Evening star., 1938-09-11
Capital Sidelights
By WILL P. KENNEDY.

There are many interesting sidelights
In the senatorial campaign in Mary
land. At one near Washington rally the
former blind Senator Gore of Oklahoma,
now Maryland voter, brought huge
rubber stamp and was asking folks
whether they'd rather vote for that or
for Tydings.
Washington correspondent canvass
ing the Eastern Shore helped a farmer
pick couple of bushels of tomatoes
while the farmer was deciding whether
he would admit he intended to vote for
Representative Lewis. He invited the
investigator to eat tomato, offered him
chaw of plug tobacco, then insinuat-
lngly suggested, You haven't anything
on your hip, have you?" Finally. after
much deliberation. he decided. Il might
vote for Tydings again might vote for
Lewis-but I'm not saying which-thats
my own business"
Hx -
Senator Augustine P. Lonergan Of Con-
necticut has not been too busy cam
paigning for reelection to preach e little
gospel about one of the biggest industries
in his State, life insurance. He gives
some surprising facts. There is more
than s11000o,0 900 900 worth in force in
the United States. The people of the
United States, comprising about per
cent OF the worlds population. own more
than 10 per cent of the worlds life in
surance. Practically every other person in
the country now owns policy Last year
s2,400 600 900, a quarter of a million
dollars every 60 minutes. was paid to
beneflciaries and about so per cent of
that total went to living policyholders.
The job Of chairman OF the House
Post Office Committee just delights Rep
resentative Jim Mead, and even during
the recess of Congress, while campaign
ing for reelection, he likes to brag
about the service affecting every in
dividual citizen which he has helped
materially to develop. For example, he
tells you that the postal service has the
biggest banking system in the world,
with 5000 branch banks, nearly 5000 600
accounts and deposits of more than a
billion dollars. Two outstanding ac-
complishments OF the REGISTERED mail
service, he recalls-the distribution of
the adjusted service bonds and transpor-
tation from San Francisco to Denver and
from New York and Philadelphia to the
depository at Fort Knox. KY, of billions
of dollars in gold. There are $500
equipped Federal post Office buildings,
the smallest at Park City. Utah. with one
caretaker and the largest in New York
City, with 1,707 custodial employees. In
all there are 14,700 of these custodial
employees. from charwomen to skilled
mechanics. The service also leases $500
buildings and more than 100 garages.
The parcel post service carries anything
from lawn mower or table radio to
delicate ostrich feathers. fragile glass
ware and china, baby chicks and honey
bees, turtles, alligators lizards, harmless
reptiles and other cold-blooded animals
to total of more than a million pack
ages day, and it is only Is years old.
Il
Representative Dewey Short of Mis-
souri,, the only Republican in the State
delegation, who has the shortest bioe-
raphy in the Congressional Directory
and the most fluent tongue of all the
435 members, boasts that he has heard
all the great dictators in Europe: Stain
in Russia, Pilsudski in Poland, Horthy
in Hungary, Hitler in Germany and
Mussolini in Italy. Having studied their
careers, Representative Short warns
against a trend toward dictatorship in
this country. One of his pet aphorisms
is that Thomas Jefferson founded the
Democratic party and Franklin Delano
Roosevelt has dumbfounded it." After
viewing the ruins of the realm of the
Pharaohs, the tonbs of the Kings at
Thebes and Karnak, the ancient ruins
OF Babylon, the ruins of the great Acrop-
oils and Paithenon in the classic land
OF Hellas and the glory that was Rome.
he gives this message to his fellow
Americans:
Congress is only a mirror in which
the American public is reflected. Trap-
lcally the American people have been
SO debauched and corrupted by the
indiscriminate outpouring OF public doles
that 1t Is eating out the character and
genius and destroying the spirit of self
respect and self-reliance of our great
people. The Government of the United
States Is not in Washington-it is in
every little hamlet. The people them
selves are the Government, the Gov
ernment Is going to be what the people
make 1t. Save yourselves or you perish
as did the phoro ohc opd tbo Noocorc0