The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1926-12-30
SHIPSTEAD HOLDS
PIVOTAL POSITION
Glenwood Statesman Much
Sought After by u. S.
Political Leaders
IS A ZONE MAN PARTY"
Eastern Paper Finds He Has
! Pronounced Opinion on
Public Questions

IOr f16nTlk OulpSCcdu ailu Vic plN
otal position he occupies as re-
suit of the last election appeared
in a recent issue of Philadelphia
Inquirer under the heading Be-
hind the Scenes at the National
Capitol"
1t was written by the Washing
ton correspondent of the Inquirer:
Washington-Political Washing
ton has been treated to a some
what unusual situation during the
last week or so. 1t is nothing new
to follow the movements of the
great and the near great in their
more or less dignified gravitation
toward the point of public notice
known as the spotlight. The par
ticular divergence in the present
instance is the movement of the
spotlight of its own accord tow
ard an individual seemingly I'M
prepared to receive such attention.
More than that, the fact of such
attention having been concentrat-
ed on his devoted person has fail
ed to arouse the customary emo
tions which either lead the one so
marked out to expand into his as
sumption of what the role de-
mands, or else to adopt a coy atti-
tude of half hearted denial that he
is worthy of the attention accord
ed.
The circumstances leading to
the phenomenon mentioned is the
fact that when the Seventeen Con-
gress convenes about year hence
there will be in the Senate a total
of forty-eight republicans, forty
seven Democrats and one Farmer
Labor Senator. The wise ones be-
gan to figure. The Farmer-Labor
member suddenly assumed I'M
wonted proportions of Importance.
What if he sided with the Demo-
Gratis Aha, what if? So, step by
step, there has been built UP a
host of "what ifs" that lend to the
zone man party" steadily increas-
ing value in the coming Senatorial
problem.
Thus has fortune singled out a
big blonde viking of "a man for an
unusual amount of attention. He
is Senator Henrik Shipstead of
Minnesota, the lone Farmer-Labor
Senator in Congress-, now that
Magnus Johnson has faded into
oblivion, at least politically speak
ing and for the time being. The
reportorial eye has been on Ship
stead. And when he was among
those invited to one of the fam
GUS Coolidge Breakfasts" the past
week, the "ahas" broke out with
renewed and increasing favor.
Coolidge is wooing Shipstead!
Will he land him in the Republi-
can ranks, or will the Democrats
get him on their side ?" So the talk
went, ad libitum, not to say al
nauseam.
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 be-
sides being number of other
things, he could sing Justify that
he was "a bosum tight and a mid
shipmite, and the crew of the Cap
tain's gig" By contrast, there was
the Hypothetical creation of the
Emperor Nero's fancy which con-
jured up a Rome with a single
neck, which he earnestly desired
to sever with a single blow. And
there are also many Greats" in
which the Importance of a single
@individual is mannified, at the ex-
pense of the many.
Such would the casters of po-
litical horoscopes make for the mo-
ment of MIR. Shipstead. But he
will have none of it. In his view,
the whole situation is spun of
thread more fragile than the spid-
er's web. And if it were other
wise, he has no stomach for the
role.
"'It seems to me this is based up
on perfectly arbitrary assump-
ton of certain condition" Thus
the analysis of the situation OPP
ened in the Shipstead offices in the
Senate office building.
fSay the Republicans have for
ty-eight, as they have on paper
there may be changes in the figures
why all this talk of a single vote
and it's Importance on all legisla-
ton? Many of the Senators are
old, and they and others cannot
be at their seats at all times. Be
sides, very seldom is a measure
passed on strictly partisan vote.
I need only call your attention to
the record of tax legislation, the
World Court and many other mat
tiers, on which party lines have
broken on both sides"
Then came the discussion OF
oneman power, in the abstract, al
though history was ransacked for
concrete instances where it failed
to bless.
at may be that some would be
fiattered by the suggestion that un-
usual power resided in their hands
From my talk you will see that il
does not appeal to me. In the first
place don't believe in dictator
ship, whether in the Chief Execu-
tive or in member of Congress
Individuals have a noticeable in
clination to believe that if they
had a great deal of power they
would use that power very benev.
olently. From my observations,
don't think there was ever any