A great
many men applied for his support; frequently there were many
applications for the same office. He did not like to refuse
them. So he made it a rule to give all of them a letter of
recommendation to the Departments. But he had an understanding
with the appointing clerks that if he wrote his name Buffington
with the g he desired that man should be appointed, but if
he wrote it Buffinton without the g he did not wish to be
taken seriously.
Beyond all question the leader of the Massachusetts delegation,
and of the House, was Henry L. Dawes. He had had a successful
career at the bar and in public life before his election to
Congress. In Congress he made his way to the front very rapidly.
No member of the House of Representatives from Massachusetts
and few from any part of the Union had an influence which
could be at all compared with his. He became in succession
Chairman of the two foremost Committees, that of Appropriations
and that of Ways and Means. He was a prominent candidate
for the office of Speaker when Mr. Blaine was elected and
was defeated, as I have said elsewhere, only by the adroit
management of Butler.
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