The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1906-01-05
Unfitness and Unpopularity.

Bert Miller handles Mr.. McCleary
without gloves. The Luverne editor
tears away the mask and shows the Sec
ond district representative to the public
in mis- true colors. This man who for
months had hypnotized voters into the
belief that Speaker Cannon would rec
ognize him to the extent of place on
the appropriations committee, is made
to appear small in the eyes of man, now
that his measure has been taken and he
does not size up to the situation, nor
does his mental weight compare with
many other representatives in congress.
Mr.. Miller tells the public why MIR. Me-
Clearly was not appointed chairman of
the committee. "The reasons are sum
married. in two words-unftness and
unpopularity," says Mr.. Miller. "Mc-
Cleary can make good speech when he
has plenty of time to prepare it, but he
is not ready debater and the fact is
we'll understood by his associates in con-
gress that he would be utterly helpless
in such strenuous conflicts as the chair
man of the committee on appropriations
is compelled to wage and oppose. The
conspicuously disastrous failure of his
one attempt to handle an appropriation
bill on the floor of the house for the
District of Columbia seems to have Civ
en- sufficient demonstration of his inca
pacity. For this reason and because of
his personal unpopularity he had no
backing in his own delegation and no
following in the house. Neither had he
any record to justify his claims. In fact,
he has never been regarded as a factor
in congress and has practically nothing
to show for his twelve years. service, in
the way of results accomplished This
is due to the fact that instead of MAX
ing an earnest, honest and faithful eff
fort to accomplish something for the
common good-instead, for instance, of
taking up the railroad rate question or
any of the great problems involving in
terests of almost vital Importance to
his constituents and the people at large
he chose rather to devote his time to
the work of 'coddling' his constituents
by sending them documents, garden
seeds, personal letters and mimeograph-
ed communications with fac-simile sig
natures skillfully designed to make
each recipient believe that he had re-
ceived typewriter and personally
signed letter from his congressman.
But there came time when he had to
be judged by his record in Washington
when he had to be judged by his actual
qualifications and deserts. He has been
able to fool all of his constituents part
of the time and part of his constituents
all of the time, but he couldn't fool Old
Uncle Joe Cannon. And then there was
dull sickening thud.'
"Mr. McCleary had fairly earned a
pace Ill Tile vi
by his splendid service to the party in
the free silver contests, and as a re-
suit of long service and changes in mem
bership has gained by seniority the posi-
tion ON the committee which under the
usual practice would have entitled him
to the Craftsmanship. To be turned
down. therefore, when the great oppor-
tunity of his career had come, when by
virtue of time honored precedent and the
prestige of senirity he was entitled to
the craftsmanship, and that, too, after
he had used the assurance that he was
certain to have the Craftsmanship as
one of his strongest claims for renomi-
nation in the last primary election-to
be, turned down, under these circum-
stances, simply because he had failed
to make good, is indeed a tragic fate
as disastrous to his futlre usefulness as