Evening star., 1904-02-29
CONGRESSIONAL EUN
A Notable Dinner Given by
the Tantalus Club.
ALL CARE LAID ASIDE
LEGISLATORS HAVE AN EVENING
OF RELAXATION.
A Number of New Members Admitted,
With Witty Addresses and
Bright Sallies.
ALL CARE LAID ASIDE

The Tantalus Club met in extra session
Saturday evening at the Arlington Hotel.
| The occasion was to receive reports from
| the committee on elections as to the quail.
fcations of certain proposed new members,
| to hear objections raised to their admission,
| finally passing upon the same, and withal
| to eat a very excellent dinner which the
| Arlington provided.
| The session was enlivened in various
ways There were many points of re-
! semblance between it and a session of the
House of Representatives, members of
which compose the club. For example, the
| presiding officer of the session presided
| in manner as despetic as real Speaker,
a regular cZar members talked without
! saying anything in particular; there were
| insurgents and reconcentrados, and yet the
business of the evening went smoothly and
| remorseessly on.
| And TO lend the finishing touch of veri-
| slnliltude, the shrewd and grim visage of
| Speaker Cannon beamed upon the audi
ence from the head table, through clouds
! of cigar smoke. The weed which the
| Speaker wore in the corner of his mouth
was at that jaunty angle which denotes
that he's feeling good and living easy.
| The Tantalus Club.
| The Tantalus Club, be it remembered is
! an organization of new members of the
| House of the republican faith. They are
| organized for self-protection, and in pro-
| test against the older members. Like
| Tantalus of old they find themselves in
| sight of good things they desire, but of
which they are deprived on account of their
freshman state Originally the club was
composed of the new men of the Fifty
seventh congress, but the organization has
been extended to include the new men of
this House.
When the guests entered the banquet hall
at the Arlington Saturday night they found
the tables laid in a great hollow square.
inside the quadrangle of snowy linen and
silver and glass the space was filed with
potted plants of every description ana
bloom, filling the air with fragrance. Rep
resentative Powers of Massachusetts, presi-
dent of the club, called the members and
their guests to order. A toast was drunk
to the President of the United States
Then the guests fell to perusing a very
attractive looking pamphlet, Of many
pages, and bound in red, which lay on the
table in front of each plate. 1t was the
menu of the dinner and collection OF
witty cartoons by Mr.. c. X. Bergman,
with the New Member as the subject.
AS the frontispiece, there was old Tanta-
lus himself, bound by limitations, in chair,
while chairmanships. good committee as
signments and other perquisites Of the
Representative fitted beyond his reach.
The succeeding cartoons played upon the
certain well-known characters in the House.
or course Speaker Cannon and the m
evitable reina perfecto fivecento were in
evidence throughout the series of drawings,
much to the success of the hit.
The Fun-M Making.
The theme Of fun running through the
dinner the proposal of new members.
Two speeches to each proposal were newt
able. and the company soon became
signed to that fact. When a name was
proposed there would be objection to the
mans admission. The objector would have
to set forth his reasons: that one
speech. Then the candidate for admission
would have to reply, trying to explain away
the charges that was another. There
were eight candidates for admission.
However, the company pulled through.
New talent was discovered in the course of
the proceedings. In fact, the session show
ed that all the good takers and witty men
are not included in the 'sanctifed band
that rules the House.
The new men who were proposed objected
to and admitted amid a storm of nays
which the presiding officer calmly counted
as yeas" were Mr.. Shiras of Pennsyl-
vania, Mr. LOngworth of Ohio, Mr.. Camp
bell of Kansas Mr.. Slemp of Virginia, Mr..
Hogg of Colorado. Mr.. Dixon of Montana,
Mr.. Wilson of Illinois and Mr.. Loud Of
Michigan.
After the coffee and cigars arrived the fun
took a new turn. The club decided to fill
the long-felt want of the democratic party
by supplying it with a presidential candi-
date seeing that it did not seem able to
get one itself. A committee reported eligible
candidates. Parker, Hearst, Cleveland,
Bryan and Carter Harrison We're proposed
in turn. their nomination furnishing the
vehicle for brief and witty speeches. They
were all found to be wanting. The club
was not satisfied.
Finally 1t was suggested that Representa-
tive Robert Baker of Brooklyn who re-
paG he M a
was selected and given for his platform
the bill he introduced providing a new
scheme of government. in which there
should be forty-five members of the Pres
ident's cabinet.
Speaker Cannon made short talk and
Mr. Robert l.. O'Brien responded felicitously
to a toast to the Gridiron Club, of which he
Is a member.
Members and Guests.
The members and guests present were:
Speaker Cannon, William H. Taft, Secre-
tary of War; Henry C. Payne, Postmaster
General William H. Moody, Secretary of
the Navy; Gen. Adna r. Chaffee, chief of
staff, U. S. A; Representative John Dalzell
Pennsylvania; Representative Joseph c.
Sibley, Pennsylvania; Representative Fred
erick H. Gillett Massachusetts; Gen. Geo
III. Harries, Washington, d. c.; Representa-
tive f. d. Crumpacker Indiana; Repre-
sentative Z. S. Holiday, Indiana Repre-
sentative C. F. Scott. Kansas; Representa-
tive Frank ID. Currier, New Hampshire;
Re representative John w. Dwight, New York
Representative Samuel l.. Powers, Massa-
chusetts; Representative Thomas F. Mar
SHALL North Dakota; Representative Thos
b. Kyle, Ohio; Representative Augustus p.
Gardner, Massachusetts; Mr.. Lafferty, Mas
sachusetts; Mr.. Montague Lessler, New
York: Mr.. j. q. Timolat, New York; Repre-
sentative ]. A. Beidler, Ohio; Mr.. George
Marvin Ohio; Representative III. Burd Cas-
sci, Pennsylvania; Mr.. c. w. Metzgar
Pennsylvania; Mr.. A. Crane. New York.
Mr.. Howard N. Cassel, Pennsylvania; Rep
resentatve H. w. Palmer, Pennsylvania;
Representative George r. Patterson, Penn
| sylvania;. Representative Kittredge Has
| kns, Vermont; Representative Elias Deem
| err Pennsylvania; Representative Joseph H.
| Gaines, West Virginia; Mr.. c. e. Sprout
| Pennsylvania; Representative William E.
I Brown, Wisconsin; Representative w. Fl.
| Douglas New York; Representative A. b..
| Darragh, Michigan; Representative Arthur
| l.. Bates. Pennsylvania: Representative E.
| w. Martin, South Dakota; Representative