The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1906-10-21

Douglas, Ike Clay. sprang from tht
people. lie did not have the graceful
person, the melliiiuoua voice, the com
manding individuality OF Clay, but h,
was the greatest dcbater Of an age rich,
er In great debaters than any other
epoch Of om annals. He knew no histo'
ry but American history, he was ac-
qnaintcd with no literature, but tho IT.
cratur 81 American politics. IL Ia
doubtful II he knew whether the house
OF Tudor preceded the House of Plan
taganet or succeeded the house OF stu.
art. He probably could not have told
whether William III reigned before or
after Edward III. II he ever read d
classic. he kept that fact to himself.
There 10 not poetical quotation In all
bis speeches He was devoid OF the
sense Of humor But on the stump he
was matchless. and In the Senate that
contained Toombs and Davis. Fesscndcn
and Sumner, Benjamin and Crittcndon,
Seward and Chase he was the first per.
sonality and the strongest man.
Douglas might have bcon President il
he had organized his following In 1859
or 1856 as he organized II In ls60 But
the fact Is that Douglas did not court
the nomination In 1852 or 1850. He felt
that the senate was his field, and hc
was right. Men loved him devotedly.
He was approachable and conviyial. He
lived fast and disd early, shall not
speculate upon what might nave hap
pened II he had survived the war. Would
he have acted as did Logan, or would
he have done as did Tildeni Would he
have sustained Lincoln In suspending the
Constitution for the preservation Of the
Unionf II does not require very
vivid imagination to speculate that his
death was as necessary to the triumph
of the Union Ayms MS Stonewall Jack
sons. What II he had led the political
revolt that Mcclellan headedi
James @. Blaine was more loved by his
following than Douglas was by his, or
Bryan is by his; but men did not idol
lie him as they did Clay, He was In
Congress while Grant, Thomas, Sherman
and Sheridan were In the field, but none
of these was the popular idol, Blaine
was. Conkling was an ahler man,
Carpenter an abler and more brilliant
man, Morton stronger man. but the
young guard swore everywhere by tine
man from Maine" Benn unhorsed him
in the famous debate, but he emerged
from "plumed knight, who through
his shining lance full and fnir in the
brazen face Of treason. Carpenter set
him upside down and Thurman turned
him inside out in the great debate on
the disposition OF the proceeds of the
Geneva Award" but the galleries rose
TO him, No other man of his day could
have survived the "Mulligan Leters.'
and 1t Is tribute to the man that mil
IiuHH Ol MS lViluWVib ucNNl Icdu tucui,
He would have been President II he
had obeyed his own Instincts Lat in
1884, against his own judgment, he was
lraged TO the Middle West. He insisted
hat the battle ground was Nav York
md was kept in Ohio and Indiana the
.en days that would have made New /
York safe. There was a fatality in It,
md maybe a benefcient Providence
hat Clay, and Douglas and Blaine all
allied in the ambition to be President
Mr. Bryan is just come from foreign :
,arts, where he went to study political
ystems. Before he got home the Re- !
were walking the floor, now :
Democrats are walking the floor. But