The Arkansas banner., 1844-06-26

per and distinguish t from Hnsubstantial pre- tension.
 Mir. Folks career at the University. was distinguished, 1t each semi-annual exami- nation he bore away the first honor. and finally graduated in i8lS,swith the highest distinction ef his class. and with the reputa- ton of being the hyst scholar in both the mathematics and classics. Of the former science he was Passionately fond, though equally distinguished as lmguist His course at college was marked by the same assiduiiy and studious application which have since characterized him. His ambition 10 excel was equalIed by his perseverance, alone,
 in proof of which 1t is said, that he never missed d recitation, nor omitted the punctil- ous discharge of any dut9 Habits of close application at college are apt b be despised bv those who pride themselves en brillancy of mind, as if they were incompatible. This is a melancholy r.istahc. Genius has even been defined the faculty of application. The latter is, at least, something better, and more available. So carefully has Mir Polk avoided the pedanry of classical display, which is the false taste of our day and country, as al- most to hide the acquisitions which distin- gaished his early career. His preference for the useful and substantial, indicated by his youthful passion for the mathematics, has made him select style of elocution which would, perhaps, be deemed too plain by the shallow admirers of Aashy deelamation.- The worst of all styles is dorid and exagee- rated. It is that of minds which afe, as it were, oYerlaid bv their acquisitions. They break down beneath burden which they have nol strength to bear
 Deep yersed ia books, but shallow in themselves"
 The mind should rather be fertilized by culture than encumbered with foreign pro daetions. Pedantfy is at once the result and proof of sciolisln.
 Returning to Tennessee, from the Stale which is, in two senses, his ain1a aaater, with health considerably impaired by excessive application, Mr. Polk, in the beginning of the year 1919, commenced the study of the law in the office of Senator Grundy, and late in 1920 was admitted to the bar He con- menced his professional career in the county of Maary, with great advantages, derived from tie connection of his family with it's early settlement To this hour his Warmest
 
 priVations and difficulties, and the associates of his youth. But his success was due to personal qualities, still more than to extriusic advantages. A Republican in habits as well as in principles. depending for the mainten- anee of his dignity upon the esteem of others, and not upon his own assumption, his man. ners conciliated the general good will. The confidence of his friends was justified by the result. His thoroughaeademical preparation, his accurate knowledge of the law, his readi- ness and resources in debate, his unWearied application to business, secured him, at once, full employment, and in less than year he was already a leading practitioner. Such prompt success in a profession where the early stages are pfoYerbially slow end dis coafaglng, IsIls to the lot of few.
 NIT. Polk continued to devote some years exclusively to the laborious prosecution of his profession, with q progressive augmentation of reputation, and the more solid rewards by which 1t Is accompanied. In 1929, he en- tered upon the stormy career of politics, being chosen to represent his county in the State legislature, by heavy majority over the for mer incumbent, but not without formidable opposition. He was, for two successive years, a member of that body, where his ability ln debate, and talent for business, at once gave him reputation. The carly per soHal and political friend of Gen. Jackson, he was one of those who, in the session of lS23-'2l, called that distinguished man from his retirement, by eectiHg him to the Senate of the United States; and he looks back with pride to the part he took in aa act which was followed by such important consequent ces. In August, 1925, being then in his thiFtlelh year, Mr Polk was chosen to rep resent his district in Congress, and, in the en- suing December, took his seat in that body, where he has remained ever since. He brought with him into the national councils those fundamental principles to which he has adhered through all the personal mutations of party. From his early youth, he was a Republican of the "straitest seci.o He has ever regarded the Constitution of the United States as an instrument of specific and limited powers, and that doctrine is at the very (ouu- dalton of the Democratic creed. Of course, he has ever been what Is teFmed a strict con structionist, repudiating above all things, the latitudinarian interpretations of federalism, which tend to the consolidation of all power in the central government. lie has signaized his hostility to these usurping doctrines in all ther modes. He has always refused his assent to the appropriation of money, by the Federal Government, fer what he deems the unconstitutional purpose of constructing works of internal improvement within the States He took ground early against the constitutionality, as well as expediency, of National Bank; and in August, 1929, conse- quentiy several months before the appearance ofGeneral Jackson's firstmessage, announced then his opinions in published letter to his constituents He has ever been opposed to an oppressive tariff for protection, and was, at all times, the strenuous advocate of a re- duciion of the revenue to the economical warts of the Government. Entertaining these opinions, as we shall have occasion to illus tgate, and entering Congress, as he did, at the