Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-12-06

iIlaH diulIouSH tIiSN were men OF dignity
and character of ante-bellum days. and
set the deities of ignorance and populism
in their places. The New England dele
cation in the senate is composed of ia
niliar names-the names of men who
have served the country for many years.
one man only among the II senators was
elected because he had wealth, and Mr..
Wetmore and Mr.. Platt of Connecticut,
are the only two who had never seen fed
eral service before they became senator's.
Mr.. Wetmore, however, had been gov
ernor of Rhode Island, while Mr.. Plat
had been speaker of the Connecticut
house of representatives. OF the IL, at
least six rise to the grade of statesmen,
Connecticut. Maine and Massachusetts
being, without question, the states. of
all the union. best represented in the SEN
ate.
New York has the best known new sem
ator of the body in the person of Mr.. De-
pew. whose ability as a legislator is yet
to be tested. If the senator's look to their
new colleague for amusement merely.
they are not likely to be disappointed,
and if Mr.. Platt expects a loyal coad-
jutor, he, too, will probably be satisfied
with the legislatures choice of it's con-
slant old friend. Indiana presents Mr..
Reveridge, who goes to Washington with
the reputation of an able MAJ and an or
ator. That he is master of certain kinds
of rhetorical flowers he has already de-
monstrated. The state of Montana has
contributed w. A. Clark, said to be it's
richest citizen. What else he is besides
a resident of the city of New York and
the purchaser of h~igh-priced% paintings is
yet to be developed.
1t is an interesting fact that the south
has abandoned it's practice Of keeping it's
senators in public life. and of promoting
it's tried men to the house of representa-
tives. This old habit, by which the south.
during so many years of the history of
the republic, maintained it's ~ascendency
in the national councils, has now yielded
to a modern movement. Twenty of the
80 southern senators are serving their
first terms. Nine who have been senator's
for more than six years are John T. Nor
gam. James X. Jones. James H. Berry,
William Lindsay, Donelson Caffery,
George G.. Vest, Francis NJ. Cockrell. Will
liam 3. Bate and John w. Daniel, These
comprise all the senators of distinction
and influence from the south, and one of
these, Lindsay of Kentucky, is sure to be
retired by the Goebelites on the eXpira-
ton of his term in 1901, while the seat of
senator Morgan of Alabama is also
threatened by the "new element Among
the present comparatively new senators
are some of the most yeXatious charac-
tiers of the body. such as Tillman of South
Carolina and Marion Butler of North
Carolina. What is true of the senate is
not true also of the house of representa-
tives, SO far as the south is concerned.
OF the nine districts Of Alabama only two
return new representatives. In Florida
and Georgia there are no changes. In
Kentucky, four of the eleven members are
new: in Louisiana, two of the six are
new: In Maryland, four of the six. In
Mississippi, tn whole delegation was re-
turned. In Missouri, only three Of the
fifteen members are new. North Carolina
makes the worst showing Of all the
southern states, having changed six Of
her delegation of nine. Tennessee has
ten districts, and only one new member
Virginia has four new in ten representa-
tives. and West Virginia two new out Of
four.
The men from the south who will not
appear in the Fifty-siNth congress, and
who will be greatly missed. are Richard
p. Bland of Missouri, who is dead: Alex
ander NJ. Decker, of the same state, a
Well-informed member on the subject of
public institutions; Mr.. Savre of Texas,
who possesses the same talent; and Ben
ton Mcmillan of Tennessee, now governor
; Of his state. We shall have some old
friends, however, especially Mr.. Catch
ingS of Mississippi, the ablest southerner
on the floor.
The change of members in the southern
states does not indicate an Indifference
of the people to the value of old servants.
Perhaps popular Indifference may be said
to mark congressional elections generally,
and it is quite likely that some men have
remained in the house of esentatiVes
term after term because there was no one
to dispute their possession. But as a
rule the man who is kept in the senate or
the house is one who, for some reason or
other. has proved useful to his state or
constituents, or who has made his fellow
citizens proud of him. Changes of rep
pagant n + veg irliantn ora,,prai 1t- pIifforo +
men, or worse, or else a popular restless
ness and protest against existing politi-
cal conditions. In the southern sta tes we
are seeing in the senate the results Of a
revolt of the substratum democrats
against the old-fashioned democracy,
whose leaders were the democratic aris-
tocrats who nearly forty years ago led
their states into rebellion against the
general government. Here is also the ex-
preston of a protest of offended people
against what they regard as the betrayal
of their party and its principles by the
coterie of democrats in congress led once
by Samuel j. Randall and afterwards by
Arthur p. Gorman Those who think
they were thus betrayed have turned
from their free-trade and sound-money
principles to populism-from the old lead
ers like Carlisle. Wilson, Caffery, Wade
Hampton and John b. Gordon to new
leaders like Tillman and Marion Butler.
Inc result is Dau Tor the SOuln ana mas
greatly contributed to the degeneracy of
the senate. New England and the coun-
try, IN the other hand, have been greatly
benefited, and will continue to be bene-
fitted by the services of Senators Hoar,
Lodge, Hale, Hawley. Piatt and Aldrich.
OF the tWenty-three representatives from
New England only five are new men.
In the middle states there is no senator
who has yet attained distinction as a leg
islator. General Sewell stands well as a
man of influence, and may be counted