The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-06-16
~. p.moo,A,. and NE noa.s naies.

A. intervals whom hls patience ooyes
ont Speaker CASSoS explains M we'll ~
he can that he Ia neither The Legislative
branch of the Government nor an OPP
pressor n the duly elerted reprrscn'a-
tlvra NJ the people.
Nevertheless Mr.. GRtGGs ~ Georgia,
instigated thereto by other Democrats
who regard themselves ~ victims Of
the Speakers usurpaiion Of power. has
introduced n resolution calling for the
increase Of the Committee on Rules from
Ave 10 fifteen members, with the Speaker
left out, and for the organization Of the
other House committees by the enlarged
Committee on Rules. The resolution OF
Mr.. QRIdos WAS referred to the Com
mittee on Rules, composed OF the
Speaker, JOHN DALzELL, CHARLES H.
G~RosvENoR, JOHN s, WILLIAMS and
DAVID A. DE ARMoNp. and ordered
printed-tlat Is TO say, II was put TO
sleep and covered up,
II the Democrats should succeed in
e~lecting a majority Of the members OF the
Sixtieth Congress the resolution would
sink into adeep and dreamless coma end
ing In the sleep that knows no waking.
The rules could probably be revised and
the House reorganized satisfactorily only
by a membership equally divided be-
tween the Republicans and the Demo-
Gratis, with such an eminently impartial
and refreshingly unsophisticated arbiter
In the chair as JOHN SHARP WILLIAMS.
The object of the Griggs resolution
is, of course, to reduce the Speaker to
an automaton that raises and let's fall
the gavel without expression, visual or
oral. He would be denied the right to
ouell a flibuster and count a quorum
in the most desperate emergency. 1t
would really not matter whether he was
in the chair or the cloakroom-a page
would do as we'll as presiding officer.
No one would want to be Speaker but an
invertebrate thing with g~elatine for gray
matter.
ACommittee on Rules OF fifteen would
find it three times as hard as the present
committee does to arrange and expe-
dite business. Congress would be about
ready to rush the appropriation bills
and adjourn by the time the House was
organized by the majority Of the Com
mittee on Rules.
Mr.. CANNON in defending the present
system has said: There must be some
a in which work can be ordered and
restricted and finally performed. If this
were not done Congress would be in a
turmoil. 1t would be a frenzied mob.
The Tower OF Babel would be repeated
That IL what the Democrats want, and
the more noise and confusion and moth
ing doing the better. Their national
conventions make the Tower of Babel
a mere whispering gallery by COMPARE
son. They would like to run the House
Of Representatives as they manage a
national convention. There would be
times when it would adjourn only from
exhaustion.
Given an able, clear headed and pa
triotio man as Speaker-and the descrip-
ton fits Mr.. CANNoN-the House is in no
serious danger of being ill treated by him
or juggernauted by his Committee on
Rules; moreover, the country's business
will be done expeditiously, and on the
whole, we'll. 1t is simply a question
between a small nucleus OF authority
and administration and a large one, if
the term may be used. Experience has
decided in favor Of economy of direc-
ton. The Democrats will see it in that
light if they have luck in November.
So the issue is not momentous, nor is it
pressing.