The age-herald., 1898-05-10
PICTURESQUE
 JOE WHEELER
From the New York Evening Post.

generals chosen frem civil fife, Is one of the picturesque characters of the house of rep
 resentatives. He is a very small man physically, perhaps five feet and an inch or two in height and weighs no pounds. but
 he is marvel of activity. He is always on
 the go, and at a very rapid rate. lodging
 Into his committee room, then out into the corridors, talking one moment with a con-
 stituent and the next over in the supreme
 court looking after some local interest;
 then, before an ordinary man would have
 a chance to turn round, he will be back again at his seat fin the hall of representa-
 lives, busily writing letters. He does every
 thing nervously and rapidly, and his short
 speeches in the house, when he asks flor a single minute to say just one word.' have become one of the standing jokes
 among his colleagues He talks so fast
 during that one minute that no stenograph-
 CT can take him down, and then blandly
 asks permission to insert in the Record the
 rest of his speech, which the next morning
 may be found to cover twenty pages. It
 has sometimes been suggested in a jccn ar
 way by his associates, when this permits
 sion was asked for. that a space limit
 should be placed upon his volubility, but
 such things never disturb the celebrated
 cavalry leader of the confederacy-
 He is intensely earnest and tremendously
 active, and goes through the world as if he
 meant business" with whatever he under
 takes. As Illustrative of these pre-eminent
 characteristics, 1t is related that a number
 of congressman were gathered in the speak
 er's room one day just after the death Of
 Judge Holman and MT Milliken, of Maine,
 41.r the
 familiar topic of the dropping out, one af-
 ter another, of the elderly men of the
 house. Some one. noticing that Wheeler
 was sitting there, ventured to remark: Well General Wheeler Is still left with
 us "Yes." drawled out MT. Reed in his
 characteristic way, ''the Almighty could
 never find Wheeler in one place long enough to put his finger upon him.
 But Speaker Reed, notwithstanding his oft-observed inclination to crack a joke at
 General wheelers expense, entertains the highest regard, as do the members or the house generally, for the newly appointed major-general. He is generally esteemed as one of the most honorable and kind hearted of men. It is commonly said or him that more visitors are chasing after him, due probably to his very wide &C., quaintance throughout the south, than af- ter any other man in the chamber, and yet he is always courteous and attentive to an extreme degree and no one ever goes away feeling that he has been sighted or ignored by the Alabama congressman. MT. H. M Lord clerk of the committee on ways and
 means, of which General Wheeler is a prominent member relates that an elderly lady called at the committee room a few days ago and said she wanted to see some representative from New York. General Wheeler was hard at work with his cor respondence, which he dropped before MT. Lord had a chance to offer his assistance to the visitor, and, in less time than 1t takes to tell it, was darting through the corridors in search of a New York member, until he triumphantly produced MT. Sher- man, whom he had found in the Indian committed room. Mir. Lord asserts that the aged woman was an utter stranger to General Wheeler, but that this courtesy is only typical of the way he treats every body. It is said that he does more for his constituents in the way of supplying public documents, maps, and perhaps their own representatives, speeches, than almost any member of the house. He maintains an
 
 capitol, where from four to six clerks are employed at his own expense in collecting
 and addressing these valuable missives. At the time Secretary Morton shut off the free seed supply, General Wheeler's old 1 friends seemed to feel so badly about it, | and wrote so persistently for explanations, | that he Is said to have purchased lot of seeds himself and sent them out in little | packages.
 | General Wheeler's coming into congress was quite characteristic of his career there. | He was elected to the Forty-seventh con- gress from the Eighth Alabama district, or I at least received certificate of election over one William Lowe, his republican opr ponent. But the republicans were then in 1 control of the house of representatives, and unseated Wheeler. Hardly had they | done so, when Providence took hand in l the matter and made the seat again vacant l through the death of MT. Lowe. General l Wheeler was promptly re-nominated. and l that time reelected almost without opposi- l ton; he was thus permitted to serve out | in peace the term to which he claimed to | have been twice elected. His service in l the house has been conspicuous. He is one l of the strongest men on the democratic l side of the ways and means committee, and | is a free trader of the old school. He was 1 probably never more disgusted in his life | than with the southern men who came be- l fore the committee last year, asking for l protective duties of southern agricultural products, principally on cotton. He looked | up to one of the petitioners and asked if | he was not offering to sell his birthright l for mess of pottage. MT. Payne, of New York. undertook to floor the old gentleman by asking rather bluntly: What birth right? What is he selling?" But the gen. I erals reply was prompt and emphatic'
 "Free trade an essential of free institu-
 lions. and one of the natural rights of free | men,"
 l In perosnal appearance General Wheeler | is unintentionally striking He always | wears a soft black hat, which is creased in | a way peculiar to himself. He wears g | wide band of mourning crape not only about the hat, but also on his sleeve. His 1 beard is long and gray, and he Is one oi the members of the house usually pointed | in, t1a nul