Abbeville progress. (Abbeville, Vermilion Parish, La.) 1913-1944, 1917-07-28

Inc lOiDhIHI, ny -H"'"i'' Cii I'''
appeared in the New York Morning
Telegram:
The Representative from the Third
District of Louisiana is known profes
sionally as Judge Martin, having been
Judge of the Twentieth Judicial Dis
trict Of his State for many years; his
familiar friends and the facetious voter
hail him as Whit Martin; but it re
manned for his confrcrcS in Congress to
speak Of him as the "43jth member,
1.-The deciding vote,' or 1.-THE Martin
mystery"
4 was called something else once,
Mr.. Martin observed in his low, delib-
crate, mobtrusive tone, something as
amusing as any Of the others. Perhaps
it 5 more amusing" He found a Gig
arctic, drew a match across the box,
lighted the cigarette, watched the
smoke sail out of the window into the
court, and then resumed, with charac-
teristic leisure, lit was during my
campaign. l was having a pretty stiff,
hard fight of it. There was a man
whose influence l wanted. Ny friends
went to him, but met with no encour-
agetment. Then l went to him. There
was to be a meeting some place, and
asked him to come.
3" You re goin' to speak, aren t
you?' he blurted.
81 told him l was.
''Well, he came. He stood right be.
meath the platform, looking up into ms
face, steadily, listening to every word
| uttered. A friend of mine had posted
himself at his elbow to see if made
any impression on his. What do you
think about il now' he asked him after
it was all over. And the man whose
influence wanted made this reply;
DO you know that s the uglisst man /
ever saw in all my life Any man as
ugly as he is must be a good man, and
I'm going to support himl'
And he did" Mr. Martin threw
back his head and laughed. "Support-
ed me faithfully from that day to
this"
'And then you re also distinguished
as one of The Powerful Five, are you
notq" some one asked, when Mr.. Mar
tin was going through his pockets for
another cigarette.
rs r tAat what they csil es'', he
asked, 4 sath, detached aud imper-
- - :. ! = Z - 80 c
s ...'s.s; 4 aaprshs ftlat ths Hsflosatie i
sv1itmeil Pugh Martin lfor that il ffrr
full and officially authentic name of
the man who has had so many others |
thrust upon HIM, is one of the most i
and transformations mem 7
bers on the floor of the House. He will q
not be 80 years old until the 18th of '
August; he is slight little below the t
average height; he has kindly blue !
eyes, and light hair beginning to get
lighter where the gray intrudes; his
voice is low, deliberate, just escaping !
the mellow drawl with which writers
AHN "it"bAS HuuA4As lh6 COuNh6Il NOlCt, |
his manner is one Of unfailiig courtesy.
One could not but secretly observe that
the personality Of the man did not ft
into the picture of what might be ex-
pected in the qualifications of some one
ranking as one Of The Powerful Five
in the House. And what made it more
incongruous was that other oft-pub-
lished fact that Mr.. Martin is the cen
trail figure of The Five.
For when the Powerful Five, upon
which hangs the destiny of measures
and men in the House, are lined up for
action, it is not Until "the Martin mys-
terry" is solved that either side knows
definite just how things are going. In
other words, the words of an admiring {
eoafrsrc, MARTIN keeps them guess
ing
Like Mr.. schalt Of Minnesota, Mr..
London of New York and Mr.. Randall,
of California, Mr.. Martin of Louisiana I
is just entering upon his second term
of service; while Mr.. Fuller of Mas !
saehusettes is beginning his first term {
in the National Legislature, having