f Illinois. Senator Platt
and I necessarily were compelled to take what might be termed a
back seat, our colleagues being almost always in the lime-light.
As a member of the select committee on Interstate Commerce, Senator
Platt rendered much valuable assistance in the investigation and
in the passage of the Act of 1887, although he was almost induced
finally to oppose it on account of the anti-pooling and the long-
and-short-haul sections.

He was a modest man, and it was some years before Senators that
were not intimate with him really appreciated his worth. Had he
not yielded to the late Senator Hoar, he would have been made
chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary instead of Senator Hoar,
a position for which there was no Senator more thoroughly qualified
than Senator Platt. It seems strange that he never did succeed to
an important chairmanship until he was made chairman of the Committee
on Cuban Relations during the war with Spain, and he really made
that an important committee. Not only in name but in fact was he
the author of those very wise pieces of legislation known as the
Platt Amendments. I was a member of the Committee on Cuban Relations,
and know whereof I speak in saying that it was Senator Platt who
drafted these so-called amendments and secured their passage in
the Senate. They were finally embodied in the Cuban Constitution,
and also in the treaty between Cuba and the United States.

After the late Senator Dawes retired, Senator Platt was an authority
on all matters pertaining to Indian affairs.

As the years passed by he became more and more influential in the
Senate. Every Senator on both sides of the chamber had confidence
in him and in his judgment. As an orator he was not to be compared
with Senator Spooner, but he did deliver some very able speeches,
especially during the debates preceding the Spanish-American War.

I have often said that Senator Platt was capable in more ways than
any other man in the Senate of doing what the exigencies of the
day from time to time put upon him. He was always at his post of
duty, always watchful in caring for the interests of the country,
always just and fair to all alike, and ever careful and conservative
in determining what his duty should be in the disposition of any
public question; and I regarded his judgment as a little more
exactly right than that of any other Senator.

General Joseph R. Hawley, of Connecticut, was quite a figure in
the