The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-05-01


 was more or less opposition to the can didature of John c. Carlisle for Speak l CT of Congress. on the ground that he | hailed from a State that was one of | the Solid South" and it was in some quarters asserted and in other quar- l ters feared. that his election would put l the old South in the saddle. embarrass the Northern Democracy and result in Democratic disaster at the approaching presidential election; but the time had come when the idea Mir Carlisle repre- | sented was dominant in the party. and thus his advancement in the party councils was not only logical but ex- pedient, and he would have been pre- ferred over MT. Randall, even had he been an impulsive partisan instead of ] the sedate and judicial statesman he was. And so he became Speaker of the Forty-eighth Congress, and the year following Grover Cleveland was elect ed President of the United States. Again in 1891 so ardent and audacious a Democrat as w. J. Bryan refused to support Mir. Crisp in the Democratic congressional caucus, even after op- position to him had ceased. because MT. Crisp was Southern man: but Mir. Crisp was elected Speaker and the very next year Grover Cleveland was again elected President of the United States Indeed, for twenty years the Democratic side of the National House of Representatives is the one section of the national polite stage that the South has held and controlled-Car- iisie, Mills. Crisp, Wilson. Bailey, Richardson and Williams. led though Morrison was four years at the head of the Ways and Means. and Springer was tituiar leader on the floor two years; but during those six years a Southern man was Speaker.
 In the Fifty-fourth Congress the leadership of the minority naturally fell to Charles F. Crisp. who had been Speaker four years; but Mir, Crisp soon after dled. and two other Southern men struggled for the vacancy thus creassd Benton McMillin was veteran. Many years before, when quite young man. he had been returned to the Forty-sixth Congress. In that body Kentucky was a very conspicuous State for the great talents of her delegation and as MT. Mo Millin was native of the old Common wealth. he became A pet of the Ken lucky contingent, and was of the coterie of tariff reformers consisting of Carlisle. Knott, Caldwell, Mckenzie, Blackburn, Phister, Willis and the Turner's of Ken lucky. and Of Morrison, Mills. Hurd, Cox. Welcome. and others of that iik. Never was a young man given better chance to show the mettle that was in him. He sustained to the greRt tariff reformers a relation something like that Grey did to Fox, or Gaining to Pitt, or Choate to Webster. He was raised to the Commit tee of Ways and Means. and absorbed economic wisdom from Carlisle. Morrison, Hnrd, and Wilson He was afforded every opportunity. and was exploited at the North, as well as at the South. If not the orator Wilson and Hurd and Breckinridge were. he was a capable de- batter and strong speasssr of the class of Crisp and Bynum. There are many sin cere folks in this country who believe that tho cause cs tariff reform. as illus trated in the preachments of Morrison. Carlisle. Hurd, ana Wilson. was lost by the defeat of Mills for Speaker of the Fifty-Second Congress. As much as any other single man. Benton McMillin was responsible for that defeat. and that is why McMilln was not chosen to lead the minority after the death of Crisp.
 Senator Bailey of Texas, then a mem ber, of the House and a very young man, defeeted Mir. McMillin for the leadership of the minority of the Fifty-ifth Con Gress, and whilst 1t was true that Mir Bailey was the ablest man on the Demo- cratic side of that Congress. 1t would have been difficult to find a greater faii- ure as leader than he proved to be- About the first thing he did in the Ways and Means Committee was to vote against substituting the wool schedules of the proposed Dingley bill. The great leaders of the Democratic party who had so many years conducted campaigns of edu- cation to the decisive consummation of 1S9H had all taught that the duty on wool was the keystone of the protective arch. and that 1t was both profound statesman en.f .1-If AI,a,- necessary of life on the free list. But the young leader ignored this and pro- claimed a new evangel that as long as there was the slightest protection for the leom. there should be equal protection for the fleece. There Is some chivalry in that, if there be such a quality in econom-
 cs; but it Is politics so transcendental as to be absolute folly. It was no wonder that such leadership as that threw the Democratic party into chaos, and the leader of the Democratic side would as well have attempted to hem a flock of sparrows on the open common as to mob
 lize his squad in the House of Represen- tatives It was every man for himself and devil take the hindmOst.
 Mir. Bailey lacked parliamentary ex- perience. lacked tact. and he lacked tolerance. He was too sensitive. and he was not a very good-humored man. He had some of the elements of greatness, though. He had strong convictions that were somewhat clouded bv strong prejudices. He had independence of thought and self-reliance of intellect. but he would not allow for the weak ness and the prejudices. and, above all. for the necessities of his followers. some of whom were as colorless ss wa ter and as insipid as mediocrity. Small wonder. then, that every Monday of that Congress were blue Monday-for the Democratic side--and every day wash day. Bailey was no demagogue In matters of principle he was intre- pid, and at Chicago in 1898 he showed that he had some of the stuff in him of which martyrs are made; but it was unfortunate that he was called to lead a minority that Henry Clay. Thadeus Stevens and Thomas B. Reed combined could not have led. Bailey would be an admirable captain of a company. ev- cry private of which was a le premier grenadler de la France-La Tour d'Au- vergne; but he would be a lamentable failure as head of the squad Falstaf refused to march through Coventry
 And so Bailey abdicated in disgust. and the minority chose for leader a most excellent gentleman. James D. Richardson. an accomplished parliamen- tarian, man of admirable tact, of un failing good humor. and of the broad