The Press: Gallery Man

No man in the land knows more active newsmen than long, lean James D. (“Jim”) Preston, 55-year-old superintendent of the U. S. Senate Press Gallery. Last week he decided he knew too many for his own good health, resigned the post he has ably filled for more than 34 years, be came the Senate’s librarian. When Jim Preston, son of an oldtime New York Herald correspondent, took over the gallery, there were 150 newsmen, with one telephone and no typewriters, covering such Senate giants as Allison, Sherman, Quay, Bacon, Platt. Today 368 correspondents hover in the gallery where Jim Preston has been a sort of Queen Bee. His job: contact man between Senate & Press. He knows and remembers facts, figures, faces, dates, data & doings. When does Senator Borah speak next? What did the Finance Committee do last week? When did the first Muscle Shoals bill pass? Who got a black eye for calling Ben Till man a liar?* The answer to all such questions: “Ask Preston.” Friendly and help ful about the gallery, Jim Preston, in his loose, wrinkled clothes with vest pockets crammed with notebooks and pencils, often adopts playful ferocity toward pesky correspondents.

Jim Preston has managed (with one ex ception) the Press arrangements at every national convention of both parties this century. He was elected a limited mem ber of the famed Gridiron Club to serve as stage manager and property man at its dinners. When the Senate is not sitting, he gads about the country publicizing golf tournaments on public links. (His own score: no.) He was one of the first radio enthusiasts in Washington. About his home he grows fine roses.

A likely successor to Jim Preston in the Senate gallery: William Collins, stocky little Irishman, onetime New York World office boy in the Washington bureau, for 20 years Jim Preston’s assistant.

* Senator John Lowndes McLaurin of South Carolina.