The Portland daily press., 1893-07-29
SENATOR ALLEN.

SENATOR ALLEN.
est Of all questions in a parliamentary
body will precede silver, tariff and eV-
erything else. The house will have nine
contests on its hands, but it is less jeal-
GUS of it's absolute integrity as a law
making body than the senate, which is a
continuous organism and will be content
with reference of the contests to the
committee on elections, Which at its lei
sure will hear the contests and make re-
port on all the cases some time before
final adjournment.
Having referred the contests, the house
will plunge into debate over the silver
question as soon as a bill can be reported
from committee. What advantage there
is in this programme rests with antisilver
men. Admittedly stronger in the popu-
lar branch of congress than in the upper
body, the friends of repeal will be able to
make their fight in the senate with the
prestige Of large majority of the mem
bers of the house, comparatively fresh
from the people, behind them as voting
for repeal. Every little counts, as the
miser millionaire said when he dropped
punched coin on the contribution plate,
and the effect of large antisilver vote
in the house will influence the senatorial
vote, for there are number of repre-
sentatives ambitious of wearing the SEN
atorial toga, and little birds have whis-
pered the secret to some of the senators.
1t will DE quite relief in the dog days
of mid-August to go from the heated de
bates of the house over finances to the
cool shades of the senate, where placid
constitutional arguments will flow. The
point involved in the senate contests is
the right of the governor of a state to
appoint senator to fill vacancy where
the legislature has adjourned and failed
to elect. The prolonged deadlock in the
new states of Montana, Wyoming and
Washington CAUSED the question to be
raised. Lee Mantle, Republican edi-
tor, mine owner and free coinage advo-
cate, holds the certificate from the gov
ernor of Montana as ex-senator Sanders
successor. The legislature is Demo-
cratic and Populist, but an old feud be-
tween Montana millionaires gave the
Republican governor an opportunity to
send a man of his own political faith.
Senator Allen in Washington ran up
against stiff combination in the legis-
lature, and he being stubborn and the
other fellows obstinate the legislature
failed to elect. The governor gave the
youthful looking senator a certificate as
the states senator until the legislature
can reconvene and make up it's mind.
Mr.. Allen is for repeal Of the SHEER
man law. If the ladies could decide
this question, he would remain by a very
large majority. He is good looking,
with young, almost boyish face, in
which the fresh blood raises pretty
bushes and dimples. He ranks well as
lawyer and has enough cases in the
supreme court to swell his senatorial in7s
come to respectable proportions.
A. G. Becl1with, Democrat, comes
from Wyoming as successor to Francis
E. Warren, Republican who drew the
short term when Wyoming was adj
mitted to statehood and managed in less
than two years to make an unusually
strong impression on senators as man
Of vigor and ideas. Mr.. Beckwith is in
clined toward free coinage. He is
Wyoming pioneer, the richest man in
the state and has large business interests
which may lead him to favor some
measure promising present relief to the
financial strain.
The senate talked for some days at its
special session in March on the constitu-
tional power of appointment by the gov
ernor. The majority report Of its COM
mittee on privileges and elections was
favorable to the seating of the senators.
There was strong minority, however,
led by Chairman Vance. Constitutional
and not party lines marked the division
of sentiment in the senate.
Mantle's case is the one on which the
| test will be made. The controlling spirit
OF the majority report is that the con-
| stltution contemplates that the senate
shall be kept full-that is, constantly
have two senators from each state-and
that vacancy exists-in which case the
constitution gives the governor power
| to appoint-as much through failure to
elect as through death. The minority
hold that it is for the state to see that it
sends senators and that vacancy"
means an accidental happening. Die
tionaries, history and law will be ran
sacked to define vacancy" and chap
pen."
No grave question of constitutional
law will control the nine contests in tho
house. The constitution may figure in