The Washington herald., 1908-02-16

in the House. Aside from Speaker Can
non. the best known of the Houses mil
lionaires is Bourke Cochran, Of New
York but lie is not influential even in the
councils of the minority. Cochran has
worldwide fame as an orator, and when
It is announced that ne is To speak. not
only are the galleries filed but every
member who can manage il is in his
seat. That is because Congressman, the
same as other folks Ike TO be entertain
ed; and Cochran is entertaining. His
speech falls like music on the ear, sets
the nerves to tingling. and moves 10 tears
or laughter or applause. as the speaker
wills. But neither music nor tears nor
yet laughter or applause do the work OF
Congress. Members listen, enjoy the
treat, and then go about their several
duties with minds unimpressed The ora
tor always may have an audience in Con
gress. but the day has passed when ora
tory writes laws upon the statute books
John DalZen Of PittsbuTg. Speaker
CannOn's first lieutenant. is a wealthy
man. and a million often has been
charged up to him; but he enters en-
phatic denial to the Impeachment, and
will have to bs taken at his word. Among
the other men Of potent influence upon
procedure in the House. no one is more
than moderately supplied with worldly
goods. John Sharp Williams the Demo
cratic leader. is well fixed. He in
heTited plantations in Mississippi which
have increased in value, but it will be
many years before they will make him
millionaire.
Given Standing by Year,.
All through the House there are other
so poor that their salaries are expended
in advance. Poor and rich alike seem to
be about as influential as their length Of
service, their mental qualities, and in
dustry entitle them to be. OF the three
length of service probably is greatest in
determining the standing Of a man. For
in this body of large and shifting mem
bership, only the man whose constituents
will keep him there has opportunity of
impressing himself upon its deliberations
1t would seem, therefore, that so far
as the House is concerned it must be
acquitted of dollar dominance 1t is true
that Speaker Cannon, the autocTat Of the
House, is a millionaire, but il is easy 10
demonstrate that the influence he wields
does not arise from his money. Since ths
Reed rules were first adopted. authority
has eentered in the hands of the Speaker.
and most, If not all, the Speakers who
have ruled by virtue OF those rules have
been poor men. Reed himself had moth
ing, and it was largely because of his
poverty that he quit Congress to practice
law in New York
In the Senate il is not so easy TO sep
arate wealth and power. 1t is true the
richest Senators are not, and have not
been, most influential Clark. Of Mon
tana, for instance, was negligible guam
tity as a Senator. On the other hand, we
find Aldrich, rated as worth 81, 000. .000,
made largely in street railway operations,
the father-in-law of John d. Rockefeller,
jr., and grandfather of the richest baby
in the world. first in influence among
the ambassadors of the sovereign States
Twenty-six Years "a Senator.
Fairness. though. compels us TO look
farther. and we find that he has been
Senator FOR twenty-six years, and that
he served four years in the House before
elevation to the Senate. Thirty years in
Congress for a man endowed as Aldrich
Is, with a strong mentality, shrewdness,
and diplomacy, certainly ought to account
for lot Of power.
OF the other seven Senators placed in
the first rank, Hale, of Maine, has been
in the Senate twenty-six years; Elkins,
of West Virginia, fourteen years In the
Senate. after serving two terms in the
House, and as Secretary of War in Presi-
dent Harrison's Cabinet; Lodge, of Mas
sachusetts, fifteen years in the Senate,
after eight in the House; Foraker. of
Ohio, twelve years in the Senate, after
TWO terms as governor Of Ohio; Bailey,
of Texas. serving his second term in the
after a previous service in the
House which included Democratic lead
ership. Thus we find that of the seight
Senators, six have long public service
and long service in the Senate to their
credit. Knox. of Pennsylvania and
Crane of Massachusetts, are serving their
first terms Knox had served previously
as Attorney General, and il is readily
admitted that his influence in the Senate
dE4Scs tIOit ms S4GdS tS6Ul ltdIHluH- II
is somewhat puzzling to determine just
why Crane is influential, but influential
he is admitted 10 be. He has good hard
sense, IL is true but ether new
Senator's have been similarly endowed
without achieving the influence Crane has
attained Crane seldom speaks, and then
only briefly; he has shown no symptoms
Of constructive craftsmanship The most
genera tIv accented axDIarfafi zion of his "a
Is that he is a good mixer.
good politician, and great peacemaker.