The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1921-05-06
PENROSE TO
Be CENTER OF
next FIGHTS
Will Open Hearings on Taxa
tion and Tariff Monday
Health Subject of Concern
to Contemporaries.
LA Toilette IMPROVES
BY MARK SULLIVAN

WASHINGTON, D. c., May 6.-With
the ground cleared of bills and other
matters that hung over from the pre-
vious session, we shall begin on Mon
day the real work of the present
session. Senator Penrose on that
Gay opens the hearings on tariff and
taxation. From that time onward,
Senator Penrose should have the cen,
ter of the stage. He is the chairman
OF the committee on finance, and it is
the committee on finance that will
nave charge of the two great subjects
of tariff revision and tax revision
Just how Senator Penrose will bear
up under this load is a subject of
concern to his friends. His health is
still not good. His fund of vitality
is far short of that which enabled a
leader like Aldrich to drive tariff
through hot summer session. And
even Senator Aldrich, his friends be-
lieve shortened his years by the ex-
actions of that work. Mr. Penrose was
out of the senate for a full year be-
cause of ill health. Since the first of
last December he has been and in
steady attendance. But nobody who
observes him believes that his
strength is of the best
Gets Ovatons.
While his physical strength may be
deficient, Penrose, because of that
very handicap will have an amount
of support that he would otherwise be
without. Whenever he makes publi;,
appearance. and whenever the occa-
sion justif1es it at all. he is given an
ovation for the gameness with which
he stands up under obvious physical
handicaps-an ovation which is
shared in not merely by his old friends
but by many who in former times and
on political grounds would be far
, from showing him Difference.
| One of the appealing sights on the
| floor on several occasions has been
LaFollatte showing a friendly human
solicitude for Penrose's health. La
Toilette has been through long siege
of bad health and has undergone ar
| operation at Rochester,. LaFollettt
describes the arrangement of his
! health as having. been of nature tina
| caused too much bile to be In his sys
TEN, and not in humor. but in the
most friendly solicitude many believe
it is this fact that has caused that eX
| cessive irritability which during tn,
past few years took away from LaFol
lette some of the prestige and follow
lug ludl uC ndU.
Confidence Will Help
! Penrose's restoration to health il
less obvious than LaFollette's. Pen
rose, in spite of the strong positions
he always took in politics, has Away!
posed him most bitterly in politics
Penrose's directness, straight for
wardness and spontaneous truthful
ness always made even his politica
enemies have confidence in him, ant
this confidence will help him now il
the duty that falls on him of drivin,
through two difficult and compile,
measures in the field Of tariff ant
tax2tion.
The Pennsylvania senator Is a yer,
able man. He has never done justic
to his own ability. 1t is fair assuml
ton that if Penrose had come from
California or Oregon. instead of from
Pennsylvania he might have been
very considerable figure in our his
tory. The fact that his home state i
only two hours from Washington ha
always kept him involved in the mir
utie of state politics to the extent tha
his time was consumed in being a pol
tician, he did not have time to be a
much of statesman as his very grea
ability and his strong qualification
of character might have made him.
Smoot to Aid
Penrose's chief aid in plotting tn
tariff and taxation bills through cor
gress will come from Smoot, of Utaf
and that aid will be great. Senate
Smooth is an indefatigable worke
He cares nothing for recreation wha
ever, and every minute of his tim
and every ounce of his vitality is d.
voted to the business of the govern
ment. Smoot is to the governmen
, of the United States like a faithfu
bookkeeper or treasurer in many
private business. He knows more {
the business of the United State
than any other living person, whe
the debates on the tariff and the ia
, bills are in action it will be Smoc
who will know more of the details {
; those bills than any other person.
Copyright 1921. by the New York
Evening ost, Inc.)