Part 1 (1/2)
A Gentleman from Mississippi.
by Thomas A. Wise.
_INTRODUCTION_
_Here is a story of an epoch-making battle of right against wrong, of honesty against corruption, of simplicity and sincerity against deceit, bribery and intrigue. It is the story of to-day in this country. It vitally concerns every man, woman and child in the United States, so far-reaching is its influence.
The warfare is now going on--the warfare of honest men against corrupt political machines.
The story tells the ”inside” of the political maneuvers in Was.h.i.+ngton and of the workings of bosses there and elsewhere--how they shape men and women to their ends, how their cunning intrigues extend into the very social life of the nation's capital. You will find inspiration in the career of the honest old Southern planter elected to the United States Senate and the young newspaper reporter who becomes his private secretary and political pilot. Your heart will beat in sympathy with the love of the secretary and the Senator's youngest daughter.
You will read of the lobbyists and find that not all of them are men.
You will see how avarice causes a daughter to conspire against her father. You will hear the note of a gripping national tragedy in the words of Peabody, the ”boss of the Senate.” But cause for laughter as well will not be found lacking in this truly many-sided narrative._
A Gentleman from Mississippi
CHAPTER I
PRACTICAL POLITICS
That bids him flout the law he makes; That bids him make the law he flouts.
_--Kipling_.
In buoyant spirit the Hon. Charles Norton rode up the bridle path leading through the Langdon plantation to the old antebellum homestead which, on a shaded knoll, overlooked the winding waters of the Pearl River. No finer prospect was to be had in all Mississippi than greeted the eye from the wide southwest porch, where on warm evenings the Langdons and their frequent guests gathered to dine or to watch the golden splendor of the dying sun.
The Langdon family had long been a power in the South. Its sons fought under Andrew Jackson at New Orleans, under Zachary Taylor in the war with Mexico, and in the Civil War men of that name left their blood on the fields of Antietam, s.h.i.+loh, the Wilderness and Gettysburg. But this family of fighting men, of unselfish patriots, had also marked influence in the ways of peace, as real patriots should. Generations of Langdons had taken deepest pride in developing the hundreds of acres of cotton land, whose thousands of four-foot rows planted each April spread open the silvery lined bolls in July and August, and the ripened cotton fiber, pure white beneath the sun, gave from a distance the picture of an expanse of driven snow.
The Hon. Charles Norton had reason for feeling well pleased with the world as he fastened his bay Virginia hunter to a convenient post and strode up the steps of the mansion, which was a characteristic survivor of the ”old South,” the South of gilded romance and of gripping tragedy. Now in this second year of his first term as Congressman and a promising member of the younger set of Southern lawyers, he had just taken active part in securing the election of Colonel William H. Langdon, present head of the family, to the United States Senate, though the ultimate action of the Legislature had been really brought about by a lifelong friend of Colonel Langdon, the senior Senator from the State, James Stevens, who had not hesitated to flatter Norton and use him as a cat's-paw. This use the Hon. Charles Norton seemed to consider an honor of large proportions. Not every first-term Congressman can hope for intimacy with a Senator. Norton believed that his work for Langdon would win him the family's grat.i.tude and thus further his ambition to marry Carolina, the planter's oldest daughter, whose beauty made her the recipient of many attentions.
A complacent gleam shone in Norton's eyes as they swept over the fertile acres of the plantation. He thought of the material interest he might one day have in them if his suit for the hand of Carolina progressed favorably. Suddenly his reverie was interrupted by the voice of young Randolph Langdon, a spirited lad in his early twenties, who had just been made plantation manager, by his father.
”Well, how is the honorable to-day?” said Randolph, approaching from the doorway. ”I didn't think a Congressman could be spared from Was.h.i.+ngton but rarely, especially when the papers say the country needs such a lot of saving.”
”Oh, this 'saving the country' talk goes all right in the story books,” replied Norton, who exercised considerable influence over the youth through a long acquaintances.h.i.+p and by frequently taking him into his confidence, ”but this country can take pretty good care of itself. In Congress we representatives put the job of saving it over on the Senate, and the Senate hands back the job to us. So what's everybody's business isn't anybody's; a fine scheme so long as we have a President who keeps his hands off and doesn't--”
”But how about the speeches and the bills?” broke in Randolph. ”I thought--”
”Yes, yes; to be sure,” the Congressman quickly added. ”Nearly all of us introduce these so-called reform bills. When they're printed at government expense we send copies, carried free by the Post-office Department, to our const.i.tuents, and when we allow the bills to die in some committee we can always blame the committee. But if there's a big fight by our const.i.tuents over the bill we let it pa.s.s the House, but arrange to kill it in the Senate. Then we do the same thing for the Senators. Like in every other business, my boy,” continued Norton as he led the way into the house, ”it's a case of 'you tickle me and I'll tickle you' in politics. And don't let any one fool you about the speeches either. They are pretty things to mail to the voters, but all the wise boys in Was.h.i.+ngton know they aren't meant seriously. It's all play acting, and there are better actors in the Senate than Henry Irving or Edwin Booth ever were.”
”I don't think my father looks at things in the way you do, Charlie.”
”No? Well, maybe he doesn't now, but he will later on when he takes his seat in the Senate. If he isn't wise enough to play around with the rest of the Senators he won't get any bills pa.s.sed, especially any bill carrying an appropriation or of any other particular importance.”
”What!” e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed the planter's son. ”Do you mean to say that if father won't do what the other Senators want him to do they will combine against him and destroy his usefulness, make him powerless--a failure?”