The age-herald., 1899-04-25
THE CONTEST FOR
 THE SPEAKERSHIP

tatiVeS. lie was elected aIler a Snarp con- test at the opening of the Fifty-first con gress, which marked the beginning of the Harrison administration, and again, after two Crisp congresses, to the speakership in the Fifty-fourth, the last half of the Clevo- land administration, and in the Fifty-ffth, the first half of the Mckinley administra- tion. Mir. Reed has thus been speaker un- der three presidents-Harrison, Cleveland and Mckinley. He did not like Harrison very well, and is supposed to have coined the term ice-cart" as a substitute for "bandwagon'' in his campaign. MT. Reed had less to expect from President Cleveland. and perhaps on that account liked him bet ter. At all events, their relations became fairly cordial, and MT. Cleveland. fin an in terview some time before the St. Louis con- vention of 1896, said in effect that he did not see why the republican party should think of nominating anybody for the presi- dency except MT. Reed, who, in his opinion. was by far its greatest man.
 There have been thirty-two speakers of the national house of representatives. Since the beginning of the Lincoln administra- tion there have been nine five republicans and four democrats. MT. Grow, who Is now
  mia, was speaker in the Thirty-seveath congress-1S61 to 1S63 No speaker before his time is still living, and he is IS years old. He was followed by Schuyler Colfax. of Indiana, who was speaker for three con- gresses, the Thirty-eighth, Thirty-ninth. and Fortieth. Colfax was elected vice-pres- ident with Grant in 1868. and so Blaine was chosen to take his place as speaker of the house. This position Blaine held for three terms in succession, from the opening of the Grant administration to the loss of the house by the republicans in 1874 Mir Kerr, of Indiana, then became speaker, but did not live out first term. Samuel J. Ram dall, of Pennsylvania. was elected to fill out the rest of the term and for the two suc- eoeding congresses. These three democratic congresses covered the last two years of the Grant administration, and all of the Hayes administration A republican house was elected in 1880 with Garfield, and John w. Keller, of Ohio, was made its speaker. The republicans lost the three succeeding congresses in the Arthur and first Cleve- land administrations, and for these three terms John G. Carlisle was speaker With the incoming of the Harrison administra- ton Thomas B. Reed was made speaker.
 Three terms seem to be favorite length of service. Counting fractions as full terms, the three-term speakers have been Reed, Carlisle, Randall, Blaine, Colfax, Stevenson, and Macon. Henry Clay was speaker during the whole of the Twelfth, Fourteenth, Fifteenth and Eighteenth con- gresses, and in part of the Thirteenth and the Sixteenth. His record it will be rather hard to break.
 The geographical distribution of the speakership is somewhat significant. But fourteen states have been thus honored. Kentucky, Virginia, and Massachusetts have each had four speakers, or twelve of the thirty-two. New York has had but one, latter ending in 1927. Virginias four speakers, Barbour, Stevenson, Hunter and Jones, have been pretty generally forgot ten, while Kentucky's four, Clay, White, Boyd, and Carlisle, have made lasting inn pression upon the great office. Varnum was the only Massachusetts speaker who served two terms. Sedgwick, Winthrop, and Banks were each in office only one term. New England has had, besides these four, three other speakers, Blaine and Reed, of Maine, and Trumbull of Connec- ticut. Pennsylvania has had three speak, CTS, Muhlenburg, Grow, and Randall. New Jersey has had Dayton and Pennington Of the thirty-two speakers, fifteen have come from states south of Mason and Dixon's line. This includes, besides Ken lucky and Virginia, two each from Tennes- zee, South Carolina, and Georgia, and one from North Carolina. The west has had but four speakers-one from Ohio, Keller and three from Indiana, Davis, Colfax and Kerr. James K. Polk is the only speaker of the house who ever became president of the United States.
 It is quite likely that the contest for Mr. Reeds place will develop into a struggle be- tween the east and the west In the ffty- c ( NhA few southern representatives, and of the lS5 men who will go into caucus seventy three will belong to the twelve states east of the Alleghenies, and seventy-eight to the nine midwest states of Ohio, Indiana Ill., nois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Wiscon- sin, Kansas and Missouri. That leaves thirty-four votes from the extreme west and south combined. It now looks quite as if the struggle would develop into a con- test between some eastern candidate like sherman of New York, and western can- didate, like Hopkins of Illinois. There would be some crossing of line on account of personal friendships and preferences, but in the main the strength of the two candi- dates would be largely the strength of their sections.
 MT Sherman, it will appear to conserva- tive people, is much the safer man. Mir Hopkins has been identified with several radical movements. He was supposed to De tHo ieduef or the SO-cdlleQ '1nSurg9ntS'' who tried to force the speakers hand in Cuban affairs before the outbreak of the Spanish war He is a man of consider able ability, but somewhat excitable, and hardly possessing the strength and dignity desirable in speaker of the house Mr. Henderson of Iowa Is likely to come to the front as western candidate, and may prove stronger that Hopkins. Henderson is moderately safe man, rather given to "gush," but generally on the right side of public questions. Whenever there is an oratorical symposium in the house. Hen- derson may be relied upon to make the spread-eagle speech of the day from north of the Mason and Dixon line. One of his recent utterances in the house, in review ing the accomplishments of the administra- ton, electrified the galleries, T say, God bless little Mack" referring to the present president of the United States. Henderson is a one-legged union veteran, is cheerful and warm-hearted, and may be found formidable candidate. He is just now at Atlantic City, where he is serving as chair man of the caucus committee on monetary reform.