The Worthington advance., 1899-01-05
CLO b OOM GOSSIP. i
Envious Representatives Are After
Tom Reeds Scalp.
Lively Times I'm the Senate-how sen.
ator Brown Learned to shoot
The Famous Hernd0n
House C0terie. #
Especial Washington Letter

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The national house of representatives
is already in ferment. The statesmen
are laying all sorts of plans for the fu.
ture, and one of the most important il
the plan to down Tom Reed.
OF course, in the house of representa-
tives there are 356 statesmen, each pos
>sessed of individual ambition. Every
one OF them can see innumerable CO.
gent reasons why he should some day
become president; and every one Of
them wonders why the people cannot
see it, too.
Well, Tom Reed is in the way of all
OF these men; that is, of his own party.
he bestrides the house like a huge
colossus; and nearly all of the others
1ear him. Besides, he is natural lead
er, and even the most dissatisfied and
ambitious of them will freely admit
that fact. Nevertheless, he is a cold
blooded and almost brutal leader-that
ls' in their opinion, because he says
mo" so often, and so emphatically.
During the recent political campaign
Tom Reed sulked in his tent. He did
not 60 forth to make speeches, to help
his colleagues to reelection. He con-
tented himself with making his calling
and election sure, and listened not unto
the callings of those who desired and
needed his aid. For this, principally,
they are sore and disgruntlel. They
don't like Tom Reed.
In a cloak room this afternoon the
anti-Reed men were discussing the sit
uation. They concluded that they
must tirst unite upon some strong man
In place OF Reed; and then proceed tc
make their combinations, having in
view the proper geographical distribu
r1on OF the other offices-the positions
OF neutrality-suspicious., doorkeeper,
postmaster and chaplain, with the SUBJ
ordinate Offices under those officials.
Thus the plotting is begun. From day
to day the plot will thicken. Meantime,
during the short session of the house,
1t is presumed that there will be hur-
ly-burly time, and that Reed will add to
his stock of enemies.
The senate is becoming more and
more noisy every day. OF this, in the
language of somebody in one of Gilbert
and Sullivan's operas, there is:
No possible doubt,
No possible doubt,
No possible doubt whatever.
More than dozen times day the
presiding officer has to appeal for or
der. More than dozen times Mr..
Teller or some one else calls attention
to the very audible conversation, and
only too frequently a senator has to
pause in his remarks until the buzzing
which makes the senate sound like a
sawmill is allowed to cease. The old
fashioned dignity of the serate-the
time when every man listened or sat
quietly in his seat - seems to have
passed away. Difhdence has given
place to Indifference, and one senator
talks to the chair while 80 senators
gossip with each other,
Thomas Jefferson had different ideas
about these things when he wrote his
manual. mo one," said he, in the
guilelessness of his simple mind, 'is to
disturb another in his speech by hiss
ing, coughing, speaking or whispering
to any other" He had a number OF
other things which he did not think it
right to do, notably walking around,
reading papers, or writing. He thought
bless his dear old soul-that a man
who did not have the attention of his
colleagues ought to sit down, ''for," he
says, ''it scarcely ever happens that
they are guilty of illmanners without
sufficient reason, or inattention to a
member who says anything worth
hearing"
But, of course, Thomas Jefferson is
dead and gone, and in the rush and hur-
ry of this fin de steele period, why