Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1899-01-19
DINGLEY'S SUCCESSOR.
Who Will Take His Place as
Leader of the Housep
SPEAKER REEDS DIFFICULTY.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 49, Special THE
death Of Nelson Dingley Is not only loss
to the public service, but to the country at
large, though the country at large will not
miss him as will the house of representa-
tives He was considered one of the ablest
men in public life and to Speaker Reed he
was of great assistance. No one man will
miss him as much as the speaker. Prcs-
dent Mckinley wanted Mr.. Dingley for
secretary Of the treasury, and while Mr..
Dngloy declined the cabinet appointment
because Of the great work it would entail
1t is also believed that Speaker Reed re-
quested him not to leave the house, as he
desired him as chairman of the committee
on ways and means and leader on the
floor While Speaker Reed is a greater
parliamentariSn and understands the rules
better than did his late colleague in other
respects Mr.. Dingley was regarded by those
who knew them both we'll as the better
informed on general subjects The appoint
ment Of Mr.. Dinglcy as chairman Of the
committee on ways and means let the
speaker out of a very disagreeable position,
which now again confronts him. He has
again to decide between two of his warm
personal friends on the committee and has
no man of transcendent ability to select
as he did at the beginning of the Fifty
/ fourth congress. No one has yet been able
to guess who will be chairman of the
committee on ways and means and the
| floor leader of the house.
The Speakers DinicuIty.
In the Fifty-third congress Mr.. Dingley
was not member of the committee on
! boil bo
place accorded to Maine. When Mr.. Reed
was elevated to the speakcrship, the mem
bers next in line were Mr. Payne Of New
York and Mr.. Dalzell of Pennsylvania
Both of these men were appointed to places
on the committee by Mr.. Reed when he
was first speaker in the Fifty first CON
gress. Mr.. Payne was given seniority be-
cause he had served two terms before Mr..
Dalzell was elected. 1t was supposed by
| the personal friends Of the speaker that he
would have preferred Mr. Dalzell for the
craftsmanship, but he could not very we'll
pass over Mr.. Payne. There was a great
deal OF speculation among members during
the winter preceding the Fifty fourth
congress, and at dinners where both Payne
and Dalzell were present some one would
call for a speech from the next chairman
of the ways and means committee" and
both of them would rise and begin talking.
They carried it along as n joke for quite
awhile and the talk was all over the house.
Mr.. Reed settled the difficulty, not quite tc
the satisfaction of either, however by
making Mr.. Dingley the chairman of this
important committee Now he has got the
same question to decide again, and his in
innate friends are still wondering how he
will settle it.
Funeral In the House.
FOR tho first time in ten years funeral
ceremony has been conducted in the house
Of representatives. The last Yves that OF
the Hon. William D. Kelley Of Pcnnsyl
vania. 1t is regarded AS something of Q
coincidence that Mr.. Kelley was for long
time chairman of the committee ON way.
and means, the place occupied by Mr.
Dingley at the time Of his death. Mr.
Kelley was not chairman of the commit
tee on ways and means when he died. His
health had become very poor and he hat
relinquished the work to other hands
While funeral ceremonies are such .are &C
currences in the house, the senate otter
, holds services over the remains Of depart
ed members of that body. Senator Nor
rill's funeral services were but recently
conducted in the senate.
; Kecoliections of a Battle.
There is only one picture in the capito
relating to the civil war. 1t is the paint
ing Of the battle between the Monitor ant
the Merrimac at Hampton Roads On,
reason given why this particular painting
is allowed while others relating to thu
great conflict are not is that this particu
7 lar battle was considered not as victor,
for either side, but illustrative of Ameri
, can genius and the beginning of the new
; nayies of the world. Senator Carter o
| Montana and party Of friends We're look
ing at this picture one day, and the senator
said: There is man in my state wht
was in that battle under peculiar circum
stances. He is Moses P. Wyman, who
, few years ago was Indian agent at thu
Crow reservation. He was a seaman OF
the Chesapeake during the war, and afte
the first battle at Hampton Roads he an(
many others sought refuge under the gun
T of Fortress Monroe. Then the Monito
. came down, and aboard her was a seaman
whose brother had been killed and was K
be buried in the cemetery near Old Point
This man wanted to attend the funeral
but could not get leave as the Monitor wa
expected to go into battle. Wyman knew
, the man and offered to take his place ant
offer was accepted, and Wyman tough
through the battle with the Merrimac un
der the absent mans name and was OF
duty in the turret, where it was SO no
that men stripped to the waist, and thu
hair upon their bodies was singed at times
He recolS,cts very well the injury to AID
miral (then Lieutenant) Worden. That HI
served in that battle has been of great sat
isfaction to him in his after life. D."
: Alaska Coast Survey.
, Superintendent Pritchett of the coas
/ and geodetic survey was discussing tn,
subject Of the work done in Alaska during
| the past summer and said that one of tn,
important discoveries made was that tn,
land at the mouth of the Yukon river ex
tends 25 miles farther out than was shown
, on the old charts and maps. 1t has Away
: been supposed that there was bar ex
tending out 40 miles beyond the mouth o
: the Yukon. This bar was found to oxtent
but Is miles out, the other part OF 1t bein,
land which has been heretofore called
bar One of the difficulties experienced il
surveying in Alaska was to got the longi
tude. Whenever surveying party get
beyond the reach of the telegraph, longi
tude Is rather hard thing to locate. Their
is no particular difficulty in establishing
latitude but evidently in the old days
when tho early surveys Of the Yukon coun
try were made by Russia, the later system
for obtaining longitude were unknown
consequently the many errors which hav
been developed. ARTHUR W. DUNN.