The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-11-25

frst defined United States Senatorship as gentleman's job. A Senatorship is fully that. Any person familiar Njth Washington, with the ways of the Government and the intricacies and re- wards thereof. will unhesitatlngay say he would prefer to be a Senator than to occupy any other elective or ap- pointive post, provided. of course. he could serve long enough to impress his abilities on that tremendous body. Nor does this opinion decry the Presidency. No man lives in the United States who would not be President if he could, but few men can. There is but one Presi- dent at a time and there are ninety Senators. and. moreover, a President can serve but four or eight years while q Senator can serve indefinitely If his abilities warrant and his constituents will agree. That is,; he has a chance to serve indeinitely. 1t all depending on the local circumstances that govern office holding fin this country.
 Observers of the Senate, familiar with it's history and its work, agree that 1t is the bulwark of the Ameri- can Republic. It stands between the oligarchy of the United States Supreme Court on the one hand. and the personal and party ambitions of the Executive. on the other. and 1t has so stood since 1t was created. It Is the pepsin of the legislative branch, there to digest the undigested Legislation thrown at it by the House. and it does It's work in It's own time, in its own way, and. usually. with the best results that can be ob- tained subject to human limitations.
 When you dig into the Senate and examine it's membership closely you find there is always a reason, and a powerful one, for the presence of every man there who is of any consequence Nobody maintains that the Senate is not an unequal body, with men sitting in 1t who are not At to sit there, but even the unfit men are there for a rea- son that was potent at the time they were elected. The American political system will not permit the selection of ninety of the best men from the view point of the best citizenship as Sena- tors, but even if it did it Is extremely doubtful if these ninety men would be of as much service to the country as the present ninety who will begin their sessions next Monday for the second term of the Fifty-ninth Congress.
 Senate still Great, Not Degenerate. The loud cries about degeneraey of the Senate are not borne out by the facts. The present Senate compares with any Senate that ever assembled at the nations Capitol. The giamor that time has thrown about the giant figures of the old Senates Is lacking, The perspective is newer, and the fact that the United States now has eighty mii- tons of people instead of twenty makes d dlfferAnce. It was easier to be great among twenty millions than 1t Is among eighty nillions There was not so much competition.
 one Of the bromide criticisms of the Senate is that 1t is q millionaire's club. when the critics have nothing else to say they hurl that terrific indictment at the upper house.. IL is true that there are millionaires In the Senate. several of them, but they do not pre- ponderate, and coming back to the statement that there ls reason TOT the presence of every Senator in the body, most of the Senators who are millionaires gre there because they are millionaires aud for no other reason This isn't the fault of the Senate. lt is the fault of the political system that elected these mfiiionafres. The senate Is great despitegth millions of some or it's members, not because of them.
 The process of reasoning of the man with millions who wants to be Sena- tor Is not complicated. He has au tne money he needs, and he casts aeoMs nceupafion and give him an added re- spectabiIity. The most pathetic thing about riches is the constant search or the men of great fortunes for respect" ability. for some heritage for children family or for history aside from the record of the mere accumulation or wealth, Even hundred millionaire recognizes the dignity of the senatos rial ofice, and it is not surprising that so many men with millions try TOT . seat. It sounds better fn the family records to say that the head of the line was Senator of the United States than to have nothing to put down save Shat he made an enormous fortune in mines in steel, in insurance or some otner
 Thus this ambition has developed line of Senators, not large in proportion to the entire membership of the poey' but large enough to prove the SiGiln' .n, vino are there because they are ricn. New ones come from time to time. There are plenty of men now who are planning to get into the Senate TOT this reason: because they want to pc con sidered more than merely rich. Cnarles M Schwab. the steel man, is one. He has his eyes on Nevada. He wants 70 come from that handful of people. GOT: samuel P. Colt of Rhode Island, head ot the Rubber Trust, is another, couldn't be elected by popular vote to anvthinR in the State, but he wants to be a. Senator to round out his career
 Dryden a Typical Example.
 Of the rich men already in the senate A. typical example Is John F. Dryden or New Jersey. Dryden made his fortune at the head of an insurance company.
 He had all the insurance honors ne could get and more money than ne could spend. What was nextE A sen atorship, which would not only add to his prestige. but might help the insur- anee business also, inasmnch as the real Ynoney-naker never so far let's go of his money making passion as not to have an eye to the main chance, no matter what other ambition may Dc reused in his breast. There was no req