New-York tribune., 1919-01-20
Cillett Partisans
Attack Mann as
The House 'C,zar'
Speakership Fight Is Taken
Into the Open When Chi
cagoan Is Assailed as
the s'Legatee Of Cannon
NeW York Tribune
Shington Bureau

New York 7'rfbNne
Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON, Jan. 19.-Sharply at
tacking James R. Mann as the "reac
tlonary" candidate for Speaker and urg-
ing their own candidate as the Glib
erai,N hackers of Frederick H. Gillett,
OF Massachusetts,, came out tonight
with statement of such vigor as to
arouse much interested comment.
The interest lies in the fact that up
10 now all the Speakership fighting has
been done way down under the ground,
with no one talking at all unless he
hrst pledged all his auditors to secrecy.
Ihls IS because to be on the losing
SIDE IN a Speakership fight in the
House of Representatives means almost
certain sidetracking of member. He
llnds that his committee assignments
are unlmportant, which, because virtu.
aily all of the work of the House is
done IN committees-hs actions on the
moor are largely for Congressional
hecord' purposes that he be-
comes very unlmportant member of
the House.
Eclipse of Mann Indicated
Io-nlght's vigorous attack on Mann.
s"e.oiofe' means much more than APP
pears on It's tace. 1t means that the
packers of Gillett have come 10 Tia
conclusion that, no matter who NAV ',e he
elected Speaker, it will certainly not he
James II. Mann, for Mann's friends
couid De counted on to remind their
en!et on every member who had any
!!nlhg to do with this attack, and their
importance in the House might suffer
Another very significant fact is
brought out by the statement. It is
.hat the Gillett people have spurned
INC overtures which have been made
recentIy by members of the House who
wIsned Mann eliminated, but wanted
.a harmony 0iy and who have been urging
that Gillett should withdraw from the
race and let Fess or Longworth. Who
ever should develop the most strength.
have the Speakership.
"A member of a very large delegation.
generally regarded as pivotal. urged
Longworth, Fess and Gillett to pet into
a room together behind locked doors
and not come out until they had decid
ed who would be the candidate against
Mann. 90 "''''
lie did not mean that there should
De physical encounter in the room.
but that they could talk frankly. and
might be able. by plain showing of
strength, to determine whether thew
could win a majority of votes in the
caucus of the next House.
"Personally," said this member, 'T
told them that because do not believe
Glllett has strength enough to carry
the caucus, even if Longworth and
Fess should retire in his favor. and |
do not believe Fess has strength
enough, even if Gillett and Longworth
should retire, I believe Longworth
could win if the other two would re-
tire. But if nothing of the sort I sug-
gested to them happens, we will have
a very curious fight
at is probable that Mann will with
draw. since it is out of the question to
consider him since the story told By
Francis J. Heney Of his being present
ed horse and steak by the packers
has been acknowledged by him to be
true. But the moment Mann with
draws we understand Madden, of Hi
nois, will enter the race. He has said
several times he would be a candidate
if Mann did not run. The trouble is
we are apt to get into very unfortu-
nate fight"
Longworth "Good Politics.
The sentiment for Longworth out
side his own delegation is curious
mixture of personal liking and admira-
tion for Longworth with feeling that
his selection would please the country
Half dozen members of the House.
who are not openly for Longworth at
all, have told me that while they
would have to make a speech on this
subject and attempt to defend it log
ically still they are confident down in
their hearts it would be good politics
to elect Longworth Speaker
"When the 1920 convention rolls
around" said one of these men, "there
will be a very strong feeling all
through the country that if Colonel
Roosevelt were alive he would be the
nominee. This feeling by that time, as
DEATH will have reached the point of
genuine regret that the party has not
the Colonel to be it's standard bearer.
With that feeling almost sure to come,
in my judgment, the country will take
an uneXplainable but natural satisfac-
tion out of the fact that Roosevelt's
son-in-law, Nicholas Longworth, has
been honored by his party with the Of
flee of Speaker"
One-Man Rule Denounced
Following, in part, is the statement
issued by the Gillett Speakcrship Com
mittee:
"For Mann the chief claim seems to
be that he is entitled to the Speaker
ship by virtue of his service as Re
publican floor leader. Against him are
voiced the arguments that he is a re-
dictionary; that he is merely a parlia-
mentarian rather than statesman;
that he would in fact, if not in theory,
abolish the selection of committees by
the House itself, and that he would
turn the clock back to the days when
Uncle Joe Cannon was czar and ruled
the House with iron hand until de-
posed. Cannon, b. the way is Mann's
chief campaign manager, and his man