Evening star., 1937-11-22
WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS
BY FREDERIC UILLI4N WIFE.

Whether ladies and gentlemen on Cap
itol Hill realize it or not. the exhibition
which Congress is now making of itself
is the stuff which relationships are made
of. Failure OF representative govern
ment TO function for the national good
was one Of the alibis used by MusSoini
when he put the Italian Parliament out
of business and by Hitler when he
sCrapped the Reichstag. Seldom has
there been such fddling while Rome
burned as House and Senate indulged
in during the first week of the session,
which has turned out to be 'eXtraordi-
nary" in the literal sense of that term.
The situation IS all the more APPALLING,
not to say ludicrous, because of lamenta
tions during the past four years that
the White House has robbed Congress
of its initiative Here We are, with the
most vital legislative affairs clamoring
for attention. only to. find the laWmak
ing machine stalled by sectionalism and
arbitrary rules of procedure, or clOgged
by politicians with axes to grind. II Duce
and Der Fuehrer never had half the
preteXt for sending their respective
Parliaments about their business that
the Seventy-fifth Congress of the United
States would now give a would-be die
tator if we were afflicted with such.
Here's sample of how the Senate put
in its time last week:
Mr. Smith South Carolina Does the
Senator from Indiana Wan Nuys) think
that we who represent the part of the
country which is being held up as illit-
crate are to sit Supinely down and let
ha c1oti
lynching bilD take the place of farm
humiliate the section which through all
these years has kept alive the party to
which they profess to belong?
Mr.. Van NuyS-There is no desire on
my part to bring up a sectional differ
ence, but I challenge any member from
the Southland to produce any greater
record of love and fidelity to the Demo-
cratic party than the Senator from In
generations, both on the maternal and
paternal side of his family.
Mr. Smith-And now washing it all
out by attempting to humiliate the region
that made it possible for the Senator
to sit where he is! naughter.
= + * Y s
Few members of Congress in our time
ever made more triumphal maiden
speech than Senator Dixie Graves at
tack on the anti-lynching bill. Belieing
the feminine reputation for loquacity,
the lady from Alabama spoke barely Is
minutes and without single suggestion
OF verbal excess baggage. Democratic
Leader Barkley voiced universal Senti-
ment when he said it was the best speech
of the fllibuster. Using no notes, Senator
Graves spoke clearly, calmly, unhesitat-
ingly and modestly. Every sentence
other woman Senator-either Mrs. Cara
way of Arkansas or Mrs. Huey Long of
Louisiana-ever delivered set speech,
so Mrs. Graves established distaff pre-
cedent on that score, too. She received
the compliment of attention from floor
and galleries so rapt that a pin-drop
would have detonated. There was ring
ing applause when she sat down.
Arguments in the latest gold devalua-
ton case before the Supreme Court last
week brought into favorable notice a
lawyer who was making his debut before
the Nations highest tribunal. He Is
H. Vernon Eney of the Baltimore bar,
who appeared alongside Robert A. Taft
of Cincinnati against the Government.
represented by Solicitor General Stanley
Reed. A personable young man, who
can't be much over 30, If that, Mr.. Eney
gripped the attention not only OF the
court but Of all lawyers and spectators