Arizona republican., 1899-01-01
THE WITTY MIR. CHOATE.
He Has a Keen Humor and Would
 Grace the Court of St James.

There are many men who do not like Mir. Joseph H. Choate, who is said to be President McKinleys personal choice for ambassador to the court of St. James to succeed MT. Hay. But they are in the minority They are, for the most part. distinguished personages in business and politics who have felt the sting of his sarcasm and the lash of his ridicule. MT. Choate can say more mean things about a man on the opposite side-and say them in a per fectly good natured way-than any man who ever achieved a reputation for oratory. He says them so as to de- light his auditors and set his victims Writhing He hits at big men in finance and big men in politics alike.
 Who, will forget his adaptation of Mother Goose in the great Van Wyck- Tracy-Lcw campaign of 1897 at Carne- gie hall? MT. Choate took the stump for Low. The republican machine was determined on but one thing-that Low should not be elected-and was aiding Van Wyck, MT Croker's candidate, in every way. Pausing in his description of the alliance between the two great political parties, MT. Choate quoted:
 Tom Platt
 Could eat no fat,
 Croker could eat no lean,
 And so between them both,
 l quoth,
 They licked the platter clean
 "Uproarious applause lasting several minutes" said the newspaper reports the next morning.
 Mir ChOate's wit has sometimes been too fine for the memory of his audi tors. During the last campaign he said many bitter things about Richard Gro ker in connection with Tammany's re- fusal to Tenoplinate Judge Daily. MT. Croker retorted by saying that MT. Choate was the attorney for trusts and corporations and rich men, and unlike his illustriOus kinsman, Rufus Choate, he had Tever taken a case from a poor man. MT. Choate's retort the next time he made 3. speech was delicious. It was again in Carnegie hall. He dis avowed the charge of indifference to poor clients MT. CrOker had brought against him, and said
 If MT CrOker will let hls mind go back few years he will doubtless re- cali when l took Q case for a client who was. on his own sworn testimony, a poor man"
 Alas for the memory of New York audiencesi Those present thought MT CnOaJ0 was seriously de1endlnS nlm- self, and was alluding to his taking the case of Laidlaw against Russell Sage. He was, as a matter of fact, speaking of the time, in 1890. when he acted as counsel for Richard CrOker before the Fassett committee, at which time Mr. Choate had sworn that a few years be- fore he was a poor man. In eight short years every ybody in a great audi ence of 5000 persons had forgotten the Fassett committee, and Mir Choate privately expressed regret that ke had not brought his diagram along.
 Speak louder, MT Sage" said MT. Choate to the aged financier when he had him on the stand in the LaidlaW suit. Speak as loud as if you were buying 1000 shares of Missouri, Kan sas & Texas on the stock exchange
 MT. Choate or that occasion took MT. Sage back to his boyhood days, when he traded jackknives and various knickknacbs.
 Were you as clever, MT. Sage" asked Mr. Choate, fin trading buttons as you are now reputed to be in trad ing railroads?"
 MT. Choate has made much more than a million dollars at the practice of law. He has won some of the most