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Show , r ; . luv iz : ccu:::zl Fon e. ii. iiAr.rjiiAii WASHINGTON, i March 4. Senator Spooner hu written a letter to Gover- nor Daridson of "Wisconsin, tendering Ida resignation a a Senator of the United States, to take effect May 1 next . The letter was, dated Saturday, bat the fact that rich a letter "had .been written or that Mr. Spooner1 contemplated con-templated resifnisff did not become known in the Senate until late jester, day, when it created great surprise and . the Wisconsin" Senator at once found himself the subject of. many, anxious, inquiries. Senator Spboner in his letter to the Governor sayt in part: I hereby resign the office of Senator of the United State from Wisconsin. This resignation to take effect on the 1st day Of May. 1807. Both by law and eastom the fore gt tag-formula tag-formula suffice, but I cannot bring- myself my-self to surrender the trust with which Wisconsin has so Ion and so highly honored me by a curt sentence which Includes In-cludes no word either of explanation or of gratitude. , On the 4th day of March I shall have servea in an sixteen years as a Senator. This Is a long time for one neither willing will-ing nor financially able permanently to abandon It, to take from his profession. It has been taken from mine, for I have not thought It compatible with the full and uninterrupted discharge of public duty to pursue It. and I have, therefore, during my eervloe, with two or three trifling exceptions, ex-ceptions, purely local, absolutely abstained therefrom. For years private duty- has plainly demanded de-manded of me an early return to the practice of my profession, and I have never, since I first took the oath of office, wavered In the determination to retire 1 on the expiration of my present term. March S, 107. I might well content myself with a public declaration of my -purpose so to- retire, If It were ot for a like declaration made on a former and similar occasion, and what followed It. In the year 1900 I announced through the press over my signature to the Republicans Re-publicans of Wisconsin that I had "unalterably "un-alterably determined to retire from pub-llo pub-llo life at the expiration of the term ending end-ing March, 190S, unless I should deem it ray duty to resign earlier. I Justified the announcement upon the -ground that the people, and those who might aspire to the office, were entitled seasonably to know from me that I would not accept a re-election. Despite that declaration, circumstances with which the people are familiar seemed to make It my duty to accept a re-election, proffered as It was In a manner which made It at once a command and a finer honor than any which I had ever dreamed would come to me;, one. indeed, which ought to satisfy sat-isfy the pride and ambition of any man. A similar declaration by me at this time, however, strongly praised, would. I am persuaded, prove unavailing to withdraw my name from consideration during the next two years, as did that which I so publicly and unreservedly made In 1900. As my purpose to retire from public life is and has been Irrevocable, I am unwilling un-willing to be further considered In connection con-nection with an office which I could not In the circumstances accept It is reported that Senator Spooner 's largest and most important retainer will be from E. H. Harriman. Senator Bpooner will not confirm or deny the rumor, but some of his friends say that arrangements have been completed and that Spooner will join the Harriman legal le-gal forces as chief counsel. |