The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1894-05-30
HAVE STEADY JOBS
Members Of Congress Who Have
Served Long Terms.
statesmen Who Have Spent Over Quar-
ter Of q Century in the Legis-
lative Halls of the
Nation.

While the celebration of the eighty
fourth birthday of Senator Justin S.
Morrill,, who has been aptly called the
Father of congress, - is fresh in mind,
t may be of especial interest to recall
The terms of few other men who have
hearty or quite eaualed him in the
length of their public career at Wash
ngton, says the Washington Star.
Senator Morrill,, even, cannot sur
bass the senate record of Thomas II.
Benton, the member from Missouri to
.he first congress which convened after
hat state was admitted to the union,
md who served from October 2, 1920, to
March 4, 1851. He was afterward
member of the house for two years.
senator Morrill, has been In congress,
however, for thirty-nine years, and in
The senate for twenty-seven. William
Rufus King, who was vice president
ander Franklin Pierce, served in the
tenate for twenty-nine years, bat his
,ervice was not continuous. He began
his first term in 1919 and ended his last
ln 1853. Henry B. Anthony, of Rhode
island, had he lived to see the end of
his last term. would have equaled the
record of Mr.. Morrill,. He was elected
i've times, but only served n year and
b half OF his last term. He died in
1884 Hannibal Hamlin, of Maine,
ZONES next in point of length of serv-
ce Practically he was in the senate
continuously from 1913 to 1865. Four
Fears of this time was as vice president
nnder Lincoln, when he was presiding
officer MIR. Hamlin was elected to the
upper house in 1869 again, SO that his
,ervice in that body was twenty-eight
fearS and six months, and he had been
Xix years in the house before his first
senatorial election. 1t is true he re-
signed from the senate in 1857 to be-
some governor of Maine, but he re-
turned in less than three months to his
,eat in congress.
Among the Massachusetts senator's
Charles Sumner has first place for
tength of continuous service. In March,
1851, he took his seat, and was there
when he died, in 1874; Senator sherman
has the congressional record next
best to Mr.. Morrill's Had it
aot been for the break IL his
!erm, when he was secretary of the
treasury under President Hayes, he
Eould have been in continuous service
exactly the same length of time Us the
senator from Vermont. Senator Mor-
Till. it viii be remembered, refused
cabinet position under the Hayes adj
ninistration. Mr.. Sherman has served
swenty-nine years in the senate. Mr..
Allison, of Iowa, has been in congress
Ihirty-one years, ef which time TWEEN
sy-one have been IN the upper chamber;
Dir. Allison is six years the Junior of
Senator Sherman and eighteen years
Younger than Vermont's veteran. Mr..
Harris, of Tennessee, was in con-.
fress six years before Senator Morrill,,
but his terms have not been continu-
sus, and in point of congressional ex-
Serience he stands but number ten to-
say There are two other senators
who have served continuously for more
Than twenty years. They are John
Ballard, of South Carolina. whose term
began in 1904 and ended in 1926, and n.
R. Knight, of Rhode Island, who served
dom 1921 TO 1S41.
1t is a remarkable fact that no man
.ver served thirty years in the house of
representatives. Judge Kelley, of Penn
Iylvania, was in his thirtieth year there
when he died. When Mr.. O'Neil, of
Pennsylvania, died he had served al
most Twenty-Five years. He was once
told by Mr.. Holman that he was SO
strong he would beat his record and
serve his thirty years, but he did not.
If Mr.. Holman serves out his present
serm, however, he will have beaten the
record. He has met with the house for
twenty-nine years.