The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-11-01
ReUerses Ln Political Life
By Frederic J. Haslzin.

ly. But even this did not avail. He was defeated by more than 1000 plu- rality in the 1906 election. Like unto the fate of Mir. Babcock was that of William S. cowherd. Chair man of the Democratic Congressional Committee in 1904. He spent a great deal of time and effort trying to achieve victory for the Democratic nominees in close districts. But while he was laborlng In that direction things went from bad to worse at home, and he himself was defeated by a large majority.
 Joel D. Hubbard was the veterinary surgeon who defeated "Silver Dick" Bland for Congress. It was in 1894. the same year that a music master, W. Nj. Treloar, defeated Champ Clark. Five men had refused the nomination of the Republican convention, and Hubbard was the sixth man to whom it was offered. The hope was a for lorn one. and only a few days before the election Hubbard said that if he thought he had any chance of being elected he would withdraw, as he fav- ored the continuation of Bland in Con- gress. When the returns came in Bland was defeated by seventy votes. The defeat of Bland was not due to any light of his people on him, but the
 
 home as rebuke to the Cleveland ad- ministration, never thinking that their failure to go to the polls would result in beating Bland. Tn spite of this home defeat Bland was the leading candidate for the Democratic presi- dential nomination up to the very hour that William Jennings Bryan delivered the speech that may yet win him the presidency.
 
 the matter of president making was the one administered to William Me- Kinley in 1890. by John c. Warwick. It was the great landslide year that gave the Democrats the largest ma jority in Congress that any party has ever had. and Major Mckinley was buried beneath the avalanche of votes, along with Uncle Joe'' Cannon, Will liam P. Hepburn, Charles H. Grosvenor. and a number of other men of national prominence. The defeat of Mckinley for Congress led to his nomination for governor, and two terms in that office, coupled with the energetic campaign Mark Hanna made in his behalf, served | to make him the inevitable choice of | the Republican presidential convention | in I8g6 The defeat in 1890 was not the first one that had befallen Major Mckinley. He was awarded the certif- l icate of election to the Forty-seventh Congress but his seat was successfully contested by J. H. Wallace, a Demo- 1 crat.
 A man conspicuous in public life to- day, who might be in Congress yet but | for a successful contest against his I right to a seat made over twenty years ago. is James Wilson, Secretary of the Department of Agriculture. On the | returns he was elected to the Forty eighth Congress by a majority of twen- | ty-three votes. The House was Demo- cratic, and his opponent, Benjamin F. | Frederick, instituted a contest. Will 1 son was unseated, and never came back | to Congress.
 There are eloquent gaps in the con- l gressional careers of many another man who achieved national fame. 'tsun- l set" Cox, a man of international repu- tation, was defeated in Ohio, for the Thirty-ninth Congress. He then moved to New York, and came to Congress for several terms from that state. Will liam S. Holman, the best watchdog the Treasury ever had, was in and out l of Congress as the Indiana political pendulum swung to and fro. William R. Morrison. Horizontal Bilr to the old timers, was sometimes a. Congress man and sometimes Q ''stay at home. Proctor Knott stayed at home from the Forty-hrst to the Forty-nfth Congress. l Theodore E. Burton, upon whom the Republican opposition to Speaker Can non may unite, has been in and out of Congress several times, as the tide ebbed and flowed between him and | Tom L. Johnson.
 The merry go-round of politics plays no favorite. General H. H. Bingham was the only member of the Sixtieth Congress who had fifteen consecutive terms to his credit. John Dalzell had eleven. The next best record for con- l secutive service fs nine terms. shared in by DeArmond of Missouri. Hull of Iowa, Jones of Virginia, and Living | ston of Georgia.
 Copyright, 1908, by Frederic J. Tas- kin.l
 TomOrrovy-The Cartoon in Politics.