Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1901-12-21


| S@@1s+--=-@@sssSS. ward manifesto.
l f.; :,: 4: g. i: 3: \:
-. - through, the details
| $iInITITmI -, are conducted with
St: SCI ;:: i ;: ;;: l.: :;'; =.
the legislators and government officials
Is required by modern public opinion in
| Washington. There is thought to be not
a single excessive drinker among all of
| the members Of both of the present
houses and among all of the higher gov
eminent officials Men still in middle
| life can remember when there were ac-
| tual drunkards among men in high place
| In Washington. Less than fifteen years
| ago a member of the lower house was to
| be seen riding about the main streets in
carriage with his legs dangling out Of
| the windows from which he had playfully
kicked the glass, and bawling at the top
| Of his lungs. Less than ten years have
passed since Washington witnessed the
| spectacle of United States Senator ris-
| ing to address the Senate While in a con-
| dition of such drunkenness that he had to
| hold on to his desk. His Inundated
wife and daughter witnessed the scene
| from one Of the galleries. A cultivated
| man by nature and training, this Senator
! talked on this occasion like any long
shoreman tipsy with mixed ale; and when
| he was on the point Of falling down
| where he stood, he was virtually carried
out of the chamber. He never address
ed the Senate again, but died the death
of a drunkard not long afterward.
! No More Carousa1s.
| Less than a quarter Of a century ago
| the sight Of pair Of legislators or gov
eminent officials Keeling arm-in-arm
through the streets of Washington evok-
| ed only indulgent smiles on the part of
those who witnessed it. Such a pair
exhibiting themselves now would stand
nationally disgraced. Carousals no long
er take place in the capitol. The last
Of these happened on the House side
about ten years ago. Huge bowls OF
| steaming punch ornamented the tables OF
most of the committee rooms. The negro
| committee room attendants kept replen-
J ishing the bowls all night, congressman
swayed through the corridors with flush
ed faces, their voices pitched high. Even
| those members who were abstemious by
| habit caught the infection and drank far
more than was good for them. Along to-
ward or o'clock in the morning the
| fun in the committee rooms became fast
and furious. A party Of singing black
boys were impressed from the street and
| hired to sing in one of the committee
| rooms for the delectation Of the hllarl-
Gus members. From singing they got to
engaging in buck and wing dancing, to
the music of harmonious, banjos and
guitars. and number of the legislators
actually patted for them. The sounds of
| the hot time reached the House chamber
and most of the members tlocked out to
ioin in the carnival. When the first gray
streaks of dawn began to make the gas
Illuminated glass roof look wanly yellow
members by the dozen were snoring III
their seats, and others were stretched
out in unconventional attitudes, asleep on
the sofas around the sides and back OF
| the chamber
Time was, and not so very long ago,
when the "cold tea joke was one of the
pet waggish phrases among many of the
Washington legislators. The lawmaker,
while making a speech, would pause
pick up from his desk a small pitcher
filled with whisky and water, and, with
a smile, would remark, Il crave the in
diligence of the Speaker and Of the gen
tlemen Of the House, while address my
self to this cold tea" whereupon every
body would be expected to laugh while
| the waggish statesman took a few CUPS
| of the whisky and water from the pitch
err. It is safe to say that no Senator or
| Representative would do that nowadays
for any amount of money.
Fights and Poker "Cut Out"
Personal encounters, once quite COM
mon between lawmakers, no longer &C.
cur. Less than % years ago two cablnet
| members INDUCED in a rough-and-tumple
fight over a game of cards. Big poker
| games once were common under the Dig
dome. The games went on in the COM
mittee rooms in both of the wings of the
capitol. and no pretense of keeping them
secret was made Participants in these
games would be hastily summoned to
their respective legislative chambers to
vote. and, having answered to their
names, would hustle back to the cards
with all speed. Notorious lobbyists would
be permitted, or actually invited, to SIT
into these games, and stories are SUN
told of how these lobbyists would COM
nlaisantly lose thousands and tens Of
thousands Of dollars to men whose good
will they relied upon in immediate OF
future contingencies. There are also
stories of card parties and drinking bouts
oiven by some Of these lobbyists at their
beadauarters to the legislators, the ia
vors' distributed among the guests being
hills of large denominations furtlyely