Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1900-12-13
SENATORS CALLED
NINETEEN RECENT DEATHS OUT
OF NINETY MEMBERS
FEARFUL MORTALITY
Beautiful Tribute Paid to Cushman K.
Davis-None More Sincerely Mourn
ed-spooner's Name in Connection
With the Craftsmanship of the For
eign Affairs Committee.
SnaciaI CORRESPONDENCE.

Special correspondence.
Washington, Dec. 8.-There was
nothing unusual or extraordinary at
tending the assembling of congress on
Monday last, save perhaps, there was
greater profusion Of flowers than ever
before. Nearly everybody was the
recipient of a more or less gorgeous
floral Offering. But as usual some were
left out. Having some knowledge OF
how these unsolicited tributes or al
lection and esteem originate and OF
the motive that prompts their De-
stowal, | am sometimes half inclined
to think that to be forgotten on such
occasions is the greater compliment
to real worth and merit.
There is already ample evidence OF
a busy session. The work laid out
is far greater in Importance and
bulk than that which has confronted
any other short session Of congress for
many year. To avoid an extra session
of the 57th congress it is necessary
that the fourteen great annual appro-
priation bills and the army reorganIza-
ton bill be passed. Ordinarily these
measures alone would be sufficient
to occupy the attention of congress,
to the exclusion of nearly every thing
else, to the end of the session. But
the republican program contemplates
the passage of several other important
measures, most of which will be
strongly, some of them bitterly.
ship subsidy bill, the Nicaraguan canal
bill, the Interchangeable bill and
the ratification of the Hay-Pauncefote
treaty. On Tuesday the ship subsidy
bill was made the unfinished business
of the senate, and debate upon the
measure is expected to proceed, after
the morning hour" from day to day,
it being the hope of its managers to
pass it before the holiday recess. But
whether this hope will be realized is
exceedingly problematical, and in the
event of it's early passage in the SEN
ate the bill may encounter numerous
snags in it's further course in the
house.
Unless the Hay-Pauncefote treaty
can be so amended as to permit the
United States to fortify the canal for
it's own defense and for the preserva-
ton of law and order, the Nicaraguan
bill will probably fail to pass this con-
gress. In the senate the oleomarga-
rine bill will have a stormy voyage,
propably ending in Shipwreck.
Death of Senator Davis.
Nineteen members who have served
in the senate since l first occupied a
seat at it's desk have died. 1t seems
like a fearful mortality among less
than ninety persons; and it is even SO
due in many cases to the strenuous
life their duties compel, in other cases
to the manner of living; for Washing,
ton sets a fast pace for it's high Off
cial class. Unhappily, matters are
not growing better with the passing
years and the development of our
twentieth century civilization.
Sherman, Morrill,, Voorhees,, Vance
Harris, George, Wathall and James F.
WilSOn-familiar names ALIVE ere
senators who in their day enjoyed a
national reputation and some of these
were we'll known and highly esteemed
abroad. The death Of none of these
nor of any others who have passed
away was more sincerely or profound
ly mourned than is that of Cushman
X. Davis, the last to respond to the
final summons.
1t is common to speak in praise OF
the dead; but living, the departed sen
ator was universally beloved. 1t is
natural that one so capable, SO mod
est yet so deservedly eminent, should
have always enjoyed the esteem and
good fellowship of his colleagues and
official peers, but not every such one
was SO uniformly popular with all
classes. Never self-assertive, never
self-obtrusive, by dint of his own merit
and without adventurous aids, he won
his way to the governorship
of his state, to a seat
in the senate and finally to
the most dignified and important com
mittee place of the body and at time
memorable in the life of the nation
for the multiplicity of vexed and deli.
cate questions demanding considera-
ton and solution at the hands of his
great committee.
The dead Minnesota senator did not
often mix in the ordinary debates of
the open sessions; but when he did
take the floor the most rapt attention
was accorded him by his fellows and
the galleries. He never attempted to
speak except when he had something
to say and always quit when he was
through, trait all too rare in the SEN
ate and elsewhere. Latterly his great
est efforts were made behind closed
doors in secret sessions, and they
were directed toward the elucidation
of great and perpleXing international
problems. In the discharge of the
grave responsibilities developed upon
him by the war with Spain and the
Philippine Instruction, the deceased
senator proved himself a master in
diplomacy. He is the author of near
ly every declaration and nearly all
the legislation pertaining to our re-
cent wars and the questions growing
out of them. His report accompany
ing the resolution favoring the declar-
alton of war with Spain was remark
able not only for the strength and
cogency of the argument, but to an
eminent degree for it's lucidity of ex-
preston, beauty of diction and exqui-
site literary taste. This paper is a
classic, unique in legislative literature,
with few rivals for prominence in
style and finish, for it's fullness, rich
ness and accuracy of historical refer