DEATH OF VETERAN U.S. POLITICIAN

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 100, 22 January 1940, Page 8

DEATH OF VETERAN U.S. POLITICIAN

Senator William Borah (Received January 21, 7.5 p.m.) WASHINGTON, January 20. The death has occurred- of the veteran politician, Senator William Borah, in his seventy-fifth year. President Roosevelt, in a tribute, said: “Senator Borah was a unique figure whose passing leaves! a void in American life. His' utterances commanded the close attention of the Senate and a far-flung public audience. He was fair-minded, firm in .principle and combined shrewd judgment with personal charm and' a courteous manner which had its source in a kind heart.”

Legislators of all political faiths likewise expressed their sorrow and paid tributes to a great statesman. There will be a State funeral on Monday in the Senate chambers attended by the President, Cabinet members, diplomats and other leaders and legislators. The burial will be at Boise, Idaho, to which 10 Senators and 10 Representatives will escort the body.

The mayor of New York, Mr. La Guardia, proclaimed Sunday as one of .mourning in New York.

One of the greatest champions of American isolation. Senator William Edgar Borah had a long and illustrious career as a politician. By his death the United States has lost one of her leading political personalities and one of her greatest orators of the present century. Born in Illinois, Senator Borah, was admitted to the Bar when 24 years of age after a successful scholastic career. He was first elected a United States senator in 1907, and held office till his death, when he held the position of dean of the United States Senate. During the Great War Senator Borah was one of the leaders of the movement to keep the United States out of the war. Again this time he took up the cudgels for strict neutrality.

Speaking of his ability as an orator, the “New York Times” said during the course of a survey of the neutrality debate in November: “Even today the cry ‘Borah is up’ will send the reporters hurrying to their perches and cause an immediate surge in the lines of visitors seeking entrance to the galleries. The shaggymaned senator from Idaho, often called America’s senator at large, long ago made an oratorical record. He has all the tricks of the oldtime orator, coupled with the ability—not always possessed by others of that class —to keep debate on a high impersonal plane. Eloquent in every sense of the word, Borah makes his forum the Senate floor, not the radio, and his greatest forte is plausibility. He speaks with an air of spontaneity which too often belies the long preparation that goes into his more famous speeches.” Senator Borah was a former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and took a leading part on commissions dealing with education, justice and labour. He was a strong opponent of the United States joining the League of Nations.