Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1881-12-14
As 70 KeiEer.

The Springfield, Mass, Republicans
Washington correspondent says ofthe
new Speaker of the House:
ut is probable that a majority Of
the members who voted for him would
say, if they spoke frankly, that his
election was a great mistake. He can
not, let him labor ever 80 hard, fill
that chair. He hasn't the brains nor
the tact to do it. He is utterly un-
conscious of his own weakness. He
does not recognize the influence which
led to his election. His innocent be
lief that his election was the reward
o fmerit amuses his friends, and his
idea that the Stalwarts went to him
because he was the strongest candidate,
Intellectually as we'll as politically,
is the only one that Keifer has on the
subject. His incapacity for seeing the
bearings OF events, his child-like van.
ity over the result, do not promise
we'll for his party. The bosses did not
want a strong man, neither did they
want a weak one, and it remains to be
seen whether their action in electing
Keifer may not prove a boomerang for
the party. Keifers speech as he took
the chair was a surprise. Although
no fine specimen of rhetoric or good
writing was expected, still such alum
Bile Of badly-expressed ideas and un-
grammatical sentences was not antici
pated from him. Keller calls himself
a self-made man, and he must have
made his grammar. No notice was
ever taken of the faults of
his extempore speeches, but his
friends did expect that he at
least would put a plural verb to
a plural subject when he put his SEN
tence in writing. Keller has many
good traits. He is a hard worker aud
a painstaking plodder. But he has a
hard head. He has no quickness of
perception. A bill or a motion whose
purport Sunset Cox, or Randall, or
Frye, or Robinson would see through
almost instantly, Keller can only com
prehend after long and patient study.
He will dig at a subject until he has
in a measure got an understanding Of
it. Such a gift OF plodding is a bless
ing no doubt, but it doesn't avail much
for the Speaker of the House OF Repre-
sentatives. In thatseat, if anywhere, the
power instantly to grasp a subject, the
gift of quickness of thought, of in
Simultaneous reasoning, the intuitivc
recognition of situation and of what
it requires from a Speaker-gifts
which Blaine possesses in such a re
markable degree-these are absolutely
necessary. Besides, aSpeaker should
at least have a fsir knowledge Of par
~liamentary law and have the rules and
precedents Of the House at the tip of
his tongue. These rules and presidents
can not be mastered as the rules
of grammar can be. They must be
learned by long experience. Many
mistakes make the best teacher.
Keifer last winter attempted two or
three times to take part in a parlia-
mentary wrestle, and in every in
stance he was sadly worsted. The
man who should have been selected,
if merit deserved to be so honored, is
Kasson, and there is not a member Of
the House on either side who knows
: anything about il who does not admit
it. The Stalwarts might have gone t
Kasson instead of Keifer, had it moi
been rumored that Kasson wa,
Blaine's choice. By and by the tim,
} will come when Randall and Cox anC
Carlisle will make trouble for Keifer.'