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Show Here Is Head of Newspaper Family in Washington By Charles R. Michael QITTJNG for a quarter or a century in the Senate galloiy, listening to brilliant bril-liant speeches and others, watching the play of politics, cabal and filibustering, rubbing up against statesmen in the Capitol and in the nation at political conventions is the record of James D. Preston, superintendent of the Senate, press gallery. In this period Mr. Preston Pres-ton lias had a more intimate relation with this nation's men who pass aa great than any other man now living. Some Famous Filibusters "Fights and Filibusters" might very well be the title of a historical narrative narra-tive of the Senate if Superintendent Preston should ever care to write it. As to the former, they have been relatively few, when one considers the passionate Interchanges which sometimes take place between the men on the floor. The Tlllman-JIcLaurin bout, when "Pitchfork" "Pitch-fork" Ben grappled with his own colleague, col-league, is probably the most noted of recent years. On that day a heavy Bleet storm had carried down all the wires north, and all the press copy that got out of -Washington went by messengers mes-sengers on trains. Senator Bailey, of Texas, was a particularly pugnacious statesman. One day he took offense at certain remarks by Senator Beveridgu, of Indiana, and at the close of the debate de-bate reached over, and, gripping Bev-eridge Bev-eridge by the collar, shook him as one dog would another. Later Mr. Bailey distinguished himself in the corridor by striking a newspaper man, a son of the present Governor of South Carolina, Money, of Mississippi, and Wellington, of Maryland, once came near blows when Money called Wellington a liar on the floor. The two angry statesmen were drawing nearer and nearer together, when Senator Wellington (tlie debate was in the tense period just before the war with Spain), without awaiting tho recognition of the Vice President, laughingly shouted. "Mr. President would a declaration of war be in ordet at this time?" The Senate broke into laughter, .another Senator was recog nized and personal hostilities were averted, Mr. Money, a little later, apologizing apolo-gizing to the Senate for his use of unparliamentary un-parliamentary language. A near filibuster, of which history has made no mention, occurred the last night of the session. March 3. 1903. The business of the Senate had been about cleaned up and an easy adjournment the next day was expected, when a threatening cloud appeared in the wrath of Senator Tillman, because a war claim of 1 812 of the State of South Carolina for $90,000 had been held up In the general gen-eral deficiency bill. Mr. TSillman began to barricade his desk with books and documents, and, prophesying an extra session, made ready to read voluminously volumi-nously from "Childe Harold" and other poems of Byron, of whom he was especially espe-cially fond, -he message was carried to 4 Uncle Joe Cannon, then chairman of thei Committee 'on Appropriations of the House. Mr. Cannon was at first defiant, but finally allowed the House to recede from its disagreement and South Carolina Caro-lina got its money. The filibuster of Senator Carter, of Montana, against the river and harbor bill in 1901 was not a real test of endurance, en-durance, as are filibusters of today, for the Democrats recently have changed the rules. The Montana Senator would yield to allow the transaction of other business, and no legislation was lost except ex-cept that particular bill. Even during his nineteen-hour speech in 190S against the Aldrich-Vreeland .emergency currency cur-rency bill, La -Follette was aided by calls for a quorum, some thirty in all, and they consumed at least five hours. The new rule requiring that other business must intervene before a quorum can be demanded was overcome in part when Senator Burton killed the river and harbor bill In 1914 by the introduction in-troduction of amendments. He occupied the floor from 5:55 p. rn. until 6:05 the next morning, attired in a light house coat and a comfortable pair of slippers. The strain was a hard one, but the quorum calls used up about four hours and a half. Senator Crawford, of South Dakota, spoke for more than eight hours against the Lo rimer report. Tho longest continuous session of the Senate ;vas in the closing days of the Sixty-third Sixty-third