Connecticut western news., 1902-05-01
CHAMP CLARK STORIES
Anecdotes of Men High In
 the Nations Councils.

6ygone Political Giants From the State of llllnols-Two Grand Old Men From Alabama-Dlsparity of Ages In the Senats-Senator Nor gan's Power as an Orator-Truth of an Old Adaae lllustrated-unpreee- dented Act of a Soldier.
 ICopyright, 1909. by Champ Clark.l It makes ones heart swell with pride as an American citizen to recall the names of the men who held the center of the stage in the Sucker State from about 1S45 till very recent years. Verify there were giants in those days. Be sides Lincoln, Douglas and Yates there were General James Shields, the illus, trious and chivalric soldier and states man and major general in two wars, the only man who ever was or who In all human probability ever will be a senator of the United States from three different states and whose etfigy in
 bronze adorns Statuary hali; Colonel B. D. Baker, who became a senator from Oregon and died fighting heroical- ly at Balls Bluff; David Davis, judge of the supreme court. senator In con gress, president pro tempore of the sen ate; Lyman Trumbull, for eighteen years a United States senator and not without presidential aspirations; John A. Logan, major general, senator, vice presidential nominee and according to the evidence of General Grant one of the best two volunteer generals in the mi of nflrN being the other; Richard J. Oglesby, major general, United States senator and thrice governor; John W. Palmer,
 major general, governor, senator of the United States, nominee for president, who perhaps belonged to more different political parties than any other Ameri- can that ever lived; Elihu B. Wash burn, congressman for a score of years, secretary of state, minister plenipoten- tiary and envoy extraordinary to France; Judge Browning, who was in
 Lincoln's cabinet; Long John" Went worth, congressman, mayor prophet of
 Chicago; Leonard Sewell, the great civ
 Il lawyer; Emory Storrs, the brilliant criminal lawyer, and a host of lesser lights. Truly 1t was the heroic age of Suckerdom.
 Two Grand Old Men.
 "Old men for counsel, young men for
 war" is an ancient saw more honored
 in the breach than in the observance.
 Alabama evidently believes in the first half of that hoary dictum. Whether
 she believes in the second half this de
 ponent saith not. She has the oldest
 pair of senators in 'the less numerous branch" of the national legislature. General Pettus is 80 and is serving his first term. That he Is still in the prime
 of his powers was clearly demonstrat-
 ed by the awful cauterization which he Inflicted on Senator Beveridge last win
 ter, which set the country in a roar
 and in which he made the cynical dec
 laration that "an orator Is held to the
 rules of neither truth nor common
 sense."
 Senator Morgan is 77 and on the 4th of last March entered upon his fifth
 term as conscript father. The com-
 bined ages of these two grand old men
 make a remarkable showing for Ala bama.
 Time and Space Ignored.
 Another unique feature of the senate
 rial situation in Alabama Is that both | senators live in the comparatively
 small city of Selma. Usually there Is an unwritten age limit on senators.
 Generally geography cuts big figure in their selection, but Alabama appears to be sui generis, ignoring both time
 and space. It is not unusual for a state to have
 one old senator and one young one.
 Massachusetts, for example, yokes up the sedate, venerable and erudite
 George Frisbie Hoar, sometimes flip panty denominated "The Cherubic,"
 with the youthful. brilliant and frisky
 Henry Cabot Lodge. Iowa sends to the senate William B. Allison, 73, who has refused more cabinet portfolios than any other living man. and Iona than Prentiss Deliver, A. who after a | splendid career in the house is entering upon what his friends hope is a more | illustrious career at the other end of
 the capitol.
 Moruan's Great Learning.
 Senator Morgan began his fifth full ! senatorial term at an age when most
 men are in the scar, the yellow leaf
 and resting from the labors of this
 world and worrying as to their status
 in the next But of him 1t may be said,
 ''Time cannot wither him or custom
 stale his infinite variety"
 All ln all 1t may be safely asserted
 that be knows more than any other
 man in public life. His scholarship
 may not be as accurate as that of some | others In particular branches. but be
 appears to know a great deal about ev-
 erything. In this respect he closely re-
 sembles England's "Grand Old Man." William Ewart Gladstone. He also
 much resembles him In the grace and | Jauntiness with which he carries his age. No man looking at Senator Nor gan's handsome face. massive head,
 tall and sinewy form, noting his elastic | step or listening to his stately elo- | quence, which flows onward like the
 resistless current of a mighty river, | score years.
 If the dictum, "Brevity's the soul of ! wit" be true, then Senator Morgan is the least witty or the conscript fathers
 present and past except William Vim
 cent Allen of Nebraska. who broke all records for long distance oratory by speaking 1415 hours at one stretch on
 the bill to repeal the purchasing clause
 of the Sherman law; Matthew Stanley Quay of Pennsylvania, who consumed fifteen legislative days in expressing
 his views on the Wilson German tariff bill, and Senator John P. Jones of Ne
 vada, whose masterful discussion oi
 silver makes a large book.
 But these historic linguistic perform ances were only unusual episodes In
 the senatorial careers of these eminent
 publicists- Senator Allen rarely speaks
 at great length, Senator Jones Is nei.
 ther frequent nor a prolix orator,
 and Senator Quay hardly ever speaks Q o1