The Washington times., 1894-07-19
CLOAK ROOM AND GALLERY.

speech on one of the bills called up by the
Military Committee yesterday, and as he be-
came more and more excited, fairly rent the
air with his shouts. He advanced up and
down the aisle, gesticulated. and in general
raised hullabaloo. Finally Mr.. Williams. Of
Illinois, who is one of the quiet men in the
House, rose from one of the back seats. "Mr.
| Speaker" he said, II must ask the gentle
| man from California not to talk so loud. He
is making 80 much noise hat we cannot hear
/ what he says" at which the gallery OF the
House broke into laughter, Mr.. Bowers, good
naturedly joining with the rest.
Massachusetts, is such state for reforms
that some OF the old-time Democrats up in
the old Bay state have to keep their eyes and
| ears open to be sure that they are voting ac-
| cording to their party platform on local is
| sues" said Democratic Congressman from
that state yesterday. "Not long ago We had the
prohibition question up, and in one OF the
| towns in the eastern part OF the state not long
| ago was standing by the voting booth when
an old-stager came up to me and stood look
| ing at me In very inquiring way. 1suppose
| he knew was prominent in Democratic cir
| cles, for after some further hesitation he came
up and handed me u full anti-prohibition vote
and said, Say, mister, can you tell me
whether this is the regular Democratic ticket
| for this occasion l couldn't t help laughing,
for I must say there are plenty OF Democrats
| in Congress who have about as poor an idea
of Democratic principles on the tariff and
| other matters as their Massachusetts voter.
We shall have inquiries before long, i'm
| agine, whether vote for the German tariff
bill is the regular Democratic vote for this
occasion l hope to be able to tell some Of
them that 1t is not"
Rarely has bill travelled so quickly
through Congress as the joint resolution ap-
propriatng $1,000 for the striking of and dis
| tribution OF several thousand medals for the
New York, New Jersey, and Maryland voiun-
teers who enlisted for thirty days to repel
the attempted Confederate invasion of the
North which eliminated In the battle OF
| Gettysburg. 1t was only reported Tuesday,
and yesterday having been allotted to the
Committee on Military Affairs by tho rules
committee, it was taken up Immediately and
passed, within twenty-four hours after it had
been reported.
Representative Caruth. .ofKentucky received
a letter from a rural farmer in the Blue Grass
state that amused him not a little. The cor
respondent was evidently not man. Of means
for his epstle, which was quite extended was
written on toilet paper. Mr.. Caruth did not
explain what the letter was about, but from
the apparent thrift of the writer, he would
prove valuable man to the government ser
vice and ought to get very important Office
at once.
Speaker Crisp occupied the chair yesterday
, after considerable absence and was warmly
greeted by bis colleagues. During the course
OF the day Messrs Dockery. Lacey, and Clark
occupied the chair the latter being greeted
with loud applause from all sides Of the
chamber when he mounted the rostrum.
i q a a
says he considers day in which he doesn't
read book as a day of pleasure and profit
lost; and he is often to be found in the Con-
gressional Library for short fifteen minutes
read when there is dull debate on in the
Senate He is also greut reader at night,
and Is said to have a capacity for skimming
over and getting all the meat out Of u volume
in a remarkably short time.
The other day he strolled into the library,
grabbed a book on the invasion OF Washing
ton by the British in the war OF 1872, sat
| down on the nearest chair he could find and
crossed his legs for a ten minutes read. He
made the pages literally fly one after the
other, and handed the book back to the
librarian in ten minutes. This power OF con-
centration gained by keeping one idea in
view ut time. has probably done more for
his success than any other characteristic.
While sweeping up the House the other day
Of an envelope. 1t would not be fair TO tell
to whom the envelope was addressed:
The tariff bill, with other things as big,
is greatly pregnant with the fate Of Quigg.
He came to smash IL, but the luckless elf
Finds out instead that he has smashed himself
At the twentieth old soldiers reunion TO be
held at Caldwell, Ohio from the 18th to the
18th of August Senator PETER. of Kansas,
will deliver an address, together with several
other celebrities The boys in blue wanted to
get Dan" Voorhees,, of Indiana. well, but
he has not yet accepted, because Of the uncer-
tainty with regard to tariff legislation.
Senator PETER entered the war as a private
and was later promoted to be second lieuten-
ant, occupying several response BILE positions
in the engineer and quatermaster's depart
mentS.
Members of Congress were inquiring yester-
day what proof silver dollars are. Their
curiosity was excited by a resolution which
Representative Pence. Of Colorado, intro
duced, calling upon the Secretary OF the
Treasury for information as to how many
proof" silver dollars have been minted and
would be in 1894, to whom they have been
issued and whether any have been sold to
members OF Congress; asking for the recollec-
tion of employees cf the mint If the facts are
not on record.
Behind this resolution lies a story OF the
Alabama campaign. Mr.. Pence was informed
by Popuiist opponents of Col. Oates, candi-
date for Governor, that Mr. Oates and his sup
porters were claiming that the administration
was friendly to silver, and in support of their
claim were exhibiting and circulating silver
dollars bearing the date Of 1894. He thought
they might be counterfeits. it being paying
business to counterfeit silver money at the
present price of bullion, and called upon the
Director Of the Mint tc learn the facts. Mr..
Preston said that few proof silver dollars
had been struck of by the Philadelphia mint
this year. and had been sold TO Congressman.
and gave him written statement that
the mintage of 1894 was 406 silver dollars.
By his resolution Mr.. Pence expects to find
out whether these silver dollars have been is
sued to Colonel Oates for use in his guberna-
torial campaign. Under the rules it is privi-
legged resolution and if not reported from n
ii asks for information from an executive Off
Ger. He relies upon the support OF Republic
ans and silver men to pass the resolution
asking for information.
Representative Holman, Of Indiana. says
he remembered the time in the anti-bellum
days in which he began his career in Con-
gress, how most southern Congressman kept
their six-shooters in the righthand corner of
of the open shelf underneath their desks in
which books and papers were placed. The
southern and southwestern members of those
days were hot-blooded individuals who re-
garded their ''gun" as fully necessary to their
safety, made no point of concealing their wea-
pons and were occasionally very careless in