The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-07-14
JOHN C.. SPOONER
BY sAVoYARD.

When this man resigned from, the
United States senate he left a big
space to fill. When the senate was in
academic discussion he was the leader
of his party, and his party was the ma
jority. The party and the country viii
miss him. The morning hour" with
out SpOOner viii appear strange, and
work on the calendar without
Spooner will cost the treasury
a pretty penny. In my time
at this capital, now approaching
thirty years, John c. Spooner was the
best watch dog" of the whole lot, and
made the least noise of any one of
them. He was indispensable when big
bills were before the senate; he was
ever present and ever vigilant when
little bills were considered. Charles
Sumner had superlatfve contempt for
little things. 1t took what he conceived
to be "a great moral idea" to put him
in action. The morning hour" filled
him with ennui; the calendar" was his
special aversion. Andy Johnson classed
him among the great men who ain
fit for nothing"
Spooner did not want to leave the
senate. He loved the work, and he
knew he was fit for the work. Never
an OK that labOred harder than he. rev
er a public man more faithful to his
trust. He gave his best years to his
country in the field and in the council,
and when three score years and four
had passed over his head he left the
senate a poorer man than when ne en-
tered ii, either in 1885 or 1897, and set
about to make an estate to keep his
children in comfort after he shall be
gathered to his fathers. He had gained
the applause of many good men. He
had commanded the applause even of
churIs, who would sooner have con-
demned him, and did backbite him.
But when history with Rhadamanthian
pen shall make the roll of great sena-
tors, high on the list will be the name
of John c. Spooner.
The town Of Lawrenceburg, in the
state of Indiana, is within a stones
toss of Kentucky. and Kentucky was a
slave state. SpoOner was born at Law
renceburg in 1S43, and his father, Of
Puritan stock. concluded that Law
rencebuTg was too close to barbaTism
for him to bring a family up in that
community; so he moved to Wisconsin
in 1859, a state then in judicial rebel
lion against the United States on ac-
count of the fugitive slave law and the
bred Scott decision, both of which
Carl Schurz. Like everything else in
this country, notification was a local
question-treason at the south and pa
triotism at the north.
SpOoner went to the big war as a
private and returned a captain. He
saw arduous service. He was brevetted
major for gallant conduct. When peace
came he was made private secretary
to Governor Fairchild, and in 1861 he
was called to the bar. He had a super
ior legal mind, and he was industrious
and loved the profession. In a little
while his practice was ample, and he
was a rising lawyer. He was a mem
Der of the legislature in 1872, and held
other positions of trust by appointment.
SpOoner was elected senator in con-
gress to succeed Angus Cameron in
1885. Cameron's chief, title to fame
is that he defeated Matt Carpenter for
United States senator in 1872. Carpen-
ter was then the best lawyer in Amer
lea; as senator he had shed more luster
on Wisconsin than all the men whoChad
preceded him in that office. He was
the first orator in the senate and the
most brilliant man. 1 do not believe
that our political literature contains a
finer passage than the opening para
graph of Carpenters plea for Tilden
before the electoral commission. 1t is
eloquence and logic, couched in exquis-
lite English, and the utterance of a
voice simply matchless for beauty,
clearness and sweetness. In debate he
overcame Blaine and Sumner and Ed
munds, and held his own against Ben
Hill. AS a master of choice, elegant
rhythmical English, E. w. Carmack
comes nearest to Carpenter of any man
IN, asf hrv- Of in DO
But Wisconsin took Carpenter out of
the senate and put Cameron in his
place. However, the first opportunity
that offered she returned Carpenter
TO the senate, and he remained there
until his death, in 1881.
Spooner succeeded Cameron, and
within two years was the most prom
Using senator of all the newer set. He
had the ability, he had the industry,
and he loved the Job. Before his term
expired there rose up a set in the Lake
states known as the A. p. AS. Their
avOWed mission was to show the Cath
olics and the Lutherans how to get to
heaven. Incidentally they sought 10
make our German feIIow-citizens get
along with less beer. Now Wisconsin
is full of German Catholics. German
LutheTans, and consumes considerable
beer. The A. P. AS were Republicans
to a man. And so in 1890 the Demo-
Gratis swept the state, carrying every
congressional district, electing the gov
ernOr and the legislature.
The result was that Mr.. Spooner had
to surrender his toga to William F.
Villas, a man plenty big enough to wear
it. Unfortunately, about that time,
there rose up in the west an agrarian
party, and in 1898 the Democratic party
Joined it. But for that the country
would have continued Democratic to
this day. Wisconsin, along with Illi-
nois and Indiana. refused to be bound
by the merger of the Democratic with
the Populist party, and that gave the
Republicans their opportunity. which
they seized and built up a solid north
Thus, in 1897, Mr.. SpoOner came in
again, and succeeded Mr. Villas as a
senator in congress from Wisconsin.
The Republicans, flushed with victory,
had absolute power. They made the
Dingley tariff. and established what
they are pleased to call the gold stand
ard, though it has a half billion of 90
per cent fiat silver in it. Just as the
AL. 49, Il