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The Republicans had already selected their majorities for the Senate's reduced number of committees, settling chairmanship rows in the process. The Democrats would soon get around to it, and the Senate would be ready for business.
That evening Bilbo locked the door of his old Senate office and next day headed south for Mississippi, where even the frogs chug his name, and whence, some day, he may—or may not—return.
The day Senator Bilbo left Washington was, appropriately, a day dedicated to the memory of a great Negro. By act of the 79th Congress, January 5 (the day of his death) had been designated as George Washington Carver Day. The son of a slave, Carver became a world-famed scientist (researches on soil, dehydrated foods, peanuts, plastics, etc.) who had benefited the economy of the entire South. He was a man of whom the U.S. was proud; some day the South would be proud of him too.