The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1909-04-27

hcan representatives. Time and again
during session of Congress, ques-
ton of some party moment arises upon
which naturally Republicans have diff
| ferent views. 1t becomes neeessitv
to bring about uniformity of attitude.
Sometimes this can not be done with
out an insurrection more often it is
| done amicably but deity and ALWAYS
| IN the interest of the party as the
| leaders look at it.
VIII Cannon Be Senator?
/ The renewal of gossip about Illinois.
/ throwing senatorial toga over the
| shoulders of tUnele Joe" Cannon. is
particularly interesting because such
a thing has happened to several
| Speakers of the House of Representa-
| tives. Every Speaker, Democrat and
republican, for many, many years has
had his filings and quips at the ex-
| pense of the Senate. All the same
| nearly every one of them has been
| willing to have the senatorial toga
| thrown over his shoulders No Speak
| er. however, has been willing to step
| down from his seat of power at the
south end of the Capitol to occupy
| little Greek temple, which, the late
Speaker Reed sarcastically said, every
Senator had for his own use
The late Speaker Blaine of Maine be-
| came Senator. It was after he had
served three continuous terms as
Speaker and had become plain Rep
resentative III Democratic House
during the Forty-fourth Congress. AL
! most the same thing happened to for
I NOR liz lE-f.@
former Speaker Blaine. Mr. Carlisle
had served three continuous terms as
Speaker, and then the series of Dem
ocratic Houses gave place to a Repub-
| lican House in the Fifty-first Con-
gross, Mr. Carlisle became plain
Democratic Representative, while Reed
was elevated to the speakership. Then
Senator Beck of Kentucky died, and
Mr.. Carlisle was glad to have a sena-
torial toga.
So if Mr. Cannon should now accept
senatorial election from the Illinois
Legislature, he would be setting a
precedent, certainly as far as recent
times are concerned. He is the third
man to have four successive elections
as Speaker-the other two having
been Henry Clay, who was elected
six times, and Andrew Stevenson of
Virginia, who was elected four times.
Henry Clay resigned the speakership
twice. once when he was to serve as
a commissioner to assist in the negoti-
atoms of peace following the war of
1872 But the speakership was not in
those days the important office that it
now IS. and was not regarded as the
second place of power under the
American Government. Clay was a
United States Senator before he was
ever a member of the House, and later
he rounded out his legislative career
as q Senator
On the whole, very few Speakers
have ever attained the Senate, and
nowadays Speaker regards himself
as a very much more important man
than a Senator. Roger O. Mills of |
Texas fully expected to become Speak |
er of the Fifty second Congress, but |
he fell short of election and was given !,
a senatorial toga as Il sort of conso- |
lation. Crisp, who won the speaker
ship when the Democrats came into |
control of the House. over Mills, died |
soon after he laid aside the gavel, and |
IA.
who practised law a year or two in |
New York. Keifer of Ohio, the Repub-
lican Speaker of the Forty seventh
Congress. has sought a toga from
Ohio more than once, but he is now
plain Representative in the House
from the Springfield district of the
Buckeye State. Samuel J. Randall,
who was a great Democratic Speak
er, came from Pennsylvania, strong
State, and therefore never
had any senatorial opportunities.
1t is doubtful whether Speaker Can
non would be very much at home in
the Senate, and while he is very mum
on the subject, it is to be doubted
whether he would care to have a toga
even from the great State of Illinois.
He would have to take a back seat
N the Senate. At best he could play
only minor part for a while. The
plums have all been dis
and therein he would be at
/ great disadvantage For the term .
or which Illinois is expected to elect
/ Senator began March last AS the
legislature has been deadlocked and
'efused to return Senator Hopkins, the
Senate leaders had to go ahead and
i'll the committee places that Sena- .
or Hopkins had had. If Speaker Can :
ION should now become Senator, he 7
you'd have to accept some such chair n
nanship as that of the Committee on +
he Potomac River front, which com 4
nittee never holds a meeting. Places V
we're made for ex-Secretary of State r.
Root, but now it would be embar- r.
assing to make places for so eminent o
Republican as the Speaker. a
The only argument that is advanced C
or the Speaker to change his service e
rom the House to the Senate is that ST
would enable him to avoid the party ST
trlfe now in progress there. But Il
peaker Cannon never ran away from 81
fight and he would not be augmenting is
is Importance in history by turning
is great Office at this juneture over OIL
} new hands. Insurgent forces may re
ress him hard at times but he always s.
anages to save himself in some fash W
N and really likes the tempestuous fe
areer which a Speaker Of a House ii
Representatives nowadays must look Oh
'rward to as one of the inheritances m