Last Perquisite

To a Vice President it means much to be a graduate of Congress. Calvin Coolidge and Charles Gates Dawes were rank outsiders when the country elected them to preside over the Senate. Not so Charles Curtis, and John Nance Garner, who knew from long service in Senate and House respectively Congressional rights and perquisites and how to get their share.

Dear to the hearts of all Congressmen are their perquisites. Among these are free postage on official letters, free stationery, free clerk hire and (for Senators only) free snuff and free mineral water. Although not really a member of Congress, the Vice President shares most of these, has one extra one of his own--an official automobile. But for 146 years there was one fat Congressional perquisite that no Vice President ever got--travel allowance. Last week Vice President Garner got that perquisite too.

Wise in the ways of Congress, his Senatorial friends slipped an amendment into the Legislative Appropriation Bill which the House in behalf of its onetime Speaker gladly accepted by vote of 282-to-73. That amendment provides that the Vice President shall have the right to draw, like any Congressman, an allowance of 20-c- a mile for traveling round-trip between his home and Washington for every session of Congress. Since Uvalde, Tex. is reckoned 2,128 miles from Washington, the allowance will put an extra $851.20 into the Garner pocket.

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