The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-26
CAPITAL SAD SIGHT ]. ON MORNING AZ TER City Quickly Deserted After
 Adjournment SOME VACANT SEATS And Something About the Personality of Leading Men in Both
 Houses Who Fill Them fs3Ssf
By WALTER HARPER


 Washington 'the morning after is a sad Bight.
 miasmatic hamlet in the swamps of Louisiana after the breaking out of plague could hardly present more lonely spectacle.
 The Loneliness following the special ses- sion closing as it did in midsummer is especially marked
 The general assertion began few days before the actual closing of the session, but the death agony came within a few minutes after Speaker Champ Clark's eavel touched his desk with a resounding whack two minutes past o'clock Tues day afternoon There were few mo- ,ments of wild cheering for the speaker and in an incredibly short time the hall and the galleries were deserted. Many of the members and their clerks caught the first trains out of town.
 Next morning I took my regular stroll through the capitol. There were but few visitors in the corridors. They seemed to have timed their coming and going !. tn the close of the Congress.
 In the hall of Representatives a few men and be were clearing the floors and desks of the papers and rubbish that had been left at the last battle. Colonel Charlie Mann, the superintendent of the House press gallery. and his assistants were clearing the decks in the newspaper sloft. Books, copy paper, envelopes, pens, link and other material used by corre- spondents in keeping the world informed of the instant proceedings of the greatest ! Legislative body in the world were being packed away. Typewriters were being )torn from their stands and removed to the downtown offices of the correspondents k Mice disturbed the usual quiet, scam ,pered across the carpets and out among E sxhe seats in the galleries.
 &3 From the loft looked down on the de- E serted benches of the House of Repre- ; ;tsentatives. The echoes of contending par s2 |tisans had been silenced. Two seats that always occupied were vacant with W the rest but the strong presence of their 7s3cwners seemed to finger about the place. ;'S One is that of oscar Underwood and the { other of James R. Mann leader of the republican minority.
 3 MT. Underwood's seat is in the third X row from the front next to the first aisle to the right of the center aisle. That of 2t Mir. Mann is on the fourth row and next AtQ the senter aisle. They in easy 4 kch of each other, thereebeing but. three Ieeats and an aisle between them have Il seen them consulting in an undertone fs from their rspective positions. Mir. Underwood is always in his seat unes engaged in his committee, and then ! he leaves the leadership of the floor in the hands of trusted lieutenant, usually the chairman of the committee having charge of the particular business before the house. have never seen MT. Mann's seat deserted during session. His ioo is really as responsible from a party standpoint as that of MT. Underwood. It is his business to impede legislation. In other words, to block the programme of the majority He keeps himself familiar 4 with every bill resolution that is to come up and stands ready to object. He serves a necessary and useful purpose in legislation and no man is better fitted for this than MT. Mann. He is not only good fighter, but he is a hard worker. More than this, he is courteous and fair F. debate. He always smiles while he is stabbing his antagonist He takes spe- ,cial delight in striking at MT Underwood, but always gives him parting smile as he takes his seat. Mir. Underwood all ways looks up from his indifferent ab straction to return the smile.
 When I looked down on these two seats. deserted, on the morning after" l could feel the opposing presence of their own CTS.
 Another seat located to the left of Mr. Nfanns and next to the second aisle seems strangely lonesome It is the seat of Eereno Payne of New York. the author of the ''infamous' and "indefensible'' Payne tariff bill MT. Payne was almost always in his seat. He is a large, heavy I, b.,i,- xxrl,i ita d,.ix I can see him now in his characteristic pose: standing in the aisle. his heavy body leaning forward one hand resting on a desk and the other cupped behind his ear listening intently at a ruling of the speak CT or a proposition of agreement of di- vision of time for debate from Mir. In -derwood. He is ranking minority mem Der of the ways and means committee and therefore has charge of tariff debate on the republican side.
 On the Senate side the loneliness is pe- culiarly impressive.
 Here the voices of Hepburn and Cum mins are stilled but not forever Hey burn sits in the front row near the cen ter of the left side. Cumrisns sits two seats directly behind him. It is an easy bet that when one is not talking the other is Heyburn is always objecting to some thing while Cummns stunt is to pro pose something new.
 The ghosts of Bailey and Newands also rise before me in the misty loneliness Of the deserted chamber. Newlands' voice is slow, deliberate and judicial He is laying down some new problem of com prehensive weight for the regulation Of trusts or the reform of the monetary sys- tenn or is chiding the Senate for it's lack of efficiency and results accomplished.
 Bailey is spreading his chubby palms before him while his deep, sonorous voice. penetrating to every corner of the cham ber carries his positive convictions or his righteous indignations to the minds of every nearer. If you hear Bailey once you can never get his voice or his manner off your mind.
 In the office buildings there is still some activity A few of the senators and con gressmen are lingering to finish up some departmental business for their constitu- ents or to put in motion some political scheme Clerks and assistants are pack