| Show CONGRESS IN THE DOG DAYS washington DC august 27 were sitting in N w york sit it congress and the wall street brokers could see it would mob the they as it is now house these were the words of a new york merchant as he stood in the press gallery and nd looked down upon tew few days ago a during the silver debate the house there were one hundred empty chairs side of the chamber republican on the other democratic desk was and every the remainder of the seats vacant who were writing reading contained ined men Fonta loafing and chatting picking their teeth playing with their k keys ays eys and doing the thousand and one other thing which congressman does when he the average of is not making a speech catchings mississippi had the floor A bakers baker s dozen sat around and watched him and you imagine from the scene that could not in the midst of one of the great we were financial I 1 crises of our national life nor think that congress was going to do much to help us out of it the people washington have little idea outside of how the house of representatives really looks when it is in session they think that the democrats and re republicans public ans are the truth is some of at swords points the strongest friendships of public life between men ot of opposite politics are they fight bac each h other in debate like kilkenny cats but they hobnob together in the cloak rooms and go about the house arm in arm As I 1 hall of the write this david B henderson of iowa and isadore F raynor laynor of baltimore are laughing boget together her at the back of the chamber henderson cant speak without denouncing the democratic party and rayner has never s said aid anything 9 good of the rel republicans publicans public ans on a lounge at the side of the chamber chambe r late lafe pence of colorado and bynum of indiana are telling stories they had a fight on the floor the other day but they seem good friends now tom reed and speaker cr crisp are holding a conference in another er corner and the smiles which shine out of th the baby face of the ex czar are thrown back from the brunette of the present ruler of the house CONGRESS AND THE DOG DAYS the the hot weather takes all the dignity at mt of congress the day used to be that no statesman ever appeared in any thing easl else than a shollow tail coat with brass buttons the last of the teel pen statesmen passed from the senate with omar D conger and from the house when luke P poland finished his term with these came era of the prince albert coat and the double breasted frock and for a generation or so there was a mixture of swallow tails and black broadcloth suits now every one dresses to please himself and there are seer suckers and dusters to be seen evey everywhere where one of the queerest dressers is is tom reed and he is one of the queerest looking characters on the floor lie he weighs over two hundred pounds and he rolls about like an elephant his every pose would make a newspaper sketch and he comes out every congress in a new and striking costume A year or so ago he wore a white sash about his hip waist and a derby hat as large as a peck measure now he has a rakish sailor straw chapleau chap peau and he clothes his great form in a flimsy iron gray ray stuff which is known here as K kentucky nl y jeans the cloth is loosely woven and it makes the wearer feel as though he were dressed in a sieve the air whistles through it almost without hindrance and one of reeds fellow members told me the other day that he had put on one of these suits and had thrown it away said he be it seems so open that I 1 really felt indecent I 1 imagined every one could see through it and I 1 thought I 1 was naked this light suit of tom reeds gives him a very different appearance he is you know a str strawberry aberry blonde his big round face is as rosy as that of a baby his bald baid pate has the parchment whiteness atthe at the top of anew a new drumhead and his eyebrows are white while his bis little mustache and the fringe of hair about his ears are of a reddish silver this iron gray suit adds to this white effect and makes the great statesman of maine a symphony in light gray it is hard to keep clothes of this material in shape and mr reeds pantaloons bag at the knees and fit in wrinkles over his yellow shoes under his fat chin shines out a sky blue necktie and he keeps his linen coat buttoned up close at the neck physically he appears to be in splendid condition and mentally he was never greater than he is today he is by bv all odds the strongest man 0 on n the republican side of the i chamber and his tongue has as much ditrol at its roots as ever TOM JOHNSON OF CLEVELAND no one ever speaks of reed otherwise than as tom reed he is more like an overgrown boy than a man and has none non e ot of the airland airs and snobbishness of the five cent statesman who thinks he is great the democratic side of the chamber has also a tom I 1 refer to tom johnson of cleveland one of the shrewdest shrewd estand and most practical business men in the house and at the same time one of the wildest theorists johnson believes in henry george and he says that his property really belongs to his fellow men as much as himself I 1 have not noted however any inclination on his part to make a division he is you know a street railroad magnate