edly requested, to order the
reporters' gallery opened even to ladies, and I also refused to
entertain a motion by a member of the House to order it thrown open
to them; but appeals became so urgent that I, as Speaker, submitted
to the House the request of James W. McKenzie, a member from
Kentucky, for unanimous consent to open the gallery.

Here is an extract from the _Record_, showing the action taken:

"Mr. McKenzie.--I ask unanimous consent that the reporters' gallery
be thrown open to the occupation of the wives and friends of
Congressmen, who are unable to obtain seats in other galleries.

"The Speaker.--The gentleman from Kentucky asks consent that the
rules be so suspended as to permit the reporters' gallery to be
occupied by the wives and friends of members of Congress.

"There was no objection, and it was ordered accordingly."--_Con.
Record_, vol. xiv., Part IV., p. 3747.

I was, under the circumstances, the only member who could not have
prevented the gallery being opened.

Notwithstanding the fact that no reporter was seriously inconvenienced
by the presence of ladies, the incident was viciously seized on by
certain reporters (and, through them, the metropolitan press) to
assail me as the enemy of the press. The truth was suppressed at
the time, and I was personally charged with wilfully opening up
the press gallery as an insult to the dignity of newspaper men,
and, with this, other false statements were published, which could
not be answered through the same medium, by me or my friends, which
made an unfavorable impression, scarcely yet removed from the public
mind.

(17) It is comparatively easy for a Speaker to preside with a
large political and friendly majority to support him, as was the
case when Colfax, Blaine, and other Speakers were in the Chair.

(18) See _Con. Record_, vol. xiii., Part V., p. 4313.

(19) _Con., etc., Rules, etc._, H. of R.; Second Sess. Forty-
seventh, Con., 358.

(20) My views of the situation in Cuba were expressed in a letter
to General Corbin, dated January 28, 1899. Appendix E.

APPENDIX B

It is due from me, and it gives me pleasure to mention some of the
deserving officers of the 110th Ohio Volunteer Infantry.

Lieutenant-Colonel Wm. N. Foster served for a time with credit.
Major Otho H. Binkley, later Lieutenant-Colonel and brevetted
Colonel by the President for distinguished services, Captain Wm.
S. McElwain, who became a Major and was killed in t