The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-03-06
BOSS RULE IN THE HOUSE.
SHACKLEFORD ATTACKS RULES
COMMITTEE AND THE SYSTEM.
He Says the Ways and Means Committee
Was Packed by the Speaker With
S%tandpatters, So That No Tariff bills
Should he Reported 10 the House.

Standpatters, So That No Tartn DillS
should BE Reported 10 the House.
WASHINGTON, March 5.-Mr. Shackleford
dem, MOI, possibly inspired by the sue
cess attending a like effort on the part Of Mr..
Clark dem, Fla, took a fall out of the
Committee on Rules and the system" in
the House of Representatives to-day. The
ground of his complaint was that consider
alton had been denied bills to revise the
tariff. The day, Mr.. Shackleford said, was
one of those remarkable days which peri
odically occur in the halls of legislation.
1t had been devoted to the consideration
of what he termed the Speakers bills"
an an ethical sense, y he said, there is
OF a better man thar Speaker Cannon, But
egislativ there is not a man in Europe
clothed with more absolutism When !
rise and ask recognition to call up a bill,
the Speaker looks over toward me with hat
benignant smile that always graoes his
ia ce, and says the gentleman cannot be rec
ognized for that purpose. | read the other
day that our Speaker, of whom we are all
80 proud, and whom we all so deeply love,
had seer to it that the Ways and Means
| Committee had been packed, hat ten men
had been put on that committee who could
sit on the lid and see to it that the gentleman
from Massa chuSetts CMr. RobertS) did not
get a chance to AVE a vote on his bill 10 put
hides on the free list. We find that under
the rules of this House there has been an
organized and successful effort to subvert
our Government, presided over by the hand
some gentleman from New York (Mr. Payne),
by making it impossible for the other S76
members to enact legislation here.
"The Ways and Means Committee, the
standpatters and the ten standpatters
with which that committee has been packed
by the Speaker, sat upon the lid and these
bills cannot be got out OF there by any
process known to humanity. Why? Be
cause, sir, it has been organized and put
under the dictation Of a boss who sits as
the absolute despot over the deliberations
of this House, and that boss" says what
shall be brought in here to he considered
and what shall not. Every member should
raise his voice in behalf of those mea sures
his constituents are interested in, but they
do not do it. Why? Because the bossism
that prevails here VIII not permit it.
"The American people have no longer a
representative government. This house
has lost it's dignity by, going. under the
absolutism, the despotism, the bossism
that prevail here to smother legislation.
The standpatters have control. Howl By
stacking the Ways and Means Committee
with ten out Of eighteen men who sit here
like stone statues and obey the dictates
of the Speaker of the House and refuse to
report any DIll' II Oilt VI JWO vi these |
should yield or be sick and a bill should be
reported, there still remain the immortal
three-the Speaker, the gentleman from
Pennsylvania Mr. DalzelD and the gentle
man from Ohio CMr. G~rosvenorl. a majority
of the Committee On Rules, who would still
see to it that the House could not have a
vote"
Mr.. Burke (Rep., s. D.-amid laughter)-
The gentleman has told US what he thinks
Of Uncle Joe" would like to know what
L. Al..l.o ~ aIT~-la IDhr y (NNtlltnr ~ thn !
minority leader, who dropped him from
the Committee on Interstate and Foreign
CommerceD
Mr.. Sha ckelford Whenever I think of
Uncle Joe, | think Of his delegated authority
to Uncle John. The Republican party
never gave anybody power to appoint
the committees of this House under the
organization as it is administered. That
power is in the hands of the Speaker, who
names the members of every committee.
For SOM reason, | do not know what, the
Speaker saw fit to delegate a moiety of that
power. | suppose there are some who
think he did it to dilute and weaken the
Republican party;
plant, Mr.. Shackelford said, in conclusion:
Stand pat! Why, there are not enough
standpatters to make a corporal's guard
if they would come out into the open and
fight. Stand pat! / dare you, sir, to put
the question IN the floor Of the House
We Nllll tlllpNo INC Nul "
paper and wood pulp"
Later in the day Mr.. Williams Dem,
Miss rallied at the President and the Attor-
ney-General (knoX) for the failure to in
augurate criminal prosecutions against the
officials and promoters of the Northern
Securities Company under the decision of
the Supreme Court for violations Of the
antitrust law. He seemed to be
especially aggrieved by Mr.. Knox's declara-
ton that the Government did not intend
TO run amuck among the railroads of the
country" He bewailed resulting conditions
as exemplified in the refusal of the Omaha
jury to justly punish a scoundrel for the
crime of kidnapping the son Of a millionaire
member of the Beef Trust, and in the OPP
and exactions of other trusts;
and illustrated his argument by reading
on the cases of young Vanderbilt
and Shepard, declaring that they were ex-
of the general disregard OF law
caused by the failure to enforce the laws
persistently and impartially.
Mr., Jenkins rep, Wis.,. chairman Of the
Committee on the Judiciary, and Gen.
replied, declaring that criminal
prosecutions were not justified by the terms
Of the Supreme Court decision and that
criticisms we're not we'll founded,
especially in the absence Of information
from the Acknowledgement,
A resolution introduced by Mr.. Williams
asking the Attorney-Gcneral to tell the
House whether or not any prosecutions
been instituted or were able to be insti-
tuted, upon which his speech was based, was
Committee VIII Report HeDburn