Mexico weekly ledger., 1899-02-02


Il have lost my right hand" Mr.. Reed
speaking Of Governor Dingley's death,
could with perfect propriety repeat the
words OF the great Confederate chieftain
student Of Human Nature.
have tried to be a student Of human
nature 1t Is necessary to a lawyer. II
comes natural to an editor. As / was
once an editor and once q lawyer | had
paid q great deal Of attention to char
scter study. Ny experience with Gov
ernor Dingley convinced me that l was
by no means an expert in that difficult
art ] do not set up any claim to being
one Of his intimates. but Think Icould
ct the last honestly count him as a
friend
In the ordinary cours Of things there
was nothing to bring us together. He
was from New England; I was from
Missouri He was an intense Repub-
hcan; / am just as intense a Democrat
he was SO when l first came to Wash
ington. while I was only AZ. He was
an old and experienced member, while
/ was a legislative tyro He was q rad
ical ~protectionist, while / was an out
and ont free trader. So in the Fifty
third congress. studying him at long
range my opinion was that he was an
able, learned. industrious honest, but
cold and narrow man.
Long before he died my opinion Of
him was greatly modified through the
accident Of having the same throat
doctor.
When l came TO the Fifty-hfth con
gress. after two years Of private life.
my vocal apparatus was in bad shape.
and ! hunted up Q specialist In his
Office I met Governor Dingley daily. He
being the older and more distinguished
man, / always gave him she right Of
way. As we had 10 remain in the wait
ing room for q few minutes after treat
ment to prevent taking cold we gradu.
ally fell into conversation.
House Committees.
Rainstorms kept us together for an
hour at q stretch on two occasiona
Once I asked him his opinion Of the
value Of service on various committees
With great patience and apparent pleas
ure he explained In detail his views.
He said there were four committees
which o~vertopped the rest-ways and
means. appropriations, foreign affairs
and judiciary. He stated the benefits
and drawbacks Of each, inclining to-
ward the ways and means as possibly
the most desirable for long service. He
said that service on the appropriations
committee forced one to become a man
Of details, while service upon the others
tended to broaden his views He made
this remark, which Is philosophical
enough to do credit to Lord Bacon:
"An members, barring a few accidents
which get into every congress, possess
surface information on all public ques-
tons When a new member begins his
first speech, / listen to him long enough
to see IL he possesses more than this
surface information If he does, I listen
to him TO the end Of that speech and
after. II he does not. I never waste J
any more time on him" Then he add
ed. 'The mar who compels the atten-
ton Of the house is the specialist who
thoroughly explores a subject and comes
to be an authority thereon"
On another occasion / told him / was
anxious to give my little boy the most
practical education possible and asked
him which he deemed more valuable
the old classical course or some Of the
newfangled elective courses. His coun-
tenance frightened up. and with the
zeal Of an advocate he pronounced un-
quahhedly In favor Of the classical
course, illustrating by divers examples,
winding up by saying; within ten
minutes after a new member begins a
speech l can tell whether he has a elias
sical education That gives one a larger
vocabulary and . more precise use Of
words than he could obtain in any other
DfuRIewfa Tarfn Viz