Clarke courier. [volume] (Berryville, Va.) 1869-1997, 1905-08-09

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ger man than the man picked out
by MIR. Williams. hence the friction
and the petty jealousies. There
was some talk here for while that
the Hon. David A. DeArmond, of
Missouri. would be opposed to Mr..
Williams for the Speakership eau
Gus nomination, and he was being
groomed by few of Mr.. Williams
dlSgruntled minority, but the talk
has died out and there is no appar-
ent opposition to Mr.. Williams at
this time.
There Is no sort of doubt that
John Sharp Williams is the ablest
man who has led the Democratic
party in the House of Representa-
tives for many years. He IS a
many sided man. He has had the
advantages of better education
than most men i'm the Congress.
and what Is better, he has had the
brains To absorb it and assimilate il.
lie was 4 member of the House
for nearly fifteen pears before he
became known to the people Of the
nation. That means that he was
modest and that he constantly was
ut work, not only for his immediate
constituency, but for the people of
the country. He was digging and
delving for the things that he
thought would best subServe their
interests. He watched the trend
of things and was thoroughly post
ed as to now legislation was pushed
through, and he saw how the Re
publican party was doing it To the
detriment of the people and the
enrichment of the few. His few
speeches in the House i'm those
years had thoroughly impressed
the Democratic membership of the
House that he was one of the best
equipped men on the floor. and
had thoroughly impressed the Re
publican members that he was an
opponent they did not want To en-
counter.
When the time came for him TO
shy his castor into the ring as the
Democratic candidate for the
Speakership, which carries with it
the floor leadership, he had practi-
cally enough votes 10 nominate him.
1t required only a little work on the
part of his frinds 10 make it unan-
imous, and To this day no Demo
cratic member regrets it with the
exception of the few sOreheads
mentioned above. He is cautious,
careful, watchful, fully equipped
on all question, conservative, cour-
teous in debate, usually puts on the
soft pedal, but can use the whip of
scorpions when necessary. He
never eviscerates an enemy with
invective, but merely makes them
wish they had in the cradle or
jumped off n bridge before they
tackled him i'm debate. He is most
considerate of his political friends
and many times refuses to speak
on a question. when he could have
handled the subject-matter better
than any other man on the floor OF
the House. in order to allow some
good Democrat an opportunity Il
speak. He is an ideal leader OF
the Democratic party so long a. il
desires or intends to remain Dem
ocratic. He is a Democrat in the
brOadeSt sense of the word. He
dislikeS some of the socialiStiC
tendencies of faction of the party
as he dislikes the hypocrisy anC
pretense of the Republican party
He is an erudite and thoroughly
equipped leader of his party, a
brave as Spartacus and as gentle
as a woman, full of camaraderi,
and goodfellowship, an honorable
warm-blooded, manly man possess
ing the afTectionate regard and al
miraton of his political friends anC
the admiration and respect of hi
political foes. He will be elected
to succeed himself by an unani
nous vote.
ADDDpnIATI0N