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Show POWER OF THE WEST I Striking Illustration Found in Congress. BIG MEN IN THE HOUSE Iowa Delegation Cited ns Ono Which Exerts Wonderful Influenoe Upon Legislation Secict ot State's Success Suc-cess Shown In tho Pact That Republicans Re-publicans Aro Not Constantly Changing the Membership In the Lower House Shaping of legislation legisla-tion and Work of Committees. CORRESPONDENTi: TRint'NC 1 Washington Mo 1 -ln late ears a great deal has len said and written nbout the wowing power of the West both rnmmerclnllv and ln the halls of Congies Uverv well-informed reider of the slgnei of the times recognlies the fact Perhaps the inoi striking lllustintloii Is found In the power Iowa Senators nnd membeis of Congress exert upon legist itlon as enmpated with the effectiveness of the delegations delega-tions of Western States. What la the seeiet of lowns sue-cess? sue-cess? Not nlone because of the fact that David 11 Henderson Is Speaker, but mther because of conditions whlih made Oen Henderson eligible to the Speakership. Ixng ngo the people tho Republicans of Inwiv lenrned from the experience of New England Slates and front the political precedents furnished fur-nished by Georgia nnd other proud Southern commonwealths, that there was nnd Is but one way by which a State may become Influential In Con-greps, Con-greps, may stamp the Impren of the will of Its people upon pending legislation. legisla-tion. It Is simply by selecting sttong men ln the beginning und keeping them In Congress k) long as they attend at-tend to huslnesA Why to7 Thero Is plenty of good Congreselonnl timber ln every btnte. Why is It not best to pass tho hnnnts around? Why does not the unwritten law nrnlnst tho third term npply to candidates for Congress nn well as to candidates for any other office? QUERIES EASILY ANSWERED. Tor answer to there querlea tefer-enco tefer-enco must be made to recent history of the House. Of Iowa's eleven members the big men are Spenker Henderson, Hepburn, chairman of tho Committee on Interstate and Torelgn Commerce) Hull, for ears chairman of tho House Commltteo on Military Affairs, Lacy, head of the Committee on Public Lands, and Cousins, the orator who has a high plico on tho Committee on l'orelgn Affairs. The members of the Iowa delegation have served from nine to twenty-three cais each, and only thoso who have served long jears have attained Influential places on Important Import-ant committees. Yet every member from Iowa la nn nble man. Ability alono Is not sufficient to elevate u member to a committee chairmanship In which he may exert great Influence In behalf of his constituents nnd without with-out such Influence a member cannot expect to do much for his State. A new member Is not expected even to make a speech, hut rather lo be quiet and listen to the older members and "learn wisdom hy contact vvlth great minds" Thus the first year he undergoes under-goes the hazing process nnd ln ln fact a nonentity. Yet he gets a fair start, learns the ropes and begins a career of unefiilneR. COMMITTEE CHAIRMANSHIPS. Committee chairmanships ore attained at-tained only by seniority of service through tho application of so-tnllcd civil service rules, which are Inviolable Inviola-ble and which hold out rewards only to members who hnve been long In the harness. With the Republican party In power a Republican member the flrtt vear of his service Is placed at the bottom of tho list upon a given commltteo nnd thereafter, If ho be reelected, re-elected, he climbs up by slow stuges ns those above him aro promoted, die, or are elected to stay at home. ITnally, after eight or ten yearn of service, ho may attain a chairmanship, thero to remain as long as his party may control con-trol Congress should his constituency bo wise enough to keep him In office. For no one euivo the Speaker nnd chairmen of committees wield great Influence, no matter how brilliant each member may lie. Speeches nre made to the galleries and to the country nt large, nnd foi tho most part have lit-tlo lit-tlo effect upon the aita or votes of members of either house. Measures