Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-12-18

any lesisla ton or motion towards legisla-
ton follow. Sometimes a group of mem
bers of the majority side of the House.
having agreed among themselves that they
nave struck pretty good idea, viii scatter
themselves among the members on the
minority side to see how the idea will be
received there. If it meets with favor
there will be mutual congratulations and
feiicitation, and the caucusing will be-
come more active and comprehensive. 1t
will spread over both sides of the House
and into the cloak rooms. Perhaps the
same subject will occupy them for day or
two. Majority members will go over to the
minority cloak room, and minority men,
bers will visit the cloak room of the ma
whispering. An air of importance will
come over the assembly. Groups will be-
come larger and more comminging. Lead
ers and subleaders Will spring to the front
and emissaries will worm in and out from
aisle to aisle and from one side to the
other. After all has been said and done
that could be without actually doing some
thing the matter will quietly subside. The
majority and minority negotiations will
come to a close. The conferences will scat
ter and the caucuSeS divide up into smaller
groups discussing other subjects or try
ing to originate other plans for some other
project. Meanwhile no one has suggested
the lately agitated project to the Speaker
The sound of the discussion has not reach
ed his ear. The agitation has not made a
motion on the surface of the legislative
mill pond. They have been simply blowing
thistiedown across the water and calling it
commerce. The cloak room caucus has
ended IN cloak room legislation.
Decided by the Leaders.
Day after day goes on this endless imi-
tation' of participation in affairs, while
what is to be done is decided on by the
leaders and by them executed.
About the only time when these cloak
room caucauses have serious import is
hon hoy ~ al.fn
immediate present, Or directly to legisa don.
For instance. ii is not known whether
Speaker Reed will, in the succeeding Con-
gress. be candidate for Speaker or that
he Will be III the House at all. 1t has been
minated that he might retire from the
House at the end OF this term. Out of this
possibility grows another sort of cloak
room caucus. Men not now exactly leaders
are engaged in making friends. The pos
sible candidates for the speakership Of the
Fifty-siXth Congress are mixing and
making display of their talents. Who's to
GENE back, and how L can be of service"
are subjects OF discussion. The embryo
SpedkerShip candidate passes from group
TO group. and is interested in all that in
teres,s his colleagues.
This sort of speculative and anticipatory
consultation is particularly active the
democratic side. There, they being in the
minority and having little to do with pres
ent legislation, mapping out a program tor
the future and present policy relating en-
tlrely 10 the future is the only profitable
thing TO be done. They have to deal with
an abstract proposition. They have moth
ing TO manage but themselves. 1t is a
struggle to retain or TO gain a leadership
! for the prospect ii may hold out in the flu
| ture. Consultations are constant and ac-
| tive, confidential, mysterious. Each aspir-
| ing statesman is constantly moving among
| his followers, to hold them in line. to in
| spire them with confidence and 10 keep
| them alert against the devices of the fol-
| lowers of rival Half-a-dozen little eau
| cuses are being held every hour in the
! cloak room, around the fireplaces in the
| hall and in the body of the House.