Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-12-08
HOUSE RULES DEFENDED
AS BEST IN THE WORLD
Speaker Not an Autocrat and Obstruction 1mpossi
bic, Declares Par1iamentarian Hinds--- Greatly
Improved Over System Formerly Used.

| is equally necessary that there be no
appeal from this recognition by the
Speaker Formerly there was an appeal.
and the possibility of yea and nay vote
to determine whether one man or another
should be entitled to the floor. But thir-
ty years ago. during the speakership of
Samuel j. Randall. the House had grown
so large that it was found necessary by
Speaker Randall to deny this right Of
appeal on question of recognition. He
did this in rulings. and it seems quite
evident that those rulings met the gen.
eral approval of the House, since there
was little complaint at the time.
But it does not follow because there
is no appeal that the Speakers right of
recognition is absolute. With two excep-
| tons. which will be considered later.
1t is far from absolute. The Speaker.
both for motions and debate. recognizes
| in accordance with certain fixed princi-
pies. which he could not think of vio-
lating; and it is absolutely essential for
the orderly conduct of business that he
should not violate these principles. The
public business under the rule for the
order of business is following on through
the House continually in accordance with
the methods prescribed for that rule.
And. manifestly. the Speaker must rec
ognize for each motion in accordance
with the necessities of this stream of
business. This means that at each turn
he must recognize the member. who, by
his committee position or by his relation
10 the business ABOUT 10 Cutie UelOIc
the House, is best qualified to make the
motion for it's disposition.
Obligated by Unwritten Law.
ION the day when the order of business
brings up a matter. for instance, from the
committee OH ways and means, the
Speaker must recognize Mr.. Payne. the
chairman of the committee, because that
gentleman is in charge of the business
coming before the ways and means COM
mittee; and under the rules and uSa@eS or
the House, to recognize any one else
would be to substitute confusion and dis
order for order and progress. II the
order of business gives the time to the
appropriations committee. the Speaker
must recognize Mr.. Tawney for the same
reason. And after the matter is once
under debate the usage is absolute that
he must recognize the senior member of
the majority contention on the commit
tee having charge of the pending bill;
and after that the senior member on the
minority side of the contention has the
preference. And thus he must alternate
down through the entire committee. But
it, as rarely occurs. the debate extends
beyond the ranks of the committee and
into the general membership of the
House. the Speaker must still preserve
the alienation between the majority and
minority sideS-not necessarily the polti
cal ma jority and minority-but the ma
jority and minority sides Of the pending
question at issue. Outside this limitatio
at this point of the debate the Speaker
does have an arbitrary power of select
ing men who shall speak. providing there
is great press for time by members.
But a situation like this rarely hap
pens. 1t happened not over twice. prob
ably. during the last session of Congress
Usually in such cases the House, by
una nimOuS consent. gives to the two men
in charge of the ma iority and minority
sides of the bill the right to control and
divide out the time. thus taking it from
the Speaker entirely. But as a matter of
fact the criticism of the Speakers power
of recognition never arises out of a stu
alton like this.
The Real Complaint.
1.-The truth is. the real complaint OF the
Speakers power of recognition comes
from his recognitions for motions 10 sus-
pend the rules and for unanimous consent
The very nature of unanimous consent
shows that the rules may not justly be
criticised for any arbitrary recognition on
the part of the Speaker; because when a
member asks unanimous cons what he
really demands is that the rules of the
House be set aside, in order to- take up
some bill that is not in order at the time
under the rule. 1t is. therefore, evident
that under any system of rules recogni- |
ton would have 10 b. arbitrary.
1.-THE Speaker has the same right to |
object that any member has, but his |
method of objection is to refuse to recog- |
nize for unanimous consent. If this is an |
arbitrary power, il is an arbitrary power |