Show I nARD lADDER TO CLINHt Many Statesmen Slip in Trying to Ascend its Rungs Fames the Thing Sought ForRepresentative Amos ii Cummings Tells About the Climbing that Has Ii Been Going on Since the Fiftysixth Congress AsI I sembledBri htest Men Are Frequently the Worst I I Disappointed and the Most Plodding Frequently Secure Se-cure Enviable Plums 1 U I Correipondence Tribune Copyright 1800 by Amos J Gumming Washington April 12 Nearly everybody every-body In the House rt Representatives Is climbing a ladder It has more rounds than Jacobs ladder and Is 1 fully I as long but there are no angels on Its rungs More lofty than either the r Tower of Babl or the Eiffel Tower It Iran like the Tower of Pisa Compared with Us height the dome of the Capi monument are S Washington tol and the mere phjmlea It reaches from the muck and mire of local politics to the airy mjlonfc of consummate statesmanship statesman-ship It Is sdrnetlmes termed the Lad cur of Fame In breadth It Is almost as amaziiif MS in height L Sonn Representatives ascend It with I marvelous rapidity but reaching a great height arc apt become dizzy and drop to the earth Others mount the with delibera rungs slowjy and great lion being surefooted and careful At last they arrive above the clouds and then disaster follows Frequently the work of years Is lost The atmosphere becomes frosty the climber Is exposed r to the freezing winds of popular disfavor I dis-favor gets hay fever and develops tho Krlppe Political pneumonia usually supervenes the patient succumbs and I I fulls headlong from the rungs A f 3W Conjifretwimen content themselves I them-selves by standing on the lowest rung neither advancing nor retrograding watching their colleagues shoot upward I up-ward in a ever of competition until they are lost in the clouds Others clamber a low rounds face outward Ht down upon the rung and review the I distance traveled Their ambition quickly gives out and they are apparently appar-ently content to sit In the atmosphere of dull mediocrity with pipes In their mouths happy In the reception of no complaints from their constituents Tho sprIghtly and most showy are by no means the bent clamberers Occasionally I I Occa-sionally an nvlouH politician slyly greases tin rung abov him and in an j I unguarded moment fils colleague slips through the ladder and falls us Icarus fell when his wings b5kan to melt The shred political manipulator mounts his ladder with greater case in darkness dark-ness than In light He makes more headway Head-way wheh unobserved und may tallow tin ways of some ambitiOus competitor competi-tor without being caught In the act Thero are aspirants who make a great noise while springing from rung to rung In tho end however they rarely ichlevn as much as those more quiet They ale Invariably more talkative talka-tive than eloquent The talkative gi I nlus Is more of a nuisance than an educator ed-ucator Ho loses no opportunity of displaying dis-playing his Inlcllerlual weakness ToT To-T use a New Hampshire phrase he frequently fre-quently starts his mouth togolngand then runs off and leaves It lie gets just so far on the ladder and no farther far-ther Sometimes In his excitement he slips from the rung and travels l downward down-ward hand over hand apparently fancying ha Js i mounting the ladder and not descending it Ills antics at times remind you of his Simian ancestors ances-tors who swung themselves from African Afri-can palms by their long prehensile rails pelting each other faith cocoanuts making gtimnces slml dontorUons and keeping up an Interminable chatter There areone or two > uch statesmen In every Congress They never leave l the ladder until Capt Scott of coon notoriety noto-riety turns lip In tho form of an indignant In-dignant constituency when they own up and come down It Is a great ladder lad-der this Ladder of Fame Wouldbe great men arc always mounting ea ell ly el-l seeking the summit of greatness rim race up the ladder in this Congress Con-gress began soon after the opening of the present session A man from Maine made a sudden dash up the round and shot away up In the blue ethereal becoming in a twinkling the most conspicuous figure on it In two 5 hours he went higher than men who Lr had been climbing It for years It Is a 7 question however as to how long he will hurt Maine will undoubtedly lose a Congressman in the new apportion nvnt reducing the number of her delegation dele-gation from tour to three One of the lour must be left out The astute Bur JiIgh unassuming Amos Allen and the veteran Bo tel1e will not bf apt to glt way to H newcomer without a liltt T struggle The fact that Little ilcld huts be m conscientious In his attitude at-titude against the policy of the friends of l the Administration would hardly be cffcitUc as An argument for driving out arty of Its tried friends There is a Representative from In diuuH who bus also made a miraculous spurt since Alfred C llarmer late father of the House administered the oath of ofllen lo David B Henderson K IN I ChwJefl JJ Lundfs of Delphi JLt ntight be well for him to consult the