St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-11-11
SENATOR JONES. OF NEVADA

He Is the Most Picturesque of the
Pacific Coast Men in Congress.
Philadelphia Record.
When Senator John p. Jones, Of
Nevada. gets up to talk everybody in
the senate sits down to listen. OF all
hepeople who have came to Washington
from Bret Harte's country he is the
most picturesque and interesting. A
Welsh immigrant, a forty miner, an un-
educated miner, his ability has made
him half dozen fortunes in mines and
stocks, and his strong love of books has
won him a culture which makes his
speeches delight even to. the most
finicky New Engiander. His CONVEX
sation would be equally delightful
were it not SO racy as to be at times
gamey.
Jones said of Ben Harrison, when tile
latter left the senate. that he never
would be missed, since he had made SO
little impression on his colleagues.
Thereupon another Republican senator
said: Harrison, being Presbyterian
elder, did not relish JONES' Stories.
which are as broad as they're long. If
you don't like Jones' stories, Jones
doesn't like YOU"
Jones has all the freedom Of thought
and ali the frankness of expression
which are characteristic of all Bret
Harte'S pet miners and gamblers, and
has drawn from his reading and his eX-
perience great collection of anecdotes
good, bad and Indifferent of which
he tells with great gusto. He is very
fluent I'D conversation, because he does
not think much OF his phrases.
When he is ON his feet he thinks
great deal of his phrases-thinks out
some remarkably good ones (as when in
his anti-ChineSe speech the other day
he said the Chinese had become 'sath-
letes against staryation'), but the gen.
eral effect is to retard his sentences.
He is not a mere phrasemaker, how
ever. He is an original thinker, and on
the lines of his thinking no one in pub
lie life has thought more deeply.
He is master of all the Pacific coast
questions, and knows them not only i'll
themselves. but in all their relations
with all other questions at home or
abroad. He has made politics. high and
low, study. His library, which is bet
ter than almost any other public mans,
is especially rich i'll political 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 booll-wOrm: he is no quota
ton man. His remarks in public or pri-
vate do not smell of the lamp. His Wig
orous mind assimilates all his erudition.
and so enriches his thought. lie was
Roscoe ConkIing's greatest friend III the
senate. and the tie between them was
chiefly intellectual. They were both
StalWartS. though Grant men of the 30G
order, and Jones would have been will
ing to die happy if he could have seen
C0nkliug in the White house. / was
touched to see that when Jones made
his great speech Oh the Chinese bill the
other day he came down and stood by
Conkling's desk. =.
large head, bald on top and gray on
both sides. His cheeks are red. his eyes
puffy, his beard short and white. He
dresses plainly, but has rich air. Like
his colleague from Nevada, the garru-
lous Stewart, Jones lives in California,
where he speculates in various things
and with varying success S.
Just now his regular income is de-
rived from the Treadwell gold mine on
Douglass Island, Alaska, one of the
best mines in the world, which already
yields 81, 900 month profit, and prom
ises wonderful things. 1t is the only
mine which the hundreds of prospectors
have developed in Alaska, and it was a
surprise. discovered by an accident
Mines in Alaska have to be literally dis
covered, because the whole face of the
country is closely covered by thick
growth Of matted moss and shrubs.
There is nothing accidental, however,
about the way the Treadwell dividends
come around. and Jones, who had to
economic fol-. a few years, has money
to spare again.