Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1886-05-16
WASHINGTON GOSSIP.


Judge k,l ,'y tr II ght regarding some If the
changes which have taken pl tC' in congress
since he first entered it away hack at the he'
ginning of the war Judge Kelley said: 81
: think the general b,'hayiuT Of congressman l.
/ hrttpr now than il was then. There Is more
t courtesy among the members. They are bet
ter dressed and there is less intCmperance.
When | first came 10 congress there was
. scarcely a committee room which had not q
full supply of liquors. In the office of the
. clerk Of the house there was an abundant
supply of whisky, and many of the members
made practice of going there for liquor.
The liquors in the restaurants of the
. basement We're more open than they
are now. A regular bar kept
/ and no such name as cold tea was
. used for whisky straight There was more
intemperance upon the floor, and the drink
ing about the clerks office became So common
that John W FoTney when he wanted to lie
secretary Of the senate, had 10 make pledge
10 Vice President Wilson and Charles sum
ner that no liquors would be kept in the
office Of the secretary Of the senate before
! they would vote for him. Mr. Forney told
me he was very glad to do this il relieved
| him Of great expense ami much annoyance
/ He was a guod- hearted fellow, and he kept
up the custom in his office of clerk Of the
house because at that time he could not very
well do otherwise Ii must have cost him a
/ large part of his salary
1t is said that oratory in congress is on
the decline"
II think that is true, replied Judge Kelley
| the business of congress has changed in late
wears, and 1t is now done by the consultation
! II leading memters of congress, by com
! l,- a. H.,
| much influence upon legislation now, and
] this influence seems to grow less from year
| to year. The size of the house of reprr-
,entativ.'s has largely increased since | came
to congress. When | entered it it was on
/ the basis Of the census Of 1850, and the hous.,
was further reduced, there beng no mem
! l-.rs here from the southern states | don {
suppose the house of representatives will
| ever contain less number of men than il
loes now. Members viii not consent To
| haze their own districts cut off. but it Ger
! Ia nlv should not lie larger. The ratio of
! NlpOrtionm"nt should lie increased 80 as to
Ltep il where it is Ii Is already an un-
'sieldlv holy and il was due to the increaSs.
Of the size of the house that il WAS possible
10 pass rule giving all Legislative power to
one committee. As to the lobby of to day /
don't think it is so numerous or so powerful
As it was in the past, and on the whole |
think that congress is growing better as the
world grows older.
An army friend Of Gen Logan tells me
that Logan speaks Spanish like a native, and
that he Is good Latin scholar. Il was in
the army with him, said he, "and was much
about his headquarters, He is by no means
poorly educated man He is fond of the
| classics, and often quotes from Cesar or
Virgil In early days he was some what pro
fame and he could vOmit forth upon occa
siCn IA set of epithets that woult swear the
twist out of a corkScrew. He is now a
Christian and an humble one, and if he does
get off IA word in his excitement which be
gins with a big d it is slip Of the tongue
and lie Is sorry for it atteTwnrL He swears
on zuCh occasion as the vulgar swear Their
profanity comes from a paucity Of meta
phor and adjective. They have not the
Anglo Saxon at the moment to express their
feeling, and profanity supplies their want
Logan is a very brave man | remember
once being in party with him in which a
person said he should think all unConvertei
man would fear To 60 forth TO battle, where
upon Logan replied: The man who is afraid
to go 10 h when his duty demands il is a
cowardr Logan is a good story teller and a
good fellow. He improves upon acquaint-
ance, and he has a great deal more brains
than many people give him credit for
stephen A. Douglas might have had the
Democratic nomination for the presidency in
1854 over James buchanan" so said Mr.
Charles p. Button, the confidential friend
and relative of Mr.. Douglas, to ME not long
ago 81 was at the Cincinnati convention
which nominated Buchanan, and held in nv
pocket a letter from Douglas which | was TO
give to the convention withdrawing the
name of Mr.. Douglas in favor of buchanan,
if at any time it should seem to be for the
test interest of the party that he should be
nominated found at Cincinnati that the
sentiment was generally in favor of Douglas.
though his following was not organized and
IT had not been worked up by wire pulling
and other political methods The support
of Buchanan was of different nature, and
the men who were pushing him did every
thing they could to gain votes remember
| was stopping at the Burnett house, where
also were Isaiah Rynders and others of the
Buchanan leaders The night before the
nomination these men asked me to come
down to the saloon In the basement of the
hotel / went with thelu, and they
showed me there scattered upon the
floor great piles of gold and what
was then very large amount Of money.
Here, gentlemen said they rs our cam
paign fund We have SlU0,On here To elect
buchanan president, Now you are for
Douglas But Douglas Is young and can
wait, This is the last chance 'Old Buck can
hope to have. Don't throw him over Join
with and nominate him, and four years
from now we will give you our solid vote
and hearty support for the little giant of
Illinois"
The morning of the nomination a letter
put into my hands from Douglas, in
structing me to read it to the convention
after the first ballot. 1t was that letter
which secured Buchnnan'S nomination. The
first ballot gave him a hare ma jnrity Of the
votes cast and he had to have two-thrrlS
With Douglas in the field he could never
have been nominated and | am confident
that the nomination of Stephen A. Douglas
would have been secured. Nevertheless.
Buchanan was hardly in the presidential
chair before he brgan TO plot against Doug
las He tried to prevent his reelection TO
the senate, and his secret agents were work
ing against Douglas during that great sena-
torlal campaign against Lincoln The Lin
coin Douglas senatorial campaign was a very
expensive one 1t cost Douglas 1900 and
Lincoln spent about $4,000.
Tom Reed, of Maine, tells me that the
present session Of congress will end without
doing anything else but passing the appro-
priatiOn bills. Said he:
"lf the Democratic house intended TO do
anything we would he kept here far into the
summer, but it is easy to see that they will
do nothing. They will talk and talk and
81, I