The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-12-30
Congress Not Deteriorating.

Mr.. NOAH BROOKS has lately brought
home from Washington the notion hat
the Senate is deteriorating sadly. When
he was young it was much better in
intellectual quality than it is now,
he tells the Ne,o York Times. Does
he not remember that even in those
earlier days the deterioration" of the
Senate was almost as hackneyed a croak as
it is nowR He gives this list of some of
the Senators of LINcoLN's and ANDREW
JoHNsoN's time, and laments that their
successors have fallen so far below them:
"of that race OF Senators I recall a few prominent
names: Delaware was represented by JAMES A.
BAYARD Illinois by LYMAN TRuMBuLL. o. Il. BROWN.
INC, and 1ater) RICHARD YATES Indiana by HENRY s.
LANE Iowa by JAMES W. GRIMES and JAMES HARLAN
California by JOHN CONFESS and JAMES A. McDoUoALL
Michigan by ZACH CHANDLER and JACOB NJ. How.
ARD New Hampshire by JOHN p. HALE Massachu.
setts sent CHARLES SUMNER and HENRY WILSON Ohio,
BENJAMIN +. WADE and JOHN SHERMAN Pennsylvania,
DAVID WnMoT Kentucky, GARRETT DAVIS Tennes.
see.A ANDREW JOHNSON Maine. WILLIAM PITT FEssES.
DEN and LOT N. MORRILL,, and so on to the end OF the
chapter. Who are their successors. renowned for
forensic ability. ~shrewdness in legislative manage
ment, and fertility Of resource?"
Now, let US compare these men with
their present successors and see II because
they appeared big to Mr.. Brooks in his
youth while the others seem to his e
small by the side of them, there has been
really any such deterioration.
Because Delaware Is no longer repre-
sented in the Senate by n member of the
BAYARD family is not convincing evidence
Of a decline. The present Senators from
Illinois, Mr.. CULLoM and Mr.. MASON, are
in no wise inferior to TRUMBULL, Brown
ING, and YATES. Who of this newer gen.
Grafton knows HENRY S. LANE of Indiana
even as a mere name2 He was elected
Senator in 1860, and at the end of his term
dropped out of politics. In the stormy
times of the anti-slavcry agitation and of
the civil war he had a n adventurous repu.
~tation, but it has not remained. The pres.
ent Senators from Indiana, Mr.. TURp1E
and Mr.. FAIRBANKS, are not below his in
tellectual stature.
Mr.. Brooks recalls JAMES w. GRIMES
and JAMES HARLAN of Iowa. Neither of
them rose to the ability of WILLIAM B..
ALLISON, the present Senator of that
State. California was represented in
the Senate then by John CoNNEss
and JAMES A. MCDoUGALL, but he
present Senators, Mr.. WHITE IL Mr..
PERKINS, indicate no lamentable lowering
of the States standard. JOHN p. HALE rep
resented New Hampshire, but it was the
opportunity of the agitation of those times
which gave him his distinction. In genuine
ability the present Senators, Mr.. CHANDLER
and MIR. CHALLENGER, cannot be contrasted
with him as political degenerates. "ZACH"
| Tn A Nyn I'm n-1 Ir~n At
then in the Senate from Michigan. M.
BURROWS and Mr.. MCMILLAN, who are
there now, are fully as able men. "Massa.
chusetts sent CHARLES SUMNER and HENRY
WILSON" Senators HoAR and LODGE are
their superiors by far. SUMNER was an un.
safe man, doing more harm tina good: WILL
SON had a level rather than a strong
n well-filled head. BENJAMIN F. WADE
and JOHN SHERMAN represented Ohio,
both strong men; but so also are Mr..
FORAKER and Mr.. HANNA strong men.
DAVID WILMoT from Pennsylvania is
named by Mr.. BROOKS He was a man of
ability, whose name acquired distinction
by its association with the "Wilmot pro.
viso,' but with Mr.. QUAY and MI. PEN
ROSE the State suffers no deterioration of
its dignity in the Senate. GARRETTDAyIs.
and ANDREW JOHNSON of Tennessee do not
throw into the shade the present Senators.
Senators HALE and FRYE of Maine need
fear no comparison with WILLIAM PIT
FEssENDEN and LOT NJ. MORRILL,, cited by
Mr.. Brooks as giants of the past.
t truth is that Congress In both its
branches is now fully up to it's i~ntellec-
tual average at the time spoken of by Mr..
Brooks. or course If all the great men of
its more than a century of past existence
were grouped together a single Congress
could not present their equals numerically,
but in both Senate and House there are
now men who will rank in history with
the greatest Legislators ever produced by
America.