The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1899-07-01
TURNING OVER The LEAVES.
fpy @. A. EDwARps.)

There are very few men In this country
who can tell offhand the names OF the
speakers OF the house OF representatives.
yet there were only thirty-two altogether.
have been digging UP the facts regarding
them, and in view of the present interes.
in the speakership matter, little infor-
nation on this subject might not come
amiss.
Thomas Bracket Reed was elected to the
position of speaker OF the house Of repre-
serta''vos at the beginning Of the Fifty
first congress and 1t was indeed term OF
turmoil and confusion superlnduced by
his arbitrary rulings, which gained for
him the name of "ozar." 1t was during
the session Of this congress. when Tom
Reed had all the doors locked IN order to
keep members In while he counted = quo
rum that Hon. Constantine Buckley Kill
gore made himself famous by kc!,ing
down green baize door and smashing the
nose of Hon. Nelson Dlngey of Maine.
When Tom Reed retired at the close of
this congress the customary vote OF thanks
was extended to bin only by strict party
vote. AS is we'll known, Mr. Reed ie-
linqdishes his seat In congress, which he
could undoubtedly have retained as lonS
as he lived to become O member of New
York law firm with guaranteed salary of
$50. COO year. / will soon have something
moro to say on that subject, but, as Kip
ling says. that's another story. The i'm
mediate predecessor of Mr.. Reed was Hon.
John G. Carlisle, whom Mr.. Reed has re-
Gently declared to be without a peer and
but one superior During the Fifty first
congress Mr.. Carlisle was chosen senator
to fill the scat made vacant by the death
Of James B. Beck and remained in the
senate until he accepted the position of
secretary of the treasury In the second
cabinet Of Grover Cleveland In doing
this nearly every one now comedies that he
made huge mistake. He was right in
the middle of The storm center of the
financial panic of 1894. and he never re-
covered from the faint OF Clevelandism
with which he became impregnated and
which has permanently retired him to pri-
could have had almost anything within the
gift of the democratic party, and could
yet, II he had resigned from Cleveland's
cabinet and refused to obey the behests
of that STUFFED prophet of Wall street
in carrying out the demands of the gold
syndicate.
The late Charles Frederick Crisp of
Georgia presided over the Fifty second ard
Fifty third congresses, when the duties
again devolved upon Mr.. Reed, and the ad-
journment of the war congress found MIN
still in the speakers chair having held
sway altogether for three terms. The
rest of Mr.. Crisp's career was brief. He
was reelected to the Fifty fourth con-
gress md was preparing to enter the race
for senator when his aspirations and plans
were cut short by the grim messenger Of
death. His unexpired term was filled out
by his son, Charles F. Crisp, Jr.
The first speaker of the house of rep
resentatives under the constitution was
Frederick A. Muhenburg of Pennsylvania.
gress. During his second term it fell to
his lot to decide for or against the Jay
treaty, the house being equally divided He
cast the deciding vote in favor of the
treaty. Jonathan Trumbull of Connecticut
was speaker of the Second congress Later
he became senator and resigned to become
governor Of his State. which shows in
what little esteem the position of United
States senator was held at that time A
New York senator once resigned to become
mayor of New York City.
The Fourth and Fifth congresses had for
speaker Jonathan Dayton of New Jerse,
who afterwards served in the United STATES
senate and in the State senate of New
Jersey. He was arrested on suspicion CT
being concerned in the conspiracy CON
cocted by Aaron Burr, but as Burr was &C.,
quilted the matter was dropped Massa-
chusetts furnished the speaker of the Sixth
congress in the person of Theodore Seds-
wick He afterward became judge of the
supreme court of his State The Seventh.
Eighth and Ninth congresses were presided
lima. the original Father of the House. +"
In 1916 he entered the senate, where he
remained for twelve years and then retired
from public life, except for presiding over
the North Carolina constitutional conven-
tion In 1885. Joseph B. Varnum of Mas
sachnsetts occupied the speakers chair In
the Tenth and Eleventh congresses. After
ward he was sent to the senate for a term |
and then served in the legislature OF his
State
~
Henry Clay was made speaker of the |
Twelfth congress, which was his first term
in the house. but he had previously been
In the senate. and that is fact that few
people probably remember. He was
speaker oftener than any other man.
While holding that position In the Thir.
teenth congress he resigned to serve ON
the peace commission In Client, and Lang |
don cheeyes succeeded him for the rest of
the term He afterward became speaker
OF the Fourteenth, Fifteenth and sixteenth
He resippad OF en- ..z., |