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Question of the day
Thursday, May 24, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller * In 1879, a Springfield photographer created a montage of Illinois House members. He took all their photos and then pasted them into one big picture. These pics of the montage do not do it justice… 
The montage was found years ago and sent to a restorer. The finished product was unveiled earlier this week. It’s on the third floor and you should definitely go take a look. * Anyway, from the unveiling…  * The Question: Caption?
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- Arthur Andersen - Thursday, May 24, 18 @ 3:19 pm:
“My God, I see food in the Chamber.”
- Old Guy - Thursday, May 24, 18 @ 3:19 pm:
Oh look, there I am in the corner. I forgot about that day.
- train111 - Thursday, May 24, 18 @ 3:19 pm:
Hey look — there’s Michael Madigan!
Oh wait that’s 1879 not 1979.
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, May 24, 18 @ 3:21 pm:
“Lookie-Lookie…. 3rd row… 4 seats over… Madigan”
- Boone's is Back - Thursday, May 24, 18 @ 3:23 pm:
“Even Rocky had a montage”
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, May 24, 18 @ 3:25 pm:
“The lobbyists are not pictured… “
- Anonymous - Thursday, May 24, 18 @ 3:27 pm:
“Wow, an even whiter crowd than a happy hour at Boone’s saloon”
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, May 24, 18 @ 3:29 pm:
“No, this wasn’t a ‘Seersucker Caucus’ day depicted…”
- 47th Ward - Thursday, May 24, 18 @ 3:30 pm:
Mapes noted that the Black caucus, the Latino caucus and Women’s caucus were much smaller back then.
Much much smaller.
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, May 24, 18 @ 3:30 pm:
“You can see one or two members reading ‘The Capitol Parchment’ that later evolved… “
- Norseman - Thursday, May 24, 18 @ 3:30 pm:
AA, you beat me to the comment box.
- Christopher - Thursday, May 24, 18 @ 3:32 pm:
Mike Madigan I [ center, with beard ], in office for 61 years at the time, presides over the 1879 Illinois House.
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, May 24, 18 @ 3:33 pm:
“The elevators didn’t work too well back then too…”
- 47th Ward - Thursday, May 24, 18 @ 3:34 pm:
Note the spittoon next to the Speaker’s podium. Note also, there are no women legislators in the House.
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, May 24, 18 @ 3:35 pm:
“Members would get lunch and whatnot at the newly opened Rathskeller cafeteria… “
- 37B - Thursday, May 24, 18 @ 3:36 pm:
Resolved:
That there be a fund established for public pensions as is prudent and actuarially sound. Next year.
- 47th Ward - Thursday, May 24, 18 @ 3:36 pm:
If you look closely at the press gallery in the back, you’ll notice a very young, beardless Rich Miller.
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, May 24, 18 @ 3:36 pm:
“Back then… horse tradin’ was actually… horse tradin’…”
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, May 24, 18 @ 3:37 pm:
“In the 9th row… 5 over… that was Mayor Daley’s floor leader… “
- Pieroge tirebiter - Thursday, May 24, 18 @ 3:38 pm:
Mike Madigan and the evil cabal he controlled before he was born.
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, May 24, 18 @ 3:41 pm:
“This is depicting a very important moment in state history, the ‘Nothing gets done in Illinois until Oswego has her say’ speech… a powerful moment in legislative history… “
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, May 24, 18 @ 3:42 pm:
“Chicago, in this picture, is represented by the members over here… on the Republican side of the Chamber… “
- Ron Burgundy - Thursday, May 24, 18 @ 3:43 pm:
Pictured — The largest gathering of white guys in Illinois history until Rush started touring.
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, May 24, 18 @ 3:46 pm:
“If you look real close… the members are honoring the 1879 Cubs… “
- 47th Ward - Thursday, May 24, 18 @ 3:46 pm:
It wasn’t so much Democrats vs. Republicans in those days. The divisions had more to do with regions and of course, whether one had a beard or was clean-shaven.
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, May 24, 18 @ 3:49 pm:
“… considered the ‘Bill Black’ of his time… “
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, May 24, 18 @ 3:52 pm:
“You can see Governor Shelby Moore Cullom working the chamber to get the White Sox a new stadium…”
- 47th Ward - Thursday, May 24, 18 @ 3:52 pm:
Hey, that guy in the third row is playing Candy Crush on his phone.
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, May 24, 18 @ 3:54 pm:
“Oh yes… you have a good eye… he was considered a rebel, never wearing spats on his shoes… “
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, May 24, 18 @ 3:57 pm:
===Hey, that guy in the third row is playing Candy Crush on his phone.===
Ok, that one got me, lol, well played.
“It was called the ‘70 Club’ back then, and ironically a Ken Dunkin won that award 5 time’s back then… “
- 47th Ward - Thursday, May 24, 18 @ 3:58 pm:
Yes, even in those days the House page’s most important job was to get the lunch orders right.
- Dance Band on the Titanic - Thursday, May 24, 18 @ 4:00 pm:
Hello old friends. We meet again.
- 47th Ward - Thursday, May 24, 18 @ 4:01 pm:
This was obviously long before the fax machine, so Miller had to have his report written out by hand. Then he’d have to show it to his subscribers one at a time. It took forever for news to spread. And the comments were unprintable.
