The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-05-30

lss-NsSzsSlta senate and house Of
S=zsz2 ~ representative who
have either achieved that distinction or
have had it thrust upon them is quite
as large as usual
We've if not for a somewhat generous
n,-o,ortfon I'm the national legislature of
those who not only see the lighter side
NJ life hut are inclined to contribute to
ate further lightness, the business OF
lee-fslatfng would be far less attractive
4ba, IL actually is. All deliberatlve as
sen1bIies. however reverend ana olSih-
fed. have numbered humorlsts among
their members and have developed
them. The American congress has been
no exception; on the contrary, its rec
ord for funrnaking is a scintillating one.
The rules of neither house interfere
viii, HE ebullition of wit which is sell
dom wanting.
There is every grade Of it-from the
fncisive intellectual shaft Of the col
lege bred stylist to the broad and clever
hs1ffoonerv of the man of the people
The Congressional Record has been
named as an example of the most hope
lessIy dreary literature ever printed
and no one has said nay. Were all the
daily sayings of the congress recorded
in that unique journal, all the remarks
or members. OulSDOfAEA4 e+A-A eC~~c fC1~s
it would be transformed in the twin
king of an eye into the most popular
journal ever published
OF course that cannot be. Most of
the good things that fall from the
lips of senators and representatives are
lost in the echoing recesses Of the capt
toll Not all OF them, however Many
an irnpromptu gem finds its way into
the outer atmosphere. Sometimes its
originator is the gamer from its es
cape John James Ingalls,, whose wit
developed into a weapon of tremendous
power, prohted immensely from the
early discovery of his ability to be hui
morous and logical at the same mo-
ment. James Proctor Knott achieved
national celebrity by a single humorous
speech, a speech SO inexpressibly droll
that he never afterward succeeded in
making anybody believe that he could
be in earnest.
II vote were taken the returns
would show that Joseph Clay Stiles
Blackburn, senior senator from Ken
lucky, is entitled to be named as doy-
en- of senatorial funmakers. It is not
because he is young and frivolous. Born
in 1888, his perpetual effervescence Of
spirits cannot be ascribed to the mere
JOY of living. 1t is not because he has
tloQ the rose pain OF NE WITHOUT en-
countering a single thorn He is a
veteran of the civil war and has always
been a vigorous champion of the code
Of honor.
1t is a passion with Fighting Joe"
Blackburn. Like all genuine passions.
it is Unborn, part of him. His scent
fer the humorous is so keen that he is
never off the track of it. During his
five terms of service in the lower house
he was the center. the rallying point,
of all the gayety of speech that en-
livened the proceedings. His wit is
spontaneous, infectious and irresisti-
BILE.
The senator was recently discovered
by some of his colleagues in the act of
reading the last presidential message.
As he read he nodded approvingly and
every now and then chuckled to him
self Wishing to share the joke, what
ever it might be- his friends approached
and demanded light on the subject.
1T has just occurred to me- observed
the senator, assuming an expression of
the most absurd solemnity, that Mr.
RooseveIt's English does not cOruscate
with the pyrotechnic scintillations of