The Washington times., 1917-05-21
LUFKIN MAY WIN
GARDENERS PLACE
Secretary Of Congressman
Seeks Seat.
PRECEDENTS FOR SUCCESSION
Numerous Instances Of Aides Fill
ing Vacancies Left by Chiefs.

Col. Augustus P. Gardner having
resigned as Congressman from the
Sixth district, It is quite within the
possibilities that his private secre-
tary, winifred Lufkin, will succeed
him, says a Washington dispatch to
the Boston Transcript. Mr.. Lufkin In
any event will be a candidate for the
nomination and It may go without
SAYING that Colonel Gardner would
be pleased to see him win. For fif-
teen years Mr.. Lufkin has served
Congressman Gardner with fidelity
and efficiency which have given him
q reputation throughout Washington.
Whether Governor Mccall will call
q special election to I'LL the vacancy
is regarded here as doubtful, for little
and perhaps nothing could be gained
for the districts by electing a man
who might not sit in the present SEES
sion at all, owing to an adjournment
OF Congress meantime, and who,
therefore, would not be entitled to
take the oath until q month after
the regular fall election. Secretary
Lufkin and Colonel Gardner's other
clerks will remain in Washington at
tending to the business of the dis
trict until the vacancy is illled, prob
ably without even changing their
quarters.
1t would be nothing new for a pri-
vate secretary to succeed his chief in
Congress. Sometimes men have step
ped directly into the shoes Of their
former employer, as in the case Of
John A. Key, Of the Thirteenth Ohio
district, who was secretary for four
years to Congressman Carl c. Ander-
son. Mr.. Anderson died and Mr.. Key,
who had served twice as county re-
corder OF Marion county. went back
home and was elected to the Sixty
third Congress by a two to one vote
over his Republican opponent.
Amos Allen and Asher Hlnds.
A more celebrated case is that Of the
late Amos L Allen, of Maine. Mr.. Allen
had enjoyed a long political career in
his native State. eliminating with mem
bership in the Maine legislature. and in
1859 came to Washington as private sec
Rotary to Speaker Thomas B. Reed. serv-
ing in that position through the Fifty
first. Fffty-fourth. and F1fty-fifth Con-
crosses. Mr.. Reed resigned in 1899 and
moved to New York city. where he en-
gfged in the practice OF law. and Mr..
Alden was elected at once to succeed
him He served in five Congresses until
his death in 1911, Mr.. Reed also having
died in 1907
Asher c. Kinds had something of the
same career. although he was a news
paper man in Maine before he came to
Washington and had never held public
office. He came here IN 1880 as Speak
er's clerk, serving two years. Reed was
then zGDealser. In 1885 Mr.. Kinds was
appointed clerk at the Speakers table,
which position he filed for sixteen
years. becoming the greatest parlia-
mentary authority in the United States.
II was while fulfilling the exacting
duties OF. this position that Mr.. Kinds
compiled his monumental work, Kinds
Presidents" in 1--WE volumes. a complete
parliamentary history OF the national
House Of Representatives from its Or
ganization until 1907. These unique and
indispensable volumes were published by
authority Of Congress-
On the death Of Mr.. Allen. Mr.. Kinds
became a candidate for his seat and was
elected to the Sixty-second and all sue
ceeding Congress. except the last, for
which he was not a candidate.
oGnAAoE NEahuAoAs
Maine promoted yet another OF her
trained Capital workers when she
sent Wallace Humphrey White, jr.,
to the Sixty-fifth Congress. Mr..
White is a grandson of the late Sena-
tor William P. Frye and for several
years was associated with that dis
tinguished legislator as clerk or as
sistant clerk of the Senate Commit
tee on Commerce.
Mr.. Whites experience was practi-
cally the same as that of Albert F.
Dawson OF Iowa, who served the late
Senator William B. Allison a long
time as assistant clerk OF the Com
mittee on Appropriations. He left the
Capitol to run for Congress and
served in the Fifty-ninth, Sixtieth,
and SiKty-hrst, gaining an excellent
reputation for ability and becoming
unusually popular in the House.
Mr.. Dawson upon retiring from
Congress practiced law in Washing
ton fol, a time and is now president
of q national bank in Davenport
Iowa
Secretary To Two Senators.
Another Congressman who climbed
into House seat by the private Sec
rotary route is Addison T. Smith, of
Idaho.
Mr.. Smith came to Washington as
secretary for the late Senator George
/. Shoup-he whose marble effigy,
with the thumb thrust nonchalantly
in the armhole OF the vest, is one
Of the spectacles Of Statuary Hall.
Later Mr.. Smith served as secre-
tary to Senator Weldon B. Hepburn
OF the same State, and upon the death
Of that irascible but able statesman,
ran for the House. He was elected
and has continued to be ever since.
Brothers In the House.
Sometimes brothers serve each
other as secretaries, and occasionally,
as in the case Of the Lands boys, two
are elected to the House at the same
time.
When Mr.. Lufkln came to Washing
ton. Fred Lands was private secre-
tafy to his brother. Charles B. Lands
Of Indiana. Later Fred was elected
to the House. The third brother Of
the celebrated lands trio is Judge
Kenesaw Mountain Lands. Of the
United States court at Chicago, who
achieved national fame in a day by
imposing a fine upon the Standard
Oil Company so heavy that even that
gigantic concern might have gone
broke had 1t paid.
Claude Kitchin, now Democratic
leader of the House. WAS preceded in
the House by his brother. William