The Sisseton weekly standard. (Sisseton, Roberts County, S.D.) 1892-1929, 1907-03-29

of the primeval forests. There is the
quiet of the brooding night and the sui
try noon, and there also, is the silence
of kittredge, Alfred h. Nittredge. Sena.
tor from South Dakota
Vast and profound as are the silcnces
of these works of Nature aud of man.
there is no particular credit to bc at
tached to them, for they cannot talk if
they would. But kittredge can talk, and
doesn t, and in these days Of human
monographs, megaphones, parrots and
pianolas that is an accomplishment that
deserves three cheers United States
senator has the greatest opportunity for
| speech the world has ever known. All
he has to do is to rise in his place. get
begin. No power on earth can say him
nay. He can spout and sputtcr for a
month, if he has the stamina and the
language There is no obligation ON the
other Senators to listen; hut there is no
obligation on him to stop until he has
finished what he has to say.
There are Senators who demand this
right There are statesmen in the upper
House who talk until they are black
| in the face and their hearers purple.
! There are those who talk occasionally,
and those who say nothing because they
have nothing to say, which is a condi
ton that works around 10 he steady
performers oftentimes, although their
! audiences and not themselves are best
When we come to specialize there is
Kittredgc, in a class by himself-silent,
inscrutablc doing a job of inscruting
twenty four hours day.
Kittredge is a huge man; bread cast
and broad west, broad north aud broad
scmbles the rear end of a hack When
south. His personal architecture lie
semblcs the rear end of hack. When
he is in rcpose he has all the aim re
preston of Grcenough s Washington,
that great Characterization of the Faith
er of His Country as the Olympian
Jove sitting in contemplation of .he
east front of the Capitol, and wearing
a look of tremendous dignity and no
clothes to speak about. When Kit
trcdge is in action he moves with all
the dcliberaton of the Muir Glacier.
No emotions toss him about. No cx-
ctemcnt fevers him. No worry wrink-
les that front He selects a destination
is in the way that person must side
step. The Kittrcdgc procession goes
through without transfers and without
delays.
Words are sacred in rumcnts with
Kittredge. not to bc used lightly, not to
be uttered without consideration and,
once uttered to stand. When kittrcdge
promulgates a statement, that is all
there is to it. He has Thought il out.
He has framed it as ne wants it 1t
| is complete. and there is no need for
explanatory footnotes or volumlnons APP
pendices He can listen for week and
say nothing One of his widest fights
into vocal expression is "Gcs' or
Z" No, - and the extreme limits OF To-
quacity are reached when he says:
''That is right, or "That is wrong -
He works all the time. His concep-
tion of the duty of Senator is to take
part in pending Legislation and to be in
;,> kn
of Importance are under discussion. He
says nothing on the floor except at rare
intervals, but he has so wide a know
ledge of what is going on that his brief
counsel is universally sought.
He gets up before six O'Clock every
morning, and is in his committee room
before seven, rain or shine. He has half
a days work done when many of the
Senators are ordering around the carri-
ages to take them II on the hill. He
ages TO take them up on the hill. He
that arrives before the session opens
and he leaves on the first train that
goes out after the session closes. Be
| tween those two trains he is consistent
ly, constantly and silently on the works
Kittredge was on a train in South
Dakota when a number of public men
were making a trip through the West
He was as silent as usual. The rivalry
between the Dakotas was intense, and
particularly the rivalry between some
Of the cities Kittredge comes from
Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
He was listening to the conversation
which is one Of the best things he
does listening but saying nothing
newspaper correspondent sought an in
terview.
'senator Kittredge," /" he said sitting
down beside Kittredge, "Fargo is the
largest and most important city in
North Dakota, ism It it'''
Everybody took notice, for here was
an opening for Kittredge to do some
talking. This question must inevitably