Evening star., 1941-02-02
Capitol SideIiehts
Bv Will P. Kennedy.

William T Pheiffer, the new Repuoncan
member from the old Gas House dis
trict of New York, a Tammany strong
hold until the President purged Repre-
sentative John j. O'Connor. chairman OF
the powerful Rules Committee, is AZ
year-old novice in politics, who moved
stakes from Amarillo, Tex, to the great
metropolis in February, 1889. Now he has
started something new. He has written
directly to his constituents asking their
views on the aid-to- Britain bill. He sent
out 10000 of these letters on his official
stationery-one to every seven on the
voting lists of his district-and estimates
that he has received replies from approx
in1ately half of them. The big majority
OF them favored the bill with restric-
tions. Mr. Pheiffer was born in Purcell,
Indian Territory, now Oklahoma, and re-
ceived his law degree from the univer-
sity of that State. He practiced law in
Oklahoma and Texas. before moving to
New York He is past post commander
of the American Legion and holds A
commission Of captain Of cavalry in the
United States Army Reserve Corps.
The Congressional Record has devel-
oped a columnist-Represen Will
liam P. Lambertson of Kansas. The
caption of his column is "Cloakroom.
He has beer sending it to his conStit-
uents for about five years, but since
November has been having it printed in
the Record. One of his post-inaugural
comments was. IF the wicked old man
Garner had passed on to John L. Lewis
the Presidents kiss, we would have
known for sure that the impending crisis
was the millennium coming" Another
item was. Admiral Emory Land. head
of the Maritime Commission, g. and re-
tired, looks like a cowboy, came to the
Naval Academy from Wyoming, and is a
distant cousin of the Lone Eagle Com
nenting on the lease-lend bill, he wrote:
The Spirit of '76 is not in the bill No
1776. even if Stark and Marshall sound
revolutionary and are not" Lambertson
is the son of Civil War veteran and
Kansas pioneer He served four terms
in the Kansas House and was Speaker
four years in the State Senate. and was
on the State Board of Administration.
An echo of the old crossroads country
store forum of public opinion was given
to his colleague by Representative James
E. Van Zandt of Pennsylvania who was
in the United States Navy during the
World War, and who was credited with
two years overseas service and was three
times elected national commander of
the Veterans of Foreign Wars. He en-
phasized that public sentiment is not
always nodded in or confined to metro
politan centers, but is often the result
of clear and sane thinking on the part
of the great masses who make up smaller
community life" He described an insti-
tuition in his own home town-Altoona,
Pa.-the neighborhood firehouse where
people assembled where the atmosphere
is often laden with the sound of debate
over local and national issues. I'm such
an atmosphere" he said, you have
true picture of the machinery of our
Republic in action" Then he disclosed
letter he had received from the habitues
of the firehouse, which ended: 1--WE are
just trying to say to you, Jimmie, that we
think Americans can take care of Amer
lea, as, after all, our forefathers came
over here to escape from foreign persecu-
tions and foreign entanglements." A
most heartening sign of the times and
of the feeling of the people is shown
in thousands of letters being received
by members of Congress directly from the
people regarding the present crisis.
The new member, Representative
Charles r. Robertson of North Dakota
who succeeds the presidential candidate
Lemke, comes of Scottish parents. He
helped his father on their grain and
stock farm as boy. He held executive
positions in wholesale and retail de-
partment stores in several of the largest
Minnesota cities. Later he operated his
own chain of stores in North and South
Dakota, and still has his own store in
Bisnarck