EDITORIAL 



493 



Statesmanship 



THE world likes a clean fighter, who 

 makes his fight and if defeated yields 

 without complaint. It also likes the man 

 who fights fair. Theodore E. Burton, ju- 

 nior senator from Ohio, is one of the able 

 men, intellectually, of the Congress of the 

 United States, but he does not fight fair 

 nor yield gracefully to defeat. His fili- 

 buster in the Senate, by which he post- 

 poned for another year the passage of 

 the bill that would have made possible 

 the salvage of some of our eastern 

 mountain watersheds, remains unex- 

 plained on any rational grounds. This 

 is not a job that would justify one or 

 two legislators in blocking its passage, 

 in the face of a majority. It is a popu- 

 lar measure, with no graft or selfish in- 

 terest behind it. All that Mr. Burton 

 accomplished was to exhibit a personal 

 animus and hold for a little while the 

 center of the senatorial stage, a cheap 

 notoriety that a man of his mental cali- 

 ber should be above. If we are not mis- 

 taken, this petty part will be remem- 

 bered much longer than some of his 

 more creditable acts of statesmanship. 

 Two comments from able and conserv- 

 ative journals will indicate the estimate 

 that is placed upon the Ohio senator's 

 action. The Providence Journal said : 



The fact that Senator Burton of Ohio is, 

 generally speaking, one of the most useful 

 and intelligent members of Congress makes 

 his pernicious activity against the bill for 

 the preservation of the Appalachian and 

 White Mountain forests the more discredit- 

 able. Without judging motives, it is difficult 

 to absolve him from the charge of having 

 sinned against the light. The importance of 

 the measure is admitted by every real friend 

 of conservation. In the White Mountains, 

 especially, the work of devastation is going 

 on apace. True, the state of New Hampshire 

 is greatly to blame for not following the ex- 

 ample of Massachusetts and Vermont and 

 doing something of its own accord to protect 

 its most valuable natural asset. But this 

 fact will not relieve Congress of the odium 

 of failing to pass the Weeks bill. It is dis- 

 tressing that, after the efforts of the Speaker 

 of the House to prevent this legislation have 

 been defeated, a member of the Senate should 

 have the power by a mere exhibition of volu- 

 bility to disappoint expectation once more. 



The second editorial is not from the 

 hotbed of Appalachian forest agitation, 

 but from Senator Burton's own state. 



The Columbus Dispatch, voicing a sen- 

 timent to which the senator may be 

 more sensitive than to that of New 

 England, said : 



For five hours, Friday, in the United States 

 Senate, Mr. Burton, talking on a multitude 

 of irrelevant subjects, filibustered to kill the 

 White Mountain and Southern Appalachian 

 forest reserve bill. He succeeded by resort- 

 ing to legislative sharp practice and misuse 

 of senatorial privilege in preventing a vote 

 on one of the most vital and important 

 measures in the general scheme for the con- 

 servation of the natural resources of the 

 country. Secretary Ballinger himself and all 

 the interests in opposition to conservation 

 could not have been more devoted advocates. 

 The junior senator from Ohio was not con- 

 tent to register his individual antagonism, to 

 state his case and make his appeal for reac- 

 tion. He chose, rather, to stop the machinery 

 of legislation altogether, fearing the majority 

 of the Senate was in favor of the bill and 

 would pass it if accorded an opportunity. 



What has led the senator to this cham- 

 pionship of the cause of those who despoil 

 the forests and the streams for their own 

 gain? He says he is fighting conservation 

 because of the cost of it. But what of the 

 cost of the failure to conserve the forests? 

 And when did this nation become so poor 

 that it had not money for the necessaries 

 of its own existence and prosperity? Mr. 

 Burton is posing as a watchdog of the 

 treasury, but in that role he is a sham. He is 

 serving not the people, but the special in- 

 terests which he served so conspicuously when 

 he voted almost continuously with Aldrich 

 on the tariff. 



When Mr. Burton was elected to the Sen- 

 ate from Ohio he was believed to be a zealous 

 champion of the interests of the people. He 

 was supposed to represent a new order of 

 things. As a senator of the United States 

 he shattered these beliefs and suppositions 

 of public opinion in Ohio almost at the be- 

 ginning. His record since his elevation to 

 that high office has been more than a disap- 

 pointment. It has been a calamity. 



Mr. Burton was ably assisted by 

 Senator Newlands of Nevada, a con- 

 servationist who insists in conserving 

 in his own way or not at all. Mr. New- 

 lands declared his belief in the object 

 of the pending bill, and then talked 

 and voted to defeat it. If Mr. New- 

 lands wishes to win support for his 

 methods and ideas, the way to do it is 

 not to use the club of a filibuster upon 

 the sorely tried patience of the eastern 

 friends of forestry. 



The height of statesmanship in the 

 House was reached by the Hon. Edgar 



