10
The Nebraska Independent
JANUARY 24,1907
MYMEN IN SENATE
'INFUSION OF YOUNG BLOOD WILL
MAKE A 'CHANGES.
OLD MEN IN THE MINORITY
nkw ie:al in the west is an
epoch majikek.
Some lUrh Men Are In the Nation's
Upper IIoo, II ut Majority of
Them Are Fur From
Wealthy.
WASHINGTON, P. C, Jan. 20. Af
ter next March 3 the scanty will have
a larger percentage of young men as
members than for. many years. As a
result of the political changes In a
number of states there will be an
Infusion of young-blood into the up
per house of congress that promises to
put the gray beards and venerable
looking patriarchs in the hopeless
minority. The senate will then con
tain a large number pf members who
have from twenty to thirty years of
active service ahead of them before
they will have reached the age of
three score years and ten. Most of
the young members are from the mid
dle west and the west, while the New
England, eastern and southern states
are largely represented oy veteran
statesmen.
Of the thirty senators whose terms
expire March d next, and who will not
succeed themselves, successors have
been either elected or decided upon
for the. following: 11. A. Alger, Mich
igan; W. A. X'lark, Montana; J. A.
Berry. Arkansas; F. T. Dubois, Idaho;
J. C. S. "Blackburn, . Kentucky; ..John
M. Gearin, Oregon; A. W. Benson,
Kansas? J. 11. Millard, Nebraska;
K. W. Carmack, Tennessee; T. M. Pat
terson, Colorado.
With but one exception, in the case
of the new senator from Tennessee,
every one of these Incoming senators
will be young men, or men who are
' still In the prime of life and good for
a long service should their various
tat s decide to keen them-., in the
senate. , ,.
Some of the It ecru It.
William Alden Smith, who succeeds
General Alger, will be one of the lively
recruits to the young mens club in the
senate. He is only 47 years old. The
man he succeeds is 71. Jefferson
Davis, of Arkansas, who will take the
place of the veteran Senator Berry, Is
also in the neighborhood of 50. while
Mr. Berry is 66.
Charles, Curtis of Kansas is only 47
years old, and when he takes Senator
Benson's place the . sunflower state
will have two young representatives in
the upper chamber, Chester I. Long
being exactly the age of his new col
league. Joseph M. Dixon, who has
been decided upon as Senator Clark's
successor from Montana, will be the
youngest man in the senate1, as he will
be only 39 years old when he takes the
oath of office. Another of the western
mountain states will be represented by
a youngster when William E. Borah
presents his credentials for Senator
Dubois seat, as the junior senator
from Idaho.
Oregon will send Jonathan Bourne
In place of Senator Gearin, making
- the fourth member of the law firm to
which both these gtntlemen belonged,
to represent their stato in the senate.
Senator Mitchell and Senator Simon
were both associated with the same
law firm at various times. Senator
Millard of Nebraska, who Is about
ready to retire Trom active life, - will
be folVwed In the senate by Norrls
Brown, Just a year or two past 40.
Simon Guggenheim of Colorado Is an
other young man.
Tor Separate Statehood.
Delegate Smith of Arizona believes
that separate statehood will be given
to Arizona and New Mexico within the
coming five years, for th reason that
the develop. d resources nd Increased
population will demand it. II pro-
diets that five years from now the
population of ArlaonA will be doubled.
snd that there will ix four hundred
thousand people there Instead of the
two hundred thousand at present.
Mr, Smith says that Arlxona has a
Krenh r wealth And produces rnoro per
cnplta than ny tat or territory in
tho union. Tt offer splendid oppor
tunities for younc mn of Integrity and
ablWv, and Is a (trowing country, ac
cord in to Mr. Smith. He ay It
f.,muv.. - - rllmste "that stimulate
men to things. and ban a mtl fa
turn and has & soclnl ntmophero
where n, man Is honored for hi tru
worth lon and everv.Hiv ir tt a
fTtmre deal.
