Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1890-11-14
HON. WILLIAM L. WILSON'S SPEECH.
A Mastery Effort on the House Of Repre-
sentatives.

Hon. William l.. Wilson, of West Vir-
ginia, in responding to the toast "The
House Of Representatives" said
"Mr. Chairman-I shall take it for
granted that the toast TO which am
invited to respond does not refer to any
particular House of Representatives,
least of all that House which the people
have Just made the victim of their iu-
rious but most discriminating anger. l
shall treat it as referring generally to
that branch of our Federal Legislature
which we sometimes, in language bor-
rowed from another country, incorrectly
Ill ..it, lOwUi.. ILL., e S--e----, -
getting that the chamber in which the
American people appear by their I'M
mediate representatives can in no justly
constituted sense be subordinate one.
In the general structure OF our red
eral Government, built by the union OF
sovereign States, the people act through
servants chosen by some intermediate
system OF election. In the House oil
Representatives, they act by those
whom they choose themselves, selected
from their own ranks and commissioned
for n brief and definite term OF service.
Here alone we find representative gov
ernment in its primary and full maniIes-
tation. To an American citizen, ana
especially TO a citizen trained IN the pol
litical faith OF our Venerated guest ana
most of us here tonight are the House
of Representatives must ever Tor TINS
reason be at all times n center OF intens-
est interest: of interest as fundamen-
tai part of our constitutional system,
where the workings OF that system ap-
pear in their most open and striking
exhibition and of scarcely less interest
rs mirror of the sentiment, the tenn
per and the political intelligence of Il
great people. and struggling with the
momentous task Of self-government.
Let me present the House for mo-
ment in each of these aspects. 1t Is
one of the serious questions CT our day
whether the peoples branch OF Con.
gress has kept pace with the growth oi
our country and with the demands Tor
legislation that growth has brought
with it.
We began with house of 60 men,
bers. representing less than four million
of people, chiefly engaged in one pur-
suit-agriculture We have to-day a
House of 332 members, representing
sixty-three million people, engaged IN
every branch of profitable industry ana
steadily massing into large cities. Inc
great industrial revolution OF the past
9uarter of a century has evoked novel
and gigantic agencies OF production ana
transportation, being novel and dlihcuit
questions for governments TO deal wiVh'
The real question is, does the House
deal with questions it should deal WIFE,
and in an intelligent, statesman-IiKe
manner. To meet its growing demand
for legislation the House has developed
into a well-known system OF standing
committees, each in certain sense
petty house, where bills are conSidereu
and matured for the enactment OF the
House itself. Necessity and experience
have also built up a set OF rules against
which there is much clamor, out which
are as indispensable to its guidance as
the levees that hold the current OF
the Mississippi river, or the steer
rails that guide the locomotive. Noun,
ing more helpless could be imagined
than the House of Representatives OF
to-day exploiting in the general field OF
unfettered by rigid system
of rules. The main idea of the House
rules. next to the the orderly conduct
of business, is to make it easy Tor the
House to do those things which must Dc
done. or the wheels of Government VIII
stop and increasing the difficulty TO do
ANYTHING else. Well, what do we then
do. The House ceasing TO be an arena
of free and earnest debate, emergeS
from the direct collision OF crashing
and grows into an en-
acting body, mere voting as-
sembly on the work prepar
ed for it within the lockeu
doors of the committee rooms; ana IL Is
not alone the House i'll its collective
rapacity that is losing efficiency.
Individual members are so our
iened with labors not belonging 10 llc
eflices, but which ho
member can, or dare refuse TO perform,
hat but n small part of their time ana
thoneht can be given 10 their quties as
av ,yakers. So true is all this, that IL
nav he said. I believe with justice, that
there is no great legislative cham
bcr in the world to-day where where
there is so much blind voting
as in our House of Representa-
tives. Such are the difficulties with
which the House is struggling to-day;
How shall we remove them? As usual
there are those which point out the
nver-ready short cut from the open, ana
at times boisterous sea OF freedom 10 tne
haven of arbitrary power. We are toid
by those controlling the present House