The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-08-02
Reforming the Senate,

Reforming the senate.
Word is given forth .hat at the regu-
lar session of congress next winter
heroic attempt will be made to modern
iZo the rules of the senate. Coupled
with this announcement is a long eu-
looy of the record made by the house
of the present congress in the recclt
special session, under the guidance ami
Virtual control Of Speaker Reed. The
eulogy is deserved, for the house ce"-
tainly did its work both expedltiouS:y
ana well. and by its prompttude has,
for the moment, thrown into sharp
contrast the more lesul ely methods of
the senate, placing upon that body
most of the stigma that once was wont
TO be divided by popular opinion be-
t"een the house of congress equally
and impartially.
At the same time tae rules adopted
hy the house during this special aui
pressing emergency are rot the rules
which should ever become permanent
features of the government of the SEN
aso. In order to make progress at all,
ii is necessary in a body so large ard
complex IN membership as is the house
to nut into the hands Of the speaker
ard his chief auxiliary ECdy the COM
1n.ttee on rules, power o. a potent
character, otherwise the assemblage
would fall into disorder from sheer
weight Of numbers and multiplicity Of
counsel. The senate, or the Other
and, is limited in membership and 50
matter of committees, which are made
up for the greater part of men of long
and ripe experience. that it is possible
for It not only to cover a considerable
ground, but also to do so without the
&ppC arancc of haste. only when the
people, wrought up by the excitement
incident to heated partisan contention.
grow impatient for results having in
them something of the catapultic celer-
ity of convention resolutions or caucus
laws. does there appear the argument
that the senate is dilatory. Ordinar-
lily, with the public mind in equilibrium.
the senate's style of doing business
wins respect for its dignity and the
judicial nicely of it's work.
sideratum, then unquestionably the
present methods in vogue in the house
of representatives should be reproduced
without modification in the senate.
chamber 1t so happened that during
the special session the people wanted
haste and would have given it tempur-
arily the preference over every other
quality. But that was an abnormal
situation, not likely, we trust, to arise
again during the present generation.
If the same methods were to be applied
under different and more nearly nor
NAL circumstances, instead of winning
popular applause they would be con-
demned as empirical and in place of
praise for expedition we should have
the cry, and the not unjust cry, of
gag law. What the senate needs, ana
all that it needs, is a rule providing
that majority may after a reasonable
time devoted to debate, move the pre-
vious question. 1t is unrepublican on
the one hand for a minority to hold up
a majority without limit; but it is in
eXcusable, on the other hand, for a
majority in a body supposed to repre-
sent the highest deliberative states
manship of the time to use the mere
fact of its numerical preponderance as
weapon for the forcfble denial of any
right of speech or argument among the
coordinate members who for the time
constitute the minority. The sensible
and equitable rule of parliamentary
government lies between these ex-
tremes.