The Washington times., 1921-01-30
lAUDSBORAH
Senate Has Many Eloquent
Speakers, Says Or. Cavanuagh,
Head Of K. c. Night School.
(continued from First Page

torial talent In playing politics
though not 30 much as is TO be de-
tected In the House-And private In
terests are often shamelessly exploit
ed At the cost OF public service, but
that seems unavoidable In political
organizations and 10 not utterly un-
known In religious ones. where men
are expected to be at their best. Al
any rate, the man who says he man.
ages to preserve his patriotic enthu'
siasm by staying away from the SEN
ate chamber II irascible and unfair.
For my part. / believe that respect
for the Senate will grow just In pro-
portion as one comes to know more
about the Senators. The average OF
ability among them liz exceptionally
high. and there Is a wholesome con-
scientiousness among the men OF
both parties when II comes to voting
on important measures. The Sena-
tors are In nearly all cases first-rate
Americans in spirit and In temper. and
I would trust them to do justice to
their political opponents In a big de-
cision with more confidence than
would trust the same number of &C.
c1esiastics to be fair to the other side
in q controversy.
II the Joker were to call the Senate
IAN old mans club" there would be
more justice-and more humor-tn
the phrase. That Is just what tho
Senate Is expected to be in our Gov
ernmentai apparatus-an old mans
home. The word is derived from
senex, which In Latin means an old
man, and while our word senility most
unfortunately is from the same root.
there Is no necessary implication that
there Is any further connection be-
tween the two terms.
On the contrary. the Senate. at its
best, is without a doubt the most i'm
pressive. the most majestic and ca
pable deliberate body in the wor d.
But the Senators are supposed to
have the psychology and the tempera-
ment of old men, in the theory of our
Government. Just as the House Is
counted upon to reflect the explosive
and dynamic moods of our peo~l' n
government so the Senate is expect
ed to supply the mod ration, the d -
liberation and the conservative check
on emotion or enthusiasm or passion.
MANY SENATORS HIDE REAL
INFLUENCE IN CHAMBER.
Many Senator'S never display in
the Chamber the immenee INF uence
they exert in reality. When Senator
Beveridge invented the phrase Fin
visible government" he was denounc-
ing a group of powerful and wealthy
men outside Washington who we~e
believed to pull the strings which
made the political puppets dane.
But in another and very respectable
sense the Government Ia really an In
visible one in it's methods. The real
work Of Congress Is done in commit
tee or in party council, or in pr vate
discussion outside the Legislative
10 iv lx hat "A
E, .. -~or tn floor ny any spe CHI,
however persuasive. The thing is not
Ia. :. Va, of course, but 1t doesn't
often happen in important matters.
"a. Most of the talk in public Is bun
combe." Do you know the origin of
the word buncombe? A member rep
resentaing Buncombe county. Ca.
was delivering an insufferabiy dull
speech and his weary colleagues one
by one slipped into the cloakrooms to
enjoy smoke. When the speaker
attention was called to 1t, he merely
answered, Let 'em all go out II they
like; I'm talking for Buncombe."
Most of the public talk by Congress-
men is frankly buncombe-meanin &
no disrespect. If all the work had to
be done on the floor Of the chamber
there would be little accomplished
and the interests of the country
would suffer.
On the other hand, there is and
must always be an opportunity for
the most brilliant eloquence to func-
ton both in House and Senate. 1t
is in the nature of things that the
man who is powerful in speech will
be a leader Of his people. 1t has all
ways been so, and probably it will
always be SO. Hence, the young man
who would attain and keep an ascen-
dency. over his fellow-man ought to
cultivate power of public speaking
not merely the aspirant for public life
and political honors, not merely the
clergyman, the lawyer and the
teacher; but all men who would have
influence over a considerable number
of their fellows. The Knights of Co
lumbus night school is rendering q
great service by it's course OF public
speaking in Washington, and large
group Of earnest men and women are
very wisely taking advantage Of 1t.
sUPPREssING FREE SPEECH
FIRST STEP OF TYRANNY.
The Senate is a parliament, and
government by parliament means
simply government by speech. There
Is much wisdom in the name. because
after wide and thorough discussion
of measures 1t is not SO difficult for
the country to choose wise course
OF action. The suppression OF free
speech and free discussion is the first
step in the policy of any tyrant; after
that, the rest Is easy.
Is the Senate degenerating from
the point of view OF high class
oratory? Most people, remembering
the great names of the past-Ran-
dolph, Everett, Benton, Webster
Hayne, Clay, Calhoun, Corwin, Rufus
Choate, Sumner, Seward, Dou- la s,
Schurz Lamar, ConklinE, Blaine
Sherman. Hoar, Shively probably
would answer yes. Doubtless per-
spective has something to do with
that Herbert Spencer wrote this
beautiful and brilliant sentence: "As
in row OF equidistant columns the
farthest OFF seem closer together, s,
the conspicuous objects of the past
seem more thickly clustered together
the more remote they are" That just
hits of one aspect OF the case.
Another consideration is this: Com
pliers OF libraries Of eloquence, max.