Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1908-04-30
What Prominent Washington Paper
Has TO Say About South Dako.
ta's Big Senator
Exit" AS GOOD FARM HAND,
Takes OH His Coat When He Has
Work 10 Do--.TraitS Of Character
Which Tell In Public Service

Hector Fuller in Washington Her.
ald:-Among the most useful men,
bers of the United States senate. Kilt
redge, Of South dakota, ranks high.
There are others who are more snowy,
more conspicuous in debate, more
skillful in manipulation, but taken all
In all, it is doubtful whether any SEN
ator has greater capacity for accom-
plishing results without personal pa
rade. Certainly no other is more eff
fective in pushing and formulating
legislation which will benefit his state
and the country. or in preventing the
enactment of laws which would be
harmful to either. Kittredge is the
one senator who is always to be found
in his seat when the senate is in ses-
sion. He is there when the chaplain
opens the day with prayer, and he Is
there when the presiding officers CAV
ell announces adjournment Through
the morning hour when new business
is in order, he watches every propo-
sition as closely as he would watch
the motions of an opposing counsel
in court, and on days when others
are trying to rush bills through to
enactment by unanimous consent, he
is there ready to PROFOUND an inquiry
on any measure which seems to call
for further explanation. Other SEN
ators less assiduous in their attend
ance are WONT to depend upon him for
information and advice, until this ST.
lent man, always ready, always help
full, has come to have standing in
a single term, which is rivaled by few
veterans. The other leaders of the
senate, without exception, have i'm
plicit confidence in his wisdom, his
common sense, his disinterestedness,
and his integrity.
The late o. III. Platt, of Connecti-
cut, one of the really great senator's
of his generation, held Kittredge in
high esteem 1t was he who select
ed Kittredge as member of the jul
dietary committee, OF which he was
chairman, and which ranks with
finance, appropriations, and foreign
affairs as one OF the four most import
ant committees in the senate. As a
lawyer, there are few senators in
Kittredge's class for ability, and still
fewer who are so sensitive to the dis
tinction between what may properly
be undertaken by a lawyer in private
life and by one who holds public Of
fee. When he first came to the SEN
ate he vas leader of the South Da-
kota bar and had a varied clientage.
Like every other lawyer Of ability
and recognized standing, his legal SER
vices were sought by railroad COM
panies, but he was never on the sal
airy roll of a railroad company or any
other corporation. Since he has
been In the senate he has refused to
accept retainers from any corporation
which might, even in a remote con-
tingency, be the subject OF federal or
state legislation or inquiry. When he
came to Washington he sacrificed
cheerfully the opportunity to make a
fortune at the bar, and like many
other great men before him, he de-
liberately chose the less remunerative
estate of public servant.
Kittredge was a farmers boy, born
in the little town OF Nelson, Cheshire
county, N. Ii. Until he was sixteen
years old he worked at home on the
farm, attending the district school
like other country lads, about four
live in the family of the Congrega-
tional minister in Keene, the county
seat, nine or ten miles away. where
he studied Latin, Greek and mathe-
mates, and fitted himself to enter
Yale college, in 1878. For two years
after graduating in 1882, he read law
a rart of the time in the Office OF
Judge G.. w. Weary. then on the SUI
preme bench of Vermont, and after
sioner. In this way he prepared him
self to enter the senior year of the
Yale law school, from which he was
graduated in 1885. after which he
went to Sioux Falls and began the
practice of law.
From the time he entered college,
until he hung up his shingle" in
way every summer by working as a
farm hand. There still lives in New
Hampshire q faithful friend and adj
mirer who remembers how young
Kittredge could work. This friend Is
now advanced in years, but he has a
good memory. He recalls the days
when young Kittredge used to try to
set the pace IOT MIN WHcu luoy WeI0
working side by side as farm labor
ers. When this old time friend heard
of Kittredges appointment to mem
bership on the senate committee on
interoceanic canals. he shrugged his
shoulders and after moments re-
Election, said: That is proper. sure
enough. / remember well when me
and him dug that well on the old
farm. He was a husky lad, and from
the way he made the dirt fly out OF
that old hole. am sure he can dig
the Panama canal. II anybody can"
At least one farm habit contracted by
the lad clings to the mamie likes to
work in his shirt sleeves. AS soon as
he goes into his committee room in
the morning he throws of his coat, un-
buttons his vest. and wades into the
work before him. Whoever calls upon
him during these hours Of labor in
his committee room, whatever his So
cial or political station may be, finds
Kittredge in this dishabille. So, too,
at his room at the Shoreham hotel,
where he spends his evenings. he