Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-10-13
POSSIBLE SPEAKERS.
Pen Portraits Of the Candidates for the
speakersEip Of the Next Congress
Characteristics of Butterworth, Cam
erou, Mckinley nnd Reed.

about six weeks the members Of the new Fifty.
first Congress will be assembled in Washing
ton, and the most exciting contest for the
Speakership that has been witnessed within a
party for many years will be at its height. The
fact that the Speaker of the next House win be
the first Republican to sit in the chair of the
presiding officer for long years. the meagerness
of the party majority in the body, the certainty
that all the sessions Of this Congress will be
series Of bitter fights. with almost no possibil-
ity Of the enactment of anything that eau be
called party legislation, makes the election of
the coming Speaker an occurrence of far more
than ordinary interest. The candidates are all
in the field and have been for some time 1t is
hardly within the possibilities that any other
than one Of the known candidates will be
elected. There Is bare chance that at the last
moment the caucus might switch of and take
Ben Butterworth as q compromise if the con-
fessed candidates should show something near
equal strength, and continue to hold tena-
ciously to their support; and such result would
be hailed with delight by many members of
Congress and by mass of those who are accus-
toned to listen to the debates; for Ben, with
all his well-known obstinacy in maintaining
wrong view Of question, as well as the right
is given credit for great frankness and SINGER
ity, and his friendliDess and readiness and abil-
ity make him hosts of friends.
Plain Ben Burterworth.
Butterworth is man Of large physique and
large brain, very industrious, and has partially
broken his health with hard work. He has a
pleasant home outin LIE Droit Park, a suburban
subdivision of the city which tries to make its
own laws and elect its own king and admit no
body within its sacred precincts without a
unanimous vote. But there is nothing aristo-
cratic about Butterworth. He is plain man.
wears plain clothes, and puts on no lugs He
talks straight to the point and hates verbosity
good deal worse than he hates Satan, for he
has supreme liking for shrewdness. even If it
be intermixed with deal of wickedness. He
is slasher in debate. cuts quick and Deep
takes hard blow with equanimity. but gives
harder one back almost without fail. and yet is
very courteous. He is specially polite to the
poor fellow whom he is skinning alive. He
speaks rapidly and loudly in tone which OF it
self is penetrating, and has the advantage of
being heard above the uproar of tile House
when his opponents words cannot be distin-
guished. He would make an excellent
Speaker, as, indeed, would any Of the GENTLE
men in the field
Why is it that some men are always spoken
OF by their first names and others never? Ev-
erybody says Ben" Butterworth, and 'STom"
Reed" and Joe" Cannon, but nobody ever
says "Julen Burrows or aBilly" Mckinley.
They don't even call Mckinley 'Mac." It is
not that they respect Burrows or Mckinley
more than the others The fact that Mckinley
Is very serious in temper and Just bit stiff may
account for the lack of familiarity In his case,
but then Burrows is one Of the friendliest and
jolliest of fellows, and yet nobody does him the
honor to address him by his natural mick
name"
Big, Brainy Tom Reed.
To say nothing of his intellect Tom Reed Is
the biggest man physically of the House. He
will outweigh the biggest other man by 25
pounds, at the very least. When he walks he
lumbers along with exactly the grace of an ele-
phant. he talks heavily also, but in a voice
more like the rasping notes of the katydid,
many times exaggerated, than like the trumpet
ing OF an elephant His voice and action are
not those of the orator. he is rather conver- |
'ational in his style like some of |
the debaters one hears In the House of Com |
mons. His retorts do not come quick as a |
Hash, like those of Butterworth, |
but slowly, as though he SO |
20 enjoys making mincemeat Of his opponent |
that he wants to proiong the operation as long |
Is possible. One of the funniest scenes in |
Congress used to be q tilt between Reed and |
Cox. The latter would get in some fine licks, |
but it always reminded the spectators of light |
between bantam and a tremendous Shanghai
Reed knows good deal of everything. He is
IN omniverous reader, but especially revels in
lola and Doudet in the original He pursues
lis studies in French regularly and reads all
he classics, yet strange to say you would
hardly recognize his classical education in his
'hoice Of English in speaking or writing. He
thoroughly up in parliamentary tactics, and
n this respect would undoubtedly show himself
he eun of NJ afh |
he not only knows all the points and rules, but
8 awfully cute in their application.
Handsome Julius Cmsur Burrows.
Burrows is the handsome man of the quartet
# candidates in the field. That is because he
s native of Pennsylvania. He saw daylight
irst in the little village of Northeast, in Erie
county. He is, perhaps, the smoothest and
most pleasing speaker of the lot, having
700 voice and the knack Of choosing pleasing
words. He prepares his speeches carefully.
His speech on the tariff last session is looked
IN by many who heard it as the best delivered
IN that subject, and really model in its way.
{ certainly was very pleasing to listen to, and
hat can be said of few tariff speeches. He is
me of the most genial of men, and would be
avorite with both sides Of the chamber if he
we're elected Speaker. He would be as fair as
Iarlisle, who has the reputation of being the
Arrest Speaker that ever sat in the chair. He
las a fine presence, being large man and
veil formed, and he dresses better than most
f the members of Congress. He has great
espect for Mr.. Burrows, as Mr.. Burrows richly
deserves.
Serious William Mckinley.
McKinley's knowledge OF parliamentary
ractice is an unknown quantity. don'tthink
have ever heard him make a successful point
ordo nd ia al he Iroz fn on
,age in dispute on parliamentary question.
;annon and Reed are the two great parliamen-
ary disputants, and together they have caused
1ore annoyance to Speakers OF the opposition
han all the other members OF the House COM
lined. If Mckinley has any great abundance
knowledge outside of the tariff 1t cannot be
from his speeches in Congress. He
as wrapped his tariff cloak about him that it
GEMS to overshadow his whole body, and so
% gets credit for good deal Of narrowness,
OF to say bigotry, no matter whether he de-
srves it or not. He would undoubtedly rise to
he occasion as Speaker, except in the event OF
great row, and then 1t seems to be the opin-
IN he would fail to embody that presence and
lie is smooth-faced and awfully serious, and
,oks like clergyman, and possibly that is one
,ason why members Of Congress would fail to |
Q controlled by him. When they get into !
lily row they don't want any one in the vicin- I
y looking like a clergyman to spoil the fun.
lost Of them can hardly wait for the Chaplain !
get through with his prayer, and go away so
lat they may begin swearing. they have SO
uch that calls for profanity. But Mckinley I
as strong hold on a lot of people, and, being 7
tuated half way between the East and the
yest, there is no telling where the contest may
nd him.
Jolly Joe Cannon.
When man go years old is addressed as