The Anderson daily intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson, S.C.) 1914-1915, 1914-08-18

claims TO gifts or oratOry, but when
! do speak or write | have something
10 say and toll the truth straight
from tho shoulder. as | am doing
now.
AS TO AesENrEEIsM.
II Is charged that have bcen away
| from the House Il great deal while 1t
has becn in session, that out OF 99I
roll calls was absent 253 times.
Charges of this kind have been mad"
against members OF Congress ever
| since we have had congress.
have not taken the trouble to verify
the. figures as given by Baker, but, as
! Stunning that they are correct. which I
doubt. ! am surprised that 1 was re-
corded as voting 80 many times. The
record Is good one, even as they
| state 1t. AZ everybody knows, it hns
been custom in Congress from time
immemolial for members to pair with
each other. When member is
| Obliged to be absent. for illness or for
any other reason. he gets member
of the opposite party to pair with
him. and then neither will vote until
| the absent member returns and the
! pair is broken. This is courtesy
that all members of Congress extend
to each other. | have had to be away
from tho House occasionally, while it
was in session. on account OF illness
OF myself OF members of my family,
or on public business, and have near
| ly always Luen paired. have been in
the House great many times when q
vote was taken. and have refrained
from voting. because I was paired
with some absent member. The pairs
n ch In
ord, but not in the Journal of the
| House. II Dominick and his hench-
man, Baker. had wanted to be fair
| they would have quoted from the Rec
| ord. and not from the, Journal, and
would hayc told the truth about the.
pairs. 49, 4 al
THE GUARDIANSHIP.
1t is charged that was not made
Chairman Of the Committee on the
District OF Columbia. In spite OF
seniority. because ! had; been neglect
full OF duty in attending the commit
tee meetings and was not equal to the
work. AT the beginning of the Sixty
second Congress 1t was up 10 me TO
take this Chairmanship, being ,the
| Ianking member of the committee,
but ! did not care for 1t. knew il
| meant great deal Of thankless work,
and that 1t might interfere with my
duty to my own district and keep me
from giving 1t the close attention
which 1t has been my pride to give it.
Representative Ben johnson Of Ken
tncky was next to me on the commit.
tee and was at that time a prOspec-
tive candidate for governor of his
state. He was very keen to get the
n r. nV1r Al f4r
thought II would help him in his race
for governor. did not know n great.
deal about Johnson. but had regard
ed him as my friend. and was quite
willing to unload the Ghnlrmanship. on
him. lie seemed very grateful. and
was profuee In his thanks. lie offered
to do anything in the world for me,
and asked him to appoint my old
friend Dock Owens. a Confederate
Veteran. who now 1.-Two, at, Greenwood
but who once lived tt Andersen, as
messenger of the cri nittee. This Ia
q position that Ia nC hard to MI, and
pays some $l.i00 or 1900 a year. and
It would have becn godsend to ME-.
Owens In his declining years. Mr..
johnson did not up his promise as
TO appointing M Owens. and he did
not act fnirly, ! other matters, and
ings. am so lt.it that when a man
deliberately r',vs false with me tit
Is hard for ne to get over 1t.
Atethe begi: ming OF the sixty-third
Congress learned that my opponents
for reelection would try to use
against me the fact TINT 1 was not
made chairman OF the District Com
.mittce. md would try to make 1t ap-
pear that had been turned down he
catse of fault OF my OWN Il swallow
cd my pride and went to Mr. john
son and asked him If he would be, as
good to me as l had been to him L
told him that had given him the
chairmnpshlp to help. him In his poli.
tical fortunes. and asked him IL he
would do tho same thing for me. 1
was not much surprised when he told
me that he had defeated me sfpt the,
Craftsmanship. In a fair fight, a d on
his merits. and that I had mo claim
on him. did not pursue the matter as
vigorously aa ] might have done, for !
Mr.. .Johnaon had his friends, OF course.
andI feared that fight over the
ehairmanshlpr might open the way for
disruption In the party ranks. and i
did not wapt to be Responsible for.
anything OF that kind. IN IN
But in order I'd be prepared for lust
such, agBlafderEa as this went to the
Democratic members of ,ahssyNays and
Mems Committee rfishichK romn,ittee
selects;tali theaOther committees Iof
the Housed. end stated the sltpat tion
10 them and asked for a statement ofi
the faGtss They very promptly 1 and
eiadty gave men the following:
House OF Representatives. ",
.Washington, April "a, 1913
tHon. Wyatt Aiken. House dc sHepre.,