Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1919-08-26
FIGHTS IN SENATE
NEVER OCCUR now
LANGUAGE I'M DEBATE ALSO is
MORE RESTRAINED THAN IN
THE oLDEN DAYS.
SCRAPS BEFORE CIVIL WAR
Then and During the Years of Recon-
struction, Discussions Were Acrimo-
NOUS and Personalities Were Com
mon-House, Too, Behaves Better.
By EDWARD 3. cLARK-

BY EDWARD 3. CLARK.
Washington.-The senate of the Uni
ted States is not an altogether anna
bic place these days, but if the people
are surprised at the occasional sharp
personalities which are exchanged, let
them think for moment how much
better things are today than they were
In the past when there was little or no
check on the tongue, and on more than
one occasion no check on the fist.
In sixteen years service in the press
gallery there has come to my know
ledge only one physical encounter on
the floor of the senate, and as that
was in executive session and no one
would talk about it, the affair is
Shrouded in obscurity to this day so
far as the actual facts are concerned.
About eighteen gears ago two sena-
tors, members of the same party, rep
resentfng the same state, exchanged
a blow or two. Both parties to the al
tercation and a fist battle of mo-
ment are now dead Both, however,
lived to regret the circumstances.
Today while the League of Nations
Is under discussion there are things
said which senators are sorry after
ward that they did say, but there has
been nothing of the kind which in for
mer years was the generally accepted
thing.
In Days Before the Civil War.
If one wants to read about person
alities, the lie direct and abuse gener-
ally, let him pick up some of the his
tories of senate proceedings prior to
the days Of the war between the states.
Some of the debates between Sumner
Of Massachusetts, Mason of Virginia
Butler of South Carolina in the old
days when read will make people un.
derstand how a parliamentary debate
has improved in manners with the
passing of the years.
Even after the Civil war when men
seemingly had had enough of acrimonv
there were some highly exciting ver-
bal encounters on the floor of the SEN
ate. Men dealt, even as late as the sew
entities, in personalities, sometimes Of
cruel kind, even taking advantage
sometimes of an adversary's physical
peculiarities or mannerisms in order
to humiliate him.
During the debates of the recon-
struction period Blaine from the North
and Hill from the South went after
each other with verbal sledge ham,
mers and occasionally the debates
waXed so hot that men feared trouble
The nearest approach to anything of
a serious nature in comparatively re-
cent years was when one senator arose
and calmly said of another sens tor who
belonged to the same political party.
THE senator from - does not know
how to debate with gentlemen"
The senator to whom this remark
vas addressed was known as fire
eater. However. he knew his own fail
ings of temper and to the utter amaze
ment of the senate he took the person
al rebuke with due meekness. saving
that he had forgotten himself when he
was talking a few minutes before. and
that perhaps there was some justifica-
ton at the moment for what was said
OF him.
Spooner Versus TiIlman.
About fifteen years ago Senator
SpOOner of Wisconsin, now dead, and
Senator Tillman of South Carolina.
who also is dead, had interchange af-
ter interchange of personalities while
debating. Each had a seat on the CEN
ter aisle, their desks being almost op-
posite each other. The galleries time
and again thought that there would be
a real explosion with fragments flying
about. but be tn men kept well within
bounds which in earlier days of the
senate certainly would have been
passed.
In the house of representatives per-
sOnalities come more frequently than
in the senate, but the house, like the
senate, is much better behaved in
these days than it was in other days.
There was personal encounter about
twelve years ago between a member
from Missouri and member from
Mississippi, but not much damage was
done. The seeming aggressor in the
encounter was representative who al
ways had been known for his dignified
and reserved bearing. He was not
young man by any manner of means.
His antagonist is now a senator of the
United States.
Gas Service Is Saved.
Congress, after a careful hearing of
the advocates of both sides of the
issue, has decided against the chief of
staff of the army, and has continued
by legislation the chemical warfare
service, otherwise known rs gas serv-
ice of Uncle Sans forces.
Until June 80, 1920, therefore, the
gas service by order of the law
makers will be continued with the
duties and authorities that it had on
the day that the armistice went into
effect, November IL, 1918. The COM
mittee of congress which went into
the subject heard the whole history
of the gas service, its intimate rela-
lions with the chemical and dye in
dustry. how the Germans built their