The Emporia weekly news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1881-1889, 1888-10-04
PRINTERS IN CONGRESS.
Senator Preston b. Plumb, of Kansas-From
the Country Printing Office to the
United States Senate.

senator Preston b. Plumb, of Kansas-From
the Country Printing Office to the
United States Senate.
We take from the Craftsman
published in Washington City, the fol-
lowing brief biographical sketch of
Senator Plumb:
Although the membership in the
Fiftieth Congress boasts the presence
in both House and Senate of an excep-
tionally large number of public men
who commenced life as printers, prob
ably none of them present in their |
careers more extended and thorough |
experience in the ''art and mystery of |
printing than Senator Preston Is. |
Plumb, of Kansas.
Senator Plumb was born in Della |
ware county, Ohio. October u, 1887, |
and is therefore 81 years of age. His
parents were pioneers in the then
wilderness of Ohio, who emlgrated
westward to seek home, and young |
Plumb was reared, in the American
fashion, on a farm, aided in the per-
Torrance of all the labors and duties
incident to farm life in the early days
of our struggling western clvlllzation,
which has since achieved the greatest
triumphs and marked the glorious
progress of the Star of Empire. He
received the ordinary advantages or
rudimentary common school education
such as was obtainable in those days
at the log school house of the settle
ment, but anxious to aid his parents TO
the extent of his ability, either by con-
tributing his mite to househola t eXa
penses or relieving his parents OF the
burden of his own support, he determ-
ined to branch out for himself.
This opportunity was presented IN
the establishment Of a country print
ing office at the nearest town, equip
ped in the primitive fashion OF the day,
and here the lad obtained employment
as devil, - receiving for his first wages
what he could gather from the proceeds
of Office waste and sweepings. He was
a sturdy little fellow, strong In pur-
pose and of industrious habits which
never knew relaxation. He did all the
| 'schores, :" lighting fires, sweeping the
Office, stirring the composition for roll
ers as it boiled in the pot. helped cast
/ the rollers, ''rolledn the job work and
edition, learned the boxes, distributed
the ''pi, until he grew Dig enough ta
| to stand at the lease" or pull the
press. as occasion demanded, pass
ing through all the gradations from
| the ''deVil'' and apprentice until he
reached the sublime degree OF Jour. "
But through the avenues and chan
nels of information Afforded by the
country newspaper and its limited ex-
l change list, young PlumD became IN
terested in the exciting political issues
involved in the Kansas and Nebraska
question, then being widely debated III
Congress and agitating the country,
and his surroundings thereafter became
irksome and oppressive. The narrow
field in which he then toiled seemed to
be too restricted, and he determined To
break away and seek tame and fortune
in the farther west. Gathering up his
little belongings. and few indeed they
were, he babe adieu to friends, kindred,
and home, and set out upon a
tramp"
He worked his way with tribulation
after the manner of the perlpatetlc
typo until he finally reached Kansas,
where he found employment as q
s.iour., :" and by dint of application and
good habits actually attained the ele-
waited position of foreman and editor
of a country newspaper before he had
reached the age of %. OF
course Kansas presented wider oppOr-
tunIties for the enterprising and pu sh-
| ing than the older settled communities.
| Young Plumb had managed, while
| working at the case in Ohio, to borrow
and read various legal text books, and
| was reasonably well up in elementary
law. He improved his opportunities in
this regard after his location in Kan
| sas. and was elected in 1853 a member
of the Constitutional Convention. a
body memorable in the history OF
bleeding Kansas"
Meantime, however, he had applied
himself diligently to the further study
of the law, and the reward OF burning
| the midnight oil resulted in his admis-
sion to the bar in 1861. He was elected
a member of the Kansas House OF Rep
resentatiVes IN 1852, was appointed
chairman of the Judiciary Committee,
and subsequently made reporter of the
Supreme Court. In August, 1852. he
entered the army as Second Lleuten-
ant in the Eleventh Kansas Cavalry.
rank of Captain, Major and Lieuten-
ant-Colonel of that regiment, being
conspicuous for gallantry on many a
hard-fOught field in the war
for the suppression of the rebel
lion. In 1867 he was chosen Speaker OF
the Kansas House Of Representatives
in which body he served until elected
to the United States Senate, taking his
seat March 4, 1877. He was reelected
to a second term in 1888, his present
service expiring March 8, 1889.
Senator Plumb is fluent and vigor-
GUS debater, specially distinguished for
rapid and intelligent grouping of facts.
In running discussion he Is without
superior in the Senate, and his COM
mand of language is marvellous. One
would hardly suppose, in the great
nressure of public business and the
many demands made upon him by his
constituents, that Senator Plumb would
find time to read, and yet without doubt
he reads more newspapers, magazines,
and publications Of current literature
than any of his colleagues. His habits
acquired in the pursuit of his trade as
| printer and occupation as editor COM
prise the very essence of his existence.
No man has tenderer side nor
greater sympathy for the mechanic and
iaborer than Senator Plumb. He was
born from the loins of toll, and adj
yancd into public prominence while fol-
lowing the thorny paths of humble be-
ginnings. His fellow-craftsmen should
be advised that his special pride is to be
phasized some year or two since, when,
owing TO complication at the Govern
ment Printing Office, certain impor-
tant work work was in arrears. Sena-
tor Plumb stated on that occasion that
he was ready at any moment to take
his stick and with other volunteers
from the House and Senate help the
printers out of their difficulty until the
crisis had been overcome.
II The idea, however, obtained some
three or four years ago that he was
} not in accord with the Typographical
|. Union. This was great mistake, and
originated in a mutual misunderstood
ing with Public Printer Rounds in ref
erence to the employment of a proof.
: reader in the Government Office. WheI
7 the matter was made clear to all par.
! ties concerned the complication wa:
adjusted satisfactorily. Senator Plumb
: is an adInirer and upholder of the Ty
5 biographical Union, which organization
/ | has no warmer friend than the Printel
8 Senator from Kansas.
2 Being a member of the Senate Com
: mittee on Appropriation, he has al
ways favored liberal appropriations 70
4 the Government Printing Office. WheI