as for years chairman of the Committee on Naval Affairs; and
there is no man in the country, in my judgment, who knows more
about the work and condition of the Navy and the Navy Department
than does Senator Hale. Hence it has been for years past, that
when legislation affecting the Navy came up to be acted upon by
Congress, generally we have looked to Senator Hale to direct and
influence our legislative action.

He is a very independent character, and was just the man for chairman
of the great Committee on Appropriations. Senator Hale was more
than ordinarily independent, even to the extent of voting against
his party at times, and was very little influenced by what a
President or an Administration might desire. I regretted exceedingly
to see him leave the Senate, where for many years he served his
country so well.

Charles F. Manderson, of Nebraska, was twice elected to the United
States Senate, and was an influential member. I have regarded him
as one of the most amiable men with whom I have served. He was a
splendid soldier, a splendid legislator, and a splendid man generally.
He was the presiding officer of the Senate, and a good one. I have
always thought that he ought to have been the Republican nominee
for Vice-President of the United States; but for some reason or
other he never seemed to seek the place, and finally became one of
the attorneys for the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroad,
since when he seems to have lost interest in political affairs.
He visit old friends in Washington once each year, and it is always
a great pleasure for me to greet Mr. and Mrs. Manderson.

Another Senator who first served many years in the House, was
Philetus Sawyer, of Wisconsin. It was in the Senate that I served
with him, and came to have for him a very great respect. He was
not very well educated, not a lawyer nor an orator, and excepting
in a conversational way, not regarded as a talker; yet he was an
uncommonly effective man in business as well as in politics, and
was once or twice invited to become chairman of the National
Republican Committee.

I cannot resist the temptation to tell a little story in connection
with Senator Sawyer. One day he was undertaking to pass an
unimportant bill in the Senate concerning some railroad in his own
State, and as was the custom when he had anything to say or do in
the Senate, he took his place in the centre aisle close to the
clerk's desk, so that he could be heard