Letter

Ordinarily, when a distinguished jurist-statesman refuses an invitation to a public banquet, it is only necessary for him to use the words "sorry" and "impracticable," finish off with a sonorous and obviously academical paragraph of good wishes, and sign his name. Last week, however, Elihu Root, having said the ordinary thing to one Merwin Hart of Utica who had asked him to a dinner in honor of Senator James W. Wadsworth Jr., went on and on in a way that would have given any social secretary the willies. Midway in the long second paragraph Mr. Root's meaning became clear--he, Republican, was writing an endorsement of Mr. Wadsworth, Republican, by quoting the late Thomas R. Marshall, Democrat:

"... Not long before his death Thomas R. Marshall, the Democratic Vice President who for eight years presided over the U. S. Senate, was asked in a group of friends who in his opinion was the most useful member of the Senate. He thought for a moment. ..."

Had Mr. Root thought for a moment? Was it quite fair to turn the casual phrase of the most ingenuous and beloved of dead Democrats into a slogan for a Republican candidate? . . . "and replied, 'Senator Wadsworth of New York'. ... I think that is a general opinion among those who know best. . . ."

Well, perhaps Mr. Root had thought for a moment. The rest of the letter was an emphatic endorsement of Senator Wadsworth in Mr. Root's own quite adequate phrases. It was as if, in that letter, he and the dead Vice President had waived party differences, touched their glasses in a toast to an able legislator. The social secretary turned the letter over to the press.