Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-11-16
Is q Feature of the Present Admins
tration, but Not So Impor-
tant as Former Ones.
CLARKSON is THE BEST MEMBER.
Wauamaker Has Influence, ban Ransdell
Stands in and Chairman Mich
ener is a Power.
DIFFERENCE IN CAMPAIGN METHODS
The New Congress and sOns Words About the Men Who
Have Fallen BY the Waysids
rconREspoSDExcE OF rHE D1sPArcB.r


WASHINGTON, November 15.-The Fifty
second Congress will be practically new
body. A new element has jumped into
politics, and fresh blood, whether for good
or evil, will for time flow through the
veins of legislation. During the past two
wears death and defeat have been playing
havoc with our politicians, and the elections
Of last week add to the many who have
fallen by the wayside.
For 20 years one of the strongest men in
the House of Representatives was Samuel
J. Randall, of Pennsylvania. lie was an
original thinker, and his iron will nodded
the work of large section of his party. He
fought for his ideas through many changes
of party sentiment, and during the present
Congress ne died in the harness of pro-
tective tariff. The famous Pig-Iron Kelley
came into the House while Lincoln was
President, and for nearly a generation hSs
strong voice and keen brain had their effect
upon the Republican side of the tariff ques-
tion. He, too. was a leader of men, and as
Father OF the House he had great influence
and a large following.
THE DEATH ROLL is LONG.
Now be is dead, and the eulogies of his
Record side by side with those Of Samuel
Sullivan Cox, the brightest wit in Congress
for the past generation, and a Democrat
who was as strong in the free trade element
of his party as Sam Randall was on the side
of protection. The death of Senator Beck
took John G. Carlisle from the ranks of the
House Morrison was long ago shelVed by
being put on the Interstate Commerce Com
mission, and now all that is lett of the
Democratic lights of years ago are William
S. Holman, the great objector, and Rise
Up" William Springer, who has been
tramped upon again and again by the pom
derous ieet of Speaker Reed, but who springs
TO his feet with all the elasticity of the
India-rubber man at the circus.
The Republicans, though they have been
less afflicted by death than the Democrats,
have lost everywhere by defeat. Mckinley,
after a close fight, will have a chance to
practice law at Canton, O., and Speaker
Reed will have 10 come down out of the
chair and take the leadership of the Repub-
hcsn party on the floor of the House.
REPUBLICAN LEADERS MISSING.
He will find many of his ieutenautS MISS
ing. Major Ben Butterworth has retired
from political life and has accepted the
management of the Worlds Fair Exposi-
ton at Chicago. General Cutcheon, of
Michigan, after eight years of active service,
is replaced by a Democrat and bold Bob
Kennedy, of Ohio, Notwithstanding his
attack upon the Senate, is elected to stay at
home. One OF the most noticeable changes
in the West will be the retirement for the
time OF Joseph G. Cannon, or Illinois. For
Is years he has been a member of the
House. He came here when he was Sc and
left 8 splendid legal business and the
chances of a fortune.
For nine Congresses he has served the Re.
publican party, and for at least eight OF
these he has been one of the leaders on his
side OF the House. Now. at 81, be goes back
TO bis district and to private life, COM
paratively poor man. He once told ne
that his Congressional life had been poor
investment for him, and that ne would have
been much wiser TO have stayed at home
and continued to be a money maker.
FAT MEN WHO ARE GONE.
Among other changes, note that the
oldest and the fattest man in this House
have both been left. George Barnes, of
Georgia, who weighs 400 pounds and says
be would not sell an ounce of his super
huous flesh for $1,000, viii 20 back to his
law practice in Augusta. General Van
derver the old stager OF California, will
carry his Il years back to his district. and
be will probably not be heard in Congress
again.
General \. P. Banks is another old
Stager. who is replaced by a Young man, and
Sherman Hoar has his seat in the Massa-
cnUsetts delegation. A number of the old
est members in point OF service have been
retired, and about one-third of the House is
made UD OF new men. The average life OF
business man is 20 years. The average Con-
gresham lasts only !our years. and every
Congress sees about one-thlrd of the heads
o. its members chopped off to make room
tor others. The rewards OF politics in the
United States grow less and less as the years
90 on. The average Congressman OF to-day
is nothing but the errand boy of his constit-
uent and he gets paid for his services, SAL
Ary which will not enable him 20 live as we'll
as he does at home.
CLARKSON HAS ENOUGH.
understand that General Clarkson will
retire from politics with this campaign. His
health is broken down By the work OF the
Congressional campaign, which he man.
aged from Washington, and he has gone to
AShyIle, \. c., 10 recuperate. He said
the other day that he was tired of being in
business which brought him no money, and
though he is worth perhaps 500, 900, he
feels that be cannot afford to hold public
Office. He sold out his half interest in the
Des Moines Register to his brother when
he came here, ana this property was worth
10000 year. 1t was built up bv his father
and himself in connection with his brother,
and it has a circulation of from Is, 900 to
20, 900 daily.
Clarkson's father was a printer, and
young Clarkson set type in the Cincinnati
G0zette Office when Whitelaw Reid was
writing letters to that paper under the sig
nature OF Agate" Reid now gets about
$500, 600 a year out of his Tribune, and both
he and Clarkson have been working
together in the administration.
COULD HAVE HAD A PORTFOLIO.
General Clarkson has for years been
prominent in Iowa politics, and be has had
several chances at public Office before he ac-
cepted a place under Postmaster General
Wanamaker. When he was 25 years old he
was offered Swiss mission, and he could
have been a Cabinet officer under Garfield,
but he would not leave his paper. His
father was offered the Commissionership of
Agriculture by Grant, and Clarkson might
have been Postmaster General in Wana-
makers nlace, had he so chosen.
1t was largely due to his mastery efforts
at the head OF the National Committee that
Harrison was elected, and Dudley, Quay
and Wanamaker were anxious that he
should be given a place in the Cabinet. The
President, however, told them that the slate
was already filled, and Wanamaker told
him that he would rather not have q place
himself than see Clarkson left out, and he
offered TO retire in his favor. Clarkson
heard of this, and he went to Wanamaker
and told him that under no circumstances
would be accept place under such condi-