Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1894-07-13
SENATOR L FEET.

SENATOR CALLS FEET.
Some weeks ago, a Washington CORE
spondent took occasion to refer, in a
witty way, to the fact that upon a GER
tam occasion in the senate, Senator Call
of Florida leaned back in his chair, and
elevated his feet to the top Of the desk in
front of him. The correspondent further
averred that the aforesaid feet we're shoe
less, and that the light of the senate
chamber glimmered and glinted from a
pair of blue polka-dot stockings which
adorned the pedal extremities OF the
Florida statesman. The item was copied
in nearly every paper in the country,
laughed at as an evidence of the Jeffer.
sonian simplicity of Senator Call, and
forgotten. But the senator himself did
not forget SO easily. The statement,
first, that he had exposed his unshod
feet to the prying eyes of the public, and
second, that he wore socks with polka
dots %emblazoned upon their silken sur
faces, stung and ranked, and burned,
and so, in the senate last Friday, Senator
Call took occasion to refer, in words
which were by no Q pleasant in
their significance, to the occurrence.
He denounced the members of the
press us blackguards and assassins, liars
and slanderers, and fairly exhausted the
of the English language in the
way of vituperation. Meanwhile the
senators about him treated the whole
thing as a joke. The senator wound up
his trade by admitting that one foot
was devoid of a shoe, but that
it was discreetly and decorously hidden
beneath his desk. The sin of the CORE.
spondents consisted in saying there were
two feet without shoes when only one
was thus bereft of a leather covering and
that one was, as tho senator explained,
wounded and lacerated." Apparently
oblivious of the fact that this was an ad-
ditional reason for wearing a shoe, SO far
as his neighbors we're concerned, Mr..
Call gave a rather serious turn to an in
cident which was otherwise only silly by
offering a resolution demanding the ex-
pulsion from the gallery of the author of
the story.
1t strikes the ordinary man that in
such a time as this, when the nation is
wrestling with an incipient rebellion,
Senator Call is prone to attach too much
Importance to the proper representation
by the press, of the senatorial feet. OF
course, it must be humiliating to the
senator, to learn that, after sacrificing
himself at the altar of legislation, he has
been maligned to the extent of polka
dot stockings. 1t seems hard that the
senatorial body cannot be excused from
such bitter and unkind thrusts. But at
the same time, it is hardly an incident
worthy of the prominence attached to it
by the senator with the feet referred to.
And the great trouble with the present
senate is that in a time when clear head
ed etatesmanehip is necessary to the
welfare of the nation, the senators are
too apt to fly off at a tangent discussion
of unshod feet and polka dot stockings.
The senatorial feet and the senatorial
socks are both matters of deep moment,
no doubt, but Senator Call should defer
their exculpation until the more crying
needs of the nation are attended. He
may then prepare and present a statisti-
cal review and defense of the feet sena-
torial, and be may rest assured that
the thinking public will accord to his
pedal extremities the profuseness of
apology which is no doubt justly due
them. @