The Portland daily press., 1892-05-14
MONEY and BRAINS.
The Combination Required for Sue.
cess in Congress.
Good Stories Told in the Smoking Rooms
Mr.. Hit Explains Blaine's Condition
Afraid His Friends Would Kill Him if
He Reached the White House.
Especial correspondence

WASHINGTON, May 10.-The gossip of
the smoking room Is The attraction wn1cn
keeps many a man in congress. The
proceedings and debates on the floor OF
the house are for the most part dull and
uninteresting. One quickly tires Of
them unless he be leader in the thick
leaders. But the smoking rooms and
the sofas and easy chairs in the rear Of
the hall never lose their charm.
Say what you please about the medi-
ocrity of congressman, | know from
personal contact with the statesmen of
number of congresses that while the
art of oratory is gradually being lost in
this country the art of talking well in
conversational way is continually grow
ing. Sit down in these smoking rooms
and you will hear all the latest stories, all
the freshest mots, all the newest gossip
of men, women and politics. Here the
leaders are pulled to pieces, hu1nbug
exposed, demagogy confessed or ridi-
culed, the future of parties predicted
and the fortunes of presidential candi-
dates settled about fifty times day.
Men like these daily symposiums, this
meeting together of kindred spirits, and
the pleasure here obtained is about all
the satisfaction majority of the mem
bers get out of congressional service. !
think my friend General Newbury, of
Chicago, voiced a prevalent sentiment
when he said the other day that but for
the gossip and stories of the smoking
seats he would have resigned his mem
bership long ago. 81 am at the same
time paying pretty dearly for my whis-
tle," added Newberry. "My board bill
for myself and family five persons, four
rooms, is $500 month. l pay $3.50
month for a carriage, that being cheaper
than bringing my own carriage on from
Chicago. My other expenses foot up
about $3.50 a month, and so find that
my salary of $416.66 month falls long
way short of keeping me going. 1t
costs me about 1925 week to sit in the
smoking room and listen to John Aliens
Stories"
There are plenty of other congress
men who spend as much money for the
honor of sitting in the house as Mr..
Newberry. The great majority, how
ever, are hard up all the time, because
they are poor men and a $4,000 year
salary does not hold out very well i'll
this town. have it on good authority
that the stories told in the smoking
rooms are Of better quality as rule
than the cigars there consumed. Nine
out of ten of our friends from the west
and southwest are content with a five
center, but when you see Bourke Cock
ran, Speaker Crisp and Mr.. Catchings
putting their heads together, you may
be sure that none but five-for-a-dollar
cigars are In their mouths. Mr.. Cock
ran furnishes them.
This young Tammany lawyer, veri-
table giant in frame, is coming to the
front as one of the strong men of the
house. He is immensely popular. He
and Tom Reed, who sit opposite each
other with only an aisle between them,
are about the most noticeable pair in the
house. Both are big physically and in
brain powor. Each of them is great
debater. Both are wits and good fell
lows. They wear the two largest hats in
the house, Reeds being seven and "a
half and Cockran's a seven and three
quarters. Reed and Cochran are i'm
mensely fond Of each other, too, and the
ex-speaker often dimes at the fine house
which the young Tammany man main
ta1ns here. Probably Cochran Is living
in Washington at the rate of 81 900
month, but he can afford it, for his law
practice in New York yields him
handsome income.
Reed is still the leader on the Repub-
ican side, and when he assemblies his
ieutenants and tells them what he
wants done his dictum generally settles
1t. The big man from Maine is lucky
enough to know how to make men obey
his wishes without rousing their ire.
He hasn't 30 much tact as genius. He
simply oyershadows everybody that
comes in contact with him, and no one
presumes to rivalry. Tom Reed has two
sore spots. One is his sensitiveness on
the car business. He believes the out
cry that was raised against his rule in
the laat congress had much to do with
Republican defeat in the elections Of
1890, and yet he thinks he wasr right in
his rulings.
Probably no living man is so much
talked about in the house smoking rooms
as Mr.. Blaine. There is always myy-
terry of some sort about Mr.. Blaine.
Will he run for president, or won't he?
Is he sick, or is he we'll? And so it goes.
The secretary has just one close friend
in the house. Mr.. Hit visits Mr.. Blaine
about seven times a week. Blaine has
no secrets from this tried, trusty friend.
So of course Hit is often appealed to
by his fellow members for some in
formation about the secretary of state.
He doesn't often respond, but few
days ago he sat down on one of the sofas
and in the presence of an interested
crowd OF congressman thus explained
Mr.. Blaines position and condition:
''Mr. Blaine" said Hit, sis not well.
He is not as sick as he thinks he Is, but
he is not a well man. He has his ups
and down. One day he is like his old
self. His great intellect flashes out glo-
riously, as in the old days. Friends
Gather arDfrnd fo 1istno 7,o,.fooflyy ON,