The Norfolk weekly news-journal., 1907-03-08
WEEKLY NEwsJouRNAL FRIDAY, MARCH s. 1907

the slip bearing the title of the book
wanted; this slip is placed in a boS
in the wall of the house library a but
ton is pressed and the slip tles through
a chute to the library two blocks away;
soon the required book is placed In d
box in the library, button Is pressed
and the book flies through the chute
to the capitol and is carried to the
desk of the member wanting It. This
requires five minutes on the average
1t is the general impression that u
member of the house can speak when
he will. This is wholly wrong Be
fore a house member can have the
floor he must first have gained per,
mission of the speaker. Otherwise he
could "Mr Speaker" until he was
black in the face and not be recog
nized. He may want to speak ten
minutes and the speaker will say, BE
ready at 1880 on Thursday and | will
recognize you for six minutes" If the
member is absent at the time stated
he loses his opportunity. If present
he is raped down at the end of his
six minutes. Sometimes In heated dis
cussions a member may get the floor
without previous permission. Then,
however, should he say anything to
which the speaker objects, the latter
says, "The speaker did not recognize
the gentleman for the purpose of his
remarks" and raps him down. This
is one of Tom Reeds nine rules and
was brought about to keep members
from talking at any and all times to
any length, thus causing congress to
sit months longer that it now sits Is
it any wonder that the speaker is
called car?
or course like conditions do not OBJ.
tain in the senate. There the body
makes it's own rules and the chairman
| (vice president) is only a figure head.
How bills are passed is interesting
Members cannot advise themselves on
all measures brought before them, and
so there are many committees, and
what Is true of one body in this re-
gard, is true of both house and senate.
Bills are referred to their respective
committees, land cases to committee
on public lands, pensions to the com
mittee on pensions, etc. These com
mittees are divided, two members TAX
ing for investigation all the New Eng
land states, another two taking some
particular division of states, and thus
labor is expedited, for no member
could investigate even the cases which
come before his committee. These
subcommittee Gas they are called
report to their full committee and
their report is accepted as a general
thing Then the reports of all the
subdivisions of committee constitute
that committees report to the house
| When a committee reports favorably
on matter, it is seldom voted down
when brought before it's full body for
passage Suppose a bill has been re-
ported favorably on by a committee.
1t is then placed on what is called the
| Union calendar. 1t could and would
remain there forever, unless it's au-
thor went to the steering committee
and got permission to bring it before
the house Tor senate.) This steering
committee is made up of the chairmen
of ways and means, and appropriations
committees, the two most powerful
committees in either body and the
| speaker Since these chairmen owe
their craftsmanship to the speaker, you
see what a power the speaker has with
them and how he can prevent almost
,n1a h. 30
coming before the house. Again the
power of a car in the lower house.
The consent of the steering committee
gained, bill goes through with a
whoop. Almost any day one may hear
applause on the house side of the cap
itol, both on the floor and in the gal
leries. Not so on the senate side.
There all applause is forbidden both
to senators and visitors. The senate
is such a dignified body, "Such divin-
ity doth hedge kind" etc .,(Pitchfork
Ben Tillman for example) that there
ate gets busy, the noise Is made by
senators one at time.
Each congress is made up of two
sessions, as l have said. Both con-
vene the first Monday of December.
The first is the long session and sits
until national matters are pretty well
cleaned up-anywhere from April or
May to August or September. The
short session closes March 4, as it
finishes the term and were it contin-
ued it would necessitate an extra ses-
sion" to bring in the newly elected
members whose terms were just be-
ginning.
SOUTH DAKOTA LAWS.