Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1923-01-11

Of proposed legislation ever presented
to an American congress.
Senatorial Courtesy Strained.
AS the old saying which cow has
passed into the class of bromides has
it, the exception proves the rule.
Therefore if is likely, because United
/ States senators once in a while forget
themselves and become discourteous,
the lapses from decorum prove that
senatorial courtesy" is still the or
der of the day,
The United States senate unques-
tionably likes to think of itself as it
/ was called by great main, the great
est deIiberative body on earth" and
probably it also likes to think Of itself
as observing always the rules of that
Senatorial courtesy which has passed
into the realm of proverb.
When the senate divides itself into
factions irrespective of party, the
strain on the amenities is great. Real
1 ly the wonder is there are not more
breaches of the rules Of polite conduct
and polite conversation in the senate
than there are.
The times of today are times that
try senatorial souls and incidentally
senatorial tempers. The great ones
from this state, that state and yonder
state are compelled day by day 10
/ keep the curb on their inclinations TO
! break out. They break out now and
then, but that which looks tragic for
a while generally eventually takes on
comedy aspect with the happy en- l.
| ing which is characteristic of COM
edies.
Smoot and Simmons Clash.
/ 1t was only day or two ago that
the urbane Senator Smoot of Utah
and the equally urbane Senator Sim
mons of South Carolina had an inter
change which was an approach to that
progression of interchange of which
| Shakespeare wrote, the passing from
the retort courteous to the lie direct
Senator Smoot and Senator Simmons
have been exceedingly friendly one 70
/
| ~ friendly one to the other. The in
! terchange and the heat which accom-
panied it passed Within the compass
of a second or two of the precious time
of senate debate and now no one would
| believe for an instant that either had
struck flint to produce the spark Of
/ insinuation or the spark of resentment.
/ In the last session Cor was it the ses-
! sion before the last?) the mild but al
ways determined Senator McCumber
came close to having something more
! substantial than a mere vocal encoun-
ter with a gentleman on the other side
of the chamber who belongs to a pO-
litical party which is not that Of the
gentleman from North Dakota. Hos
tilities were prevented and the word
! is today that the two who seemed to
be mixing war paint on that day of un-
hallowed memory are now as compan-
ionably inclined as any Darby and
Joan.
One has to go a long way back into
the past to run on to authentic Incl
dents Of actual physical encounters in
the senate of the United States. Two
senators from South Carolina in the
early days of the Roosevelt administra-
ton exchanged super-heated words with
one another and then exchanged blow
or two There was terrific ado about
/ this happening and it left its mark
on the senate's sense Of propriety long
after any physical marks, the direct
result Of the encounter, had disap-
peared.
Mix-Up That Shocked the Senate.
Once when the senate was in execu-
tive. session, history has it that GER
tain senator from Indiana who was
and is in no wise a physical giant, al
! though his intellectual equipment
would suggest the giant, bad what we
vulgar-minded writer's like to call a
mix-up with a Texas senator Of the
day who was physical giant and also
like his antagonist man of more than
ordinary qualities intellectually.
1t took the senate a year or two 70
recover from the shock Of this encopn-
ter. It's dignity Of course had been
outraged, but the humorous part of it
was that probably no one would have
known about the ruCtion if the sena-
tors themselves bad kept still, for the
! thing happened when the doors were
closed and with no one present except
the always reticent presiding OFFICER
and the senators of the various SOW
ereign states themselves.
Once on a time in the corridor Of
| the United States senate a Texas sem
ator and a South Carolina newspaper
man had an interchange of something
! harder than words. 1t is said that an
umbrella figured in the proceedings.
/ The story Of this encounter brings sad
memory to newspaper men because
I their colleague, who on that day was
acting within his rights as man, row
lies in France where he was killed by
a German bullet while valiantly lead
ing his company into action,
The senate's personal rows are few
and far between. Their infrequent
happening gives them a prominence
that they would lack if they were the
expected order Of daily debate.
| To Mark | andino Place of Columbus.