Phoenix weekly herald., 1898-01-06
AT WASHINGTON.
The Herald's Regular Capitol City
 Correspondence.
A Fight For the Census Pie" Col. Cox and His Illinois Captain-The Mighty Fight For the House Lunch
 Room Largest Flag in
 the World.
Washington. Dec. A. 1897.


 Preparations are already under way to establish q bureau to take the twelfth census of the United States. The advocates of civil service are in favor of putting it in the classified l service, and select persons by means of an examination. The opponents of this view believe that Congress should appoint a director of the cen sus, who should have full power to choose the employees under him. Com missioner Carroll D. Wright, of the Bureau of Labor, is an advocate of the first idea, and claims that the eleventh census cost the country two million dollars more than it would had the bureau been under the con troI of the Civil Service Commission. Senator Lodge has taken issue with the Commissioner on lnis statement and in a recent speech in the Senate census bureau at one time employed over three thousand people, and it is supposed that the taking of the twelfth census will require more em- ployees than any heretofore. Con
 gressmen will undoubtedly work hard to save tEis patronage from the civil service fire. It would mean eight or ten appointments from each Congress sional district, and in the present barren condition of the official pantry this is pie worth fighting for.
 The Banking and Currency Com | mitte is composed of some pictur- esque and virile gentlemen Take Johnson, of Indiana, for instance He is tall and slim, supple as an acrobat, and when he gets under way in de bate he ca nreel off 200 words a min ute as easily as q country boy can husk corn. A stenographer gets steady work with no breathing spells when Johnson starts in on an hours speech. Another frey member is Chairman Walker, of Massachusetts. He looks like q picture of some New England jurist, although the most of his life has been spent in the shoe business. They callhim the gray eagle in his district, and in debate
 he is as brave and daring as the bird is supposed to be. Among the Demo cratic members Col Cox, of Tennes see, is prominent. In manners he is
 of the old school of gentlemen, as
 gentle as Chesterfield in his treat ment of his associates. He can draw
 a keen blade in debate, however, and
 his Republican friends admit that he is a worthy foe on the money queS
 tion. He was a Colonel in the Con- federate service, serving under For
 est, and he is today seeking the iden-
 tity of an individual who did him
 good turn during the war
 Tt was while we were along the
 TennesSe, and Grant was approach
 ing Chattanooga,' narrates the Col
 onel, that I was ordered to take my
 men, eros the river and raid Tender
 son Station for cotton that the Unit
 ed States Government had there un-
 der guard. The place was defended
 I of p
 did. our work quietly, took them by surprise, and captured everything in sight, with the loss of but one man. We were getting ready to leave when one of the captured men, a Captain, came to me and said that one of my men had robbed him of all of his per sonal belongings. including some pie lures of his family. l told him if he could point tue uIan out to me I would be glad to make him give them up. He did so, and I saw to it that the property went to the rightful own CT Some time afterward 1 fell down on my military figuring and was cap ture and carried off to prison at Cairo, Illinois. 1 was tired and hungry after arrived, and having little good money on my person 1 asked permis sion to go to a store and purchase to eat. It was granted,
  street. On the way we met an officer He looked at me closely for a mo- ment and then gruffly ordered the i men to leave, saying that he wanted l the prisoner. I tried to explain that 1 1 was hungry an tired but he would | listen to no talk, and taking the little | basket I was carrying away from me | briskly set on down the street, and | angrily I followed. He stopped at a | provision store, and, much to my sur prise, he began to buy fruit, bread, | pies and other good things. He paid ] for his purchases, and then turned and said kindly to me: "1ou don't re member the Illinois Captain you be- friended at Henderson Station. Well, l do, and I tell you he is not the man to forget q kindness Now let us go up to your quarters and have a good feed. Somehow concluded the Col 0nel, ''I never learned his name, and wish you newspaper boys would spread the story in your papers, and maybe it may meet the eye of the man who was kind to me at Cairo, way back in '64.''
 Both the Senate and the House have l restaurant where the members can get both meat and drink after services 0n the chamber floors above. Both restaurants are on the basement floor, and quite a rivalry exists between hem. For some time past the Senate -esta uranI has 1h9.:ffti | tie reputation of giving the best service, and as a re suit it has had the better trade. At present there is a great fight on to 1efeat Lewis, the keeper of the House and put another man in lis place. The committee on Public Buildings and Grounds have the bower of appointment, and the mem- )ers of this committee are being logged day and night by men who de sire the position. Some of the restau- ant keepers in the past have made a great deal of money out of the place. Everything is supplied the incumbent He has four large rooms at his dis or by the Government, and even the .oaI for the big range in the kitchen ,n the floor below comes from the Government bins All that the keep IT has to pay for is his food and help. During the session there are suppos- d to be 357 members present on the House side, with an army of em- ,Ioyees. It does not take much of a mathematician to figure out that the ob is worth several thousand dollars year.
 An object of interest has been plac- d in the large court of the Pension building. It is q Sago plant that was nee owned by Geo. Washington. It < now owned by the Botanical Gar lens. and the superintendent has ,Iaced it beside the fountain in the ourt as q proper place for it's eXhi-