The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-10-31

Sherman defeated and out of office,
but not for long.
Beaten for Congress.
Harry w. Bentley of Boonville,
| Oneida county, beat him by less than
| a thousand votes in the race for the
! Sherman went back to Utica. built up
/ his law practice and returned to the
( Fifty-third congress with a signal vic
[ tory He remained in the house with
| out defeat to the Sixtieth congress,
when he was nominated and elected
! vice president on the ticket with Mr..
Taft
! His first years in the house brought
! him into close association with lead
ers. Joseph w. Bailey. later a sena
Cochran, Crisp, DalzeH. Dingley, Dolli-
yer, Henderson, Payne, Paynter, Ray
ner. Reed, Wadsworth, Fighting Joe"
wheeler. and score of others whose
names became household words in dis
cussion of the tariff and other national
policies were his fellows. The senate
held such men as Aldrich, Allison,
| COckrell. Daniel, Frye, German, Hoar,
Hill. Teller, Vest and Wolcott. All
were not Republicans. but all were
Jim Sherman's friends, and in such
an environment he worked to a high
place in the councils and finally was
mum bered one OF the big five in the
house. Cannon, Dalzel. Payne Sher-
man and Tawney were the great quin-
tet during the 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 senate 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 session of
the upper house. Any review of Sher-
mans life would not be complete with
out reference to his work in the
house.
He Was No Orator
Briefly there is recorded no time
when he moved galleries to applause
by debate from the floor or changed
any votes by elOquence- But the stat
utes bear marks of his work in COM
mittee and caucus and the results of
ms la DOrS on the rules com mittee; the
Interstate commerce commission and
other branches of the machinery of the
house. In New York state politics
sherman was a leading figure. He
always was active in state conventions
and figure at all national gatherings
of the party. Sherman went to pre-
side over the senate just about at a
time when what popularity is known
senatorial dignity was beginning
to feel its first break. In the chair
Sherman was dignity itself fair in his
rulings, his colleagues said, quiet, firm
sure and seldom reversed an appeal,
but dignity so far as the traditional
senatorial frock coat and silk hat were
concerned, generally was absent. He
regarded his time presiding over the
senate as a days business to be at
tended to as if he were sitting in his
bank in Utica or at the directors table
of one of the many enterprises in
which he had found a fortune and laid
the foundation of another for his sons.
He usually appeared in a business suit.
ON hot day he came in flannelS.
Other senators, reluctant, perhaps,
! to UranSSresS Staid custom, fell in with
/ his ideas, and nowadays on i blister
+ ing Washington summer day the SEN
ate looks quite like a business gather
/ ing. The illness which proved fatal
4 was little known in Washington until
the last few months. Mr.. sherman
+ was not present during the closing
/ days of the last session and the sen
ate-Without a president pro tenn by
the death of Frye, and unable to agree
upon successor-got along by tenn
porary agreements, placing s2me sena-
tor in the chair for two weeks at a
time.
sherman was genuinely missed in
the capitol. 1t was an occurrence of
an ordinary day with congress in ses-
sion to meet Sherman walking down
Pennsylvania avenue. often alone ROSY
checked and cheerfully returning the
salutations of scores wh9 knew him by
/ sight, thought of him a sunny Jim
/ and greeted him, Good morning. MI
+ President" and passersby who recog-
nized him were greeted as heartily as
: the senator who might be next.
Taft's Tribute to Sherman.
New York. oct. 31.-President
Tafts principal statement after being
informed of the death of Vice Presi-
dent Sherman was made just as the