The Chattanooga news. [volume] (Chattanooga, Tenn.) 1891-1939, 1919-09-05
A SENATORIAL DIARIST
BY FREDERIC J. HAskIN

g., covered that there are thirteen people
| at the table. no less than six OF those
present show signs Of being disturbed.
| two OF them very seriously. And these
| two he senator records. are "sophis-
ticated. cultivated. successful people"
There IL indeed wide penumbra be-
| tween the bright light of sanity ana
ments, 'in which zone or penumbra
there walk many II not most people"
! BY this the senator means that most
J Of US are little nutty.
, He goes on to say that he would like
| to be superstitious. but that none OF
| the superstitions would ever work FOR
him.
| ate," he records, 81 wore an opal.
black opal, and large number OF
friends besought me to leave It of as
no victory could come to anyone wear
ing an opalv"
The senator won. opal and all. He
adds to this passage few remarks
that should be very valuable to any
young man entering politics.
Wearing Diamonds.
II would not have worn diamond"
he says. ut might have looked too
fashy and too comfortable for
same token a tribune Of Ske people
should not be fat or funny. His
countenance should be 'sicklied DER
| with the pale cast Of thought, and his
words should drop like red hot potash
on the fostering sores of the body poll
| tic. Imagine Wendell Phillips Abra-
ham Lincoln. Garrison or Lovejoy be-
decked in djamonds!"
The journal contains other interest
| ing private comments on politics by
| one who Is in them. In one passage
| he has some good advice for presiden-
| tial candidates, and in another some
very cogent suggestions on how to avoid
the presidential job after you have
| got 1t.
Commenting on the defeat OF Hughes
| In 1916, he says that If Hughes had
| just stayed out of California and kept
his mouth shut, he would have been
| elected.
Hughes in 1916 and Blaine in 1884
| were secure while within their own for
tifications." he comments. IAN they
had to do was to wait for election day,
| think little, remain silent, and each
| would have been elected. To think but
| little and say nothing is the best advice
| could give presidential candidate"
On the day that Wilson was inau-
grated for the first time, he INDUCES in
| some more presidential reflections. He
| says that Taft failed to hold his Job
because he allowed things to become
| dull, and that Roosevelt was success
| as a president because he kept things
| lively. "Of all defects that hamper a
president" he concludes, ito be prosaic
is the most deadly. Witness old John
| Adams, Tyler. Fillmore, Buchanan.
| Hayes and Harrison"
| There certainly appears to be some
thing in the senator's suggestion that
| prosaic men are seldom reelected to
| office. no matter how worthy Here is
a brand new slant on national politics
Whatever else the public gets, 1t must
| have entertainment!
| The diary contains an especially good
picture of w. ]. Bryan, who crops up
| again and again in one capacity or
another. While the peerless leader was
secretary of state, the senator took
| dinner with him.
| Grave Peril.
| Several times during the dinner
| he records. some OF us were in grave
peril owing to the fact that morsels
would find Judgment in our threats
] and we had nothing to wash them down