The Portland daily press., 1884-02-08
Springfield Republican,

NC kbuslueSs OF congress-
They call Tom Reed of Maine the leader of
the minority in this House, and in many re-
spects he can Justify the elaira. He is very
aole parliamentary lawyer, a pungent debater,
and clear slater of argument. To be clear
stater Is next to being statesman.
Mr. Reed started a subject of debate on Mon
oay' which is entirely of non-paftisan order,
anu Oh the first Importance. Mr.. Randall hav-
ing reported from the committee on rules that
TINS House adopt the rules of the 18th Con.
gress Mr. Reed, one of four members of that
important committee, proposed amendments
re-establishing the morning hour, 10 extend
Tor an indefinite period as formerly and 1nalz-
ing other changes, the effect OF which would
be to enable majority of the House to con-
troll its business, which is not now the case.
Mr. Reed thus described the present prccess Of
legislation:
Under the present system, when bill is present.
ed mere IN the House. it goes as a matter of course
to its appropriate committee. When it comes ont
OF that committee it goes upon one of three calen
oars. First, the calendar of the committee of the
Whole House on the state of the Union, if it be a
Dill appropriatng money; Or second it goes to the
private calendar and is considered in committee of
sAAo ~N- ~~AueJ3 IL IL Is q Dill OF DubliC
nature and does not appropriate money it goes To
what is called the House calendar The pripc;nla
of our present rules is that every question shall be
taken up in the order in which 1t finds itself mon
the Calendars and if the House were to transact all
its business, and act upon every bill so reported
that system would be perfection itself because If
would only be question of time as to when any
measure would be acted upon. But, unfortunately
congress does not do all its business
1t does not do even ten per cent; 1 think
may safely say that it does not do per cent. of
its busRess. Now, if Congress does not do but s
per cent of its business the question ia which nor
cent. shall it DO? In other words no shall the se
lection be made? Your present system saws that IL
shall be made by considering whether it is first ON
one OF these calendars or not Now, do YOU not see
that the effect is to confne the business of This
House TO those which get earliest ON the calen
dars. And what kind of cases are those? Are they
cases which demand consideration? Not at all. ON
the contrary they are cases which require the least
elaboration and which of the least importance
to the country That is the removable system on
which you have to do your business What is the
effect of IL? Why, when man finds that his bill is
on the third page Of the calendar he just gives 1t all
up. And he has resort to entirely different sys
tenn What is that system? Why, it is the system
OF asking unanimous consent. You will say. sis
not that good system? If bill can be passed that
does not have any Director to it, is not
that good bill to pass?'' Well. now
that sounds well. But what is the effect
OF it? The effect is that the responsibility is
thrown upon one man and he has to incur the per-
sonal odium of Directing to a bill under cir
cumstances that do not quite Justify it, hear a
bill read and it occurs to me that it is not proper
BILL; but have not any special information on the
subject, ami while considering whe. her will
incur the enmity of my fellow member by object
ing TO that BILL and on grounds that may turn out
70 90 utterly insufficient on examination hear
the voice oi the speaker sounding through the hail.
mo objection is heard and away goes the bill
onehaH at least of the bills for public buildings of
the last session of Congress were passed in that
way; and it is a most vicious and pernicious sys
temof legislation. tell you if Y u dam up waters
they have got to go over the top of the dam. If
you obstruct the public business some of it is going
to be done and it is to depend not the Justice of
the measure but the impudence of the member It
is merely a question whether be can worry the
speaker into recognition. And he is going take
that time to demand recognition when the man is
out-ide of the hall of the House who opposed to
the bill. Why, sir, the regular programme Of pro-
cedure is 10 station men in different parts
OF the House and rush at the man who
eyinces any disposition to oppose the bill that
is up; and before the House knows what
mas happened the bill is through. say this system
of legislation is vicious in the extreme and the eff
feet of it the speaker certainly to destroy all
peace of mind he possibly have toward the end
of session. He is simply torn in pieces by the re-
quests and demands of members, each one of whom
is ookiI after his interest and is regardless of
the interest of everybody else. There is but one
other way Of doing business; and that is also de
pendent upon the recognition Of the speaker. You
must get suspension of tine rules under two
thirds vote of the House Now, say to you gentle
men that the object of Congress is to do the bust
ness OF the country. That is what we came here
for That is whas we are paid for In this country
the business of every legislative body is done and
ought to be done by its majority. If bad ma
jorjty, they take the consequences of their action
And the people are our final governors. Some men
say that if majority have the control Of the House
there will be bad bills passed. / do not doubt it.
And tell you that is of the risks of the repub-
lican form of government that the people and their
representatives may occasionally do wrong but it is
worth whale to do the business Of the country in
the proper way and under the guidance of the ma
jority.
This is 8 very striking statement of what is
not only ser ions question in Congress, but a
serious question in every legislative body in
the world which has the control OF vast ma
tional and imper rial interests. The French
Assembly and the British House of Commons
particularly being bodies which have powers,
undivided with any subordinate federal legis-
latures ara completely swamped with the diff
ficulty OF discharging their business and at the
same time of protecting themselves from job
berry on the one hand and from fillibusteriDg
on the other.
Mr. Reedproposes that the morn ing hour ex-
tend until the House vote to take up other
business and that during that time the COM
mittees have leave TO report in Their order and
to have their measures acted upon. IF, for in
stance a bill from the judiciary committee be
taken mp one day, it shall have precedence
until disposed of land then the next committee
in order shall have leave to make report and
present measure and so on. Thus il q ma
jority OF the House choose they can take an
legislation in its order. This was formerly the
rule until the revision of the rules in $780,
The present system concentrates all power in
the hands of the speaker and of the chairman
OF the appropriations committee, because that
committee can report any bill at any time. 1t
Is III short especially devised to enable Brake
man Randall to hold his train we'll in hand.
Bot it is system which delays legislation of
the most imperative character. fake the
bankrupt law, the law for the relief of the
Supreme Court, aud many other measures for
which the business OF the country is suffering.
all of which are strangled by the wise in
which the House is held by its present self
imposed rules. The debate upon the subject
will be resumed today.
RAILROAD MATTERS.
m IL md dor