and is probably worth somewhere in the M millions illions he began his life as an office boy in louisville and when he was hardly out of his teens got hold of a street railroad in indianapolis the road never amounted to anything white while he managed it he paid aid no attention to improving it but ge he learned the business made some money and then went to cleveland the city was aheady covered with a net work of roads belonging to close corporations these objected to johnson laying new tracks and opposed him in every way he finally got a charter for a tract down scoville avenue this ran through one of the best parts of the town but he had no line by bv which he could reach the heart of business and the other roads would not let him go over their tracks he changed his tactics as to the character of his road from those which he had used in indianapolis in cleveland he put down everything of the very best he paved scoville avenue at his own expense spend ing feo on it and made himself noted as a friend of the people he got a little line of track on the west side of the city and he began to carry passengers from one side of cleveland to the other for one fare he had to have omnibuses omni buses to to carry his passengers two miles in order to do this but he stuck to it and in this way made himself more popular as the regular roads char charged ed two and three fares for the same lame ais distance in the meantime he did everything to get his roads c he worked with the city council but in his own way he never gave any passes over his road he said he did not use a pass himself and no one should ride free he was willing to pay a man or a councilman for his services but he would not give him a pas well he finally got his measures through and eventually secured one of the most valuable street railway properties of the city in the meantime he invented a number of things connected with street railways rail wars and he gets a big royalty from these he has a rolling mill at johnstown pa and he is said to have an income of a hundred thousand dollars a year he is a peculiarity carity among statesmen in that though ugh all of his business is largely protected by the tariff he is a free trader he frankly says his railroads ought to belong to the city but until henry george principles prevail he will keep them tom johnson is a queer looking man he makes me think of dickens fat boy his round fat head is a cannon ball of rosy flesh thatched with wavy brown hair and pierced at the front with two bright eyes which look out at you over a fairly shaped nose this head is fastened by a snort short thick neck to fat round shoulders and his roly poly form rolls around the house at a good pac pace e tom johnson does not look to be over thirty years old but he is in reality forty he is a good offhand off hand speaker and he is especially happy irl in ten minute orations he dresses in a business suit and cools his fat face during in these warm days with a palm leaf fa fan I 1 A LOOK AT BOURKE COCKRAN one of the most marked men on the floor of the house this session is bourke cockran he would be a striking character if he had no brains and his figure would attract attention anywhere the fact that he has brains and an eloquent tongue make him the more interesting he is one of the straightest men in congress his tailor could lay him on his back and measure him for his well cut suit of clothes and he dresses like a french dandy he looks like a frenchman but he is an irishman and his voice has all the mellowness of those of them the best speakers of old erin his french appearance may come from the fact that he was educated in france and also that he is well u up in in french literature he reads frence french and a great many of his heroes are frenchmen he is a great admirer of napoleon and he is not averse to french novels his mind is well stored with history and he has been practicing practicing stump speaking from his boyhood bood his greatest speeches have been made at conventions he jumped into fame at chicago when cleveland was first nominated and he added to his reputation by his great speech at the last convention mr cockran is in a rich man he lives here at washington in secor Rob eions house on irth street he paid I 1 think for it he has a magnificent country seat on long island cou consisting of about zoo acres and his stables are said to be amlung the finest in n the united states he is fond of horseback horse lorse back riding and he keeps himself in good physical condition ondi tion by constant exercise exercise he has a wonderful lung power and he is a good long distance swimmer he weighs I 1 judge about 00 oo pounds and stands 5 feet io 10 inches in his stockings his complexion is dark his eyes are blue but his mustache and hair are of a dark brown verging merging on blackness he talks from the abdomen and he can speak lor for hours without tiring he has an extraordinary memory and usually talks without notes his best sentences are framed after he is on the floor flo orand and he dont believe that the greatest speech can be made otherwise than on the spur of the moment he is still a young man and was born on the last day ot of february just thirty nine years ago BRYAN OP OF NEBRASKA bourke cockran is a great orator bryan of nebraska is a very fair speaker he