Evening star., 1936-03-15
Capital Sidelights
By Will p. Kennedy.

ny " w r. heHHSuys
Under the Capitol Dome is babel Of
many tongues. There greetings are ex-
changed by travellers from all over the
world, speaking in many languages. And
under the Dome intense students are
now working zealously to perfect their
fiuency in a universal language-Esper-
anto-"the only attempt at an auxiliary
or common language that has attained
beyond the experimental stage, and has
been notably recognized by many gov
ernments."
The Capitol Esperanto class meets
every Wednesday and Friday evening in
the class rooms for the young men who
serve as pages In the House and Senate
and is taught by H. B. Hastings.
One of the sponsors Of this specialized
study is Representative Carl Stefan Of
Nebraska, successor to the picturesque
Edgar Howard. Mr.. Stefan was born
in Austria, speaks seven languages, is q
world traveller, newspaper writer, maga-
zine contributor, lecturer and radio an
nouncer. In spite of his knowledge of so
many tongues he has frequently expert
enced difficulties due to the various Ian
guages in the countries he has visited.
He told some of these amusing incidents
to the Capitol Esperanto class in en-
phasizing the need for an auxiliary Ian
guage universally understood. He ex-
pressed much qualification that the gov
eminent Of the land of his birth-Austria
has invited the Universal Esperanto
Association to hold its 1896 congress in
Vienna and instructed its diplomatic
representatives throughout the world to
invite all governments to send represent
atives to the Congress. The United
States is to be represented by Prof. Fred
A. Hamann of Wauwatosa, Wis.
Chairman McSwain Of the House Mill
tary Affairs Committee, ardently jealous
to do his bit In developing the best
military service for the United States
is engaged in canvass of all the retired
general officers of the Army, some 285
in number, inviting them to express their
opinions concerning many matters re-
lating to national defense and promoting
the welfare of the Army. He has already
received replies from more than 100 OF
them, including Gen. John j. Pershing,
which Mr.. McSwain says contain ex-
ceedingly valuable suggestions"
ITO take appointments to the Military
Academy at West Point completely OF
the political auction block" and to find
the best method possible Of selecting the
very best young men available to become
Army officers, bill has been introduced
by Chairman McSwain of the House
Military Affairs Committee, on which
hearings are to be held next Wednesday.
He has urged all members Of Congress
to attend the hearing and to participate
in an exchange of honest opinions.
Hail to the House page? He is the
mercury of legislation. He does most
of the LEG work" in congressional duties.
The House Is to get six new pages
under the legislative appropriation bill
now in the works. This is the first in
crease in page force since the Fifty y-sixth
Congress (1899- 1900, when there were
357 members as against ABS today.
Representative Louis Ludlow, Demo-
crat, of Indiana, who served for IS years
in the press galleries before he descended
to the House chamber, paid tribute to
these tireless messengers the other day
He emphasized that "in recent years
pages are used more than ever for mes
senger service which, although great
convenience to members of the House.
has placed a heavy burden on the time
and energy of the pages-a burden which
has been increased by the construction
of the new House Office Building"
* *
One of the outstanding scholars In the
House, Representative Charles w. Tobey
of New Hampshire, who has wide busi-
ness experience in the field Of insurance,
agriculture, banking and manufacturing,
treated his colleagues to generous mlrtn
the other day. During discussion OF the
repeal of agricultural-aid laws at the
request Of the President, Mr.. Tobey re.
ferred to them as Loves Labor Lost"
and said:
"1t might be appropriate to erect a
tombstone ON the lawn Of the Depart
ment of Agriculture bearing on one side
the inscription
Hic facet.
Three un-American pieces Of legislation.
The Bankhesd cotton act.
The Kerr tobacco act.
The potato control act.
Requiescat in pace.
Then on the reverse side Of this
tombstone there might be carved the
epitaph which appears on the tombstone
Of little child up in New Hampshire
who died at o very tender age:
I was 30 soon done for,
what was begun fore"