Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1911-01-22

LAFE YOUNG.
When He Used to Practice Oratory in the
School House at Reno, Ia, Back in the
7Gs.
at Santiago, where II had been carelessly
dropped by a valent soldier who feared no
foe and Unanswered a promotion; others
say 1t came to him naturally, as the CHG
gers or the taste for bacardi came to so
many of the intrepid invaders.
However that may be, LATE came home
a colonel and he has been a colonel ever
since-or, to be more exact, he remained
colonel until he became a senator. Per-
haps he will not have to drop it. A tidy
little idea would be to combine the two
titles, as for example, sencol Young or
Colsen Young whichever sounds more har-
monicus to the ear. Then presently Mr..
Taft. as secretary Of war, made his IA
nous pilgrimage to the Philippines and
such other parts of the Orient as had been
picked out, and LATE went along as
member of that most distinguished and
spoony party, which, it will be remembered,
resulted in various marriages; but not In
Lafe's He was married when he started
Since that time Lafe has attended all the
reunions of those pilgrims and has, as a
matter of course a key TO the White
House.
Returning to the editorial tripod, LATE
| kept banging away at the opposition,
standing most pattedly pat. Then Dolliver
| died. The governor Of Iowa veers some
what to the standpat side and he APP
pointed Lafe to the vacancy, TO serve until
such time as the legislature might elect
senator for the remainder of Delivers
term Inasmuch as the senate convened
early in December and the Iowa legisla-
/ pot ret action until
time in January, LATE will have five or
! six weeks of wear out of his toga, unless
perchance something might happen that
would give him the remainder of the term
at the hands of the legislature. LATE has
said he will be satisfied II he can serve
until 1913, when Delivers term would have
ended, and that he will not be a candidate
after that; but it remains to be seen
whether the legislature win be satisfied.
Everybody else-outside of Iowa, at least
would not only be satisfied but glad
You see. Lafe is a good dead Of a per-
son. te is a stocky, square-shouldered,
squaro-headed, two-fisted man; and, judg-
ing from the speech he made in the senate,
he would be well worth while in that
august body for the purpose Of reminding
some of the progressive brethren, now and
then, that there were cakes and ale before
they got in and undoubtedly will be cakes
and ale after they get out. LATE has a
pretty fair sense of perspective. More
over. he has a calm and dispassionate way
Of stating things that would help lot In
crises where commensurate is needed, and
many crises are likely TO arise within the
next two years.
He served twelve years In the Iowa state
senate and nominated Theodore Roosevelt
for vice president at Philadelphia in 1900
He has lectured some and when It is
necessary, can tear off peroratons about
the messy dells and the duties of freemen,
and other subjects suited for perorations
that just naturally make his hearers get
up and yell He is an orator, all right.
The colonel is g. years old and was born
in Iowa. The best thing he ever did for
Iowa was his campaign for good roads He
was president of the Iowa Good Roads as
sociation-any person who, in the old days
ever Travelled by road in Iowa knows how
much good roads were needed-and he
fought for good roads for years. He advo-
Gated dragging and draining and got a
great highway, 800 miles long, from Daven-
port to Council Bluffs by way of Des
Moines The River-to- River Road associa-
ton is directly due to his work, his cease
less agitation and his tireless campaigning
much of it at his own expense. AS on
other things, once Lafe got started on the
proposition to have good roads in Iowa he
stood pat. There is now a general plan
that viii give the state some excellent
highways.
A fine, sturdy, outstanding citizen is Lafe
who fights out in the OPEN gives and takes
with equal equanlmity and stands pat
Lafayette Immutable Young