Year: 1876

y x
which is largely Democratic, will
have an immense amount of din
cult and delicate work to do. The
financial question is, of course. the
most prominent one of these, and it
viii require all the wisdom and pru
dence of our leaders to do justice t.
both the people and the State
creditors. The ten per cent. law
will be repealed without any trou
ble. The dog law will be repealed
or modified. Many other subjects
will come up Tor discussion, anu
there is danger that a raw body will
consume the seventy five days al
lotted for each session IN fruitless
talk. The chief way in which this
can be prevented is to have an able
Speaker. An able, bright Speaker
will facilitate the business of the
House, and a dull. slow one will de
lay business and kill time. An
able Speaker, or presiding officer, is
rarer than q gifted orator, a great
poet or a renowned general Like
great general. he must be born
with certain mental powers and
gifts the lack of which no sort of
education viii supply. He must
have tie power to command men,
and even that rarer quality, the
capacity to grasp the situation at a
glance-to weigh a dozen points in
a moment and arrive at a correct
conclusion with Wnerring precision
as quick as thought itself. Mere
knowledge of the rules that govern
deliberative assembly will not
make a man a good presiding Off
Ger; he may have perfect knowledge
of the rules, horn of experience and
study, and yet be poor, plodding,
and even an inaccurate Speaker.
An able Speaker must have quick.
ness of courage and action-aye,
quickness of apprehension is not
more essential. II follows, there
fore, that it is not necessary that
the Speaker of the next General As
sembly OF Tennessee be an old
member. The only reason why an
old member is better qualified, is
because it is thought his experience
makes him 50. If he has that pow
er, it is a matter Of no consequence
whatever whether he is a new or an
old member. We are not acquaint-
ed with all the gentlemen eompos
ing the Lower House of the General
Assembly of Tennessee. but in
looking over the list we see in the
Representative from Giles, Mr.. L.
I. Taliaferro, a combination OF
qualities which eminently fit him
fo~ this high and responsible posi-
tion, and it is not reasonable to sup
pose that there will be a man in
that body who will be his equal in
all the rare qualities that 90 TO
make up an able, bright presiding
officer. We have seen him preside
twice, and although we have attend
ed conventions for ten years we
have never yet seen his superior.
He simply has no superior in the
State. Mr.. Taliaferro is specially
gifted as a presiding officer. He
never makes a mistake, nor hesi-
tates a moment. With a little ex-
perience, he would be a match for
the great Jim Blaine himself. He
has a commanding stature, strong,
| sonorous and well controlled voice,
which arrests at once the attention
of the crowd He says what be has
TO say in as few words as possible,
and has that rare and admirable
quality in a speaker Of giving such
a luminous explanation of a diff
cult proposition in a few words that
all his hearers have a vivid and cor
rect comprehension of it. Mr.. Tai
iaferro was permanent Chairman OF
the recent Convention at Lawrence.
burg, which nominated a candidate
for Congress, and during nearly one
hundred baiiotings, he kept the
Convention under splendid discip-
line, and in good humor; with an
impartiality that was miraculous,
and an ability that arrested the at
tention of every member of the as
sembly. His praise was, and is, in
the mouth of every person that at
tended the Lawrenceburg Conven-
tion.


If the Legislature wants a Speak
er who will preside over them with
splendid ability and great impair
tiality, let them elect Mr. Taliaferro.
He is a born presiding officer. We
write this article in behalf OF the
people, whose interest d mands that
the Speaker be one that will dis
patch business rapiiily,yet correctly
A slow Speaker will prolong the
session beyond that which is neces-
sary and every day thus consumed
takes nearly 1900 out Of the Poek-
cts Of the people. Elect Taliaferro,
because it is TO the interest II the
people, the Legislature and the pub
lic-the people, because he viii
make a short session; the Legisla-
ture, because he will control il wi;h
out rufIle; the public, because it
is a real rapturous pleasure TO see a
man control a body Of men who
was born to do It.


Since writing the above, we learn
that our own able and gifted Rep
resentative elect, J. Lee Bullock,
has been imporiuned by gentlemen