The age-herald., 1902-04-18
Says Present System of Leg isIatiOn in the House is
 Rotten to the Core
CHEERS AND LAUGHTER
 INTERRUPT HIS REMARKS
Pressure From Constituents Behind and Fighting of House Leaders in Front Has Flattened Him
 Like a Postage Stamp.

Washington April 17-General debate on the Cuban reciprocity bill closes tomor- row at o'clock and it is the inten- tion of the House leaders if possible to force a final vote on the passage of the bill before adjournment tomorrow night All day long the leaders were counting noses and preparing for the final struggle tomorrow.
 The Democrats are badly split on the measure. The opponents of the bill occu- pied most of the debate today the feature being a vigorous speech by MT. Cushman, Republican,, Washington, against the measure. MT. Cushman arraigned the committee on rules and the House lead CTS in breezy and at times sensational fashion. portion of his criticism was in a semi-humorous vein, but some of it was decidedly caustic. MT. DeArmond. one of the leading Democrats of the House, delivered forcible speech in fa- vor of tariff reduction on trust articles.
 The other speakers were Messrs. Pierce. Tennessee; Douglass, New York, and La cey. Iowa, for the bill; and Messrs. Jen- kins Wisconsin; Gaines, West Virginia; Warner, Illinois; Garner, Michigan; Jones, Washington, and Loud, California, against 1t. Mir. Loud declared that di- rectiy and indirectly Cuba already had cost the United States one thousand mill lion dollars.
 Cusfman's Speech.
 MT. Cushman declared that majority of the Republicans of the House today were opposed to the bill, although a ma jorfty were undoubtedly convinced that it would be better for them to be in favor of 1t. He intimated the speakers position was responsible for the attitude of many of the members.
 T make the statement on this floor, now" said MT. Cushman, that no mem- Der who introduces bill, not a private bill, can get 1t considered unless it suits the speaker and if any one wants to deny that am in personal position and in peculiarly happy frame of mind now to give little valuable testim ony on that potnt-(Laughter and applause). Who is the speaker of this house? Is the mortal like the rest of us? Who is the speaker of this house that he sets up his immacu- late judgment on every bill that is intro- duced? When a member introduces a pub lie bill in this house, what happens? It Is referred to great committee of this house. They pass their judgment on it, recommend it for passage and then it goes on the calendar. Calendari That is misnomer. It ought to be called cemetery Qaughter) for therein lie the whitening bones of legislative hopes (Laughter). When the bill is reported. what does the member who introduced it, and who Is charged by his constituency to secure its passage? Does he consult the committee that recommended 1t? No. Does he consult the will of the m ajority of this house7 No. I will tell you what he does
 Goes to Speakers Rooms.
 He either consents that that bill may die on the calendar or he puts his man hood and his Individuality in his pocket and goes trotting down that little path way that leads to the speakers room All the glory that clustered around the holy of hoiies in King Solomon's tenn pie looked Nike thirty cents (Prolonged laughter and applause). Yes, looked like twenty-nine cents compared to that job ping department of this government" Applause and laughter)
 MT. Cushman then quoted Cassius al- fusion to Caesar as the colossus of the world, and continued: q make no on saught on the individual. I have a high regard for the speaker of this House per sonally and for him politically. but the fact is that we have adopted q set of rules in this body that are an absolute disgrace to the legislative body of any republic (aplause on the Democratic side) They are unrepublican; they are undemocratic; they are un-American (ap- plause on the Democratic side). We need to restore this House to the great patri- otic plane on which the fathers of the re- public placed it; where every individual on this floor stands on an equal and an exact plane with every other We operate here under set of rules confessedly de- signed to belittie the hopes and dwarf the ambitions of the individual members 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 mandarin.
 Rotten at Both Ends.
 q say to you, my friends, that the sys- tenn is rotten at both ends It is rotten at one end because it robs >he individual members of this House of the power that the constitution of the United States and his credentials member on this floor entitle him to; it Is rotten at the other end because it vests power in men who have no right to it, and ofttimes places on them duties that they have no capa- citv to fulfill Qaughter). MT. Chairman, let no man charge me now with trying to tear down the Republican party; but confess that I sometimes feel that I would like to put my hand upon the throat of one or two men who conceive that they are the Republican party (ap- plause and laughter).
 "I am believer in the Republican marty. The true friend of his party is inc man who does not sit idly by and watch his party drift into disrepute and toward destruction, but the man who rises up and calls attention to the evils that exist Nero sat on the hill tops and sddled while the eternal city rose in P. n1,d se~k in ashes, and we are stsans here idly and unconcerned while
 .ti,, pJwS4- Of this ancient house is being invaded, beittled. debauched and destroyed. (Applause). There are people p Washington City today who are go- ng down to Il theatre anu paying out 50 
 lcontinued on Sixth Paae1