Omaha daily bee., 1895-08-18

Of1ice. OnSloW set an example OF lin-
partlality and fairness, for which the
English speakership has since been
synonym, and his lofty conduct had its
influence on those who followed him.
Today the Office of speaker Is one of
great responsibility. as well as honor
power. That the British speaker is
not political officer Is in 10 way re-
markable. Ills duties and functions
are confined to his acting as spokes-
man for the House and to the regulation
of debate and the general enforcement
of the rules. He has none of the ele-
ments of the power and patronage of
the American speaker. He appoints
no committees, nor can he forward or
delay bills or control the order of busi-
ness or determine the fate of bill in
assigning it to n particular committee.
He is in no way Il party leader. The
fact that the Parliamentary develop
ment in England has made the leader
of the majority party in the House the
prime minister and has given the con
troll of the business of the House to the
cabinet no doubt prevented such de-
velopment in the British speakership
us has taken place in the United States.
But. Oh the other hand, the develop
ment of the spcakcrship of the house
of representatives, although unique to
that body. is merely Il natural and
logical outgrowth of our form of par
liamentary government. Our early
speakers were merely moderators and
not political officers. The early houses
were small and there was no need of
delegating functions to committees or
for the checking of debate. The
speaker was not n political officer be-
cause he had as yet no patronage or
political power. But as early as 1874
| he was given the important power OF
appointing committees. In 1870 Hamil-
ton was refused permission to speak as
secretary of the treasury to the house.
Any approach toward cabinet govern
ment was thus npped in the bud, and the
leaders of the majority were necessarily
members of the house. In 1911 Henry
Clay. the leader of the whig majority,
was elected speaker, and, although pre-
| siding over the house, he did not. drop
the character of Il party leader. Like
Onslow in England, Clay's long term as
speaker could not fail to make some
marked impression on the character of
| the office.
From the time of Clay there has been
no question as to the political character
of the American speakership. The
membership of the house of representa-
tives increased fve-fold and with it the
committee patronage, the power result
ing from the recognition of members
asking for the floor, from the power of
| the commitment of bills, and by his
position as chairman of the committee
on rules. The power and influence of
| the American speaker has become such
that John Fiske calls him the most
powerful officer of the government eX-
cept the president, and Prof. James
Bryce in his american Commonwealth
speaks of him az "the second, if not
the first, political figure in the United
States, with an influence upon the for
tunes of men and the course of domes
| llC eNeutS III tihitH
to the presidents, though shorter in
duration and less patent to the world
Viewing the case of the election tC
the British speakership in the light OF
historical development, the failure tc
re-elect Mr.. Gully would have been as
illogical as for a republican majority
to re-elcct the democratic speaker OF
the last house. 1t would be almost &
revolutionary act, certainly an act Op
posed to the custom of the British con
stitution. 1t is highly improbable tha
even were Il partisan speaker of the
House of Parliament elected that i
would Immediately change the charac
ter of the office. With the present in
ternal construction of the House o.
Commons and the strong influence o.
custom the speaker and his party would
gain nothing in political power ant
the Office of speaker would lose it'
ancient respect and dignity.