Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1897-12-31
WASHINGTON GOSSIP.
Day With Member of Consress-Soule of the Trial
Which Beset His Thorny Way

! ally a constituent writes TO say that he
J has invented wonderful thing ana
| that he understands that II costs about
| $40 TO get a patent; as he Is littlc
| Short" lust now, he desires his
/ member to advance the money and Sc
| cure the patent. and he will repay him
/ richly from the enormous profits he eX-
| poets TO reap. And probably next day
| n big box-eNpress charges unpald-is
unloaded mt the Nj. C.'s door and be
| comes n regular white elephant ON his
! hands. Other writer's plenty Of them,
| are gruiDblng about their post master
| and want him removed forthwith. ana
| no end of them desire books printed
! and mailed at government expense.
| Now and then man. who would per-
| haps refuse the earth as n free gift,
mentions the titles of books enough to
| nll an express car, and winds up by
| adding, "and all the other government
| publications" Besides the letters are
| bushels OF newspapers, most of them
containing articles marked for his In
| spection TO Ignore one of which might
cost him his reelection. Then there
| are baskets full of public documents,
| and pamphlets on all conceivable sub
| jects Semi-lunitics present visionary
schemes for rlghting all human wrongs,
, and persons interested in private bllis
flood him with circulars. He Is invited
| to banqucts and receptions galore;
asked to remit good sized checks for
| tickets (cnclosed) to entertainments
given for charitable purposes, which he
cannot intend: and among the sterner
stuff are scented billet-doux from fe-
| male admirers whose greatest fault Is
inenible Stiffness and few which are
practically bids for "favors" about
which the least said the better.
Usually the member hurries to the
| Capitol as early as 10 n. M, although,
as everybody knows, the session of
Congress do not begin till IL o'clock.
| If he is on some important committee,
he must attend all its sessions with
unfailing regularity, and also the ses-
sions of the sub committees to which
he Is assigned. on the way to his COM
mittee-room. to take part in discussing
some pending bill OF national conse-
quence. he Is waylaid at every step by
the opportunities of visitors. He Is
buttonholed by delegations, urging him
to use his influence toward changing
the tariff schedule, or to exert 1t
against bill believed to be damaging
to the commercial interests of the city
they represent; he is urged to favor
this measure or to oppose that. A
friend begs him to urge upon the COM
mittee on claims some personal bin;
another wants him to see the commit
tee ON military affairs and use his in
fluence on behalf of some soldier
wrongfully disgraced. Another tells a
narrowing tale of n poor woman who
has lost her place In the department
and must have 1t back right away be-
fore the wolf at the door devour her
flock. Another insists that bridge
must be built across the creek at
Podunk and demands that the member
gives the measure his personal atten-
ton. Others merely want to cajole
out Of him his views on the Cuban ques-
ton, or civil service, or the annexa-
ton of Hawaii, newspaper men way
lay him numerously for Interviews.
and the scarlet woman" with painted
cheeks and Turing eyes. presents her
card to him on one preteNt or another.
The meeting in the committee-room
lasts till high noon-when the Speaker
calls the House to order. and like the
schooi-boy with shining morning
face" he must be at his desk to an
swer roll cnll-and he has to run the
gauntlet of all the above mentioned,
and many more, to do 1t. Then the
legislative mill begins its slow and
tedious grinding. In ordere to vote in
diligently. he INST pay close attention
to all that is, going on, and understand
thoroughly every subject under dis
oussion. But he finds it most difficult
to remain in his seat five consecutive
minutes, SO many cards come In with
urgent calls from people outside. II
tired nature demands a luncheon and
he goes to the Congressional restaurant
to get II, he is seized upon en- route,
like Il disabled crab, and flguratively
devoured by his hungry fellows. Those
with most pressing cases insist upon
lunching with him--at his expense,
sometimes: and ii claims or appoint
| ments are pending, upon which action
| must be taken at once, they catch
cable car after hasty meal and HE to
| the treasury or some other department
Where perhaps they wait an hour or
more before the secretary can be seen.
| and then return no wiser than they
went. And at every step, even in the
| department corridors, men and women
! spring up everywhere to besiege the
| devoted member. The minute he sets
foot in the Capitol, his troubles are
augmented thousand fold, and to get
| away from the button holers looks like
a physical impossibility. Like n pebble
| dropped In brook. he finds himself
| the center of an widening circle
| and all with axes of some sort to grind.
| Suddenly there comes relief. page
of the House scampers through the
| corridor shouting Yeas and nsys.''
! The cabalistic call is imperative and
the Congressman breaks away. But
his harassed and bewildered brain has
only a vague idea of what is going on
in the legislative chamber: so he looks
to the leaders Of his party to sec how
they are going to vote and adds his
i
re-enacted outside when Congress nd
joui1ls; yet, however worried, he must
preserve the semblance of good humor
oven polite cordlality toward those
who have no earthly claim upon him
but persist In making him the grind
stone upon which to sharpen their in
dividual axes. At last he reaches his
private apartment and seats himself
to SO over another accumulation OF mall
to study gressional records and
coming legislation. or maybe to prepare
the coming speech which Is to make
or break. him, politically, for life. His
secretary attends him, il he can afford
the luxury, and they go through lot
Of business in the course of two or three
hours. Al eight or nine o'clock he gets
into his claw hammer coat and goes 10
dine; and then come social duties
which must by no means he ignored II
he has ambitions of his own. His en-
/ fragments are usually several deep o.
an evening, and If he secs bed by two
m. he Is lucky man. Even then the
sweet restorer" is hard To WOO Toe
many cares and worries have settled OF
his mind-to say nothing of late coffee
and maybe something stronger on his
stomach.--and that speech, like Mac
beth's conscience, doth murder sleep
This Is only a faint portrayal OF the
daily walk and conversation Of the en-.
We'd member Of Congress Senator
Dawes once said: "The pressure upor
Senators and Representatives. for as.
slstance in recurring public Offices i'm.
posed n work that Is never finished anC
involves them IN warfare from whici
/ there ia no dfeghprpa rbptr finn, a.