EDITORIAL 



49 



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 ser 

 timent to which the senator may b 

 more sensitive than to that of Nei 

 England, said : 



For five hours, Friday, in the United State 

 Senate, Mr. Burton, talking on a multitud 

 of irrelevant subjects, filibustered to kill th 

 White Mountain and Southern Appalachia 

 forest reserve bill. He succeeded by resor 

 ing to legislative sharp practice and misus 

 of senatorial privilege in preventing a vol 

 on one of the most vital and importar 

 measures in the general scheme for the cor 

 servation of the natural resources of tr. 

 country. Secretary Ballinger himself and a 

 the interests in opposition to conservatio 

 could not have been more devoted advocate 

 The junior senator from Ohio was not cor 

 tent to register his individual antagonism, 1 

 state his case and make his appeal for rea< 

 tion. He chose, rather, to stop the machiner 

 of legislation altogether, fearing the majoril 

 of the Senate was in favor of the bill an 

 would pass it if accorded an opportunity. 



_What has led the senator to this charr 

 pionship of the cause of those who despo 

 the forests and the streams for their ow 

 gain? He says he is fighting conservatio 

 because of the cost of it. But what of th 

 cost of the failure to conserve the forests 

 And when did this nation become so poc 

 that it had not money for the necessaru 

 of its own existence and prosperity? M 

 Burton is posing as a watchdog of th 

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

 serving not the people, but the special ir 

 terests which he served so conspicuously whe 

 he voted almost continuously with Aldric 

 on the tariff. 



When Mr. Burton was elected to the Ser 

 ate from Ohio he was believed to be a zealot 

 champion of the interests of the people. H 

 was supposed to represent a new order c 

 things. As a senator of the United State 

 he shattered these beliefs and suppositior 

 of public opinion in Ohio almost at the b( 

 ginning. His record since his elevation t 

 that high office has been more than a disap 

 pointment. It has been a calamity. 



Mr. Burton was ably assisted b 

 Senator Newlands of Nevada, a con 

 servationist who insists in conservin: 

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

 lands declared his belief in the objec 

 of the pending bill, and then talke 

 and voted to defeat it. If Mr. New 

 lands wishes to win support for hi 

 methods and ideas, the way to do it i 

 not to use the club of a filibuster upo: 

 the sorely tried patience of the easten 

 friends of forestry. 



The height of statesmanship in th 

 House was reached by the Hon. Edga 



