Evening star., 1934-04-08
Capital Sidelights
BY WILL p. KENNEDY.

The new dean of Congress is SEN
ator Morris Sheppard of Texas-who
has served in the Senate 81 years and
was a member of the House for II
years before his constituency con-
ferred upon him the senatorial toga.
This is made official by the announce
ment of Col. Edwin A. Halsey, secre-
tary of the Senate, and he has been
congratulated as the dean by Senator
Joseph T. Robinson. the Senate leader,
who is runner-up for the long-Service
honors. This new distinction came
to the modest Texan through the
death last week of the Grand Old
Man" of the House, Representative
EDWIN N. Pou of North Carolina.
Senator Sheppard, after conspicuous
House service, was promoted to the
Senate January 20, 1918, filling a va
cancy caused by the resignation OF
Senator Joseph Weldon Bailey.
Senator Robinson has spent the same
length of time in the Senate as has
his friend and colleague Senator
Sheppard-21 years. The Texas Sem
ator, however, had previously served
one year longer in the House. Sena-
tor Robinson holds a unique record,
however, in that within a space of
IA days in 1918 he was Congressman,
Governor of arkansas and Senator
elect.
Ranking next in the service list are
Senator George Norris Of Nebraska,
who has served continuously since the
fifty-eighth Congress; Speaker Henry
Datr rr-I,r ho nd
but not continuously. and Vice Presi-
dent John Nance Garner, who has
served exactly the same length Of time
as Senator Robinson, both having be-
gun their service in the fifty-eighth
Congress in 1903. Mr.. Garner served
80 years in the House, and adding this
to his term as Vice President he is
running a tie race with the Demo-
cratic leader, outranking both Senator
Norris and Speaker Rainey, for long
service honors.
In the Senate itself, Senator Will
liam E. Borah of Idaho, who has
having originally assumed his duties
on March 4, 1907. In the House
Speaker Rainey is the oldest in point
Of service, having been off duty only
one term-the sixty-Seventh-sinc
the fifty-eighth Congress. Represen-
tative Adolph ]. SABBATH of Illinois
comes next, with % years consecu-
tive, while Representative Joseph w.
ByrnS Of Tennessee, the House leader,
and Representative Edward T. Taylor
Of Colorado rank next with 26 years
of consecutive service.
The all-time record Of continuous
service in Senate and House was es-
tablished by Senator Justin w. Nor
rill of Vermont, who served IL years
in the House and then 81 years nine
months in the Senate, making a total
of As years and months of con-
tinuouS service
Senator William B. Allison of Iowa
also had an impressive record, having
served 35 years and five months in
the Senate at the time Of his death,
August 4, 1908. Senator Allison's rec
ord for more than 35 years in single
body has not been surpassed, and his
added service of eight years in the
House brought his total time of serv-
ice to within four months of that of
Senator Morrill,.
Second to Senator Morrill, in the
matter of continuous service in a sin
gle body stands the record of Repre-
sentative Gilbert N. Haugen of Iowa,
who served "a years in the House un-
til his recent death. But the late
Representative Joseph G. Cannon of
Illinois-one-time "czar" of the House,
as Speaker. before the reform of the
House rules-SurpaSsed both Allison
and Haugen in the total of years of
service (not continuously in the House
having been a member for Al years
during eight of which he was Speaker.
Other lawmakers who served in
Congress for goodly number of years
include Representative Henry H
Bingham of Pennsylvania, who spent
33 years and 19 days in the House,
and Senator Frederick H. Gillett of
Massa achusettS, who was a member of
the House for 80 years-six of them
as Speaker-and who followed that
with six years in the Senate before his
retirement.