Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-05-11
SENATORIAL COURTESY.
1t Often Serves to Conceal Much Guile
and Distrust.

Under all the forms of courtesy in the
Senate there is a great deal of the spirit
of piracy. Senators have to watch each
other out of the corners Of their eyes.
while assuming that air of confidence that
is demanded by good breeding. In the
House this alertness on the part OF indl-
vidual members Is rendered unnecessary
by the practice which makes the Speaker
and the committee on rules the arbiters
of the body with power to determine what
shall or shall not be undertaken. In the
Senate, where dignity requires that each
individual member of the body shall enjoy
perfect freedom of action, there is a con-
cealed alertness on the part of each to
guard against being over-reached by the
other. To the casual observer it would
appear that every senator is upon his
honor; that unrestricted freedom prevails,
and that the fact of senator standing
sponsor for q thing Is accepted as sufficient
guarantee to place it beyond question. This
is fiction, like many others that have
grown out Of the habits of good breeding.
Occasionally man gets into the Senate
who does not understand this. Such man
usually busters and bluffs about, without
making any progress with anything or
| even compromising why it is that he can
| not come to an understanding with his col
leagues, but must always be in the atti-
| tude Of an outsider. Let a senator get the
reputation OF being cunning and he is con-
stantly under surveillance. His most in
nocent-appearing moves and most simple
propositions are carefully scrutinized to
discover what Is covered in them. Certain
men in the Senate are recognized as adroit,
and this class IS so divided that when one
| of the adroit ones is on one side of ques-
| ton there is one on the other to watch
| him.
There are one or two senators who make
| it a point, on general principles, to keep
an eye on their "slick'' colleagues, and,
x.Itb ackn 1uin tha =;
| trust, they are constantly playing for a
checkmate. The most amiable and friend
| Iy relations invariably exist between sena-
| tors who play this part toward each other
Each meets the other with a bearing Of
| most generous frankness and complete
confidence. The very adroit senator who
| has drawn up an amendment to some
| pending measure, designed to accomplish
i an object without disclosing it, will. after
| he has so w.orded his amendment as to
make 1t appear, as nearly as he can, TO
mean something remote from what 1t is
| really designed for, submit it in the most
innocent manner possible to the colleague
| whom he knows holds him under suspicion.
If the latter discovers the hidden purpose
| of the proposition he will suggest with
| equal frankness that the proposition does
| not quite cover the point aimed at-that is,
what it processes to- aim at-and that it
| should be changed. The change suggested
| will be such as to destroy the hidden effect
| but there will be no intimation of an ul-
terror motive. All the same, the adroit
| senator will understand that his real pur-
pose has been discovered and he will draw
| off for awhile until he can devise some
more clever plan for the accomplishment
of the desired end. When he gets chance
he will return the compliment by blocking
| some clever move designed by his friend.
! This little comedy is being almost con-
| stantly enacted on the floor of the Senate
to the utter bewilderment of such men as
have not that delicate sense of humor
| necessary to its appreciation.
I senator who has hy
long trial been proven to be entirely with
out guile is the object of perpetual watch
fulness on the part of some other senator.
Sometimes they become mutually blind by
tacit agreement. Besides this individual
pairing off, there are certain senators who
| charge themselves with the guardianship
| of certain subjects, and scrutinize with
suspicious eyes everything proposed with
| reference to those subjects, and one sena-
tor Mr.. Cockrell of Missouri, undertakes
4 to scrutinize every bill upon the calendar