The Alaska citizen., 1911-01-02
CHANGES EFFECTED ON
 CONGRESSIONAL STAGE
Democratic Landslide Means That Comp pee pheava Will Take Place in the House, and There Will be New Faces
 in Many Positions

rhe speakers chair Now il is question whether the Republicans will accept Uncle Joe" on his return to the floor of the house as their natural leader and the spokesman for the Republican minority. If they do not, an unusual situation will result, from the relegatiOn of a form speaker to a secondary Tosi- ton in the ranks of his own party
 Change Inside the House.
 Inside the organization of the house there will he a great change, due 10 the Democratic victory, 8 change which may not be al all re-
 flectod in the proceedings of the house or iu the political success of Democratic control.
 Every vestige of power will pass 10 the Democrats as soon as they demonstrate their abili:y 10 elect
 heir candidates for speaker; and this authority will carry with it the complete reversal of the posi- tious and rerquisites Of the two par ties. Their positions on the floor If the house. he Democrats at the
 right hand and the Republicans al
 the left of the speaker, will not
 change; but in every other respect he renovation will be thoroughly carried cut.
 Tor over forty years it has been the custom to appoint a def ated 1 member of congress 10 the position of clerk of the house. Alexander McDoWell, the present clerk was ap- pointed when the Republicans organ
 l4ed the house in 1895, after his 1,+1 F,r i,, I -,,,,, Many of the positions under the house organization are permanent
 and dependable 90 iong as the party
 making them remains in power; but with the change i'll the political for unes, the incumbents take the way If all political appointees and new men take their places.
 Some Few Will Survive.
 There are. three or four notable exc ptiOns to this rule of all spells
 for the victCrs." At least four men
 may be expected to survive the change of control of the house, ana to hold their positions in the face of any b mOCratic yearnings for he pests.
 Foremost among this small num- Der is James C. Courts, for thirty three years the clerk of the com
 mittee on appropriations. MT Courts may rightly lay claim to that much-used .itie, a government indisp nsable..
 No congress would think of prepar ing the immense appropriation bill.
 hat annually distribute over a bil lion dollars of federal funds without
 his aid and counsel. His continuous service has he. Il longer than that of any member now in he house
 Political parties have changed con. trol of the house four times since
 Mir Courts went into office, bu
 h re has never been a serious move made to dispiace him. No candi- didates have aroused any interest in campaigns for his place, for it is usually the case that the incoming
 party has several men on the apprO- priatiOn committee who have served there long enough to know that his knowledge of appropriation matters is indispensable in the careful fram. ing of the appropriation bills.
 Two Clerks in 4o Years.
 In the forty-tve years since its creation the appropriations commit tee of the house has had but two clerks: Robert J. Stevens was the other. He created the role of clerk to the committee and held il until his death, eighteen years after MT Courts, since he went into the office, has made practically life study of congressional appropriations and is recognized as an authority whose word is final as to the history of all government expenditures He is not infrequently an adviser of the executive branches of the gov ernment on appropriation matters.
 Besides Mr. Courts, Colonel c. W. CoOmbs, an assistant to the door
 keeper of the house, will be retained for his great knowledge of the doc uments congress has printed and cir Culated in the past. He also has sur vived many changes of control. He is supposed to possess a more ac- curate knowledge of congressional documents of former years than any other man connected with the house
 -rganization, and has been elevated
 o a position where changes of politi- cal parties do not affect him. Oldest Empoye Will Survive. John T. Clancy, who ranks as a special employe,' is preferably th5
 oldest in point of service in the house organization, having been there continuously since the civil war. He
 llso holds a position practically ere aled by the house for him, and con tiuued through various political changes.
 The fourth of the little group of employees almost certain to be retain ed is Charles H. Mann, superinten- dent of the press gallery, and known in newspaper circles throughout as Charley Mann." These four may be joined by one or two others
 whose special services raise them
 above the class of general officers or employees of the house, but the list
 will not exceed half dozen. The new Democratic speaker will ose the services of one of the ablest | paliamentarians the house has ever had
 Asher c. Hinds. Mir. Kinds has serv- d at the speakers desk during | most of the Republican administra- | ton, as parliamentary clerk. His | word has been the authority upon | which Speaker Cannon has made a
 great majority of his rulings, and his decisions upon parliamentary l matters have usually been unassail- able.
 Kinds Returns as Member. MT. Kinds returns to the next congress as a member from Maine; but he leaves for Speaker Clark, or | the next speaker, whoever it may be, | monumental work embracing all the | r,,lipgc from the earliest days Of