Judge — February 12, 1916 — page 4: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

The Pork Barrel THERE been any Congress within memory that in some of its members has not illustrated local eccentricities of the ballot? The present Congress, like others, shows animate mira- cles of suffrage, and everyone knows that logic has no place in association with the miraculous. mong pol cu- riosities of the past are remembered one lawmaker whose proudest boast was that he never had worn soc another whose extrava- gant whiskers gave him his greatest note; another whose local patriotism led him to wear nothing but home- spun; and lately one has sought distinction by collarless comparison with other persons who take some pride in clean linen. As long as men are elected to Congress for one or another personal aberration, it is not strange, perhaps, that many others should be sent to Washington with the main idea that by hook or crook they should benefit their localities at the expense of the country at large. Of course cheap local politicians must look for con- tinued residence in Washington only upon the theory that wl there the first time they may be able to fill the local pork barrel. The mere franking O R of public documents and garden seeds to constituents is but a token of personal good will. Something of greater value must be furnished, for which the country at large. without advantage, shall also pay. Thus enough good moncy has been spent in recent years by the government of the United States for questionable “local bene fit” to have prepared this country for any emergency that foreign wars or diplomatic complications could possibly project. Creeks that lead nowhere in particular have been dredged and dredged again to furnish local employment for local political purposes, and Acquaintance—But aren't you afraid the climate may disagree with your wife ? Her husband—It wouldn't dare! eee L § government buildings with empty corridors have become white elephants in) small centers, And there is a steady demand through local representatives for like gen- erosity toward other creeks and other small centers The “ pork barrel” has become an institu- tion in American politics. It may require some dire national need to show how foolish a spendthrift the nation really A Domestic Art N°" LONG AGO a prominent minister in a certain college town preached a se rmons to the students oo series of s “the fine art of living togethe Itis indeed to be hoped that he led no one into matrimony with malformed no- tions of effecting compatible rel: tionships. We fear, however, that he erred in considering living together a fine art. It is scarcely a crude art; for the fundamental principle of art is selection, and every mature and rec- onciled husband and wife on earth knows how unimportant a part ju- dicious selection plays once the nuptial knot is piously tied. People who live together long and successfully are people who set them- selves cheerfully to the task of put- ting up with what they have selected. ‘There may be a fine art of choosing a husband or of capitulating toa girl and her mother, Thereisno moreart about living together than there is about having the measles or smallpox. comicbooks.com