The Washington herald., 1910-02-20

about hobnobblng with kins and queens,
decked out in ieweled crowns and drag
ging purple and ermine after Them and
their idea of other officials is often quite
as bizarre Gossiping with 4 local poll
tician In the backwoOds not long ago.
the writer was asked 20 describe the cos
tune of the sergeant-at-arms OF the
Senate When she informed her bucolic
friend that this functionary dressed quite
like other people. her interlocutor was
.abviOusly disappointed
but he carries mace. doesn't hep
she was asked No, she was told, there
was no mace among the official bric-a-
brac of the Senate.
How. then, does ne enforce his author
ity?" demanded the farmer. who had eyi-
IDENTIFY conjured up a vision OF the ser
geant-at-arms of medieval times, those
knights who were in constant attendance
on the king and dressed the part. There
is as a matter Of fact. no necessity to
enforce authority in the upper House OF
Congress. A tap of the presiding officers
gavel is ali that is required 70 bring that
grave and reverend body 10 order There
have been. 10 ne sure. personal scrim-
images on the floor OF the Senate, as
when Tillman attacked McLaurin whils
the Senate was I'm session and Bailey
pitched into Beveridge just after it had
adjourned. but IN both these cases the
combatants were separated before the
Sergeant-at-arns had time to interfere
Pooh bah of the senate.
Technically. it is the duty of the Ser
geant-at-arms of the Senate 10 enforce
the authority of that body; actually, he
IS its man Friday, it's Pooh-bah. the most
important official at his end of the Capt.
tol He is the hOusekeeper Of the Senate
he looks to it that the Senators are made
comfortable. he is the go-between fol
the Senators. he has charge of all that
part of the building devoted TO the use
of the Senate, there is nothing under
the sun a Senator wants that ne does
not go TO the Sergeant-at-arms for, from
new ink bottle TO advice concerning
a pending measure.
He is appealed TO regarding precedent
for decade in the Senate makes hin
invulnerable on this point, and no matter
what question comes up in this connec'
tion the cry is. Ask Ransdell about it
and Ransdell can always answer it, He
| finds a way out Of the most intricate
| labyrinths; he smoOthes down disgrun
| tied victors, and he gets rid of undesira-
BILE ones in way that makes them fee
| they are being treated with great con
sideration.
| At the beck and call of ninety-two o
the cleverest men in the country, in tht
world perhaps, coming into constan
contact with them. It is necessary tha
this official should be a diplomatist O
extraordinary talents as well as a trained
executive. and that the present Sergeant
alarms is If Col. Ransdell ever lose!
his temper. If he is ever for a momen
| embarrassed by unusual demands mad
upon him, if he is ever worried OF per
picked by some tantalizing question o
| precedence, that great stumbling blocl
| in the way of all officials of this govern
ment who must deal with it no one eve
suspects it. for he has himself under per
| feet control.
Man Behind the Scenes.
Col RansdeI, in a word, pulls the string
that move the Senate; he is the man be
hind the scenes that sets the machiner!
in motion. yet there is no evidence o
this business in his pleasant Office. Th
wheels are so well oiled and run S,
smoothly that there is an entire abenc
OF the whizZ. the,stir and hustle one asse
eiates with political affairs. an absence
/ too. of clrcumlocution and red tape