Cleveland. It is so now, under Wilson. It has been so a number of other times. Elections cost millions; but there come times when they are worth hundreds of millions.

If today we had to wait five more years instead of only two, before we could have a Presidential election, it would be hard to exaggerate the despondency, gloom and despair with which the minds of our business men would be filled-except those who have "war orders."

But there is a great compensation for the trouble and cost. of our elections aside from all money or business considerations in the fact that they are not only educational as to the issues involved, but also wholesome in a patriotic sense; on account of this feature they are not only invaluable but indispensable in a free popular government.

George Washington and his compatriots, who constituted the Convention that framed our organic law, were a wise, conscientious, and patriotic body. They knew what they were doing when they fixed the respective terms for the offices they created. The passing years continually admonish us to make haste slowly in changing their work.

SOME OF MY COLLEAGUES.

When I had taken my seat I found myself surrounded by a Senate membership as able and as highly honorable to be associated with as any that body had ever known.

The presiding officer was the Vice President-the Honorable Garrett A. Hobart. He was a good parliamentarian, prompt and just in his rulings, and a genial, good hearted, loyal and faithful man who justly enjoyed the friendship and regard of the entire membership without respect to party.

His successor as Vice President was Theodore Roosevelt, who acted in that capacity only during the short session following his inauguration. But it was long enough to show that his peculiar qualifications for the public service fitted. him better for wider, broader and more useful fields of labor.

The next Vice President during my service was Charles W. Fairbanks. I knew him long before we went to the Senate.

He was a man of the highest character, sensitively honorable, diligent, and faithful in the discharge of his duties, well worthy and fully meriting all the high honors he enjoyed.

Among the others on the Republican side, mentioning them in the alphabetical order of their States, were such distinguished leaders as George C. Perkins of California, Joseph R. Hawley and Orville H. Platt, and later Morgan G. Bulkeley and F. B. Brandagee of Connecticut; Porter J. McCumber and Henry C. Hansbrough of the Dakotas; Shelby M. Cullom and William E. Mason of Illinois; Charles W. Fairbanks and later Albert J. Beveridge of Indiana; William B. Allison and later Jonathan P. Dolliver of Iowa; William P. Frye and Eugene Hale of Maine; George F. Hoar and Henry Cabot Lodge of Massachusetts; Julius C. Burrows and later Russell A. Alger and after his death, William Alden Smith of Michigan; Cushman K. Davis and Knute Nelson of Minnesota; Thomas H. Carter of Montana; John M. Thurston of Nebraska; William E. Chandler and Jacob H. Gallinger of New Hampshire; William J. Sewell of New Jersey; Thomas C. Platt and later Chauncey M. Depew of New York; Boies Penrose and Matthew S. Quay and later P. C. Knox of Pennsylvania; Nelson W. Aldrich and G. P. Wetmore of Rhode Island; Justin S. Morrill and Redfield Proctor and later W. P. Dillingham of Vermont; Stephen B. Elkins and later Nathan B. Scott of West Virginia; John C. Spooner of Wisconsin and Clarence D. Clark and Francis E. Warren of Wyoming.

The mere mention of these names is sufficient to show that the Republican Party was then represented in the Senate by men well qualified to successfully deal with the serious questions that were soon to arise.

Among those I have mentioned was Justin S. Morrill, the author of the first Republican Tariff Law-that enacted under the administration of Lincoln in 1861. I can never forget with what veneration I regarded him. He had reached such an advanced age that he could not be the active leader he had been in former years, but he was a most lovable, as well as venerable man in his manner, appearance and inter

course with his colleagues; and he was yet possessed of such sound judgment that his advice was largely sought and heeded.

Senator Morrill's colleague was the Honorable Redfield Proctor. He had been Secretary of War under Harrison and was noted for his strong, vigorous character and oldfashioned stalwart Republicanism. His views were exactly in accord with mine as to Cuba and that made us warm friends. His speech made after a visit to the Island gave great impetus to the cause of intervention.

Next to Morrill as the oldest member of the Senate in service stood Hon. William B. Allison of Iowa. Commencing with the 38th Congress March 4, 1863, he continued without interruption to represent his District in the House and his State in the Senate until his death in 1908.

