The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-04-15

1t is so often asserted that the member
ship of the United States Senate is gener-
ally below the standard of the war period
and the years preceding that the impress
sion very generally prevails that such is
the case. Those who will take the pains to
make comparisons will be quite likely to
come to the conclusion that the assump-
tion is without a rational basis. 1t is very
much the custom to speak of the good old
times and Of the giants who lived in those
days, as if the American people and their
institutions were deteriorating year after
year. The facts do not sustain such an as
sumption any more than will a COMPARE
were Intellectually superior to those of the
present time.
A few such comparisons may be per-
tinent. When the war broke out Maine had
one great man in the Senate-William Pitt
Fessenden. Mr.. Hamlin had become Vice
President. Mr.. Fessenden was, perhaps,
the ablest off-hand debater in the Senate
at that time. Maine is represented in the
Senate to-day by two men who are in no
respect inferior TO any two men represent
ing that State in the Senate at any one
time. When the war began John p. Hale
was in the Senate from New Hampshire.
He was able as an opposition senator, but
in the brief period he remained in that
body when his party was in the majority
he made no particular mark. No one can
name his colleague off hand, even after re-
calling the fact that franklin Pierce and
Judge Woodbury. were New Hampshire
senators at one time. Vermont has al
ways had able senator's, but Morrill, and
Edmunds, who have recently retired, one
by death and the other by resignation,
were the ablest who have sat together.
Massachusetts, once had Webster-how
many readers can recall his colleagues?
In the war time it had Sumner and VIII
son. AS anti-slavery men they were con-
spicuous, but Hoar and Lodge to-day are
in no sense their superiors in ability or
Influence. To-day Rhode Island has Aid
rich. who is as able a man as ever an
swered for Rhode Island in the Senate.
Hawley and Plat, of Connecticut, are the
peers of any men who have represented
Connecticut in the Senate. New York had
Seward in the Senate when the war began.
II had Hamilton Fish just before Mr..
Seward. Can the reader name a conspicu-
ously able man until Mr.. Conkling ap-
peared? What Democrat has ever sat in
the Senate from New York who was an
ADLER man than Senator David b. Hill? Mr..
Evarts has served a term since the war,
but in what respect is Senate Depew in
ferior TO the ablest of New York's senators
ir forty years?
The South has lost in some States be-
cause the able body of men tina had
dominated the Senate for a generation de-
parted with the war. Moreover, the
changed conditions nave put Tillman in
the place of Wade Hampton. When did
any Southern State have an ADLER man
than Morgan, Of Alabama? How many
greater senators has Kentucky had since
the war than Carlisle and Lindsay? One
of Louisiana's recent senators has been
transferred to the Supreme Court of the
United States, while in point of ability the
two senators representing that State will
not suffer in comparison with any two of
their predecessors.
Take the States of the Northwest. Ohio
was represented by Mr.. Wade in the Sem
ate when the war broke out, Judge Chase
having been appointed to a place In the
Cabinet. He was succeeded by John Sher-
man, who continued i'm the Senate until
three years ago. Mr.. Foraker, in point of
ability. compares favorably with any of
the senators of years ago. The senator
whose name has survived the years, and
who represented Michigan when the war
broke out. was Zachariah Chandler. distin-
guished rather for great capacity in af-
fairs than as a debater or orator. BY Mr..
Mcmillan and Mr.. Burrows, Michigan is as
ably represented in the Senate as at any
period in its history. In 1861 Illinois was
represented by Douglas and Trumbull.
Mr.. Cullom is not an orator, but his name
is associated with some of the most i'm
portant legislation of Congress in a man.
ner which marks him as a man of ability.
Indiana has always been represented by
able men in the Senate since it became
a State. Iowa has had no ADLER man in
the Senate than Mr.. Allison, nor Minnesota
a man of more ability than Mr.. Davis.
When the war broke out Wisconsin was
represented by two able men-Doolittle and
Howe. but Mr.. Spooner is an ADLER man
than either of them. Lane and Pomeroy
stood for Kansas, but no worshiper of the
greatness of the past will hold them I'D as
models. Mr.. Baker is a better senator than
either of them. In the newer States there
are Teller, Thurston. Jones of Nevada.
Carter and others who will compare favor
ably with the senator's of the good old
times.
The mistake of those who venerate the
greatness of the past is that they see only
the great men-the websters, the Claws.
the Calhouns. the Bentons, the Stewards
and the Summers, and forget the smaller
men who were associated with them. Now
they see the Aliens Of Nebraska. the But
lers OF North Carolina. the lima of
South Carolina and the Masons of Illinois.
and compare them with the great men of
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