Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1919-03-13
WHAT OUR NEICHpORs SAY
'eorgc r. ndmunds and the Higi,
standing He Held In the Nation

/ ~ su"''AtiVn VI NeTWOuteIS VINO
have grown up during the past rs
years DO not realize the high stand
Ing. ability ana statesnnnship Of George
" Ednunds, senator from Vermont who
died last week at his homo In California
where he has lived most Of the time
since no voluntarily retired from the
senate In 1901.
Mr.. BdnundN went to the senate In
1855 nj the age Of IA and soon developed
| mo one or the great mon OF that body.
| IN ract during at least tho latter half
| Oh MS ~ yenrH there he was generally
considered the chief statesman Of the
senate OF the United States. The New
| YORK Times on the day after Senator
Edmunds death printed u most appreci-
alive editorial on Mr.. Edmunds' service
In the Senate as follows:
II would be hard to enumerate, 80
many and 80 various we're they. the
services OF George r. Edmunds to his
country A great lawyer. endowed
with crystalline intellect, known to
DO absolutely honest and unselfish in
| his views, whether they we're approved
| or not by public sentiment, he acquired
IN his twenty-five years in the Senate
an intellectual and q mora, reputation.
| dignity, and authority such az no Sena-
tor OF to-day possesses. He did not be-
lieve IN the popular election Of Senators.
he began his career In the Senate chamb-
or among such men as Sumner. Fessen-
| den, Trumbull. generation ago It
was impossible to think of him without
| thinking OF his inseparable crony and
| Democratic compeer. Allen @. Thurman.
| one remembers the Senator from Ohio
waving the signal bandanna at the Sem
| ator from Vermont sitting in state as
presiding officer Of the Senate. There is
| CLEAN from the gold spectacles. Some
harmless unnecessary Senator Ia called
| to the chair The two elder statesmen.
the best brains Of each party In the SEN
| ate, march forth. and. in the Senate
| restaurant. gravely consult tho oracle.
Unhallowed days before the Flood! How
| did Mr. Edmunds manage to live moro
than ninety years taking a keen interest
| in affairs to the last?
Mr. Edmunds. from the time he en-
tered the Senate. fought inteiligently,
steadily. and constantly for the resump-
| ton of specie payment. With MIR. Conk-
| ling he drove the Republican Senators
in caucus to support the Resumption act,
| which became law In 1876. He framed
and introduced the bill establishing the
Electoral Commission. and though he
became member OF that body. his char
acter stood SO high that he was probably
less Objectionable to the Democrats than
any other Republican member. with the
aid of Mr.. Thurman he forced the Pacific
| Railroad Funding act drawn by himself,
| through the Senate. The act for the SUD-
preston of polygamy in Utah is common
| ly associated with his name, and It Ia too
| often forgotten that the so-called Sher-
man antitrust law is almost wholly his
work. He was then chairman of the
Judiciary Committee. In an article in
The North American Review in 1911 he
| explained that II was the intention Of
the makers of the statue that the courts
should construe 1t, not for the purpose
| OF destroying but of helping honest bust
ness The Judiciary Committee agreed
that st was quite impraoticable to in
clude by specific descriptions all the acts
which should come within the meaning
and purposes OF the words trade and
commerce or trust or the words res
traint' or 'monopolize' by precise and all
| inclusive definitions, and that these were
truly matters for judicial considera ton. &"
The Judiciary Committee believed that
the familiar principles which guide courts
| in the construction Of statutes would lead
them ito give the words tn the act a
beneficial and remedial rather than an
injurious and technical one, hurtful to
any honest trade as we'll as out Of har-
mony with the beneficent spirit and
policy Of the whole act
The statute il Of itself a sufficient
monument to Mr.. Edmunds. He had a
strong analytical and constructive mind
He had the dry wit he had the twang
and the fine. solid, simple, rugged char
acteristlcs of his native State. He was a
friend of civil service reform. In his
last days he was eager for the defense
OF American rights and war with Ger
many. He left public life by his own
wish on account of a certain WEAKNESS
with the political tendencies of that time
n too many Americans of to-day have
hut a shadowy remembrance of one
of the most thoughtful. most patri-
otto. most useful and most independ-
ent OF American statesmen they ought
TO be ashamed of their ignorance.