Something of Men I Have Known: With Some Papers of a General Nature, Political, Historical, and Retrospective — John Shaqi
Something of Men I Have Known: With Some Papers of a General Nature, Political, Historical, and RetrospectiveStevenson, Adlai E. (Adlai Ewing)
History
Something of Men I Have Known: With Some Papers of a General Nature, Political, Historical, and Retrospective
Stevenson, Adlai E. (Adlai Ewing)
United States -- Biography; United States -- Politics and government -- 1865-1933
One incident is related by Butterworth of a judge in his State who,
becoming thoroughly disgusted with the ease with which naturalization
papers were obtained, determined upon a radical reform. That
the pathway of the reformer--along this as other lines--was by
no means one of flowers will appear from the sequel. Immediately upon
taking his seat, the judge, with great earnestness of manner,
announced from the bench that thereafter no applicant could receive
from that court his final papers, entitling him to the exercise of
the high privilege of citizenship, unless he was able to read
the Constitution of the United States. A few mornings later,
Michael O'Connor, a well-known partisan of the Seventh Ward, appeared
in court accompanied by a diminutive-looking countryman, Dennis
Flynn by name. Mr. O'Connor stated to the judge that his friend
Dennis Flynn had already taken out his first papers, and the legal
time had passed, and he now wanted His Honor to grant him his final
papers. With much solemnity of manner the judge inquired whether
Mr. Flynn had ever read the Constitution of the United States.
Somewhat abashed by the unusual interrogatory, Mr. O'Connor looked
inquiringly at Mr. Flynn, at which the latter, wholly unconscious of
the purport of the inquiry, looked appealingly to Mr. O'Connor.
The latter then replied that he presumed he had not, at which
the judge, handing the applicant a copy of the revised statutes
containing the Constitution, admonished him to read it carefully.
Mr. Flynn, carrying the volume in his arms, and followed by his
patron, sadly left the court-room. Just eight minutes elapsed,
the door suddenly opened and both reappeared, Mr. O'Connor in front,
bearing the book aloft, and exclaiming, "Dinnie couldn't rade it,
Your Honor, but I rid it over to him, _and he is parefictly deloighted
wid it!"_
Three gentlemen, each of whom at a later day reached the Speakership,
had served but a single term in the House at the opening of the
forty-sixth Congress: Mr. Keifer of Ohio, Mr. Carlisle of Kentucky,
and Mr. Reed of Maine. Mr. Keifer was a gentleman of ability and of
exceedingly courteous manners. He took a prominent part in debate,
and was the immediate successor of Mr. Randall in the chair. After
an absence of twenty years he has again been returned to his seat in
the House.
Few abler men than Mr. Carlisle have been in the public service.
He was a recognized leader of his party from his first appearance in
the House, and an authority upon all questions pertaining to tariff
or finance. During his long service as Speaker he established
an enduring reputation as an able presiding officer; as possessing
in the highest degree "the cold neutrality of the impartial Judge."
While a Senator, he was appointed by President Cleveland to the
important position of Secretary of the Treasury. The duties of
that great office have never been discharged with more signal
ability.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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