Democratic Messenger

Tinge of the Times.
A remarkable vote for the United States Senate was recorded when the resolution to bring about the direct election of Senators was made the unfinished business and thereby given precedence over all other measures. Sixty-five Senators voted on the side of the general proposition, to five against. Every Democrat and every progressive Republican present voted in the affirmative. This does not mean that the fight over direct elections has been won outright. But it does mean that the great majority of the tory Senators have learned that they cannot persistently resist public sentiment and hope to retain their seats. No one believes that the great majority of tory Senators who voted with the progressives wanted to vote as they did. They were prompted solely by a realization that the public demands a change in the method of electing Senators, and that further defiance of the public would but hasten effective public resentment.