The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1880-02-19
gr1tttca1.
SENATOR THURMAN.
INTERESTING SKETCH. OF oHIo's
GREAT sTATEsMAN.
what the Country Will Lose by His Retire.
ment.
washington Cor. Nashville American ]

There will be many notable changes
in the United States Senate on the 4th
of March, 1881, but none 80 notable as
that which will be caused by the substi-
triton of James A, Garfield for Allen e.
thurman, as Senator from Ohio. The
defeat Of Senator Thurman for the SEN
atorship is the greatest loss which the
Democratic party has sustained for many
years. The election of his successor is
great gain for the Republican party in
the Senate. Thurman and Garfield are
two of the most noted and notable Of the
American public men Of to-day. It
would be foolish to say that Garfield is
not an able man; but Thurman is
inComparably the more able Of the
two, In my own private table Of
American statesmen I have placed
Allen G. Thurman at the head Of
the list. In my judgment he is the
greatest man whom the Democratic
party has produced in this generation,
and all things considered, is the leading
statesman of the country, and the ablest
member of the United States Senate
There are greater orators in the country
than he, but few stronger debaters, very
few more forCible public speakers, no
more ADLER expounder of constitutional
law, and no man who, in my judgment,
is his equal in all the many sided quail
ties that go to make up great states.
man, such as Thurman undoubtedly is.
shall not soon forget the expression he
made upon me the first day saw him.
It was in his place on the floor of the
Senate, during one Of the debates of the
44th Congress. he was engaged in a
forensic struggle with Conklin, or rather
With the whole Republican side, for the
caustic Edmunds, of Vermont, and the
handsome Frelinghuysen Of New Jersey,
and the conceited Howe, then Senator
from Wisconsin, were all taking part in
the debate, and were attacking Thur.
man by division and in force, in q vain
effort to drive him from his position. l
have forgotten the question under dis.
Cussion, but remember we'll the amazing
ability with which Thurman beat them
all back, and carried his point; for Ed.
munds, with whom he was, and is, and
long has been upon the most intimate
personal terms, the Ohio Senator had
ever ready apolished sarcasm, more ter
rible, if less biting, than the remark
which called it out, albeit Edmunds, the
Jerome of the Senate, is counted to be
the frst master of sarcastic fence. With
Conkling he would play with as cat
plays with mouse, until the lordly Ros.
Coe warmed up into his toploftical strain
and his arrogance began to be unbeara-
BILE, and then Thurman, who is plain,
blunt man, and has the most profound
contempt for Conkling's conceits, would
deal the duke of Utica crushing blow
square in the face, that would send him
to his seat silenced. The rounded pc.
RODS of Frelinghuysen he would demol.
ish with single sentence, while poor
Howe would only succeed in making
himself an object Of ridicule, because
Thurman would not pay the slightest
attention to his wordy sentences, his
mannerisms and his facial contortions.
My first impression of Thurman was
that he was lion among men, and that
impression / have never lost In the
midst of many great men, who now sit
in the United States Senate, and who
have sat in it for the past ten years,
Thurman towers above them all as an
intellectual king. His memory is pro.
digious, and he seems to have the record
of every American public man at his
tongues end, and to have all the i'm.
portant public measures, which have
been acted upon by Congress from its
very foundation until now, tabulated in
order upon his finger tips. He is always
ready, and it ia impossible to catch him
off his guard. have seen him partici-
pating in scores, If not hundreds, of
forensic contests in the Senate, and 1
have never seen him worsted once.
1t would take volume to record the
many important contests in which Thur
man has taken part, and always as the
leader of the Democratic side. One of
his latest and one of his greatest victo.
ries, was the bill in relation to the
Pacific railroads, which he carried sue.
Cessfully through the Senate, something
more than q year ago, in spite Of the
united efforts Of those great monopolies
and every influence of every sort which
their money could bring to bear. shall
not soon forget the day upon which the
final vote upon that bill was taken in
the Senate, The railroad kings were 30
intensely interested in the defeat of that
bill that they had forgotten even com
mon prudence, and had pushed their
lobby in upon the very floor of the SEN
ate Chamber itself. For days and weeks
they had hung upon the very skirts of
the Senate, and they had neglected no
act or vile which can influence Senate
rial votes. On that final day, the rail.
road kings themselves were present.
Jay Gould, shrunken and yellow, passed |
down from a prominent corner in the
reserved gallery, and watched the mar
shaling OF his forces upon the floor. He
and his men were confident of victory,
and 1T was openly bruited about that the
money OF the railroads had purchased
enough votes TO defeat the bill. Thur.
man rose for his final plea, and such
pleag 1t was exhaustive, Convincing,
unanswerable, and in itA denunciation
Of the railroad lobby was terrible. The
lobbyists, who had been brazen-faced
for weeks, skunk out Of the chamber like
whipped spaniela, and even Jay Gould
seemed TO shrink down, as though de.
Hirnua of hiding himaAlf hahind thn mr.