Omaha daily bee., 1899-11-29
WRECKS ON POLITICAL REEFS
Members Of Congress Who We're Defeated al
the Last Election
SOME CONTRIBUTIONS FROM EACH HOUSE

SOME CONTRIBUTIONS FROM EACH HOUSE
Men Prominent in National LcsisIn-
tion Re1cgatcd to Private Life by
Their Desire or that of
Their Constituents.
WASHINGTON. Nov 2S.(special.) y
once in two years the political wheel ~
fortune is given rapid whirl and the fckle
divinity that shapes the ends of those wh)
are entrusted with the peoples veal exalts
new favorites and relegates to the realms Of
Eek the many who found public life dis
tasteful or Improbable, or were unable to
secure a sufficient number of ballots to out
weigh those of their rivals in the race for
office. Each new congress has brought new
faces to Washington and left many old
favorites at home, but there have beCu few
in which the changes have been 90 marked
or so fraught with public interest as the
coming one. when the rolls of the sena e
and house Of representatives are called on
the first Monday of next month seats OF
many who were looked upcu as leaders
during the last congress will be occupied
by new and in many cases unknown states
men and their voices will be heard instead
of those that once rang through the halls
in stirring eloquence or warm debate
Most notable among the absentees will
be Thomas Bracket Reed OF Maine, last
years speaker and for many years the
most conspicuous member of the house.
Mr.. Reeds retirement was voluntary. The
alluring prospects of lucrative law prac-
A.
for the excitement of political strife a-d
he made places for the advancement of two
men, one to the speakership and the other
to his seat in the house. The ex-speaker
spent twenty-five OF his sixty years in con-
gress and was thrice elected speaker: De-
cember, 1889; December, 1895, and Decem
ber 1897 He was tower of strength on
the floor of the house and in the speakers
chair. Few members cared to engage in a
debate with him AS speaker he exercised
arbitrary, almost despotic, sway. His own
rules were in effect and when he wanted
legislation put through it went through On
the other hand, when the czar did not want
legislation to go through effective means
were found to block its progress.
Lewis of Washington.
Perhaps the most interesting member of
the house. in many ways, was James Hamil-
ton Lewis of Washington Apart from his
undisputed briliancy Mr. Lewis sported &C.
centricities of hirsute and sartoriaI adorn-
ment that would have subjected a less able
man to unmerciful ridicule. AS it was the
Washington statesman came in for a goodly
share of cartooning during his first months
in congress. He was described as ''an iri-
descent dream" "a Sartorial X-ray,' who
''looked like a piano tuner, but sometimes
talked like Daniel Webster"
The first thing Lewis did after getting his
bearings and being able to locate his own
seat was to tackle Speaker Reed. The old
members held their breath, but the Wash
ingtonian came out of the encounter in good
shape and he was at once admired. From
then on he never failed to have a large and
interested audience whenever he made a
speech on the floor OF the house and by the
end of the last session he had gained the
reputation of being the wittiest and one of
the ablest men in congress. But the voters
in Washington, as Mr. Lewis himself ex
pressed it, Showed execrably bad taste at
the elections last year, yand he was left at
home. Another favorite son Of the far north
western state, William Carey JONES' also
enjoys an Involuntary respite from the cares
of politics.
Jerry Simpson, the "sockless statesman
from Medicine Lodge" was another who
found himself on the under side of the
wheel after the last election and he will de-
vote some time to agriculture and journal
ism, occupations which seemingly mix very
well in bleeding Kansas. Mr.. Simpson
was another who loved to jab rhetorical
hooks into the quivering sides of Speaker
Reed. His assaults on the Maine ironclad
did not provoke as much merriment as those
Of Mr. III
effective and caused the speaker many an
half hour. The whirl in Kan
sas also resulted in the defeat of Mason
Summers Peters, representative Of the stock
yards district of Kansas City, Kan, and
jeremiah d. Botkin, the shouting Methodist |
who, however, did very little
shouting in congress.
Walker of Massachusetts.
The venerable Joseph Henry Walker OF
who was chairman Of the
house committee on banking and curretcy
in the Fifty-ffth congress- was also left at
home Mr.. Walker enjoyed many distinc-
tons while in congress, among them that of
being the only member who ever addressed
the house in his shirt sleeves. 1t was during
the discussion of the Mckinley tariff bill
that the heat OF the debate, combined with |,
the sultriness OF the weather, made things
for the Massachusetts, states !
man, so he shed his outer rainent. In this
act he parallels former Senators Call OF
Florida and George of Mississippi. The
episode of Senator Calls shoeless feet, en-
cased in electric blue hose, looming up on
the top of his desk during the session of the
senate several years ago is well remembered
and it was no unusual thing for Senator
George to whip off one of his low cut shoes
and vigorously sharpen his penknife on its
sole
Henry U. johnson of Indiana, who let
loose so many verbal torrents on the house
last winter, will be missing next month.
Mr.. Johnson, however, retired voluntarily
ia law practice in New York City is also
said to be his ambition. But while he was
in congress he was heard on every subject
and he was an indefatigable fighter. The
only occasion on record when he was
squelched was when Mr.. Lewis OF Washing
ton, after witty speech, said that the
trouble with the republican party was TOO
much Johnson