Page:Upbuilders by Lincoln Steffens.djvu/338



"Fooled," said U'Ren. "It was done in the Senate by a wink, a wink from Joe Simon" (president of the Senate and boss of Portland).

"You understood. How did you feel?"

"We were angry," U'Ren answered. "I completely lost my self-control and I said and did things that were wrong. And when I saw my mistake, I remembered what my father used to say about self-control, and I tied a string on my finger to remind me. That device of the children worked with me. I think I never afterward completely lost my temper."

The act which U'Ren calls his mistake was to go out from that Legislature to punish the members who had broken their pledges 5 and that is what I can't help believing must be done. But U'Ren is one of those very, very few men that believe, after these 2,000 years, in the Christian spirit as a practical force.

"Alfred Luelling first questioned the wisdom," he said, "of punishing faithless legislators. We talked it over and I thought a lot about it. And I decided that he was right. After that, we never again punished men. Of course, we voted against a delinquent, if the parties gave us a choice; but our policy was to publish, not a man s delinquencies, but his promises."

Coming from a practical politician, this is a