The Spokane press. [volume] (Spokane, Wash.) 1902-1939, 1904-09-30


vious measure was to be repealed
by his act. Next. it appropriated
$500, 900 for the enforcement "Ol
this and other measures" 1t pro
vided heavy fines and imprison
ment for any combinations to raise
prices or regulate products, and
gave the government a right to in
spect books and investigate corpo-
rations at any time. Needless to
say, the measure failed to pass.
No other senator of Mr.. Hoar's
standing lived 30 simply as he. In
Washington he did not keep house.
Hence, of course, he did no enter
tanning and took small part in the
social life of the capital. Indeed,
his tastes led him very little in the
direction of companionship with his
fellows. His leisure usually found
him in the diminutiye study for
which he contrived to find space in
his quiet lodgings, where he read
a good book far into the night,
while other men generally slept or
made merry. His favorite subject
was history, and he read it not, as
many did for the sake Of amassing
a knowledge Of unrelated facts, but
in the spirit and zest of a philoso-
pher tracing through the stories of
the written page the motives of
the men who have shaped events
in all ages, the influence of these
events on national character, and
the logic of the effects which have
flowed from divers causes The rec
ords of the past be thus utilized
for purposes of prophecy and the
guidance Of his own generation.
He was a firm believer in the the.
ory that history moves in cycles,
not by accident, but because the
same conditions in all ages lead up
to the same or corresponding con-
summations.
This will explain, for instance,
his attitude on the question of i'm.
perialism from the moment its out.
Groupings were first observable in
the sequel of our war with Spain.
1t cost him sincere grief to part
company with his party on this is.
sue 1t grieved him yet more, how.
ever, that the conduct of his party
had been such as to force the sep
aration upon him. To stand com.
paratively or even quite alone was
not strange to hint was, in a
sense, an inheritance with his
blood.
A descendant of men who took
in hand their little all and babe
farewell to their country and its
precious associations to come as
pilgrims to a strange and forbid.
ding shore, for the sake of main.
tanning their right to worship God
in their own fashion; who hewed
and ploughed and fought their
way to independence against pow.
erful odds; who, though bred in the
cold and calculating atmosphere of
the north, stood shoulder 70 shoul.
der with their blood kindred of the
south in n war, but shot them
down in another, both for a princi-
pie of human liberty; how could he
have faltered, he argued, at the
thought of isolation as a penalty
for following his conscience? 1t
was his party that went astray
when it proposed the most startling
and dangerous innovation ever con-
toi, ed in Republican statecraft-
not lie. who stood on the same
ground with the authors of the con-
stitution.
But to return to Mr.. Hoar's per-
sonality. AS fine a picture of it as
any one could draw he drew him
self in his good-humored remons-
trance, about a dozen years ago,
against a report published in Pitts.
burg, Pa, that he was out of SYM
pathy with his countrymen of the
so-called "working-classes," be-
cause he had been born to wealth.
had lived at ease on the public
treasury as a perpetual officeholder
and had always been surrounded
with luxury.
81 never inherited any wealth."
said he, nor had any. My father
was a lawyer in very large practice
for his day; but he was a very gen.
erous and liberal man, and never
put much value upon money. My
share of the estate was $40, 500.
"All the income-prOducing prop
erty l have in the world, or ever
had, yields a little less than $500
a year. Eight hundred dollars Of
that is from a life estate, and the
other thousand comes from stock in
a corporation which has only paid
dividens for the last two or three
years, and | am very much afraid
will pay no dividends, or much
smaller ones, after two or three
years to come. With that exception
the house where l live, with it's
contents, with about four acres of
land, constitute my whole worldly
possessions, except two or three
vacant lots, which would not bring
me $4,000 all told. | could not sell
them now for enough to pay my
debts. | have been in my day an
extravagant collector of books.
"As to of1ce-holding and working
think there are few men on this
continent who have put so much
hard work into life as | have. I
went one winter to the Massachu
sets house of representatives
when l was 25 years old, and one
winter to the Massachusetts SEN
ate, when l was 80. The pay was
81 a day at that time. l was NOM
mated on both occasions much to
my surprise, and on both occasions