The National tribune., 1908-08-27
THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST SPEAKER
CANNON.

Among the more baseless issues which
Mr.. Bryan has projected into the cam
paign is the raid against Speaker Can
non. He has made a National issue oi
| what has been at most the natura
grumblings of the minority at not being
| allowed to have their own way and th'
discomfort of certain small-caliber Re-
publicans, who feel that they have no
| had the recognition which their concei
| assures them they should have.
A little common sense will show thu
absurdity of all this. The House o.
Representatives is now a great body-i
is claimed by many very unweildy one
of per cent members. 1t meets to de
business. That is what the country pays
| it for: that is what the country requires
it to do, and that is what it must do ol
be held culpably responsible.
The duty of doing business rests upor
the majority in the House, and this is g
responsibility it cannot shirk. The coun.
try naturally and rightfully holds the
majority severely answcrable for con-
Quoting the business of Congress
promptly and satisfactorily. No fac
tious resistance by the minority will ex-
cuse the majority for not doing its duty
This is the invariable rule of all delib-
erative assemblies the world over. 1t is
the rule which empowers the House OF
Representatives and of Commons to
actually and by physical force compel
the attendance of the minority members
and their participation in the proceed
ings. The Speaker Of the House OF
Representatives, like the Speaker of the
British House of Commons, is the agency
by which the majority executes its will
The rules by which the House of Rep
rescntatives are governed are every
where recognized as the highest devel-
opment of parliamentary law for the
shall do the business for which it con-
venes promptly, efficiently and satisfac-
toriIy. Every session sees these rules
still further improved by some teach
irgs of experience in the direction OF
the more certain fulillment of this great
purpose.
Naturally, the minority raises a great
howl when any rule is adopted which
tends TO curtail its abilities for prevent
ing the transaction of business. Every
howl raised by the Democrats against
Car Reed and his rules How on one
occasion Buck Kilgore, of Texas,
achieved National notoriety by kicking
open the door which had been locked to
keep the recaIcitrant Democrats in and
prevent their stoppage of the business
then before the House. So great was
the clamor that threats were sent in to
Speaker Reed from many of the South
ern States that if they could get hold of
the Democrats would have laughed in
wicked glee if they could have succeed
ed in preventing Reeds execution of the
business for which the House had as
sembled, and the whole country would
have condemned the weakness of the
majority in the House.
the Democrats came in with the next
Congress. and it is very notable that
they readopted the Reed rules with at
least one or two that were even more
stringent This shows conclusiveIy the
hypocrisy of the present clamor against
Speaker Cannon. 1t must be remem-
bercd all the time that Speaker Cannon
is merely the agent of the will of the
majority. 1t cannot be otherwise. He
cannot do anything which is not at every
step backed by clear majority in the
House, and every rule which he enforces
must have the approval of a majority of
his own party. This is so clear that ii
cannot need further explanation. What
ever he has done has hadsto be passed
in review by the weekly caucuses of his
party when it had to be substantially
approved.
The Republican Party has been bril-
liantly successful in the Speakers that
it has given the country To these has
been due in large measure the singu-
larly satisfactory progress that the coun-
try has made in the past half century.
Speaker Cannon is an admirable sue
cessor of such unusually able managers
of the House os Dudley Haskell. James
G. Blaine and Thomas B. Reed. HE has
some talent for administration that even
those men lacked, and his management
of such public business as has come be-
fore the House mas received the COM
mendation of men of all parties thruout
the country, by the press of every shade
of political belief, and has brought him
to the front as one of the abIest and
most reliable of American statesmen
He embodies in the highest degree the
patriotism and good sense of the Amer.
lean people.