The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1910-05-08
BY CHARLOTTE NJ. CoNGER.

ny ChAhLOIIE vi. GONGEH.
Who VIII be the next Speaker is a
question already being discussed. al
though II will be many months before II
can be answered. In HIS farewell adj
dress to Congress Mr.. Reed said that the
Speakership was an Office second only 10
one other, the Presidency. and no one
who has followed the growth in impor-
lance OF this Office from the beginning OF
the government until the power Of the
Speaker was curtailed by the present
Congress will doubt this statement.
The question is frequently asked why
the President OF the Senate has not equal
powers with the Speaker Of the House.
The answer is simple enough. The SEN
ate has jealousy guarded its preroga-
tives, while the House has allowed them
10 be usurped by it's Speaker. The
usurpatlon was gradual. but as time went
on the power Of the Speaker was steadily
Increased. It never diminished.
Some Speakers have been more auto
cratic than others but the time when
the executive officer Of the House was
content TO perform the legitimate duties
of the Chair and stop there Is beyond
the memory Of this generation. Yet It
was never intended by the fathers Of the
republic that the Speaker should have
such immense authority As originally
planned. his duties consisted in secur-
ing his rights TO every member OF the
House, anad Il was never proposed that
he should assume those rights. Such
stupendous individual power was, in a
word. undreamed of by the makers Of the
Union.
Adopted from British.
The term speaker is adopted from
the British Parliament. where it was be-
slowed upon the presiding officer Of the
House. heading the members delegated
10 act for the whole body. who waited
upon the sovereign and responded to the
address he had orally delivered at the
beginning Of the session. Washington
addressed the first Congress after the
fashion OF the British rulers, and the
first Speaker OF the House, Mr.. Mullen
berg. accompanied by its members, de-
livered a reply TO this. address, but
through the influence of Jefferson II was
decided that the Presidents message
should be written and no reply should be
expected to it. Despite this change. how
ever, the title Of Speaker has adhered
to the chief officer of the House.
There have been sixty-one Congresses
and thirty-four Speakers. Sixteen states
divide the honor OF these thIrtv-four
Speakers, and their geographical dis
tribution is significant. Massachusetts.
Virginia and Kentucky have each sent
four: Pennsylvania and Indiana, three:
Maine, Tennessee, South Carolina. New
Jersey. and Georgia, two each: North
Carolina, New York Iowa, Connections
Illinois. and Ohio have had one apiece.
and everybody is now wondering to what
State will be accorded the honor Of fur
nishing the next Speaker
VIII geographical considerations be
again urged, as in the Forty-seventh and
fifty-first Congresses. or will il 20 TO
the strongest man. no matter from what
part of the country he halls? II the man
dreaming Of this Office has Presidential
aspirations as well, he should put the
idea Of the Speakership far from him.
for OF the thirty-four officers who have
presided over the House only one, James
Il. Polk was ever elected 70 the Presl-
dency, although several have been ambi-
tious TO attain this honor The most
disappointed OF those who tried and
failed was undoubtedly James G. Blaine,
whose lifelong ambition was to sit in the
Executive chair, and It was the more
Disappointing In that It seemed so sure
OF realization. Henry Clay, who was
Speaker Of the House through ten ses-
sions OF Congress, tried again and again
for the Presidency. and several other oe