The weekly Thibodaux sentinel and journal of the 8th Senatorial District. [volume] (Thibodaux, Lna. [i.e. La.]) 1875-1898, 1893-03-18
OBJECT TO INTERVIEWS.
Some Statesmen 10 Not Like to
Talk to Reporters
Others Tell All They Know. Which,, Some
times, Is Very Little-Our Correspon-
dents Experience with Gen.
sherman.
Especial Washington letter.

Especial Washington Letter.1
The duty of interviewing public men
in the national capital is agreeable or
disagreeable according to the sweet
ness or acidity of the stomachs of the
statesmen.
OF all men in public life I think Sem
ator Sawyer, of Wisconsin, is the east
est and best man to interview. He is a
very kind-hearted gentleman who has
seen much of this world and sounded
the gamut of experience from perjury
to princely wealth. He is well IN
formed upon all affairs, legislative, ex-
ecutive, political and financial. Out of
the abundance of his knowledge he
c%heerfully gives information in a most
entertaining name to newspaper men
whom he knows and in whom he has
confidence.
Gen. Sherman when residing in
Washington was, of course, not only
the chief military officer of his age, but
occupied a commanding position in So
cial life. His sayings and doings were
constantly chronicled in the newspa-
pers, and the old warrior dislikcd moth
ing so much as newspaper notoriety.
Moreover, he sincerely disliked newspa-
per men as a class. Upon one occasion
when the New York Sun had reported
that Gen. Sherman had joined the Ro-
man Catholic church, | took the clip
ping from the paper and. calling upon
the general at his residence, sought an
interview. He received me kindly and
affably in his parlor, and chatted very
freely for a few moments on current
events, but when showed the newspa-
paper clipping and asked him if its
statement was true the old man rose
from his seat in a towering rage,
walked to the door leading into the
hall and, pointing to it with his index
finger, said: THAT is none of your
newspapers business. 1t is my bust
ness if | want to join the Catholic
church. 1t is my business if ] do not
want to join the Catholic church. You
have no business to interview me on
the subject, and | will not submit to an
interview. Your New York Sun article
is a damned lie"
The old man had given me the infor-
h1dUlOu WLICu L ueSlISu. IC tilu tlAoU
the assertion concerning himself was
false. Next morning the newspaper
which / represented contained an ac-
count of an interview with the distin-
guished hero, in which it vas stated
that he received the reporter with the
utmost cordiality on account of the pa
per which he represented" and, in re-
Spouse to the reporters inquiry, Gen.
Sherman, while seated in his parlor,
had said: ''Of course 1 realize the pro-
priety of newspapers seeking informa-
ton concerning public men, and l have,
therefore, no hesitancy in assuring you
chat the published statement to which
you aIlude is without foundation"
When he was a member of the United
States senate and was leading a parti-
san debate in behalf of the admission
of South Dakota to statehood, in 1885,
Senator Benjamin Harrison, of Indiana,
was an easy man to interview upon the
subject uppermost in his mind. At that
time was representing a st. Paul pa
per which circulated largely over Da-
kota territory, and it was my duty
every day to ascertain the current news
and prospective events upon hat all
absorbing topic. Day after day Senator
Harrison, in response to my card, came
from the senate chamber into the lobby
or into the marble-room and gave me
full information concerning the action
of the committee on territories, the in
f1uences which were being brought to
bear upon various senators. and all of
the detailed prospects for or against
the admission of the state of South Da-
kota to the union. He seemed to zeal
izc the Importance of everything said
and done upon the subject, and no
trained newspaper man could have die
tated the details of the work of each
day better than did Senator Benjamin
Harrison to your correspondent.
Senator Joe Blackburn, of Kentucky,
is a very easy man to interview because
he is a young man, a genial and com
p~anionable man, and knows hat the
m &C.; III;