Los Angeles herald., 1909-12-06
The American Congress
XIV-Procedure i'm the Senate
Bv Frederic i Haskin ------
Bv Frederic j. Haskin

speaker of the house exercises all
these powers.
The senate is a continuing body. 1t
never goes out of existence There are
always more than a majority sworn
in and ready to do business. Only
third of the members retire at time.
The house must adopt it's rules at the
beginning of every congress; those OF
the senate continue during the pleas
ure of that body. The house must
originate all revenue measures, though
the senate may amend any revenue
measure to the extent of striking out
every word after "Be it enacted" etc,
and substituting its own bill. This IS
q privilege which the house has often
denied, but the senate has insisted
upon 1t with complete success.
1t is frequently said that the house
has the right of originating all appro-
priation bills and that the senate may
only amend them as it does the rev.
enue bills. This supposition is encour-
aged by the procedure that has come
into use through custom and not
through law. For years 1t has been
the custom for the big supply bills,
making the appropriations for the
maintenance of the government to be
originated In the house, through the
committee on appropriations, but the
constitution gives the two branches
equal jurisdiction over appropriations.
The senate is a great Nstickler for
traditions, as is shown by its main
tenanee of snuff boxes to be used, If at
all, only by the ghosts of another CEN
tury, but 1t has progressed much In
the way of rules and in the estima-
tion of the country. The house was
regarded as the body of more dignity
in the early days of the republic. In
1911 Henry Clay refused to be cam
didate for reelection to the senate,
preferring to go to the house. Otis
resigned a seat In the senate to be-
come mayor of Boston, and De Witt
Clinton gave up his senatorial career
in order to serve as mayor of New
York city. .a..Ir
At first the senate legslated behind
closed doors Washington, in a letter
to David Stuart, said he thought this
course was pursued in order to avoid
speaking to the galleries, practice
which he observed was much too
common in the house. At the second
session of the first congress there were
only two votes cast in favor of OPEN
ing the doors of the senate when in
legislative session. The doors were
not opened to the public until the sec
ond session of the third congress. The
senate was very strict about the at
tendance of members while II was sit
ting, and If a senator was absent with
out excuse for more than fifteen min
utes his name was posted up on a slip
of paper and left there until he chose
to explain his absence and to ask the
senate to take 1t down.
The procedure of the senate In legis-
lative matters is much more. liberal
to the minority than that of the house.
While diverse ways and means are
contriVed by a resourceful leader like
Senator Aldrich to keep his hand on
the throttle and his eye upon the rail,
while the minority is rendered innocu-
GUS In opposition, the right TO amend is
never cut off, and the minority Is
given the power to manufacture all
the political capital it's ability and
acumen will permit. That is why the
great political issues of the recent past
have been made up in the senate.
There the majority cannot escape GO
Ing on record on any proposition upon
which the minority is determined that
it shall be recorded.
1t is provided by the senate rules
that a senator may be required to vote
on pending measure, and several
times in the history of that body mo-
tions have been made TO compel SEN
ators to cast their votes. But in every
instance such an effort has failed, it
being held that the senate has no
power to compel q senator to vote IL
he wills not to do So The house can
not compel a member present to vote
either, but by forcing him to help
constitute a quorum. although he abb ,
stains from voting, it has largely est
capped the predicament in which the
senate has sometimes found itself.
Most writer's who have studied the
subject of the relative influence and
Importance of the senate and the house
in the affairs of the government agree
that the secret of the ascendancy of
the senate over the house is due more
to the liberality of the rules under
which 1t operates than to advantages
conferred upon 1t by the Constitution.
Senatorial courtesy is responsible for
many evils, no doubt, but 1t is a prac-
tice founded upon the spirit of fair
play, which is a cardinal principle of
Anglo-Saxon peoples.
TOmOrrOw-The American Congress
XV-PrOcedure in the House.