The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1897-06-07
A DESPERATE SENATOR
Mr.. Cullom's Successful Game
Of Bluff.
PRESSURE OF THE OFFICE SEEKERS
A New star In the House-Congressman
Lewis Meteoric Secretary of the
Navy Long ss a singer.and Poet-Gos.
sip From the Capitol.

sip From the Capitol.
WASHINGTON. June i Special Some
of the office seeking methods employed at
this capital are pathetically comic or com.
ically pathetic. as you choose Imagine an
old, an eminent senator of the United
States going 60 one of the departments
and talking about resigning and going
home TO his constituents unless he could
get an appointment worth 5000 year
That is what the senior senator from Hi
nois, Mr.. Cullom, did a short time ago
Mr.. Cullom had been TO the White House
almost daily for three months He had
religiously visited the heads Of depart.
ments. He had pulled and coaxed till he
was tired But the results had been almost
nothing at all. He could not Gland" any.
thing So one day he became desperate
He started out from home determined that
he would have something from the admin
istration before shutdown or know the
reason why. He went over to the war de
partment with one of his followers and
saw the secretary.
The Bluff Worked.
General Alger," said the desperate
senator, "there is "a vacant messengership
here and want it. If l can't get little
| thing like a messengersbip in one of the
departments, may as well resign my seat
in the senate ard go home. I'll do 1t, too
blamed If don't"
The senator talked as II he meant 1t,
! and Secretary Alger became alarmed.
Tut, tut, senator. he exclaimed sooth-
ingly, that will never do. You mustn't
talk that way. Well see what we can do 4"
so the secretary tapped his bell and
asked 10 see q certain subordinate, and
when that official appeared the secretary
told him TO make out the papers for Sem
ator Cullom's man. The old senator
thanked General Alger and walked out of
the department. with a smile on his face.
"You didn't really mean that you would
resign, did your" his friend asked him as
they walked down the steps.
Resignf" exclaimed Cullom. "Say,
do you think / have lost my senses? OF
course | wouldn't rests n. But / wanted
that appointment, and l had to make
bluff for it, -
There is, as usual, great deal of COM
plant among the senators and representa-
tivos because the president doesn't make
his appointments more rapidly. They have
tried in every way they can think of to ex-
podite matters. But the president is inn
movable. AS have announced in these dis
patches, before Mr.. Mckinley came to
Washington, he had made up his mind
that he was going very slow in the office
filing business till after the tariff bill was
passed. and he has held resolutely to his
determination There is "a difference of
opinion as to whether holding up the offices
does any good. Some think the president
is right 10 keep his capital in hand as long
as Ee can. Others think that the slower
he goes the more pressure there is and the
more discomfort.
Dodging the Office Seekers.
know Il senator whose constituents are
still SO hot after him about offices that he
actually goes into hiding almost every day
20 get away from them. During the fore.
noon he locks himself up i'm his inner com
mittee room, and the messenger at the
door is instructed to say that he is not
there Watching a chance TO skip to the
senate chamber, he snuggles down into his
seat and protects himself behind the rule
that cards are not to be sent to senators
till after clock. unless by their direction
Sharp at 2 the senator HES himself by
passageways which are not available to
the public TO the senate cafe, or "refecto-
ry," ms the dignified senate insists upon
calling il, and there he is safe again, for
none but senators and representatives are
permitted within those sacred precincts.
Luncheon over he goes to the senate cloak
rooms for n smoke, and from behind a
screen observes the proceedings on the
floor In this way he dodres through the
afternoon, and at night is never to be
found at his home. It's a dogs sort of
A,, I,
worn out and desperate after three months
of office seeking pressure
There Is new star in the house. He
is James Hamilton Lewis of Washington.
The newspaper men have dubbed him
Hamlet" Lewis because he looks like the
distressed Dane. He attires himself very
much after the fashion of Piccadilly
dude. He wears long coats, spats, the
highest of collars, gorgeous neckties, and
his whiskers and hair are something fear.
full and wonderful to behold But with all
these eccentricities James Hamilton Lewis
has made hit. He Is looked upon as
one of the brightest men on the Demo.
cratic side He can talk like fire engine
trying to put out fire in the stockyards
district. and he has wit and solid sense
He has given Tom Reed some hard nuts to
crack in the line of parliamentary law
and when he addresses the speaker now
every one stops to listen. -for it is well un
derstood there is fun ahead
A skyrocket Career,
James Hamilton Lewis has had me-
teoric career Three or four years ago he
was an unknown, struggling lawyer and
, newspaper man out on the slope. Then he
got hold of a desperate case involving val.
liable lands. No one thought IL could be
won--no one but James Hamilton Lewis
He stuck to it in the local courts, took IL
to the supreme bench, argued 70 himself,
won, pocketed a $40 600 fee, and at one
leap became one Of the most successful
lawyers in the far west From that day
to this he has had all he could do, and is
fast becoming rich Three months ago no
came to congress. and through nerve and
audacity has stepped 10 high place In the
house
Secretary Long appears to enjoy his
work i'm the navy department. Visitors
occasionally catch him humming an air at
his desk, and IL is usually something about
Harvard college The secretary was OF