Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1912-10-31

VTOuilSe Ut ulIlCllns' LINN SNSis Pop
lie man, he had critics, some bitter;
but he also had friends who were a
match for his enemies. The events
he helped to shape are so compare.
lively recent that history cannot as.
sign him to his proper place until It
also records the work OF his conten-
poraries.
To he house Of representatives OF
the Nftieth congress came in the
winter of 1887, just passed his twenty
seventh birthday. with the energy and
optimism of youth, college bred from
the halls Of Hamilton, which has civ.
en- to public life many other states
men and public figures, none without
some mark or distinction. He had
been elected mayor Of Utica two years
before. 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 u. Sherman, was an
editor and public figure in New York
state.
Two sessions of congress found
| Sherman defeated and out of office,
but not for long. Henry w. Bentley
Of Madison county beat bim by less
than a thousand votes in the a C for
the Ffty.second congress. In the in.
term, Sherman. went back to Utica,
built up his law practice, and return.
ed to the Nfty.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 OF 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-
tor; Breckenridge, Bryan, Bourke
Cochran, Crisp, Dalzell, Dingley Dolli-
yer, Henderson, Payne, Paynter, Ray.
nor, Reed, Wadsworth, Fighting joe
Wheeler and a score of others whose
names became household words in
discussion of the tariff and other ma
tional policies were his fellows. The
senate held such men as Aldrich, AL.
lison, 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 me worked to a high
place in the councils and finally was
one of the Fig Five in the house.
Cannon, Dalzell, Payne. Sherman
and Tawney were the great quintette
during the comparatively recent years
In which congress was republican.
Each of them invariably wore a red
carnation for a boutoniere, and when
Sherman went to preside over the
senate and occupy the coveted marble
room in the other wing of the Capt
tol he took the custom with him and
the flower always appeared at every
session of the upper house.
Any review OF Sherman's life would
not be complete without a reference
to his work in the house. Briefly,
there is recorded no time when he
moved the galleries to applause by a
debate from the floor, or changed any
votes by e%loquence. But the statutes
bear marks of his work in committee
and caucus, and the results of his Ia
bors on the rules committee, the in
terstate commerce committee and 9th
er 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 and nation
al woro mt ipfrouuopf H. woc at
one time chairman of the republican
congressional committee. He was al
ways active in the New York state re-
publican conventions and a figure at
all national gatherings of the party.
Sherman went to preside over the
senate just about the time when what
popularity Is known as senatorial dig
nifty was beginning to feel it's first
break. In the chair, Sherman was
dignity itself, fair in his rulings, his
colleagues said, quiet, firm, sure and
seldom reversed on appeal. But dig
nifty so far as the traditional senatori-
al frock coat and silk hat were con
cerned generally was absent. He re-
garded 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 ia
bic Of one of the many enterprises in
which he found a fortune and laid the
foundations of another for his son
He usually appeared in a business
suit, on a hot day he came in f%lannels,
on a very hot day a palm leaf fan
displaced the gavel and perhaps a
glass Of lemonade topped off the book
of rules. Other senators, reluctant,
perhaps, to transgress staid custom,
fell in with his ideas, and nowadays
in a blistering Washington summer
day the senate chamber looks quite
like a business body.
The illness which proved fatal was
little known of 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 TEN by
the death of Frye and unable to agree
upon a successor, got along by tenn
porary agreements, placing some SEN
ator in the chair for two weeks at a
time. When he disappeared, seeking
rest and health in vain, Sherman was
genuinely missed about the capitol,
in the departments, at the White
where he was a frequent call
and always exchanged a new joke
with President Taft, and on the
streets where he often walked. In a
hurry he used a motor, but 1t was an