The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1886-07-22

was good campaigning. But the odds against
him were too great, and the mayor made
his throat sora strained his modesty, and
riskei his repu alton as prophet Tor
naught Uncle Dick Ogesby was elected
Carter also stood for the senate He went
down to Springfield at the beginning of that
historic fight, which finally resulted in the
reelection of Logan, and here his propensity
for speechmaking found free vent. He burst
into flights of rhetoric at every opportunity.
Almost any evening he could be found sit
ting in the hotel Offices surrounded by gap
ing crowds of rural legislators. OF all the
throng only one man talked, and he the may
or of Chicago The personal pronoun l, and
praise Of the works himself had performed
in the metropolis of the state, were thick
upon his lips But Morrison was the choice
of the caucus.
The evening in which the nomination was
to be made Carter Harrison was walking
from one hotel to another. On the way he
met two legislators They were not intend
ing to vote for him, and he stopped to labor
with them He endeavored TO show them
where their path of duty lay, and so persua-
| sive did he become that both at length re-
| Tented renounced their former allegiance,
promised to vote for the mayor, and desired
to hasten on to the caucus ball But the
louuacious candidate was not satisfied He
so loved the sound of his own voice that he
was loath to stop The winds whstled, snow
fell, street lamps blinked with pa sing hours,
and carriages and pedestrians fastened by.
But the mayor talked on and on. At length
a shout rose above the moaning of the wind,
and the mayor paused.
"What's the noise aboutp he inquired o.
man who was shuffiing along through the
snow.
"Morrison nominated on first ballot" was
the reply.
The two shivering legislators looked at
each other in amazement. Their two votes,
which the mayors eloquence had won, the
mayors garrulity had lost The caucus was
over.
1t is the fashion in Chicago to Ego and see
the mayor about it." Women who have been
worsted in neighborhood quarrels, individuals
dissatisfied with their water rates or gas bills,
merchants with grievances or corporations
with complaints, employees who want more
wages, employers whose men are on strike,
fathers with unruly sons-al call on the
mayor His doors are always open. He is
the cadi of Chicago. And when he has lis
wisdom fall from his lips.
Every day or so the mayors office is filled
by fifteen or twenty bright young men with
tabs of paper and indifferently sharpened lead
pencils As the mayor talks the young men
| write.
"Now print this just as l say it to you," The
mayor commands, ''or you'll get no more new
in the city hall.
Thee young men are reporters, and the
mayor is giving the public, through then
and the more or less great and mora
| Journals which they represent his regular
lecture. AS like as not he is lecturing the
newspapers, for he and they do not gel
along well together They all are prone tc
criticize him, and he rarely fails to talk back
Several Of them he sued for libel because Of
limitations that he had had hand in the
notorious election frauds.
Mayor Harrison Is an aristocrat in who's
veins flows the blood of that Harrisor
family which gave president to the UnitsC
| States and a senator to Indiana. He has G
Kentuckian's love for fine horses, Viz
pinian's alteration for beautiful women, an,
truly Chicagoish love for himself. Though
| a man of the people he everywhere main
tains his dignity. He has "How are youi
! for the ward worker, but not shake OF tn
hand. Toe gamblers can secure from hin
immunity from arrest, but they canno
speak to him or enter his Office with hi
consent. He is a good man and bad one
an able man and weak one, a Statesman
and demagogue, an aristocrat AMI pie
beian He has many contradictions in hi
character and there are not few faults II
his conduct, but in his eight years rule o
Chicago he has done more for the city, II
the way Of public Improvements. good order
clearly administration and economical car
of the finances, than any mayor since Chi
cago became an interior metropolis HI
will not be elected mayor another time ant
wants to go once more to congress. He anC
the mare would make sensation on Penn
sylvania avenue, and the admiration hi
splendid craftsmanship would be sure Il
elicit could not fail to stir the ambition
which lies more or less dormant In every
! Chicagoan's breast, and which, in his case
| has already been tickled by The New Yorl
Suns suggestion of Carter Harrison FOL
] president WALTER WELLNAN.