The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-09-30

George Gilbert of Kentucky, thought Hepburn the foremost man In Con- gress, and declared that the next gen eration would regard him as we oo tne giants of thirty years ago--bieane' Beck. Garfield, Lamar, Randall, Car usle. Ben Hill, Reed, Kasson aad others of that day. Under our system of Presidential government MT. hep- burn plays a comparatively sihaAil pat If we had real parliamentary govern ment, he would be one among the halI score real rulers with seat III @ .he Cabinet and the leadership In the Honsa of Representatives. He Is the soremost orator on the Republican side. a place he has held without ques, tion since the Hon. Littleheld talleo to make entirely good the proInlse oL his splendid maiden effort. Hepburn is not a man of detail. He general izes and is exceedingly formidable m general politicap debate HIS chieA senIt Ia lack of accuracy in state ment, and in the heat of connlct ne sometimes hits below the belt. lie never convicted an enemy of political sin: but he is about the best man in either house to inspire his sloe ior the conflict. In debate he is no match for John sharp Williams, but Tn oe- clamation he Is magnificent, A ls worth a journey from the Misslsslppl to the Potomac to any Bourbon RepuD- Iican to hear him pronounce the words, United States" when graphing Wlth some unpatriotic Democrat.
 William F. Hepburn was born Tn Ohio in 1888 and has lived in Iowa since 1S4I. He was 16 years old when Iowa became a. State, and managed to get a tolerable academic educatlon. He was a printer, perhaps an edltor' but studied law and began the prac- | tice the year he attained his majority 1 As Hepburn descended. no doubt, from l A colonel of one of those regiments l James I sent to the continent to help | his son-in-law, the Elector-Palatine, In | the thirty years war and that subse- | uuently went from victory to victory
 under the eye of Gustavus Adolphus' | when war came to this people in lS6l' | this young Western lawyer left his | office for the field and was lieutenant
 colonel of his regiment when the strug- | gle was ended. He was politician | from boyhood, and a delegate in the | Republican National Convention that | nominated Abraham Lincoln, in 1860. | He was twice Presidential elector Tor | the State at large-1S76 and 1888. He l did not gain a seat in Congress until
 he was 47 years old, and 1t is pity l that he was not chosen to that body l at least twelve years earlier. He
 served three terms, when he was ap-
 pointed solicitor of the Treasury by
 President Harrisop; but he was re-
 turned to the Fifty third Congress in
 1892, and has been a member Of tha'
 body ever since.
 The low adelegation in the Fifty T third Congress was very strong. con-
 tainfng Gear, Henderson. Cousins. Hull
 Perkins, Lacey, and Deliver, as wei
 as Hepburn One of the Senators from
 that State was James F. Wilson
 man who was eternally expected to dS
 great things. He was one of the man
 agers of the impeachment of AndI
 Johnson. and his friends claimed tha
 he was the best lawyer of the ounch
 but Ben Butler got all the applaus'
 given that desparte proceeding. WI
 son later got to the Senate. and served
 there for years. but he never set th
 Potomac afire. He belonCed to Una
 class. all 10 numerous. who prohlis
 everything in the flower and yield it
 tle In the fruit He died during th
 life of the Fifty third Congress. ana eV
 erybody knew that some iowa mempe
 of the House would get his toga' M recollection is that several or then
 went through their stunts m II.
 House for home consumption. ana ttep
 hurn was far and away ahead of an of the others in showy aualltles. h
 was the man who should have pee Senator: but at su-he time or ms ca reer he had been of counsel TOT run road in A. lawsuit. and the toGa wen
 to old Father Gear. whose greatest ex pioit in the senate was an oration pick ing apart the politics or senator AleI inc gentleman who held the hoor 10
 fifteen hours "hand-runnin' on rear
 fully hot afternoon and the entire nlH1 i1Il . of an August day in continuous m Taination against the repeal of the pur chasing clause of the sherman silve } law. As the sun rose in the easter 3 horizon. he ceased, not that he was the slightest fatigued, but that tn . subject was too far gone in exhaustio 0 ' 1 Id cnntinne on the road longer Thn