New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-04-15
THE DECADEYoE OF THE HOUSE.

The Hon. Bourke Cochran has signalized his
return to the House of Representatives by paint
ing to that body moving picture or lts own
decadence. 1t seems to have suited his poilt-
icsl purposes to describe the House an as
sembly broken in power and spirit and hurry
ing into degradation and decrepitude." The re-
constituted Tammany statesman took the hoor
to protest against the "usurpaton' OF lesls-
lative rights involved in the Pension Bureaus
recent revision of its own rules for determining
presumptive physical disability. Mr.. Cochran
held this ruling to be q new invasion of the
powers and dignities of the House-another In
sidious attempt to blacken its credit and steal
away its prerogatives.
WHY the Ware order is not as much an ZEN
croachment' on the rights of the Senate as on
those of the House is beyond our comprehen-
sion. But TO bolster up his case against the
Executive Mr.. Cochran dragged in the Senate
as a co-cOnspiratOr against the character ana
immunites OF the popular branch. The agrees
sions Of the Executive and the Senate, he told
his awe-struck colleagues. had reduced the popu-
lar branch to such n state OF subsection ana
impotency that there was mos paper outside
"of Washington which gave more than one or
1.-TWO paragraphs to its proceedings"
The New-York orators lamentations over the
decadence of the House doubtless echo ideas
prevalent both inside and outside that body.
The House received tDen WIFI dlltuNlOh. huS
IL is not likely that It was deceived into tracing
the real causes of that decadence to Senatorial
and Executive "usurpatons" If the House is
Fastening into political decline, that decline is
IN no way due to conspiracies from without
Its decay has been from within 1t is the vic
tim OF its own follies and errors, and cannot
Justly attribute its loss of caste to the encroach
ments Of an "overshadowlng" Senate or an
.'overshadowing" Executive.
II has become fad with superficial students
OF politics TO describe the Senate steadily ag
grandZing itself at the expense of the House
and of the Executive. Such view simply In
verts the facts Politically the Senate is to-day
a far less powerful body than 1t was genera
ton ago. From 1865 to 1880 the Senate exer-
cised vastly greater influence than 1t does to-
day. 1t crippled and hobbled President John
son. Ii dominated in both the executive and
legislative departments. Senator Hoar who has
had ampler opportunity than almost any other
man in public life to study the historical devel-
opment Of the two houses, says in his Auto
biography of Seventy Years: when | came
ito the Senate tin 1870 that body was at the
very height of its constitutional power. II
was, think. more powerful body than ever
before or since"
This judgment can be disputed only by the
ignorant Compared with the Executive. the
Senate since 1877 has lost much more political
power than the House has. Yet foolish and
hasty critics both in and out Of the House In
sist on charging its own undoubted decline in
credit to the jealous encroachments of the de-
Lucrative branch.
Mr.. Cochran shows some appreciation Of the
true causes of the Houses decrepitude when he
drops the boyle OF Executive "usurpatiOn" and
assails the Reed code of rules. Under that
code the House has become mere registering
machine. 1t offers real arena for debate or
leadership. Whether the legislative efficiency
of the lower branch has deteriorated since these
rules came into force may be disputed. But the
political Importance of the body has greatly
shrunk, and members have come TO look on
themselves as mere pawns in a game in which
they have neither hand HOr n voice The rest
Of the world has been quick 10 take the House
OF recent years at its own valuation. But its
unused powers remain. They can be called into
play again. and the House can be restored to
its old status as political body, whenever Its
members insist on reassertng their suspended
rights