Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1926-12-30
BEHIND THE SCENES AT
THE NATIONS CAPITAL

ocratic and thoughtful senator,
Henrik Shipstead, gives his views
( regarding the almost equal di-
vision of Republican and DEM
ocratic Senators and how he re-
|. CARDS his power in the Senate.
Mr.. Shipstead is also quoted as
:, to his views on government in
general, showing that he is
friend of the masses. The ar
ticle follows:
Political Washington has been
| treated to a somewhat unusual stu
alton during the last week or so. 1t
lis nothing new to follow the move
ments of the great and the near great
| in their more or less dignified CRAWL
tation toward the point of public no
tice known as the spotlight. The par
| ticular divergence in the present in
stance is the movement of the spot
| light of it's own accord toward an
individual seemingly unprepared to
| receive such attention. More than
that, the fact of such attention having
been concentrated ON his devoted per-
son has failed to arouse the custom
| airy emotions which either lead the
one so marked out to expand into his
assumption of what the role demands,
or else to adopt coy attitude of
half-hearted denial that he is worthy
of the attention accorded.
The circumstances leading to the
phenomenon mentioned is the fact
that when the SEVENTEEN Congress
convenes about year hence there
will be in the Senate total of forty
eight Republicans, forty-seven Dem
ocrats, and one Farmer-Labor Senator.
The wise ones began to figure. The
Farmer-Labor member suddenly as
sumed unwonted proportions of i'm
portance. What if he sided with the
Democrats? Aha, what if? So, step
by step, there has been built up a
host of what ifs" that lend to the
lone man party" steadily increasing
value in the coming Senatorial prob
lem.
Thus has fortune singled out a big,
blonde viking of a man for an un-
usual amount of attention. He is
Senator Henrik Shipstead of Mime
sofa, the lone Farmer-Labor Senator
in Congress, now that Magnus John
son has faded into oblivion, at least
politically speaking and for the time
being. The reportorial eye has been
on Shipstead. And when he was
among those invited to one of the
famous Coolidge Breakfasts" the past
week, the "ahas" broke out with re-
newed and increasing fervor. "Cool-
idge is wooing Shipstead! Will he
land him in the Republican ranks, or
will the Democrats get him on their
side?" So the talk went, ad libitum,
not to say ad nauseam.
zone Man Party Gives His View.
Now, Senator Shipstead knows
something of one-man celebrities.
There is the celebrated character, the
hero of one of the Bah Ballads, who
achieved his distinction by processes
of absorption, until besides being a
number of other things he could sing
and midshipmite, and the crew of
the Captains gig. BY contrast, there
was the hypothetical creation of the
Emperor Nero's fancy, which con-
jured up hero with single neck,
which he earnestly desired to sever
with a single blow. And there are
also many Greats" in which the i'm
portance of single individual is
magnified, at the expense of the many.
Such would the casters of political
horoscopes make for the moment of
Mr.. Shipstead. But he will have none
of it. In his view the whole stu
alton is spun of thread more fragile
than the spiders web. And if it
were otherwise, he has no stomach
for the role.
at seems to me that this is based
upon a perfectly arbitrary assump-
tion of a certain condition" Thus the
analysis of the situation opened in
the Shipstead Offices in the Senate
office building.
"Say the Republicans have forty
eight, as they have on paper-there
may he changes in the fgures-why
all this talk of single vote and its
Importance on all legislation? Many
of the Senators are old, and they and
| others cannot be at their seats at all
times. Besides, very seldom is a
measure passed on a strictly partisan
| vote. need only call your attention
| to the record on tax legislation, the
World Court and many other matters
on which party lines have broken on
both Sides"
/, Against All Relationships.
Then came the discussion of one
man power, in the abstract, although
history was ransacked for concrete
instances where it failed to bless.
1T may be that some would be flat
tered by the suggestion that unusua
d power resided in their hands. From
my talk you will see that it does no
i appeal to me. In the first place
don't believe in dictatorship, whethe
in the Chief Executive or in a mem
Der of Congress.