Evening star., 1950-07-09

property of the university, which
is publishing them. I was paid
for the lectures, but will receive
no royalties from the book, SO I
guess I am in the clear. might
add, incidentally, that long before
I became a Senator. I received
honoraria for my speeches.
Senator Douglas.
1t is worth nothing that Senator
Douglas is as eloquent about books
as he is, say, about the gas bill or
rivers and harbors appropriations.
The kindly, courtly ex-professor
of economics at the University of
Chicago has written three volumes
himself and reads at least a book a
week. He prefers history and
biography and is currently en-
gagged on James Madison's notes
on the Constitutional Convention
of 1887. the third volume of Irving
Brant's biography of Madison and
Burke's political speeches of the
late 1770s.
With Mrs. Douglas, the former
Emily Taft, who is also a writer
and who as a member of the 10th
Congress sponsored the library
demonstration bill, the Senator
reads the poetry and plays Of
Shakespeare. His favorite poets
are Matthew Arnold and Keats.
He has no apology for his affection
for Keats, whose exclusive con-
Germ with beauty make him slight
ly irrelevant in the atomic age.
II have never believed that art
must be instrumental" says the
Senator, that it is valuable only
for what it teaches us about other
things. Some art is, Of course.
instructive. You take those two
Holbein sketches. There is Thorn
as More, professor who went
into politics and lost his head.
There is Erasmus, a professor who
didn't 60 into politics and didn't
lose his head. Naturally, this is
of instrumental use to me-"
Given the time, this most liter
ate of Senators would perhaps
write biography of Lyman
Trumbull, a Senator from Illinois
from 1854 to 1872. Or he would
do an essay on arms and litera-
ture, subject he knows well. He
enlisted in the Marines as a
private at the age of so and
throughout his service he read
most of the books he had never
got to before.
Did Much Reading.
On the way out to the Pacific,
he read the Holmes-Pollock let
ters. and Holmes on the common
law. In Noumea, a onetime
French colony, he came upon the
works of the French encyclope-
dists. On arrival at the Russell
Islands, he found Catherine
Drinker Bowen's Yankee From
Olympus" waiting for him. He
reread WAR and Peace" his
favorite novel.
On Peleliu, through courtesy of
southern and western company
commanders, he was introduced
to WPA GuidebookS of Mexico,
Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico
and Texas. On Okinawa, up to
his neck in water in foxhole,
he read 1.-THE Inferno" and de-
cided Dante was right when he
said the worst punishment in hell
was that of being incased in ice.
After being wounded, in the hos
pital, he read Dante's "Purgatorio
and Paradise"
Senators of this stripe should
not, of course, be suppressed.
Could Be Costly.
But to return to Mr.. O'Sullivan's
bill. Should penalties be imposed
retroactively, the following SEN
ators would be brought to account:
Thomas of Utah c"This Nation
Under God" and five previous
books, Vandenberg several
about Alexander Hamilton), Ke-
fauver (co-author of Twentieth
Century CongressD, Wiley
C'Laughing with Congress").
The House would have It's cul-
prits, too Representative Burdick
has written over 81 books on
Dakota history. Representative
Scott cannot deny How to Go
Into Politics" Representative
Hale. the poet laureate of the
House, has several times been pub
lished in the New Yorker. Rep
resentative Kennedy, the author
of "Why England Slept" might
be let off with a reprimand, since
he wrote it before being elected.
Representative Mccarthy, no kin
to the Senator, is listed in the
Congressional Record as writer.
He insists, however, that his out
put is limited to few items of
local minnesota history. And
Representative Norton, who is
winding up Is years in the
House, can write her memoirs-as
she intends to do-with the bless
ings of Mr.. O'Sullivan, who be-
lieves that only retiring Congress