Evening star., 1939-07-07
Swanson
Continued From First Page.)

man. He was one of President
Roosevelt's stanchest supporters in
his drive for big Navy.
"All the large wars disclose the
inevitable truth that those who con-
troll the surface of the sea ultimately
win Mr.. Swanson, then Senator,
said in an address in 1890 just be-
fore the London Naval Conference.
He was chairman of the Senate
Naval Committee in the late stages
of the World War and in 1916 he
sponsored a $500, 100000 shipbuilding
program which provided for Is capi-
tai war vessels. 1t was then that he
met Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was
Assistant Secretary of the Navy.
Fond as he was of the battleship.
Mr.. Swanson was always vigorous
opponent of the submarine. At the
Geneva conference he opposed Ger
man and Italian plans for abolish
ing the battleship and advocated in
stead the abandonment of the sub
marine as a naval weapon. He
called the undersea boats the as
sassins of the seas"
His interest in American sea poW-
er was not limited to fighting ships.
In militant speech for the 1929
cruiser bill, Senator Swanson urged
the creation of "a merchant marine
adequate to handle our foreign COM
merce." He asserted that however
strong the American Navy may be,
without merchant marine in time
of war" the ability of a fighting
force is reduced more than so per
cent"
Native of Virginia.
Secretary Swanson was born in
SWansonville, Va, March 81, 1862.
His father was a tobacco planter,
but the son, with his family over
whelmed by the post-Civil War hard
times, had to work for an educa-
ton. At is he taught school for a
year, and then attended Virginia
Polytechnic Institute for one semes-
ter.
His treasury was depleted and he
iietN w 81 w WI n dSdlll. I1C UCSdlllC
a clerk in grocery at Danville.
With his earnings and with the loan
from some friendly business men
in that city, he managed to put
himself through Randolph Macon
College and then through the Uni
versity of Virginia Law School.
He practiced law in Chatham,
Va, and in 1893 began his long
service here as a member of the
House. After his term of Governor
expired in 1910, he was named to fill
out an unexpired term in the Sem
ate. He was serving his fifth
straight term in the Senate when
President Roosevelt chose him for
his cabinet.
Representative Swanson was the
matinee idol of the House when he
first arrived there. His elegance of
appearance bowled over a New York
correspondent, who wrote to his pa
per:
He is slender and beautifully pro-
portioned, and has abundant, wavy,
dark hair, handsome rfustache and
brave black eyes. He will undoubt-
edly attract much attention from
the ladies gallery"
Developed Wide Popularity.
Mr.. Swanson quickly developed
wide popularity in Washington
which never diminished. He was a
ready speaker, with a large store of
Negro stories which he could fit into
any occasion. Until his illness cut
him down, he was in demand at BAN
quets and was always the center of
any story-swapping group that
gathered in the congressional cloak
rooms.
An orator of the old school, he
had keen wit as well as political
sagacity. Both stood him in good
stead in the 40 years in which he
was power in Virginia politics.
He was great yarn spinner.
Politics and fishing were his favorite
fields. One writer said he had
earned the reputation of having
caught more fish in the cloakroom
of the Senate than any other man"
He laughed even at jests about
himself. No one enjoyed more than
he this thrust from a fellow Sen
'ator one day:
Claude, you're the only man I