New-York tribune., 1921-03-03

heartbreaking responsibility at most
times, even after. when Williams went
to the Senate. Clark succeeded to the
minority leadership. He had to lead
an aggregation of Democrats who in
matters of discipline and order formed
at crucial times something little bet
ter than n mob. In those DAYS il was
characteristic of the Democrats in the
House that each one followed his own
sweet will. regardless OF the exigen-
cles of the occasion, and their leader
had to bear whatever reproach re-
suited from their lack Of cohesion.
Nevertheless. as minority leader
Champ Clark succeeded to remark
able degree in cemcnting factions
which had been at outs, if not openly
hostile toward each other. since the
free silver split in 1896 His per-
sonality and ability and driving power
held the House Democrats together to
a degree which had not existed for
many years. Such. however, was the
strength of the old traditions that
when be became Speaker, April 4, 1911.
it was to preside over what has been
styled a conglomerate and inchoate
ajority.
He was Speaker of the Sixtv-second.
Sixty-third, Si1ty-fourth and Sixty
fifth congresses.
Although he never abated his polit-
zeal antagonism toward Speaker Thom-
as b. Reed, he became a personal
friend Of Reed. even while Reed was
Speaker of the House. "In pure men,
tsIlty,' he once said. Reed was one Of
the greatest Americans in history"
Another instance of his general per-
sonal regard for political opponents
wa. his oft-declared admiration for
Colonel Roosevelt, which he sometimes
asserted even in the course of heated
partisan debate in the House.
1t Is not unlikely that. aside from
Presidency. more has been written
about Champ Clark than about any
other public man in recent years, and
yet, because of the odd mixture he rep
resented of student and politician
barn nstormer and statesman. "home-
spun orator and party leader. much
less is popularity known of the man
and his actual personality than might
be supposed. Ii any one trait may be
said to have handicapped his political
aspirations it WAS his propensity for
the spectacular, the dramatic, the su-
perlative in speech. He was uncom-
monty we'll educated. despite his pred-
lection for mules and metaphors; his
love OF oratory was evinced in early
boyhood when, at the age Of twelve, he
delivered an oration at country pic
mic in Kentucky.
he was more than feet inch in
height and weighed more than two
hundred pounds His head was mas
sive, topped with thinning white hair,
we'll poised on a strong neck above big
shoulders. His greatest distinction
was MS oratory. That he was a great
orator, despite his limitations, is at
Brewer. IN his Best Orations Of the
World included Clark's eulogy OF
General Frank F. Blair.
As a boy and a young man he not
only studied the Articles Of Confedera
ton. the Constitution. the Declaration
Of Independence and Washingtons
Farewell Address. but committed them
all to memory. He was voracious
reader of history and Of some Of the
classics. but scornful Of fiction. A
close friend once said:
" Henry Esmond' would bore him;
The Three Guardsmen' he would
pitch away as rubbish. and Balzac he
would burn as immoral
The Bible more than any other book,
was his JOY. He knew it as few men
have known it, He kept il on his
desk. and he used TO pick it up and
read passages for the simple enjoyment
he derived from 1t. One of his most
notable lectures, Richer Than Col
conda," was an essay on the litera-
ture OF the Bible.
In action Clark was cyclonic. He
emitted oratorical pyrotechnics. Meta
phor and lnvective, sarcasm and hu-
NOR. hyperbole and rich. vivid figures
Of speech showered from his lips as
from an oral Nesuvius He was a.
his best in a fury OF denunciation.
Allowing for his purposed lowering OF
his own dignity, his calculated appeal
to emotion, his relecation Of his own
scholarliness. there still was some
thing about Champ Clark speech that
was heart-stirring even to men who
depored what they regarded as his
abnegation of the bcs. in himself.
His vast voice. resonant and flexible.