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Chairman of the Committee is Simeon Gray (Robert Strange). The Depression is about to wreck Chairman Gray's long record for square dealing. There is an appropriation in H. R. 2,007 which will build a penitentiary in his town, save the bank of which he is majority stockholder and which verges on collapse with criminal reverberations. Unable to obstruct general Congressional plundering by any other means, visionary Representative McClean maneuvers the committee into tagging onto H. R. 2,007 graft so obviously villainous that the measure will either be killed on the floor or face a Presidential veto. At the last moment, however, Nevada's McClean tosses away his victory. He is in love with Chairman Gray's daughter, does not want to see her father go to jail.
Virginia's Fitzmaurice (Walter C. Kelly, "the Virginia Judge" of vaudeville), a lovable old pirate who has philosophically raided the U. S. Treasury for years, is the pragmatic spokesman for the side of unrighteousness. A colored waiter in the House Restaurant at one point approaches him, saying: "Mistuh Fitzmaurice, I read in the papers that this bill is a bad thing This heah Gov'ment is costing a sight too much—a sight." When Congressman Fitzmaurice reminds him that curtailment of government expense would jeopardize his job, the practical blackamoor decides that his "head has just been turned by reading matter. I'd ruther we dropped the whole thing."
As disappointed Representative McClean goes off hopeful of starting some kind of revolution. Representative Fitzmaurice jovially addresses the committee: "Gentlemen, I've always told you you're a bunch of crooks. Some day you will regret it. But personally, I believe that the vast natural resources of public apathy have never even been tapped. It won't come in my lifetime."
Playwright Anderson and Representative McClean's idealistic Secretary add: "Maybe."
A Saturday Night (by Owen Davis; William A. Brady, producer) brings Peggy Wood, who loves her native Brooklyn but has been playing in London for the past four years, back to the U. S. stage. The vehicle is not a strong one, but the story has definite folksy appeal.
Marguerite Langdon (Miss Wood) has been leading a life of quiet desperation for years. To all appearances well off, she and her husband Jim (Hugh O'Connell) have never had all those good times they promised each other. Her birthday, decides Jim, shall be the occasion for turning over a new leaf. The children, Sally and Ted, bring presents. Jim gets tickets for a revue, promises to go dancing afterward. Then Mrs. Langdon has some real trouble. Before she can get out of the house, Ted is brought home with a sprained ankle suffered in a basketball game. Daughter Sally starts for Chicago with a bounder. Husband Jim fails to get the promotion he was sure of. The family's best friend starts making love to Mrs. Langdon.