- Anonymous - Thursday, May 24, 18 @ 4:02 pm:
‘This is cool…..but what a pain in the neck”
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, May 24, 18 @ 4:02 pm:
“… and he held that distinction for all these decades until Scott Drury became the most unliked member of the GA ever, Drury surpassing him, quite easily… “
- 47th Ward - Thursday, May 24, 18 @ 4:04 pm:
I believe what they are debating here is whether to appoint a new Legislative Inspector General or to leave the position vacant.
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, May 24, 18 @ 4:09 pm:
“Other members didn’t vote each other’s switches, they mimicked their voices on roll calls, which got even more confusing when trying to get confirmations”
- zatoichi - Thursday, May 24, 18 @ 4:11 pm:
A rare Edison audio tube from 1879 was also found in the photographer’s studio. A close listen had the words budget, grumble grumble, got a light, cough, idiot, educatin’, tax, back bench mushroom and hands off me, sir were clear.
- 47th Ward - Thursday, May 24, 18 @ 4:17 pm:
(Mapes, to himself): An entire House with no women? I was born in the wrong century.
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, May 24, 18 @ 4:19 pm:
“They raised district office allotment from $1.85 to a controversial $2.05.. which even today… is considered one of the top 5 hardest votes in General Assembly history”
- Arthur Andersen - Thursday, May 24, 18 @ 4:21 pm:
“That Chamber was a dump. Ours is so much nicer.”
- I Miss Bentohs - Thursday, May 24, 18 @ 4:23 pm:
There is a guy eating only a cut up apple for lunch? That can’t be good.
- A Jack - Thursday, May 24, 18 @ 4:26 pm:
So that is what a Republican majority looks like…..
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, May 24, 18 @ 4:27 pm:
“Higher education was fully funded back then… for whole fiscal years… “
- sulla - Thursday, May 24, 18 @ 4:30 pm:
Cue the jazz music and the slow camera pan into the photo at the end of The Shining. Replace Jack Torrance with Mike Madigan.
“You’ve ALWAYS been the Speaker sir.”
- 47th Ward - Thursday, May 24, 18 @ 4:31 pm:
Speaking of trap doors, blind alleys and loopholes, here’s a photo montage of the Illinois House circa 1879.
- A guy - Thursday, May 24, 18 @ 4:33 pm:
Trivia: Name this guy who was Speaker before Mike Madigan?
- Amalia - Thursday, May 24, 18 @ 4:36 pm:
Two and a half pictures of men.
- A Jack - Thursday, May 24, 18 @ 4:37 pm:
The GA from the last time pensions were fully funded.
- 47th Ward - Thursday, May 24, 18 @ 4:37 pm:
Back in those days, if a Speaker wanted to know if a Representative was still employed by the Cook County Sheriff, he had to send a telegram.
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, May 24, 18 @ 4:38 pm:
“I dunno if you can tell… the inside doors were copper too… “
- 47th Ward - Thursday, May 24, 18 @ 4:41 pm:
Sometimes, late at night when you’re all alone in the chamber, you can almost hear the ghosts of General Assemblies past, kicking the pension can down the road.
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, May 24, 18 @ 4:42 pm:
“… and due to that, the governor sold 3 of the state trains, forcing members to take their fastest horses and buggies up and down what we now call I-55”
- Obama’s Puppy - Thursday, May 24, 18 @ 4:55 pm:
That is Mike Madigan third from the right.
- Lucky Pierre - Thursday, May 24, 18 @ 4:58 pm:
Would you mind signing this portion to get Sam Mc Cann on the ballot for Governor?
- Ms Silence Dogood - Thursday, May 24, 18 @ 5:01 pm:
OMG, I didn’t know there was a naked lady statue in the House Chambers.
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, May 24, 18 @ 5:02 pm:
“The missing member? Well, that would be Representative Jedediah Cross, who represented Oswego. He was golfing the day the montage was first put together… “
- Henry Francis - Thursday, May 24, 18 @ 5:03 pm:
My god (exclamation point) it’s just like the last scene in The Shining.
- SI Guy - Thursday, May 24, 18 @ 5:05 pm:
I see Mike Madigan stole the DeLorean again
- Boomdun - Thursday, May 24, 18 @ 5:07 pm:
Mapes was overheard “wondering if anyone noticed he had himself placed in the front row”
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, May 24, 18 @ 5:49 pm:
“… Pike’s Peak was a pimple… “
- Marty Funkhouser - Thursday, May 24, 18 @ 6:10 pm:
Mapes: How many of these people have I threatened?
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, May 24, 18 @ 9:18 pm:
“Back then… Diversity was a wooden ship that steamed down the ole Mississippi River… “
- wordslinger - Thursday, May 24, 18 @ 11:23 pm:
So, we reverse the course of the Chicago River, and my Downstate peeps will have to scrape what off their shoes?
Uh-huh.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIfQipkkOqs
- Anonymous - Friday, May 25, 18 @ 7:54 am:
My art teacher would correct you to say this is a collage, not a montage. Collages are pasted-up still images. Montage is a sequence of moving images.