Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1884-08-09
HODNS, SEEE,S AND V0IES.
How hova. ConCrrssmei, Ruiz. Their
ShiaU"es of Rc-ciec:iOn.

fHE WISE OBSERVATIONS OF A MAN IN TIE FOI r.
ING R"0R-THE ISIUDICIoUS AND INpISCRiMI-
NATE DISTRIBt-TION OF PUB. DOCS. FATAL To A
CoNGRESSMANS CHANCES-HCw 1T Is MANAGED
By OLDER MEMBERS. ETC.
''That man won't come back to Congress-
again" said one of the employees of the House
foli!ing-fcom To THE STAR man the other dav.
pointing To the frank on one OF a huge pile of
square packages heaped up on the table and in
one corner of the room.
''Why. sO:" asked The STAR man.
''Just because these things will prevent It,"
''W hats in EN-: Dyna nite:'
"BoOks"
"B0Okss"
''Yes. he's sending them all through his dis
trict. ana he'll never come back any more moor
fellow, This is his first term and he has fallen
INTO the deluSion that the way to please his con-
stituents is to send them books They don't
cost him anything and he thinks it n good way
to buy the good will of his constituents He
hasn't been here long enough to learn b, tier"
''p0nt you know. he continued assuming a
hnre CONFIDENTIAL tone. the members. almost
without except on. who have begun by stpdin.r
books home to their districts have been de-
feated- It's Tact. 1t defeats them every
time"
How is that What are the books about:"
TIE STAR man asked.
-'Ti>U't what : i'm them The hooks arc all
riSilt except that some OF them are sort Of dry
They are the various reports Agricultural In
terror department. Patent Oftic.. repOrts and
fhe like: scientific works on surveys urol0py
agriculture and the various matters tina. have
been looked into under the direction of Con
gTcsS and the executive departments besides
The executive documents the. Presidents mes
saGes ard reports npou foreign relations COM
meTce ana the Ike Oh, they are all good
enough books, a. far as that goes. That isn't
tile thing.
What is it, them"
why it's Just this. When man knows how
to 90 it these books can be used to an adyant-
age: jut il won't do for him to distribute them
loosely among his constituents. I'm defeat
him. sure pop The old member who has ex-
pcricuc". viii make good selection of books
AMI send them to three or four OF the
leading politicians in his district. That's all
Tight IL does some good. Bat when the new
member undertakes to distribute them among
all his constituents he gets himself in trouble
He can't have ugh to go round and the con-
sequence u that neighbOrs Smith and Thomp-
con get jealous because neighbor Jones
got some books and they didn't. and
when il comes to the election they will let
the member know that their vote is as good as
Nei=hbor Jones'. See? That's the way lots of
young members .et caught
There's MaGiEniS he won't send out book
He has the longest list cf any man in the Uouse
asked him one day: Major why don't Won
send some of your books hOme!' NV pre,leces-
scr got beat that way, was his reply. aud the
pie OF books Is still growing"
'liOnt any OF the old members send their
books home asked the scribe
'-Oh. YES: lots OF them do hut they nut them
In the hands oi the politicians ard not the mass
O: voters Yes. YES; they send off lots of book 5
an seeds. and that sort of thing. but they wait
G1til the end OF the session and send
out oil at one time to those who knoy
how TO handle them. Many. however
Ike Maginnis, pay no attention to them
Judge Kelley never does. nor does Charlie
0Ncill nor Bingham. Harmer trades his books
OFF for seeds Bayne distributes his jrdiciousy
Brewer. of New Jersey. ships his home I'm a
hump and then distributes them as he sees
proper. Some of the members do lots of trading
with their books. Those from the cities trad,
With those from the country, giving them
The Agricultural reports for the more valuable
scientific works. Then some of the
Country members trade off all of thell
BOOKS for seed. Some OF the members sell Their
books To secondhand dealers; while others buy
u many a. they can get / know OF one new
meiGter who spent several thousand dollars
sending books and seeds TO his constituents He
- get beaten There are number of members
eieh session who spend large sums o.
money ia this WA They can't get enough out
o. 'he arpOrti3nwcat to 20 round in their dis
u'cIs, 50 they buy them. Some OF the scientific
"OfAs are Very expensive. Powells report: