Ottumwa tri-weekly courier., 1909-06-29
BY RAYMOND.
I'm Cbicaoo Tribune. \

pollcy IN the unted Stdtes. ne 10
Nelson w. Aldrich. senator from the
smallest state in the union. and
acknowledged boss of the United
states senate. Mr., Aldrich is not in
sympathy with the tariff view of the
ordinary western man. He has been
brought up amid New England sur
roundings and he naturally looks at
the tariff from the point of view OF the
people with whom he has been assoc
lated socially and commercially.
Western people have often had
serious cause for criticism when dis
cussing the financial policy of the dis
tinguished gentleman from Rhode
Island. Perhaps l have been as much
of an offender as other people, but 1t Is
writer's in the west have been in the
habit of considering Nelson W. Aldrich
of Rhode Island rs coarse, brutal,
and political boss.
Nothing could be at wider variance
from his real character. Dominating
tie United States senate as he does,
creating conditions E..lich he meets In
his own way, ana! actually persuading
the president of the United States that
a revision upward is revision down
ward Senator Aldrich is ct once
unique and admirable.
Aldricl1 Thorough Geitleman.
There is really nothing at all Of the
political boss about this Rhode Island
senator Ee is q gentleman from the
tips of his fingers to the points of his
toes. He probably knows more about
the tariff and it's technical application
than any other man in the United
States. He comes from Rhode Island.
where majority Of the people are
more or less interested in textile man
ufactures. and it is entirelv natural
that he should lool- upon that as the
ND c,1h n"(taCtlVe
| tariff theory.
| There never wac a BOSS in the Unit
! ed States senate who claimed less OF
| the prerogatives of iis office than Mr..
! Aldrich. He never attempts to con-
troll the general legislation When any
thing comes up which concerns the
| tariff or the financial situation. Mr..
! Aldrich is entirely alive to his duties.
Beyond thct he is the easiest boss the
| United States senate has ever known,
lend it is Characteristic of him that
even under the stress of adverse polit-
ical circumstances ne realms the ur-
banity which has enabled him to win so
many men to his own desires
! It is a remarkable thing that in the
senate, which is composed so largely
| of rich men and of men who have ac-
| tually bought their seats In the upper
| house of congress, Mr.. Aldricf was
neither rich nor powerful In the be-
ginning. He is not even q college man.
! He had sort OF high school education,
| which has been stimulated in later
years by extensive reading and by an
/ accurate knowledge of current events
| Leadership is Never Questioned.
A native of Rhode Iscnld, the small
est state In the union. where practical
rolitics is at disgracefullv low ebb
! Mr.. Aldrich has made his way upward
to position Where he is in nractica}
control of the Republican majority of
| tie senate. His leadership is never
! questioned. simply because he never
exercises his power in any direction
except in those avenues of govern
mental control which come under the
scheme of tie finance committee of the
senate, of which he is chairman.
There has never been time. prob
ably in the history of the United States
senate where one man has dominated
go completely the legislation of that
body as during the consideration of the
/ present tariff bill. When the tariff
was under consideration in the house
! Mr.. Payne of New York, who was
chairman of the committee on ways
and means. and whose name ultimately
| will be attached to the tariff law of
800, although he is SCARCELY entitled to
that honor. had but little control of the
popular branch of congress. He was
| beaten again and again on important
| points on which his committee was
fully agreed, and the tariff bill as 1t
emerged from the house was not at
all what it would have been if the
chairman of the committee on ways
and means could have had his own
| way.
Not Beaten in Single Instance.
/ Ever since the tariff bill has reached
the senate there has been distinctly
Dan too, or,, Nv
rich, as chairman of the committee on
finance. has been absolutely the mas
ter of the situation. He las not been
beaten In q single instance. In every
case the amendments agreed upon by
the committee on finance, which are
in fact, those formulated b. Mr. Aid
rich himself, have been adopted by the
senate.
In the face of dangerous insurgent
element In his own party he has been
able by his active political energy tc
control an absolute majority of he
senate by making up for the defects
in his own party by additions from the
, Democratic side of the chamber.
The tariff bill as such is now nearly
! completed. There may be discussion
over the corporation tax and a similar
measure, but the real schedules which
impose the customs duty to be paid b!
the people of the United States have
been practically completed the pas
!, week and every one of these hundreds OF
paragraphs has been passed by tht
senate exactly as completed by the
Rhode Island dictator.
) Is Boss Through knowledge.
People who have accustomed them
selves to the consideration of n polite,
al boss as exemplif1ed in an ordinar,
s alderman or member Of state legs
n lature who has been able to get at tt,
n head of affairs should dsasSociat
: themselves with any such idea as ap
nlied to the distinguished senator from
: Rhode Island. No one looking into tn
: United States senate chamber for tn
first time would ever fix upon this un
q assuming. genial and courteous gen
tleman as the real boss Of the uppe
house of congress. Even whom he
n In action he is by no means boss. H
4 studies his people and makes his com
- hinations with a. skill and an energ
{ which is irresistible, and yet one sci
dom or never discovers the traces G
: the political leader.
II 1t is probably that the present. tarii
5. fight has been more of q strain on NJ
It Aldrich's nervous energy. than any bat
O tie which has preceded it. He has age
roreceptihlu oil furtoo tho nreSer