The letting of v eontr.it ts f.r tho
construction anl completion of
version dam and canal of the Rio
Grande project ha launched the gov
ernment on one of the largest and
most expensive irrigation works in
charge of. the reclamation service.
This project contemplates the con
struction of a huge dam near Engle,
New Mexico, to store water for the
Irrigation of 180,000 acres, 110,000 of
which lies in that territory. The cost
of the entire system is estimated at
$7,200,000. The main item of cost Is
th dam. which will require 300,000
barrels of cement, a large amount of
machinery, gates, etc., entailing . a
heavy outlay for freight.
It Is estimated that the dam win
cost approximately $5,300,000. It will
be 225 feet high. 180 feet thick on
the bottom, and 20 feet on top. It will
be 1,150 feet long on top of crest The
reservoir thus created will have a ca-
nacltv of 2.000.000 acre-feet, or twice
that created by the Assuan dam In
Egypt, and will be largest artificial
lake in the world.
Owinrr to 'the great demand made on
the reclamation fund in other local
ities, the money for this entire project
is not yet available. Recognizing the
Importance of early action In this
section, however, the secretary of the
interior, on December 2, 1905, allotted
the sum of $200,000 for the Immediate
construction of that, portion of the
project known as the Leasburg diver
sion. It is this dam witn canai io
connect It with the old Tvis Cruces
system for which the contract has Just
been let. Work will be pushed rapidly
during the winter, find it is hoped
that water can be suppneo to ia,vuv
acres In Mesllla valley during the Ir
rigating season of 1907. ,
A Gentleman' Job.
It was a perspicacious person who
first defined a United States senator
ship as a gentleman's Job. , A senator
ship is fully that Any person fa
miliar with Washington, with the ways
of the government and the intricacies
and rewards thereof, will unhesitating
ly say he would prefer to be a senator
than to occupy any other elective or
appointive post, provided, of course,
he could serve long enough to impress
his ability on that tremendous body.
Nor does this, decry the presidency.
No man lives in the United States who
would not be president if he could.
but few men can. There is but one
president at a time and there are. nine
ty senators, and, moreover, a presi
dent can serve bat four or eight years,
while a senator can serve Indefinitely
if his abilities warrant and his con
stituents aerree. That Is. he has a
chance to serve indefinitely, it all de
pending on the, local circumstances that,
. h Atl 1 1 II . i a A . . M 4 ' '
govern oiucenoiuing m wns uuuuuy.
Observers of the senate, familiar with
its history and its work, agree that it
is the bulwark of the American repub
lie. It stands between tne onngarcny
of the United States supreme court on
one hand, and the personal and party
ambitions of the executive on the
other, and it has so stood since it was
created. It is the pepsin of the legls
lative branch, there to digest the un
digested legislation ' thrown at it" by
the house, and it does its work in its
own time, in its own way and, usually,
with the best results that can be ob
tained subjects to human limitations.
When you dig into the senate and
examine its membership closely you
find there is always a reason, and a
powerful one, for the presence of every
man there who Is of any consequence.
Nobody maintains that the senate is
not an unusual body, with men sitting in
it who are not fit to sit there but even
the unfit men are there for a reason
that was potent at the time they were
elected. The American political sys
tem will not permit the selection of
ninety of the best men from tb view
point of the best citizenship as sena
tors, but even if it did it is extremely
doubtful if these ninety men would be
of as much service to the country as
the. present ninety.
No Degeneracy.
The loud cries about degeneracy In
the senate are not borne out by the
facts. Tho present senate compares
with any senate that ever assembled
at the nation's capitol. The glamor
that the time lias thrown about the
giant figures of the old senate is lack
Ing. The. perspective Is newer, ant
the fact that the United States now
has eighty millions of people Insteai
of twenty makes a difference. It was
easier to get among twenty millions
than it Is among eighty millions. There
wa. not so much competition.
