The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1897-04-13

mr.. AOBAR7'S DUTIES.
The New Vice President
Said to Fill His Posi-
tion as If to the
Manner Born.
COMPARED WITH PREDECESSORS
Best Presiding officer in the Sem
ate Since Calhoun
Bryan's Visit.
COMPARED NTH PREDECESSORS
washington Despatch in the Newark

How admirably the new Vice President
presides!' Doesn't Mr.. Hobart make a
fine presiding ofhceri" These and excla-
nations of a similar nature may be heard
constantly at the Senate wing OF the
Capitol. They come not only from old adj
mirers n friends of Gus, Hobart, as
so many of them have been accustomed
to call him. but also from the more criti-
cal Senators and Representatives, and
from the vague, unidentified crowd which
from day to day fills the galleries of the
Senate which are reserved for visitors.
With most Of the people the exclamation
Is intended to convey also an intimation
Of surprise, as If 1t We're. indeed, astonish-
ing that the new Vice President, not yet
presiding officer of the Senate for a
month of actual service, should be able
to preside over what has been described
as THE most deliberative body on earth y
With tact, sureness and ability. But with
those visitors who have known Mr.. Ho-
bart OF old, who recall the time when he
was a membe of the New Jersey Senate,
and who still, from force of habit, address
him as Senator" it is not at all surpris-
ing that Mr.. Hobart should be winning
golden opinions on all sides for the admir-
able way In which he is discharging the
duties of President of the Senate. For
they remember that he made an admir-
able president of New Jerseys Senate,
perhaps the best New Jersey has had in
a great many years. The experience in
parliamentary practice which Mr.. Hobart
to MIN now, more valuable, perhaps, than
ne ever supposed 1t would.
Ihese tributes to the presidential ca
pac1ty of Mr.. Hobart come also from the
EMPLOYEES or the Sanlfa mGfl u-hsa cxra
grown gray in the service, who know
every twist. turn n wrinkle of Sena-
lorial affairs and Who are as deeply
yersed in Senatorial tradition, custom and
history as Madame Blavatsky was in the
I~neosophical lingo. One of these em-
ployes, who has been for many years in
the Senate's service as stenographer Of
the proceedings, said, in speaking of the
impression Mr.. Hobart had made
ae Is py long odds the best presiding
Or John G. Calhoun, but in saying this I
90 not mean to be understood as includ-
ing the presidents pro tenn. of the Sem
ate-Such men as ex-senator EdmundS,
ex-senator ingalls, and Senator Frye
who were deeply versed in parliamentary
knowledge and who lac just the right
make them ideal presiding officers. l
am referring only to the Vice-Presidents,
and | am well within the truth when t
say mat no one since Calhoun's time has
was, as history and tradition both assert,
a most accomplished President, but
there have been some vice-Presidents
who were painfully inadequate to the
demands of such a position
Then iapsing into a reminiscent mood.
tne s~tenographer continued:-"Villiam A.
Ger. Mr.. Hendricks, In spite Of his long
experience in public life, made onIy an
indifIsrent President and Mr.. Stevenson,
though wen qualified for the office, never
going on. Vice-President Morton had
the hardest time. perhaps. of any of the
~ nfcespresrdents; He was never adapted
OF a presiding office, and he never really
succeeded in mastering the routine and
e elead d9TmHlas Of the position He was
all the requirements of the office. and
soon AFTER ne was elected he came here
ana Ior weeks at a time sat in the gall
lerles trying to familiarize himself With
the duties OF the chair and in learning to
recognize the faces of the various Sena-
Iors. MI; Hobart possesses not only a
parliamentary procedure, but he is well.
up on the more intricate special rules IF
the senate and he has also learned, in a
TOR as he rises and to tell the name Of
the State, which is no small achievement
"a "a aaal5lon ne has learned the. peculiar
puzzifng to an outsider"
The Senate and the Senators draw a
very curious distinction between the Vice
President, who is President Of the San-
ate, n a member of the Senate The
senators are VIGOROUSLY jealous of their
prerogratfves and privileges. and thew 10
net propose to yield a BIT of them to the
wee PRESIDENT or anyone else not strict
~ entitled to them by the provision of
the laws or of the Constitution. a SEM
ator, Tor example, Is allowed mileage; a
wee PRESIDENT is allowed none, and mile
age Is a very nice thing to have when
one realizes that a Senator receives mile
age at the rate of twenty cents a mile.
eacn way. The Senators from Washing
lGDM FOR " 10l . :
each Congress, when they travel over the
3.l4I OF miles that separate Spokane from
the senate end Of the Capitol. Because
they receive mileage. Because the Vice
President represents all the States Of the
Union, he receives one, which, to say
me Ieast, seems an inequitable division
OF Uncle Sans money. Again, a Senator
IS allowed $3.50 worth of stationery. and
he can expend that sum in tooth brushes
T ne wants to. The President of the SEN
ture and implements of desk, which also
seems inequitable and unfair.
These are not, however. the only pre-
negatives a Senator has. If he so desires
he may get his hair cut ana his faee
shaved at the expense Of the Government
IAN inestimable privilege. which, with
ede h Tagging + ~ on poots; may also be enjoy
The new Vice President sticks closely
to his duties in the chair. He makes no
concealment Of his interest in what is go
S @DA- - kAStSAo RdtAtltiy 10 the de-
bates, and no doubt all this time he Is
measuring UP the men before him. His
relations are already of the pleasantest
with Democrats, Populists, Free Silver
Republicans and Republicans, and when
he leaves the chair he is Just as likely
to summon Senator Faulkner, of West
Virginia Democrat) as he is to ask Sem
ator Sewell, Of New Jersey Republican.
An Interesting incident occurred In the
Senate the other day, in which the Vice
President interjected his personality in a
way that startled the Senator'S and made
them realize that the presiding officer Of
the Senate was really presiding. The
Senators ave of recent years. and IN
violation of parliamentary rifles, fallen
into the bad habft of debating when a bill
Is introduced. This they have no right to
do, but they have dope 1t SO often re-
Gently that II seems as il It were one Of
the inviolable traditions and laws Of the
Senate so to do. But the Vice President
put a speedy stop to this irregular debate
this week, when several Senators, Chand-
Ter, Allen Gray and Stewart, started In
on a cursory discussion Of Senator Chaud-
ler's sarcastic bill to abolish competition
In trade and manufacturing The dis
cussion got hot and exciting, and the
Senate was apparently In for a lively in
~terchanEe of words. when the Wire procf