Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1909-11-27

r.re to in this presence on Mr..
Clark's knowledge of parliamentary
practice and the rules Of the house
to believe that he did not fully and
clearly understand the whole situa-
tion. Mr. Clark assumed an attitude
of non-interference with the tariff
bill, but he knew, or ought to have
known, that by his resolution he
proposed in the first line to adopt
for the first session of the sixty-f1rst
congress the rules of the sixtieth
congress, and that under these rules
it would be possible to bring the tar
if bill to vote only by considering
every Une of the SEQ paragraphs,
with thousands of items, in commit
tee of the whole, with each paragraph
subject to amendment in the second
degree-a method by which the bill
could be held in committee of the
whole indeffnitely-or by the adop-
ton of special rule fixing definite
time for a vote, which would have
only been possible by the action of
a majority of the house upon re-
mort from the committee on rules.
There is where Mr.. Clark seemed
to exercise the most acute intell1-
gence in naming the members OF the
committee on rules, to which any
special rule would have to be referred
He named on this committee OF If
teen five republicans who participate
and who were loyal to Mr.. Clark's
every wish to prevent tariff legisla-
ton, and then he selected four so
called "Insurgent republicans" who
had refused to enter any caucus.
Two of these ''Insurgent republi-
cans" Norris of Nebraska and Nelson
of Wisconsin, co-operated with Mr..
Clark in every move against the con-
sideration of the tariff bill, consulted
with him freely, and when they spoke
or voted it was to support his con-
tention as loyalty as did, any demo-
crat in the house. 4 ,.as,yf3 .
These two gentlemen and the six
democrats would have made a clear
majority of MIR. Clark's committee on
rules, even had Mr.. Gardner, OF Mas
sachusetts, and Mr.. Hayes, Of Cali
fornia, voted with the five other re-
publicans, as believe they would,
in favor Of Il special rulc to. fix; a date
fol the vote on the tariff BILL With
eight men out of fifteen on that com
mittee to consider special rule, does
any one suppose Mr.. Clark would
have neglected his opportunity to
keep that bill from coming to a vote
or any opportunity to embarrass the
administration?
Had Mr.. Clark's resolution been
adopted the house Of represent tives
would still be in session considering
the innumerable amendments, the
democrats would have offered to the
D." ndreds of pars graphs IN the tar
iff dill, and the Ul tied States senate
would still be waiting for the bill to
be sent over for it's consideration
The Wolves Offer Protection.
Mr.. Clark knows Aesop's fables by
heart and he has formulated much of
his political philosophy on them. In
one of these fables the wolves want
ed the sheep to discharge the dogs
and employ the wolves to defend
them. Mr. Clark's committee on
rules would have given the same pro
lection to the tariff bill that the
wolves would have given to the
sheep. The republican majority of
the house, with clear majority in
support of the tariff bill, would have
been helpless in any effort to register
it's will, because any resolution for
special rule to bring the bill to g.
vote would have had to be referred
to the committee on rules dominat-
ed by Champ Clark, leader Of the
minority and leader of the efforts to
prevent the enactment of the bill.
To put it in another way, the NOM
inal republican majority in the house
would have been destroyedi if all the
minority had co-operated- with the So
called "Insurgent republicans, and
the very first pledge of the republican
national convention and the repuHH-
can president, Mr.. Taft, would have
failed as completely as though a
democratic house OF, representatives
had been elected instead of house
with a nominal republican majority
of 46. @,.
Rule for. Wilson, Bill.
Mr.. Clark has always Deen regular
in his own party. Il, For his benefit and
that Of ME-. Bryan cite. the ru lie
adopted by the democratic majority,
August is, 1894, for consideration of
the Wilson tariff bill, for which both
Mr.. Clark and Mr.. Bryan voted, and
which accepted en- bloc over 600 sen.
ate amendments This rule was re-
ported BY Representative Wilson, Of
West Virginia, from the committee
on rules. but he stated that It was
I'M accordance with the action and
will of the democratic caucus.
s9ssR resolved, That after the adoption
Of this resolution, 1t. shall be. in Or
der in THE house to move that the
order heretofore made request ting "a
conference with the senate on the
votes OF the two houses
,n 1T. r.. 1854 be rescinded;; that the
sonferees heretofore appointed on
he part Of the house be discharged /
from further duty in that behalf, and
hat the house recede from its dis
agreement on the senate amend I1ents
% said bill in gross and agree to the
same. that after two hours debate +