The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-08-23
WHO WILL BE
 THE LEADERP Speculation on Senate's Democratic Head. cULBERSoN MAY GET PLACE Importance of Bringing Forward Strong Man Recognized. Indications Point to Triumph of Demo- crats in Oklahoma, Which Will Block Republicans in 0bjee-
 tionabIe Treaties.
 
eUIBERsoN MAY GET PLACE
BY A. J. sToFER.

l little over three months speculation is | already heard as to who wfif probably | be the Democratic leader in the Senate. l At the death of Senator German, of
 Maryland, that honor was conferred i upon the Hon. J. $. C. Blackburn of
 constituents and has been succeeded 1 by Judge Thomas H. Paynter. MT. Blackburn is now one of the | members of the Panama Canal Com l mission, having been appointed lucki- | ly by President Roosevelt, and is per ] forming the duties of that office with | it's high salary attached, down on the | isthmus wher the climate is hot, mos | quitoes plentiful and dirt along the | big ditch is beginning to fly in earnest,
 according to the latest reports re-
 ceived officially at the War Depart
 ment. Senator Blackburn was well | equipped for the position of floor leader. Tn addition to his long ser
 vice in both the House and Senate, he | was one of the readiest takers in pub | lie life. As an orator he has always been in the front rank. when a member | of the House along in the seventies, he
 was one of the right hand men of the ! late Samuel J. Randall, who was both | Spea'-.~ and floor leader for the Demo- | crats It was in that body MT. Black burn really obtained his knowledge of l parliamentary law, and few could equal him in driving through an approprfa-
 tion bill, or mixing up in the rough and
 tumble debates during the exciting period of the country's history when \ MT. Randall was in the center of the stage.
 Possible Leaders.
 Many of the Democrats who have visited Washington during the summer
 months talk more of Senator Culber- son. than of any one else for leader | in the highest Iaw-making body of the land. At one time frequent men,
 tion was make of Senator Bailey. In dced just after Mir. Germans death | word was flashed all over the country that Bailey was the man for the place. but just about that time rumpus was raised down in Texas over MT. Bailey's business affiliations with the Waters \ Pierce oil Company, and he and his | friends became too bSsy fighting his enemies at home to bother about the Senate leadership.
 Mir Bailey. as is well known. whipped his opponents He was elected for another term, and his friends claim he has been thoroughly vindicated. | But those business transactions have | been discussed so much, and the temper of the peopleats such that If gigantic i corporation is Nmentioned few if any | oS the Democrats appear to Iavor hav- | ing MT. Bailey direct legislation in the | uppre branch of Congress for their party. Besides. the argument Is ad-' l vanced that MT. Bailey was not a suc- | cess as House minorIlv leader Every
 one comedies hie gree abliity ana
 learning. Even his admirers. now ] ever, are forced to admit that his tenn perament is like that of tho Hon.
 Roger o. Mills, of Texas. Bailey gets mad too often, and that was the fault l of Mir Mills. and which his friends were
 reluctantly corhpelled to admit. pre- l oIa
 In 1891 in the contest with the late
 Judge Charles F. Crisp of Georgia. CuIberHOn is FavOrite.
 Senator Culberson on the other hand
 Is a we'll balanced man who seldom
 or never loses his temper no matter
 how exciting the debate in which he | may take part. His presence Is also fine. and as an orator he holds his | own with the best on either side of the chamber MT Culberson also has
 the bushes of the Senate well in hand.
 He is noted for his regular attendance upon tho sessions. As ready debater | his friends insist he is the equal of
 any member of the Senaee. They point
 to the numerous occasions on which he has acquitted himself, with the highest I credit, and notably in his tits with MT. 1 Foraker when the Brownsville shoot- ing affair was under discussion prior ! to the adoption of the Foraker resolu- | tIon on the subject. md which brought
 about the investigation by special l committee.
 Senator Culberson is in the prime of life, having reached the fifty-second
 year of his age one the 10th of June. l He Is a native of Alabama having
 been born at Dadeville, Tallapoosa
 county.
 Democrats generally recognize the
 importance of bringing forward as leader next winter the best all-around Senator of the minority party. This | Congress assemblies on the eve of a Presidential election. There arc only, ! thirty Democrats in the Senate The
 Republican membership at this writing ] Is fifty-nine with one vacancy in
 Rhode Island because the Legislature at it's last session could not agree Up- on any one of the candidates. Senator
 Wetmore lacked the requisite number
 of votes, the Republican strength be- ing split by Colonel Colt, of revolver fame.
 If a Republican is selected next
 winter that will give the Senate Re publicans a two-thirds majority, or ex- actly enough votes to rattfy treaties. The Roosevelt administration mas pend ing a number of reciprocity treaties.
 The "standpatters" are not in favor of
 some of these however, and the Amer
 ican Protective Tariff League fellows
 through their organ, The American
 Economist, are constantly peitlHB att-
 retary Taft not only because re favors
 tariff revision, but because he and tho
 President were instrumental in push
 ing to a conclusion the treaty Of e.
 ciprOcity with German. That piece of
 business caused a howl among the
 "standpatters" all over the United
 States They insist that in this deal
 Uncle Sam was given the hot end of
 the poker. And that's why the man
 agers of the League have commenced
 to throw every obstacle possible in the
 path of the Tafe Presidential boom.
 They are sending out their literature
 by the hundreds of thousands, and gre
 snecially cultivatins ha newspaper
 writers in the hope that the Taft boom
 may be whacked at every point of
 vantage.
 Senators from Oklahoma.
 Before the wheels of legislation be-
 come well greased next winter two Senators will probably have been elected
 from the new State of Oklahoma. All
 indications point to the triumph of the
 Democrats. That's the way it looks