New Britain herald., 1919-06-11
16 Years In Senate.

| l 76 years old.
 16 Years In Senate Sixteen years a United States sena- i tor from Wisconsin, each one of l which, in the words of President 1 Roosevelt, was "a direct financial loss ! which he could i'll afford,'' John Colt
 Spooner relinquished the position with which the legislators of his state had l thrice honOred him and retired in 1 1907, two years before his completed i term, to re-enter the private practice
 of law and acquire a competence for l his family and himself in his declin- l ing years.
 Regarded as onel of the ablest con- i stitutional lawyers, a brilliant debater i and one of the greatest authorities on | international law in the upper house 1 of congress, Senator SpOOner like a
 few of his colleagues ply Roscoe | Conkling, John G. Carlisle, Thomas
 Bracket Reed and George F. Hoar- i left public office a poor man. During i the 12 years of his final law practice
 in New York he was counsel in much
 important litigation, including the 1 federal government suits against the transatlantic shipping pool, the naval
 stores and Oregon California land l grant cases
 Wisconsin Graduate.
 Born ill LaWrenceburg, Ind, Janu
 ary 6, 1843, the son of Judge Philip Spooner, who removed to Madison,
 Wis, when John was 16 years old,
 the future senator received his A. B. | degree from the University of WiscOn-
 sin in 1864, after having served with
 distinction in the Union army in the
 Civil war. Young Spooner enlisted as
 a private in Company A, 40th Wiscon-
 sin infantry and for gallantry in ac-
 tion was promoted to captain and
 brevet major in the 50th Wisconsin
 infantry shortly after reaching the
 age of 21.
 After the war he became private
 secretary to Governor Lucius Fair
 child of Wisconsin G866-67) Upon
 admission to the bar he was appointed
 an assistant attorney general and en-
 gagged in the practice of law at the
 capital Madison, where he remained
 until 1870, when he removed to Hud-
 son, Wis, with his family. He was a
 member of the Wisconsin assembly in
 1872 and later a regent of the Univer-
 sity of Wisconsin.
 First Elected In 1885. First elected a United States sena- tor in 1885 he served with marked distinction in that body until 1891 when he was succeeded by William F. Villas, democrat, receiving, however,
 the full vote of the republican mem t bers of the legislature for reelection The following year he was unanim ous-
 ly nominated as republican candidate = for governor of Wisconsin, but was t defeated.
 }; Tn 1897 he was returned to the e United States senate and before the I l completion of his term announced Q his purpose not to be a candidate fol > reelection but, notwithstanding this 0 the republican legislators of Wiscon l sin in 1903 unanimously voted to sent n him back to Washington where fo1 = more than a decade he had won re d nown as a debater and conciliator O.
 party factions
 n Important Legislation. S During these years of service Sena.
 tor Spooner's name had become in.
 separably attached to many measures t of historical importance, such, for in = stance, as the amendment creating the
 civil government of the Philippines, a1 t amendment to the Sherman anti-trus l. act which made possible the prosecu s tion by the federal government of ths
 Standard Oil company, and the law e under which the Panama canal wa r constructed. He was a consistent op = ponent of the so-called Nicaragua 3, route.
 II As chairman of the senate commit
 tee on claims in his first term he savet t the United States, it was said, hun l. dreds of millions of dollars sought b.
 unjust litigants against the govern n ment and later was largely responsi Is ble, as the moving spirit of the senat II fOrRlSn relations e, ratification of the Cuban, the Domini l. can and the Algeciras and many othe
 treaties. Of the Algeciras information It al settlement, it has been said, averted more than ten years ago tn
 threatened outbreak of q general Flu IS ropean war.
 'n Refused Princely Salaries. . Senator Spooner, during his publi II life, had many opportunities to amas IT. a fortune it has been said, but chos 'o to content himself with his senatorie as salary of s7,5O0 a year Three time o rendered important posts by Presider o' McKinley-those of secretary of tn t interior, membership on the Unite
 States and British joint high commis - sion and attorney general of tn aC United States-he declined them all. le Frequently he had ben importune le by individuals, corporations and state ;. to represent them in court but refuse e' all offers so long as he was in publ =. life. One of these proposals it is rt H. lated, was invitation by the state
 West Virginia, carrying a retainer :" $3O 1000, to argue a case for it in tf oA supreme court Senator SpOOner nt
 only refused to practice his profe y sion so long as he was in congres friends said, but he habitually d