Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1870-07-26
THE MACHINERY OF CONGRESS.
How Bills are introduced, Referred and Passed
In the House Of Representatives..

American citizen, except the small
numbers who have been members o.
Legislative bodies, there are few who
Are not puzzled to understand The
methods by which bills are passed
and business transacted. They finc
on one occasion that the objection Of
q single member prevents bill from
passing, while perhaps the next day
fifty men are powerless to hinder the
passage Of the same measure, and
they are ready to eXclaim, in the
language Of Artemus Ward. "Why
is this thus They do not know the
meaning of many terms used in leg
isative proceedings. The "morning
hour" which sometimes occurs late
in the afternoon, is mystery to
them. The regular hour" appears
to be anything but regular. They
DO not know how business gets upon
the speakers table" or how it gets
of, aud they are ignorant Of the
workings Of that mighty engine, the
'previous question" They would
like to know how and why the rules
are suspended, what becomes of bills
that are laid upon the table, some
thing of the workings Of Committees,
and their powers and duties, and
many other things that would give
them fuller understanding Of the
talking and voting in Congress.
At the suggestion of Il reader of
the Tribune, l will give brief ac-
count, in this letter, Of how bills orig
mate, are referred, reported, consid-
cred and passed in the House of
Representatives, explaining the usual
course OF proceeding. 1t would not
be possible in newspaper letter to
describe the method of legislative
proceeding under all circumstances,
for the rules Of the House alone make
volume Of respectable size, and the
precedents and decisions, which have
the force Of rules, are even more vo-
luminous. These rules have been
the growth of centuries Of parliament
tary experience. They might, in the
words Of which Judge Bingham is so
fond Of applying to the common law,
be styled the gathered wisdom of a
thousand years" and probably little
if any improvement could be made
upon them.
Let us suppose a member, whom
we will call Mr.. Smith, is DESTROYS Of
securing the passage Of u bill. He
must first introduce it, and this he
can do in two ways. On every alter
nate Monday, in the 'morning hour"
the states are called in order for the
introduction of bills for reference,
and our member can, when his state
is called, present his bill and have it
sent to the appropriate Committee,
or he can offer it by unanimous con-
sent, before the regular order has
been demanded in the morning, or
Just before the adjournment, and
have it referred, if he can get the
floor for the purpose but the obiec-
ton Of single member will prevent
its reception. In either case the bill
is considered to have been "read n
a first and second time" but in fact
nothing but title will have been
read. Any member can demand the
reading of the bill in full but this is
so seldom done that the first and
second readings may be considered
as legislative fictions. After the bill
leaves the members hands, it is taxi
en- possession OF, first by the Journal
Clerk, who makes q note Of it, and
next by the Printing Clerk, if it is
ordered to be printed. who sends it
to the Congressional Printing Office.
1t comes back in day or two, and
is then taken by another clerk to the
room OF The Committee to whom it
is referred, and is entered by its title
upon their docket. The member
who introduced it has now no further
control over it, and its fate depends
upon the Committee. A Committee
is a legislative body in miniature,
with chairman and clerk, and from
five to fifteen members, the usual
number being nine. Committees are
of two kinds, standing and select, the
former being appointed at the begin
ming of each Congress under q stand
ing rule Of the House, while the lat
ter are created for special purposes
by resolution, and expire with the
Congress in which they are raised
Some committees meet every day,
others once, twice, or three times q
week, while others of little impor-
tGnce meet only when called togeth-
err by their chairman.
Mr.. Smiths bill, the course Of
which we are tracing, will in due
time be considered by the Committee
to which it has been referred. The
chances are that it will be speedily
"pigeon-holed" and forgotten, fol
] but one-tenth of all the bills intro
duced merit any serious attention
or even see the light after they are
first referred Most of them are in
troduced solely for bUncombe, by
members who want to make then
constituents think they are taking {
prominent part in the work Of legis
lation. Sometimes half q dozen mer
will introduce bills on the same sub
. ject. a great many bills, and per
haps majority, are not drawn by
members at all, but are gotten up by
a outsiders, who have some scheme
claim, job, Immigrant or some species
of axe to grind, and who look about
until they find member willing tC
father their bills and send them to {
Committee. Let us suppose, how
ever. that Mr. Smiths bill is of some
Z Importance. 1t will, in that case, bt
!. first referred by the Chairman of The
: Committee to some member for ex
animation, and will usually, in {
week or two, be reported back fol
action, when Mr., Smith will be giver
an opportunity to explain and advo
cate it before the Committee, anC
attorneys, Populations or other per
sons interested will have the sam,
privilege. The Committee may