The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-02-11

they are reasonably sure of long tenure of office and can take more prominent part each year in admins trative councils.
 Veterans in the Way.
 Tn the states like ours, where the party rnajorities are subject to changes every few years, the member has practically no show of promotion. He may get the last place on fairly im- portant committee, but he sees ahead of him men like those have named. who run things and will in all pro- |bability continue to do SO for years to come.
 The member. no matter how com plete his mental equipment for pubic service may be, cannot hope to create much of a place for himself in less than six or eight years In the mean time, members like myself, from close districts, are sized up by their consti- tuents as having no influence, and they are usually left at home just about
 the time they are becoming valuable to their districts.
 There is no way to beat the House system. Occasionally some fellow
 with more brains and energy than conservatism tries to kick over the traces hooked up by the House mana gers, and then they fix him properly. The House leaders. when Tom Reed
  fcers, which included change in the House chaplain. One of the members from Ohio. who had a prominent place on the Ways and Means Committee, bolted the caucus Aand voted to retain | the man who was then chaplain. | few days later Reed announced the committees, and the ohio man found
 himself in fifth place on the Commit | tee on ventilation and Accoustics, | committee which never meets, while
 his place on the Ways and Means Com I mittee was filled by colleague who had
 swallowed the caucus prescription and
 insisted that he liked 1t. No Use for [. Boiter.
 Reed made no bones in explaining his action by saying that he had no l use for any member who would not | follow the orders of the party lead CTS" 4 couple of years ago Renresen- l tative Littlefield of Maine wasl looked l upon as one of the very biggest men i in the House. He became an "insur- | gent, on number of administration measures, and to-day he Is as far out
 side the councils of the leaders as though he were a new member. The
 system is simply all-powerful, and the member who tries to beat it signs his
 death warrent.
 In the matter of being subjected to 1 outside influences. the member of the l House IS up against IL Just as HluSu as a Senator, with less chance of mak- ing his Individuality felt. The Sena- tor misses that fight for renomination and election every two years and plays 1 a more important part in the nations affairs. So am more than ever dis | posed to encourage the proposition which promises to promote me to the
 Senate wing of the Capitol. The mat ter is to be considered quite fully at
 a little. conference we are to have in
 a few days. and I will hasten to let you know the developments of that meeting. upon which my decision will probably hinge.
 If you decide to come to Washington.
 after all, as you say you may. you had
 better take part of that $500 and
 buy yourself some fipery. If we finally decide that we cannot accept the mon ey. we can replace the amount from my salary savings. Anyway, you need the dresses.
 Yours aifectiouately,
 KENT HOWARD. M. c.