Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1906-02-16
TRIED IN THE CRUCIBLE;
FOUND NOT WANTING.
tRichmond Evening Juurnal1

| Richmond Evening .Tournal)
There's no use in Mr. "Tom" Mar
tins acting coy any longer. He is
now fully aware of the fact that he
has been elected United States Sena.
tor for another term. -
The joint legislative committee ab-
pointed by the General Assembly 70
inform him of this fact got in its
work yesterday. The solons caught
their quarry at his residence, 2lII
South Street. N. w., Washington,
and proceeded to "shout the glad
tidings." Senator Echols was chair.
man of the COMMITTEES and Delegate
u. E. L. Lane, the oratorical young
representative from Mathews, was
the spokesman.
Delegate Lane-always courtly and
gracious-discharged his duties in
fine style. He began by telling the
Senator how, when and why he had
been reelected, aud then added:
"Some one has we'll said that the
most unsound politics is that which
is all sound. and that those who have
the peoples name most frequently In
their mouths have the peoples true
interest most seldom at their hearts.
Apt comparison has also been made
between a man and an engine, in that
the more he puffs the less freight he
hauls. Aud SO when | revert, in
pleasant thought, to the memorable
and unique senatorial campaign of
the summer just gone-a campaign
in Old Virginia long to be remem-
bered by you for well rounded sue
cess; when l recall tbe characteristic
candor and ccmmendable dignity
which marked your every step, as you
trayersed the party pathway ('back
to the people0, l congratulate you
from the bottom of my heart upon
the peoples generous and splendid
verdict. For on the 22d of August
last discriminating public-the
brooch and gem of the Old Dominion
beneath an avalanche of freemen's =
ballots, effectually rebuked your po-
litical traducers and rightly rewarded
your faithful public service, with
the crown jewel of their choice, their
confidence and their esteem.
"Sir, the people of Virginia recog-
nize the fact that you have been tried
in the crucible of public Office and
found not wanting; that you have
proven yourself the earnest and will
ing champion of their rights and their
Liberties; that you have labored in
season and out Of season for their
good; that you have ever carried in
tegrity, faithfulness and all other es-
sentials of the highest character to
the discharge of your official obliga-
tions; that you have shown yourself
diligent, capable and courteous. al
ways at your post of duty, and that
when occasion suggested or required
you counted it no crime in the in
terest of your humblest constituen Is
to make frequent visits to the various
governmental departments. Yes, you
have been to us pillar of strength
at the national Capitol, and not a
mere weather cock on the top of the
editice.' And thus we feel justified
in logically assuming that your pact
public acts are but ap index to your
future usefulness to us in the Senate
of the United States. / believe, sir,
that the devotion of your country
men to you is 'as fixed as the north
star, as firm as adamant, as unyield-
ing as the rock of Gibraltar
.'ln conclusion, l would further
fehcitate you in counting not loyalty
to your friends 'pernicious doctrine,
but rather that, in your official per-
son you have happily demonstrated,
to the most skeptical, that 40 far
from being an obsolete virtue, graft
tude is written anew in rubic letters
in the lexicon of American politics.
sour earnest wish is that He, to
whom thousand years is but as a
heart-throb In the breast of Time,
may always have you and yours in
His tenderest keeping, and that, amid
the plaudits of the people, you may
ever continue to possess the sweet
satisfying consciousness of having
preserved untarnished the sacred
trust again committed to your keep
ing"
NOT so MUCH SURPRISED.
Senator Martin. as is his wont, re.
piled briefly but appositely. Fran kly