The Washington bee., 1911-02-25
Public Men AndThinDS
(By the Sage of the Potomac.)

| was up to the Capitol Monday.
and met several of the attaches on the
hill. The political atmosphere IS en-
tIrely different up there from what 1t
is down town. They talk on different
subjects, so much so that it IS almost
like being in another village Down
IN the city you get a lot of rumOrs-
orphan TumOTs-and when you chase
them down you find they are nothing
more nor less than black grapevine
messages to the susCeptibles." Up on
the hill, at the Capitol, you get the
real news. Another thing | observe
whenever l get up there is that the
attaches around the Capitol haven't
learned the art of knocking like those
down in the city around in the de-
partments. Monday | never heard
knock against any one. There's
spirit of live and let live among the
colored men around the Capitol
Taken as body, they are the truest
of race men connected with the gov
ernment. Down in the city in the de-
partments, too many are prone to
knock the next man higher up Just
for the sake of knocking | wish they
could express about a half ton of the
good will the boys at the Capitol pos
sess down to the city. 1t would help
things nightly.
Speaking about being up at the
Capitol, | got a fresh one while up
there, and the wonder to me Is that II
has not rolled down the hill to You
and Fourteenth streets where the
brethren congregate and perambulate
and speculate on disasters they hope
will Overtake this or that sable son Of
Ham. | heard that Senator Curtis IS
trying to locate Mr. Vernon IN some
other position when he retlres from
the Registers office Senator Curtis
has stuck to his Kansas brother in
black like a leeCh, and deserves credit
for it. OF course the place will not
be near as good as his present posi-
ton, and if he takes it, providing 1t
can be arranged, the anvil chorus will
start the cry that he lowers his dig
nifty by accepting an inferior position.
OF course | myself wish 1t could be
that when our COlOred representatives
drop out of high places they could
drop gracefully, and into something
equally as remuneratIve outside OF
politics. But they can't, and every
fellow knows his own condition best.
One thing sure, if you go down to
the station to catch a train for Bal
timore, and find the last train has left,
but you can get passage on freight,
you sure will take that freight train
rather than walk, if you have got to
be in Baltimore at certain time.
Now, if Mr.. Vernon finds he needs
the other place, even if it does not
pay half as much as his present place,
it's his business to take it, and no con-
Germ of the anvil chorus, for this ChO-
rus would not and could not give him
a job of picking peanuts at five cents
per bushel. And you can bet your
whistle that every fellow who cen
sures Mr.. Vernon for dropping a
pound or two of dignity, while max
ing a marathon run, would take job
of hauling ashes down Pennsylvania
avenue on Inauguration day, If he was
out of a job, and had to have one,
Ny advice to Dr.. Vernon Is to take
what you can get, and never mind the
grave diggers.
If DR.. Vernon had been a white
man, and had held the position OF
Register of the Treasury, when his
term was up there would have been
a number of financial institutions
ready to tender him a place at a good
fat salary. Col. Lyons came out, be-
fore him, and has had to hustle to
beat the band It's true of them all,
If they haDDened TO be on the short
side Of cash when they entered and
when they came out. OF course Ma
pier is rich, and when his time shall
have been up, he can go back to his
bank, or just cut coupons the rest OF
his life. But there are not many col
ored men in that condition. The
Treasury Department is a stepping
stone up for white men, and a step
ping stone down for beaver-complex-
ioned beings of the male species. A