Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1907-12-18
THE WEEKLY TRIBUNE.
or ASSOCIATED PRESS
- .
SENATORIAL PRECEDENT

SENATORIAL PRECEDENT
Senator Jef. Davis. OF Arkansas, a
few days after his taking his seat as
a member OF the senate, made a
speech fiaying the trusts. The sena-
tor did good deal OF arrnsswinging
and laundering. declaring the trusts
TO be things of evil and stating him
self to be In favor of putting some
body into Jail. The whole address
was incorporate. Illogical and uncon-
yincing. because the senator was too
broad in his denunciation and be-
csuse his address gave signs OF more
feeling than good judgment. The mat.
ter Of senatorial precedent in this re-.
Epect is discussed by the Washington
Post, which say: u n (. N IS
y Mine days after taking his seat in
the senate Senator Jefferson Davis OF
Arkansas. delivered himself of form.
~ speech and thus broke one Of the
time honorsd precedents OF that most
dignified body which has declared
through years Of tradition and Gus
tom that new member ought to be
seen, not heard, during his salad days,
while he is yet too raw to be digest
ed. But the new senator was eager
20 make a noise, and his constituents
SWAY down in Arkansas were strain
dng their ears listening for the sounds
OF It. Trusts being TO him as red
bunting to q bull. the senator charged
the trusts. tossed them on his horns,
gored them, paved and trampled them
under his hoofs and what little life
was left he frightened out of them
with the stertorous blasts of his hot
mouth. He broke a precedent. But
did he do any good :?
Al first thought the breaking Of such
a precedent might not seem to amount
TO anything; vet precedents, when
established and maintained through
out years by the traditions of the
ahlest body of men in the country,
must have behind them some extra.
ordinary good cause for existence
They must serve. some good purpose
and that purpose must have been rec
ognized, else they would have long
since been broken and discharged by
other men fully as able. as ambitious
and as daring as the new senator from
Arkansas. To many Of those who
heard MIR. Davis speech his very in
fraction OF the precedent proved it:
value; they saw how it had kept
many another man from doing what
he was doing, and it seemed a good
thing. For though the senator had
announced himself as coming to Wash
ington TO stir things up, and his or
alton was the first astir" he made, il
isobVious by what he had to say tina
NE had not been senator long enuogl
Z yet to learn that words and mer;
words and words again do not accom-
paish much They must have inhuenc,
behind them The same speech from
q man who had already made himsel
power in the chamber, by his dis
y play of legislative genius and states
manship in the committee rooms
4 might have had great force. As
was. mis- felloWsenators listened i
4 hinl with respect, but not with cor
vietion. His was nothing but the e1
B pI0ding of blank cartridge.
The result is that the senate ha
taken the new members measure b,
fore he has had time to grow, and b
q VIII have difficulty in proving to ]
& hereafter that he Is tall enough an
A strong enough to do q mans worI
The first bout id the wrestling mate
between the senator and the trust
& 81 oser, and It Is seen that the senate
VI lis the only one left breathIess; th
s trusts are not even painting. Ho
can he win the other falls? 5
The old precedent was good thin
q because 1t kept the raw recruits fro
expending their ammunition befor
they had learned to shoot straigh
It prevented innocent bystandel
from being hit instead OF the large
and saved the tynapanums Of sensitiy
ears much pain. Toll Che bells for I'll
dead precedent. and naourn Its loss
sS4s
The North Dakotan who goes dow
b 10 Chicago Or any other big eft
sslaere there are policemen with mar
suspicious and q good aim. shouj
speak very softly, carry d big site
wear gan-shoes and put up DANCE