Session III

The oldest Senator there was a little bantam-built man with a crabwise walk, a cock-crest of white hair, a mouth that seems to snarl even when he weeps--the Old Dominion fireball, Carter Glass, 82, of Lynchburg, Va.

The oldest Representative there was a thin, bald, snap-eyed man from Glenwood Springs, Colo.--Ed. T. Taylor, 81, who has run for office at 21 general elections, not only without defeat but without any opposition, and who is the author of more State laws, Constitutional amendments and Federal laws combined than anyone else in the U. S.

And there was 78-year-old George William Norris of Nebraska, the great crescents of his eyebrows black as ever, his stomach for a scrap still keen, though he often repeated: "My work is done." In the Senate sat six men each of whom hopes that, this time next year, he may be President--Garner of Texas, Wheeler of Montana, Taft of Ohio, Vandenberg of Michigan, Bridges of New Hampshire, Clark of Missouri. In the House at least two men had such hopes; Bankhead of Alabama, Martin of Massachusetts.

Young & old, baggy & neat, bright & dull, the men and women of Session III of the 76th Congress came together last week faced with election year and these issues: 1) renewal of the reciprocal trade agreements (see above); 2) the Budget and taxes; 3) National Defense; 4) proposals to curb NLRB; 5) relief appropriations; 6) amendments to the Wage-Hour Act.

Last year, 30 days after the opening of Session I, Senate Leader Alben Barkley of Kentucky complained that the Congress had nothing to do. Three months later the Senate was still taking three-day recesses for want of work. As usual, in the last two or three weeks, Session I jammed through the entire legislative program in a last-minute, lickety-split finish.

Session III, prophesied Washington wiseacres, would follow the same pattern, bumbling along for three months or so. then cramming everything into the last few days before the legislators board their trains for the June conventions.

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