Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1889-07-12
Washington Letter.
our Regular Correspondent

Phelps of New Jersey. Mr.. Blaine
carried a large official envelope which |
he gravely handed to the President, |
who opened 1t and took out a smaller
envelope, which he handed to the !
Jerseyman with the bangs The en-
velope contained Mr.. Phelps commits |
sion as envoy extraordinary and min-
lister plenipotentiary of the United
States to Germany. Mr.. PheIpstried
to look as if the eyes of two continents
were on him and signally failed, and
he and Mr.. Blaine retired in good or
der. This long expected appoint /
ment closes the chapter of the Hal
stead matter, and recognizes Mr..
Phelps valuable services in the Sa-
moan treaty arrangements. His as
ISOLATION with that treaty conference
will save him the trouble Of making
himself acquainted with the Germans.
Mr.. Phelps is we'll qualified for a
minister. He is fifty years old and
was a practicing attorney up to 1858.
He was several tunes in the House,
where he has attained some promi-
hence as the leading republican mem
Der of the foreign affairs committee.
His personal appearance, dress and
manner are very peculiar. He was
once before in the diplomatic service
in 1882, being sent to Austria, where
he remained only a year. At the last
Republican National Convention he
was a prominent candidate for the
Vice-Presidential nomination, and Ia
ter refused a denomination for the
House to make the fight for Senator.
The Senat els still his ultimate aim,
and he looks forward exultingly to
the next opportunity. His house at
Teaneck was recently destroyed by
fire and several valuable paintings
and a large library burned, causing a
loss Of $15O,O0O.
The men in Congress who are good
story tellers are few. The represen-
tatives, on the other hand, who make
a lame job of telling commonplace
and worn out yarns, are scores. When
you hear some laundering, heavy
moving statesman begin the chat re-
minds me of a man down my way"
that's the time for disappearing.
There is Congressman Cannon of Il
Iinois, for instance, who has about as
much humOr in his composition as an
owl. He went down the river to
Marshal Hall, opposite Mt. Vernon
last week, with the six o'clock club.
The clubs hobby is after-dinner
speeches, and after awhile it was
Cannon's turn. It was evidently no
time to talk of the speakership con-
test or the tariff. So the unfortunate
legislator struggled through few
illusions to the beautiful scenery, the
mansion at Mt, Vernon lying in the
dusk of evening far across the placid
river Thus far we were all right,
but when he struck the ''far across
the river" he was forever lost. With
a iendish delight, and perfectly IN
conscious of his fate, he began to tell
that club of we'll informed gentlemen,
the story of the dollar that Washing
ton threw over the river and that a
dollar went further then, etc, etc.
The story that Senator Evarts told
Lord Coleridge, the tale that has
been told so often on the river that il
is generally suicidal to attempt it,
met a response of howls and cat-calls
and Cannon sat down a ruined man,
1t seems strange that men of average
intelligence will go on telling aged
and hoary chestnuts all their lives
without recognizing their triteness
without realizing they bore people
81 wish,'' says Lord Greville in his
delightful diary, ''that Tom Moore
had better memory, for he often In
ficts pain by telling the same story
to the same people twice. But theE
this is made more bearable in tina
the stories are comparatively fresi
and selected with care"
The number OF delegates who come
here to secure quarters and max,
other arrangements on the part o
Knight Templar Communicates 70
, next falls eonclave is increasing. Tn
trienniaI committee requests that
I be distinctly understood that the &C
commodations of the city are no
- LJ IL s1-l 49, E00