Evening star., 1937-03-14
Capital Sidelights
BY WILL p. KENNEDY.

The dean of Congress is Senator Nor
rlS Sheppard of Texas, by virtue of the
fact that he has served continuously in
House and Senate since he was elected
October II, 1902, to the House to
succeed his father, Representative John
L. Sheppard. deceased. He served IL
years in the House before his election to
the Senate. His present term expires
January g. 1943.
The dean of the Senate is Senator
William E. Borah of Idaho who has
served continuously since March 4, 1907.
The dean Of the House is Representa-
tive Adolph J. SABBATH of Illinois, who
took the oath of Office in the House
the same day that Senator Borah took
it in the Senate.
But Senator Sheppard entered upon
his legislative duties nearly five years
before either of them. Borah is 10
months older than SABBATH and nearly 10
years older than Sheppard, who came 10
Congress when he was 27 years old.
There are three other members of the
House who also took the oath on the
same day that Senator Borah and Rep
reSentative SABBATH did, but they have
come back after long vacations from leg
lSlatlve duties-RepreSenta Benjamin
K. Focht, Pennsylvania: William A. Ash
brook, Ohio, and Ben Cravens, Arkansas.
The Oldest House member is Repre-
sentative Edward T. Taylor, Colorado.
who has just taken over the chairmanShip
of the Appropriations Committee. who
will be 79 years old in June, about
years older than Borah.
Both Senator Sheppard and Senator
Borah have long way to 60 yet before
they will break the service record of
Uncle Joe" Cannon, former Speaker,
who served in the House for as years
mot conSecutlvely), and of Senator Will
liam B. Allison of Iowa who served in
the Senate 35 years and months-the
record for longest continuous service in
the Senate. He had previously served
eight years in the House.
Cannon had the distinction of being
candidate on the same ticket with
Abraham Lincoln. He came to Congress
when Borah was only 7 years old-and
more than two years before Senator
Sheppard was born.
Have you observed the Congressman
who carries his filing cabinets in his
vest pocket and hip pocket, and who
especially gloats on prided ability to
confound his opponents in debate by
throwing their own exactly quoted words
in their teeth? That is Representative
Charles L. Clifford, Republican. of Mas
sachusetts, ranking Republican on the
Committee on Expenditures and one of
the two Republican members of the
House on the joint committee handling
the Presidents reorganization program.
He was formerly an auctioneer and a
school teacher-the latter trained him
to hunt for the predicate whenever he
finds subject. So in reorganization
proposals he is always hunting for the
elusive dark-skinned gentleman hiding
in a woodpile.
For years he has gotten his recreation
and relaxation from arduous legislative
duties by compiling scrap books. He
has about Is large books on personal
matters, current events, the Supreme
Court and proposed reorganization of
the judiciary, reorganization of the
agencies of Government history pic
lures, art, wit.
For years he has carried daily into
the House in his hip pocket a small
leather-bound volume containing clip
pings statistics, graphs, quotations from
speeches, pertinent paragraphs and
terse comments on numberless subjects,
which he finds valuable for ready ref
erence, to refresh his memory or to
bring laugh in debate He has a
similar smaller volume which he carries
in his vest pocket filled with aphorisms,
nj "a -
knowledge.
For example, recently in debate in
the House he reminded his colleagues
that great editor philosopher had said
"a good picture is worth a thousand
words" then he held up large picture
of John L. Lewis, with fighting jaw"
and asked: Does he look like man
to whom you could sing lullaby?"
What Clifford enjoys most however,
is a series of scrapbooks he is making
for his 6-year-old grandson, some for
present pleasure and others for later
education. He buys all the current
magazines and any day the House
adjourns has regular field day, clipping
and pasting. He says his scrapbooks,
especially the hip-pocket compendium.
have been more valuable to him than
dozen big filing cabinets in his Office.
X
How to win your way from coal miner
and county sheriff to Congress is some
thing that Representative Frank w.
Fries, Democrat, OF Illinois can explain
to his grandchildren, sandwiched In with
anecdotes Of his service In the World War.