Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1881-04-01
Congressional Talk.

Pecu!iarities OF Some Noted Members.
~. s. c. in Philadelphia Record.
There are few really good takers in
COngress-that is, men who are distin-
guished for their OratOry and rhetoric.
Senator Conkling heads the list as the
best. He begins his speeches Oftentimes
with quotation, and then follows with the
thunder. Each sentence is clear cut. He
speaks deliberately and in well-chosen
words, which impress one with an idea of
preparation. He even follows out this in
impromptu remarks during running de-
bate. Conkling's speeches never need re-
vision. Senator Edmunds makes his
speeches and then he is done with them.
He is 80 careful of what he says and
does that he can never be picked up
on an utterance. The brilliant Matt
Carpenter was always in a peck. Of
trouble when he made q speech. Carpenter
was averse to study, and relied upon his
memory, which grew to he faulty. He
always revised his speeches, tore them to
pieces and rebuilt, interlined, crossed out
and made frightful. looking proof sheet.
Then he always insisted upon getting the
messenger from the printing Office full "
when the latter was sent for his copy.
Carpenter always dcmOralized the Con-
gress,onal Record Office upon the night
when he would make great effort in the
Senate. Judge Thurman's speeches never
needed revision, except to see if the quot
ed authorities were correct. Senator Bay
ard is one Of the most pleasing speakers on
the Democratic SIDE, and he generally
glanccs over the proofs to see that no mis-
takes creep in. General Burnside repeats
himself in about every ten sentences, and
is apt to become nervous. Ben Hill fires
away in 4 sledge-hammer style of Oratory,
and, I'D matter how trivial the topic
=. " be, will work himself up to a fever
heat and cXpend as much earncstness
as il great things were to he accomplished.
Morgan, of Alabama, is another Demo.
cratic orator possessing the distinctive
peculiaritics of the takers of tine South.
A gallery lounger can tell in a second from
what section of the country a speaker
comes. The peculiarities of dialect are
marked in these repre- sc ntative men the
same as in the lower classes of society in
their vicinity. Over in the House Sunset
Cox causes trouble to the printers. He
Away Irepares his speeches, and revises
them. He writes OH all sorts Of paper.
Ono page may be yellow, another
white, a third a leaf from a boob:
Then his hand writing is not letter
press !; SO Cox is dreaded. Randall re-
vises every speech he makes. General
Harry White had habit of sending for
books during debates until his desk was
Uttered, and he could scarcely he seen. By
the time he found the authority desired,
debate would he exhausted, and he would
produce a scare, nothing more. This was
an old trick of Whites. The most re-
markable instance of the effect of talking
is that which Mr.. BlOunt's voice has
upon journalist who is we'll known here.
Blount has the pure, unaderated Southern
out meaning it. A few years ago a young
academy was detected in a hazing scrape
The matter came before Congress, and
Mr.. Blount made violent speech against
the naval cadets. One of the young men
occupied seat in the gallery. and the Of
feet of BlOunt's speech, coupled with the
thought of being dismissed from the acad-
emy, was such that he became violently
i'll and had to be carried from the
capitol. Later on in his career he
branched out as = journalist, and was
assigned to duty iii the House
gallery. Blount arose to speak, and
the recollections of past events came SO
vividly to the young mans mind that he
again became i'll. He tried in vain, dav
after day, to conquer the feeling, but it
was found to he impossible. Every time
Blount spoke he became sick. At last he
was compelled tV relinquish his position
On this account. Even to this day that
gentleman never appears in the House gal
lery for fear of BlOunt. There is no dis
tinc.ively great orator in the House
whom the crowds rush in to hear speak.
The talking is done by some seven or
eight, or rather was during the last ses-
sion, and there is no promise that the
order of things will he changed in the
future. The great debaters are confined
to the Senate, and the crop is being last
thinned out there. The retirement of
Wallace, Thurman and Blaine and the
deatl, of Carpenter took away four Of the
most brilliant men at swOop.
1t costs 90, 600 per year for the mere
jotting down the remarks of the congress-
men. The corps of official stenOgraphers,
both in the Senate and the House, is prob
ably the best in the United States. What
is more, the chief of these are Philadel-
phians who were educated at the Central
High School. Few there are who do not
know ID. +. Murphy, the Senate reporter.
For wears his brother was his principal
but now a young man named
,huey occupies that position. The plan
pursued in the Senate differs from that of
,tber bodies. Mr.. Murphy reports the
himself and sends his steno-
.raphic notes to the transcribing room,
vhere they are read off to usual
y about . dozen young men, who
vrite out the copy for the print
r. Long years of practice have
.ooc ,,ocp;ro.1 IN off ein a Iorreo Of nrof3.