The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1897-05-09
Mr.. BAILEY OF TEXAS.
THE NEW LEADER OF pEwocna rs
IN CONGRESS-.
Only Thirty-four Years Of Are. Ne
Has Been Remarkably successful
His Early Youth Chicny Notable
for the Scrapes He Got Inso-
After sowing His Wild Oats He
Settled Down TO Basinesa.

Joseph W. Bailey. Of Gainesville Tex.
the chosen leader Of the Democrats mi
nority in the house of representatives Is
the youngest member of his party upon
whom the honor of leadership was ever
bestowed by caucus in that body He
was born at Crystal Springs. In copiah
county. Mississippi October & 1854 four
months and two days after the surrender
OF Pembertons army and Nicksburx 10
Gen. Grant. When the crime OF 1S1s'
(which IL is his wont TO denounce with un-
sparing severity and perfervid rhetoricl
was committed Bailey was 10 years old.
and had not yet mastered the alphabet.
That he had not done so was not due to
lack of opportunity. parental admonition
or mental capacity. but TO hts own stub
born refusal. HIS fishing rod and fowiiux
piece were more attractive TO him than
the spelling book or the birch of tho
schoolmaster. At the age of Is he did
not know a proposition from an adverb."
but he had seen and experienced good
deal of certain sort OF life, for at the
age OF 10. after parental fogKing. adj
ministered in the hope Of giving him an
impetus in the direction OF book learning.
he forsook his home and was for three
years wanderer. That period Of his life
Mr. Bailey does not recall with pride or
satisfaction. IL ended with his return
home. animated by desire and deter
mination 10 acquire an education. He
had wasted much time. and he had TO be-
gin at the bottom and recite his lessons
with boys of half his age and less than
half his stature. During the next four
years young Bailey must have been a
diligent and fairly industrious student.
but the crop OF wild oats was not all Sown
until the end Of his student life at college
and the law school Before IL began. how
ever he had become thoroughly grounded
in one virtue that OF truthfulnees II In
Of \. ha Ia na n
lie out of a scrape." and ''scrapes' APP
pear TO have been not infreduent incidents
of his college career, One of them re-
suited i'm his sudden and involuntary re-
tirement from the University OF Mississ-
ippi in the middle of his college course.
and when he stood at the head of his
class. After that he spent a year at the
University OF Virginia. He then entered
the law school of Cumberland University.
az Lebanon, Tenn, from which he was
graduated with honors In 1883 at the age
of %, and was admitted to practice Al the
bar OF his native state.
Mr.. Bailey now turned over a new leaf.
He resolutely turned his back on the ir-
Irregularities of his past. and has ever since
lived clean. sober life, He devoted him.
self to his profession. and Also as was
matter Of course with a young and ambl-
ticus Southern lawyer. he paid great
deal OF attention to politics. In 1854. at
trict elector on the Cleveland and Hen
bricks ticket and was elected. By this
time Coriah county. OF uTHragranf AMI
bloody memory, had hfgun 10 seem unat-s
tractivc to his ambitious eyes. because
of the remote prospect 1t offered Of pro-
fessional or political advancement and In
1885 he removed to Texas and settled In
Gainesville. He earned a comfortable iiv-
ing by the practice OF his profession from
the start, and within five years he occu-
pied. IL nor a leading. at least respecta-
BILE position at the bar of his adopted
state. or course he did not neglect poll
ties.
In 1kSs he was nominated as one OF the
Democratic candidates for elector-at-large
on the Cleveland and Thurman ticket, and
was elected. Two years later. at the age
OF Il. ne was nominated for representa-
tive In congress from the Fifth Texas
district and was elected by plurality OF
% sss votes. He was reelected 10 the
Fifty-third. Fifty-fourth and Fifty-fifth
congresses. In 1896 his plurality was
about 3.00 smaller than In 1880, but his
vote was 1900 larger than In the former
year. The Republican vote Of the district
had nearly doubled in the six years. and
there had been large increase In the
Populisf vote. Mr.. Bailey was not liked
BY the Populists. and after the Chicago
ST. Louis national conventions OF 1895 he
announced that he would not be cardi-
date Tor reelection 10 congress RE was
afterward persuaded 10 reconsider this
determination and again to he the Demo-
cratic candidate. He took an active part
In tie campaign. but had little or nothing
TO sar in his speeches in behalf OF the
presidential candidate OF the Democratic
Populist party.
Mr.. Bailey's career in congress has been
this far an exceedingly promising and
successful one. In the short space OF six
years he has risen 10 the leadership OF his
| party in the House of Representatives.
| arf ne Is not yet "A years old. This seems
| all the more remarkable when one con-
Steers how heaviiy he was handicapped
NJ the outset. not only by youthful van
ity. stimulated to high pitch by politi-
cal success, but by the fact that he
deemed II his duty TO become a chief Gus
todian and expounder of the constitution
OF the United States. Fortunately for
I hin, he discovered his mistake before II
4 was too late.