The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1908-05-07
SEN. Delivers Des Moines Speech.

standing on this very platform. hardly
more than year ago, when he said
1T is the proud distinction of our
commonwealth that in the session OF
congress just closed the delegation
from our state stood nearer to this
| great leader than the delegation from
| any other state in the union. And
| without inyidious comparison desire
to embrace this opportunity to lay this
tribute of my praise at the feet of our
delegation in congress" Yet almost
within a year, the flowers of this
tribute are faded. Some of the con.
gressmen are driven in disgust into
retirement; others brought into line
| by threats of defeat; others solicited
to be neutral, while our greatest lead
err the closest adviser of the president,
not even excepting his own cabinet,
| the man of whom President Roosevelt
when the rate ulll was up, said in a
| letter intended for the congressional
| record: Il earnestly suggested to all
to whom spoke that they should
1
and mine were identical, this man
is made to realize that neither age
nor service nor fame, nor the rever.
ence of his colleagues, nor even the
solemn covenants of his adversaries,
is able to protect his gray hairs.
There was time in Iowa when
men were able to run for Office on the
public recognition of their talents,
their superior ability, their party ac'
tivity--in n word, on their merits. All
of that seems to have gone, and now
candidates are announced for practi.
cally every office on the ground that
they are somebody's man, and 1t has
only become necessary to popularizeI
the pretensions of few leaders in
order to fill the state with a swarm of
announcements, bearing a significant
witness to the fact that the payroll
and the cause of progress work to-
gether. At this point the great crisis
arrives in the life of the nation. And
so we have been treated for years
with the same spectacle which we wit
ness now, a bogus division in the re-
publican ranks of Iowa, kept alive for
nomination purposes only.
My fellow citizens, this is a beauti-
full spring to put a final quietus on
this time honored fraud.
Not long ago newspaper devoted
to the governors interest in Fayettel
county sought to bring me into ridl
cule and reproach me because. / al
lowed myself to act as a crutch to
support the tOttering footsteps of my
colleague "a playedout politician" i'll
remember the language of the edi-
tor correctly. | did not particularly
resent the mean disparagement with
which tho editor referred to Senator
Allison. Brutality Of such a calIbre|
has been so versatile an expression in
our state that | was able in a general
way to understand the character of
the writer, but could not help won.
dering whether there are very many
people in Iowa who really enjoy that
level of public discussion. | was as
ISOLATED for great many years with
our most famous Iowa congressman
and | remember how the children Who'll
act as pages, in the House, used tol
fight among themselves for the privi.
eye of carrying Colonel Henderson
crutches to him, and even the men,
bers, when a division was ordered,
were eager for the honor of bearing
the crutch between the tellers to bel
counted when the old soldier could
not comfortably leave his seat. 1t may
be that | have morbid sentiment
about crutches and the infrmities
which they suggest. For thirty years
a pair of crutches stood in my own
chimney corner and the first lesson
which | taught my children was toI
see to it that the crutches were always
in their place when they were called
for. So that when a little editor seeks
to insult me by calling me the crutch
which supports the old age of my as
sociate and friend, his jest altogether
misses the mark and becomes com.
pliment rather than an affront.
1t may be that the experiences of
life have made me unnaturally SEN
sitive on such questions as are in
yolved in the debate about Senator
Allison's age and health. | cannot
help feeling that there is certain
intellectual as well as moral debase'
ment in the train of thought which in
vites men to dwell on the probabili.
ties of other men living or dying as
part of the motive and prospect OF
their own advancement.
The present session Of the senate
has been the old, the middle aged and
the young among our members called
suddenly to tneir account. Proctor ap.
preaching eighty Latimer not yet
sixty and Bryan of Florida, after three
weeks of service, at thirty-two. The
hand of disease has fallen with i'm.
partial severity upon nearly the whole
senate The sickness which fell upon
Senator Allison visited more than a
score OF others. many OF whom are
now in beds Of pain. watched over by
anxious friends. ! confess that my
pride in Iowa has oeen hurt by seeing
the footsteps OF Senator Allison dogged
all winter by political spies, making