The Seventy-Third

If the 20th Amendment to the Constitution were already the law of the land the 73rd Congress elected last week would assemble Jan. 3, 1933 instead of eleven months later.* A special session, however, will probably bring it into public view earlier than that.

The Senate after March 4 will be composed of:

Democrats 59

Republicans 36

Farmer-Laborites 1

96

Not since 1906 has either party had such a whacking big majority in the upper house. The Democrats are likely to retain control of the Senate for four years, possibly six because: 1) their present lead is so top-heavy; 2) they have a marked advantage in the distribution of Senate elections in 1934.

P: Defeat of Utah's Smoot leaves Idaho's Borah, with 26 years' continuous service to his credit, as the Senate's dean.

P: Democrats (mostly southerners) who will probably be dominant in the news of the new Senate: Arkansas' Robinson as majority leader; South Carolina's Smith as chairman of the Committee on Agriculture Virginia's Glass as chairman of Banking & Currency; Mississippi's Harrison as chairman of Finance; Virginia's Swanson as chairman of Foreign Relations; Montana's Walsh as chairman of Judiciary; New York's Wagner as expert on unemployment relief.

The House after March 4 will be composed of:

Democrats 314

Republicans 111

Farmer-Laborites 4

Doubtful 6

435

Outdone by the Democrats was the record-breaking Republican house strength of 300 following the Harding landslide in 1920. So crowded will be the majority side of the chamber that nearly a hundred Democrats will have to cross the centre aisle, sit with the Republicans in a -'Cherokee Strip.''* Solidly Democratic will be the house delegations from Colorado, Maryland, Indiana, Nebraska. Rhode Island, South Dakota. Utah. Missouri, Oklahoma, Washington, Idaho, Nevada, West Virginia, Arizona. New Mexico and ten other Southern States.

P: Defeat of Iowa's Haugen who entered Congress in 1899 leaves North Carolina's Pou who became two years later dean of the House.

P: Of the six women in the 72nd Congress three were returned to the 73rd. Indiana and Kansas each elected one new one ("see p. 12).

P: Of the 211 Representatives who voted for the Bonus bill last session. 57 were defeated. Of the 176 who voted against it, 83 were defeated.

New Characters whom voters picked to represent them in the new House included:

William Cornelius Rogers, Oklahoma Democrat. Born at Bessie 33 years ago, he is a school teacher. Mistaken identity explains his election because he went before the electorate under the name of Will Rogers. Vainly his opponents pointed out that he was NOT the famed funnyman of Claremore, that not even his wife called him Will. His explanation: "I was named Willie but that's a girl's name, so I decided to use Will." Funnyman Rogers endorsed him: "He's shown more ingenuity already than any candidate I ever heard of. . . . This bird is smart. In fact he'll be plum out of place in Congress." A Dry, Representative-elect Rogers plays croquet.

Ernest Whitworth Marland, Oklahoma Democrat. Born in Pittsburgh 58 years ago, he watched Andrew William Mellon's father found the family fortune by buying sacrifice property at sheriffs' sales. While visiting George Miller's 101 Ranch in Oklahoma, he got possession of an Indian cemetery from one Willie-Cries-For-War, struck a gusher which started the $150,000,000 Marland Oil Co. His enterprise built Ponca City. In 1930 he lost his company to banking interests, went "broke." During his campaign he attacked J. P. Morgan et al. To Oklahoma he presented Bryant Bell Baker's $100,000 "Pioneer Woman" which stands at the entrance to his estate. Landscape gardening is his fun.

Magnus ("Magnavox") Johnson, Minnesota Farmer-Laborite. Born in Sweden he developed his lungs as a glass blower, today has the loudest voice in the loud Northwest. He served two years (1923-25) in the Senate as a ''dirt farmer.''

Monrad C. Wallgren, Washington Democrat. A jeweler, he is the Pacific Coast's amateur billiard champion.

Joseph Weldon Bailey Jr., Texas Democrat. An attorney, he is the son of the late great Senator from Texas.

William I. Traeger, California Republican. Now the 250-lb. sheriff of Los Angeles county, he played famous football at Stanford at the turn of the century.

* To date 19 states have ratified this amendment. Seventeen more are expected to do so in time for it to RO into effect by 1936, in which case 42 days will be clipped from the full term of President Roosevelt and 59 from that of the 74th Congress.

* Named after old Indian Territory's "Cherokee Strip" into which the excess U. S. population of the '80s overflowed as settlers.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.