The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1894-07-14
NESTORS OF THE SENATE
Members Of Congress Who Have
Served Long Terms.
Statesmen Who Have Spent Over Quar-
tor Of . Century In the Legh-
lativo Halls Of tho
NatlQ0s

While the celebration Of the eighty
fourth birthday of Senator Justin y
Morrill,, who has been aptly called the
ssfather Of congress-" is fresh in mind,
it may be of especial interest to recah
the terms of few other men who have
nearly or quite equaled him in the
length of their public career at Wash-
ington, says the Washington Star.
Senator Morrill,, even, cannot sur
pass the senate record OF Thomas II.
Benton, the member from Missouri to
the first congress which convened after
that state was admitted to the union.
and who served from October 2, 1920, to
March 4, 1851. He was afterward q
member of the house for two years.
Senator Morrill, has been in congress,
however, for thirty-nine years, and In
the senate for twenty-seven. William
Rufus King, who was vice president
under Franklin Pierce, served in the
senate for twenty-nine years, but his
service was not continuous. He began
his first term in 1919 and ended his last
in 1853. Henry B. Anthony, Of Rhode
Island, had he lived to see the end of
his last term, would have equaled tho
record of Mr.. Morrill,. He was elected
five times, but only served q year and
half of his last term. He died In
1884. Hannibal Hamlin, of Maine,
comes next in point of length of serv-
ice. Practically he was in the senate
continuously from 1648 to 1885. Four
years of this time was as vice president
under Lincoln, when he was presiding
officer. Mr.. Hamlin was elected to the
upper house in 1869 again, so that his
service in that body was twenty-eigh
years and six months, and he had been
six years in the house before his first
senatorial election. 1t is true he re-
signed from the senate in 1857 to be-
come governor of Maine, but he re-
turned in less than three months to his
seat in congress.
Among the Massachusetts, senators
Charles Sumner has first place for
length of continuous service. In March.
1851, he took his seat, and was there
when he died, in 1874; Senator Sherman
has the congressional record next
best to Mr.. Morrill's Had it
not been for the break in his
term, when he was secretary of the
treasury under President Hayes, he
would have been in continuous service
exactly the same length of time as the
senator from Vermont. Senator Nor
rill, it will be remembered, refused q
cabinet position under the Hayes ad-
ministration. Mr.. Sherman has served
twenty-ninc years in the senate. Mr..
Allison, OF Iowa, has been in congress
thirty-one years, of which time TWEEN.
ty-one have been in the upper chamber:
Mr.. Allison is six years the junior of
Senator Sherman and eighteen years
younger than Vermont's veteran. Mr..
Harris, of Tennessee, was in con-
gress six years before Senator Morrill,,
but his terms have not been continu-
Gus, and in point Of congressional ex-
perience he stands but number ten to-
day. There are. two other senators
who have served continuously for more
than twenty years. They are John
Gaillard, of South Carolina, whose term
began in 1904 and ended in 1926, and N.
R. Knight, of Rhode Island, who served
from 1921 to 184L
It is remarkable fact that no man
ever served thirty years in the house of
representatives. Judge Kelley, of Penn
sylvania, was in his thirtieth year there
when he died. When Mr.. O'Neil, of
Pennsylvania, died he had served al
most twenty-nine years. He was once
told by Mr.. Holman that he was SO
strong he would beat his record and
serve his thirty years, but he did not.
# Mr.. Holman serves out his present
term, however, he will have beaten the
record. He has met with the house for
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