South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1914-01-03
STA TESMEN
REAL AND NEAR
BY FRED c. KELLY.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 3.-One OF the
newspaper correspondents had occa-
sion the other evening TO call up Joe
Tumulty, the presidents secretary, at
his home Tumulty's residence calls
So through the white house exchange,
and there seemed TO be some difficulty
IL getting a proper connection. The
man who answered the phone was
some night Waterman with an almost
unjntelligible Irish brogue. Moreover
he was an ivory-topped person with
out even gumption enough to hang up
the receiver and give the operator an
other chance. He persisted in asking
lot of stupid questions, until the
newspaper man greatly desired TO Kill
him.
When they finally got another con-
nection, matters were even worse, for
this time an old woman answered the
phone She, too, talked with a bro
gee and was hard OF hearing. She
could not get anything through her
head at ALL
The correspondent hung up and
tiled over different line, but it seem
ed as if the telephone exchange had
been moved to some convenient crazy
house. Instead of getting Tumulty,
the correspondent got an Italian-a
fruit dealer, it appeared.
"Tamalti?" he asked. He no
worka here
The correspondent. of course, was
completely exasperated, and began TO
swear in a rich tenor voice, paying
especial mention to the white house
exchange. Then he heard a laugh
and Tumulty's voice.
1t had been Tumulty on the phone
ell the time, for he is not only pro-
fessional kidder, but a great mimic.
lie can initiate anything from a dog
to an ambassador. And one of his
faN orite amusements after office
hours is stirring the wrath Of SOME
body over the phone. one night he
called up Rudolph Forster, one of the
assistant secretaries at the white
house, initiated the voice of a cab
met officer and pestered Forster al
most into a fit.
Mr.. Uncle Joe Cannon sat in a
Washington hotel the other day re-
calling the first time he ever visited
this town after being elected to con-
grGss-back in 1872. He still thinks
ne was extravagant in buying new
dress suit at that time, and come
y hat may, he probably always will
think So For he already had a dress
suit that he had worn not more than
eight or nine times. Looking back on
il now after the lapse of Al years, it
seems to Joe Cannon that he ought to
have managed somehow or other to
rake the old suit do. The trouble
was that 1t was considerably moth
eaten on account of infrequent use. In
those days a resident Of Danville, Ill,
would often go for weeks at time
without having TO insert himself into
evening clothes, and that was why the
moths had encamped in Joe Cannon's
conventional black. When he was
elected to congress, a rising young
tailor of the community frightened
him into thinking he would imme-
diately have TO have new after-sunset
garments, even though he had never
got his moneys worth out of the out
fit he had. It was Uncle Joe's first
extravaganza and it worried him. All
the way to Washington, with his new
suit in his portmanteau. he sat Won
dering if the moth holes in the old
suit could not have been patched in
some clever manner so that they
wouldn't show,
However. as soon as he got to the
capital and went up to the old Ma
tional hotel, which had the call in
those days, he forgot temporarily
about the money he had squandered,
I
The outgoing congress was in session,
and to Cannon the most interesting
thing in town was to listen to the
doings of the house itself One of the
first men he met was William Z.
Frye, of Maine. afterward senator,
but then a member of the house.
up TO that time" relates Uncle
Joe. II had never seen a man smoke
so necessarily as Frye did. He sat in
house smoking f.
ing at a cigar nearly all the time. and
1 soon found out that by sitting
around that smoking room listening
to Frye and some of the others talk
I could learn more than I could sit
ting out in the house chamber. So |
stayed about the smoking room
good deal and smoked even more than
l had been in the habit of. although
l had some little local reputation out
home then as BUSY smoker
There was one thing about Frye
that l never forgot He was the only
member I mec on that visit to Wash
ingtCn who remembered my name
when ! returned the following Deem
Der 10 enter congress myself. I didn't
hold IL against all the others who did
not remember me, but ii gave me GER
tain added respect for Frye because
he did"
Sen. John A. Logan of Cannon's
state. took young Joe TO meet the
speaker. who was James G.. Blaine.
Mr.. Speaker" said Logan, here is
a rather promising young lawyer
from out in my state and I would like
10 see him get a place on the commit
tee on postofiices and post roads All
I can promise about him is that he
seems willing 10 wO~'
Blaine looked Can. or over and re-
marked that he seem like a bright
young chap. He later gave him the
committee place that Logan had sug-
gested
The night Cannon learned that he
had alighted on a good committee he
put on his new dress suit and went
forth in high spirits to a theater
Copyright. 1914. by Fred c. Kelly.
All rights reserved.)
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