Waterbury evening Democrat., 1894-03-12
How Men Come and Go.

How Men Come and Go.
 A curious and amusing feature of the record is the perfect regularity with which the fads come and go, and how the tenn porary domination of each fad brings in an entirely new set of men, most of whom, when their pet issue has ceased to excite the public, are lost in complete obscurity. The slavery question was first, of course. and long remained the greatest exciting cause of these temporary floods. 'know Nottingham" as it was called, floated in at least 30 and possibly 40 new men, a small remnant of whom clung together and under the lead of Mir. Zollicoffer of Tennessee called themselves South Amer jeans, maintaining some show of force al most to the beginning of the war.
 About once in eight or ten years temper Ance brings in a squad of new men. Ed ucation is equally spasmodic, and as to finance and wrongs of labor we have them like the poor, always with us, but at in tervals of 12 years or so they play havoc with all old party lines, as in 1890. It is said in congress that no one man has con- centrated in his support the strength of so many fads as the late senator and present Representative Blair of New Hampshire. Education, temperance, woman suffrage and God in the constitution are his sup
  a pronounced protectionist and advanced Republican on all other issues and real ly first rate man and pleasant gentleman.
 Material For Conjecture.
 The opinion of his associates is set forth by a Democrat thus, 'We cuss him, but we love him." Ask Republican, and nine times out of ten he will say, "Blair isn't a crank, of course, he is too intelligent for that, butt and there he hesitates for words to finish the sentence His biogra- phy, or autobiography, rather, ill The Con- gressional Directory gives pretty good hint as to his mental make up, and into it he has worked a short but ingenious de fense of his record on the Chinese question There are, as I said before, 131 men in this house and 23 in this senate who nev- CT were in congress before, making 154 entirely new men, and of these "A were never In any legislative body whatever. Here is material for conjecture indeed. Let us see if we can deduce from the les sons or the past any guide as to how many and which ones of these 154 are to remain as permanent statesmen. And speaking Of The Congressional Directory, as the sketch is supposed to be written by the member himself, they furnish to distant readers who cannot look at the men while at tnelr work some pretty good hints as to their character.
 The longest autobiography is that of General and Senator John McAuley Palm CT, who was never in congress before. It consists of s9 closely printed lines, and yet Is not an egotistic production, for General Palmer has held more different positions, large and small, than any oth- CT man in congress. The shortest biogra- phy-four hnes--is that of Hon. Thomas F. Magner of Brooklyn, who had held one small office before being elected to the F1fty-second congress. The tallest man in the house, Berry of Kentucky, has almost the shortest sketch of himself, as he does not even tell us his age.
 It Is amusing to notice how careful many of the members are to point out their lack of early advantages and the Mct that they never were candidates for ofhce, but that it was forced upon them. The future Macaulay might also find in ehia direetory some very potent hints as