The Logan County banner. [volume] (Logan, W. Va.) 1889-1903, 1890-05-01
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RULINGS OF THE SPEAKER.


familiar with the law and practice OF
the British House Of Commons, the
great legislative assembly Of their
mother country, and 1t is not unreason-
able to suppose that when theyprovided
for the election Of a Speaker. they had
in contemplation a. presiding officer
with substantially the same powers. du-
ties and responsibilities as had be-
.lenged for many centuries 10 the pre-
siding officer ia that body.
While the right to enlarge or restrict
these powers, duties and responsible
ties by its own rules was expressly con-
ferred upon the House OF Representa-
tives 1t can not be supposed that the
authors of the constitution intended
by this clause to authorize the
exercise siof power which would de-
stroy or impair tho free representative
character of the body itself Like all
other powers delegated by the constitu-
tion, the authority to make rules must
be construed and exercised in harmony
with the general spirit and plan OF
sour republican institutions, and there
lore any rufc which confers upon the
Speaker arbitrary power and allows
him at his own will and pleasure TO de-
prive members Of the right to make or
binary parliamentary motions and have
them voted on by the House is an inex-
cusable surrender OF the privileges of a
free constituency and gross peryersion
of a power Which was conferred for the
very purpose of promoting and presery-
fr1rp fhf.f do 1<xx e t1.<. g.
tive. Members of the House do not act
for themselves, either in @making rules
or passing laws; they act for the people
whom they represent, and whenever
they put letters upon their own limbs or
stifie their own voices they inflict a
-grievous injury upon their constituents.
Arbitrary power can exist nowhere in
free government, and if it be true, as
now claimed, that the popular branch
of the legislative department has been
authorized TO confer such power upon
any one man, no matter what his off,
-cial title may-be, it is clear that there
Is a defect in our system not hereto
fore detected by the most careful and
Intelligent observers. The constitution
begins with the declaration that "all
legislative power herein granted shall
be vested in Congress of the United
States, which shall consist of Senate
and House of Representatives" The
power to legislatesnecessarily includes
the right to hear and determine all
such motions and propositions as are in
cidental to the consideration of bills
and resolutions and the transaction OF
other legislative business, and this
power given expressly to the Senate
and House Of Representatives can not
be delegated by either ef-the emit
must be exercised BY the members
chosen by the people and States to
speak and act for them. II they can
rightfully delegate to their presiding
officers the power to decide finally and
conclusiyelyupon all motions made in
tho course of legislative proceedings it
is difficult to see why they can not also
confer upon those officers the power to
decide in the same way upon the merits
OF all bills proposed. There is certainly
nothing in the mere name or title of the
presiding officer to qualify him for the
constitutional exercise of such power,
and it could as we'll be conferred upon
the clerk or the sergeant-at-arms, or the
doorkeeper.
The only justification that has been
offered for tho revolution that has been
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