Custer County Republican. (Broken Bow, Neb.) 1882-1921, 1907-05-02
SIGN OF AUTHORITY
WHAT THE MACE MEANS TO AS.
sEMBLED CONGRESS.
Insignia Is Of the Most Ancient and
Honorable orIgin-Was First
Used Under the Roman
Republic.


At the right Of the speakers desk
in the hall of the house of represen-
tatives in the capitol at Washington
stands a large cylindrical pedestal
made Of highly polished green marble.
When the house Is called to order
each day the sergeantatarms, or one
of his deputies, places upon this pedes-
tai the mace, which is the symbol of
authority In the house. When the
lsody adjourns, says st. Nicholas, he
removes 1t, and keeps it in safety until
the house meets again.
This mace is Of very ancient and
honorable origin. Under the old Ro-
man republic, the magistrates passed
on foot from one place to another ad-
ministering justice, trying public Of
TENDERS and imposing penalties.
Each of these magistrates was at
tended by small body of men known
as lictors, whose duty 1t was to make
way for the officers Of the law, pre-
serve order, make arrests and inflict
punishment on condemned citizens.
Each Of these lictors carried with
him bunch of rods tied together with
thongs, and having an ak bound to
the outside of 1t, The thongs we're
used for beheading. Sentences i'm
posed by the magistrates were at once
carried out.
These bundles of rods were known
as fasces. When the magistrates
passed along the thoroughfares the
lictors preceded them, bearing the
fasces aloft, and the assembled citi
zens Immediately made way for them.
When any disorder arose nearby
the lictors appeared with the fasces,
upon the sight of which quiet was in
stantly restored. No Roman citizen
ever ventured to question the author
ity of this emblem
When the Romans conquered Brit
ain the use of the fasces as a symbol
was brought with them, and like many
other Roman customs remained with
the British people.
While 1t was no longer used for in
fiicting punishment it continued to be
used as a symbol by the early nglish
magistrates, and when an officer ap-
peared carrying the fasces his au-
thority was Immediately accepted by
all. 1t was, in effect, his badge of Of
fee
The English form of t. fasces was
placed inside of the bundle of rods,
with blade protruding from the top.
The great councils of the early Sax
ors gradually developed into one gen.
eral body, which in the fourteenth
century became known as the house
of commons. In all these earlier
councils the use of the fasces was con-
tinued, but it then came to be known
as the mace, which has remained as
the emeblem of legislative authority
in that body down to the present day.
The house of representatives of the
United States was modelled closely
after the house of commons by the
trainers Of our constitution and the
usage of the mace was borrowed from
the English custom.
The first mace adopted by the
house was destroyed by fire when the
British burned the capitol in 1914
From 1914 until 1912 mace of paint
ed wood did service, but in the lat
ter year the present mace was made,
after the model of the original one
1t is about three feet in height and
consists of bundle of ebony rods,
bound together with band of silver,
after the fashion Of the fasces. From
the center of this bundle of rods pro-
trudes silver stem, on which is a
silver globe four or five inches in d.
ameter. This globe is an eagle Of
solid silver with outspread wings.
This mace is the emblem of author
ity in the house, and when, as some
times happens, that body becomes
unruly and seems quite beyond the
speakers control, the sergeant-at-
arms appears, and lifting the mace
from the pedestal, bears it up and
down the aisle of the hall. Instantly
every member sinks into his seat, or
der Is restored at once, and absolute
silence prevails. Any members who
disregards the mace is In contempt, "
and is liable to censure or even expul-
sion.