It's on the House

Until he trudged out on the apron of the National Airport where the big C-54 was waiting for passengers, Indiana's Representative Earl Wilson was sure of only one thing: he was going to Switzerland on a wonderful free ride. Why, he hadn't the faintest idea. In the House the day before, Minority Leader Joe Martin had asked him how he would like to make the trip. Earl had said "fine," and Joe had told him to go home and pack his bags.

Congressman Wilson finally found out that he was going to attend a world assembly of Frank Buchman's bleating, pacifist Moral Re-Armament Movement in Caux. He didn't know what that was. Three of the other four junketing Congressmen weren't much better informed. Only Georgia's big, balding Prince Preston Jr., who had once seen an M.R.A. "inspirational play," had any solid grounding in the movement.

What had happened? Preston knew the U.S. had been invited to send a delegation. He sounded out House leaders. In an apathetic session, when only about 75 of the House's 435 members were on the floor, Majority Leader John McCormack introduced a resolution to send three Democrats and two Republicans, appropriate $5,000 for the trip. It went through like a dream.

Last week, the five junketers returned full of knowledge and of praise for Moral Re-Armament. The Government's Military Air Transport Service flew them there & back. The estimated charge: $5,500 (but a charter trip on a commercial airline would have cost approximately $16,000). Snorted New York's penny-pinching John Taber: "It's an awful thing for Congress to cut such a caper."

New Jersey's white-haired old Charlie Eaton, who used to be a minister himself, thought otherwise. Said he: "Good God! Isn't the moral future of the world worth $5,000?" It obviously was; the only question a taxpayer might raise was whether at Frank Buchman's M.R.A. five junketing Congressmen had contributed that much to it.

--

The House's openhanded generosity did not stop there. Its Banking & Currency Committee approved a special gold medal to be struck for Vice President Alben Barkley, at a cost not to exceed $2,500 and bearing "suitable emblems, devices and inscriptions." The House voted itself another clerk (at $3,000 a year) for every member and an additional $500 apiece for phone calls and telegrams.

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