The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1911-02-02
new SENATORS.
Deadlock in Iowa and New York.
Other Senatorial Fights.


The new crop of United States Sem
ators has been pretty well developed at
some so State Capitols during the last
10 days. With a few notable excep-
tions the roster of the Senate after
March can now be made up, and
there are several more men. Republic
cans and Democrats, who become of
National interest in governmental af-
fairs.
There has resulted = number of dead
locks, and it may be weeks before the
last of them has been broken. Della
ware probably has been the home OF
more Senatorial deadlocks than any
other State in the Union, in spite of its
diminutive size. For a number of
years, about a decade ago, Delaware
had but one and some of the time no
Senator in Congress because of dead
locks in the Legislature. The recent
deadlock, however, was of brief dura-
ton. and Senator Henry Algernon du
Pont of Winterthur, has been re-elect-
ed.
Three Dead,ocks.
The three tenacious Senatorial dead
locks appear to be in the Legislatures
of New York, Montana and Iowa. The
cratic or Republican has generally act
ed pretty expeditiously in such matters.
but this year there has been a depar-
ture because of the bolt of upstate
Democrats against a Tammany Hall
caucus nominee. A deadlock in Mon
tana's Legislature, on the other hand,
is the usual thing. There has been
much wrangling and much tying into
hard knots IN the Montana Legislature
over Senatorial selections ever since
that State was admitted into the UniGn
during the Administration of Benja-
min Harrison. The election of one Re-
publican Senator and later of one Dem
ocratic Senator from Montana was
made the subjects of contest before the
Senate. SqualIy proceedings generally
attend the balloting. and there is great
difficulty In getting the legislators to
agree upon any party candidate. There
are boilers galore among the partisans
of that State, and the record of the
Legislature has not been free from
corruption and other undue influences.
A Senatorial deadlock in Iowa, on
the other hand, is very exceptional, and
il is due in the present instance to the
warfare between the insurgent and the
regular factions. Lafayette Young, the
Des Moines editor and orator. who
came down to Washington as the sue
cessor of the late Senator Dolliver on
a Gubernatorial appointment, is regu-
lar, and the insurgents are bound TO
defeat him il they can
Orderly Proceedings.
Orderly procedure in Legislatures for
the election of United States Senators
has become very general. States that
are proud of their good names before
the rest of the country, whether gov
erned by Republicans or Democrats,
are averse to these Senatorial wrang1es
They create bad impression with the
outside public. In a measure they i'm
pair the prestige of Senator, particu-
larry If the factions carry the warfare
to the point OF instituting contests al
Washington. In recent years ranian.
-kerous ruction in Senatorial elections
have been confined largely to the new
er States of the West. Nevertheless il
is nor many years ago that the late
Senator Matthew Stanley Quay, OF
Pennsylvania, sought to take the oath
of Office for another term from Penn.
sylvania on a certificate that the Sen.
ate refused to honor. 1t was given him
as makeshift after the Pennsylvania
Senate had been deadlocked fol
months. Charles Sumner first came II
the Senate from Massachusetts after g
high old quarrel in the Bay State Leg
stature, altno there was no cloud supoT
his title when he presented himself in
the Senate. That. however, was more
than half century ago. .
Legislatures in several of the new
Western States, created during the
Harrison Administration, had terrific
factionaI fights that were carried tc
Washington. This was not altogether
misfortune. because out of a GROUP
of contests about that time some mat.
tiers governing the election of Senators
were finally defined and determined
One of these was that when a Legisla.
ture has been confronted with a Sena.
torial vacancy and for any cause has
failed to fill it, the Governor of tn,
State cannot appoint Senator to serve
after the Legislature has adjourned
Incidentally. too, that has discouraged
factious Legislatures from adjourpine
without first breaking their deadlocks
The West Virginia Situation
The Senatorial elections of January
1911, have produced one case, il no
two eases, that promise to stand out as
peculiar. That is in West Virginia
The lower branch of the Legislature
there is largely Democratic, and tn,
state Senate is evenly divided between
the two political parties. The Repub.
lican Senators refused to assemble
went to an adjoining State, where they
could escape arrest, and thus claim
that they prevented the State Scnat,
from organizing. The Republican Coy.
ernor has refused to recognize the Sen.
ate. When the day for balloting for q
United States Senator to fill a vacancy
that will occur March 4 next and for {
Senator TO fill the vacancy caused by
the recent death of Senator s. b. Ell
kins arrived, the Democrats of botl
legislative branches assembled. ant
elected w. f. Chiffon and C. w. Wat
son for the long and short terms re
spectively. But the Republican Cover
nor refused to recognize the joint con
vention, and IL is claimed will not issu,
certificates to the two Democrats.
Some very intricate legal and consti
tutional points are involved in thi
brand of disorderly procedure. TIL
upshot will probably be that a son O.
the late S. B. Ellxins. who is wearins
toga on the appointment of the Re
publican Governor. will hold on anC
keep the Democrat from coming il
while the learned lawyers argue. Tht
entire State Government is virtual.
deadlccked by the quarrel between tn,