Evening star., 1950-09-10

Louis j. Ludlow.
/ By Paul J. MeGohon
Washington bureau, PhiIadeiphia inquirer
The approaching demise Of the
81st Congress closes three dec
cades of colorful political his
tory In American life. They have
been decades of war and peace,
depression and prosperity. mir
rored nowhere more indelibly
than in the minds, memories and
minutes of those who have moved
; through the stately halls Of the
, Capitol building, that magnifi-
Gently imperturbable command
. post Of democracy.
; There have been great changes
!; in American life in these 80 years
and a great flow Of new faces in
the halls of Congress. But there
have been other things which
have not changed-the American
love of freedom and our devotion
to the parliamentary processes
which exist in such lusty fashion
in the old Capitol building. And
there have been individuals, a
surprisingly large number. who
have throughout all these 80
years participated directly as or
observers in this making Of his
tory.
In the seth Congress which
came in on March 4, 1919. the
House of Representatives con-
sisted of 435 members and the
Senate Of So members, as in the
present 81st Congress. In 1920
the congressional press gallery
consisted of 217 correspondents
representing the news services
and newspapers. Today the con-
gressional press galleries have a
roll of TIL correspondents. Then
217 newspapers and press associa-
tions were represented. Now 470
newspapers and news services are
represented In addition the Pc
riodical press and the radio have
press galleries which are apart.
Many Still Active
The newspapermen have q
better longevity record than the
congressional group. Still active
on the press gallery list are 20
scribes who covered the Capitol
in 1920. while only 13 congressional
figures have withstood the march
of time. One other scribe played
both roles during the period.
In the House of Representatives
Adolph SABBATH. Democrat, of
Illinois heads the list Of the seven
members of that body who were
serving there 80 years ago. Mr..
SABBATH came to the House on
March 4. 1907. In the Senate
Kenneth McKellar. Democrat, of
Tennessee is the sole survivor of
the Senate of 1919. But three of
his colleagues, Tom Connolly,
Democrat, of Texas; M. M. Neely,
Democrat of West Virginia, and
Carl Hayden. Democrat. of Ari-
zona, were members Of the House
then. In this same category is
Vice President Barkley. Demo-
crat. of Kentucky, who is now
Vice President.
Other House members Of the
66th Congress, now in the 81st
having served continuously are
Representatives Robert L. Dough-
ton, Democrat, of North Caro-
lima; Speaker of the House Sam
Rayburn. Democrat. of Texas:
Carl Vinson, Democrat. of Geor-
gia; Daniel A. Reed, Republican,
Of New York. Two members
then. but their continuous serv-
ice interrupted, are Roy o. Wood
ruff, Republican, of Michigan
and Earl c. Michener. Republi-
can, of Michigan. Representative
James w. Wadsworth, Republi-
can, Of New York was a mem
ber of the Senate in the seth
Congress.
Press Gallery members still
representing the same newspapers
now that they did at the time
Of the 66th Congress include:
Walker S. Buel, Cleveland Plain
Dealer; Mark Foote, Booth News
papers of Michigan; Jay G. Hay
den. Detroit News; Arthur S.
Henning, Chicago Tribune; David
Lawrence, of David Lawrence AS
sociates; Gould Lincoln, The
Washington Star and the Boston
Globe; John Lorance, the SPRING
field (Mass.) Daily News: Paul
y. McGahan. the Philadelphia
Inquirer; Lorenzo w. Martin,
the Louisville Times; Hal H.
Smith, the New York Times;
Stanley H. Smith, the Daily Traffic
World; Bascom N. Timmons, the
Houston Chronicle, and Paul
Wooten, the New Orleans Times
Picayune.
Ludlow Seated
The newspaper veterans Of the
66th Congress now in the press
gallery but representing other
newspapers are: George Rothwell
Brown, King Features Syndicate,
then of the Washington Post;
Sam Bell. the New York
Herald Tribune, then of the
Philadelphia Public Ledger;
George w. Combs, the Baltimore
Evening Sun, then of the Lynch
burg (Va.) News; Winifred NAL
Ion, the New York Times, then of
the New York News; William
Philip Simms, Scripps- Howard
Newspaper Alliance, then of the
International News Service; Lewis
Wood, the New York Times, then
of the Columbia Is. c. Record,
and James L. Wright, Buffalo
Evening News, then of the Cleve-
land Plain Dealer.
Thus of the 20 newspaper folk
working the Capitol run in 1920,
IL still represent their original
papers. while the eight others
4 have cho nOad iohc hI,t Ioovn Nv,