Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-30
THOSE NEW MEMBERS
How Eighty Two Worked
Their Way to Congress.
MOST WERE LAWYERS
WHILE OTHERS COME FROM
MANY WALKS OF LIFE.
The State Legislature as a Stepping
Stone-Self-Made Men in the
Majority.
MOST WERE LAWYERS
Written for The Star.

two lads whom we shall consider are the
new members of the present House of Rep
resentatives. From their careers in genera
we can draw many deductions, although
| they are a mixed and motley company, pos.
sessing among them well-nigh all charac-
teristics American, which means cosmo
politan.
The road to Congress Is often maze and
a labyrinth, a hard and strong trail through
the slough of despond, and through gates
guarded by hungry lions Again, 1t Is g
snort and velvety path, at the rear end OF
| which the goal looms up with a surprising
, suddenness and with little loss of the sweat
of the brow. Yet, after all, there seems tC
be beaten path, one well worn by travel
ers who have tramped it for Years. who
have cleared through the wilderness bare
winding road, which others may follow II
they put start right and equip themselves
for the journey.
The toll gates along this beaten path are
the law office, the prosecuting attorney
oftlce, the state legislature In other words
II we should reduce what new members tell
of themselves to a diagram of curves-as
the scientist does when he condescends to
impart his profound learning at least hero
glypmcally-we find that the crests of the
curve represent these milestones mentioned
Six Out of Ten Lawyers.
Six and one-half out of each ten of our
new Legislators are lawyers considerable
majority. This, no doubt, is as it should be,
for the makers of our laws should be law
yers themselves. While dulling the imagi-
nation of the brain upon which it rests and
sapping all of the poetry therefrom the bar
rsters wig has ever been a welcome orna-
ment in great legislative bodies. So, then,
young man, In your journey Congressman
enter through the gate labeled law"
Though the toll is costly, the road will be
surer than that shorter cut through the
turnstlle alongside, where there is no fee to
be paid, but a bonus, perhaps to tempt you.
But after entering this gateway of the law
you have your choice of two parallel lanes,
the law school or the students ante-room
of the lawyers office. OF the lawyers among
the new members of the freshly assembled
House there are twice as many who have
been admitted to the bar through the law
offce as those who have come In through
the law school. But 1t Is dangerous to draw
a direct deduction here, as the majority of
these boys grew up in country towns, far
from the law school, and the greater part
OF them read their Blackstone's book In the
days when law schools were few, and state
laws as to admission to the bar were lax,
as they are still in a few states.
College Men in Minority,
Less than a half of these boys got to
college-only four out of ten We're so for
tunate Hence we did not. lb1on the basis
of the data at hand, mention the college
as one OF the stepping stones along the
most beaten path. Yet 1t would have been
safe to say that large majority would
have made greater speed toward their goal
had they donned the gown and mortar
board but in that event the goal of many
would very likely have been a higher PIN
nace even than the dome of the national
Capitol. Nearly all of those who have
sheepskinS received them from colleges that
are obscure. Only five passed through our
great universities, and one was graduated
at Annapolis.
Three out of five of those who were adj
mitted to the bar We're later elected to
some legal office. The greater number of
these became town, city, prosecuting or dis
trict attorneys. Eight became judges of
some sort No office open to the young
man in his immediate community can try
his mettle more, can render him more con-
spicuous to the public eye than that Of
prosecuting attorney. If he pleases the
populace in this role it seems to be his fate
in what we might term the average case
to be elevated to the legislature, and in
some cases, directly to Congress.
Legislature the Great Training School.
OF all elective Offices which have helped
these young men to Congress that of state
legislator has been the most potent step
ping stone. Three out of eight have
thus represented local constituencies and
groomed themselves for higher legislative
services. A state legislature is a minia-
ture congress, and no other training school
could SO well At for a seat in the Capitol
at Washington either lawyer or layman.
Other public offices which have lifted these
men to Congress are lieutenant governor,
mayor postmaster, police commissioner,
alderman, prison commissioner, school SUI
perintendent health officer, prothonotary,
court clerk and city clerk.
Many Were ySchoolmasters.
The schoolmastership. next after the at
torneyship, was the opening through which
the next greater number of these boys
passed on toward success. One out of five
taught school in his early days, and thus
served his apprenticeship In leadership of
fellow-man. To a considerable number
the school room was but a vestibule to the
law office Some read law while teaching,
others taught to save enough money for a
college course.
as steps upward we find that OF financier
figuring In sixteen cases; farmer in four
teen; merchant In eleven; soldier and jour-
nalist, six; manufacturer, five; mine owner,
four; physician and railroad man. three;
druggist. patent medicine manufacturer,
fruit grower, lumberman and day laborer,
two; stone dealer, nurseryman, milliner,
drug clerk, bookkeeper, carpenter, slate
and blacksmith. each one. A very large
majority are married, a datum to be well
digested by those pestered by the con-
gressional bee. Six are foreign born. and
over three-fourths were born in the states
which they represent Thus the old adage
about the rolling stone would appear to
apply to the young man ambitious for Con-
gress rather than that concerning the
prophet and his own country, especially so
in country districts where the populace
seems to show preference for leadership
to him who has grown up among them. AS
to age. we find only one of these new rep
resentatives in his seventies, four In their
sixties twenty four in their fifties, twenty
five in their forties, twenty-three in their
thirties. and but one in his twenties. In
other words, the man In his forties ap-
pears to the mass of the people az best
primed for entering upon congressional
career.
Thus we have drawn certain averages
deduced certain rules for the surest road
to Congress But we now must glance at
some men who have transcribed rules,
have ignored averages, have by force or
various circumstances. taken the hardest