i tiUbruled oracle of Delphi before opening open-ing bbs campaign Singular as it may I letin it Is said he Is l danger for not following the blaxu nutdo by I < lttleflel < 1 Kilftur C Crunlpacker of the samn Htuli at tht same time gained several rounds of the ladder by preserving an eloquent xlluncn when the Porto Plean bill was under consideration and by voting against IL Silent men frequently frequent-ly take the lead by some unexpected action where experienced climber slip from a rung and maintain their equilibrium equi-librium with great difficulty The struggle for a commanding place on the ladder IK extremely interesting t 1110 of those making fair headway Js l < linund II DrlgKM of Brooklyn N Y t i This Ie i his second term In the last < onKrms lie was a member of the j lumlratworklnic committee In the S JuJ < Uiar on Invalid Pensions In I ihH engross he has also been placed 111on tho Committee on Banking and r J j in ronjjy Despite the activity of these I mmlftee Drlggs Is always on the i thr awaiting an opening He has a U 7J shrill voice and Is S an excellent extent d iruncouK speaker While hutting the I IW ximtei of ida Imagination and fortl IMTIR facts by ilguree he shows no J 1ijitrtLtion when questioned always IJng back as good U sent Of sturdy l lIJur full blue eyes and a Capuchin < 0 4 tonsure ho Is 1 becoming a familiar flg i ur on the floor There is an element of JIK inrrulenre about him that hiss made Mm < onsplcuou He was one of the C xlx Democrats who voted for the war r vuiu bill in the last Congress and tt1 of tho eight New York Democrats i v ho voted for the gold bill in the pre tnt House While the army bill was un lr consideration lie made a bitter Rtfurk upon the transport service basins bas-ins it on an article which appeared In l a Brook n n ts spap r In this speech In r ply to a question from Mr Wbwl J ir of iv ntu kv HJ nld that hv pmt Ii tl pm-t intrluo a rvfoluUon uf > Iii r MratlT Mr Hull ut twahllr Ill a I uf tl i MTiinUtC on Military U J taps iiind4 J n oouiiterHtta4lt lllhl th f ran JoM t > h U Cnnnon warmed irrs if Into P furor or indignation Rn < I TVd to unhrr Drlggt Mr Rfrhard Krtn rf xnnMe the tfllm riltk I 1i er evinced a disposition to come to his aid but Drlggs waived him off and showed that he was fully capable of taking care of himself While not remarkably re-markably brilliant the discussion became be-came highly Interesting and sent I Drlgga up several rounds of the ladder The denouement however was sad After the resolution of investigation wus Introduced it turned out that the editor had been Imposed uponhad bought a gold brick Theie was far more Imagination than truth In the story t Another figure who seems perfectly at home on the ladder l Is Charles K Wheeler of Paducah McCracken county i coun-ty Ky When thoroughly aroused In i debate Wheeler Ie 1 a hurricane Ho has snapping gray eyes an impassioned impas-sioned manner J surprlblng diction a fair share of Ammunition and great rapidity of enunciation Llko Drlggs 1 Wheeler Is serving his secoiid term Both not only hold but attract the attention at-tention of the House Each was born during the Civil var Wheeler being two years yourger than Drlggs Each I Is feelinp his way up the ladder very carefully Both aiv promising status men Neither ventures upon a lofty strain of eloquence but each contents himself with commonsense arguments and a careful array of alleged facts ribbed with logic Wheeler however Is said to be one of the best stump speakers In Kentucky Hc has superhuman super-human energy unbounded activity and a nervous mentality that makes him at limes a dangerous antagonist S Here is another man well up on the ladder He is moving upward rapidly and gracefully but silently He Is William Lorlmer of Chicago orlmer has a wellknit llgurc perfect features a pale Intellectual face blue eyes and long thick hah indicative of Caledonian Cale-donian blood Not many years ago he was the driver of a street car In Chicago Chi-cago He entered ward politics before he left his place as drier and has now as firm agrlp on hlsCongioHsional district dis-trict as he had on his cHI He has unquestioned 1 un-questioned ability as a public speaker but rarely displays it In the House At a dinner given to the Illinois delegation l recently Lorlmcr made the speech of the evening It called attention to our defenseless condition on the northern border and advocated tjie construction of a canal from Lake Michigan to tho Mississippi With suali a qanal time Government could rUn Its gunboats from the Gulf Into the Jake us easily as England could reach it by time St Lawrence They would not only protect our defenseless cities on the Lakes but threaten those owned by the Canadians Cana-dians and in time of war might give us another Perrys victory Although born in England the speech proved that Lorlmer Is thoroughly American In heart No man in time House v clds more pcisonal influence and none HhowH more Judgment and less self consciousness He Is tho only Republican Repub-lican who can curry the district He won It from the Democracy and he