The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1901-01-14
THAT POLITICAL LOOK.
What One May Witness Among
the Place Hunters.

What a. pitiful sight it is in the Cope
land lobby the week the legislature
meets. Then men all have the political
look, and God help the man with the
political look-it is more pathetic than
the stare of the gambler as he watches
the Whirl of the wheel when red or
black viii decide the ownership Of his
last dollar The politicians in the lobby
covered by a cultivated smile, and some
show the intense lines plainly; but to
the man who watches them day in and
day out the faces all have the same
underlying expression.
The successful politician is as much
to be pitied as the man who IS waiting
to learn If he will get an appointment
Of minor Importance to every one ex-
cept himself. The successful man has
still higher ambitions, and he knows
that he has enemies who are watching
for a. chance to get the upper hand and
he knows that he can be rated as sue
cessful for but a few years at the most.
There is not and has not been a poll
tician in the Copeland lobby for years
who carried the look of security on his
face-not since the last time Plumb
walked in and the fellows swarmed
around him-and there never viii be an
other-the mould was broken after
Plumb was made.
Every man who walks the lobby floor,
sits in the chairs and sometimes goes
to the rooms above to hold a quiet con-
ference thinks that he would be able to
manage the aIIatrS OF state. ana He OIL
en- wonders how 1t happens That ne IS
not the man who sits in the room above
and waits for the small fry to cnIte Up.
The spirit of leadership is IN them all
and they feel it, but they seem to lack
something which is essential and they
gIope for it in a way peculiar to polite
Inns. They dream of it at night and
they sometimes see it in the smoke that
curls from their cigars, but they are uE=
aide to clutch it.
The most pathetic Of the ffgn~..s n tie
lobby is the old man who wants a nlil1r
position: Just a. light one: something
that his old wound received il the war
will not interfere with; one that pays a
few dollars and, with the pension, will
help the wife save a little while keeping
the wolf from the door. You can do
this for me easily he explains to the
representative from his district, and
can come up here and stay during the
legislature while my wife and the girls
take care OF the bod-ders at home. They
VIII have to get up early and make the
fires and carry in the coal, but they can
do that tor a NOAH or so and thea
Will have enough money ahead to take 4
liliIe trip with lie cid woman back 10
the old place next summer" He is full
OF hope the first day that he sits in the
lobby and watches his friend, the repre-
sentative, circulate among the wise
looking men who take each other to one
side and whisper con6dentially, and he
is sure that his friend is fixing 1t for
him. He meets two or three other rep
resentatives who shake hands with him
and then rush of to talk to some one on
important business saying: Excuse me.
see a man have been looking for
The old man has great confidence in
his home representative whom he has
known for yearHever since he was a
bOy-and he does not doubt his ability
to influence the other members and the
speaker of the house Gradually he gets
to talking with the senator from his
district about his appointment and is
satisfied that he has got the matter set
a hearty political handshake. As the
days wear away he loses confidence in
his representative and then, when he is
assured that all the minor positions
not be appointed although the represen-
tatlve had done all in his power. the
old man begins to ask questions. He
learns that the judge Of his district has
been there and had told the senator that
the old man should not be given a posi-
ton because he had said something on
the street of the home town derogatory
to the judge in the last election. The
word had been passed to the represen-
tative that the judge wanted the old
man turned down Just to show the fell
lows that they could not oppose him and
then expect to receive favors from the
administration. The judge is a political
power in the small town The old man
WanderS around for a few DAYS and
when the appointments have all been
made and announced he bids his old
army friends farewell and takes the
night train 1OT nome. AS ne goes out
he wears the look they all do when the
fates seem to be against them The
same look that was on Senator Bakers |
face when he walked out a few days be- |
fore the old man left. It is the same pa
thetic political look but in the case of |
the old man with the cane and the |
short breath it is transferred to the wife |
and girls They do all they can to con- |
vince him that il will be all right, and |
maybe one of the girls has saved enough /
money from her school out in Jackson |
township so that the old folks can take |
the trip anyhow. But it will be talked |
over among the comrades in the post |
and the man who betrayed him will |
hear of it.
The old man may show his disappoint- |
ment more plainly and may talk more |
about ratitude, but there are others, /
younger men, who are cut just as deep
" by the wrong turn of the political /
wheel They have the advantage be-
cause they have the youth and strength |
to bear it. tt comes to them all in time; /
it is like death In that respect. Death I
is more welcome to some of them as the 1