The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1897-07-16
HEAT ATTACKS DIGNITY
And Puts It to Rout In the
Senate.
COLD AIR PUMPS OF NO AVAIL

What the Statesmen Wear When the
Weather Is Real Hot-An Sorts of Suit.
and Divers Cooling Beverages - Why
Hanna Frets.
WASHINGTON, July 12.-[Special. IA
hot day in the senate! 1t is not the de
bate, not Tillman and Chandler, or Al.
len and Hoar, the traditional enemies fol-
the purposes of public discussion only
tearing and lunging at one another with
all the fierceness of an old time tourney.
but the weather-the torrid, sizzling,
breathless weather which now and ther
settled down in this amphitheater between
the hills of the Potomac in which the ma
tional capital is built. They do everything
they can to cool off the senate chamber.
They pump in fresh air by the hundreds OF
thousands of cubic feet, passing it through
pipes in which chemical agents are sup
posed to freeze it. They have electric fans
in the clOakrooms, and the whole senate
wing is redolent of lemonade and other.
cooling drinks. We hear the pop of corks
from the nozzles of mineral water bottles.
The senate wagons drive up now and then
with fresh supply of jugs containing
choice natural waters gathered from all
parts of the world. Hundreds of dollars OF
the peoples money is spent every week fo1
these luXuries, for, when it comes to heat
counter irritants, the senate forgets to be
economical.
Food and Drink.
But the chamber doesn't cool 1t per.
sistently refuses to be anything but
bake oven in which the statesmen must
swelter and roast. They adjourn every few
minutes, singly or in pairs or triplets, tC
the clOakrooms, where the cooling bever.
ages are kept on tap. But they are hot.
Any one can see that Our senators, as
rule, live well. They dine heavily. They
stick their legs nightly under tables load,
ed with good things. A winter of this
sort of pabulun little fits them for com
batting the rigors of summer in Washing
ton.
When the real hot weather came a few
weeks ago, the senators began hunting
about for cool attire First one and then
another blossomed out in linen, crash and
white fianneis. There are some queer COM
binations in their sartorial outfit. Senator
Hawley, who is a veteran of no one knows
how many summers, was one of the first
to come attired in tow. He is great be-
lever in tOw-toW grown in his own state
of Connecticut and manufactured by
Nutmeg tailor. An expert in such things
is the senator. He goes about inspecting
the summerish things of his colleagues.
II they have genuine tow suits grown and
made in Connecticut, MIR. Hawley is con-
/ tent. He gives his approval. But all who
indulge in other fabrics are sure to be met
by an elevation Of his nose.
| 1t is an odd thing that even the heat of
Washington summer is not strong enough
| to break down senatorial dignity. There
| is tradition that senatOr-a real great
senator-must not attire himself in any
thing but solemn black. Black is hot, and
| especially so when the ia brio is wool made
up into the long coat which some senators
think senator must wear or be externally
disgraced. But a number of the upper
house statesmen cling to their winter gar
| ments through all the soaring of the mer-
curry. Cullom, Turpie, Gray, Foraker,
| Cockrell, Bate, Martin, Morgan, Lindsay,
Penrose and Fairbanks are samples of this
school. Uncomfortable enough they look
in comparison with their lightly clad col
leagues. But it is noteworthy that here
and there is senator who compromises
between heat and dignity. He sticks to
the long coat of black, but has it made up
in some very light material
Allison's Art In Dress.
Senator Allison of Iowa, who has per-
| formed prodigies of labor in pushing the
tariff bill along, mainly through keeping
| the opposition always in good humor-an
art in which he is a conspicuous adopts
one of the coolest as well as one of the
| handsomest men in the chamber. He
knows how to dress for hot weather. He
ought to, for a quarter of century has he
been here in all sorts of heat waves and
torrid visitations. Mr.. Allison puts on a
cool, thin suit of gray material a white
vest, decks it all out with pretty blue tie
and black watch guard and looks calm
and sweet
Senator Jones of Arkansas, the Demo-
cratic tariff leader, knows how to dress
for hot weather too. Three years ago he
was going through the ordeal of leader
ship, and he was not as cool looking then
as he is now. He had much more to worry
him. Mr.. Jones wears a seersucker coat
that fits him very loosely, no vest, and in
it's place white shirt several sizes too
large for him, with fine perpendicular
plaits, all putting out before in true south
ern style A rundown collar and black
string tie-your genuine southerner never
gets away from the black string tie-com-
plete this characteristic outfit.
Vest of Missouri is queer looking lit
tie figure He wears thin black coat, no
waistcoat, a big expanse of shirt front
studded with-not silver, as one might ex-
pect, but gold. He sits away down in his
chair like a plump little pigeon. If he
has a neck, you can't see it. He uses fan
most of the time. But when this little
pigeon gets on his feet and opens his
mouth there is nothing dovelike about
him. He is as sharp man in debate as
there is on the floor.
Hanna's Dagger Chances.
Mr.. Hanna, the great man from Ohio,
wears a gray suit, white vest and a
scowl. He has been fretting over the de-
lay with the tariff bill Mr.. Hanna is a
business man, in the habit of disposing of
matters in a businesslike way, and he has
been unable to see why the senate should
dawdle along. Mr.. Hanna has spent a
good deal of his time holding his chin in
his hand and glancing daggers at the older
senators, who love to talk even in 80 de-
gree weather.
Mr.. Clay of Georgia, the new senator
who has attracted so much attention
through his odd appearance, is quite fig
ure in hot weather. He wears suit of
| l1ool- thiJ, ,nator;o1 which fife him vary