The age-herald., 1899-01-08
COMING THUNDER
 ON PEACE TREATY Congressional Record Will be Worth
 Subscription. WILL SPEAK TO THE PUBLIC Senators Will Not Waste Words in
 Executive Session.
MIR. MooDY'S SENSE OF AUM0R
Be Forced by the Epidemic of Grip Official Washington
 Paralyzed by Disease.


 Paralyzed by Disease.
 Washington, January 7-(Special)-The discussion of the peace treaty will be his toric in the senate. It will be productive of some of the greatest speeches ever made in that body It will remind one of the oratorical clashes of Webster and Haynes. the brilliant debates of Calhoun, Clay and Denton. There are giants in the senate now as there were then, and they are pre- pairing to put forth their m'ghtiest efforts. While the treaty in it's technical phases will be considered in executive session yet the great speeches will be delivered in the open senate in order that the people may read them in the Congressional Record.
 Nothing sa d in executive session is print ed in the official proceedings and there fore no senator cares to waste a carefully prepared address merely on his fellow sen ators whose votes are not likely to be changed in the course of debate. The men who are opposed to the general policy of expansion must appeal to the people over the heads of the senators and over the head of the administration. It is for this NAAeAAAN'~A warning to the American people in the open senate. For the same reason must Sen ators Gray, Lindsay and others who differ from their party regarding the treaty speak in the open senate. The fight for and against expansion has gone beyond the senate or the house. Nearly every member of the upper body has already made up his mind as to which side he will
 tAl people are still in plastic state. With them will rest the final decision on the question of expansion. Senator Hoar said that this debate will be, or else he will be greatly disappointed, one of the greatest de- bates in the history of the country. He believes the question at issue Is second only to the civil war, equal in importance to the life of the government to that of a slavery as discussed at the time of the Missouri compromise.
 Both sides feel the tremendous weight of responsibility which the discussion of this question involves. Their speeches will be read in decades to come and will become oratorical milestones in the history of the senate. This is the view which members of the senate take of the work before them. It is no wonder then that each is prepar- ing to put forth his greatest effort. When men feel as do this body of senators some- thing remarkable must be the outcome. It will not be a partisan fight simply for each party has been abandoned by some of it's ablest members. Perkins, Hoar and Hale are three men who, when they differ from their party subtract a good deal of brains from it. Lindsay and Morgan and Gray, who will favor the treaty, no matter what he will do later, offset these in mental calculation. These men feel a great loss in the death of Senator Merrill, whose age and wisdom would have been a silent bat tery of strength to them.
 Senator Hears Thunder
 Possibly the most learned speech to be made either side will be that of Senator Hoar. It must be remembered that he is fighting against fearful odds. It is much harder for him to hold the position he has taken than it is for a southern man to ad- vocate expansion For up there in New Eng land he finds little sympathy. Against him stands Chandler, Lodge, Frye, Proctor, Gal finger, Aldrich and Hawley-men who con- trol the thought and action of those stern New England folk.
 He has the active support of Senator Hale anu the Sllent 1nnuenCe or Speaker Reed. He feels the loneliness of his posi- tion, but he will not stop to consider that I went into his committee room the other day and saw on his desk in the center of the room the speeches of Clay, Webster and Calhoun, and works peoples and na- tions that one seldom hears of these days There were innumerable shoots of paper covered with notes lying scattered about The clerk told me that Senator Hoar was preparing his speech a. 1inst expansion. thought of the hundred books that George Eliot read before putting pen to paper to write Romola. By the side of the reading which Senator Hoar had evidently done, the reading of the famous novelist seemed but child's play. In almost every committee room there were similar evidences of much work, though none such as in this of Sen ator Hoar. SenatorCushman Davis is said to be preparing the speech of his life. It was said at the time that he made his famous speech in behalf of Cuba that he had done his best; that he would never eclipse it. He was simply telling story of a wrong, to use his own language and arguing for cause which all felt to be right at that time His ambition now is to embody in one speech history, deduction and prophecy.
 For the next month the Congressional Record will be worth it's subscription money.