The record-union., 1895-03-01
Special to the RECoRD-UNIoN.

Special to the RECoRD-UN1ON.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 2S.-The President
has nominated Congressman William l..
Wilson of West Virginia to be Postmas-
ter General to succeed Bissell. resigned.
The fact that President Cleveland in
tended to appoint Mr.. Wilson to the posi-
ton has been known for several days to
the most intimate friends of Mr.. Wilson
and to Mr.. Wilson himself. The selec-
ton is one which the President made of
his own motive, without any urging from
Mr.. Wilson's friends, and largely in
recognition of the members service in
leading the tariff fight in the House No
member has been on more intimate
terms than was the Chairman of the
Ways and Means Committee, and his
speeches in the House have always been
understood to voice the opinion of the
Administration. 1t was noted yesterday
that MIR. Wilson's speech upon the
amendment to the postotfice appropria-
ton bill to compel railway mail clerks to
live at the end of their routes-perhaps
the last speech he will make as a Con-
gressman-was an earnest plea to Con-
gress to support the Postmaster General.
No man in Congress has greater per-
sonal popularity among members OF
both parties than Mr.. Wilson. Being
somewhat run down in health and wear
led from his work in Congress, Mr.. Will
son will rest for some time, probably for
month, before assuming the duties of
his new office. Part of his vacation will
be passed in West Virginia, and part of it
in visiting friends elsewhere.
Senator Villas, Chairman of the Com
mittee on Postoffices and Postroads, in
stead OF calling meeting of the commit
tee to consider Wilson's nomination,
polled the members of the committee and
obtained a unanimous consent TO make a
favorable report. An effort was made to
secure an executive session for the i'm
mediate consideration of the nomination,
but owing to the fact that some of the
Senators stated that they would insist
that the nomination should take the
usual course and be reported at one ex-
ecutive session, and lett over to the next,
this plan was abandoned. The report
will be made at the next executive ses-
sion.
William l.. Wilson is best known to
the country in connection with his recent
tariff work in Congress. He has been a
tariff student since he first entered Con-
gressional life in 1882, but it was not until
the present Congress that he became
Chairman of the Ways and Means Com
mittee, aud as such the official leader of
the House. Prior TO his election to Con-
gress in 1882 he had taken little part In
politics, except in being delegate to the
Democratic National Convention at Gin
cinnati, and subsequently an elector at
large from West Virginia.
Early in 1892 he was chosen President
of the University of West Virginia. This
would have fixed Wilson's sphere OF
work had it not been for a political rup-
ture and a party split in his home in
Charleston, West Virginia, which was
settled by the opposing factions uniting
on Wilson. The campaign was a redhot
one. Wilson finally won by nine votes.
lie was then reelected to six successive
Congresses. He received good committee
assignments from the first, going on the
judiciary, Appropriations and Ways and
Means. His experience shortly after the
war as a professor of law in Columbia
College equipped him for the work on the
Judiciary Committee in the four congress
sonal eras of recent tariff changes-the
Morrison bill, the Mills bill, the McKin-
ley bill and the Wilson bill. Wilson
took leading part in each. He did much
of the work OF constructing the Mills
bill, and he and Representative Breckin-
ridge started on successful tour OF plat
form speeches throughout the East, in
dOrsing President Cleveland's tariff revi-
sion message.
During the Mills-Crisp contest for the
Speakershlp Wilson cast his lot with
Mills, and when Crisp won he designated
Springer Chairman Of the Ways and
Means Committee. When reelected as
Speaker, however, Crisp named Wilson
Chairman of the Ways and Means Com
mittee, and in this capacity he framed the
measure which was the basis of the pres
ent tariff law.