The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1909-03-09
FOSTER FIGHTING CANNON
Vermont representative In Front
Rank of Insurgents.

/ ''~'N ~ ''SN' SNiito'
The Conservative members" of the
House of Representatives, who UNI
der the leadership of Foster of Yer
mont, Townsend of Michigan. and
Scott of Kansas, have been conduct
ing determined fight for a change
in the rules Of the House, have won
great victory. says a Washington
special to the Burlington Free Press.
These conservatives refused to be
diverted from their fixed purpose by
the efforts of the extremists. who in
sisted upon radical and impractical
changes The steadfast purpose of the
abOve-named triumvirate has been
to secure at this session Of Congress
such a change in the present rules
rs should secure to the majority of
the House absolute control over the
bills favorably reported by the sew
eral committees of the House placed
upon the House and union calendars
To this end after weeks of delibera-
tiOn and consultation and vast
amount of labor the conservatives in
troduced 10 days ago resolution pro
viding for a new rule. This resolution
was referred to the committee on
rules and last week the conservatives
met the republican members of this
committee, Speaker Cannon and Con
gresham Daizell and Sherman. and
went over the whole subject These
gentlemen fully concurred in the wis
dom of the proposed rule and assur-
ed the conservatives that they would
cooperate with them in having 1t
adopted before the fourth of March
A substitute resolution was agreed
upon carrying out in every particular
the purpose of the conservatives.
This resolution will be reported to
the House by the committee on rules
in the near future and it is confid-
emily believed that the House will
promptly adopt it.
No one unfamiliar with the pro-
cedure of the House can appreciate
the importance of this new rule or
the forward movement its adoption
implies. Under existing conditions
committee may labor for months in
perfecting and favorably reporting
bill of public nature only to see it
remain on the House Uuion calendar
until the expiration of Congress. I'm
less the speaker and the committee
on rules approve the bill ii is almost
impossible to secure consideration
for II by the House. To be sure
large number of bills of a local ma
ture, such as those providing for the
construction of bridges over navigable
streams, for instance, are passed by
unanimous consent. That is to say
the member who introduced the bill
goes TO the speaker and gets his con
sent (if he cam TO recognize him to
call up the bill. Then if no other
member of the House objects the
bill is considered. But except in the
case of bills of a distinctly local
character this kind of legislation is
extremely undesirable. Then again
twice month suspension day occurs
when any member interested in a bill
on these calendars may go to the
speaker and arrange if he CAM to
be recognized in order to call the
bill up. But except in the case Of
bills of lesser importance this meth
Cd Of legislating is equally objec-
tlOudDle,
The new rule proposed by the CON
servatives will do away with these
methods except in respect to bills of
minor importance 1t provides for
what will be known as Calendar Tues
day. Under this rule each Tuesday
of The session will be devoted ex-
clusively, unless the House votes
otherwise at the time, to the consid-
Grafton of public bills favorably re-
ported by the several committees
and on the House and Union calen-
dars If at the close of the Calendar
day bill taken up for considera.
ton has not been disposed of a re-
cess may be taken until the next
morning when the House win contin-
ne consideration of the bill In this
way every bill of a public nature re-
ported by the several committee will
be given ample opportunity for con-
sideration. II will no longer be pos
sib!e for the speaker or anyone else
except majority of the House, TO
hold up public bill once It Is favor.
ably reported to the House. Every
one now admits the wisdom of the
proposed rule and wonder why It
was not adopted long ago. Naturally
the triumvirate who have kept per
sistently at the proposition during
the entire season are receiving con-
gratualtlons on every hand for the
success of their efforts.