The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1881-12-22
NO 21

THAT Ohio men get place is no evil
dence that Ohio produces great
men. Mr.. Hayes was a most signal
failure, and the death of Mr.. Gar
field saved him in the end from the
proof that, though a man of ability,
he would have been a signal failure
as president. Now Kiefer has been
made speaker of the house, and di-
rectly on the heels of his ascent into
power comes the Springfield Repub-
Iican, saying:
at is probable that majority of
the members who voted for him
would say, if they spoke frankly,
that his election was a great mistake.
lie can not, let him labor ever so
hard, fill that chair. He has not the
brains nor the tact to do it. He is
utterly unconscious of his own
weakness. He does not recognize
the influences which led to his Cleo
ton. His innocent belief that his
election was the reward of merit,
amuses his friends, and his idea that
the stalwarts went to him because
he was the strongest candidate, in
tellectually as well as politically,
is the only one that Keifcr has
on the subject. His incapacity for
seeing the bearings of events, his
childlike vanity over the result, do
not promise well 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 boomerang for the
party. Keifer's speech as he took
the chair was surprise. Although
no fine specimen of rhetoric or good
writing was expected, still such a
jumble of badly-expressed ideas and
ungrammatical sentences was not
anticipated from him. Keifer calls
himself 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 plural verb to plural
subject when he put his sentence in
writing. Keifer has maDy good
traits. He is a hard worker and q
painstaking plodder. But he has a
hard head. He has no quick
ness of perception. A bill or a
motion whose purport Sunset
Cox, or Randall, or Frye, or
Robinson would see through
almost instantly Keifer can only
comprehend after long and patient
study. He will dig at subject
until he has in measure got an un-
derstanding of it. Such a gift of
ploddlng Is blessing no doubt, but
it doesn't avail much for the speaker
of the house of representative In
that seat, If anywhere, the power in
stantly to grasp the subject, the gift
of quickness of thought, of instan-
taneous reasoning, the intuitive re-
cognition of a situation and of what
it requires from a speaker-gifts
which Blaine possesses in such re-
markable degree-these are abso-
lutely necessary. Besides a speaker
should at least have q fair knowl-
edge of parliamentary law and have
the rules and precedcnts of
the house at the tip of his
tongue. These rules and precedents
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 Ill
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 men,
Der of the House on either side who
knows anything about it, who does
not admit it. The stalwarts might
have gone to Kassen instead of
Keifer, had 1t not been rumored
that Kasson was Blaine's choice. By
and by the time will come when
Randall and Cox and Carlisle will
make trouble for Keifer."