The Speakershlp

The Speakership

It is an illustrious roster, that of the Speakers of the House of Representatives, although only one of them ever attained to the Presidency.* There were Henry Clay, James G. Blaine, Samuel J. Randall, Thomas B. Reed, Joseph G. Cannon, Champ Clark. The latest speaker, now Senator Gillett, an able and fair man, had not the reputation that adheres to the fire-eaters of an earlier day. For that matter, the Speakership itself does not now enjoy the reputation that it once had. But it is still a high place in the eyes of the country and it still can invoke a bitter contest between aspirants. Why else did the aspirants for the Speakership begin to lay their plans as soon as it was known, last fall, that Mr. Gillett was to be elevated to the Senate? Why else did an atramental cloud of controversy settle over the struggle, political cuttlefish and squid belch their inky exudation over the contest? Why else did Madden (Chairman of the all-powerful Appropriations Committee) and Longworth (Republican Floor Leader) join fiercely in the issue of their ambitions? Martin B. Madden, white-haired and 70, quarryman by profession (the profession which cost him a leg and sent him into politics), veteran in the political arena (as early as 1897, he made an unsuccessful attempt to gain a Senate seat from Illinois), he who, in 1921, was lifted into the Chairmanship of the Appropriations Committee over the seniority rule, because of his businesslike grasp of affairs, gathered his Western and Middlewestern cohorts and advanced on the Speakership. Mr. Madden, as described by the apt pen of Clinton W. Gilbert, "belongs to the line of watchdogs of the Treasury who growl when anyone asks for appropriations. . . . He looks gnarled, like a workingman who has grown rich. And that is what he is--a stonecutter who has become a millionaire." There was another, however, who had already started for the place. This was Nicholas Longworth, 14 years younger than Mr. Madden, but co-equal with him in 18 years' service in the House; a man, who like Thomas Jefferson and Charles G. Dawes, was an amateur at the violin; who, on a trip to the Philippines with the Taft Commission in 1903, wooed and won a woman; he, who afterwards overshadowed his career by becoming the son-in-law of a President--he too desired the Speakership. The campaign was fast and furious, yet quite different from an electoral campaign--there were no patriotic speeches, no florid enthusiasms for the working man and farmer. It was simply a case of two politicians each wanting the same job and appealing to their friends to rally to them. On the eve of a special Republican caucus of members of the 69th Congress, both contestants claimed the victory. Indeed, if their claims were good, both were practically elected; for the choice of the caucus, although technically only a nomination, is equivalent to election, since the next House is predominantly Republican. Such was the situation when the caucus assembled--225 of the 245 Republican members of the next House, some of the newly-elected members coming across the Continent for the brief event. Five minutes each were allotted for two speeches of nomination. A vote was taken. It stood 140 votes for Mr. Longworth to 85 for Mr. Madden. Mr. Madden moved to make the nomination unanimous. Mr. Longworth clasped his hand. The contest was ended. Representative John Q. Tilson* of Connecticut was named Floor Leader to succeed Mr. Longworth (as Mr. Longworth had promised if he won), a little more business was transacted and in less than an hour and a half the caucus was over. Mr. Longworth--"Nick," wearer of spats, genial, just a bit aristocratic --had advanced his career another step. To be sure, the probability is that, as Speaker, he will have less power than in his former post. The days of Thomas B. Reed, when the Speaker was "Czar," are gone forever. Reed, the sarcastic, the quick-witted, with his New England drawl, and his 200 pounds of avoirdupois (he may have weighed more, but, as he himself observed, "no gentleman weighs more than 200 pounds") overrode the rules and counted silent Democrats, declared a quorum present, although the Democrats refused to answer to the roll call. One day, when the Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, William McKinley, was supposed to move adjournment at a certain hour, but had not appeared on the floor, Mr. Reed pounded with his gavel and announced: "The gentleman from Ohio moves that the House do now adjourn"; and then, leaning over the rostrum, called in a stage whisper to the clerk: "Where in thunder is the gentleman from Ohio?" When no answer came, he put the motion and declared it carried. Those days are past forever. When Joseph G. Cannon was Speaker, the revolt of 1910 stripped him of his autocratic power; and Champ Clark, who succeeded him, did not care to offend anyone (because he had aspirations for the presidency) by pressing his authority. The job which Mr. Longworth is to take over is, thus, largely stripped of its authority. Some say that another strong man would remake it. But Mr. Longworth, although able, has not the personality of Czar Reed, the powerful will, coupled with a brilliant mind. Longworth did not make his reputation like Reed, who in one of his first speeches, questioned by an older member who aimed to confuse him, answered the questions and then drawled: "Now, having embalmed that fly in the liquid amber of my remarks, I will proceed. . . .'' Mr. Longworth's talents are less showy and breed fewer enemies. So there is small prospect of his becoming another Czar. Why, then, did he want the post? The answer lies in the history of his career. He suffered long from being known as the son-in-law of Theodore Roosevelt. Indeed, the only defeat he suffered in his 18 years of service was that of 1912, when his father-in-law decided to run on a third ticket; Longworth did not go with him, but he lost, nonetheless. In the main, his trouble was that he shone in the public eye by virtue of reeleeted glory. Not until he was made Floor Leader did he gain any general reputation of his own. "Speaker Longworth" will give him another claim to distinction on his own account. It will give him a name of his own, in which he may have hope of becoming a Senator from Ohio. Following the Republican caucus, the Democrats of the House held their caucus likewise. Finis J. Garrett was named as Democratic candidate for Speaker. There is little hope, of course, that he may attain the office, and his nomination is, in fact, equivalent to reelection as minority Floor Leader.

*James K. Polk, who was elected eleventh U. S. President in 1844. *John Quillin Tilson, who has served 14 years in the House, dark-eyed, shaggy of mustache, heavy of eyebrow, able.