The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-07-11
OLD BOYS OF THE SENATE
SOME OF THEM BREAK DOWN UNDER
LONG-CONTINUED PRESSURE.
Hold That Washington Has on Public
Men-Edifying COntest-Assistant
Secretary's Adventure.
ial to the indianapolis Journal.

DER the pressure. one reason 1Or THIS Is
that the average age of the senator is much
above that of the representatives, and an
other reason is that the Senate has been
unremittingly at work for a longer period
than the House.
There are among the lightweight sena-
tors who compose that body at present
(there being vacancies in Florida and in
Oregon) eleven who are now seventy years
of age or above; twenty-three who are be-
tween sixty and seventy, and twentysix
who are between fifty and sixty years of
age, making in all sixty who are more
than fifty years old The period between
forty and fifty years embraces only twenty
names, while the list of senators under
forty only includes four. Four senators
decline to say how old they are, namely,
Turpie of Indiana, Pasco, Clay and Bate.
Senator Morrill, is the oldest man in the
Senate, being eighty-seven years of age.
Senator Isham G. Harris was believed to
be eighty-one years old. Then comes Pet
tus, of Alabama, seventy-six; Morgan, his
colleague, seventy-three; Hawley, Hoar
and George, seventy-one: Plat of Con-
necticut, Stewart of Nevada, and Turpie of
Indiana, seventy, although the latter de-
clines to mention his exact age. Closely
hugging the seventy-year line are Cullom
and Allison, sixty-eight; Teller, Vest and
Jones of Nevada, siXty-seven; Proctor and
Walthall and Frye, sixty-six; Mills, sixty
five; Plat of New York, and Quay, sixty
four. Shoup, Lindsay, Caffery, McEnery,
Hale Cockrell, Chandler, Sewell, Gallinger,
Murphy and Hanna are all over
sixty. White, Wolcott, Mason, Fair
banks Lodge, Carter, Pettigrew and
Faulkner are among those whose age is
rI,o Iiefsi
that is, those who are under forty years of
| age includes Senators Heitfeld Of Idaho,
Butler of North Carolina, Penrose of Penn
sylvania, and Cannon of Utah. The young
est of this quartet is Butler who is only
thirty-four years old, and has been in the
Senate two years. Penrose is thirty-six,
and Canon and Heitfeld thirty-eight.
Members of Congress, and for that mat
ter a large percentage of the active poll
ticians in public life, have been going it
under high pressure for twenty months
without a rest. The Fifty-fourth Congress
| convened in December of 1885, and the first
session lasted until the last of June, 1896.
| During all that time many members of
both branches added to their congressional
work very active performance for their
presidential candidates previous to the
| conventions followed a long and intensely
wearing campaign. This was no sooner
settled than preparations had to be made
for the short session of Congress, begin
ming early last December. Within fifteen
days after the windup of the short session.
early last March, the Fifty-fifth Congress
was convened in special session, and from
then down to date there has been no rest
| Human endurance has been tested to it's
| utmost, and senators and representatives
are painting for release from this kind
| of overtaxing public service. The pace
they have been going for the better part of
two years is one that kills.
Most of the congressman will stay in
| Washington week or two after adjourn
ment to get in their work for constituents
who are after offices, and to attend to
pressing private and public business. Then
they will scatter to the four points of the
compass and recuperate until cool weather.
They will give the Capitol the glad good
bye for the season, but they would be very
unhappy if they thought they would not
! return.
The hold that Washington has on pub
lie men who have spent a few years here
is incomprehensible to those who do not
| see daily illustrations of the strength of
the washington habit" The latest IL
lustration, perhaps, is that of ex-senator
Call, of Florida. After he lost his seat
in April last he came on here and has
remained ever since, trying to get recog-
milton on the government pay rolls in al
most any capacity. He went for every
thing that was in sight in the way of COM
missionerships on nonpartisan boards and
failed at everything. Then he dropped
down a peg or two, and at last accounts
was struggling for appointment as assist
ant secretary Of the Senate unmindful of
the unbroken Senate unwritten law that
no man who has once been member Of
that body will ever be permitted to occupy
a subordinate position within it's immediate
jurisdiction.
The public has been highly edited dur
ing the past two weeks over the spec
tacle of a fight between a United States
senator and a. rich Washington banker
and real estate owner over the appoint
ment of the latter's son to a German con-
| sulate. To read the newspaper accounts
in the press of Washington the impression
would naturally be formed that the senator
| wellington was an unspeakable idiot and
Mr. Warner, the capitalist, much-abused
| individual and one who had been subjected
to an infamous wrong at the hands of the
| statesman. But as a matter of fact the
newspapers have not been exactly fair in
their treatment of the subject, and they
have persistently favored the heavy adj
vertiser as against the senator. The truth
| appears to be that the politician was in
sincere in his Endorsement of the banker s
son, but there is also robust suspicion that
| he was overreached by means that cannot
be classed as strictly sportsmanlike, hence
there is an excuse on both sides for feel
| ing sore"
In rebuttal of the claim of the Washing
ton banker that recognition was due his
| family" on account OF his large campaign
contributions Senator Wellington's friends
tell the following story. They say:
early last summer Mr.. Warner began
writing the Republican campaign commit
tee of Maryland about his intentions to
send in a heavy contribution. He wrote
a number of times always making mention
of what he intended to do. Being a man
of great wealth and apparently intensely
| in earnest, the committee expected a check
for at least 5000 or $4,000 Finally the
document arrived. 1t was for $780, The
| committee. held an indignation meeting,
! and considered the advisability of return
| ing the check sneeringly. Before anything
was done about il another letter from Mr.
Warner was received, asking the treasurer
of the committee to forward the check to
| the committee of Montgomery county in