The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1909-05-06
RAISING STATESMEN.

The proud mother who wants her son
to grow up and become statesman can
gain valuable information as to the pro-
cedure by consulting the Congressional
Record. The biographies of the repre-
sentatives of the people give the clue
In the first place, the aspiring parent
ought to choose the honest, rugged
name of William. There are more con-
gressmen with this cognomen to the
square inch in the House of Represen-
tatives, than any other-50 out of the
total of 1893. John is also a favorite,
with 81 bearing that front name in the
present membership. But William is
better. "Bill'' sounds good with the
masses.
Thirty-one members answer to the
name of Charles; IS to that of James;
II were baptized Joseph; Is bear the
surname of George; there are II Henrys,
10 Thomases, 7 Roberts, and the same
number of Franks, Edwards, 4 with
the historic George Washington" as
their first two names, and l who scorns
adornment and calls himself plain
Jack "-Beall of Texas.
Then, too, the far-sighted parent
should carefully choose an occupation
for the child destined for congressional
fame. BY all means he should be a
LAWYER there are 245 legal lights in the
present House, which is away and above
every other profession. Second choice
is newspaper work. Twenty graduates
of journalism or proprietOrs of news
papers are members. There are 10 who
confess to farming in their biographies,
IA bankers, and lumbermen or manu-
facturers of forest products. There are
t1ree tele ~ lers, two practicing physi-
/ clans (whO by the way always get well
advertised whenever anyone is suddenly
taken sick around the House chamber,
as ''Dr. So-and-so, a member from
Such andsuch-a-state, attended the
patient. y and one actor-Juhus Kahn,
of California, who still affects poetic
flowing tie and is given to gestures Of
course, it's possible for men with other
professions Ito break into Congress
John X. Tener, of Pennsylvania, pro-
fessional baseball player at one time,
for instance, achieved thesfeat. And
so did Representative Anderson, of
| Ohio, who, like the heroes in Oliver
Optics books, arose from the humble
walk of newsboy and bootblack. Muir
ply, of Missouri, and Cushman of
Washington, both are proud to write in
their little biographies that they were
at one time railroad section hands.
There are quite a number who declare
they were cowboys and punchers.
To be real representative of the
people, however especiallyif one comes
! from rural district-it sounds best to
be able to state in biography that ''he
was born and reared on the farm. -
Exactly 81 representatives claim this
! ulSJlHCIlOH III Inc ldleSJ eulJlOn OF the
Congressional Directory. Two others
Webb, of North Carolina, and Carter,
of Oklahrma, however have this beat
to fragile, " when theyproudly include
the fact that they first saw light in a
log cabin. That is a master stroke.
Needham. of California, has distinc-
ton, which he makes much of in his
biography was born on an emigrant
wagon enroute to the great state OF
California.
When an aspirant for congressional
honors is able to tack a war record on
his career, it undeniably helps. The
longest biography in the Directory of
congressmen-that of Representative
Keifer, of Ohio, who tells about himself
J in a matter of seven hundred and eighty