The Republican. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1903-1909, 1908-04-15

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Al the People safesuardsd.
From time to time there Is d Demo
cratic outburst against the method OF
legislation In the house of represent
atiyes. The speaker Is called car,
and the majority of the committee on
rules Ia held up as d trio of tyranny
or course If the Democrats were In
power the same system would be OBJ
served, and an idea of the situation
may be Of interest.
;. All business and all legislation,
whether national, state or municipal,
must be conducted on systematic
basis and In a systematic manner. The
house of representatives is composed
of 800 members from forty-six states
Of the Union. Every one Of these men,
bers has ideas as to legislation upon
various national and local conditions
Every one of these 396 members Is de-
sirous of getting an appropriation that
will help his particular district. Every
one of these 396 members would like to
tell the speaker and his colleagues and
his constituents and the people of the
country at large just what he wants
and his views upon public questions
1t is therefore necessary that the
house be so organized that business
can be attended to systematically and
without confusion, else there would be
no legislation whatever.
1t must not only be necessary to have
presiding officer, but 1t must be neces-
sary to have rules and regulations for
the presentation and consideration of
bills; 1t must be necessary to follow
parliamentary usage-in fact, 1t must
be necessary to do just what is being
done In the United States house of rep
resentatives, the greatest and In every
way the most model parliamentary
body on earth. For the third time now
the majority have unanimously elected
as speaker the Hon. Joseph G. Cannon
of Illinois. Mr.. Cannon has not only
served seventeen terms In congress,
longer than any other member of that
body, but he has done such good work
on committees. and conspicuously as
chairman of the committee on appro-
priations, as to make him worthy of
every confidence and honor that could
be given him by the majority.
1t devolves upon the speaker to APP
point the various committees and their
chairmen, and no speaker of the house
Nf M ii I'm nutfpn hfs-
tory has made committee appoint
ments that have been acknowledged
to be fafrer and more appropriate In
any case than have those of the present
speaker. In fact, 1t has been the sub
tect Of newspaper comment since De-
cember, when the committees were APP
pointed. that Speaker Cannon had gone
further than any of his predecessors In
appointing chairmen of committees be-
cause OF their fitness and without re-
gard as to whether they agree with the
speaker or not.
Now, as has been before intimated
legislation must be the result of sys-
tenn and regularity, There will prob
ably be more than $4,000 bills intro
duced In the present congress. Only
q few hundred of them can be consid-
cred and enacted into law. There
must, then. be method for considering
these bills and for their Presentation
to the entire house for rejection or pas
sage. This work, Is for the various
committees, and there the majority
must rule, as the majority should rule
In every assemblage, however large or
small.
When a bill Is up for consideration
before a committee there should be
hearings on both sides of the question,
and such Is the usual procedure. Just
here can be cited an instance of what
occurred before certain committee In
the last congress. Mr. Gompers, the
president of the American Federation
of Labor, and other labor leaders have
been very insistent that there should
be what Is called certain anti-injunc-
ton legislation. This matter came up
In due course In the first session Of
the Fifty-ninth congress before the ju-
dietary committee, which was consid-
ering some three or four or more diff.
ferent bills which had been prepared.
Days and weeks were consumed In
hearings upon this subject. 1t was
found that the SO called labor people
themselves could not agree upon the
sort of bill they wished passed. Mr..
Gompers desired one form of legisla-
tion, and other prominent leaders de-
sired another, and still another Il still
different form, and SO on until 1t was
seen that 1t would be impossible for
the committee to frame any bill what
ever that would be satisfactory to any
considerable number of those desiring
such legislation. The result was that
there was no action taken, and the
committee and the speaker and the Re
publican majority were criticised as
being hostile to labor because they had
not granted what the labor leaders
themselves could not agree upon.
There is much the same condition to-
day regarding various important sub
jects But legislation must necessarily |
be slow. There must be no mistake
made, there must be no waste of pub
lie money, there must be no action
taken that is unconstitutional, and
when q bill is once framed and pass
Cd 1t must be such one as will meet
with the approval Of the great ma
les 49, 10