Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1896-01-31

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for. proposed work equal to its est.
! mated cost, and the letting Of contracts
| at the outstart to cover its completion.
The application OF this rule to the works
at Sault Ste. Marie, it is estimated, will
hasten their completion by from three
to five years, and at greatly lessened
cost. This is referred to az an instance
of Senator Davis practical statesman
ship. His speech on the subject was a
revelation to the senate and the vast
region interested on the magnitude of
our internal commerce and the impor.
lance Of our waterways to its accommo-
dalton and development I,
The consideration given to Senator
Davis on all questions concerning for
eign relations, in that committee and
in the senate, is we'll understood. A
profound publicist az we'll as u pro.
found lawyer, his Judgment is habitu.
ally sought on matters of grave impor-
lance, and the subjects assigned to him
for consideration and report usually
involve the more intricate questions of
international law. He is peculiarly fitted
to deal with such questions, for that
branch of public law has always been
with him favorite and absorbing
study. His private library contains
almost everything in that line of legal
learning in English. French and Ital-
ian, which languages are the reposi.
tories Of whatever is most authoritative
in International law. He has knowl-
edge of all these tongues, and he goes,
therefore, with easy certainty to the
fountain sources of information.
1t was with an appreciation of his
special abilities that he was assigned to
the exposure of the Hawaiian infamy
before the Unites States senate. His
speech in January, 1894, on that stupid
crime with which Cleveland initiated
his second administration, will never
be forgotten by those who heard or
have read it. It occupied two days in
delivery, and not only from the canons
of international law, but from their
own mouths. he convicted the president
and his ignorantly willing tool of
offenses against public justice, private
right and hallowed precedent, and of
the attempted destruction of the heroic
deeds and inspirations of our own kith
and kin. His Indignation carried him
into denunciations in which he does
not often indulge, and sarcasms which
rarely pass his lips. 1t was an oblitera-
ton of Blount, and q blow at Cleve-
land, from which he is now but
fortuitously recovering. The Tiberian
incident of that speech is a gem Of
classic pertinency and point.
The Monroe doctrine, which now &C.
cupies the public mind, has always
been held by Senator Davis to its ut.
most logical limit; and in an address
delivered last April at Minneapolis, he
gave historical review of that ques.
ton, and of the application of its prin-
ciples to the Venezuelan boundary dis
pute. of which the Olney dispatch to
Salisbury is nothing more than para
phrase. He is, above all, and to all,
nations and individuals, an American
of America.
No account of Senator Davis legis-
lative services would be complete which
failed to record his labors on behalf of
the Union soldiers during the six years
of his craftsmanship of the senate
committee on pensions. 1t is
in the committee room that
the proof of legislators sincerity
and devotion to duty is to be sought.
The open senate is the place where
much conscientious speaking is done,
but it is also the place for pyrotechnic
oratory, and the public like fireworks
But in the committee room legislation
is digested and fashioned ready for the
finishing touch of approval or dissent
in the open body. Himself a soldier,
emerging from Southwestern swamps a
walking skeleton and suffering for
years from miasmatic poison, he knows
by bitter experience the hardships Of
army life, and sympathizes with the
hundreds Of thousands whose age has
been made miserable by the unrequited
sufferings of youthful patriotism. So,
the first labor of each day was given to
his comrades.
For six years his committee room was
open at 9 o'clock in the morning, and
he never left it for the senate chamber
until the days pension business was
concluded. His soldier record, brighter
than any he was permitted to make in
the field, is found in the thousands, Of
bills Of relief passed Tor crippled vetis