Evening star., 1936-04-24
Flood Waters Dro,vn Tydings'
FIGHT on Riuers.HarbOrs Bill
address Last August %
Defeated Pork Barrel
Measure.
InunddtiOn Dangers Are
Brought Home to Him
in Recent Disaster.
BY CARLISLE BARGERON.

For more than two years after the
New Deal came in Senator Millard
Tydings was deaf to the opportunities
of professors that it was foolish for
him to stand out against what they
called the onrushing social trends. The
Senator was what was known as a
Jeffersonian Democrat. He made no
bones of the fact that the New Deal
was doing things utterly foreign to
his political philosophy.
The professors of the New Deal,
meeting him socially and otherwise,
tried their best to convince him that
he was a good fellow and had just
as good a mind as they, but that he
was wrong in sticking to out-moded
principles of government. that he
ought to accept the social changes
which. they insisted, were rightly or
wrongly becoming evident.
But the Senator was adamant. He
ran with the New Deal gentlemen and
laughed and joked with them, but
insisted that he would stand with the
OlU JSllc SOllldIl pl ulC1PlcS.
High Mark on August 20.
There came a day. or rather night,
last August % when many Of his ad-
mirers thought he reached the high
mark of his courageous political ca
reer. On this occasion he stood be-
fore the Senate and ridiculed the
rivers and harbors pork barrel bill to
its death. 1t was a bill that had so
much pork in it that everybody con-
cerned thought there was no doubt of
its passing. But after the Senator's
ridicule it went down to defeat. The
Liberty League distributed thousands
of copies of the Senator's speech that
night. and over all the country Tories
who had despaired of their ever doing
anything to stop the Roosevelt revolu-
ton took heart and said that here
was a Democrat who realized this was
not a fight between political parties,
but between fundamentals of gov
ernment, and who. therefore, would
save the situation. The Senator re-
ceived thousands Of letters and tele-
grams from all over the country con-
graduating him upon his courageous
stand.
Before packed galleries and we'll
attended chamber that night the Sem
ator said in the satirical vein which
brought him so much attention:
"Of course, when we come to Penn
;e Stofa that fe yet
permeated with rivers. If you go to
Williamsport, on the upper reaches Of
the Monongahela and the Ohio, 1t
takes s1,8S0.0o0 to take care Of that
river at Willamsport. Up at Lock
Haven, away out on the Susquehan-
na-an awful branch of the Susque-
hanna-it takes s2,200,000 to take
care of matters around Lock Haven.
Mind you, the river is not navigable.
80 You cannot ship anything down
it and you cannot ship anything up 1t,
but what has that to do with Lock
Haven getting s2,2o0,oo0? ."
Galleries Warned.
The record shows that there was
loud laughter from the galleries at
this point and that the presiding Of
flcer said with dignity that guests
were present only through the courtesy
of the Senate and if the guests
laughed again the galleries would be
emptied.
A lot of water has poured under,
over and around dams and bridges
since the Senator's notable speech.
In the recent floods which swept
over the Eastern section Of the coun-
try the waters swept into Williams
port to a depth of from to 10 feet
Lock Haven was almost swept away.
They do not have any floods at
Harrisburg" the Senator continued
to the delight Of the galleries the Lib