The Florence tribune., 1897-09-04
LEAVE TO PRINT"
Congressional Record Contains
 Speeches Never Delivered
A Custom That Is Handed Down From Time Immemorial-Exten Privileges Accorded
 Some Members.

The greater part of the contents of the congressional record these days is composed of belated revisions of re- marks made in the house while the Dingley tariff bill was under discus sion, or post-mortem observation on the general subject of the bill, which are printed by the authority of the house contained in the special order for regulating the consideration of the measure in the house. It provided that for 20 days subsequent to the final vote on the passage of the bill members might print in the record extensions of remarks made in the debate, or, if they so desired, speeches, no part of which had been delivered. This prac- tice of granting "leate to print" has come down to the present from the mists of antiquity, as it were, and no one knows it's origin. It is and has been grossly abused, and at times has been the occasion of animated discus sions in the house as to the right of a member to insert remarks he never made in the house.
 Representative Wheeler, of Alabama. holds the record for expansion, under ''leave to print" Getting the floor for a single minute on one occasion, mem- bers were astounded to see in the record the next morning that in that minute he had delivered himself of about four pages of the record, a space which ordinarily covers an hour to an hour and a half of proceedings. Dr. Hunter, member from Illinois, whose speech on the tariff bill appeared re- gently, seems likely to give the genial Alabemian close brush for first place. His post-mortem effort covers 25 pages of the record and is believed to be an unequaled performance in its line.
 The withholding of speeches for re- vision, practice also sanctioned by hoary-headed precedent, is subject to criticism. There is apparently no rule regulating the matter, and the conse- quence Is that the record occasionally fails to fully record the proceedings. A member on one occasion made a speech the newspaper report of which formed the basis of an attack by his opponent in the next campaign. The congressman denied having uttered the remarks attributed to him, and ap- pealed to the record to sustain him. The challenge was eagerly accepted by his rival, who not being up to all the tricks of congressman, was covered with confusion at his failure to find the alleged speech. The member had simply withheld his remarks for re- yision," and then calmly pocketed them.
 In the old days of the Congressional Globe the reporters of debates were the victims of this practice. Among the traditions at the capitol is one in which the late Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks, at one time speaker, was the chief actor. The story goes that at one stage of his career MT. Banks was a pupil of teacher of elocution in Washington, and he sought every opportunity en the floor of the house to practice the art. Many of these speeches, evidently, he did not care to embalm for posterity in the enduring record of the house pro ceedings. After having concluded he would ask the reporter to withhold the manuscript from the printer and give it to him for revision. These speeches, it is related, he never returned, and subsequently, Q chestful or two were found in his room. In those days the Globe reporters were paid four dollars column for their work as it appeared in print, and it cost them about one dollar of this to transeribe their notes. So it may easily be inferred that that part of the tradition is true which ayers that whenever Mir. Banks rose to speak groan traversed the reporters bench.-N. Y. Sun.