Evening star., 1935-07-21
Capital Sidelights
Bv Will p. KENNEDY.

Much has been said during the in
vestigation by the House Rules Com
mittee Of the coercion charges made by
Representative Ralph Brewster, former
Governor Of Maine, about his being a
fair-haired son Of Harvard. As a matter
of fact Brewster worked his way through
Harvard waiting on tables, but he was
star man in his class and a close
associate of Robert Taft. son of Presi-
dent William Howard Taft. They served
together on the board of the Harvard
Law Review. When President Taft
vetoed the Webb-Kenyon law on the
ground that it was unconstitutional his
son and Brewster put their heads to-
gether. decided that Taft, later Chief
Justice, was ''all wet" on his conclusions.
so they wrote their dissenting opinion in
q joint article for the Review. and three
years later the Supreme Court of the
United States unanimously decided the
act constitutional and the President
wrong on his veto decision,
Brewster is a politician from 'wav
back. He started in as a boy-and his
dominant fight of his career was with
the power interests, principally as rep
resented by insult who came to Maine
o4AO OOu6llG up VI UdLlho, III
duStries, papers, etc.-"what have you"
The defeat in Maine was insults first
major setback. According to a Federal
Trade Commission record insult spent
some 100000 in one referendum cam
paign in Maine. where Brewster led the
fight and licked him.
Brewster is one Of the big outdoor
men. He goes in for swimming and
tennis to keep himself in condition and
because he enjoys the sport. He is Just
waiting for Congress to adjourn so he
can get off in the Maine woods and
its countless lakes.
Fashion news note:
Handsome Jim McAndrews of Illi-
noiS, predecessor and successor of the
jovial and bonvivant Fred Britten of
happy memories, who is one of the big
men of the House physically is wearing
some attractive light blue leather bed
room slippers while on official service in
the House
The vigorous croSS-examiner at the
Rule Committee investigation of the
Brewster power-lobby coercion charges
is Representative Fred Lehlbach of New
Jersey, veteran friend of the civil service
employees, who was famous in his youth
as champion gymnaSt at Yale, and who
keeps mentally alert by doing crossword
puzzles while waiting for something
worthwhile to happen in the House.
Lehlbach is noted for his adroit and
to-the-point questioning of witnesses at
committee hearings.
* +
Recognition came during the past
week to Representative Lindsay C.
Warren of North Carolina-and through
making good notably on the opportunity
he won well-earned acclaim He was
selected for the most difficult task of
presiding over the House in the COM
mittee of the whole during the turbulent
sessions when bitter controversy ran
high on the public utilities holding COM
pany death sentence" bill. He was Sc
lected because he had previously shown
conspicuous ability in the chair 1t is
the consensus of opinion of his COL
leagues that he was fearless, firm, fair
and preserved order excellently in most
difficult situations. He was always
courteous, smiling, unruffled-he had the
poise and self-confidence and he had
the confidence of his fellows. Seldom
has a presiding officer been applauded
as was Representative Warren It is
predicted that some day he will occupy
the chair in his own right as Speaker.
X x X
When Representative Samuel B.
Pettengill of Indiana, one of those who
took most active part in the debate on
the public utilities holding companies
-
learned his Ten Commandments" and
they are still on the tip of his tongue
to such an extent that when he was
making speech and referred to the
fifth and tenth amendments to the Con-
stitution and then got swept into the
ardor of his speech. the second time
he spoke of them as the fifth and tenth
commandments.