Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-01-17
SENATE PAYS HONOR
Holds Session in Memory of
William Pinkney Whyte.
RAYNER AND SMITH SPEAK
Messrs. Teller and Clapp Also Eulo-
gize the Deceased.
BELIEVED IN CONSTITUTION
Figured in Struggle Between Presi-
dent Johnson and Congress.
Drafted Local Organic Act.
RAYNER AND SMITH SPEAK
BELIEVED IN CONSTITUTION

The grand old man of Maryland the
late William Pinkney Whyte. who at the
time of his death. the 18th of last March.
was the oldest member of the United
States Senate. was eulogized yesterday
afternoon in that body by Senators Ray
ner and Smith Of Maryland. Teller OF
Colorado and Clapp of Minnesota.
1t was Senator Whyte who, more than
any other man, was responsible for the
organic act under which the District of
Columbia is governed today. He
member of the committee of Congress
which drafted the measure and he wrote
most of it,
Senator Rayner's tribute to his late coll
league was of the highest character.
During the whole Of his political career"
said MIR. Rayner, ''he was the type and
representative Of a generation of consti-
tutIonal democrats who have shed inn
perishable luster and renown upon the
history of their country He believed in
the Constitution of his country as it was
written and intended, and not as 1t has
been perverted and disfgured. He was
not what we may designate a strict
constructlonist of its provisions, because
ne always believed In putting into exercise
the powers of the federal government
whenever the emergency demanded it.
Like Sentinel on Watch Tower.
He was. however. irrevocably opposed
to comforting upon the federal govern
ment powers that were never intended it
should possess. And, so far as the rights
OF the states were concerned, he stood
here in this body and elsewhere as a
sentinel upon the watch tower. to protect
them from invasion by sounding the
alarm whenpvpr assault af tai
upon their institutions. In this political
faith he lived, and in 1t he died.
There is but one senator here now who
was with him in those stormy and MEM
orable days. Senator Teller, the senior
senator from Colorado, whose voluntary
absence from this body we shall all
lament In the years to come. Beyond the
senate, however. the people of Maryland
never forget the services that Senator
Whyte rendered in their behalf
Senator Smith Relates Incident.
Senator Whyte's part in the struggle
between President Johnson and Congress
was told by Senator Smith. He related
the following incident:
He entered here to find the conflict
between Andrew johnson and the radical
republican majority of this body at it's
hercest extreme. Any expression of SYM
pathy for the President was sufficient to
blast its authors influence and becloud
his subsequent service with angry sus-
piclon and open resentment. The nation
was scarcely more than two hostile
camps, one overwhelmed, torn and dis
armed, 1t is true, and the other dominant
compact, victorious. Magnanimity. gener-
oslty' confidence, even justice, were well
nigh obsolete national virtues, for mems
passions ran high, and for a time ran riot
with their finer feelings and wiser states
manship. In the Senate the majority,
powerful In numbers, in leadership and
in intellectual capacity completely con-
trolled the situation. and the handful of
senator's composing the minority, able
men that they were, could protest, and
only protest, and submit
Defends Discharge Of Duty.
at was at this stage that President
Johnson in December, 1868, submitted his
message to the Senate, and before the
opening sentences had been read, Senator
CONFESS of California, who within the
last week has died, moved to dispense
with the further reading of the message.
at the same time declaring 1t in all re-
spects to be an offensive document, and
that time could be better employed than
In hearing it read.
Scarcely had Senator CONFESS taken
his seat when Senator Whyte arose to de-
fend the President in discharging a public
submitting what he in the performance
OF that duty, deemed a proper communi-
cation to a coordinate branch of the gov
eminent, and that the President was en-
titled to the Senates attention and re-
spect.
L trust, he said. that for the sake of
maintaining that respectful attention
which the country demands on the part
of the legislative branch OF this govern
ment the message of the President may
be read in the hearing of the Senate
He is called upon to discharge great
public duty, and in pursuance of the de-
mands made upon him by the Constitu-
information to the Senate and House of
Representatives of the state of the coun-
try. He may use language strong in its
character. as senators often in the dis
cussion of subjects before the Senate may
do. He may use language that may be
Irritating. But nevertheless, he occupies
the high and exalted position of Presi-
dent of the United States He is COM
municating In the discharge of his duty
that which he conceives ought to be COM
municated to this, a coordinate branch
OF the. government and / trust that at
this. the beginning of a new session, or a
continued session of Congress, we may
have cordially in sentiment or at least
respectful attention to the views and
sentiments Of those who may differ with
regard to the manner in which the gov
eminent shall be conducted. l trust sir
that the motion made by the senator from
California may not prevail.
Majority Yields to Whyte.
and the motion did not prevail. for in
spite of their early opposition some of
the master minds of the majority. notably
Senator Edmunds and Senator Sumner.
oil al 10