Bradford opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1874-1881, 1875-12-11

Mr.. Mcpherson, Clerk of the las
House, also called the roll of mem
bers. At the conclusion Of the roll
call a ballot was taken for Speaker
which resulted in tho election o.
M. Q. Kerr of Indiana. The vote
stood, Kerr 173, Blaine log, with
several scattering votes. The SIN
dependent" members voted with
the Democrats, with the exception
of Banks, who cast his vote fol
Gen. Williams, of Detroit, a Libor
al and one of his subOrdioate com
manders. Mr.. Kerr was conducted
to the Chair by Messrs. Blaine and
Randall. On taking his seat the
Speaker said:
Gentlemen of the House of Represen'
tatives: am heartily grateful to you
for the honor which you have conferred
upon me in calling me to this exalted
station. profoundly appreciate the
importance and dclicacy of its duties.
shall doubtless many times need your
patient indulgence. pray that you will
grant it, and with nothing but kindly
feelings towards every member OF the
House. | promise that all my official acts
| will divest to the utmost of my alb ility
of all personal bias, and observe COM
pletc fairness and impartialitX toward all
and toward the great diversified interests
Of our country represented in this house.
Mr.. Lamer then offered q resolu-
ton declaring the following officers
of the House: Clerk, George M.
Adams of Kentucky; Sergeant.at-
Arms, John G. Thompson of Ohio ;
Doorkeeper, Lafayette II. Fitzhugh
of Texas; Postmaster, James M.
Stewart of Virginia; Chaplain,
Rev. l.. l.. Townsend of District of
Columbia.
CAPITAL NOTES.
The Democrats in the House
barely escaped making great po-
litical blunder. Their cowardice
and not their principles or spirit
prevented it. The leaders and the
majority of their party sought to
open up the Louisiana question by
raising question as to the validi-
ty of the Kellogg Government by
in fact denying its validity. This
they proposed to do by preventing
Mr.. Morey, Republican from Lou
isiana, from being sworn in, and by
sending him to the Committee on
Elections. After considerable dis
cussion, in the course of which
Wood of New York, who aspires to
be the leader of the Democrats in
the House, was decidedly worsted
by Blaine. Morey was seated which
virtually settled the Louisiana case.
A correspondent Of the Boston
Globe gives the following:
PEN PICTURE OF MIR. KURR.
Mr.. Kerr is tall, strongly built
man, with fine, frank, open coun-
tenance, impressive and agreeable
manners. He has a good voice,
clear and distinct utterance and a
fluency of language which does not
detract from the purity of his die
ton. 1t is not as heavy and sono-
rous as Gener'l Banks's nor as stilted
as Fernando Woods, nor as tickled
and penetrating as jolly Sam Cox's,
nor as nasal or handsome as Sam
Randalrs. He is grave in his &C
ton and firm in his determination,
and will bring dignity as we'll as
to the Office.
Mr.. Kerr is a native ofTitusville,
Penn, where he was born not quite
a halfa century ago, March II, 1927.
At twenty.four years Of age he
graduated at the Louisville Uni.
versity, and in 1862 began the prac,
tice of law in st. Louis. Two years
later he was elected City Attorney,
and in 1856 he was chosen Prose
cutting Attorney of the county, In
1856, the year of Fromont's Presi-
dental campaign, Mr.. Kerr was
elscted to the Indiana Legislature,
and, five years after his legislative
service, he was chosen on the Dem.
ocratic State ticket, in 1862, as re.
porter to the Supreme Court of the
State, in which office he edited five
volumes of the reports. In 1864 he
was first elected to Congress, be-
ginning his service in that body in
December, 1865. In 1866, 1868, and
1870 he was reelected to Congress.
He has thus served eight years in
the national legislature, aud in De-
cember began his fifth term, or ten
years of service. He is a student
and gentleman of honor, and
man of knowledge and ability. He
is temperate in his habits and as
regular and circnmspect as sane
titled chronometer. He does not
believe in sumptuary liquor laws,
but is practical "teetotaler."
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