The Savannah morning news., 1902-12-28
MEN OF THE HOUSE
WHO ARE TERMED WITTY

speeches. As a rule the best racon-
tours in the lower branch of the leg
islative department of the government
come from the South, but in recent
years the Northern States have devel-
oped some bright luminaries in that
pleasing realm. One of the past mas
tiers in the Republican cloak rooms Is
Representative Joseph w. Fordney, a
wealthy lumbernlan of Saginaw,
Mich. but a Hoosier by birth. He is
very witty. but few of his witticisms,
for some reason, appear in the pubic
prints. Another high light in the line
of raconteurs, who can never take
well upholstered chair in the cloak
rooms or sit down to lunch in the res
tauTant without telling a story that
sets everybody around in a roar, is
Representative Adm Ballou Capron,
a miller of Saltwater, r. l., who has
been telling stories and entertaining
his friends ever since he was mis-
chievOus student in Westbrook Semi
nary, pAlr Portland, Me. Represen-
tative J;unes S. Sherman of Utica, who
was one of Mr.. Reeds closest personal
friends, is likewise a charming story
teller. but only those most closely as
sociatsi with Mr.. Sherman, including
the members of the Committee on In
dian Affairs, of which he is chairman,
hear him in his best form and many
of his best anecdotes were regarding
Mr. Reed, to whom he served in
small way as sort of Boswell.
There are two of the newer men,
bers of the House, who have a wide
reputation in Washington, notwith-
standing their brief service. for wit
and humor Their sayings have been
and still are widely current in the
newspapers that print gossipy stories
Of int Ind
Walter I. Smith. of Council Bluffs,
Iowa, and Representative Henry c.
Smith of Adrian. Mich. They are not
of the same kindred. 1t is a source Of
general regret that Mr.. Smith of Mich
igan, is soon to retire from public life
One of the stories which he has lately
recalled to mind here is about Senator
Zach Chandler of Michigan, father-in-
law of Senator Hale of Maine, and a
great senator in his day.
"It was during one of the Grant
campaigns, says Mr.. Smith. that
Senator Chandler was advertised to
address an audience in my home town
of Adrian. AS those who knew Mr..
Chandler will readily recall. he had
very long legs and arms and a very
short body. In those days the appear
ance of United States senator on the
stump was an event of much more To-
cal Importance than in these later
times. A tremendous throng turned out
to see Mr.. Chandler, and / was one
of them. He was late in arriving and
the spectators grew FESTIVE, but this
was eventually succeeded by a wild
burst of applause as the senator aD-
peared. He launched into his speech
forthwith.
Ladies and Gentlemen, he said. If
l had the wings of an angel, that /
could fly from the icy barriers of the
North to the sunny Southern climes
and even from the great seaports of
the Atlantic to the golden gate of the
Pacific, all along in my flight 1 would
sing one song of praise for that great
hero of Appomattox, Gen. Ulysses S.
Grant
why, Senator, you could do no such
thing, interposed a matter of fact
Irishman. You would meet some fell
low with a gun who would shoot you
for sand hill crane, before you could
fly half a mile
well, wouldn't that take the wind
out of the best of orators?" concluded
the Michigan Smith.
Mr. Fordney, the other Michigan wit,
| is an ardent friend of the sugar beet.
In his last campaign he had thousands
upon thousands of cards printed, bear
ing a likeness of a big sugar beet and
in the midst of the beet was photo
graph of Mr.. Fordney. His constituents
liked that and returned him to Con-
gress by an enormous majority.