New-York tribune., 1907-03-10


! Legislation
M fraud. Mr.. Herbert hastened to obey an
IL urgent call on the telephone from a long
winded constituent just arrived in town,
- while the House lashed itself into fury
with a vote of I4S to I4S and the result
lay in the Speakers deciding voice a parliament
tary tangle did indeed rob the silverites of their
victory; but President Cleveands future Secretary
OF the Navy could not be comforted over his lost
opportunity to kill decisively the money heresy,"
particularly as his voluble constituent appeared
TO have left town preCIptately as he had arrived
Indeed, this free silver page conhded 70 his
panlons that he regularly voted in the House He
could initiate several members voices, and if of
them was absent he answered when the clerk called
that members name. The precision of a roll call
makes this difficult of belief although the whole
body of pages always voted when the Speaker sim
ply asked the members 10 answer a chorus Yea
or Nay, and the Democratic opponents of Gar"
Reed vehemently declared that if he could not find
a quorum among the Representatives. he counted
the pages as Representatives too. But my con
science has always troubled me over one momentous
vote, when the accuracy OF the tally was in my con
troll; and cannot tell whether was accurate or no
Keeping Time on Speakers
WHIEIs,Ml, Roger Mills had succeeded Horizontal
Wv Bill as Democratic leader, no free trader sue
cu1nbed to the temptation OF bath and so for many
months the House, in Committee OF the Whole occu
pied itself with the Mills Bill The Speaker desk
clerk or "prompter" was ILL., and as nv Influence"
manent chairman of the committee, l called
from my accustomed place among the pages and
installed in the little seat of the prompter at the
very elbow OF the chair No longer did | have
answer roll call With the other members"
walked majestically to the floor at noon, and
handing up to Mr.. Springer the list OF the days
speakers, settled down into my little seat TO that
they did not exceed their time. When the tariff
schedules were taken up paragraph after paragraph,
hve minutes was the limit OF a speech, and TO a fiery
orator five minutes passes rapidly.
Hepburn OF Iowa, the author OF the late famous
rate bill, was one afternoon calling down the
vengeance OF Heaven upon the iniquty OF free
wool, when the chairmans gavel cut in two an
eloquent peroration. Hepburn resented this inter
ruption TO his oratory, and loudly demanded of the
chair how the chair knew his time had expired.
The chair startled from conversation waved
his hand absent mindedly TO where was standing at
his SIDE
the eyes of a crowded House and overfowing gal
leries. Pcrchcd up alongside the presiding officer,
must have looked even smaller than twelve
years across the vast hall. pause, and then Hep
burns sonorous voice almost shook the emblems of
the States from their places in the stained glass
roof. And does the chairman of this committee
mean TO tell me- he thundered, that the Repre-
sentatives OF the American people express their
views upon legislation only upon the suterance OF
atom like that r'
The eloquent Iowan, Modified by five more min
utes soon turned his invectives back to free WOOL
but the atom, writhng beneath this stnging that, "
could be induced remain at Mr., Springers elbow
only upon the solemn aSScVeratonS OF the statesman
again TO call upon the prompter the attention
of the House
Free Wool in His Power
IT is awful to contemplate Mr.. Hepburn's indigna-
L tion if he had known that in the atoms hands
rested the free wool rate itself. When the House is
in committee roll calls not permitted, the high
est form of voting being that by tellcrS The Demo
Gratis had a majority of twenty in this Congress, but
upon free wool no man knew II they had majority
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