Omaha daily bee., 1899-12-10

national repute today, "were those of dis
! pose his vast bulk of will power to a veri.
| table Niagara of adverse sentiment and ht
was almost always strong enough to stop the
rushing current, but only after there had
| been tremendous buffetings which produced
| bruises, wounds and much ill-feeling. On
more than one occasion that ] can recall
| Blaine controlled the house in a situation of
| uneXampled and unexpected difficulty by
! eXpedients that Mr.. Reed never dreamed OF
| adopting, yet they did the business quite as
| conclusively as his harsher ways. Possibly
| Mr.. Reed avoided Blaines methods in such
case from choice, but / have always sus-
| pected that it was because he was less
quick of perception than Blaine. He had
! the rare faculty of keeping ahead of the
house This faculty is less than intuitional
and is of great value to any presiding officer
who may possess it. By its exercise Mr..
Blaine was often able to foresee the tactics
of the opposition in time to defeat them.
Several times while he was speaker every
member of his party on the floor was utterly
nonplussed by a suddenly developed move
of the opposition. and unable to make even a
ipretence at a counter motion; yet in each
case to which refer Blaine managed to turn
the tables neatly by reason cf his quick
ness. Fixing his eyes upon some particular
members he would announce in ringing
tones: ON motion of Mr. Cannon or Mr.
Dingley or Mr. Somebody else, the chair
rules so and so.
"As matter of fact, perhaps, not a man
on the republican side of the house had
opened his mouth. but the speakers ruling
would go, the opposition would be foied,
for the time being at least, and the business
tn, n 10
ever Reed expedited matters, do not say
that Henderson will ever adopt this par
ticular mode OF procedure, but he will be
more likely to do something OF this sort at
critical points than to adopt tactics similar
to Reeds Every one who has watched the
colonel in debate here in Washington and
every one who is familiar with his work
as a presiding officer and otherwise in Iowa
conventions recognize his intultional power
OF keeping ahead of the house almost as
pronouncedy as Blaine possessed it."
1t may be added that the new speaker is
credited with a profound knowledge of par
liamentary procedure and with exceptional
ability to keep the run" of the proceed
ingS. In these particulars it is predicted
that he will in nowise be less efficient than
was Mr.. Reed.
VIII he Loyal TO Party.
The impression seems to be very general
that while Henderson will carry his point
as invariably as Reed ever carried his,
though by other methods it will be with a
radical difference. Reeds viewpoint was
usually a personal one and on many occa-
sions it differed materially from the view
point of the majority in his own party
Generally when this was so the majority
had to give way
Colonel Hendersons personal viewpoint
is as likely to differ from that OF the ma
jority in his party as Reeds ever did, and
when Henderson was on the floor he never
hesitated to fight the majority If that
seemed the proper thing to do. Remember
ing vividly the horrors of the civil war
Colonel Henderson, it will be recalled. op-
posed the war with Spain with all the Vgor
he could command. Later he fought against
the Hull bill for increasing the effective
force of the army to 100000 men. Originally
the majority OF the republican congressman
was in favor OF the full increase proposed,
undoubtedly, thus being in accord with the
but, led by Henderson, the
opponents Of the measure defeated IT, As
speaker it is predicted that not infrequently
Conoel Henderson will sink his personal