The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-04
COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENTS
By SAY OYARD

culture. It reminded me of one of the innumerable anecdotes of Napoleon Bona parte. At the seige of Toulon he was chief of battalion of artillery and one night he was a guest at the table of Dug omier, the commander-in-chief Bona parte excused himself early and left to attend some duty in connection with the seize, and a general at the table asked the commander-in-chief this: Who is that little officer?" That little officer,' exclaimed Dugomier, Why that little of ficer is a greater man than all of us together" And so he was and so he proved a few days later.
 And any democrat of the Fifty-third Congress might have asked Who Is this little Williams?" And the response of history is This little Williams is the greatest man of all of you"
 And if there is John Sharp Williams on the roll of the Sixty-second Con gress hell show himself. whatever place on whatever committee he may be as signed to. Before the session closes l shall attempt a comparison of Williams and Bailey.
 In that same Forty-fifth Congress to which l have alluded, sam Randall with an unspeakable littleness for so great man, assigned William R. Morrison. who had been chairman of ways and means and leader of the house in the Forty fourth Congress. to a comparatively un- important committee. But in that Con- gress the house saw and the country saw in Morrison, not the greatest mind in the body, but the greatest man there.
 Randall posing as a democrat then, just as Joseph W. Bailey does now made 1t impossible for the democratic party 10 consummate the work the country set it to do-to make a constitutional and an honest tariff That is why the protectfon- ist speaker masquerading as a demo- crat, took Morrision off the committee of ways and means
 In the Thirty-fifth and Thirty-sixth Congresses the democrats, mistakenly, 1 think, deposed Stephen A. Douglas from the paramount committee of territories of the Senate but Douglass renamed the senator of greatest consequence in the country, though he had lost his posi- ton as leader of the Senate. AS a mat ter of cold principle l believe Douglas should have been rebuked but as A mat ter of practical politics it was a serious biunder. However, must leave that sub- Ject, for man can write 100000 woros about it that nobody wants to read I refer to it to remark that a great man is not made so by committee assignments in the American Congress. It takes silk to make a silk purse
 And again, Charles Sumner was de- posed from the chairmanship of foreign affairs by the republicans during Grants administration It was a good thing for the country, and possibly averted a war with England about the Alabama claims : put 1t made a martyr of Sumner, and his following. millions in number idolized hlm the more. In this connection I shall give an anecdote related to me by one of the most accomplished men of the south. would give his name if I were cer- tam l had his authority. It is an indicr- I ment of the negro race, however. and I small assume the sole responsibility. When ReVels, the first negro sena,or. came to Congress. Sumner took him 10 1 ms bosom and treated him with the most dlstinguished consideration. He carried nim to Boston and made a tour Of New England, where Revels lectured to the people on the negro race and put s1O GOO in his purse.
 When Grant demanded Summers head on charger, Revels helped ConlSling to cst It off. He voted to substitute simon Cameron for Sumner as chairman of for eign affairs.
 Ana this is sequel to that which snail some day try to tell.
 washington, March %.