The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1914-06-12
A Coming Power in Congress
(By Frederick A. Emery

congressman are legion but states
men are sparse. Some Of the people
representatives up on Capitoline Hill
SO to speak, at the National Capitol, iii
into Washington, establish their names
on Uncls Sans payroll, plunge theil
thumbs into the shoulder holes Of then
Iweskits, shoot skyrocket into the all
once a session, play messenger to theil
constituents, and 60 home feeling they
have performed their duty to the nation
and TO their consciences. Not all, but
some. Others simply look serious, oc-
cupy seat in the ill-ventilated House
chamber, vote as their leaders tell them
and go back to their "deestricks" with
the expectation Of brass band at the
depot to meet them. Look over the
membership OF the House and you can
spot here and there this element in the
perfunctory class of the national san
hedrin. But the real statesmen, the
men who take the business Of federal
Legislation in way that counts, that
treat seriously the serious and lightly
the light, with a Judgment and a con-
science that keep them true to q path
that leads through region called Pure
Patriotism, are different.
FINS ]. Garrett is one Of these last.
He is young Tennessean. He is a
long-featured, modest manner Of man,
whose conceptions of fellow-men are as
noble as his ideas OF statecraft are
broad-calibered. He never plays with
pyrotechnics. No mushroom politics
for him. He never breaches the doc
trine OF the bell-wether. He is blend
of straight party man and independent,
forceful, aggressive, initiative. He
doesn I like the petty details. His ideals
are constructive. He likes to come out
into the open, play fair, give credit to
the other side and let the best man win.
There is nothing OF the hypocritical or
disguise about him. He has rich, red
corpuscles in the veins under that calm
quiescence. His friends are his friends,
and they know it and he knows it.
That's Garrett, Finis Garrett, the Ten
nessean who ranks with the soundest
in Congress, a coming man among the
substantial element who play the Con-
gressional game rightly.
have known a host of them in most
of the Congresses OF the past twenty
years, some of them intimately, and /
like them, but among them all there
are none whose real principles OF states
manship appreciate more than Gar
rett's. His work has placed him among
the really worthwhile men at Washing
ton, in among the foremost spirits that
direct the tides Of legislation, a shining
light among some Of the splendid folks
that have come out OF the South to
represent that section in the assemblage
of four hundred and thirty-fve men
who represent the plain people OF the
land.
Aback yonder the ninth Congression-
al district OF Tennessee had sent to Con-
gress Rice A. Pierce, a political strate-
gist who had held the district for TWEEN
ty-five years and accounted himself inn
pregnable for twenty-five more. Along
came a young lawyer, quondam
farmer boy who had graduated with
high honors at Bethel College and hung
out his single at Dresden, a town
whom no one would accuse fernando
de Soto OF having in mind when he set
sail for an unknown continent, because
it's not teeming metropolis, but a
hustling, live southern community with
fine folks in it, as they say south OF
Mason and Dixon's line. This was
young Garrett, then clerk and master Of
the Weakley County chancery court.
Pierce and Garrett met in joint debate,
making speeches in every county in the
district. Garrett handled the veteran
rival with ease and grace, for that's
Garratf,s vvav bnt he hecanna stronpnr
with every speech, and the primaries
dumbfounded the wise-acres by register
ing victory for Garrett in every county
save one. He is now serving his fifth
term in Congress.
Once Garrett essayed journalistic
role. For year he published Demo-
cratic paper at Dresden. Weakley Coun-
ty, weekly in publication and weakly in
resources. He was editor-in-chief, re-