The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1908-12-08


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Il In file neee anas 81
bits1 NESS - means fllzIt elte!a
turn he nlnsf sreeogn re ulerlisels,,
who; ifis silIttl tee ION: or
by, his relation 70 the qIlsi out
10 come before tho E1otse. e best
qualified 70 nlstlSe the an 4toEG.fer It's
aisposft ON o. the day Flaen the or
der Of Dizziness brings M matter
for Instance. from the comm ice on
WAYS ana means. the speal cpr must
recognize Mr. Payne the cllzirEllaH OF
the Committee because that gentle
man Is in charge Of the business COM
ing before the ways ana means coHQ-
nl1ftee; and under the frtIles ana
usages of the House tosrecoButFe any
one else would be to Sl1bstItute con-
fusion ana disorder for order and pro
gress. II the order % business gives
the time TO the appropriations COM
rE1Ittee, the speaker must recognise
AR. Tawney for the same reason.
And after the matter Is once under de-
bate the usage Is abso!ute that he
must recognize the senior member OF
the majority contention on the com
Hnittee having charge OF theS pending
bill; and after that the senior mem,
bers Of the minority side of the con-
tention he's the preference. And thus
he must alternate down through the
entire committee. But -. as rarely
occurs the debate extends beyond the
ranks of the COMMITTEES and into the
general membership of the House.
the speaker must still preserve the
alteration between the majority and
minority sides-not necessarily the
political majority and fninority4@btEt
the majority and minority sides Of the
opening question at Issue Outside.
this limitation: at this point stof the
debate. the speaker does not have an
arbitrary power of,selecting men who
shall speak, providing there liz a great
press for time by members But q
situation like this rarely happens. 1t
happened not over twice. probably.
during the last session of congress
Usually in such. cases the House by
unanimous consent gives to the two
men in charge os the majority and
minority sides of the bill the right to
control and divide out the time. thus
taking it from the sneaker entirely
But as q matter of fact the criticism
of the speakers rover of recognition
never rises out of a situation like this.
THE truth IS. the real complaint Af
the, Speakers power of recognition
comes from his recognitfons for mo-
lions to suspend the rules and for
unanimous consent. The very nature
of unanimous consent shows that the i
rules may not be justly criticized for !
any arbitrary cognition,. on the part !
of the speaker: because when mem /
Der asks unanimous consent what he I
really demands is that the rules of /
the House be set aside. in order to |
take up some bill that fs not in order
at the time under the rule. It is
therefore eviden hat under any sys-
tenn OF rules, recognition would have
to be arbitrary. The speaker has the
same. right to object that any mem |
Der has. but his method OF objecttng
is TO refuse to recognize for unani-
nous consent. If this is an arbitrary
any member of the House may thwaEf |
him in the use of. for after theI
speaker recognizes for unanimoust
consent any member may object thus
doing away with the procedure and
permitting the House to proceed 7un-
der its order of business.
There does. not exist an arbitrary
recognition on the motion to suspend
the rules. Formerly the speaker wasl
compelled to recognize any member
who first got his attention on the NOR I
ton to suspend the rules. The result
was that the motion was greatly
abused. Men would prepare resolu-f
lions on subjects of no - practictI
standing in the House. sometimes Sol
artfully worded as to be pollticat4
traps, condemning many members to5-
political danger IN their districts.
they voted for or against !
them Members, therefore,. did not l
like to run risk OF such
pitfalls, or to be on record uDon ques-
tons not of a practical moment. TOD
the United States. or which might in
voIve local prejudces in their homes
and thus destroy their ueefp fitness,
without any compromising good. So it
happened that frequently the House
on suspension day adjourned. in. or
der to escape this snare. and inf1SSO
the number of suspension days were
reduced to two a month. SO MS to
make the dangers oflthe day as little
as possible. About that time. Speak
er Randall, without complaint OF the
House, began to exercise the right to
determine when he would recognize I
for the motion, thus. still further,
placing It under control. If .ttle mo-
lion to suspend the rules were essen 1
.ial to the business of the House this
lsurpntIon by Mr.. Randall would
have had bad consequences; but in
1888, and in 1890 the rules were Inn
proved by enlargIng the functions of
the committee on rules and by Inn
proving the rules for the order of
business. So that bills in an unfa-
rorabe position might be gotten out
~ IL majority vote, without recourse
% the older and clumsier method
" suspeuding the rules. And today.
II 70