The Grenada sentinel., 1907-02-23
THErREpuHl tcAN MACHINE.
Congressional Subserviency to; thu
Speaker and President.

The little fish and weak sisters in
congress are always ready to stand
by the speaker and the president" in
any event. They may De lin doubt
about how their constituents stand
on important issues and very wab-
bly, themselves, on such question as
ship subsidy for instance, but when the
speaker and president approved that
measure they felt that they could vote
for the steal with safety. They are
now able to go home and tell the
voters why they did it. They are will
ing to give up their own opinions and
go contrary to the wishes of their
constituents lest they be guilty of
failure to oblige the source OF all po-
litical power-the speaker and the
president.
Thus representative of the people
is degraded into mere pawn and sub
serviency is more favored than indi-
viduality by the party leaders, whose
wishes are supreme and popular elec-
tions are so degraded into useless
form What is the good of going to
the expense and trouble of electing
congressman and sending them and
keeping them at Washington to repre-
sent their constituents when the
speaker and the president would an
swer all purposes and probably act
with much greater celebrity than con-
gress does? II an oligarchy is to run
the United States, we might, at least,
have the advantages of the rule of
few by doing away with the expense of
the worthless many.
Why does the ordinary Republican
congressman determine to stand by
the speaker and the president? Be-
cause he knows If he is not subservi
ent to the machine the speaker will
put him at the tail end Of commit
tee and refuse him recognition on the
floor and no public buildings or river
and harbor improvements will come
his way, for the pins will be set up
against him. Because when the preSi-
dent openly threatened, that as he
alone is the appointing power and that
members of the house of representa-.
tives have no constitutional right to
name postmasters or other officials,
he implied that If they stand by
him" they would receive their share
Of the patronage. A Republican con-
gresham without pap would be a
sorry creature.
Occasionally a bold spirit, or one
who thinks he is really a representa-
tive of the people, breaks over the
races on some issue upon which he
has strong convictions. What hap
mems then? He is called an insurgent,
he is looked upon with suspicion and
even his friends fight shy Of him. He
S disciplined, but if he shows contri-
ton he is received back into the fold
and his share of graft and garrulity is
again his If he has a large enough
following to be troublesome to the
leaders, they compromise with him
and he is rewarded for his independ-
ence and Speaker Cannon puts his
protecting arm around him and says
he is all right, but discipline must be
observed-"for the sake of the party"
Don't do it again,
Thus the government has degener-
ated into an oligarchy-the speaker,
The president and one or two more
leaders and the subserFient majority
of congress meekly submits. AS party
government is a we'll rooted institu-
ton and unlikely to be changed, It is
necessary to have the party -epre-
sentatives in congress as evenly di-
vided as possible, for that gives indie
pendent congressman a chance to pro-
test successfully on such issues as
they know to be improper or unpop-
ular A few of the majority can by
Joining with the minority upset the
machine program. AS it is, in tn
present congress it will require rs
to join with the Democrats to override
any iniquitous legislation or to pass
some good law that the Republican
leaders refuse to allow to be consid-
cred.
The larger the party majority is,
the greater is the power of the ma
chine. The more evenly party |
strength is divided, the better it is for
the honest representative of the peo- |
pie. ..-. ...,. |