Norwich bulletin., 1922-02-03
SENATOR 'M'LEAN's CAREER

Is GIVEN IN SKETCH
The Boston Globe, IN It's series of
sketches Of congress members. says Of
the junior Connecticut senator:
TT you could watch United States
Senator George P. Mclean Of Connect
cut at the meetings Of the committee on
banks and banking. Of which he Is chair
man, hear him on the floor x the sen
ate savaEely oppose measures favored by
western members in behak of the tiiiers
Of the soil. and. II you knew something
of the political fights he was obliged to
make In the Nutmeg state against the
reactionary republicans and big corpor-
atoms to get to the senate, You might
| attribute bis present attitude to ad-
vancing years and his environment; but
that would hardly be complete or
satisfactory answer, because other men
at s. cling tenaciously to the ideals of
their early manhood and are willing to
battle for them.
although Senator Mclean was born
on q Connecticut farm, he has no love
for the agricultural bloc, q group OF
western senator's. who say that from
now on the farmer mus. be considered
! in legislation as well as the manMac-
| turer and big business, and that Il pro-
| lection Is good for the factory, 1t IL good
for the farm.
Opponents Of the AGRICULTURAL bloc de-
| clare that the farmer ie money mad, I'M
Reasonable and selfish, and that their leg
| islative propositions are class legisla-
ton, pure and simple. One thing Is
quite certain. The bloc means business.
Woe to him who tries to defeat It's legis-
| latfve programmes.
IN the II years Senator Mclean has
/ been In the senate he has always run
with the G.. o. P. machine, but back
home he had to- fight 1t hard to break
into politics.
/ HE comes of old New England stock
and was born IN the little village of
Simsbury, Hartford county He spent
his boyhood on his fathers farm. and
went to the public schools OF the town,
After graduating from the Hartford High
school, he became reported for one of
the Hartford papers, but his ambition
was to be. lawyer and he studied In
the office of we'll known attorney Of
that city.
1.-TWO years SITTER his admission te
the bar, the young LAWYER was elected
to the legislature. He declined to take
orders from the bosses and he made him.
self felt at the capitol.
HE had some ideas of his own which
he began at once to advocate. such as
prison reform, preparing bill creating
board of pardins. He was named sec
retary Of this body and served in tina
capacity for number of years, be
coming a recognized authority on pris
| on matters. He was named a menibe
: of the commission to revise the stat
laws In 1885.
the following year he was q nembe
Of the state senate. For four years h
: was the United States district pttorne
: / for Connecticut and during the sam
period he acted as counsel for the stat
controller and the state trea surAr s
you see that the young lawyer was get
/ ting along pretty we'll
. I'm 1900 he dared TO run for gov
/; ernor on q reform nlatform. That wa
!, an innovation in Connecticut. At frs
y the Old Guard Laughter and sneered 2
| him. but Me- was full Of fight and woul
!. not be laughed or sneered out of tn
| campaign. He won the governorship !
: avery bitter contest and he was re-elect
Z ed
$ During his term as governor. NJ
= ! Mclean made a gallant effort to abolis
a the rotten borough system of his stat
: Int the corporations and the party lead
: ers lined IN their votes against him an
V stopped any change In the political sv,
]. tenn whereby a small town has a 9 larg
n a representation in the legislature as
city.
sFor some time ''FigHtinr No .
they called him had his eve on ser
atorial seat, but the machine and the II
0 terests they served were able to kee
: him at home for awhile Finally, after
g long, hard and bitter struggle in 1911,
# the republican Caucus he was nomir
a ated and the general assembly electe
g him nv q vote Of 15s for Mclean an
k 9s for Homer s. Cummings. the dem,
. cratic candidate One DIE Hard on II
republican SADIE refused to accept IL
e domination Of Mclean and voted Il
Is Morgan G. Buckley. McIean's leadir
n opnonent for the nomination.
d Senator Mclean entered the sena
s. when the Roeeo1AIt-T-ft frht was
J. its height 80 1900 mr.
n ~sive, he stood up for Taft, selievir
= that the preSlaent 49, entitled to a Sc
J. ond term
a Ills present term will eynire
1. March Of next year. Consequently !
IS will have TO seek 8 denomination ar
It reelection this fall. Up to date II lool
g az Il he would have clear field in Il
primaries.
L. THE junior senator from Connect
70 cut Is one Of tbs cieverest debaters
o. the senate. He is high strung ma
st who puts lot of energy into his speec
1t es and always prepares hmse
/ thoroughly on any subject that he 4
s. tends to discuss.
% "As a stump sneaker ne has few euus
d In his state. He has q sharp tongu
le wide vocabulary and the facility
n, getting right down under the skin Of h