The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-01-29
The Hour Rule.

From the Independent.
1t may seem paradoxical to suggest thatthere
is any deficiency in the amount of talk at Wash
iDgton. And, perhaps, in the actual quantity
of words and sylabes there is no lack. But it
is as certain as anything can be that the stream
OF talk is arti6cially and vciously forced into
the wrong channels and that what should be
fertillzng river, enriching even by its over
flowing has been cut up into sluggish bitches
and pools, without beauty and OF little use.
Constitutional government is essentially a logo
CTdcy or government by speech, and the freest
liberty of speech is essential TO the proper work
ING o. such government. 1t may appear
strange to many unobserYant persons to say
that there is less freedom of speech in the
House of Representatives than in any dellbe.
lauve body in any country where there is any
pretepse OF having any at all. We think that
the Corps LegtStdtJ OF France even is not an eX-
ceptlon-at least since the gag has been me:.-
suraoly taken out of the months of the men,
bers. There is more real communication of
thought and impulse from the French Tribune
than from the floor of the House.
This state OF things oates from about quar-
ter OF century back, when the Wings came
hungry into power after a long famine, and
were afraid OF losing some crumbs of the
Official board. To limit interruption from their
adyersaries they adopted the one hour rule, so
as 10 apply the process OF Procrustes to the
mind, ana reduce all utteTanCes to precisely the
same length. The consequence has been that
there has been scarcely a readable speech made
in the House since then-one that will make
part OF history. 1t was the application of the
principle of the Trades Union 10 debate; and
as the strikers demand that the clumsy artisan
shall receive precisely the same wages as the
s6llliLl, 80 these statesmen ordained that the
most powerful ana fullest minds should have no
mole time 10 utter themselves than the dreariest
Ounce that an infatuated constituency might be
lett 10 make their representative
The consequence has been that there has been
House since the adoption of the rule although
mOmentOus legislation IN our history has
F, been had since then. There has been a certain
amount OF talk, pro and con- but without the
lie ana lle-sustaining influences OF a true
uebale. All of that mas to be looked Tor in the
Senate, where fortunately the attempt to intro
duce the rule was not made-not for want of
Will, but because it was understood, If we re-
member Mr.. BentOn's account of 1t, that it
wOuld be resisted unto blood. 1t has made the
House the paradise OF the mediocrities; hut tnat
Is not the object Tor which the House was
established by the people.
That object was legislation, after full delbe-
ration and dlsCussiOn-a condition which it is
safe to say has never been fulfilled since the
adoption Of the rule. Ii is absuredly impossible
for a man OF abilities and cultivation, who has
made the study OF the subject a matter OF
debate which should qualify him 10 treat of It,
to discuss any topic OF great Importance in an
hour. What great speech in parliamentary
annals, on either side the Atlantic, has been
compressed into that space? Where would have
been the fame Of Pitt, and Burke and Sheridan,
OF Clay, and Randolph, and Webster, if they
had made their great oratons with the
hammer of the Speaker hanging over their
heads, ready TO fall the moment the hands
OF the dial-plate showed that sixty minutes
had gone? And where would have been the ed
ucatng power which inhered in Congressional
utterances Of able men, on which side soever
they spoke? All the stimulus 10 thought, all
the direction Of opinion that has come forth
from Congress for the last quarter of a century,
has proceeded from the Senate Chamber and
not the House. And for the sufficient reason
that there is freedom of speech at one end OF
the Capitol, and not at the other. 1t may be
well doubted whether am thing has been gained
even IN the way Of the suppression OF bores, by
this smothering OF men who really had some
thing to say.
In effect, the one hour rule has delivered over
the House to the dominion of the bores, instead
OF limiting them TO their Legitimate share of its
| time. Bores are essential cOncomitants of free
discussion; but they are abundantly compen-
| sated for by the life and animation given to
| debate by able minds, and the benefits flowing
| rheTetTom, Compare the debates Of even thirty
years Rgo-not TO say OF htty and siXty-With
| those of the last fifteen, when the crucial test
| has been applied to our institutions, and see
| the dlferencel The debates in the Senate dur
| ing that time bear comparison very well with
those of any former period.
The effect of this tyrannical limitation OF dis
| cussion, combined with the more tyrannical
| abuse of the previous question. has been to
change the House from true delIberative body
| to a mere large committee to accept the laws
| proposed TO il by the subcommittee. The laws
| of the country as far as the House is concerned
| do not proceed from the representatives of the
neopIe: but from q handful of them, appointed
| by the Speaker who sit IN secret conclaVe, an(
| only report the results OF their discussions,
| without the discussions themselves being before
| tbe public. The committee-IoOm, and not the
chamber OF Ine mouse, Is the seaI Ol poutcai
on course, there is a certain amount of talk