Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1919-03-25
Mr.. SPEAKER GILLETT
Friendly AppfalSement OF High Pub
lie Official
STANDS WELL With Both PARTIES

Massachusetts, Congressman Has Seen
Long Service in the House, and Is
Generally Considered to be a Care
full and considerate Legislator.
Literary Digest
AS a speaker Of the houe of repre-
sentatives has so many opportunities
for making himself unpopular, espe-
cially with the minority members, it is
well for Frederick H. GIiett of Mas
sachusetts, that he takes the perilous
seat with the hearty appreciation of
both political friends and opponents.
The Springfield Republican, which is
not altogether in sympathy with Mr..
Gillett's political colleagues, neverthe-
less. with justifiable pride in the tri-
umph Of an able man from its own
home town, declares that
The success Of Mr.. Gillette is inspir-
ing, also, for the reason that it is the
proper reward Of long and faithful ser
vice. He plodded along in the house
for over two decades, without gaining
the pre-eminence which was won by
some Of his Massachusetts, colleagues
who entered the house later than he
did. Fortune is capricious in bestow-
ing her prizes, yet in this case one sees
h man suddenly come to the front and
find the door open to his greatest use
fulness and power long after most pol
iticians had dismissed him from their
minds as a serious contender for the
highest congressional honors. Circum-
stances at that time have favored him,
Of course, but no one ever gets any
where with circumstances dead against
him.
That Mr.. Gillett's term as speaker
will be most successful is the wish Of
all his constituents. who admire his
ability, honesty, and trained capacity
for public affairs. To New England as
a whole his elevation is significant Of
the larger influence Of this section in
Washington. One must go back to
Robert C. Winthrop and General Banks
before the Civil war to find other Mas
sachusetts men in the speakers chair;
while since the Civil war only the par
liamentary giants, Blaine and Reed,
of Maine, have been able to attain such
eminence. In their company on the
scroll Of congressional fame is Mr..
Gillett now elevated.
Summing up the career Of the new
nominee for the speakership, the Re-
publican says further:
Frederick Huntington Gillett, who
is to be the next speaker Of the house,
was born October 16, 1851, in West
field, and was named after Bishop F.
D. Huntington, Of Syracuse, n. Y, and
Hadley, a classmate Of his honored
father, E. B. Gillett, at Amherst col
lege. His mother was a daughter of
James Fowler, a prominent citizen of
Westfeld. He fitted for college in the
westfeld schools and was graduated
from Amherst in the class Of 1874 and
from the Harvard law school in 1877.
Previous to his college course, he spent
a year in study and travel abroad,
chiefly in Germany. His father, one
of the ablest lawyers and most polish
ed men Of his time in western Massa-
chusetts, took a deep interest in his
education and early developed in the
young man the talent for graceful ora
tory and felicitous expression inherited
from himself and there could hardly
have been a better master in these
arts.
F. H. Gillett began the practice of
law in Springfield in partnership with
Judge E. B. Maynard, and promptly
exhibited an interest in politics, taking
part in the state campaigns Of 1878 as
a speaker at various rallies.
Mr.. Gillett was first elected to con-
eress in 1892, and has represented his
district continuously ever since. He
has now had thirteen continuous terms
in the house. Thus, the Republican,
quoting an article published in its own
columns in September, 1917, when. In
consequence Of the illness Of James R.
Mann, Mr.. Gillett became floor leader
of the then minority party, adds:
He is the dean Of all New England
representatives. Indeed, he is almost
the dean Of the Republican party in
the national house. Ex-Speaker JOS
eph G. Cannon has had twenty-one
terms, which means forty-.wo years in
the house, but these were not continu-
Gus. His constituents left him home In
the middle Of the Harrison administra-
ton and again at the beginning Of the
first Wilson administration.
Consequently Mr. Gillett has held
continuous commission in the house
longer than ex-Speaker Cannon ever
did. His service in that regard is eX'
ceeded only by Representative William
A. Jones, a Democrat. from the eastern
shore of Virginia. But Mr.. Gillett has
one full-fiedged contemporary in Hen
ry Allen Cooper, the Wisconsin radi'
cal, who came to congress at the same
time as he and has remained there
constantly Speaker Champ Clark has
but twelve terms, and those have no
been continuous, although he entered
the house at the same time as Repre-
sentative Gillett.
The New York Times also expresse:
its approval of the majority's choice
as follows:
For once a great party has put it:
best foot forward in the nomination o
a candidate for one Of the nations
highest offices. Frederick H. Gillett
who will be the next speaker. is no
only a good man, or the right man t'
elect, but he is conspicuously fitted foi
the place above all his competitors
That seldom happens in countr!
where compromises so often rule elec
tions and nomination. Usually, as DC
tween the best and the worst, the par
ties compromise by choosing neitheI
very good nor very bad. But Mr.. Gil
lett, able, experienced, broad-minded
and yet no mugwump, but vigorous