The Speaker of the House

1903

"A few years ago," said Representative "Charlie" Curtis to a Washington Post reporter, "a man of my acquaintance was sent to the Kansas legislature by a rural constituency. He had promised that great things should be accomplished when he reached the state capital, and his constituents kept their ears close to the ground, listening for the rumble of thunders. He get lost the shuffle at Topeka, however, and was never heard from. When he returned home, after adjournment, a neighbor accosted him.

" 'John,' he said, 'I thought you were going to do great things down to Topeka. Why, you didn't even make a speech.'

" 'Well, you see, it was this way,' John explained, 'we decided it would take too much valuable time for us all to talk, so we selected Mr. Smith speaker of the house.'

"John's neighbors accepted this as wholly satisfactory explanation."

—Davenport Daily Republican, Davenport, Iowa, March 4, 1903, page 5.