Show the rt real issue Is sue C 4 it S WILLIAM ALLEN WHITE te pv r s copyright the co T WAS near the dose close of a long IT session a session which hid bid lat last ed a winter and a siring si ring g and a summer and threatened to itself into the fars first days of autumn when why ton the western member who had been in the house five terms con C eluded I 1 u d d to pack his valise and go home the h el I 1 campaign was growing warm nearly all ail of the county conventions had been held and a majority of the delegates elected were instructed for him which insured his it if the three remaining counties in the district did not go solidly against him he ile had laid his plan wel animally ani cally for a and if he had stopped to ask himself whether or not he really wanted to come back to congress he would probably have said no he was mas tired but he did not know why lie thought he needed rest that he had been overworked that he was played out yet his private secretary who kept therun of the pension business and find did his routine work nork did not seem tired the private secretary even had refused a vacation and it v was as at the secretary s own request that he stayed in washington but wharton the western member was tired dead tired and he pictured to himself the pleasures of going back to his home in the little town of bax ter where people on the streets who had seen I 1 tin grow up from a boy and called him tom really w were ere glad to i ee e lit him just before he had left his rooms for the departing train his vate decre tary had handed I 1 tin the day s clippings and after he had been riding for an hour or so w m hile title he was fumal ng in his pockets for a match they tumbled out in a tight little roll lie ile idly read them he ile was used to unjust abuse and sick of uncalled for praise the first clipping wis mis taken from the queen city dally daily herald it bore a wasi wasl ington date line and w gifts as introduced by the words special to the derild it read they say here that wharton of the fourth district strict la beg nning lining to feel uneasy he ile has received recel Ned several let teri from h hs s bisti district let that have con vinced him tl at the populist cyclone has sl aken do n several lengths of fence in lee meade and smith conn ties bill heatley s strength is slid to be developing down monder wonderfully fully the hon D e russell who nho was here last week looking for a job as receiver of the baxter notional bank was in close consultation with wharton three of the four nights he NN was as here and the old man Is wearing mearing a hunted look and Is talking to himself they say down in the fourth d strict that it will take more than oar tom wharton a bug to explain away am ay his silver vete charlon kne v the correspondent and only smiled as he flipped the wadded clipping out of the cai car nv window there w m as its a sl 1 ort editorial clipping from the same paper it read the dispatches say that our tom wharton harton VV Is wiggling in his seat and trying to project his astral body in the fourth district to see how his fences pre jare and fit p the same time to keep his corporeal body to in wash vash agton to look after atte ike ire russell a pie vie plat ir if our tom doesn t fall down in his anxiety to beep keep one foot in the bloody fourth and tl a e other at the political bake ehod he must be either a colossus of rhodes or a quadrille dancer chaiton whal ton dropped tl at on the fior tend lind read another from the smith coun court ty farmers friend it vas long and full of double leads and break lines and italics and ercla nation points it was wits abushi in the extreme and closed with this thade nov v let us reason together tom chaiton has been in congress ten years i he had been judge six years be fore entering coi cot gress and county su on four bears ears before he was judge tm enty years I 1 as this man been in his total salary in tl ti at time has been only S yet he Is rated by tl e con commercial mercial agencies at one half million dollars he has ha banks end and railroad stock he om 0 no inert mort gages and farms wl WI ere did he get tl em ills his time I 1 as been ben sold to the keople he I 1 as been false to every trust I 1 ie e has voted ak with ith the east on the money question he be has neglected the farmers at every turn he Is a garden seed congressman he comes out here and I 1 law awrans haws around and then goes back to vote with wall street mall all street knows its friends friend lif and our tom Is worth one hall mil trill lion dollars lives ih es in a mansion filled with hammered brass at baiter baxter wh ie the timer f er f ot the bills wl irton knew knem that tl e editor of the fan er s friend I 1 ad been a candidate for the post office at smith city tl at be himself had lent the editor money and I 1 eld hie his note for 00 he ile pit p it the clipping in his ills pocketbook with a sigh and leaded looked through the other scraps of paper there A were ere perhaps a doben do tene a few of them laudatory to an offensive degree some clearly bids tor for money and the rest a fair discus ton of his candidacy wharton Wh artong a first week ii eek in the district was spent at baxter ile did cally tally nothing to secue e his na cioll although mise loching nien men from each of the taree tl ree doubtful counties came every day to raster and went directly from the tiala to wl WI arton arron s bouse house they all ma a ted money or promises of assistance i ind nd ench each of thorn told ho v N some precinct ore could be swung ss aug into line by a little work on ltv abl f the th part of f the certain third person always amei ess who would need money ft fr r cigars and livery hire wharton sut ut these statesmen off and they x went ent am way ay doubting whether they would mould support able th old min or fight him the congressman s presence in the little town was an event and he had callers all day long who seemed to need help in different mas sol diers desired pensions mothers asked for pos eions in washington for their sons oung omen called to see about widows whose husbands he had known came to borrow money he wis honestly glad to see all these p people eople and when he could he helped them he rarely made an enemy even though hagI ha always mays was franb frank it was saturday evening and wharton was just entering on his second ii ee t at home he and his friend ike russell were sitting on tie tl e southern porch of the con congressi gressin ns n s home their wh es and daughters were in the parlor around the piano and the two men were mere at that preliminary stage of conversation in which ideas are conie convened sed by grunts and monosyllables what did hughey of smith city want today asked russell about two hundred more or less said raid the congressman hughey s a thief hed he d spend about 25 and the rest would go into his jeans I 1 suppose so wharton