The Lincoln times., 1955-03-10
Report From Washington
BY
CONGR ESSMAN
c. R. 10 N A S
10th N. c. District

WASHINGTON - When I was
in grade school in Lincolnton, we
always had exercises" on Friday
afternoon. These exercises consist
ed of recitations, declamations,
debates, spelling bees. ct cetera.
Exercises have long since gone
cut of style. 1 am sorry this is so,
because I always believed that they
served a useful purpose in the ed
ucation of boys and girls. This
perhaps proves that am old fash
ioned, but 1 do not mind being so
regarded. I do not object to mod
ern" education, but think we
could profit by placing more en-
phasis upon 'readin', 'ritin', and
'rithmatic.
POEM ABOUT WASHINGTON
My first assignment for one of
these Friday afternoon exercises
was to memoriZe and recite a lit
tie poem about George Washing
ton. I have been trying to recall
the words of the poem, but only
the first verse comes to mind as
prepare this article. 1t went some
thing like this:
"I hope I'll be like Washington
So dignified and wise.
Folks always say boy can be
A great man if he tries"
George Washington would have
won every popularity contest
among schoolboys of my time, be-
cause we always had holiday on
his birthday. February % was one
of the first dates we learned at
at school. 1t ranked right along
with 1892.
Later on, when the study of his
tory became a part of the grade
school curriculum, the life and ac-
compliShments of the father of
cur country" began to take on real
meaning for me. read all of the
stories about Washington: the in
cident of the cherry tree; how he
climbed high up the side of Nat
ural Bridge: about his exploits as
surveyor and Indian fighter; and
then, of course, the story of his
courageous leadership of his coun-
trymen in their struggle for indie
pendence.
CONTRASTS IN GOVT.
In recent days, as We have been
celebrating another anniversary OF
Washingtons birth, I began to
speculate over the contrasts be-
tween government in his day and
ours. Space will not permit
lengthy treatment of that subject
but I believe the readers of this
column may find few examples
of interest.
The first Congress convened IN
Philadelphia, and some of the law
makers had to overcome serious
obstacles in getting to their posts
of duty. One Member from New
England chose to make the jour-
ney by coastal windjammer. He
reported that. "I was forced to
travel by ship for 16 days through
raging storms, with serious and
painful effects upon my digestive
apparatus. Two other Members
were injured when the Stagecoach
in which they were riding over
| turned on one of the corded roads
of that day.
In contrast. week ago last Fri
day I left Washington at fiv e
o'clock in the afternoon in an
Eastern Air Line commercial 4-en-
CINE plane and was in Hickory at
tending a banquet by eight o'clock
that night.
FOUR CABINET OFFICERS
Washington had only four cab
met officers: Thomas Jefferson
! was Secretary of State: Alexander
! Hamilton was Secretary OF the
Treasury; Henry Knox was Secre-
tary of War; and Edmund Ran
dolph was Attorney General. There
was also a Postmaster General,
Timothy Pickering, but his job
was so unimportant. that it was
not considered to merit cabinet
rank.
The State Department was prl-
marily concerned with foreign af-
fairs; but it also had charge OF
granting patents and copyrights,
supervised United States Attorneys
and Marshals, governed the West
ern Territory, conducted the GEN.
sus, and managed the mint. Then
we had only five embassies in for
eign countries: London, Paris, The
Hague, Madrid, and Lisbon. To
carry out the entire functions of
his office, the Secretary of State
had five clerks. one interpreter, a
doorkeeper, and messenger.
Today the State Department has
5,106 employees in Washington
and a total personnel of 2l,061.
We have 106 consulates and MAIN
tain 68 embassies and 9 legations
in II foreign countries.
1t was not until George Wash
ington had spent 8 years in office
that Congress considered the War
Department important enough to