The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-03-12


death when IN conversation with a
friend: 1.-The requests, demands aud
opportunities of my people have accum-
ulated about me until am at my wits
end. For the little good that can ac-
complish there IS so much that neither |
nor any one else can do to aid these poor
people that think sometimes I'd rather
be farm lad OF a printer boy again
than TO be United States senator. l
cannot harden my heart to the cries OF
the distressed
The western senators and congress
men are buster men than the eastern
ones. There is not the pressure for place
from the east that there is from the west
and the demands for specific legislation
are neatly three times as great in the
west. The opening of Indian lands, re-
elimination schemes, pensions and places;
all these bear much more heavily on
western members, the senators always
getting the benefit OF the greater share.
Many of the senators are obliged 10
employ two or more clerks beside the
one provided for each senator by law,
lust TO attend 10 business of their con-
stituents. The mail received by a
United States senator is something to
stagger one. He is nearly always
the recipient OF two-thlrds of
the newspapers printed IN bis
state, and these papers half the time are
marked copies in which are editorials
commencing or criticizing his action or
vote on some measure. Be 1t Toundalay
or roast, Mr.. Senator knows those edito-
rials have to be answered candidly and
sguarely. The first law of public man
is to keep straight with the newspapers.
The effect of these editorial paragraphs
upon the senator's constituents is varied.
Those who take any interest IN poiIticS
are Immediately fired with zeal to ilnpart
advice, information or reprImand as the
matter NAV have touched them. These
letters civil or uncivil, it matters not,
must be answered carefully, paInotak-
ingly and automatically, for single
vote lost or won may mar or make one
political fortune. And then the other
letters. Nobody who has not had access
to the fountain of information can have
any adequate idea of the variety OF sub
jects upon which letters can be written
to United States Senator
Some of these letters are gems, cut and
uncut. Some of them might be page
from Ruskin indicted by Mr.. Spencer
himself. Others require the expert IN
the dead letter office to decipher them.
They come addressed in the most comical
fashion and it is mercy that they ever
get to their destination. They are often
without date. state or town, and I'M
signed. Those will be followed by others
complaining of no response to former
communications. and still emitting every
word that would lend to clue
of the writer or his residence
Letters on pensions are more numer-
Gus than all the others combined. Sena-
tor Perkins of Kansas has tremendous
pension correspondence. No long since
from a remote section of the state he re-
ceived a quantity written letter concern
ing a pension claim. he looked the
matter up at the expense OF some hours
of precious time, found the claim good
and dictated a lengthy reply stating The
status of the mans case fully, ana the
typewriter copy wassent to the pension
claimant. Almost sooner that one would
suppose possible came response lndlg-
nantIy denouncng the lazy habit states
men had got into of sending circulars
in answer to the requests Of their con-
stituents, where the government fur
nished stationery for that express pur-
pose. The circular was enclosed and
the senator instructed to look the matter
UP and reply in his own hand writing.
In the senate Bishop w. Perkins of
Kansas gets bv long odds the largest
mail that comes to the capitol. His
mail averages $50 letters day and often
reaches 300. OF this number probably
100 relate to pension matters alone.
n..l
pension letters than Mr. Perkins. and
that is Senator Davis of Minnesota, who
is chairman Of the co nmittee on pen
sions. Senator PETER of Kansas has
large mail, larger than almost any other
western senator, but does not begin to
compare with that of Mr.. Perkins 1t
would seem from the report Of the post
masters of the two houses that Kansas
people must be given over to. letter writ
ing, for the Kansas delegation in con
gress get more mail than any other four
states put together, and Senator Perkins
gets the bulk of it.
To take care of his mail the senate
furnishes Mr.. Perkins with one clerk and
he hires three others at his own expense.
He has also a stenographer and two
Photographs. one of these monographs
is at his residence and the other at his
down town office
When Mr.. Perkins was appointed to
the senate to fill the place made vacant
by the death of Senator Plumb, the
senate committees were all made up and
chairmanships filled, but these commit
tees were organized so as To place Mr.
Perkins upon three: Transportation Of
meat to the seaboards, patents and Dis
trict of Columbia. The last Is one of the
most important committees in the senate,
standing to the District Of Columbia III
the same relation as that occupied by the
council or board of aldermen Of other
cities. Senator Plumb was the most
valued member Of this committee. and
the appointment Of Mr.. Perkins was a
handsome recognition Of a new senator.
At home in the evening. Senator
Perkins Is attended bv his stenOgrapher
TO whom lie dictates Unit! that func
tionary is worn out. and then the sena-
tor turns himself loose On the phono-
graph. AS it can't talk back aud receives
ia Submissive silence all that Is poured
into its waXen receptacle, II Is the sena-
tor who finally secumlis this time along
about the midnigh. hour or later On
the morrow the wax cylinders 81 Tic
pbonograpi are sent to the down town
Office aud put in the pboncgrapii there
The typewriter attaches the sudipboue
70 her ears and goes TO work al getting
out the obnoxious circulars. which
most Of the senator correspondents
consider remarkably nice letters,
This Is the record OF just ore days
work ia the life Of the busy JUNIOR ssna-
tor from Kansas. ia which no account -
taken, no provision made fcr the visitors
Nxhn.e c-slrds are raIned npon his de.k al