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Show IS I - ... - t- .l IMJ IIHWIIMIIH" " II"1 wis SSM il Ij ii Bpeclal to Tho Tribune. ! mtASIIINGTON. April nO."Thcre !' '(! ftft wm come time In your Conprcs- i ij ' f W slonal career when you will es H ' ! pr:3n the opinion that you don't I raro If you never come back." j ' '' !5 a remark that Speaker Ciin- ' ' ; non . ha made to many new ! ,1 members. It has been Btated that clght- ! I 1 tcntha of the mciobera occasionally ' j ' declare that they don't care whether they return or not, but more than nlne-.' nlne-.' .tenth.-; o thorn are hustlinc In every Gittnpulffu for re-election. It generally oucurn to the ir.an In Ids nrat and oecond ! J terms that there Ib not very much to bo ' Knlnc.d in a career in the House of Kep- roaentativei, especially when a Btrug- Klo for renomlnatlon and another for 1 r-ekction in necessary every two years. It is al?o during these first two terms I J that the new member finds that he is uad largely to make a quorum and to ' vote right on all partj- questions. ' To a man who has been something In Lis own community, perhapn a State Sonator or Representative, or a District Attorney or Judge of a court, the rear rank to whicli ho Is relegated In the House is not a very comfortable position. posi-tion. Tho many petty annoyances to l ' which he Is subjtctod. the complaints of I ,'! constituents, the peremptory demands ' j of the men who put him In Congress. 1 and the unpleasant newspapor para- , graphs In opposition papers, have a ten dency to mak him weary of lift) under the dome. Perhaps eight-tenths of these I men do Bay at times that they will not ( ,! seek another ro-electlon, but after they have established themselves In the 1 I House, been given committee asslgn- I menta which afford them an opportunl- 1 ty to take part In the debates in the 1 House, and what Is more, form assocla- 1 ' 1 lions with men of character and Intel! I- 1 1 icince, whose good-fellowship makes ' i ', them companionable, the new members are very glad to continue In the House. ' Nearly every member will assert that 1 he can make more In business than the salary of a Congressman, but as John Allen would say, the salary of a Congressman Con-gressman Is "powerful regular." A group of members were discussing ' the matter a short time ago. and "WU- ' Ham Alden Smith told about a con- ! I vcrsation he had with John G. Carlisle j on the subject of public life. Carlisle, who had been a member of the House, Snoaker for six years, a member of tho HT Senate for nearly three years, and four years-a Cabinet officer, told Smith that of all oosltlons lie 'had ever held that which ho looked back upon with the Hj , most pleasure was his service In the House. The associations he formed, the penlal atmosphere of democracy and ln-: ln-: dependence, together with tho fierce , struggles and forensic battles, gave him Hj more pleasurable retrospection than ! either his Senatorial or Cabinet career. Of course, a man like Carlisle, whose j prominence made him Speaker arid HfW , , leader of his party, in which were such 1 , Y-U men as Sam Randall. "William R- Mor- rison. Proctor Knott, William A. Rus- j sel, Dick Bland. "W. S. Holman. Fernan- H" . I do "Wood, Sunset Cox. Frank Hurd. Da- 1 ' I vid S. Culberson, Roger Q. Mills. John I , ' I Randolph Tucker. Charles F. Crisp. Joe ' Blackburn, Patrick A. Collins, Abram S. Hewitt, as well as a large number of H. other men who havo become notable Hi j ' since his time In the House. Avould na- H, turally fel very different from the , I average man, who finds himself one of H a large crowd of men who have little Hl' lo do 'about shaping the policies of the Government, or Influence in the party to which they belong. Yet, on the whole, H, it may be eald that nearly every mem- ber of the House really enjoys the life Hi In that body. H' - Hb Representative Humphreys of illssis- Hf' j sippl, and Butler Ames of Massachu- Hj sctL", are serving their first terms In . the House. Humphreys Is a son of for- Hl I niur Gov. Humphreys, who was ousted I, from thj State Capliol in the rccon- B1' ( Pimctloc days, and Gen. Ames, who put j H1 . him out. Is father of Butler Ames, the H! ! present Representative. ' .)j "I remember very well," said Hum- H'i ' Phreys. "the day when my father' was H'i ' V force-l to lave the Slate Capitol. Hol- 1 j' dlcrs la Yankee uniforms and with . Yankee bayonets put uA nut. for I was J t here and went with the Governor. The next time I entered that Capitol I wore H: , a Yankee uniform and commanded koI- ' dicrs ctrryin;; Yankee ljayonets. It was i duri-i.T the Spar.IsJi war when Misais- ' slppi was eager to fight for the reunite I country." H e 4 H.j . When the lime comes for making the H ) appropriation foiv tho centennial c-xposi- H; ( tlon at. Jamestovn and the appropric- tion is .Mure to be made provision will Hn . ho made for the entertainment of for- () eli;-.i navsl truesta by ottlcen' of the Un!