The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1899-10-22

quoted as saying that the next session of
congress will be the most important in the
history of this government since the heated
sessions just preceding the civil war. SINH
lar statements have been made by other
members of the senate and by many men,
bers of the house of representatives. Not
only do the representatives and senators
who have served before feel the response
bility which the congress will involve, but
the newly elected and untried in the halls
of legislation fully realize the Importance
attaching to the work before the Fifty
sixth congress
In the past thirty years possibly there
has not been a time when the country
needed strong men to guide the destinies
of se two houses as 1t will need them dur
ing the approaching session. 1t would
seem that the Spanish-American war not
only rounded off a cycle in the military
history of this country, but closed legis-
lative period as well. The congress which
declared war and saw the arms of the
country victorious in its own short life
time of two years, has ceased to exist. Not
only have many of the men who took u
leading part in the debates on the floor in
that congress been retired to private life,
or else been called to other spheres of pub
lie usefulness, but the leaders have either
resigned or else voluntarily laid down their
scepters of power
When the Fifty-sixth congress is organ
lied it will be by other men than those who
have shaped the destinies of congress in the
recent past. This will be especially true of
the house of representatives, though the
personnel of the sena te- will be so changed
as to shift leadership of the parties and
possibly alter materially the methods of
doing business in that body
A Matter of Conjecture
To what extent new leaders will be found
to take the places of those retired or to
how great degree new systems of doing
business will be found, is matter of pure
conjecture now, but that a new era in the
legislation of this country is about to be
ushered in there Is no doubt. Throughout
the political and congressional history of
this country men have been raised up ito
answer questions which have vexed the
public mind, yet no one looking into the
future can predict from what party or from
what state new leaders will now come.
That out of the ranks there are coming
new men with new ideas who will be able
to meet new emergencies and to answer
new questions there seems to be no uncer-
tainty Already the leaders of both of the
great parties eagerly scanning the list
of new senators and representatives, seek
ing for some name which is destined to be-
come conspicuous if not famous in the roll
call of the Fifty-sixeth congress. Men who
are often the most brilliant on the stump
or in state legislatures become mere figure
heads in the house and senate, while just
as often some man unknown out OF MS
congressional district catches the national
ear and developes into a lelader, sharing,
not ony the destinies of his own party but
directing the entire trend of public thought
as we'll.
When the gavels fall in the senate and
house of representatives on the fourth OF
next December many we'll known face In
both bodies will be missing. Most conspic-
nous In its absence will be that of Thomas
Bracket Reed now ex-speaker, the man
who inaugurated his quorum counting RUE
and thereby changed the entire metnous
of procedure in the house ana made speedy
business there possible. He was not only
the autocrat of his party in the house, but
governed with an iron hand every memper
who sat beneath the dias. HIS wall was
largely the will of the house. and by his
rules he could control the legislation not
only of the body over which ne presided
but shape, to a very large extent, the
whole legislative business of the country.
The New Speaker
Tn his place will stand the venerable fig
,,re Of Davis Bremner Henderson, from the
Third district of Iowa. Whether or not
he will adhere to the old system ana adopl
the rulings of ex-Speaker Reed Is an open
question Sentiment in his party IS dlVlded
and II is possible that he will give more
freedom to the house in the choice OF conn
Inattees and thereby relinquish some OF the
mower possessed by his predecessor. MI
Henderson has, as yet, given no intimatlon
10 any one what his policy Will pc, anu
doubtless he will be guided by the majority
of those who place the gavel In his mana.
He is a strict party man and believes hrm-
Nv in the wisdom of majority rule. Speaker
Henderson, by virture OF his ofdlce, De-
comes the leader of his party in the mouse:
He will have some of the trusted friends of
Mr. Reed to choose from for his Ieuten-
ants on the floor, but at any moment all
calculations might be upset by the appear
ance of some one, now unknaWn, VINO Wall
seize the reigns thrown out by MI; Henuer-
son and virtually become what Is known as
tba leader on the floor. Such man IS
easily developed in the rough and tumple
deba ties of the house and every party iiehl
gives an opportunity for such man TO ap-
pear. =. .u, n,
unsettled question Since the last congress
the minority has assumed additlonal I'M.
nortance by force of numbers ana the pa, .
of leadership becomes correspondihsiy
more important. RepresentatVe p .si ~
Texas has voluntarily retired from uhe part
of leader and declines to assume II agall.
rrhe leadership of the minority Is flXeu by
the minoritys nomination for the spedh ei
ship The fight in the democratic RANKS III =,
this honor will be of greater interest tnan
the election of speaker, for the reason that
whoever the republicans nominate Will De
elected and they have already settled upon
Mr. Henderson.
Will Gather In Advance
The democrats will gather in Washington
several DAYS in advance of congress and
meet in caucus to nominate one or their
MANNERS for the speakership Whoever is
seIected becomes the leader of the minori-
tv. There are a number of candidates Tor
This honor. but there are only three whose
names will be seriously considered. THESE
are the Hon James d. Richardson of Ten
nessee. the Hon. ]. H. Bankhead of Ala
mama. and the Hon. D. A. DeArmond of
Missouri One of these three will most
likely be chosen, unless the friends OF MI.
Bailey persuade him to consent to assume
the role of leadership again, thing which
he declares positively he will not do.
So 1t will be seen that not only does the
majority change its leader in the coming
congress, but the minority as well. What
will be the effect and how far these