The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1878-06-21

place on the Judiciary Committee; h
is buried in the Committee on Manu-
| factures, which has but one meetin
and never a report in long session
! If he Is a member of the majority an,
has had some political prOminenc
outside, his case is better one, an,
: some chance for important work ma,
| be given; but even this may prove
delusion and a snare, as Mr.. Ewin;
found to his cost atthe present session
when his lack of knowledge of th,
rules gave his opponents an instan
| advantage of him, and put his re
sumption-repeal Gin the nine holes, ,
from which he could not take it till Ii,
yielded the terms of debate which
were demanded, and surrendered al
the expected ecIdt of a prompt passage
of his bill under suspension of the
rules. His experience only deepeneC
the conviction of all the leading mel
the House, that it is folly to trust the
floOr-management of any important
measure to any other than an old
hand. Compliments to prominent
politicians who are new members
must be given in some other way.
The truth is that the rules and GUS
toms of the House are the result of a
natural selection, which, however we
may scold at it, was the best the cir
cumstances permitted. The practice
may be modified or pruned a little,
but no great change can be made till
the circumstances are changed. The
things most frequently and most just
ly complained of are the almost des-
potic power of the Speaker, the abb
sOrptiOn of the lead in business by the
old SlxarT Of fnn
and the absence of that kind OF busi-
ness debate which should characterize
a really deliberating body. Let us
look a little at each of these.
The power of the Speaker result
from the functions directly committed
to him. He appoints the committees.
The Senate may select them, but the
House is too large a body for that.
The lOg-rOlling combinations that
would come of an attempt at election
and would disgust the nation, and
would render the organization of the
House an almost endless task. The
delay alone would be uncomfortable.
But the appointment of the commit
tees implies the distribution Of work
to every member. 1t means the de-
of the cast business shall
take. 1t decides for or against all
large matters of policy, or may so de-
eide; for, while Speakers will differ
from each other greatly in force of
character and in the wish to give pos>
itive direction to affairs, the weakest
man cannot escape from the necessity
of arranging the appointments with
view to the probable character of meas
ures which will be agitated. This,
however, is far from the measure of
the Speakers power. All rules are
more or less flexible, The current of
precedents is never consistent or uni
form. The bias Of the Speaker at q
critical point will turn the scale. Mr.
as Speaker determined the as
sent of the House to the action of the
Electoral Commission. Had he wish
ed for revolutionary attempt to pre-
vent the announcement Of Hay es'
election, no one who has experience in
Congress, at least, will doubt that he
could have forced the collision.
The Speakers power to award the
floor to those whom he may choose to
in an enormous one, There
er will profess to follow, but they are
The necessity of getting on with bu-
Of recognizing the chairman of leading
or those iIi charge of inn
pOrtant pending measures, i'll prefer
ance to other members. The nominal
rule is that the man first addressing
the chair has the right to the floor,
but the rule is only nominal. It's 80
evident that business could not get on
in that way that a member would On>
" he laughed at for trying to insist
upon it: Again; it is very rarely the
Ease that several persons are trying to
get the floor at once, and no one but
the speaker could decide among them.
An appeal from this decision there
fore would be futile. The custom has
grown out of this to arrange
with the Speaker beforehand for re-
1OgnitiOn. A member will speak to |
lim privately and in advance, saying, |
have such and such measure to in
.rOduce, and l want to be recognized |
when | rise. 4 fair-minded Speaker |
win only enquire far enough to see |
hat the matter is legitimate and i'm
but if he is unscrupulouS it is |
easy to see how far his power may go. |
Rum0r has it that when Mr.. Blaine |
was Speaker it was hard to get the |
loOr unless the thing to be urged |
pleased him, and it is even limited that |
ne required amendments to be made |
70 resolutions, etp., before he YoHld
permit them to he 'QffeFed, Whether |
his is true or not, it is easy to see that
4 vigorous, domineering man could |
easily make it true with such power in |
MS hands. The only real check upon |
The Speaker must be the public senti>
ment of the House, and the older |
members are the natural eXpOnents |
and voices Of this, The minority can
10 little to chepk hlm until -his acts he |
come so arrogant and partial as to
shock the mQderate men of the major
ty. The leading men of the dOmi-
qant party are always those whom
the Speaker has assigned tG iRlPortant
of committees, and
they are prevented by delicacy and a
sense of obligation from opposing him
if it can be avoided. \ disappointed
to the Chair attributed to his failure
GET little sympathy. There is, there
fore, small CHANGE for controlling the
power OF the presiding officer until he
goes beyond all endurable bounds, and
this a man of any prudence and abili-
ty will rarely do. The power of the
Speaker of the House over legislation
may not unfairly be reckOped MUCH
larger than that Of the Senate. 10
this we laye cgme by the slow growth
of hundred years, acceleratiDg, how
ever, as the numbers of the members
of the House have increased.
The power Of the ehairmen Qf COM
mittees follows as sort of cOrOllary
from that of the Speaker. Their lead
ing influence elect him, his favor APP
points them, and the latter, with the
aid Of the eYigencies of public business,
gives them the pFaltical coptFnl Of the
floor. BY custom the chairman Of a
committee appoints, or at least nomi-
mates, its clerk, and he has the lions
share of the clerks labor and assist
ance. He has, therefore, better facili
ties for informing himself as to busi-
ness before them. He distributes the
WORK to subcommittee, and if he be
at all able and polite will practically
control the Fepdrts and the pFesept4-
ton of all business from his committee
to the House. He will usually decide
who shall speak on a measure, how
long the debate shall continue, when
the previous Ipestian shall lie called,
and how the hour of debate which
follows the ordering of the previous
question shall be apportioned. If any
one protests, the ready answer is,
How else, in such a Babel, can bust
ness make progress at all? Some one
must be trusted to direct il, and who
so fit, under the superior power of the
niittee which had measure in charge
nrI = yNroS1p1oI ~ have Ir1afuroI ifO