nator Hanna, had not Senator Spooner joined in advocating the
Panama route.

It was a long and difficult struggle, not only before the Committee
on Foreign Relations, but before the Committee on Interoceanic
Canals, and resulted in the retirement of Senator Morgan as chairman
of the last-mentioned committee--a position he had held for many
years--and in the selection of Senator Hanna to succeed him. But
Senator Spooner, through his technical knowledge, dominated the
Committee on Interoceanic Canals, and succeeded finally in the
passage of the Spooner act which designated Panama, if that route
could be purchased, as the route for the canal.

Senator Spooner was one of the real leaders of the Senate from 1897
until he retired. He was one of the most eloquent men who served
in the Senate during that period. During all the debates on the
Cuban question, the important results growing out of the Spanish-
American War, the question of Imperialism--his participation in
all these momentous subjects was above criticism. I have heard
him in the Senate, speaking day after day. He never grew tiresome;
never repeated himself; always held the most profound attention of
the Senate; and his closing words were listened to with the same
attention and with the same interest, by his colleagues and by the
galleries, as marked the beginning of any of his speeches. After
his conclusions his Republican colleagues invariably gathered around
him, offering their congratulations.

Senator Spooner and Senator Foraker have both retired. It was
thought at the time that their places could not be filled, and I,
as one of the older Senators who remember them well, can not believe
that their places have been filled. Of all the Senators with whom
I have served, Spooner and Foraker were most alike in their combative
natures, in their willingness to take the responsibility to go to
the front to lead the fight. Senators come and go, the personnel
of the Senate changes, one Senator will be replaced by another,
but the Senate itself will go on as long as the Republic endures.

One of the most dignified, honest, straightforward, capable men
with whom I have served, was the Hon. Charles W. Fairbanks, of
Indiana. He was a devoted adherent, friend, and follower of the
late President McKinley, and had been his friend long before he
was nominated for President in 1896. Senator Fairbanks took a very
prominent part in that convention, was its temporary