Evening star., 1896-10-31

Excclled ms Statesmen.
From the New Yerk Post.
BY an odd coincidence we have presented
In our politics this year the remarkable
spectacle Of the greatest extremes of youth
and age In public life ever seen I'm our ma
tional history. In less than a week the
people Of the United States will vote for
President. one of the two leading candi-
dates being a man who is little more than
a year past the age of thirty-five. which is
necessary to make one constitutionally
eligible. The reelection of Justin S. Nor
rill in his eighty-seventh year, gives him
distinction reached by no other man in our
nistory-that of being chosen to the Senate
for six consecutive terms of six years each.
Hitherto Thomas III. Benton's thirty
years in the Senate has been unequaled.
toi has already, however. been much longer
than Benton's. for he spent twelve years
IN the House Of Representatives before he
entered the Senate. so that he is now in his
a legislator at Washington, while Benton's
thirty years in the Senate were supple
mented by only two in the lower branch.
But one other man in our history has ever
been continuously in public life at Wash
ington SO long Mr.. Morrill, That is
John Sherman. who entered the House of
Representatives with him in 1858. and was
mis- colleague there for six years when he
was promoted to the Senate. where MIR
Morrill, rejoined him in 1867. and they have
been colleagues In that body ever since, ex-
cept Tor the four years when the Ohioan
was Secretary of the Treasury under
HAYES. from 1877 to 1881
me most remarkable feature of Mr. Nor
rllls extraordinary record of forty-two
years service In one or other branch of
Congress is the fact that he had reached
middle age before he entered public life
he had been a merchant in a small way
ana FARMER until he was past forty, and
10 had oil
interest in public affairs and the nosses
sion OF traits fitting him to serve the peo-
PIE, neither he nor his neighbors when he
n.,s mas LOFTY could nave supposed that such a
career was possible for him as he has lived
since ne entered the lower branch of Com
gress, IN his forty-eighth year on the
o,hel o. nand' Benton began his thirty years
In the Senate when he was thirty-eigbt
and Sherman took his seat in the HnEsa
when he was thirty-tWo
MT Morrill, has furnished as good an ex
ample as we have ever had of the capacity
Tor useful public service of man Who
mad not consciously trained himself for A.
ana who did not enter 1t until we'll along i'm
lie, but who had added to native abiii,v
q nign character and good sense. long at
tention TO public affairs as a private citi-
zen, and who was always a model of in
dustrlous application to his duties as n
preventative and a Senator. In no sense
sieat man ne has always been thor
oughly efficient legislator, and the honor-
able record which he has made is a stril
ing illustration of the possibilities omen
under our institutions to the public-spIr-
for public life
Mr.. Morrills reelection for another term
when he is past eighty-six is the most
striking sign We have ever had of the
change that has come over the American
pubic during the past century in its ar
utude toward public men in the matter of
age A hundred years ago the idea of a
man peing capable Of service. not simply
1atw-
and ninety. but even so late as seventy
would have been rejected as absurd Under
the hrst constitution of New York judges
could not serve beyond sixty, because no
man older than that was considered able to
render Just decisions. More than nalf of
the thirty-nine delegates to the convention
OF 1857 who, signed the federal Constitu-
ton were under forty-five. while a dozen
OF them ranged from thirty-eight down TO
twenty five, and only four had passed six
ty. Throughout Washington's two terms
as PRESIDENT he always spoke of himself
as an old man. although he was but fifty-
seven when inaugurated, and as his first
term approached its end he wished to re-
tire to Mount Vernon, ito spend the re-
mainder of my days. which / cannot ex-
pect to be long. In ease and tranquility"
How far we have gone I'm the other di-
rection is made equally clear by the gen.
eral feeling that a man Is very young for
high position al thirty-six, although Jeffer-
son was only thrty-three when he wrote
the Declaration of Independence AIexan-
der Hamilton thirty-two when Washing
ton made him Secretary of the Treasury,
and Joseph Story .hirty-two when he was
appointed judge Of the Supreme Court
by Jefferson-each Of them having been
conspicuous in public affairs for years be-
fore they attained these honors. Indeed
the most surprising discovery one makes
about 1.-The fathers of the republic is thai
they were an exceedingly young set of mer
when they carried through the revolution,
framed the Constitution, and set the new
government running.
Maturity Of character is an essential TO
good public service, and that is not a maj
ter of years. Such a man as the Vermont
Senator has those solid traits which would
have kept him steady If he had entered
Congress in his twenties. So, too, William
E. Russell made an excellent mayor of
Cambridge before he was thirty and an
excellent governor of Massachusetts a lit
tie later. On the other hand, there are
hoy orators" who remain only boys how
ever long they live, and who command the
confidence Of the people as little in their
sixties in their thirties. The important
thing about any public man is not whether
he is young or old in years, but whether
his character and record show that he can
be safely trusted.