The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-01-12
WITH A STATESMAN.
HOW CONGREssMEN PASS THEIR
HOURS BETWEEN SLEEPS.

!
work to DO-Tbe unity of the
Private secretary-OtIum Cum Dig.
| In the Chamber.
I From the Washington Star
| The work Of member Of congress. I'M
| less he happens TO a leader upon whom
| responsibilities fall. is very light this ses-
sion. There is practically no patronage
hunting TO be done. the republicans hav-
| ing the wrong sort of an administration
| 10 deal with. and the democrats having
/ got about all they have to hope for in
/ the way Of appointments from Mr.. Cleve-
land. With the disagreeable task OF Office
| hunting out of the way there is compare
| lively little Of real troublesome work t1at
a members clerk may not relieve him on,
/ These clerks are great Institutions, and
/ the man who comes to congress nov for
/ the first time cannot appreciate what a
hard time his predecessor had before
/ clerks were allowed. The manual labor
of writing a large number Of letters each
day and Of looking up information for
/ speeches is now escaped.
The average member of the House has
ample time to think over his own affairs,
or to study and prepare himself for a ca
reer or to devote 10 theater-going and
!
| capitol much before Y o'clock unless he
| happens to have been assigned to one Of
/ the few working committees, and he does
| not always have to go to the capitol az
/ all The present peculiar conditions make
/ IL so that he does not have TO work hard
/ unless he is ambitious, and even the most
ambitious may be discouraged of any ef-
! fort to crafty their desire of eminence
l through work. What time the member
| gets up i'm the morning depends upon what
! time he goes to bed. and that may depend
] ms n
| what sort of a man he Is. The average
| man breakfasts about 8 o'clock Half an
| hour before that his morning mail is
1t will consist of maybe half a dozen
! newspapers, lot of pamphlets, tracts,
| and advertisements and from ten to twen-
! ty-five letters. All the newspapers ex-
! cept the local paer of his own home so
| into the waste basket promptly. These
are followed by the pamphlets and adj
vertisements, and finally by some of the
/ letters. Most of the latter have to be an
swcred. Some of them require something
! to be looked up at the department or
! elsewhere and involve work. before they
| can be answered. Generally the reply
| can be made at once in a line. Before
clerks We're allowed this letter writing
| involved very trying labor for the men,
| Der. Now the stenOgrapher is called in.
| Those letters which can be answered on
| hand are first disposed Of. Brief replies,
! most of them in the same stereotyped
/ form. are dictated. The clerk is then in
structed to look up what is required by
cording to the result of his research or
| inquiries. The member then reads his
home paper and looks over the principal
| features of one of the Washington pa
| pers cuts out anything about himself,
| glances al the stock market reports, reads
the headlines of the foreign news, reads
! speculatons concerning congress and pol
tiles. and then sets out for the day. II
| he has a committee meeting at the cap
itol all this morning work will be short
| ened, and much of it postponed until la
ter in the day. If the meeting is called
for 10 O'Clock, the usual hour. he will
manage to be on hand by 1920 or II. II
| there is no meeting of this sort demand
ing his attention, the hour of his arriv-
al at the capitol is regulated largely by
his fondness for being seen in his seat, or
for mingling in the gossip of the ante
| session assemblage. He is likely to APP
pear on the floor of the House any time
| between 11:15 and u.
Whatever time he has to spare between
his arrival and the hour of prayer is de-
voted to gossip with his colleagues. Near
| the elevator, by the basement entrance
principally used, is the House postoffice.
| Here the member stops on his way to the
hall of the House and gets his second
| morning mail. He may get from two to
a half-dozen letters These he usually
reads during the session of the House;
| if he did not have a clerk he would have
| to answer them as he read them; but,
as it now is a note on the back will re-
mind him of their contents and he puts
them away until he can get hold of his
| stenographer Some members do not have
any of their mail delivered at their lodg
ings, but get it all at the postoffice on
their arrival at the capitol, and read it
during the session. Some also postpone
reading their newspapers until the House
If the member has any bills he has
been asked to introduce or which he has
had his stenographer prepare for him,
he hands them to one of the clerks at the
desk or puts them in one of the receipt
cles designed for bills at some time dur
ing the day. If he has a bill or resolution
he wants unanimous consent to have con-
sidered during the morning hour, he en-
deavors to see the speaker before the
House meets, to arrange for recognition,
and if he does not succeed in this takes
his place in the semi-circular space in
front of the speakers desk Immediately
after prayer, and, with bill held in the
air awaits the speakers recognition,
meanwhile making frantic efforts to catch
that evasive orb, the speakers eye. When
the recognition has been arranged before
hand he has but to stand in his place on
the floor and address the speaker. Dur
ing the session. after the morning hour,
the member seldom pays any attention to
the regular proceedings unless they per-
sonally interest him.
His time is then demanded between
reading letters or the newspapers, looking
over the Record, discussing some question
or exchanging gossip and stories with
some of his colleagues at his seat. in the
cloak room, or in the speakers lobby; re-
ceiving visions in the Hobbies, going to
lunch. and making an occasional visit to
the other wing of the capitol to see his
senator. If he is easily entertained, and is
not given to talking, he may lean back in
his chair most of the day, with his hands
folded, and listen in an distracted, mat
tentive sort of way to what is going on
about him, without participating in it or
fully realizing what it is. Sometimes
seized with fit of industry or with the
view of having his evening Free he may
retire to the speakers lobby or to a COM
mittee room with his clerk and finish off
his correspondence. An occasional trip to
the restaurant may relieve the monotony,
or he may saunter through the corridors
seeing the crowd and being seen, for he
may sit for a while with a visitor in one
of the galleries Usually as much time is
occupied in going to the corridors in re
Spouse to cards as in any other way. 1t
is seldom that he pays any attention to
the business of the House, except on some
special occasion or when he has a direct
interest in what is up.
After adjournment he either gets anoth-
err mail at the postoffice or il is delivered
at his lodgings, and this again demands
his attention. All told, he may have
dozen letters during the day. or he may
have fifteen. The lighter mail of the af-
ternoon he may dispose of before dinner
or he may let it lie over until morning. At
ter dinner it is call, the theater visitors.
I in hn I'll 4I,1