Burrows was prominent in the campaign, but, owing to his candidacy for reëlection, confined his activities to political engagements in Michigan and the near-by States. T. B. Reed visited Michigan on his Western campaign tour, and after one of his speeches wrote to Burrows (October 15, 1888): “Your Benton Harbor people gave me a delightful meeting and have treated me royally. I was specially pleased to hear them talk so well of you. You have evidently got where the district is yours heart and soul."

The Fifty-first Congress convened in December, 1889, and promptly found itself in a hard-contested struggle for the Speakership. The candidates narrowed down to Thomas B. Reed of Maine, Joseph G. Cannon of Illinois, David B. Henderson of Iowa, William McKinley, Jr. of Ohio, and Julius C. Burrows of Michigan. Reed and McKinley led in the first ballot, and the contest, as it developed, proved to be between these two, the former finally winning by the majority of a single vote. The qualifications possessed by Burrows for this position may perhaps be shown by quoting from what General Patrick A. Collins, then a Democratic member of Congress, said before the balloting began:

"Of the five candidates, I consider that Mr. Burrows would make the best Speaker, and I know Burrows less than any of the others; but he has the

presence, the voice, the temperament, and the knowledge of parliamentary practice and rules to make him preside over the House in a way that will be eminently satisfactory to his own Party, and win for him the respect of ours. As a good Democrat, I hope to see Burrows defeated. I would rather see Reed in the chair, because he would most likely get his Party in hot water before he had been there very long; or McKinley, because his parliamentary knowledge is extremely limited; or Cannon, because he loses his temper;—but if I were a Republican, and had the good of the Party at heart, I would want to see Burrows made Speaker."

Robert Graves, a Washington correspondent, in speaking of the intimacy of the friendship between Reed of Maine, Burrows of Michigan, Payne of New York, Dolliver of Iowa, and Boutelle of Maine, narrates the following, which bears upon this contest:

"There was a time when this happy band was in danger of collapse. It was in the Fifty-first Congress, when Reed was candidate for Speaker. He thought the other fellows along with other Republican members were going to join forces in the ensuing Congress for the purpose of making Burrows Speaker. Reed's pride was so much hurt by this that he threatened to go out of Congress, decline the renomination, and retire to private life. Mr. Dolliver acted

as peacemaker. He invited all hands to dinner, and over the walnuts and the wine every one pledged loyalty to Reed, and the determination of that gentleman to retire to private life was withdrawn. Dolliver's little dinner may have changed the history of the Republican Party."

Reed's personal qualities made him one of the most powerful and brilliant Speakers in the history of Congress, and the firmness with which he ruled produced a well-organized and constructive body out of a demoralized House. He broke all precedents by declaring that the Speaker of the House was authorized to count as making for a quorum every Representative present in the Chamber, whether he answered to roll-call or not. The Democrats protested angrily against this arbitrary ruling, but Reed's action so hastened the transaction of business and so prevented filibustering that the Democrats themselves, when later in power, adopted what became known as the "Reed rule." This made the Speaker of the House virtually a dictator, and, after the President, the most powerful man in the Federal Government.

Speaker Reed promptly appointed his rival for the Speakership, William McKinley, Jr., of Ohio, as Chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means, and Burrows was named second on that Committee. It was an exceptionally strong body, including, besides

these two, Thomas M. Bayne of Pennsylvania, Nelson Dingley, Jr., of Maine, Joseph McKenna of California, Sereno E. Payne of New York, Robert M. La Follette of Wisconsin, John H. Gear of Iowa, John G. Carlisle of Kentucky, Roger Q. Mills of Texas, Benton McMillin of Tennessee, Roswell P. Flower of New York, and Clinton R. Breckinridge of Arkansas. To this body of men was entrusted the task of framing what became the famous McKinley Bill,' and in this framing Burrows played an important part. McKinley himself said: "No man's thought and labor did more for the Tariff Bill of 1890 than did that of Mr. Burrows. For months he gave it his almost undivided time and attention. He is the member most valued and appreciated by the Committee."

1 See Chapter IX.

A

CHAPTER VIII

THE PROTECTIONIST. 1885-1888

STUDENT could find no better source of

information on the subject of Protection philosophy in the United States than the speeches made by Burrows during his campaigns and on the floor of the House and the Senate. It was a subject which early attracted his interest, and to it he devoted over thirty years of painstaking study and investigation. As a result of this, his knowledge on Tariff problems was second to none, and as a member of the Committee on Ways and Means from 1887 to 1895, and, later, of the Senate Finance Committee, he found ample opportunity for its application. The minority members of the Committee were given no opportunity even to consider the Mills Bill until it was presented to the House, but in the substitute Bill, upon which the Republicans worked while waiting for the restoration of their Party to power, and out of which the McKinley Bill evolved, Burrows took prominent part both in its construction and in its defense.

Burrows embraced the doctrine of Protection, together with thousands of other Republicans, before