The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1907-04-16
ROBERTS SIZES UP BOTH
MEN AND MEASURES

| agree to disagree on this matter
there is no reason for thinking that
il will interrupt permanently the har-
mOny of the delegation.
Committees at Work.
A number of the house and senate
| committees have been in session to-
day, but a great many of the legis-
lators have gone to their respective
homes for Sunday, leaving yesterday
afternoon after the adjournment I'M
til Monday afternoon of the two
houses For which reason there has
been little doing" about the capital
to-day, the Third House" apparently
| taking rest along with the two con
stitutional bodies Monday night the
| joint committee appointed to investi
gate the internal improvement fund
of the state will meet and orgaize,
the committee having been appointed
after the house recOnSidered its con
currence with the Beard amendment
to the Carter resolution and the sen
ate receded from its position, which
has already been told in these col
umns. Mr. Carter of Alachua. the
| author of the resolution which finally
! passed, may be chairman of the com
mittee, though the usual custom is
to elect the senator of joint com
mittee who is first named il this
instance, Senator Buchanan.
With all the measures introduced
into either house safe in the hands
of their committees, and a complete
lull in the political storm, it may not
be out of place to discuss a few OF
the leading spirits of each branch of
| the legislature, as they have appear
ed to the press gallery from an ac-
quaintance of two weeks, in action
upon the floor of the two houses, and
between times
A Few Leading Spirits.
This year the senate has, instead
of the usual sixteen followers, but
thirteen, an unlucky number tbs said,
and indeed this session the number
has been the token of misfortune, be
cause of the death of the three good
and true men who would have made
out the customary sixteen. Two OF
their places are filled with new mem
bers, but one desk, draped in mourn
ing, pays a silent tribute to Senator
Newlan of the Seventeenth, whose
seat VIII remain empty the first
| month of the session, and until his
| successor is elected and qualified.
Amongst the thirteen are Senator
L
headed young man who presided over
the senate two years ago, and whose
political eye is said to be fixed on the
seat in the National House of Repre-
SentativeS which for the past twelve
years has been warmed continuously
by Uncle Steve" Sparkman, senior
democratic member of the committee
on rivers and harbors, and near him
sits his next door neighbor down in
South Florida, Senator Crane, of the
Eleventh, past Grand Chancellor of
the Florida Knights of Pythias, man
who would have made splendid pre-
siding officer of the body, graceful in
his manner, and born to preside over
deliberative body
Senator HUMPHREYS of the Twenty
seventh is both editor and politician,
or to be more accurate, an official
because all editors are more or less
politicians. He has the distinction of
being president of the State Press
Association. Senator's Massey OF the
Nineteenth, Neel of the Third, and
West of the First. are conspicuous
amongst the followers as well.
The "New" Men.
Amongst the technically new" men
are Senator Adams, of the Thirtieth
who however, has represented his dis
trict for years and has twice been
presiding officer of the senate, and
who, had he desired it, might per
haps again have sat in the chair fill
ed by another senator of long ser,
vice in legislative halls, Senator
Harris, of the Thirty-first. Senator
Broome is TECHNICALLY a new man,
though he has had a mortgage on the
sixth district for years, except during
fYrI
of state. and is back again as the
watch dog of the treasury.
Senator Beard is a conspicuous fig
ure in the hall of the upper house
and though defeated at nearly every
turn in his movements in connection
with the investigation of the internal
Improvement fund, has before the SEN
ate, had reported faVorably, a propOs-
ed amendment to the state constitution
which will, if adopted test the valid
ity of the last two amendments to
the national constitution, which have
forced negro suffrage on the South
for the past forty years.
DR.. Grill is back again from the
twenty-sixth, and of course is chair
man of the committee on finance and
taxation. His nearest neighbor on
roll call is Senator Grill, of the
fifteenth, who is a familiar figure in
the senate, and will doubtless be
there as long as he wants it Sena.
tor McCreaTy of the thirty-Second, is
another man his district keeps on
sending back, and f1ttingly enough is
chairman of the committee on public
printing. Senator Baker of the TWEEN
tieth, perhaps the most distinguished
looking member of the body. is not a
stranger to the capital. though a new
man in the senate for he represented
Sumter county in the stormy SEES
siOns of 1897 in the lower house the
days of the Chipley-CalI-Stockt
Mallory fight for the United States
senatOrship.
DR.. West of the Fourth, president
pro tenn. of the senate, is one of the
oldest members, but does not look it,
and is none too old to be elected
some day TO the chair Ior which ne
was the candidate this session of
the opponents of Senator Harris,
though he withdrew before the eau