The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-05-01

mu.t have Nex York man in his cabi-
| net. he mt Thomas L James in as post
master general, and st the same time ne
sent Morton TO Paris as minister %
| France"
ADid Blaine have much influence II
| GarfieId's administration ?"
YES; think he had, replied Governo.
| Foster Blaine did not seem 70 enec,
| things. but he vas influencing Gzrne1o
| more or les. all the time be Is grea'
| personality, and at that time. when ne was
| in the prime of life and health he could
| not help influencing ali with whom &C
| came in contact"
s.Do Won think Garfield would have made
Q great president If he had lived r. ssked.
| II don't know" replied the secretary:
| sHe was q great man N some respects ana
l a weak one in others. Some people say
| that he died Just At the right tune 70 III
| great place in history. / doubt this he
might have made . great PRESIDENT ne
| was, you know, Just At the beginning o.
| his prime, and ne had great deal OF
| growth in him- What he lacked in large
| degree was ordly wisdom he never LAD
| much contact with men, and his Life was
rather that of professor or literary
reci1se than that Of the p-sctical man OF
affairs He began life As professor
Then he went into the army and then 70
congress He had little experience with
the hard knocks and the business Of the
world, and be made mistakes OF Judgment
that o more experienced man would have
seen and stunned. He vas q very timid
man II some things, and very bold one
in others He was always brave on the
money question, and he took his position
cav as 10 a sound currency. He always
stood up for the principles he believed in,
and his tinidity was rather in regard 70
matters relating 10 himself than TO public
questions He feared newspaper COM
ment, aud though he had some Of my
democratic tastes he was rather ashamed
to let them be known"
81 remember an instance" the secretary
went on, (which may give little light on
this phase Of Garheid's character. which
occurred when We we're in congress to-
gether. He was fond Of playing cards, and
his favorite game was casino, and he liked
TO play for Decent stakes remember one
summer night az Wizards hotel we got
party together and were seated around the
liable in room on the second floor on the
z street side in the house. facing news
psper row. It was very hot and We had
our coats and yesss of and our sleeves were
rolled up TO the elbows. The windows
were wide open, and by the gasligh; in the
room you could see our cards from across
the street. After We had played about IN
hour telegraph blank was handed me. It
was from Bob Vance, the correspondent of
something ike this:
Immense excitement on Newspaper Row. A
big crowd watching your Little gsns- Pools are
being sold On the result, and tbs boys are send
Ing dispatches Out ever the country concerning
Il
/ read this dispatch out loud at the
table and Carried was very much fright
ened by IL He wanted to close the blinds,
bu. we would not let him, and he evI-
IDENTIFY feared that the story OF his card
playing would BE- sent home. OF course
the crowd was altogether fictitious, and !
knew the newspaper men well enough to
know that they had other things more
important than little congressional card
game, and that they were too good
natured 10 say anything about the matter
anyhow. No word of il ever appeared in
the papers, but Garfeid's annoyance about
the matter amused the rest OF Us very
much.
How about Cakes Ames and the De
Golyer pavement"
wicked in those things, and is was his
simplicity that gos him into trouble. A
great deal Of fuss has been made about
Cakes Ames. and hold different opinion
concerning him now than l did at the
time of the Credit Mobilier investigation.
Cakes Ames did 8 great work in building
that railroad, and it was work that few
men could have done. believe he under
took il more with the idea Of leaving q
great name for his family than for pure
money making. He was. you know, worth
millions, which his family had made out
of the manufacture Of shovels, and he
wanted TO go down in history as the
builder of the Pacific road. 1t was
wonderful undertaking TO contemplate
at that time, and Ames had the nerve to
60 into it, and he was spending millions
~ "a W he
knew that congress could at any time
knock out his scheme, and he thought, I
doubt not, that If he could get Colfax,
Kelley, GARFIELD and others of the leading
congressman to hold a little stock in il
that they would watch the legislation
and not let his enemies get the advantage
OF him. Ames was not bad man, and
the censure of the House killed him. IL
Is the regret OF my life that voted to cen
sure him, and think he was very badly
used. When Garfield got into this trouble
his other friends IN congress from Ohio de-
serted him. and 10 was shortly after this
that he had fuss on the floor with But
Ter. He was. you know, the chairman Of
the appropriations COMMITTEES, and as such
he had objected 10 one of Buffers
items Butler was very bitter in his
speeches. and he sneered at Garfield and
got OF Latin quotation, DE mortuis nil
nisi bonum," or Say nothing but good
of the dead" He wanted to tell the
House that Garfield wss q dead man, and
his speech was so mean that | went up TO
CARRIED and shook hands with him and
told him that was his friend and that !
would stick TO him. Before that we had
been feeling rather cold toward each other,
bu, be was affected by my offer and be put
his arms around me when he met me after
the session was over. and We were always
strong friends after that"
al
which attracted national notice. Mr.. Fos-
ter. did you not?"
Yes" was the reply, sit gave me a na-
ttonal reputation for the time, and il came
about in rather 3 curious way. When /
rrst came TO congress l felt very backward
and out of place. The congressman
seemed bigger men TO me than they
seemed to Senator Sesmyth. but Blame.
who was speaker. treated me very well,
and he gave me good committees. found
afterwsrd that he had received letter
from Horace Greeley about me, telling him
70 look out for me, and that / ought TO be
cared for. | had never met Greeley, but
Blaine sent me his letter when be was
writing his book not long ago, and in this
letter he had described my Demo
cratic district and had shown how
i had changed il TO Republi-
can one Well, got into the work in a
short time. and by keeping my ewes open
ulu larry well. remeIa Der l did not even
know how TO lille petition, and wrote
| out MY nrst one and showed il TO FRYE,
and asked him If il was all right. FIVE
said: 1T is not perfect. but it is better
| than nine-tenths of the petitions, and you
wall get along al right" One OF my CON-
mittees was claims. and at the beginning
| OF the next session Blaine came TO Eugene
Hale and myself, who were the only two
| men left on the committee, and he said he
fasf - ha a,xI
make two committees of il, and he wanted
| us 10 propose il We did 50. All in that