The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-06-29
DECAY OFF THE LOWER HOUSE.


The house of commons rules England.
From it's action there is no appeal No
supreme court suspends a legal sword
of Damocles above it's acts. The house
of lords and the crown have both veto.
but it is used but once. If the house
of commons persists in it's course, the
unwritten constitution of the empire says
that the peerage and royalty must con-
cur.
The intention of the trainers of the
American constitution was to make the
house of Representatives the ruling body
Of the government. 1t was to hold the
purse strings of the people by being
clothed with the exclusive power to raise
revenues and appropriate money for pub
lie use. 1t is true that the senate must
concur in this financial legislation and
the president also has a reserved veto
power, but these were intended to act
as checks upon unstatesmanlike methods
of raising revenue or upon extravagant
expenditures.
For a century the lower house was the
center of legislative and political interest.
In that body were found the orators and
the economists. The members of the house
of representatives, by reason of being
nearer to the people, welded the scepter
Of political power in their several states.
From that body were drawn the candi-
dates for the presidency, a few of the
presidents, cabinet ministers, and diplo-
mats. To be speaker of the house was
to occupy the position of influence next
to the president. It was Speaker Colfax,
Speaker Blaine, Speaker Crisp and Speak
er Reed, men with regulations as wide
as the nation.
With the retirement of Gear" Reed,
this dynasty seems to have run out and
the house of representatives has fallen
to third place in the national trium-
virate. With the decay of the lower
house the senate rose to the position Of
dictator. This condition dates from the
selection of Henderson for speaker.
Whether this decadence is due to the
mediocre ability of Henderson or dates
back farther to change in the mental
calibre of the members Of the lower
house, or whether it is due to the bunch
ing in the senate Of the ambition, cour-
age and brains of the nation, cannot at
FIJI Sofa 1oa ol1 5a+o Do
haps a combination of the three would
be near the truth. The senate, it Is
now admitted, contains nearly all of the
men of note in national politics. Their
notoriety may be comparative only, but
from the result of their work, from the
fact that they have caused the senate
to completely overshadow both the other
active branches of government, indi-
Gates the possession of superior politi-
cal and administrative ability Hender-
son, as head Of the lower house, has
been a fat failure. He was never big
enough for the job and the power of the
house has waned in proportion to the
contempt in which the senators have
held the speaker. The questions used tn
be What will Blaine do about this mat
ter or that matter?" Glow viii Reed
dispose Of this question? VIII he ALLOW
this or that bill to come to a voter,
Nothing Of that kind is heard today
Henderson has no more influence on ma
tional legislation than has the vice presi-
dent Lacking personal ability, he has
been forced to the rear and has taken
the house Of representatives with him.
If the house has sufficient energy to
shake him off at the opening of the next
session it may recover it's wonted in
fuence; it can at least assert it's pre-
negatives.
Representative Hepburn, colleague of
Henderson. has discovered the loss Of
prestige of the house and bewails the
fact, but seems to have been led astrav
as to its cause. He gees the power of
the senate Increasing and ascribes the
evolution toward autocracy to the power
OF confirmation. Hs must look deeper
than that for the cause. 1t Ia In the