The Tucson citizen., 1901-12-26
The Gossip OF
WASHINGTON.

Simmons and cheatham were rival
candidates for Congress in the same
Congressional district OF North Caro-
/ lima. There was a town in the district
which had a population. exclusively
of negroes and contained about 400
voters. II was quite necessary tor Mir
simmons to gain the good will Of these
10 -crs and he worked hard for them
He got President Cleveland 30 ap-
point negro postmaster for them, Sc
cured them public bultding. arranged
for the improvement OF the river that
skirteu the town. and in other ways
sought TO secure their favor. even adj
dressing 4 mass meeting. To which he
was welcomed by the colored popula-
ton with n brass band He thought
those 400 votes were as E0CG aH count
ed.
Cheatham did no.hirg We cid Hot
make a speech In fact, he did not even
go near the town until three days be-
fore election, Then he rehearseo To his
eoiored constituents all that sim
mons had done Ior them. dwelling At
greater length upon the wonderful in
fiuence which simmons had wl... the
authorities at Washington. He has
so much influence" finally asserted
1 tleatham. that u ne asks President
Cleveland will wr.te 6 proclamation
FOR him putting you all back into
slavery"
". EN- Cheatham said that. Sim
mons had no show whatever. Every
vote IN the town was cast for the
colored candidate. who came to Con
greas with handsome majority.
We are all going To be millinnaires
out In my State. said Senator Clark,
Iof Wyoming yesterday. Not only have
we discovered oil. but In a copper mine
as | learn from a letter | received to-
day. vein of pure platinum has been
discovered 1t is t1e only instance Of
the kind In the United States"
Platinum is worth great deal more
than gold.
Resolutions adopted by the Virginia
legislature In favor Of naming bat
tIeship after that State were read In
the Senate recently We direct oar
Senators and request our Repregenta-
tlves." WAS the unusual language OF
the resolutions.
liamentary experts inslst that il II
right A Senator. being elected by
legislature, is It's creature and can be
directed. while nepresen .ative, being
chosen by the people, Is not respon
sible to the body. and can only he re-
quested. The Virginia legislators not
only know their rlh..s. but are evi-
IDENTIFY determined TO maintain ,aem.
There was great alarm In the .se1-
ate chamber when .ae ancient snu..-
box seemed to be missing. Inquiry,
however. showed that 1t had only been
taken out to be fiileJ and = vas soon
again In its accustomed place.
No one knows hos many years That
gnuffbox has rested In Its little niche
on the right OF the presiding officers
desk. Senator Allison has been in the
Senate nearly thirty years ana 1t was
there before he came. Tradition has 1t
that Clay and Calhoun and Benton
and all of the worthy snuff-takers or
the distant past used the now historic
box. 1t Is still kept .filled, but the
atmosphere of the Senate chamber is
SO dry that the snuff has TO be damp
ened twice or three times week to
keep the fine particles from permeat-
in the air and causing an epidemic OF
sneezing. Very few Of the Senators use
the snufTbox nowadays. Occasionally.
when one of the scptuagenarians has
A cold in his head. he takes a pinch
but otherwise the litlie receptcie re-
mains undisturbed.