Year: 1875

gle for the Speakershlp IS practically mar
rowed down to two candidates, one of whom
is Mr. Kerr, of Indiana. 1t is for the inter-
est of this gentleman to have such q report
disseminated, because its supposed tendency
would be to unite all the opponents Of Mr..
Randall on Mr.. Kerr. This is too transpar-
Sides it is by no means certain that the de-
feat of Mr. Randall would insure the election
of Mr.. Kerr. None of the candidates Is
likely to receive a majority upon the first bal
lot taken in the democratic caucus, and
we think it safe to predict that Mr. Kerr Will
receive more votes in the first than in any
subsequent ballot We proceed to state some
of the reasons why Mr.. Kerr cannot be con-
sidered as strong candidate


In the first place. his personal aptitudes do
not fit him for that position. mall his long ex-
perience in the House he has never distin-
| guished himself as a leader in any crisis
wherein success depended on parliamentary
tactics He has never shown any Of that
| quick perception and thorough knowledge
| of the rules which enable leader to pilot
his party through difficult situation. He
u
think of calling to the chair when he wished
to take the floor himself in critical con-
juncture. Mf Kerr's mind is merely logical
and argumentative, without the executive
readiness which is primary quail
itlcation of the Speaker of the
House in sudden emergencies. 1t is not
every useful member that would make an
oh Ia ic ry1la 1io
tated by common sense that officers should
be selected with view to their fitness for
the peculiar duties of their place. Measured
by this standard Mr.. Kerr is the weakest
candidate that has been mentioned as he is
also for the social duties and courtesies of
intercourse which are expected of the
| Speaker, and which are an important though
subordinate qualification for that conspicu-
Gus position.


In the second place, the claims set up for
him by his supporters are not such as a ma
| jority of the democratic members are likely
| to recognize. One of the strongest points
urged in his favor is that he returned his
share of the salary grab" That fact might
help him with the people if the subject





about which the people have ceased to care.
Moreover, the Speaker is not to be elected
by the people, but by the members of the
House, and such of them as served with Mr.
Kerr in the Forty-second Congress think no
better of him for his course in relation to
the salary grab. A majority of them took
the extra pay, and they not going to CEN
hair or bxyf frao Mr. orr
as if he had done q meritorious act. In
their opinion his surrender of the back pay
was not an act of virtue but of policy.
They know that he hesitated long and delib-
Grated anxiously before making the surren-
der; that instead of the prompt and in
stinctive rejection, which would have been his
duty if he had thought the extra pay a fraud
on the Treasury, he painfully consulted
his friends and finally gave it up, not
because he believed it wrong but in
Difference to popular clamor lest he should
injure his political prospects. His fellow
members who took the back pay will regard
his course rather as a weakness than recon-
mendation, and they not likely to vote
for him on that ground. The only other
point made in Mr.. Kerr's favor is that he is
an uncompromising hard money man, and
that his election to the Speakership would
commit the democratic party to that policy.
Now, it 50 happens that a majority of the
democratic members do not wish to make
demonstration on that subject at SO early
day. They prefer to leave it for the Demo-
cratic National Convention next summer.
They were elected last year during lull in
this controversy, and before it threat
ened to divide the party, and they
feel that they have no commission
to act on it in its new aspect. The
delegates to the National Convention will be
specially instructed or, at least, be chosen
in reference to this question, and will really
represent their constituencies. As the demo-
cratic members of the House will think it
inexpedient to commit the party to hard
money so soon after an angry schism on
that subject Mr.. Kerr is more likely to
lose than gain votes by his recent hard
money record.


In the third place, it deeply concerns the
democratic party. especially since its losses
in October and November, to avoid a split
between the East and the West. 1t used to
be said Of President Van Buren, that he was
"a Northern man with Southern princi-
pies" and, in a spirit quite as far from being
complimentary, the imitation wing of the
democracy regard Mr.. Kerr as "a Western
man with Eastern principles" If the
/ Western democrats we're to have the Speaker
\ they would wish man who represents
Western opinions If it were possible for
the Eastern members to elect Mr. Kerr to
the Speakership, thereby committing the
party to hard money and paying off the
West by local compliment, which the
Western democrats would regard as an in