Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-01-12

tHciI iieuteHhHtS, each or whom was
10 get good Craftsmanship, snooped
around the hotels, and probably met
the incoming railroad trains In their
search for newly arrived members
whose minds, like fallow fields,
were ready for the pillow, and whose
eyes yearned for light.
Ihere were new men who wished
to be on committees, and old men who
desired to be transferred from un-
important to important ones A law
yer. for example, hoped that the
newspapers would be enabled to state
that he had been advanced, by the
brilliancy of his oratory and the pro-
fundity of his erudition, from mile
age to enrolled bills. 1t would sound
big at home, even If no one under
stood what il meant.
More than once national doctrines
were dragged into the speakership
contest. That happened In 1883. John
G. Carlisle, tariff reform democrat,
defeated Samuel J. Randall, protec
tive tariff democrat. There are politi
cal medicine men who say that the
democratic party on that occasion
came to the forks of the road and
through Carlisle's election found it's
true course, and the course that,
year later, led ii not past but into
the White House Carlisle was mag
unanimous enough to offer Randall his
choice of chairmanships, and Randall
chose appropria tionS, in which post
he served his country we'll
*
* X
Theoretically, Of course, Speakers
in creating their committees. thought
first of their country and then of
their party In actual practice, how
ever. the intellectual process may
have been reversed at times, and in
instances an entirely new element
may have been introduced, which
would have changed the formula of
thinking so as to read: First, my
own interests; second either my
country or my party; third. ditto.
Speakers did have habit of re-
membering the gentlemen who voted
for them. Thomas B. Reed, succeed
ing Carlisle. had fifty-two chairman
ships at his disposal. Thirty-nine
men got those to which they were
entitled by the operation OF seniority
Thirteen did not. They had ardently
supported William Mckinley and vio-
lently opposed Reed.
Following some what the example
of Carlisle, Reed gave his chief COM
petitor the Craftsmanship he desired
and so William Mckinley, as head
OF the committee on ways ad means,
had his name attached to a tariff
the country went democratic and
Mckinley himself was beaten for re-
election in the Canton district. Also
Uncle Joe Cannon. out in Illinois.
was defeated for the first time in
eighteen years.
"Pig Iron" Kelley, as William OAR
rah Kelley was called by the demo-
Gratis, the father of the House" at
the time. and high-tariff man, root
ing back to 1854, believed that Reed
should have respected seniority and
given him the Craftsmanship of the
committee on ways and means. In
that event it would have been the
Kelley law and not the Mckinley law
in the campaign of 1890. Mckinley,
therefore, might have escaped defeat.
Carrying the speculation further. he
would not have become Governor or
Ohio, because he would have. still
been a member of Congress, and some
one else might have been nominated
for President in 1896.
Supposedly. party caucuses choose
the committees in the Senate. Actu :
ally, as in the House. the committees
are arranged by few men. who COM
pose what is termed the committee
on committees There is bound to be
leadership, whether acknowledged or
not. in any group of birds. animals
or human beings; fish. too. probably.
If two persons are walking in the
the other falls back, If not conscious
~, then unconsciously.
On the whole. seniority controls on
Capitol Hill, which means that UNI
desirable or incompetent veterans
may rank ADLER and livelier juniors
on the committees to which all be-
long. The law Of seniority, however.
is the easiest and most comfortable
measure for maintaining harmony in
the two households of Congress. 1T
causes dissatisfaction in many in
stances, but it Is not likely to create
destructive factions or feuds. What
effect 1t may have on public business
is a matter of itself.
The workings Of the rule of senior
ity are glaringiy apparent in the
cases of Senator Warren of Wyoming
and Senator Penrose of Pennsylvania.
II the republicans organize the next
Senate they will first have to deal
with the following situations: War
rem. member of the Senate for TWEEN
ty-eight years. Is the ranking republi-
can member on the committee on agri-
culture and forestry. on the commit
tee on appropriations, on the commit
tee on public buildings and grounds
and Of the committee on military af-
fairs.
Penrose. in the Senate since 1897, is
the ranking republican member of