The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1893-01-28
THE MADDING CROWD.
Scenes in the Corridors Of tho
National Capitol.

In the Throngs of Statesmen, Journalists,
Claimants and Visitors Human Nature
Is Pretty We'll Observation-Disclosures.
ing Reduced to a Fine Art.
Especial Correspondence
WASHINGTON, JAM 26.-In the CORR,
doris of the Capitol the scenes are char
acteristic of American life and Amer
Jean human nature. Every one seems
Ito be looking for some one to talk
Ito. About the entrances to the house and
senate crowds are congrey gated, waiting
for the statesmen to whom they have
sent their cards to come out.
There are visitors in the city, news
paper men, lobbyists, men and women
with claims. men also who want to bor-
row money. men who want employment
under the government. Some Of them
wait in vain, for statesmen, like the
popular favor which makes statesmen,
are proverbially tickle. The most mis-
erable looking person in the lot is
one who has no one to talk to. In his
breast the great American thirst for con-
versation is unquenched, and finally he
finds relief by starting up conversation
with one of the doorkeepers.
Just within the outer main door of the
house, where there is little lobby, the
buzz is loudest. This is the newspa r
corner. Here statesmen rendezvous to
tell the scribes what they know. Not
always is it that the statesman is sent
for by the journalist. Almost as often
the shoe is on the other foot A some
what elderly statesman who stands be-
fore me this moment, holding by the
ibuttonhole an inoffensive correspondent
who for half an hour has been fruitlessly
endeavoring to make his escape, serves
as convenient illustration of the itch
which public men have for reaching the
public through the press.
All along the corridor you will see the
like of this-a man with another man
pinioned against the wall, corralled in
window recess, anchored by coat but
ton and compelled to hear the tale of
woe or to unburden his mind of it's con-
tents. Here is where the able journal
istic wolf goes about seeking whom he
may devour. Here consciences are
wrecked and 'sdead' secrets revivifed
with the spirit of life by applications Of
interviewers' pumps and telegraph wires
and printers ink.
The strangest thing about this Amer
lean life of ours is the craze for COM
munication. Such thing as a secret is
next to impossible in this Capitol Every
man seems to have an uncomfortable
impulse to tell what he knows to some-
body. If he doesn't want to do it in the
corridor he gets his man to go with him
into some nook in the restaurant down
below, where, with small bottle and a
joint. tongues are loosened and ears made
patient. If had a secret I'd sooner tell
it to my maid servant than to a man who
haunts the Capitol If were secret
and didn't like the man who had me and
wanted to get away from him would
induce him to go to the Capitol and sit
i down with a newspaper correspondent
to discuss small bottle.
In this hustling, shifting, Kaleidoscope
throng there is no end of American hui
man nature There walks with stately
and measured tread senator who has
been national figure for a quarter of a
century. This Capitol is like home to
him. The next man we see is a new
statesman who has just succeeded in
getting a private pension bill passed It
is the first thing he has ever done for his
country He is full of enthusiasm and
excitement. With that bill in his hand
he is rushing at breakneck speed for the
other end Of the Capitol to have it put in
the hopper there. You can always tell
the new statesman by his eagerness and
his activity when he has anything TN
hand. But wait q year or two, and the
all prevalent listlessness of the Capitol
will have overcome him. 1t is SO with
statesmen and so with journalists.
In Washington it is good form to be
| lazy. It is new to be in hurry. Even
the lusty youth whose business it is te
| L..al big basket of letters from the house
tho mailbox of the house is huge
! clothesbaslet into which members fire
their missives with a skill acquired only
| by long practice-moves few feet with
| his burden and then gets tired.
l1ClO al - PeNl ~ VI otA diiSoCAo al
the sights. They have guidebooks in
their hands, and a professional guide with
| nickel badge of authority on his person
| leads them about. Only the women Of
| the party see or understand anything.
| The men are overcome by such magnif.
cence, so much greatness. They are
dazed, tinid. They step as if they were
afraid of putting their feet down on a
basket of eggs or forbidden ground. 1t
is hestranger woman who is clipper. self
| possessed, inquisitive. Idon't know why
this difference exists between the sexes in
this matter but there it is.
Take the young woman in the whisper
ing gallery of Statuary hall, for instance.
You know there is place at the base OF
the proscenilm column of that match
less hall where you may stand and talk
in low tone and your voice is echoed to
the ceiling and across and down to the
| base of the other end of the arch. sixtv