The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-05-05

other Issues hBut TOT nliu the oeHdle would have been as craven as the House. and at the order of the Presi- dent 1t would have joined Arizona and New Mexico as one monstrosity and ad- mitted 1t as a State. If for no other
 purpose Mr. Foraker should be kept
 in official station to prevent this out i rage.
 Ii pity the American who can read | the following extract from a speech made by Joseph B. Foraker in the last Ohio State convention of the Repubii- can party, without thrill of pride in human nature:
 T have always thought it was great honor to be a United States Sem ator from Ohio Why? Not because | of the salary, not because of the posi- | tion, but because I have always un- | derstood that when my constituency | elected me. 1t was because they had the | impression at least, that l possessed | the qualifications of a Senator; that 1 I had some ability, and that had good | character. that I would stand hitched, | did not need to have somebody over | looking me, and that when a great | question arose I would be expected, | speaking for this mighty and intelii- | gent constituency, to bring to bear, in l the discussion of 1t, all those qualifica- | tions. I never understood that some | body was to tell me how to vote, either l at that end of the line or this end of the line; especially not about great, profound constitutional questions that l lawyers differ about. I thought I was | to work that out; that I was to speak | for you. I have pursued that policy. | If that is not right; if. on the con- | trary, a man is to be rebuked because | he exercises the qualifications with AHat. Io sn xynN fa gA
 all the honor away from the office. and,
 so far as am concerned. you can take the office with 1t. No office has any value in my opinion, unless it carries with 1t the right to the man holding it
 to go according to his own judgment and discharge, according to his sense
 of duty, free and untrammeled, the
 official, obligation to support and main
 tain the Constitution of the United
 states. which he takes when he enters upon his office"
 There is no politics in that. Man hood, noble manhood, breathes in every
 word. No man is fit to be Senator who does not feel the sentiment of it in
 every pulsation of his heart Patrick
 Henry felt 1t when he exclaimed: Give
 me liberty, or give me death." Sam
 Adams felt 1t when, with folded arms
 and firm jaw and protruding neither lip, he cried: George of Brunswick,
 I defy you" Hercules, chained to
 distaff, was less contemptible thing
 than is an American representative in
 either House of Congress who puts in
 pawn his conscience in the brokers of
 flee of power. and ransoms it with his
 vote in the body to which he was
 chosen to legislate for S0,000,000 free
 men.
 When the President ordered the dis
 charge of the soldiers of the 25th in-
 fantry on account of that episode at
 Brownsville, Senator Foraker chal
 lenged him on the spot and secured an
 investigation of that affair that is not
 yet concluded. It was characteristic
 of the man, whether there be politics
 in 1t or not and we may be sure his
 conduct would have been the same had
 any other man than Theodore Roose-
 welt been President Whether this cpl
 sode shall effect the situation in Ono,
 time alone will tell. There are more
 than 3O,OO0 negro voters in that State,
 and it is obvious that the administra-
 tion is trying to placate them. The spells of office caused the first colored
 United Stnates Senator to forget the debt of gratitude his race owned Charles Sumner, and now the oppor
 tunity is come to the colored people of Ohio to wipe out that stain by sup porting the man who stood by thetr brethren in a controversy with the most powerful individual on earth. The pie counter is loaded. but it Is understood that to eat Federal pie and cut Foraker an Ohio negro will be required to leave home and travel beyond the eoRraphi- cal confines of the State.
 Foraker was the only Republican Sen ator who voted against the rate bill
 His speech on that subject was one of the ablest constitutional arguments Aol fx hn TIpff ate. It commanded the respect of all intelligent men. It showed that the man had convictions. that he had the courage to maintain them, and the learning to support them How much easier 1t would have beer to fall in with the majority! How much more applause he would have reaped! He Is lonesome who does not adopt a fad. Hc is recalcitrant who does not throw his cap in air and raise his voice Is unison with the whim of the mob
 John sherman, the greatest practical statesman Ohio ever produced. declared that the antitrust statute that bears his name was all our dual system of government would bear That has been bate law. Foraker says these two arc sufficient if they shall only be executed rigidly and without fear or favor. The rate bill has been the law of the land for months. Where is the octopus it has caught? Where is the trust 1t has busted? All that has been done was done under the sherman and Elkins acts.
 Foarker, rebuked by the administra- tion, has appealed the case to the peo- pie of Ohio and in Ohio will be the political storm center the next six months.
 The issue is, shall a Senator be de prived of his political life if he shall onpose a measure in ConorAaa dictatad