One of the bromldo criticisms of the
senate I that U Is a millionaire's club,
When the critics hav nothing else to
say they boil that terrific tn.llcttnent
at the upper houso. It Is trim that
th.r -ire millionaire In Ibe senate,
several of them, but they do not pro
ponderate, and coming back to the
statement that there Is a reason for
the presence of every senator In tho
body, most of the senator who ar
millionaire ore there lecmio theyuro
millionaire, und for no otlo-r reason.
This len"t the fault of the senate. It
Is the fault of the political nyn-m that
elected these mUllonalr. The- mii
Is great iUpUM the milium of otn of
lt memlwr, not because of tbeot.
The prtM,es of recuonlu of th MSH
with million who want to ba sen
ator is not complicated. He has all
the money he needs, and he casts about
for a new field that will afford him an
occupation and give him an added re
spectability. The most pathetic thing
about riches is the constant search of
the men of great fortunes for re
spectability, for some heritage, for chil
dren, ramny, or ror nistory aside from
the record of the mere accumulation of
wealth. Even a hundred millionaire
recognize the dignity of the senatoral
office, and it is not surprising that .so
many men with millions try for a seat
t sounds better In the family record
to say that the head of the line was a
senator of the United States than to
have nothing to put down save that he
made an enormous fortune in mines,
in steel, in insurance or some other
way.
HI h en Bay Seat.
m
Thus this ambition has developed a
ine of senators, not large in pronor-
tion to the entire membership of the
body, but large enough to prove the
claim, who are there because they are
rich. New ones come from time to
time. There are plenty of men who
are planning to get into the senate for
this reason: Because they want to be
considered more than merely rich.
It is a sad reflection on our political
system that there should be any mere
ly money senators, but after we have
shed our bitter, bitter tears over it.
it might be well to cneer up and re
flect that there are five times as many
poor men in the senate as there are
rich ones, and that the number of
senators who use their official position
to make money for themselves is small
enough to be counted on the fingers
of one hand. One of the men who vat
a senator and tried it is in jail, and
another is dead, and dead after con
viction. And even when making the
count there is no proof, nothing but
Implication, for if there was proof, the
senators would be in jail along with
the unhappy Burton.
Hartley of Miourl.
When Herbert Hadley, the attorney
general of Missouri, called at the white
house some time ago and met for the
first time the president, Mr. Roosevelt
hailed him as one of the rising politi
cal stars of the west. Mr. Hadley was
on his way to New York to resume his
examination of the big Standard Oil
magnates in the suits he has brought
against that giant concern under the
corporation laws of Missouri. Mr.
Hadley is as youthful in appearance
as he is in years. He is not yet thirty-four
years old. Soon after being
graduated from the Kansas university
at Lawrence he lopated ,in Kansas
City. This was not more than ten
years ago. He was elected prosecuting
attorney of the county in which Kan
sas City la located, and in that office
made a record which singled him out
in the community as a marked man.
His ambition after holding that office
one term was to come to congress;
but as the district was thought to be
safely democratic he did not seek
the nomination hard.--.In that year.
1904, there was a Roosevelt landslide
in Missouri, which overwhelmed the
democratic majority in the Kansas
City district. Thus, had Mr. Hadley
received the nomination then he would
now be a member of the house, and
the Standard Oil company would have
been spared a great deal of trouble. He
did not want to accept the nomination
for attorney general, tendered him
unanimously by the republican state
convention in 1904, but yielded to the
demands of friends. He and Governor
Folk, the democrat, are in thorough
accord, and work together as if they
belong to the same puny.
The Gridiron club of Washington Is
in a class by itself. : It is composed of
the leading newspaper correspondents
of the capital, the clevererest, body of
men to, be found anywhere. There is
no man so great or so famous as not .
to feel honored by an invitation to one
of its dinners. Presidents Cleveland,
Harrison, McKinley and Roosevelt
have enjoyed its hospitality. .J.. P.
