Jasper County Democrat, Volume 11, Number 52, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 December 1908 — PEOPLE OF THE DAY [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

PEOPLE OF THE DAY

Weary of ths Senate. The recent report that Senator Nelson W. Aldrich of Rhode Island would not be a candidate to succeed himself caused little surprise among his friends in the senate. For a long time it has been known to his intimates that he would retire on the expiration of bls present term, March .4, 1911. Should be survive until that date he will have worn the toga continuously for thirty years. For many years tte has exerted a powerful Influence on legislation. Around the senate end of the capital he was referred to even by employees of the building as the “general manager of the senate.” He was the dominant factor In the little group know? as the “old guard.” He was the leader of that group even in the days when

O. H. Platt of Connecticut, Spooner of Wisconsin, Allison of lowa and Mark Hanna of Ohio were in the prime of their Influence. It is said that Mr. Aldrich doesn't like being pilloried continually in newspapers and cartoons as a corporation senator,, the representative of “special interests” and especially as a Standard Oil man, a charge which comes naturally from his being the father-in-law of John D. Rockefeller, Jr. His grip on Rhode Island is as firm as ever so far as he personally Is concerned. He could have another election without doubt. He will be seventy years old when this term is ended, and be has been telling his friends that he is entitled to a rest and means to have it. A Matter of Dress Mainly. Mrs. Phelps Stokes in Illustration of the really superficial and slight difference that exists between aristocratic and plebeian people repeated at a So ciallst meeting in New York a conversation between a little girl and her mother. “The little girl,” said Sirs. Stokes, “belonged to one of New York’s rich families, and one day she said to her mother thoughtfully: “‘Will I wear my prettiest Paris frocks when I get to heaven?* ‘“Oh, no, my dear,’ the mother answered. " ‘Why not?’ “ ‘Because Paris frocks are not worn in heaten.’ “The little girl frowned. “ ‘How then will they know up there,’ she said, ‘that I belong to the best society?’ ” Advocates the Army Canteen. General Albert L. Mills, commander of the department of Luzon, who recently stirred army circles by his advocacy of the canteen, is one of the prominent officers of the United States army. General Mills came into public notice when he was appointed superintendent of West Point at the close Of the Spanish war. At the time of his appointment he was only a first lieutenant, and it was the first time that an officer of that low rank had been given such an Important ppst, President McKinley, however, decided that his good work in the Santiago campaign should

be recognized. Lieutenant Mills had been General Young’s chief of staff and lost an eye at the battle of San Juan Hill. Although low in rank, he had large experience In work that specially fitted him for the position. Hq had served as instructor at the academy and had been in charge of the department of strategy and tactics at Fort Leavenworth. His success in suppressing hazing at West Point Is a matter of history. General Mills is a native of New York and entered West Point tn 1874.

NELSON WILMARTH ALDRICH.

ALBERT L. MILLS.