The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1875-04-01
CONGREssMEN OUT OF BUSINESS.
An Anccdoic of Lincoln--The Old Members
TO be Provided for.

| An AnccdOtc of Lincoln--The Old Members
TO be Provided for.
The number of gentlemen who were
members of the last United States Con
gress, and who were not elected to the
next, is very large. During the admin |
istration of President Lincoln q Senator
from q Western State called at the White
House to present his successor, who was
to take his place in the Senate Chamber
within q few days. The President re-
ceived the newcomer cordially, and said
he was always glad to welcome to Wash
ington now men, fresh from the people.
"And yet, he added, with n dolorous
expression, "I don't know that can
say quite that since for every new friend
L receive have an old friend who has to
be taken care of-a sort of lame duck,
you know" This was n pretty broad
hint to the outgoing Senator; but 1t d1d
not prevent him from applying for a bu-
reau i'll one of the departments within a
week.
To an average ex Congressman, says
the New York Times, life among his
constituents in simply intolGrable. He
is no longer the little magnet of his dis
trict to whom flock srlitors, hat i'll hand,
and eager for favors. With human
tickleness, his old admirers turn their
faces toward the new Representative !;
they are no Longer his constituents, OF
whom he spoke proudly when he ad-
dressed the nation through the column rs
of the Congressional Rccord; and an
other man supplies them with public
documents and garden seeds. He would
like to be "let down easy" if he must
return to the dullness of his own place.
One or two terms in Congress must un-
fit him for the old pursuits. It will take
him long to be used to the new order of
thing. In Washington he spent most of
his time in a marble palace, waited Oh by
obsequious servants, his errands run by
pages who came at the clap of his hands,
his personal convenience and comforts
ministered unto at the national expense.
And, even if he We're Indifferent to
the sweets Of Office, he lived in stirring
and kindling mental atmosphere; if he
, had any wits at all, they were sharpened
and exhilarated by daily contact with
bright men. Is it any wonder that he
, does not want to go back to the dull
round of his native village orinland city (?
, Somehow, foreign mission is thought
to be the best refuge for a Congressional
elaine duck" to quote Lincoln's epithet.
There are not many first-rate places at
+ home, and these are usually filled by
local politicians, or, what is worse, by
men whose removal would make n great
l popular outcry. Many Congressman
l seems to think that his service in the
i House, where he has made Cor printed)
a speeches, voted on bills, aud hunted
J, Offices for his constituents, has peculiarly
p fitted him for the exercise of diplomatic
d talents in a country of whose location OF
l. the map he is uncertain, and whose
/. language is to him a sealed book. If ht
% regards a foreign appointment as any
II thing more than an absolute sinecure, h,
thinks he is "smart enough to get ahea(
of them foreigners" even if he does no
speak their language. A first-clas
+, foreign mission is his objective point
y he glides down the scale under the fore
~ of circumstances. What miner wOul
"a call "the tailings" of the mass of Cor
Il. gressmen out of business drift int
n clerkships, claim agencies, and til
"a lobby.
$, We have no privileged class of Office
y, holders i'll this country. With some e1
ed ceptions, eX-Congressmen make the onl
ef caste which resembles that OF other na
ld tions. Washington is a siren whic
= | cudTIlS ~GNell tli6 WlS6Sl. NOU ever
rs Senator and Representative who hG
ax spent few years there has the dignit
's' or self-respect which sends hirnpleasan
er ly back to his old calling and his ow
ld fellow-citizens. This is great pity; fc
7y a bright, sensible man who has con
er out of Congress unscathed and blame
!d less ought to be better citizen and
IN more Intelligent leader of publ
u, opinion for his experience. The countl
X; cannot afford to lose his services and i
!d fuence. Even if he has accomplishe
Id no great thing i'll Congress, it is a was
ef of promising material to bury him in Il
'sS United States legation at Ichaboe, ii
'ld consulate at Flor del Fuma, or in Il
zee casemates of the Interior department
th Washington. From the host of ms
who went out Of Office at the end of Il
ne Forty third Congress, there were MAJ
he who returned to their constituents al
hg took up the old thread of life witho
IN any sense of defeat. 1t would be be
ter for the country, and for eX-CongreF
men, if there were more such. We CT
me imagine that the heads of the COVER
est ment profoundly wish that there we
bic fewer hanging about Washington, wa
jhe ing for something, and making life
ain burden to themselves and others.