The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1891-12-03
Chicago Grain Market.


The thirty-second speaker of the House
of Representatives will be chosen this
week Saturday We have had fifty-one
Congresses, but only thirty-one speakers.
That, says the Washington correspondent
of the st. Louis GlObe-DemOcrdt, Is be-
cause such men as Henry Clay and James
G. Blaine ana Samuel j. Randall and
John G. Carlisle are not numerous. When
one is found he is kept in the speakers
chair more than one term.
Mr.. Blaine was the etwenty-sixth speaker.
He had three terms; so did Schuyler Col
fax, who was Mr.. Blaine's immediate
predecessr Three terms seem to be con-
sidered about the proper thing for first
class speaker. Mr.. Randall, the twenty
ninth speaker, was three times elected
speaker, and so was Mr.. Carlisle, who fol-
lowed him Immediately. Another three
terms speaker was Nathaniel Macon Of
North Carolina He was the fifth speaker,
but the first from the South. Henry Clay
broke the record he was six times elected
speaker. In one Congress he resigned the
speakership to 90 to Europe to arrange
the treaty Of peace with Great Britain.
But he came back to the next Congress
and received the speakership again.
BY the rules of luck the thirteenth spea-
ker should have been ''hoodooed' the rest
of his life But in fact he was the only
speaker who ever reached the presidency.
OF course the name is guessed-James n.
Polk. And he was elected President
against Henry Clay, another eN-speaker.
More than one man has left the speaker
ship with the presidential bee in his bon
net. John Bell, of Tennessee, twenty-five
years after he had been speaker for one
session, became the nominee ~pf the consti.
tutional union party in 1901. Bell and
Everett. the ticket was.
AS stepping-stone to the presidency the
speakership hasn't worked well. But ii is
by no means political graveyard. There
Is future for ex-speakers. Two OF the
six living ex-speakers are now doing well
Mr.. Blaine in the Cabinet ana Mr.. Car
Isle in the senate.
The first speaker Of the house was
Lutheran clergyman-the Rev. Frederick
A. G. Muhlenberg. lie had four straight
terms i'm Congress, and in the first and
third Congresses he was speaker. He
died soon after.
Then came Jonathan Trumbull, who
went from the speakership to the Senate
and then was elected governor of Con-
necticut eleven terms, dying in Office.
,Johnathan Dayton of New Jersey was
and then senator.
Theodore Sedgwick of Massachusetts
died almost Immediately after the expira-
tion of his single term as speaker.
Macon, who was the fifth speaker, has
been mentioned. lie was kept in Congress
after his service as speaker until he was 40
years old and declined to run.
Joseph B. Varnum, of Massachusetts,
went from the speakership TO the senate.
Clay was three times candidate for the
presidency sat in the senate twice and
served in the Cabinet.
Langdon Cheeves. of South Carolina;
John w. Taylor, of New York, and Philip
speakers so to speak. That is to say, they
were sandwched in during Henry Clay's
twelve years, holding the Office while Clay
was out attending to other business. They
never became distinguished.
Andrew Stevenson, the eleventh speaker,
was three-times winner, but he went out
before the end of his third term to become
minister 20 Spain.
Bell. who has been mentioned, was a
senator after he was speaker. lie was also
Secretary of War under William Henry
Harrison.
Robert NJ. T. Hunter, of Virginia, took
up the gavel which James h. Polk laid
down. For twenty years afterwards Mr..
Hunter was considered presidential tim
tions, and in 1860 he was considered among
the available men for the head of the
southern confederacy. Then FOR twenty
years he was forgotten, and in the midst
of Mr.. Cleveland's administration the
country was astonished to learn that this
once eminent Democrat still lived and was
holding little 500 office.
John White of Kentucky, John w.
Jones of Virginia, and John w. Davis in
succession had one term each. White
went on the bench i'm Kentucky after be
ing speaker and killed himself-the only
suicide among the ex-speakers. Jones and
Davis died in their prime.
Robert &. Winthrop of Massachusetts.
the protege of Daniel Webster, was
speaker of the Thirtieth Congress in lSi9,
and went into forty years retirement
afterward.
Then Howell Cobb of Georgia, and Linn
Boyd OF kentucky, had each "a term of the
speakership. Cobb was Secretary of the
Treasury afterward under Buchanan.
Nathaniel Il. Banks came back to Con-
grcss forty-four years after he had been
speaker Between times he had been
governor of his State aud a major general
in the army.
James l.. Orr Of South Carolina and
William bennington of New Jersey were
the speakers Of the next two Congresses,
bringing the record down to the begin
ming of the war. They were scarcely
heard Of after they went out of Congress.
Galusha \. Grow was the speaker of
the House which came In with Lincoln,
and after him were, in succession. Colfax,
dali, !. Warren keifer Of Ohio Carlisle
and Reed. Mr.. Kerr was the only speaker
who died while holding the Office.