The Savannah morning news., 1902-05-11
SENATE GLADIATORS
THEY REVEL IN STORIES OF BLOOD
AND RAPINE.
ONLY SENSATIONS GO NOW
THE YOUNGER MEMBERS FURNISH
THE FIREWORKS.

me Olu veterans D1sapprOVe OF This
State of Affairs, But Are Helpless.
Women Crowd the Galleries and
Furnish the Applause Which In
cites the Senatorial GladiatOrs to
Further EffOrts-COngressiOn Re-
cord Now ExceIIs the Yellow Jour
nnls in the Character of Its Con-
tents.
Washington, May 10.-Veterans in
the Senate like Allison of Iowa, Morgan
of Alabama, Hale of Maine and Cock
rell of Missouri, sincerely deprecate
the bitter and acrimonious debate now
going on in that hitherto dignifed
body, growing out of the Philippine
government bill. For years past it
has been the boast of the leaders OF
the two great parties in the Senate
that the Senate was the most dign1-
fed and well-conducted legislative
body in the world. Recent events,
however, have transformed that au-
gust assembly into a body of brawl-
ers and believers to such an extent
that the veterans hesitate to point with
! pride to the record now being made
up.
During the past week the Senate
has been transformed into a Chamber
! of Horrors" In the discussion of the
| Philippine bill certain senators have
WED with each other in hunting up
| and delivering to the Senate stories
and reports of the most bloodcurdling
atrocities perpetrated from the foun>
dalton of the world down to the pres
| IoTy oil 81
| ing stories of outrages upon women
and children in all parts of the world
have not been confined to one side of
| the chamber, Democrats and Repub-
| leans alike are equally to blame for
this epidemic of sensationalism which
is now raging so furiously in the
| United States Senate.
The yellowest of yellow journals are
as tame as a Y. M. C. A. weekly, COM
pared with the recent issues of the
| Congressional Record. Certain sena-
! tors seem possessed with a desire to
crowd into the senatorial arena with
out regard to the origin or the charac-
| ter of the ammunition with which they
equip themselves. Ancient and mod
ern history is being ransacked for Incl
| dents of cruelty inflicted upon men, wo-
men and children, either in war or in
peace, and the more revolving the
scenes described the better pleased are
the crowds which throng the Senate
galleries every day.
The Women Like IT.
The greater proportion of spectators
in the Senate galleries are women.
They come early in the morning and
remain all day until adjournment The
hotter the debate on the floor the bet
ter the female portion of the audience
! Is pleased. Theatrical matinees, golf
tournaments and garden parties are
| not near as attractive to the ladies of
| the congressional set as Wordy combat
in the Senate between Tillman and
McComas, or Carmack and Lodge, or
young Beveridge and Patterson, or Dol
| liver and Culberson, or any of the
| other participants in the most remark
| able battle of words known in the his
tory of the Senate.
Although the old conservative sena-
| tors Fsit quietly by and shake their
heads disapprovingly at the hot-blooded
eruption of their juniors, there seems
to be no way of suppressing them. The
Youngsters are thirsty for fame or no
toriety whichever you may choose TO
call it, and as long as they are en-
couraged by enthusiastic applause in
the galleries and encouraging mead
lines in the great newspapers of the
country, so long will these revolving
performances continue. Thus tar very
little has been said as to the merits
or dement's of the pending measure
| and it is doubtful if a dozen senators
are familiar with the provisions of the
nending bill. Dry details, however, is
! not what the crowd in the gallery
wishes to hear, and l am compelled to
saw a number of the senator's are sim
ply playing to the galleries without
| regard to what the ultimate fate OF the
| hill may be- Some of the stories intro
duced in debate have no bearing what
ever upon the subject under consldera-
ton, and if anybody has a yarn full
of barbarous atrocities. murders, Kill
ings, tortures, destruction of life and
oDerty. outraging of women and
children, which they desire to intro
duce into the sena torial Chamber of
Horrors" all they have to do is to for
ward a copy of the same to any one OF
the leading participants in the Philip
| pine debate.
Hunting Up Sensations.
AS a matter of fact. clerks to GER
tain Senators and employees in Gov
eminent libraries, are now working
overtime pouring over muSty books,
hunting up scare stories for Sera-
tors to use in the Chamber of Hor-
rors' In some instances different YER
sions'Aof the same massacre or out
by different Senators. Each version is
made to appear more blood curdling
than the other and the Senator who
can glide up the closest to the edge
of Improperly in the recital of his
story without transcending the rules
of decency is the one who excites
the greatest enthusiasm among his
hearers,
1t is not fair to accuse every visitor
who goes to the Senate with having
a depraved taste for horrors, nor is it
just to say that all the Senators are
in sympathy with the low tone az
which the pending debate is pitched,
1t is a fact, nevertheless. that the
galleries aGe empty when the lull
routine proceedings are going on, but
just as soon as a Senator arises and
begins to dilate upon some bloody
crime or to hurl horrid invective at
a fellow Senator the galleries immed-
lately fill UP and members of the House
of Representatives come tripping in to
the chamber hoping to see something
occur equally as startling as the Till
man McLaurin smuggling match.