The National tribune., 1907-02-21
The WOMEN And
The SENATE.
The Ladies Enraged at The SmOot Case.
Severe Visitation Upon the Utah SEN
ator's Defenders-Good Accomplished
by the Agitation.

the Smoot case a dead issue months
ago are recasting their confident state
ments. There Is more evidence of pet
ticoat influence around the Ca pitol than
for many moons, and numerous law
givers are wriggIing on the carpet The
vote, of course, is at hand. Wednesday,
Feb. 90 the Senate registers fits opinion
as to whether or not Smoot is entitled
to his seat. which, by the way; he took
March 3, 1903, almost four years age
There is and has been no doubt about
majority of the Senate insfavor of the
Utah Senator But, oh, my. how the
women are making the Senator's hop
up. 60 ~
They came right down to Washing
ton again few days ago, established
headquarters anew. and began ito make
things unpleasant for the Smoot advo-
Gates. The National League vof Wo-
mems Organizations Is back of the
movement to wind up the prolonged
shindy with program that the recalci-
trant statesmen will remember for
while. To the winds with the Consti.
tuition and the law. say they This is
moral fight. They won't believe that
oahoch 10 hot a pOlNSdliilSI, IndI ne Is
personally very decent and compan-
ionable sort of man. They want Sem
ators to vote on the moral issue and to
rebuke the Mormon Church and the
Mormon hierarchy for sending such a
man to represent the State of Utah at
Washington.
Poor little Senator Knox. hardly five
feet tall, but very high in law and con-
stitutional points, has been one of many
IN catch n in theca n1ocinor la,, ~ tl,o
long -drawn-out Smoot campaign. He
spoke profoundly in the Senate for
Smoot told why as a Senator, sworn
10 support the Constitution and tho
laws. he could not vote against Smoot.
The thin, boyish tones of the former
AttorneyGeneral had hardly ceased in
the Senate before the ladies were upon
him. They have pummeled him on
every hand, and even intimated that he
would have great difficulty in getting
back to the Senate from Pennsylvania
in the distant year of 1911. They made
1t SO hot for the little PENNSYLVANIA
that some friends brought the towering
figure of Rev. Edward Everett Hale
Chaplain of the Senate to his rescue
Cody, but broad-minded man, hav,
ing National reputation for good
works and sound thinking, the vener-
able Rostonian, now an octogenarian
said Mr. Knox's speech sounded to him
logical, and that he saw no other rea-
sonable way out of the dilemma but to
vote for SmOot.
1t has not put the ladies in any more
amiable mood, and they went after sew,
eral Senators who were wayering. They
commanded the support of the military
| looking Senator from Delaware, Henry
AlgernOn Du Port; they won over the
| former Chairman of House Appropria-
tions, now Senator Hemenway, of In
diana. whose term expires, it happens,
| in 1909, and SO on. The most weighty
words that Senatorial leaders could use
were without weight upon many of
their colleagues, while those who had
| declared against Smoot from the start
were serene as the storm ragged around
| them.
Judging from appearances the incl
dent will not be closed with the voting
which declares Smoot entitled to his seat.
The ladies will keep agitating, and they
may make It uncomfortable for some
of the Senators who help swell the ma
jority In his favor. When Vice Presi-
dent Fairbanks called Smoot to preside
the other day for a quarter of an hour,
while he snatched a few mouthfuls of
| luncheon in the restaurant below the
anti-Smoot ladies in the galleries made
dire predictions that that act would
| have results in the campaign for dele
gates to the next National Convention
In, the four years and more that the
case has been before the Senate there
| have been some remarkable opposition
outbursts. The ladies led these out
| bursts from the start. They haye COM
piled miles upon miles of petitions. The
cellars of the Capitol are now brimming
| full of these petitions, of which there
were at least two voluminous sets The
latest was an issue of petitions by
States, bound in beautiful books and
| presented by Senators from the respec-
tive States. Many thousands of dollars
have been spent in bringing witnesses
to testify. There are several large vol
umes of testimony taken at the first
hearing and then at a subsequent sup
Elemental hearing Quantities of hot
air. pro and con. sufficient to make a
layer all over this inhabitable globe,
have been produced in connection with
the case since the Utah Legislature
gave Smoot majority.
And. while Smoot keeps his seat 1t e.
also well to bear in mind that the agi-
tation has not been without results in
arousing public sentiment to the machi-
nations of the Mormon Church, to the
deals of the Republican National Com
mittee to secure the Mormon votes, and
| to the general baneful effect of the
Mormon Church in State and National
| Y<fe->--