Evening star., 1950-12-30
The Political Mill
82d Congress Touches
Every Activity of People
Majority Of Members in
Both Houses Are Veterans
By Gould Lincoln


How representative of the American
people is the 82d Congress which opens
its first session here on Wednesday? An
answer is that its membership touches
nearly every activity of the people.
Preachers, teachers, farmers, organized
labor leaders, businessmen, manufac-
turers, lawyers, newspaper publishers,
writers, soldiers, Marines, Navy men,
physicians and dentists-all are repre-
sented. Most of them relinquish their
private vocations when they enter the
halls of Congress, but by no means all.
Many of the Representatives and Sena-
tors-particularly the latter-have been
in the past Governors of States, judges,
members of State Legislatures, State of
ficials and officials of the Federal Gov
ernment. The vast majority of them
have been 'in politics" before they were
elected to Congress. Here are some
statistics, drawn from report of the
Congressional Quarterly.
The average age of the Senators is
56. This is three years less than in the
last Congress. On the House side of the
Capitol, the average of members is SO,
about the same as last year. But the
range of age in the new Congress is q
to 81. Under the Constitution, the age
qualification for Senator is 80 years
and for member of the House, Is years.
Majority Are Veterans.
In this period of threatening war
clouds and the rebuilding of Americas
military strength, it is interesting that
majority of the members of houses of
Congress are veterans of wars and have
seen service. The House includes in
its membership Of 435 224 veterans The
Senate has Sc veterans out of a total
membership of Sc. One new member was
serving near the front in Korea when
he learned of his acknowledgements
tive-elect Alfred D. Sieminski, Democrat,
of New Jersey. Another new member
OF the House, Representative James P. S
Devereux Republican, of Maryland
commanded the Marines on Wake Island
and conducted a heroic defense of that
island early in the Second World War.
Several of the members have served in
three wars.
For years lawyers have predominated
in the membership of the American
Congress, and the 82d Congress is no
exception. Indeed, a majority of the
membership of both houses are lawyers
Two hundred and forty three lawyers
will sit in the new House. and 81 will
sit in the Senate. Two of the eight
women members of the House were
judges-Representati Reva Beck Bu-
some, Democrat, of Utah and Repre-
sentative Ruth Thompson, Republican,
OF Michigan. Senator George, Democrat,
OF Georgia and Senator McCarran, DEM
oclat, of Nevada were judges of the
Supreme Courts of their States before
coming to Congress.
Members of the House who have been
officials of labor unions include John
F. Shelley, Democrat of California,
Leonard Irving, Democrat, of Missouri
and George M. Rhodes, Democrat, Of
Pennsylvania, who were officials of the
American Federation of Labor. Also
John E. Fogarty, Democrat, of Rhode
Island, who was president of the brick
layers union; John E. Butler, Republic
can, of New York. who was an official
of the longshoremen's union and the
grain elevator operators union, and
Gardner R. Withrow. Republican Of
Wisconsin, who worked for the railroad
brotherhoods.
Youngest Member.
The youngest member of the new
Congress is Patrick j. Killings, Demo-
crat, of California, who is 81 years old.
Robert L. Doughton, Democrat, of North
Carolina, who is 87-and chairman Of
the powerful Ways and Means Com
mittee. The member with the longest
service is Representative Adolph j. Sa-
bath, Democrat, of Illinois, who has
had nearly "A years in the House and
has now broken the record for length
of congressional service
While lawyers predominant in Con-
gress, many successful businessmen are
among its ranks. Senator-elect Wall
lace j. Bennett. Republican, of Utah,
for example, was president of the Ma
tional Association of Manufacturers in
1949. Senator Herbert H Lehman,
Democrat, of New York was a successful
banker, and Senator Robert S. Kerr.
Democrat, of Oklahoma, a successful
oil man.
Too, many members of the new Con-
gresS are outstanding farmers, among
them Senator Harry Flood Byrd OF
Virginia. The four Senators from the
Dakotas are all farmers, and five of the
nine members of the Minnesota delega.
tion in the House are farmers Seventy
members of the Congress have been
teachers and professors. Senator Full
bright, Democrat, of Arkansas was
president of the University of Arkansas.
Senator Morse, Republican, of oregon
was dean of the Law School of the Uni
verSity of Oregon.
Decidedly, America and her activities
are represented in the 82d Congress
which IS representative of the people
from ocean to ocean and from border
to border.