The independent-reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1909-1955, 1912-11-07

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/ Schoolcraft sherman. But, in nearly
quarter of century of public life.
Jim Sherman he was to his init
mates, and probably half the nation
referred to him as sunny Jim" a so
briquet he earned as one we'll might
imagine by neyer-failing. all-year-
round sunny disposition.
Sherman belonged to the school OF
republicanism nowadays popularity
called Regular" and he fought his
political battles shoulder TO shoulder
with men of his faith with comprom-
Use or flinching. Like every public man,
he had critics, some bitter; but he
had friends who were a match for his
enemies. The events he helped to
shape are so comparatively recent that
history cannot assign him TO his prop
er place until it also records the work
of his contemporaries.
To the House of Representatives of
the iifteth Congress. he came in the
winter of 1887, just passed his thirty
second birthday, with the energy and
optimism of youth, college bred from
the halls of Hamilton which has given
to public life many other statesmen
| and public figures. none without some
mark of distinction. He had been
elected mayor of Utica two years be-
fore. Like many others who came to
lead in the national Legislature, he
! brought with him an education in
law. He was well born and we'll bred.
His father Richard |. Sherman, WAS
an editor and public figure in New
York state
Two sessions of Congress found
Sherman defeated and out of Office.
i but not for long. Henry ". Bentley of
Boonville, Oneida County beat him by
/ less than a thousand votes in the race
/ for the fifty-second Congress. In the
! interim, Sherman went back to Utica,
built up his law practice, and return
ed to the ffty-third Congress with a
signal victory He remained in the
House without defeat to the siXtieth
Congress, when he was nominated and
elected vice President on the ticket
with Mr.. Taft
FIRST YEAR IN HOUSE.
His first years in the House brought
him into close association with
leaders Joseph W. Bailey. later a
senator; Breckenridge, Bryan, Bourke
Cochran, Crisp, Dalzell, Dingley, Dolli-
yer, Henderson. Payne, Paynter, Ray
nor, Reed, Wadsworth, Fighting Joe
Wheeler and a score of other whose
names became household words in dis
cussion of the traiff and other ma
tional policies were his fellows. The
Senate held such men as Aldrich, Al
lison. Cockrell. Daniel, Frye, German.
FIoar, Hill, Teller, Vest, and Wolcott.
All were not republicans. but all were
jim Shermans friends and i'll such
an environment he worked to a high
place in the councils and finally was
number one of the Big Five in the
House.
Canaan, Dalzell, Payne. sherman
and Tawney were the great quintet
during the comparatively recent years
in which Congress was republican.
Each of them invariably wore a red
carnation for a boutonniere, and when
Sherman went to preside over the SEN
ate and occupy the coveted marble
room in the other wing of the capitol
he took the custom with him and the
flower always appeared at every SEES
sion of the upper House.
Any review of Shermans life would
not be complete without a reference
to his work in the House Briefly
there is recorded no time when he
moved galleries to applause by a de-
feat from the floor, or changed any
votes by eloquence But the statutes
bear marks of his work in committee
and caucus, and the results of his la
bors on the rules committee, the Inter
state Commerce committe, and other
branches of the machinery of the
house where the real legislating is
done while speeches prevail upon the
floor
1t is not to be said he was no cam
paigner. In New York state politics
he was a leading figure. He was
known in other states. His appear
ances in campaigns, state or national
were not infrequent. He was at one
time chairman of the republican con-
gressional committee. He always was
active in the New York state republic
can conventions and a figure at all ma
tional gatherings of the party.
Sheman went to preside over the
Senate just about at a time when
what popularity is known as senator
ial dignity was beginning to feel
its first break In the chair, Sher-
man was dignity itself, fair in his rul-
ings, his colleagues said, quiet firm,
sure and seldom reversed on an APP
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