The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-07-10

| C. c. Brainerd, in the Brooklyn Eagle.
 In considering Oscar W. Underwood of Alabama, the man who Is steering the democratic party in the making of a new tariff, 1t is important to bear in mind that the first time he entered the halls of Congress he was quite promptly thrown out. Like the hero of the song he walked right in and turned around and walked right out again. But, unlike that hero, I he did not stay out. He absolutely re- fused to stay out. He liked Congress, after f1eeting vision, and he passed a mental resolution to come back. There fore he came back, and he has been there ever since.
 The moral is that Mr Underwood has persistence. It is this quality that has made him what he is today-the most important factor in constructing the foun- dalton of the democratic presidential cam paign of 1912 He has been plugging away at various things in Congress since 1896, but mostly at the tariff. Now the tariff is an issue again. and MT. Underwood steps into the party leadership armed for the battle. He is straghtout democrat. He believes in the party in it's principles, and in himself, and he will not allow any man to shake his opinion He does not glsten with the brilliance or wit of Champ Clark; he cannot speak with the rich elo- quence of William J. Bryan; he never fights with the terrier instinct of Uncle Joe Cannon. He just persists, keeps his temper, declines to get rattled. accumu- lates and sticks to his democracy.
 He has a legal mind and sets great store by logic. What he learns he knows not only by rote. but by sense as well. In fact Mir. Und2wood is a corporation lawyer, not perhaps in the terrible mod- ern significance of that term, yet suf- ficiently so to warrant the indictment On the other hand, he has been a Bryan man, and will unhesitatingly be one again
 if the party should revert to Nebraska for a candidate. Prior to his Bryan al-
 egiance he was a Cleveland man. In the middle of it he supported Parker He is for the party first, and after that for the candidate. But all the time he is and has been a revenue tariff man. It would be pretty hard to pick an inconsis- tency in Underwoods record on this point.
 On May 6 MT. Underwood will be 49 years old He is serving his eighth term
 in Congress, counting as a term that portion of one which he enjoyed before the republican majority of the Fifty fourth Congress handed him his hat and recommended a return ticket to Alabama. He does not talk like a southerner, and he does not look like a statesman. Prob ably he would disclaim the latter desig- nation, anyhow. He would make a good subject for a composite photograph of the average banker or prosperous merchant: He is nearly feet 10 inches in height and weighs about 1sO pounds. His eyes are blue his hair brown, his skin is clear, and he looks like man in good condi- tion yet at the same time man who does not go in for a great amount of exercise. His clothes fit without wrinkles; they are always well pressed. His legis- lative toga is a sackcoat. His hair is, brushed smoothly over round head. which is set rather closely on pair of square shoulders. Nobody ever saw MT. Underwood with his hair mussed. His chin Is broad and solid, with a little dent in the center. Some people might call 1t a dimple.