The Washington herald., 1912-07-28
YOUNGEST MEMBER OF THE UNITED STATES
~ SENATE TELLS OF FIGHT FOR EDUCATION
Father an Arizona Pioneer Who Fought In
dians Has Been a Cowboy and Knows
Life in the Southwest.

untruthful persons are rank cyclists
they are smarter, they think. than the
other fellow. Truth Is often like an ach-
ing tooth. 1t hurts when it comes out.
but the pain Is soon over and life is
fresh and bright once more"
In the meantime Senator Ashurst had
taken on his new long-tailed coat and
was sitting at his desk dressed in new
gray trousers. a new white vest. a
starched shirt. a high collar. and a dark
necktie. His hair Is black and parted
In the center: his friendly eyes are slate
colored. A bounding man, he would be
called. six feet and one In his boots, and
bubbling over with energy and good hu-
NOR. He Is glad to see anybody and
everybody, not unnaturally glad. with .
grin and a rubbing Of soft. white hands,
but glad spontaneously end robustly as
befits a man who once rode the ranges
on a run. roped cows, and branded
calves and wore a n dangling in
holster from his hip.
Rhetoric His Main Reliance.
Born in 1875. he is. therefore, one of the
youngest member Of the Senate. As q
declaimer Of the Bryan type. he is un-
exceIled in fervency and now anywhere
west OF. the Rio Grande and south
Of the Cochetopa Hills. Rhetoric
Is his main reliance. In close quarters.
however, as has already been limited. he
is likely to close his mouth and double
up his hands.
A representative American, he may be
described. But was there ever such a
person in flesh and blood and sober
facts? Contrast Ashurst with Henry
Cabot Lodge. Both are deep rooted in
the free soil Of the republic. Both are
in the Senate. Think Of the scholar in
politics-'I am weary OF that designa-
tion," he has tol6 me, "because I have
never assumed it'-think Of the scholar
in politics biffing a gentleman in the
face. or galloping a pony through the
streets and shooting out the lights! Who.
Lodge or Ashurst. more nearly approx
mates the mythical American? The
father of Lodge owned eleven ships. He
sent them to China for tea and silk.
The father OF Ashurst was a grown man
before he learned to read and write.
After he had children OF his own"
his son said to me, "he became an edu-
cational tyrant Though We lived in a
log house and a single room. he brought
teacher home and compelled my
brothers. my sisters and myself to study
eight hours a day. II a neighbor drop
ped in from a dozen miles away and the
conversation turned on some point OF
history. my father would suddenly
ask: Henry. who killed Stephen Deca-
turT or How many men did the Col
onists lose at Bunker HILL? I had to
answer correctly or get whipped"
Over against such crude and heroic in
struction is placed the case of Lodge.
who travelled in Europe, where tutors
taught him languages and prepared him
for Harvard. A small boy at Flagstaff.
with pistols popping in the street almost
every day. Ashurst wrote his name in a
new spelling book. adding the words,
United States Senator from Arizona"
The incident appears fanciful, but 1t 8
true. II was not until many years later
that Arizona, the Territory, became q
State.
Aim Is the Thing.
Now, 1 do not assert that any boy
can grow up and come to the Senate
said Ashurst. and the smile on his face
CLEANED like the rising sun on a clear
day. But aim, purpose. object. is al
most everything. 1 always meant to
be a Senator. Why, / read the Con-
gressional Record daily for ten years
finding great thoughts, true eloquence,
vital facts. poetry. philosophy, patri-
otism, and"
"Flapdoodle and miscellaneous rub
bish," interrupted a man who was pres
ent.
Il deny it," Ashurst answered. Aft
erward 1t was remembered that he had
made a speech himself only the day
previous.
The first Ashurst, so far as the pres