People's Pilot, Volume 6, Number 30, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 January 1897 — GOING TO SEED. [ARTICLE]

GOING TO SEED.

A Correspondent Thinks Congressmen Are Net What They Were. It is a fact that the habits of congressmen have been revolutionized within the last dozen years. One need not go back to the days of Clay and Webster for a time when most of the great statesmen of the day were to be seen constantly mingling with the mob aronnd the hotels and at the bars. Not that they drank to excess, nor that they drank more than they do at this time, bnt assuredly they were oftener to be seen tonohing elbows or glasses with men who could give them a shrewd idea of what the world outside was saying of them. They delighted to oome to the capitol long before tbe honr of meeting and sit abont and smoke And gossip and tell witty stories. Many a shrewd polioy was initiated and mellowed and plucked in such circumstances. Daring the last half dozen years there has been plainly noticeable a growing exolusiveness among congressmen as a class. They are less with and of tbe people. Tbey keep ont of tbe pnblio eye, except when in tbeir seats. Th&y oome late to the capitol, and tbe moment the gavel of tbe speaker or tbe vice president falls to announce adjournment they are off so quickly that one would think they had disappeared through tbe floor. It is a selfishness which is in no way beneficial to them, though it may be very comfortable. It makes them cold and listless. Congress has not half tbe snap and go and wit and vital, robust, wholesome heartiness that it bad a few years ago. Of course there are a few choice ones who have not changed, bnt the mass, who typify the statesmanship of the time, are not so human as those older ones and give to the publio life of Washington neither color nor vitality. —Washington Cor. Pittsburg Dispatch.