The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-30
PENROSE WISER
 THAN ALDR|CH In Admitting Insurgents to
 Committee LEADER OF SENATE Democratic Victory Was Signal For Employment of Great Deal of Tact by the Repub-
 lican Leader

Ipublican was intended neither as a trfb-
 ute. nor as a statement of historical fact,
 but as an explanation. He hated Aldrich,
 and he did not love Penrose. The caucus
 of the republican senators had just ad-
 1ourned. A steering committee charged with the duty of re-argspjzing the ma
 jorty membership of the Senate commit
 tees had been selected. The insurgent
 senators, long barred from republican
 caucuses by the ruthless and uncompro-
 missing leadership of Aldrich, had come l into their own. They had been recoS-
 nized as republican senators with mem-
 bership on the steering committee, which made certain for them square deal Ill | the reorganization of the Senate.
 How did it happen?" this insurgent | senator was asked.
 The explanation from his viewpoint was clearly stated. "Penrose has more sense 1 than Aldrich.'
 1 When the Sixty-frst Congress come to
 an end at noon of March 4, last, the lead
 eTship of the Senate nominally passed i from Nelson w.. Aldrich of Rhode Island
 to Boies Penrose of Pennsylvania. Pro-
 motion in the Senate is by committee ser-
 iority. Adrich retired, Burrows, next to
 him on the committee on finance, the most l important in the Senate, was defeted. | Penrose was next in line, and by reason
 of that fact he becomes chairman of the
 committee on finance, and thereby leader
 of the Senate. Unquestionably he will
 hold that position as long as he remains
 in the Senate. And his party has a ma jorty in that body.
 Should the democrats gain control that
 is another story, but now Penrose is the I l,A
 more tactful than his predecessor is
 shown by his plan of reorganization, in
 which the insurgents were recognized. Penrose, although a stalwart, never had
 any sympathy with the treatment which | the Rhode Island man accorded those | who disagreed with him. They are re-
 publicans and as republicans he proposes
 to treat them. Hence they are more
 easily satisfied with his leadership. All
 drich may have been a bit closer to tho | interests than Penrose, but with all of
 his astuteness he was not the political
 general that Penrose is. Aldrich was in
 tolerant to opposition. Penrose will play
 politics to win over and use the opposi- | tion.
 No other man Pennsylvania has sent to l the Senate has attained the position of
 prominence in that body now held by Pen | rose not even Quay, postmaster in the
 art of machine politics. The story of
 Senator Penroses start in life presents | nothing to suggest the simple annals of
 the poor. He is member of wealthy
 and aristocratic Philadelphia family. On
 both sides he comes from pure colonial stock. His father, the late R. A. F. Pen
 lose was widely known as scholar. phv-s
 sician and professor in the medical de-
 partment of the University of Pennsyl-
 vania. His grandfather, Charles B. Pen
 rose, was solicitor of the treasury under President William Henry Harrison and John Tyler president of the Pennsyl-
 vania state senate and a leader at the
 bar. His great grandfather, Clement Bid
 dle Penrose, was appointed by Thomas
 Jefferson as one of the three commits sioners to take charge of the territory of
 Louisiana. He was a direct descendant of William Riddle, friend and contempo-
 rary of William Penn, and was one of
 the proprietors of the province of New
 Jersey, so that the new Senate leader Is
 nothing if not thoroughly American.
 He was educated by private tutors until
 he was Is years of age. Then he entered Harvard and graduated with high hon. ors. The subject of his commencement
 oration was The Political Leadership of
 Martin Van Buren,"
 Penrose has a genius for politics. He
 has been in the game ever since he was 1 old enough to vote, and one learns some- 1 thing of politics by seeing it, as it is played in Pennsylvania. When 24 years or age he was elected to the state Iegis- lature from one of the Philadelphia dis tricts. From the lower house he went to the state senate where he served ten years In both branches he was leader. for he has the natural qualifications of leadership.
 During half century the mantle of re- publican leadership in Pennsylvania has fallen upon the shoulders of only three men, Simon Cameron, Mathew Stanley Quay, and Boise Penrose The regime of Cameron was an incident of the politics Of the civil war period. Years before lie died he was supplanted by Quay. The leadership of Penrose dates from the death of Quay. The latter had to fight for everything he received in politics. Each chapter in the story of his supremacy of the republican organization records re- bellion against his rule. When Quay died. there was demand for new deaI' on the part of those who had been in pol- itics when Penrose was a boy. While they were talking about it, there came new deal from the hand of Penrose. His leadership was logic of the situation. He Las built up an organization which rec ognizes him as its master, and in way. it is a part of the story of his rise to the leadership in the Senate.
 Senator Penroses diversions svhen not playing politics. are horseback riding. yachting, hunting and fishing. He owns blooded saddle horses. In seasonable weather he spends some time on his pri- vate yacht Betty" one of the finest on the Jersey coast Summers he spends in Montana. where he roughs it in the goo1 cid fashioned way, foraging for living by the chase. He has not been inside Of a theatre in 30 years. He is a member of nearly all of the fashionable clubs of Philadelphia, but rarely enters any of them except the Union league, and then only to dine while he talks politics with some of his leutenants.
 Penrose Is 49 and bachelor. When he went to Harrisburg in 1896 to be elected United States senator, he was lectured by Don Cameron, whom he was to succeed as senator, because he was not married.
 'I see by the newspapers that mem- Der of the New Jersey legislature has in troduced a bill imposing tax on baclH- lors,' said Cameron. Mighty good bill, Penrose, mighty good bill, and it should be enacted into law. A married man has a better standing in the community than a bachelor, which is exactly as it should be. Now Penrose you are young man with a political future. But you should get married; 1t will help you in politics" All right" replied Penrose seriously. "Ill marry any woman the republican organization indorses.'
 Penrose is of heroic mould. He is over six feet tall. He is one of the best