The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-12-01

M nor DouglsS- nor Fe=ssenden- nor
 l Conkling, ever eXerted as great
 influence on federal legislation as this
 man has for 20 years Webster himself,
 with his gigantic mind and matchless
 eloouence. never was the force in the
 American Senate this man has been and
 is George Evans fought the tarih bat
 tie of 1S43 and lost. Nelson w. Adrlch
 fought the tarif battle of 1883, 1S90 1893,
 and 1897, and won. He never lost
 trick The Wilson-G -Gorman tariff was us
 much the handcraft of Aldrlch as IL
 wa of any other man. He and Blil
 Chandler wrote the cotton schedule, and 1t
 was for protection only. He, Chandler
 and Matt Quay wrote the iron and steel . schedule, and it, too, was for protection only. as is attested by the fact that,
 three years later, Dingley adopted them
 with very little change, and no change
 whatever except in the costlier articles. Aldrich is no lawyer, no scholar. So far
 as his public utterances attest, he IS
 densely ignorant, and one may well be- lieve that he has contemput for general Literature. I have elsewhere opined of
 Nelson w. Aldrich that Burke's magnifi- ] cent political and moral philosophy, 3couched in that marvellous production, Debts" would bore the senator from
 Rhode Island, while if the most ignorant anG most illiterate employe of a Provi- Sdence or Fall River cotton mill should accost him in the throng and say thae he had a secret as to dye-stuffs that
 would save cents on bolt of calico
 or gingham, Aldrich would be spellbound
 by such eloquence, and run the thing down until he ascertained whether It were practical or visionary.
 Like the late venerable Justin s. Mor- Till, Senator Aldrich is a business man,
 but he could never bring to the discus sion of an economic question the literary
 finish the historical illustration, the happy allusion, the biting sarcasm, the old Vermonter summoned every time he
 went to debate with such giants as Beck ane Vest and Vance. Morrill, was cross roads storekeeper; but he was also stu dent of books. Perhaps he had read
 Adam Smith without grasping the drift
 of that powerful intellect. Doubtless he
 hac read Bentham in discussion with
 Smith, digested his energy, fallacy and
 assimilated It's every virus. Aldrich cared
 for none of these.
 Aldrich does not convince, nor does h he persuade-he dominates. When those big, black, brilliant eyes, from great big dome of thought, give a glance at another senator they read him through and through, and he discovers in twinkling whether it is worth while for Nelson w. Aldrich to waste any time on that fellow. There is the secret the whole secret of the mans strength. He has a powerful and sometimes an imperious will, and pre- cious little important legislation has been enacted by the American Congress for twenty years that he did not ap- prove, and none that he did not as- sent to. His cardinal principle is that mankind is composed of two parts the rulers and the ruled. He is no no hypocrite. What the south visits on the negro in a politicai way he would mete out to the mudsills of the north if he could discern a safe and practical way to accomplish It.
 Ambrose E. Burnside, stout soldier and an incapable captain, was repeat edly chosen governor of Rhode Island after our big war. Then he was ele- 'yated to the Senate, succeeding William Sprague who got the honor for his millions, and who was no inconsldera- ,ble man, notwithstanding his vast wealth In the Senate Burnside was a marty man, and said yea" or nay as party politics dictated. His last ap- ,pearance in that body was the special Session of the Senate convened by Gar jtield soon after his inauguration. It IS sa rather formidable volume in bulk that records the proceedings or that Session and in it's pages Ben1amin H. lIIin stands out in bold relief as the most powerful debator since Douglas.
 He first skinned Malone, and then ne Erappled with Conkling, Hoar and seV- Ieral other big men, and made monkeys of them all. Of all our public men, Sen Hill was the greatest when measured 'by the length of his service III ,he national councils-two years Tn the House and five in the Senate He met all corners, including Blaine, Garhelu, Conkling. Hoar. Logan anu others, during those seven years less Youths. and the blood of all of them stained his beak and the flesh or all or them was on his talons.
 Burnside died early in the autumn or 1ss1 about the time Garfield expired, ana Rhode Island sent Nelson w. Aldricn to supply the vacancy. He had been traih- ed in an academy; he had been In the town council; he had served in the state llerislature and been speaker of the mousse.
 His was perhaps the first name on the alphabetical roll of the house of the For tv-sixt,h Congress- a body that contained az many able men as ever sat In dehp- eration on Capitol Hill. Get its roster ana
 read the names of the members rom
 Kentucky and Ohio. Tevas and Indiana,
 Georgia and Virginia, if you would take