The Washington herald., 1914-03-05
Statesmen, Real and Near.
BY PRED G. KELLY

Joe Tumulty. Secretary to the Presi.
dent. likes to go to the theater In the
lafternoons rather than at night.
Two or three times a week Joe forget,
his troubles by dashing on to a matinee.
His object in picking the matinee per-
formance Is because he likes to have the
evening In which to keep up a personal
acduaintance with his bunch of young
sters at home. The evening is the only
time ne can see them and check up how
many there are.
President Wilson has his theatrical
tastes pretty well defined. Best of all
he likes light-waisted comic opera, or
musical comedy. with plenty of tuneful
songs and dancing. But he also has a
great fad for going to see a so-call.d
stock company each week. The average
theater-goer looks on a stock company
attraction at popular prices as a good
place to go. when one doesn't feel ike
spending s. for u seat. The President does
not figure Just that way. He likes the
Idea OF seeing the same players over and
over again In different parts and coIu-
pairing their work in various roles. He
was SO pleased with the work OF one
young woman In a Washington stock
company that he wrote her a highly
| complimentary letter.
And she was smart enough not to turn
the letter over to her press agent, to
mako the President sorry he had written
it.
A new member of Congress asked Mi
nority Leader James r. Mann IL a GER
tain Democrat was radical in his views.
81 should say he was radical" re-
piled Mann. Hes one OF the most wild
eyed radicals in the House. II we can
get the appropriation we're going to ap-
point a couple Of keepers to 60 around
with him."
Representative Henry d. Clayton.
chairman of the House judiciary
Committee. that Is now mulling over
antitrust legislation, is a man with a
quick temper; but II acts like a scapc.
valve to keep him in good humor most
of the time.
Some people get mad and stay mad
end go about nursing a grudge after the
Kramer Of an elephant. Yi.h Clayton.
however. a burst o. tember seems 10
burn up any ill-will he has about him,
and purify. his system.
4 while ago he was making a cam
paign speech and s'mc pin-headed yap
In the audience male a crack TO him
about an inconsequential Personal mat
ter that was nObody's business. Instanl-
ly Clayton was IN Il rage and he callet
that man every unfiattering name he could
summon to his mind-and he is some
summOner in such circumstances. Thea
he went on with his speech as quietly
and Internationally as II rothing had hap
pened. Before the day WIS over Re
chanced To meet the man face to face,
but he showed no serious anger: BET ausc
he had already told The man Just wnat
he could do. and the outburst had given
his feelings adequate relief.
One Of the first campaign speeches
Clayton ever made was n a part OF his
native State OF Alabama that was a Pop
ulIst hotbed. They did not care to hear
straight Democratic stun that Clayon
was about to offer and they began TO
hoOt and in every way possible make 1t
perfectly clear to him that he might as
well save his speech for some other
locality. Clayton. however did not care
to make any other arrangements. He
had come TO get that speech of his
chest and he could not bear the idea OF
taking il back home with him. So he
got up on a barrel. entirely surrounded
by Populists and whiskers. and told
them that he was going to make
speech-regardless He started in amidst
derisive shouts and jeers to hurl a choice
line OF eXpletives at the crowd. Some of
these eXpletives were so neat and ex-
Iiressive that the jeering multitude kept
still occasionally to hear them. Every
time there was a lull, Clayton inserted
part Of his speech, and then taunted
them for having had to listen to it. Lit
tlo by little lie feed them the entire
It him several hours hIIf
lac would have said his piece II it took
a week. He is that kind.
All the other little irritations Of life
seem trivial to Clayton when compared
with the extreme annoyance OF having |
to deal with the patent wire paper holders |
Of modern commerce. Clayton thinks !
the proper way to fasten together papers |
dealing with antitrust legislation. or any !
other papers for that matter. is with a |
Din. Every time he picks up a bunch !
Of papers fastened with a wire holder and |
they pull apart. he makes few more or
less impassioned remarks, throws away !
the wire holder and replaces II with a
pin.
Most of the time Clayton is extremely
raIm in his manner. He has the court
iness and courtesy of an old-fashioned
story book Southerner. When he rises on
The floor of the House and utters even I.
the simple words: THE Ju-dee-ci-a-ry
COM -mit-tee." he is as quiet and dignified
as II he had just been delegated to an
nOunce the Crack OF Doom.
Whenever an appropriation bill is being
considered in the House, one will find
N the lap of Representative Fowler. nf
illinois, a copy Of the bill all interlined
and annotated in pencil like a schoolboy's
Latin book.
For every item in the appropriation
bill. Fowler has written below what that
TEN was in the bill the year before. II
ne detects a raise in arybody's salary he
II ises to inquire why. Usually he is
greatly opposed to having anybody's
salary raised.
There Is Just one class of government
employees that he thinks should have
nore money. And that is the scrub
women.
iCOTyright 1914. by Fred C. Kelly. All rights
res.r1edD