keeps It I by his < personal popularity Those who knowhim say he Is the best man In Chicago S as Away up on the threehundredth round of the ladder stands a Jersey I man ono of the royal Jersey blues Ho has all the dignity and manly aplomb of a Sir Charles Grandlson As straight as a Wpt Point graduate he is the pink of perfection In debate and displays all tho characteristics of a gentleman in his associations with his felloumembers This Is the successor of Thomas Dunn English the author of Ben Bolt R Wayne Parker Is his name lIe Is the son of Cortlandt Parker Par-ker u lawyer ranking thu Frclftighuy sens the Pennlngtoifs the Bradleys and the Runyons fortyodd years ago Mr Parker is a graduate of Princeton college and shouts the jollege jry and wears the black and orange whenever Princeton wallops Yale Ht football In dignity of demeanor a > u correctness of deportmcht Parkcr ht thetpccr of any United States Senator Indecd he Is thr > Chesterfield of the House An exceedingly ex-ceedingly graceful speaker he never takes the floor unless he has something to say He says It In a way to attract attention and drives It I home In true legal phraseology He never soars Into the atmosphere of eloquence but keeps close lo the ground and mills straight for the goal always reaching It In fine shape The classic production of a classic city he Is a classic Representative Representa-tive appreciated by nil classic colleagues col-leagues Probably no man In the House could recite Ciceros denunciation denuncia-tion of Catnllne In the original Latin with bttttl effect Parker hug a firm grip on the ladder and avoids all the gonpod rungs e A fifth figure onthe LadderoCFamo Is tho Hon David IJenrj Mojcor of Nc braskaT David camp hero six years ago with a boon companion George D Melklejohn while William J Bryan was serving his second term in the House All three began to scramble UI the Ladder of Fame Bryan reached the lop rung and became the Democratic Demo-cratic candldatu for President Melkle john became the Assistant l Secretary of War or the election of Bryans antagonist antago-nist and made a brilliant record dur ing tho with war Spain Mercor remained re-mained in tho House and IK steadily creeping UI the ladder HH record has Inured to the benefit of his constituents constitu-ents and awakened the attention of the country The success of the Oma ha exposition was due largely to his I i efforts Becoming chaimmn Of tho Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds on the death of Seth MMIIken he engineered the constructed of scores of public buildings scattered throughout through-out the country not forgetting his own Stute All rivalries and Jealousies were allayed and everybody seemed pleased Mercer is a heavy man with a round face and the manner of an unassuming farmer Good humor squat on every lineament of his countenance He carries car-ries himself well on the floor and U unusually successful in legislation 1 He married a handsome and accomplished woman while In Washington and b i a favorite In the House He champions his bills with characteristic pluck and Ability and is I H forcible and effective speaker One of the < most pleasing figures on the ladder Is I that of John Sharp Wit hams of Yasoo Miss Like Mercer John entered Congress six years ago lIe first attracted the attention of the House in a midnight speech It was in reply to one made by Joseph C Hendrix Hen-drix an exceedingly able Representative Representa-tive from New York Although dipped In the vitriolic oil of xdrcaam It hail all the grao of the < > ltlmn l Southern Tatory John then etarti up th hal I Ir In rent flhotf and h lute t r t ic 10 1 n in cnUint M ni Ia i T t ITI ik I hI t U riiot r > mn i IH lia i u hTf1 t 111tI het h1t jji L j I ntt frtcnds tufted sith exellfnt judg nent h ha becom Pirr Ruprt b T r CU5flOn Hit ta l rl r frIll iTT ifl bs HgJmr InIt and clear and his conclusions compact and telling By sheer force of Intellect he Js one of the leaders of the opposition opposi-tion crossing Mades with the masters of the art and frequently pinking them with a dexterity that showers the House with applause Of a slender figure fig-ure and IL graceful delivery he has the nonchalant air of a true son of the South and a sociality beyond criticism And so they ascend and descend the ladder Some arc struck by apoplexy and disappear forever A few trip themselves and fall but In after years regain their fcsrt and once more try the ascent Others renialn on the rungs for nearly a generation without making ma-king appreciable progress The brightest bright-est of th toilers are frequently the worst disappointed and the most plodding plod-ding at times Secure the most enviable positions MIss Helen Gould Is said to have given 100000 toward establishing nn American Temple of Fame Daniel Webster John C Calhoun Henry Clay Silos Wright Stephen A Douglas the Natlck cobbler and even Davy Crock ett may appear In its classic precincts but whether any of those now struggling strug-gling upward on the Ladder of Fame reach there futurity alone can tell L AMOS J CUM rrNGS I |