The Columbus journal. (Columbus, Neb.) 1874-1911, 1911-03-15

til 1911, in the middle of Madison
first term. He was succeeded by the
mos. distinguished man who ever held
the speakership; and by the man who
with some interruptions in the contin'
uity of his service, held it longest. This
was Clay.
Clay's advent as the presiding officer
| of the House constituted an epoch In
the country's history. He was chosen
speaker in 1911, on the day Of his en-
| trance into the House, and he is thu
only man who had this distinction.
Clay at once began to disclose the
latent powers Of the speakership, when
the office fell into the hands of a strong
man. He framed the important COM
mittees in the war interest and gave
free latitude to every member who
wanted to voice hostility to England
1t was said at the time that Clay CO.
creed the peace loving Madison int
the adoption of war policy, On the
threat that otherwise a nomination
would bc withheld from him in the
congressional caucus which did tho
selecting o. the presidential tickets al
that time.
In 1915 Clay re entered the speak
erslip, which he had dropped toncgo.
tiate a treaty of'thc War Of 1872, and
remained in it by successive re cleo
tions until lS2O,when he resigned once
more. This was during the latter part
of the contest on the admission vi
Missouri to statehood. In that fight
he got his name associated with the
long series Of deals which postponed
the inevitable battle between the South
and North. He was the author Of
the second and final part Of the bar
gain collectively called the Missouri
Compromise, under which Missouri
entered as a slave state, in 1921. but
slavery was to be excluded from all
the rest of the Louisiana Province
north of the southern boundary of
Missouri. the author Of that parti-
cuIar part of the Missouri adjustment,
however, was Senator Jesse b. Thomas
an Illinois Democrat.
Next in prominence of the speakers
was Blaine, and, though his service in
public Office was not as long as Clay's
nor quite as distinguished, it was nota.
BILE for the influence which he welded
at one time or another, and for the
popularity which he won. A presi-
dental aspirant from 1876 to 1892, he
like Clay, lived to see his ambition
balked, time after time, and to witness
the accession of smaller men to the
presidency. Blaine's one serious
blunder was in refusing the candidacy
in 1888, in the year when Cleveland
was to be a candidate for reelection.
In 1876 he was impeded by scandals,
by the yelled hostility of Grant admin
istration and by the concentration Of
many rivals against him. Neverthe-
less, he was powerful enough to keep
the candidacy out of the hands of all
the aspirants whom he disliked, and it
went to dark horse, Hayes.
Ofthe other speakers the strongest
and abIcst was Thomas Il. Reed.
Capturing the caucus nomination in
1889, Reed was the man for the crisis.
The Republican margin in the House
was only seven at the beginning Of
that term, and some method had to he
adopted to maintain q quorum. 1t
was then that Reed framed the rules
which headed off fIibustering, and
which counted as present for legislative
purposes all the members who were
present. regardless of their
attempts to break quorum by ref1s.
ing to answer to their names. The
rules then adopted met the demands
Of the occasion, and were 50 logical
that, with some minor alterations,
they have prevailed ever since, under
Democratic as well As Republican
speakers. The changes which were
made in the fight which removed
Cannon from membership Oh the CON-
mittce oh rules was the most important
notification of the Reel procedure
which has taken place. The Democra-
ic CAUCUS has decrecd that the ap-
continent OF the standing committees
$ to be made by the ways and means
and not by the speaker.
This alteration, however, will not take
)lace until the Democratic House