The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1905-05-20

WdilI W QO ONCduOC AC AAh0 W
several large, insistent and restrain
ing facts.
First, the members of the legislature
had certaig rights as men and as legal
ly and duly elected representatives.
Second, the speaker was first nominate
ed and elected a member of the house
by his party and then elected speaker
by a strict party vote; he was in the
chair not only as the representative Oh
the whole people, but as the represen-
tative of his party. Third, the speak
er was a man and in common with all
men had ambitions, of them being
the laudable desire to make a good
record and leave behind him a fair
name.
These thoughts came to me in those
early minutes and / saw that there
were we'll established limitations to
the exercise 81 a speakers power be-
sides those laid down by the national
and state constitutions and statutes.
1 knew that some of the men who sat
before me and who had equal right to
participate in the framing of leg1sla-
ton and the making of laws, were
there for the sole purpose of using
their positions and votes to get easy
money. Some of them l knew of my
own knowledge were vicious n
brazen boodlers. Others belonged to
the willing class; willing to take
money for their votes and influence
if it was offered them, but not willing
to go out hunting for it. Others were
iackals and hyenas; too cOwardly to
risk publicity or possible punishment
by running with the holder wolves,
but eager to take any scraps and blts
left after the division of spoils.
Now these men, even the worst, had
constitutional and statutory rights as
representatives which l could not ig-
more. | had to consider them In the
organization of the house machinery;
in the naming of my committees. Some
of them belonged to my party and had
certain party rights which l was bound
to recognize. / was forced to a the
material as it came to my hand and l
had had nothing to do with It's selec-
ton.
My experience and observation had
taught me that the average legislator
came to the state capitol with a desire
to do the right thing, to be and to stay
honest. But the corrupt influences
which those who want special privtl-
eyes from a legislature begin to exer-
else upon a member almost as soon as
he is nominated, land many or those
whose intentions were right when they
left home, into the ranks of boodlers.
But it takes more or less time for
this mellowing process to get its full
effect upon the raw material, and the
speaker of the house, almost always
an old member of the legislature,
usually selects old members to serve
on the more important committees.
So it is that the men he picks out as
chairmen and committeeman have
been through the seasoning process
and long before he names them are
men of proved honesty or else belong
to some group of the other class.
And he has had nothing to do with
their nomination and election as rep
resentatives. He is put forward to
organize a working machine out OF
such material as is handed him. So
he begins with a handicap and must
carry it to the enc.
Probably the most important fune-
ton of the speaker is the naming of
the house committees, for it is in the
committees that the real constructive
or destructive work is done as regards
the majority of bills. A committee
can retard or expedite the passage OF
measures. It's chairman can pigeon
hole, smother, kill, or advance bills.
It is in committees where the fine"
work is done; where the skilled lob
byist accomplishes his purpose to a
large extent. Much, if not most, or
the open work on the floor of the
house; the fervid speeches, the heated
debates. the parliamentary battles and
all that is mere trickery, designed to
shunt public attention from the work
of the committees.
The problem involved in the task OF
making up the committees was the
selection of the men best suited to the
purpose of getting results; not the
division of the members into two
classes. one honest and the other dis
honest. The speaker is not elected 10
reform the legislature, but to make the
legislature do the most effective work
in the shortest possible time.
/ had had little opportunity OF study
ing the list of members for the pur-
pose of grouping them into the stand
ing committees of the house. Most OF
my time, from the instant my election
was assured, had been taken by poll
ticians seeking house positions Tor
their people" So as l sat there that
morning | looked along the curved
lines of faces on "our" side of the
house making a tentative selection OF
chairmen of the several committees.
AS n or the other of the strong men
of nv party came within the line of
r.-I r +ool oonta1 pOfo Of their