The Washington bee., 1912-01-27
Public Men AndThinps
(By the Sage Of the Potomac.)

When the contest was on Tor dele
gate to the national convention of
1904 [ asked Perry Carson, the tall
political sycamore of the Potomac.
who he was for. Old Perry permit
ted his brow to wrinkle a bit, stroked
} his chin. and said: We'll, you see
! the Blaine lnvlncibleS amt decided on
! tOther one OF the men who Is out
! Perry thus spoke columes The
/ Blaine Invincibles wodld decide on
| who would be his candidate, and he
/ would first decide on who should be
/ the Blaine InyiuCibles' candidate How
! times are changed. The Blaine Irwin
/ Cible Club still exists, but only in
| memory Those good old days of
! hustle for candidates are gone.
! Andy Gleason amt here either, 10 en-
/ liven things When l read the an
/ nOuuCement that the Blaine InvinCibles
! had iudOrsed some one for delegate, |
thought, now If Old Perry was only
living, what hustling there would be,
and what excitement when the money
/ began 10 Hutter. the red wine began
to flow and the ballots began to drop.
| The Blaine Invincibles now are but
y
| son, who knew more politics. ard
could play the game better than any
! body around here. You could not get
| Perry to uni'mber his guns, and sick
/ his hounds into the fray for ameasely,
| lousey one hundred dollars. Eou had
to talk to Perry in four figures. So he
could talk 10 his henchment in at
| least two ngures. But i'm those days
! Perry was boss, and the southwest
was his to call When ! think of old
/ Perry with IN, six-foOt-six Of ma
| hogauy cOlOred fish and bones Of his
| nerve, long -headeduess and cunning,
and then look upon the postalcard
size fellows who would like To imi-
/ tate him, ] can't help but sing to my
self in low, plaintive voice, the mel
ancholy days have come, the saddest
Of the year Many was the time I
| used to talk with Perry about his
battles, and several times l found my
self on his staff But he never talked
| in three figures He wasn't that
cheap, and he knew he had something
TO give in exchange. Times be
/ changed.
! l dropped III Gaskin's suds empo-
rum Wednesday night, and found the
] bar obliterated from view by a lot of
/ thirsties After finally nudging my
/ way IN to place just wide enough to
| reach my hand, | called for an aCque-
! duct sandwich. Now an acqueduct
sandwich Is about four fingers Of sour
mash with a dash of peppermint in it.
| stood there for a few minutes, talk
| ing to several old habitues who are
! making things come easy for GaskIns,
| and It wasn't long before we got to
| talking about politics Whose your
candidate for delegate" one side
! wheeler asked Now We got to stop
| and explain a "sidcWheeler.' Well,
q sideWheclcr Is q fellow who usually
| hang, around a bar. and sidlcS up to
! it every time a fellow comes I'm for a
| smile whom he knows. I didn't
| want much time with him. So ! said:
i"l amt got no candidate What
! DO you think of Harry Clark" he
said. putting ON enough steam 10 get
/ within two feet of the bar Well. !
! didn't want to get i'm no jam. and
thinking that Harry might have one
/ or two boomers i'm the crowd. ] sim
! ply said. oh. Harry clever enough.
/ AT that he opened up on Harry, and
as loud and as fast as Harry himself
can talk. If he had been there. ne
would have called for time. and al
! lowed them To count MIN out Now.
speaking about Harry Clark, 1t has
! always appeared to ne that that $ a
mighty good flower going to seed.
| The fellow Is as bright as Aguiualdo.
! but he Is SD darued stuck ON chasing
| WiIl-o'-Wisp- Every -four years
| Harry burroW- q pen and some paper
and begins to write breezy stuff for
! the newspapers. stops you ut the cor
| uers, and tells you just how you can
! win II you organize. and just how i'm
!posolDle II Is go win without him.
! Every four years Harry is an oracle.
| Hear him talk and you sure would
/ think he had New y ork pinned up
| i'm one vest pocket Pennsylvania
scwcd up in the other. and the rest of
1.-The country just tucked away I'M his
| inside overcoat pocket. II ! ever be
come Secretary of State | am going
to send Harry to one Of the Central
/ American countries that have a rcvo-
| luton every three weeks. just so he
can set action. But Harry Clark is a
! at az AS5il iNAtpNEr iNt IiiA NJ HIS 'Nt
INTO your nutmeg. He knows as
much law as the next fellow. but he
just can't keep ON intimate terms
| with it. / mean. if he would only
/ hustle as much a. he talks he would
! be one more humming bird ON the
isle of somewhere If Harry Clark
would take my advice and have
given it to him many a time with and
without-with and without offering
| him an opportunity to inspect and
sip a bit Of bourbon rye-aud just
buckle right down to the practice of
| law and quit chasing phantoms, and
/ quit imagining he has political Intlu-
ence outside of his own hat. why
| Harry would make them ali sit up
| and take notice He could eat up
lot of our seven -jeweIed lawyers. But
| I guess its the nature of the crltter
to 90 off on a phantom chase every
! four years
| And that reminds me that there are
two other political wiseacres who in
fest the classic precincts OF this one
third colored populated town who i'm
iagjne they are real influential pOliti-
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