Los Angeles herald., 1909-12-10

IHkAYA M controls a majority OF the
IM votes in the house of rep
IM q resentatives the matter OF
MAN electing a speaker becomes
Ik6&M n vital question of national
moment. OF course no such
condition Is possible when there are but
two parties, as is usually the case, both
claiming and receiving the loyal sup
port of every subscriber to their re-
spective political oreeds. In such cases
the question of who will be speaker is
decided in the caucus of the majority
party, and the minority caucus selects
it's leader and offers him for the empty
honor of the minority candidate for the
speakership. Every speaker since the
beginning of the Civil War has been
named in caucus, and there has been no
spectacular fight for the chair in the
house itself The party caucuses nave
heen the scenes of some pitched battles,
and they often have been preceded by
season of wlre-pulling, patronage
promising and political chicanery. U.s.
ually, however, the majority has chosen
the logical candidate for speaker, al
though notable exceptions are the pref
erence given in 1891 to Charles Il. crisp
over Roger O. Mills, and in 1899 to Da-
vid b. Henderson over Joseph G. Can
non. Mir. Cannon has been four times
elected speaker, equaling the highest
record for successive elections to that
office held by Andrew Stevenson of Vir-
ginia. At each of these four elections
Mr.. Cannon has been the '1ogicaP'
choice of the majority of the majority
party.
But when there are three parties in
the house, or when any party cannot
control its own members and disinte-
CRATES. and when this arrangement of
bi-party lines goes to the extent that
no one faction has an absolute major
ity, then the house itself must select It's
speaker. For the first time in many
years there is prospect of such situ-
alton in the house. The insurgent, or
anti Cannon Republicans, and the Fitz-
gerald faction of the Democrats hold
the balance of power between the two
parties in this congress The regular
Democrats must depend for every atom
of hope upon the insurgent Republl-
cans, the Cannon or Regular Republi-
cans must depend for their control OF
the house upon the continued support
OF the twenty-three Democrats who fol-
low the leadership OF Representative
FITZGERALD. Representatives for the
SiXty-second congress will be chosen at
the polls next fail, and it is within the
realm of probability that the next house
will have neither a straight Republican
nor a regular Democratic majority. In
that event the successor to Speaker
! Cannon will be chosen in an open fight
! i'm the house
Tho Thirty-frst congress met on De-
| tember 8, 1S49; the slavery question
had begun to destroy party lines by
! forming geographical groups. The
Wings were in the majority, but the
party discipline was lax, the south
! erners being defiant and the northerns
not inclined to yield their views even
! for the sake of organizing the house.
! Robert c. winthrop of Massachusetts,
speaker in the preceding congress, was
| the regular Whig nominee. Howell
| Cobb of Georgia was the Democratic
candidate. Thirteen Free Soil' Wings
| held the balance of power. Under the
| leadership of Joshua Giddings eight of
these refused to support Winthrop be-
cause he had ignored the anti-slaVery
| sentiment in appointing the commit
tees of the Thirtieth congress. They
/ demanded from him a pledge that he
would constitute the committee on
| judiciary. territories and the District
! of Columbia to suit them. Winthrop
| declined Another faction of "lnsur-
gents" was led by Alexander II.
| stephens and Robert Toombs of
| Georgia. seeking to prevent the align
| ment of the Whig and Anti-Slavery
parties. on the thirty-sixth ballot
]
further use of his name. The Demo-
Gratis, believing Cobb could not be
elected. formed a coalition with the
Free Sellers to elect William j. Brown
Of Indiana, and on the fortieth ballot
Brown lacked but two votes Of elec-
| tion. Bnt when it was exposed that
Brown had bartered the control of Inn
portant committees for the Free Soil
support the Democrats left him and
pandemonium reigned. The house was
the scene of the widest disorder and
there was fear of bloodshed. After
three weeks of wrangllng the house
adopted a resolution providing for a
plurality selection, and on the sixty
third ballot Howell Cobb was elected.
In the next two congresses the Demo-
Gratis had everything their own way
| but when the Thirty-fourth congress
met in December, 1855, the irrepressible
conflict had begun. The Whig party
was in extremis. the Democrats were
torn to pieces and there was an almost
complete obliteration of party lines
There were northern Wings and north
ern Democrats, southern Democrats
and southern Wings, Free Sellers
Know Nothings and a few Republl-
cans-the first of that mighty organ
ization which has had practically en-
tire control of the republic for the last
fifty years. The anti-Nebraska men
composed of Free Sellers, Republicans
Know Nothings and anti-administra-
ton Democrats, had a safe plurality
ovar tho adm fet ra fion namOprafS but