Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1875-02-17
The King of the Lobby.

Royal race at the Capital, he comes
down to particulars 5gss ls-a
g At one time George Sanders was
reigned ftfully, but with an iron hand,
for while. Cornelius Wendell, how
ever, held his own longer than either,
operating on grand scale. He did a
deal of jobbing, and made bushels of
money. The war came, like an ava
lanche, and swept through the lobbies.
1t proved a revolutionizer, supplanting
the old system with the new, and con
verting somewhat exclusive field of
action into wild mobocracy full of
male and female adventures, each seek
ing to exceed the other in exploits.
Out OF the turmoil the figure which
has appeared most conspicuously, as
Stunning to himself, and not without rea-
son, the title OF King, is Sam Ward
man in all the worlds new fashions planted,
That hath mint of phrases in his train.
If you want anything done at Wash
lngton, you must go to Sam Ward.
Is it q knotty case before the Depart
ments, which everybody else has de-
SPARED of and abandoned Sam Ward
will put 1t through for you. Would
you like to secure the ear of a Secre-
tary, a Senator, or an Ambassador
Sam Ward will give dinner, and you'll
sit next your man. Have you bill be-
fore Congress? BY all means confde
it to Sam Ward. Do you seek an ap-
pointment? No one can edge the right
word in at the right time like Sam
Ward. From stock operation, in
volving millions, to q neat little party
of four at Welcker's, from tanning
refractory Congressman to tipping q
glass OF champagne, from making q
plenipotentiary to making a pun, no
man possesses the ready grace of Sam
Ward. This is understood perfectly
in the National Capital. Go where you
will, you hear nothing but the echo Of
this mans footsteps, his opinions,
his dinners and his sayings. 'sHave
you seen Sam?' ''There's Sam"
''Sam's just went over to see - s'Oh,
Sam'u be here directly" "Where the
devil is Sam?" eff Sam can't do it no.
body can ''Sam'll fix it for YOU
''Sam's your man." 'sDevilish good un
Sam got off on Robson, eh?" "Why,
Sam is as intimate with Grant as two
thieves" "Sam's politics Why, hang
it, you don't take Sam for DAM fool,
do you? Sans got no politics. In one
word, it is with this royal parsonage as
it was few years ago at Washington
with a certain princess case Of Salm-
Salm, Figaro CT, Figaro la, from one
end Of the avenue to the other, in the
hotels, in the clubs, in the dwelling
places of the great and the expectant,
everywhere except upon the floor Of
the Senate or the house. Alas, the lob
by has it's limits. The king of the lob
by can no more pass those limits than
the king, In the fairy tale, who was for
bid by magic to cross the humble thresh-
old of the swineherd. Sam surveys
these, and may say with Pygmalion:
u can go SO far Ha
And go no farther-at that point stop,
To curse the bonds that sternly hold me back,
| To curse the arrogance of those proud gods
Who say ''thou shalt be greatest among men,
| And yet enthusiastically small as67 frE
What is it. you ask, that gives this
man the title of King, and invests him
with royal powers? Behold him as he
enters a drawing room, a solid, square
built man, turned of fifty, with the
short crisp, gray hair of the aristocrat
or the prize-fghter. the knowing glance
of the diplomatist, the dignifed porte
of the Minister, rose in his coat, and
so smile for each and for ALL A rud-
dy Monte Cristo; an intellectual Tur-
veydrop; a classic Jim Fisk. Talley-
rand without a commission in his pock-
ct and without a crutch. Hen
ny Clay or Junius Brutus
Booth materialized into a strug-
CLING commoner ''who must hve," and
has only his wit to live upon. His
wit !? it is very scholarly and trenchant.
He is as apt and recondite as poor old
Alexander Dimitri. He is as scintillant
as Reverdy Johnson. He is quite as
effective raconteur as Robert j.
Walker or John Thompson Gray-with-
out office; without fortune; with only
his wit. Quid rides? The man is not
shallow-p ated humbug; he is a good
scholar; he is very fine gentleman; he
has prodigious memory and vast ex-
perience of the world. The statesman
turer, because he interests the states
man; and statesmen, like other people,
have their emotions, and are moved.
Genius will tell, and there is-in this
wretched, old, crotchety world of
shams-a genius for failure which
concilates the genius of success A
successful man is ever hattered by
the attention, and usually pleased by
the companionship of a brilliant failure,
who does not happen to be a cynic Or a
bore. He sees his superior beneath
h1m-lovely prospect-and he smiles
with good-natured complacency, and
will listen and do. This constitutes
Sam Wards power. There is no place
at Washington which Sam Ward has
} not the capacity to fill with distinction
giving him fair conditions that
of Bristow to that of Schurz, running
} along through the rondeau of govern.
mental business. You ask why, then,
| is he mock monarch with crown Of
straw upon his head? It is the fate Of
some men to fribble away their lives
To them life is mere comedy. They
evade its tragic places by sacrificing its