The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-12-01
NELSON w. ALDRICH
 LEADER OF THE SENATE
BY SAVoYARD.

satisfaction in the thought "There were giants in those days" In that Congress to all appearances Aldrich was a cipher. He was no orator. and of all great mas ters of the American Congress he was, and is, the least loquacous, and yet he can talk, and make strong speech when occasion imperatiyely demands it.
 When Aldrich entered the Senate the republican side had just lost it's three ablest men-Carpenter was dead Elaine had left the Senate for the Cabinet, and was now in retirement writing Twenty Years in Congress" Conkling, like many another great man of genius, after re- signing in indignation at injustice, and in disgust of ingratitude, allowed himself to be persuaded by his too zealous and inds- erect friends, and against his better judg- ment and contrary to firm resolution Conkling allowed himself to be dragged into q contest for reelection and was humiliated by the results. That is a hs- tory that I expect to see repeated in one of the leading southern states next year.
 But there were left of the republicans Sherman, who took the shoes Ohio had taken from Thurman and given to Gar field, after Garfield had appropriated the shoes Ohio had sent him to the national inquest to procure for Sherman. Thei Q was Hoar, whom time and experience had not yet fashioned into the broad, pd- triotic catholicity of the Hoar of later years. There was Edmunds, matchless in the skill with which he employed tecn- nique at the bar and In the senate. There was Ingalls,, brilliant, eloquent. venoni- ous a perfect master of phrase, and created for faction.
 On the democratic side was Beck ponderous in argument, indegatigable in industry, powerful in disputation. Vest suppored him-the rapier of Bussy d'Amboise thrustlng with the mace of Athalston side by side. Lamar was an other, the finest inauguration that has sat in Saxon council since Burke Of Ben Hill I have spoken. Harris was there, and Garland. Morgan, too, was just disclosing to his fellow citizens that he was fin the front rank of Amer ican speculative statesmen. Pugh, his colleague, was scarce second to him as a thinker and perhaps was his su- perior as a lawyer. Bayard was yet in the Senate, a pure type of man and high type of stateSnan. There was Dan Voorh ees, one of the foremost ora tors and most generous men of his generation. Ben Harrison was his colleague, and worthy even Ben Hill's steel. Vance was there from North Carolina. a wonderful combination bOluitIt OfalOIt SldltSllhH anu dS ltduy in debate as any man who ever broke silence in the Senate.
 The new members were Hawley. Har- rison, Hale, Frye, German, Conger whom Joe Blackburn swore to be "even meaner than he looked, and that's impossible:" Van Wyck, who ac- cording to Zebe Vance, had too much shag leather in his pants" like the .1n txylA looked at old Vans trousers was bound to think of the surplus hide on Jum- bo's legs. Perhaps there was no man at the national capital who dreamed that the day was not distant when the new senator from Rhode Island would be the most powerful individual sena- tor who ever sat in that body. So far as I know, he has engaged in debate hilt to hilt with but two ad- versaries, and they were giants-John G. Carlisle of Kentucky, in the Fifty first Congress, on the Mckinley tariff, and William Lindsay of Kentucky, in the Fifty third Congress, on the Wilson tariff. Here were two profound think- CTS engaged by a man who got his knowledge standing by the loom. And strange it is, that both these jurists utterly overthrow the practical man.
 Aldrich, after making the Dingley
 
 present imperfect gold standard, which supplies us with currency above half a billion of which is nearly DO per cent fiat. And strange to say, he now al- lows the treasury to make monthly purchases of 100000 ounces Of silver for minor coin, when good husoandry imperatively demands that the SUD : sidiary silver coin should be made or the Bland-A Allison full legal-tender silver dollars.
 Senator Aldrich Is generally supposed 10 be out of sympathy with the new evangei, f1ippantly called the octopus chase. bul that Is a crusade that must run us course Congress passed the Sherman law that requires the railroads to compete and to emphasize the thing killed the pooling bill. The reads went ahead competing, for that is all that rebate is-compesi- tion. To illustrate: Two merchants are rivals at the cross roads. They nave cases of boots they bought perhaps from the same jobber at the same price, The goods are marked, say, SSbo par and sold at that figure to their regular customers, respectively: but grasping fellow comes along and these storekeep- CTS get to competing for his trade lie will get the boots at s, perhaps loss. a pair. That Is rebate. Here was the meat trust. the steel trust, the oil trust--all graspins fellows--and they made the raii- roads compete for their business and thus got rebates. .,
 But along comes Senator Eliins with a law that makes it criminal to compete for that is all the anti-rebate law is What is the poor octopus to do? The sherman law commands 1t to compete; the Elkins law forbids it to compete Tho octopus is thus in the fix De Bracy was in the novel of Ivanhoe-Coeur de Lion with battleax fin hand is in its front and burning Torquilstane is in Its rear
 One of these days somebody Will coms forward with wisdom enough to compose the difficulty. The first effective move will be the destruction of competition The next will be to serve the public at so low cost that competition will stay dead That Is the only possible solution; but the solon who would propose it now would soon find himself out of job.
 wish I could get Aldrich's opinion of that wonderful oration, Beveridge's deodt in the Senate the marvellous speech on the Philippines.
 Washington, November IS.
 Copyright, 1907 by E. w. Newman)