The Irish standard., 1904-03-19
The Committee on Elections One of the Most
Powerful in Its Personality and
Legal Ability.
Interesting Facts About Members of the Com.
mittee, the Witnesses and Lawyers
in the Case.

The investigation Of the Mormon
church is going on in the capitol un-
der circumstances full of dramatic in
terest. The right of Reed Smoot, Nor
mon apostle, to hold his seat in the
United States senate is the particular
question at ISSUE but in order to de-
termine it the workings of the Nor
mon church are being laid bare by the
acute old cross-eXaminers who consti-
tute the committee on privileges and
elections, says the New York Sun.
The committee is presided over by
Julius Caesar Burrows, of Michigan.
He is a man who has seen his share
of legislative and political tumult and
trouble. His voice is mild and per-
suasive, his manner toward timid wit
nesses fatherly and almost caressing.
but his questions go right into the
heart of the matter. -----~-,-s-,-----.
AS presiding officer he is polite,
while exercising absolute domination
over his committee, as is the custom
in the senate. He adjourns the COM
mittee without putting the motion, and
rules on questions over which there is
controversy without consulting hts
colleagues.
These colleagues submit without
question to the seemingly arbitrary
manner of the chairman. Each of
them is chairman of committee of
his own, and some of them preside
over committees in which Mr.. Bur-
rows sits in his turn meek and with
out protest. They obey his rulings
without question, but, on the other
hand, have the freest latitude in pro-
pounding questions.
1t happens that the committee on
privileges and elections is one of the
most powerful in the senate in its
personality and in the legal ability
that is brought to bear upon questions
before it. At Mr.. Burrows right sits
Mr.. Hoar, spectacled, silver haired,
fresh faced, his high, quavering voice
rising above the confusion and carry
ing to the witness penetrating ques-
fions that reveal subtle and discip-
lined mind. Some of the work per-
formed by Mr.. Hoar in cross-examin-
ing the president of the Mormon
church and his chief adviser is de-
clared by many senators to touch the
high water mark of ability in legal
fencing, knowledge of law and insight
into human nature.
On Mr.. Burrows left sits another
remarkable man, the quaint and sweet
natured Junior senator from Alabama,
Edmund w. Pettus. Mr.. Pettus has
turned his eighty-third year and is
full of wise saws and modern in
stances.
He rarely interposes question, but
when he does it is like flash of light
ming in dark place. He sits with one
hand to his ear, his big spectacles lend.
ing to his grave face that look of SUI
pernatural wisdom that caused him to
be dubbed the COnfucius Of the sen
ate.
His ponderous jaw works slowly on
a contemplative cud, and at regular
intervals he removes the nicotian
juice from about his lips with an old.
fashioned bandanna made in Alabama
And SO he plays his part.
Next to Mr.. Pettus sits Senator Du.
bois, Of Idaho. He is not lawyer,
but his inquisition into Mormon af-
fairs is fortified by an intimate knowl.
edge of the situation in Utah and Ida.
no. He is bitter enemy Of the sect,
and takes no pains at all to conceal
his bitterness.
Albert J. Hopkins, Of Illinois, the
red-headed man of the senate, is the
Junior member of the committee on
the Republican side. He is lawyer
and a good one.
Chauncey NJ. Depew, Of New York,
sits upright near Mr.. Hoar and listena
with lively interest to the unfolding Of
the tale of Mormon Vaccinations. Oc-
casionally, but rarely, he asks ques-
tion. It has never the incisiveness and
subtIety of Mr.. Hoar's Inquiries, but