The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1897-05-08
HAS THE SENATE DEGENERA1
ED2MILLER ANSWERS HOAR.

HAS THE SENATE DEGENERAI-
ED?-MILLER ANSWERS HOAX.
In the May number of the Forum, MI
Charles r. Miller, editor OF the Ne"
York Times, writes reply to Senator
Hoar's article on "Has the Senate De
generated?" In the April number OF the
Forum Senator Hoar strenuously con-
tends that the Senate has not degener-
ated.
Mr.. Miller makes out strong case IN
his argument that the highest legislative
| body has degenerated, the best argu-
ment being to contrast the greatest men
elected to the Senate during the ten years
from 1S43 to 1853 with the most SHIN
ingIy names elected during the ten years
from 1889 to 1899. The mere reading of
these names will convince the student
of history that the old order embraced
more intellectual giants than the later
period.
From 1S43 to 1853 these were the
noblest Senators chosen, according to
Mr.. Miller: Thos II. Benton, James
Buchanan, Rufus Choate, Daniel s.
Dickinson, John A. Dix, Levi Woodbury.,
Silas Wright, John c. Calhoun, Lewis
Cass, Simon Cameron, Sam Houston,
Reverdy Johnson, Daniel Webster,
IN, n,,,r Cor,,-;, Jofforco, no Wis Stophan
A. Douglas, II. Nj. Hunter, Salmon Z.
Chase, Henry Clay, Thomas Ewing, Jno.
C. Fremont, John Z. Hale, Robert c.
Winthrop William III. Seward, James
A. Bayard, Solomon Foote, Henry S.
Foote, Hamilton Fish, Hannibal Hamin.
Charles Sumner.
tits surprising, in this list of great men
who served during the period from 1S43
to 1853, Mr. Miller omitted two Of the
ablesC members of the Senate. We have
reference to Willie F. Mangum and Geo.
E. Badger, of North Carolina. William
A. Graham, one of the first men of the
country. had retired from the Senate i'll
1S43. Mr. Mangum served first in the
Senate from 1881 to 1886 when, under
instructions from the Legislature, he
resigned. The year after, in 1887 he
received the electoral vote Of South Car
DINA for the presidency. He re-entered
the Senate, December 9th, 1910 and
served until March Bird, 1853. During
part of that time he was President pro-
tempore of that body having been elected
May 31st, 1912. Mr.. Badger entered the
Senate in 1916, and was elected for full
term in 1S4S He was Secretary of the
Navy under Tyler, but resigned because
Of the Presidents veto of the second
band bill. In 1853 he was appointed by
President Fillmore as Associate Justice of
the Supreme court of the United States,
but the Senate refused to confirm the
nomination. There is but one expla-
nation of the omission of these men from
the names of the greatest Senators of
that period, forever noted for its produc
Clay, Salhoun. Cass, Douglas and
Davis, these two great men wrote little,
and though they were as potential as
their associates in debate and in the par
ty councils, they lived among a people
who depended upon the hustings and not
the printing press for their political II
struction. Their great speeches live as
traditions. Those of their collea CUES,
who lived where the press was power,
live in imperishable type.
Contrasting the two periods, Mr.. Miller
gives the following as the shining names
elected from 1889 to 1890: Morgan, AL
lison, Hale, Frye, German, Lodge, Hoar,
Sherman, Foraker, Hanna, Aldrich, JUS
tin s. Morrill,, Pugh, Teller, Palmer,
Voorhees,, Vest, W. E. Chandler, David
B. Hin, Bricc, Quay, Don Cameron,
Mills, Elkins, Hawley, PETER, Villas,
Evarts, Stewart, Vance, and John +.
Jones. The list suffers greatly by com
parison, but it is not justly made. Think
of leaving out John W. Daniel, Isham G.
Harris, Matthew Ransom, David Turpie,
James X. Jones, Wade Hampton, John
b. Gordon, and including Hale, Foraker,
Hanna, Don Cameron, w. f. Chandler,
Steve Elkins and VIM. A. PETER! There
is not one of the first mentioned, whose
names are omitted, who does not tower a
bove the Forakers, Hannas, Camerons.
Elkins and the PETERS While, even if
these ADLER men had been included, the
Senate between 1S43 and 1853 ranked
higher than between 1889 and 1899, Mr.
Miller's grouping shows a disparity alto
gether too great-so much so that he
may have been tempted to include Mark
Hanna and Steve Elkins for no other
purpose than to make the contrast SO