Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-11-05

PdpStS liOHu opIIlSllelu last suIllHeI. WHcu
Mr.. Hopkins was preparing to throw the
Harrison contingent out tooth and toenail:
John p. Hopkins-the man of nerve in
| the estimation of his friends; the man of
nerve in the estimation of his enemies-s
the man of the hour tonight. By his bold
defiance to the will of the delegates to the
democratic state convention, who have pro-
, tested and are protesting against being de-
prived of the right to have a temporary
! presiding officer who meets their approval,
| Hopkins has established himself as the au
| tocrat of his party in Illinois. Hearst men
and Harrison men are fuming and storm
| ing and hurting anathemas at the head of
| John p. Hopkins The one imperturbabe
| man sits In his shirt sleeves in easy sound
| of the clamor, tanning himself with straw
| hat and laughing. The voice of protest is
| music to his ears. He calmly awaits the
morrow and its development. The man is
! John p. Hopkins
His smile-and his nerve, which has never
| outwardly deserted him since he went to
Chicago in 1879 to seek a living for his
mother and sisters Then he was poor
boy, and had to begin pushing lumber In
the yards of the Pullman company. Now
he is reputed to be a millionaire.
Senator Cullom.
In all essential respects the accredited
leader of the sucker state republicans is the
pronounced antithesis of his opponent.
He Is not rich. Not so very many years
ago he complained that by devoting the
greater part of his years to public life he
| scarcely had money enough with which to
meet the bills of the butcher, the baker and
| the candlestick maker.
He is leader who likes to have plenty OF
| lieutenants and plenty of advice. Instead
of making enemies of many opponents he
not infrequently takes them into camp,
when they show they are worthy foemen,
and placates them by methods known only
to "UJncIe Shelby This trait and the
other one characteristic of him-of always
coming out on top in a fight when his cleo
ton to the United States Senate Is con
cerned-has earned him the reputation OF
being canny He has had many hard fights
to retain his seat in the Senate. In 1901 he
was called on to make the hardest political
battle in his half century of officeholding.
Things looked dark for him for time, but
a few hours before the caucus all opposition
melted away "as mist before the SUM- to
use worn expression. and he was unani-
mouSly named for the honor by his party
| He is known by sight to nearly every Illi-
noisan, and personally by thousands He
has gone up and down and through the
state for forty years or more. speaking in
it's cities and hamlets. He has made hun
dreds of speeches and shaken the hands of
a million or two people. 1t is to be doubted
if any other living man has a record equal
to Senator Cullom's as stump speaker.
Important Services.
His name is not only one to conjure with
in Illinois, but the nation as we'll His
twenty-one years in the United States Sen
ate have not been spent in vain. He framed
the interstate commerce law. AS the chair
man of the foreign relations committee he
brought about the ratification of the Hay
Pauncefote treaty, abrogating the famous
Clayton ulwer treaty and making possible
the Panama canal. The treaty for the pur-
chase of the Danish West Indies was also
ratified under his management, as well as
the various treaties in accordance with
The Hague agreement Besides directing
Fall this important work, he has been on the
committee fifteen years, and had a hand in
every piece of legislation affecting our for
eign interests in that time.
His method of gaining victory was shown
in his defeat of Senator Bailey when the
latter wanted the finance committee. of
which he was a member to have charge of
the Cuban legislation. Mr. Bailey contend
ed that the measure affected the country's
revenues and, therefore, should go to his
committee. Mr.. Cullom held that the legis-
latiOn simply approved and carried out
provision of the treaty with Cuba, and con-
sequently belonged to his committee Mr..
Bailey turned loose his rhetorical batteries
upon the senator from Illinois. The latter,
in reply, quoted a few hard facts, and the
Senate unanimously turned the legislation
over to the foreign relations committee.
The senator conducts this committee in
thoroughly buSineSs-like and degnified man.
ner, in marked contrast with many other
senatorial chairmen. He always sits at the
head of the table, and there is no lounging
o" side talking or jokes Business is strictly
methodical and dignified in all thngs-in
personal habits. in work. in politics.
A Great Story Teller.
Still, he dearly loves to tell joke. and
that's one of the ways by which he sways
men. His enemies used to make much of
the charge that the senator endeavored to
encourage the popular belief that he looks
like Lincoln. His gaunt, lank frame and
style of beard does suggest Lincoln more
or less, but 1t is In the senator's ability to
make a story an argument that he closely
resembles the emancipation in the art of
which he was master.
Many of the senator's stories are about
Lincoln, who was a friend of the senator's
father, and who. when he found out that
young Shelby was DESTROYS of becoming
lawyer advised him to start in the state
capital. which the boy did. There he met
Lincoln frequently and was associated with
him in at least one trial. One of the sena-
tors Lincoln stories runs as follows:
There was an ignorant man who once
applied to Lincoln for the post of door
keeper to the house. This man had no
right to ask Lincoln for anything. 1t was
necessary to repulse him. But Lincoln re-
pulsed him gently and whimsically. with
out hurting his feelings. in this way:
$50 you want to be doorkeeper to the
house. chr
well, have you ever been doorkeeper?
Have you ever had any experience of door
keeping?"
We'll mono actual experience
".Any theoretical experience? Any In
struction in the the duties and ethics OF
doorkeeping?'
'Umh-no.
Have you ever attended lectures in door
keepingT
mo, sir
Have you ever read any textbooks on
the subject?
Mo
Have you ever conversed with any one
who had read such a book?
I'm afraid not. sir.
"sWell Them said the President sympa-
thetically, sorrowfuliy. don't you see you
haven't a single qualification for this i'm
Ives I do was the reply, and the man
humbly and gratefully took his departure
His First Office.
The senator's first political Office was
that of city attorney for Springfield. He
was elected in 1856, three years after hav-
ing moved there, by a margin Of four votes.
Years after, in discussing his close shave.
he declared that had been defeated for
that office should probably have never
run for another, and instead Of being Q