Birmingham age-herald., 1894-10-14
THE MODEL LEGISLATOR.
Sam P. Jones Speaks Forth His
 Requisite Attributes.
He Is a Man of Integrity, a Good Lawyer, Sober, Incorruptible-The Corrupt Law maker Handled Without Gloves
 Some Hard Common Sense.
LcoPYRIGHr. 1sa4.l


 and congressman. We manufacture them to order, and if we are not satis- fled with our own product we have mo- body to kick but ourselves.
 suppose the legislature of our coun- try, both national and state, will soon be in session, and they will be made up largely of men who were chosen by the primaries and elected at the polls
 A nomination is equal to an election almost universally as far as democratic candidates are concerned where demo- crats predominate; equally so with re. publican candidates and populist can- didateswhere their party predominate.
 Many men run for the legislature whose only qualification seems to be cheek and ambition. They have ambi- tion to be statesmen and brains for cobblers, the qualifications of a pig my and the cheek of a government mule. These two qualities, cheek and ambition, seem to be the winning cards.
 There is very little honor, if any, and meager pay, for the legislators of our country. Some of them make money as the boy did who said he got ten dol lars month and what he could pick up around for his salary as clerk in the store. There is now very little in it for holy ambition to feed upon and not pay enough to hire an industrious man to leave his cornfeld to take the job, but there is kind of glory in it to the lit tie fellow. He reminds me of a small dog in high oats, he has to jump high to see the territory around him.
 We have all kinds of men in the leg islature, sober men and drunken men, decent men and indecent men, fools and philosophers, legislators from the towns and legislators from the country. As the old woman said, the average legislator in this country is a mixtry. It is told upon one of our Georgia leg islators that while serving his sentence in the legislature of Georgia, good old honest fellow who was from the country, he met agentleman from New York in the lobby of the Kimball. The New Yorker was calling him the Hon. orable MT. so and so and talking with him about the south, directly he said to the Honorable Mr. Blank: "What county are you from?" He replied: "I am from Blank county" "Well sir," he said, what kind of soil have you in that county?" Richest kind of land," replied the lawmaker. "What sort of water?" Finest kind of lime. stone," replied the legislator. "How are your public s.schools?" the New Yorker asked. 'We have the biggest sort of schools, sir" v'Whatis the lati- tude of your county, sir?" ''I am not certain, sir," said the Georgia law maker, ''but I think they are mostly Baptist up my way" Shades of Web ster, Clay and Calhoun
 But in almost every legislature there are thoughtful, sensible men who give direction to legislation and in meas ure control the ignorant crowd, and these men of brains are responsible largely for the legislation whether it be in the interest of law and order, peace and right, or whether it be in the interest of whisky and all other forms of hurtful influence.
 j The model legislator is sober man; he does not drink drop, and thus he is removed from bad influences; he is not the recipient of jugs and demijohns and boxes of cigars sent to his roon by leading saloonkeepers during the ses- sion of the legislature.
 A legislator who accepts demijohns and other presents from the whisky shops of the town is bought with jug and delivers the goods whenever the demand is made.
 The model legislator is not a gam bier; he earns his bread by the sweat of his brow and does not tolerate any leg islation that exonerates horse racing, pool selling, bucket shops, lotteries or whatsoever schemes men may put up to rob the fools of the land.
 The model legislator is incorruptible. The lobbyist monkeys with dynamite when he approaches such man, and generally the lobbyist knows who to monkey with.
 The model legislator is a man of in- tegrity. He will not swap and trade; he sticks to his convictions of right and votes in line with his principles.
 The model legislator is not a black guard or blasphemer. The little pimp who claims to be a representative of any county and peddles out his smutty jokes and indulges in his profanity around hotel Hobbies and in saloons ought to be in stripes and chained to the dirtiest negro in the chain gang of the state or county which he misrepre- sents, for there are representatives and mis-representatives just as the fellow who ordered the steak for breakfast. The waiter brought it and he tried to cut 1t. He called the waiter and said to him: 'This is no steak; it is a mis- steak"
 The model legislator consu1ts only the wisest and best men in his county and his vote is but an expression of the wish and will of that class.
 The fellow who hobnobs with the ann and oonsnlAa orau,hlors 1nuo-