The Lexington intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1901-1949, 1903-07-18
Hoods CQrSapariHt
LETTER FROM WASHINGTON.
July 10. 1908.

July 10, 1908.
The tAree strongest delegations il
congress, as delegations, are th- Iowa
the Missouri and the Texas delegations
Nearly every man from those thre,
states is a strong man and stands pre-.
eminent for marked ability IN som,
peculiar line. In writIng these sketches
OF public men IN future l will TAX,
them up by state delegations. Many
members OF congress, IN their relation
to the general public can be disposed
of IN a very few words, for they have
done very little to attract general
attention, although they are good men
and good legislators. Their work is
done very qpietly and in the CON-
mittee rooms, where most of the
effective work of a member Of congress
is performed without the emission of
hot air, without fa~nfarronande ana
blare of trumpeIs.
Some people have an idea that unless
q man shows Up every day in the Con-
g%ressional Record with a speech of
some sort that he is no good as a con-
gresham, when the truth is that Just
the opposite makes him the good and
effective member. No matter how
good a speaker a man may be or how
well qualified to speak on any given
subject, he cannot say a word unless
he gets the permission of the speaker,
and then he is allotted only a certain
number of minutes and must limit bis
address. Very few men can exhaust
their subjects in the time allotted to
them; cannot do themselves Justice;
and that is why so few men make
speeches. The house of representatives
has e~masculated itself by the rules it
has adopted and no longer is a dellb.
erative body. There are some men.
however, on both sides of the house
who by their intellectual force have
made themselves felt and deserve
recognition.
Take the Missouri delegation for IN.
stance. have already mentioned the
Hon. Champ Clark and the Hon.
David A. DeArmond. There are other
strong men on that delegation, and
one Of them Is the Hon. Charles FIRE.
mont Cochran, of st. Joseph, Mo.
Undoubtedly Mr.. Cochran is the most
versatile and widely read member of
the delegation. He is "loaded for
bear, " so to speak, on almost any SUBJ
iect that comes up for debate In the
house, and when he gets through with
an opponent his antagonist looks like q
fodder stack after a cyclone had toyed
with it. He never makes q speech
without adding to the sum of human
Information. In his capacity of lawyer
and newspaper editor be has read
everything and he has q memory like a
lar bucket; everything that gets in it
sticks. His pet hobbies in the past
two congresses have been the war in
the Philippines and the Boer war in
South Africa. On those two subjects
ne has hit the republicans more hard
hicks than any two men in congress.
Another big man In the Missouri
delegation is the Hon. William S.
of Kansas City. He not
is one of the best debaters IN the
house, but n of the best lawyers.
His cogent reasoning and invincible
logic compel admiration and knock
down all barriers There was an
attempt in the last congress to put
a steal of about a half million
and it came from the com.
on the District OF Columbia, of
which Mr.. Cowherd Is a member.
With bis trip hammer logic and un-
answerable argument Cowherd pro-
ceeded to hit it in the head, and when
got through talking it was as dead
Hector, the republicans even refus-
ing to vote for it. Mr.. Cowherd has a
Look out for him.
@. A. EDWARDS.