The Lexington dispatch. [volume] (Lexington, South Carolina) 1870-1917, 1902-07-16
CHAMP CLARK STORIES
Freaks of Fortune Which
Land Men In Congress.

iduu IIOu LII OOuS1 O'oO'
How Some Statesmen Achieved the
Goa!-Ce Almond Of Missouri Won
When He Swapped-Aspired to Be
a Supreme Court tudge-General
Clark Was Compromise Candidate.
Luck Better Than Riches Some.
times-GarfieIds Political Start.
copyright, 1902, by Champ Clark
Of course, in the very nature of
things. there are many ways of getting
to congress. II each member would
truthfuily write out his own particu-
lar method and if all these various eX-
positions Of ways and means could be
gathered together and printed in a
book, it would be an exceedingly inter-
esting and readable, perhaps an in
structive and surprising, volume.
How Judge De Almond Got In.
Take the case, for instance, of Judge
David 4. De Almond of Missouri. He
was now entered upon his sixth consec-
utive term and appears to have a long
lease on his seat. He has come to like
congressional life, yet originally he did
! not banker after the position he now
holds His tastes lay in the judicial
line He was circuit judge and COM
missioner of the supreme court, which
was q sort of brevet supreme judge
ship. He aspired to be a real, full
fedged supreme Judge. In 1888 Judge
De Almond. Judge james B. Cant and
the then Congressman William Joel
Stone, since governor and national
committeeman, all lived in the same
district. That year De Almond ran for
supreme judge, and Cant tackled Stone
for the congressional nomination. Man
proposes, but God disposes. Cant was
defeated for congress and De Almond
for the supreme judgeship. In 1890
either by accident or design Cant and
De Almond swapped horses, so to speak
that is, Cant was candidate for su-
preme Judge and De Almond for con-
gress. Both won. Not long since l
asked De Almond, "If you could turn
the clock back to 1890 and were offer
ed 20 years on the supreme bench Of
Missouri or 20 in congress, which
would you take" After some study
he replied. with the feelings then
had would select the supreme judge
ship; with those l entertain now, the
congressional career"
How General Clark Went to Congress.
The congressional career Of young
General John 3. Clark Of Missouri IL
lustrates the truth of the ancient adage,
Better be born lucky than rich" In
1865 he was a Confederate brigadier.
In 1868 and 1870 he was elected sheriff
and collector Of Howard county, Mo-,
! a good fat office in those days. In
1872, while still holding that position
or those positions, his father. the bril-
liant and renowned "Old General John
B. Clark, and General James Shields, a
major general in two wars, the only
man that ever represented three differ
ent states in the senate Of the United
States and whose efigy in bronze hon
ors Statuary hall, and other Demo
cratic warhorses locked horns-if war
horses may be said to have horns-for
the congressional nomination. The fight
was fast and furious. \ prolonged
deadlock ensued. Young General John
B. was at home discharging his duties
as sheriff and collector with no more
idea of going to congress than any
reader Of this has Of ascending the
throne of Russia. Somebody suggest
ed him as compromise candidate.'
He was acceptable to all, was nominal
ed in jiffy, was elected and served ten
years as a representative and six as
clerk Of the house.
General GarfieId's Political Start.
James \. Garfield was first elected
to congress while he was serving as a
major general in the army in 1862,
partly because Of his personal proml-
nence and partly because the old JOSH
ua r. Giddings guard in the Western
Reserve wanted to even up things with
the opposing faction, which had knock
ed out their chief at the election Of
1850, and they took up General Car
field as the most availab nan in
sight whom they could use or pur-
poses of revenge. Thus he entered
upon that long and brilliant congress
sional career which landed him in the
White House and filed the world with
his acclaim.
His first entrance into political life,
however, was purely accidental. In
1850 be was president Of Hiram COL
lege. then a small institution, now a
large one. and on Sundays preached in
the neighboring churches. lie seemed
fated to spend his life in the pulpit
and the classroom, but there's des-
tiny that shapes our ends 1t so hap
pened that there was vacancy in the
state scnatorship from that district.
Young Garfield attended the Republic
an senatorial convention as a delegate.
\ deadlock enSued. One day in pre-