Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-08-07
DRUNKS IN CONGRESS.
Mr.. Watson Would Have Had Spasms
Had He Lived a Century Ago.
SOBRIETF Is THE RULE NOW.
In That Elder Day Everybody Carried Of
q Jag Once in Awhile.
SOME AMUsINGLY TIPSY STATESMEN


that first revolt-that slaves seldom rebel,
but freemen on whom some slight burden Is
laid often do The French in 1889 rose and
cut off the head of the best King they had
ever had-a King who abolished serfdom,
remitted taxes, prohibited torture and es-
tablished reforms for the benefit Of the
working people. America plunged into d
revolution against a mild monarch to get
rid of Scent tax on tea. When Republics
are proclaimed it is noticeable that good
crop is generally harvested. Bloody strikes
are always inaugurated by men who get the
highest wages.
So it is that where drunkenness is COM
mon 1t attracts no attention; it is only
where it is very uncommon, indeed, that
men are shocked at It. That is to say, it ls
the abnormal only that is considered worth
noticing or recording.
Wouldn't Have Counted q Century Ago.
A hundred years ago a man would have
got merrily laughed at for staggering into
Congress and making maudlin effort at
oratory, and few would have considered it
really disreputable, but no newspaper
would have thought it worth mentioning
and no committee would have Investigated
it. When half of the men in the land oc-
casionally or frequently got drunk, spor-
adic case OF tipsiness caused no comment.
The fuss that Is made over transient
and doubtful lapse of temperance on the
part of three or four members is a very
high tribute to the general sobriety of this
Congress. Since the close of the War for
the Union drunkenness has become, for the
first time in the history of the human race,
thoroughly disreputable, not only in Con-
gress, but in all public bodies and in society
everywhere.
Has there been a scandalous exhibition of
drunkenness in Washington in year by
any well-known man?
As late as when Kossuth was in this city
inebriety was common. The banquet in his
honor was held at the National Hotel;
speeches were made by Cass, Webster,
Shields, Seward and others, and several
prominent guests got into such condition
that they had to be helped away from the
table.
United States Judge Drunk.
There was more intemperance in the Sen.
ate in 1904 than there is to-day, but it
brought to the bar and tried for "habitual
drunkenness and profanity on the bench"
one of the United States judges, and the
man was convicted. The city was a dreary
mudhole then, full of ague and monotonous
misery, and there is no reason to marvel
that Congressman when they left their un-
finished quarters drank deeply, bet heavily
and amused themselves with dog fights and
cock fights. There was not only bad rum
in those days, but there was plenty of
rough-and-tumble prize fighting in which
men lost their eyes and noses. A tall gal
lows appropriately stood at the foot of
Capitol hill
We have fallen on curious times, indeed,
when a man cannot get drunk in public or
be seen emerging from q gambling saloon
| without injury to his reputation and credit.
Different, indeed, was 1t in the good old
heyday of "Blifl and Black George, when
Pendleton kept open his "palace of for
| tune" on the avenue, and presided at a
| sumptuous dinner every day at five, in full
| dress, and surrounded by 20 or 80 members
Of the House and Senate, Cabinet Ministers,
| generals, diplomats and judges, attracted by
| the pleasures of the duplex table-the faro
table Immediately succeeding the dinner
table. The CUISINE was presided over by
an artist; the wines were bought at auction
| when bankrupt German Dukes sacrificed
| their cellars; everything was luxurious; and
scores of distinguished gamesters chased the
| ivory chips around the green baizs till the
morning came in with its glow.
Luck OF . Minister to China.
Humphrey Marshall being appointed
Minister to China in 1852, dropped into
PendIeton's the night before he started to
! play lone farewell game" and he lost all
the money he possessed, his entire outfit
and six months pay in advance-and then
Pendleton lent him money enough to carry
him to the fowery kingdom where he
doubtless taught the funny game to the
| almond-eyed Celestials. And when the
| good Pendleton died the Mayor of WASH
| ington and Senators and members bore his
pail, and President Buchanan wept at his
| funeral. And there was no scandal about
it, and no reporters watched, as they now
| would, to see who went in and out at
Pendleton's Ahl Times have changedl
| But even that day was visibly more cir
cumspect than society in England a hun
dred years earlier, for then it seems to have
been the fashion for every man to get
| drunk at every dinner of ceremony he at
tended, for servants were on hand whose
business it was to loosen stiff cravats OF
gentlemen when they slipped or rolled un-
der the table, SO that they would not choke
to death. Perhaps the story told by Prem.
tiss is not too familiar to be repeated, how
the god-like Daniel made maudlin speech
at dinner here one night, his hearers shed.
ding inebriate tears, when q Kentucky
member, in a frenzy of whisky and patriot.
ism. jumped upon the table and shouted Ere
form or revolutionl Liberty or deathp' and
flung an empty champagne bottle at the
head Of the great expounder of the Consti.
tution-who hiccoughed defiance as the
crystal missile whizzed by him and crashed
against the opposite wall.
No Confirmed Drunkards Nowadays.
| In this Congress there are probably some
scores of men who take drink occasionally
but there is not q confirmed drunkard in
either House. Even the half dozen whs
sometimes drink too much have not los
their self-respect, and they pay to temper
ance the tribute of concealing their weak
ness. There is no man in either House sc
unconscious of the disgrace of drunkenness
as McDougall or Tom Marshall used to be-
Even poor Salisbury made his way into the
Senate one day about q month after he hat
ceased to be member of it, and, being in
terested in the bill under consideration
leaned on q convenient desk, and, address
ing the Vice President, said he would like
to offer few reasons in favor fits passage
The Vice President kindly recognized him
his late colleagues forebore to call him tt
order; but after he had been talking {
| minute or Two, D men1Der TOOK Iiliu ny tns
hand and whispered word in his ear ane
retired with him to the cloak room.
There were two other men OF irregular
habits in the Senate about the close of the
war-both from border States But, like
Salisbury, they were gentlemen even II
their tipsiness. and careful not to make ar
exhibition of their in6rmity that would bt
publicly injurious
One OF Senator ingalls, Trials.
Many will remember o remarkable scene
in the Senate within very few years. A
member Of that body persisted in speaking
| Uhau ha nnn1d ~ toip >ifhar his hnd