The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-12-07
From the Washington Post.

From the Washington Post.
 @ HE session of Congress that opens 9 in the last month of ,so' .aa marks fss
 beginning of sundry others which promise
 great things. While the session now be- gun will be short, and probably unmarked by momentous debates, it really stands
 as a turning point in many particulars.
 The day of radcalism is at full dawn.
 The old days of conservatism are passing The people have spoken for change, and
 Congress will respond-for nowhere Is
 popular feeling so quickly felt and ex-
 pressed as in Congress. particularly in
 the House of Representatives. Men
 whose political lives depend on executing
 the will of their constituents will not be
 mealy- -mouthed
 Among the potent ones in the Senate
 during the coming business session will be Morgan of Alabama, who watches the Panama canal with never-closing eye; Lodge of Massachusetts, who can turn
 his hand to anything and who does
 everything well; Foraker, who loves a
 scrinimage; Spooner, who can split
 
 Senate; Deliver who can make the raft
 CTS ring with the real old genuine star spangled- banner oratory; Knute Nelson of Norway, who knows thing or two in
 English Beveridge of Indiana, a brilliant fighter and debater; Perkins, the sailor. who stands behind Hale in naval affairs; ; Culberson of Texas, who is regarded by many people as superior intellectually to his brilliant colleague; Daniel of Nir- ginia, descendant of Pocahontas, and
 dozen others on both sides of the politi- cal fence. Among the newcomers who is attract ing much attention and who promises to
 become still more prominent in the com ing session is Robert Marion LaFollette. senator from Wisconsin. Is he blatant demagogue as his enemies assert, or IS he John the Baptist In advance of the
 millennium, calling upon the people to | make their paths straight?
 | Senator La Toilette has aroused in tense enmities since he entered the Sem ate. He has made strong friends, also. He does nothing by halves. He is not moderate in any sense When ne fights he runs amuck and burns his ships behind him. Either he believes In the reforms he advocates with his whole
 soul, and is ready to burn at the stake for them, or he is a consummate actor,
 who delights in fooling everybody, in
 cluding himself.
 La Toilette is a small man, stockily built He wears a long frock coat. He |. .;..l to6- ioa lxr scented to be agreeable to some of his colleagues. His hair-ah his hair. What
 a tale of truculence that staring upright
 hair tells! It sticks straight up, as stiff as a broom. It is brown, with tint of
 red. It gives the Wisconsin statesman
 terrible aspect he shakes his head and bellows.
 Senator Tillman is one of the readiest
 debaters who ever sat in the Senate. He
 is not smooth talker-anything but that But he speaks with such startling
 frankness that the Senate cocks its ear to listen It never knows what is coming
 next. He seems always, when angry, to be on the verge of an outpurst Of vio- lence and profanity, When not angry,
 but merely disgusted, his tongue drops distilled scorn. It is very like the whip of scorpions. It literally lashes the sub ject of his contempt
 Next to Tillman sits Joe Bailey of Texas Bailey and Tillman had a row during the closing days of the last ses- sion Tillman made one of his slurring remarks about lswyers-he is only a
 farmer himself. he says-and Bailey re- sented it Bailey brides himself upon being a lawyer. He. proceeded to dress