New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-03-05
Senator Wadsworth.

the last generation no man has been
more fortunate, more favored by chance
than the Junior Senator, James W. Wads- /
worth. jr. BY tradition, by inheritance,
his way was made easy for him, and the
doors that would long have remained
closed to most men opened almost without
effort for him.
What is really hopeful in Senator
Wadsworth'S public life has been the
cgpacity he has demonstrated for meet
ing opportunity half way and utilizing
gifts in the same fashion that other men
dispose of hard won prizes. Up to the
present moment it is not an eXaggeration
10 saw he has deserved his luck and taken
full measure Of his opportunity. In
1906, when he was newly elected to the
Assembly for a second term, Mr.. Wads-
worth was chosen by the late Frank W.
Higgins to be the agent of reform IN
the State Assembly long needed, then be-
come inevitable if the Republican party
WAS to escape disaster and avoid defeat
richly earned.
As Speaker of the Assembly Mr..
Wadsworth did precisely the thing he
was expected to do. For ten years the
press had regularly chronicled the an
nual story Of scandal corruption, politi-
cal and individual unfaithfulness to pub
lie interest in the State Legislature.
With the coming of the new Speaker, the
old names, the old influences, the old
methods Immediately lost supremacy,
presently disappeared. What happened
in the Senate in the Aids case was
avoided in the Assembly chiefly because
Of the work of the new Speaker.
Early in his service as Speaker, which
extended over five years, Mr.. WadSworth
Joined issue with Governor Hughes over
the direct primary. His objections to
the Hinman-Green bill were honest.
Time has 50 lar justified his opinion
that the party committee system advo-
Gated by Governor Hughes has been
abandoned by most of its adherentS
But there is no installing the fact that
his fight earned for Mr.. Wadsworth un-
popularity and even hostility within his
own party.
The greatest service Of Speaker Wads-
worth in Albany, apart from his contri-
button to legislative decency, was his
victory over Theodore Roosevelt in 1910.
Newly returned from Africa, Colonel
Roosevelt seized upon Governor Hughes's
primary legislation, on the invitation Of
\ the Governor, and sought by using 1t as
VI an issue to reassert his control of the
Republican machine in this state and the
party in the nation.
That Colonel Roosevelt was defeated
was due chiefly TO the courage of the
Young Speaker. When he took up the
challenge no Republican in this country
had opposed Colonel Roosevelt success
, fully. The long series Of Roosevelt dis
asters stretching from 1910 to 1914 be-
gan with the resistance OF Mr.. Wads-
worth. He was successful mainly be-
cause to courage he added the rare
quality of leadership which led his asso-
ciates in the Assembly to risk their own
political fortunes to win the battle for
their leader.
After five years Of retirement, only
slightly interrupted by candidacy for
Lieutenant Governor, taken not with
any hope or desire 10 win, but as a good
soldier volunteers for disagreeable duty,
Mr.. Wadsworth now returns to public
life as a United States Senator. Already
he has rendered valuable public ser
vices. revealed many qualities Of leader
but in the larger way his career is yet
20 be made.
Taking the scat hitherto occupied by
Elihu Root Il is idle to expect the new
Senator to III in the eyes Of the country
or the state the place of his predecessor,
who will remain ore Of the great Ameri-
cans of his own period. Nothing in Sen
ator Wadswcrth's previous public service
has disclosed any such ability, any such
CONTINENT, as Mr.. Root possesses. lie
. will be useful industrious, effective
. representative of his state. So much IS
certain. but nothing more.
His opportunity, fer himself, for his
marty. will bc IN New York rather than
in Washington; must 2e sought in has
capacity to be VIVA: El.hu Root could
never be and never sought 70 be. a
political leader. a young man, belong
ing TO party which in recent years has
lost touch with the generation which is
coming OF. the political stage. Mr.. Wads-
worth's political future must be decided
by his ability to understand, to lead men
of b;s own ace. men Of , new generation,
with all that this means.
It is true that justly or unjustly, there
is a widespread suspicion among Repub-
Icans that Senator Wadsworth faces
backward rather than forward, holds to
me empty letter as well as the living