The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1900-12-06
DEATH OF SENATOR DAVIS.

4
| ton is called upon to mourn, as it does
now, when a real statesman is cut off i'll
| the prime of his life and useful activity for
| the Nation, with his great work only par
tally completed. Nearly all of our great
men have lived TO see their work well
rounded up. and our sense of their loss has
not had the added pang of the failure of
the crowning of their efforts.
Senator Davis had done very much pub
| lie work of high value before the Spanish
| War gave his well-ripened abilities the SUI
preme opportunity for usefulness. linen
came the occasion for which his whole en-
! perence and training had fitted him. All
his craftsmanship, his education, his legal
| acumen, his broad, far-seeing American
| ism, his sound scholarship, his quick, sure
| Judgment of men, measures, policies and
| world-movements found full play as Chair
man of the Senate Committee on Foreign
Relations, who shares with the President
and Secretary of State the responsibility
of conducting our foreign policy. He
chiefly represented the Senate in all the
diplomatic phases which preceded the war
and in the declaration of war. And when
the overture for peace was made he again
came to the front in considering the pre-
liminarieS, and then as Il member of the
Peace Commission, which settled with
Spain and opened up for us new and
wonderful career of expansion. In every
one of these mOmentous steps his far-see-
ing sagacity was at all times a prominent
and frequently a controlling factor. He
had the statesman's prophetic sight of the
future, and his burning desire-and no
bic one-was to be effectively helpful in
properly launching the Nation upon her
great mission as the leading World Power.
He foresaw all our limitless possibilities in
the Philippines, in China and in South
America, and he was deeply anxious that
every legitimate advantage should be I'M
proved. These were his dominant thoughts
in his dying hours, and he was most anX-
ious to live to help carry out the plans he
had contemplated.
Senator Davis had a career to form a
model and stimulus to every American
boy. Born 81 years ago on farm in New
York, his parents migrated to the new
country of Minnesota, and he grew up
among the pioneers of that State. He was
slender and delicate, but with consuming
thirst for knowledge, which lasted through
Ills llIc. 1lc WAC WIN iit
that the only way in which to lead men is
to know more than they do, and devote
oneself to his object with patience, per-
sistence, observation-disclosures and honesty.
He made his way through college under
difficulties, and was admitted to the bar
in 1857. Though physically ill-calculated
to bear the strains of soldiers life, he
enlisted in the 2Sth Wis, .;ccame First
Lieutenant, and served until compelled to
resign by broken health. He became a
very successful lawyer, by dint of working
faithfully and indefatigably on every case,
and with entire devotion to his client. His
friends pressed him TO go into politics, aud
he at once came into collision with the
political ring then dominating Minnesota.
They repeatedly defeated him, bat could
not prevent him becoming member OF the
Legislature, Governor, and finally Senator.
He had the satisfaction of completely over
throwing them all and compelling them
to sue for peace to him. He was elected
to the Senate in 1887, and reelected in
1893 and 1899. He served for awhile on
the Committee on Pensions, became Chair
man of it, and was very effective in pass
ing the act of June q, 1890. The Com
mittee ON Foreign Affairs had the most
attractions for him, and when he became
its Chairman he started upon the real
work Of his life. His briefs on several
great questions are most important contri
buttons to international law. He was the
trusted legal adviser of Harrison and
Blaine in the Chilean matter ard the Behr-
ing Sea dispute he led in the denunciation
of Cleveland and Gresham for their con-
duct in the Hawaiian matter, he drew the
treaty for annexing Hawaii, he drew the
declaration of war against Spain, and he
went to Paris determined to retain the
whole of the Philippines. He was urgent
for the construction OF the Nicaragua Can
al, and did not hesitate TO antagoniZe earn
estly the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty, which
admitted Great Britain to share in the
control of the canal. In everything he was
intensely patriotic. He could have been
elected Senator six years before he was if
he would have yielded to the Democrats
so far as to join in disappearing the policy
of the Administration in New Orleans.
During the Debs instruction near Chi
cago he was telegraphed by his c0nstitu-
ents to support the Kyle resolution de-
nouncing Cleveland's use of troops to Sc
cure the safety of persons and property
and the mails, and he replied with n ring
ing telegram telling those who had tcle-
graphed him that they were aiding and
a bnttinp treason