St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1897-02-27
SPEAKERS OF THE HOUSE.
saany who Were Famous and aEany Nor
Who Were Not.

i | o :
Who Were Not.
There have been 54 congresses There
have been 80 speakers of the house OF
representatives When, the term speak
er'' originated in England, it was the
custom for the sovereign to deliyti oral
" to parliament such Communication
as he desired 10. make at the eonls
nlencement of a session. The house SC
addressed responded to the communi-
cation. The presiding officer headed
procession Of members of the house,
waited upon the sovereign and read the
response, thus speaking for the whole
body; therefrom comes the term speak
err which we adopted from the British
parliament. The first congress heard
Washington's address, and prepared a
| reply, which the speaker, accompanied
| by the members of the house, delivered
to the president on May s, 1880.
Thomas Jefferson determined that his
communications to congress should he
made by written message, ard that nc
answer would befeRpected. This. led to
a general change in this regard in com
gress and other American legislative
bodies. notwithstanding this, the title
! Speaker" has adhered and many Of the
former speakers may be included, if not,
indeed, all of them, in one of two
classes; either they have become cele-
brated afterward in the field Of national
politics or they have become totally
obscure. In the former class are to be
included: Henry Clay, who was the
speaker in three congresses, and was,
moreover, a United States senator, Sec
rotary of state, and repeatedly q eandi-
date for president; John Bell, of Ten
nessee, who was secretary of war,
United States senator, and candidate
for president in 1860; James X. Polk,
who was the eleventh president of the
United States, inaugurated III 1875, ten
years after he became speaker; Robert
N. 7. Hunter, of Virginia, whowas United
States senator and confederate secre-
taTy of war; Robert C. Winthrop, Of
Massachusetts, who was United States
senator from the Bay state; Howell
Cobb, of Georgia, who was governor of
that state, secretary of the treasury
under President Buchanan, and mem
Der of the confederate congress; Galu-
.sha A. Grow, a veteran member of con-
gress, who, born in Connecticut in 1928,
was elected in November a representa-
tive from Pennsylvania; Nathaniel p.
Banks, Schuyler Colfax, afterward vice
president; James G. Blaine, twice sec
retary Of state, a United States senator
from Maine, and republican candidate
for president in 1884. John G. Carlisle,
afterward United States senator and
now secretary CT the treasury; Charles
T. Crisp, of Georgia, and Thonas E.
Reed, the present speaker of congress
and the slated speaker of the next con-
gress. These are some-but not all-of
the speakers who have obtained cele-
brity.
The list Of speakers who are little re-
Iaembered is perhaps even longer. In
recent years there has been j. Warren
Keffer, Of Ohio. Before the war there
was William Pennington, of New Jer-
gey,who had been governor of that state
-he was elected governor rs years be-
fore he became speal1er-and there was
Andrew Stevenson, of Virginia, who
presided over the deliberations of four
American congresses, andwas
the. only speaker to do so. Few persons
of the present day and few students |
Of American political history remember
even the name of Stevenson; fewer still |
know from what state he came. The |
speakership of congress is either a step
ping stone for TN ambitious statesman
or the eliminating point Of official
service for a negative man whose choice
is sometimes dictated by the desire or
necessity for compromise. With the
of membership in congress
the powers of the speaker increase, as
the enlargement of the senate has con-
Erary effect by limiting the influence
OF the vice president.-N. Y. Sun.
Hy @ d. Il