Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1904-03-10

day !, man walked into the store aho
, in conversation asked him IL ne Nae
ever found out who the TIMER was
/ Yes. sir. 1 have he responded. you
are tine man because no one else ever
heard about it, Well. it was only the
other day that a mill man came into
my store and said that he heard that
| had received a fine valentine. he save
/ himself away"
Here is a tribute TO well-known
Maine man from the columns OF the
Washington Star: probably one OF
the most important subordinates en-
plOyed by Uncle Sam at the Capltoi Il
George c. Kinds, who is the right mann
| man OF Speaker Cannon, known OH
cially us clerk of the Speakers desk
! Mr.. Kinds has at his tongues emu the
rules of the House and most or the
precedents and authorities concerning
decisions of parliamentary law. lie
must know parliamentary law ana the
precedants of the House. and must
have them ready at seconds notlce,
| so that they may be clted Dy the
Sneaker or by the Chairman or the
Committee of the Whole House when-
ever 4 point of order is raised or Il
parliamentary point is to be DECIDED.
He must know all the members of the
House and from what States they come
in order to tell the Speaker OF tne
Chairman how to recognize them When
they address the presiding officer. He
muSt know all the secretaries of the
President and clerks of the Senate. so
as to tell the presiding omcer when
there is n message from the President
or the Senate to be received by the
House, and the hammer falls when he
says that man has consumed ms al
lotted time. OF all these tasks the
greatest is to be well informed on
parliamentary law. There is no index
to parliamentary rulings. and many
points ore found by the man who will
delve and dig and study the subject all
the lime. Mr.. Kinds came to his place
IN the Fifty-first Congress-. being
selected by the late Thomas b. Reed.
Speaker. He was there two years, and
when the Democrats took control OF
the House he returned to his news
paper in Portland. Mr.. Reed brought
him back in the Fifty-fOurth Congress
and he has been there ever since. He
will probably remain as long as he de-
sires, as he has gained many friends
and n knowledge of the duties OF the
position attained by very few men.
The selection of Mr. Kinds by Speaker
Reed naturally meant that he was
good man for the place. as Mr.. Reed
had the reputation of selecting none
but the best as his assistants. Parlia-
mcntary law is study, and even the
best INSTRUMENTATION that ever existed
were not always sure that they were
right Mr.. Kinds is not absolutely
sure on ill points, but he is sure SO
far as he has gone. He is constantly
delvng into the subject and OCCASION
ally comes up with n new find. All
decisions are indexed under the sub
ject debated, as, for instance, the
counting of a quorum comes under the
contested election case of Smith
against Jackson from West Virginia.
Mr.. Kinds gets on the track of one
case and follows it back through the
musty records until he gets to tho
foundation. Then he makes up the
digest of the parliamentary law and
presidents which governs the House.
1t is an interesting fact that rulings
based upon his advice are always
right.