Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 22, Number 39, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 February 1901 — MEN IN CONGRESS. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

MEN IN CONGRESS.

PROPORTION OF THE DIFFERENT PURSUITS REPRESENTED. Lawyers Have a Lead—Business Men Come Second, Followed by Farmers, Bankers and Journalists, Politicians, Physicians, School Teachers, Etc. Washington correspondence: It takes all sorts of people to make a world, and it takes various kinds of men to make a Congress of the United States. At least it is so in theory, though as a result of observation one would be inclined to the belief that only one pursuit is represented. When it is known that of the next Congress 287 members are lawyers, the preponderance of the legal profession seems to account for the voluminous pages of the Congressional Record, wherein the speeches delivered or prepared by Representatives are published. Somehow it seems that men who have what is called in the vernacular the “infinite gift of gab” make the greatest progress in public life, although the; era of influential speech-making passed years ago. At any rate, lawyers have pretty nearly a monopoly of the seats in' the House of Congress. It seems othl, however, that of all the members of the House only eight are willing to acknowledge themselves politicians, or, in other words, wear their appropriate title. There are, of course, many politicians in Congress, but only eight that will admit that they have no other business —make politics a profession. Next to the lawyers in numerical strength come the business men. There will be fifty of these in the next Congress, a small proportion when it is considered that running the government is a huge business enterprise requiring in its management business sagacity and judgment rather than legal talent. The busi-

ness men of the country apparently do not as a rule seek political honor, or if they do they have not the skill or time to manipulate political wires, As it is, only one out of seven of the members of the next House will be a business man. The class designated as business men include manufacturers, merchants, railroad men, ship owners, lumbermen, etc. Considering how badly the “politicians” are treated in the distribution of political favors, the farmers have small reason to complain. They stand third on the list with twenty-three members to their credit, which shows that in sowing agitation of agrarianism they have reaped civic honors. By a singular, and not altogether logical coincidence, the bankers and the journalists are tied for fourth place—each mustering twenty-one members. This may or may not be taken as an indication that in popular esteem directors of finances and molders of public opinion stand on an equality. But there is a kind of compensating justice in the distinction conferred upon journalists. Journalists have made so many public men that it is no more than right that public men should be made of journalists. One of the most noted of the journalists in the House, a man who is really a journalist and not merely incidentally connected with the press, is the Hon. Amos Cummings of New York. The entire Maine delegation in the last Congress were journalists, and Senator Hale of the same State owns a newspaper. A long distance behind the journalists and bankers come the eight politicians already referred to, but physicians to the number of seven press the politicians close for fifth place. The school teachers are only one point behind the doctors, and form a class of six members. Five miners make good their claim for seventh place, while two ministers are supposed to be enough to give the lump the necessary religious leaven. At the bottom of the list a solitary actor appears upon the stage of action in the role of a Congressman. If "all the world’s a stage, and men and women are but actors on it,” the foregoing classification of pursuits may be wrong, but only one member of Congress consents to be designated solely as a member of the dramatic profession. Let us hope that this solitary representative is fired by a noble ambition to "elevate the stage” upon which he will strut for a brief period. Returning to the journalistic class it is remarkable how many men in public life, especially from New England, are or have been more or less intimately associated with the press. Of course in the diplomatic and consular service the number is legion; but a fair proportion of our national elective offices have been filled by men who have devoted considerable attention to journalism. , James G. Blaine was one of the illustrious examples. Blaine was one of the editors and proprietors of the Kennebec Journal, and with all his public cares he never lost his Interest in active journalistic work and not only kept closely in touch with the direction of the paper’s policy, but frequently contributed to its columns. The late Congressman Nelson Dingley was editor of the Lewiston (Me.) Journal for many years and was a notable example of a man who could be an indefatigable public servant and a capable newspaper man at the same time.

PURSUITS IN CONGRESS.