The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1919-03-04
A GREAT STATESMAN.
George F. Edmunds Far Above Senator's
of Present Day.

1t would be hard to enumerate, so
many and various were they, the
services of George f. Edmunds to his
country. A great lawyer, endowed
with a crystalline intellect, known toi
be al solutely honest and unselish in
his views, whether they were approved
or not by public sentiment, he acquired
IN his twenty five years in the senate
an intellectual and moral reputation,
dignity and authority such as no sena-
tor of today possesses. He did not be-
llieve in tie popular election of senator's
He began his career in the senate cham
Der among such men as Sumner, Fcs-
sender, Trunlblll A generation ago i'll
was impossible To think of him with
out thinking of his inseparable cronv
and Democratic eompeer, Allen &. Thur
man. One remembers the senator from
Ohio waving the signal Landanna ut the
senator from Vermont, sitting in state
as presiding officer of the senate. There
is a CLEAN from the gold spectaeles.
Some harmless, unnecessary senator is
called to the chair The two elder
statesmen, the best brains Of each par
~ in the senate. march forth, ard, in
the senate restaurant grayely consult
TIT VI az iAAieAAVhNNA h1 ht1OiI NiS
food How did Mr.. Edmunds manage
TO live more than ninety wears. taking
a keen interest in affairs TO tho last!
! Mr.. Edmunds, from the time he en-
tered the senate. fought intellieently
steadily aud constantly for the resump-
ton of specie payment With Mr.
Conkling he drove the Republican, SEN
ators in caucus to support the Resump-
I :
lie framed and introduced The bin es-
tablishing The electoral commission, and
though he became Il member of that
body, his character stood so high that
he was probably less oh Objectionable TO
The Democrats than any other Repub-
lican member. With the aid Of Mr.
Thurman he forced the Pacific railroad
funding act, drawn BY himself, through
the senate. The act for the suppression
of polygamv in Utah is commonly As
Isociated with his name, and il IS toe
often forgotten that the so-called Sher
man antitrust law IS almost wholiS
his work He was then chairman ei
! of the judiciary committee. In IN al
ticle in The North American Review Il
), 1911 he explained that it was the in
/, tention Of the makers of the statut,
, t1tdt TIC courts SHoNii Cus8SAfAt 1T, q
. the supreme court has construed it, no
! for the purpose of destroying at o
helping honest business. The ludiciar,
committee agreed that cit was quit
) impracticable to include by specific dies
4 eriptions all the acts which should com
+ within the meaning and purposes of III
n words trade and commerce or trust
! Nv precise and all inclusive definition,
q and that these were truly matters fl
!. judicial consideration The iudieiar
I, committee believed that the familta
m principles which guide courts IN III
j. construction of statutes would lea
"a them 'ste give the words in the net
beneficial and remedial rather than a
,f injurious and technical one, hurtful I
n any honest trade as well as out Of Ia
N monv with the beneficent spirit an
i policy of the whole act.
III The statute is Of itself isulcici
ri monument to Mr.. Edmands tie had
af strong analytical and constructil
~ mind. lie had the dry wit rs he had Il
nj twang and the iine, solid, simple, RI
~ ged characteristics of his native stat
as lie was friend Of civil service refort
ii In his last days he was eager for the q
or Tense Of American rights and war wi
Germany He left public life by i
on own wish ON account of a. certain we1
ON mess with the. political tendencies
~ that tine. If too many Americans
today have hut a shadoWy vmembrau
q of ono. of the most thoughtful, mo
.er patriotic, most useful, and most ind
~ pendent of American statesmen iii
IN ought to be ashamed of their ignoranC
lie New York Times.