The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-01-28

1 ington as the weather looks to us; va | riable; subject to laws and forces not f half understood: liable to go rom
 bright sunshine to the most unacconnt- | able storms of thunder and lightning
 and yet capable of lowering nerceiy'
 only to clear up and be pleasant day Now this is no fancy of mine. It IS re-
 marksbie how often, in the short tune | I have been here. I have heard them | speak of us in terms of the weather. | We are supposed to be "unsettled' now. ! and "threatening,' and since all mem | bers of the House and some sixteen | Senators have to stand for reelection l in the fall and winter. some of our
 representatives are worrying. They | ask me frequently as newcomer rom
 outside, whether I think this reform | wave" will blow over.' And they | seem to want 1t to blow over And ! when they speak of a brave man they 1 seem to mean one with courage to ig-
 nore or defy public opinion and the
 public will. Thus one brave statesman explained to me with contempt that | some of his colleagues couldn't tell | the difference between breeze and sure- enough cyclone.
 If they would leave off worrying and attend to our business, doing the best they know how. l would be better sat-
 isfied; wouldn't you? But they dont think we would They don't have any decent faith in us. and I wonder if they are right about us. They think that if if they could get jobs enough to go around in their districts and build ing bill so that they could make all or us put up federal buildings for some or us. then they think,they woud be able to bribe us to send them back. They think we are as corruptible as l ,,f all that If they could give us some graft Legitimate, Of course, we wouldn't care whether they solved the Statehood problem of the tariff question, or railroad rates. Ana maybe they are right. All l say IS that from the top of Capitol Hill,
 Washington, the view Of the American people is most humiliating l yer
 ily believe we look worse to them than they do to us.
 But, never mind Above our dull turbulance, out among the frightened, factional craft of the cowardly House sails the Senate, high, serene, like an ocean steamship steaming straight at the storm center. the President. II IS beautiful, and one canot blame Wash ington for admiring the senate. The House may say, what the House does say:
 "oh, well, the Senators are elected only once in six years, and then, not by the people Legislatures elect them We have to go to the people themselves every two years"
 Washington doesn't care why. Wash ington Is inhabited by people who have got what they came here for. Their lives are settled and satisfactory Washington wants to stand pat. So Washington looks up to the Senate and
 sees 1t as the Senate sees itself
 And the Senate sees itself, calm and
 afa aIn httf fkra1V such troubles as 1t has faced before, and weathered. So the Senate Is pa tient of our Impulses, more even than our representatives in the House are. The Senate will stay on it's course Oh, it may veer just little if we grow too violent. It bucks the storm center trying it's strength. C'Do you think the people still believe in himy' they ask, but not anxiously) And if the Presi- dent fights back the Senate pours on a barrel or so of oil But 1t does not turn aside. All willfbe still again some day. For Presidents and Congressmen and reform waves, they come and go, but the Senate goes on forever. Detno crat or Republican, young or old, rich or poor. demagogic or 'piutogoglc." the Senate has charms to soothe them all. The Senate has manners and stradi tions; ii is formal and easy; 1t has free speech and implied power Supposed to be an oiigarchy, 1t is in itself Democracy; a Polish Democracy, some- body called it, made up of nobles, and that Is very pleasant. Senators be- come devoted to the Senate, come to stand for what the Senate stands for, And what is that2
 I can admire the Senate. I can see how. if I lived here long enough. might come to prefer the Senate,--as a precious taste prefers a sonnet.--for {sc al 11n E9stN l.Na the Sonnet sing? What does the Senate do? We are practical people. We want to know not that it Is beautiful. but simply whether the Senate represents us. Does 1t?
 I don't know. don't know what the Senate represents. because I don't know what all the Senators represent in the Sem ate But I know what some of the Sena- tors represent at home Looking down upon lt from the gallery. I see my Sena- tors from my State, and I know what they represent at home Thomas C. Platt was tho political organization that has sold me out for years fin New York and Chauncey M. Depew, his colleague, has represented at home the New York Central Railroad and other big businesses which have bought me out for years Then there is Senator All drich, of Rhode Island. I know Rhode Isi and. and I know Mr. Aldrich's standing in that State. Senator Aldrich represents the State organization which has systematically corrupted Ane peODie or ms Stdles the very voters themselves who for so much head have let their Legislators give away to AL drich and his friends franchises and privi- leges which they have capitalized and sold out for fortunes to Pennsylvania promoters. And Mir. Aldrich's colleague, Senator Vet more.-he is not so important. But he contributed largely to the campaign funds which were used to corrupt the people of Rhode Island and therefore he was sent to the Senate. He represents Newport in the aafr. Go, Nyifh nfh toru frnrr other States. know a dozen of them, and their stories. and I know what they represent at home. We can go into these circumstances later.-after enough here to form some notion of what they rep resent here. they and their colleagues. the ninety Senators sent to Washington to rep resent all of us in all of forty-flve States.
 It Is the fashion in Washington to Ignore the past of our representatives. That is one reason why the city is so pleasant for them. And 1t fair and practical atti- tude Why should Washington question the wisdom of our choice of governors? But we don't expect to dwell long in Washing ton. Our view Is different. We want to forget the past too; and we will if 'our'' representatives in the Senate, no matter how they got their seats. will represent us. It is only fair for me, however, to admit q prejudice against the Senate and having confessed to explain 1t. Since the Senate is made up so largely of men such those have named how can 1t represent you and ma in the Senate? l can we'll believe that there is no bribery there. l can believe that men may reform after most successful