Omaha daily bee., 1908-12-20
CHAMP CLARK'S MANY SIDES
Conspicuous Traits Of the Minority
Leader of the House.
NOT AS FERoCIOUs AS PAINTED
A Lion with a H-ippOdrome Roar, Who
Never Bites-A Roosevelt Adj
mirer-Lashes New En-
gland Historian.

gland historians.
Champ Clark is not nearly so ferocious
as the advertisement and advance notices
would make him appear. He is a clean
shaver lion. with a hippodfome roar, and
he never, never bites. He is a good-hum-
ored lion, and loves his enemies. even when
he roars at them on the occasions set
apart for that pastime in the house Of rep
resentatives. Any intelligent sheep will
eagerly seek Mr.. Clark's company in that
happy time when the lion and the lamb
shall dwell together in peace and amity.
John Sharp Williams. as minority leader
IN the house, was a veritable gad-fly.
Where he lit he stung, and where he stung
he hurt. He, buzzed venomously when in
action, and the high, strident tones of his
voice raised in angry debate resembled
nothing so much as the cacophony result
ing from the application of a rusty file to
the dull teeth of a crosscut saw. Mr.. W.
liams went into action like a swarm Of
angry hornets. 1t was a case of zip! zing!
and away. Mr.. Clark emits a mellow roar
at the head of a devoted adversary. tells a
yarn, quotes Byron, says a good word for
Thomas jefferson, has a fling at Andrew
Hamilton and takes his enemy to lunch.
champ lain = AtBAAaAAOA as q INAk-
tailed roarer" has been carefully built up
over the c~hautauqua circuits. Since he has
become minority leader, paragraphs like
this have begun TO go the rounds Of the
newspapers:
Your town hail." said the travelling en-
tertainer, 'is an excellent one TO speak in.
There isn't the slightest echo, and my voice
could be heard distinctly in the remotest
corner Of it,"
Yes, SIR" said the landlord OF the W.
lage hotel, "there hasn't been a blamed
thing the matter with the acoustics Of that
hall since Champ Clark made a speech
there one day last summer
For the sake Of a stated amount of good
and lawful currency of the United States
in hand paid. and a carriage to and from
the depot, Champ Clark and old General
Grosvenor of Ohio toured together more
than once, the chautauqua circuits, engage
ing Homeric combat for all who had the
price and cared to come. The stage enmity
between these two nRtural-born takers was
carefully fostered during the debates in the
house Of representatives. The bold Numid-
ian lion was never fiercer than these two
appeared to the initiated in their mock
heroic combats In the halls Of congress.
The press notices of these battles helped
! "a " NAANh NAG AENlult EtdbOH OQEnRQ ana
the managers came around to make con-
tracts.
As He Really Is. E
Champ Clark, the chautauqua ~"attrac-
tom and Champ Clark, the man, are two
very different sorts of persons. His care
FULLY built up reputation as a geyser of
loud speech does him an injustice. He is
a man of wide reading and many natural
attachments. In the political history Of
the United States he is thoroughly versed.
His general knowledge sof the public men
of The early days of the republic cannot
be outmatched by any member Of the
lower house of congress. His reading has
been sound. and it has been assimilated.
He has a good historical background. An
irrepressible streak OF broad humor pre-.
vents him from taking himself as seriously
as many another of his fellow-members
without a 1.-THE of his abilities. or broad
general culture.
Nearly all Of Clark's speeches are re-
plete with opposite literary and classical
illusions and quotations. He does not drag
them in by the scruff of the mock from
Bartlett, but introduces them naturally as
they occur to him while speaking. His
humor is pure homespun, and he rather
affects the plain, blunt style Of the man
who blurts out what he has to say.
One of Champ Clark's pet bogies is the
history writers of New England. He
makes the broad, general charge against
them that they steal the regulations Of
other men for the sons of the New Eng.
land states. Clark greatly admired that
splendid old pair of statesmen, the lat,
Senators Morgan and Pettus Of Alabama.
Speaking Of Senator Morgani one day last
spring. Mr.. Clark said: Justly he must
be considered the father of the Isthmiar
canal, though I have no sort Of doubt
3 judging the future by the past, that the
New England scribes will fitch from him
! that glory and confer it upon somebody
from the northeast corner Of the repub.
lie" In the closing days of the last ses.
I sion Mr.. Clark bestrode his favorite hobby
again.
The New England School
Some of these days. he said, Il intend
: TO make an entire speech here about Alex.
ander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson. a,
: a duty to the living and to the dead. The
: conspiracy, for it is nothing less. and the
E chief prepayment OF It is Elihu Root. sec
; rotary OF state, to pose Alexander Hami.
5 ton as the father OF the constitution /,
one of the most preposterous and impu.
dent fakes in history. ] know how il vii
; work. 1t is the New England school o.
: book writer's that does It. Somebody hint,
i II and then somebody declares it, and tn,
next you know ii is clapped into the schoo
: books. That title, the father of the con.
stitution,' belongs Of right to James Mad
ison, the great Virginian. These latter
] day Hamiltonians are e~ndeavoring to fflcI
from James Madison the glory Of bein,
> the father OF the constitution Just al
Americas Vespucius filched from the grea
Genoese navigator the glory Of fixing hi
name on a newly discovered world.
"The facts Of history are plain. jaime.