uro promoted by means of a rule of glve-nnd-tako among tho chairmen of committees who may have actual Influence In-fluence to trade, l'or Instnnce, the behests be-hests of the chalrmun of the Committee Commit-tee on Public Iluildlngs and Grounds aie keenly regarded by chairmen of other committees and members who want appropriations for public buildings build-ings and who nmong them doegj not want such an appropriation? His influence in-fluence Is measured hy tho extent of the demands mado upon him. HOW IT WORKS. It works something llko this for Instance, In-stance, Ml Hull, chatrman of the Committee on Military Affairs (elected first eleven sears ago) may want a public building nt Des Moines or some other town Iff hln district, Tho getting get-ting ot It depends solclv upon tho attl-tudo attl-tudo of Mr. Mercer, chairman of the House Commltteo on Public llulldlngs ami Grounds Should It eo happen that Mr. Mercer may want un appropriation appro-priation for an army supply depot at Omul'-i, oi for additional barracks at Port Crook he must depend solely upon Chairman Hull for thein So they get together nnd swap. No grandstand grand-stand playa no speeches. Just a little log-rolling Incidentally Mr. Hull plants a large military Post nt Des Moines at a vnst expenditure, while Mr Mer. cer plants a postofllce building nt lllalr und one at fcouth Ornaho, Did they not hold these Important chairman, ships they would be powerless to accomplish ac-complish large results for their respective respec-tive dletrictH, and they attained those chairmanships becauan they ore good workers und had become veteran members of tho House Analvze eyery delegation In Con. gross und the tact becomes at once np. parent that only those Stales whose tepreKont.il Ives havo been heie fiom eight to twelve scars exert any special Inrtuenco upon pending legislation and only those Republican membeis who have been heio long enough to attain committee chairmanships can get much putioi.ago at the hands of departmental de-partmental chiefs WHAT PEOPLE EXPECT. Lofty. minded men may have their own notions of tho duties Imposed up. on a Congressman, but tho men who elect him expect that he shall achieve results What do they mean by that? They expect him to secure tho greitest possible number of jiosltlons for hungry hun-gry constituents In and out of the de. par'ments, to securo appropriations for publlo buildings of various kinds' to so uro penskns fc war Veterans to get Iniieuod npprop latlons for star loute or postoltkc milntninnie to appear ap-pear before committees and nrgue for measures of peclnl Interest to his dls-trbt dls-trbt to Intiolmc ind d. fend special bills framed in the Interest of ft few constituents His duties nre multlfn-ilous multlfn-ilous too numero'is to mention Ills nttalnineuts nre measured by his pei-sonnl pei-sonnl Infln-nce An thing thit adds to tho latter Is of Incalculable bcnellt to his district nnd his people. POWER OP IOWA. That which has been said nbout the power of Iowa In Congress Is true of 1 few other States but before the lot-ter lot-ter arc cited, let me tell how lowi only a few seats ago rem lied over Into Nebraska and took fort railway mall clerics whose headquarters had al-wavs al-wavs been nt Omahi to Sioux CUs, nnd there established a new headqunr-teis headqunr-teis of course putting nn lown nun In control Mnn of these clerks run in and out oT Lincoln a pel Omaha to this day and have to travel to Sioux City to lecetvo their Instructions and pis an unreasonable requltomcnt to tho positive detriment of the service In tho opinion of men who are In a position to know. It was brought about bv the combined efforts of the Iowa Senators Sena-tors nnd Congressmen who exert nn all-powerful Influence nmong depnrt-mental depnrt-mental heads nt Washington Senator Allison Is chalrmin of the Senate Committee Com-mittee on Appropriations H mas bo said furthei In this connection Hut Iowa men nre in supreme control of the rnllwny mall service thit radiates out of the metropolis of Nebraska, and while thes no first class ollli lals they could not hove attained their present Pliees but for the far