Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1884-02-04
MisrtIlaryeons.
The Ways OF Congressmen.
WASHINGTON PRACTICES IN REGARD TO
SPECULATION AND DRINKING.

E2DS duE tlOIE tu6u DDUlC VI t8NAA oO~N -
be able to resist the gaming table. though
there seems to be less speculation THIS
year than for some time. The winter be-
fore Garfield was inaugurated it was no
uncommon thing to see dozen members
gathered about each tape when the mar
ket began. and watching the quotations as
closely a. Wall street broker. Then
they would rush off to give their orders
There has been suspicion that bills have
introduced to bull or bear the Market and
il used to be quite q sight on bill day to
see the rush of the speculative members
To the telegraph Office To buy or sell on
the strength of a bill. Two years ago
there was postal telegraph bill put IN
one morning. which explained To the New
York brokers why they had received so
MANY orders two hours before to sell
Western Union. Those who know say
that Congressman are getting very shy oil
Wall street. Too many Of them have
been badly bitten, and too many OF them
have lost all faith in Wall street human
nature The money-seeking Congressman
in turning his attention TO other and
more legitimate fields. There ID genuine
Southern developement boom here. Some
OF the shrewd ones see great fortunes
in the better Development OF the South.
Railway, mining, timber. agricultural,
manufacturing projects in the South are
advanced and eliminated here. | see lit
tie Manning, the man who got the certifi-
cate for Chalmers seat in Congress, run
ming about in the liveliest manner. He
does not care very much whether he gets
the seat or not. He has scheme for
building a railroad for a through line in
10 the heart of splendid yellow pine re-
pion in Mississippi. He has been putting
every dollar that he can rake and scrape
together into that pine region. Some OF
il he has bought for 81, 25 an acre. Man
ming, who is the typical Southerner OF
Nast's cartoons, has been associated with
business men here and in New York. He
seems to have forgotten all about State
RIGHTS. the rebellion, and all such topics,
and is going in for money, and Will get
lot of il. Gordon of Georgia was another
who put the past behind him, and became
an enterprisng business man. Morgan,
the Alabama Senator, who used TO make
long and fluent speeches, has little
time now for such things. lie IS up 10
his ears in manufacturing schemes. and
has formed three or four companies to de-
velop business of different kinds. Plumb
of Kansas, Maxey of Texas have practi-
callv forgotten politics for business. Hen
nv G.. Davis, the late Senator from West
Virginia, filled. good many members
with business and money making ambl-
ton. He took Window, Allison, Vance
and others into his companies
for developing the rich mines Of
West Virginia and into his railroad
plans. Vance cares good deal more
about the result of the visit of the Boston
capitalists to North Carolina than he does
about the next President. 1t is not who'll
" the ambition to be rich that captivates
these men who used to be lazy and be
politicians. They find excitement and
pleasure of conquest in these business pur-
suits that are keencr than any enjoyment
they used i'm the olden days to find in
arguing a constitutional point or betting
their pile on full hand 1t seems to be
discovery for these Southern men-the
delights of business.
There has been very great and very
noticeable change here within afew years in
another respect. and it may be partially due
to the increase of business representation
here or TO the demands that business makes.
This change is in the use of alcoholic Ii
quors. A striking illustration of it was to
10 be noticed during the canvass for the
Speakershp. Not q single glass of liquor
was set out by any of the candidates. |
did not see a single member of Congress
under the influence of liquor during that
canvass. nor have since. The van keep
ers and the hotel proprietors say that the
decrease in bar tippling is so great as to
seriously curtail receipts. The three lead
ing candidates used to use stimulants some
times to excess. Two of them are now
total abstainers and have been tor some
years. while third only uses wine in a
moderate quantity at his dinner. | can
count 2 dozen Senators who used to tipple
who have not drunk drop in two years.
and there is not Senator, with perhaps
an exception or two. who is not pru-
dent and most temperate in the use of
liquor Nearly ali of them do not
touch anything except light wine
AT dinner. 1t is so in the House. 1t is
so with most of the public men. There
has grown up a sentiment that man is
fool who uses liquor immoderately. and
that he is better off without any of it.
Three wears ago | saw one of the most
brilliant members of the Senate stagger-
inc drunk in front of Wizards hotel.
The other day saw that he left his cham
payne untouched at dinner. Said he :
II haven't touched alcohol in any form
for three years. | woke up one morning
realizing that pretty much all the tenn
perance lecturers have said is true. and
simply said to myself that have had
enough. And have. i have never seen
the time from that day to this that have
not felt repugnancy for liquor" Gar
land. the learned lawyer from Arkansas
is y tetoteler. Said he: II was passing
by the cemetery near my home one day,
aud saw the graves of dozen brilliant
men who began life with me. every one
of them fastened to his end by whiskey.
| made up my mind that l had drank my
share and stopped" In the social enter
tainments here. less and less wine is used,
and the number of guests who refuse it
is constantly increasing. In the old days
a man used to fire up with rum before he
started off in a speech. and politics and
rum used to mix well. But nowadays
men who used to disdain business are find
ing enjoyment in it, and they seem to
have learned that it requires . cool head.
and that there is Tar more enjoyment in
developing successfully an enterprise
than there is in getting drunk. or in pick
ling in whiskey Washington Cor. of the