Judge — March 24, 1923 — page 23: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

‘p LIKE to call Gray Silver the Cardinal Wolsey of the farmers— You know the only line any of us know about the Cardinal, in which he described himself as venturing— “Like little wanton boys that swim’on bladders, ‘This many summers on a sea of glory—" Except that there is a defect in the ani . Gray Silver is sustained by nators of the United States and I defy anyone to compare a Senator to a bladder in a good-natured way. I cannot, any- how. Atan early age I probably suffered a neural matism which established a complex it. And if I did throw off the Fre Gray Silver would prob explain that. there. is hardly any resemblance at all between Senators and bladders. He ought to, anyhow. He k senators thoroughly. Por all that, Mr. ris one of the grandest little floaters on a sea of troubles ver slipped. serenely th al surf. One hesit peak of Mr. Silver as a lobbyist. lob byist , as I understand the term, is a fat gentleman who sparkles in’ white linen and keeps a bottle in his desk and undulates briskly at his own jokes. If he is, then Mr. Silver isn’t. Mr. Silver rarely meets his Senators in the lobby, If he does it is not to hang on to a mane while the tribune of the people paws and soos lobbying whinnies. If Mr. Silver it is to drill his Senators in the of the day. He doesn’t ask tells “em, But and however, strate; em. if for the moment the fine old word may be used in place of the nev 1 title of legislative nt, then Mr. Silver is the most suc- cessful lobbyist. in) Washington. He represents the American Farm Bureau, is the inventor of the Farm Bloc and the mahout of the book-taught yeomen who constitute that effective body. Li wise he is the dark stranger who appears in the of every Congressman whose district raises so much a: vanish onion, Usually Gray. Silver treats his Congressmen kindly, but on occasion he flogs them with a whip of scorpions. Tiere were islative program began to look like an ersatz product. Then, to quote a phrase Mr. Silver sometimes uses, he took the Congressmen like thunder takes a toad, Telegrams began to pour in from constituents. who had alwa garded an A. D. 'T. messenge a har- binger of death. Most of them were bloodraw, too. When a mer takes his pen in hand he is just as careful of his Congressman’s feclings as billygoat s of a mirror. The house bootlegger had to add aromatic spirits of ammonia his usual line. The resultant roll calls tell the rest of the stor; There ¢ other organizations which have agents here, of course, but Gray Silver is the best mind of them all. They compare with him as a yellow tulip does days when the farmers’ SILVER THREADS AMONG THE GOLD by Herbert Corey borealis. Some » Wh may F keeper of the bullwhip for the Anti-Saloon League, outranks the farmers’ foreman, but I cannot agree. Wheeler is a cold) man who chaufs what is believed by his followers to be a moral issue. He not only threatens disobedient Congressmen with defeat, but with excommunication, He curses them with bell, book and candle, 1e pretends that the ma- jority of Congressmen are dry actually or dry ‘legislatively from conviction, but they vote as Wheeler tells them because they fear the fireworks. Drop Wheeler into the midst of a purely business issue and he would likely be as ineffective as a lone turkey gobbler in the middle of a strange wood. game, which is why Its mov SitveR loves the J he is so effective. delight him. He plays politic plays chess and he is a chess player worth counting. If the other man ‘check- mates him it is because the other man has thought a move farther, which is no reason for Gray Silver to lose his temper. His first move in politics was to organize the farmers against the city men in his West V county. A’ faked fight upset th ashioned egg stove in the tight little room his antagonists had packed against him. While they. v rushing for the outer air his followe were filing in from a forgotten staircase. ‘The only thing that even sounds phony about Gray Silver is his name, and that’s 1. He is the man who has 1 Pa rity of the House and Senate deter- mine to raise whiskers and wear boots during the summer vacation. It is not often that Silver uses harsh measures to carry through a plan but when he does get rough a horseshoer's rasp seems like 21 “t. He is essentially an_ organizer ather than an individualist. He can for- give the friend who fails but the friend who wouldn't try— “T wouldn’t give him rain water.” When mountain men see a. suspicious smoke, which might be a still, they do not try to go around the dangerous neighborhood, as city men do, The charge it. That is Gray Silver's plan. He began with no money and fatherless at fourteen, and at twenty-one was the largest buyer of livestock in half a dozen states. Because he was community prop- erty in his district he was elected to the senate. Five others thought his way in his first term. In his second he organized the Senate from a cot on which he was. presumably dying from pneumonia. com this experience — in par voting the Farm Bloc : He is responsible for a Co-oper urd venture which deals directly with the consumer and which has as adjuncts the largest cider vinegar plant and the largest apple cannery in the world. And he would like to quit. He became the most powerful individual engaged in molding legislation in Washington—no one who knows the situation would question that description—because he could not help himself. When farmers had no real organization Gray Silver was le a member of every committee sent ashington to ask Congress to behave, scause he lived near at hand and would y his own way. When the A. FB. PF. stermined to take an active hand he came to Washington to stay four days. He has been here four years. He has tried to get back to his thousand- acre farm in West Virginia and is not let. He stays up all night dropping shot in the ears of balky Congressmen and catches up his sleep by leaning back in his chair during the day. He is a Demo- erat, but his no i Bloc state “cross ultimat ate for fear it would grow into a third and run him for the Presidency— and he wants to run as a Republican. He is humorous and human. He isn’t very much like Cardinal Wolsey after all. Because Wolsey sank. ttt man you tely. our Mother—Jane, when a young brings you home at night hereafte must say good-night to him immed Daughter Why, mother? Does talking disturb you? It’s not your talking It's your silence.” te that disturbs me. people—remember this—whenever your blowing a bubble of bliss—if you blow it too. large—not content with its size—puff! It is gone— And there's soap in your eyes. tat Romantic young State Department shrouded in secre Make Secretary Hughes come out from behind them bushes.