rem lilng In-fliienr-A of IonaiiR In Congiens Ne. braska. with four ppoi ratlc Congressmen, Congress-men, with one Republican Congress, man having served but three sr " and one having served long enough to hnve become Influential, cannot h ipo to cope with her neighbor, whose policy Is to keep her Representatives hi Congress Just ns long as thes do creditable work, so that tho operation of the rulo of senlorlts may place them nt the head of committees Senator Allison, by the was, has been ln tho Senate for twenty-nine senrs MAINE DELEGATION. Most every reader Is familiar vvlth tho hlstors ot the Mnlne deb gallon In Congiess Thomas II Reed served tvents-tvvo scire, Dlnglej-, eighteen; Mllllken sixteen. Houtelle. eighteen Tho omlnemo Speaker Reed nttolned need not be cited Senator l'rse, president presi-dent of the Senate hns been In Con-gieso Con-gieso thirls -three senrs, and Senator Hale twenty-nine Death having overtaken over-taken Dingles'. Mllllken and Houtelle, their places aro (llled hy new men I'p to their death the nverige term served by Mnlne Congressmen was twenty-two twenty-two and a thlid senis It Is n sifc pie-diction pie-diction that the new men from Maine will ho retained Just so long nit thes" mny show" an Inclination to protect tho Interests of the State nnd prepire themselves for committee chnlnmn-ships chnlnmn-ships when their turn mnv come. Dining Din-ing one Congress Malno'n four members mem-bers had the Speakership, chairmanship chairman-ship of the Committee on Ways and Me ins, chairmanship of the Committee Commit-tee on Naval Affairs nd ehalrminship of the Committee on Public Itulldlngn nnd Grounds At that tlmo Now England, Eng-land, with twenty-seven members, hnd six Important chilrmnnshlps, whllo Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri, vvlth twents'-nlne members, had but three, Willi im McKinley was fourteen sears In Congress and having been chnlrmnn of tho Wajs nnd Means committee he vviote the great tariff measure which placed him ln the White House. OLDEST MUMIir.RS OP HOUSE. Here Is n list of the oldest members of tho House, the most useful men In the bods' today, vvlth tho sear In which each Vntered Congress Gnlushn Grow of Pennsylvania, 185?; J, II Ketchum of New York 186, Joseph G. Cannon of Illinois, 1RT3. Nicholas Mueller of New York, 1877, II. 11. Hlnghnm nt Pennsslvanla, 1TO, O W Steele of Indiana, In-diana, 18S1, J. H, Wadsworth of New York, 1SSI, R. R. llllt of Illinois. 18X2; D. n. Henderson of Iowa, 1883, Sereno E. Payne of New York. 1881. O. W. Rny of New York. 1SS1. J. D Richardson Richard-son of Tennessee, JS85; Chnles H. Orosvenor of Ohio, 1SS5, A. J. Cum-mlngs Cum-mlngs of New York. 1887, John Dalirll of Pennsylvania, 1887, C. A. Russell of Connecticut, 1887, Marriott Itrnslua of Pennsslvnnla, 1889, F E. Ilurton of Ohio, I8V1, J. A. T, Hull of Iowa, 1691, A. J. Hopkins of Illinois 1885; E. K. Loud of California, 1691; William Mc-Aleer Mc-Aleer of Pennsylvania, 1691, B W. Mc-Call Mc-Call of Massachusetts, 1893; J. T. Mc. Cleary ot Mlnntaotn, 1893, and J. 1", Lory of iowa, 1889. WEST SACRIFICES PRESTIGE. Tho great Influence wielded by these men Is due largely to their seniority of service, as every Intelligent newspaper reader must know. Ono of these veterans vet-erans snld to mo today In tt conversation conversa-tion covering tho subject' "Tho Western West-ern States havo sacrificed prestige In Washington by chnnging a Representative Representa-tive every time an ambition was born ln the Imagination ot tome bright young lawyer. The reason these States have not exerted more Influence In national na-tional leglslntlon is because they have left fow of their Representatives hero long enough to ripen Into usefulness " Limited space forbids a recital of the vast sums of money appropriated for Improvements In the States whose delegates dele-gates attained commanding places. It is a long chnpter, but a most convincing convinc-ing one. Yet in States where the politician poli-tician tramples upon the statesman the lesson Is unheeded to tho Inepaiahle Injury of the Stato and Its highest interests. in-terests. J. H. HAYNES. |