The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-03-14
MR. BUSBY EXPLAINS
HoBsoy,s APPorNTMENF ON NAVAL
 COMMITTEES.
Secretary to speaker Cannon says Hero of Merrimac Was Endorrea
 by Jchn sharp Williams V Minority Leader.

washinxtou. March 13.-As bearing nr inc means adopted to secure the ap- pointment of Captain Richmonu
 ffnhscr of Alabama on the Committee or Naval Affairs, which has been re- ferred fo in the conduct of the inves- firafion of the charges or hepteseh. s,, z fatfve Tailey. in connection W .h purchases by the sgovernmen,. o 2 ir marine torpedo boats. the following ln : tarvieu with L. White Busby. Secte- tary 10 Speaker Cannon, will be oi m
 ..Issve vou any objections to stating what influence placed Captain Hopson on inc Committee on Naval Ahatrss MT. Busby was asked:
 snyot in the feast Captain Hobson wss recommended for assignment to sha Naval Committee by Hon. John sharp Williams, the minority leader or fhe House. and Mir. Cannon accepted MT. Williams's slate. On the night or f,ecember IS, 1907, Mir. Williams sent his list of minority assignments to MT. Cannon. That was 10 o'clock. MT. Cannon glanced over the list very hastily and handed 1t to MT. Htnds to incorporate with his own assignments for the majority side of the House. MT. Cannon then left his office and MT. Hinds and prepared the copy for the urinfer There was no discussion and only one change made in Mir. Wiliiams's recommendations. That was not on the Naval Committee. The Speaker did not again see the Committee list unf,i inc printed copies were distrib- uted in the House the next day.
 ~Was Mir. Wiiliams's recommends tion of Mfr. Hobson the only one that came before the Speaker
 "Yes, with the exception that on March 2. 1907. two days before the Eff ty-ninth Congress adjourned, Mir. Hob son, as q member-elect of the Sixtieth dressed to the Speaker expressing a desire for assignment to the Naval Committed. That letter was indorsed by the fnembefs-elect of the Alabama delegation. That was the only recom- mendation of MT. Hobson for assign ment to the Committee on Naval Af- fairs ever placed before Speaker Can- non, until he received the list of the minority leader the night before the Comu1itfees were announced to the House. Captain Hobson and every oth- CT Democratic memberf of the House understand the custom prevailing since Mir. Cannon became Speaker of the Fifty-eighth Congress giving the mi nerity the organization of its own side If the House and their assignments to the Committees by their own leader TYnderstandIng this custom. Mir. Hob son did not come to the Speakers room to talk about committee assignments He went with all Democratic members tc Mir. Williams. because the minority leader had the organization of the mi nority side of the standing commit tees. Any man who did not know this had a very limited knowledge of af- fairs in Washington. This custom was introduced by MT. Cannon in the be- ginning of the F'ifty-eiKhth Congress in 1908 aud it is so well known that comparatively few Democratic mem bers of Congress came to Mir. Cannor when the Fifty-ninth and Sixtieth Con- xrssses were organized. Those thai did come were courteously referred tc Mir. williams as their leader. who would make the minority assign ments-