The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-13

Burrows would have been elected speak CT when Keller was but for his air of superiority and exclusiveness. He had another and a more serious flaw-he was lazy. And that is another tribute to the mans qualities. How could one con- additionally and habitually indolent fill the place he did for more than 30 years? And that leads me to conclude that if Burrows had been as industrious as Ros- COG Conklng, who never rested as long as there was a thing to do, he might have grasped the leadership of the sen ate. Instead we hear him boasting that he fetched and carried for Aldrich in 1903 in order to "get something for Mich igan in the Payne-Aldrich tariff mon- strosity. 0
 Speaking about works-John G. Car iisle could perform more of the 1apor that is required of statesman than any other man of his 20 years in public fife at this capital and he did not without seeming effort. He knew exactly how to do a thing and accomplish it with the least expenditure of mental labor. Tn this respect he was positive genius, for he could tell at glance what docu- ment was important and what of little or no consequence. But above alI he had that Napoeonic quality that enabled him to summon instantaneously every faculty of mind necessary and concen- trate 1t with all the others upon a gwen point of study.
 James B. Beck was another glutton for work, but he was fussy, and every body knew when he was at work, which was pretty nearly all the time. But he labored hard like Champ Clark and Rose Conkling and William B. Alli- son, all of whom did an enormous deal of unnecessarily work that Carlisle ab- I@sx l1- less. These men forced their minds to do manual labor, so to speak Carlisle's confined itself to mental labor.
 But it Is the greatest gift-capacity for hard and long continued mental eff fort, coupled with a genius for sys- tenn. Did you ever read Kennedy's Life of William Wirt? Do you remember the anecdote of his study of great case-and possibly 1t was the Dart mouth case itself-at Richmond and how he came to Washington ready for the trial? The most lovable of men, as soon as it was known that he was in town his room was full of visitors, who kept him in social converse till after midnight. The next morning he found he had left his notes" in Richmond, and his speech to the court was a fail- ure. Carlisle never required any notes. In this respect he was like old Ben Hardin, who never took note. Charles James Fox took no notes, but Burke took them for him and read them to him, which was all that was necessary to make him the greatest debater political deliberative body ever knew.
 But to get back to Burrows. He would have been an admirable leader had he been energetic and capable of looking the good-natured man. The country forgave Conkling his lofty air; but it would never endure the super cilious man. Burrows looked as though he thought Congress a kindergarten and himself the teacher There was that about him that seemed to say: Julius Caesar was a great man; but his conquest of Gaul, his invasion of Britain, his mastery of Rome, were trivial episodes, comparatively My parents put the finishing touches to his immortality when they named me for him."
 Mark, don't say that Burrows feels that, but it is certain that he looks it. When Malone seized on@ repudia- tion to get the mastery of Virginia he sent for Burrows to help him our. There was always a protection senti- ment in the Old Dominion, and Burrows undertook to appeal to it. That voice would make fool a success on the stump and Burrows is no fool, but he underrated his audience. He treated them like children in the primer class at school, and it turned out that he did Malone more harm than good.
 While of the very elite of the front rank of the House of Representatives Burrows amounted to very little in the Senate. In this his senatorial career was precisely like that of one of his predecessors from Michigan in that body, Omer D. Conger, who was the most garrulous man in the House, and as meek as basket of chips on the way to Tophet to be burned when .'elevated' to the Senate.
 Burrows would have reached the Senate long ere he did if that position had not been -empted by lot of rich men in Michigan. such as Zack Chandler Palmer, Stockbridge, McMil- lin and perhaps others But Burrows was the ablest man Michigan has had in public life in all her history, and that is not saying as much as it seems to say.
 Washington, April s.