- ted States nuvy. and it will be fixed no H that iho burden v.-!l not be upon the . - private means of the officers. The Gov- Hi e it. in en t will make an appropriation for , ' this expense, and It ought to if it in- Hh vllcs foreign Governments to send I sriuadrons to participate in the celehra- lion, ax seems to be the present inten-tlon. inten-tlon. It will not be a nev thing to make such an appropriation. In ISOfl ships of foreign countries vcre tiuited to rendeV.voun at Hampton Roads and begin the celebration of the Chicago World's fair. An appropriation was made to enable the navy lo proper-' proper-' l.v entertain these foreign guests, and Hl! they did so In a manner that reflected Ha credit upon tho navy and the Nation. Hj Tfiere was another feature of this i S;m. entertainment that wan entirely ' I fivorlooked. The army officers, ntationed j . aL 1'ort Monroe, and the visiting officers, I who wore there tomporp.rlly, did a large Hj I 1 . amount of, enterlaiuhig of thu foreign Hl , naval olllceri!. Calls of courtesy were H! made nt the fort. These calls were fol- Hj I l.'r.ved by dinners aboard ships which H L ll:ul f 1)0 -turned, and the army men 'i: found that the vislL of the foreigners H) iin became quite a heavy tax on their re- H) "51 sources. No appropriation was made Ht I I for the army, but probably when the H Vlf Jamestown nfi'alr comes off this enter- Hjl tainlng which is done by both army nnd 'j navy for tho Government, will be pro- ' ,jl vlded for in a manner that will be In H! i T keeping with the position of the United Hi ,1 Slates Government H' Hi i f "There was a justice of the peace ' ) down In Iventucky;" said Senator Hjl Rlackburn. "who had been elected for a H score of years without opposition. FI- Hl,! Kl nully, much to the surprise of the jus- . . i tice, another man came out as a can- Hlf l ( dldale, and was pushing the old justice Hh '(It pretty hard. The old man decided to Hlij "' Issue a circular to be distributed in the HT . ' ;" 'I district showing why he should be clect- j j ed. Ho olosed It with this touching appeal, ap-peal, 'Iu the twenty-two years T havo boon a JuHtlco of the peace I have never decided a case against a Democrat.' It Is needless to say," concluded the Kentucky Ken-tucky Senator, "that this tvaa in a Democratic stronghold." 1 t j Representative Currier and tho Post-office Post-office department had a curious experience experi-ence with a postmaster Iiv New Hampshire. Hamp-shire. Complaints were made and proven against the postmaster, and It wau decided to remove) him. Currier was asked to recommend a man for the place, which he did. A few months later the department asked him why the bond of tho now man was not sent in. Currier Cur-rier began ai correspondence with the new man, but could get no replies. Papers Pa-pers for poatlng In the postofilce were nant, but they were never heard from. Tha old postmaster simply made way with every letter or circular bearing on the ofilcc, and stopped the wheels of governmt-Jit in the matter of the appointment ap-pointment and qualification) of hly successor. suc-cessor. Currier and the department had a long corrcypondencf? on the subject, until tho Representative became absolutely abso-lutely weary and informed the department depart-ment that he Would have nothing more to do with the case. He would not bo resKnslble for the office or for getting tho man out; that was the business of tho department, and it must work tho mutter out In Its own way. And Currier Cur-rier never even Inquired) about the office of-fice ttgain-. i There- y one man In this country who thinks that Asher C. Hinds, the clerk at the Speaker's desk, is an all-powerful Individual. During the last few weeks that Hendersoib was Speaker, a veteran from Minnesota came to the House and tried to get through a pension bill. He .sat around for days, and fiiwilly reaching reach-ing Hinds, ho announced his intention of "camping" in front of the door until Lorlti Fletcher was recognized by the Speaker to call up the bill. "You can make him do It," said he to Hinds. "Now, see here." said Ilindf. "If you stay here, I'll make it my business- to seo that your bill in never called up, but if you go away and mind your business, busi-ness, I will try and see what I can do for you." A day or two after Fletcher called up the bill and It was passed. The veteran was- In the gallery and saw tin way It was done. After the adjournment of Congress he called on Hinds, saying he , wanted to withdraw papers from the House files concerning a pension claim. Hinds assured him that he rould not do anything of that kind, a3 It required the j consent of the House. "Oh, yes you can." said the