The Wilmington morning star., 1947-12-14
CAN. YOU BEAT IT!
sy FREDERICK C. OTHMAN

II
| DO not be disappointed at the
slow beginning of this piece,
| voters, because the statesmen
in ew more paragraphs are
going to be booing each other.
And also throwing in ew HI
S-S-S-SSES.
For three straight days the
House of Representatives had
| been double-crossed the head
line writer's by talking about a
$500, 900, 900 European relief bill,
instead of passing it, as prom
ised. In the midst of the pro-
ceedings Rep. Charlie Halleck of
Ind, the republican floor lead
er, jumped up to blame the
Democrats for Europes plight.
If Presidents Roosevelt and
Truman handn't made SO many
blunders around the world, the
curly-haired aHlleck cried into
the microphones, we wouldn't
need to be sprinkling our mil
lions abroad. And so on, with
gestures and at length.
Then the tall, gray Rep. John
w. Mccormack of Mass, the
Democratic chief who could
pass for a deacon in the movies,
strobe solemnly to tn Z micro
phone.
Halleck's words, he said, were
rehash of a rehash Of all the
Republican political speeches of
the year. Why not, he asked his
fellow lawmakers, try to act like
statesmen for a change?
eve are supposed to be think
ing about something more i'm
portant than the next election"
he shouted.
''Haw-haw haw," roared the
Republicans. Their horse laugh
reverberated from every tempo
temperament steel rafter in
the C h m b er; bounced from
every bald head and acted as
a spur to Rep. Clare Hoffman,
Rep, Mich. He tried to inter-
rupt the gentleman from Mass.
"You keep out of this" Nc
Cormack snapped. Then he said
that President Truman had de-
veloped into one of the worlds
greatest statesmen. As for Hal
leck's speech, he'd been Con-
gresham for 20 years and never
heard a worse one.
He sat down to Republican
boos and Kisses; Democratic
cheers and applause. While
Messrs. Mccormack and Hal
leck glared at each other, Rep.
Clarence Brown of Ohio, another
Republican chieftain, stode in
to the fray.
He said Halleck was a great
American CHEERS and boos n
reverse order), that there were
too many rubber stamp gents in
and out of Congress and - he
made this sound like a console
radio with the bass turned on
full:
"What Mr.. Halleck said was
the Gods truth as sure as the
truth ever has been told from
the well of this house. I con-
graduate him."
Prolonged ap plause. Pro-
longed boos. The face of Rep.
Pete Jarman, D., Ala, turned
from crimson to purple. He tried
to denounce Rep. Brown, but
he'd hardly waved an arm be-
fore there was an interruption.
"a point of order" cried Rep.
Hoffman. '"This gentleman Il
wish ink and paper could repro
duce his infection of those
words) - this gentleman is not
speaking on the bill. He's max
ing a political speech"
Rep. Jarman said he was not,
either. And what about the Re-
publicans scuttling price control
a year ago? More boos indicat-
ed the Republicans felt they had
done no such thing. And there
we were, with no actual blood
let, back to relief on the hun
cry.
The next amendment came
from Rep. Ear. Lewis of Ohio,
who said the Chinese govern
ment was run by crooks and
hence China should get no more
than $1O0 - single C-note-in
relief. The other statesmen vot-
ed him down. Worn down, like
my pencil, to a nubbin by the