The Evening post. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1888-1889, 1888-11-30
SENATOR JONES OF NEVADA.
He Is the Most Picturesque of he Pacific
Coast Men in Congress-
pJUg9etDbgg Pecor6


Philadelphia Record.
When Sena.or John p. Jones Of Nevada
gets op to tall everybody in tn, Senate
sits down to listen. OF all the people
who have come TO Washington from
Bret Hartc's country, he is the most pic.
turesque and interesting. A Wdch inn
migrant, a forty-niner, an uneducated
miner, his ability has made him half
dozen fortunes in mines and stocks, and
his strong love of books has won him
culture which makes his speeches de.
light even to the most finiclly New Eng
landers. His conversation would be
equally delightful were it not so ncy as
to be at times gamey.
Jones said of Ben Harrison, when the
latter left the Senate, that he never
would be missed, since he had mace so
little impression on his colleagues
Thereupon another Republican Senator
said: Harrison, being a Presbyterian
elder, did not relish Jones' stories, wnich
are as broad as they are long. If you
don't like Jones' stories, Jones don't ike
you"
Jones has all the freedom of thought
all the frankness of expression winch
are characteristic of all Bret Hart's pet
miners and gamblers, and has drawn
from his reading and his experience
great collection of annecdotes-good
bad and indifferent-all of which he
tells with great gusto. He is very fluent
in conversation, because he does not
think much of his phrases.
When he is on his feet he thinks a
great deal of his phrases-thinks out
some remarkably good ones las when in
his anti Chinese speech the other day he
said the Chinese had become athletes
against starvation" y but the general
effect is to retard his sentences. He is
not mere phrase maker, however. He
is an original thinker, and, on the lines
of his thinking, no one in public life has
thought more deeply.
He is a master of all the Pacific coast
questions, and knows them not only In
themselves but in all their relations al
home or abroad. He has made politics,
high and low, study. His library,
which is better than almost any other
public man S, is especially rich in politi-
cal works, Jones is fond of good living,
| like all the Pacific coasters, and spends
good deal of time dining out, but the
first hours of every day and the last
hours of every evening he gives to his
| books.
He is no bookworm; he is no quota
| ton man. His remarks in public and
| private do not smell of the lamp. His
| vigorous mind assimilates all his cru
dition, and so enriches his thought. He
was Roscoe Conkling's greatest friend in
| the Senate, and the tie between them
was chiefly intellectual. They were both
1 iot pto A. ,,N IS Ia
| order and Jones would have been will
ing tc die happy if he had seen Roscoe
Conkling in the White House.
Jones is short. stocky man with a
large head, bald on top and gray on both
sides. Ills cheeks are red, his eye,
puffy, his beard short and white. lie
dresses plainly but has a rich air. Like
his colleague from Nevada, the garrulous
Stewart, Jones lives in San Francisco
where he speculates in various things
and with varying success.
just now his regular income Is derived
from the Treadwell gold mine on Doug
lass Island. Alaska, one Of the best mines
in the world, which already yields $12,
600 o month profit, and promises won
derful things, 1t is the only mine which
the hundreds of prospectors have devel
oped in Alaska, and 1t was surprise
discovered by an accident. Mines il
Alaska have to be literally discovered
because the whole face of the country i
closely covered by a thick growth o
matted moss and shrubs. There is moth
ing accidental, however, about the wa,
Treadwell dividends come around, ant
Jones, who had to eConomize for few
years, has money to spare again.
|