The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1908-12-07
new RULES
IN CONGRESS

Washington, Dec. If the consen-
sus of Opinion is a reliable guide, here
when the 61st Congress organizes for
business next March: Joseph G. Can
non of Illinois, will be reelected Spea-
ker of the House, and the House rules
Speaker of the vital power over legis-
lation which now reposes in his hands.
From declarations, public and priv
ate, it is apparent that certain num-
ber of members of the House are COM
mitted to Cannon and the present rul-
es. Another certain number are a
gainst both Cannon and the present
rules. Still a third faction is in favor
of Cannon but against continuance of
the present rules. This third faction
it's support Cannon could not win in
the Republican caucus. Without its
support the anti Cannon forces could
secure none of the things they de-
will have to make concessions in the
matter of rules in order to secure
these votes. Those who demand botn
the overthrow of Cannon and changes
in the rules are in too small a minori-
ty to accomplish anything alone. This
clearly leaves those who are willing
Cannon shall retain the speakership
but insist upon rule changes in com
mand of the. field They will in fact be
able almost to dictate the exact chan
The difficulty is that even the hand
full of members thus holding the bal
ance of power are not able to agree
among themselves as to what changes
in the rules are desirable. There is
general agreement that the House com
mittee on rules should be enlarged and
its appointment taken out of the con-
troll of the Speaker, but beyond that
there are as many minds almost as
there are men.
There is no attempt to assert that
a larger committee On rules with it's
members selected by the House in
stead of by the Speaker would prove
an obstacle to legislation, but it
must be admitted that if some of the
changes proposed were adopted the
House would be little better than an
ungovernable mob. One of the chang
es proposed, for instance, is that the
J@INo To
be removed. If members of the House
were privileged to talk whenever and
as long as they pleased, as are mem
bers of the Senate, Congress never
would get through with it's business,
for there are more than four times as
many members of the House as there
are Senators.
The plan TO make the rules commit
W parliamentary experts to be entire
" feasible. Under this plan the COM
mittee, and not the Speaker, would
decide what members should have rec
ognition, for what purposes, and what
bills should be brought up for consid-
Grafton and when. The committee
srlld hold daily sessions, say from
IL till 12 O'Clock, and at these meet
ings any member would be privileged
to appear to prefer his requests. AS the
sessions of the committee would be
public, or at least attended by its mi
nority members, much of the element
of favoritism and ulterior considera-
tion would be removed.
The plan would also Involve the
right of any member to appeal, after
the serving of formal notice, from any
decision of the committee. When a
member had served notice of intention
| to appeal ne would be entitled to rec
ognition at specific time on the fol
owing day, say Immediately after the
reading of the journal. He would be
allotted certain time in which to ex
plain his case and the chairman OF
the rules committee or a member OF