POLITICAL NOTES: Miscellaneous Mentions: Mar. 22, 1926

Thomas L. Blanton, Congressman from Texas, as vociferous as Colonel House is silent, last week arose in the House of Representatives :

“There has appeared in the press of late and from the floor of this House much criticism of a distinguished gentleman from my home state, Mr. Edward House. I hold no brief for Mr. House; I am not authorized to speak for him in any particular, but because of such criticism I want to give you a different viewpoint from that which you have had concerning this gentleman.

“I was a small boy going to the state university at Austin, where I lived, working at night in order that I might maintain myself and pay my way through that institution. I was walking down the street of Austin one day in the hot sun going to town and Mr. House drove by me in his one-horse buggy. He drove a one-horse buggy then; he drove it himself. No pretension; meek as he could be. And he saw a poor boy walking along in the hot sun. He knew nothing of me; he did not know my name, but he called and asked me to get in the buggy and ride to town with him.

“And the finest talk I ever received in my life was given me by Mr. House, inciting ambition to be something in the world; inciting ambition to live a straight life and keep sober and to be industrious, and that was the lecture I received from Mr. House, and I have never forgotten it; and I owe to him a statement of this little angle of his life.”

Until nine years ago the Republicans and Democrats of Congress held each spring a duel to death on the diamond. This year plans have been made to resume the annual inter-party baseball game at Griffith Stadium “as soon as weather permits, on some Saturday when the Washington American League team is away from home.” The teams:

REPUBLICANS……………………………. DEMOCRATS

Kelly of Pa. (manager)………………………. *McMillan of S. C. (manager)
Fish of N. Y. (pitcher)………………………Gallivan of Mass. (pitcher)
Appleby of N. J……………………………….Somers of N. Y.
Hogg of Ind…………………………………..Lanham of Tex.
Bacharach of N.J………………………………Wilson of Miss.
Britten of Ill……………………………… .Green of Fla.
Morin of Pa…………………………………Tydings of Md.
Gorman of Ill…………………………………Chapman of Ky.
Updike of Ind.
Crumpacker of Ore.

Charles G. Dawes appeared last week in the role of a stickler for Senate rules. In the Chamber senators are supposed to address themselves only to the Chair and to refer to One another in the third person. The press has noted of late that there has been some laxity in this respect. But last week Senator Watson was asking a question of Senator Fess. Senator Watson’s desk is in the front row, third from the centre aisle. Senator Fess’ desk is in the fourth (rear) row, eighth from the aisle (nearly directly behind Mr. Watson’s because of the semicircular arrangement of the desks). Mr. Watson turned to Mr. Fess, thereby turning his back on the Vice President.

Mr. Dawes’ voice boomed from the rostrum: “The Senator will face the Chair.”

Mr. Watson turned and bowed formally to Mr. Dawes, saying, “Mr. President,” and thinking he had satisfied formality turned back to Mr. Fess. Again the voice boomed from the rostrum: “The Senator will face the Chair.” (The senators smiled and the gallery laughed.) “It is the rule that the Senator must face the Chair.”

“Well, I’m against that rule,” ejaculated Mr. Watson, compromising by standing facing into a corner, so that Mr. Fess and the Vice President might each see his profile.

Mr. Dawes later explained that the rule is for the good of the Senate reporters, “who have a very difficult time, as it is, catching all that is said in debate.”

Congressman Stephen G. Porter of Pennsylvania, chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, presented a petition to Congress from 86 citizens of Allegheny County which declared that in their opinion the U. S. Constitution is an “excellent and admirable” document, but went on:

“It encourages the false doctrine that civil government has no moral nor religious duties to perform and that irreligious and even immoral men may properly and safely be entrusted with its administration.

“The refusal of this nation to acknowledge His authority and accept His law, exposes us to the chastising and destroying judgment of God.

“We propose an amendment to Constitution that will suitably acknowledge almighty God as the source of all authority and power in civil government, the Lord Jesus Christ as the ruler of nations, and His revealed will as of supreme authority in national affairs, and so place Christian laws, institutions and usages in our Government on an undeniable legal basis.”

Congressman Stephen G. Porter of Pennsylvania also introduced a bill last week. It provided for the issue of memorial half dollars on July 4, 1926, to celebrate the centennial of the birth of Stephen Collins Foster, who wrote “My Old Kentucky Home,” “Old Black Joe,” “Massa’s in de Cold, Cold Ground,” “Old Folks at Home.”

Mrs. Borden Harriman, noted Democratic politician, according to Correspondent Clinton W. Gilbert, was recently called to the telephone by a voice saying, “I wish to consult you upon an important political question. We are considering a possible nominee for President in 1928. Our idea is that Colonel Edward M. House is the man to win with, but the question is: Do you think the third-term issue would be raised against him, considering his revelation of how he was the real President from 1912 to 1920?”

*In 1913, when he was just out of law school, Mr. McMillan played professional baseball for a season with the Charleston Club of the South Atlantic League. He led the League in hitting and stolen bases, but left the diamond in the fall and opened a law office.

Former Harvard men.