Insurgents

"A little group of wilful men, representing no opinion but their own, have rendered the great government of the United States helpless and contemptible." So said President Wilson of his Senate foes--most of them having been regular Republicans like the late Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, and a few having been insurgent Democrats like Senator James A. Reed. But now the tide has swung around and President Coolidge, if he were inclined to squabble with the Senate, might have reason to make such a remark concerning the Republican insurgents. They hold the balance of power today in the 69th Senate; during the next two years in the 70th session their power will be decisive, the votes of any two of them being sufficient to give either the Democrats or Republicans control of the Senate. Calvin Coolidge, however, is no Woodrow Wilson. Last week he set about to placate the insurgents, cajole them, humor them. To a breakfast of buckwheat cakes and sausage at the White House he invited Henrik Shipstead of Minnesota, the lone Farmer-Laborite of the Senate, who usually votes with the insurgents. Then too, the President, after a false step, gave in to Senators Nye and Frazier of North Dakota on the question of patronage rewards. And who are these Republican insurgents to whom the President bows with gracious gestures, with whom Democrats and Republicans alike would be friends in perilous political moments? In number, they are six in the present Senate and will be eight in the 70th session--plus a fringe of some half dozen semi-insurgents. In personality, they are as follows:

Henrik Shipstead, 45, Senator from Minnesota, a second-generation Norwegian, stands 6 ft. 1 in. in his stocking feet. A mighty, clean-cut Viking, both in demeanor and politics, is he. As a young dentist, he read economics and sociology. In 1916, politics claimed him. Twice defeated, for Congress by Andrew J. Volstead and for Governor by J. A. O. Preus, Mr. Shipstead climbed into his Ford in 1922 and snorted on to Washington ahead of Frank B. Kellogg, who drove a Pierce Arrow in that Senate race. On arrival, Mr. Shipstead was put on the Foreign Relations Committee and straightway issued his ultimatum to the Senate: "You may think that because you have been good enough to give me this committee appointment, which I am proud to have, I will let up on being hostile and disagreeable and mean and nasty to the Republican and Democratic parties. I will not. I am a Farmer-Laborite and I am against both the old parties, and I want it understood that I am."

Now Senator Shipstead sees the Farmer-Labor party dwindling around him; he is fast becoming a man without a party. Perhaps his next move will be to embrace Republicanism in name--but never in principle.

George W. Norris, 65, Senator from Nebraska, an old-fashioned man with ruffled grey hair, is the leader of the insurgent, if any Senator can be called such, now that "Old Bob" LaFollette is dead. From the farm Mr. Norris went through teaching and the law to Congress. In 1910 his fame burst like a Nebraskan sunflower when he led the fight in the House that overthrew the dictatorship of Speaker "Uncle Joe" Cannon (TIME, Nov. 22). Since 1913 he has been in the Senate. He admits no Republican or Democratic or third party prejudices; no mind but his own controls his booming voice. This autumn he swung into Pennsylvania to herald the campaign of William Bauchop Wilson, Democrat; he is just as liable in the future to dart off to Florida to boom some progressive Republican. "Party ties rest lightly upon me," said he. "I shall be glad to work in unison with anyone, if he believes in the same progressive principles of government that I advocate. . . ." Senator Norris does not want to be a leader, but he cannot help being one.

Robert B. Howell, 62, Senator from Nebraska, is the milder light from the cornhuskers' state. He is a better civil engineer and businessman than politician. At home, people know him best as the able manager of the municipal utilities. He says little, admires Roosevelt, wants a low tariff. It was once said: "On the color scale Colonel Brookhart [see below] registers a near-red, while Mr. Howell appears only a pale pink."

Robert M. LaFollette, 31,* Senator from Wisconsin, smart son of a smart father, is the youngest senator since Henry Clay. Not yet old enough to assume his father's leadership, he maintains the sartorial splendor of "Old Bob." On the opening day of Congress, "Young Bob" was one of the few Senators who appeared in a cutaway and spats. He is steeped in the ideas of his father after ten years' service as his private secretary. All he needs now is age and some of "Old Bob's" imaginative and oratorical rockets.

Gerald P. Nye, 34, Senator from North Dakota, tightlipped, square-shouldered, lean newspaper editor, is the other insurgent youngster. Up from the prairies he sprang to defeat President Coolidge's good friend, Louis B. Hanna, in the Republican primaries last summer. Then last week he informed the President that he frowned upon the appointment of any of Mr. Hanna's friends to Federal jobs either in Washington or North Dakota. Forthwith, the President patched up a peace.

Lynn J. Frazier, 52, Senator from North Dakota, slow-moving, slow-speaking, is a real dirt farmer. He owns 480 acres of wheat in the Red River Valley and has never had a crop failure. In 1916 the embattled farmers and the Non-Partisan League elected him Governor of North Dakota. His round face beamed like a child with a new puzzle, but the farmers were pleased, so they sent him to the Senate in 1923. A radical at Washington, he is just a good, big farmer* out in the Red River Valley. Republicans who ousted him from the regular Senate organization in 1924, are now attempting to lure him back into the party fold with a choice Committee membership.

Smith Wildman Brookhart, 57, Senator-elect from Iowa, does not drink or smoke or swear. Instead, he has a fighting jaw and is an able marksman. He is a man of blocs; said he: "I don't care whether they like my platform out in Millionaires' Row or not, so long as I have the farmers' bloc, the laborers' bloc, the ex-soldiers' bloc, the mothers' bloc with me." The wild bull of the Senate (from 1922-25) will be back again in the 70th session, having made peace with the Iowa Republicans.

John J. Elaine, 51, Senator-elect from Wisconsin, is a disciple of "Old Bob" LaFollette. Three times Governor of Wisconsin, progressive administrator, his insurgent shadow hangs over the 70th Senate. And there are others who may be said to constitute the insurgent fringe--Senators Peter Norbeck and William H. McMaster of South Dakota, Charles L. McNary of Oregon (coauthor of the famed McNary-Haugen relief bill), Thomas D. Schall of Minnesota, Hiram W. Johnson of California.

* The Constitution requires that a senator must be at least 30 years old.

* With five children, among them twins: Unie Mae and Versie Fae.