Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1927-10-03
JOHN DALzELL
dies MONDAY
Once Had Congr
Under His Thumb
Lost Power

LOS ANGELES, Calf. oct--R
John Dalzell, former congressman
from Pittsburgh, Pa, died yester-
day after q lingering illness at the
home of his son, Samuel Dalzell OF
Altadena, Calf.
Once a power in Republican poll
ties and one Of o small group taat
had the House Of Representatives
under its thumbs, John Dalzell had
almost become q memory years be-
for his death. The Roosevelt tide
Of 1912 swept him from his vantage
point, and he passed at once com
pletely out Of the public eye.
In the hey-day Of his power, dur
ing the first decade Of this century,
Mr. Dalzell was not only the Speak
er's right hand man, but with Ding
ley, Payne and Cannon had on 70
be known as o1e Of q Big Four
that ruled the House and shaped
legislation with an iron will. In his
later years he lived almost in Sc
clusion in Washington. never visit
ing the Capitol, and seldom seeing
his old-time friends reappearing II
any way in public matters.
The almost overnight change was
the most remarkable because the
Dalzell Of the old days had been a
forceful orator, q skilled parlia-
mentarian, n clever political general,
and a charming conversatlonalist,
much sought after socially. he made
his special mark in legislation IN
connection with tariff bills, but as
member and later chairman OF the
all-powerful rules committee under
Reed, Henderson and Cannon he held
a whip hand over the Legislative pro-
gram generally.
Mr.. Dalzell was a towering figure
in defense Of "Czarism" when it was
making its last stand in the House,
and TO the end Of his public career
he stood fast by the principle that
power over the House action should
be centralized By the House rules IN
the hands Of the speaker.
His friends said that he felt he
never could reconcile himself TO the
new order, which began with the
libcraiizing Of the rules and the
overthrow Of Cannon. After n un-
successful effort to gain a seat n
the Senate he turned his back not
only upon politics bat upon the old
associations almost in their entirety.
He had come to the House from
the vast manufacturing district OF
Pittsburgh and was q protectionist
Of the first order in the day when
the tariff was a burning issue the
country over. As one Of the con-
feres, he helped to write both the
Dingley and the Payne-Aldrich tariff
laws. To him the Republican party
looked through q period Of several
years to take a large part in the
shaping Of tariff and financial
planks, and in theupholding OF party
discipline in all matters whatso-
ever.
His period Of service in the House
was from 1887 to 1913. Before that
he had gained a great reputation as
q lawyer in Pittsburgh. he was a
native New Yorker, however, having
been born in New York City April
10, 1s45 and gone to pennsylvania
with his parents ut the age OF two.
He was gradated from Yale just as
the Civil War was ending and he
was turning his goth year, and was
admitted to the bar in 1867. In his
practice he was a corporation lawyer,
serving among others the Penn
~sylvania Railroad and all its west
ern lines. he also took an interest
in science and was a regent OF the
Smithsonian Institution.
During his earlier years his earn
ings were large, and when he re-
tired it was TO spend the rest OF his
days in a comfortable home IN an ex-
elusive section Of the capital.