He was a man of great ability of the sturdy wheel-horse variety. He had easy manners but positive convictions, for which on proper occasions he would contend strenuously, as his faithful and efficient work as Chairman of the Committee on Appropriations abundantly proved; but he was more distinguished for his suavity and general diplomacy than any other man I met in Washington. Without shirking his duty, or evading responsibility, or failing to say No when he thought he should, he yet so managed that he never took issue with anybody about anything unless there was some apparent necessity therefor, and when he did take issue, no matter how acute the controversy might be, he was so polite and deferential, without being obsequious, that he probably had more friends and fewer enemies than any other man in Congress.

As illustrating the extent to which he was distinguished for avoiding positive assertions, a story was told to the effect that while campaigning in Iowa a flock of sheep were driven in front of a farmer's house at which he and his party were stopping for dinner. Someone said to him: "Mr. Allison, there go some very fine sheep." To which he answered: "While I am not a sheep expert, yet I can see that they do appear to be a very fine flock indeed." Thereupon the other party ventured the further remark, "They have been recently

sheared." To which Mr. Allison responded, "Yes, they do appear to have been sheared; at least on this side." *

Rhode Island, the smallest State in the Union, had the honor of furnishing the Leader of the Senate on the Republican side, in the person of the Honorable Nelson W. Aldrich. He held his position by common consent because he had won it by the efficient way in which he discharged the duties of Senator. Being the Leader he properly held the position of Chairman of the Finance Committee. In this position it was both his opportunity and his duty to rightfully have more to say about tariff legislation than anybody else. He improved this opportunity and discharged this duty in the most successful manner; first, as to the McKinley Bill; later as to the Dingley Bill, and finally as to the PayneAldrich Bill.

Nobody disputed his leadership but some of us did not always agree with him. When we felt compelled to differ we did so not only with much regret and great deference but always in a good-natured way that never fractured personal relations.

William P. Frye was one of the old Senators when I took my seat. He had already won his spurs in the House, in National Republican Conventions, and in political campaigns. He was a gifted and forceful debater, both in the Senate and before public assemblages. He was the President pro tempore of the Senate, and was one of the readiest and most satisfactory Presiding Officers the Senate has ever had.

This story with variations has been told many times. In Mr. Arthur W. Dunn's "Gridiron Nights" it appears as follows:

"One of the quips was directed at Senator Allison of Iowa, who, under no circumstances would commit himself. One time Allison called a newspaper man into his committee room and read him a long letter addressed to a constituent at home, and asked the correspondent what he thought of it.

"Well, Senator,' replied the correspondent, with some hesitation, 'I don't think he will be able to make anything out of it.' "That was the intention,' replied Allison, fairly beaming.

"A Gridiron minstrel started to tell the Allison sheep story. 'Oh, we have all heard about that,' said the interlocutor. "The sheep were going by and some one remarked they had been sheared, and Allison replied, "it would appear that they are sheared-on this side." 'We've all heard that.' "That isn't it," replied the minstrel. What Allison said was, 'Well, as respects that matter, no one has demonstrated to me that they are sheep.'

It is impossible to think of Senator Frye without thinking of his distinguished colleague, the Honorable Eugene Hale. My first glimpse of him was when I sat in the gallery as a spectator at the National Republican Convention of 1876. Mr. Hale was a delegate from Maine and addressed the Convention on some point, I do not remember now what it was, standing upon his chair, and speaking with much fluency and effect.

He was always a handsome, well-groomed man, known as one of the best dressers in the Senate; but in 1876 he was young and full of activity and vivacity. He made a most favorable impression upon all who heard him.

Throughout his service in the Senate he was distinguished for his ability and conservatism. He was bitterly opposed to our intervention in Cuba and the acquisition of the Philippines. On this account he was censured by the unanimous vote of the Legislature of Maine, which same body, on the following day, unanimously re-elected him to the Senate, a tribute to his integrity and sincerity and the appreciation of his distinguished services by the people of his State that it would be hard to exaggerate.

My acquaintance with Senator Elkins commenced at the National Republican Convention of 1888, when, in the manner heretofore mentioned (p. 368), he, with others, solicited me to become a candidate for the Presidential nomination. It is needless to say that after such a start my feeling for him was one of the most friendly regard and esteem. He was a big, strong man, intellectually and physically. He had been active in business and had accumulated a fortune large enough to excite the criticism that he represented "the interests." He did have as a result of his experience broad practical views as to what the business interests of the country required, but he was never influenced thereby in a selfish way to the prejudice of anybody else.

He was wise and sound and conservative and yet pro- . gressive and patriotic under all circumstances. The Elkins Law, named in his honor, is the most efficient law for the correction of railroad abuses, that has ever been enacted. With a few simple amendments it would have met all require