lacks cockrans cockrane Coc krans form and ph physique and his square face is angular ratter rather than full he is a black eyed dark faced man of thirty three his jaw is heavy square and smooth shaven his cheek bones are prominent and his forehead square he is a pleasant talker and is fond of dealing in well rounded phrases and his speeches are full of poetry his first speech in Cong congress rss was a surprise sayers of texas gave him a portion ol of his time and bryan poke on free wool he had not talked ngoke t three ree minutes before he had the attention of the house and he held them for an hour bryan is is comparatively a poor man he is a lawyer of lincoln neb and he comes originally from illinois HIS NAME IS LAFE the latest sensation among the youngsters of the house is late lafe pence of denver he created a sensation as soon as the house opened and he made one of the bright shrewd speeches of the time he had quite a contest with isadore rayner in which he showed himself as regardless of the feelings of his opponent as is tom reed he kept the house in a roar of laughter during his attack on bynum and he promises ro in fact to be a second john jofin J ingalls pence is a typical westerner he looks like the cow boys of frederick tons sketches tall and lean he has a long thin head the most striking feature of which is a long thin nose his cheeks are thin his jaws strong and his smoothly shaven face is full of lines of determination and grit he is all mus cle bones and brains just how much brains the future will show but he has demonstrated that he has a fair qu quantity antiey and no lack of grit his face is rather sallow and his arms are as long as those of john sherman lie he has shed his vest adur during ng these dog days and he wears a flannel shirt with a turnover collar about which he has a long blue scarf this scarf is tied in a sailor knot and the mue blue ends of it stand out on each side of his chin against his short black coat with all his rough air he is a college bred man and he comes here at the age of thirty six as a populist and a silver Demo democrat crai A WORD ABOUT ISADORE RAYNER speaking of pence brings to mind isa dore rayner rayner is a clean cut dark faced member from baltimore he made a reputation for himself during the fiftieth and fifty second congresses as an able de batera sound thinker and an all round good lellow fellow he is of jewish descent but there is no sign of the israelite in his features I 1 dont know how rigid he is in his belief but I 1 have been told that he is rather liberal he comes of a wealthy family and he makes about a year at his law practice in baltimore he is well educated modest and very ambitious he talks smoothly and well he calls himself a bimetallist but he is one of that sort which lean toward a gold standard isadore rayner is about five teet feet eight inches in height he weighs about pounds his face is dark and rosy and his jet black hair which he parts very near the middle is smoothly plastered down upon his head his forehead is higland hig high hand and broad and he looks more like a club man than a congressman SILVER DOLLAR BLAND silver dollar bland on the other hand looks like a grocer or a lay methodist preacher who devotes himself to selling goods between sundays he wears a white necktie a blank alpaca sack coat and black pantaloons and vest he is a short stocky man well along in the fifties he has the sallow complexion of he missourian and much thinking has gouged the hair out of the top of his head his hair is not mot heaten as has been said of allen alien of mississippi but it is well thinned out at the crown and over the forehead he has a reddish brown beard covering the lower half of his face and he keeps his jaws moving while not speaking in chewing tobacco he is a man of considerable ability and of bull dog tenacity his silver dollar bill in reality was invented by senator allison and bland was at that time in favor of free coinage he is thoroughly posted osted on all silver questions and his strict district sends him here as the advocate of silver he is not a great speaker he is a man of small means standing that he lived in the mineral regions of the west during some of the greatest g gold old and silver finds he is not a companionable man and he is rather quiet and reserved than hale follow fellow well met CATCHINGS AND CANNON mississippi catchings and illinois cannon have created considerable attention already and they will keep themselves before the people during the rest of f this congress catchings of mississippi looks for all the world like george daniels the general passenger agent of the big four railroad he has long red chin whiskers a squire square forehead from the middle of df which a white part runs back to the crown and thin light hair so carefully combed that you can see the parallel lines of white scalp shining through it he makes me think of the maine speaker of 0 the house who got so angry at hamlin one day this machad man had very few hairs and he combed them just in order to cover his baldness one day hamlin went up to him and in a joking way said excuse me mr speaker but you have one of your hairs crossed this morning this remark made the speaker very angry and he became hamlins hamkins Ham lins enemy for li ii e well Cat catchings chipp |
