The Abbeville messenger. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1884-1887, 1885-10-27
"A WRITER OF SPEECHES.
one OF washington's Re-
markable Characters.
A Man Who Makes a Living by Writ
ing Orations for congressman.

8 There goes one Of the most bril-
liant men of this generation" said a
gentleman, himself distinguished as a
writer and a scholar, to a New York
Telegram correspondent in Washing
ton. A tall, STOPPING figure was pass
ing at a shutting gait. The face was
strong, but furrowed by years and dis
sipation. An old SLOUGH hat, which ut
one time might have been presentable,
covered the massive head, but
only partially concealed a tangled mass
of gray hair, which streamed out hith-
er and thither in obedience to the COM
mand of the tickle wind.
"That man." continued my infor-
mant, 'is a remarkable character. If
it were not for his unfortunate habit
of i~ntoxication, he would have long
ago been noted as one Of the great
men of his time. Now look at him as
he shambles down the avenue. You
would not suppose for a moment that
he was a man Of intellect, and yet it is
a fact that he has contributed more
pages to the Congressional Record
than any living person. OF course
much that he writes is pure and una
dulterated trash, because the member
for whom the speech was written
wants just that kind Of material; but
on the other hand, I happen to know
that he is the author Of many brilliant
speeches which were bought and paid
for and delivered by another person.
His name is Carter, and he Is a char
acter. I have heard that at one time
he was a member of congress from
Virginia, but on that point I will not
be certain. For years and years, how
ever, he has been in Washington ses-
sion after session, making his living
by writing speeches for congressman.
1t has come to be matter of business
with him. Of course he is obliged to
conduct his negotiations with the con-
gressmen very secretly, but it is only
one feature of life behind the scenes
in Washington. So far as I know
Carter is the only man who actually
relies upon his facility in the compost
ton Of speeches for a living. He has
written them on all conceivable topics.
Nearly every important measur
which has been before congress dur.
ing the past quarter of a century has
felt the impress of Carter's pen. The
amount of matter that man turns out
is something enormous each week.
When such a measure as the tariff bill
is up he fairly coins money.
"Not only does he write speeches to
order, but he keeps a stock in hand on
the standard topics of the time, such
as the tariff need of a new navy
'civil-service REFORM etc. There is
only one feature of his work which Is
not generally understood. 1t fire.
quently happens that Carter is called
in by some Of the ablest statesmen of
the house and asked to write a speech
o~ AAo "a cA0o eOPACs 4uO AcuXIu Id
specified, the general tenor and heads
are given, and, last but not the least to
Carter the price is agreed upon. In
cases the congressman gives Carter a
general idea Of what he desires to say,
but relies upon the speech-writer to
polish it up and fix it into the proper
shape for delivery. Many members of
known ability found this a very conven-
lent method of getting rid of a great
deal of drudgery. You see, they know
that they are just as able to write
their own speeches as Carter is, but they
find it so much easier to engage him to
do the work-under their direction, of
course-that they are unable to resist.
1t often happens that a member of
congress becomes pressed for time, and
finds it absolutely impossible to indite
the speech which his constituency will
expect from him on the floor.
Looking to the Future.
- Chn hSl-sk - ---- l