The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1890-12-20
THE VIRGINIAN WEED.
TWO-TtIRDs OF THE CONGRESSMEN
MAKE USE OF 1T.
some of Them Smoke Good Cigars and
Some Smoke Bad Ones-SOme Smoke
the Grateful Plant.
rSnAcial Correspondence.

/ walk through the deserted halls of con-
| gress. Things were topsy-turFy, and the
| renovators aud carpenters were every
where at work. The only thing that re-
minded me of the absent statesmen was a
smell of tobacco smoke in the cloak rooms.
The sable attendants, who are generally
truthful about matters in which they have
no interest, say the odor Of tobacco could
not be taken out of these apartments with
out consuming them literally and wholly
by fire. Walls and ceilings and furniture
have become so saturated with nicotine
during the long session just ended and the
many sessions long and short which pre-
ceded it, that their woodwork is like an
old pipe. i asked one of the colored men
if they were ever troubled with bedbugs,
mice or other vermin in the cloak rooms,
and he vivaciously replied: ''NO, indeed,
sab. Lots o. bedbugs in Washin'ton
bo'din' houses, but none of 'em evan yit
got in here. Rat got in one day and he
eat hole through dat ar board petition.
Hit killed him right quick. Too much
terbacker"
Fully two-thirds Of the members of con-
gress smoke. By coming over here and
taking look at our statesmen foreigners
are able to see at glance what a nation of
nicotinists we are. Those of our legis-
lative representatives who do not smoke
use the weed in the other way. l doubt if
there are two dozen men in both houses of
congress who DO not use tobacco in one
way or another. Senator Blair, of course,
would as soon think of throwing himself
from the top of the Washington monu
ment as of puttinga cigar or quid of tobacco
in his mouth. He is the most conspicuous
anti-tobacco champion we have in con-
gress, though Mr.. Morse, of Massachu-
sets, is a rivol for the honor. When Mr..
Morse first came to congress he was very
much annoyed by the smoking on the floor
of the house. In vain did Mr. Morse en-
deavor to have the rule strictly enforced.
The rule is that no member shall smoke on
the floor but members do smoke On the
floor, the rule and Mr.. Morse to the con-
trary notwithstanding. Mr.. Morse has APP
pealed to the sergeant-at-arms, to the
speaker and to members themselves, but
without avail. Tobacco smoke is one of
the fixed features of the American con-
gress, and if Mr.. Morse doesn't want to in
hale the odor of the tobacco plant he will
have to stay out of congress, that's all.
Contrary to the belief of his friends,
When he was a bad, bad school boy in
Wayne county, o., he was known more
than for any other traits by his fondness
for chewing plug tobacco and kissing the
girls-tendencies so inconsistent that one
would not have expected to find them
even in the boyhood of a man noted for his
consistency. Mr.. Allison now neither chews
nor kisses the girls, though in a moment
of confidence he admitted to me the other
day that he was occasionally troubled with
yearning to do both.
The most difficult task the president of
the United States has had to perform dur
ing the year and half be has been in the
White House was TO give up chewing to-
bacco. Mr.. Harrison had from boyhood |
used the weed in that way, but on coming
TO Washington he decided that it was be-
meath the dignity Of president to chew,
and made an effort to abstain. But it was
not so easy a task as he thought, and |
though he finally succeeded, the president |
has told a number of friends that it was
the hardest job he has yet had TO do. He !
still smokes, but only to a limited extent. |
In the presidents case it is as we find it in /
many other cases, that the men who have /
chewed for many years care but little for |
cigars. Most of the southern senators both |
smoke and chew, but nearly all of them !
say it is from chewing they get most de- |
light.
Senator Sawyer is one Of the inveterate |
smokers. His choice is a huge perfecto /.
costing about S17 hundred. He is rarely /
without one in his mouth and therefore |
spends most of his time either in the cloak |
room or in his committee room. He buys
about three times as many cigars as he
smokes, because he is so fond of reaching
into the top pocket of his capacious waist
coat, pulling out long cigar and saying,
"Try one of my weeds" Senator Jones is
another great smoker. He is true smok-
er, too, who thinks q "A crime TO let the
fire die out of good cigar. If perchance
the fire does die out of his cigar-and it oc-
casionally does. for the senator is as great
a talker as smoker-he promptly throws
the weed away and lights another Sena-
tor Jones favorite cigar is called "The
Chester Arthur, a special manufacture of
a well known Havana maker. Jones and
the late President Arthur were warm
friends and the brand was made up to
suit their taste. Mr.. Jones Is still loyal to
the memory OF his friend.
Senator Logan was one of the greatest
smokers ever seen in Washington. His
cigars were only fairly good, sometimes
domestic, sometimes imported He smoked
not so much from a fine and cultivated
taste for the weed as through a desire TO
do, to consume something. / am told that
in one winter Gen. Logan's cigar bill
TO $500, but that was the winter
Of his last campaign for the senatorship,
when he spent two or three months in Hi
nois with open headquarters and box of
cigars on the table all the while
Senator Mcmillan, of Michigan, is an in
veterate smoker, and il is said he spends
more money Tor cigars than any other man
in Washington. The senator entertains
literally, and in the basement Of his house
has arranged a cOntrivauce which his
smoking friends admire very much. After
dinner, when all adjourn To the billiard
and smoking rooms in the basement, the
senator touches "a button, door in the
wall, which no one had noticed, flies open,
and there is revealed a large, zinc lined
cigar case, full of the choicest brands. He
must he a dainty smoker indeed who can
not find what he wants in Senator McMil-
lan's cabinet IN the wall Tor a Washington
i charged with the duty of
looking alter the stock TO see that its va
rlety and quality are steadily maintained.
There are few dry smokers in the sen
ate now. Ar Daniel. of Virginia, Is the
only senator who Is confirmed in his habit.
Roscoe Conkling had way OF takirg a
cigar from his pocket in the senate cha N
Der, fondling it as something precious. cut
ting it in two with his pocaet knife, then
putting the b'nnt end of one OF the halves
In his mouth slowing the other half away
for future use. Senator Carlisle both