The National tribune., 1908-08-13
ALLISON DEAD.
NcstOr OF the United States Senate-Grent
Finnncicr-DevOted to His Duties
Dies "a Martyr to Party Politics.

The Nestor of the United States Sen.
ate. William b. Allison. of Iowa, died
Aug. 4. at his home in Dubuque, and
was laid to rest in the cemetery not fal
from the spot where rests the late David
b. Henderson, another favored son OF
: the Hawkeye State.
Senator Allison had held for year.
the record for long service in the United
States Senate. He was elected to the
, House for the first time in the 33tt
/ Congress. and took his seat in Dece m
Der, 1863. Schuyler Colfax, of Indiana
was Speaker.
Il There was an interim of two years
after Mr.. Allison quit the House before
he took his seat in the Senate. He he
came Senator on March 4, 1873, ssc-
ceeding James Harlan. and served con-
tinuously until his death He had
served 35 years continuously on March
4, 1897, and had recently won renomi-
nation to the Senate over Gov. Cummins
in popular primary election by a SUBJ
stantial majority, thus insuring his re-
| election to the Senate for another six
years, had he lived and the Republicans
controlled the next Legislature in Iowa.
| In the whole history of Congress, COW
ering period of 11S years, there are
i only two of its members who have
made record of over 40 years of SER
/ vice-Justin S. Morrill,, of Vermont and
Mr.. Allison. John Sherman's House and
Senate career was six years less than
that of Mr.. Morrilrs and five years less
| than that of Mr.. Allison. The Iowa
Senator, had he lived un,il the 4th of
next March, would have rounded out
six full terms in the Senate. Prior to
that he served eight years in the House.
Allison served in the Senate 35 years
and five months; Morrill,, 81 years, nine
months and % days: Sherman, 81 years,
IL months and IT days.
| Senator Allisons service in the Sem
ate has been great public benefit. For
several years he had been the Chairman
of the Committee on Appropriations. In
that capacity he personally had more in
| fiuence than any other one man in Con-
gress in shaping public expenditures,
and has been conservative and economi-
cal without ever being open to the
charge of public parsimony. Unlike the
/ late William S. Holman, he was a watch
dog of the Treasury who never growled.
| Mr.. Holman did the country great
public service by protecting it from ex-
| travagant expenditures, but he incurred
| the personal enmity of many of his
colleagues in the House, and was many
| times overrulcd by a vote of his col
leagues. Senator Allison was never thus
lrebuked by the Senate. His word was
law on all matters affecting appropria-
1
| While his most important work and
| the monument to his public service in
| the Senate will be found in his work on
/ the Appropriations Committee, he was
! a positive force in constructive legisla-
ton generally. He was the second in
rank in the majority of the Committee
on Finance, and was a member of the
Joint Committee of Congress created by
| the Aldrich currency law to investigate
and report on the currency situation.
In recent years Senator Allison came to
| be known as the great pacificatOr" of
j the Senate, Strengthening out many of
| its legislative snarls, and not infrequent-
| ly bringing order out of parliamentary
/ chaos. He was credited with the author
/ ship of the final compromise on the rail-
road-rate bill in the Senate, and came
| forward with the suggestion that finally
| broke the back of the four-battleship
| movement, led by Senator Beyeridge, of
Indiana, at the recent session of the
i Senate.
i In the United States Senate he was as
| strong a man il not stronger than any
1 other single man in that body. He was a
i born conservative, and it is said that
he never gave direct answer to a re-
mark in his life, not even on the wealth.
i err. He was always ready with an
"equivocal' answer to all questions, all
suggestions. He would not be inter-
viewed, and many a newspaper man
came to grief in reporting that Senator
| Allison said so and So" Yet he was
a born leader of men, just because of
his conservatism. Men would follow
4 him blindly, knowing that he never
1 failed to bring his friends in triumph
Il ant
/ Senator Allison was born in Perry,
/ Ohio, March 2, 1929. the son of j. I
and Mary Allison. His boyhood ia )
Il a. Co., TT. I;
| birthplace. He obtained his education
in Allegheny College, in Pennsylvania,
land the Wetern Reserve College of Ohio,
i in both of which schools he distinguish
ed himself, winning honors in all
branches he studied.
i Senator Allison was admitted to the
bar In 1850. He married Miss Anna
4 Carter. of Wooster. Ohio, at Ashland.
| Ohio, in February, 1854. From 1850 tc
he removed to Dubuque, where he took
i up the practice of law.
i Senator Allison was delegate to the
I Republican State Convention in 1859,
and to the National Republican Conven-
ton in Chicago in 1860. He was a men,
1 Der of Gov. Kirkwood's staff during the
| civil war, and raised troops to fight for
4 the Union in 1861. 1t was two years
4 later that he entered upon the legisla-
4 tive career that ended only with his
i death. He three times refused Cabinet
positions, and was three times an I'M
/ successful candidate for nomination to
i the Presidency.
4 Senator Allison was as big a man
4 physically as he was mentally. He was
1 nearly six feet in hight, broad and full
1 chested, square-shouldered to the world,
4 and straight for a man of his years. He
:! had a very large head. with close
| clipped, curly hair that was almost snow
i white, but must have been red in his
1 youth. His complexion might have
been envied by a girl in her teens. it
was so rudy and healthy He had
i clear, keen eyes, strong, clear, rather
low-toned voice in speaking. and a smile
lthas was indicative of q clear conscience.
| He did not often laugh aloud, but some
| times did, and it was the laugh of a
1 boy. Senator Allison was a strange
| combination to have held the legiSla-
/ ton of the United States Senate for two
1 generations absolutely in the hollow of
| his hand He was undemonstrative. new
/ err got excited seldom lost his temper,
| and while seeming to yield most was
1 holding hardest to his convictions, and
in the end pressed them home and won.
| He was admired by young statesmen,
4 highly esteemed by the older ones: his
4 advice was constantly sought, but sell
i dom given, and his example was always
1 a thing to emulate, yet he had few per-
sonal friends.
/ He lived for the State, and he died of
/ its cruelty to him. There Is not the
/ slightest doubt in the world that Sen
1 ator Allison would be alive to-day had
lit not been for the nasty political and