The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-03-31
TAWNEY GRILLED
BY HIS ENEMIES
Minnesota Man Has a Strenuous
Fight for His Appropria-
-. :. ton Bill.
BY w. w. Jermane.

Washington, March 31.-Until the
house committee on rules this week re-
ported a rule making further obstruc
tion impossible, Chairman TaWney of
the appropriations committee had been
having, for days and days, his own
troubles in passing the legislative, ex-
Mr. 1ne SEVERAL Weeks AGO. cave
offense to Representative Prince Of
Illinois and Harwick of Georgia, during
the consideration of the military appro-
priation bill, by objecting to certain
items in the bill favored by those gen
tlemen, and SO, in order to even things
up with Tawney, and show him that
possibly he was not so big a man as
he had imagined himself to be, they de-
termined to make things interesting
for him when he reported the legisla-
they succeeded even Beyond their Wild
est dreams, for the bill, when the COM
mittee on rules finally came to the re-
lief Of Mr.. Tawney in his dire need,
was but mangled asnd unsightly imi-
tation of its original self.
Filibustering persisted as fine art
in the house of representatives when
Speaker. Reed abolished the right to
run amuck with dilatory motions and
limitless appeals on points of order.
Since Mr.. Reed s time the obstruction
lists have had a pretty, short shrift. The
once-boasted constitutional right
of members to be present for certain
parliamentary purposes and absent for
others has been annulled on appeal to
| the supreme court, and the house has
been adjudged capable of conducting
by a responsible majority: Every SEES
sion witnesses at least one fierce out
| burst against the absolutism Of the
speaker and the rules committee, yet
| the Reed system keeps intrenching It.
self, and the party which most loudly
! protests against it as minority, most
| fondly embraces it and most .ruthlessly
applies it when intrusted. with power.
Fllibuster Hard to Down.
About once a session, the house has
to encounter the spirit of the filibuster,
that: encounter, so far as the present
session is concerned, has just come. to
close. It was not particularly serious,
and it's only interest for northwestern
people lies in the fact that it put Mr.
Tawney on the gridiron for days at a
! time, and at last compelled him to throw
up his hands by way of complete SUI
render and appeal to the speaker for
help. The house code provides that ap'
islation, and must not authorize salary
payments in excess Of those fixed by ex,
listing laws. On an appeal to the chair
made by a single member the offending
matter is striker from the measure.
This rule works fairly well in ordinary
cases, but discourages attempts to
amend the laws by obscure and often
half understood changes in the text of
be ignored or waived by general con:
sent on special items which have the
approval of the committee on appropria,
| tions, and, as a matter. of fact, many
changes in law. are thus effected at
every session. ~ - '.:S' ''' 49,
How Opponents Moved.
This year, relying on the tolerance
! and cooperation of the house, the aP
preparations committee undertook tc
readjust to some extent the salaries
paid in different branches Of the public
service, to abolish patent inequalities
and to bring some little order out %
chaos. The experiment was in itself
highly commendable, and in line with
the policy Of inquiry and retrenchmen1
adopted by this committee under Mr.
TaWney's leadership. Yet a. confessed
departure at certain points from thu
salary arrangement as it now stands
subj the bill to technical points, o,
order, which were raised with such per
sistency by Messrs. Prince and Hard
wick, that the fate Of the bill was TO
time in real peril.
These facts are pointed out in orde
that readers Of II he Journal, VIII,
are interested in Mr.. Tawney, ma ~ I'm
derstand something Of the strenuou
character of the time he is having a
chairman Of the great appropriation
committee. The reforms in salaries
ect., which the bill carried and whicl
were objected to, we're Mr.. Tawney'
own. He had given the question careful
| consideration. That his reform idea
are sound is shown by the prompt. wa,
in which the speaker came to his relief