The Portland daily press., 1892-02-23
THOSE BUZZING BEES.
They Hum About the Presidency in
Ambitious Ears.
Separations Regarding the Highest Of
fee In the Gift of the American Peo-
pIe-Lots of Condolences and Paral-
Iels Cited.
Especial Correspondcnce.l

rerStitiOn to do with the eIecblon OF a
president of the United States? Moth
ing, perhaps, and yet there are supersti-
tious people who will point out to you
WHY one man may and another cannot
be elected to the chief magistracy, bas-
ing their opinion on the condolences of
history.
In no other country under the sun are
the people so earnest in their participa-
ton in politics, SO well informed, SO
quick to adapt themselves to new condi-
tons. While on the floor Of the senate
the other day, just after the letter of Mr..
Blaine withdrawing from the presiden-
tial race had been made public, Senator
Teller said to me: 1--WE have dozen
candidates here in the senate. You may
hear the bees buzzing all round"
The defamation of Mr.. Blaine to be
considered candidate has brought to
the front host of aspirants, many of
whom are senators of the United States.
This reminds me that the accuracy of a
statement which | made in a letter two
or three weeks ago has been questioned
by members of congress. said, in COM
menting on the large number of sena-
tors who now aspire to the presidency,
that ''in the history of this country no
man had ever been elected president
while sitting in the senate" This state
ment is entirely accurate.
1t is true that eleven presidents of the
United States had been senators before
entering the White House, but not one
of them was elected president while a
member of the senate. Monroe had
been senator previous to the year 1900,
but he was not inaugurated president
until 1917. John Quincy Adams was a
senator from Massachusetts, from 1908
to 1909, but it was sixteen years later
that he became president. Andrew
jackson represented Tennessee in the
senate from 1928 to 1925, then resigned.
He was elected president in 1928. Mar
tin Van Buren, was a senator from 1891
to 1928, when he resigned. He was
elected president in 1886.
William Henry Harrison was a SEN
ator from Ohio from 1925 to 1928. He,
too, resigned, and was elected president
twelve years after leaving the senate.
John Tyler was twice elected senator
from Virginia, serving from 1927 to
1886, when he resigned. He was elected
vice president in 1910, and became pres
ident on the death Of Harrison in 1841.
Franklin Pierce was senator from 1887
to 1912. He also resigned, and was
elected president ten years later. James
Buchanan was elected senator in 1884
and served till 1916, when he followed
that which appears to have been GUS
tom in the earlier days of the republic
and resigned his seat. He was elected
president eleven years after leaving the
senate.
Andrew johnson was senator from
1857 to March, 1853. In 1864 he was
elected vice president, and succeeded to
the presidency on the death of Lincoln
in 1865. James A. Garfield came nearer
than any other president to stepping
from the senate to the White House. In
January, 1880, he was elected to the
senate to succeed Allen G.. Thurman in
the term beginning March 4, 1881, but
he was that year nominated for and
elected president, and never became
senator at all. The latest instance of the
sort is the case Of President Harrison.
He served as senator from 1881 to 1887.
A year and half after leaving the SEN
ate he was elected president.
If the candidates for the presidency
who now occupy seats on the floor of tbs
senate were at all superstitious, they
would be appalled, by these citations from
history. 1t certainly is a remarkable
fact that in more than one hundred
years Of government not one senator has
been taken up and elected president Of
the United States. This may be mere
coincidence, or it may be fate brought
on by conditions which have not been
studied. The senate has throughout
our history been composed Of the great
est, most influential men of the country.
They have been leaders of parties,
molders of public opinion, and in posi-
ton to reach not only the ears of the
masses. but the managing men of parties
known as politicians.
Yet not one senator while a SEN
ator has been elected president, and
WIFI tHeAOIdDio pei CIuttCIty LllotOIy
shows that the only way there is for a
senator to reach the summit of polit-
ical ambition in this republic is to re-
sign or suffer another to be elected
in his place. Possibly careful examina-
ton of conditions might disclose the
fact that the senate is always full of
men who are ambitious to reach the
presidency, that the bee may always be
heard buzzing on the senate floor, and
that rivalry and jealousy between men
who rub against each other every day
may work to defeat them all.
The strange fatality which hangs
over senatorial aspirants to the presi-
lency is emphasized by consideration of
the large number of senators who have
sought, but sought in vain, the greatest
office in the gift of the American people.
At once the mind goes back to Aaron
Burr, the. brilliant, restless and ambi-
tious; to Webster and Calhoun, the
giants who were too great to be presi-
dent; to Henry Clay, he of phenomenal
public service and extraordinary disap-
pointments: to Gallatin and Dallas; to
Nathaniel Macon. to Salmon P Chasa