Morgan has said that he would cross
the ocean to attend one of its dinners.
Carnegie, Rogers, Harriman, and all.
the other financial lights have been
proud to sit In. To the foreign am
bassadors the dinners are an endless
source of delight, and the reports that .
Baron Von Sternburg has scit to his
Imperial master has drawn from the
kaiser regrets that he could not attend
one. It is a t these dinners that Pres- s
Ident Roosevelt is seen at his best He
knows that not a word of what he
says will be reported in any news
paper, and there is no need to armor
himself with reserve. He talks right
out in meeting explains, defends, jus
tifies. And yet he is not spared. His
vulnerable words or acts are held up
to ridicule of a good natured chafing
kind in which he joins as heartily as
anybody. It exercises a beneficial in
fluence in reminding men in power that
they are fallible.
"The most democratic gathering that
I've ever been in," was the comment
of the famous ambassador towards the
close of the gridiron dinner. And he
was right. Every man has to take in
good part whatever is coming to him,
whether it be in Jibe or raillery. But
there is nothing coarse or offensive.
There is skill and deftness so a a to
touch the spot without leaving a
wound.
The retiring president of the club is
Richard Lee Fearn, head of the New
York Tribune bureau, and all that
need be said of him is that this blue
ribbon of the profession, the highest
honor within the gift of his fellows
came to him by unanimous vote. For
next year the president selected Is
Samuel G. Blythe, one of. the happiest,
brightest and most cheerful souls to be
met with anywhere. He sees humor
Isn't anybody more sympathetic or--helpful
when sympathy or help is
needed. Both men are proud of the
them.
A ' riArctarAnf wArvArr 4a In nfftAiila 4-1
among the members of congress that
within the next six months Secretary
Wilson will retire from the head of the
agricultural department and will be
succeeded by Gifford Pinchot, now the
cet rt t' e tnrtmirv rilviainn Souoral
efforts have been made by numerous
congressmen specially interested in the '
subject to learn if the report is true,
Vm i f f Vino fo y vi r onn fi t'm n - If lioa
MUb Hy Ct.'lllll UiUlJUU 11 St --J
been obtained at the white house. tMr.,
Pinchot is one of the president's clos
est friends, and, like James Rudolph
Garfield, wno soon is to supplant Mr. .
Hitchcock as secretary of the Interior,
Is one of the chief executive's favorite
tennis players. Mr. Pinchot is about
Mr. Garfield's age, and, like the son .
of the martyred president, he has
adopted a public career because he
"wants to do things," as Mr. Roose
velt says. His parents, who live in
Washington are very wealthy, so that
he would not have to work at any
thing if he did not want to. Mr.
Pinchot has brought the forestry di
vision up to a high degree of efflciecy,
and until he took hold of the work
practically nothing was known of the
organized activity of the government
to preserve the country's forests and
provide a method for foresting large
sections that have been ruthlessly de-
r t
Is the easiest to operate because
It runs Itself.
I HAVE a good many thousand poultry raisci a to back me up on that state
ment You know I sold more Old Trusty Incubators and Brooders than any
other manufacturer last year.
Yes, I've got them all goinjf. Because I've got tho machines I sell on liberal
terms; I aim to deal fair; I don't qulbbh on little tiling.
Try Till You're Satisfied
for 5 ears tnore
Up to thre months. If you want lo. My guarAiiW g
I can't ta mistaken about what Old t rusty Incubators
and Ikooders will do (or you
surest hatcher, llget hatehs,
least trouble to run, safest brood
Ing. I'm willing to t ike alt the
chances while ou are testing,
Write (or my 1W7 catalog.
My biggest best be ok. I wrote
It myself, Full o( pood poultry
pictures and plain, straight talk
about pooltty raiting, l ice to
voryUxly.
M. U. JOHNSON COMPANY,
CUy Outer, NU.
is
frtlfM