Evening star., 1933-08-06
Capital Sidelights
BY WILL p. KENNEDY.

Representative D. G. Dobbins OF
ILL.,, Is an illustration of how
employees oftentimes work
their way to the top, quite a. few Of
them progressing to membership in the
!aw-making body. He is popularity known
back home as %. c." where he is also
known as a dub golfer, a globe -trotting
fisherman, a nut on mechanics, good
lawyer and regular fellow. Talk to
him about fishing and his eyes light up
eagerly as he swaps yarns about big fish
he has caught and bigger ones he lost.
He has fshed q good deal IN Wisconsin
and Minnesota and in both oceans. He
has Travelled over most of the United
States and Is eager to get to see the
rest Of it.
He was born and reared on a farm
nessee and ancestors on both sides
served in the Revolutionary War.
When he was only years Of age
he ran away from the farm home to
the little district school where his
brothers and sisters attended, and his
parents allowed him to continue TO 60.
This early association with education
probably accounts for the fact that he
entered the University Of Illinois when
he was II, going directly from the lit
tie one-room country school. MY
earliest recollection of that school," he
gays. was 'cooning the fence on early
Spring days to get to the school with
out wading waist deep in the water that
flooded that section Of the country
Old-timers in the district recall that
-. c." when lad of years. spelled
down" long lines Of adult contestants
IN the spelling bees popular at that
time
He went to school in the Winter and
worked on the farm in the Summer un-
til he entered the university in 1895.
After one year there he taught in the
Champaign County schools for three
years and then went to Dixon Business
College where he took course in
stenography preparatory to entering the
United States Government service. In
three months he had mastered short
hand and passed the civil service ex-
animation. He worked in the Chicago
stockyards as q stenographer until he
received his appointment to the De-
partmcnt Of Agriculture in Washington
He was employed under DR.. L. o.
Howard, the famous chief OF the Bu-
reau of Entomology, for one year, be-
ginning in August, 1900. In 1901 he
received an appointment in the Post
Once Department, and for five years
worked there. He spent his early mar
ried life in this city. and then served
three years as post ofice inspector in
Pennsylvania While in the Post Office
Department he studied law at George
Washington University and has prac-
ticed in his home town for the past
quarter of century.
Il first arrived in Washington on a
hot August evening" he recalls. and
spent the night in a hotel adjacent to
the B. g. o. Station. / knew enough
about the town to know the business
section was located about halfway be-
tween the Capitol and Georgetown, and
allowed three cars marked Georgetown
Only to pass, because / thought they
would not take on any passengers unless
they were going the entire distance to
Georgetown. I used to be customer
mater Of Will Mooney (since post
lamented Levi Cooke"
His son Donald Is attending the
University Of Maryland
Two members of Congress boast that
they were born in Pekin-not China,
but Illinois. They are Representative
Sol Bloom. who so successfully sold"
George Washington to the American
people during the last couple Of years,
and Representative Everett NJ Dirksen,
whose entertaining. anecdotal speeches
in the House have enlivened the pro-
10 ~ he
gressional Record more popular.
The champion mountain climber of
Congress, Representative Elmer E. Stud
ley of New York-at lerge-is indulging
somewhat this Summer in that favorite
pastine. His biggest achievement was
to scale Wheeler's Peak in Northern
New Mexico, the highest peak in the
Southwest, and higher than Pixies Peak
Nearly two score years ago he worked
as newspaper reporter under the tute-
lage Of Samuel c. Blythe. He broke in
as a lawyer under Daniel N lockwood,
formerly a member of Congress from
the Buffalo district.
He Is Spanish War Veteran and
during the War with Spain was de-
tailed by the commanding officer of his
brigade to suppress mutiny that had
broken out in two detached companies
Of regiment camped alongside. He
suppressed it without killing any one.
or even drawing a gun.
In the War with Spain he had a COM
mission as first lieutenant in the 2O2d
New York Volunteer Infantry. and
served with that outfit in Cuba in 1898
and 1899, until mustered out on April
is, 1899. He was enrolled as a major
in the United States War Register in
1905. which was then the United States
Officers Reserve Corps.
Following the war he engaged in the
practice of law, legislation and business
in New Mexico. He served one session
in the Territorial Legislature and was
a member of the New Mexico Territorial
Statutory Revision Commission. He
was district attorney Of Colfax and
Union Counties and a member of the
New Mexico State Board of Water Com
missioners. He had much TO do with
irrigation laws in New Mexico where
he organized and formed several irriga-
ton districts.
He was later deputy attorney general
for the State of New York. in 1924. and
United States commissioner for the
Eastern district of New York the two
succeeding years.
Here's man who represents 18 coun-
ties in Florida in the National House of
Representatives, who started in making
his way as a waterboy in a phosphate
mine and in railroad shop, earning
his way through the University Of
Florida. He is the son of a railroad
conductor.
Representative ]. Hardin Peterson
has been practicing law for 20 years,
and for many years specialized in mu-
nicipal law, being for l6 years city at
torney at Lakeland and representing a
number Of other cities. For ten and a
half years he was prosecuting attorney
and solicitor of the Criminal Court.
Polk County. He served several terms
as chairman of the Legislative Commit
tee OF the Florida League of Municipali-
ties and as special counsel for the
State Department of Agriculture.
He was In the United States Navy
during tho uyorlJ yxyar