The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-01-29
BY G. NJ. THOMAS.

n ONT envy your representative in
congress. Above all, don't try
conclusions with him for the
honor, if you value peace of mind and
soul. If you do and you win, you viii
lot be long kept in ignorance Of the
fact that a representatives life is not
eli beer and skittIes, and that his days
work. like a woman's is never done.
a representatives life would be truly
1Gylllc and his days work of the ex-
ceedjngly simples variety if all he had
l. do was to help make laws for the
greatest, grandest and most glorious
country on Gods green footstOoI" as
America is sometimes grandiloquently
described in congress. But alasi and
despite the good intentions of the fore
fathers, law-making forms but a small
part of a representative days work
lis 194,1S2 constituents have irrevoc-
bly, decreed otherwise. They are the
PEOPLE. and the people rule Only
rom IL O'Clock in the morning until 4
Of the afternoon is he permitted to
lcgislate-with Interruptions. The rest
o. the time-by far. the greater portion
OF his waking and working hours-he
Is GRAND boy. and national lawyer for
his constituents, and the humility
Which he displays in these roles and
Tithal, the alacrity, furnish much food
for reflection as to the desirabiIity of
being able to write the letters M. c.
I'm all truthfUIness after his name
In his role of errand boy a represen-
tative finds the hardest and most pic
turesque part~Of his days work, which
begins at the breakfas table with his
mail and secretary, and ends with them
somewhere in the wee sTna' hours of
the morning after. That is a rare day
which does not bring a score of err
rands that must be run, if a like num-
Der of votes is to be saved to the rep
resentative at the next election. No
~ t,~aA =
how easily they could have been at
tended to by the constituents them
selves through the channels Of prop
elly directed cOrrespondence-it is not
the part of wisdom to ignore them for
? minute after they come to hand. Sad
experience has taught congressman
that it is best to run errands first and
look after legislation later on.
A common errand is that of securing
autographs for the daughter of some
V ell known resident of the district
who writes that she is making a coll
lection. and that she would dearly love
TO have the presidents, and each cabi-
ret members, and the leading sena-
tors. too, and the speakers, and a
few Of the best known diplomats, and
snybody's else that the representative
thinks would delight the heart of the
daughter OF the well known resident Of
the Twenty-sec ond congressional dis
tTict Of Illinois or the Tenth of New
York.
The representative has to get these
autographs. and get them quickly if
N does not care to have his motives
doubted, and a reproachful letter from
the daughter. with significant post
script by the we'll known resident; so
the day it is received-the morning of
that day. to be exact-you can find
aim petitioning the secretary of state
for his autograph. while his secretary.
who shares all his superiors burdens
IS likewise disturbing the musings Of
say, the dean of the diplomatic corps.
Count Cassint, the cars Washington
r. preventative.
Another perennial errand that rep
Tesentative must run is for public doc
uments- The government, as it well
known, publishes millions of documents
yearly, and there are millions of re-
guests for them, nearly all being made
through members of the lower house
Even public Libraries and college pro-
Il ssors and scientific men. all of whom
ought to know better, bother their va
riOus representatives for all sorts of
publications, when a line to the pro-
Per departments would get them the |
hooks. Just as easily and quickly But !
somehow every body is imbued with the ]
fGea that his representative ought to
ard must get him the pamphlets he
wants, and. hence, the deluge or re-
quests. which would undoubtedly be |
considerably Iessened were il not a !
well known fact that there is no price |
Uncle Sans publications. Something |
for nothing-therein lies the cOnstitu-
ents joy. and the representatives. mis- |
cry. which finds no comfort I'm the |
knowledge that request after request |
IS for publication out of print or for |
one never intended for distribution. No |
matter. A copy Of the book out of |
print must be diligently searched for |
till unearthed, even though hours are |
consumed thereby. as is usually the |
case: and the other one obtained by !
l'ook or crook; generally. the repre- |
sentative has to buy il out of his own |
pocket For constituent is a queer 4
sort OF human being-he thinks that /
his congressman is little short of all I
Powerful and I'm a position to do any
thing he chooses, and no excuse no /
matter how valid, goes with him. as !
many national legislator has found |
out to his everlasting sorrow
While the city representative has l
much more trouble with the book /
fiends matters are evened up for his /
country co1iea CUES by the seed fiends. !
Much fun is made Of congressman