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Rh as well as legal learning; and these soon led him into the political arena of his state, gave him growing influence, and marked him as one of the coming men.

In 1868, Mr. Bacon was nominated by the Democratic state convention for presidential elector from the then fourth congressional district. Two years from that time he was elected to the Georgia house of representatives, and was returned to that body, at each successive election, for fourteen years. During this period he was speaker pro tempore for two years, and speaker for eight years, an unusual parliamentary experience. He served in this position of honor with distinction and dignity, and displayed an executive ability, a fair-mindedness, and a knowledge of legislative procedure, that gave him immediate prestige when he entered the United States senate. Several times he was brought forward as a candidate for the governorship of his state, and in the Democratic state convention of 1883 he lacked but one vote for a nomination, when the nomination was equivalent to an election. This was one of the famous convention contests of Georgia, in which there was a three days' deadlock before a nomination was made.

Mr. Bacon was frequently a member of the Democratic state conventions, was president of the convention of 1880, and was delegate from the state at large to the national Democratic convention at Chicago in 1884. Although his party was not without sharp rivalries, he was always considered a stalwart, aggressive leader; and, in 1894, after an exciting and somewhat remarkable campaign before the people, he was elected by the Georgia legislature to a seat in the United States senate. His reelection in 1900 is evidence that his conduct in that body was fully indorsed by his constituents.

In the senate, Mr. Bacon has steadily grown in influence. He is a member of both the Judiciary and the Foreign Relations committees. He is easily entitled to rank among the leaders of the minority, and as a graceful, fluent speaker, and ready debater, he is hardly excelled by any one of its members. His speeches are characterized by an unusual richness of diction, and by good literary form, and they always evince candor and breadth. One of his most notable efforts was in opposition to the acquisition of the Philippines. During the contest over this question he made several extended speeches. He was the author of the Bacon resolution "declaring the purpose of the United States not permanently to retain the