Los Angeles herald., 1910-12-01
Ioe Cannon and Champ Clark
Tell of Humorist as Wash
ington Lobbyist
CELEBRITIES AT MEMORIAL
William Dean HoWelIS Quotes
What Clemens Would Say
to Gathering
ASSOCIATED Press)

NEW YORK, Nov. 30.-William
Dean Howells presided at the memorial
to Mark Twain tonight in Carnegie
hall. Joseph G. Cannon of the house
and Champ Clark, speaker that may
be, spoke from the same platform. DR.
Henry Van Dyke of Princeton, Henry
Watterson, George w. Gable, Booth
Harrington, ]. Pierpont Morgan, John
Luther Long and many others were
at the meeting, under the auspices of
the Academy of Arts and Letters.
II believe [ can safely PROMISE Mr.
Howells said, that the commemora-
tion will not be formal or funereal.
The man himself could no more be
formalized than flame. His vivid
genius ranged at will through all-the
ways of life Now that it is freed to
the pathless amplitude of the skies, 1t
could hardly offer pattern of con-
ventional observation. We might I'M
agine him saying tonight
why. of course you must not make
solemnity of it. / want you to be
serious about me-that is, sincere, and
you could not be sincere II you ran TO
eulogy. But we don't object to affec-
ton; we like to be liked as well as
ever, and if any of you can remember
should not mind his telling it, pro-
vided he did not blink at the palliat-
ing circumstances, the mitigating mo-
tives, the selfish considerations that
always accompany every noble action.
At the same time l don't suppose
comnfemoration is exactly the occa-
sion for dwelling on mans short
comings in his life or his literature.
Joseph Choate recalled that Darwin
used to say he kept the remedies for
sleeplessness at the head of his bed
the Bible and "Innocents Abroad.
And Darwin said he did not know
which he read the most"
LETTER TO CANNON
Uncle Joe Cannon told how Clemens
came to Washington in the interest of
the copyright law. HE wrote me a
letter and brosIgh. it to me in the
speakers room" AS read by Mr.. Can
non, the letter ran:
Dear Uncle Joe: Please give me
the thanks of congress, not next week,
but right away. 1t is very necessary.
Do accomplish this at once, by per-
suasion if you can, by violence If you
must, for it is absolutely necessary that
/ get on the floor for two or three
hours and talk to the congressman,
man by man. 1 have arguments with
me. Also a barrel with liquid in it. l
let it alone for seventy-one years and
/ am entitled to it's thanks. Congress
knows this well and it never has pub
licly acknowledged its appreciation.
Send me a reply at once with an order
on the sergeant-at-arms. With love
and benediction, Mark Twain"
Congressman Champ Clark of Mis-
souri, spoke Of mark Twain as Lob
byist." ION memorable day." said
Clark, mark Twain descended upon
the capitol in gorgeous attire and swept
everything before him. In the dead of
winter he wore suit of white flannels,
white as the snow which filled the air.
"He created a profound sensation,
which was strictly utiltarian, and cum
ningly planned for effect upon hard
headed, matter r-of-fact solons. The
subject of his lobbying was improve
ment in the copyright laws, which were
sadly in need of improvement. AS long
as he remained in the capitol it was al
most impossible to maintain quorum
in the house, so eager We're members to
form his acquaintance and listen to his
conversation. All men and women, and
even little children in the street, WED
with one another to do him honor.
1.-THE great-hearted Missourian en-
joyed it to the limit He talked with
perfect abandon on a multitude of sub
jects, and all the while he lobbied-
lobbied skiIlfdlly-lobbied in delightful
manner-lobbied with side-splitting
yarns--lobbied with philosophical re-
marks-lobbiedRw wealth of remin-
iscence-lobbied with fetching argu-
ment for justice-and accomplished the
substance of what he sought--a rich
benefaction to American authors"