The Republican journal., 1911-07-13
CONGRESSIONAL WIT AND HUMOR.

gress" in McClure's magazine for June,
Herbert Bruce Fuller says of Congress
man Samuel S. Cox: His speeches were
grandiloquent, filled with passages of
gold-plated eloquence and they won for
him the soubriquet of Sunset Cox "
This is an error He was called Sunset
Cox because of an article descriptive of
a sunset, written for an Ohio newspaper
before he entered upon his Congressional
career. There was one occasion when
his ready tongue and quick wit failed
him. In addressing the House he made
bitter attack upon "Ben" Butler,
against whom he directed all his powers
Of sarcasm and invective. Butler sat
composedly in his seat, his countenance as
imperturbable as that of craven image,
but finally he rose, and with a wave OF
his hand toward Cox-who was a very
small man-eXclaimed, ''Shoo fly, don't
bodder mel The House and galleries
roared and it was some time before bust
ness could be resumed Cox made
reply, but it was lost in the tumult over
Buffers effective sally.
The writer in McClure's truly says that
reputation as Congressional humorist
has acted as bar to political advance
ment, and Cox was further handicapped
by his small stature. He looked forward
% attaining the speakership, but when
called to the chair on one occasion utter
Iy failed to keep order so that the House
could continue business. As he was al
ways Joking the House treated him as a
joke,
The writer in McClure's mentions the
Duluth speech Of Proctor Knott of Ken
lucky, but hardly does justice to the
scenes attending its delivery. 1t is said
of some Of the early humorists in Con-
gress that their speeches when read to-
day do not strike the reader as irresist-
IDLY funny, and it is no doubt true in all
cases that the presence, the voice, and
what may be termed the stage settings,
are needed for a full appreciation of
oratorical efforts. Proctor Knott was a
small man, with a solemn demeanor and
in delivering his Duluth speech he held a
large map which he used to illustrate his
remarks. AS he went on with his speech
the members left their seats and gather
ed around him, and when the gavel fell
and the speaker announced that the time
allotted him had expired, there was a
unanimous shout of "Let him go on!''
This speech was delivered on January
27, 1871, and was directed against rail-
road bill designed to assist the develop
ment of that great mineral region of
which Duluth is the shipping port.
Duluth, the name, tickled Knott's fancy.
He made fun of it, sparkling fun, for
he was ready humorist whose humor
was not coarse. Of all the many epithets
Knott bestowed on Duluth, only one now
fingers in the public's memory, 1.-THE
zenith city of the unsalted seas" Of
the region of which Duluth was to be the
metropolis he predicted it would not
produce enough vegetation in ten years
20 fatten a grasshopper The listen
ing House of Representatives roared
with laughter at this point, and again
when he declared his conviction that
the golden orchard of Hesperides was
but poetical synonym for the beer
gardens in the vicinity of Duluth
W. l. L
memory Of the writer, who listened to
the speech from the reporters gallery.
In describing Duluth as the center of the
universe the speaker said that the sky
came down at an equal distance all around
lt-Whlch is also true of Belfast, and of
some other places. AS humorist Mr..
Knott established nationwide reputa-
flon, but as prophet he proved failure,
for his speech so advertised Duluth that
1t has grown and fourished and is now
city of $4,000 inhabitants.
No mention is made in McClure's Of
Proctor Knott's District of Columbia
speech, delivered later. In those days
Washington had a city government, but
the National government then, as now,
owned and controlled the avenues and
much other property, for which appro-
priations were made, and the people of
the city and of the District of Columbia
We're not backward in asking for money
from the government. A bill making an
appropriation for paving Pennsylvania
avenue was the occasion of Mr. Knott
speech, in the course of which he said
that he hoped that after Congress had
provided a brown-stone front for every
resident of the District they would not
come to Congress for an appropriation
for cast iron niggers to place in front of
their doors. At that time such figures,
mounted on granite blocks, had come in
to vogue for hitching posts. Mr.. Knott
was billed for speech on woman's
rights, but went home long before the
session closed. and having declined re-
election was seen no more in Congress.
Later he was elected Governor of Ken
lucky, and he died last week at the age
of 80 years. When in Washington he