The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-11-01

wa&ed on ~Uncle Joe" Cannon in his own district recalls the story of many another political prophet who has had honors heaped upon his head abroad, only to go down in defeat at home. Sometimes he has failed of reelection and sometimes 1t has been renomina- ton that was wanting, but from one cause or another many a distinguished figure in national politics has been forced to bite the dust of defeat at the hands of his home people.
 Mfr. Cannon himself had a taste of 1t in 1890, even If he shall noe experience 1t again in 1908. Sereno E. Payne. who can lord it over a minority in more Iordly way than any other man who was ever majority leader of the House, once failed to be given the opportunity Co figure even as one of the minority James S. Sherman. the Republican can didnte for e-president. once trailed his banner in the dust of defeat. Champ Clark. the heir-apparent to the Speakers throne if the Democratis carry the House next Tuesday, once Went down before the onslaught of man whom he says was "a fiddler, but neuertheIess a good Indian, "sflver Dick" Bland lost out in one campaign to a horse doctor. And even William Mckinley was once left high and dry upon the sands of Salt River by the ballots of his own people.
 Unusually the man who fails of a rec nomination is lost to politics forever, and the halls of Congress know him no more. A case of this kind is that of General Charles H. Grosvenor, the old War Horse of the Republican party in the House. There never was 6 more bitter opponent in debate than "Old Figgory' Grovenor. He could give and take the hardest punishment of which a political warrior is capable. Yet his bitterness was confined to de- bate. Personally he was one of the best liked men who ever sat in the House. as shown by the fact that upon his retirement he was accorded an ova- ton the like of which was never before given to a retiring member. His sue cesscr is known chiefly as "the man who defeated General Grovenor".
 Another case is that of John Wesley Gaines. of the old Andrew Jackson dis trict in Tennessee. While he has had great deal of fun poked at him dur tng his congressional service, MT. Eaines has been one of the most useful members of the Housei In discover ing shams and pretenses he Is as keen on the scent as a blood hound. And as for taking care of his constituents, any one who knows how things are done in Washington will testify that Gaines was one of the best of them all. Yet this man who did many things Of far-reaching import. the while add ing to the gayety of politics, failed to get a renomination at the hands of the descendants of those who started Andy Jackson on his road to the pres idency.
 The defeat of Rice Pierce. also of Tennessee. is another instance of the same kind. In Congress promotins go almost entirely by length of service, and the mediocre man with long con gressional career can do infinitely more than the brilliant man who is in the freshman class. Rice Pierce was in the former category. the ranking mem- Der of the minority on the Committee on Appropriations. He had every op- portunity to serve his people better than a new man. But in the primarits he was defeated for renomination by young man who carried every county in the district.
 Another instance was the defeat of Representative Bankhead by Richmond Pearson Hobson. Bankhead is not a brilliant man. but he is a plodder. The two most important committees in the House to Alabama are those on Rivers and Harbors and Public Buildings and Grounds. Bankhead was a member of both--a distiction seldom enjoyed by
  withstanding this, Hobson won the nomination, and Alabama lost It's good committee assignments. However, that was a case of kicking a man upstairs. for Bankhead was promptly chosen an alternate for the United States senate, ana became a senator upon the death of Senator Morgan.
 Sefeno Payne fs one of the few men who have survived a defeat for renom- af and won again later, but usually the man who loses at his nominating con ven1ion never gets back to Congress. It was for the nomination for member ship in the Fiftieth Congress that Payne was defeated. But his success sor held the place for only one term, and then Payne took another lease on the office that has not yet expired, al- though nearly twenty years have passed.
 Another prominent figure in the national political arena who once lost out in a fight for a renomination, and then got a new lease on his place, is the Honorable J. Warren Keller, form erIy Joseph W. Keller, sometime Speaker of the House of Represents tives, and now famous for his fight for a reduction of southern representa- ton in Congress and for the near dress suit he wears upon all occasions He was Speaker of the Forty-seventh X Congress, and was reelected to the sForty-eighth, but lost the nomination flor the Forty-ninth. He came back to Congress again after lapse of twenty years, and now enjoys the distinction of being the Rip Van Wrinkle of Amer ican politics as throughly as a child might enjoy a new hobby-horse.
 The epitaph that might be written upon the headstone of former Repre- sentative Babcock, of Wisconsin, comes from the Bible: "He saved others. him. self he could not save" For a number of campaigns MT. Babcock was Chair man of the Republican Congressional Committee. He brought the work of that Committee up to such high de- gree of efficiency that many a Republi- can owes his seat in Congress to the work of MT. Babcock in close districts, and may declare that at least two Congresses were Republican which might have been Democratic but for 9he work of the Badger statesman. But, while the cat was away, the mice were playing at a great rate in his Wisconsin district. MT. Babcock found that they had weak ened his strength so much that he could not accept another term as Chairman of the Congressional Committee. He stayed at home and attended his own knitting exclusive