The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-04-03

Minority.
A Washington letter to the New
York Tribune says: Joseph w. Bal
ley, of Gainesville. Tex, the chosen
leader of the Democratic minority IN
the house OF representatives, Is the
youngest member of his party upon
whom the honor Of leadership was ever
bestowed by a caucus in that body, He
was born at Crystal Springs In Copiah
county, Mississippi, october q. 1863, four
months and two days after the sur
render OF Pembertons army and Nicks-
burg to General Grant. When the
"crime of 1873" (Which is his wont to
denounce with unspairing severity and
perfervid rhetoric) 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 his own stub
born refusal His fshing-rod and
fowling-p piece We're more attractive to
him than the spelling book or the birch
of the schoomaster.
At the age of 16 years he did not
know a proposition from an adverb,"
deal of certain sort of life, for at the
age Of 49, after paternal logging, ad-
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 PEE
riod of his life Mr. Bailey does not re-
call with pride or satisfaction. 1t ended
with his return home. animated by
nd AAtA nj N n n - "A
education. He had wasted much time,
and he had to begin 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 Bal
ley must have been diligent, but the
crop of wild oats was not all sown
until the end of his student life at coll
lege and the law school. Before it be-
gan, however he had become thor
oughly grounded in one virtue, that of
truthfulness 1t Is said of him that
"he would never try to lie out of
scrape," and "scrapes' appear to have
been not infrequent incidents of his
college career. One of them resulted
in his sudden and involuntary retire
ment from the University of Missis-
sippi 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, at Lebanon. Tenn, from
which he graduated with honors in 1888
at the age of 20, and was admitted to
practice at the bar of his native state.
A CHANGE OF HEART.
Mr. Bailey now turned over new
leaf He resolutely turned his back on
the irregularities of his past, and has
ever since lived a clean sober life. He
devoted himself to his profession. and
also, as was Il mater of course with d
young and ambitious southern lawyer,
he paid a good deal of attention to poll
itics. In 1884, at the age Of 81, he was
nominated as a district elector on the
Cleveland and Hendricks ticket and
was elected. BY this time Copiah coun-
ty, Of unfragrant and bloody MEM
ory, had begun to seem unattractive in
his ambitious eyes, because of the re-
mote prospect it offered of professional
or political advancement, and in 1885
he removed to Texas and settled in
Gainesville. He earned a comfortable
living by the practice of his profession
from the start, and within five years
he occupied. if not leading. at least a
respectable position at the bar of his
adopted state. OF course, he did not
neglect politics.
In 1888 he was nominated as one of
the Democratic candidates for elector-
at-large on the Cleveland and Thur
man ticket, and was elected. Two
years later. at the age of ~, he was
nominated for representative in con-
gress from the Fifth Texas district
and was elected by a plurality of %.
539 votes. He was reelected to the
Fifty-third, Fifty-fourth and Fifty
: fifth congresses In 1896 his plurality
\ was about 5000 smaller than in 1890
\but his vote was l,GOO larger than in
the former year. The Republican vote
OF the district had nearly doubled IN
the six years, and there had been q
large increase ii. the Popul.st vote
Mr Bailey was not liked by the Popu-
lists, and after the Chicago-St. Louis
national conventions in 1896 he an
nolounced that he would not be a candi.
Nate for reelection to congress. He
I was afterward persuaded TO reconsid,
er this determination and again 10 be
She Democratic candidate. He tok az
tive part in the campaign, but haC
VI HONillllS W SHY III MS SDtttnEs
In behalf of the presidential candidate
OF the Democratic Populist party.
CAREER IN CONGRESS.
Mr.. Bailey's career in congress has
been thus far an exceedingly promis.
ing and successful one. In the shor'
space Of six years he has risen to the
leadership Of his party in the hOust
or representatives, and he is not ye
81 years old. This seems all the NOR,
remarkable when one considers how
heavily he was handicapped at the out
set, not only by youthful vanity
stimulated to a high pitch by politica
success, but by the fact that he deemed
1t his duty TO become a chief custodian
and expounder of the constitution o
the United States. Fortunately 70
him, he discovered his mistake befor
It was too late, and he learned within
a reasonable time what many o.her
H~H ~