Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1910-01-06

crooks 6dr OF tAe posr6tisce departmsne
and Is ready to perform the same
service for any other crooked bunch
that gets In his way; Knute Nelson
and Moses Edwin Chpp OF Minnesota.
who have put over a brand of insur.
rection that makes Aldrich shiver as
though from January blast out Of the
northwest; Elmer j. Burkett and Nor
ris Brown OF Nebraska, who. coming
so soon after Bryan, make us wonder
II the Platte country turns out nothing
but smooth faced young orators who
yearn to do things to the corporations;
William Edgar Borah of Idaho, who Is
such handsome and mild looking
man that no one would dream Of his
going up against the fierce and crafty
Aldrich. the lowering Hale and the
astute and high browed Lodge, and
Coe |. Crawford of South Dakota,
who, it is said, is going back into
camp. This is the list of senate insur
rectos up TO date. but no one knows
when it will be enlarged. The powers
finger on Senator Burton of Ohio,
while the elections to fill the vacancies
occurring on March 4, 1911. may bring
In several new progressives.
Cannon In Front of Them!
If there are mutterings in the sen
ate. however, there is actual hideous
rebellion, complicated by ghost dane
ing and several different kinds of war
medicine, in the house. Senatorial
courtesy has way Of smoothing wars
wrinkled front until fierce political
contest looks like a perfectly decorous
ministers meeting. A struggle in the
upper house that may involve millions
Of dollars and decide the political COM
plexion Of whole states looks about as
exciting as pink tea But in the
house IL is different. There Is perhaps
species Of courtesy in the lower
chamber, or what passes for such. but
II is not so elaborate, oppressive and
ponderouS as that in the senate. In
fact, the house courtesy is like that Of
the prize ring-the shake hands-and-go-
at-it kind. If we consider Senator La
Toilette the leader of the senate in
surrectos and Victor Murdoch the
chief Of those in the house 1t Is al
most uncanny the way the two typify
the character Of the movement in their
respective bodies. II recalls Sweden
borg's doctrine Of correspondence, for
the resemblance extends even to their
top pieces. inside and outside Thus
La Toilette wears pompadour ana
Murdoch a halo the color Of brick.
Carrying out the correspondence, the
senate instruction bristles, while that
IN the house is red headed
The Red Badge of Courage.
Murdoch himself is worth newspa-
per story and probably will get whole
pages OF such before he is done with
she game. He is himself an editor and
was one time Chicago reporter. In
those days he was q friend of Presi-
dent Mckinley, who referred to him
as 1.-The brightest man in Kansas"
When he went TO Chicago young Muir
dock was working for 50 a week on his
fathers paper. Asking for raise, he
was turned down. Even though the
old gentleman was then celebrity In
prevent the cub from telling him that
some day he would be known as the
father Of Victor MURDOCH" in which
he proved better prophet than most
politicians.
AS an insurgent Murdoch Is good ma
tured and usually succeeds I'm getting a
laugh on his opponents. Beware the
cheerful reformer. In puncturing d
sham the pin point Of humor may be
a better weapon than the big stick Of
Perhaps the greatest serv- /
Ice Murdoch has rendered the Amert-
can people was In exposing the rail-
way mail graft. OF old time the mails
were weighed seven days a week, but
TO get the daily. average the total Of
seven days was divided by six, which
In a clear gift to railroads Of
about 100000 year. Murdoch ex
posed the fraud. and, although the
house machine refused to correct 1t,
Roosevelt afterward did so.
The Valiant Thirty.
According to the list of house pro-
gresslves furnished by Mr.. Murdoch
there are thirty In all-seven
from Wisconsin, four from Minnesota,
six from Iowa, three from Nebraska,
two from Kansas, two from Ohio, two
from Massachusetts and one each from
New Jersey, North Dakota, California
and Washington. A most important
of the group is Henry A. Coop
err of Wisconsin, who presented the La
Toilette resolutions to the last Repub-
lican national convention and who re-
ceived more votes for speaker of the
house than any other insurgent. An
other striking figure is Irvine l.. Len
root, new member, who was speaker
Of the Wisconsin assembly before go
ing to Washington. A third Wisconsin
man of national note Is John j. Esch,
one OF the authors of the present rail
road rate law. William j. Cary. Ar
thur w. Copp, f. A. Morse and John
NJ NaIcnn ,pol-a nm tho raSt ~ tho