Congress, when that body remained re-mained in session from Monday, February Feb-ruary 8, at noon, to Wednesday, February Febru-ary 10. This was during the fight against the shipping bill. Mr. Jones, of "Washington, occupied the floor from 6:15 p. m. Monday to 8:40 a. m. Tuesday, Senator Weeks, of Massachuretts. remaining re-maining beside him the entire night to take the floor if Jones showed signs of weakening. In this same fight Senator Gallinger, of New Hampshire, almost eighty years of age, spoke for seven hours and twenty minutes, and then declined to leave the chamber for a rest. Two days later he spoke again for four hours and twenty-five minutes. A few days before Senator Smoot, of Utah, spoke steadily from 9:50 at night until 9:25 the next morning. During this fifty-four-hour cession Superintendent Preston obtained only six hours' sleep. According to Mr. Preston the most incisive debater in twenty years was Senator "William E. Chandler, of New Hampshire, who was more of a wasp than a man when he got going. One of his rrost intimate friends was Senator Sena-tor Tillman, of South Carolina, and, oddly enough, he stung Mr. Tillman often er than any one else. One of the most famous speeches of Mr. Tillman, which nearly brought him to blows, was expunged from the Senate ' - w ,' U. "4 r i .A " s ; ;' - . . . - j f - 'i - ' ' a , - , i .'--- N " ' pi v ' ' ' " ; ii K i , v . JAMES D. PRESTOX Superintendent of the Senate Frees Gallery, "Washington, D. C. Record. This was his satirical description descrip-tion of the Senate as a "minstrel show." His reference to the present chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations may make interesting reading at the present time. Said Mr. Tillman: "Then comes the star of the troupe, 'Gum Shoe Bill,' from old Missouri. He can dance the'Highland fling on top of a ten-rail fence and never touch the ground, but his greatest 'feat is walking on eggs without breaking the shells." Of the 151 correspondents listed for the first session of the Fifty-fifth Congress, Con-gress, the names of only twenty are found in the ' Congressional Directory today, and the service of some of them has not been continuous. Women are admitted to the press gallery as readily as men, if they represent rep-resent daily newspapers; but it is a peculiar fact that never more than one has been a member of the gallery during dur-ing a session. Mrs. Isabel Worrell Ball had the longest period of service, rep-resenting rep-resenting Kansas newspapers. Miss 'Marie Mattingly, now married and living liv-ing in New York, represented the Denver Den-ver Evening Post, Miss Bessie Beatty the San Francisco Chronicle and Mrs. Mary K. Brooks the Fort Worth Record. Rec-ord. George F. Richards was a correspondent corre-spondent prior to 1900, and since his death Mrs. Richards has taken up newspaper news-paper work and ably represents New Hampshire. Massachusetts and Maine newspapers. t $ Out of tho press galleries during Superintendent Preston's term of service serv-ice many men have gone into public life or other high position who were Washington Wash-ington correspondents when Mr. Preston Pres-ton took office. President McKinley appointed ap-pointed two men to be commissioners of the District of Columbia Henry B. F. Macforland, of the Boston Herald and the Philadelphia Record, and Henry L. West, now secretary of the National Security Se-curity League, who was for many years political writer for the Washington Post, having previously been its city editor. Robert J. Wynne, representing the New York Press twenty years ago, was male Postmaster General by President Pres-ident Roosevelt and served also as consul con-sul general at London. Successful Journalists Three Assistant Secretaries of the Treasury were Louis A. Coolidge, Robert O. Bailey, formerly of the Washington Evening Star and later of the Associated Press force of the Capitol Capi-tol and the White House a nd now of the National City Bank, and Sherman P. Allen, of the New York Herald bureau, bu-reau, now assistant secretary of the Federal Reserve Board. John Callan O'Laughlin, of the Chicago Tribune, was Assistant Sent oL.ry of State for several months under President Roosevelt, Roose-velt, who al.vo appointed Walter F. Clark, of the New York Sun bureau. Governor of Alaska. .John M. Crmut, one of the founders of the Gridiron Club, left journalism to become chief of the bureau of manufactures. |
