OSCAB W. UNDERWOOD By NBYiiB Colquitt THE keynote to the character of Oscar Wilder Under- wood is quiet force. Indeed, no character in the realm of history, fiction or present day life exemplifies this characteristic to a greater extent than does the great House Leader. This quiet force, in turn, comprehends many qual- ities. Imperturbable, well informed, deep thinking, of rare judgment and prescience, Oscar Wilder Underwood is a bom leader of men. Without show, with no apparent effort and with a determination completely screened by a serene smile, he makes history at the nation's capitol. As Mr. Thomas F. Logan, writing in the World's Work once said,^ **He tries to avoid any conflict with the rank and file of his party. He seems always to be bowing to their judgment, even when they are accepting his. ' ' And yet he reduces to law the great pol- icies of the Democratic Party as easily as the glazier molds his putty. And where party and platform is concerned, he stands stronger than Gibraltar — stronger, for while history relates instances where that proverbially impregnable fortress has been successfully assaulted, the history of the House, as contained in the Congressional Becord, discloses no instance where Oscar W. Underwood was out of line with his party. And, whatever may be said of the variableness of party plat- forms, Mr. Underwood *s record has been one of rare con- sistency. Biographers have called him ^Hhe despair of the yellow journalist and ^^one of the most hopeless subjects that the pen of the lurid impressionists of modem journalism ever en- countered." Whyt Because he is not bizarre. In address- ing the House he does not seek to shame the aurora borealis or deal in Himalayaic phrase. His language is plain, well chosen, direct. There is nothing of the patent medicine pol- itician about him. He is not a politician : he is a statesman. 1 World's Work 23:539.
