St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-10-12
THE sENATE's pRoGEN1ToR.


In these days when the senate of the
United States is causing the question to
be asked why it should exist ar ali and
OF what use it is, its origin in this cOun-
Try is worth recalling, if for no other
purpose than TO show how persistent
are ancestral traits. and that even rep
resentative bodies may present striking
instances of ataviSm.
In the beginnings of the colony of
Massachusetts. its government was
vested in the governor and board of
assistants elected by the company to
whom the charter by his gracious ma
jesty was given under the name OF the
Governor and Company of Massachu-
sets Bay in New England" This board
came later to elect the governor. and
from annual elections of its members
they became members holding for life
or during good behavior. This body as
sumed TO levy tax on settlement to
build fort, and the question OF repre-
sentation was Immediately sprung. re-
Sulting in each settlement sending TWO
deputies to advise with the board.
which soon grew 10 be regular part OF
the governing body. Unavoidabjy, the
life members came to represent the
aristocratic tendencies of the colony,
while the deputies elected annually
came fresh from the people with the
odor of democracy about them.
Until 1744 these assistants and depu-
ties sat together. Then, as Winthrop
puts it, There fell out great business
upon very small occasion" Capt.
Keayne lived in Boston and kept his
pig, as Boston aristocratS were wont to
do in those days before they devised a
protective tariff, and thus made other
people keep pigs for them. To his
premises there came one day a stray pig.
which, with true Bostonian hospitality,
the captain took in and penned with his
own pig. The pig was duly "cried, "
but no owner came. Months later there
came poor woman searching for her
lost pig. With that politeness which
characterized the Bostonese even then,
the captain showed her the stray in the
pen, of which it was then the sole occu-
pant, the captains pig having waXed
fat and found its way into the pork bar
rel to mingle with the succulent bean
in the favorite dish. The woman de-
MED her own and claimed the Slaugh-
tered pig. The elders of the church
were appealed to, and sat on the case
and held against the woman. The
woman, womanlike, declared that the
captain and the elders had stolen her
pig. The captain sued for SANDER. and
got verdict. AS such things 60, the
neighborhood had taken sides, the blue
blOods standing by the captain; the
commons backing the woman. She ap-
pealed to the general court. made up of
the assistants and the deputies. The
trial waged iercely for seven days.
Seven of the nine assistants stood by
the captain, and the deputies backed
the woman. The line Of cleavage was
the old, old one between the ariStocrat5
and the democrats.
Regarding the result" says Fiske,
"as the vote of single body, the woman
had plurality of two. Regarding the
result as a vote of double body, her
cause had prevailed in the lower house.
but was lost by the vote Of the upper.
No decision was reached at the time,
but, after a year of discussion, the
legislature was permanently divided
into two houses. each with veto power
on the other"
Much that is incomprehensible in the
action of our present senate, when
Judged by the ordinary motives of con-
duct. thus becomes plain. AS our
senates owe their origin to a dispute
over pig, the federal senate is but true
to its traditions when it stands by the
pig. regardless whether it is the pig
primeYal or the pig silver.