Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1910-12-09
Short Sessions Legislation Ex.
pected to Consist of ApprO-
priatlOn Bills Passage and
Conflict Over Bdllinger and
LOrimer Committee Reports.
900
sv JAMES A. EDGERToN.
EHE American people take little
e interest ordinarily in short ses-
R sions of congress. One reason

do little except pass appropriation
bills Another and even more potent
cause of popular indifference is that
the last session OF the old congress al
WAYS meets after the election of the
new congress. and if, as in the present
case. there is a change Of party the
apathy of the people to the flag end
of the former regime may be tinged
with actual hostility. 1t is case not
of the rising but of the setting sun.
The motto of each short session
should be. 'Morituri tie salutamus"
GIVE who are about 10 die salute you.'O
That is especially applicable now
since the holocaust that struck the
present membership was fearful and
widespread. Almost every other stand
patter has met his Waterloo. The in
surgent membership has jumped up to
more than fifty and the Democratic to
about 90, leaving only a trife more
than 100 standpatters all told. How
have the mighty fallen" is a bromide,
but the standpatter is also a bromide,
so the phrase fits his case.
HAL Ael " AAo4AS4o
The chief interest in the short ses-
sion will be the mournful one of look
ing for the last time on many depart
ing statesmen. In the senate the pass
ing of Aldrich and Hale will leave
the insurgents with the lonesome feel
ing that they no longer have anybody
against whom to insurge. A distin-
guished company will accompany these
leaders on the journey to the outside
of the breastworks. The delightful
mutton chops of Chauncey NJ. Depew
will no longer shine; John Kean will
cease to object; Nathan Bey Scott will
no more irradiate the chamber with
his presence; the flowing name of
Charles Dick will disappear from the
Off1ng: Tom Carriers chin whiSker will
cease re wigwag in debate: Burkett
viii buy an automobile and enjoy life
says so himself; Beveridge will no
longer dazzle. and Warner, Flint Piles
and Burrows will join the sex" club.
On the Democratic side there will be
fewer prospective gaps. Money, the
minority leader. is serving his last
term, and Taliaferro will also step
aside.
Death will have taken some familiar
faces from the senate, a notable orator
on each side being among the missing.
The loss of Dolliver of Iowa will be
felt by the whole body. He was in the
prime Of his powers and perhaps was
the most effective debater in the cham
Der. Daniel also was an orator in his
day, though he had spoken little of re-
cent years.
In the case of a successor to the
late Senator McEnery the senate will
face a peculiar complication. The
Louisiana legislature was in session at
the time of McEnery's death and elect
ed Governor Sanders to the vacancy.
After the legislature adjourned San
ders declined and appointed Colonel
Thornton. Constitutional lawyers hold
that this is irregular. since a governor
can only fill a senatorial vacancy
that.occu when the legisla ture is not
IN session. The general view is, how
ever, that the senate will accept
Thornton's credentials. and overlook
the technical irregularity.
New Senators Are Many.
There will be several new faces in
the senate There will be two former
southern OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES of Viz
ginia in place of Daniel and Terrell
of Georgia as the successor of Clay.
From Iowa will come LATE Young, the
newspaper man, who the progressives
say will hardly have time to warm his
seat before the legislature places an
insurgent there. When the North Da
kota legislature gets together AISLE J.
Gronna, another insurgent, will take
the place of Senator Purcell
There will be several sena tors on the
anxious seat during the short session,
uneasy as TO what their legislatures
will do Lodge Of Massachusetts faces
possible insurgency of enough Re
publican legislators to defeat him;
Buckley of Connecticut will probably
lose to former Governor Mclean; Oil
yer of Pennsylvania is by no means
sure of going back, and Frazier of
Tennessee is not yet q certainty owing
TO unsettled political conditions in his
state
OF the thirty outgoing senators TWEEN
ty-four are Republicans. and twenty
one of these are regulars. 1t is a
startling fact that among these TWEEN
ty-one twelve have already fallen by
the wayside and three more are in
peril.
Republicans Lose Heavily.
In the house end the slaughter has
been almost as marked. There will be
something like 119 changes in the
chamber or nearly one-third OF the
body. The vast majority of those who
have been displaced are regular Re
pubicans Out of something like 1So
regulars all told-the vote varied from
time to time-S3 have been retired for
one reason or another. A few were
succeeded by men of their own poit-
ical stripe The vast majority were
TWO RESIDENCES BURNED