The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1907-03-22

sa&EE4@ Ou3y 81 WUuuO800
FRIDAY MARCH, %. 1907.
.NTTREDCE THE SILENT"
"a Dakota's Biz Senator Comes in for Meas.
urement BY the Saturday Evening Post.
The Saturday Evening Post
has recently been publishing a
series of articles on the promi-
sent men of the senate, Senator
Bailey of Texas recently coming
in for a severe failing as a graf
ter. Last weeks Post has a
picture and a page article on
Senator Kittredge of this state,
who is acting chairman of the
senate committee on the Panama
canal, now the greatest enter
prise in the world. The article
reads:
Let US consider ~iudicially the Great
Eilences. There is the SPHINX, q lady
Who holds all patents and all copy
rights for saving nothing, and whose
claim runs so far back into the mists
that the Rosetta Stone seems like the
very latest special extra postscript of
8 New York yellow In comparison.
9nere are the Catacombs, quite re-
nowned for lack OF noise. There, too,
sre the eternal hills that have kept
quiet for many years, and the stars,
Nasonably cold and silent except
whom some poet hasa spasm and sets
them to singing in their courses and
HIS rhymes. There are the silences of
the trsckless seas, the silences of the
bro0ding night and the sultry room,
end there, also. Is the silence of Kit
0odge. Alfred B. Kittredge, senator
from South Dakota.
CAN TALK BUT DOESN'T
Vast and profound as are the sill
Gnces Of these works of nature and of
nan, there Is no particular credit to
- attached to them, for they cannot
talk II thev would. But Kittredge can
talk, and dosen's, and IN these days
q human monographs, megaphOnes,
parr0ts and sianolas that is an &C.
oomplishment that deserves three
cheers. A United States senator has
- greatest opportunity for speech
t6o world has eyer known. All he has
70 do Is to rise In his place, get rec
ignition from the vice president and
begin. No power on earth can
him nay. He can spout and sputter
for . month, If he has the stamina and
de language. There is no obligation
On the other senators. to listen; but
there IL no obligation on him to stop
until he has finished what he has to
Say.
IN CLASS BY HIMSELF
There are senator's who demand
this right. There are statesmen in
tho upper house who talk until they
re black in the face and their bearers
purple. There are those who talk Oc-
easiOnally, and those who say nothing
because they have nothing to say,
which is q condition that works
around to the steady performers. Of
1entimes, although their audiences and
lot themselves are best aware of it.
These r general divisions. When
N come to specialize there is Kit
Sredge, In . class by himself-silent,
tnscrutable, doing y job Of inscruting
twenty-f0ur hours . day.
Kittredge is . huge man; broad
0ost and broad west, broad north and
br0ad south. His personal srchitec-
t0ro resembles the roar end of . hack.
when he II In repose he has oil the
calm repression Of Greenough's Wash
ington, that great Characterization of
the Father of His Country 10 the
Olympian Joye sitting in confempla.
don Of the east front Of the capital,
md wearing . look OF tremendous dig
nity and no clothes TO speak about.
When Kittredge IL Ia action he moves
with oil the deliberati0n Of the Muir
01aoier. No emotions toss him about
No excitement fevers him. No worry
wrinkles that front. He selects .
destination and walks over to it. II
anv person 10 In tho way thst person
nnst sidestep. The Kittred2e pro
session goes through without trans.
tors Snd without delays.
THINKS, THEN ACTS
WOrds are sacred instruments with
Kfttredgc, not ia be used lightly, not
- b. uttered, without confederation
-9nd, NOS uttered, 70 stand. When
Kiftrodge. promulgAtes . statement,
0b9t 10 oil there Il TO Il He has
tAOnght II out. He hes framed it as
- wants Il. Il 10 complete, and
1870 10 no need for explanatory foot
notss or voluminous appendices. He
e0n listen for . week and say nothing.
ON Of his widest flights into vocal
expressions Il Eyes" or ssNo" and the
extreme limits Of loQuacity are reach
a When he says: THAT 10 right"
o. ssThat is wr0ng.n
Hs works Ill the time. His concep-
ton Of the duty Of . senator 10 10 take
part Ia pending. legislation and TO b
- his seat 10 the senate whom meas
uros Of Importance ate under dis
eussi0n. He says nothing on the
1oOr except st raro intervals, but he
Aas 20 vide . knowledge of what 10
going on that his brief counsel 10 uni.
VERBALLY sought
AN EARLY RISER
He gets up before six o'clock every
morning, and 10 Ii his committee
room before seven, rain or shine. He
Aas halt : days work done when
many Of the other senators are order
~ around the carriages to take them
- On Tho hill. HA Oafa t0 WaahinU.