Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1907-08-31
SKIPPING A GENERATION

When 1t was rumored that Senator
Allison would not be a candidate the
CRY was Iowa should take younger
man than Governor Cummins." Con-
gresham Smith was urged because ne
is only AZ years of age.
In otser words. 1t was proposed u
skip one generation in the senate.
This will be what will result ~
every instance under a life service Ia
congress. The men of one generation
will overlap, and each alternate gem
Grafton will be left out of any active
part in the direction Of public affairs.
Take congress as 1T is today. The
dominating forces belong to the war
period of our politics. 1t is Senator
Aldrlch and Senator Allison In the
senate 1t rs Speaker Cannon, and
before him Colonel Henderson, In the
house and about them men like Colo
mel Hepburn, Captain Hull, Major La
cey, all civil war congressman.
+ The generation that has come on
since the war Is strong in the execu-
tive department, President Roosevelt,
Secretary Taft, Secretary Root. Car
field, Hitchcock, Contelyou and the
rest. But in congress 1t is Speaker
Cannon and Senator Aldrich.
One result of this hanging on OF an
older generation In congress and not
in the executive departments is to ges
the cart before the horse. Whereas.
congress should be young and aggres-
sive, full Of vital Americanism, while
the presidency should be conservative,
the moderator of the public zeal and
impatience, we have come to a time
when all the vitality in public affairs
is with the president and his advisers,
while congress sits as an old man Still
pointing to the contests and victories
of forty years ago.
Another result is bound to be vio-
lent changes in public policy Just as
with the senatorship in Iowa, so with
the speakership of the house, when
the old men finally surrender the jump
will be made to the other extreme, and
Speaker Cannon is likely to be sue
ceeded by a man of the Burton or
Roosevelt class. involving a complete
reversal of everything the Cannon-
Henderson regime has stood for. This
sudden jump will involve danger. Sup
posing for instance Speaker Cannon
should be without warning replaced by
a r"ToIlattao
This skipping of each alternate gem
era..on - .ulna TO be attended by dis
turbance and unrest. 1t means rush
ing from one limit to the other. The
country never follows the middle way.
1t is in the hands of the extremely old
or the extremely young, churning from
one to the other thru perilous waters.
With short tenure of service we
should have each period and each gen.
Grafton represented iu turn. Change:
would come in their order the pro-
gressive spirit of the times would
make itself felt peaceably, the country
would BET always in the middle way,
and government would be in the hands
of men of sufficient age to have en-
ergy and outlook. There would be
more of this surging and plunging
from the extremes Of reaction to the
extremes Of radicalism.
Before any citizen of Iowa commits
himself to the idea of life service in
congress, or even long continued ten
ure Of office. he will Go we'll to con-
slider what it is going to mean to skip
whole generations in the shaping OF
the fortunes of this country.