Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1899-06-08

I
1 and soul to the political fortunes of the
| "Old Boy" and loyal to the machine mot
| to, I'VE are the party. to hi with the
| people"
Every movement of these ring rule Re-
| pubIcans for revenue only has ignored
popular right and public wishes in the
most high handed manner. The voter has
| been robbed of his suffrage and the party.
as a party denied the slightest voice in
selecting IT'S convention representatives.
That's what the late unlamented Mr..
Squeers would have called richness,
and clearly illustrates the much yaunt-
ed Republican harmony
speakership Candidates.
Nothing more thoroughly demon
strates the masterful influence which
Hon, Thomas Brackett Reed exercised
over the Republicans of the house than
the multitude of candidates for the
speakership who, upon the announce
ment Of his retiring, sprang up suddenly
as Jonah s gourd, some of them whiting
as suddenly They rose out Of the
bushes almost as numerously as did
Roderick Dhu's men in his confab with
King James.
l
| the speaker, / propose to discuss some
of those candidates who appear to be
within range Of the coveted plum and
| place them before the world as / saw
them.
The speakership has come to be easily
the position second in Importance to
the presidency. Clearly il overtops the
vice presidency in power and in honor.
The vice president no matter who he
is or what manner of man he may be,
is merely a splendid fgurehead the
waiter for a dead mans shoes. He has
! the maximum Of dress parade and the
minimum of power He can preside.
but he cannot appoint committees,
which shape and fashion legislation. He
| can vote only on a tie. and since vice
presidents were first invented only two
have had an opportunity to cast vote
which largely affected either the policy
of the government or their own political
| fortunes was when John c. Cal
1 houn shut the doors of the White House
in his own face forever by giving the
| casting vote against the confirmation of
Martin Van Buren as minister to Eng
land and when George NJ. Dallas cast
his vote in favor of Walkers celebrated
low tariff bill, which gave to the Unit
ed States its longest and greatest period
of prosperity.
Be it remembered that the Republic
ans have only 1S majority-the fatal
| 13-in the house of the Fifty-sixth con-
gress. and unless they elect a masterful
and well equipped man to the speaker
ship we win wallop them half the time,
| for they are by no means homogeneous
and at peace among themselves, while
we know what we want and will force
| the fighting from the moment the chap
lain says Amen" on the morning of
the first day until the speaker declares
the house adjourned sine die al high
noon March 4, 1901, to witness the in
auguration cf William jennings Bryan
as president of the United States. So
in this speakership contest the Republic
ans would do well to put their best
foot foremost.
Grosvenor May Enter the Lists.
At one time the candidates in good
faith, who were really after the speaker
ship and not merely maneuyering for
good committee assignments, were
! Cannon and Hopkins of Illinois, Sher-
man and Payne Of New York, Moody
of Massachusetts,, Henderson of Iowa,
Bingham and Dalzell of Pennsylvania.
| There was one more not announced,
but the peer of any, General Charles
Henry Grosvenor of Ohio, who was
handicapped by the fact that one Ohioan
was in the White House, another in
/ the secretary ship of state, and others in
nearly all the fat offices of the govern
ment He may enter the race yet, and
| if he does, be will make things hum
But as he is not an ayowed candidate
this must suffice at present for General
Grosvenor, except to state historic
| fact, which he is entitled to have stated,
| and that is that while he enjoys and
deserves the title of "a fighter from the
head waters of Bitter creek, he is
rarely the aggressor. | think his in
Vulnerable bitter controversies grow
| largely out of the ambition-gener
misdirected d-of Democrats, Populists
a performance to which ''the grim old
lion of Athens" is unalterably opposed.
/ Hitherto before / knew that General
| David B. Henderson of Iowa was can
| didate, / discussed him at length in
these letters, so l will omit him at
present.
''gncle joe Cannon of Illinois,
l. IL
defatigable, capable, has withdrawn in
| favor of Hopkins; another confirmation
of the dictuln that youth will be
served Undoubtedly Uncle Joe will
again be chairman of the great COM
mittee of appropriations position of
vast power and influence.
| New York has not yet adjusted her
Sherman and Hon. Serene E. Payne,
chairman of the committee ON ways and
means, axe contending for the mastery.
1t is difficult indeed impossible-to
predict what sort of speaker man win
make unless he has been actually tried
in the chair. for many qualities are
necessary to the ideal presiding officer
of large. able, faatiods, tumultuous
assembly besides mental force. Among
these may be enumerated. Goodness Of
head, clearness of vision, perfect
hearing apparatus. affability of man
ner, imperturbahility of temper steadi
ness of nerve, judicial impartiality.
dignity of department. imposing per-
sonal presence. unquestioned integrity.
absolute honesty of purpose. moral and
physical courage, decision Of character,
with thorough knowledge of parlia
mentary law and of the practical work
ings Of congress and the entire machin-
cry of the federal government. l am
aware that these qualifications consti
tute a very severe standard and that few
can measure up to it. Consequently
there have been few great speakers, and |
there never will be many But the above
standard should be approximated as
nearly as possible.
To understand the situation. LET it |
be understood that large proportion
OF the public business is transacted in
committee of the whole house. over
which committee the speaker does not |
preside. nut for which he selects the |
chairman
n ~