National Affairs: Political Notes: Mar. 3, 1923

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Senator Brookhart, Iowa, favors a studied informality in the matter of dress.

"If I am asked to the White House, or to attend any other state occasion, I shall go as I am, with cowhide shoes and the clothes I wear on the farm. If my constituents wish me to do so, I shall go to the extreme of donning overalls."

The shoes in question are of a breadth allowing free play to the legislative toes, and are a rich ochre in tint.

Senator Brookhart's advocacy of simplicity is applicable to every condition with which he may be confronted. He remarks further:

"I have never owned evening clothes and never propose to. I do not care for social functions and would prefer to remain away. If the occasion requires that I should be present I will go just as I am."

Washington hostesses have not yet attempted to exploit the Senator as a curiosity.

General Isaac R. Sherwood, 87, representing the 9th District of Ohio in the 68th Congress, is the oldest man ever to be elected to House or Senate.

Is Mr. Borah a "Red of the Reds"? His political enemies cry "Yes!" and point out that Boris Litvinoff, Soviet economic expert, has invited him to visit Russia next summer and that Mr. Borah has accepted.

Washington political experts are accustomed to writing of Borah as the one man in the Senate who "goes his own gait"—regardless of what people say; it is unlikely that he will reply to his critics.

"To Jack from Bill."

"With the greetings and gratitude of a neighbor, friend and fellow-worker in the common cause."

"To the most constructive, practical, radical and democratic millionaire I have ever met."

These are "dedications" on photographs hanging in John Hays Hammond's study at Washington.

The first is Taft.

The second, Harding.

The third, Gompers.

"Get vaccinated or stay home." Such is the gist of a note sent by Chile to the American Commission of Senators and Diplomats who plan to attend the Pan-American conference at Santiago de Chile this month.

Senator McCormick of Illinois remarked to a friend that he would rather write his Child Labor amendment into the Constitution than be a two-termer in the White House.

Until March 4 Senator Johnson of California is a "Republican and Progressive." He holds that official designation through the fact that he is still serving the term to which he was elected in 1916—when the Progressive Party still had an official existence in California.

Last fall Mr. Johnson was re-elected by a constituency exclusively Republican. A "plain Republican" he must be after March 4.

Warren G. Harding, author, is on many bookshelves throughout the land. There are two volumes—Our Common Country and Rededicating America, both of them collections of public addresses.

John Quincy Adams, paged in the Army and Navy Club in Washington, turned out to be a Major of Marines from Quantico, Va. Robert Emmett, lineal descendant of the great Irish patriot, was found to be a lieutenant-commander in the Navy, stationed at Washington.