging gap
between those who must have jobs and
| the overproduction Of mechanical
age.
In q previous service in the House
| "Dayie" Lewis devoted himself to the
theory that our economic ills could in a
| large measure be relieved by putting
| the telephone business into the Post
Office Department and reducing the
rates to mere minimum so that 1olks
could and would call up the farmers at
night and order their vegetables, chick
| ems eggs and what-not, which would
| then be shipped to the consumers at
cheap parcel post rates.
| Representative Lewis still has his
| high-powered mind working on ways IN
which the economic stress due largely
| to the inventive genius of the American
| people can be relieved. He points out
that there are two kinds OF inven-
| tions"-and explains that lin one kind
| of invention you have the labor-savlng
purpose and the labor-saving effect.
| The ditch-digging machine, with two
men operating it, and 100 employees
eliminated is an extreme illustration OF
| the labor-saving invention. On the
other hand, the automobile, with the
| road construction and other employ
ment 1t has led to, Is mighty Illus
tration of the labor-increasing inven-
| tion in our age. I dread to think what
the unemployment conditions in our
United States might have been," he
comments, IF the automobile had not
magnified consumption demands"
Then he argues-"the increasing
forces of production in our machine age
must be taken up by increasing forces
of consumption or We may be forced to
three-day week. In the past similar
social programs have been inaugurated
and realized giving employment to fill
up the gaps created by invention and
the increasing effectiveness of man-plus-
machine methods in production.
This has been the history OF
mechanization within the past century.
The public schools are an obvious and
in the United States alone at $2,lS4,-
And this figure does not include the
many others employed about the
schools or in the construction Of school
buildings, the printing of school books,
| the training of teachers: nor does 1t
include the employees in the prodigious
printing trade, having as its supportive
condition the common schools, which
give us a national population able to
read and desiring the productions OF
the printing press. Republication and
medical aid to the less fortunate now
present field as worthy in the twen-
tieth century.
Another method has been the reduc-
ton of the hours of labor, which ran
| beginning of the nineteenth century
and by steps, has been diminished to IL,
to 10, to hours. and often to FIVE
| day ard 48-hour week. Man does not
live by b-ead alone and this method is
certainly worthy Of continued applica-
ton.
obviously one, probably both, OF
these social methods must be employed
decreasing workdays or an increasing
program Of consumption, If reason
able balance between the productive
and consumptive forces is to be real
ized."
With the two distinguished Byrd
brothers figuring much in the specula-
tions regarding important political ap-
pointments by incoming President
Roosevelt, there Is likelihood of their
old ancestral home, Westover, built by
william Byrd, years before Washing
tons birth, becoming the scene Of i'm
portant social activities that viii revive
the romance Of Colonial days:
William Byrd was a Virginian who
spent half his life abroad, a student
OF the Middle Temple, treasured
friend Of the Southwells, of the Drama
tist Wycherley, and Of the Earl of Or
rery, and wit, diarist and statesman
distinguished on two continents" re.
cent biographer tells Us. He collected
the largest library In the Colonies
served for quarter century ON the
Council of Virginia, and built a home
that Is even today one of the finest
examples of Georgian architecture to bs
found IN America. 1t is not surprising
to find among his living descendants
gentlemen Of such prominence as Gov
Harry Flood Byrd and Admiral Richar6
e. Byrd"-both Of whom are destined
to occupy important positions in the
new administration.
The self extinguishing match and the
self f-extinguishing cigarette have ar
rived
This was officially announced In the
House chamber by Representative Edith
N. Rogers. Republican. of Massachu-
sets. She spoke in defense of work
by the United States Bureau of Stand
ards and cited the, fact that five years
ago she had asked this big scientific
laboratory of the Government to make
such study to prevent fire losses. She
quoted records to show that the total
annual loss In this country from
matches and smoking as original fire
causes approximates nearly $50, 900 900