The National tribune., 1911-04-06

tend to surrender his scat in the Sem
1913, and the impression has prevailed
that he would not again seek re-eIec-
ton; but II he declines the Chairman
ship of the Republican caucus folks
back home would announce Ii as an
evidence that ne felt unable to dis
charge all the duties which fell to him.
and that, of course. he would not ex-
pect longer TO serve the State.
A few years ago Republican leaders
of the Senate tried to Jockey" Uncle
Shelby in somewhat similar fashion
out of the Craftsmanship of the impor-
tant Committee on Foreign Relations.
Senator FRYE. of Maine. was entitled
to that Craftsmanship also If he would
have taken it. Clever work was done
to pass the Guardianship down TO Sem
ator Lodge, of Massachusetts,. Uncle
Shelby" however. stood silently but
firmly on his prerogative of seniority,
and he is still Chairman of Foreign
Relations, altho it is claimed that other
Senators of the committee have to do
most of the work.
New Senators
A new Senator is a man of moment
around Washington these days Every
body of consequence is anxious TO meet
him, get acquainted And. above all, see
A
resentative does not count particularly
There are very many of him. and he
serves for only two years unless he is
fortunate enough to get reelected A
Senator Is assured of six years, which Is
longer than the life of an Administra-
ton, and consequently more than the
tenure of most members of the Cab
met.
The pomp and circumstance of in
augurating a new Senator at Washing
ton are considerably magnified nova
days as compared with the earlier II
not the better years of the Republic
Magnificent suites of offices in a mag
nificent Office building are provided for
all of the 90. Whenever a new Sem
ator comes to town some member of
the Rules Committee of his own party.
probably. takes very good care that a
suite of rooms is reserved Deputy
Sergeant-at-Arms is detailed to be on
the watch for the arrival of the new
Senator and to attend to him, making
sure that he is comfortably settled in
his Office suite. Very likely, also, some
friendly colleague has filed on a seat
for him. so that he finds his name plate
on the mahogany desk when he first
walks into the Senate Chamber. 1t is
great business being a United States
Senator. especially in these piping
times, when the margin of votes be-
tween the two political parties is very
small.
The book of Congressional biograph-
les. known as the Congressional Direc-
tory, viii be one of the features of the
week 1t comes out in q preliminary
edition usually the opening day of the
session. AS every Senator and Repre-
sentative is supposed to prepare his
own biography. there is always much
interest to see how the divers men
write about their careers
Some dismiss the subject in a few
lines. Others. like Chauncey Depew,
now an ex-senator, and Senator Du
Pont, of Delaware, write a whole page
Some give the dates of their marriage
and the number and names of their
children. With such a large accession
of new Senators and Representatives
this year a number of freak biographies
may be expected. A Southern Repre-
sentative of peculiar ways put into his
biography some years ago that he had
been kicked by a mule when a lad, and
his colleagues referred to that SEN
| tence all of one session as one of the
best jokes of the Congressional season.