The log cabin Democrat. [volume] (Conway, Ark.) 1908-current, 1914-02-17
SHEDDING LUSTER'
BY Clay Fulks.

:. ding luster upon the state. His abili
> ties are rated so highly by the think
ers of the national congress that they
have placed him in position second
in Importance only to that of the vice
president. To retire him now would
be the utmost folly Helena World.
This editorial from the Helena
World of February 3, is quoted in full
because chaste or dignifed English
cannot accurately characterize such
vaeuous fiubdub; and it was thought
that its own quoting would be the Sc
yerest castigation that could be devils
ed 1t doesn't show wicked malevo-
lent, or even stern disposition on the
part of Editor Burk; on the contrary.
it portrays him as one of the most in
nocent and unsophisticated of men.
To answer sentences so utterly lack
ing in thought would be like lombard
ing a fog. The people of Arkansas
should not forget that Senator Clarke
is SHEDDING LUSTER upon the
state SHEDDING LUSTERr'I
How? That is explained in the next
sentence. He has actually been elect
ed president protein of the senate.
And this, we are assured. was done by
the thinkers in the national con
gress. This position, we are remind
ed, ranks next to the position of the
vice president himself! Therefore. ac-
cording to the assinine reasoning of
the Helena World, ito retire him now
would be the utmost folly
Every intelligent American citizen
bushes when he thinks of the mental
calibre of our vice presidents, as
rule. Every intelligent person knows
that the honor which was conferred
upon the senator by his election as
president pro tenn is a cheap honor,
which was given him, probably, to
keep him in lae with the administra-
ton program. But even if it carries
the honor which the World evidently
thinks it does, could that be presented
to intelligent men as a reason why
Senator Clarke should be returned to
the senate? Such puerile appeals to
state pride disclose the quality of the
mind making them, and should be
spurned by even third grade school
teachers and village grocers.
With what measure of any eonse-
quence has Senator Clarkes name ev-
er been creditably associated? What
bills has he introduced or champion
ed? What has he said or done? How
he suffers by comparison with Sena-
tors Ashurst of Arizona, La Toilette
of Wisconsin, Borah of Idaho. Lodge
of Massachusetts, Reed of Missouri
Smith of Georgia, Root of New York,
Williams of Mississippi, Owen of Ok
lahoma, and Bourne of Oregon, Dolli-
yer of Iowa, and Rayner of Maryland
when they were in the senate-but
why extend the list? Those who are
familiar with the personnel of the SEN
ate know that Senator Clarke is far
from being a heavy weight in that
body. Those conversant with the rules
rules of the senate know that senior
ity of service gives any senator,
though he be a Senator Sorghum
a certain prominence of rank in that
body. But what, l repeat, has Sena-
tor Clarke ever said or done in the
United States senate?
At the eleventh year he proposed an
amendment to the Underwood Sim
mons tariff bill, taxing deals in cotton
futures on stock exchanges, which was
rejected. l am not arguing against
the senator's amendment; it was
probably meritorious But why did
he complacently wait IL long years be-
fore he introduced it? If, as the SEN
ator says, his amendment would save
the farmers of Arkansas $40 on bale
of cotton; and, estimating the cotton
crop of Arkansas at 100000 bales per
year for the past IL years, WHY, in
the name of common sense, did he not
undertake to save the farmers of Ar
kansas the $88,000,000 they have lost
during his IL years of service in the
senate? Why did he not do this, and
at the same time save the farmers of
the south the incomprehensible sum of
1920 ,O00,O 900 which they have lost?
Why? Why, say? Why, of course,
the senator can explain this, but his
eleventh year amendment has all the
old familiar ear-marks, to mix meta
phors, of being sop thrown to the
farmers of Arkansas, with which to
catch their votes in the approaching
primary.
The New York Stock Exchange was
certainly as nefarious and notorious
II years ago as it is today; and SEN
ator who could sit in the senate IL
Years and see the south. or any other