The age-herald., 1902-03-25
Washington Day byD Day

the House of Representatives has yet been called to consider the party's &C., tion respecting the Crumpacker resolu- tion, which will hardly be reported from committee before Monday of next week. Such a caucus will be necessary if the Democrats finally determine to fight Crumpackerism to the uttermost. The fight whatever be its nature, will be led by Congressman Richardson of 1 Tennessee the official leader of the Dem- | ocrats on the floor, but MT. Richardson will need assistants and these assistants will be chosen by the caucus. Who they will be 1t Is idle to guess; nor is the point of much consequence. They will be chosen with view to physical endur- ance. 1t being accepted that the most ordinary members know the elementary rules of the House, as many of the bright boy pages do
 MT. Richardsons assist ants may num- | Der five, or flfteen-any reasonable num- ber-and with him at their head they will be called the steering committed" and some of them will have to be on duty all the time the House Is in ses- sion. MT. Richardson himself is a skilled parliamentarian; but so are all old mem-
 bers, and so are hundreds of schoolboys, as for that matter. In the House the printed rules are before every member, and the newest member can familiarize himself with them at odd times within a month.
 The necessity of selecting assistants for | MT, Richardson is that he could not withstand the physical and mental fatigue | of being always in his place and always demanding the enforcement of the rules. He might be able to hold the House in continuous session for thirty or forty hours, but he couldn't endure the labor, and so once he had got the House tied up, so to speak, he would give place to one of his assistants, and go to bed Thus the necessity for the caucus to give the party leader assistants who are physical ly strong and who can be relied upon not to go to sleep when on duty.
 Precisely what will occur if the Demo- cratic caucus makes the Crumpacker resolution against the South a die-in-the- last-ditch issue. which seems now certain Is simply this:
 1 At 12 o'clock noon the speaker will call the House to order, and prayer will be said by the chaplain or some other preacher.
 A Republican will ask unanimous con- sent that the reading of the previous days journal be dispensed with. MT. Richardson will object. A Republican will make a motion to have the reading of the journal dispensed | with.
 The speaker will put the question, and members will say aye or no; and as the speaker is about to say the ayes have it."
 MT, Richardson will call for division; and, as the speaker orders the clerk will count the members who stand for | and those who stand against the mo- tion. At the moment the clerk reports his count to the Speaker,
 MT. Richardson will demand tellers, and then all the members will have to walk down to the space in front of the speak, CTS stand, file betweeh two members, one Democrat and the other a Republican When the last man has been counted the two tellers will face the speaker and an- nounce the vote.
 At that moment Mir. Richardson will, demand the ayes and nays, and thirty four other Democrats joining him and constituting the fifth of a quorum of the whole House, as provided by the consti- tuition, the speaker will direct the calling of the roll. If upon casting up the vote by roll call 1t appears that there Is no quorum present. and that is likely to oc- cur almost every day, MT. Richardson will raise the point of mo quorum" and the fun will begin again. Thus as old members of the House estimate it. an | average of two hours will be consumed every day in approving the journal; and there is almost endless delay otherwise possible in the approval of the Journal, | for every member can offer motion that the journal be corrected. even to the dotting of an 1, and upon every such mo- l tion MT. Richardson. or whoever repre- sents him, can for the Democrats demand and secure the calling of the roll. And this procedure as to the journal Is to large extent applicable to all measures brought before the House. ! l Nowadays practically all legislation Is | by unanimous consent. Without unani- nous consent Congress can accomplish as nearly nothing as possible short of actual
 incapacity, for the national legislative machinery is most cumbersome. 1 So it may be easily seen that if the | Democrats of the House elect to fight out Crumpackerism on the plain lines here mentioned, and which are taught to even
 the high school boys, farther legislation
 by the present Congress will be practi- | cally impossible. Most of the appropria-
 ton bills are still to be passed, and it Is | competent for the House Democrats to | cripple the very machinery of the worst | government that ever afflicted and so- called free country
 1 The newspaper organs of Dingleyism and Crumpackerism say that the Demo-
 crats are as hystericai over a proposed resolution of the House as they were over | the last force bill The Crumpacker reso-
 lution is worse than any force bill ever vet offered-it Is more offensive and its
 enactment would be more degrading. Yet | the last Democratic nominee for the
 Presidency says it ought to be welcomed l if it applied to Pennsylvania as well as | to the South! And he calls himself I A.,4- AA faA aealf