The Kalispell bee. [volume] (Kalispell, Mont.) 1900-192?, 1902-03-01
SENATORIAL DIGNITY.


The traditional dignity of the
United States senate was rudely'I
shaken on last Saturday by the per-
sonal encounter between Senators
Tillman and McLaurin of South Car
DINA. The only incident which ever
occurred in the senate at all ap-
preaching it in sensational interest
was the encounter which occurred in
1856 between Senator Charles Sum
ner of Massachusetts and Represent
alive Brooks of South Carolina. Those
were the days of Tie intense hatreds
and bitter controversies aroused by
the slavery question, and Summers
sharp tongue brought him many enc
mics. During a speech in the senate,
Sumner took occasion to refer to an
uncle of Representative Brooks in
caustic language. On the following
day Brooks entered the senate cham
Der during recess and attacked Sen
ator Sumner at his desk, striking him
with a cane, and so seriously injuring
appear in the senate for several
months. An effort was made to expel
Brooks from the house for his action,
but it failed of the two-thirds vote
necessary. Brooks afterward resigned
from the house and was reelected by
an almost unanimous vote in his dis
trict in South Carolina
McLaurin is Al years old and Till
man 81. The latter first came into
prominence in 1890, when he was
elected governor of his state. In 1892
he was reelected by a greatly in
creased majority. In 1894 he can
vassed his state against General But
Ter for the position of United States
senator and was elected by the gen
eral assembly in January, 1896 He
was reelected to the senate in 1901,
=
and his term in that body will not
expire until 1907 His caustic tongue
and propensity to attack govern
mental abuses have caused him to
be called "Pitchfork" Tillman.
McLaurin was elected a member
of the South Carolina legislature in
the same year that Tillman was first
elected governor. He was elected to
the national house of representatives
; in 1892 and served five years in that
body, when he was appointed to fill
, the vacancy caused by the death of
p Senator Earle, and later he. was
! elected to fill out the uneXpired term
. ending March 3, 1900. He has often
p voted with the republicans in the
q senate, which action has been Sc
o verely criticised by Tillman.
= By a curious co-incident the senators
i. engaged in the present controversy
G also hail from South Carolina, sec
G ton of the country supposed to pro
q duce men who fight with gun or knife
n rather than with the fist. The recent
+ episode is to be regretted because
of the time and place in which it oc
Cured but the public will be much
+, obliged if some one will take the bel
ligerent senators out into some Sc
j, cluded alley and give them a chance
to fight it out. By this means the
country might be spared the annoy
ance caused by their continual
wrangling in the senate. With proper
. surroundings the resort to blows is
9 not the worst method of settling dis
= putes. The epithet of liar" is con
sidered the first blow, and the mar
who does not resent it is less re
= spected than the man who does, bu
- the man who fails to reserve his in
- temperance of speech or action FOL
the proper time and place is sure tt
meet with public condemnation, an(
II this is the position which both Till
II man and McLaurin are in.
: THE ETHICS OF MEDICINE