The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-04-09
Mr.. Hemenway, Watchdog of
Treasury, Tells Experience.
Lived in Harper County and
Had a Hard Time.
HE WENT BACK HOME.
Now Is One of Prominent Mem.
bers Of Congress.
Senator Beveridge's Thrilling
Experience at Dighton.

party in Washington the other night /
Representative Victor Murdoch learned |
that he had in Representative Hem |
enway of Indiana, the present chair |
man of the great committee on ap-
preparations of the house of represen-
tatiyes. a former constituent. Mr..
Hemenway in the latter seventies and
early eighties lived near DanvilIe, in
Harper county, in the Seventh con-
gressional district. He told Mr.. Muir
dock an interesting story of his ex-
perience in Kansas. over cigars after |
the dinner had been disposed of.
1t was in 1879 that the present |
chairman of the greatest committee in |
congress went to Harper county and |
took a claim on the Kansas prairies. !
1t is of interest to note in connection |
with this story that Mr.. Hemenway |
is now one of the most powerful men
I in congress, and that during the pres
ent session appropriations aggregating
seven hundred millions of dollars
4 passed through his hands He is the
successor Of Speaker Cannon as the
watchdog of the treasury. AS chair
/ man OF the committee on apprOpria-
lions he is actually the court of final
resort in the appropriation of three
fourths of the money that is required
/ to run the government every year.
me total appropriations for a con-
gress frequently exceed a billion dol
1 lars, and Mr.. HemenWay's committee
| handles the bulk of it, And yet
/ known and obscure farmer on the
/ Kansas prairies, and poorer than most
Kansas farmers were. He went to
Kansas without a cent in the world
and he had the hardest kind of sled
4 ding for years, trying to make both
ends meet, and succeeding only indif-
terenty- He was not a successful
farmer. and he had to turn his hand
to other things in order to earn a liv-
ing. So it came about that when
crops were bad, and his little claim
speaking of, the future watchdog of
the treasury worked for other men
who were in better circumstances.
And the crops were often bad in those
days
The very first year that Mr.. Hemen-
way settled on his Kansas claim he
found 1t necessary to hire out to a
neighbor, Press Adambury by name
and he spent the winter feeding cattle
at sixteen dollars per month. He was
glad to get the job. too, because he
crops failed again. and so Mr. Hemen-
way went into the teaming business,
and hauled supplies from Wichita to the
settlers between the Sedewiclx county
town and his home in Harper county
tseventy-f1ve miles away. Usually it was
/ cornmeal he hauled, for that was a
staple, and the farmers wanted it. He
bought it of a dealer on DOUGLASS ave-
nue., a wagon load at time in TWENTY
I'VE pound sacks 1t would take him a
week to dispose of a load of it, and he
made SO on the deal, and was glad to
get it. Half way between his Harper
county claim and Wichita lived a man
by the name of John Leach. Leach and
his wife were very good to Hemenway,
taking him in on the cold winter nights
giving him food and shelter without a
cent of pay. The congressman has not
heard of them since he left Kansas
more than twenty years ago, but he still
has a warm spot in his heart for them
He told Mr.. Murdoch that he would like
to have Leach make himself known if
ne IS stu in Kansas. He wants to in
vite them down to Washington to
spend week or two, and promises them
as nearly a welcome as they gave to
him in the old days when he was a
struggling teamSter on the Kansas praf-
RES. There are others of his old friends
whom the congressman has not forgot
ten. One of these is Howard Case who
was his side partner when he struck
Kansas. He has not heard of him for
/ twenty-five years. There are a number
OF old residents of Wichita whom Mr.
Hemenway remembers well. One Of
them IS Dr. M1n1ch, now one of the best
known physicians in Kansas and an
other is Bob Piatt- Mr.. Murdoch told
Mr. Hemenway that both of these men
are still residents of Wichita
In the early eighties Mr. Hemenwav
declded that things were not coming
his way fast enough so he Concluded
10 return TO Indiana from whence he
fortunes. Time has demonstrated the
wisdom of his action. for after he re-
turned to the Hoosier state things
came his way by leaps and bounds He
studied law, was admitted to the bar
and soon became one of the most wide
| tly known lawyers in Indiana. In the
early nineties he went into politics.
and was elected to the Fifty-fourth
congress in 1894, and has been returned
to every congress since. A man of
great ability, young, active, energetic
and industrious, he made rapid head
way IN the house. He was placed on
, the committee on appropria dur
ing his first term, and showed such
> adaptability for the work of the COM
} mittee, and inspired so much conf
dence in his conservatism and ability
! that Mr.. Cannon when he retired from
the craftsmanship of the committee to
become speaker had no hesitation in
placing Mr.. Hemenway at the head of
it.
2 It was at this same dinner party that
Senator Beverage told Mr.. Murdoch
: about his experience in Kansas Il
: have just been reading editorial
from a Kansas newspaper on 1.-THE De-
1 cadance of Oratory," said the senator,
turning to the Kansas congressman.
{ "in which you come in for honorable
{ mention Senator Beverage Referred
) to an editorial in a Kansas City news
= paper, in which Representative Muir
docks recent experience in making his
! 1t reminded the senator of a speech he
I made at Dighton in 1855: He had gone
5 | to Kansas fresh from an eastern uni
y Versity to regain his health and prac-
] tice law if he could. He hung out his
E single in Dighton. Business was not
! good, but there was plenty of excite
ment in these days, as the future sen
r ator soon learned. One night not long
= after he arrived in Dighton a crowd
9 gathered in the street and prepared to
hang a man named Brown who had