Nevada County picayune., 1888-04-11
THE ARKANSAS DELEGATION
One of the Best in Either House
 of Congress.
Correspondence Fort Smith Times,

WAsHINGroN, April 2.-Our dele gation is composed of young men, so far as political life goes. The old est, Mir. Peel, who, unusual as 1t Is, is the senior of both senators, is only 56 years of age, while the youngest, Mir. McRae, which is one of the young fellows of the house, is barely 36 years old. The average for the whole Arkansas representation is bu 46 years; so it can be seen that we are represented in public life by , q -Lparativel," young men. Our own immediate representative, Mir. Rogers, is 42 years old.
 Every member from Arkansas, with the exception of Mir. McRae, who was only nine years old when [ the war broke out, served in the con- federate army, and to our senior sen- ator. Hon. James K. Jones, belongs , the great distinction of being almost the only private soldier who survived the struggle. At least he proudly afiirms in his official history that he was only "a private soldier on the losing side,' and it has often occurr- ed to your correspondent that Ire must feel awfully lonesome in these days when almost everybody is at lowest ''colonel. MT. Jones is also one of the few men in public sta tion who began professional career comparatively late in life, as he was 34 years of age when he entered up- on the practice of law. It is hardly worth while to say that upon the the principle of .'better late than never,' he has attained eminence in his profession, and for the benefit of others. it can be added that another eminent lawyer, perhaps the ablest on the supreme court bench, MT. Justice Miller, of Iowa, commenced the law at the same age of 34. An other member of the delegation, Mir. Dunn, was 33 years old when he sought fame through paths of the courts. and Mir. Peel was also well up in the thirties before he began as lawyer. The only member from Arkansas who is not of the legal fra ternitv is MT. Breckinridge, who, as is we'll known, has stuck to the time honored southern occupation of planter.
 Reading the record of the lives of the Arkansas delegation one becomes impressed with the fact that each man worked out his own destiny; in other , words. is self-made, and has secured influence and position without the aid of any advantageous circumstances. Owing to the war they began actual business life somewhat late in years, with few exceptions, but it is unnec- essary to say that they have faithful ly made mp for lost time, and of the sins to be laid at their door, one, at least is not wasted opportunities. No delegation in the congress presents the same condition of set of men relatively young in years, but late in entering upon professional life who have so quickly worked their way up to eminence and position.
 Only two of our members are col lege graduates, Messrs. Dunn and Rogers, while but one, MT. McRae, received a thorough commercial ed ucation, unless Mir. Breckinridge could be added, who received his training in the practical school of commerce. One, Mir. Jones, got . classical education, and all the rest came up from common schools. Of them Senator Berry seems to have had the least opportunities in early } life, as he was only able through the ! instruction of others to gain ''limi- ted education" Such men though as Lincoln, not to mention other or earlier illustrious examples, came , forth from the same limited opportu- mites and have left an indellible i'm } pression on the pages of hist ory,
 Three of our representatives failed !, to secure legislative training in the state legislative before entering the , national council -Breckinridge, Rog- : CTS and Peel, and two Senator Berry } and Mir. Rogers have served on the bench as judges.
 When compared with the repre- sentations from other states, Arkan- r sas fully holds her own. In spec ializcd vacations there are men of , great fame. such as Evarts as a law , yer, Ingalls, as debater, Randall as a ' political and parliamentary tactic ian, but as an entirety, while without "star" players, as the baseball peo- r pie say, we have a solid painstaking faithful band of working legislators, who fear no comparison, and who, l yet upon the lower rousds of the T ladder of national fame, may still as-