St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-12-20
THEY TAKE THEIR TEA
In Spite of Rules to the Contrary, the Sen
sle.aa ators Get Plenty Of Stimulants
at the Capitol.
Hard Drinkers Cultivate Their Legs So
That the Galleries Cannot Detect
Bourbon Influences.
Senator Logan Reported Not Opposed
to Postmaster Judd of Chicago
After ALL.
The House, After General Wrangle,
Fails to Get the Presidential Bill
Fairly Before It.
Congressional Toddy.

Congressional TOddy.
Special to the Globe.
WASHINGTON, Dec. 19.-The discussion
in the senate upon the subject Of prohibit
ing the sale Of liquor i'll the capitol was a
grotesque performance, which has to be re-
peated about SO often, whether there is any
reason for the performance or not. Both
houses have very rigid regulations forbid
ding the sale of any kind of intoxicating
liquor in the capitol building. For years
there has not been the slightest pretense OF
enforcing these rules, yet both houses pre-
fer to let these rules stand as a practical lie
rather than to assume the courage neces-
sary to repeal hypocritical formula which
cannot be enforced. Seventy-fve per cent.
of the senators are drinking men. There
are few of this large percentage who
drink to excess. There are in the senate
half dozen perhaps who can properly be
cIassed as hard drinkers, yet they are Of
the quiet and undemonstrative kind. There
never have been any scenes in the senate of
a disgraceful character caused by drunken
ness for many years. When the hardest Of
tile senatorial drinkers are the deepest un-
der the influence of liquor, that fact would
not be apparent to the casual observer in
the gallery. The majority of the senators
who drink hard have cultivated their legs,
so that no matter how muddled may be the
upper story of the senators,
THEIR LEGS REMAIN SOBER
and carry them about safely and decorously.
There are great many temptations to
drink in the senate. In the first place it is
a very close-corporation club. Its members
are brought into the most intimate contact,
and very soon forget the party differences
which ordinarily separate men of different
political beliefs. The senators are dined
continually. At the dinners in their honor
four OF five wines are given in addition to
the brandies and liquors which are brought
in at the close of the repast. These sena-
tOrial gentlemen as a rule neglect none of
the items of food or drink upon the bills of
fare at these dinners. The natural result
is that the next morning they have an appe-
tite which needs continued supply of some
sort of drink to maintain their physical
tone. 1t is a very common thing for prom
inent senators who are literally and hos
pitably inclined to give little luncheon
parties nearly every day in their committee
rooms. At these luncheons champagne is
always served, unless there is kept in stock
a good supply of whisky. The private sup
ply of liquor about the senate is very great.
One or two of the favorite subOrdinates in
the senate will keep their places in that
body until they die, because they
MAINTAIN PRIVATE BARS
for the concocting of desirable drinks. In
the senate restaurant there has not been
for many years any pretense of hiding the
sale OF liquor. Whisky is not even served
in tea emp, as it used to be some years ago.
You can 90 into the senate restaurant or
the house restaurant, for that matter. and
order what you please in the way of wine
or stronger liquors if you have the money
to pay for it. The humbug and hypocrisy
of the whole thing are shown by the fact
that the very senators who make the tiercest
opposition to any modification of the re-
strictons on the sale Of liquor at the capi-
tai are the greatest patrons OF the private
supplies in the committee rooms. The ma
jority of the senators have too much leisure
upon their hands. The senate sessions in
the main are very dull. Senators have a
fashion of getting together in their COM
mittee rooms for social chats. The rule is
always more or less drinking. A great
many more are being broken down by this
convivial habit of steady tippling than by
any so-called overwork. There is very lit
tie of the club sociabiity over at the house
to what there is in the senate. There is
not such large percentage of steady drink
ers, while there is much less of the So
called sociability and the majority of
them do not care to go down to the res
taurant. Few of them care for wine. The
majority of the steady drinkers of the
house prefer to walk over to the Congress
sional hotel, which is within stones
throw of the house wing. They prefer this
place
ON ACCOUNT OF IT'S FREEDOM
and its bar-room appointments, which are
so necessary for the development of the
kind OF gossip and stories the drinking men
admire. The supreme court, too, has it's bar
room. This room is so hidden away from
the public that very little is known of it,
as only the justices and their friends ever
succeed in passing by the guards and reach
ing it. 1t is next to the dressing room of
the justices, where these ponderous gen.
tlenen 90 for the purpose Of putting on and
taking off their rich robes of shining black
silk. This room is a plain one with an
entrance from the clerks Office besides the
one from the dressing-room. 1t has a genial,
OpGu SldtCs OfCl WiAtCiA mango oA oAu" AooAi"
ioned. black iron teakettle with nozzle.
huge, black and thick. This is the kettle
which has been used for the heating of the
water employed in mixing the punches
since the DAYS of John Marshall. There is
a smart yellow man in attendance in this
room who has fine cabinet of assorted
liquors, and who is an expert in making all
kinds of fancy drinks. The furniture is Of
the plainest. and the chairs and sofas up
holstered in black horse hair. But the room
is so retired and so well stocked with good
things to drink that it is one of the most de-
lightful snuggeries about the capitol.
Seated in front of this glowing fire with
long pipes of good tobacco, the rotund JUS
tees can watch the steaming kettle as they
sip their grog or fancy drink, forgetting for
the time how far behind is the work of the
supreme court.
JUDD TO BE CONFIRMED.
Logan Will probably Make No Op.