The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1914-03-27
THE NEW DEMOCRATIC LEADER
OF THE HOUSE

in the United States senate by Mr..
Richmond Pearson Hobson. who has
largely made himself Joke in the
national house of representatives by
his "jingoistic" speeches.
But whether Mr.. Underwood is
elected or defeated he will be no long
er floor manager of the house of rep
resentatives, and it has been decreed
that his mantle is to fall on Hon.
Claude Kitchin of North Carolina.
Mr.. John Temple Graves gives a
graphic and eloquent account of the
achievements of this very modest but
able parliamentarian and statesman
in the April Cosmopolitan.
He is described as the very antithe-
sis of Mr.. Underwood, though in say
ing this Mr.. Graves speaks in the
highest terms and in eloquent admira-
tion of the transcendant genius of the
distinguished Albanian.
In describing the two, Mr.. Graves
says:
Underwood, calm, convincing, i'm
passive, often metallic and sometimes
heavy, always persuades, but rarely
inspires. Kitchin, dashing, magnetic,
brilliant in oratory and sparkling with
wit and repartee, will lead his party
with the splendid dash of a cavalry
man in charge, and carry by assault
if he ever fails to undermine by logic"
But Mr.. Graves says let no one
think that Mr.. Kitchin is merely spec
tacular and snowy, but on the contra
ry his eloquent eulogist says that he
is a diligent student and a profound
thinker.
Then the flowery Georgian goes on
to say:
"His memory is marvellous. His
knowledge of public men and public
questions is unsurpassed. He reads
necessarily. He knows the tariff as
well as Oscar Underwood His eulo-
gists say he knows it even more COM
prehensively. His temper is absolute
ly imperturbable. He is as cool as a
cucumber in the fiercest heat of de-
bate. No man ever saw him show an
ger or confusion in any controversy.
He is without fear, and seems incapa-
BILE of fatigue. He loves to fight for
the sake of the principle and as well
for the sake of the fighting. He fights
without bitterness, and energies from
his slashing rounds of flashing repair
tee and scathing satire leaving no per-
sonal wounds that are not healed by
handshake. He is rooted and
grounded in the democratic faith and
in loyalty to it. His record is perfect
and unassailable, and his personal
character remarkably pure-beyond
all question one of the most romantic
and admirable figures that have been
born out of the southern democracy.
"If Claude Kitchin has weak spot
in his qualifications for leadership, it
must be found in the fact that he
seems to be without vanity and with
out ambition. He never seeks the
limelight, never courts applause, and
has flung away more opportunities for
distinction than most men have en-
joyed. So far as winning honors and
publicity for himself, he seems con-
stitutionally Indifferent. 1t is the
opinion of those who know him best
that the abilities of the coming leader
of democracy have never been tested
or developed, because his ambition
has never spurred him to his highest
endeavor. His speeches have been
almost lamentably rare, and he is
void of self-seeking or display.
with the honor and responsibility
of his great party his hands, holding
the leadership where it is his duty to
be ever in the breach, it is the conf
dent prediction of those who know his
patriotic devotion to his party and
his intense and conscientious loyalty
to every trust, that the close of the
sixty-fourth congress will see in
Claude Kitchin of North Carolina, one
of the first and soundest democratic
statesmen of this progressive and
eventfu; era of our national life.
Patrick Henry lounged and trifled
away his splendid gifts in aimless
idleness, until the scene in the Vir-
ginia house of Burgesses fired him to
that matchless defiance to the English
king and fixed upon him the RESPONSE.
bility under which he became immor-
tai.
And there are many who believe,
under the serious obligation of leader
ship about to be imposed by the rep