Evening star., 1946-02-17
Capital Sidelights
BIZ VIII P. Kennedy.

Nd0IldA oIuC11Slllo
By Win P. Kennedy.
One Of our veteran and well-read
Senators the other day reminded his
colleagues of Washington's explanation
of the Senate, and he produced Higgin-
sons History of the United States" to
prove his point. When this Government
was being established there were many
divergent views. Some wanted to make
Washington king, some urged q system
like the Swiss Confederation, with the
chief authority vested in q committee
chairman. When Jefferson returned
from France and was having breakfast
with Washington, he asked why Wash
ington had agreed to Senate. why
did you just pour your coffee into .
saucer before drinking it?" countered
Washington with smile. ITO cool it, of
course" jefferson replied, explaining,
my throat is not made of brass" Even
So" rejoined The Father" I'VE pour our
legislation into the Senatorial saucer to
cool it."
In Ohio, at the suggestion of some
farmers encouraged by local newspapers,
consideration is being given to q pro-
posal to erect a triangular granite shaft
in honor of three House members-Rep-
resentatives Robert F. Jones of Lima,
Frederick C. Smith of Marion and Cliff
Clevenger of Bryan-on which would be
inscribed suitable words commemorating
Three men who have voted against
spending more money than any three
Congressman in the United States have
ever done" The monument would be
erected where the three Congressional
districts join on the Putnam, Allen and
Hancock County line. Representative
Homer A. Ramey of Toledo has called
the attention of the House to this unique
suggestion.
Thousands of personal friends OF
James M. Thomson. veteran newspaper
man and farmer, have received q letter
from him expressing his purely volun-
tary effort to get our national legislators
to act now constructively to insure our
national safety" The letter was mailed
from his summer home in Gaylord,
Clarke County, Va. Mr.. Thomson has
been In newspaper work for 10 years, and
was former owner and publisher Of the
Norfolk Dispatch, New Orleans Item,
New Orleans Morning Tribune and Mod
ern Farming. He is son-in-law of the
late Speaker Champ Clark, having mar
ried Genevieve Champ Clark, and is q
brother-in-law Of former Senator Ben
nett Champ Clark, who was House par
hanentarian when his father was
Speaker, before World War I. His COM
plant is that: Although various polls
show an overwhelming majority of our
returning servicemen. as well as of our
citizens, are in favor of year of peace
time training for American youth, there
is sesrious danger that professional
group lobbyists may prevent the passage
of some bill along the lines of the Mar
shall plan"
The real personal friendship between
Henry Clay and Martin Van Buren was
the subject of House cloakroom gossip.
This story was told by South Trimble, the
veteran clerk, to whom Clay has long
been patron political saint. Clay was
touring the South. On the same train
was an old-school Democrat, who, when
invited to shake hands with Clay, an
swered irritably that he would not
under any circumstances shake hands
with that old Whig." He offered to bet
that his idol, Van Buren, felt the same
way and agreed to let Clay decide the
bet. Clay was much amused. YES"
he replied, "Van is good friend of mine
and recently visited me at my home in
Lexington. Setting aside his bad poll
tics, he is an agreeable gentleman and a
right clever little fellow" After paying
the bet, the farmer grumbled, as many
are doing today: eff this is the way our
great men act, let them fight their own
battles-just pretending to be in earnest,
so as to set others by the ears" In con-
firmation Of this anecdote, Mr.. Trimble
referred the group to Sargent's "Public
Men and Events"
kAt
There is a prominent washington
businessman, who unostentatiously for
years has been indulging his hobby Of
collecting old manuscripts-not for per-
sonal profit, but to preserve source ma
terial for biographies and history, and
sending his finds" to whatever uni
versity or library dncluding the Library
OF Congress) he believes will best make
them available to students for research.
He is Nathan N. Wallack.