The National tribune., 1910-04-07
EX-VICE PREsIDENT MORTON.
The Very Oldest OF Them Iiying-Is
Extremely Modest.

L enter the Senate Chamber. He is tn,
: oldest of living men who have been il
the immediate Presidential line, beine
now Sc years of age. 1t is IL year:
and more since he put down the gave
! of presiding officer of the Senate a
the close of the Harrison Admfnistra-
ton. one of the best-liked men who
ever presided there.
He has been very shy about return
ing to the legislative chamber. One
morning he called at the residence oi
Senator Hale. of Maine. an old-time
friend. and they discussed a visit to
the Senate. But the former Vice Presi-
dent did not favor it. He thought some
of going to the gallery of the Senate
where Senator Hale would have gladly
accompanied him and where Mr.. Nor
ton would have had an opportunity to
note the changes in the personnel of
the Senate since his time.
Ex-Vice President Morton inherited a
splendid constitution from his Vermont
parents. and is in fairly good health
for a man of his years. He owns con-
siderable property in Washington.
which he comes to look after once or
twice year. The ShOreham Hotel, a
costly structure, belongs to him. 1t
was named after his native town of
Shoreham in Vermont.
| EX-Vice President Adlai II. Steven
son, who succeeded Mr.. Morton as pre-
siding officer of the Senate, is the only
| surviving Democrat who has held the
second elective office within the gift
| of the people. He will be IS years old
if he lives till October % next, and is
spry and we'll preserved for one so far
| beyond the allotted age of man. He
| has recently written a book which en-
| bodies some OF the historic observa-
! tions of the long and eventful period
| in which he has lived. A year and q
half ago he ran as the Democratic cam
| didate for Governor of Illinois, and but
for the tremendous support which Illi-
nois gave to President Taft probably
would have been elected. And it was
he who ran shy only a few thousand
| votes on an election in that intensely
Republican State.
There are two other surviving ex-
Vice Presidents. making four in all.
| One of them, however, is an ex-Presi-
dent, the only surviving ex-President,
| and his name is now much upon the lips
of his countrymen as he emerges from
| the African jungle. The other is ex-
Vice President Charles w. Fairbanks,
who has recently returned to his home
in indianapolis from a years journey
around the world Mr.. Roosevelt. of
course, was presiding officer of the Sem
ate only for a few days, but the fact
of his having been Vice President of
the United States for six months was
recently emphasized by the placing of
q marble bust of him in one of the
| Senate inches.
There is one other who almost de-
serves being mentioned as an ex-Vice
President, for he has presided much
| longer in the Senate and has enjoyed
| the emoluments of the Vice Presidents
Office longer than any of them. That is
| Senator William p. Frye, of Maine, who
| has filed out the unexpired terms of
two Vice Presidents, and has therefore
| had an unusual experience in that re-
| gard. In only two instances in history
has a Vice President been reelected to
| Office. Daniel ID. Tomkins. of New
York. was Vice President thru the two
administrations of James Monroe, and
John G. Calhoun was elected as Vice
President twice-once for the term of
President John Quincy Adams, and once
for the ensuing term of Andrew Jack
son, but he resigned from office six
months before his second term was
completed
Senator Frye was chosen President
pro tempore of the Senate upon the
death of the late Garret A. Hobart of
New Jersey, who was elected on the
ticket with Mckinley, and then was
continued as President pro tempore of
the Senate for the unexpired portion
OF Theodore ROosevelts term. There
was only an interval of an extra ses-
sion of the Senate, lasting but few
days, in Senator Frye's continuous serv-
ice.
1t is deserving of notice In mention
ing these men who have enjoyed Vice
Presidential honors that Senator Frye,
in years and honors, ranks up with the
two veteran ex-Nice Presidents Morton
and Stevenson. for he is now nearly
79 years old. Except for an ulcer upon
his foot, which has given his friends
some concern. he is in excellent health.
and up to a month ago was able to
go TO the capitol daily.
While these men may seem well
along in years, they are not exception
al There are many oldsters promi
nent in the public life of Washington.
They sometimes say that this is the
era Of young men, but observation of
the big men in charge OF important af-
fairs at Washington hardly bears out
such a statement. Speaker Cannon,
the leading man in the House of Rep
resentatives. will be "a in May. Eu-
gene Hale, Senator from Maine and the
leader Of the Senate, is only two months
younger than Speaker Cannon, and will
be "A June next.
Justice Brewer. one of the very ablest
members of the Supreme Court has just
died at 73, but has left as his senior col
leagues on that tribunal Chief Justice
Melville W. Fuller, who recently round
ed the-77th milestone, and Justice John
Harlan, who will round the 77th mile
stone next June. They are now the two
great pillars of the Supreme Court.
Until few years ago the Senate had
two or three octogenarians, but they
have now all passed beyond. However,
a very nimble ex-senator occasionally
visits the Capitol in the person of
Henry GassOway Davis, of West Vir-
ginia, who spends his Winters in Wash
ington. In the memorable campaign of
1904 for the Presidency, Mr.. Davis ran
on the ticket with Alton B. Parker,
and there was a great to do about
man then 81 years old presuming to the
office of'Vice President. Folks declar-
ed he would never live thru the four
years' term. Well, ex-senator Davis
is still around Washington, lively as
cricket at almost his 87th year. He
viii be 81 next November. He is still
very much of a worker and has his
hands full supervising the many enter
prises in which his several millions of
dollars are invested. ~
There is another old hoy around
Washington much of the time during
the Winter months. He is Gen. Thos.
J. Henderson. of Illinois, who held a
County office there in the late '40's; was
an associate of Lincoln,1 whom he knew
well; a soldier of the Union with a
splendid record, and served 20 years in
Congress as a Republican He is almost
exactly one year younger than ieX-Sena-
tor Davis. For n number of years he
has been member of the National
Home Board of Civil War Veterans.