answered say we lose smith county well you say said his friend did you see higgins from lee tal nal ley he told me last month that he had fhe five fellows who could swing lee county for apiece ugh grunted the congressman that makes 2300 so far if I 1 come do don i it well that s cheaper than you got off oft before by several hund hundred wharton yawned and the silence that followed was broken only by the tinkle of the cow bells in the valley below the town and the splash of NN wa a ter over the dam across the river thit runs around the village anally tl ti e sound of voices singing on the wa ter or the notes of a gu tar would come up on the gusts of wind mind the plino in the parlor was silent and the moon was nine barely visible under the eastern corner of the porch the men had 5 1 0 they were tall thin spare men in swallow swallowtail tail coats and chokers and hair that looked fierce and statesmanlike tates smoked in silence a few moments when wharton said ike what Is the real issue tn in this campaign 7 I 1 dunno old man sometimes I 1 thinh think its the tariff sometimes I 1 think it its s silver and then at other times I 1 just give it all up what a your idea tom torn the congressman did not reply at once he seemed to be pulling his ideas together for a longer speech than a RI he ile twisted its his gray mustache nervously he looked askance at his friend who was apparently listening to the music that had just started up again in the parlor wharton went over to tl U e garden hose which was turned upon a shrub changed its course came back relighting his cigar and said i B godfrey I 1 don t know ike I 1 don t know do you remember when e used to cut corn at six cents a shock and go to school down the tal ley where those cow bells were viere jinki tinki ng a it little while ago we used to sit ou on the fence of nights like this and talk tall way may into the night about what we ae were going to do yes eald said the politician expect antly yes end and I 1 u ed to hope to go to congress some day vie vi a used to talk of the old time statesmen and read their speeches in the school readers clay and calhoun and the great ineat men whose names we knew as its boas bo they v were ere tall spare men in swallow tailed coats and chokers and hair thit looked tierce herce and statesmanlike do you re member the congressman from this district arty years ago how dignified be he was what a really great man he roust must have been he lie lived greatness every hour of his life the men who went ent to the orlaf legislature how superior they seemed with their roll tall hats and close buttoned coats ike do vou you remember wt nil en I 1 went to the legislature in the winter minter of 0 ind came cattle back discouraged md ind digap pointel with tie sham of it all the row aal the rings and the schemes 7 fussell russell would have interjected son e reminiscent joke on the yourn states man but wl ton went on as it if te to keep the thread of the conversation in his teeth yes a 3 es ike I 1 kno know about my plug hat and all that and then do you remember how I 1 ran for judge and was mas nominated for congress back in 84 as a dark hoise on the three hundredth ballot and how I 1 was elech d and to d the people from front the box down by the in the public square that I 1 was going goin g to be m orthy of tl ti e honor ile ike the tears I 1 shed alere mas a honest te irs for god knows how proud I 1 was all these ten years were before me and what a great ten years I 1 hoped they mould be I 1 thought of tuy my plans plan as a boy you yon and me on the fence down in 13 the alley nalley ike lie and I 1 looked over all the names in congress then ten bears ago I 1 mean and they seemed great names to me I 1 could hardly wait to get to washington to see the men and to be one of them I 1 was such a boy ike ten years ago each man puffed his cigar in a moment s pause wharton lighted a fresh one russell thought in so many NN words its one of toms tom s talkative nights wharton took up the thread where it had dropped here I 1 am ike a flesh and blood statesman I 1 ve been in it and through it I 1 ive ve held as high a place in the organization of the house as any of the great men ve vie used to read about lye I 1 ve passed a pension bill and the old sold ers for whom I 1 worked and day during six months have passed resolutions against me I 1 I 1 ave had my name on a sliver silver bill for which the fiat flat money fellows hae have abused me I 1 ve led my party through two successful fights and what Is there in it you know as well as I 1 do tl at it Is hollow all a hollow show what s the use of it why should a man v w ear his I 1 fe out up there in that city just to keep his name in pr nt there wis a min named keifer in 01 lo 10 man who ni as speaker of the house once who that reads reids the pa pers knows anything of him today let be he worked his life nearly out to be a statesman where are the seconds in the blaine conkling Oon kling fight ike there s nothing in it but ashes the politician said nothing he did not know how the talk vas mas turning ike resumed the congress nian taking a firmer hold on his cigar and find tightly grasping the arms of the chair ike what s the use here cornea comes a lot of bills and dicks and toms and harrys mho ho want me to put up 2300 and promises that ill be two years working to keep just to go back there them I 1 go back there and work and fret and stew stem for this that and for the other thins thing that I 1 don t care a cent for I 1 have no heart in it I 1 feel like a sneak I 1 have to sm shallow allow my pride I 1 ive ve no ideals there Is no reward nothing but giggling hig gling with a lot of mercenary im thieves here at home and log i tolling oiling NN with ith a lot of str shrewder shy of the same sort in congress at washington if it I 1 go on I 1 must buy my way in buy my own slavery ibe ike slavery to the fellows I 1 despise I 1 know ive I 1 ve done it three or four times but I 1 kept thinking the end would some day justify the means but it doehla doesn t it never will mill it s a fraud ike and I 1 in done I 1 am RM going to be honest just for once in my life I 1 don t hive to go to congress I 1 can be lots bap hop pier here here with mith friends and my family and now dont don t laugh old man and and my honor ta at s a lit tie stacey ike but that s the real Is sue in this campaign and im out of this fight let lets s go in and hear the music ike that a the end of it I 1 ive ve thought it all over and I 1 ve decided probably most mm at least most moralizing men would have called the old man weak weal had they seen him the follow ing monday mal ing out a check payable to isaac kussell russell for but most men do not know what it Is to worship an idol tor for a I 1 fatime and they cannot un ferstand ter stand how bow a man can clin love his idol even when he knows to his bitter sorro v that it is only clay |