The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1910-06-17
Washington Letter.

| could be written on the Sdu oDsCurd-
ton this year of the star of the Hon
orabe John Dalzell, of Pennsylvania.
Time was when Dalzell figured In
the headlines as the horrid oppres-
sor of the house, or as the author
of some new gag rule, or other IN
| iquity." When Uncle Joe Cannon
ruled the committee on rules-back
| I'm the days before Norris touched of
his explosion and blew that body INTO
Kingdom come-it was Dalzell who,
as senior member always arose In the
house to announce the deliberations
4 of the committee. II was Dalzell who
introduced the gag rules; 1t was Dali
zell who led the parliamentary skir-
msh over their adoption; 1t was Dali
zell who urged the stand-pat boys
| to rally around the standard, and IL
was Dalzell who flung defiance In the
face Of the insurgents.
| Back in the days when insurgency
was merely a sort of innocuous blue
bottle fly. and before the bug grew
into an angry wasp with a sting. John
Dalzell It was who arose, amid the
stiffness of anticipation. and an
nounced:
MIR. Speaker. 1 am directed by the
committee on rules to report the fol-
lowing order"
And Uncle Joe just as II he hadn't
O KID that very order some few
minutes or hours previously, would
| ponderously repeat that sentence. And
the order" would turn out to be a
special rule. limiting debate, or lin
iting amendments of some pet mea.
sure.
Dalzell used to be n conspicuous
headliner in those days. He Is now
classed as one of the Big -Four In
the house machine-the other three
being the speaker, Representative
Payne, of New York, and Representa-
tive Tawney. of Minnesota. He used
to figure largely in the floor proceed
ings.
But now. alas. since the insurgents
swept away that five membered COM
mittee on rules. and substituted
fifteen membered one, Dalzell isn't
as important as he used to be. He
doesn't bulk as large in the proceed
ings of the house. He is about the
only silent partner in that Big Four
partnership.
"Uncle Joe" as speaker figures
largely in the Record; Representative
Payne, as floor leader for the Repub-
licans, and chairman of the big ways
and means committee, always breaks
into print at least once a day-if not
any other way, certainly he moves
that the house adjourn; while Repre-
sentative Tawney, as chairman OF the
appropriations committee, in charge
of the big appropriation bills spreads
a lot of talk over the fair white pages
of the Record.
So John doesn't figure largely In the
proceedings nowadays. In addition,
he isn't an impressive figure He Is
short-very short. He is spare. He
dresses quetly-usually in grey-and
always wears red carnation in his
button hole, just like Uncle Joe ana
Representative Payne. He Is quick
and nervous in his movements and
has sharp gray eyes with peculiar
piercing quality. His hair and mou-
stache are iron-gray. The most
characteristic thing about Dalzell,
however, is his trick of speaking and
walking with his head tilted over a
wee bit to his right. He gives the i'm
preston of always acutely listening
! for something. He isn't an eloquent
speaker but has a directness about
his utterance that makes him clear
Dalzell is a first-class parliamentary
ian. In the old days he had to be-
for II was upon him that all the
"ag'in the rules nsurgers' centered
their protests against gag rules. He
had to defend the rules reported
from his committee. and had to hear
1 artn AT ha
tins as he twisted the gag.
At any rate. John used to break
, into print a lot, and he was one OF
: those members whom the capitol
, guides always pointed out. and on
whom visitors gazed with awe, de-
spite his short stature.
To crown all of Johns misfortunes
he had tremendous fight Of 1T to
secure denomination In the stal'
wart, stand-pat. protection, dyed-in'
: the-wool- Republican district which h'
, has been representing for the pas
twenty four years. He won out, bu
he had a battle royal.
Dalzell was game, as always Wher
he fights, he fights hard. Members
] i'm the house have learned that hi'
. unimpressive stature and apparently
, pacific external appearance conceal q
hghting spirit.
Anybody who walks through th'
corridors of the house office building
these days doesn't need any further
reminder of the fact that this Il
: campaign year.
Piles of mail bags clutter the hall
e of the building and extra clerks arr
r pressed into service to assist In TIN
B mailing of literature to the folks bacl
e home all of which literature Is de
r signed to draw attention to the fac
!. that their representative in congress
a Is on the job
1t has been more than usual!
: "taiky' In the house this session
! Members feel inclined TO voice thel
y views on pretty nearly everything un
! der the sun. Leave to print" ha
been granted oftener than usual AM
q all this adds to the weight of liter
y ature being prepared for home con
sumption.
e To the desire OF members to &c
:. Into print on all topics is attributed
/ a.. - 4.