Evening star., 1926-06-08
UNDERWOOD'S SENATE CAREER
IS RAPIDLY DRAWING TO CLOSE
Alabama Member 10 Re-
tire in March 10 Vir-
ginia Home.
Only Two i'm Congress
Can Show Longer
Record OF Service.
By Consolidated Press.

By Consolidated Press.
lie has so completely submerged
| himself since those days two years
ago. when the rafters of old Madison
Square Garden were ringing with the
refrain OF '24 votes for Underwood y
few persons have realized that the
long Legislative career of Senator Os-
car w. Underwood of Alabama is
drawing rapidly to ii close. Senator
Underwood is retiring from public life
from sheer ennui. Like John Sharp
Williams of Mississippi who said he
would rather be a ''yaller dawg bayin'
at the moon than remain longer in
the United States Senate, Oscar I'm
derwood is undoubtedly of the opinion
that the toga of today is but Il phan
tom raiment q cloak of departed
glory.
Oscar Underwood belongs to the old
school of American politics. He came
TO Washington when Grover Cleve-
land was III the White House. There
has been a long procession of Presi-
dents since then = Mckinley. Roose-
welt. Taft, Wilson, Harding. Coolidge.
There are only two men in Congress
who were here when Oscar Under
wood came. Senator Warren of Wyo-
ming. dean of the Senate, is one, and
Representative Henry Allen Cooper of
Wisconsin, dean of the House, is the
other. Senator Warren first came to
the Senate in lS90-3G wears ago. Mr..
Cooper came to the House in 1898.
Mir. Underwood came TO the House in
1895 and served there until 1915. When
his term expires, March next, he will
have served II years in the Senate.
lie was IN the House continuously for
20 years.
Served Under -Four Speakers.
Car" Reed was Speaker when
young Underwood first took his oath
to uphold and defend the Constitution
against all its enemies from within Or
without. Suctessively he served under
Speaker David 3. Henderson, Uncle
Joe" Cannon and Champ Clark, who
still was in the chair when Mr.
Underwood's constituents transferred
him to the Senate.
1t will be seen from this that Mr..
Underwood has served his country
through an interesting span or MS
tory. but he is done with 1t all now
He has bought a great manor house
and estate down the Potomac River,
and when he takes the papers from
his desk in the Senate chamber next
March he is going to retire 10 the
classic shades of old Virginia ana de-
vote himself to reading. and possipiv
to the writing of a book or two. Ala
hama which on more than one occa-
sion sought to honor him with the
nomination for the presidency, Is
loath to lose her first citizen, put
Mr.. Underwood feels that in Virginia
he will find greater seclusioI thal
would be possible at home ana,
l,a ha removed
all further political threats or Temp
tations.
Deliberately and calmly. as ne mas
done most things through his well
filled life, Mr.. Underwood is removing
himself from the zones OF polltlcai
activity and ambition. He is retlrlng
thoroughly and completely. 1t VIII De
strange. indeed, at the next Demo-
cratic national convention not to hear
Alabama start the long roll with her
faithful votes for Underwood
Never Expected Nomination.
The senior Senator from Alabama
never seriously entertained hopes OF
reaching the White House. For one
reason, he felt he always was too
ont snoken. This was a trait whlcn
endeared him to his friends and sup
porters down home.' but it was not
conducive to getting a presldentlai
nomination. Oscar UNDERWOOD always
has said what he thought. Poiltical
hypocrisv has been abhorrent to MN
and he would not stoop to IT.
Because he lived in the busy indus.
trial atmosphere of Birmingham ana
was quicker than many Of his South
ern assistants in Congress TO grasp
the fact that the South was pursuing
into a great business ana lndustfiai
center. with interests akin 10 those
of the North and with q prosperity
hound up with other sections OF the
country, Mr.. Underwood was written
down wears ago as a represeitd.i'e
of 1.-The interests he was. lliueeu' "
representative Of "the interests pu.
the interests were those OF MS nome
city and state. C,
rress'' with some representatives VINO
live in a departed era, who have no
a of the changes the years
have wrought in their own sectlon
and who are harping upon the issues
of 40 years ago.
Conservative in Views.
Oscar Underwood admittedly has
been a conservative His whole life.
n,,blic and private, has been one or
Despite the conserVa-
tism of his views, however, he be-
came by power of brain ana per
sonality the leader of his party. first
in the House and then in the Senate:
uzp1~@ III