Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-09-30
A FIGHT FOR PLACE
On IoaSe Committees a Factor In the
Speakership Contest
UNWR!TTEN LAW OF PROMOTION.
The South Will Get the Lions Share of
ChairmarShips Under 1t.
A POSSIBLE DELAY IN ORGANIZATION

of the struggle for the Speakership, and the
element Of uncertainty which the presence
of 100 new members throws into the cen
test renders delay in the organization OF
tbe next House not improbable 1t is true
that some OF the candidates began their
campaign work as early as last December.
and thar the canvass has been pushed with
more or less earncstness during tie summer
months.
Equally true is it, however, that this pre-
liminary work has brought about no really
definite results Promises have been made,
of course-so many, indeed, that no less
than three aspirants for the Speakerstip be-
lieve that they have already pledged sutf-
cient number of votes to elect them.
1t will be found, however, that when the
Congressman assemble here before the
opening of Congress cight-tenths of the
promises will have to be discounted. In
other words, eight out of every ten men,
bers will wait until they reach Washington
and look over the field before they make up
their minds, and then their decision will be
almost entirely influenced bv desire to be
on the winning side. This has been the
rule in the past, and there is no reason to
expect a change in the future.
not WITHOUT PRECEDENT
a delay in the organization of the House
would be unusual, but it would not be IN
precedente1 In the Thirty-ffth Congress,
when John Sherman was the leading candi-
date, Mr. Banks was not elected Speaker
until the % of February. and in the Thirty
seventh Congress the contest dragged along
until some time after the new year before
Mr.. Pennington received a sufficient num-
bcr Of votes
In both Of these instances the House was
called to order daily by the Clerk and one
ballot was taken before adjournment. In
each case, too, the voting proceeded under
resolution, which made it necessary for a
candidate to receive a majority of all the
votes cast. Naturally it was a compromise
candidate who was elected. Both Mr..
Banks and Mr.. Pennington started at the
bottom of the liSt-the latter with only one
vote-and rose until within one of
plurality.
1t was a singular coincidence that the
final vote, which was then needed, came in
each instance from Henry Winter Davis,
who had been sent to Congress as the repre-
sentative of the American party.
HISTORY MAY BE REPEATED.
Should history repeat itself-and the con-
tingency is not unlilely-the importance of
possibilities of combinations. too, are wide
enough to afford ground for endless specu-
lation.
Whether the next Congress, in the event
Of the failure of the caucus to reach con-
clLsion. will pass a resolution such as pre-
csdei the election of Banks and Penning-
ton: whether it will take a daily ballot or
simply adjourn from day to day until
compromise shall have been privately ar
Il. hail A A1l,onoo ,,,ar,harc
strive TO hold the balance of power, or
whether the Republicans will cast their
ballots for the Democrat who, in their opin-
ion, viii do their party the greatest amount
of gocd-all these are questions which are
full of suggestion and which may vet have
10 be answered
One thing, however, is certain The
Speaker of the next House. when finally
elected, must approach the framing of his
committees with fear and trembling. He
will be confronted, first of all with the
precedent which has become an unwritten
law. and which, if followed, would place at
the head of every committee in the next
Congress the Democrat who stood first in
the minority on that committee during
Speaker Reeds dispensation.
MEANING OF THE LAW.
To obey this law will be to give the chair
manships of about 40 ont of the sc commit
tees to Southern men and to risk the imme-
diate cry of sectionalism. If the rule be
disregarded there will be no end of friction,
for men whose long service, experience
ability and position entitle them to recogni-
tion will not be superseded without a pro-
test.
The situation is not only interesting, but
it is important as a.factor in the canvass
which is now so near at hand. The present
conditions, too, are novel Heretofore,
when the House was in the hands of the
Democrats, many of the latter came from
the South that the personnel of the chair
manships was a matter of comparatively
little concern to the rest of the party. This
wear the case is different. There will be
23S Democrats in the next House. OF this
number 121 will come from north of Mason
and Dixon's line and III from south of it,
including the Farmers Alliance men from
Georgia and Mississippi
NORTHERN MEN IN POWER.
For the first time in the history of the
Democratic party the Northern Democrats
have it in their power to outvote their
Southern colleagues This superiority,
however, is only in point OF numbers The
Southern Democrats, returned year after |
wear bv satisfied constituencies, have be- !
come versed in the int!icacies of parlia- |
mentarv forms, and have achieved the repu- |
tation and standing which como only with |
wears Of Congressional life.
As Representative Cummings has shown |
in some interesting statistics III Southern |
Democrats in the next House will represent |
300 years of service while the 121 Northern |
Democrats have had an experience of only |
1SS years.
Speaker Reed followed the rule of pro- |
motion very closely. OF the 50 Chairmen |
appointed bv him 81 received the places to |
which they were entitled, or were assigned |
to positions of equal Importance. The 13 |
who were left out in the cold had with two |
exceptions, been active against Mr.. Reed. |
These exceptions were Judge Kelly, whose
place at the head of the Wavs and Means
Committee was flied by the appointment of |
Major Mckinley, and General Ketchain, !
the ranking member of the Foreign Affairs
Committee. 1t was in no disrespect to the
latter, however that Mr. Hit, an e1-
pcrienced diplomatist, was made Chairman
Of the committee.
THE AWARD OF PLACES.
If this programme is followed out by the
next Speaker, Mills would be at the head of
the Ways and Means Committee; Crisp, of
the Committee Oh Elections Oates, of Ala
hama, of the Committee on Investigation,
ond so on down the list.
In the 81 chairmen that would be so /
named, only 10 represent Northern States.
New York has three, Illinois, Indiana,
Michigan and Ohio, two each, and one each |
from Iowa, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania
and Wisconsin. The Southern States would
gain 80 chairmanships, Alabama and Texas
leading with six each; Kentucky, Missis-
sippl and Missouri having four each; Geor-
gia and Tennessee, three; South Carolina,