veteran; "You can do anything Didn't you paFS my bill 2" "L didn't have anything to do with passing your bill," &ald Hinds. "Oh, don't you talk to me," said the old man. "Wasn't I up In the gallery? Didn't I sec it all? You were right there by the Speaker and put that bill through. I know what you cam do with this Ilous?." He went away after a time, but could not be convinced' that Hinds- wan not alI-iKwerful about the House of Representatives. Repre-sentatives. . t a The Republicans have certainly made a record during thla Congress of not doing do-ing more than they wanted to do. At the very beginning a programme was outlined to confine tho business to necessary ne-cessary legislation', the appropriation" bills, th Panama trenly and s?ome other matters of no very greut importance, and to leave nil other matters to a future fu-ture Congress or to the whort .session. They have not been swerved from that determination by any criticism. They have not been alarmed over being called a "do-nothing Congress." That term has been applied to other Congresses, j and has not created any groat furore In I the country. In fact, thero are many people who I think that the less a Congress docs the better It Is for the country. While thero ! has been enough to do If the majority I had wanted to do It, there has been no crying need for the legislation) thai has i not been passed. No ono outsldo of the I Territories is going to mourn deeply be-I be-I cause the Statehood bill did not pass. ' Notwithstanding the demand In some quarters for the pure-food bill, few people peo-ple are going to change their votes in the coming election becaus-e it did not pass. The eight-hour bill and the antl-iii'jnuctlou antl-iii'jnuctlou bill are measures strongly favored by tho laboring men, but) it is very doubtful if they expected that anything any-thing would be done during the second st-ssioiv of Congress. These bills would not have passed the Senate if they had reached that body, although It is not likely that a vote would have been taken on them. Ah lo a number of other measures for which quite an effort has been made, they have simply been passed by with the lot which were early marked "N. G.," when the session began. It has required re-quired considerable determination and a bold front to hold the two houses down to the programme that has been carried out, but never before was party organization eo perfect as It lias been during the current year. Men- simply agreed with the majority, even when thoy had personal Inclinations in another an-other direction, and the plans of tho leaders have been1 carried out with scarcely a ripple on the surface, and without a break in the programme. n v o "When I modo my first speech In Congres-a," remarked Joe Sibley, "I was talking about free coin-age of silver, and doing my best to make a good argument for an increase in the money of the country. I was interrupted a number of times, and particularly by Mr. Mc-Cleary Mc-Cleary of MInneFota. whom I scarcely knew. His questions were the hardest to answer that were put to me. Since then, we have been) very good friends." "I remember that debate." replied Mc-Cleary, Mc-Cleary, and not to be outdone In courtesy, courte-sy, he added: "1 remember that I was bowled over- several times by tho sophistries sophis-tries of my friend from Pennsylvania." "Argument! Argument!" cried Robinson Rob-inson of Indiana, "you know Joe Sibley would not utter sophistry." "Well, for this occasion I'll concede it to have been argument," said McCleary. "although publicly I must maintain the theory of sophistry." 4 O The racial feeling comes ouL strong In Senator Ncteon. Born in Norway, he Is time to the people of his race, especially when they become American citizens. The hardy Norsemen, lovers of cold weather and a. climate near the northern zone, have gone to Alaska in great numbers, num-bers, and naturally when seeking legislation legis-lation to Improve the condition of tho Territory, they apply to a man of their race. This is one of the reasonsi why the Minnesota Senator lias devoted himself so persistently to bills for the benefit of the Territory. When, he was In Alaska ho met many of his countrymen there, men who have become American citizens citi-zens and who desire to make their homes In Alaska If conditions such as exist In other parts of the Union can be obtained from the National Govenv-ment. Govenv-ment. Of coursre. It is not alone people of the samo nativity and the s?amo language that have Interested Nelson lh the big Territory, but It Is these people who know him and have confidence In him that have given him much Information concerning tho Territory, information tluit does not seem to have spread very far hi tho Houso, a-s much of the most desirable Alaska legislation has been sidetracked there. ARTHUR W. DUNN. |