The Washington times., 1894-12-21
CLOAkROON AND GALLERY.

An accidental omission of a few words rom
the title Of a bill introduced yesterday by
Representative Richardson gave an oppor-
tunIty for a number OF queries among those
not possessed OF great reverence for the head
Of The nation. The I'LL, which proposes the
purchase Of a site f7r Presidential mansion,
was by error labeled, "a bill TO purchase a
site for the President This carried numer-
Gus inqueries as 10 whether the site proposed
was a burial site, gun site, a hiud-site or a
foresight.
This is not as funny a mistake as was
made in our legislature on an occasion which
l we'll remember" said Commissioner Mil
ler.who claimed TO note the error lone of our
legislators who wanted to prohibit the owners
OF swine from permitting their stock to run ar
large. labeled his measure, "A bill TO prevent
the owners OF hogs from running at large.
The stenographers of the House got down
ana bumped themselves when Mr. johnson,
OF Indiana. made his speech on the currency
bill. Mr.. Johnson is the terror of the stenog
raphers. One would not think, to lis en- cas-
ually, that he is going at ch a brrakneck
speed, but he has a way OF running his words
LO1tllbE VIII Il sort OF SllOll8 movement.
which makes the whole sentence a steady
wave of sound with scarcely break between
the words. The result is that when he talks
! the stenographers want TO take of thei- coats
/ John McElhone. of blessed memory, who was
/ for many generations of statesmen the head
OF the stenographic corps OF the House. used
/ to say: IF you want to realize how fast
words come in speechmaking Just take your
! pencil and try to make dot for every word. -
| ii is an interesting experiment, but one on
! which the experienced will fail every time if
he attempts it when Mr.. Johnson is talking.
| Representative Walkers quaint and vigor-
( Gus way OF putting things always commands
/ the closest attention when he gets on his feet
| in the House. Here are some gems from his
currency speech, which has just made its ap-
| pearance in the Congress onal Record:
Men are now about the same as they were
a hundred years ago. They may be more
| honest under an electric light, but not on a
! dark road
Everybody does business on the doctrine
of chances The man riding in carriage is
not as safe as a man lying fiat on his back;
yet meE ride.
1.-The immensity Of the financial system can
hardly be realized. and the Secretary OF the
! Treasury and Comptroller have no one to
counsel with. No man who runs the business
/ of that position four years and does not die
/ has done his duty.
| The rapidly disappearing gold balance of
| the Treasury reminds the law makers of the
/ Capitol of well worn but extremely apropos
/ story of Davy Crockett and the coonskin.
'Davy," said somebody who was telling
story, - ept a store, dispensing among other
necessities of life, rum. As currency was
! scarce coOns ins were accepted at a fixed
value. One day customer coming in paid
/ for a quantity of rum with a coonskin. which
/ Crockett carelessly threw under the counter.
/ One Cf crowd of loaters about the store. see
I ing the edge of it protruding through a crack,
/ fshed it out and used it over again for
another purchase OF rum. The crowd caught
] on. TO use an expression of to-day, and that
/ coonskin was used over and over again until
/ il was nearly worn out and the barrel was
! empty. That's the way the New York bankers
seem to be working Mr.. Carlisle and the
/ Treasury now. They buy the bonds which
/ the government issues to get gold with, make
! their millions on the transaction. and then
! proceed TO pull the gold out of the Treasury
and ge. ready TO use it over again."
The attention of the economists of the Ap-
preparation Committee OF the House is being
/ called TO a unique exempliIiearion of economy
! which a newly hedged statesman of Tennes-
! see has created. One, Edward Dudley Dun
can, elected 10 the Tennessee le gislature who
/ lives some 800 miles from Nashville, an
nounces that he is going 10 walk ali the way
! from his home to Nashville. and will arrive
| there in time for the meeting of the legisla-
! ture. He has returned the passes which the
railroads sent him and will set an example
which he hopes will prove contagious in
| Congress