Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1907-05-18


tesy," an influence which screens cul-
prits from the sunlight of publicity
nearly as effectively as does the cor
poration press. If a farmer or laborer
should commit some un-American act,
or contemplate some crime, the tong
ues of statesmen everywhere would
wag about his deed; but let an actual
member plunge ten times more
deeply in dishonor and hardly hint
of it is heard. The layman should not
be sheltered in wrong, and neither
should the statesman.
study politics while the people sleep.
The special interests have evolved
system which makes reasonably easy
and safe the pathway of the profes-
sional politician who does their bidd-
ing. They even go SO far as to mould
public opinion so that the people
themselves appear to endorse that
very policy which bestows rich priv
ileges upon the few and heaps the
burdens of taxation and industry up
on the many. In order to see behind
the scenes and into the inner recesses
of the "system," it will first be neces-
sary to consider the position of
Speaker, an office to which the clas-
ses pay the greatest attention and the
masses practically none at all.
IMPORTANCE OF THE sPEAKERSHIP.
To be speaker of the House of re-
representatives. is to occupy position
and possess a power in the making of
laws greater than that of the governor
of the state. This official organizes
and sets in motion the machinery of
the house; he selects its committees;
he presides and directs its business.
So far as the lower and more numer-
Gus body is concerned, the Speaker is
the key to the control of the legis-
lature. Backed by no. more than forty
corrupt confederates in control of the
important committees, corporation
speaker can block and delay and dis
tort the reform efforts of the other
seventy nine. Manipulation of the
machinery means everything, and the
character of the speaker almost en-
tirely decides whether the house shall
be organized in the interest of the
corporations or the people.
AS an illustration, let me cite the
case of the county option bill at the
last session. What chance did that
measure have of passing that body
with it's machinery humming in per-
feet accord with the pulse beats of
Billy Hamm? The Temperance" cora
mittee was headed by Representative
Webster and packed with friends of
the Bachus Brotherhood. With the
three exceptions of Void, Emerson
and Higgins, not a member of this
committee entertained any idea of
giving the temperance forces square
deal. In their hands the steady stream
of petitions from the people asking
for the enactment of such a law be-
came mute and meaningless. Under
the rules they received the county
option bill for consideration and re-
port, but the date of adjournment came
and the bill was still in the custody of
that crowd A sheriff with a search
warrant could hardly have torn it
loose.
The committee system of law manu-
facture makes the same thing possible
in other lines of legislation. 1t is the
same with the railroad committees,
taxes and tax laws, appropriations, etc.
If the speaker places the important
committees in the hands of corpora
ton representatives, the special in
terests are reasonably safe, even with
majority of real reformers against
them.
Control of the committees enables
the corporation crowd to keep legis-
lation which concerns them in the
hands of their friends. A little history
will tend to show how this Is done.
At the beginning of the session several
two cent fare bills were introduced,
and all referred to the committee on
railroads, which was composed of