The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1903-05-01

strike. II Vest in the very CLUTCHES
of death could thus snatch victory
from such organized and seemingly
impregnable might, who that is right
need ever despaIr9
The real measure of that victory has
not yet been taken. 1t was, in fact, q
victory in which Vest sheathed his
sword In the very heart of his ancient
foe. tariff extOrtlon. For never before
had he or any other opponent OF "the
interests wrenched from them-from
Aldricn himself-the admission that
tariff schedule can foster a monopoly,
and that the way to strike at monopoly
is to repeallts protecting duty.
Senator Vest will never be heard in
the Senate again. When he had COM
pleted that victory he let his attendant
bear him away to the bed from which
he had risen to make one more fight,
his last.
Belonged to Glass that is Fast
Fading.
He belongs in that diminishing
group of what may be called the Sena-
tors Of the OLD Republic. 1t may come
again but II is not now. There are
only few of these Senators, less than
a dozen. The amazing growth of
finance and commerce and manufac-
ture, the development Of those lusty
beggars. '.the interests" the rise Of
bosses and machines, have changed the
character OF the Senate.
They have filled it with Keen eyed,
nimbie- witted persons, who are
tolerant of and in sympathy with what
we may for the moment permit them
to call "nlodern methods. They
define compromise with corruption
and crime as craftsmanship. They
deplore all evil, but they beg tolerance
for it lest onslaught upon it shake the
of prosperity or party.
Among these twentieth century
SIT few that arein qua mt
contrast. The most of them are old
fashioned, old til ne Southerners They
wear countrified air They dress in a
style of the long ago and most of them
have back-number beards' Of one
kind and another. Also they have
back number" convictions Re-
CARELESS of the grins of the smart
fellows tricked out in the newest styles
of moral tailoring they dauntlessly
profess such antiquities of principle as
no privileges, Govern
nent favors to none, economy In public
principle before pocket
book. They venture to persist in believ-
ng that there are matters more import
mt, ambitions more lofty, than getting
'ich qulck-or any other way. With |
heir ancient dress and anclent faces !
heir lack of private fortunes. their
modest way IF living and their con-
empt Of gain, they suggest Cato and
lis little band that rose like bare,
orbiddIng rocks in and against the
wolen, splendid tide of the decaying
Roman republics prodigality. They
uggest rhls-but historical parallels
re dangerous. Among these Vest
vas, take him all round, one of the first,
not the first.
The bald facts of his biography t II
n interesting story to those who will
se their lmaginations.
He comes from Sweet Springs, Mis-
ouri. And he has spent most of his
sisure there, and not In the neighbor
God of STOCK exchanges or boards of
Iade OF corporation offices. He was
orn in Frankfort. Kentucky-that was
evenly years ago, when Frankfort
,as village. He was graduated
.om Center College. also KentucKy-
very small. simple. sincere instl-
ition He was graduated from the
Nv department of Transylvsnia UNI
,rsity. also Kentucky, and also un-
titled and uncontrolled by the princi-
les of interest. I" He went straight
ny to rural Missouri, sat in the State
legislature. in the Confederate Senate,
forty mine in the United States
mate. He was three times reelected
I'd the last time he said: Bows, my
,alth is almost gone. This term must
the end. You II have to get younger
ID stronger man to serve you And
persisted IN that resolution. He
10 never cared for money and he has
tile of it. But that does not disturb
IN. Between the lines OF that BIZ
raphy one reads the story OF a life Of
Q old fashioned type. Nowadays
ain like his would not he permitted
grow and bear fruit IN surroundings
such simplicity and quietness. Andy
w ne has passed from the pnblic
,ge forever. His record in the
nate is: A great public service ut
. outset. Peaks OF public service
each peak rising not from
lark valley but from the open, level 4
lin. The highest reaksat the last.