Watertown leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1909-1911, 1911-03-24

year ne had lost the 1OIlOWIng OF
both factions. He was bitterly de-
nounced by the progressives, and re-
garded with suspicion by the con-
servatives. AS for the people at large
the chilling reception given to Pres
ident Taft during his political trip
throughout the middle west last fall
showed clearly enough that the man
whom everybody liked had come to
be one whose political sagacity hard
ly anyone admired
The tide began to turn shortly after
the congressional session began, and
politicians began to speculate as to
who turned it. The ill-advised boy
colt of the insurgents, the refusal to
them Of any participation in patron
age was set aside and they were ge-
nially invited to the pie counter. The
earlier policy was that Of Postmaster
General Hitchcock who holds to the
use Of the ungloved iron hand; the
later is believed to have signalized
the beginning of the primacy Of Sen
ator Murray Crane who is much for
the velvet glove and pussy-foOted
progress.
Crane occupies a curious position
in the senate. AS reactionary as Al
drich or Lodge he has escaped the
enmities which those gentlemen have
so psentifully acquired. A great pa
per manufacturer, doing business
largely with the government, he yet
avo;,3. tho criticicmo GO ofton hoaDed
on Senator Du Pont whose powder
thrnders from the guns Of our war
SHIPS. He can talk to an interviewer
in such a way as to make that con-
filing journalist think he is securing
ml3st confidential information. with
CIT saying one word imperiling his
I0litical plans. While he fought Taft
Il his nominating convention he has
crown visibly closer to him in the
&ast year and Is regarded as the pres
4dent's political mentor. The mildest
hammered man that ever came out of
Massachusetts, he is still every inch
a politician.
Is Crane responsible for this war
scare? That is what the politicians
at the capital are asking.
New Blood in Senate.
1t is not quite certain whether the
new blood" of congress or the old
blood Of which we are to get rid is
the more interesting.
Of the senatorial vote which gave
Lorimer his coat of whitewash these
are now set aside. repudiated by their
constituencies: Buckley, Burrows,
Carter, Depew, Dick, Hale, Flint,
Kean, Piles and Scott.
Of the ten only three came to the
senate without some note of scandal
being raised againt them.
That the outcome will be good for
the people Of the United States is
generally believed in that it will do
more to advance the cause of the
direct election of United States sena-
tors than anything which has hap
pened in the congress of the United
States in the last ten years. The sue
cess of Standard OIL in Montana in
keeping Thomas J. Walsh out of the
senate helps in the same direction;
also the deadlocks in Iowa and New
York. The time has about come when
the people Of this country are to be
allowed to elect their own representa-
tives in both houses Of congress.
With direct elections there would
have been no deadlocks, no Lorimers,
no time wasted in discussing the title
Of senator to his seat, and no money
wasted on investigating committees.
Not All CongressionaIiy New.
Not all the new blood In the senate
is congressionally new. That is to
say, out Of the lower house have come
there and who are we'll known in
Washington. Probably the most prom
inent Of these is John Sharp Will
liams. Senator-elect Poindexter of
Washington has also made his mark
in the house. He is a worker, ora
torical by habit, a man Of fine pres
ence and a resonant voice, but none
Of these qualities rank with the fact
that he is a true Progressive. Town
send Of Michigan, who succeeds Bur
rows, knows the congressional game
from start to finish and is as keen
politician as Burrows himself The
successors Of Carter, Depew and
Piles have not at this moment been
chosen. The successor to Dick of
Ohio is a new man, Alice Pomerene,
who will perhaps come with less ex-
perience of national legislation than
any man who lately came to the Unit
ed States senate. He has been a we'll
known country lawyer in Ohio, was
elected last year Acknowledgements
of that state, and elected as United
States senator before he had time to
find out exactly what the duties of
the acknowledgement were. At the
same time he is a man of capacity
and integrity, not in any way involved
with what have come to be called
the interests" MARITIME, the success
sor to Kean Of New Jersey, is a man
very much Of the type have just de-
scribed. To what extent he is going
to be the DrOpOnent of a Wilson boom