Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1902-04-18


semi-humorous vein, but some of it
was decidedly caustic Mr.. Cushman
arraigned the rules of the house which
gave arbitrary power to the speaker
and the committee on rules He de-
clared a majority of the house OPP
posed the bill under consideration. but
because of the rules and because of the
power of the speaker it would pass. The
calendar of the house he said is a GEM
etery from which bills can only be res
directed thru appeal to the speaker.
II make the statement on this floor
now" said Mr.. Cushman, that no
member who introduces a bill, not a
private bill, can get 1t considered unless
it suits the speaker. and Ii any one
wants to deny that, I am in a personal
position and in peculiarly happy
frame of mind right now to give little
valuable testimony on that point.
applause and laughter) Who is the
speaker of the house that sets UP his
Immaculate judgment to judge on ev-
cry bill that is introduced? When a
member Introduces a public bill in this
house, what happens? 1t is referred to
great committee of this house. They
pass their judgment on it, recommend
1t for passage and then it goes on the
calendar. Calendar! That is a misno
mer. 1t ought to be called cemetery.
Laughter.) For therein lie the whit
ening bones of legislative hopes.
(Laughter.) When the bill is reported,
what does the member who introduced
it. and who is charged by his consti-
tuency to secure it's passage, do?
Does he consult the committee that
recommended it? No. Does he con-
suit the will of the majority of this
house No. I will tell you what he
does. He either consents that that bill
may die on the calendar, or he puts his
manhood and his individuality in his
pocket and goes trotting down that lit
tie pathway that leads to the speakers
room. All the glory that clustered
around the holy of holes in King
Solomon's temple looked like thirty
nine cents (prolonged laughter and APP
plause.) Yes, looked like thirty-nine
cents, compared with that iobbing de-
plause and laug.hter).
Mr.. Cushnlan then quoted Cassius'
allusion to Caesar as the COLOSSUS of
the tWOFlu ana COntlnueu.
II make no onslaught on the in6livid-
ual / have high regard for the
speaker of this house personally AMI
for him politically, but the fact is that
we have adopted a set of rules in this
body that are an absolute disgrace to
the legislative body of any republic
(Applause on the democratic side J
They are unrepublican. they are un-
democratic. they are unamerican. Gap
plause on the democratic side) We
need to restore this house to the great
patriotic plane on which the fathers
of the republic placed it, where every
individual on this floor stands on an
equal and an exact plane with every
other. (Applause.) We operate here
under set Of rules confessedly de-
signed to belittle the hopes and dwarf
the ambitions of the individual mem
bers of this body and at the same time
to vest more power in the hands Of one
or two men than was ever enjoyed by
oriental despot or a ten-button man.
DARN. say to you, my friends, that
the system is rotten at both ends. 1t is
rotten at one end because 1t robs the
individual members of this house of the
power that the constitution of the
United States and his credentials as a
member on this floor entitle him to; 1t
is rotten at the other end because II
vests power I'M men that have no right
to 1t, and ofttimes places on them duties
that they have no capacity to fulfill
(Applause and laughter.)
"Mr. Chairman, let no man charge
me now with trying to tear down the
republican party. am not trying to
tear down the republican party, but
confess that sometimes feel that
would like to put my hand upon the
throat of one or two men who conceive
that they are the republican party.
(Applause and laughter) I am a be-
lever in the republican party. The
true friend of his party is the man who
does not sit idly by and watch his party
drift into disrepute and toward de-
struction, but the man who rises up
and calls attention to the evils that ex-
list Nero sat on the hilltops and fiddled
while the Eternal City rose in smoke
and sank in ashes, and we are sitting
here idly and unconcernedly while the
power of this ancient house is being
evaded, belittled, debauched and de-
stroyed. (Applause) There are peo-
pie In Washington city today who are
going down to a theater and paying out
so cents each in order to see perform
ance of Liliputians. What sinful,
waste of money, when they can come
up here and watch this house perform
six days in the week for nothing:
| Gaughter) No, Mr.. Chairman a menu
Der of this house said to me the other
day: "Cushman, what makes you so
| thin?" l will tell you what makes me
so thin. / have half a million earnest.
patriotic, intelligent constituents be-.
hind me demanding that | secure GER
tain needed md righteous legislation IN
their interests, That is the pressure or
me from the rear. WhenI try to secure
recognition and an opportunity to bring
up that legislation for legislation, / go
up against the stone wall that sur
rounds the speaker of the house and
the committee on rules. That is the