The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1899-02-26
GENERAL WASHINGTON
NEWS AND GOSSIP

Some Departing Stntesmen.-Prob-
ably the two best known men on the DEM
ocratic side in the Senate who will pass
out of public life with hhe expiration of the
present Congress on harcH are Arthur
Pue German of MAylald and Roger
ouarles Mills of Texjs. sBoth men have
been prominent at the council table of the
Democratic party for more :than quarter
of century. Mr. cleveland at one time,
it is understood. thought seriously of hon
oring Mr.. Mills by making him his running
mate on the Presidential ticket. Senator
Mills retires poor man. although not
soured and disappointed one Whatever his
private opinion may be OF the wisdom OF
the people of the Lone Star State i'll placing
him upon the shelf politically, he is not
going around airing it. Not one word OF
complaint has fallen from his lips that
anyone has heard of, and he has had only
pleasant things to say Of Mr.. Cuiberson,
who will take his place in the Senate.
Mills is ck-tempered and flies into
passion upon the slightest provocation, but
he is generally swift to recover himself and
apologize If he has done a friend an injus-
tice. Mills could never quite bring himself,
however, to forgive Speaker Crisp for the
treatment he received at his hands in the
matter of the committee assignments He
refused to serve in any OF the positions to
which Speaker Crisp assigned him, and
shortly afterward left the House for the
Senate. II is said that Senator Mills will
make no effort to re-enter public life. 1t
is his present intention, it is understood.
to return to Texas after March and take
up farming in a small way. Senator Mills
did not make the mark in the Senate that
his friends thought he would. He seemed
to be somehow out of place in the Senate.
and he will probably be remembered longer
and more fayorably as member of the
House. At the same time, the best wishes
of the majority of his senatorial colleagues
will, it is believed, go with Senator Mills
into his retirement.
Mr.. German will probably be heard from
again in the politics of the country. His
| friends do not believe that he has arrived
at the end of his political career, although
in the judgment of a good many people
he is pretty near it. The political up
heaval that has taken place in Maryland
during the past few years has produced a
good many radical changes in that State.
1t will probably be a good many years be-
fore the pendulum will swing back to
| where it was prior to 1891. The opposition
to German among certain Maryland Demo-
Gratis Is apparently as strong today as ever
II was. Mr.. German hopes, it is under
stood, to succeed Senator Wellington at
the expiration of the latters term in 1908.
rouf years Is long look ahead In poll
tics. No one can accurately foretell what
changes may take place in that length of
time. Mr.. German is planning to take an
active part in the Presidential campaign
next year. He would like, his friends say,
to be called to manage the campaign for
Mr.. Bryan or whoever may be made the
Democratic standard bearer. The expec-
| tation would be that he would be invited
into the Cabinet II the Democratic party
4 hon
man, while not a rich man, as the term
| is understood nowadays. is nevertheless
believed to be in very comfortable cir
cumstances. He made his first appearance
In the Senate as page. In his time no
man has probably ever welded more pow
er IN the Senate than Mr.. German. The
ratihcation OF the Peace Treaty and the
defeat OF the anti-expansionsts in the
Senate was heavy blow to Mr.. Germans
prestige as a leader.