Bisbee daily review., 1911-05-26
WILLIAM A. JONES OF VIRGINIA
BY sAvOYARD.

Nirginian save John Randolph of
 Roanoke and Thomas Newton of Nor folk. He is the dean of the demo
 cratic side and no man in public life
 has made a finer character
 Mir. Jones won his spurs the urst
 session in which he sat. It was ig
 the debate of the Sibley claim Be
 fore the war Sibley. a Southerner and
 graduate of West Point. invented
 an army tent. and the government entered into a contract with him for i.s use. He assigned one-half the
 contract to Q Northern man who col
 lected what was due him on it. Slb.
 ley went with his people in the war and after the surrender he was par
 dened and later he died.
 His heirs presented a claim for the amount due him and the govern ment pleaded the statute of lmiita- tions; at least that was the effect of it, but bloody shirters like Bur rows and that gang pleaded treason l in bar. While Jones was speaking 1 Tom Reed interrupted to ask if the i fact that the government was mag unanimous enough not to hang Sibley | for his treason should not DC lun satisfaction and discharge of the ac- count, 10 which Jones retorted that such suggestion would come with bet 1 ter grace from some one who faced Sibley on the field Of battle.
 There was heap of pharisaism in the debate of the Sibley claim and perhaps it was the last forsenic hat l tie in congress in which the G. O. P. unfurled the bloody shirt There was deal of cant and dishonesty in every argument adduced. The excuse for the repudiation was that those to whom the debt was due were chil- dren of a pardoned rebel. If that idea prevailed-that nobody should pay a deot if he did not approve the con duct or the descent of the creditor it would be the easist matter in the world for aS Of us to turn ras-
 calls and retain our responsibility. Jones retort on Reed was one of the very few times that the shaft oi
 an adversary pierced the armor oi the giant from Maine He resented it like a pigmy and not like the great
 man he certainly was. and when he became speaker of the Fifty-fourJn congress he removed Jones from the committee of rivers and harbors anG assigned him to minor and insiCnifi- cant places in the organization in
 which Virginia had little or no h 1 terest. such as Indian affairs and pub lie lands. 1t was designed as a pun. ishment of an enemy 10 whom he did not speak and over whom be had no power It was unworthy of Tom Reed.
 Time uent on. Jones discharged his committee duties promptly and faithfully as he did all other con gressional iaboTs. Reed watched him and came to respect him, possibly 10 admire him for his resolute and dig nified character. There came a va cancy on appropriations, and Reed commissioned a member to say that Jones could have the place. Jones sent him word that his public service was known to the speaker. who could do as he saw it in the matter That settled Reed and ne gave the place 10 another. Had Jones indicated the least part of submission then he
 would be chairman of appropriations
 now.
 When the committee in insular ar fairs was created the republicans
 were resolved that it should DC al important body, composed of the very aristocracy of the house. Cannon, Payne. Hit, Hepburn, Loud, Moody and Tawney were On it-four chair men of big committees. a future as sOciate justice of the supreme court
 and a future chairman Of appropria- tions. Jones wes made head of the minority, though 1t contained Car
 mack Of Tennessee, and Maddox or Georgia. He has been on the com
 mittee from its creation and i5 now
 its chairman
 This is the man who has the tenn
 erity to offer combat to the Goliath
 of the machine. NIT. Carter Glass sup
 ports him, and as soon as i can gath
 CT some additional information ]
 shall have something to say about
 Mir. Glass and the suppression of the freedom Of the press iu the state