The Lexington progress. (Lexington, Tenn.) 1884-current, 1921-09-16
SOMETIME SENATOR"
FINS J. GARRETT.

SOMETIME SENATOR"
FINS J. GARRETT.
There is none of the spectacular
seen in the progress the Fordney tar
iff made through the house of repre-
sentatives. The whole show was pre-
determined, predestined. 1t was a
bluff at congregational legislation,
and only bluff, for Mr.. Penrose in
the senate will boss the job of tariff
making, and not Mr.. Forney in the
house. In my time the pride pomp
and circumstance of the parliamentary
pageantry was never SO brillient and
so ostentatious as the day the debate
on the Wilson tariff was closed in the
fifty-third congress, twenty-seven
years ago. There was a battle royal
between William L. Wilson and Thorn
as B. Reed, and at the close William
Jennings Bryan and Henry St. George
Tucker took in the stalwart arms the
Democratic champion and bore him
out the arena in a delerium of
triumph, while the immense Demo
cratic majority were frantic in their
screams of approval and applause.
But on that occasion the American
congress legislated When the Ford
bill was passed the other dayy, the
house merely registered a decree of
an oligarchy.
Claude Kitchen is the titular lead
err of the minority in the present con-
gress, but his physical health is SER
iously impaired and he has been I'M
able to attend the sittings of the
house. The recognized leader is FL
mis- j. Garrett, of Tennessee, and the
methods of procedure being what they
are become, Mr.. CARROTS leadership
has been miraculously successful. He
is an admirable man in many res
poets. He has that personal quality
which defies definition, and that in
woman is happily called charm. |
suppose there are folk who hate him
for his politics, but it is impossible
for one to dislike FINS Garrett the
man.
Garrett is 46 years old and has con-
tinuously represented his district
in congress since 1905, at present
serving his eighth term. When a
young man, under 80, he beat Rice
Pierce, veteran, for the Democratic
nomination for a seat in the fifty
ninth congress. Pierce had national
reputation and for a long time had
been CONSPICUOUS among those who
championed silver coinage at the ra-
ito Of 16 to /. The young congress-
man was admirably fitted for public
life. At the age of 10 he was the
editor of country newspaper. 1t
dealt largely with political questions,
and while the editor did not make
deal Of money out of the enterprise,
he got lot of fun out of it and a
heap Of invaluable education. 1t is an
exalted station-an honest man, with
political convictions and fearless in
defense of them, in charge of news
paper. The public will soon find him
out. If an editor is a scamp, he is
certain to show it. II he is a hypo-
crit, he cannot hide his depravity.
there is some quality, maybe it is
telepathy, that reveals the writer to
the reader, even the grossly ignorant
reader. 1t is the noblest of the pro-
LESSONS when the editor is honest and
capable, and the most ignoble of the
professions when the editor is a scourtN
drel. Thank God, the honest newspa-
per man cannot hide his honesty, and
it is just as impossible for the knav-
lsh newspaper man to conceal his
villainry.
Subsequently Fins Garrett went to
college, studied law, was admitted to
the bar and practiced that honorable
profession; but, for one, am assured
that it was in the editorial chair and
as correspondent of the Nashville
Banner and the Memphis Commercial
Appeal that Finis Garrett fitted HIM
self for the distinguished service he
has rendered his party and his coun-
try in the national legislature.
Garrett is one of the best equipped
men in congress for rough and tumble
debate in the house, which is only to
say that he is thoroughly conversant
with the political issues as they pre-
sent themselves. He is never so for
midable as when, in colloqual de-
bate, he puts question to the adver-
sary, and it invariably happens that
his question is embarrassing, and if
the member he is catechising is not
we'll acquainted with the matter of
dispute the effect on him is frequently
disastrous.
Mr. Garrett is no declamer, but he
is pleasing public speaker. His vo-
cabulary, is not ornate like Bourke
Cochran's, his voice is not dulect like
Bryan's, but his delivery is fluent, his
speech plain, his reasoning clear. He
is always courteous. He never seeks
to wound the feelings of the adver-
sary or humiliate him. He would
rather convince than confound, rather
persuade than coerce. Yet he is no
Miss Nancy, and all his speeches are
as manly as they are skillful. In de-
bate he is match for any man on the
Republican side, and that is saying
good deal. Jim Mann, Speaker Gil
lett and leader Mondell have all felt
his steel.
When the session of congress be-
gan in April, forty-five Democrats
voted for the emergency tariff. Only
five Democrats voted for the Fordney
tariff. At least half doven Repub-
licans voted for free silver in the fif-
ty-thlrd congress, though Tom Reed
led that side and Reed was a great
leader.