The Washington times., 1922-06-27
SENATOR OF '65
At SO LOOKS. IN
ONWASH|NGT0N
Ex-senator Revisits Congress,
Shakes Hands With Harding.
and Doubts Prohibition.

Cornelius Cole. OF Los Angeles.
ninety-nine years young. chatted
today on a variety of topics AZ he
sat in his suite at Wardman Park
Inn. That section by the way was
more truly rural than the heart Of
Maryland when Senate Cole q Cali.
fornia, rose to debate in the Capitol
in the black years of civil war.
From octogenarian heights, Uncle
Joe Cannon and Chauncey Depew
can survey quite a historic expanse.
But Cornelius Cole stands nearer
the summit Of the years, and there
is perhaps more of the epochal and
adventurous in his memories than
in those of the other two grand old
men.
The days of 40 are not q tale Of
the Golden West to him. but an era
in which he helped mold a new ter
ritory. The voice of Lincoln,
silenced for fifty-seven years, still
intones for him the deathless Pc
riods of the Gettysburg addI Iess.
Former Senator Cole sat near
enough to touch the Emancipator
on the battlefield platform.
SudhcS hhatuhS 1hoho'
With his daughter. Mrs. J. c.
Mclaughlin and granddaughter,
Miss Cornelia Mclaughlin, Of Uew
York, and his son, Cornelius Cole.
jr., the aged Californian came to q
strange, great Washington yester-
day, to leave for New York to-
morrow. His first call was at the
White House where he shook hands
with young Warren Harding. after
ward visiting the offices OF those
Juveniles, Hiram johnson and Sam.
uel NJ. Shortrdige. solons from the
mighty State that was a trailless.
lawless country when he staked a
placer claim in ~.
Mr.. Cole also hearkened to the
tariff debate, sitting on the Senate
floor and opining, rather ambiguI
the same today as when he was in
Congress"
The upper house hasn't deterior.
ated at all, he told correspondents
during a hand-shaking levee In the
/ press gallery. II is a lot larger
than It was in 1865. when he par
ticipated in impeachment proceed
ings against President Andrew
johnson. he noted, however.
Mr. Coles recipe for reaching the
century mark, which he will do
on September %, is to "avoid ex
cesses and extremes in politics. just
as in habit" to "enjoy life but be
moderate"
Doubts Prohibition.
In. my day there was no thought
Of prohibition or woman suffrage"
he said with a smile. How would
my colleagues have voted on pro-
hibition? Well. may say the
Eighteenth Amendment would never
have been accepted by the trainers
! of the Constitution and I don't
| think II would have had many sup.
porters in the Senates Of the SOS" ="
The long trip across the continent
proved only an invigorator, Mr..
Cole declared. and he Rill do con.
siderable travelling b bre making
finds Washington Hcomfortably
but points out that those who are
| century make the same plant.
Mr.. Cole was born at Lodi. n. Y.
but after going to California by the
prairie schooner route he adopted
II as his State. He was first elected
to Congress in 1853, serving as
Senator from 1867 to 1873. and was
for years a personal friend Of Lin
coin. He was anxious to make clear
one point in regard to the Gettys,
burg speech. namely, that II was
strictly extemporaneous the historic
little rag Of crumpled brown paper
| not figuring in the scene at an ac-
cording to him.