Evening star., 1936-09-06
Capital Sidelights
BY WILL p. KENNEDY.

state Representative Henry Cabot
Lodge of Massachusetts, wins out with
the Republican nomination for the
United States Senate against Gov.
James M. Curley, entering upon his
duties in the sesquicentennial of the
Constitution year. 1937-the entire his
tory Of the Federal Government will be
spanned in the service of one family.
Young Lodge is the grandson of the
Scholar in Politics" the late Senator
Henry Cabot Lodge, who served in Con-
gresS for 81 years until his death in
1924. And Senator Lodge was the
great grandson of George Cabot who
was member of the State Provincial
Congress in ITS, delegate to the State
Constitutional Convention in 1777 and
to the convention which ratified the
Constitution of the United States in
1877. He was elected as a Federalist to
the United States Senate in 1890. He
was appointed first Secretary of the
Navy In the cabinet Of John Adams, but
declined. He presided at the Hartford
Convention of 1914.
Gov. Curley, the Democratic can
didate, served in Congress from 1911
until 1914, when he resigned on being
elected for the first time Mayor of
Boston. He is being fought with bitter
sarcasm by Mayor Frederick H. Green
wood of Fitchburg, Independent candi-
date, and son-in-law of Senator Marcus
A. Coolidge, who is vacating the seat
for which they strive.
Arkansas Is another State celebrating
its centennial-which will continue until
December IS. One hundred years ago 1t
was admitted into the Union. But
Representative David D. Terry empha-
sizes that it has not been the desire of
the people of that State to put on a
big show" but to take stock within
themselves and to impress upon those
who visit the State during this period
its historical interests and the oppor-
tunities that its varied resources offer
for the future.
BY act Of Congress-. signed by Presi-
dent Andrew Jackson on June 15 1886,
Arkansas became the 25th of the
sovereign States.
fernando de Soto. the tireless Spanish
explorer, was the first white man to
place foot upon the soil of what after
ward became Arkansas. In 154l, more
than half century before the founding
of jamestown, New Amsterdam and Ply
mouth, he landed at point near what
is now Helena, on the banks of the Mis-
siSSippi River, and remained there about
one year, describing the country as "a
fair and pleasant land" The French
explorers, Marquette and Joliet, coming
southwark from Canada, saw this coun-
try when the civilization Of the Atlantic
seaboard was still in its infancy. The
territory was claimed for France by La
Sale. who took possession of all the
country "watered by the Mississippi and
its tributaries" The first settlement
was made by Lieut.. Henri de Tonti. a
follower Of La Sale, in 1886. at the
juncture Of the Arkansas and Mississippi
Rivers. Later. in 1853, France ceded the
territory to Spain, in whose possession
it remained for 81 years. In 1900 it was
repossessed by Napoleon Bonaparte
through secret treaty with Spain.
Three years later it passed into the
possession of the United States under
the purchase OF the Louisiana Territory
by Thomas Jefferson.
~
Lawyers predominated in the Consti-
tutional Convention. That is part of
message sent the fifty-ninth annual
meeting OF the American Bar ASsocia-
ton in Boston by Representative Sol
Bloom, director general of the United
States Constitution SeSquicentennial
Commission. He was answering the
question: who were the SIS men who in
varying degrees were the trainers of our
National Constitution" The knowledge
concerning some of them is indefinite,
but the following facts are substantially
correct. All OF them except eight were
natives OF the Colonies. Franklin, the
Oldest, was 81; Dayton, the youngest, was
26; IA were so or more, II were less than
40, IS were college men, 18 had been
officers in the Continental Army, OF
whom 10 were in the Society Of the
Cincinnati; one had been British ofhcer
before the Revolution. Thirty-four of
them were lawyers, or men who had at
least studied the law, some of them
trained at the Middle Temple in London.
Of these six had been or were to be
State attorneys general. five chief JUS
tices of the State Supreme Courts, four
chancellors, two national judges and five
justices of the Supreme Court of the
United States-one of whom was to be
Chief Justice and another after term as
associate justice was to be rejected for
the higher Office by the Senate. Eight
of the delegates were merchants or finan-
ciers. Six of them were planters, while
others were planters in addition to legal
or other activities. There were three
physicians and two former ministers Of
the gospel. several college professors and
one present and one future college presi-
dent. The fourth estate was represented
by, BENJAMIN Franklin.